Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Rescue Team (5)
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“There was a traitor.”
Attack Leader Oh Seung-hoon’s voice was utterly calm.
Not because he was heartless, but the exact opposite.
Too many emotions could no longer be put into words.
The problem had occurred in the third room on Underground Level 2.
The raid team had taken a short break after clearing the monsters, waiting for the corpses to turn into mana stones.
The ones normally positioned at the very rear were the healer Seo Aram and the supporter Jin Seohyun.
Seo Aram had left to treat the injured, leaving Jin Seohyun alone.
When one of the tanks approached Jin Seohyun, no one thought much of it.
They figured he was just being nosy, chatting her up or something.
That notion shattered at the sound of Jin Seohyun’s voice—panic and trembling audible even from afar.
By the time they sensed something was off, it was too late.
The tank pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and tore it in two.
And Jin Seohyun vanished. Forced teleportation.
Jin Seohyun’s disappearance.
The raid team couldn’t afford to wait for a rescue squad.
They had to escape the gate as quickly as possible and search for her.
They knew it was dangerous, but they had no choice but to push on.
And this was the result.
“We’ve been stuck here for over ten hours.”
Half the team was unconscious, and even those awake couldn’t continue fighting.
The raid had been forcibly halted.
Underground Level 3 wasn’t easy enough to skip rooms like before.
“If we’d just pushed through normally, we’d have been out ages ago… That bastard, no one’s that much of a moron…”
Deep regret laced Oh Seung-hoon’s voice.
“…”
No one spoke up.
The man who had been alone in the corner, separated from the group.
He lay sprawled out, wounds untreated.
A traitor?
The Arang Guild rescue team hadn’t believed it at first—didn’t want to believe it. They’d dismissed it as a sick joke.
But seeing the anger and grief on their faces, they couldn’t deny it.
“Why would Sung-tae do this?”
They wanted to know.
“He’s been in the guild for over ten years. Always thanking the guild master, saying he’d bury his bones here for life—like it was his catchphrase.”
He wasn’t some random hack. He was trusted for both skill and character, enough to tank for the main raid team.
“What reason would Sung-tae have to betray us—!”
The man spat in fury.
But no one had an answer. They didn’t know either.
All they felt was the deeper sting of betrayal from someone so close.
Nam Soyul was different. She listened quietly, then spoke up.
“How did he act when he betrayed you? His demeanor?”
Oh Seung-hoon scowled.
“We’re grateful you came to rescue us, okay? But this is our business now. Stay out of it.”
“I’m serious. Did it look voluntary?”
The two didn’t get along well. But they’d known each other long enough that he couldn’t deny it.
Oh Seung-hoon realized she suspected something.
“…We subdued him right after Seohyun vanished. But he didn’t resist at all—just kept repeating he was sorry.”
Oh Seung-hoon hadn’t put much stock in the apology. What did it matter? The guy was still a traitor.
But Nam Soyul sighed. Her hunch had been right.
Park Sung-tae hadn’t betrayed them willingly. He’d just been hit with an ability.
Absolute Contract.
A simple ability to form a ‘contract’ with someone.
But its effect was no joke.
Once established, the ‘contract’ held absolute coercive power—the subject couldn’t resist no matter what.
Someone had used Absolute Contract on Park Sung-tae to kidnap Jin Seohyun.
No need to wonder who. The infamous criminal was obvious.
Level 1 Wanted Criminal, the Raider.
The rescue team’s faces paled at her words.
“No way… That guy’s been quiet for years. Why pop up now…?”
His motive for taking Jin Seohyun was clear too. He wanted her power, soon to reach S-rank.
“The Association can narrow down the suspects. We can catch him this time.”
Oh Seung-hoon shook his head at Nam Soyul’s urgency.
“He might be the culprit… but Seohyun didn’t go to him.”
He tossed something from his pocket. A white envelope, once whole, now torn in half.
The paper used for the teleportation.
Han Yujin recognized it immediately.
The ‘White Invitation,’ a one-use artifact.
Tear it, and it teleports the target to a pre-set location.
But he still didn’t get Oh Seung-hoon’s claim.
If the culprit was the Raider, the destination should be his hideout. Why insist otherwise?
Then he noticed. The envelope’s edge was stained black.
The alien, unpleasant mana emanating from it.
“This is…”
I wasn’t the only one who sensed the mana.
Oh Seung-hoon spoke slowly, his voice trembling faintly despite his efforts to hide it.
“Seohyun didn’t go down without a fight. She tried wrapping her surroundings in a force field to block the teleport.”
Space movement within the same dimension.
Dimensional movement between different dimensions.
The world beyond the gate was a separate dimension from reality, so Jin Seohyun’s teleportation counted as dimensional movement.
Her original destination was probably the Raider’s hideout.
Maybe the plan was to ambush her there, where they’d set a trap.
“Raider or bastard or whatever… their plan didn’t go off without a hitch.”
Jin Seohyun had succeeded. She’d resisted the teleport and warped the coordinates.
“…”
No one was pleased.
Everyone knew what that meant.
What happens if you interfere with dimensional movement mid-transfer?
Simple. You don’t reach the destination.
You fall into the gap between dimensions, unable to cross.
The endless abyss, the dimensional trash heap, the place of no return.
Special gate, Endless Abyss.
Jin Seohyun had fallen into the Endless Abyss.
After a long silence, Nam Soyul finally spoke.
“…Do you have a plan? There must be a reason you’re pushing so hard to escape.”
“We’ll put out a manhunt until we find an entrance to the Endless Abyss.”
There were two ways to enter the Endless Abyss.
Fail a dimensional movement, or pass through the rare entrances that sometimes appeared inside gates.
The Endless Abyss connected to all dimensions, so theoretically, it could appear in any gate.
Entrances closed soon after use. But during the brief window they stayed open, they could scout inside and pull Jin Seohyun out—that was the plan.
“Are you sane?”
She couldn’t help but retort.
What were the odds of an Endless Abyss entrance appearing in a gate?
And it wouldn’t stay open even a minute.
The Endless Abyss was literally bottomless. How much could they search in that instant…?
“I know it’s unrealistic. But I’m not just sitting on my hands.”
Nam Soyul opened her mouth to argue, then closed it.
Did they really not know what she knew?
They weren’t choosing this out of stupidity or ignorance.
It was the only option. No other solutions.
How could she speak coldly to that?
She glanced around briefly.
The two healers, Seo Aram and Im Ayoung, were bustling about treating the wounded.
In the end, whatever they chose, the immediate task remained the same.
“Rest up a bit. We move out as soon as treatment’s done.”
Getting out of here came first.
It’d strain them, but to escape fast, they needed every able body for the raid.
As she waited quietly, someone approached her.
“Hunter Nam Soyul.”
It was Han Yujin, his face set like he’d steeled himself for something.
“Could we talk alone for a moment?”
Han Yujin laid out a not-so-short explanation, ending with one request.
Nam Soyul asked a few questions first. Mostly about the reasons. Han Yujin answered without hesitation.
But the last one. He couldn’t answer that easily.
He didn’t have to. It was just her personal curiosity. She’d accept a vague excuse.
Han Yujin didn’t dodge. After deep thought, he gave one answer.
Nam Soyul was more than satisfied.
Five more joined, excluding the unconscious or critically injured.
Their wounds weren’t fully healed. Some were out of mana; others still bled from unstaunched gashes.
But their eyes burned fierce. They still had reason to fight.
Fifteen hunters moved out in unison.
The woman at the lead gripped the door handle and turned it. Light flooded the dark passage.
—Kyaeeeeek!
And so a new battle began.