Hey, Do That Thing

"Okay, why are there so many of these!!"

"Summoner! Get ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠behind me!"

Barely ten minutes into our bold dungeon run, we'd already hit a wall.

There was no special reason for it. The enemy count was just obscenely, ridiculously high.

Every thirty seconds or so, a fresh wave of ghosts poured out of a new station, and even Oksun was starting to run out of options.

"Spirits of heaven and earth, fulfill my will!"

Oksun was doing everything she could, chanting spells as fast as she could manage, but—

"Don't leave me behind…"

"It hurts… it hurts so much…"

"Nngh— Azure Spirit, grant the dead their rest!"

The sheer volume of ghosts boarding at every station was slowly pushing us back. For every hundred she banished with a single exorcism chant, a hundred and fifty more came charging in.

Honestly, one fireball from Yeonbi would've cleaned the whole mess up.

Unfortunately, Yeonbi's resummon cooldown still hadn't expired.

Being a five-star summon, her cooldown was twice as long as Oksun's, and today it felt longer than ever. Roughly eighteen minutes left. Whether we could hold out that long was anyone's guess.

"Nngh— I can't hold them, Summoner! Get down!"

"What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?!"

"I'm using a large-scale technique! Hit the floor, now!"

The urgency in Oksun's voice left no room for questions. I dropped without another word.

An enormous blast and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a bone-rattling shockwave hit in the same instant. When I lifted my head again, the inside of the train car had been completely gutted — shredded ghost remains included, free of charge.

"Oksun! Are you okay?!"

"Hah… hah… I'm… fine."

Her words said one thing. Her condition said another. Forcing that much power had left parts of her form flickering thin, and her eyes were shaking far too hard.

"You're not fine. Rest for a bit."

"No — we have to get through the door—"

"If something happens to you, I die in here too. Sit. Rest."

"…Understood."

I understood why Oksun was pushing so hard to clear the dungeon. It was the civilians trapped in the final car. I wanted to save them just as badly — which was exactly why I needed to stay rational.

The next car is the last one… but we have no margin left.

Thanks to Oksun's efforts, we'd already pushed through five cars and had only the final one remaining. But Oksun was spent, and I was basically a bookish civilian who didn't know how to fight. I'd considered waiting out Yeonbi's cooldown — even that wasn't an option.

"Ugh. Terminal station, my ass."

Everything about that announcement screamed that something very bad would happen the moment we arrived. Best-case scenario: clear the dungeon inside of ten minutes.

I wasn't completely without a plan. I started moving.

"Oksun. That exorcism technique of yours — can I use it too?"

After about five minutes of rest, we finished preparing to enter the final car.

"How are you feeling?"

"I've recovered to roughly forty percent of full strength."

Forty percent. Fine for the ordinary ghost trash mobs — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but what came next was a boss fight. A straight-up brawl was probably out of the question. I checked my status window.

"Thirteen minutes, huh…"

I ran through the plan I'd already laid out in my head and headed for the final car. The subway door looked strangely massive today. I pushed it open — and a bizarre scene greeted me.

"Hoh. So you are my challengers?"

Unlike every car before it, the final car stretched on without end. Thousands of people were pressed face-down against the floor, trembling. I'd expected hundreds of them to already be dead, but surprisingly, there didn't seem to be any casualties yet.

And floating above them all, the finishing touch: a single enormous eyeball wrapped in tentacles.

"Ah, pay them no mind. I intend to put them to use at the terminal station."

"Wow. An eyeball that talks. Great."

I kept my face calm. Internally, I was reeling. As far as I knew, monsters capable of human speech were almost always S-rank or higher. And using thousands of civilians at the terminal station? Chilling.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ilyeong — seeker of the arcane path beyond death."

"Han Yuseong."

"A fine name. Tell me — have you no desire to simply turn back?"

The giant eye's question made me pause. If the other side didn't want a fight, was there any real need to force one? Maybe the smart play was to take the out and run while it was still offering.

But no matter how I turned it over—

"I don't want to die…!"

"Mom, I'm sorry… I think I'm going first…"

"Is someone here?"

"Sounds like just one person. It won't matter…"

I couldn't just leave.

I couldn't stand there and watch all these people die. If their ghosts started showing up in my dreams, how was I supposed to sleep?

"I can't just walk away."

"A pity. I had intended to let at least one of you go."

"You were going to let me live?"

"Hahaha! As a corpse, naturally."

"You absolute lunatic."

So he'd planned to kill both ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of us either way. That actually made things simpler — there had only ever been one choice.

Time to execute the plan.

"Hey. Eyeball. You of the afterlife-whatever."

"Hm. Have you a final request?"

"You like dragons?"

"If you mean the Western variety, I hold a certain fondness for them, yes."

I hadn't expected the final car to look like this — but the conditions were perfect. Every civilian was face-down on the floor, and the only target I needed to drop was one giant eyeball. Ideal setup for a flashbang.

"But why bring up dragons all of a sudd—"

"Figured I'd introduce you. Thunder Dragon Torrent!!"

I fired it off before he could finish. A colossal dragon of pure lightning roared and charged, and the boss monster flinched hard into a defensive stance.

"W-what is this!!"

Yeah. Confusing, right? I'd thought it was some god-tier skill the first time too.

"Urgh…! Wait…?"

He figured out soon enough that it dealt no damage — but I was already moving. In those five minutes of rest, I'd half-assed my way through learning a scrap of exorcism energy from Oksun. My proficiency was so low I could only load a little into my fist, but that was enough.

"Ghk— my vision…!"

"Summoner, now!"

Oksun had been holding her breath for the opening. We struck together. Her talisman detonated and staggered him, and I drove my fist straight into the giant eyeball through the gap.

"You insolent wretches!"

My all-or-nothing punch accomplished absolutely nothing. The only result my pathetic attack produced was his rage. Tentacles seized me instantly, and a mass of raw mana went flying at Oksun.

"Kyaa!"

"Crap — dismiss!"

I dismissed Oksun before the attack could land, but the situation itself hadn't changed. I was still wrapped in tentacles, and Yeonbi's cooldown still had about ten minutes left.

"I humor you for a moment, and you forget your place."

"Kh…"

"Hahaha! Did you truly believe a scheme this crude could bring me down?!"

The giant eye smiled with its… eye, laughing in my face. He wasn't wrong. A plan this flimsy had no business taking down a dungeon boss.

"Ha. You really think that was the whole plan, you bastard?"

"What?"

Of course I hadn't expected that alone to kill him. That had just been the setup.

"Claim all challenge rewards. Everything."

Unlike the bigger challenges I'd cleared before, these little ones barely paid out any diamonds.

It took clearing all three just to scrape together three hundred. I didn't waste a second.

"Out-of-this-world Summoning. One pull."

On any other day I would've been praying not to land a one-star. Today was different. I'd already stacked ninety-nine pulls. This was the one left before pity.

"Hey. Eyeball-face."

"I present myself before my Summoner."

"Go on. Try laughing again, you son of a bitch."

You're dead now.