Special Business Designee: Baek Jaesung 17
Yu Hana, an employee in the Dungeon Management Department of the Hunter Association, jumped in surprise when the CCTV feed from the operating artificial dungeon suddenly went dark.
She had been monitoring the test participant undergoing the special business designee evaluation from the dungeon control room. She urgently pressed the emergency control button for the dungeon, but strangely, there was no response.
"What the hell? I need to stop the test first…."
She hit the shutdown button to halt the artificial dungeon's operation. Normally, a blaring siren and dungeon shutdown alert would have triggered. But still, nothing happened. She grabbed the radio and called for other staff.
"Team Leader! What's going on all of a sudden!?"
Employees from Team Leader Park Hana's group rushed into the artificial dungeon control room. Having heard Park Hana's frantic shout, their faces were all grim. They could sense that something had gone wrong.
Problems in artificial dungeons were rare, but when they did occur, they were a real headache. An artificial dungeon was still a dungeon, after all.
"I can't control the dungeon at all. We've lost control completely!"
"What!? How is that…."
The CCTV monitoring the dungeon interior had gone black, and the shutdown button wasn't responding. A malfunction was unlikely. Someone had maliciously hijacked the dungeon control system.
"This is bad! Call in the system control experts, now!"
"Then what about the artificial dungeon right now? The test participants inside…."
There were about 30 dungeon hunters inside the dungeon. Their lives were worth more than a fighter jet. And among them were promising dungeon hunters whose value had been skyrocketing lately.
"If we force the dungeon door open, the people inside might get hurt! Regaining system control is the top priority!"
Hijacking a system managed by the Hunter Association was incredibly difficult. Especially this dungeon control system, secured at the level of a nuclear power plant. Only a hunter with relevant abilities could pull something like that off.
'This is basically declaring war on the Korean Hunter Association. There has to be… a massive Demonic Clan behind it.'
The thought sent chills down her spine. Yu Hana shouted urgently to her subordinates.
"Move, fast! Hurry!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
The report shot up the chain of command in under a minute. Soon after, an ability user capable of resolving the situation arrived, accompanied by a teleporter.
It was Ji Seokho, team leader of Security Department Security Team 1 at the Hunter Association. His ability was Cybernetics. He wielded power in realms related to machines and computing.
Ji Seokho immediately examined the artificial dungeon control system. As he placed his hand on the instrument panel managing the system, his mind linked with the digital world.
Weeeeng!
His consciousness plunged into the digital realm. Ji Seokho stood in a cold space where inorganic steel paved the ground. Precisely, his body remained in reality, but his mind had entered the cyber world.
It was a world he'd visited before. He was the one who had built this artificial dungeon control system.
The cyber world's landscape was exactly as he remembered. Vast structures stood at regular intervals in all directions—an abstract manifestation of the artificial dungeon management system made concrete.
"Hm? That's…."
Ji Seokho's gaze turned to the massive tower at the center of the steel plain. Like a dragon ascending to the heavens captured and impaled into the earth, it was the most important structure in this cyber realm. The artificial dungeon system's control core was housed there.
But at the tower's heart loomed an ominous black cloud. Ji Seokho realized that this black cloud was what had crippled the artificial dungeon management system. Remove the cloud, and he could reclaim control of the dungeon.
He headed straight for the tower. In the cyber world, he could wield powers beyond reality. His body teleported instantly to his desired location.
"Damn… If they'd tried to force the dungeon door open, it was designed to self-destruct."
The black cloud wasn't just seizing control of the artificial dungeon. It contained several detonation commands as well.
The energy used to operate an artificial dungeon was immense. If it all detonated at once, the lives of the dungeon hunters inside couldn't be guaranteed.
"Work of someone with an ability like mine. A crime on this scale… it has to be the Demonic Clan…! Ugh!"
Sensing a presence, Ji Seokho attempted to teleport. But he materialized about 5 meters off from his intended coordinates. The enemy had interfered with his movement.
In the cyber world, Cybernetics users could restrict each other's powers.
"Who are you!?"
"Doesn't matter who I am. Just play with me quietly until the job's done."
A man about 170cm tall in a gray hood appeared. His presence in this cyber space meant he had the same ability type as Ji Seokho.
The black mist was probably this man's doing too. Biting his lip, Ji Seokho raised his fists. To resolve this incident, he needed to take this guy down first.
A black beam shot toward me. Or more precisely, it stretched out toward my back.
Thud!
"Gahk!"
Park Seungrok spewed blood and flew backward. Then, something bizarre happened. The air around Park Seungrok warped like heat haze, and his body completely transformed.
The changed Park Seungrok was a short, bald dwarf. He looked to be in his mid-40s.
"Jaesung, that guy's an assassin!"
Han Seungjin's single remark pieced the situation together. The other dungeon hunter Han Seungjin had killed was an assassin. And Park Seungrok, who had been on our team, was an assassin too. Or maybe the assassin had been masquerading as Park Seungrok.
I had no idea why an assassin was in this artificial dungeon or how Han Seungjin knew Park Seungrok was one, but that wasn't the priority right now. What mattered was that this assassin wearing Park Seungrok's skin wasn't dead yet.
"Krrgh! How did you see through it!?"
"I pierced your illusion with my ability. To be precise, it doesn't seem like your own ability. You must have gotten help from an Illuminator Demonic of at least 3-rank skill."
"Tch! For a punk like you to see through his illusion!"
"I got lucky. I'm sensitive to that sort of thing."
Han Seungjin smirked.
"Tch! Our goal is killing you anyway! That's all that matters!"
The dwarf shitstick launched himself at Han Seungjin, ignoring me completely. It was so ridiculous I fired a holy missile at him.
"Don't interfere!"
He dodged the holy missile with agile movements.
"No matter how arrogant you are, you're just a lump of meat to me!"
Suddenly, the guy's body began to turn transparent. Come to think of it, Park Seungrok's ability was Invisibility. Or rather, the assassin's ability, since he was impersonating him.
"If even a 3-rank dungeon hunter's illusion couldn't fool my eyes, you think that lame stealth trick will work?"
Han Seungjin said with a relaxed expression.
"Darkness Radar."
Han Seungjin activated Darkness Radar right away. I used the same ability. The darkness settling around us boosted the radar's performance even further.
'Hm… Even with Darkness Radar, I can't spot him. That dwarf's ability mastery is higher than I thought.'
At minimum, in terms of Darkness Control, Han Seungjin was clearly superior to me. My Darkness Radar couldn't detect the assassin. He was tucked away tight with stealth tech.
"Shallow trick."
Han Seungjin stared into empty space with cold eyes. Black arrows surged toward it.
BOOM!
The Darkness Arrow exploded in mid-air. Precisely where the assassin had been.
Han Seungjin's Darkness Arrow packed insane power. Everything within a 10-meter radius of the blast was obliterated. A small crater formed in front of us, and the shockwave made it hard to keep our eyes open.
Even for Darkness Control, famous for raw destructive force, his power stood out. Definitely stronger than mine.
The assassin reappeared. One arm was gone, blood pouring from his forehead. He'd avoided instant death, but it was no mercy.
"Darkness Saber."
Gripping his sword, Han Seungjin moved on the assassin. In an instant, he severed both legs. The hesitation-free motion was impressive.
"Krrgh!"
The assassin clamped his mouth shut. I rushed in and kicked his jaw.
"Guhek!"
He'd bitten his tongue wrong—it was severed. A chunk of tongue flesh and a small capsule popped from his mouth.
"He just tried to kill himself. Definitely a trained assassin."
Han Seungjin clearly didn't want this assassin dead yet. If he did, he'd have vaporized him with Darkness Arrow, leaving no corpse to find.
"Is that so? Thanks for the help. I'm still green at this stuff—almost messed up."
He bowed his head in thanks. We both slowly turned to the assassin at the same time.
"I want to get information out of him."
I nodded at Han Seungjin's words.
"Same here. I'm curious which ballsy bastards pulled off a stunt this big."
A few suspects came to mind right away. Maybe assassins sent by another Hunter Association to sabotage the dungeon entertainment business. Or was that jumping to conclusions?
"I… I d-donno nuffin'!"
The assassin, lisping from his severed tongue, flailed his remaining arm. I drew my Light Saber and sliced off that arm too. He was getting the death penalty anyway.
"Gaaahhh!"
"Even if you don't know now, you'll learn! Seungjin, leave this guy to me. I'll have him talking in 10 minutes—no, 5."
"Uh… you sure?"
"Don't worry. He won't die until he spills everything he knows."
I ran the Inferno torture chamber in Solari World. I knew agony worse than death all too well.
Han Seungjin didn't seem too concerned for the assassin's well-being either. The merciless way he'd hacked off those legs was still fresh in my mind.
"Then, I'll leave it to you."
"Just leave him to me!"
Torture time—fun times.
"Gaaahhh!"
My other temporary party member, Yang Hyunmin, winced and turned away like he'd seen something he shouldn't have.