Kang Cheonhu Intrudes into the Dungeon
Jinseok stared blankly at the unfamiliar secondary dimension for a moment. He'd heard about these spaces where monsters appeared, but this was his first time seeing one in person. Overwhelmed mentally by the alien landscape so utterly different from Earth's scenery, he stood frozen.
"Don't just stand there gawking. Check the atmospheric readings."
Seeing Jinseok in the driver's seat staring off into empty space without a word, Miyeon called out to him from the trailer section. Snapping back to reality, Jinseok activated the observation equipment mounted in the trailer.
"R-right. Atmosphere's stable. Good for breathing. Firing up the radar too."
The outside air was perfectly breathable for humans. Jinseok powered on the trailer's search radars and drove forward. Though called a dungeon, it was an incredibly vast secondary dimensional space.
Kurrrr rumble!
The various radars on the trailer mapped the surrounding terrain and displayed it on the monitors. As Jinseok advanced, he spotted a monster pack at a considerable distance.
"Monster pack ahead. About 1km out."
"How many?"
"Radar shows around a hundred mid-sized ones."
"We can handle that. Let's clear them out. Head over."
"Got it!"
Jinseok steered the trailer toward the monsters. Inside dungeons, monster packs were often scattered. Clearing them preemptively helped prepare for any spillover if the dungeon collapsed.
...
Team Valkyrie pressed on, scouting the dungeon while eliminating monsters they encountered. They wiped out packs when they met them but sometimes bypassed them to conserve energy.
"This place is huge. A big dungeon. No way we can cover it all in one go."
Jinseok was recording the terrain data to build a dungeon map. The scale was enormous—at least the size of a Korean province.
"Once we've got a decent map sketched out, we head back. We're the vanguard team, after all."
Surprisingly, dungeon raids rarely ended in a single push. Even elite hero teams couldn't solo an entire dungeon easily. Typically, top teams scouted first, mapping and gathering intel, then subcontracted sections to weaker teams for cleanup. Multiple squads came and went until the dungeon core was destroyed.
That collaborative approach was standard.
As Team Valkyrie's trailer continued deeper, it picked up a powerful monster signature.
"That looks like the boss monster..."
Boss monsters were usually fused with the dungeon core—the dungeon's ruler.
"I'll send a drone to scout."
Instead of rushing in, Jinseok launched a drone from the trailer to observe the distant boss.
"That's... a Gigantes."
The drone's high-speed feed captured a humanoid monster the size of a mountain. Its rocky skin, fangs around its mouth, bald head topped with a massive triangular horn—it resembled a colossal living boulder.
Jinseok recalled the image from his monster identification training. A gigantic kaiju-class beast, rivaling the Behemoth or Kraken he'd fought before.
"Yeah, Gigantes. But it's dormant."
The Gigantes crouched motionless, eyes closed. Without the readings, it might've passed for a giant statue. Miyeon spotted the dormancy from the footage.
"Dormant? What now?"
"No need to tangle with a sleeping one right away. Gear up properly next time. We've confirmed the core and boss—call it for today."
Miyeon had no intention of fighting the dormant Gigantes. Destroying the core would collapse the space, but unleash all the internal monsters outward.
"We haven't cleared enough monsters yet. Popping the dungeon now could spark a disaster."
She was following standard protocol: thin out the mobs first, clean the dungeon, then hit the boss and core.
"Kukuku. A Gigantes, huh? Prime hunting material."
"Wha—?! Th-that's?!"
At that moment, the reconnaissance drone's camera caught a human figure hovering near the Gigantes. A face Jinseok could never forget: Kang Cheonhu.
...
"K-Kang Cheonhu! Wh-when did you get in here?! Wh-what the hell are you planning?!"
Jinseok watched via drone cam, chilled by the ominous vibe. Winds and lightning—Cheonhu's signature powers—whirled around him. His blond hair stood on end, sparking wildly. He looked ready to charge the Gigantes any second.
"Jinseok! Turn on the drone speaker! We have to stop him!"
Miyeon scrambled through the passage from the trailer to the cab, yelling. Even from the video alone, she knew Cheonhu meant to attack.
He had the power to destroy the Gigantes, sure—but doing so now would bring catastrophe.
"On it! Here's the mic!"
Jinseok followed orders, activating the drone's speaker and handing Miyeon the mic. Sound from the trailer's mic piped straight to the drone.
"Kang Cheonhu! Stand down!"
"Huh? That voice... Miyeon? A drone? Marked Team Valkyrie, eh. Kukuku."
Cheonhu glanced at the drone upon hearing her, flashing a sleazy grin. Her voice and the logo gave away the team.
"Stop this right now!"
"Monster hunting's a hero's duty, no? I'm just culling the one in front of me."
Miyeon tried to rein him in, but Cheonhu remained brazenly defiant, arrogant as ever.
"Destroy the Gigantes, and this dungeon space collapses. Plenty of monsters left. You know the damage if they flood out."
Her argument was logical. Core destruction would burst the artificial gate like a popped balloon, spewing everything outside in a rush. The waiting military and researchers could take heavy losses.
"Hmph. The grunts outside'll eat some monster attacks. But they're the special monster response unit, right? Gotta expect that."
"Wh-what?!"
Jinseok seethed at Cheonhu's shamelessness. The outer unit was his old squad—comrades and juniors. The idea of Cheonhu casually sacrificing them turned his stomach.
Grip!
"Jinseok. Calm down. I'll handle persuading him."
"Kgh. F-fine."
But as Jinseok bristled, Miyeon gripped his shoulder, holding him back. He clenched his teeth, swallowing his rage and yielding to her.
(Frustrating, but that bastard would just ignore me anyway.)
No point in Jinseok blowing up—Cheonhu saw him as trash, not worth hearing.
"Attack now, and I'll stop you myself."
"Kukuku. Still got that fire, huh? Real spitfire."
Cheonhu smirked venomously, glaring into the drone cam. His sharp gaze pierced as if seeing through to them.