The Danju's Dance
“Hellooo?”
Maru stepped into a room splattered entirely in red.
The chamber she entered was narrower and far messier than the ones Haru, Teraden, or even Blanser had faced. Sculptures, gaudy garments, and tools of unknown purpose lay scattered across the floor, making it impossible to tell whether this was a room or a junkyard.
Maru had to pick her way carefully through the clutter, barely finding space to set her feet.
“Um, excuse meee? Is anyone there?!”
Jingle-jingle.
In the corner, the Danju who had been twirling the beaded staff on the platform earlier was still dancing. Every movement sent out a clear, soothing chime.
“Oh… hello!”
Spotting the man, Maru called out loudly to the back of his head.
“Uwaaah… begone.”
The man in the colorful robes paid her greeting no mind, continuing to shake the beaded staff with frantic energy.
“Hellooo—!!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Maru marched right up behind him and shouted.
Though she hadn’t meant to, being ignored twice had soured her mood, and her voice came out louder than intended.
The sudden shout from directly behind him finally snapped the dancing man out of his trance.
“Aah, welcome, welcome. You made it just fine.”
He stopped dancing, turned around, and greeted her in a thick, rustic dialect.
The moment Feygal’s sword, drawn from his waist, was about to cleave into Teraden—
—Brrrmp brrrmp brrrmp brrrmp brrrmp brrrmp brrrmp.
A thunderous trumpet blast erupted from the upper half of the empty hourglass. Both combatants froze mid-motion.
Feygal’s blade hovered a hair’s breadth from Teraden’s right armpit and ribs, while Teraden’s fist stopped just short of Feygal’s nose.
“A shame, but time’s up. We’ll have to stop here. Candidate 122, Teraden. You pass. I sincerely congratulate you on clearing the first gate—the interview.”
The same Feygal who had radiated murderous intent only seconds ago now smiled faintly and returned his sword to his subspace as if nothing had happened.
His attitude had flipped completely.
“…?”
One moment he looked ready to kill, the next he was suddenly using honorifics?
Teraden’s thoughts ground to a halt, unable to process the shift.
‘Did I ever tell him my name? No, that’s not the point right now!’
After a brief daze, Teraden snapped back to reality and exploded in fury, his voice echoing through the testing hall.
“What the hell kind of rule is that?! If we started, we should finish the fight!”
“Oh my! Are you about to commit violence against a Danju? Causing a disturbance with force outside the test will result in immediate disqualification. Are you sure you want to proceed?”
“N-no…!”
“Then have a pleasant day. I’ll call the next candidate.”
Feygal pointed politely toward the exit, his tone anything but courteous.
“Tch. Fine, I’m going. I’m leaving because I’m the bigger person here!”
Threatened with disqualification, Teraden backed down, fuming as he stormed out of the room.
Feygal watched his retreating figure with a faint smile, steam practically rising from the boy’s head.
‘Interesting kid. Still, that last exchange could’ve gone badly. If the trumpet hadn’t sounded… hmm.’
Once Teraden left, Feygal summoned several waiting assistants to clean up the testing hall.
“W-what happened here? What on earth—”
The assistants who entered stared in shock at the broken weapon fragments littering the floor.
“Haha, it seems this year’s Danju Selection has an exceptionally high caliber of applicants. To think the Danju has already gone through this many weapons.”
One assistant chuckled and began gathering the debris.
“Huh? No, those were all used on just one person who left a moment ago.”
“What? All of this on a single candidate?”
“Yeah. Hard to believe, right?”
Feygal nodded, brushing dust from his clothes.
“Ah, and sorry, but I need to step out for a bit. Could you handle the cleanup while I’m gone?”
“Pardon? Did you get injured?”
“Nothing like that. I just used up half my weapons and need to restock. Anyway, I’m counting on you.”
“Y-yes, of course!”
Leaving the assistants to their task, Feygal headed toward the storeroom inside the testing hall.
Teraden, having left Feygal’s testing hall, was in a foul mood over the unfinished duel.
“Huff, huff! Damn it! This feels so unsatisfying…! What are you staring at?! Never seen an angry person before?! Why’ve you been glancing at me this whole time?!”
Teraden, eyes blazing, roared at the people shooting him uneasy looks.
Startled, they quickly averted their gazes, unwilling to provoke the walking volcano any further.
‘What a temper…’
They muttered curses under their breath.
“Hiss! Hissss!!”
“Your personality’s still as rotten as ever. Calm down. Here.”
Daibang, left alone, tossed a towel at Teraden to help him cool off.
“Huh? Why are you by yourself? Where’d the others go?”
Teraden wiped the blood and dust from his face with the towel.
“My number ended in 2, same as yours, so they all went ahead. You look like hell. Was the test that hard?”
Daibang’s expression grew concerned; he had also been assigned to Testing Hall 2.
“Hmm?”
“W-what? Why are you looking at me like that?”
When Teraden stopped wiping and stared, Daibang swallowed nervously.
“You’re probably gonna fail.”
“What?! You little—!!”
“Ah, don’t spit on me. And my ears are ringing. Keep it down.”
“If you passed, there’s no way I’d fail! Just tell me what the test was like already! Hurry!!”
‘His nerves are really fried, huh, kekeke.’
Teraden swallowed a laugh at Daibang’s reaction.
“You’ll have to fight the Danju for about an hour. He’s ridiculously strong. It’ll probably come down to a razor’s edge, so give it everything. Oh, and one warning—watch out for the cylindrical thing and the black sword.”
“Black sword? Got it, but what’s this cylindrical thing? What the hell are you—”
“Is Candidate 292 here?”
Before Teraden could finish, an attendant called the next name. The testing hall had already been reset.
Daibang’s number was among those called.
“Uh…! 292? That’s me? But I haven’t heard everything yet…”
“I told you everything I could. Just do your best. I’ll be rooting for you.”
Daibang glanced at his number tag, fidgeting like he’d forgotten to wipe, then reluctantly headed for the testing hall.
‘Cylindrical thing, black sword, cylindrical thing, black sword, cylinderrr, black swooord…!!’
“Haa.”
After Daibang left, Teraden finished wiping his face and stared at the dirty towel, clenching his fist.
‘If it had gone to the end, I probably would’ve… Tch.’
‘…Stop… it…’
The mysterious voice in his head jolted him like an electric shock.
“…Hey!”
“H-huh?”
In the dim space, Teraden shook Haru’s shoulder roughly, snapping him back to attention.
Haru felt dizzy and disoriented, as if his mind had briefly cut out. He couldn’t remember what he had been trying to do.
“Why are you spacing out? Are you hurt?”
“Are you okay, Oppa?”
Maru and Teraden looked at him with concern.
“No, I’m fine. Really.”
“Then let’s hurry and rescue them before it’s too late.”
“Rescue? Who?”
“Who else? The people kidnapped by those criminals.”
“…Ah, right. That’s what I was supposed to do.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Nothing. Just talking to myself.”
Teraden gave him a suspicious look before leading the way down the circular staircase. Haru followed.
“How can there be a structure like this underground? And why’s it so dark?”
Teraden lit the area with Bright Light, grumbling as he felt along the wall.
Yet to Haru, the place didn’t feel entirely unfamiliar. It was absurd, but he almost felt as though he had been here before.
At the bottom of the stairs, after passing through a long corridor, they reached a wide circular cavern.
“Looks like a bunch of toys worth collecting showed up.”
Waiting for them was a strangely familiar woman.
“…?”
It wasn’t just her appearance that felt familiar—her words also carried an odd sense of déjà vu.
“Ah… I’m already swamped, and it’s not like I’m a mole. Why do people keep popping up out of nowhere? This is driving me insane.”
“Leave this place to me, Oppa!”
Maru stepped forward in place of Teraden, who was about to charge ahead in irritation.
“Tch, fine. Maru, I’ll leave this to you, so don’t push yourself, okay?”
“Okay!”
“Good. Let’s go.”
Without argument, Haru followed Teraden.
Something was wrong. He couldn’t explain it, but a creeping sense of unease refused to leave him.
Though his mind screamed that the situation felt off, his body moved forward as if it were perfectly natural.
Leaving Maru behind, they hurried to a smaller cavern, unlike the previous one.
The entire space was engulfed in flames. From within an iron cage in the corner, desperate voices cried out for help.
“P-please help us!”
“Please…! Please save us!!”
“Hang in there a little longer, even if it’s tough. We’ll knock these bastards out real quick and get you out.”
The commotion alerted the enemies in the cavern to their intrusion.
“Well now, just the two of you came all the way here?”
“They reached this far without a single wound. Don’t let your guard down. We’ll deal with them quickly and erase all traces.”
Two men who appeared to be enemies emerged slowly from a corner.
The moment their faces came fully into view, Haru unconsciously spoke a name.
“Oban? Il-eun?”