Plugging the Hole in the Sky
It's time we stop just killing the mutants and start hunting down their source. We have to find where these mutants come from and rip it out by the roots so they can never spawn again.
Yeah, that's what Ibin had said. That was the path the Pioneers chose to resolve Toda's crisis. It was in that process that conflicts arose between Toda's civilians and the Pioneers.
If Ibin unnie dragged me into this dungeon to tell me something, it must mean that. Find the mutant's root here in this dungeon and yank it out.
Even if Seoya did that, it probably wouldn't have any real impact on Toda itself.
Is she reminding me not to forget what I need to do?
"Seoya-nim! We need a fundamental solution! I think we have to find where these monsters are being created and destroy it!"
While Seoya was lost in thought, Jeong Sira seemed to have reached a conclusion based solely on the info they'd gathered in the dungeon so far. And that conclusion matched exactly what Seoya—who knew Toda well—had arrived at.
"You're right. We need to find where the mutants are being made."
But Seoya had no clue where that might be. That's when Jeong Sira pointed up at the sky.
"Look, up there in the sky!"
"Ah, that hole..."
A massive hole gaped open in the pitch-black sky. Ominous black energy hummed around its edges, and every time a streak of inky lightning flashed from it, a new mutant spawned on the ground below.
Seoya spoke in a clear voice upon seeing it.
"That's the source of the mutants. We have to block that."
"But... how do we block it?"
Craining her neck until it ached to stare up at the enormous hole, Seoya pondered how to close it. She could put strength into her legs and leap high, but that didn't mean she could fly.
If I make mana platforms and use them like stairs to approach the hole?
It wouldn't last long, but she could get close for a moment.
Could I close it with mana?
At that moment, Jeong Sira—who'd been checking her System window—spoke up.
"Um, Seoya-nim. Shouldn't we contact Guild Master Lee Gayeon or the others via the chat system? We got sucked in here so suddenly."
"Ah."
"I don't have a connection link to chat with them..."
Come to think of it, since Seoya had been pulled in like this, Lee Gayeon and Park Haejun must be freaking out. Seoya hurriedly opened her chat window.
Seoya didn't have a connection link with Lee Gayeon or Park Haejun, so she couldn't chat with them directly, but she could with Baek Yena and Ji Sein, who were in the same ranking top-10 room.
Sure enough, there were tons of private messages piled up from Baek Yena.
Seeing dozens more messages stacked below, Seoya reflected on her own inattentiveness.
"Are you chatting right now?"
"Yeah, Gayeon unnie should be coming in soon."
Moments later, a System window popped up in front of Seoya.
< 27 │ A │ Lee Gayeon > has invited you to the party 'Troublemaker Surveillance Squad'.
Accept ◀ / Decline
"Why's the party name like that?"
As Seoya narrowed her eyes at the odd name, a warning window appeared before her.
Caution: If there's even one untrustworthy person in the party, we recommend not joining. Only join if you truly trust every member and share a bond!
Seoya clicked accept.
"Someone should be coming in soon, probably..."
Seoya said, still gazing up at the massive hole torn open in the sky. With the immediate worry resolved, an awkward silence settled in.
In truth, Seoya and Jeong Sira had only met about thirty minutes ago, and neither was particularly sociable.
Jeong Sira, standing there awkwardly, glanced at Seoya and spoke first.
"Seoya-nim, shouldn't you tuck your hair inside the cape too?"
"Ah..."
Seoya, who had absentmindedly let her indigo hair spill out, hurriedly stuffed it back inside. Jeong Sira averted her eyes, pretending not to notice the striking color, despite Seoya's sloppy demeanor clashing with her expectations.
Pretty flashy hair color... Judging by her voice and build, she's middle or high school age. Must be dyed. Still young, so she makes mistakes...
It was the kind of slip-up that would make Lee Gayeon clutch her neck and yell, "Our Seoya, think, think!"
"...So, why'd you become a hunter?"
To break the increasingly awkward atmosphere, Seoya spoke up.
"I was unemployed..."
"Ah..."
The mood sobered even further.
"Hunters are a high-income job. Plus, at ranking 22, you could pick Neverending Guild or WithYou Guild and live comfortably on the salary..."
"Uh... how'd you end up unemployed...? Same age as Gayeon unnie, so twenty-nine?"
Seoya asked bluntly, with no knack for beating around the bush on such topics. It was pure curiosity on her part, but to Jeong Sira's ears, it sounded like, What have you been doing without a job until twenty-nine?
Swallowing tears, Jeong Sira replied.
"I was a grad student."
Seoya blinked from inside her cape, not knowing what that was.
"I'd already finished my master's and was working on my PhD. In the humanities grad school. Specifically, history."
"Then why couldn't you get a job?"
At that question, Jeong Sira wore the most genuinely sorrowful expression Seoya had seen yet.
"Once dungeons opened... jobs in humanities got even worse than before..."
"Ah..."
Jeong Sira looked up at the pitch-black sky, wiping away tears. Yeah, if she hadn't awakened as a hunter, that sky would have been her future...
Jeong Sira had entered grad school with the bold dream of, "I'm going to be a professor!" amid the decline of humanities. History, notoriously slow to complete a degree. On her third year of master's studies, she thought:
It's not the same resolve as before anymore... Now that I'm here, I don't just want to be a professor—I have to be one.
"Lit, history, philosophy" were already tough fields, and having gone to grad school left her no other path. So she prayed fervently:
God, please make humanities boom someday... I cry every time I see my STEM friends... Make STEM crash and humanities soar!
And her wish came true... in a slightly twisted way. STEM did crash, as she wanted. But humanities crashed right alongside it.
Dungeons opened, and people turned their focus to survival. University enrollment plummeted yearly, provincial schools shuttered one after another.
I didn't even aim for full professor, but even adjunct positions are gone...
In her PhD process, Jeong Sira realized that even with a doctorate, she'd never land a teaching gig.
Just let me get any job, I'll do anything.
In truth, her becoming a hunter stemmed more from needing to eat than noble sacrifice for civilians. The day she awakened, she bid hasty farewell to her advisor and fled grad school after three years in the PhD track...
Having heard the whole story, Seoya looked nonplussed. Capitalism—what even was it? Plenty of sane people lost their minds because of it.
"Uh, uh-huh... I see..."
Better to switch back to dungeon talk. Seoya pointed at the hole in the sky again.
"While we wait for Gayeon unnie, let's try closing the hole ourselves."
"I'm a pure protection-type magic hunter. I have a skill similar to telekinesis too."
Jeong Sira mumbled in a somewhat lacking-confidence tone.
"But I can't apply force to something that far away with my skill."
"You can use a telekinesis-like skill?"
"Yes."
Seoya nodded slowly. If she could wield that power, it might be better to use Jeong Sira's ability to make platforms instead of Seoya's mana.
"Can you lift me up near that hole?"
"Pardon? But we don't know exactly what that black hole is, so it could be dangerous..."
"It's fine. Nothing in this world is a threat to me."
Seoya said in a somewhat meaningful tone.
"I can't make you fly, but I think I can shape something like stairs with my skill."
"That's exactly what I want. How long can it last?"
"A few minutes should be no problem."
"That'll do."
Seoya said, slowly stretching.