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chapter 102
[You have completed part of the achievement conditions.]
[Achievement Conditions]
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Comprehend the Five Senses (1/5)
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Complete Floor Mission (1/5)
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Recognition of the Gatekeeper (1/5)
[You have entered the 2nd Floor.]
Lee Hyun stepped out of the building where the Bright Stone Guardian had been and exited outside.
Although all senses except for touch were still sealed and inconvenient, that very lack made his heightened sense of touch feel the eerie, chilling wind even more vividly.
And the feeling of his feet sinking into the soft ground.
A forest. It’s a forest.
A forest so thickly overgrown with trees that it was hard to see through.
But unlike the forests in ordinary dungeons, something about this one felt different.
Much more sinister. It’s not just because it’s night or dawn… there’s even a spiritual yin energy lingering here.
Indeed, faint traces of something were being detected through his thunder-vision.
From behind trees, atop branches, and even intermingled with the very air.
A great number of beings were watching him.
I’ll need to awaken more senses to get a clearer read on this. Should I give it a try?
Normally, he would’ve chosen sight first since it’s the most useful.
No. I’ll save vision for as late as possible. It’ll be harder, but if I train the other senses first, it should help when I finally open my sight.
Vision accounts for the vast majority of human perception—over 80% of external stimuli processed by the brain is visual information.
If he opened his sight too soon, the other senses would never get properly trained.
So Lee Hyun chose hearing, the next most practical sense.
Fortunately, unsealing it wasn’t difficult.
The moment he focused his intent toward his ears—
[The Vessel of Thought concentrates awareness on hearing. Your intent stimulates your auditory sense.]
[Among your sealed senses, hearing awakens. You have partially completed the first achievement condition. (2/5)]
[You can now hear and understand a wide variety of sounds.]
The sensation of the once silent world cracking open was fresh and exhilarating.
It was as if his very existence had just broken free from a suffocating shell.
Same as with touch, but this is on another level. I can even hear insects leaping in the distant grass.
So this was the world as heard through the ears of a demon. Another new truth revealed itself.
And then—
Screeeech!
Ki-ki-ki-ki!
Amidst the gentle mountain breeze, ghostly wails rang out.
「Ki-ki-ki-kik.」
「A human, a human.」
「Why has a human come here?」
「Did he come to die?」
Strangely enough, he could understand the “conversation” hidden within those eerie shrieks.
It should have been nothing more than meaningless wails, yet somehow their intent reached him.
Is it because I’ve awakened a demon’s sense, so I can now hear their voices too?
An unexpected and invaluable gain.
Feigning ignorance, Lee Hyun continued walking while focusing on their chatter.
These seemed to be specter-type beings that lurked in the forest, luring in and devouring the occasional lost traveler.
「And the Gatekeeper? What does the Gatekeeper say?」
「He says a human who isn’t a demon cannot be acknowledged as a new Apostle.」
「So then we just leave him be?」
What?
Lee Hyun frowned.
This was a different reaction compared to the Bright Stone Guardian.
If the Gatekeeper doesn’t appear—what then?
「Then can we eat him?」
「Heehee. He’s got lots of trauma too.」
「He seems full of mana. Let’s eat him.」
「Let’s eat him, let’s eat him.」
The more the specters whispered, the louder and heavier the eerie shrieks pressing down on the forest became.
And then—
“Snff… what’s this? Crying…? A man… bawling like a baby…”
The booming echo shook the forest.
“……!?”
Lee Hyun’s eyes widened.
Four years ago.
The image of his brother dying in his arms surfaced.
「Ki-kik! Did you see that?」
「He’s shocked, he’s shocked.」
「Humans are such fools.」
But to the specters, this was nothing more than entertainment.
“Why the hell did it have to be like this?!”
“Because… my dumb little brother… was about to die… so the big brother had to save him… otherwise… who would…?”
The specters were dragging out his trauma, exposing memories he’d rather keep buried.
“And didn’t I tell you…? Don’t trust people too much… he’s not the one…”
“Take my eyes instead…”
“I thought my brother was handsome… but up close, you’re kind of ugly…”
And not only that—
“Senior, get back!”
“Leave this to us…”
“Why? You ask why? I’m just taking what should have been mine all along.”
The voices of comrades who had died for him.
The mocking laughter of Seo Chang-Woo when he betrayed them.
And—
“No reason. Sorry.”
Even the voice of the lover he no longer wished to remember.
[The specters’ curse continues.]
[They stimulate your trauma, inducing hallucinations and auditory delusions.]
[Beware of nervous breakdown.]
It seemed the mission of the 2nd floor was to overcome trauma.
So they won’t even show themselves, huh?
Annoyance surged within Lee Hyun.
Moments he could never forget were reduced to nothing more than amusement for others.
「His steps stopped. They stopped.」
「Not even speaking.」
「Looks like the trauma’s eating him alive. Ki-ki-ki.」
「Can we eat him now? Now? Hm?」
As Lee Hyun remained unresponsive, the specters gleefully began to reveal themselves.
Figures draped in white shrouds, clutching long scythes.
They intended to slice up and devour his soul.
But—
[Curse Immunity (SS) activates, nullifying all of the specters’ curses!]
「…Huh?」
「The curses just vanished?」
The triumphant specters faltered.
Lee Hyun silently pulled out the Infernal Flame Staff from his inventory and stabbed it into the ground.
Thud!
“So you really won’t show yourselves until the end?”
This time, he spoke out loud. His voice trembled with fury.
“Fine. Let’s see how long you can keep that up.”
[‘Sacred Relic: Infernal Flame Staff’ unleashes Hellfire!]
Fwoooosh!!
In an instant, crimson-black flames erupted from the staff.
Far beyond what it had been when it was merely Sahun’s weapon—this was on another level entirely.
Lee Hyun intended to burn the entire forest to the ground.
[The flames spiral out of control!]
[You have been acknowledged by the Infernal Flame Staff. Your mastery skyrockets, allowing you to wield various forms of firestorm.]
「Th-this lunatic!」
「The forest is burning! Burning!!」
「Put it out—kyaaaah! It’s hot! I’ll be purified!!」
The specters panicked, some throwing themselves into the blaze, others swinging their scythes at him.
But the flames of the Demon King of Flames were unlike ordinary fire.
They burned not only the material, but also the spiritual. Unless you borrowed the power of an underworld lord, there was no resisting them.
And this was fire of the Infernal Flame attribute.
The more there was to burn, the fiercer it grew—until it could engulf the world itself.
That was the fundamental difference from the Thunder attribute.
Lightning was fast and destructive but lasted only an instant.
Flame was different.
It might take time to spread, but once it gained momentum, it would never be easily extinguished.
In theory, with enough fuel, it could burn forever.
And here—
There’s plenty to burn.
Even if the Gatekeeper had been shirking his duty, he wouldn’t stand by while his own domain was reduced to ashes.
Occasionally, specters lunged at Lee Hyun—
Crack! Crackle!
Boom! Boom!!
Each time, firebolts erupted from the staff, splitting them apart and erasing them.
He focused especially on annihilating those who had mimicked the voices of his brother and comrades.
「N-no! This can’t be!」
「We have to call the Gatekeeper!!」
As the specters scattered in terror—
Fwoooosh—
Lee Hyun walked forward, dragging behind him a long tail of flame.
In the direction the specters had fled.
Toward where the Gatekeeper was most likely waiting.
“Sorry about this, Assistant Manager Kim. The matter is too urgent.”
“No problem, Deputy Director. It happens.”
“Funny, for someone saying that, your face looks quite annoyed.”
Im Won-Young chuckled lightly at Kim Min-Jung’s sulky expression.
She had once been his secretary and partner, but was now the ace of Team Z. He couldn’t help but find her endearing.
Still, he did feel guilty.
She had been granted a special extended vacation as a reward for the last mission.
For an office worker, those days off must’ve been bliss.
And yet he had dragged her back in the middle of it.
But Im Won-Young truly had no choice.
“How’s Team Leader Jang doing?”
“You contacted him too?”
“Is he on vacation?”
“No idea. Haven’t heard from him in a while.”
Min-Jung answered flatly.
“He’s probably holed up somewhere training.”
“Training…?”
That shocked Im Won-Young.
She nodded.
“He used to be like that even back in Blue Thunder. While others went home or enjoyed a holiday in Jeju, he’d lock himself in the training hall day and night.”
“……”
“Said it was good because no one would bother him. Which just made the rest of us feel guilty for taking time off. Honestly, he’s not human.”
Im Won-Young couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
People called him a workaholic, but compared to Lee Hyun, it was another level entirely.
And that’s exactly why he regained his place. That’s the charm of Team Leader Jang.
He smiled faintly, thinking of the man who was practically his savior.
“Well, then I’ll just have to lean on you even more, Assistant Manager Kim.”
“…What exactly are you about to dump on me? Is this another mission?”
“Not a mission, but maybe something even more troublesome.”
She took the document he handed her and narrowed her eyes.
“Astra… is coming to Korea?”
“No. They’re already here.”
It was an official communiqué.
A formal cooperation request from ASTRA, the United States’ most famous awakened unit.
Several members were scheduled to be dispatched to Korea on official missions, and they wanted support from White Burn.
But Im Won-Young’s words were even more surprising.
They were already here and carrying out operations.
“This should’ve gone to the Ministry of Defense, not to us.”
“That’s what I thought too. But as you can see, it was addressed specifically to the Dungeon Strategy Headquarters—and to Team Z.”
“Wow. We’ve gone global without even knowing it.”
Min-Jung shook her head in disbelief.
But Im Won-Young nodded seriously.
“Global indeed. Our team leader is Jet, after all.”
“……”
“And with the Ulleungdo incident spreading, the whole world is in an uproar.”
She clicked her tongue but had to agree.
The Ulleungdo mission had been classified, never officially announced.
But given the magnitude of it, most intelligence networks around the world had caught wind of it.
They might not know the full details, but they knew that the old Blue Thunder carried out the operation—and that Jet was the commander.
And with U.S. forces already stationed in Korea, there was no way America and ASTRA hadn’t learned.
Naturally, ASTRA wanting to meet Lee Hyun was to be expected.
…Didn’t they say ASTRA had a hand in forcing Blue Thunder’s disbandment, alongside the Committee?
Min-Jung could almost guess ASTRA’s true feelings.
When reports came in that the legend had returned—what had they thought first?
“Recently, ASTRA’s been butting heads with the Committee too. They probably see this as their chance to step in.”
“So those who sat back waiting for our strength to be whittled down are suddenly scrambling to get a piece of the pie.”
The reason the U.S. and ASTRA hadn’t intervened until now, while White Burn fought the Committee, was simple.
They wanted to wear down San-Shin Mo Jeong-Gyeon’s power as much as possible.
No matter how strong White Burn was, surely they couldn’t withstand China’s backing of the Central Heroes Committee.
But their calculations had failed.
White Burn hadn’t just endured—they had taken the upper hand on every battlefield, domestic and abroad.
There were even whispers that the Committee might soon face total annihilation.
Meanwhile, White Burn’s reputation had soared sky-high.
And now Jet was with them too?
That was like thunder from a clear sky.
The U.S. couldn’t allow White Burn’s influence to expand unchecked.
So ASTRA had been hastily dispatched.
If they find out that the Jet they fear so much is planning to strike mainland China directly… I wonder what faces they’ll make then.
Min-Jung’s lips twitched.
Im Won-Young said:
“If this continues, HQ’s power will become uncontrollable. They must be burning inside.”
“And they won’t want to see their grip on the Korean Peninsula slipping either.”
He nodded.
“Exactly. Officially, they’ll act as mediators between us and the Committee, but they’ve made it clear they’re ready to provide military support if necessary.”
“Suppress White Burn’s rise and shove China back into its cage. Two birds with one stone.”
“Right. So, I’d like you to accompany them in Team Leader Jang’s stead.”
“Understood. If it’s that important, of course I will.”
She accepted readily.
She agreed that the less exposed Lee Hyun was to outsiders, the better.
“Thank you, really. That takes a load off my mind.”
He sighed in relief.
With the sharp and capable Kim Min-Jung, he could trust her to handle ASTRA in Jang’s absence.
Then another matter came to mind.
“Oh, and the personnel reshuffle just wrapped up. The vacancies in Team Z will soon be filled—”
“Actually, could you hold off on that for now? I might have some candidates coming in soon.”
He tilted his head, then chuckled at her smile.
“In that case, bring in whoever you think we need. We’ll back you up.”
“Thank you.”
Im Won-Young couldn’t help but wonder—
When the newly completed Team Z finally met ASTRA, what sort of scene would unfold?
