Chapter 91

Chapter 91

"Hi."

At the sight of Choi Yeon looking at him and smiling in a pleased manner, Young-jae couldn't help but cheer inwardly.

".......Hello."

But if he were to rejoice in this situation, he would most likely be treated as a freak, so he swallowed his emotions hard.

Until this guy came.

"Really......! Why......! Are you leaving me......! Alone......? Choi, Choi Yeon?"

Se-ah, who had been running hard to catch up with Young-jae, who had run off first, let out a ragged breath and let out a new scream when she saw Choi Yeon.

"Huh? You're...... I think I saw you somewhere......."

"Ouch, have you forgotten already, you asked me to give Eugene the challenge letter!"

"......Ah. It's you. Hi."

Choi Yeon smiled awkwardly and waved his hand. In response, Se-ah rushed over and hugged Choi Yeon tightly.

"......Huh?"

"I was so nervous because there were only two mages, but I'm so glad I met you!"

Se-ah shouted so proudly, as if she was speaking for Young-jae but Choi Yeon just shook her head.

"Choi Yeon. Do you have any idea what kind of situation we're in right now?"

"Now? Well, I don't know. I was definitely asleep before the morning inquiry, but when I woke up, I was here, and those two guys over there suddenly came at me with knives, so I had to deal with them."

Hearing Choi Yeon's words, Young-jae glanced at the two people on the ground.

No matter how he looked at it, it was more like she was playing with them rather than fighting them.

"So, what's going on here?"

Choi Yeon asks first, her eyes narrowing. Then, as if he's been waiting for it, Se-ah speaks up, as if she knows all the facts.

"The Villain Alliance attacked the Academy, and we're right in the middle of it."

"......We're here because of them?"

"Yes. Mr. Young-jae told me so, so it's probably for sure."

Seeing the two of them staring off into the distance, Young-a finally sighed and gave a brief explanation of the recent events.

The song that came out of the speakers in the morning, the trip to the dungeon, and the attack by the villains.

"Ah, so those people who jumped on me just now were villains."

"......Choi Yeon, did you just deal with them without realizing they were villains?"

"My family taught me not to show mercy to someone who comes at me with a sword drawn."

It was a very obvious thing for a martial artist to say, but for some reason it sent a chill down their spine.

"So, do you two have a plan?"

Se-ah stiffened at Choi Yeon's next words, then craned her stiff neck to look at Young-jae.

"Since you're the brains here, you should be the one to do it......!"

Feeling the absurdity of Se-ah's words, which seemed to say that she was not in charge of the brains, Young-jae shook his head.

"Of course.......The first thing is to join as many people as possible. Even if they are villains, they wouldn't dare to mess with a group of students full of Awakened, and most of all, it's possible that the teachers...... are also involved, so if we find them, we'll be safe."

Choi Yeon shook her head in disbelief.

"If we go to the instructors, we won't be able to fight the villains, so why are we looking for them?"

For Choi Yeon, whose head was filled with visions of battling the mighty, this event was like a special event just for her.

But to be forced to stay behind safely without fighting in such an event.......

It was no wonder that she didn't like it.

"You're right, we won't be fighting the villains, so I have a second plan I've been thinking about."

"......Second plan?"

"A second plan?"

Both of them were very curious about the 'second plan' that Young-jae said.

In response, Young-jae extended his index and middle fingers and smiled brightly.

"Finding the club president."

"Mr. Eugene?

"Eugene......?"

Young-jae nods in response to their questions.

"That's right, we'll look for the club president, because if he and Jin-woo are like this, they'll...... unconditionally try to find the leader of the terrorists and eliminate him first, and if it's the president, he probably has other plans."

Hearing Young-jae's words, Se-ah nods.

"That would be great! Along the way, we might find people who are being attacked by the villains like we just did, and helping them might be of great help for Familia later."

Even though she didn't know if she'd fight with villains along the way, Se-ah was excited about what she'd learned so far and the lessons she'd received so she nodded, trusting in the two strong men standing before her.

And Choi Yeon, who was quietly listening.......

"Could we meet other villains?"

Her eyes widened at the mention of another chance.

"......You all seem to agree. Let's get moving then."

With that, the three of them started moving again.

As they scanned their surroundings for any sign of life, Se-ah radar began to light up with three more lights.

"Aah. I've got it! It's straight ahead from here!"

Choi Yeon, who had never seen a Space Mage's sensing abilities in action, poked at the violet energy that hovered in the air.

However, the energy spread out like a map, scattering briefly and gathering again like a puff of smoke.

"This should be easy.......I don't think we'll get lost."

After saying that, Se-ah looked at Choi Yeon as if she was cute as she poked at the lighted part again.

"Miss Choi, do you get lost often?"

"......Yes. That's why someone from the family always walks me home. The first time I went to school, I was late because I got lost."

"That's a problem too......By the way, Mr. Young-jae. What are you frowning about?"

Se-ah, who was talking to Choi Yeon, glanced at Young-jae's expression and asked.

It was because Young-jae, who was walking at the front of the group, looked like he was pondering something.

"Huh? No, we're in a dungeon, but I don't see any monsters."

"Huh? I see. Surely we haven't seen any monsters so far, have you, Choi Yeon?"

"I haven't seen any either."

"Right?"

Hearing Choi Yeon's words, Young-jae stopped in his tracks and organized his thoughts.

A dungeon without monsters?

It didn't make any sense. It was like saying that a sweet red bean bun was missing red beans.

A dungeon with no monsters was a situation where.......

"No way......."

Young-jae thought back to the stories he and Eugene had heard in the past while hunting bugs in the dungeon.

'You said this is the first floor, so how many floors are there in total here?'

'You mean here? I thought it was ten floors, but...... is actually eight floors.'

'Eight floors?'

'The ninth floor is where you prepare before going to take on the boss on the tenth floor. The 10th floor only has the boss so you can say that the monsters are only on the 8th floor.'

Eugene said that monsters don't appear on the 9th floor.

If the coordinates here are indeed similar to those of the basement dungeon, as Se-ah said......and therefore similar to that dungeon.......

'This is the ninth floor?'

It all made sense.

'...... If this is indeed the ninth floor, I don't think we should expect support.'

Because of the dungeons overlapping the people were scattered all over the place.

It was possible that the people from the eighth floor could come up to the ninth floor, but if Eugene was right about the difficulty level increasing with each floor, it wouldn't be soon.

'Does that mean we have to use our own strength to defeat the boss on the 10th floor?'

There are only two ways to escape from a dungeon, either through the normal exit or by attacking the boss and defeating it, creating a pathway for everyone to exit.

However, in a situation like this, where they didn't know where anyone was in the dungeon, the only way for everyone to get out safely was to attack the dungeon.

Young-jae's heart began to feel heavy.

"Everyone, I have something to say."

Stopping in his tracks, Young-jae began to tell the other two his thoughts.

He said that there might not be any backup, and that if they defeated the boss, everyone might be able to escape.

At this, the two looked dumbfounded, but gradually seemed to agree.

"It can't be helped, there's no way out of here other than that in the first place, right?"

"The 10th floor boss is strong? I like it."

With that unified opinion, the three of them decided to head towards the three people they had just detected.

If they were academy students, they could join them, and if they were villains, they were probably blocking the door to the 10th floor to prevent them from attacking the boss.

The group walked along the path until they were near their destination.

"What should we do? If they're villains, it's better to take them by surprise."

"Should I go first?"

The two plan their strategy in case the other person is a villain.

In response, Young-jae said that he would use his magic to check it out first, and he immediately activated his magic.

"Saltato."

A black rabbit leaps out of Young-jae's fountain pen.

"If those people over there aren't wearing the same clothes as us, fluff your ears. Do you understand?"

With a grimace, Young-jae ordered his summon.

The rabbit nodded in understanding and began to trot off toward the presumed location of the group.

"Mr. Young-jae, something tells me this isn't a good match for you."

"......What's the minion that matches me?"

"Um......glasses monkey?"

"There's no overlap except for the glasses.......Just keep your eyes on the bunny ears."

The rabbit is almost at his destination. He was just around the corner from the three of them.

When the rabbit reached the corner, he looked at the scene in front of him and turned toward the children to signal them.

──Puck!

An ice pick from around the corner pierced through the rabbit, turning it into ink.

"That's......."

"......That's the enemy."

"......killed the rabbit."

Two of them were enraged by the fact that they are enemies, and Choi Yeon is outraged by the rabbit's death.

"I'm sure they noticed, right?"

"Of course. It's a minion, after all. I didn't think they'd notice right away."

There was no need for the three of them to hide anymore since it had already been confirmed that their opponent was a villain.

They would have to fight their way through them to get to the dungeon.

Each equipped with their own unique weapons slowly made their way to the corner where the enemy would be.

"Did you get your mentor's lessons right?"

"Don't you know Instructor Ji-hyun, I'm pretty sure I can beat even Mr. Young-jae right now."

"......I wonder if you played in the mentor class."

"......Rabbit."

They turn a corner and see a giant hollow with a giant staircase leading to the next floor but a giant snowman was standing in front of it, with a man on top of it.

"......I wonder why all the villains are so desperate to make a statement."

"I know? Isn't that a snowman? If any of the escaped villains are dealing with snowmen, it's Snowgirl Parr......."

"......Villain."

Tired of seeing his distinct personality displayed, Young-jae gripped his fountain pen and drew in the air.

"Let's begin, marciale!"

The opening march echoed through the 9th floor of the dungeon.