Chapter 101

A B-Class Hunter.

“…….”

It was a world where anyone and everyone could become a Hunter just by awakening, but that by no means meant that a B-Class was a low rank.

Above all, he was a 1st-class citizen by birth.

“…….”

They weren't just people who lived in the city; they were evaluated as 1st-class because they protected that city.

So, they were fundamentally treated with preference and respect wherever they went.

Such was the existence of a 1st-class citizen in this world.

“…….”

It was something worth having strong confidence over.

“…Uh….”

Enough to try and deal with a mere 3rd-class citizen as he pleased.

“…Wha, what is this… where am I?”

Stagger….

He barely managed to raise his body, which had no strength.

“What the…?”

Park Eun-gyeom, a 1st-class citizen and a B-Class Hunter, looked around.

“…Is this a dungeon?”

There was a reason why he, who couldn't be said to have little experience as a Hunter, harbored such an obvious and foolish question.

“A dungeon like this exists?”

Everything was monochrome.

A stark white. A black like a bottomless pit.

A light gray. A slightly dark gray. A gray close to black.

A gray close to white. A gray that shone like glass.

A gray that shimmered as if it were breathing. Gray. Gray.

The man was dropped in the middle of a gray city.

“…….”

As if his lungs were filled with cotton, his breath caught and the man unknowingly fumbled at his chest.

Rationally, he knew there was nothing wrong with his body, but no, it wasn't a feeling of being filled. This was….

“…Wha, what is this….”

A chilling sense of lethargy.

He couldn't put strength into any part of his body.

It felt as if all his muscles had vanished.

“I said, where is this place?”

It was an emptiness, as if the organ called the lungs had disappeared entirely.

Even though he was speaking, it felt like his tongue was gone, he couldn't tell if his vocal cords were vibrating, and even hearing his own voice didn't feel like hearing.

“…What in the….”

This emptiness gradually encroached upon his entire body, to the point of feeling a sense of disharmony.

It was a natural change, as if someone were whispering in his ear, ‘This is how it should be.’

It started with his breath catching in hitches, like a man about to die, then it felt as if his airways had vanished, and his heart, which had been pounding, was incomprehensibly calm amidst this bizarre fear.

Even the warmth at his fingertips was fading.

“No way, n, no….”

Faltering, the man quickly took in his surroundings.

Gray here. Gray there. Gray this way. Gray that way.

The buildings were uninteresting and simple rectangular shapes, made emotionally with Seoul's characteristic curves, and also either very long or very short.

‘Made?’

Who in the world made this?

‘This… this is a dungeon. Right, it’s a dungeon.’

But something was strange. Too much was empty.

This damn gray city looked incredibly vast and had many buildings, but not a single presence could be felt. What dungeon in the world could possibly be this quiet.

‘I can’t even feel any hostility.’

He thought it was terrifying when monsters came rushing to kill him, but no.

The terror was that this seemingly endless, vast dungeon was just watching him, doing nothing.

It was merely gazing at the man.

“…….”

Scared.

Scared?

Am I scared?

‘…I can’t even discern a single emotion….’

First, it was the breath he exhaled.

Next were the organs extending from his lungs and the warmth originating from them.

After that, it was his emotions.

“Ugh, ughh….”

What would be next?

The existence known as ‘Park Eun-gyeom’ was gradually disappearing.

“…Ugh!”

The man quickly shook his head and kneaded his hands.

‘Don’t think strange thoughts, what do you mean disappear. My hands are clearly here and they aren't even cold.’

All of this was nothing but a simple misunderstanding.

It was a form of brainwashing by this dungeon, trying to wither him to death.

It was his first time in a quiet dungeon of this type, so he panicked for a moment, but he wasn't one to be taken down so easily.

“If this is a dungeon, what kind of dungeon is it?”

Is it a mobile type, or a fixed type?

Virtual, villa, or entry.

The man consciously took a deep breath to calm himself and darted his eyes around.

“I was definitely, that… led by that hand….”

He couldn't remember the detailed process.

But he remembered being confronted by a certain picture frame in the ‘Vein of Jewels,’ and being forcibly dragged in by the transparent hands that crawled out from within it.

The expression of the man, who was stealing his resolve and planning for survival, soon crumbled miserably.

It wasn't anger, but despair and fear.

“…….”

He had recalled the moment he was dragged into the picture frame.

“…Hk….”

The sensation of his body melting and flowing like paint was vivid.

‘…I, I shouldn’t think like this. Panicking more in a situation like this will only lower my survival rate… Right, I have to get a grip. A grip….’

He tried to force himself to pull it together, but it wasn't easy.

It was a really strange feeling.

Was it painful? It seemed like it might have been.

Was it peaceful? No, it wasn't.

That sensation, that pain, of being caught by the transparent hands and slowly, like wax, melting away, starting from the foot that was devoured first by the picture frame.

How could he forget the feeling of becoming a living, thinking liquid?

“…….”

He had lost consciousness from the pain and had been brought here without being able to resist….

“…….”

So.

“…….”

What was I trying to do?

“…Ah, ah, ah.”

Thud―!!

The staggering man fell backward.

“Ugh….”

Now, even his thoughts were disappearing into this void.

‘This can’t go on.’

He didn't know what kind of dungeon this was exactly.

Its structure might be similar to the dungeons he knew, but it was completely different.

Still, as a B-Class Hunter, the man instinctively realized that this dungeon was like a mutation.

So the chances of getting out alive would be even lower, but it didn't matter.

To be precise, it was closer to being unable to think.

Realizing that following pain and fear, he was changing into a state where he couldn't even think, the man tried his best to struggle.

“Get up, let’s get up. Get up and….”

For some reason, his body had been devoid of strength for a while now.

It was a similar sensation to when he hadn't awakened yet, right after waking up from sleep or when he had collapsed, consumed by an overly intense emotion.

But even that was chilling.

‘Isn’t this dungeon sucking away even the strength I should rightfully be able to exert?’

It was because such a suspicion arose.

After flailing on the ground like an insect a few times, the man barely managed to get up.

It was incomprehensible, but his whole body was covered in soot, perhaps from rubbing against the dark gray asphalt floor over and over again.

No, rather, it looked like paint was smearing off him.

‘Paint?’

Only then, and very belatedly, did the man realize whose dungeon he was in.

“…The Black Cape….”

Hasn't it been a very famous topic of conversation recently?

“…The Black, The Black Cape…!! Right, that bastard…!! That monster bastard!!”

Even in a dungeon like this, the deep-seated arrogance and overflowing anger ingrained in his body could not be hidden.

That dog-like monster bastard was the one who had created this situation where he was pathetically flailing about after being dragged here like a mangy dog.

A mere monster, base as a beast, doing this to a human…!

“Fuck, fuck, fuuuck!! You’re just a pathetic monster that goes around handing out useless presents…!!!”

He didn't even know what he was shouting.

Perhaps if he were a more knowledgeable and capable Hunter, he would have realized that this place was inside the ‘Black Cape’s’ stomach and shown the utmost humility and remorse.

But if he were that kind of person, why would the ‘City of the Void’ have dragged in someone like Park Eun-gyeom in the first place?

Jio's children knew exactly what their parent disliked.

It was beings like this, who didn't know their place.

“Hah, hah… Heuk….”

After struggling for a long while, the man moved his trembling feet and slowly began to leave the spot.

It all looked like the same scenery anyway, but every dungeon was bound to have an entrance and exit.

A dungeon with no way out did not exist.

That couldn't be called a dungeon.

So it must exist, of course it must and yet, the question remained.

‘Why on earth did The Black Cape?’

Although the response level on the Hunter Association's website had been adjusted to be quite high, the ones managing that information were all human too, so they might have just been overly cautious.

The description said to be careful or whatever, but in reality, The Black Cape had never harmed a human.

‘Although there were a few idiots who died because it suddenly left its post….’

Briefly recalling the ‘Kingdom of the Deep Sea,’ the man shook his head.

‘I’ve never even heard of it attacking like this.’

The ‘Black Cape’ he knew was a foolish monster that would suddenly pop out, give a gloomy greeting, hand over a present, and then disappear.

Perhaps because it was so pathetic, he had heard some nonsense about people gathering to pass the time by sharing stories about the ‘Black Cape’….

‘Why would a monster like that target me?’

It was when he was arduously moving his feet one by one.

“…….”

Flinch―.

The man’s body froze.

“…….”

Ignoring his jaw that creaked like an unoiled hinge, he turned his head and looked back.

“…….”

“…….”

A suit was standing there.

“…What….”

“…….”

“What is that?”

It was a jet-black suit.

A color as if modeled after the shadow of a pitch-black basement where not a single point of light entered.

Even the shirt was black, and it was buttoned up meticulously, looking almost suffocating.

The lusterless black shoes somehow looked sturdy.

It stood with its hands behind its back, simply gazing at the man.

‘…Gazing?’

What nonsense was he spouting while looking at that faceless thing?

‘No, in the first place… how… why….’

Did I know that thing was behind me?

“…….”

Despite not feeling any presence, the man knew the ‘suit’ was behind him.

“…Ah….”

What kind of ink had flowed into his emptying brain.

He couldn't understand what on earth he was becoming.

“…G-Go away.”

“…….”

“Go away, you monster bastard. This, this is just… I’m gonna….”

“…….”

“I’m gonna just crush you….”

Keeping the suit in his sight, the man faltered backward.

He frequently checked behind him, worried he might bump into another suit he hadn't seen, but there was nothing of the sort.

As he backed away, the suit he first saw didn't come any closer either.

“…….”

“…….”

Even after moving for a good while, the suit was still standing still.

Having made up his mind, the man quickly ran to escape the place.

“Heek…!!”

His legs wouldn't listen, causing him to fall on the scratchy asphalt floor several times, but this was no time to worry about such things.

“Huak, heok, heup…!!”

As he was running like that.

“Ack…!!!”

“…….”

“Ah, augh. Ugh…!!”

Again, a jet-black suit came into view.

It was walking slowly down the street with its hands behind its back, but from the turned direction of its body, he could tell it was gazing at the man.

Its walking pace, like that of a person heading to work, gave off an unbearable sense of disharmony and the man tried his best to swallow his scream.

Still, he ran.

He fell, his skin got scraped, and he ran again, repeating the cycle.

He didn't even have the leisure to analyze why he, a B-Class Hunter, was feeling pain from a mere asphalt floor.

‘Crazy…!!’

The man continued to encounter the suits after that.

When he looked to the left, there was a jet-black suit.

It sat on a bench, gazing at the running man.

When he looked to the right, there was a slightly slower-running suit.

It, too, had turned its body in the man’s direction and was gazing at him.

When he looked ahead, there were two suits.

They stood still, gazing at the moving man.

And then when he looked behind.

“…….”

Right behind him, behind that, a little further away, and in the alley, inside the building, beyond the glass window, on the rooftop, under the streetlight, next to the bench, inside the bus stop, inside the convenience store, inside the car, inside the bus, walking, running, standing still, there were black suits gazing at him.

“…….”

And then.

If I look ahead…?

“…….”

If I look ahead.

What happens?

“…….”

The man felt a black suit breathing just inches from his body.

“Euhk….”

He couldn't turn his head forward again.

It had no presence, but it had a presence.

Though it was just clothes moving, it felt as if a living person was inside.

No, of course, it could never be called a person and shouldn't be, but… but still.

“…Hk….”

The man slowly turned his body and sluggishly sank to the ground.

“Heuk, heu-euu….”

As he squatted down ungracefully, he could see his own state.

“Haaah… Ah-euuuk… eu….”

From his skin, raw from being sanded down, not blood but black paint was smearing out.

“Augh….”

With trembling, jet-black hands, the man fumbled at his face with clumsy gestures. It was damp.

“…….”

When he turned his head to look at the building's glass, he saw his own reflection, blotchy and blackened.

The dirty black color, as if rotted, was like a hole where flesh had been gouged out.

“…….”

He hastily felt around, but there were no holes.

But this was a shadow.

The man lowered his head and kept fumbling at his body, then looked at his jet-black pants as if smeared with wet tar, then at the legs inside them, and then….

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

When he raised his head.

“Wow, look at this person.”

Chillingly.

A familiar voice was heard.

“Why is he so blotchy?”

“He’s not whole.”

“So we can call him an unfinished work.”

It was Park Eun-gyeom's own voice.

He saw the crowd of jet-black suits that had, at some point, surrounded him and were looking down at him.

“…….”

They weren't packed so tightly that no gap could be seen, but their numbers weren't small either.

They looked just like citizens watching someone who had suffered a heart attack.

A terrible sense of disharmony made him shudder.

“Wow, look at this person.”

The exact same voice.

“Why is he so blotchy?”

“He’s not whole.”

“So we can call him an unfinished work.”

The exact same lines.

“…….”

And.

Park Eun-gyeom felt his own throat.

“Wow.”

“…―”

“Look at this person.”

…He couldn't speak.

“Why is he so blotchy?”

“…….”

“He’s not whole.”

“…….”

“So we can call him an unfinished work.”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

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