Chapter 81 – Department Store Dungeon (7)
“The department store suddenly disappeared?”
“Yes, Chief.”
Korea Hunter Association Hall 7th floor Disaster Safety Bureau Office.
Director Won Eun-kyung listened to the report of his male subordinate.
It was the moment when I was about to put on my coat to go to work.
A subordinate male employee showed the photos taken by citizens received through various reporting channels.
A place where Director Won Eun-kyung also visited occasionally.
I knew the size of the building well.
However, in the photo, there was a round hole in the ground as if a sinkhole had occurred.
Department store buildings are nowhere to be found.
“Could it be a transition type dungeon?”
“We’re sending a measurement team to check it out now, but it looks very likely.”
In the 100-year history of Hunter, there was only one case of a transitional dungeon in Korea.
In 1954, not long after the Korean War ended, a thatched-roofed house in the countryside was transferred to the other world, and all five members of the family died.
In other words, this was the first time in Korean history that a large-scale public space was targeted.
Director Won Eun-kyung let out a long sigh.
Why did he become the one responsible for such a historic disaster?
It was dark before my eyes.
It took a lot of effort to get to this point.
“What would you like to do, Chief?”
To be honest, I had a desire to just write my resignation now and run away.
But, of course, this is not acceptable behavior.
As the head of the Disaster and Safety Bureau, you must do your best.
Director Won Eun-gyeong opened a black box placed on one side of the director’s office.
And he took the ax, her main weapon, in his hand.
“From now on, all Disaster and Safety Bureau members, except for essential resident personnel, will move to the site and set up an on-site situation team.”
“Are you going to go to the scene too?”
“Of course. Listen carefully. If you handle this even a little wrong, you can take off your clothes as well as me.”
“Ah yes!”
Transition dungeons are a rare type that only occurred in 30 cases worldwide in 100 years.
In the past 20 years, no country has ever experienced a transition type dungeon.
All 30 subjects were different.
There were running cars, military bases, and rides.
The types of monsters that appeared in the dungeon were also different.
It has appeared in developed countries as well as in developing countries.
But they all had something in common.
That it’s all death.
So far, it has recorded a mortality rate of 100% without exception.
Because none of the people caught up in it could deal with all the monsters.
Considering the number of hunters relative to the total population, the probability is extremely small.
‘… Even the sky is indifferent.’
Until now, he had only looked ahead and ran, saying he would avenge the S-class Hunter.
Deliberately clashing with the upper echelons of the conservative Hunter Association, he aggressively took the lead in improving the system.
It worked well and made his name known even before he became the head of the Disaster and Safety Bureau.
Once the name became known, the upper echelons of the Hunter Association had no choice but to raise it as the head of the Disaster and Safety Bureau.
Because if her promotion, which has actually achieved results, is omitted, public opinion will not be good, saying that the association will trample on reformists.
He was walking a pretty dangerous tightrope, but he had no choice but to rise to the top as quickly as possible without connections within the association.
Such a great disaster in such circumstances.
That’s 100% mortality.
It was certain that if public opinion turned around even for a moment, the upper echelons of the Hunter Association would send it out of the association without missing the time.
Shortly after packing up her on-site situation team in front of her department store, one of her subordinates approached her.
“Director, the measurement team said it was judged to be an A-class dungeon.”
“Class A…”
In that case, the lowest A-class parties should be called.
Class A parties that are few in the country.
At this time, it would have been nice if there was Hunter Kim Si-young, but Director Won Eun-kyung clicked her tongue.
Because Hunter Kim Si-young was a person who often helped in such disaster situations.
Even if she didn’t fail after challenging the S-class dungeon…
“Please contact all A-class or higher hunters.”
“Everyone?”
“Yes, regardless of region. I’m going to call everyone together and rush into the raid.”
Raid.
A large-scale subjugation by several parties.
It was a rare occurrence in Korean history.
However, even transitional dungeons are a rare disaster.
Uncommon disasters must be responded to in unusual ways.
At least on the surface it should look fine.
No matter how S-class, or even SS-class who are not in Korea, it is impossible to save people trapped in department stores.
The gate that connects the department store that has been transferred to the other world and this place is not created right away, but appears after a while.
When the Hunter enters the dungeon through the gate, no one is already alive.
‘There’s nothing more I can do here.’
Have the hunters wait until the gate comes out.
In other cases, developed countries have done all of them.
… Although the person in charge of all those advanced countries has been hardened.
Four hours have passed since I came to the scene.
Fortunately, about two-thirds of Korean A-class hunters responded to Director Won Eun-kyung’s summons.
As it was an unprecedented large-scale transition type dungeon, most of them seemed to have felt the seriousness of the situation.
As much as possible, in front of the department store, A-class hunters were lined up in rows.
And let the media film it.
‘I never thought I’d do a show like this.’
In a press briefing, it was said that the deaths of the victims had not yet been confirmed, as if there was hope.
No matter how desperate the situation was, the victims’ families couldn’t tell them to take heart.
Exactly one hour had passed since the formation of the raid group.
An oval-shaped gate appeared right in front of the ruins of a department store with a hole in it.
Director Won Eun-gyeong stood at the front of the raid with an axe.
“I will enter the vanguard.”
Inside, it must be full of the smell of human blood.
She closed her eyes once and took her steps towards her gate.
The lobby on the first floor of a department store that I had been to before came into view.
The rest of the A-class hunters followed her.
Everyone in the Reid team was taken aback.
Very different from what I expected.
It was obviously broken or damaged here and there.
But it was better than I thought.
Above all, there were no monsters.
“Crab, it’s a gate!”
“Hunters!”
“At las!!”
Even people were sitting on the floor calmly.
Not just one or two, but many.
Is it a 100% mortality rate disaster worldwide?
It’s a transition type dungeon, but didn’t the monsters exist?
Director Won Eun-kyung had all sorts of thoughts.
A young woman approached Director Won Eun-gyeong as a representative.
She introduced herself as Ahn Hye-bin, a third-year student at Healer Academy.
“Then did student Hyebin heal everyone here?”
“Yes. But Daeseung Kong’s ability to kill monsters is even greater. Ah, Mr. Gong Dae-seung goes to the Hunter Academy—”
“Wait a minute, Gong Dae-seung? Is the Daeseung student here?”
“Yes? Yes.”
Following the last purple gate on Gangnam-daero, to this transitional dungeon.
I didn’t expect to get help twice in a row.
No, this was more like salvation than help.
Because it was the first transitional dungeon in the world where survivors appeared.
***
Going down to the first floor, I saw a gate I was used to.
And people who seemed to be active hunters were crowded around the gate.
This isn’t a regular party, it’s a raid match.
Well, it’s a 13-story dungeon, so organizing a raid is the right thing to do.
Ordinary people went out through the gate first.
Lastly because we have to close the gate anyway.
When I thought I could just relax,
“Dae-seung student.”
I heard a woman’s voice that I heard the other day in Gangnam.
“Ah, I didn’t expect the director to come too.”
“Even when I was like this, I was active as an A-class hunter.”
All the hunters gathered in front of the gate seemed to be A-rank hunters.
… It was said that two-thirds of the A-class hunters in the country had come, so it was a great raid.
First of all, he showed Director Won Eun-kyung the corpse of the boss monster in Kang Shin-ye’s bag, proving that he had cleared the dungeon.
Then she said, her eyes widened momentarily.
Soon he smiled a little.
“You made an achievement, Daeseung student.”
“That much.”
“No, it is an achievement. You did really well.”
Although there were difficulties in many ways, I still felt rewarded.
… The hardest thing was, of course, the cock’s poison.
After all the ordinary people left, the active A-class hunters went on-site investigation.
It seemed that we could only close the gate with the boss monster corpse after the site investigation.
Well, I expected that I would make a detailed statement to the Hunter Association anyway, so while waiting, I relayed everything that happened here to Director Won Eun-kyung.
“Then, it took about a week for the gate to appear in the dungeon.”
“Yes. What about outside?”
“Five hours after the department store disappeared.”
The flow of time inside and outside the dungeon was completely different.
Fortunately it was
If I had really gone outside for a week or so, everyone would have been very worried about me.
He didn’t tell me that I was going out today, so he would think he was still in his dorm room.
Director Won Eun-gyeong also heard the statement from Ahn Hye-bin.
For me, it was mainly related to monsters, but for Ahn Hye-bin, it was about the injured.
Upon hearing the figures of 23 dead and 0 seriously injured, Director Won Eun-gyeong was so surprised that she threw her body out loud.
“So you mean that Hyebin treated almost 100 seriously injured people?”
“Yes. In fact, it’s great that Kong Dae-seung killed the monsters before serious injuries occurred.”
“No, it’s great. Usually, healing 10 seriously injured people a day is the standard for an A-class healer.”
Ahn Hye-bin raised the corner of her mouth slightly.
After all, she seemed happy to hear her praise.
… By the way, even an A-rank healer has a limit of 10 seriously injured.
Then, what will happen to Ahn Hye-bin, who healed the seriously injured who were nearly 10 times that number?
Since she hadn’t learned the healer side in detail yet, she didn’t know much about it.
“Chief, the investigation is over.”
An A-class hunter came next to Director Won Eun-kyung and said.
She said, nodding her head.
“Now we are withdrawing too.”
*
By my standards, I came out of the department store building in a week.
Oh, the air outside was so refreshing.
Although the level of fine dust is not good, it is still much better than the air inside a department store, which has been dead for a week.
… But how do I get back to the academy now?
As we closed the gate, of course, we said goodbye to the van given to us by the gangsters who parked in the underground parking lot of the department store.
It was a time when I wondered if I would have no choice but to take a taxi even if there was a surcharge late at night.
“Mr. Daeseung—!!”
I heard Dahyun Choi’s voice.
Her voice turned her head in her direction and she ran as hard as she could towards me.
Before long, she came into my arms as she threw her body.
At that moment, I was so strong that I almost fell over.
“I’m glad you’re okay!!”
She shed her tears.
I thanked her for worrying about what might happen to her body.
Said while stroking her hair.
“Sorry for worrying you.”
“No!! As long as Daeseung-san is safe, none of that matters!!”
She hugged her body and waited for her crying to stop.
