Ch.146Weekend Work for Everyone – 5

Weekend work is welcomed by no one.

It’s the most brutal of trials. Something to be avoided at all costs.

But despite that, sometimes there’s no choice but to do it.

Like right now.

“Manager! Manager! This email just came in from the Superpower users in Changwon, and it doesn’t look good!”

“Email? If it’s just an email, you can forward it to me.”

“The thing is, I think you absolutely need to come in for this one…”

Recently, with all sorts of disturbing incidents occurring, the Superpower Association has been on emergency standby in rotation.

Gates keep appearing despite the suppressors we’ve installed.

We need to reclassify monster levels from scratch after years of careful categorization.

Thanks to all this, even the Association President has been working overtime every day.

And today, Manager Park, who was on emergency standby, received that call and came to work immediately.

While it was annoying to be called in on a weekend, he knew it must be serious.

“What’s going on? Why the sudden urgency?”

As soon as he arrived at the Association, Manager Park called for the deputy who had been looking for him.

After seeing the email the deputy showed him, he slowly turned to look at the deputy sitting beside him.

“…holy shit. Hey, is this confirmed? Not a false report? Did you verify this?”

“I’ve already called them several times. It’s definitely confirmed.”

“I’m asking HOW you verified it. What exactly is confirmed?”

“Just look at the team roster of the first responders.”

Manager Park immediately checked the personnel list at the bottom of the email.

The names listed there were as follows:

– Magic Tower Clan Dispatch Team: Hana Kang, Dasom Yoo, Soohyun Kim, Hyunwoo Lee, Seojin Baek

“…Wait a minute. Isn’t Hana Kang the daughter of the Magic Tower Clan Master?”

“That’s right. And Dasom Yoo is the granddaughter of Future Corporation’s CEO.”

“And next to her… damn. That’s Minseong Kang’s granddaughter.”

“The last one is the real bombshell.”

Manager Park let out a sigh when he saw the name the deputy was pointing at.

Seojin Baek—wasn’t he the Superpower user most frequently mentioned within the Association lately?

He had encountered The Elder—literal hell itself—multiple times and survived.

He even engaged in combat twice and managed to repel The Elder both times.

Yet he’s still classified as B-rank, making him one of the greatest mysteries of our time.

“It seems they were skeptical at the scene too, but after seeing the personnel, they rushed to file this report.”

I understand. I’d drop my doubts and send an email immediately too.

With that thought, Manager Park checked the email content once more.

[Major change detected in B-rank dungeon in Changwon]

[Confirmed Mist Lake spawning inside what was previously only populated by Dire Wolves]

[No notable anomalies were found during reconnaissance a few days ago]

[Environmental change confirmed. No previous anomalies, but now visibility is limited by fog]

His head was throbbing. Each sentence was more alarming than the last.

“Hey. Did you check the dungeon reconnaissance report?”

“I did before you arrived, sir.”

“What does it say? Did they really go in and check three days ago?”

“Yes. It was just a plain field with Dire Wolves. We have confirmation videos, and the Superpower users who conducted the reconnaissance have never had issues before.”

At the deputy’s words, Manager Park cursed “shit” once more.

If this was true, it was a horrifyingly bad situation.

Dungeons don’t remain completely static. Their internal environments and spawning entities do change.

However, these changes don’t happen randomly. They follow certain cycles.

That’s why we conduct regular reconnaissance and subjugation missions—to understand those cycles.

But this incident would overturn everything we know at once.

‘I wish this were just a dream.’

Weekend work was already terrible, but the reason for it was far worse.

No nightmare could compare to this. His mind was already going numb.

But the problem was, there was still one more major issue remaining.

[Two boss monsters confirmed.]

The reports above could potentially be explained as a change in the cycle pattern.

But there was no way to explain how two bosses had appeared simultaneously.

“…Wait. Let me make a call first.”

Manager Park returned to his desk and immediately made a phone call.

“Yes, Deputy Director. This is Manager Park. Are you having a good weekend? …Ah, yes. I apologize. But this is an extremely serious situation.”

Manager Park conveyed the current situation to the Deputy Director as concisely and accurately as possible.

After hearing the details, the Deputy Director was silent for a moment before responding.

[Manager Park.]

“Yes, Deputy Director.”

[I’ll contact the Director and come right away. Issue an emergency assembly order. Gather all teams.]

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

The call ended there.

After sitting dazed for a moment, Manager Park returned to the deputy’s side.

“What did they say?”

“…They said to call in all teams.”

The deputy let out a “wow…” in astonishment.

“Um, Manager. If things are like this, we’re…”

“Screwed. In many ways.”

“Hmm.”

The Association President, who had finally gotten a break after a month of continuous overtime, was now heading back to the Association due to yet another urgent matter.

After the Gate incident, the Superpower Association had become one of the highest government agencies.

And as the head of such an agency, his position was equivalent to or higher than most ministers.

Even for someone of his stature, weekend work was unavoidable.

“President. This is Deputy Director Cha. I’m truly sorry to disturb your weekend, but it seems we have a problem.”

“Which code level?”

“…Code 1, we believe.”

Code 1. The internal code issued when an extremely serious problem occurs.

It was Code 1 during the Gate incident when suppressors failed, and when monster levels suddenly increased.

And now, another Code 1 possibility—which meant something equally terrible was happening.

The President immediately got into his car and headed straight to the conference room upon arrival.

All department directors and their subordinates were already waiting there.

“The Association President has arrived!”

“That’s enough. Please sit down. Isn’t the situation urgent?”

Skipping all formalities, the President looked at the director beside him.

It was a signal to provide an accurate report to those who didn’t yet know the details.

“I will now report on the current situation. About an hour ago, from Changwon…”

As the director continued his report, the expressions of everyone gathered grew increasingly grim.

Their minds were already at breaking point from previous incidents.

Now even previously stable dungeons were going haywire—how could anyone remain calm?

“…So, to summarize: a sudden change in the dungeon’s internal environment, and an increase in boss entities. These are the two main issues.”

“This is a nightmare.”

Another director blurted out those words involuntarily.

To speak like that in the President’s presence meant he was nearly out of his mind.

“…Who made the initial encounter?”

“A dungeon subjugation team from the Magic Tower Clan that went to Changwon. The team consists of four Academy students and one Academy official.”

“Names?”

“Academy students Hana Kang, Dasom Yoo, Soohyun Kim, Hyunwoo Lee.”

With each name, sighs rippled through the conference room.

All of them were already well-known figures, either for their skills or social standing.

There was no possibility of a false report or misunderstanding.

“And Academy rank examiner, Seojin Baek.”

Upon hearing this, the President stood up as if there was nothing more to consider.

“Have all teams contact everyone in the field immediately for dungeon status reports. For dungeons where subjugation teams have already entered, have support teams on standby. For others, restrict access and send in specially assembled teams to assess the situation.”

“Understood, President.”

The room emptied as quickly as a receding tide.

The President, who had remained seated until the end, slowly rose from his chair.

“Sigh.”

Three consecutive weeks of overtime, and now weekend work too.

He wanted to retire as soon as possible, but he couldn’t.

With so many incidents occurring, quitting would be nothing short of running away.

‘The duty of the old is not to pass their burden to the young.’

First, he needed to urgently meet with all department ministers.

Then, he needed to meet with the President of the country to explain the current situation and its potential impacts.

And he also needed to arrange a meeting with all Clan Masters to discuss countermeasures.

“…Perhaps I should ask the seniors for help.”

While Hakjun Ma might be busy, Minseong Kang was relatively available.

Thinking of him, the Association President decided to contact him first.

If Minseong Kang’s disciples joined in, the dungeon verification process would be twice as fast.

Ring ring—

After several rings, the voice of the old master came through.

[Association President?]

“Yes, senior. I apologize for disturbing your weekend.”

[Weekend? You don’t have such a thing. You must be busy. What’s the matter? Is something wrong?]

“I’d like to ask for your help, if that’s alright.”

The Association President gave Minseong Kang a detailed account of everything that had happened.

Especially since his granddaughter, Soohyun Kim, was part of the first subjugation team that entered the dungeon.

For the Association President, who knew Minseong Kang’s deep love for his family, this was only natural.

“So, we urgently need to check dungeons nationwide, but we’re short on personnel.”

[I can imagine. You’re already operating gate standby teams and support teams at double capacity, aren’t you?]

“That’s right.”

[Hmm.]

After a brief silence, Minseong Kang continued.

[I’ll gather everyone, even those who are overseas. There will be plenty who can take responsibility for the front lines. But you know you need to find people to cover the rear, right, President?]

“Yes, senior.”

[Good. Then I’ll bring the kids to the Association as soon as I can.]

The Association President, who was about to express his gratitude, tilted his head.

He suddenly sensed something unusual in Minseong Kang’s response.

“Um, senior? Did you say you’ll ‘bring the kids’?”

[You heard correctly. Why?]

“Are you… coming personally?”

Minseong Kang had officially retired and had barely been active.

At most, he had only stepped in to stop Sujin Hyun during the Academy attack.

As one ages, Superpowers weaken dramatically, so this was only natural.

[Why? Is that a problem?]

“It’s not a problem, but…”

Yet Minseong Kang was showing his intention to go personally, despite knowing this.

When the Association President asked about his reasons, Minseong Kang burst into hearty laughter.

[The truth is, I’ve been feeling a bit impatient lately because of a certain young man. Can you believe it? He instantly mastered what I briefly taught him. When something like that happens, naturally you want to teach him even more impressive things. But I feel my body’s getting stiff lately, so I need to loosen up. That’s why I want to go. I hope you understand. No, I know you do, President.]