Chapter 607: A Door That Won’t Open Unless XX (1)

“Run, faster, faster!”

“Yes, yes!!”

President Seo Ok-hee grabbed my arm and pulled me, running desperately inside the collapsing dungeon.

I diligently followed behind her, asking about the unstable factor President-nim mentioned earlier.

“Didn’t you say it was circulating earlier! If we keep going like this, won’t we eventually get blocked by the collapsed dungeon?!”

“For now, we’ll move along the path that can hold out the longest! Avoiding blocked paths as much as possible! Don’t have useless doubts, just think about holding out as long as possible for now!”

“Understood!”

Indeed, as President-nim said, it seemed important to hold out as long as possible for now, so I followed behind her, quickening my pace.

President Seo Ok-hee led me, entering one side without hesitation at every branching path that appeared.

-Rumble! …Boom!

Even during that time, from behind came the sound of something collapsing, getting closer and closer.

This meant the dungeon was collapsing faster than the speed President-nim and I were running, approaching us.

It seemed her steps alone wouldn’t be enough to escape the collapsing dungeon.

Even if she stimulated her muscles with electricity for physical enhancement, her body, which had barely any muscle, would have physical limitations.

Deciding this wouldn’t do, I grabbed President Seo Ok-hee’s arm and lifted her into my arms in one go.

“Excuse me, President-nim!”

“…Alright.”

Despite being suddenly held in my arms in a bridal carry, President-nim nodded surprisingly easily, without much resistance or surprise.

She must have made a cool-headed judgment even in this situation. The judgment that being carried by me was much faster and safer than running clumsily on her own feet.

Furthermore, President-nim might have been mentally prepared, having already read my mind about her.

With those thoughts, I held President Seo Ok-hee’s light body in my arms and ran faster on my two feet.

The sound of the dungeon collapsing, which had been rapidly approaching from behind, seemed to maintain a certain distance, chasing after me at my speed.

‘As expected, carrying her is faster.’

While having such thoughts, a fork in the road appeared before my eyes again during the run.

I asked her, held in my arms, which of the two paths we should take.

“W-which way do we go?!”

“Right!”

It was President Seo Ok-hee’s confident answer, unlike me, capable of rapid exploration, so I unhesitatingly followed her words and entered the right fork.

Even after that, at several forks, relying on President-nim’s and my desperate exploration skills, we navigated through several forks together.

“What about this one?!”

“Left!”

“Yes! Ah, another fork….”

“Left again! Go left!”

“Yes!”

“And at the upcoming three-way fork, take the middle! Then….”

Following President Seo Ok-hee’s words while she diligently guided the way, held in my two arms, we navigated all the appearing forks.

After escaping several forks like that, something that looked like the dungeon’s exit finally appeared before my eyes.

…An unidentified white door, undoubtedly artificially made for anyone to see.

“W-we have to go in for now, right?!”

“…It seems we have to. We can’t get crushed by the collapsing dungeon.”

Because it was such an alien and suspicious-looking door, my caution was stimulated, but as she said, there was no other option besides going in right now.

Setting aside the immediate doubts, I grabbed and opened the white door before me and went inside…

-Clank! Clank-clank!

“Huh? Huh?!”

However, whatever the case, contrary to President-nim’s and my judgment as we tried to open the door and enter, the white door remained firmly locked and didn’t welcome us.

While hesitating about how to escape this situation, the collapsing dungeon was steadily approaching us.

“I-it won’t open! What do we do now?!”

“Get out of the way, I’ll open it!”

After brushing away my hand roughly shaking the doorknob, President Seo Ok-hee immediately grabbed the doorknob with her own hand.

And then immediately, with a focused expression, concentrating on something, she began channeling her inner energy into the inside of the handle.

I could grasp at once that she was using her awakened ability to open the lock mechanism inside the handle.

I, trying to block the collapsing dungeon even a little, unleashed large-scale ice magic towards the rear.

“F-freeze!”

As my ice magic manifested, the inside of the dungeon instantly froze, except for the space where President-nim and I were.

Fortunately, the dungeon collapsing towards us was blocked by a thickly built ice wall and quietly stopped collapsing.

Thinking the situation had somewhat calmed down, I finally turned my gaze behind me and could assess the situation.

“W-well, the collapse has stopped somehow, so you can try opening it carefully.”

“…Mm. I’m concentrating as hard as I can right now, so don’t talk to me again until it opens.”

“……Yes.”

…Still, we managed to escape the crisis for now, didn’t we?

Me blocking the collapsing dungeon with my awakened ability, and President Seo Ok-hee unlocking the jammed door with her awakened ability-this situation.

It was a moment when the thought naturally crossed my mind that perhaps this was the first cooperative operation since entering this dungeon.

At least it didn’t end with her just being a burden or dead weight, which was fortunate in many ways. We went all the way into a mystery dungeon, and if it had ended just following President-nim around, it would have been bitter in many ways.

I wasn’t sure how to take the fact that I could finally use that chance to be active only after experiencing a crisis severe enough to collapse the dungeon.

With those thoughts, while silently watching President-nim’s back as she diligently worked on the lock mechanism, a black electronic display installed above the door she was trying to open also caught my eye.

Earlier, because I was in a hurry, I couldn’t even properly check the contents, but the very fact that there was such an electronic display in the first place was quite strange…

「The Door That Won’t Open Unless You Kiss」

“…Huh?”

The absurd text on the electronic display that entered the edge of my vision.

Feeling quite flustered by that text, despite President-nim’s warning not to speak, I couldn’t help but let out a dumbfounded voice.

The Door That Won’t Open Unless You Kiss.

Even looking again, at the incomprehensible text that wouldn’t change at all, my eyes widened blankly.

I immediately had no choice but to cautiously consider what that text meant.

‘No way, the sense of unease I felt from the moment we first entered the dungeon…’

Not a natural dungeon, but a dungeon created by someone-was that why it had such an incomprehensible structure?

If that were true, certainly the events that had happened so far could be understood to some extent.

The monsters full of strangeness inhabiting this narrow, dark dungeon, and a dungeon that reconstructed itself in a circulating form, changing shape.

For some reason, I don’t know why, I had considered this dungeon with a strange will suspicious, as it seemed like it was trying to create a sense of crisis for President-nim and me.

If all of that were an ‘artificially created dungeon,’ then most of the suspicious points were roughly resolved.

Of course, I naturally couldn’t know about the technology to artificially create such a dungeon, or the purpose of specifically creating it.

…No, maybe I could vaguely guess the purpose itself.

「The Door That Won’t Open Unless You Kiss」

How exactly should I explain that text on the door to President-nim, who was concentrating hard on opening it?

A momentary, awkward conflict arose in my mind, but I couldn’t afford to hesitate for long.

Because in a situation where I didn’t know when this dungeon I was currently freezing with ice magic would start collapsing again, I couldn’t afford to be leisurely.

‘…Messing with a taken woman isn’t really my type.’

President Seo Ok-hee probably definitely has a husband or boyfriend. And one who truly loves her for who she is.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to remain active for over 30 years, maintaining both her awakened ability and youth.

As someone who didn’t want to interfere in others’ romantic relationships, it wasn’t a preferred option, but still, in the current situation, this seemed like the only solution.

I carefully called out to President Seo Ok-hee, who was focused on unlocking the door.

“What kind of structure is this…? The mechanism inside the handle keeps changing….”

“President-nim.”

“…Sorry, I can finish soon. Just wait a little….”

“Could you possibly check the electronic display above the door for a moment?”

“…An electronic display above the door?”

Hearing my words, President Seo Ok-hee immediately raised her gaze to check the electronic display above the unopening door.

And she too showed a flustered reaction as soon as she saw the text “The Door That Won’t Open Unless You Kiss” written on the black panel.

“W-what?!”

Even for her, who had explored countless mystery dungeons, the absurd condition that appeared before her eyes seemed equally baffling.

Then, President Seo Ok-hee carefully turned her head back and met my eyes.

“D-don’t misunderstand.”

“Huh?”

“I-I didn’t bring you here knowing it was this kind of dungeon. It’s not like I thought I’d do something to you and decided to enter with you…”

“…You don’t need to say it, I don’t misunderstand.”

In the first place, just looking at her flustered face, anyone could tell it wasn’t intentional.

As it’s a mystery dungeon, one naturally has no choice but to start in a state of ignorance when exploring for the first time, and especially in this dungeon where the warp gate disappeared as soon as President-nim and I entered, it would have been impossible to explore even a little beforehand.

So I didn’t have any unnecessary misunderstandings about that. What I’m worried about is something else.

…It was only whether President-nim, standing before me, would be unwilling to kiss me.

“That… it doesn’t particularly matter.”

“Huh?”

“…You don’t need to worry about that part you’re concerned about.”

“Ah….”

…Come to think of it, she did say she could read my thoughts about herself.

President-nim’s answer that it didn’t matter was essentially permission to kiss her, but

Still, feeling a strange pang of conscience, before rushing in with my face, I raised one question.

“Are you really okay? What if your husband or boyfriend dislikes it…”

“…I didn’t particularly deny it because I didn’t feel the need to correct it, but there’s nothing like that, so don’t worry about unnecessary things.”

“…Huh?”

“…Husband or boyfriend, I have no connection with men at all. If you’ve only lived as a hunter for 30 years, everyone you meet is a woman.”

“….”

If so, then how on earth could she maintain her awakened ability for nearly 30 years, and how did she suppress her physical growth until now?

Although various such questions arose in my mind, what needed to be resolved now, anyway, didn’t seem to be this useless curiosity.

Bending my knees slightly, I matched my height with President Seo Ok-hee, and cautiously leaned my head towards President-nim’s face.

Because the only way for her and me to survive and return from this dungeon right now was this.