episode_0341

Silence had fallen over the [Goryongsan Rift Zone].

Eunha thought to herself.

Hanging by the neck with a rope—

Surprisingly, it’s quite comfortable.

Gggeuk…

Only momentarily painful when the thick rope first tightens around the neck,

but once you get used to the pain, it’s nothing.

After all, people don’t die just because they can’t breathe.

So, swaying left and right, her dangling body felt like riding a swing,

but staying still got boring quickly… So, while hanging by the neck, she swung her body around and played.

Once you get the hang of it, it’s easy.

“Ugh… Eu… Eunha…”

Gggrk! Ggeuk!

Then, she chased Kim Sarang out of the forest when she entered.

Perhaps thinking it would be fine as long as she didn’t look up at the ‘hanging’ sight,

Kim Sarang covered her eyes with her hands and ran away, but worrying she might fall into a [pit],

it felt terribly nerve-wracking.

It was a relief she made it back safely.

‘My neck hurts… Maybe I can come down soon.’

And then, as time passed endlessly,

hanging silently in the noisy forest,

Ssegeuk—

Ban Harin swung a butcher’s knife and cut Eunha’s rope…

catching her in her arms.

“……Cough…”

And then, she realized.

People need to breathe to live.

“Eunha-nim. You’ve been through a lot.”

Ban Harin, holding Eunha,

greeted her in a voice as happy as someone taking their first breath after holding it in.

Thump. Thump.

Perhaps because her stopped breath had restarted,

her heart pounded.

Ban Harin’s fingers traced the rope marks on Eunha’s neck.

Though her expression was as stiff as her blank face,

a warmth shyly hid within it—

a time of breathing happily.

“……It was worth hanging by the neck.”

Slap.

She got smacked on the chest.

She must’ve been embarrassed.

…….

After that, nothing much happened.

The quieted Goryongsan, countless monsters hanging dead from trees.

Eunha, held by Ban Harin, returned to the ‘flower field,’ and from there, she picked up the ‘mouse’ squatting quietly and drawing on the dirt with a twig, along with Chief Inspector Choi Godok, and headed toward the northern outer wall.

The west and east were likely in chaos by now.

♩ ♬ ♪

Sagagak—

Responding to Ban Harin’s flute, ‘black bugs’ approached.

The ‘citizens,’ who had been excitedly roaming the [Rift Zone], followed Ban Harin like ducklings,

and when Ban Harin quietly gestured upon reaching the northern wall, the ‘citizens’ worked together to dig a large tunnel big enough for a person to pass through.

A hole connecting the outside beneath the concrete barrier.

And so, Eunha was able to leave the [Rift Zone] without going through the checkpoint.

“Thanks, kids~.”

Sagak. Sagak.

Outside the northern wall.

The ‘citizens,’ who had energetically waved at Eunha, returned through the hole.

Next, as Eunha patted her clothes, a centipede that had been coiled around her large chest crawled down to the ground, wiggled in farewell, and returned to the [Rift Zone].

Sagagak.

The citizens diligently filled the hole as they left.

The dirt quickly piled up, and Eunha, who had retrieved her carrier from the ‘mouse,’ let out a deep breath.

Finally, she was out of the [Rift Zone].

The promotion test was over.

Fighting monsters, discovering the ‘water fountain,’ being nearly eaten by the [pit], cutting off her right arm, eating flowers, hanging from a tree.

It felt like an eternity, but in reality, it hadn’t even been a few hours…

Perhaps because it was such a painful and agonizing time.

Painful time moves slower than usual.

‘No. It’s because I used the time so efficiently.’

Thinking positively, Eunha turned to Choi Godok.

The startled Chief Inspector Choi.

The researcher deployed from the Potion Preparation Lab, clutching his sawed nape, nodded.

“Eunha-nim?”

“The promotion test is over, so it’s time to do what we need to do.”

At Eunha’s strange gaze, Choi Godok flinched in fear and took a step back.

…….

…….

《 Next news. 》

《 At approximately 3:20 PM today, a bomb terror incident occurred in the [Goryongsan Rift Zone]… 》

《 No fatalities have been reported yet… 》

《 Guild Leader Kim Hayang of [Cheonchang Sword Family], who successfully suppressed the incident early, announced permanent closure measures for the [Goryongsan Rift Zone]… 》

Kwaang—

The darkened lab.

A middle-aged man sat blankly at his desk in the dim light.

He tapped his desk at the news playing on the TV.

Creak…

The desk, groaning as if about to break, looked especially old today.

How many years had he been using the same desk…

But ever since the money flow from [Galaxy Potion] was cut off, the ‘Potion Preparation Lab,’ unable to produce any notable results, saw its budget shrink day by day.

There was no budget for a new desk.

…No, it was more accurate to say there was no leeway.

There was nothing.

No leeway, no budget.

Hence the news on TV.

“Sigh… Another failure.”

The middle-aged man… a perpetual B-rank hunter belonging to the Potion Preparation Lab.

He adjusted his pristine lab coat and watched the TV news.

‘Breaking news,’ they called it.

No matter the channel, the same footage played.

Meaning this ‘terror’ incident was far from ordinary.

“…….”

The TV screen showed the [Goryongsan Rift Zone], bustling due to the sudden bomb terror.

Hunters from [Cheonchang Sword Family] controlled the rift’s entrance, and the collapsed outer wall was no exception.

Sagagak—. Sagak—.

And yet, the concrete wall that should’ve crumbled from the massive explosion…

was sealed with a ‘wall’ resembling a wasp nest.

Sagagak—. Sagagak.

The situation was similar for the collapsed eastern wall.

As if countless ‘bugs’ had built a massive nest.

Sagagak.

Not only that, but the checkpoint entrance hunters used was also blocked by an unidentified ‘wall,’

leaving the [Goryongsan Rift Zone] completely sealed without a single entrance.

《 The catastrophe of monsters escaping the [Rift Zone] through the collapsed wall was avoided. 》

《 However, the identity of the ‘shell’ replacing the destroyed wall remains unknown… 》

《 Some hunters dispatched to the scene claimed ‘bugs from the rift built the wall,’ but this was dismissed as baseless… 》

Bomb terror.

The collapsed rift’s outer wall.

《 Witness accounts continue to surface of the ‘Black Calamity’—bug monsters that annihilate all life in the [Rift Zone] upon sight—reappearing in the [Goryongsan Rift Zone]… 》

And,

the ‘black bugs’ that had reappeared in Goryongsan.

The flood of news was overwhelming.

《 “M-M-M-M-M-Mama…! How could Eunha do this to me?! After all I…! After all I’ve done for Eunha…!!” 》

《 “My ears hurt, Sarang. My ears hurt.” 》

Kim Sarang, clinging to Kim Hayang with a pouty face,

and Kim Hayang, pressing rabbit ear muffs over her ears to block the whining, were caught on camera… but that was beside the point.

‘Why…’

The middle-aged man scrutinized the news.

Restless, he tapped the old desk with his fingers.

…….

Something truly bizarre had happened.

The operation planned to kidnap the ‘original solution.’

When he heard the news of the [Rift Zone]’s wall being blown open, he was overjoyed.

It meant the kidnapping was successful, and the signal flare had been fired.

Now, with monsters escaping the rift and causing chaos,

the kidnappers would slip through the broken wall and take the ‘original solution’ to the [facility]. That was the plan.

‘But who would’ve thought Kim Hayang was at Goryongsan…’

Yet, coincidentally,

the leader of a major guild was there to seal the broken wall.

Coincidentally,

Jang Min and Jambong Sik, watching from the parking lot, were caught by [Cheonchang Sword Family].

Coincidentally,

the appearance of black bug monsters in the [Goryongsan Rift Zone]… drew far more attention than necessary.

Now, they couldn’t move recklessly.

Coincidence. Coincidence.

Why had things turned out this way?

It felt dirty, as if someone who knew their plan had played a massive trick on them.

‘No news since then… Did the kidnapping fail?’

In the end, all communication was cut off.

The villains who commissioned the kidnapping,

the researcher Choi Godok deployed as an examiner,

and the ‘original solution’—all missing.

Checked with the association’s authority—no records of them leaving through the checkpoint.

Had they been eaten by the ‘black bugs’?

Or had they escaped safely?

‘……If the original solution is dead, we at least need the body.’

Tap. Tap.

Lost in thought, he tapped the desk with his fingers.

He had to think ahead.

The ‘next step’ for the Potion Preparation Lab’s survival.

Jang Min and Jambong Sik’s arrests didn’t matter.

As researchers from the [facility], they were only nominally part of the ‘Material Supply Team’—on paper, they had no ties to the Potion Preparation Lab.

Disposable pawns for contingencies.

Unless a hunter with a ‘lie-detecting skill’ or Detective Do Jongha personally intervened, there was no risk of being traced.

‘Still, it’s best to lay low for a while…’

Swoosh…

The middle-aged man looked down at his hands.

Long past his prime,

they were dry and wrinkled.

“…….”

What he desired was the ‘original solution.’

And the ‘recipe’ known only to the lab director.

He wanted to be young again.

That’s why he followed the lab director.

That’s why he carried out this half-baked plan.

“Phew…”

The lab director, growing younger by the day.

Somewhere along the way, he lost his former sharpness, acting on childish, emotional plans—

it often made him think deeply, but…

they were already too far in.

He had to think not of now, but of ‘next.’

‘If only… if only we get the original solution…’

And so,

how deep in thought was he?

Bbrring—. Bbrring—.

His smartphone rang.

…….

‘Who…’

Caller ID:

Researcher Choi Godok.

Beep.

Frowning, he hurriedly answered.

“……Hello.”

—Haa! Haa! Good day! This is Choi Godok from the Material Supply Team! I heard Team Leader Jang Min was caught, so I’m calling!

“Choi Godok! You’re alive?!”

Crash!

The man deployed as an examiner to follow the ‘original solution’ in the [Goryongsan Rift Zone].

Hearing Choi Godok’s voice, the middle-aged man shot up from his seat.

Choi Godok was alive!

Then what about the ‘original solution’?

—Haa…! Sorry! I was late running from the bugs…!

“The original solution! Did you capture it?!”

—W-Wait a… moment…!

But Choi Godok’s state was strange.

His voice trembled, breath ragged, as if something terrifying was beside him.

An odd sense of unease.

Soon, voices exchanged on the other end,

and someone else’s voice came through—not Choi Godok’s.

—Switched the call, yeah? I’m Ban Harin, a member of ‘Flaming Moth,’ the ones you hired for the kidnapping.

A woman’s voice.

Ban Harin introduced herself as a member of ‘Flaming Moth,’ the villain group commissioned by the Potion Preparation Lab for the ‘original solution’ kidnapping.

“……The one I handed the request to was a man.”

—The others got eaten by bugs, yeah?

The woman on the phone said it without hesitation.

Her tone carried a strange, ambiguous laughter—hard to tell if it was a lie.

Even her odd speech quirk of ending with ‘yeah’…

“…….”

An odd situation all around.

But the middle-aged man dismissed his doubts.

Who was Choi Godok?

The most tight-lipped and loyal member of the ‘Material Supply Team,’ deliberately deployed as an examiner.

A man who wouldn’t talk even under torture.

He wouldn’t betray the Potion Preparation Lab unless he died and came back to life twice.

He wanted to believe that.

‘And villains are all mentally unstable anyway…’

Someone with such a weird speech pattern had to be a villain.

The middle-aged man was convinced Ban Harin was a member of ‘Flaming Moth.’

Had the plan actually succeeded?

Burning with impatience, he continued the call.

“……Alright. What do you want to say? The ‘original solution’?”

—Want me to let you hear its voice?

“Yes!”

Ban Harin’s voice grew distant.

Then, as if someone else took the phone, another voice came through.

The ‘original solution’s’ voice, perhaps.

—…….

“…….”

—……H-Hello… Pfft…!

“……?”

A voice so beautiful it made his eyes widen.

But what was that stifled, burst-out laughter?

Thud thud!

A faint sound of something soft being hit followed.

—You crazy cow, you insane? Think this is a joke?

—No, I’m really sorry… Wai—

—Come here.

The voice, as if being dragged away, faded and disappeared.

Then, more soft noises.

……No idea.

What was happening?

“Hmph… Must’ve been having fun. As long as the ‘original solution’ is alive, do whatever.”

—Yeah.

“……Moving to the [facility] now would risk being tracked. Wait until after sunset. I’ll head to the [facility] too.”

—Yeah.

After that, adjusting the plan slightly to the chaotic news,

the call with Ban Harin of ‘Flaming Moth’ ended.

Beep—

“Phew…!”

Now he could breathe.

The man, slipping his phone into his pocket, grinned and turned off the TV.

It had taken so long.

Now, the ‘original solution’ would belong to the Potion Preparation Lab, and they would relive the glory days of [Galaxy Potion].

‘Once the sun sets, the original solution will finally be at the [facility]… I must inform the lab director…!’

Nothing else mattered now.

Even if they were tracked for the bomb terror, even if the Potion Preparation Lab collapsed,

the original solution was coming to the [facility]. Nothing else mattered.

—Where do we go?

“Didn’t I say? To the [facility]. I’ll bring the lab director too.”

—Got it.

The person on the other end still asked where to go.

Why couldn’t youngsters understand things the first time?

‘……Huh? Didn’t I just hang up…? No, does it matter?’

Either way, the ‘original solution’ came first.

Frantically organizing his desk, he turned off the lab lights before leaving.

Click.

The lights didn’t turn off.

“……?”

Click.

He pressed the switch again.

This time, the lights turned on. The dark lab brightened.

Ah, he had been trying to turn them off all along.

Had he mixed something up?

Click.

He pressed the switch again, turning off the lab lights.

Whirr.

Darkness settled over the lab.

Holding this joyous news close to his heart,

the middle-aged man rushed to the lab director’s office.

Three years.

A full three years.

Time to end the tedious ties with the ‘original solution.’

…….

…….

“Eunha-nim. For the love of God, never again with the half-baked acting. How embarrassing would it be if the kidnappee got caught because of their own mistake?”

“Haha… I’ll be careful.”

The call ended.

A forest not far from the [Goryongsan Rift Zone].

A makeshift tent used as a hideout after kidnapping the ‘original solution.’

Ban Harin, who had scolded the ever-smiling Eunha with soft hits, returned with a slumped Eunha to the ‘mouse.’

“Let me repeat. If you’re not confident, don’t act.”

“Ban Harin-ssi, you’re always expressionless—must be easy to act.”

“Wow, Eunha, you’d rather die than admit you won’t act, huh?”

“You shut up too. Why’d you have to give my name away?”

—Yeah.

Chaos.

In the corner, the crouched Chief Inspector Choi Godok,

unable to even move the saw on Eunha’s lap, clutched his tingling nape like a trauma victim, trembling in fear.

He wanted to go home.

Would he make it out alive?

Beep. Beep beep.

Though he didn’t fully understand, he knew if he didn’t finish his task, he’d never escape ‘that thing.’

With trembling hands, Choi Godok tapped his phone and shouted.

“Y-Yes! The promotion test results have been sent to the association!”

“Wow. Thanks.”

The time was 4 PM.

The long day was slowly coming to an end.

Confirming the promotion test was safely over, Eunha smiled at Ban Harin.

Now, all that remained was the kidnapping.

The never-again kidnapping.

They even made the call pretending to have captured the ‘original solution.’

So they couldn’t hide recklessly.

The desperate folks who blew up the rift’s wall would surely come to the [facility] on their own and stick their heads in.

‘They blew up the rift’s wall for nothing, barely patched it up in agony—they’d storm in out of sheer resentment.’

Three years.

A full three years.

Time to end the tedious ties with the ‘Potion Preparation Lab.’

…….

“Then, Ban Harin-ssi. Let’s prepare. We head to the [facility] after sunset, right?”

“Understood… But, Eunha-nim.”

Sagagak—

As the sound of bug footsteps quietly faded,

before Eunha, preparing for the ‘next step,’

“Yes? What is it, Ban Harin-ssi?”

“……Unfortunately, you’ll have to leave the kidnapping to someone else… I think.”

“Huh?”

Thud—

Ban Harin, barely setting down her ‘flute,’

coughed up blood pooling in her throat and collapsed to the ground.