A-Rank Dungeon - ??? Apocalypse (3)

‘An environmental conservation research institute?’

She’d thought the building layout looked a lot like a school, but it was a research facility.

‘Not sure if there’ll be anything worth looting here.’

The moment they got inside, Hyeonseong started by scanning the interior.

“If it’s a research facility, do you think there’ll be something that helps?”

As she swept her eyes over the empty-looking lobby, Kwon Seojin asked.

“We’ll find out starting now.”

As she answered, Hyeonseong looked back at the front entrance. The last members in had closed it. That would at least keep the bigger ones from barging straight in—for a little while.

‘No stragglers, either.’

After quickly confirming everyone had made it inside, Hyeonseong glanced over the building directory posted on one wall of the lobby. It was a guideboard that neatly laid out the locations of each field lab, private offices, and administrative offices at a glance.

‘Either way, it’s all worth searching at least once, but……’

There were a lot of rooms in the institute. Searching randomly would be a waste, so they needed to pick the most promising areas first.

‘First, I need to decide what we’re looking for in here. What we can find is…….’

She scanned the lab list again. Fitting for an environmental conservation institute, there were several labs dedicated to pollution research.

‘Air purification research, soil remediation research, ecosystem restoration…….’

Before long, Hyeonseong knew where to start.

‘Air purification first.’

The biggest issue in this field was the debuff triggered by breathing. And while it wasn’t a major problem for most of the team, there was also a visibility-reduction debuff.

‘Both are atmosphere-based debuffs.’

That meant the air purification lab came first. If they were lucky, they might find a way to remove or weaken the field debuffs.

“Since we’re in here anyway, let’s investigate this place too.”

Hyeonseong told the team.

“Investigate?”

“Oh, right. This is definitely worth checking.”

The members understood quickly.

“I’m thinking we check the air purification lab first.”

“Because of the debuff?”

They asked, and Hyeonseong confirmed.

“Then we should start there. Which way?”

“Looks like it’s on the third floor.”

“We’re all going up together, right?”

“If we want to keep the buff zone up while moving……”

This time, Hyeonseong didn’t even have to explain—everyone was already working out what they needed to do. She didn’t butt in.

“Then hurry. They feel close.”

The team immediately started heading up to the third floor, and Hyeonseong moved with them.

“By the way, there’s something I’m curious about.”

On the way up, Kwon Seojin spoke to her again. Hyeonseong only flicked him a glance.

“With your skill, don’t you not have to worry about bombardment that much? Then why did we bother finding a building to run into?”

He took Hyeonseong’s glance as permission and asked right away.

“Because there’s a limit to the area I can cover.”

The entrance size of the Infinite Corridor could be expanded and shrunk as she wished, but an upper limit clearly existed.

“If all fifty-something people packed together as tightly as possible, it might’ve been doable, but…… keeping that formation the entire fight is basically impossible, right? People with melee traits might have to break off and move far out while fighting.”

Hyeonseong answered casually.

“Mm…… yeah, that makes sense. You can’t fight glued together.”

“And also, when I have that deployed, it gets harder for us to attack things up in the air.”

“Because it carries or deflects allied skills too?”

“You know your stuff.”

“Just sounded like it would.”

Hyeonseong looked at him with suspicion, but Kwon Seojin stayed perfectly composed.

“……Anyway, we’re about to enter the lab. Where should we search first? From your videos, it looks like you’ve got a great instinct.”

They had just stepped onto the third floor. Switching topics, Hyeonseong asked.

“I don’t know if it’s instinct. It’s just that my random guesses happened to hit.”

“Instinct or luck—just take a swing.”

Kwon Seojin looked like he was about to make a pun, so Hyeonseong replied bluntly.

“If you put it that way…… I do like that number.”

Kwon Seojin pointed at Lab 306. He acted like he picked at random, but Hyeonseong had told him to guess, so she couldn’t complain.

“……Fine. Let’s check that one first.”

Hyeonseong headed for 306, and Kwon Seojin naturally followed.

They stepped into Lab 306. Inside, it was a mess of research materials and equipment.

It looked like someone had been working here until just recently—if not for the thick layer of dust everywhere.

‘At least the test tubes and flasks are all empty.’

Every piece of equipment that would’ve been useful for holding liquid was completely dry. Not a single drop clung to anything, so it didn’t look like they’d be able to salvage much.

‘And…….’

“What’s this?”

Kwon Seojin showed interest in the device Hyeonseong looked at next.

A small box-like machine: a circular cover punched with radial holes, and beneath it, a propeller-like part installed. It looked similar to an air purifier.

‘Is there a manual?’

Hyeonseong checked the papers scattered beside it. There was a sheet with a simple sketch of the machine. She picked it up and read.

‘What’s with the condition of this?’

The moment she saw it, Hyeonseong’s brow tightened. Most of the document was blurred and smeared out.

It was damage that didn’t look natural at all.

‘There are parts I can read, at least.’

She read the legible fragments. It was the bare minimum information about the device.

‘……Is there something in the blocked part we’re not allowed to know?’

This was another world, to begin with. The fact she could read a document written in the other world’s language as Korean was already strange.

But no hunter bothered pointing it out. It was normal inside dungeons.

Inside a dungeon, the Interstellar Network automatically translated written language into the Awakened’s primary language. So reading it wasn’t the problem.

The problem was when information got blocked like this—or the translation “omitted” parts. That, too, wasn’t rare in dungeons.

‘……If they can provide translation at all, they can decide exactly how much to show.’

Hyeonseong examined the document again. Staring twice didn’t reveal any more.

‘Feels like the cut-off part should contain a clue about disease-type debuffs. So why hide it?’

Once it started bothering her, the irritation wouldn’t go away.

“Is something weird?”

Kwon Seojin asked again as Hyeonseong glared at the paper. Hyeonseong glanced sideways.

Kwon Seojin’s wide eyes looked like he was acting curious.

“……The blocked sections. Context-wise, it looks like it should include a clue about disease-type debuffs, but I don’t get why they’d censor it.”

Hyeonseong answered, showing him the paper. Kwon Seojin took it.

“Oh, you’re right. The dust and fog part is definitely tied to the visibility debuff, but……”

Kwon Seojin’s eyes flicked left and right as he skimmed.

“To me, it’s basically just a ‘how to use the device’ sheet. How did it look to you?”

“I felt the same. Maybe one or two lines that hint they were about to give a clue?”

“Then yeah—we’re seeing the same thing.”

As he replied, Kwon Seojin folded the paper and slipped it into his pocket.

“You’re taking that?”

Hyeonseong asked, staring at the jacket pocket.

“Yeah. It tells you how to use it. Aren’t you taking it?”

Kwon Seojin pointed at the purifier.

“We are. We needed more purification items anyway.”

Hyeonseong counted the purifiers on the table. Three. When she looked over, another team member who’d followed them in had already picked up two more.

‘Five total…… and a 2.5-meter radius is basically one-person size.’

That awkward number felt like someone’s careful compromise—trying to fit even unusually tall people without pushing the spec too far.

‘Either way, for two people to share it, they’d have to move practically glued together. So we’ll have to distribute them as personal-use items…….’

And that meant the recipients were obvious.

“Aren’t you taking one for yourself?”

Kwon Seojin asked as Hyeonseong stacked three units and lifted them.

“I’m low priority.”

Porter work was done from range by just opening the Infinite Corridor, and gathering wouldn’t be heavy in a field like this. So she wasn’t someone who had to carry one.

“These should go to people who have to leave the buff zone a lot.”

Right tool, right person—basic doctrine for improving clear odds.

“Why, you want one?”

Hyeonseong asked, half joking.

“If I say no, that’d obviously be a lie, wouldn’t it?”

Kwon Seojin replied jokingly too—but there was weight under it. For an instant, greed flashed in his eyes.

“Well, it is a good item.”

From what they could read, the purifier was only usable inside this dungeon. But during the run, it would absolutely help.

“So who are you giving them to? People leaving the buff zone often would be……”

Kwon Seojin asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? Scouts, and the front-line defenders. More importantly—there’s nothing else useful in here, right?”

After answering, Hyeonseong asked the team members inside Lab 306.

“Doesn’t look like there’s anything else besides that.”

“There’s a lot of material, but we can’t read it all.”

“Even translation skills don’t work. Feels like it’s being blocked at the Network level……”

The answers came quickly. From the vibe, it didn’t look like there was anything worth taking besides the purifiers.

“Kwon Seojin, you think so too?”

Hyeonseong asked him last.

“I think so too, but……”

Kwon Seojin answered with an odd expression—like he didn’t understand why he was being asked at all. That was how it looked to Hyeonseong.

“Either way, you’re part of our raid team right now. So we’ll treat it as ‘nothing else’ and move.”

Hyeonseong stepped out into the hallway. Outside, she could see members who’d been checking other labs gathering in the corridor.

“Anyone find anything?”

As Hyeonseong asked, people started answering over one another.

“We found these—wait, you found them too?”

“Our side got a few pages of research notes. Most is censored, but there are bits you can read here and there.”

One member had brought back the same portable purifiers Hyeonseong found, and another had collected a few research pages—likely because they might become clues to removing the field debuffs.

“Alright. So the devices are……”

“Thirteen.”

They decided to distribute the purifiers first. Total: 13. Of those, four already had “owners”—the people who found them had already decided who would take them.

‘Supporters maintaining purification buffs, and healers? It’s not wrong, but…….’

Hyeonseong frowned slightly as she checked who’d received the first four.

Healers and buffers were indeed priority protectees.

But if they reached a point where those people needed personal purifier devices, then things were already going to hell.

‘Either we’ve dragged it out so long they can’t maintain buffs and treatment properly, or nearly all the protectors are combat-ineffective.’

Still, it wasn’t easy to take items back and reassign them after distribution. Who would like having something taken away?

‘But I can’t just leave it. Nine isn’t enough. I need at least two more back to make sure everyone who actually needs one gets it…….’

“Um—would it be alright if I said something?”

Just as Hyeonseong was weighing it, Kwon Seojin cut in.