A-Rank Dungeon - ??? Apocalypse (4)

“Seojin?”

A few team members recalled, wearing puzzled expressions.

“Yes. I’m sorry to the people who already took them, but it’s better that the ones who need them more take them. To clear the dungeon.”

“People who need them more? Who would that even be…….”

The healer and buffers who’d taken purifiers first swept their eyes around, dissatisfaction showing.

“For example, people like this person, or that person.”

Kwon Seojin pointed at several members—exactly the ones Hyeonseong had already thought should get them first.

“They have to leave the purification buff zone often.”

“Ah, that’s true, but…….”

A good number of the team accepted the explanation. Even one healer who’d taken a purifier nodded.

“Still, we grabbed ours first…….”

The other three still looked unhappy.

“I’m sorry about that too. But inside a dungeon, shouldn’t our top priority be figuring out how to clear it as fast and safely as possible?”

Even under the three’s resentful stares, Kwon Seojin kept his voice calm. Maybe because of that confidence, the three gradually started wavering.

“Mm…… that’s a fair point.”

Before long, the three agreed.

“Alright. We’ll hand ours over. Who should we give them to?”

The buffers and healers held out their purifiers to Kwon Seojin.

“I’ll give them to the people who need them.”

Naturally taking the machines, Kwon Seojin turned his gaze to nearby teammates.

A moment later, the devices were handed out—one each to four members. All were either scouts or melee-type fighters who had to keep repositioning.

“Then we can just distribute the rest too.”

With his hands now empty, Kwon Seojin looked to Hyeonseong. Hyeonseong nodded, hiding her reluctance.

‘What is this?’

A sour feeling settled in Hyeonseong’s gut. It had been resolved easily without her having to step in—but something didn’t add up.

‘That was the kind of thing that gets you chewed out, but he volunteered. And there was basically no argument.’

Even after the remaining purifiers were distributed, the unease didn’t go away.

“Then what do we do now?”

“Should we search the other rooms too?”

Now that distribution was over, the team asked.

“Ah, yeah. Let’s check the rest of the rooms at least once.”

Hyeonseong shoved the feeling aside and answered.

‘Still no major attack. We need to look as much as we can while we can.’

They continued by checking the six air purification labs on the opposite corridor.

This time as well, they found small purification devices—the same model as before.

Out of the five units discovered, four were given to the buffers and healers who’d just had to give theirs up earlier. Kwon Seojin brought it up first, and the rest of the team agreed.

The last unit went to Kwon Seojin—because the buffers and healers who’d gotten their purifiers back insisted on it.

“Seojin found them first, and if he’s gathering or investigating, he has to go outside the buff zone, right?”

It was clearly personal goodwill from those four. But the logic wasn’t flawed.

‘Yeah, it’s not wrong, exactly…….’

Hyeonseong glared at the team members still searching the labs.

Kwon Seojin chatted with everyone, indiscriminately. If you looked at it simply, you could call him sociable and outgoing.

But there was a problem that made it hard to see it that simply.

The problem was that there were two “types” of Constellations taking interest in the situation:

One was the scammer-type. The other loved nothing more than watching other people’s internal conflict.

‘Either they’ve caught the scent of infighting, or they’re planning to stir it up because it looks easy.’

Ignoring the irritating laugh, Hyeonseong kept watching the team.

Here and there, she saw people staring at empty air like there was something to read, or moving their lips without any sound coming out.

The first group was checking status windows or Constellation messages. The second—like Hyeonseong—were responding verbally to Constellation messages.

‘Even at A-rank, plenty of people use voice-blocking items.’

Whether they blocked their voices or not, the point was that quite a few people were talking to Constellations in real time.

‘And the problem is, I don’t know what they’re talking about.’

Constellations didn’t send messages to every Awakened. Even when many Awakened were gathered in one place, they picked only a handful they took special interest in.

And they didn’t send the same messages to everyone.

They could chat idly with one person while giving another a quest designed to fracture the team.

‘Judging by how they’re grinning, at least one person has definitely been nudged into planning something that’ll put us at a disadvantage.’

A few teammates who looked like they were conversing with Constellations suddenly made troubled faces—like they’d just heard something unpleasant.

“Looks like we’ve searched everything on this floor. What now?”

While Hyeonseong watched, another teammate spoke.

“Ah, yeah. We’ve checked all the labs up here. Then we should check other floors.”

Hyeonseong answered immediately. There were still places worth searching. They could just search the rest.

“But it’s been quieter than I expected. With how hard they were chasing us earlier, I thought we’d eat a cannon shot right away.”

Another teammate brought up the mechanical monsters that had been pursuing them before they ducked into the institute.

“Isn’t quiet good?”

“The problem is, we don’t know what they’re aiming for.”

“Come to think of it, can’t these monsters use bio-chemical attacks too?”

“But the load on the purification field isn’t increasing or anything, so……”

Once the topic turned to monsters, more teammates piled on. The longer it went, the more uneasy faces appeared.

“Alright. Bottom line, it’s quiet for now.”

Hyeonseong cut in.

“Ah, yeah. They’re circling outside, but it doesn’t look like they’re trying to attack immediately.”

The programmer-type Awakened responded.

“Then let’s not obsess over it and just keep searching. If they’re nearby, it’s not like we can go outside anyway.”

Preemptively going out to strike first was awkward. It was better to ignore them and keep collecting data and items until the monsters made the first move.

“Then wouldn’t it be better to go down first?”

At Hyeonseong’s words, Kwon Seojin offered an opinion immediately.

“Not the labs?”

Someone asked—understandably confused, since the second floor was largely personal rooms.

“Yeah. The labs upstairs are mostly soil cleanup and environmental restoration, right?”

Kwon Seojin answered right away.

“Oh right—this dungeon’s debuff spreads through the air, didn’t it?”

“Then soil or ecosystem restoration probably won’t have much to do with removing the debuff…….”

The team quickly understood.

‘It’s not a bad call.’

Hyeonseong agreed to an extent. Checking the researchers’ personal offices first made more sense than diving deeper into unrelated labs.

If they found a solid clue in personal rooms, it would be easier to target specific labs afterward.

“Then let’s head down.”

The decision came quickly. Hyeonseong instructed the team, and everyone moved downstairs.

As soon as they reached the second floor, they started searching one corridor again, the same way as before. With smaller rooms, there were now more rooms to search.

‘Will we even be able to check everything in time?’

Hyeonseong looked toward the programmer and the engineer.

Ever since entering the institute, those two had kept tracking the monsters outside with skills.

Their faces didn’t look good—enough for Hyeonseong to guess what that meant.

‘The monsters are doing something suspicious. Preparing an attack, or something like that.’

Soon, they’d say it out loud themselves. Before that happened, they needed to search the second floor as fast as possible. Hyeonseong’s eyes, hands, and feet moved faster.

“There’s nothing readable in the materials?”

“This one’s readable, but…… it’s just a diary.”

“Any items that might be useful…….”

The team also searched quickly, room after room.

There weren’t many salvageable items. There simply weren’t many meaningful items to begin with. And among the documents and records, most couldn’t be properly read.

“But the readable stuff, at least……”

“Shouldn’t we take the diaries, at least?”

As Hyeonseong started to speak, Kwon Seojin cut in.

Looks like it amused the bastard that someone “interrupted” someone else. Hyeonseong deliberately shooed the message away with a gesture.

“The diaries?”

“Yeah. If we’re lucky, they could be clear hints……”

“Right. If we can read it, we can use it as a clue……”

To the teammate’s question, Kwon Seojin and Hyeonseong spoke at the same time. This time, their words truly overlapped by coincidence.

‘Again? We’re thinking the same thing.’

Hyeonseong shot Kwon Seojin a sour sideways look. Kwon Seojin met it with an utterly calm face.

“……Anyway, if we can read it, there’s a high chance it’ll be useful. It’s not hard to carry, so hand it over.”

Hyeonseong stitched the awkwardly cut sentence back together.

“Ah, right. With you here, we didn’t even need to debate it.”

The teammate reacted like they’d only just remembered. No further explanation was needed. Hyeonseong immediately opened the Infinite Corridor.

Bundles of papers and notebooks were tossed into a compartment where dungeon clues were stored.

“We need to hurry. Outside too…….”

“Looks like they’re about to break through the door!”

While they were sweeping up anything that looked remotely useful, the programmer and engineer shouted.

At their warning, the team moved faster. They had to grab even one more item if possible.

“But we can’t just keep looting forever, can we?”

“We should start preparing for combat…….”

“Yeah, and right now—!”

KWA-AANG—!

In the instant the engineer tried to warn them, a thunderous explosion boomed from the first floor.

“Get ready!”

Hyeonseong shouted. They still hadn’t searched the entire second floor, but there was no time now.

“What’s it look like outside?”

Once the team shifted into combat posture, Hyeonseong asked the engineer.

“What does it look like…….”

“Monster positions.”

“Ah……! They’re clustered on the first floor and the roof—both!”

“And all aerial units are on the roof!”

The engineer answered, and the programmer yelled right after.

“First floor and roof. That tells me enough.”

Hyeonseong understood their plan the moment she heard the layout.

‘They’re going to herd us onto the roof and finish us there.’

It looked like destroying the institute itself was physically difficult for them—or prohibited by their programming.

‘Then…….’

Hyeonseong’s eyes lifted to the ceiling.

“We need to go back up to the third floor.”

“Planning to exit through the windows?”

Kwon Seojin asked.

“Yeah. The windows are wide up there.”

Not just the windows—each room was larger on the third floor, since it was labs. If they had to fight while escaping, it was better to hold a wider space.

‘No one’s getting hurt from dropping a few floors anyway.’

Having decided, Hyeonseong opened the Infinite Corridor again. She shoved every large piece of furniture in the room into it.

The moment one room was completely cleared out, she shouted for everyone to head to the third floor. The team immediately moved.

‘We should grab a bit more.’

On the way to the stairs, they looted three or four already-searched personal rooms as a bonus.

THUMP, THUMP

FWHOOSH—!

As they climbed, loud noises rose from the first floor—mechanical footsteps, explosions, and firing sounds.

‘So they’re planning to seal off the first floor completely.’

The noise spread across the whole first floor. Since not many monsters were chasing them upward, it looked like they were focusing on locking down the ground level.

“Block them!”

Even if it was a small number, monsters were still pursuing. The rear-guard members engaged immediately.

‘Nothing else is chasing right now, right?’

Hyeonseong checked where the skirmish was happening: the stair landing between the second and third floors.

‘No need to move.’

The moment she confirmed it, Hyeonseong opened the Infinite Corridor into the staircase below the landing. The furniture she’d hastily gathered on the second floor dumped down chaotically, clogging the stairs.

‘At least it’ll buy us the time of one beam shot.’

Even if it wasn’t long, even one second mattered. After confirming the stairs were fully blocked, Hyeonseong stepped onto the third floor.

DRRRK

SKREEEE

CRUNCH

The instant they reached the third, racket rose from below as the mechanical monsters tried to drag and break the furniture blocking the stairs.

‘Guess there isn’t a unit down there with a built-in beam cannon.’

She could infer that from the petty scraping and smashing—rather than one clean blast.

‘Good. Then what we really need to watch for now is…….’

KWAANG—!

Just as Hyeonseong was about to think further, another explosion boomed from beyond the wall. A faint tremor ran through the floor.

‘They’re already breaking the floor?’

Hyeonseong clicked her tongue. If they couldn’t come up the stairs quickly, there was one obvious play left: break through floors or ceilings.

‘Sounds like they’re starting from the edge and going section by section.’

Either way, that meant they had to escape even faster.

“Don’t stall—move out now. Everyone’s skills ready, right?”

Hyeonseong asked. No one needed her to explain which skills.

“Yep, ready.”

“Just give the signal!”

They answered.

“Then—”

“Huh? Where’s Kwon Seojin?”

A teammate’s panicked voice cut in right as Hyeonseong was about to give the go-ahead.

“What?”

“Seriously, where’d he go? He was here just a second ago……”

Others reacted the same way. Hyeonseong’s brow furrowed hard.

‘What is this guy doing now?’

She immediately turned on the hunter terminal. Kwon Seojin’s mechanical signal was moving nearby. At least he hadn’t died or vanished.

“Oh—so you were all over here.”

Before Hyeonseong could decide anything, Kwon Seojin walked back in from a lab.

“Where were you? You scared us.”

A teammate demanded.

“Next lab over. I got the location mixed up.”

A Constellation message arrived the moment he answered.

‘He didn’t have to say that, but he did.’

Like he wanted to show off that he knew more than he should.

“Next room?”

“Well, we’re moving as a big group in tight spaces. Easy to get mixed up.”

Hyeonseong thought it was a ridiculous excuse, but the others seemed to buy it. She couldn’t understand their reaction.

“Sorry. I should’ve been more careful.”

“As long as you came back right away.”

“Hyeonseong—now it’s safe to go out, right?”

With the missing man back, the team looked to Hyeonseong again.

“……Yeah. Move. Use radio-wave interference and particle disruption first.”

She forced down the queasy feeling and issued orders. The programmer and engineer used their skills.

The messages confirmed the skills had applied within a certain radius around the casters.

The moment the skills triggered, they smashed the window.

Through the broken frame, the team jumped out of the building.