Late morning, Director’s office at the Dungeon Management Bureau.
The door opened, and the Director, looking utterly exhausted, took off his jacket.
Despite dragging Mark in last night, the operation had ended in failure, and after being called here and there and getting completely worn out, he had only just arrived at work.
No one knew exactly what had happened inside the dungeon, but Mark had spent some special time with Nada and returned to the United States carrying a pile of goods with a blissful expression.
Mark, who was happy to have spent time with Nada even after collapsing, didn’t need any apologies, so that was some small comfort.
“Hii—”
Hanging his jacket on the coat rack and turning around abruptly, the Director nearly fell over in surprise.
Nada, whom he had been searching for so desperately, was right there in front of him.
It was hard to confirm if it was the real thing based on eyewitness testimony alone, but the hoodie he wore and the aura he radiated were enough proof.
It was Nada.
He had struggled so much to catch him but never imagined he’d run into him like this in the Director’s office.
“Wh-why are you here…?”
Though he had tried every unreasonable method to uncover Nada’s identity, seeing him in person caused an instinctive fear to well up inside the Director.
Recalling all that had happened so far, the Director’s face turned pale.
“You know why I came, don’t you?”
Nada’s expression was unreadable, but his tone carried a feeling that the Director could sense clearly.
Involuntarily, the Director stepped backward.
There was no one else here besides Nada and himself.
The only trusted Hwan had gone out on field duty.
There was no one in the Dungeon Management Bureau qualified to confront Nada.
“Dungeon Break crossed the line badly. Dragging in the number one in the U.S. ranking was just the start.”
Nada stepped forward and spoke.
“I-I’m not curious about your identity! This is all because higher-ups ordered it…”
The Director shouted, waving his hands frantically as if to say it wasn’t his doing.
He turned on a recording file on his phone and played Mark’s confession.
“Still, in the end, weren’t Dungeon Break and the last Level 5 Gate incident all plotted by you?”
“That is…”
Faced with clear evidence, the Director was left speechless and sealed his lips.
Moreover, Mark’s statements implied that Nada’s strength was a cut above even the U.S.’s top-ranked agent.
Nada’s aura grew fiercer than before. A faint killing intent slowly seeped out, making the Director’s legs start to tremble.
“If you try to find out my identity with foolish tricks from now on, don’t expect a good outcome.”
Leaving those threatening words behind, Nada suddenly disappeared.
The Director pulled out his phone with trembling hands and called someone.
Jacket, jacket, jacket.
“Threatening someone for the first time makes you nervous, huh?”
After warning the Director not to pry into his identity again, I returned to school.
When Ban Eunhyeol and Ok Sang heard I had gone to the Dungeon Management Bureau, Ban Eunhyeol chuckled.
“For someone as reckless as Merlin, you did well. What’s your next plan?”
“Hmm, I don’t know.”
I had considered warning the press once more when they gathered, after pre-announcing that I would close the gate.
But I hesitated a bit, worried the Bureau might hatch another foolish scheme.
“If your identity is ever in danger of being exposed, I’ll help you, so don’t worry. And do you think the U.S. number one would fall for such a sloppy trick?”
As I voiced my concerns, Ban Eunhyeol acted as if there was nothing to worry about.
“Well, that’s true.”
Honestly, until the Dungeon Break incident, the U.S.’s number one was unbeatable.
If someone like Yeon Hayun or Ban Eunhyeol, or even Do I-hyun, had those skills, it would have been even tougher, but apart from handling monsters, Mark’s physical abilities weren’t particularly strong, which was a relief.
Controlling the monsters was harder than Mark himself.
[Hwan (6): Nada-nim, did you come to the Director’s office?]
At that moment, a chat window popped up in front of me.
It seemed the Director had informed Hwan that I had come.
[Nada (0): I warned him not to try to dig up my identity anymore.]
Thinking it would be wise to warn Hwan as well, I sent a reply.
[Hwan (6): I will heed the warning. I apologize for everything that happened so far. I am sorry.]
Should I have warned him more sternly?
I didn’t expect him to immediately understand and back down.
Still, I doubted this alone would keep him in line, so it was better to carry out the plan I had been considering.
“Given how cleanly they’re backing off, it’s suspicious.”
Ban Eunhyeol frowned and shook his head.
“Right? It’s suspicious…”
I was about to agree when the phone I had set down vibrated.
It was a call from Do I-hyun.
“What’s up?”
[What’s going on?]
Judging by the chat, it seemed he was calling right after seeing the message.
The Dungeon Break incident was never disclosed outside.
Only news that a Dungeon Break had occurred in Suwon without casualties and that Mark had closed the gate was released.
The fact that the Dungeon Management Bureau had intentionally neglected the gate to cause the Dungeon Break and that it was all a government ploy to reveal Nada’s identity had to stay secret.
No one knew I had been there.
Only Ban Eunhyeol, who heard Mark’s ramblings and translated them for me, knew what was going on, while Do I-hyun remained completely unaware.
“Ah, nothing much. I’ll tell you when we meet later.”
Instead of talking over the phone in detail, I thought it better to explain everything in person later.
[…Okay. See you soon.]
Though we made no special plans, Do I-hyun said he’d see me soon and ended the call.
“You’re meeting him? That guy?”
Ban Eunhyeol, who had overheard the entire conversation, asked disapprovingly.
“He needs to know.”
“I think it’s enough if I know.”
“Do I-hyun might come up with a good idea again. Last time, sneaking into the Director’s office and copying all the documents was really helpful.”
I smoothed Ban Eunhyeol’s furrowed brow with my hand and said,
“When are you meeting?”
With a helpless sigh, Ban Eunhyeol asked, and I shrugged, saying I didn’t know.
Time passed, and as classes ended and the library emptied, the Four Heavenly Kings and Yeon Hayun were still inside the school, but I saw female students running like a stampede toward the school gates.
“Who’s here?”
Han Ji-bin opened the window with curiosity and looked toward the school gate, but couldn’t see who it was because of the crowd of excited girls.
“Hey! Do I-hyun’s at the gate!”
There was no need to go to the gate to know who it was.
From the hallway, we could hear the girls shouting that Do I-hyun had arrived.
“Idan, are you going to leave through the main gate?”
“I think I should.”
On the way to the main gate, Ban Eunhyeol sent the other friends ahead and walked beside me.
I thought Han Ji-bin and Yeon Hayun would feel sad since they didn’t know English and had to go home separately, but they showed no signs of that.
Instead, the two waved and smiled as if to say goodbye.
At the gate, the crowd naturally parted without our help.
Ban Eunhyeol and Do I-hyun left behind the excited girls and we moved to a quieter place.
“You’d better leave now, too.”
Just as I was about to start talking, Do I-hyun stopped me and tried to send Ban Eunhyeol away.
“Ah, he knows everything too.”
Uh… he knows?
Do I-hyun, who was usually so cool, widened his eyes, his face showing displeasure.
Ban Eunhyeol had a similar reaction when he first heard the news, folding his arms and smirking.
Suddenly, a fierce aura radiated from both of them.
As if ready to fight at any moment, I pushed them back with both hands and briefly explained what had happened.
“Crazy. They deliberately caused Dungeon Break.”
“Not sane.”
Do I-hyun muttered in disbelief, and Ban Eunhyeol threw a punch.
The two, who always seemed to be at odds, surprisingly got along well at moments like this.
“If the warning worked, it’s lucky, but I don’t think that’s the case.”
“You think so too?”
“Though it’s good to have a positive image, sometimes it’s better to instill a little fear.”
It wasn’t exactly the method I wanted, but Do I-hyun made a good point.
Clearly, it was better to make people realize the consequences if they crossed the line than to just talk nicely.
“What do you think about this plan?”
I pulled their collars close, whispering my plan.
Maybe because they were too close, neither could keep their gaze fixed, their ears turning red from embarrassment.
As soon as we finished discussing the plan head-to-head, they both threw their heads back as if ready to bolt.
“Are you really sure about this?”
I asked again, thinking it was a bit much, but Ban Eunhyeol and Do I-hyun responded like it was no big deal.
“When we do it, we have to do it properly.”
“We have to at least be cautious, right?”
I didn’t expect them to back me this much, so I felt both sorry and thankful.
“Let’s make the news go viral.”
Ban Eunhyeol smirked as he spoke with a teasing tone.
Jacket, jacket, jacket.
Shortly after, a video containing Nada’s warning was uploaded on the internet and quickly went viral.
Though short, the message was powerful.
It showed me roughing up Ban Eunhyeol and Do I-hyun, dragging them out of the dungeon, and warning the press that anyone trying to uncover my identity would suffer far worse consequences.
“What the heck happened?”
“Eunhyeol! When did you do such a reckless thing?”
“Wow, you’re so bold. I want to spar with Nada too.”
“Fight with Nada…”
As expected, the school was insanely noisy.
Behind the friends bombarding Ban Eunhyeol with questions after school, some classmates glanced quietly at him.
“I just ran into him in the dungeon.”
Ban Eunhyeol answered briefly, then immediately buried his face in his desk. Someone might think he was embarrassed by the broadcast and feeling guilty.
“You didn’t have to go this far, sorry…”
I had suggested to Ban Eunhyeol and Do I-hyun several times to find another way, but they were so determined that we had no choice but to carry out this operation.
They guessed that simple warnings wouldn’t work properly, so we needed to show that we could definitely suppress the top two ranked in the U.S. to make them realize the danger.
Their guess was spot on.