Chapter 22

The air was thick with a stinging stench and a palpable sense of danger, filling the narrow corridors of the laboratory.

“Where… is this…?”

A scorching, wet sensation on his head brought him back to consciousness.

When he came to, everything was red—it was his own blood.

“Ugh…!”

The situation rushed into his mind.

The sudden opening of the lab’s sections, the unidentified roar from the direction of the panic room, and then… something came charging at them.

“…Hey, you awake?”

The one speaking to Jin Mugyeol, as he struggled to piece together his memories, was Kim Jinsu, who was also battered and bloodied.

Kim Jinsu was dragging both Kim Lara and Jin Mugyeol by the scruffs of their necks, trudging along.

Jin Mugyeol glanced to the side as he was being dragged.

Kim Lara, her eyes closed, was bleeding all over her body.

At a glance, she seemed to be in the worst condition of the three.

“Damn…”

Jin Mugyeol desperately raised himself up, assisting Kim Jinsu to support Kim Lara.

The two of them, with an injured person between their shoulders, kept moving forward.

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure.”

Kim Jinsu’s eyes scanned the dark corridor, shadowed by the fear of what might come charging out again.

“It was just… an absurdly massive monster.”

“I vaguely remember seeing it. But how did we survive?”

“Thanks to Kim Lara buying us some time. I don’t know how, but she instinctively pushed her power to the max as soon as she faced it. The thing got electrocuted, and we used the chance to get away. But it won’t be long before it catches up.”

Jin Mugyeol followed Kim Jinsu’s gaze into the darkness.

Then, he heard it—a sound.

Squish. Squish.

The sound of crushed, swollen flesh stepping into the hallway, tearing like melted jelly.

Squish. Squish.

The grotesque sound drew closer.

Kim Jinsu’s sword trembled faintly.

Finally, something emerged from the darkness.

The monster barely resembled a human.

Its body, a chaotic mess of broken bones and torn flesh, was grotesquely swollen.

Its surface oozed a dark, viscous liquid, and from what appeared to be its eyes, sticky fluid dripped.

Its horrifying appearance was beyond words.

“Jinsu… can we stop that thing?”

“Unlikely.”

Jin Mugyeol instinctively knew.

This isn’t an opponent we can defeat.

“Jinsu, take Kim Lara and retreat!”

Jin Mugyeol shouted, but Kim Jinsu didn’t move an inch.

“What’s the point? We’d both die anyway.”

Though his sword trembled, his gaze remained fixed on the monster.

The creature seemed oblivious to their words, tilting its head before charging with overwhelming speed and power.

Jin Mugyeol and Kim Jinsu were struck, rolling to the ground in an instant.

“Ugh… this…”

Jin Mugyeol tried to rise, but the monster’s hand loomed above him.

There was no time to dodge.

At that moment—

“[O fierce wave of dissipation, engrave the saga of collapse!]”

A powerful, sharp incantation resounded.

What followed was a blinding light.

Boom!!

With a deafening roar, a massive explosion spell descended.

Even with his eyes shielded, Jin Mugyeol felt it.

An overwhelming flow of mana pierced the air, illuminating the dark corridor with radiant light.

“Phew… one shot, for now.”

From the other side of the corridor, a figure strode confidently forward.

It was Wi Seoyeon.

A glowing magic circle still lingered at her fingertips.

“Wi Seoyeon…?!”

Jin Mugyeol couldn’t hide his shock.

Why was she here, instead of in the briefing room?

And how had she come alone?

But she wasn’t alone.

“Whoa, what happened to you guys?!”

“Are you okay?!”

“Support Kim Lara, quickly!”

Gwak Dohyeong, Kang Han, and Joo Yidam appeared—Team 2 had arrived.

As the collapsing laboratory shook around them, Wi Seoyeon shared several pieces of shocking information.

One revelation stood out: when the lab’s coordinates in the buffer zone were erased, the lab director had merged with the briefing room itself.

The briefing room was the director.

She had no eyes, no ears.

It wasn’t a coincidence that she could only communicate through the operator mic.

As unnerving as it was to think they had been inside the lab director the whole time, they had more pressing matters.

[Please pin the panic room monster down. Just 10 seconds… no, 5 seconds is enough.]

With the lab’s collapse, the lab director, once a phantom in the briefing room, now exerted influence across the lab.

She made a single request:

Help me kill my former lover.

After hearing this, Jin Mugyeol glanced at the monster, his face grim.

“Five seconds…?”

Wiping his damp forehead, Jin Mugyeol laughed bitterly.

“Is that even possible?”

“Possible or not, we have to try.”

Running away would only lead to dead ends, crumbling floors, or being caught again.

“Phew.”

Kang Han stepped forward with a heavy sigh.

His eyes, steel-like and bloodshot, carried an unyielding resolve.

On his shoulders rested a barrier artifact lent by Gwak Dohyeong.

It was already battered and looked ready to break, but it was better than nothing.

“I’ll hold it off. Do what you can to support me.”

Kang Han, facing the strongest opponent of his life, was already on the verge of a berserk state.

His voice was guttural, almost a growl.

I looked at Kang Han.

“Can you do it?”

Instead of replying, he fixed his bloodshot eyes on the monster, filled with fury and determination.

A guttural growl escaped him.

From the shadows emerged the bloated monster, Shim Junghoo, dripping with red and black fluid.

Flesh spilling through the lab floor crevices squirmed like tentacles, reabsorbing into the creature.

The ends of its long, sharp arms glinted as metallic fragments and bones intertwined.

“Good luck…!”

Kim Jinsu, carrying the unconscious Kim Lara, retreated.

Injured as he was, he knew he couldn’t contribute to the fight.

Gwak Dohyeong muttered softly, almost in a sob.

The equipment glimmered faintly, and Wi Seoyeon whispered softly, “Please, don’t let this equipment break…”

Preparing to draw the monster’s attention, she ignited the magic circle in her hand.

“I only have one chance to fire. Remember that!”

Everything was ready.

Kang Han lunged forward with explosive momentum.

“Haah!”

Gone was his usual timidity, replaced by an overwhelming, ferocious determination.

With a loud shout, Kang Han swung his greatsword at the monster.

“Raaagh!”

The monster, Shim Junghoo, roared back, swinging its massive arms in response.

The two clashed violently, ripping through the corridor.

The floor caved in, and shards of metal flew in all directions.

As the ceiling seemed ready to collapse, Kang Han’s strength surged.

He stabbed a dagger into the monster’s left leg, aiming for an opening.

Yet, the decaying, jelly-like flesh absorbed the blade, dissolving it without a trace.

“Damn it.”

As the monster’s arm moved to strike, Kang Han caught its joint with his own blood-swollen arm.

“Graaaahh!”

The monster writhed in agony, its arm bent at an unnatural angle.

The impact caused the floor to split open.

“Now’s your chance!”

At that moment, a massive explosion of light filled the corridor.

“[Shatter—!]”

The enormous blast of magic struck the monster’s massive body, creating a deafening roar that echoed everywhere.

Amid the storm of flying flesh and metal shards, Kang Han clung tightly to the monster’s leg.

“Just a little longer—please!” Gwak Dohyeong shouted.

I shielded the injured from the debris, deflecting fragments as best as I could.

The sheer force of the battle sent powerful gusts of wind through the corridor, scattering everyone’s hair wildly.

The fight had escalated far beyond what ordinary humans could handle.

The berserker and the panic room’s monster were locked in a chaotic, beast-like struggle.

“Four seconds! Five seconds! That’s enough!”

Wi Seoyeon’s voice rang out as a metallic tearing sound reverberated through the corridor.

Suddenly, darkness enveloped the entire space.

[Everyone, fall back.]

The lab director’s voice echoed throughout the space.

Since the “lab” was her very essence, it seemed she was ready to play her final card.

But Kang Han was still entangled with the monster.

“…This is bad…!”

“Joo Yidam?! Hey, where are you going?!”

Before I realized it, I was rushing toward Kang Han and the monster, my body moving on its own.

“Raaagh!”

The monster roared, a faint trace of its former humanity lingering in its voice.

The collapsing lab began to contract, drawing Kang Han and the monster toward the center.

At this rate, Kang Han would be crushed along with the monster.

“Kang Han!!”

I screamed desperately, but distorted walls and fragments of metal blocked my path.

One step closer, and I’d be caught in the collapse myself.

A blinding flash of light and the sensation of the dimension itself crumbling enveloped me.

The overwhelming pressure crushed my body, leaving me breathless.

“…Whatever.”

I shut my eyes tightly and threw myself into the collapsing dimension.

After what felt like mere seconds—or maybe minutes—I opened my eyes.

Before me stretched an infinite expanse of space.

Its breathtaking vastness shimmered with an indescribable beauty.

“Where is this…?”

“You’ve woken up.”

A familiar voice reached me.

Turning my head, I saw the lab director.

It was her—at least, the version of her I had seen in the terminal.

Or perhaps it was her as she had been in life.

She spoke.

“You’ve forged an interesting connection with the berserker, haven’t you, student?”

“…What?”

My head throbbed.

My memories of diving into the collapsing space were hazy.

What happened?

What about Kang Han?

As I winced at the splitting headache, the lab director spoke calmly.

“The panic room’s monster has been destroyed, and the lab is nearing its end as well. It wasn’t the outcome I had hoped for, but it could have been worse.”

“What about Kang Han?!”

When I demanded an answer, she replied without hesitation.

“He regained his senses after drinking your blood. Then he escaped the collapse by leaping over the monster’s corpse.”

“…Ah.”

I noticed the stiffness in my neck.

Touching my left shoulder, I felt the deep imprint of bite marks.

So that’s what happened.

Relieved that the protagonist was safe, exhaustion overtook me.

Slumping to the ground, I saw the lab director approach, handing me something.

“This is…”

The artifact I had sought, Promised Ruin.

A pair of rings jingled in my hand.

“Since you cleared the dungeon, the person with the most contribution deserves the reward.”

“Did you know the lab had been turned into a dungeon?”

She smiled faintly, her expression devoid of lingering regrets.

“While trapped as one with the briefing room, watching my beloved locked in the panic room for decades, I came to understand.”

With a distant look, she added,

“A terrible existence. Perhaps Junghoo and I weren’t the first. How many other lives and places have been twisted into dungeons by the Constellations?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve experienced it once, haven’t you?”

Her expression turned somber, signaling she would say no more.

“The moment you uncover their uncomfortable truths, you’ll draw their attention.”

The Constellations.

I had already glimpsed their crimes through the terminal—and paid dearly for it.

The Constellations could manipulate entire dimensions with ease.

Even now, I vividly remembered the terror of the monster’s release when the panic room was forcibly opened.

The Constellations aren’t entirely benevolent, are they?

Back when this world was a game, the Constellations merely served to enhance the player.

No more, no less.

But now I had a new clue: the Constellations’ sins.

The thought lingered, tickling the back of my mind.

I couldn’t unravel it all now, but that didn’t matter.

What mattered was having the thread in my hands.

“…Farewell.”

The lab director, her energy spent, gazed at the drifting stardust around her before dissolving completely.

The dungeon was cleared.

“Hey, Joo Yidam’s awake!!”

“Joo Yidam, you bastard!!!”

“Let him say his last words at least.”

Emerging from the simulation room, I was met by Gwak Dohyeong, Jin Mugyeol, Wi Seoyeon, and Kim Jinsu, all radiating an ominous aura.

The tension was palpable—I was about to be mobbed.

Smiling awkwardly, I tried to defuse the situation.

“Um, guys?”

“Get him!!!”

“Die!!”

It seemed karma was catching up to me.

In the distance, Kang Han pretended not to notice, keeping his distance.

I trusted you, at least.