The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low

In the tunnel leading to the underground dungeon in Jongno 3-ga, people in white protective suits moved busily. Uijae, holding a jackknife, went around rescuing people caught by the ivy vines, unable to move. Strangely, he was free from the vines, which seemed to pull toward him like octopus tentacles.

‘Well, the reason is obvious….’

The stupid vines probably see him as one of their kind. Uijae gave a crooked smile as he helped a struggling researcher back on their feet. His protective suit, much smaller than everyone else's, bounced up and down.

“J-nim, the preparations are complete. It's time to start.”

Uijae nodded and headed toward the dead-end wall. He brushed aside the white ivy and placed his palm on the wall. A tense voice shouted from behind.

“…Activating now. One, two, three!”

Whoooosh—bright white light poured out from the massive machine. The tunnel vibrated. Intense energy surged through his back. Uijae gathered the incoming energy and focused it through his palm on the wall. The wall he touched shook. The energy connected through his body to the wall started to form into a circular shape.

Just a bit more. Just a little more. Uijae gritted his teeth, focusing. The energy, gathering around his hand, ultimately failed to find a center and scattered with a pop. The entire dark tunnel lit up bright white before fading. A sigh escaped from behind. Uijae clicked his tongue and withdrew his hand. The researcher spoke in a defeated voice.

“Phase four, failure.”

“Is it still a lack of energy?”

“Yes. Using your body as a conduit does have an effect…. The energy definitely concentrated in one spot. This would help save the energy from scattering… but…”

“In the end, we still need to increase the amount of energy…”

“The energy source…”

“Modification…”

The researchers began talking amongst themselves in complicated terms. Uijae didn’t even try to understand and squatted down in front of the wall. The moment he showed interest, the whole research team would get excited and rush to explain, and that was something he absolutely wanted to avoid.

‘I really don’t want to get stuck in that endless loop of explanations again.’

He shuddered his shoulders.

The Pado Guild’s research team had tried multiple times to open the closed dungeon gates based on the theories they had developed. They kindly explained their theories to Uijae, but halfway through, the specialized terms piled up, and he let it go in one ear and out the other. In any case, the summary of their theory was as follows: