MDR-C27

Chapter 27

Instead of answering, Mujin let out a short scoff and took a step back.

As the relentless pressure constricting Eunseong finally disappeared, he swallowed a sigh of relief.

Mujin curled his fingers around the lingering chill of Eunseong’s skin in his palm, the corner of his mouth twisting upward.

“Fine. Let’s get out alive first. Which way?”

“……”

Eunseong barely stopped himself from snapping, How the hell would I know?

Instead, he swept an uneasy gaze around the area.

Then, slowly, his hand rose and pointed toward one spot.

A staircase had been exposed amid the rubble left behind by their recent battle.

Eunseong forced himself onto the steep stairs, which were flooded with red light.

This place was no different.

The suffocating stench.

The nauseating odor of rotting chemicals.

Even the floor was wet and sticky.

Damn it… Once I get out, the first thing I’m finding is a pair of sunglasses I can store in my inventory.

Eunseong desperately forced his thoughts elsewhere, trying to forget how frightened he was.

Before he knew it, they had reached the upper floor.

There was no corridor here.

Instead, an iron door that should have been firmly shut sat slightly misaligned, leaving only the narrowest gap.

A heavy mechanical noise came from beyond it.

Between the dull, rhythmic sounds, a thin, sharp scrape—like metal dragging against metal—cut through the silence every so often.

For some reason, Eunseong had the distinct feeling that going inside was a terrible idea.

He instinctively backed away and bumped into Mujin, who was standing directly behind him.

A low voice brushed past his ear.

“What’s in there this time?”

“……”

The words that had risen all the way to Eunseong’s throat lodged there.

If he suggested turning back now, Mujin’s cold gaze would only bore into him again.

Instead of answering, Eunseong wet his parched lips and straightened.

He forced his stiff, tension-locked legs to move and stepped up to the door, placing his hand on the handle.

The metal was cold beneath his palm.

With the air so damp and sticky, even the sensation of touching it felt unpleasant.

Eunseong let out a short breath.

Then he opened the door.

The red light spilling through the gap slowly washed over them from their feet upward.

For all his tension, another dim corridor was all that awaited them.

The difference was that this one was narrow and short.

And beneath the door at its far end, a faint line of white light seeped through.

The thought that it might lead outside filled Eunseong with a flicker of hope, and before he even realized it, his pace quickened.

He threw the door open.

The sudden brightness stabbed at his eyes, and he reflexively raised the back of his hand to shield himself from the flood of light.

“……”

When the glare faded and his vision cleared, Eunseong stopped without meaning to.

Unlike the lower floor, which had resembled an abandoned laboratory, this place had pristine white walls and flooring, with office chairs arranged neatly in straight rows.

If not for the monitors that had been smashed apart, it looked so ordinary that he could almost forget this was a dungeon where grotesque monsters had been attacking them.

…So it wasn’t a door outside.

Eunseong was disappointed, but he carefully stepped onto the white floor without letting it show.

Only his and Mujin’s footsteps echoed through the silent space.

They had barely taken a few steps when Eunseong abruptly stopped and whipped his head around.

He had thought this place looked normal.

Of course it wasn’t.

Across the pristine white floor stretched a long trail of dark red blood, as though someone had desperately crawled along it.

Parts of the stain had been smeared chaotically, apparently ground beneath someone’s shoes, leaving behind a horrific mess.

The dark was better. I can see way too much in here…!

The bloodstains beneath the bright fluorescent lights remained burned into his vision like an afterimage.

Eunseong jerked his head away several times, desperately trying to erase the sight from his mind.

Watching from behind, Mujin walked past him and began pressing various controls.

The buttons did not feel particularly stiff, suggesting they had not been abandoned for very long.

But no matter how many he tried, nothing reacted.

The screens remained black and dead.

“They don’t work. I can’t get them to turn on. Would you like to try, Guild Leader?”

“No.”

Eunseong rejected the suggestion immediately, without even considering it.

He was afraid the machines would react to him again.

He did not even go near them, folding his arms as if to emphasize the point.

His answer sounded indifferent on the surface, but Mujin immediately recognized it as a defense born from extreme vigilance.

Eunseong was bristling all over, rigid with caution, yet the ends of his shoulders were still trembling faintly.

Keeping his distance from the machinery, Eunseong moved farther inside.

Backing away almost as though retreating, he soon found himself standing before a large desk.

Mujin followed quietly behind without making so much as a sound.

Eunseong’s gaze settled on the desk in front of a broken monitor.

Unlike everywhere else, stacks of documents lay scattered messily across its surface.

As Eunseong stared at them, his eyes began to tremble.

In one corner of the desk sat a glass ashtray.

Inside lay a cigarette butt that had burned most of the way down before being abandoned.

The ash had not completely gone cold.

At the very tip, it still faintly held its shape.

Someone smoked this not long ago.

…That means someone was in this room until just now.

Eunseong’s heart dropped.

Discovering an unidentified laboratory inside a dungeon was already more than he could handle.

Now there was evidence that a person had been here too.

His thoughts tangled into chaos.

What the hell is this place? Why does it keep throwing things like this at me…?!

The possibility that humans might have been controlling all of this made his stomach twist with revulsion.

What if they’re still hiding somewhere?

What if we run into them?

Eunseong sucked in a short, involuntary breath.

If not for the heavy hand pressing firmly against his shoulder, he might have collapsed where he stood.

“……”

“If there’s still warmth left, they can’t have gone far. Shall we go after them?”

Mujin crushed the cigarette ash beneath his thumb as he spoke.

Eunseong shook his head.

“This comes first.”

He barely managed to move his locked jaw enough to force out a shaky breath.

…Get a grip. Wherever this is, nothing matters until I find a way out.

Trying to hide how pale his face had become, Eunseong deliberately turned toward the panel.

His trembling hand moved toward the main controls.

But it stopped short, hovering in midair.

Until moments ago, he had been avoiding the machinery with everything he had because he did not want to give Mujin another reason to suspect him.

But that no longer mattered.

Mujin glanced at the ashtray.

He rubbed his index finger with the thumb stained in cigarette ash, then flicked the gray residue from his fingers.

His persistent gaze fixed itself on the back of Eunseong’s head.

Looks like he really doesn’t know this place either.

Even after realizing that, Mujin’s eyes continued clinging to Eunseong as though determined not to miss even the smallest reaction.

That lingering sense of wrongness kept scraping at his nerves.

Unaware of the stare boring into the back of his head, Eunseong clenched his fist tightly, then opened it again.

If it reacts to me again… maybe I can at least find a way out.

Losing himself to fear once had been enough.

Eunseong drove himself forward and touched the keypad.

Beep—!

The machine responded without fail.

With an eerie mechanical tone, the main monitor burst to life in blue.

[Control Room administrator authentication incomplete.]

[B-04 Sector authorization restricted.]

[Upper-level containment protocol awaiting activation.]

One line after another appeared across the screen.

To Eunseong, only one word seemed to grow larger.

Containment.

Containment? Not an exit?

At this rate, I’m going to get trapped in here!

Eunseong wet his dry lips.

Mujin was watching from behind, so he tried his best to operate the panel as though nothing was wrong.

But his trembling fingers kept hitting the wrong places.

“…Guild Leader.”

At that moment, a cool, solid presence closed in behind him.

“Ah!”

A suppressed cry escaped Eunseong before he could stop it.

He had not even noticed Mujin approach.

One of Mujin’s hands came down against the edge of the desk.

His firm chest hovered just short of touching Eunseong’s back.

Eunseong could feel Mujin’s gaze with painful clarity.

He stared desperately at the monitor.

He did not have the courage to turn around.

Mujin slowly looked down at the crown of Eunseong’s head, at the man who had gone rigid while effectively trapped within the space enclosed by his body.

Then he gradually lowered his head, bringing his lips close to Eunseong’s ear.

“What are you trying to do?”

His low voice vibrated beside him, and hot breath brushed Eunseong’s ear.

Goosebumps rose along the back of Eunseong’s neck.

He forced himself to speak.

“…Get out.”

“Aren’t you curious what this place is? Why it exists?”

“No.”

It was a lie.

The person most curious about why this place existed was probably Eunseong himself.

But he had no desire to remain here just to satisfy that curiosity.

All he could think about was getting out alive.