Chapter 106: Voices in the Dark

When Sung Ji-woo drew close to the cave, a voice caught her ear.

“P-please… save me…!”

It was Lee Won-jae. Hearing his voice echo faintly from deep within the cave, Sung Ji-woo didn’t hesitate—she leapt straight into the darkness.

She didn’t even have time to consider why the Mountain Madmen weren’t entering the cave and were instead keeping their distance around it.

The ground suddenly dropped away beneath her feet.

“Ugh…!”

Inside the cave was a sheer cliff. Her body flew briefly through the air, like a roller coaster plunging downward, before starting to fall. Fortunately, the potion’s effect was still active.

Startled but steady, Sung Ji-woo landed lightly at the bottom. Had it not been for Chae Min-jung’s potion, she might have fallen straight to her death. Just imagining it sent a chill down her spine.

“Hngh… s-save me…”

But the real problem started now. The cave was dark, but not so much that visibility was completely lost. She could make out the vague shapes of nearby objects.

“…Mr. Lee Won-jae?”

His voice kept echoing like a hallucination, yet there was no one around Sung Ji-woo. Not even a single Mountain Madman was in sight.

Unfortunately, it seemed the monsters knew this terrain inside and out. Which meant they weren’t foolish enough to wander in here blindly.

“…It hurts… it hurts so much…”

Someone groaned in pain. The voice was choked with tears and hard to distinguish, but since only the four of them were here, it had to be Lee Won-jae.

“……”

Tense, Sung Ji-woo moved toward the nearest wall. She felt her way along it, circling the space once.

“There’s no one here…?”

She even crossed the area just in case—but still, nothing appeared.

Yet the voice sounded right beside her.

The moment an unknown tension stiffened her body—

Grab.

Someone seized her shoulder. Sung Ji-woo flinched violently, freezing before she could even scream.

“Hngh—uhh… D-Deputy Guild Leader…?”

The familiar title, following a ghostlike sob, made her rigid body slowly relax.

“…Yes?”

Thinking it really was Lee Won-jae, she turned around.

There was still no one there.

“What…?”

Her legs gave out, and Sung Ji-woo slumped to the ground. She whipped her head around belatedly, but nothing entered her field of vision.

“I-I’m right here…”

The voice whispered right beside her ear. Sung Ji-woo hurriedly raised a hand to cover it.

“Gah…!”

“A-ah, it’s because I drank the potion Chae Min-jung gave me…”

His hesitant voice followed.

“A… a transparency potion. She said it could fool monsters…”

Only then did Sung Ji-woo understand why she couldn’t see anything.

“Ah, you scared me.”

She pressed a hand to her chest in relief. It was a little embarrassing—she’d practically staged a horror movie all by herself.

“I wasn’t sure myself, but not being visible to others doesn’t feel great at all.”

Thinking about how Sung Ji-woo had been wandering around blindly while he stood right there, Lee Won-jae shook his head.

“We should probably get out of here first.”

Sung Ji-woo staggered forward, her hand brushing against Lee Won-jae’s chin before gripping him and pulling. It must have been his shoulder—his solid body soon pressed against her arm.

She jumped straight up, as if springing in place.

“…?”

“……”

Nothing happened.

Sung Ji-woo hopped and then sank right back down. Lee Won-jae stared at her in disbelief. By now, his transparency had also worn off.

Muttering awkwardly, Sung Ji-woo said,

“…Looks like the potion wore off.”

“…Mine too.”

Their gazes met in midair. Sung Ji-woo let go of him, and Lee Won-jae’s body fluttered down like paper before collapsing to the ground.

Now that she could see him clearly, it was obvious—he was badly injured. Bloodstains stood out starkly on his clothes.

“You’re hurt?”

“Huh? Ah, y-yeah… I rolled a few times while running, and got stabbed by the spines…”

For someone in that state, he’d endured remarkably well. Lee Won-jae seemed tougher than he looked. In a hurry, Sung Ji-woo tore strips from his clothes and pressed them against his ruptured side to stop the bleeding.

Even though his shirt was reduced to rags, Lee Won-jae didn’t complain once. In a trembling voice, he only asked if they were stuck here now.

“That won’t happen.”

Sung Ji-woo spoke with unexpected firmness. Lee Won-jae’s eyes lit up.

“Do you have a good plan?”

Faced with his hopeful gaze, Sung Ji-woo looked a little apologetic.

“No.”

It would have been a lie to say she wasn’t scared. She’d nearly fainted just hearing his disembodied voice earlier—of course a situation bordering on being stranded was terrifying.

But she hid her trembling. If she were alone, she might’ve given up. But now, a guild member stood beside her.

“We’ll find a way from here. And we will find one.”

Sung Ji-woo felt the weight of her choices anew—deciding to form a guild with Yoo Heero, personally selecting the guild members, taking the deputy guild leader position, and entering this gate despite Heero’s absence.

All of it had been her decision.

She created a floating light. The dark cave brightened, the glow circling near the entrance.

Outside the cave, monsters still seemed to be stationed there.

“…Huh?”

Then suddenly, the light jolted violently and shot straight out of the cave. As if the monsters had vanished in an instant, the light returned, now drifting aimlessly around Sung Ji-woo.

“They’re gone…?”

No sooner had Lee Won-jae murmured in confusion than a blaring alarm echoed from outside—the cries of the Mountain Madmen.

“What—what is it? What’s going on?”

To those inside, it felt as if a war had broken out. Lee Won-jae pressed himself against the wall, curling up. Sung Ji-woo stood still, focusing on the sounds.

When monsters suddenly went berserk, there were only three possible reasons:
A main monster had appeared, someone was killing the monsters, or the monsters were killing someone.

“Chae Min-jung! Son Ji-hwan! Are you there?!”

She had to consider all three. She shouted their names at the top of her lungs, but no reply came—only the desolate echoes of monster cries. Sung Ji-woo bit down hard on the inside of her cheek.

After her call, the clash of blows and screams erupted. She tried climbing the wall, clinging desperately, but slid back down again and again.

Her mind kept filling with thoughts like, If Yoo Heero were here. If only Yoo Heero were here.
She’d never thought she needed anyone, never believed she was lacking on her own—until now.

The only saving grace was that she hadn’t heard any human screams yet. But that alone wasn’t enough to feel safe.

Grrrk!

A final, dying shriek—like a buzzer beater—rang out, and then all sound ceased.

As the once-raucous space fell silent, the unease only deepened. It felt like the calm before a storm, something massive approaching. Sung Ji-woo shivered.

Lee Won-jae must have felt it too; he edged closer and grabbed her shoulder. Together, they stared blankly at the light spilling down from the cave entrance above.

Something was coming. Sung Ji-woo swallowed dryly. Lee Won-jae’s grip tightened.

A silhouette emerged, backlit by the glow.

“Here you are.”

It was Son Ji-hwan. He bent forward to peer down at Sung Ji-woo and Lee Won-jae. Lee Won-jae’s strength drained away as he slumped, while Sung Ji-woo let out a breath of relief.

They were alive.

“Are you hurt?”

Seeing Lee Won-jae’s condition, Son Ji-hwan looked startled—and then immediately jumped down the cliff.

“Don’t!”

“You can’t come down here!”

Their shouts came too late. His feet had already left the ground.

Son Ji-hwan landed lightly.

“…Huh?”

He blinked in confusion.

“You can’t come down! We can’t climb back up from here!”

Lee Won-jae cried out, voice shaking. Son Ji-hwan asked, flustered,

“…You were trapped down here?”

“Yes…”

Sung Ji-woo answered gloomily. Son Ji-hwan smacked his forehead in realization.

“Ah, I thought… since there were monsters up there, you were just hiding…”

“So how do we get back up now?”

Clinging to a sliver of hope, Sung Ji-woo asked,

“By any chance, what potion did you get, Son Ji-hwan?”

“Me? Uh… the monster-luring one.”

“…What?”

“I just used it and beat them all. At least it means there shouldn’t be any monsters around here now.”

“Ah…”

So the chaos above had been his doing. Of the three possibilities, the answer had been someone killing the monsters. The other two would’ve been disastrous—so this was a small mercy.

“Did you check this area thoroughly?”

Son Ji-hwan asked, running a hand along the wall.

“More or less. Didn’t find anything unusual.”

Sung Ji-woo followed, lighting the way.

“The monsters were all gathered near the entrance, so I thought there might be something here. Never imagined you’d be trapped.”

“…I came in after hearing Mr. Lee Won-jae’s voice and got stuck too. The monsters probably chased him here.”

They made a full circuit, but nothing stood out. The cave remained utterly still—no breeze, no sound.

Lee Won-jae lay half-slumped in the corner, drenched in cold sweat, breathing shallowly. His wound seemed to be heating up.

“This is bad.”

Scratching his chin, Son Ji-hwan said he’d go out and bring Chae Min-jung. He embedded small swords into the wall and began climbing.

Sung Ji-woo sent a small sun of light floating beside him.

At that moment—

The air began to vibrate, resonating violently. The sudden tremor made Son Ji-hwan lose his grip.

The small sun Sung Ji-woo had created was swallowed by darkness. As if someone had flipped a switch, even the light outside the cave vanished.

Total darkness.

A blackout.