Chapter 109 : The Human-Type’s Deception

“Jung Lee Chae, listen carefully. I knew from the start—that the Representative was a Humanoid.”

“What? That politician is a monster?”

Lee Chae’s earlier gut feeling had been right. But why hadn’t Hae-jin run away if he knew?

“Space-time was already distorted. The building felt strange starting from the lobby. If we want to get out of here alive, we have to stay sharp.”

Lee Chae gripped Hae-jin tightly and shouted back.

“Understood. What do I need to do?”

“Just cling to me as tight as you can and don’t let go!”

Lee Chae held on with all his might. He had made the mistake of focusing only on the fact that Humanoids usually possess people they know, missing the possibility that they had infiltrated Frame. Ultimately, Hae-jin was in danger because of his deduction. If he hadn’t insisted it wasn’t a Humanoid’s work, they wouldn’t have charged in here without preparation.

‘I should have just kept my mouth shut instead of interfering.’

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Hae-jin began to recklessly detonate everything in sight. As sparks scattered into the pitch-black darkness, the surroundings became visible. In the spot where the desk had been moments ago stood a massive beast-type monster.

It was a red lion with two heads.

—Roaaaaar! Grrrr…

The lion’s roar echoed terrifyingly. Though trembling as if he were about to be devoured, Lee Chae struggled to pass even a small amount of energy to Hae-jin.

‘Stay calm.’

As he stabilized his mind, blocked out the surrounding noise, and breathed rhythmically, he felt his energy flowing into Hae-jin’s body.

“I don’t care if you’re a lion or a monster, you’re dead today!”

Hae-jin jumped lightly while holding Lee Chae, avoiding the poisonous needles shooting from the lion’s mane. Seeing him evade the attacks so easily, it seemed his claim about training defense and evasion skills wasn’t a lie.

—Grrr!

Infuriated that its attacks weren’t landing, the monster roared louder and raised its front paws. Feeling as though it would pounce at any second, Lee Chae screamed, “Aaah!” Hae-jin covered Lee Chae’s eyes and leaped high.

“Don’t be scared. This thing is a low-level monster.”

“Haaah……”

Lee Chae exhaled deeply and squeezed his eyes shut. Thinking back, he had seen a two-headed lion monster in his textbooks. It was a representative beast-type monster that primarily used poisonous needles and physical attacks. However, as far as Lee Chae remembered, it was not low-level. In terms of strength, it was a terrifying monster ranked just below the Lamia.

“That’s not low-level! But you’re still going to win, Hyung. Because I know its weakness.”

Hae-jin asked while exploding everything around them.

“Weakness?”

“Yeah. It’s in the textbooks. It’s called a ‘Lione.’ You can’t beat it with physical attacks alone.”

“Then how?”

“It’s incredibly strong, but it can’t change its direction of attack freely. It’s like a tank. So just keep dodging and use long-range attacks. Most Espers don’t know this because they don’t study.”

“Great. Thanks to you, wifey, this will be over quickly!”

The reason Hae-jin knew something was wrong from the start was simple. Representative Seo had never once called Hae-jin “Representative” until today. He had always called him “Hae-jin-kun” or “Esper Cha Hae-jin,” intentionally trying to flaunt his higher status.

So, the moment the Frame representative addressed him as “Representative,” Hae-jin realized it wasn’t a human, but a Humanoid monster wearing a human’s skin. He hadn’t left immediately because he had to find Jin-woo, and he had already sensed the spatial distortion.

This was a gate created by a Cyclops, disguised as Frame. That was why he hadn’t let Lee Chae wait alone.

As soon as Hae-jin had signed the contract, the surroundings turned dark, and space began to twist. A darkness different from the one created by Cerbetero descended, threatening to swallow them whole. Hae-jin was flustered, as his only experience with a Humanoid’s intentional hallucination skill was briefly during Lee Chae’s rescue, but he didn’t show it for fear of scaring Lee Chae.

Brave Lee Chae, despite facing a monster that would normally be terrifying, didn’t panic. He shared his energy and began providing a strategy.

Hearing Lee Chae’s soft voice and feeling the warm heat from him holding on tight, Hae-jin felt strength surging through him.

“Alright, let’s finish this quickly.”

Boom! Boom!

Hae-jin hurled bombs at the monster. Enraged, the Lione held its two heads high, its sharp fangs glistening inside its gaping maws.

Without a strategy, he would have wasted time struggling with useless attacks, but now that he knew the secret, there was no more hesitation.

“So what if you have lion heads? Come on, puppy. I’ll take you on.”

—Roaaar!

As if it understood him, the Lione howled in response, the ground shaking beneath its roar.

Thump! The beast kicked off the ground with its hind legs, its massive frame lunging toward them.

“Jung Lee Chae, hold on tight. Let’s take to the sky!”

Seeing his chance, Hae-jin leaped into the air just as the Lione lunged. The Lione’s claws left deep gouges where they had just been standing. Shards of the floor shattered and grazed Hae-jin’s arm.

“Doesn’t even sting.”

With a smirk, Hae-jin created a transparent ball-shaped shield and swung his hand wide. A massive pillar of fire erupted, surrounding the Lione.

The slow-moving monster couldn’t dodge Hae-jin’s rapid-fire attacks in time.

—Aaaaaagh!

As the flames soared, one of the Lione’s heads melted away. It thrashed in agony, brandishing its claws, but against Hae-jin’s perfect defense skill, it was like being tickled.

Crash! Thump! As the Lione went wild, shaking the building, Hae-jin swung his hand again. The remaining head was instantly engulfed in the inferno.

“Just like you said, it’s helpless against long-range attacks.”

At a flick of his eyes toward the collapsed, powerless Lione, the surrounding air began to converge into one spot. The air became wind, and the wind became a cyclone spinning around the fire, swallowing the monster until nothing was left.

“Wow……”

Lee Chae, watching everything from Hae-jin’s arms, marveled in awe. Hae-jin hadn’t trained specifically to show off, but seeing Lee Chae react with such pure, child-like joy made his shoulders puff up with pride.

“You’ve gotten so much stronger, Hyung.”

“Yeah, well, I had plenty of free time since someone left me behind.”

Lee Chae hugged him tightly. Everything around them had turned to ash from the fire, but the inside of the transparent shield remained untouched. Hae-jin conjured a breeze to extinguish the shield and gently lowered them to the ground.

He was relieved he defeated the Lione without Lee Chae having to sacrifice anything, but he couldn’t relax yet. He still had no news of Jin-woo, and the Humanoid’s hallucination skill was growing stronger, making it harder to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Hae-jin hugged Lee Chae tight and made a vow.

No matter what happened, he would never let anyone take Jung Lee Chae from him again.

The ashes left where the Lione had burned suddenly flared up into a brief, flickering flame.

“Put me down. Let’s run together.”

“No way. This is much more comfortable.”

From the moment they left the representative’s office to descending to the first-floor hallway, Hae-jin hadn’t let go of Lee Chae for a single second. Even though Lee Chae realized the situation was dire, he didn’t say it out loud.

He didn’t want to drain Hae-jin’s energy by pestering him while he was trying his best to find Jin-woo and a way out. So, instead of begging to be put down, Lee Chae wrapped his arms around Hae-jin’s neck and kissed him. Pulling back, Hae-jin grinned.

“We really are an incredible couple. Imprinting a day after reuniting, and wandering a gate dungeon the very next day.”

“I guess so. But you know, Hyung…”

He wanted to say, ‘I’d rather be in danger with you than safe and apart,’ but strangely, the words wouldn’t come out. Why was he hesitating now, after regretting all those unspoken words while they were separated?

While Lee Chae was debating whether to speak, Hae-jin spoke first.

“Me too.”

“……?”

“Why the surprised look? Our bodies are pressed together right now. Don’t you know I can feel it even if you don’t say it?”

“Ah…… the imprint.”

Hae-jin’s eyes crinkled into a soft smile. Lee Chae stared at his face, mesmerized. Seeing that flawless, perfect face smiling without a trace of fatigue after fighting a massive monster made his heart race uncontrollably.

Hae-jin’s gaze turned a bit strange as he started saying something perverted.

“Wifey, not here. I’m struggling to hold back, but I must. I can’t do that in front of a Humanoid monster… mph!”

Lee Chae covered Hae-jin’s mouth, but he didn’t scold him to stop talking nonsense like he used to. He knew Hae-jin was making jokes to ease the tension because he didn’t want Lee Chae to realize how difficult the situation was.

Even while talking nonsense, Hae-jin walked through the dimly lit hallway with ease. Using light from fires he conjured in the distance, he opened and closed the doors of the offices lined up along the hall.

“Ah, this is going to take forever. Where the hell is Sung Jin-woo? Just wait until I catch him. I’m going to tear him apart.”

Just as Hae-jin said, the Frame building—or rather, the space created by the Humanoid—was incredibly vast. It was impossible to search the whole place when a monster could jump out at any moment.

‘I have to think. There must be a way……’