I bit my lip at Yoon Jeha’s words.
She wasn’t wrong. Keeping this going just because I wanted to be considerate of Kwon Taehyuk was way too dangerous.
Just in case, I looked back at Cha Sahyeon.
But Cha Sahyeon quietly shook his head.
During the last two hours, we hadn’t been wandering Spiderweb’s interior completely blind. I’d asked Cha Sahyeon in advance to send out shadow birds.
The ‘real’ head giving orders to Spiderweb’s mbers was an S-rank Hunter.
And if he really was sowhere inside this place, we should be able to feel that kind of pressure—so there was a decent chance Cha Sahyeon’s shadow birds could locate him.
But even after two hours, the birds still hadn’t returned. And Cha Sahyeon—whose senses were linked to them—was telling he still hadn’t found anything.
‘If he’s not inside...’
That was the worst-case scenario.
It ant the one plan I’d managed to co up with—kill the head and escape—wasn’t even possible.
Watching hesitate, Kwon Taehyuk sent a blade flying at a charging mber and spoke.
“It would be better to find a place to catch our breath for a mont. Is there sowhere suitable?”
Between Yoon Jeha’s growing frustration and the nonstop fighting, we couldn’t keep going like this.
At this rate, either Yoon Jeha was going to grab my head and shake it, or she’d lose it and start killing the mbers rushing us.
Eun Woojeong thought for a mont, then said,
“There’s a Second Archive close by. Security’s strict, so it’s not easy to get in or out, and it’s set up with soundproof walls and doors. It’s perfect.”
Eun Woojeong snapped his fingers brightly.
A silver chain appeared and shot up toward the ceiling. The hook at the end buried itself into sothing overhead—
“Ugh!”
“Co on. Let’s go, quickly.”
A light pressure hit my stomach, my breath caught, and my vision whirled.
“Hyung!”
“Hunter Cha Seohu!”
Cha Sahyeon and Kwon Taehyuk—who were still batting away the incoming mbers—shouted in alarm.
Ignoring them, Eun Woojeong tucked under his arm like baggage and sprang upward, vaulting over the mbers filling the corridor before landing lightly at the far end.
“S-ranks will punch through on their own. And our Cha Seohu is a precious supporter, so I’ll give you special transport.”
“What the hell, that son of a bitch—!”
From behind, Kwon Seoyul’s furious curse got swallowed by the mbers’ screams.
Eun Woojeong, clearly having the ti of his life, ran while carrying .
It was ridiculous, but the ride was better than I expected, so I just relaxed. My legs had been killing from running anyway—this worked out.
Like Eun Woojeong said, everyone was S-rank, and we had Cha Sahyeon too. They’d follow without a problem.
Instead of wasting energy worrying, I leaned on Eun Woojeong’s shoulder and made my brain work, searching for another way.
Did we really have to kill them all and force our way out?
‘That’s... really not it.’
Even if I’d lived in a place where morals got fed to dogs, it still wasn’t sothing I could accept easily.
First of all... after digging through the inside looking for the real head, I realized the number of mbers was way higher than I’d expected.
This place was a city—one massive city—just like the district I grew up in.
If you actually counted them, there had to be hundreds. And their ages varied, too.
Even with their faces hidden behind masks, you could still tell so things.
There were the most people around Eun Woojeong’s age, but there were also kids who looked younger than that, and older mbers too.
‘With Cha Sahyeon, if we really wanted to, we could do it without it taking that long. And if his shadows swallow the bodies, there wouldn’t even be traces.’
Kill every last ant living inside this enormous ant nest.
That was exactly why it felt worse.
This wasn’t so desperate scramble to survive with my life on the line.
However you tried to dress it up, it was a massacre.
And maybe if it were just , sure—but how was I supposed to look at Kwon Taehyuk and the others and say, Let’s massacre them together?
‘But the real problem is... there isn’t another good thod.’
Right as that thought continued—
Eun Woojeong, who’d been running without pause, abruptly stopped.
Ahead was a massive steel door that looked absurdly thick at a glance.
Eun Woojeong carefully set down, then walked to a panel built into the wall.
A ring appeared on Eun Woojeong’s hand.
He must’ve pulled it out of his inventory.
In the center was a green gemstone. For so reason, that stone grabbed my gaze.
Beep-beep.
Authentication complete.
The mont he pressed the green gem into a recessed slot in the middle of the panel, a chanical voice played and the steel door slid open.
“Go in first. I’ll wait for the others.”
Eun Woojeong said as he tucked the ring back into his clothes.
Instead of going into the archive, I asked,
“That ring. Is it sothing only the head gets?”
“Yeah. The previous head—ah, I an... the person who’s ordering killed right now—passed it to . Without this, you can’t enter secure places, including the archive.”
Eun Woojeong answered without hesitation, like he’d decided he wasn’t going to hide things from anymore.
I thought back to the ring I’d glimpsed a mont ago.
‘It looked like a normal ring.’
It had to be a security ring. I hadn’t felt any item-like presence from it.
But it kept bothering .
Accessories with green gemstones were common, and I’d never paid attention to soone else’s ring before.
But this ti, sothing felt off.
Was it because it looked a little too much like Cha Sahyeon’s eyes?
While I was stuck in that thought, the others arrived, breaking through the mbers.
“You fucking bastard...!”
Kwon Seoyul stord up, seething, and reached for Eun Woojeong without warning.
Eun Woojeong dodged Kwon Seoyul’s hand—aid straight for his collar—like it was nothing, then shrugged.
“What, you’re like a cat whose tail got stepped on. We don’t have ti to ss around, so let’s go in, yeah? They’ll swarm again soon. Security here is strict, but it’s not perfect. We won’t hold out forever.”
“Kwon Seoyul. Stop it and go inside. You’re loud.”
“Tch. You only ever bark at .”
Kwon Seoyul, loaded with frustration because he hadn’t been able to kill anyone—not his style—grumbled as he went inside.
Yoon Jeha, looking a little tired too, sheathed her sword and followed.
I moved to go in as well, when Cha Sahyeon—walking close at my side—spoke in a lowered voice.
“Hyung.”
“Hm?”
“Sothing’s wrong.”
Cha Sahyeon blinked, looking slightly confused as he continued.
“Sothing... changed.”
His gaze landed on Eun Woojeong’s back as he walked ahead at an easy pace.
“I can’t feel his presence anymore.”
“...What do you an?”
“That guy. He feels like a civilian. An unawakened civilian.”
Eun Woojeong? All of a sudden?
“......!”
As I turned Cha Sahyeon’s words over, realization hit .
Co to think of it, back when Eun Woojeong worked as an actor, nobody could sense even the slightest presence from him—he’d fooled everyone perfectly.
Just like this.
There’d been too much we kept from each other to ask back then, and today we’d been too busy running the second we t to interrogate it.
But the more I thought about it, the stranger it got.
How could he hide it so perfectly? To the point even Cha Sahyeon couldn’t tell?
‘The ring.’
The ring was the only explanation.
Cha Sahyeon had sensed the change only after Eun Woojeong pulled the ring out from his inventory.
Kugung—clank!
The mont Cha Sahyeon and I went in last, the massive steel door shut behind us.
While I stayed silent, trying to untangle the ss in my head, Yoon Jeha opened her mouth with obvious irritation.
“So what now? If you’re planning to keep running like this, I’m against it. Earlier, I honestly wanted to just kill them all.”
Restless, Yoon Jeha chewed at her lip and paced around.
It was pressure—aid at —because I was the one pushing the plan of not killing and instead running while we looked for the real head.
Cha Sahyeon narrowed his eyes and said coldly,
“Even if we get out, there won’t be the news you want. The bird I sent to J still hasn’t co back.”
At Cha Sahyeon’s warning, Yoon Jeha’s fingers curled. She clicked her tongue and looked away.
In the heavy atmosphere—cracks becoming more and more visible—Kwon Taehyuk stood stiffly, then dipped his head slightly.
Right as he seed about to force himself to speak after wrestling with it—
I spoke first on purpose. I could already guess what kind of considerate line he was going to offer, so I cut in one beat early.
“Eun Woojeong. That ring you pulled out earlier. I want you to show it to again.”
“Huh?”
Eun Woojeong made a faintly odd expression and asked,
“Mm. That’s kind of sudden. Why the ring?”
“There’s sothing I want to check.”
I stepped one pace closer to Eun Woojeong and continued.
“I don’t think it’s just for security. Like... maybe it’s what you used to hide who you are.”
“.......”
Eun Woojeong didn’t make a sound. He just looked at quietly.
“I don’t care if you use it to pretend you’re a civilian, or to work as an actor. What I’m asking is this.”
“...What is it?”
“That ring. Does the Hunter who ordered you killed have one too?”
Eun Woojeong slowly tilted his head.
“Not that I know of. As far as I know, there’s only one. He handed it down to . When I took over as head. Because you need it to hide your identity.”
“And if that’s not true?”
If the ‘real head’ was wearing a ring like that—like Eun Woojeong’s—then it made sense Cha Sahyeon’s shadow birds couldn’t find him.
It was shocking to think two items that could erase soone’s presence this perfectly might exist in the world.
Of course, I also couldn’t rule out the possibility he simply wasn’t inside this ant nest at all.
I held out my hand.
“Give it to . I’ll check it myself.”
“Hmm...”
Eun Woojeong hesitated for a mont, then pulled it out like he couldn’t help it.
The ring dropped into my palm.
Under the lights, the green gemstone flashed—
Crackle!
A spark burst from the gem, and black smoke rose up.
The smoke drifted toward Cha Sahyeon standing behind .
“Ugh...!”
Cha Sahyeon let out a short groan and grabbed his head.
Only then did I realize it wasn’t smoke.
It was the sa thing Cha Sahyeon commanded.
A shadow.
And then—
Ding!
《Warning! The progress of the Seed of Catastrophe has increased!》
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