Chapter 18
“Trap?”
“There’s no time to hesitate right now.”
The trap had already been triggered.
It was a critical situation — no one knew what might happen next.
“Where’s the neural disturbance suppressant?”
They had to take the antidote immediately to counter the hallucinations.
Ju-hyuk asked sharply, his thoughts racing.
The leader stared blankly for a moment before replying.
“The neural suppressant… we have one, maybe two…”
His words trailed off.
That was strange — the man who always spoke clearly now sounded hesitant and unsure.
And then, in a slurred voice:
“W-what? How many?”
Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as he looked at Ju-hyuk.
“How many did we have again…?”
“….”
Too late.
The dull, vacant look in the leader’s eyes was enough to confirm it.
Even as the situation spiraled into chaos, Ju-hyuk didn’t have the luxury of wasting time.
Smack!
Ju-hyuk struck the leader across the face — hard.
“Ugh!”
The man let out a pitiful grunt and fell to the ground.
It was hard to believe this was a veteran Hunter; his reaction was clumsy and slow.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“We’ve been caught in a trap. Unless you’re immune to psychic attacks, tie yourselves up right now!”
“What…?”
The others murmured in confusion.
If Ju-hyuk had shouted that without proof, they might’ve ignored him — but the sight of one party member wildly swinging his sword at empty air made it impossible to deny.
The Hunters froze, bewildered by the sudden turn of events.
Frustrated, Ju-hyuk yelled again.
“If you don’t want to end up killing each other, tie yourselves up!”
“….”
An order barked out by a rookie.
It was hard to accept, but the tone in his voice left no room for argument.
After a few tense seconds, the Hunters obeyed — fumbling through their bags to pull out ropes and tie themselves together.
“Wait, didn’t that kid say this was only his second gate?”
Whispers spread among the group.
Even if he was supposedly a rising star, his level-headedness and decisiveness were far beyond what anyone expected.
“Still, isn’t he the most vulnerable one? He’s just an F-rank.”
“…After seeing that, do you still think he’s just an F-rank?”
Another Hunter spoke up while tying down one of the affected members.
“Besides, hallucination traps test mental strength, not mana.”
It wasn’t about raw magical power — it was about willpower.
Even with his low rank, Ju-hyuk’s sharp awareness and unshaken mind made it clear he was the most stable person in the room.
“Compared to us panicking like idiots, it’s better that the rookie’s still thinking straight.”
If it had been any normal newbie, they would’ve frozen in fear, unable to act.
But Ju-hyuk had immediately diagnosed the situation, provided evidence, and proposed a solution.
“Once we get out of here, I’ll make sure to—hurkh! Hehehe!”
The support Hunter’s words broke off mid-sentence as he suddenly burst into hysterical laughter.
“…So it really was a trap.”
More and more Hunters began showing symptoms of hallucination — laughter, confusion, panic.
Ju-hyuk grabbed the fallen leader by the collar.
“Get a grip. Where’s the neural suppressant?”
“N-neural… suppress…”
The man’s pupils trembled violently.
Then, for a brief moment, clarity returned to his gaze — the shock had partially snapped him out of it.
Regaining a shred of reason, the leader lifted his left arm and drew a dagger.
“Ha.”
The moment he saw that, Ju-hyuk immediately assumed the worst — that the man, under illusion, was about to attack him.
He stepped back to avoid the strike.
But the dagger didn’t swing toward him.
Stab!
“Gghhh!”
The leader drove the blade into his own right arm.
Blood spurted out, staining his uniform black as it dripped to the floor.
‘Self-inflicted injury?’
Was it an act of self-harm brought on by delirium?
No — that wasn’t it.
Those under mental control usually attacked vital areas.
He had stabbed his arm, not his heart or throat.
It was deliberate.
“The… left pocket of my bag…”
The leader’s trembling voice broke through.
“The neural suppressants… two of them… left pocket…”
He was fighting to stay lucid long enough to pass the information on.
Then, as his hand pointed weakly toward his bag, he fell to the floor screaming.
“AAAAAHH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!”
“….”
The brief clarity vanished, replaced by deranged screams.
There was no time to hesitate.
Ju-hyuk sprinted toward the bag and rummaged through the left pocket.
“Two.”
He quickly found two vials of neural suppressant.
Normally, the supply should match the number of team members, but it seemed they hadn’t stocked enough — the medicine was expensive.
Now, a choice stood before him.
‘Who should I inject first?’
One was definitely for the leader — they needed his detection skill to escape the maze.
‘And the other one…’
Ju-hyuk turned, scanning the other party members.
That’s when he saw Ji-hoon sprinting toward him.
“GRAAAHH!”
The rope around Ji-hoon’s body hung loose, and drool dripped from his mouth.
‘He must’ve been hit mid-way through tying himself up.’
Ju-hyuk swiftly drew his sword.
When Ji-hoon lunged, he sidestepped, letting him stumble and fall.
Ju-hyuk stomped down hard on his shin.
“GAAAHHH!”
“Snap out of it.”
Ji-hoon screamed in pain, thrashing on the ground.
Ju-hyuk hoped the pain might shock him back to reality like it did the leader, but it didn’t work — Ji-hoon just kept struggling.
‘The others are all restrained. Only the leader and Ji-hoon are mobile.’
He considered knocking Ji-hoon unconscious and moving everyone with the leader, but it was impossible.
‘There are seven of us total. The leader’s injured — he can’t carry anyone.’
If it was just Ju-hyuk and the wounded leader, they’d be sitting ducks waiting for the hallucinations to fade.
And this dungeon was still dangerous — monsters could appear at any moment.
‘If I want to get out of here fast, I need one more capable person.’
After a brief moment of thought, Ju-hyuk made his decision.
He grabbed the second vial and plunged it into Ji-hoon’s arm.
Ji-hoon’s body froze, trembling — then slowly relaxed.
Moments later, he spoke weakly.
“…Ju-hyuk?”
“If you’re awake, start knocking out the others who are hallucinating.”
Leaving those words behind, Ju-hyuk turned back to the leader with the last vial in hand.
Without hesitation, he injected it into the man’s arm.
“You—didn’t he say there were only two—”
“Yeah. I used them both — one for you and one for him.”
“But then you—”
He was about to say you’ll get caught in the hallucination yourself — but Ju-hyuk cut him off.
“I’m still fine. So let’s move before we waste any more time.”
For some reason, Ju-hyuk showed no signs of being affected at all.
But it wasn’t the time to question why.
“…Alright.”
“Is the bleeding under control?”
“I missed the artery, so I’ll live.”
They had wrapped the wound tightly with makeshift bandages.
The leader’s left arm was nearly useless, but he still carried one unconscious teammate on his good side.
“You handled that perfectly. Any slower and we’d have been wiped out right there.”
He couldn’t help but admire Ju-hyuk’s quick thinking.
When he first heard the kid was F-rank, he assumed he’d be a burden.
But thanks to Ju-hyuk’s decisive leadership, they had all survived the trap.
“I heard you’re not affiliated with any guild yet. How about joining ours?”
“Sorry. I’m not planning to join a guild for now.”
“Haha, no pressure. The door’s always open for talent like you.”
The leader laughed heartily, leading the way forward.
Ji-hoon, limping beside him, chimed in.
“Yeah, you should join us. I’ve got no peers in the guild — it gets lonely.”
“Make friends with your seniors, then.”
“Come on, it’s not the same! We’re a big guild, you know — think about it.”
Even as he limped, Ji-hoon smiled and kept trying to recruit him.
But Ju-hyuk firmly refused every attempt.
“…Still no hallucinations, huh? Do you have some kind of psychic immunity skill?”
“No. I don’t.”
A skill like that would require at least a C-rank Hunter — Ju-hyuk, being F-rank, couldn’t possibly have one.
“Then you resisted that psychic attack with sheer willpower? Damn…”
The leader looked genuinely astonished.
He had already been impressed when he heard Ju-hyuk defeated a mutant orc alone — but after working with him, the amazement only deepened.
“At the Academy, he used to swing his sword ten hours a day, every single day. His willpower’s probably stronger than most veterans.”
“Even so, resisting that kind of mental assault… that’s not normal.”
It wasn’t just “strong willpower.”
Unbeknownst to them, Ju-hyuk had endured the training chambers twice — places so brutal that no ordinary human could survive without breaking.
He was far beyond what “mental strength” could normally describe.
The others couldn’t have known that — they only saw him as an enigma.
“Just past this corner and we’ll be out.”
Finally, they reached the last fork of the maze.
After hours of walking, the exit should’ve been just ahead.
“Keheheh… hehehe!”
“Here we go again.”
Another Hunter, half-conscious, started laughing uncontrollably.
The hallucinations still hadn’t worn off even after hours.
Thud!
Ju-hyuk knocked him out with a punch to the chin, silencing him.
They continued forward — and soon, the lion-faced door from the entrance came into view.
‘So we made it back… and gained nothing.’
After all that suffering, they hadn’t even encountered a single monster. Just traps and wasted energy.
But pressing onward was too risky — this was their only choice.
“Let’s go.”
They pushed open the massive iron doors — ready to leave the dungeon.
But then—
“…Why isn’t the gate here?”
Bang!
The heavy doors slammed shut behind them.
The chamber that should’ve contained the glowing gate was now pitch black, empty — nothing but darkness.
Ji-hoon turned anxiously to the leader.
“This is where we came in, right? Why’s the gate gone?”
“….”
Silence.
Then the leader’s lips moved sluggishly.
“M-m…”
He turned toward them, eyes wide.
“I don’t knooow…”
Flash!
Suddenly, light flooded the room.
A grand chandelier lit up overhead.
Stained glass windows shimmered, and an opulent cathedral interior revealed itself — with a single coffin at its center.
“Tch.”
So much for leaving empty-handed. The dungeon had one last surprise in store.
Ju-hyuk sighed and struck the leader’s jaw with a heavy punch.
“Ugh!”
The man dropped instantly, unconscious.
And then, a haunting choral hymn began echoing through the cathedral.
“Ji-hoon.”
“…Yeah?”
“Gather everyone in the corner and draw your sword.”
The coffin lid creaked open — and skeletal fingers emerged, pushing it aside.
A skeleton rose from within.
But this wasn’t a normal one.
[Ahh… Soft, tender flesh has wandered in.]
A voice echoed telepathically through the hall.
The skeleton stepped fully into view — a crown on its skull, a jeweled staff in its hand.
Ji-hoon’s face paled.
“…The Lich King.”
The boss had arrived.
