Joo Han-gang looked around the dungeon and sniffed loudly.
“So this is a dungeon?”
“Told you.”
The path was excessively straightforward. After passing one or two forked roads, there wasn’t even a proper trap, let alone any monsters—aside from the goblins they had encountered earlier, there was nothing to be found. At this rate, they would reach the central part of the dungeon in no time.
The walls were adorned with ancient patterns, but they weren’t nearly intimidating enough.
“Senpai said the Realm Dungeon class was ridiculous, but this seems like nothing much?”
Han Iri muttered nonchalantly as she stepped forward.
“We just need to think about which team we’ll meet.”
Joo Han-gang stiffened slightly as he responded.
Han Iri paused to ponder his words for a moment, and then she asked.
“Who do you want to meet? Johan?”
“Johan, in a one-on-one, maybe. But his team? There’s no way we can win against them.”
The teammates who Johan had taken to the mock dungeon were also the people who would accompany him outside in the future.
After all, Johan was the Courage with his Guardian.
“So who?”
Han Iri asked again.
“Jung Hae-in.”
“To be honest, Cheon Yeoul’s probably gone, too. I thought I’d be a seed, but some parachutist kid arrived out of nowhere… You know, he teamed up with Yoo Hana before?”
“Yeah, I heard that.”
Joo Han-gang scoffed and continued.
“What a damn cheater.”
Han Iri chuckled and nodded lightly.
“Who do you want to meet?”
In response to Joo Han-gang’s question, Han Iri seemed to think for a moment before casually turning her head.
But deep down, she already had her answer.
Truth be told, she had fallen for him at first sight at the beginning of the term. Originally, Han Iri was more accustomed to receiving confessions rather than initiating them. However, this time, even though it made her embarrassed, she had made efforts to approach him repeatedly.
Yet every time she mustered up the courage and approached him, his response was always the same.
“Sorry, I’m going to meet a friend.”
Plus.
“They keep calling me Saint…”
Once, she had boldly called out his name.
“Call me Shion.”
She would never forget the chilly gaze he gave her that day. From that moment on, the “friend” he kept referencing became a source of annoyance for her.
“Me too.”
In the end, he replied indifferently.
“Me too, Jung Hae-in.”
He wasn’t sure if it was jealousy, anger, or simply competitiveness.
But one thing was clear.
He wanted to show her that he could outdo ‘Jung Hae-in.’
“Just… I’m curious what kind of guy he is.”
Han Iri smiled as she said this casually, but her eyes were already trembling.
On the other side, Jung Hae-in’s team was located in a safe area.
“Guh… Hae-in…”
Jung Hae-in’s team had already triggered the seventh trap.
Not only that, but the monsters served as an added challenge. Kim Daehyun found this experience much tougher than any training or battle he had faced before.
“Is this labyrinth dungeon actually this difficult…?”
-Ha ha ha! Let’s just die!!”
Yoon Sanghyuk beside them was nearly out of his mind.
After breaking through the sixth trap, the arrow that grazed his crotch seemed to be the last straw.
“No.”
Jung Hae-in was similarly flustered.
However, Sion beside him took a deep breath and replied.
“It seems to be a hybrid of a labyrinth dungeon with an exit dungeon.”
An exit dungeon has two portals, one entrance, and one exit, with a clear distinction between them.
While the journey from the entrance to the center is fraught with challenges and traps, the exit is almost effortless and straightforward.
Thus, during actual combat, finding the exit first and working backward to conquer the dungeon makes it a ‘sugar’ dungeon.
Although dungeons are typically designed with one main characteristic, there are instances where two or more attributes are combined.
“I can feel it as we get closer to the center. This dungeon doesn’t end at the center; there’s a path leading to the exit too.”
Therefore, this dungeon combined the sparsely-monstered labyrinth with the trap-laden, monster-filled exit dungeon, forming a complementary yet vicious form.
Upon Sion’s explanation, the delirious Yoon Sanghyuk went wild.
“So, are you saying we’re on the entrance side and the guys coming from the opposite side are getting all the glory?”
“That’s right.”
In response to Yoon Sanghyuk’s complaint filled with dissatisfaction, Jung Hae-in nodded and answered.
“What’s with all this…!”
“And…”
At that moment, Sion interrupted Yoon Sanghyuk and quietly raised her hand.
“Perhaps if we successfully break through one more, we’ll reach the center.”
Meanwhile, for students not selected in the teams, the mock dungeon was offering an entertainment far beyond mere practice. The videos available at their station of the various teams’ encounters were more of a spectacle than mere learning resources.
“Wow, man. Yoo Hana’s gonna beat Yo Han, right?”
“Is Kang Ah-rin even a student?”
On the center screen, several teams were already clashing at the center.
It seemed it was originally designed this way.
However, among the top 100 students, one Yang Hyun-seong was watching a team he had never seen before, a pair of teams who hadn’t even arrived at their destination yet.
“What? They haven’t even arrived yet? Man, they’re slow.”
A student asked him.
“Yeah, but…”
As Yang Hyun-seong’s gaze naturally shifted to the maze dungeon footage,
‘The difficulty levels are too different…’
At first, he thought Jung Hae-in’s team was just taking a long time, but on closer inspection, the difference was clear.
Han Iri’s dungeon was excessively simple. It looked like they could just walk straight in without any significant traps or noticeable monsters and would easily reach the center.
On the other hand, Jung Hae-in’s dungeon was completely different.
The combination of traps and monsters, the general difficulty—everything was significantly harder.
However, right at the center of all these obstacles was Jung Hae-in.
Slicing through monsters and avoiding traps, his breakthrough looked more like the battles of professional heroes transcending the mere frame of an exercise.
As Yang Hyun-seong’s gaze slowly fixed on Jung Hae-in’s movements on the screen,
His eyes gradually locked onto Jung Hae-in.
As the surroundings grew quieter, Yang Hyun-seong raised his head and looked around.
“Wow… What is this?”
Gradually, the students’ attention was drawn to Jung Hae-in’s screen.
Even those who had mocked earlier while watching were now quietly following Jung Hae-in’s movements.
At first, it was just a few people. But soon, the whole class was fixed on that screen.
“…”
No one spoke, but the silence was intense.
“What… Is he…?”
Someone murmured quietly.
That voice echoed like a signal. The students glanced at each other, nodding in agreement.
He, Jung Hae-in, was definitely
different.
Finally, we broke through the last obstacle and took a rest in the final safe zone.
However, unlike the previous safe zones, this one had a timer running.
It must have been the instructor’s kind consideration telling us to quickly advance to the center without resting.
“119…118…117…”
Yoon Sanghyuk lay on the ground and counted down the remaining time on the timer.
“I want to die…”
I stared at the firmly closed door leading to the center and eventually spoke.
“I’m sure you all know, but beyond this door, the opposing team is waiting.”
“And it’s highly likely they’ve approached through the exit. They probably have more stamina left than us.”
Sion and Kim Daehyun quietly listened to my words.
Daehyun’s shield was half-broken, while Sion, aside from her slightly disheveled hair, remained calm.
“So what?”
As I hesitated, Yoon Sanghyuk raised his head from the floor and looked at me before asking.
I was debating whether or not to reveal my next words.
It was possible, but I also had doubts.
As my silence stretched, Sion gently urged me.
“Hae-in, if you have something to say, go ahead.”
I nodded and replied.
“Then, how did they use the remaining time?”
Yoon Sanghyuk thought for a while, opened his eyes wide, then collapsed back down and muttered.
“…No way… Even they wouldn’t dare…”
I understood why he reacted that way.
Next to him, Kim Daehyun asked seriously.
“Are you referring to traps?”
He was spot on.
Traps were essential in person-to-person combat.
Especially in situations like territorial battles, traps played a tactical role.
For this reason, trap deployment is also a compulsory element in person-to-person combat lessons.
But this is a mock dungeon lesson.
There’s no consideration of external intruders or demons, assuming only team encounters within the dungeon.
However, if the opposing team set traps, it means they were more focused on the upcoming battle than simply concentrating on the given dungeon strategy.
Besides, traps are typically used by dangerous fugitives, high-risk targets, or against monsters.
For a regular combat lesson, deploying them against students was pushing it.
“So, Hae-in, what’s your plan?”
Sion fixed her gaze on me and asked softly.
The timer numbers were ticking away, slowly fading into my ears.
We didn’t have much time.
“I…”
*
“In, stop it already and get back here!”
In the center of the dungeon,
Han Iri’s team had already arrived.
Apparently, the rewards for the dungeon can only be claimed when both doors are open.
However, the opposing team showed no sign of arriving, no matter how long they waited.
At this moment, Joo Han-gang proposed an idea.
“Let’s set a trap.”
The team members initially showed reluctance,
But after Joo Han-gang gave a long speech citing the instructor’s words, “You must win!” the rest followed his lead.
The notion of “The instructor’s true intention is for us to predict an opponent’s arrival and render them powerless with traps” had long vanished from their minds.
The desire to win replaced it entirely.
Joo Han-gang meticulously completed the trap setup before dangling with his teammates on the second-floor railing of the dungeon center, resembling a relic, waiting.
Their eyes were all focused on the opposite door.
“But… what if someone gets hurt badly?”
A team member who opposed from the beginning worriedly asked Joo Han-gang.
“It’s just practice. No one will get hurt seriously.”
Joo Han-gang casually replied, with Han Iri adding a chuckle.
“And those who take forever to go through such a dungeon are the problem, right?”
“That’s true. They’ll stop at the traps anyway.”
They laughed at each other.
-BOOM
At that moment,
The opposite central door opened, and the dungeon reward appeared.
“They’re here.”
The tension escalated as four silhouettes rapidly entered.
Immediately,
-KABOOM!
An explosion.
A deafening roar accompanied by a storm of sand enveloped them.
Vision blacked out, and the pressure rippled through the air.
“Wow! This is insane!”
The explosion was beyond their imagination. Installing traps for monsters was the right decision.
The handcrafted mana bombs by the team member specializing in alchemy fully met their expectations.
‘With this, even Yo Han is doable.’
Joo Han-gang waited with high hopes as the sandstorm dissipated.
The dust gradually cleared, and silhouettes appeared through the half-settled dust.
And they… were standing.
‘Standing?’
Joo Han-gang hesitated.
As the dust subsided halfway, he spotted Jung Hae-in, who was waving his hands dismissively with a sour expression.
Next to him stood Shion, her sharp gaze quickly assessing their position; her lips moved, likely communicating their location.
“Hey you shameless bastards!!!”
A shout from Yun Sanghyuk rang through the practice area.
His hair, damp with sweat and sticking to his face, flared as he screamed loudly.
Their state was too intact. Joo Han-gang swallowed nervously and glanced around.
He discovered the truth.
The dismembered bodies of trols scattered around, courtesy of the explosion.
They weren’t four individuals; the monsters’ corpses had triggered the traps.
‘Damn, they figured it out.’
Jung Hae-in’s gaze finally fell upon them.
His cold eyes pierced their positions like arrows.
He raised his hand, wiggled his fingers, and gestured for them to come down.
“Come out.”
Chilled by the iciness in his demeanor, Han Iri and Joo Han-gang felt the frost settle deep within them.
