Chapter 297 (1/2)

Act 3

“One, two, three, four…”

Lee Ju-ho was sitting inside the office of the Awakener Association located in the Jongno Tower, busy counting something displayed on the monitor.

The higher his count got, the more ashen his complexion became. If this happened a few days ago, he would have been stunned silly by what he was seeing, but he currently had no energy left having been stunned constantly for the past handful of days.

BANG—!

“Bro! What is going on here?!”

Hak-joon shoved open the office’s door, hurriedly rushed inside, and then shouted at Lee Ju-ho.

The office had been deathly quiet until then, so the commotion he raised prompted all the workers inside to focus their attention on him for a moment there.

Even then, Hak-joon ignored all that and, unlike his usual self, hurriedly strode over to where Lee Ju-ho was.

The latter knew the younger man would be coming to pay him a visit anyway, so he got up from the chair and said, “For now, let’s go outside and talk. We’re making a noise.”

“But, bro. Right now, it—”

“I get it, so let’s get out of here first.”

Lee Ju-ho patted Hak-joon’s shoulder and stepped outside the office.

He got a can of instant coffee from the corridor’s vending machine and settled down on one of the bench seats placed there and then, finally, addressed Hak-joon. “Okay, so you know about the rough outline of the situation, right?”

“Is our world coming to an end or something?”

“I wonder about that myself. I’m scared that it might be true. Thankfully, we still have some time left, but…”

Lee Ju-ho let out a heavy sigh and shook his head.

He didn’t even bother to open the canned coffee. His head was in too much of a mess, and the thoughts of drinking it didn’t even enter his mind.

“I’m sure no one could’ve predicted that the dungeon generation speed would suddenly triple without any warning. We’ve sent out texts and official announcements to all the returning awakeners to ask for their assistance, and thankfully, quite a few have responded positively so far.”

“That sure is a relief.”

“If we get it right, it might be possible to raid everything somehow within the time limit. We’ve been raising the overall strengths of the awakeners just for an occasion like this one, after all. However, the real problem is—”

“It’s Gangwon Province, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

Click—

Lee Ju-ho finally popped the lid of the canned coffee in his hand as he replied, “The number of dungeons showing up in Gangwon is not a laughing matter. Not only there’s one indigo and three blues, but we also have over 30 greens on top of that, and 20 of them alone showed up just today, no less.”

“More…showed up?!”

Hak-joon was notified yesterday. He checked his phone’s inbox after he finished his trial and then ran straight here to speak to Lee Ju-ho.

However, as it turned out, the number of dungeons written on the message was too low. In just one day, there was an explosive rise in the overall numbers.

“What should we do? Maybe we should request assistance from another country or—”

“They are also incredibly busy themselves, although maybe not as serious as our side. Assistance? We shouldn’t expect one to come. Even if they have some wiggle room, they can’t tell when their own countries would face a similar crisis.”

“In that case, what should we do?”

“We have to wait.”

They had only one option remaining.

“Wait for Su-hyeun.”

Indeed, they had to wait for Kim Su-hyeun to return.

However, it was unknown whether or not this crisis could be averted even if he returned in time. No matter how amazing Su-hyeun was, could he deal with all these dungeons in time, especially when one of them was an indigo color?

“When is he supposed to return, though?” Hak-joon asked.

“He said that there’s a good chance that no save zone exists inside his trial this time, which means, he probably can’t return until the trial is over.”

“But then…”

“We’ll probably have to give up on Gangwon Province.”

This was not an easy decision to make.

More importantly, it was not a decision Lee Ju-ho could make, anyway. Although the influence wielded by the Paragon Guild, and by extension Lee Ju-ho, on the Korean Awakener Association was quite substantial, he still didn’t have the authority to make such a decision.

Unfortunately, the situation was developing at breakneck speed at the moment.

“Will that even be possible?” Hak-joon asked again.

“I’m sure our dear higher-ups understand the situation well enough. They simply have to consider it. Evacuate every resident in Gangwon. Then, it doesn’t matter whether it’s the military or the Awakener Association, we gotta gather enough people to cordon off the whole district where the cluster of dungeons is located.”

Crush—

Lee Ju-ho unknowingly crushed the coffee can in his hand. The half-drunk bitter liquid trickled down his hand and dripped to the floor.

“If we don’t do that, then well, we’ll really all die.”

“…”

The current situation gradually became starker to Hak-joon as he saw how grave Lee Ju-ho’s expression was.

The world seemed to have changed literally overnight.

No, wait—the change had begun a long time ago if he was being honest. It was merely continuing even now. It was just that the changes took place so gradually that he or anyone else had failed to sense it.

“Bro, is this what you were talking about?” Hak-joon thought.

“Is this what you predicted would happen?” Lee Ju-ho inwardly mulled.

They were thinking of the exact same thing at that moment.

Su-hyeun had been saying for a while now that dungeons were not the treasure trove of resources for the convenience of mankind. He said that one of these days, they might end up devouring the entire world in an instant.

“Although Su-hyeun seems to hate the idea…”

This bleak situation caused Lee Ju-ho to close his eyes and recall Su-hyeun’s face.

“There’s no helping it in this kind of a situation, me hoping for a hero to step up.”

The time a dungeon needed to become a full-on outbreak was, at its shortest, 15 days and about a month at the longest.

Lee Ju-ho fervently prayed that Su-hyeun would return within 15 days from his trial.

And so, while leaving his prayers as just that, prayers, the 15 days passed by in a flash.

* * *

People descended on the empire’s capital city.

Knights and swordsmen with some skills came to the city from all corners of the continent, all because of Emperor Wick Bradley’s official announcement.

While standing on one of the imperial palace’s balconies, Su-hyeun looked at the massive throng of people gathering from the distance.

Fifteen days had flown by so quickly, and during that time, he had been checking out and studying the crowd that continuously streamed into the empire’s capital.

“At this rate, the city will burst at its seams.”

The capital, which currently had no single civilian inside, was in a situation similar to a conflict zone because those who had gathered there at the empire’s decree numbered well over hundreds of thousands.

It certainly was an incredible number.

Every single one of them possessed a skill level that rivaled a regular awakener, and several among them were individuals that easily matched S-Ranks.

Su-hyeun focused magical energy to his eyes and studied the appearances of these people in the distance.