trouble - evnne

6

Seowon greeted them at the scene, yet again. "Ah, I'm really starting to get tired of seeing you guys!" He said, his voice high-pitched and strained.

"At least I'm here and not the other two," Another restorer, Park Hyunbeen piped up from beside Seowon, "And I'm glad I came, it's the first time seeing the entire Evnne together. This is new."

"This one was really unexpected," Seowon sighed, shaking his head, "Four in a span of two weeks. It's crazy. The forecasters must be floored."

"Anyways, can these two come?" Jongwoo asked, gesturing to the two Chinese hunters behind. Seowon scrunched his nose up in thought, before saying, "Honestly, I have no say in that. Why don't you take a look at it first, though? I have a feeling Evnne won't like it too much."

"Why? Is it full of metal or something?" Hanbin asked jokingly. "Go find out for yourself," Seonwon responded dryly, then was distracted by a ping on his tablet.

Zihao and Tianyue were studying the exterior of the dungeon, a slowly rotating ring of green mist with a shadowy centre. "It's likely a dungeon with some sort of forest interior," Tianyue suddenly said, "The green. If I could guess from what the tablet guy said, it's probably a rainforest."

"Electricity doesn't go too well with water, doesn't it?" Zihao added, his eyes flicking to study their reaction.

"So what? I mean-" Hanbin started, then Jay interrupted, "With all due respect Hanbin, the rest of us would like to get out of that dungeon alive."

"Evnne could enter the dungeon themselves, sure," Jongwoo started, "But if it's truly a forest dungeon, that means the beasts are likely...more resistant to lightning? I mean, the last time there was such a dungeon, you guys left because of how tough those things were. With stone and wood and all..."

The faces of Evnne's members darkened, all recalling the unfortunate incident. Hanbin looked the most unwilling, likely because they all made the trip here with high expectations of entering the dungeon. "Fine, then," Keita suddenly spoke up, "Evnne won't participate. It's for the best."

Some of the other members started to protest but Keita's eyes flashed sharply. "That's my final decision," He said firmly, and the members withdrew, accepting their leader's words.

"We'll all go in, then," Jongwoo followed up, "Might as well have a field trip." Yedam laughed, "You think this is gonna be fun?"

"Let's just go," Jay urged, then turned to the two foreign hunters, "Maybe you two should come too. Your first Korean dungeon raid."

Evnne watched as Onepact and the two Hao Yue hunters swiftly entered the dungeon. Hanbin studied the swirling green edges of the dungeon, still feeling a bit bitter. "Thanks for being mature about this, Keita," Seowon suddenly said as he slid to their side, "I know it bruised all your pride but this is the most efficient option."

"You look terrible," Keita, as though he didn't hear Seowon, remarked, looking at the telepath with concern, "You really could use a break."

Seowon released a long, tired breath, rustling his bangs. "You know the situation," He started, "More hunters are being disabled or simply quitting faster than we can replace them. And yet, the dungeon situation seems to be worsening. We're so short on labour...and this isn't just about us as individuals anymore, you know? Without us...there are going to be so many innocent deaths. That's why no matter how tired and sick we are, me, Kuanrui, Kamden, all the low-level hunters...we can't stop." Seowon's eyes lingered on the medic tent pitched to a side, where the figures of injured people lay, hurt from the sudden appearance of the dungeon.

Time crawled past, but the whole of Evnne stubbornly stayed put. Seowon flit in and out of the temporary tentage they took shelter under, relaying orders and responding to queries. Some rested, Jihoo and Hanbin sat side by side, Jihoo asleep on Hanbin's shoulder and Hanbin's head resting on Jihoo's. Junghyun made sure to take a picture for future blackmail.

"They're taking a really long time," Yunseo said, restless, after they had exhausted all forms of entertainment possible, "Isn't that strange? The entirety of Onepact and two other hunters and they're taking more than an hour on an A class."

"Let's not panic," Seowon said, evidently the most panicked one here, "Maybe they're taking their own sweet time."

"They're out," Seungeon reported, and immediately everyone dashed towards the dungeon. Onepact and the Hao Yue hunters looked relatively unharmed, slightly flushed and out of breath, Tianyue had a smudge of dirt on his cheek. Hanbin's eyes flicked to the dungeon, "Why is it still open?"

"Because we couldn't find the boss," Yedam revealed.

"What."

"This is...pretty crazy," Jongwoo murmured, running his hand through his hair, mildly dazed. "I've never seen anything like that," Jay added on, equally blown away.

"What is it?" Seowon asked, fingers gripping the edge of his tablet tightly. Jongwoo looked him dead in the eye, "The dungeon is connected to another dungeon. You know the D-class one that popped up a month ago? The one that wouldn't close? When we were wandering through this one, we exited there. It was terrifying."

Seowon scrunched his nose up, "Is that why that stubborn dungeon won't close?"

Sungmin whistled, "It was insanely big. Bigger than any S-class I've ever seen. It's endless, as though we entered a whole new country."

"The boss was tucked somewhere deep within," Zihao added gravely, "And there were many, many lower level beasts."

"I have to report this to the higher-ups," Seowon said decisively, fingers pressed to his forehead, receiving instructions from someone else, "For now, you guys can go and rest. But please take care, you will be needed soon." And with that, the poor, overworked telepath hurried off to talk to other staff.

"What...do we do?" Jihoo asked carefully, eyes darting between Keita and Jungwoo. Jungwoo heaved a sigh, then said, rather unexpectedly, "Let's wash up then meet at T-guild. They should be updated as well." That was an interesting decision but no one was going to question his reasoning. Evnne headed to T-guild first while Onepact returned to their headquarters to freshen up.

The ride to T-guild was silent. Then, Seungeon said, "If the dungeon is so big, it'll have to be mapped out, won't it?"

Jeonghyeon nodded, "Surely. At the rate it's going...we're likely needed in there too."

Most of them turned to their leader, expectant for a witty and confident remark, but he was silent, eyes fixed on the road ahead, deep in thought.

When they were gathered in T-guild (known from their spacious, tastefully decorated headquarters), they were in their living room, where there was a sunken conversation pit perfect for a serious conversation. As the members settled in and around the pit, chatting softly or silently thinking, the T-guild members appeared one by one, having been surprised by the unexpected visit. Seven members of T-guild were present, Anthonny, as Haruto explained, was still recovering but doing well.

"So," Jongwoo started, since Keita was still brooding in a corner, "There's been an interesting development. There's this new massive dungeon and it seems to be connected to a small D-class dungeon."

Minseoung crossed his arms tightly, "Do you think there's a possibility that there are other dungeons connected?"

"We don't want to think about that right now," Jongwoo admitted, "What's more concerning is due to the sheer scale of this dungeon, we are going to need way more than one guild to close it up."

"We spent over an hour in there," Yedam followed up, "But there were no signs of the boss at all."

"We'll map it out, easy, right?" Junhyun said, upbeat in an attempt to lift their spirits, "Map it out and kill the boss. We're the three strongest guilds in Korea, surely it'll be doable, right?"