trouble - evnne

12

As the Evnne members were briefed outside the dungeon entrance, which was a mesmerising, iridescent one, the sudden arrival of an unfamiliar car momentarily distracted them. Confused, everyone watched a weary looking man hop out of his car and help a small figure slowly emerge.

"Jihoo? You-"

Evnne stared, some aghast and others impressed, as they watched their youngest member hobble towards them, a bright beam on his face. "I bribed Hwanhee," Jihoo explained simply, looking up at the man helping him.

"You took advantage of a tired, underpaid medical staff-"

Hwanhee looked like he just wanted to go home to rest after his shift.

"Forget it," Keita sighed, "He's here anyways. But he's not going in."

"By the way, we'd appreciate it if only three of you go in," Seowon interrupted, shifting his weight, "Because if anything else happens, Evnne is the only guild available right now. Onepact went into an A class this morning at 5, and then Tiot went into a B class an hour ago. No news from either of their sites as of now. Also, we can't tell exactly what sort of dungeon this is, our forecasters are having a hard time."

"There are smaller guilds, aren't there? And freelance hunters."

"Of course we do, but they're a last resort. The highest class is B among those."

Then, Evnne's complete attention was given to Keita, waiting with bated breath for their leader to decide who should enter.

"Me, Seungeon and Jeonghyeon."

Hanbin immediately began to protest, saying Keita was still recovering from the last raid (an excuse, he wanted to go in). The duo had a silent argument with Keita staring at Hanbin in exasperation and Hanbin expressively persuading their leader with his eyes before Keita gave in and allowed Hanbin to take his place.

"Don't worry about it, okay?" Hanbin smiled, trying to ease their obvious worries, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "This is a B-class. We'll pop in and out in a second, and we'll have a party for Jihoo."

"Evnne, the dungeon is stable to enter," Seowon informed gently as he slipped up to their side.

Keita nodded, watching the backs of his members get smaller until they reached the dungeon entrance before they were swallowed by the dungeon. He just couldn't shake off the bad feeling he had. Jihoo was getting an earful from Junghyun and Yunseo, the youngest had the gall to not even look ashamed.

"You're still recovering, you don't have any energy, you-" Yunseo scolded, but Jihoo interrupted him, "I'll be fine in a day, and I wanted to be here. I feel like I've been in a vacuum for two weeks."

"You're so stubborn," Junghyun snorted, a fond smile on his face as he ruffled the youngest's hair. Seowon and Keita strolled over to join them. "It'll probably be sealed up within an hour," Seowon said lightly, swiping on his tablet as usual, "So just sit and relax."

Keita was going to say something, before Seowon's head jerked up when a slightly muffled but desperate voice called out. Wondering if he was hallucinating, he twisted to face the remaining Evnne members, "You heard that, right?"

Keita's face was pale, evidently worried they were about to rehash the previous situation all over again. "Seowon, let us in, we have to go in," Keita demanded at once, grabbing the poor telepath with a steel grip. Yunseo was already at the entrance, fighting against multiple security personnel as the unmistakable voice of Seungeon cried in horror.

Seowon was too stunned to respond, before the sound of Hanbin yelling snapped him from his trance and he finally choked out, "Wait, please, let's-"

"I'm not letting anything happen to them," Keita cut Seowon off coldly, abandoning the startled telepath to join Junghyun and Yunseo at the entrance. "Seowon, please," Jihoo begged, his eyes bright with tears as he sat frozen in his seat.

Seowon's fingers were at his temple, processing the instructions flowing from his superiors. "Evnne, wait-"

Yunseo tore past the security and literally threw himself into the dungeon. Junghyun made an apologetic face to the startled security before jumping through, Keita right behind him.

Seeing all his members enter the dungeon, Jihoo abandoned Seowon's side and ran for the dungeon, adrenaline driving his shaky legs. "Jihoo, wait," Seowon managed to catch the youngest Evnne member in a knick of time, "They'll kill me if I let you in."

Jihoo's expression was pleading, desperate, "They may not even be here to kill you after this." He shook Seowon's grip off him and entered the dungeon.

As the four remaining members of Evnne spilled into the dungeon, they were faced with the three that had entered the dungeon, standing idly at a crossroad, evidently in the middle of a discussion.

Hanbin frowned, confused, "Why are you in here?"

"What are you talking about? You were calling for us?" Yunseo said as he got to his feet.

"No we did not-"

"We could hear you guys screaming," Jihoo choked out.

Hanbin paused, then said gravely, "We didn't say anything at all. I swear."

"And why are you here?" Jeonghyeon asked, gesturing at Jihoo, "You literally woke up from a coma an hour ago. You-"

"Guys-" Seungeon gestured to the dungeon entrance behind them, panicked and everyone turned around just in time to see the dungeon entrance seal right behind them.

"What."

"Oh my god," Hanbin's hands flew to his mouth, "Are we-"

"Trapped in?"