The Hero Returns

"Hey, man. Someone stop those two."

"And who's gonna do that?"

"Where's the Medical Guild's master?"

"Didn't show up. Besides, you think that dude can stop them even if he's here?"

People whispered to each other and continued to observe Jordan and Chloe's changing moods.

The truth of these two having bad blood between them was a well-known fact by now. Jordan, with his stubborn streak and old-fashioned values, and the carefree Chloe with a near-narcissistic level of self-love were polar opposites.

When the news got out that only these two were left to participate in the dungeon raid, lots of stories began doing the rounds. People wondered whether the participants needed to be wary of these two more than the monsters during the raid.

Sure enough, things were going wrong from the very beginning.

"Won't something bad really happen at this rate?"

Step, step—

Someone's footsteps made a noise.

Everyone was holding their breaths and whispering to each other, too scared to even take one single step. Their attention was focused on the person responsible for the noise.

It was an unfamiliar face. Not only that, he didn't even look American, either.

"Who's that?"

"Dunno."

"An Asian man….?"

"Wait a sec, is he actually going over there?"

Even as people murmured, Su-hyeun didn't stop walking forward.

The distance closed soon enough, and the Arctic-level of chilly auras emitted by Jordan and Chloe began stabbing him on the skin.

Realizing that someone was approaching them, the two S-Rank Awakeners shifted their glare over to Su-hyeun next. He kept his focus on Chloe in the midst of this. She had been carrying this expression of "Who the heck is this idiot?" ever since discovering his approach.

"It'd be a lie to say I'm pleased to make your acquaintance….After all, I've been hearing my name being brought up for a while now," said Su-hyeun.

"Your name?" Chloe, still not getting it evidently, began scanning Su-hyeun from top to bottom. Meanwhile, Jordan asked a question.

"Are you Kim Su-hyeun?"

"Yes, that's right."

"That Kim Su-hyeun?" Jordan asked again.

"The one that'll join us during this assault…..?"

"What the heck, it was true? Hey, the Medical Guild really scored big this time, didn't they?" Su-hyeun's entrance caused a bit of commotion in the surroundings.

A man capable of potentially diffusing the tense stand-off between Jordan and Chloe threatening to go off at any second had made an appearance. Indeed, it should have been seen as a welcome development to all. Only one person was staring at Su-hyeun with an unwelcoming gaze, however.

"Were you listening to everything?"

At Chloe's question, Su-hyeun nodded his head. "You did speak in a voice that everyone could hear."

"Okay, so what do you want, then?"

Her question implied why he still chose to show himself after hearing all of that. She really had a commendably thick skin. It seemed that she had zero interest in minding Su-hyeun's mood at all.

"Well, let's just say I'll be in your care, auntie."

The same thing could be said for Su-hyeun, however.

"A-auntie?!"

Chloe's brows arched in a terrifying manner.

If Su-hyeun really did hear her conversation with Jordan, then he must've learned about how much she hated being called an "auntie." Even if he missed it, there was probably no woman alive who liked being called that.

This was an open provocation, in other words.

Shuaaaaah—

Crack, craaaack—

Chloe's aura spread out to the surroundings in an even harsher intensity. The chilly temperature now dropped below the freezing point, and the objects found in the surroundings began to really freeze up.

Awakeners possessed fairly robust resistance towards cold and hot weather, yet even they were beginning to feel the chill from her aura. Of course, Su-hyeun and Jordan felt the full brunt of the biting chill.

"You…do you really want to die?" Chloe threatened.

"Chloe."

Rumble—!

Right at that moment, Jordan's own aura also flared up far stronger than before. The white-hot aura soon descended to earth, and immediately, Chloe shifted her glare back to Jordan.

"Keep it down and withdraw your aura. If you don't, forget about the raid or whatever — I will crush an arm and a leg of yours right here, right now," said Jordan.

"Me? You will?"

"That's right. I will crush you."

"You f*cking son of a bitch, I'll….!"

"Enough," said Su-hyeun.

Gu-wuuuu—

The two people's auras clashing against each other were dragged downwards. A brand new magical energy made an entrance and began suppressing them from above. Startled by this development, both Chloe and Jordan quickly shifted their gaze over to Su-hyeun.

"Let's not throw a tantrum around in the middle of a city filled with people, shall we? It's unsightly to look at," Su-hyeun said.

"You, you, you….!"

"If you can't hold it, why don't we go somewhere else and finish it there? Put your contributions and your life on the line in the meantime. So, how about it? We still have some time to kill, anyway." Su-hyeun's eyes narrowed to slits.

Chloe gnashed her teeth and was about to stride over to Su-hyeun. "Those words, I'm gonna…."

"There, there." It was then that Jordan stepped in between Su-hyeun and Chloe and opened his mouth. "I acknowledge it. I got too carried away. It's the first time meeting each other, so let's not get too red in the faces and end it here."

"Jordan, you…."

"Chloe, that's enough from you. Let's be real here. You can't deal with him, now can you?"

Jordan's question caused Chloe to bite down hard on her lip before she spun on her heels to leave.

Su-hyeun watched her back rapidly gaining distance with long strides and could only lick his lips, ruing the missed opportunity.

"It seems that you were really planning to fight her," Jordan observed.

"Well, I couldn't just sit back and take it lying down after hearing her say stuff like that."

"You're a lot fiercer than you look, aren't you? I like that."

A wide grin formed on Jordan's lips. It seemed that he had recalled Chloe's deeply crumpled expression as she walked away.

"Allow me to introduce myself properly. I'm Jordan, vice master of the Maximum Guild. I'd like to ask you to gloss over what that idiot Chloe has said earlier."

"I'm Kim Su-hyeun."

"I'll be in your care. If it's at all possible, I'd like to end today's raid with the least amount of losses. Quite a few of my Guild family are joining me today, you see."

While saying that, Jordan extended his hand towards Su-hyeun.

He seemed to be a lot nicer than the initial impressions might suggest. The way he thought about his Guild members, it seemed that he really did care about his own people, and he was well-mannered towards the others he's meeting for the first time, too.

Unfortunately…

"I see. You also seem to be thinking of that as a joke, as well," replied Su-hyeun.

"What?"

"You shouldn't be worried about safely ending the raid with minimum losses, but…."

Su-hyeun left Jordan's hand hanging and turned around.

"…We should all worry about returning home alive, instead."

Jordan could only wordlessly stare at Su-hyeun's distancing back.

Those words sounded like they came from a man well-versed in blue-colored dungeons. Despite knowing that such a thing was impossible, Jordan found himself unable to ignore what Su-hyeun had said for some reason.

More than anything, that highly-concentrated magical energy suppressing both his and Chloe's auras…

<<I was wondering whether the rumors had been exaggerated or not, but now….>>

Jordan clutched his hand still hanging in the air and muttered to himself.

"Maybe the truth has been downplayed, instead?"

* * *

Crack, craaack—

The path Chloe was walking on was frozen solid. Her sour mood caused the surrounding air to cool down rapidly.

<<That b*stard, he definitely….>>

She recalled Su-hyeun's eyes, and her expression crumpled even further.

<<He suppressed my aura.>>

He was merely an awakener who had only reached the 30th floor.

That was why she had been dismissing the b*stard. His experience as an awakener was too short, and she figured his skills would be severely lacking as a result, too.

But now, it was basically the same thing as her being pushed aside by him. Sure, they hadn't fought each other or anything like that yet, but as some things had already been said out aloud, her pride couldn't help but be wounded from the exchange.

<<Was it because I was in the middle of a power contest against that assh*le Jordan?>>

She tried to look at it that way, but even then, there were a few areas that still didn't make sense.

"Please don't scowl so much. Your make-up will crack apart like that."

Chloe's head spun right next to her, in the direction of where that voice came from.

It came from a man with a bucket hat deeply pressed down — none other than the S-Rank awakener from another country who came with Chloe.

As her temper had already been stoked, those inflammatory words were answered by Chloe's very harsh-sounding tone of voice. "Are you trying to pick a fight with me, too?"

The man replied with a laughing voice. "The way it looks to me, it was you who started this whole thing, so what do you mean 'too?'"

"You better shut your…."

"That man Kim Su-heyun…" The man changed the topic and cocked his head in the direction where Su-hyeun had disappeared to. "Won't he prove to be an unexpected variable?"

"A variable? What variable?" Chloe shot back as if to imply, "don't say something nonsensical."

She didn't look like she'd be a good conversation partner in her current state. The man lightly tutted and shook his head.

"No, it's nothing."

The man then pulled the hat even lower and hid his eyes. Soon, the man turned around and walked away as well. Chloe watched him and began gnashing her teeth again.

<<Kim Su-hyeun, Jordan Rogers.>>

It was as if she could see those two's faces right before her eyes. As flames burned in her eyes, Chloe muttered loudly.

"I'll definitely kill both of you."

* * *

The blue-colored dungeon raid party was comprised of four Guilds.

It took quite a long time for every single member of each guild to gather and also to check their food and items. The waiting time included the interview period for the awakeners of the raid party, however.

Jordan met up with the newly-joining S-Rank awakener and had a chat. The man wearing the bucket hat was rather polite, which was quite different from Chloe.

As if she decided to unload the stress she got just now on the interview, she gathered up the reporters and wasted a ton of time yapping away.

Jordan, waiting for her to finish, kept glancing at his wristwatch several times before finally saying something. "Chloe, get ready. We'll be heading out."

Unable to sit back anymore, Jordan finally intervened. Chloe must've realized that the proceedings had been delayed by her time-wasting because she didn't retort back other than furrowing her brows.

"I guess this really is it."

Gulp—

Perhaps he was nervous — Hak-joon patted down his chest and muttered to himself.

It made sense, however.

Being first of anything held a deep meaning, and it'd be normal to shiver from the prospect. On top of this, the subject of his challenge this time was a dungeon, where it'd be like stepping across the death's doorstep at all times.

The world's first blue-colored dungeon. Hak-joon's anticipation, nervousness, and excitement slid down his palms as sweat drops.

"You still remember what I told you before coming here, right?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Of course."

With Jordan and Chloe in the lead, numerous awakeners began piling into the blue-colored dungeon.

Hak-joon following after them began muttering out what Su-hyeun told him a few days ago word by word. "A dungeon will always throw an unexpected curveball in our direction. And also…."

Squeeze—

He gripped the hilt of the sword mounted on his hips hard and continued on. "The moment you step inside the dungeon is when the battle starts."

"Just remember those two things," said Su-hyeun.

"I will."

"Well, then…"

Before long, the two of them following the leaders were standing only a step before the dungeon's entrance.

"Let's go."

The moment they stepped into the dungeon, the view before their eyes transformed in an instant.

* * *

[Trial will now commence.]

[In order to escape from the dungeon, you must locate the designated escape gate or survive for ten days.]

A pair of simple but concise messages popped up inside the head of everyone entering the blue-colored dungeon.

"It's impossible to escape?"

"Dammit, I guess I won't get to run away at this rate."

Just like how it was with high-difficulty trials, it would get harder and harder to find a normal type of dungeon as the color approached closer to the purple hue. Several variables, such as unique types of trials or rule sets would start to appear.

"Don't get your panties in a twist over a variable like this. You're all ruining the party's atmosphere." Jordan went on to pacify the panicking raid party members. His composed appearance managed to gradually pull back the fear spreading within the party like an infection.

Jordan then surveyed the backdrop of the dungeon. It was a massive jungle with no end in sight.

He had occasionally come across dungeons with such backdrops before. As he was familiar with it, any thoughts of it being difficult didn't even enter his head.

He then started confirming his vicinity, only for his eyes to tremble greatly.

"Hold up." He counted the number of people and raised his voice. "The headcount is off."

Exactly two people were missing.

"That man with the bucket hat, and…"

Jordan then looked at Hak-joon and asked, "Where is Kim Su-hyeun?"