Chapter 12
This was an utterly ridiculous contract.
[If Seojin (Party B) breaches the contract, she will lose their life.]
[Time limit: 10 seconds.]
W-What kind of contract involves staking your life?!
Fail to fulfill it, and you just die? Even if I were to concede that I could keep the contract, that time limit…
10 seconds?
Baek Hwan must have thought I could bring Shin Yeoul here instantly with my skill.
But that was impossible.
It wasn’t that kind of skill, to begin with. I could only access the subspace after entering a dungeon!
“Why? You don’t like it? Well, you’ll have to do it anyway.”
As I hesitated, Baek Hwan pressed me without delay. Afraid he might apply pressure again, I quickly shouted back.
“It’s not that!”
Ugh, no time to think.
I threw myself forward, reaching for Baek Hwan’s pant leg to grab on and plead.
Of course, he simply stepped back before I could grab hold.
Even so, I begged with all my might.
If he grabbed my hand and forced me to sign the contract, I was as good as dead.
“Groveling won’t help. Just hurry up and sign.”
“If I do that, I’ll really die!”
“You won’t die if you bring him here.”
“I will die!”
Baek Hwan’s resolute reply was met with my vehement retort. He tilted his head, seemingly perplexed.
“What’s the problem? You were the one who said you’d bring him right away.”
He looked at me with a deadpan stare, as if I was utterly ridiculous.
The feeling was mutual. Saying I’d do it “right away” was just a figure of speech!
“Ten seconds is way too short! There’s no way I can bring him that quickly!”
This shameless S-rank jerk.
“Dungeon!”
I almost cursed but restrained myself. For now, I had to butter him up.
“Dungeon? What about the dungeon?”
“My skill can only be activated inside a dungeon. That’s the condition for using it.”
Before he could show his irritation, I hurried to explain.
“The reason I was staring at the dungeon back at the park was exactly because of that! It wasn’t to run away—it was to retrieve Shin Yeoul!”
Please, believe me. I poured sincerity into my words.
If possible, I’d gulp down some kind of truth-detection potion to prove my honesty.
“I’m not lying or trying to be clever. Just extend the time limit a little… Then I’ll sign the contract right away!”
Baek Hwan still looked skeptical, but thankfully, I must have seemed a little pitiful to him.
With a short sigh, the terms of the contract changed.
[Time limit: 30 minutes.]
A crumb of mercy, if you could even call it that.
“I’ll give you exactly 30 more minutes.”
Baek Hwan spoke as if he were being generous.
I nodded enthusiastically, grateful for anything at this point.
“There’s a dungeon nearby that I know. We’ll head there.”
“Yes, yes! That’s perfect!”
At least he wasn’t entirely heartless.
I’d expected him to just tell me to figure it out on my own.
Relieved, I hurriedly scribbled my signature onto the contract.
[The contract with Baek Hwan (Party A) has been completed! Good luck.
Time remaining: 29 minutes 59 seconds.]
The constantly decreasing timer gnawed at my nerves, but the fact that I could finally leave this place brought a faint smile to my lips.
“Follow me.”
“Yes!”
Creak. The door, which I thought I’d never leave, opened under Baek Hwan’s hand.
Finally, finally—!
I stood to follow him, but my haste made my legs tangle.
I stumbled.
Oh no. I instinctively reached out toward Baek Hwan.
But, whoosh—.
Baek Hwan simply avoided my hand as I struggled not to fall. Oh come on.
Wow~ He really doesn’t want me to touch him, huh?
Crash! I flailed to regain balance, putting on a one-person show, but eventually, I fell with an even louder thud.
“Ughh.”
My knee hit squarely on the ground, and tears pricked at my eyes. Add humiliation to the mix, and my face flushed with heat.
Of course, my fall involved dragging a chair down with me, making the noise even worse.
Ugh, so embarrassing.
“…Hey.”
“Yes?”
As I wobbled to my feet, Baek Hwan hesitated before speaking.
“Are you really E-rank?”
It seemed only now, after seeing me flounder, that he realized my reflexes were nowhere near S-rank level.
“Yes.”
I answered firmly. If there was one thing I could confidently declare, it was my rank.
If you don’t believe me, bring out a rank-measuring device.
“Yes, I really am E-rank.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“…..”
It seemed my lousy stats had finally proven useful.
My earnest response caused a subtle shift in Baek Hwan’s demeanor. After some thought, he nodded to himself.
Though he still seemed a bit doubtful, he was starting to accept it.
Thank goodness.
He appeared slightly less on edge, and I hoped this meant he wouldn’t be as aggressive moving forward.
If he kept exuding that murderous aura, I wouldn’t just stumble—I’d outright faint.
Not that we’d be together for long anyway.
With a hope that this would all be over in 30 minutes, I followed Baek Hwan.
Soon, everything would return to normal.
Goodbye to these absurd rankers, and goodbye to the subspace.
Since the subspace could only be accessed through dungeon connections, I wouldn’t need it anymore.
Selling the items in my inventory alone would pay off my debts and let me rent a decent place. Why would I ever go back to the subspace?
No way. Never again. I’m done—
Ka-boom!
I couldn’t finish my thoughts. A deafening roar pierced my ears.
It was something that truly didn’t make sense—I knew that. But the scene unfolding before my eyes was undeniably real.
I stared blankly at the sight in front of me, unable to grasp the reality of it.
A dungeon.
It was a dungeon.
In an instant, blue light surged between me and Baek Hwan. The air shimmered unnaturally, and the walls trembled from the impact.
Through the cracks of the collapsing building, a gate appeared.
It had reappeared before me.
Without warning. As if inviting me to enter.
My eyes met Baek Hwan’s.
He furrowed his brow, as if annoyed for giving me a chance.
At that moment, I realized something was gravely, horribly wrong.
Baek Hwan reached out toward me.
It was just before the dungeon gate completely consumed me. Grabbing the back of my neck, Baek Hwan threw me further into the room.
Thud! Thrown roughly to the ground, I couldn’t even scream properly and could only watch the unfolding chaos before me.
The items installed in the room were breaking from the shock. The once pristine white walls were gradually turning gray.
The wind rushed through the cracks of the crumbling building.
Through that wind, Baek Hwan approached.
“An E-rank, of all things.”
This was on a completely different level from before.
If he touched me now, I had no doubt—I would die.
[You can no longer endure the pressure of intimidation!]
Rumble. The building shook.
My vision darkened. Struggling against the dizziness, I barely managed to prop myself up on the floor.
[The opponent has deemed you an enemy!]
[The danger level has reached its peak!]
Through my blurred vision, I saw Baek Hwan standing in front of me.
“You can even summon dungeons?”
Summon?
I didn’t have such an ability.
Unbelievable as it might sound, this was all pure coincidence.
I wanted to deny his words immediately.
But I couldn’t even open my mouth.
The person before me was like a massive tidal wave—a catastrophic force of nature, bearing down on me.
Faced with such devastation, there was nothing I could do. All I could do was watch.
And just as I was losing consciousness—
[“Still like a sunfish! This could be really bad!”
: Skill automatically activated due to detected danger.]
[Slurp skill activating!]
The skill was triggered immediately.
[Only one viable target was detected. The target has been automatically designated.
▸ Target: Baek Hwan (Angel)]
It didn’t matter what I wanted. Everything was at the mercy of the system.
A rift tore through the air, and a portal to the subspace opened above Baek Hwan’s head.
An unknown force that couldn’t be resisted or blocked. There wasn’t even time to react.
Even for an S-rank awakened like him.
Slurp!
Baek Hwan was sucked in.
Quite literally, slurp.
In the blink of an eye, the subspace devoured Baek Hwan, and the portal began to fade away.
Gone, without a trace. As if no one had been there in the first place.
The half-destroyed room. The dungeon that had appeared out of nowhere. Dust swirling in the air.
No matter how hard I looked around, there was nothing else to see.
Through the cracked walls of the building, only the blue sky stretched out before me.
I was the only one left in this place.
So, uh… what?
What?!
What the heck?!
[Ding! Congratulations! Baek Hwan (Party A) and Shin Yeoul have met.]
Ding! Shortly after, amidst the heavy silence, a notification sound echoed.
I stared blankly at the message.
It said Baek Hwan and Shin Yeoul had met.
That message could only appear if Baek Hwan had been pulled into my subspace.
[The oath contract has been completed!]
Ding! Another message appeared, confirming the contract was complete.
It was an undeniable reality.
Somehow, I had managed to not only kidnap the number one ranker…
But also the number two ranker.
[♪~(´ε｀*)]
And, of course, the system was as cheerful as ever.
With lifeless eyes, I stared at the little emoticon that had appeared.
Only one thought crossed my mind.
Good grief.
I’m going to lose my mind.
🌱
Thank you for reading! ♡
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