guys like genuinely im being fr DO NOT REPOST ON SOCIAL MEDIA (twitter, Instagram, facebook, etc OF ANY KIND) like no screenshots keep ur mouth ZIPPED about english translations of korean novels unless u want it to get taken down and me to potentially get death threat, doxxed, or even hit with a DMCA like these authors do not play they genuinely witch hunt people 😭 don’t make epub copies either!!
[23:52:03]
“Ugh…”
Lee Juwon blinked his eyes with difficulty. Something sparkled in his dark, blurry vision. Golden powder fluttered like snowflakes falling from the black night sky.
[Huh?]
A questioning voice sounded in his dizzy ears. The squirrel tilted its head to the side.
[Why are you awake?]
“Co-cough…”
Lee Juwon tried to say something, but all that came out of his throat was the grunting sound of coughing. Even that alone hurt like it was tearing him apart on the inside.
[How did you get back?]
The squirrel’s big eyes sparkled, and it asked,
[That was the best gift I could give to a guest who had travelled this far, though…?]
“…Haa, cough…”
[Ah… did you perhaps get on the Psyche’s bad side?]
The squirrel’s eyebrows drooped down, and it continued,
[You could’ve propagated forever with your dream mate… What a shame…]
He didn’t have time to listen to the squirrel’s nonsense. Lee Juwon forcibly scratched his injured throat and said, “Is it… all, over now…?”
[Well… I guess?]
“Can I… get out of here…?”
[Of course.]
The squirrel’s furry tail swayed gently. A circular white glow formed in the corner where the wall and floor of the dark cavern joined. The light sparkled and spread out as if it were drawing an arc. Soon, the semicircle on the wall glowed brightly.
[You can go out this way!]
[23:53:14]
At the same time, the cave shook violently. The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, sending up clouds of settled dirt. It was not unusual for a dungeon to collapse upon a clearing, but the situation was different when it happened to him.
The distance to the passage was no more than ten steps. If he fell, he’d be nose to nose with it. He had to get out through that door.
“Ugh…!”
Using all of his strength, Lee Juwon raised his body. He stood up with such difficulty that it seemed like a sin to defy gravity.
Thud!
“Agh!”
But he fell back to the ground like a newborn beast. He couldn’t take a single step without straining his broken ankle.
The slightest movement hurt so badly that he broke out in a cold sweat. Despite the sub-zero temperature, his body was drenched in sweat. As the sweat cooled, a freezing chill ran through him.
“Haa…”
Even if his legs were broken, he needed to get out, even if that meant he had to crawl.
He swept his fingertips and elbows across the ground, dragging his legs and body towards the passage. His skin chafed all over the rough stone floor. Due to the exertion, his wounds opened completely every time he moved and long trails of blood were left in the areas he passed.
The squirrel tilted its head.
[So persistently…?]
Kwang!
Unable to withstand the shaking of the ground, a chunk of stone fell from the ceiling, grazing Lee Juwon’s ear and falling to the floor. The roar pierced his ears and sharp fragments of splintered stone hit his face.
“Ugh…”
Hot blood trickled down his cheek. His eardrums vibrated from the loud noise, his tinnitus raging, and his mind went momentarily white as terror took over.
“Co… cough…”
Not only did he feel sick, he even felt nauseous. A lump of blood and dust rose in his throat and trickled down the side of his mouth. The stench of blood lingered in his nose.
“Haa, haa…”
Faced with a pain that was hard to endure while sober, his consciousness slowly faded. He couldn’t put any strength into the fingers that touched the floor and shook uncontrollably. His eyelids were stuck together with a mixture of tears and dirt, and he couldn’t see in front of him clearly.
[…Anyway, time is… soon…]
He could hear the squirrel’s voice faintly in the distance. His vision was spinning and dizzy, as if his vestibular system had malfunctioned and he’d lost his sense of equilibrium. All he could think was that he had to get out of here, but his body wouldn’t cooperate, and now even that thought was lost.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Ljj, eut…”
Llr yjgfis reqqbgafv cfmx ujnf bea, jcv tlr mtffxr abemtfv jujlcra atf mbiv rabcf oibbg. Lf ofia ecyfjgjyis riffqs. Lf klvfcfv tlr fsfr ab ags cba ab ojii jriffq, yea atf regulcu riffqlcfrr kjr tjgv ab yfjg.
Rflatfg tlr ybvs cbg tlr mbcrmlbercfrr mbeiv frmjqf, jr lo tf kfgf yflcu remxfv lcab jc jysrr. Llr fsfilvr, ktlmt ofia tfjnlfg atjc j rabcf, olcjiis mibrfv ilxf j qglrbc.
His surroundings were silent.
He could hear nothing, as if his eardrums had burst.
“Haa…”
Rather, the darkness and silence were comfortable. When he woke up, the pain would come back, and he’d lose his faint consciousness again.
He drifted in and out of dim consciousness, dizzy from a brief dream he didn’t know when he had. A scene flashed by, one he couldn’t tell whether it was a dream, an illusion, a shadow-picture lantern, real life, or a reverie.
“Ah…”
Lee Juwon blinked vacantly. He didn’t know what he was dreaming about or what it was about, but he felt longing. The image of a cat lying alone in a living room in the reddish evening light stuck in his mind like an old natural colour photograph.
Even now, he couldn’t tell if it was a dream or reality. His blurry vision, resting on the stone floor, was especially distorted. The ground shook and things slid down, his gaze beyond the glass bottle caught in between stones being distorted.
There was still a little bit of alcohol in the glass that had fallen to the floor, sloshing. If he drank that, all his pain would disappear. It’ll give him rest in the memories he desired most.
If he stayed like that, if he slept like this, if he drank that again… Will he be able to return to that place?
His throat burned with a terrible thirst. He was sick of the pain that made it unbearably hard to breathe. The desire to let everything go and take it easy swept through his soul like a wave.
“Huu…”
Lee Juwon reached for the bottle with difficulty. His fingertips caught on the smooth glass surface. The slope of the ground tilted slightly, and the bottle rolled across the ground.
“Haa…”
He barely managed to grab it. Despite the below-zero temperature, the bottle was still warm, melting his cold, frozen hands. Lee Juwon stared at it blankly, feeling like it was life-giving water.
Shatter!
With all his might, he slammed the glass bottle against the stone floor. The bottle shattered into pieces. Lee Juwon gripped the largest piece of glass in his hand.
“Ugh…!”
The sharp shard of glass dug deep into the flesh of his palm.
[23:58:04]
Barely able to recover his consciousness through the pain, Lee Juwon headed for the light again. More accurately, he crawled, but he didn’t stop. The horrible pain made him shudder, but he couldn’t stop.
Five steps.
“Gasp, pant…”
If he could just take five more steps, he could meet Kang Inheon.
“I want to see you…”
He wanted to turn back time and forget the past, but not now. He wanted to meet the Kang Inheon with whom he had spent regretful days and fix his mistakes.
When his consciousness blurred and his vision turned dark, he tightened his grip again. When the clear glass was dyed red, the sharp pain brought him back to his senses a bit. Through bloodshot eyes, Lee Juwon muttered, “…I have to… get out of here…”
Because I’d rather be unhappy with you, I won’t turn the past into something that didn’t exist. I’m not going to forget everything, erase everything, and start all over again. I won’t let you be forgotten by me and disappear. I want to meet the unfortunate you. I want to know the unhappy you…
Even if the illusion of you loves me, I won’t live in the illusion…
Kwang! Kwang! Kung!
The shaking of the ground intensified. Stones, large and small, fell without mercy. As one wall collapsed, stones and dirt rained down. The roar of the ground rumbling and collapsing filled the cave.
“Ugh…!”
Red blood trickled down from his forehead where the fallen stone had hit. His blood, already flowing much more than what should come out of a human body, had already formed a puddle beneath Lee Juwon. The blood dripped towards the entrance.
[23:59:01]
Three steps, just three more to go, but his hand couldn’t reach it so easily. It was hard to move even an inch forward. No matter how hard he tried, he kept digging in the same place. His elbows dug down and sunk, but he couldn’t even move a little bit.
The moment he clenched his teeth as a last and used his strength, the ground shook violently. Dust rose in clouds, and a plosive sound rang as if the sky was breaking.
[I will give you the eternal rest you were promised!]
The lump of rocks from the ceiling began to pour down once more. A large stone, sharp as an awl, fell towards Lee Juwon’s head.
[The fact it’s not peaceful… is your fault, so there’s no helping it!]
Lee Juwon barely managed to look up and saw the stone falling in front of him, but that was all. Endlessly exhausted and frozen with fear, he couldn’t move.
Is it going to… end like this…?
Clang!
At that moment, an invisible barrier blocked the area above Lee Juwon. The stone shattered as if it had hit a solid, transparent ground in midair.
In the centre of the light-filled passageway, a giant shadow was suddenly cast. The figure stepped through the light and into the dungeon. With their back to the light, they still looked like a giant shadow. But Lee Juwon knew who he was at a first glance.
“Lee Juwon…”
The anxious voice he heard nonstop in the illusion. That desperate voice rang in his ears again. As he approached without stopping, he knelt down on one knee, as if collapsing. The light shined downward, finally revealing his face.
“…Juwon-ah…”
The lips that uttered his name trembled. Water dripped down his chin, trembling just as much. His face and body were entirely drenched in sweat. His ragged breathing billowed into white vapour in the cold air.
Lee Juwon regretted that his face was gradually blurring as his vision faded. But he didn’t open his eyes hard enough for blood vessels to stand like earlier, trying to keep his consciousness. His grip on the shard of glass loosened.
“I missed you… so much…”
With those words, the tension in his entire body melted away. His eyes slowly closed. His mind felt faint before soon fading to black.
“Ah… aah…”
When Lee Juwon closed his eyes, Kang Inheon’s other knee, barely holding himself up, knelt down too. He felt like he was collapsing from the top of his head, down his spine, to his feet. He reached out with a shaky hand. He carefully placed two fingers beneath Lee Juwon’s chin, which was stained with thick blood and sweat.
“Ah… aah…”
His hands were shaking so badly he couldn’t tell if his pulse was beating or not. He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut to control the tremors. The muscles in his jaw tightened.
And in a moment, he opened his eyes again, and a light shone as he examined his wounds. Thick tendons twitched across his painfully contorted forehead, as if he was the one who was injured.
The air in the cave was cold enough to freeze everything. Kang Inheon’s eyes were also sunken coldly, but the corners of his eyes were dyed red and his breath was filled with heat.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
The ground shook violently, and countless stones, large and small, rained down endlessly. They couldn’t reach the two of them, however, as the barrier casters belonging to December outside the entrance spread their barriers across the ceiling. Shadows lined the entrance, and a voice was heard over the radio.
– Are the victims alive?
“…One survivor confirmed. Can you provide medical assistance?”
– Incapable, the pulse is working, but strangely, it’s not going through.
Kang Inheon nodded his head. It wasn’t the proper thing to do, but there was no stretcher, so he had no choice but to pick him up. With a careful touch, like flipping through a precious book that would crumble if touched, he picked Lee Juwon up.
When Kang Inheon, who was holding him steadily, stretched out one knee where he was kneeling and raised himself up–
[…What?]
The squirrel blinked its large eyes and swayed its tail.
[23:59:31]
Crack, craaack. The crack in the cave ceiling grew deeper. The open gap stretched across the ceiling like lightning spreading across the sky.
Kuung!
A huge chunk of rock tore through the barrier and fell, blocking the entrance. The light was blocked, and the cave was instantly dark.
Soon, however, a bright yellow pulse spread like a web over the rock. The yellow pulse wrapped around the boulder like a spider’s web, imprisoning it, and the pressure shattered the massive boulder. The sound of destruction pierced through the air and scattered. Light poured from the entrance again.
[23:59:39]
From the perimeter of the entrance, hunters provided support fire. But only for a moment, as golden dust settled on the shattered stone. As if catalysed by the light, the shattered stones crackled like they were alive and clumped together.
Mio, a monster made of gathered stones, could normally have never become Kang Inheon’s opponent, but now that he was carrying Lee Juwon, his range of motion was narrowed. Even his steps were cautious, lest they shock him. By comparison, the Mio’s numbers had increased in large quantities.
[23:59:43]
– Move left!
The radio crackled with urgency. The hunters formed a transparent tube around the passage and poured a huge stream of water through it. The outside of the tube was as watertight as the outside of a hose, but the Mios in front of the exit were swept away by the sudden onslaught of the water cannon.
As it was swept away with the Mios due to the water, the squirrel screamed,
[No, what are you doing?!]
[23:59:52]
The flooded dungeon was now on the verge of collapse. Just like the sun setting over the ocean’s horizon, the half-circle glow of the door also slowly waned.
Before the exit was completely closed, Inheon Kang tried to pass through the light as he had come. However, he could not go beyond the light. Clang, his combat boots were blocked, as if hitting a glass wall.
Kang Inheon put strength into his foot down and tried kicking it as if shattering a glass wall, but–
“Uwaaak!”
“Inhunter-nim, no matter what we do, we can’t get through! Only attacks from the inside and outside go through!”
Outside the dungeon, the screams of the hunters who had narrowly avoided Kang Inheon’s pulse could be heard. Kang Inheon’s face contorted. The waves of his pulse were erratic and uncontrollable, as he had used it beyond its limits in his search for Lee Juwon.
He spread his pulse all over Yongsan and looked for abnormalities down to the last ant. It was the first time he had used his pulse to its limit ever since manifesting as a hunter.
As a dungeon made solely for one person, Gnipahellir’s exit seemed to be usable only once. The portal had done its job and disappeared when Kang Inheon entered. Pulse could go in and out, but now, no one could leave it or enter it.
Without time to even do anything, the door grew smaller, and the light faded.
Kung! Kung! Kung! Rumble!
The flooded dungeon was now on the verge of collapse. Beyond collapse, it was in the process of dissipating. Even the barrier had used up all its strength.
[23:59:57]
The inside of the cave was silent as a vacuum.
The rumbling and collapsing of the stone walls and the shouts from the outside had ceased. The chunks of rock falling heavily to the floor and the strong flow of water stopped, as if defying the laws of gravity.
The cave, with its exit closed, was now dark. Whether you closed or opened your eyes, it was still dark. Darkness meant nothing to an S-class hunter, but in a space with no sense of direction, it was a different story.
Kang Inheon carefully placed the unconscious Lee Juwon on the inner side of his arms. Leaning him against his chest, he formed a blue light with one hand. The light formed into a sharp blade, slicing through the space where the portal had been.
Whoosh–.
But it only cut into the dark, empty space. If time passed again, it would only intensify the now stagnant waves that couldn’t spread out and accelerate the dungeon’s cracks. There was no way out.
“Haha…”
Kang Inheon let out an exclamation that sounded like either a sigh or a laugh. In the stillness of the space, neither sound nor frost could penetrate the atmosphere.
If time passed again, in the blink of an eye, the two of them would be gone, along with this dungeon. At least, Kang Inheon was comforted by the fact they avoided the worst. It was better than being left alone in this cold place.
He was glad he was able to stay with him a little longer thanks to his ability. Maybe… maybe the reason why he was able to stop time was for this moment. Because when he was with him, he wanted to stop time.
However, it was a shame that the darkness was too thick to see his face properly for the last time. His body that should have been warm, but stayed in the cold too long, had lost too much blood and turned cold. Wanting to share even the littlest warmth with him one last time, Kang Inheon pulled Lee Juwon into a tight embrace.
“……?”
At that moment, his eyes widened as he witnessed something unbelievable.
A butterfly he couldn’t induce where it came from was hovering around him, shimmering.
It was an impossible situation. Human, monster, or otherwise, the only being who could move in a space where he stopped time was none other than himself.
He wondered if he was seeing things, but the butterfly was vivid, clearly alive. Kang Inheon even felt like he had seen the butterfly somewhere before.
The butterfly flew freely, regardless of Kang Inheon’s suspicions or sense of déjà vu. After remaining near Lee Juwon’s temple and sitting on his lips for a moment, the butterfly soon fluttered away.
The butterfly slowly landed on a space that was indistinguishable from a wall or a void, and then took flight again and repeated that action. Soon, the spots where the butterfly landed shimmered with a small light.
Kang Inheon suddenly woke up, realizing what he had to do.
Blue energy blossomed around him like a flame. His pulse glowed in the form of a distorted sphere as he drew life force and forced it to rise. The pulse, blue to an ominous extent, crackled and stretched, forming an incomplete rod.
As if embodying a thunderbolt, the rod, unstably shaking, formed the shape of a bow and he pulled on black air. At each end of the bent rod, a blue bow string lengthened and crackled.
“Haa…”
Kang Inheon pulled the bowstring up to the end of his ears and let go with a tang. Seven arrows shot out from a single point like the ribs of a fan, piercing exactly where the butterfly had sat. The blue pulse pierced vertically, horizontally, diagonally, and in arcs, forming an intricate mandala diagram.
As Kang Inheon furrowed his brows to make out the shape of the diagram, the butterfly landed in the centre of it lightly. At the same time, the dark space warped and bent dizzily.
Ruuuuuumble–.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
With a roar that echoed through the dungeon, boulders fell again, and dirt rose up. The space shattered into the shape of the diagram, and a faint light streamed in through the gaps. A muffled sound accompanied it.
“…Why did the exit disappear…”
“…This is insa…”
It was a spell circle that destroyed the dungeon. The light shining through the gap was not the artificial brightness of the dungeon, but the light from the lamps of the December hunters searching for the two.
Kang Inheon took three steps to the outside the butterfly had opened.
orcinus rambling:
back to my delusions, technically since the psyche is no longer taking the form of kang inheon, it shouldnt be replicating his subconsciousness and feelings right?? so why else would it help juwon if not because the psyche itself wants to?
plus, im pretty sure the only way to escape the psyche is… nonexistent, unless it lets go of its prey itself. even the squirrel is confused why juwons awake, and comes to the conclusion he must’ve made the psyche mad… the psyche’s tactic once it tilts too much towards suspicion is to restart the illusion and start over and over again, so it should be a constant loop, and it only broke bc the psyche killed ‘itself’ to free juwon’s consciousness
but tbh i dont expect much eq coming from dense king juwon
Finally inheoooon 😭
Omg yess finally, I’m so happy😭
Believing in your delusions with all of my heart even though it is BROKEN I will never recover 😭😭😭
Inheon is hereee!! Can they please repair their relationship now I need something to soothe the pain 🥹
Psyche…
So much pain QAQ
Ahhhh I want them to live happy after this shitty dungeon and also wish that Inheon will get his man to some kind of psychologist after all bcs he will really need that
Silent tears for Psyche…and Inheon your here finally! 😢 love is beautiful right?…the butterfly love is beautiful…😢
I love ur delusions orcinus
Holy crap holy crap holy crap holy crap
He did it!! He got out of the illusion finally by realizing he wanted what was real, not fake but better than his past. And our hunter 😭😭😭😭😭 risking everything for the MC
Psyche we will miss you
He is finally out!!!! 😆 I’m so proud of the butterfly to even help them get out. It truly wanted Juwon to live. 😭
Psyche best 2nd ML 😭
Thank you orcinus for the hard work!! And Im in Delululand w u too. Psyche love is not a delusion💔 Psyche is giving Juwon one last kiss before guiding Inheon to the way out. 😭 I wholeheartedly agree Psyche must’ve loved Juwon beyond just bc of copying Inheon. I mean one of the last convos Psyche has w Juwon last chapter too… 😭😭
Pls tell me there’s official art or even fanart for this bc I’m ugly sobbing so hard rn
in one comment section of a chapter the singular fanart that exists was shared, other than that our only visual of them is the cover 😭
PSYCHEEE 😭😭
there’s Psyche in the cover; the butterflies beside Inheon. Psyche, I will never forget you (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ
when I thought that’s the end of Psyche chapters ago, we see them reappearing again QwQ and helping the main couple exit and live!!! //sobs
That was a close call for both of them UwU glad they were able to get out. That they met each other near the exit and esp when time’s nearly up
Still sad about Psyche…
It’s always like this. I mean, there are times that I want the second lead for myself lol! Or at least have their own happy ending, somehow… Because, I usually want the two leads to end up together, so it’s better if my delulu self claim the second lead. live, laugh, love deluluness!
Finally, they reunited!!!🥺
I wish for Psyche’s happiness too 😭 that fluttering last kiss is just too much for my heart orz
In my min, I think of Psyche as a creature that wants to be loved, which is why it always traps it’s victims by coming to them as their beloved. However, I think that in the end, it actually started loving LJW which was why it “killed” itself to release LJW and then kept an eye on him and in the end showed KIH the way to get out of the dungeon. Such a tragic love story on its part.