"Bleurgh!" Park Sungah vomited while trying to gather the courage to continue this forsaken journey of hers.

Doubts and anxiety plagued her mind as her eyes caught glimpses of more corpses in the distance. Slowly, she stood up with shaky legs—using the wall to support her balance.

As she traversed her new terrain, a frightened chuckle escaped from her throat as she encountered more skeletal remains that halted her progress. Soon enough, she came across a fork with a wooden sign that too was inscribed in an otherworldly tongue.

Without clues or knowledge, she decided to trust her instincts by going with the left path which led towards a dead end. Just before she could turn around she—darkness engulfed the place once more as silence ensued.

"Sir! Kafil! Takashi!" She desperately shouted—hoping one of them were nearby yet none responded to her pleas.

Although faint, Sungah's ears picked up faint footsteps from nearby. Carefully, using the wall to aid her steps—she followed the sound with a sense of dread. As the sound grew clearer and louder—a smile slowly creeped onto her face. She believed she would be reunited with another human being right as of this moment. That was until the light suddenly reappeared.

Turning around the corner—her dreams were broken into pieces as she was instead greeted by the same statue she previously discovered although this one unbroken. It too held a tablet in its arms while a veil made of stone concealed its face yet she could not help but to feel as if it was gazing at her with malevolence.

Albeit being a bit frightened by the discovery, she paid no heed to it—thinking it as a mere coincidence as she retracted her steps back to the fork and took the right path this time. Oddly, there were barely any corpses aside from a few animal carcasses. It was truly bizarre, and it also had a lot more turns that needed to be taken.

At the end of the path, three more paths were presented. Once more, a sign with unknown scribbles etched onto the wooden plank was present. Sungah could only assume they must have hints on the path she should take yet if only she could decipher that language would she knew the correct options.

An exasperated sigh escaped from her throat as she entrusted her fate to lady's luck once again—taking the middle path this time. The walls, strangely enough—did not have any blood stains on them. Curious, she tried examining the wall—only for the light to instantaneously disappear once more.

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'Just my luck…' She complained inwardly. Yet what seems to be more bizarre was that footsteps could now be heard in the distance once more.

This time however, instead of feeling relieved—Sungah was sceptical of them. Why would only in the dark would they resume, yet when light came none was heard? She drew her katana as the footsteps became more prominent by the seconds.

Sweat trickled down her neck as she awaited for something to transpire. She regretted not moving further away from the sound as an entity scratched her arms—causing her to swing her katana with wild abandon until the light came back on again.

Opening her eyes, she was mortified to see another statue standing in front of her path yet it lacked a veil and a tablet unlike the earlier one. It has a terrifying smile splattered onto its face that bears an uncanny resemblance to Park Jeongeun's malicious smile.

Without hesitation, she brushed past the statue at lightning speed—sprinting as if her life depended on it. She paid no attention to even lifeless monster carcasses lying about as all of her focus was to get as far away from the statue as possible.

Sungah kept on running for seemingly an eternity before crashing into something, or a 'someone' to be more specific after having made many wild turns.

"痛い!何なんだ! (Ouch! What the hell!)" The person shouted as their bodies collided with one another.

The voice sounded oddly familiar to Sungah. Looking upward, a wave of relief washed over her as she had finally reunited with one of her allies—Nakajima Takashi.

"Huh? Sungah, is that really you?" He asked—extending his arms towards her cheeks as he pinched which she retorted by slapping his arms away.

"That hurts you idiot." She retorted.

"Well, I just thought maybe you were a mimic or something, who knows? I have encountered some very strange things since I began travelling…" Takashi's sentence abruptly ended as he noticed the wound on her arm.

"Sungah, what happened? Did your clumsiness really do that much damage to you?"

"...You really love to insult me even in these situations, huh?" She spoke angrily.

"No, I didn't mean to provoke this time. Look at your arms for god's sake. You're bleeding!"

Just as she was about to inspect the wounds supposedly caused by the statue, darkness enveloped the entirety of the labyrinth again.

"Jeez, again?" Takashi grumbled as he moved closer to Sungah.

While Takashi has yet to encounter any lethal monster while venturing, the wounds on Sungah's arms confirmed his assumptions that there are in fact dangerous creatures lurking about. Carefully, he drew his daggers to prepare for an unexpected battle.

"Sungah, we should stick close by so that…you…are you scared of the dark?" He inquired as he could feel the vibrations her body was making.

"N-No…I-I'm not…" She attempted to reassure but it was futile. Having been attacked in the dark once had engraved a feeling she could never forget, especially in such distressing circumstances as of the moment.

"Sungah, can you hear me?"

"Y-Yes?"

"I'll say this. I may not be as reliable as sir or Kafil, nor am I as trustworthy as the both of them in your eyes. But know this, I won't leave you until the light comes again. So no need to be afraid, because I'm here to protect you from any threats."

"...So cringey." She commented.

"H-Hey! I'm being se-"

"Yeah, I know. I know you're serious, so please, protect me. And don't get hurt too, please." She murmured, breathing in and out to suppress her worries.

"I can't promise the second request but I'll try. As long as you stick close to me, everything will be alright. Monsters or whatnot, I'll subdue them. Just trust me, alright?"

"...Then, I'll be counting on you…Thanks."

…