―Zzziiing!
A massive rat monster felled in a single strike by Lee Seo-jun’s sword.
Even with its thick hide, it was cleanly sliced apart.
Lee Seo-jun continued forward as if nothing had happened, stepping past the fallen monster.
“Wow. Seo-jun is really good at fighting.”
“Seriously. Feels like we’ve already passed more than half of this dungeon.”
Thanks to Lee Seo-jun’s exceptional skills, the dungeon exploration progressed without a hitch.
No matter what monster appeared, they were all cut down by his blade in one stroke. The monsters on the first floor were low-ranked, making it impossible for them to stop him.
At this pace, they might secure a top-three finish without much trouble.
“What do you think the first-floor boss will be?”
“Hmm, since it’s the first floor, maybe a weaker animal-type monster?”
“Yeah, probably. Maybe a rat, dog, or bear?”
Shin Jihyuk and Jung Jintae had been chatting away behind us for some time now.
Their lack of tension in a place as unpredictable as a dungeon wasn’t exactly reassuring.
“A giant wolf is coming, so stop talking and focus.”
Shin Jihyuk turned to me, skeptical.
“A giant wolf? How do you know that?”
“There are ways to know.”
I couldn’t exactly say, “Because I’ve experienced it before,” so I dodged the question.
Shin Jihyuk sneered.
“Wow, what a liar?”
“Believe what you want.”
“Yeah, I won’t believe it.”
Shin Jihyuk’s smug tone was as annoying as ever.
…It was really getting on my nerves.
“Hey, want to make a bet?”
“A bet? Sure, what kind?”
“Loser drops out of school.”
My confident attitude made Shin Ji-hyuk frown.
“…Wait, do you actually know something?”
“Stop stalling. Are you in or not?”
As I pressed him, a voice interrupted from the side.
“Hey, knock it off, both of you.”
I turned to see Yoon Hayoung glaring at us.
“You’re going to fight on the first day? Are we going to have to deal with this every Thursday?”
She stood with her hands on her hips like a teacher scolding unruly students.
Her small stature made the gesture more cute than intimidating.
Not wanting to disrupt the team’s atmosphere, I gave a small nod.
Lee Seo-jun, who had been watching us, turned and said,
“Finished arguing? Then let’s move.”
“Yeah, yeah, we’re coming.”
And so, we resumed our advance.
After about three minutes, something caught my eye.
“Hold up. Everyone stop.”
They halted in their tracks.
“What is it now? Are you scared or something? Hah!”
Ignoring Shin Jihyuk’s mockery, I pointed to the ground.
“There’s something on the floor.”
“The floor?”
Lee Seo-jun followed my gaze and immediately stepped back.
“…You’re right. There are some strange symbols. Is this a magic trap?”
At his words, Yoon Hayoung’s face turned pale.
“A magic trap? That could seriously hurt us!”
“Oh, come on. I doubt it’s that dangerous.”
“Better safe than sorry…”
While the others were panicking, I moved past them to get a closer look.
“Hey, Kim Sunwoo, be careful!”
“Just be quiet.”
I crouched down to examine the floor.
It was inscribed with an complex series of magical formulas.
“Hmm… doesn’t look too dangerous. It’s just a barrier spell.”
“A barrier? And you know that how?”
Rather than explaining, I decided to demonstrate.
I extended my hand toward the air, and sparks crackled at my fingertips.
“See?”
“Whoa… it really is a barrier. How’d you figure that out?”
Shin Jihyuk approached, curiosity written all over his face. He mimicked my gesture, stretching his hand toward the air.
―Crackle!
“Ah! Ouch!”
He pulled his hand back, grimacing.
I gave him a look of frustation.
What was he even trying to prove?
“So, we can’t get through here? Do we have to turn back?”
“Uh… is there another path?”
“There might be one, but going all the way back would be a hassle…”
Jung Jintae and Yoon Hayoung voiced their concerns.
Turning back was an option, but if my guess was correct, other paths would likely have similar barriers.
The school wouldn’t include random luck-based challenges in a dungeon exploration class.
I’d encountered this exact situation in a past dungeon exploration class.
This was the school’s first obstacle, a planned challenge.
We had to break through it to proceed.
“Should we turn back now?”
“Maybe we have to…”
While Yoon Hayoung and Jung Jintae debated, Lee Seo-jun stepped forward. He infused his sword with mana and said,
“Move aside. I’ll cut it down.”
He swung his sword with a storm of energy, aiming at the barrier.
―Crack!
The collision created a sharp, grating noise, and a brilliant flash of white light erupted.
As expected of Lee Seo-jun.
It was a brute-force method, but if anyone could break through with sheer strength, it was him.
The barrier began to tear, revealing a crack.
But in moments, it regenerated, returning to its original state.
“Ah, so close.”
“Right? I thought he had it.”
“…Maybe if I just try again…”
Lee Seo-jun readied his sword for another attempt, unwilling to give up.
However, barriers are designed to become harder to break with repeated brute-force attempts.
This wasn’t something that could be overcome by strength alone. Someone would have to decode and deactivate the magic formula.
“Guess it’s my turn.”
Shin Jihyuk stepped forward confidently.
Barriers and traps were support magic, his specialty.
“Let’s see…”
He crouched down, studying the formula on the floor.
“Complicated… This’ll take a while.”
“How long are we talking?”
Jung Jintae asked nervously.
“…About 40 minutes?”
“What?”
“I’m confident when it comes to inputting magic formulas, but interpreting them is a bit of a weak spot for me.”
“Even so, isn’t 40 minutes way too long? How about we just try another path instead?”
Jintae directed his question to Seo-jun, the leader of the team, seeking his opinion.
Seo-jun shook his head.
“There’s likely the same kind of barrier on any alternate route.”
“What? So we’re just supposed to wait here for 40 minutes?”
“If there’s no other option, that might be our only choice.”
At Seo-jun’s response, Jihyeok scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“Sure, I might not be the best at decoding magic formulas, but I’ll try to get it done as fast as I can.”
Just as Jihyeok crouched to begin working on the barrier, I placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Let me handle this.”
All eyes turned to me in surprise. Jihyeok glanced up at me with a skeptical expression.
“You? You’re going to break this?”
“Yeah, why not give it a shot?”
Ji-hyeok snorted.
“Forget it. Even if I’m not the best at this, I’m definitely faster than you.”
“Move aside.”
The intricate spell formula maintaining the barrier would normally take a long time to unravel. However, I had an edge—the Outsider’s Privilege.
With this ability, I could drastically cut down the time needed to interpret the magical matrix.
“Kim Sun-woo, seriously, what are you doing now?”
“Just keep quiet for a second.”
[Unique Trait: Outsider’s Privilege activated.]
[Decoding magic formula…]
Focusing, I carefully examined the intricate magic formulas etched onto the ground. Bit by bit, the barrier’s complex spell started to make sense in my mind. Slowly, I placed my hand on the ground and began channeling my mana into it.
“What the…? Does he actually know what he’s doing?”
Ignoring Jihyeok’s muttering behind me, I concentrated solely on dismantling the enchantment.
Light surged from my hand, spreading across the ground as the runes absorbed the mana. After a short moment, the etched formulas started glowing faintly.
“He’s actually doing something.”
“…Yeah, no kidding.”
I continued focusing on the barrier, methodically dismantling its magical framework. It took about a minute for the glowing formulas to begin fading away, signaling that the barrier was destabilizing.
The shimmering wall in front of us started to ripple and gradually dissolved into nothingness.
“It’s done.”
I reached out my hand toward where the barrier had stood moments ago. No sparks leapt from my fingertips this time—proof that it had been completely neutralized.
“It’s clear now.”
Turning around, I saw everyone staring at me in shock. Jihyeok’s jaw practically hit the floor, while Seo-jun stood with his mouth slightly agape, clearly impressed.
“Whoa… Seriously?”
“How did he manage that so fast?”
Just then, a notification appeared before me:
[Character ‘Lee Seo-jun’ is amazed by you.]
[Character ‘Lee Seo-jun’ has gained interest in you.]
[Lee Seo-jun’s Interest Level: Lv 1.]
[You have earned 5,000 points.]
[Character ‘Jang Ancheol’ is amazed by you.]
[You have earned 1,000 points.]
[Character ‘Lee Hee-young’ is amazed by you.]
[You have earned 1,000 points.]
Interest levels? What’s all this about?
The morning dungeon exploration class wrapped up, and we exited for lunch.
Most students were still inside the dungeon, so the campus grounds were relatively quiet.
Jihyeok, who had been pestering me all morning, was now unusually silent. Since I had successfully dispelled the barrier, he had been acting like a chick with its beak glued shut—a change I thoroughly enjoyed.
As I stood outside, Jang Ancheol, a muscular man, approached us.
“Team 3 is currently in second place. A strong start,” he announced.
Upon hearing the news, Jintae and Hayoung broke into delighted smiles.
Second place, huh?
While that was decent, it wasn’t satisfying considering we had Seo-jun on our team. First place was probably Yoo Ara’s team.
“Kim Sun-woo, your handling of the barrier was particularly impressive. Without you, the team would likely be in third place right now.
So, how’d you manage to do it so quickly?”
“I’ve always been interested in this area and practiced often.”
I couldn’t exactly tell the truth, so I made something up.
“Just an interest? With skills like that, you must have some serious talent. Ever considered focusing on support magic instead? You’d excel at it.”
“Combat magic suits me better.”
Jang Ancheol nodded.
“Fair enough. It’s your choice, after all. Still, talented support mages are hard to come by. It’s a shame. You could always consider making support magic your secondary specialty.”
He paused, then added, “By the way, didn’t you place fourth in the physical strength test last term? That makes it hard to argue against your potential in enhancement magic, too. Quite versatile, aren’t you?”
With that, he gave my shoulder a light pat.
“Anyway, keep up the good work. Lunch is on your own time, but be back here by two sharp.”
“Yes, sir.”
Seo-jun and I headed to a nearby cafeteria. The others excused themselves to eat with friends, leaving just the two of us.
As we filled our trays with food, Seo-jun broke the silence.
“It’s still unbelievable, you know.”
“What is?”
“How fast you broke that barrier. How did you even do it?”
“I told you, it’s just something I’ve been interested in for a while.”
“No way. Even if you were interested, that speed isn’t normal.”
“Then I guess I’m not normal.”
Seo-jun chuckled.
“You say that so casually, it’s almost funny.”
“…So what kind of reaction am I supposed to have?”
“Well, most people would start questioning their career path after being praised so much. Like, ‘Am I in the wrong field?’ or something.”
I shrugged.
“I’m happy where I am.”
“Ha! You’ve changed so much since last year. Are you really the same person?”
“…Probably.”
“‘Probably’? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s a joke.”
With our trays full, we sat down at an empty table and began eating. The conversation lulled until a cheerful voice interrupted.
“Oh! Seo-jun, you’re eating here?”
Seo-jun looked up and smiled warmly.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Can I sit with you?”
“Sure, no problem. What do you think?” Seo-jun turned to me for approval.
I looked up to see Choi Seo-yoon standing there, smiling brightly.
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