Chapter 192

The 4th Great Rift that occurred in the Republic of Korea was not a siege dungeon, but a mimicry dungeon.

One that copied the fear of the strongest hunter in this country.

Tae-un checked his hand and continued walking. Though he didn't know why he had come here, it wasn't just to watch like this.

It wasn't a sight he could leave alone either.

As he got closer to the small curled-up body, Tae-un realized he was gradually shrinking. His long fingers with small scars changed to chubby and short ones. As he became younger, his clothes only changed in size while remaining the same.

By the time he stood in front of the bench, he had become slightly smaller than the young Soram.

"Heukkeup."

Looking up at the sniffling Soram, Tae-un traced the chain of events up to now.

He had tried to remove the power the crack possessed. The core power of the crack originated from Soram's fear.

Then... did he need to make Soram not scared?

Though it was a dubious conclusion, for now it seemed the most plausible explanation for this appearance.

'This must be how you look when you're not scared at all.'

Originally, Soram was born in January, and Tae-un himself in November. At this age, Soram was probably much taller in reality too.

Tae-un asked while leaning on the bench.

"Why are you crying?"

Soram startled and raised his head that had been buried in his knees. When he saw that the person who spoke was a very small child, his tensed shoulders relaxed. The habit of chewing his lips back and forth seemed to have been there from this time.

"...A baby doesn't need to know."

Huh.

Tae-un was dumbfounded by the gruff words spoken with a whimper. He climbed up to the seat next to Soram. Struggling to climb up to a height that would barely reach his knees normally gave him a slight sense of futility.

Soram turned his head and stared blankly at the person occupying the seat next to him, then slowly lowered his knees that he had been hugging.

"Baby, why are you... alone?"

It seems he wanted to keep pretending to be older.

"I came to find someone."

"Who? Then it would be better to ask adults wearing clothes like that over there."

Soram pointed at a staff member in uniform. What's this. He knows.

"Did you cry because you got lost too? Let's ask for help together."

At Tae-un's words, Soram moved his eyes troubledly.

"I, I promised. If I wait quietly in that spot, they said they'd come find me."

"..."

"You... go and tell them."

"Then I'll just wait too. Is it okay if I stay here?"

"Yeah."

Soram quietly moved his bottom to sit right next to him. Is this a situation where he's so anxious but can't even ask adults for help?

Tae-un voiced words he would normally have swallowed, using a child's impatience as an excuse.

"And I'm a little angry."

"Huh? Why suddenly?"

"Someone... said they were a really bad person, but no matter how I look at it, they're kind."

"...?"

Saying they were a pathetic sight pushed around by family. That they were trash who couldn't look after anything around them.

Environment can change behavior but not one's innate nature. How many people could take care of a young person who came next to them in a situation where they themselves were scared and at a loss?

Grrrr―...

Muuu―!

Once again, a sound echoed from somewhere unknown. Now that he had become a much smaller body, Tae-un felt that sound more chilling than before.

Young Soram's face turned completely pale. Tae-un placed his hand on the fingers that were fidgeting in the seat next to him. Holding the hand that felt cold from being here for so long, Tae-un bit his lip inwardly.

"Hey."

"Huh?!"

Soram applied a little strength to his fingertips, as if afraid the other might say he was leaving now.

"I'm scared. Can you sing a song so I can't hear the tiger sounds?"

At the sudden request, Soram made a somewhat bewildered expression, but nodded with the usual 'Well, you're a baby after all' look.

"Ahem, ahem. What song should I sing?"

"The Magic Castle."

The answer came almost simultaneously with the question.

"It's a song both I and the person I'm looking for like. You probably know all the lyrics too."

"..."

"You do know it, right?"

"Yeah."

Soram nodded for a moment before opening his mouth. The first verse flowed out through the voice of a child far from puberty.

"Do you have! Something to believe in? I'm in a dream!"

Young Soram was cute and lovable.

And it seems his innate kindness came with natural singing ability too. Even as an adult he was tone-deaf... Tae-un silently appreciated the passionate singing that he could hardly laugh at, with love. Right, for someone who would become the strongest 1st-grade hunter in this country, with looks no less than a celebrity, it was natural to lack singing skills. Jin Soram was human too after all. But he did try to keep the beat by gently patting his thigh. It was useless.

Before he knew it, the people passing by around them seemed to have blurred a bit. Even the remaining people passed by without anyone paying attention to the child singing loudly.

Tae-un applauded with his small hands towards Soram, who had sung passionately through the second verse without missing anything.

"Now I'm not scared after hearing the song."

He didn't spare praise either. Soram caught his breath for a moment from the aftermath of his passionate a cappella live performance and answered.

"...Yeah. It is a bit better..."

Soon, he tightly gripped their overlapped hands.

"Can I sing one more song?"

"Uh... sing as much as you want."

This time Soram was more enthusiastic. Tae-un nodded. His ability was still actively working, eliminating some kind of power. He didn't know exactly what effect this meeting and actions were having on the Great Rift. Even if he knew, the answer 'Don't sing' would never come out to young Soram.

"You're a car~ You're a car."

The next selection was an English children's song. Did he like vehicles from a young age? This time Tae-un was about to smile for a different reason.

"You're a car~ You were dumped~ You're a car~ You were dumped~."

Huh?

The tune and rhythm being off was one thing, but... the content seemed strange somehow.

"You'll be totally dumped~ Crazy things~ Should have limits~ Did you think you wouldn't be dumped~ After doing such a thing~."

"...?!"

Young Soram, who had stopped singing, let out a heavy sigh.

"You were dumped, you bad bastard."

"Jin Soram...?"

Soram tilted his head to the side and wrinkled his nose. It was a... certain expression very familiar to Tae-un. That crookedness unsuited to a young child was something he had seen many, many times.

"...You promised not to get angry."

"Are you kidding me right now?!"

Even the voice that didn't allow for any rebuttal.

"How could you do such a thing!"

"I-I'm sorry..."

Though he had prepared to beg thoroughly after everything was over, Tae-un was quite flustered to meet him here.

While apologizing in a fluster, Tae-un couldn't understand what was going on. How on earth?

"Did you come into the crack too?"

Tae-un suddenly grabbed Soram's shoulders. Soram frowned and irritably shook off his arm.

"What are you going to do if I did, and what if I didn't?"

"Jin Soram."

"Where do you think this is?"

"The core scene mimicked by the mimicry dungeon..."

"...Mimicry dungeon?"

Tae-un felt he had slipped up. After a moment of silence, Soram spoke, hiding his surprised look.

"Han Tae-un, I panicked after seeing your last appearance. Before losing consciousness like that, I saw the form of your ability in my mind."

"..."

"Putting our situation together... it means the crack and my consciousness are connected."

While Tae-un couldn't continue speaking, Soram looked at himself and his surroundings with a long sigh.

"...Am I the cause of the 4th Great Rift?"

"No."

Tae-un denied it immediately.

"The Great Rift happens even in a world where you disappeared. This dungeon was going to break out anyway. It's just that when you're here... the dungeon copies what's in your mind and becomes stronger. You just happened to be the strongest person in Korea."

"A mimicry dungeon..."

Even after fighting so many times, he had believed without doubt that it was a siege dungeon until now. Because the giant and aggressively transformed animals and plants were ingrained as typical examples of siege dungeons...

"How did you figure it out?"

"I received a decisive hint, but I started thinking something was strange from when I saw Ayoung fighting."

"Ah."

It seemed Soram had an idea about this too.

"Ayoung did fight exceptionally well."

"Yeah. No matter how hard she trained, there's no way she could do overwhelmingly better than people with a lot of experience when deployed to the Great Rift for the first time. But that performance..."

"Was the opposite of the team leader trembling in fear, you mean?"

"Don't say it like that."

It reflected her psychological state of being familiar with and fond of animals, not intimidated at all. To begin with, she also had the ability to make her summon into a giant animal.

While psychological state could affect a hunter's condition, there was only one thing that could affect the difficulty of breaking through a dungeon.