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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: A Single Strike
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The eyes of the werewolf rushing towards them had turned bloodshot.

“Grrr!”

The howl was no joke. Everyone around instinctively covered their ears.

“Ah!”

The cameraman in front of Ha-ra fell backward. With a crash, the camera lens he'd brought into the dungeon shattered.

[Mad Werewolf (B)]

HP: 2075/2075

Status Ailment: Berserk

Skills: Frenzied Howl (B), Frenzied Claw (B), Poison (A)

A werewolf with poison fangs.

The status window flickered in and out of existence. It seemed the werewolf they had seen earlier had gone mad for some reason.

Rae-young suddenly appeared with a *zip*, grabbed the cameraman just before the werewolf pounced, and vanished again with another *zip*. It was something only a teleporter could do.

The problem was that right in front of it, Ha-ra and Se-heon were sprawled on the ground. Having lost its target, the mad werewolf growled and immediately turned toward them.

The next moment, someone grabbed Ha-ra’s shoulder and pressed her to the ground with great force.

It was Se-heon.

He had instinctively shielded Ha-ra, pressing her down with his own body.

But Ha-ra shoved Se-heon, who was hovering over her, to the side. There wasn't even time to say, "Move."

“Ms. Kang Ha-ra!”

At the same time, the werewolf rushing toward them howled and opened its maw wide.

Its rotten teeth and the yellow saliva dripping between them were clearly visible. A bite from those fangs would surely be poisonous. Ha-ra grabbed the nearest thing and threw it.

With a *crunch*, the werewolf shattered the lunchbox set. The side dishes inside scattered everywhere.

“Mr. Yoon Se-heon, take my hand!”

Se-heon's eyes widened.

But Ha-ra, without even looking at Se-heon, drew a sword from her coat with her right hand. It was the sword Bok-hee had made for her.

Se-heon didn't think twice and gripped Ha-ra's left hand tightly. At the same time, Ha-ra swung her arm.

A brilliant light shot out from Ha-ra's hand. It was a light Se-heon had seen once before in front of the camera. The small sword of light she had described as, 'Hehe, it's only candle-level, but it can do this much...'

But this was on a completely different level from what she had shown before.

The light emanating from Ha-ra's hand became a massive arc that sliced the werewolf in two mid-air.

The werewolf fell with a thud, split in half, gushing blood. Guts and blood spilled onto the floor. The fleeing production crew and the Team K members running toward them stopped in their tracks, stunned.

“Gasp, haah…”

Ha-ra, spattered with the werewolf's black blood, stared at its corpse with wide eyes. The body didn't move an inch. The warm blood on her cheek quickly grew cold.

*Hiss…* The venom seeping from the dead werewolf's fangs burned the floor like acid.

“Unni!”

Rae-young shouted from behind.

“Uh-oh-”

One of the Team K members stumbled backward.

Ha-ra, who had been staring blankly, was startled by the shout and snapped back to her senses, looking ahead. And she was even more stunned.

A massive sword mark was carved across the entire amethyst cave passage where they stood. It was no exaggeration to say it had split the heavens and the earth.

“Whoa, holy crap.”

Someone muttered. As if that were a signal, the cave began to vibrate. Ha-ra immediately knew what that sound meant.

*Rumble…*

It was the sound of the amethyst cave, destabilized by the massive slash, collapsing. People's faces turned pale as they immediately ran.

“It's collapsing!”

“Run!”

“Aargh!”

“Hey! Grab the equipment!”

“Are you crazy, PD-nim?”

The sounds of the production crew arguing, and the crashing of cameras and all sorts of equipment.

But Ha-ra stared deeper into the cave, her eyes wide. If someone hadn't pulled her hand, she probably would have kept staring.

“Ms. Kang Ha-ra! Aren't you going to run?”

“Ah, Anchor Yoon…”

Only then did Ha-ra realize she was still holding Se-heon's hand. She reflexively glanced down at her left hand, which was intertwined with his.

Without even thinking of letting go, she opened her mouth unconsciously.

“Chief Jeong, the Chief and Hunter Kwon Wook are still in there…”

“Those people are a higher rank than you, Ms. Kang Ha-ra! They'll get out somehow!”

Ha-ra hesitated.

Then Se-heon pulled her hand again. It wasn't a gentle tug asking for permission. His strength was immense, and Ha-ra was practically thrown into the man's arms.

“Run!”

At his word, she moved her feet mechanically. Whenever she tripped over broken equipment, tables, and chairs, the man would lift her up, eventually carrying her out in a tight embrace.

“We need to talk later.”

Ha-ra was so out of breath she could only manage a, "Uh, y-yes." It was impossible to know if he heard her over the rumbling of the collapsing cave.

＊ ＊ ＊

[@bokheethegenius OMG~ The dungeon got wrecked~]

“Ah! Even dogs are left alone when they're eating!”

The executive producer, PD Park, screamed in front of the collapsed dungeon entrance.

After escaping the dungeon and doing a headcount, all the production crew members were safe. This was because Rae-young and the other Team K members had focused all their efforts on evacuating the crew first.

There were no injuries, save for one person whose arm was hit by a flying rock and another who tripped over their own feet on the way out.

The Team K members were, of course, also unharmed.

“Ah, damn it. I'm going to get an earful from the Ulsan branch office…”

Next to PD Park, Kwon Wook buried his face in his hands and pretended to cry. *Sob, sob.*

Chief Jeong and Kwon Wook had appeared covered in dust just as the cave had almost completely collapsed and people were pacing anxiously. Of course, aside from being covered in dust, they were completely unscathed.

The problem was that Ha-ra had torn the cave-type dungeon apart.

Since it was akin to collapsing a stable magic stone mine, Kwon Wook's face was pale, knowing he'd get chewed out not only by the Ulsan branch office that managed the Eonyang Dungeon but also by the main headquarters.

Chief Jeong was just as dumbfounded.

“Hey, Ha-ra. You really are…”

“I'm sorry…”

“No. When you think about it, Kwon Wook, this bastard, is the biggest problem.”

The reason the werewolf went berserk was none other than Kwon Wook. He explained that it happened while he was testing some new equipment.

“I'm sorry. It was my first time seeing a monster suddenly go berserk, so I panicked and made a mistake…”

The S-rank Hunter apologized, bowing so low his head nearly touched the ground.

PD Park, who had left all the filming equipment inside the dungeon, was devastated but couldn't bring himself to say anything to Kwon Wook. This was because he had signed a waiver agreeing not to hold them responsible for anything that happened in the dungeon.

“Even an S-rank makes mistakes like that…”

That was the most he could manage in terms of a complaint.

Kwon Wook bowed his head again at those words.

“I am truly, truly sorry. I didn't know something like this would happen. A dungeon is a place where you never know what might occur…”

Team K stood behind him, silent.

Rae-young was on the verge of collapsing from using her teleportation ability multiple times in quick succession, and only a middle-aged man named Hyeon-deok, who had healing abilities, stepped forward to silently pour his power into her.

“Ah… I'm so screwed…”

PD Park clutched his head in despair. All the filming equipment—cameras, boom mics, you name it—was buried inside the dungeon. All that was left was the van and the express bus at the dungeon entrance.

They had originally planned for about three days of filming, but now they had to trudge back to the station empty-handed. Beyond the sense of loss, he seemed more worried about the written apology he'd have to submit.

“The equipment buried in the dungeon today is worth about 100 million won…”

“This is partly our fault, so our team will compensate you for it. And if you schedule another filming date, we'll do whatever it takes to fit it into our schedule.”

Kwon Wook soothed PD Park in a gentle tone.

Since Team K held all the power in this filming arrangement to begin with, PD Park seemed to consider it a relief that they would pay for the equipment and reschedule. Still, his whining continued.

“I'm going to get ripped to shreds by the culture department. The programming team probably had the dates all set. I came all this way after getting so much grief from the head of the entertainment department…”

“I'll appear on a variety show. I'll definitely do one. Wouldn't that be enough?”

Kwon Wook replied to his whining.

At that, PD Park's eyes widened. He had been whining on the off chance it might work, though he didn't expect much, but he never thought Kwon Wook would so readily agree to appear on a show.

“Oh, really? Then could you meet with the head of the entertainment department with me?”

Meanwhile, Chief Jeong was glaring back and forth between Kwon Wook and Team K with a look of incomprehension. He seemed to want to ask Rae-young something, but seeing her drenched in a cold sweat, he couldn't bring himself to say anything. Instead, he needlessly picked on Bok-hee.

“Hey, what kind of equipment did you give her for this to happen?”

“Agh, Chief, I don't know either…”

Tossing the flustered Bok-hee aside, Chief Jeong glared at Kwon Wook, who had just finished apologizing to PD Park and was turning away.

“Hey, Kwon Wook.”

“Phew, I'm sorry, Chief.”

Kwon Wook gave a silly grin and pretended to gauge the chief's mood.

Chief Jeong had already grabbed Kwon Wook the moment they got out and yelled at him, questioning if he was in his right mind. So, it was difficult to press Kwon Wook further or hold him more accountable when he was apologizing so profusely.

In the end, Chief Jeong grabbed Kwon Wook in frustration.

“Come with me. The Ulsan branch office called, asking what happened.”

In the meantime, the Ulsan branch office, having detected the fluctuating waves from the Eonyang Dungeon, had contacted them. For the record, an agent from the Eonyang local office had already arrived on the scene and was standing there, dumbfounded.

They had gone through the trouble of issuing a permit for Team K's filming, only for the dungeon to collapse completely. The Eonyang local office wouldn't be able to escape responsibility either.

In any case, Kwon Wook and Chief Jeong would likely be reprimanded all night at the Ulsan branch office, have to submit written statements, and then go to the main headquarters.

The production crew grumbled as they packed their personal belongings and boarded the bus. PD Park ran a hand through his hair and asked Se-heon for his understanding, "Sorry, but I'm not in any state to drive, so I'll have to take the station's van. Why don't you go with our youngest director?"

Se-heon shook his head in response.

“I'm fine driving alone.”

“Are you sure you'll be okay?”

“You must be overwhelmed. You should take care of the crew first and get them to a hospital once you're back in Seoul.”

As he said this, Se-heon's gaze turned toward Ha-ra.