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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Carnivorous Rabbit
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Ever since Yoon Se-heon turned ten, almost no one had asked him for his name. Throughout elementary, middle, and high school, he had always been the most famous boy in school and the surrounding area.
Whenever he walked by, girls would whisper, “Hey, there goes Yoon Se-heon.”
After graduating high school and starting college, the university’s online forum and anonymous confessions page were abuzz with talk of him.
-Media Comm '04 Yoon Se-heon's face is unreal
-So damn handsome
-How is his name even Yoon Se-heon?
At the request of the university president, a close friend of his father—a four-term congressman—he even modeled for the cover of the campus magazine. So, it was only natural that most people who approached him already knew his name.
After graduating from college, he became unintentionally famous because of the legendary “Ugi Oppa High School Girl” incident. From then on, it was no exaggeration to say the entire nation knew his name.
Thus, he was far more accustomed to hearing “You’re Yoon Se-heon, right?” than “What’s your name?”
‘She… doesn’t know me?’
It was no wonder he thought that. Of course, Yoon Se-heon had at least a shred of decency, so he quickly felt embarrassed.
‘It’s possible she doesn’t know me.’
So, he smiled and answered lightly.
“I’m Yoon Se-heon.”
The woman’s lips trembled as she smiled back.
“Ah, I see… Anchor Yoon… Yes, hello…”
Hello… The word gave Se-heon a strange feeling, and he felt awkward. It was funny enough to be exchanging greetings now, but they were also in the middle of a dungeon.
“And your name is—”
Calling her “you” all the time felt wrong, so Se-heon tried to ask for her name as well. Was it Ara? He seemed to recall a name like that.
Just then.
Rustle, rustle, rustle…
The sound of rustling bushes was heard again. Both of them turned toward the forest in alarm. Se-heon thought they needed to get away, but the source of the sound was faster.
With a crisp snap, what appeared before them was none other than a rabbit.
“…”
“A rabbit…?”
A rabbit.
A gray rabbit. It was slightly larger than Se-heon—which, for a rabbit, was absurdly large—but a rabbit nonetheless.
With jet-black eyes and ears the size of Se-heon’s forearm, the rabbit twitched its ears wildly as it emerged from the bushes, sniffing the air as it stared at them.
“Ah, right. This is a forest-type…”
the woman muttered. Her words snapped Se-heon back to his senses.
A forest-type dungeon.
Dungeons that formed immediately after a rift typically fell into a few set types. There were plains-types, forest-types, sometimes even underwater dungeons, and occasionally, rock-types.
While a few highly unusual dungeons existed, most didn’t stray far from these natural environments. And among them, the forest-type was the most common.
Forest-types usually spawned animal-type monsters you would expect to find in a forest or on a mountain.
“So a rabbit isn’t out of place.”
“That scared me…”
The woman clutched her chest. Since rabbits were herbivores, the tension eased slightly. Se-heon also let out a soft sigh and watched the rabbit.
The woman made a few gestures in the air. Se-heon raised an eyebrow. He had often seen the Hunters he’d interviewed do that—staring into empty space and moving their hands. They were looking at the system window, or so he’d heard.
Meanwhile, the rabbit continued to twitch its ears, observing the two of them intently before hunching its back and lowering its stance. Its nose kept twitching. It didn’t look much different from a rabbit you’d see at a zoo.
‘If only it were a bit smaller, I might have laughed at how cute it is.’
The rabbit’s eyes gleamed. They were black and pretty. As it crouched, it opened its mouth slightly, revealing sharp teeth inside.
‘Huh?’
Do rabbits have teeth like that?
Just then, Ha-ra, who had been standing beside him looking at something, let out a low gasp.
“Get ba—”
The next moment, Se-heon grabbed Ha-ra and threw himself to the side.
The rabbit let out a screeching sound—*kyararak*—and lunged toward them.
The instant Se-heon moved, the rabbit landed right where they had been standing. A loud *thud* echoed—the sound of the massive rabbit landing.
“What the hell is that!”
Se-heon yelled reflexively, looking toward the rabbit.
The rabbit swiftly turned and hissed—*kyaak*—at them again. It had raised its front paws menacingly, like a kangaroo, revealing sharp claws at their tips.
Who said that thing was a herbivore!
“It’s a carnivorous rabbit!”
the woman shouted, as if reading his mind.
Carnivorous? A carnivorous rabbit? Does something like that even exist?
Only then did it truly sink in that he was in a place where common sense was utterly disregarded.
A dungeon. A place that resembled yet was unlike any other on Earth.
Sweat trickled down his face.
This is insane.
Meanwhile, the woman, who had slipped from his grasp, got up with a groan. Without looking at her, Se-heon asked.
“Do you have any information on that monster?”
He’d guessed as much from her “carnivorous rabbit” comment.
“A little!”
“What’s its rank?”
“D-rank!”
A D-rank monster was said to be comparable in power to a tiger. That rabbit was as dangerous as a tiger?
Se-heon met the rabbit’s eyes. Annoyed at having missed them, it thumped the dirt floor with its hind legs. Clumps of grass were torn away. One look was enough to know that a kick from those legs would not leave him unscathed.
The rabbit lowered its body again, preparing to leap.
“You’re E-rank, right?”
“…Yes!”
“Let’s run!”
Yoon Se-heon was quick to assess the situation. As the rabbit leaped toward them again, he rolled to the side with the woman. She scrambled to her feet the moment she hit the ground. She wasn’t slow to react, either.
Having missed its prey a second time, the rabbit opened its jaws wide and let out a threatening roar.
“Kyaaaak!”
But by then, the two had already scrambled into a crevice between some rocks they had spotted earlier. To be precise, Se-heon had practically shoved the woman in before squeezing his own body inside.
The carnivorous rabbit leaped and charged at them again, but the crevice was too narrow for it to enter.
“Ugh.”
Se-heon grunted in pain. The rabbit’s claws, swiping wildly into the crevice, had scratched his shoulder. The woman, deeper inside the crevice, was startled.
“Are you okay?”
“It’s just a scratch. If you could just…”
The woman quickly understood and curled up even smaller. The crevice was cramped, dirty, and covered in moss, but this was no time to be picky. Thanks to her, Se-heon was able to squeeze in another few inches.
The frenzied rabbit swiped its claws again and again, but it just barely couldn’t reach them.
“Are you alright, Hunter?”
“Yes, oh, I’m so sorry. I should have been the one protecting you, sir…”
Having finally caught their breath, the two checked on each other. Se-heon wanted to shake his head to say it was fine, but realizing it was too cramped even for that, he let out a low sigh.
“It’s fine. As an E-rank, you’re not that much different from me…”
“…”
The woman didn’t answer. Se-heon wondered if his words had sounded dismissive and was about to apologize, but he kept his mouth shut. The rabbit was now thoroughly enraged, clawing furiously at the opening. This was not the time for apologies.
“Kyararak! Kyarrrrr!”
Se-heon watched the rabbit silently. The tips of its frantically swiping claws were brushing precariously close to his shirt collar. Seeing this, the woman tried to make more room, asking, “Can you come in a little further?” before letting out a pained “Ouch.”
Wondering if she was hurt, Se-heon strained to turn his head and followed her gaze downward.
She was wearing low-heeled loafers, and she was rotating her ankle as if it were uncomfortable. It seemed she had sprained it. The woman muttered something under her breath, embarrassed.
Se-heon felt a pang of guilt. It was clear she had gotten hurt because he had shoved her so forcefully.
But he was wearing dress shoes himself. It couldn’t be helped. Who would have thought a Gate would open in the middle of a studio?
“That monster… It would be difficult for the two of us to take it down, wouldn't it?”
The rabbit was now ramming its head against the rocks, shaking the entire crevice. The situation was clearly becoming dire.
Just then, the woman called out to Se-heon.
“Excuse me, but.”
“Yes, go on.”
“I’m sorry, but there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Okay.”
The woman hesitated.
Is she going to tell me to get out? Her constant hesitation made it seem like she was about to say something difficult, and Se-heon tensed his body.
An extreme situation. Stories of ordinary people trapped in dungeons sacrificing each other to monsters were all too common.
‘If this woman pushes me out of here, I’m in big trouble…’
He could even see beads of sweat forming on the bridge of her nose from how nervous she was.
She’s not really going to push me out, is she? Just as Se-heon prepared to brace himself…
“My name is Kang Ha-ra…”
“…Pardon?”
“…Uh, just saying…”
She looked up at Se-heon from behind her glasses. Stunned, Se-heon blinked.
“…What did you say?”
“Ah.”
The woman spoke again.
“I said, my name is Kang Ha-ra.”
Se-heon drew his chin back. He had no idea what this woman was thinking.
It’s not some kind of ‘remember the name of the person who killed you’ threat, is it?
