The body bunker explorers, who had been leaning loosely against their spears, stood upright again. Their blades that had been pointing toward the floor were now facing the procession.

“Not yet, not yet.”

At the humans’ aggressive response, the mercenaries were riled up, ready to pounce on them at a moment’s notice. The Black Merchant kept repeating his command to keep them at bay.

Thankfully, the mercenaries obeyed the Black Merchant’s command. But they seemed very eager to get into battle at the first sight of combat.

The only solution out of this situation was for the Harimao labyrinth to de-escalate the situation.

Kim Jin-Woo wondered what exactly they were discussing that had led to such a dramatic change in their behavior. He looked hard at the personnel who were practically the heads of the Harimao labyrinth—Deputy Chief Kim Joo-Hyuk and labyrinth master Kim Jin-Tae, as well as Lee Jun-Young, for any clues.

All he could observe was Kim Joo-Hyuk talking to the imp with a serious look on his face.  The dungeon babies standing beside Kim Joo-Hyuk were stone-faced as usual. From the way the imp was fidgeting and looking nervous, it almost seemed as though they were about to take it hostage.

“What the hell are they...