Chapter 3: Frozen Silence

The room trembled in silence.

No monsters or enemies in sight.

Nothing.

But something wasn't quite right.

Completely wrong

Ji-hwan stood beside the gate exit, his eyes observable displeased as he looked at it. The familiar blue glow pulsed softly, like always after a dungeon boss was defeated. But unlike other times… it didn't fade. It didn't vanish. It stayed.

Flickering.

Waiting.

Min Seul-gi held the teleportation stone in her hand, furrowing her brow with concern. "This isn't working," she whispered to herself.

She activated it again.

No response.

Do-yun bite his lips angrily. "Now the exit's gone too."

"I've never heard of this happening after clearing a dungeon," Woo-shik added, voice in disarray as he was pacing nervously.

As they walked, their gear clanged with every step, producing the only sound in the room.

"I have a bad feeling about this," said Seul-gi darkly. "Could it be...?"

She didn't finish her sentence. She didn't need to.

Everyone already had the same thought.

Ji-hwan's eyes narrowed. "Double dungeon."

The words hung in the air like a curse.

A sudden cracking sound split the silence—deep, jagged, unnatural.

All heads turned.

A section of the wall on their left groaned, ice breaking and stone shifting. Then, with one great crash, it collapsed, crumbling and revealing a dark tunnel further into the depths.

"What the hell..." Hye-jin said, retreating backward.

Ji-hwan approached the new path cautiously, hand resting on the hilt of his sword. The path narrowed, the walls lined with sharp crystal and thick ice. Cold air leaked weakly outward from within, and with it something more—something that sent shivers tracing down the base of his neck.

A weight. Like they were being pulled toward it.

"A hidden passage?" Do-yun asked.

"A secret passageway?" Do-yun asked

"No. something far worse," said Ji-hwan, his voice low and serious. "This dungeon is far from completion."

Seul-gi walked over to his side. "Then... that wasn't the actual boss?"

Ji-hwan nodded slowly. "Looks like the prologue has passed already."

There was a chill in the group's.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

They all understood what it meant: double dungeons were uncommon. And deadly. The kind of anomaly that turned ordinary C-rank missions into death traps. Sometimes the second boss itself proved to be the threat—faster, stronger, smarter.

At times. it was something totally different.

There isn't much choice," said Ji-hwan finally, glancing around the team. "We can't teleport. The gate isn't closing. And that tunnel did not appear of its own accord. Looks like that path is the only say out."

"Are you're expecting us just obey, and go through a way, we don't knows about?" Woo-shik questioned, his voice tense.

"Not want. Have to."

Ji-hwan's tone was calm but firm. He wasn't asking. He was leading.

And so, weapons drawn, armor tightened, spells ready, the team stepped into the darkness.

****

The path twisted and turned, descending deeper and deeper into the earth. The deeper they went, the colder it became. Breath turned to mist. Ice clung to the walls like veins. Every step echoed unnaturally, like the dungeon itself was listening.

Seul-gi glanced over her shoulder several times. "It's too silent, I do not like it."

Do-yun nodded. "Where are the monsters? The traps? Double dungeons don't even have long stretches like this empty."

There was nothing there.

Only the cold. Only the silence.

And the deeper they went, the heavier the air became. Not just cold, but heavy. Dense, like breathing through water.

Finally, after walking for what had felt like an hour, the path cleared—

And the party came to a halt.

Before them stood the huge room, unlike any of those they had seen before. Higher than skyscrapers, the ceiling disappeared into the darkness. Gentle light filtered from suspended crystals imbedded in walls covered with ice.

And on the opposite side—

A huge gate

Much larger than the other one, it was huge. Engraved with thick layers of frost and mysterious symbols, it pulsed softly with pale blue light. They could feel their skin crawl and chills moving down their spine, as they walked towards it.

"...This isn't a C-rank," Do-yun muttered, voice barely audible. "This can't be."

Ji-hwan stared at the door nervously. "No. This is... an A-rank, or maybe even more."

All were quiet.

They had all planned for a C-rank mission. Equipment, potions, strategies - all of it had been for mid-level monsters. Not for what they faced previously and definitely not for whatever lay behind this gateway.

"I don't know what's behind this," Ji-hwan said, "but whatever it is, we're not turning back. Stay close. Shields front. Magicians in the rear. We open this as a team."

They formed up quickly. Hye-jin raised her shield, Do-yun and Woo-shik flanking her. Seul-gi stepped behind them, hands glowing faintly with magic.

Ji-hwan approached the door.

He placed both of his palms on its frozen surface. Cold bit into his skin despite his gloves.

He pushed.

BOOM.

The gate gave out a loud opening sound, ancient ice cracking as it slowly creaked open. A gust of cold air burst outward as the gap widened.

Everyone held their breath.

They waited.

For the roar of a monster.

For an ambush.

For anything.

But—

Nothing.

Only silence.

And a strange, pale light filtering through the doorway.

They stepped inside.

****

The room was vast, its floor being hard and glinting ice. Towering crystals shot up from the walls, spilling pale light across the room. The frost extended all over - it covered the pillars, the walls, even the air itself.

But without enemies.

No movement.

No indication of existence.

Only...

A wall.

At the far side of the room was a vast, glittering wall of ice, twenty meters or more in height. The wall, in contrast with the natural frost covering the rest of the room, seemed man-made — it was smooth, curved inward in dome manner.

"What is this place…?" Seul-gi asked quietly.

Ji-hwan didn't answer.

Everyone spread out slowly, scanning the room for hidden traps, mana signatures, or illusions. Hye-jin's shield was up, eyes darting side to side.

"I don't like it," Do-yun said. "Too quiet. Too still."

"It's like something is after us," said Woo-shik.

They advanced stealthily towards the huge ice wall.

Then

Wait

Seul-gi's voice pierced through the silence

She stood there, motionless, staring at the wall.

No—at something within it

They all rushed over, stopping just behind her.

There, suspended from the air against the middle of the wall, hung a human body.

A man.

Buried chest-deep within the ice, motionless.

His body was covered in cuts, some shallow, others deep. His skin was pale, almost bluish. A strange symbol glowed faintly on his bare chest. He wore no shirt, no armor — only torn black trousers and broken chains around his wrists.

His face was calm.

Eyes closed.

Expression peaceful.

Too peaceful.

"Is… is he dead?" Hye-jin asked, her voice trembling.

"I don't think so," Ji-hwan said, stepping closer. "He's not rotting. Not even frostbitten."

"Then he's been… preserved," Seul-gi said slowly. "Maybe for a long time."

"How long do you think he's been like this?" Do-yun asked.

"Years?" Woo-shik said. "Decades?"

"Who is he?" Seul-gi asked softly.

No one knew.

But one thing was clear.

This man—whoever he was—he is from this world.

Ji-hwan stared at the frozen man in silence, a deep, uneasy feeling stirring in his gut.

This wasn't the end of the dungeon.

It was the beginning of something else.

And that something had been waiting.

To be continued…