Everyone's steps came to a halt. Veronika looked behind her, puzzled.

“Mm?”

“Ah….”

Seol Jihu's mouth bobbed up and down helplessly.

'The color changed again.'

To be more specific, the cavern's color shifted to orange the moment the team decided to go further in.

‘Do not approach!'

Suddenly, his throat dried up. The thought that he made a mistake raced through his brain. He should have been far more cautious from the get-go back when it was still yellow. But he got blinded by the allure of solving the mystery and ended up acting in haste.

“What's the matter, leader?”

“Let's go back.”

“What?!”

Veronika cried out in genuine surprise.

“Are you serious? We came this far, but you wanna go back empty-handed?”

Mikhail also displayed a similar reaction. Seol Jihu was about to say, ‘This doesn't feel right’, but quickly shut his mouth. He knew his gut-feeling wouldn’t convince them, especially since he was talking to a capable Archer.

No, he needed a far better justification. Something that the other team members could agree on or, at least, understand the meaning behind. The problem was, he couldn't think of one on the fly.

“…If my theory is correct, then this place is definitely one of the research centers I told you about. In that case, it will not be an easy place to explore.”

“But it doesn't look that way to me.”

“It doesn't even look like a laboratory, you know.”

He was hopeful, but sure enough, opposition was immediately raised.

“Besides, even if there are enemies in there, it’ll just be more mutants. It's not like we can't fight them, right?”

“We don't know if there's a higher-ranking creature controlling the mutants.”

“I wonder…. Even then, shouldn't we be able to win by combining our strengths together?”

“I don't think that will be the case.”

“Look, it's great that you're being cautious, but don't look down on us that much, alright? All three of us are on the cusp of reaching Level 4. Maria and Chohong here are also just a step away from entering the ranks of High Rankers. Besides all that, aren't you also one hell of a fighter?"

Those words weren't wrong. In truth, this group was more than qualified to go on military expeditions. Seol Jihu formed the best team he could just in case, but never did he suspect that his diligence would come back to bite him like this.

“Hold on, hold on! Seol? So what do you want us to do?”

Chohong quickly stepped forward as a mediator when the differences in opinion were threatening to boil over into something less civilized.

“I believe there's no need to rush it. I simply wish to return to Haramark and bolster our overall combat potential before coming back.”

“Bolster our combat potential?”

“Right. I think we'll need at least one High Ranker with us. If we say we’ve uncovered the mystery, some will definitely show interest in joining us.”

“That's bull!”

Mikhail immediately opposed that idea.

“What will you do if someone else discovers this place in the meantime?? We already dug out the whole place and anyone...