Three metallic sounds echoed from deep within the emergency shutter.
Clang, clang, clang.
After a brief pause, once more.
Clang, clang, clang.
It was a signal calling for help.
Whether in a station or a dungeon, what trapped people do at the very end is remarkably similar.
When voices can no longer reach, they strike objects.
To let the world know they are still here.
“Survivor response: unclear in the direction of the sound source. Heat signatures cannot be picked up.”
The rescue worker said while checking their terminal.
Mio looked at me.
“Minase-san.”
“To the left.”
I answered immediately.
The thick white line extended to the right.
Probably the route the rescue team could advance safely along.
However, pulsing with every metallic sound was the thin white line on the left.
Someone was there.
“The passage width on the left is narrow. The rescue team’s equipment will get caught.”
The worker said.
“Asakura-san and I will advance first.”
“We cannot let civilian collaborators go ahead.”
“There is no time.”
The pulse of the white line was growing weak.
A red line had begun to wrap tightly around its surroundings.
“If we are five minutes late, they will probably die.”
The atmosphere in the area froze.
I did not know if I had the qualification to make such a definitive claim.
Yet the line looked that way.
Rather than staying silent and missing the mark, it was better to speak up and take responsibility.
Mio said to the rescue worker.
“I will take the vanguard. Minase-san will confirm the route. Please have the team circle around from the right route. Can you create a rendezvous point?”
I followed the white line.
The thick white line on the right and the thin white line on the left approached each other only once in the depths.
A space resembling a rusted elevator hall.
“Two hundred meters ahead, we can rendezvous at a place like an old elevator shaft.”
“It is not on the map.”
“It is a station on the dungeon side.”
I thought it was a strange expression to say myself.
Yet the rescue worker no longer laughed.
There was yesterday’s log.
There was the fact that we opened an emergency ticket gate no one knew about.
“Understood. Setting the rendezvous point as tentative Elevator Shaft B. Asakura-san, Minase-san, please take the beacons.”
We were handed small transmitters.
I put mine into my chest pocket.
Mio drew her sword.
“Let us go.”
The maintenance passageway on the left was terribly narrow.
Old pipes ran along the walls. Water pooled on the floor. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead.
There were sections where we could not pass unless we turned sideways, and Mio advanced after removing some of her equipment.
Even so, her movements did not slow down.
If a small sound was heard, her sword tip pointed ahead.
If a fallen cable dangled like a trap, she stopped before stepping on it.
“Right foot, that place is red.”
“Understood.”
When I spoke, Mio changed where she placed her foot.
She could not see the red lines or the white lines.
Yet she did not doubt them.
That made things much easier than I had imagined.
“Asakura-san.”
“What?”
“Yesterday, wasn’t it scary to trust me?”
“It was scary.”
The answer was immediate.
“But when I flew the drone into the red passageway, it produced results. Once results come out, the next step is simply to make a judgment.”
“You do not sound much like a streamer.”
“What do you mean?”
“I figured you would move more on impulse.”
Mio smiled slightly.
“People who rely solely on impulse cannot dive deep for long. I may have a poor sense of direction, but I am not suicidal.”
A poor sense of direction.
Since she said it so casually, I struggled with how to respond.
Mio continued while keeping her eyes forward.
“My memory for terrain is weak. I can read distances during combat, the number of enemies, and the positions of allies. But if I turn right twice and go down the stairs, I suddenly lose track of which way the exit is.”
“And yet you became an explorer.”
“That is why I form teams, keep records, and check things repeatedly. Having a weakness and being incompetent are two different things.”
Those words lingered strangely in my chest.
Being unable to fight and being useless were different.
It felt as though she was telling me that.
“Stop.”
I raised a hand.
On the floor ahead, red lines stretched out like a net.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary puddle.
However, the white line did not pass over it.
“Do not step in the puddle. Step onto the pipe on the left.”
“Understood.”
Mio kicked off the wall and leaped lightly.
Since I could not jump, I moved sideways by clinging to the pipe.
Immediately afterward, the puddle swelled up.
Something like a transparent membrane stretched out, enveloping the exact spot where my feet had been just moments before.
My stomach grew cold.
“What is that?”
“A predatory floor of the station underground dungeon. If you step on it, your shoes will be melted.”
“I did not want to hear that.”
“You need to hear it, or we have a problem.”
Mio slashed the membrane apart.
Another metallic sound echoed from deep within the passageway.
Fainter than before.
“We are hurrying.”
We ran.
Well, Mio was running.
I was merely moving my feet desperately so as not to fall.
The white line turned left, entering inside a broken custodian’s rest room.
“Here?”
“Inside.”
The door was warped and would not open.
Mio cut the hinges with her sword.
The door fell over.
The interior was a narrow room.
Lockers. A cracked mirror. An overturned long bench.
Deep inside, two explorers had collapsed.
A young man and a woman.
Faces I had seen in photographs.
Aizawa Kengo and Aizawa Riko.
“They are alive!”
Mio rushed over.
Kengo’s leg was trapped in the rubble.
Riko leaned against her brother’s shoulder, her complexion poor.
“Water.”
Kengo let out a raspy voice.
I handed him a bottle.
“Please drink slowly. We have come to rescue you.”
“The rescue team?”
“We are attendants from the Shinjuku station underground.”
For a split second, Kengo wore a look of utter confusion.
He probably never imagined being rescued by station attendants in a place like this.
“Riko-san, are you conscious?”
Mio called out.
Riko opened her eyes slightly.
“Big brother, they said we were left behind.”
“By whom?”
When I asked, Kengo bit his lip with frustration.
“By Temonkai’s platoon. We were evacuating together. But my leg got trapped. They said their equipment was too heavy, so they would call for rescue later.”
“They did not call?”
Mio’s voice grew lower.
Kengo shook his head.
“Probably not. The wireless signal was out of range the whole time. Until just a moment ago, I heard footsteps nearby. But no one came.”
At that moment, a voice echoed from outside the passageway.
“Hey, that is a restricted area! What do you think you are doing entering without permission?”
Three men appeared at the entrance of the rest room.
Their equipment bore an emblem imitating wings.
The major guild, Temonkai.
The man leading them was in his early thirties, wearing flashy white armor.
“Asakura Mio. I am not impressed to see a civilian streamer conducting rescue operations.”
Mio stood up.
“You guys found these two, didn’t you?”
“That sounds malicious. We just arrived to rescue them right now.”
“Then why didn’t you send their location information to the rescue team?”
“Communication failure.”
The man answered immediately.
Yet, at my feet, a red line extended from his boots.
A lie.
That was how it looked.
“And you are?”
The man looked down at me.
“A station worker? This is an explorer’s worksite. Get out of the way and step back.”
“This is Minase Toru-san.”
Mio said.
“The attendant who helped us yesterday.”
The man’s eyes moved slightly.
He knew who I was.
At least, he had watched yesterday’s live stream.
“The rumored white line. Absurd. A junk class that just got lucky and survived.”
The depths of my chest grew slightly cold.
Until yesterday, I would have lowered my head at those words.
But right now, unreturned survivors were behind me.
Kengo and Riko were watching us.
Mio was also waiting for my judgment.
That was why I could not back down.
“We are going to move the rubble. Please lend a hand.”
I said.
The man scoffed.
“Do not give orders. Temonkai will take over the rescue. Stop the stream. We will handle the rest through the guild’s official announcement.”
Handle.
At those words, Mio’s eyes turned cold.
“What do you intend to write in the official announcement?”
“The Temmonkai platoon discovered and rescued two unreturned persons. Asakura Mio cooperated at the site. The station worker will be… well, protected as an ordinary person who wandered in.”
The comment section scrolled past in a rush.
Huh? I heard that. What do you mean, stop the stream? Stealing the rescue? Isn’t Temonkai dangerous?
At that, the man finally noticed the red lamp on the camera.
“Hey, are you recording this?”
“I told you record comes first.”
Mio was calm.
“Furthermore, since yesterday, my streaming equipment has been set to automatic backup. Both audio and location data remain intact.”
The man’s complexion changed.
I looked at Kengo’s feet.
The white line extended to the lower right of the rubble.
I knew the place that needed to be lifted.
“Asakura-san, the right edge of the rubble. If you lift that part, he will come free.”
“Understood.”
“Kengo-san, it will probably hurt. Please pull your leg out on my signal. Riko-san, have another sip of water.”
The Temonkai man shouted.
“Do not touch them without permission!”
Mio’s sword tip smoothly slipped out in front of the man.
“If you interfere with the rescue, I will submit everything, including your statements.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“It is a rescue record.”
Mio placed her hands on the rubble.
I moved around to the side as well.
“I will help lift too.”
“Your fingers were almost crushed just yesterday, weren’t they?”
“I still have them today.”
“That joke is weak the second time.”
Mio smiled just a little.
The next moment, she lifted the rubble.
A heavy piece of concrete rose slightly.
I put my hands into the gap indicated by the white line and pulled out the piece of metal that had been trapping him.
“Now!”
Kengo clenched his teeth and pulled his leg back.
Blood oozed out.
But he was free.
“First aid!”
Mio treated the wound swiftly.
I supported Riko and helped her stand.
At that moment, a low growl echoed from beyond the entrance.
The red line grew sharply dense.
Behind the Temonkai men, the floor of the passageway cracked open.
Not a turnstile-shaped monster.
Something much larger.
A torso resembling multiple platform screen doors linked together slid out from the darkness.
“Platform-door type…”
One of the Temmonkai members stepped back.
The man shouted.
“Everyone, evacuate to the wide passageway on the right!”
In my field of vision, that passageway was pitch red.
“No, do not!”
The man turned around.
“That again, junk class!”
“The right side will close. You will get crushed by the platform doors.”
“Shut up!”
The man started running to the right with his subordinates.
However, only one young member stopped in his tracks.
Perhaps he had watched yesterday’s stream.
He looked back and forth between me and the red passageway, turning pale.
“Captain, are you really sure about the right side?”
“It is an order!”
At that moment, the wall of the right passageway moved.
A board resembling a platform door closed at tremendous speed.
The wind pressure alone kicked up the water on the floor.
If they had run in, they would have been crushed along with their bodies.
The young member fell backward onto his rear.
The Temonkai captain was left speechless.
Mio looked at me.
“The path?”
“Behind the lockers in the rest room. There is an emergency inspection hatch.”
“Another one not on the map.”
“I am starting to hate them too.”
Entrusting Riko to Mio, I ran toward the lockers.
The white line slipped underneath the lockers.
Kengo said, enduring his pain.
“I will help.”
“Your leg, do not push yourself.”
“I am tired of just being rescued.”
I looked at him for a single moment.
His eyes were alive.
“Then push the upper shelf. We are pushing it down this way.”
Kengo and the young Temmonkai member lent a hand.
The lockers fell over, revealing a small inspection hatch deep within the wall.
The white line continued directly to it.
We slipped inside one by one.
Mio was at the very rear.
As the platform-door-type monster closed in, she stood at the entrance and looked at the captain.
“Are you not coming?”
The captain twisted his face in humiliation.
“…Going.”
He squeezed inside as well.
Beyond the narrow inspection hatch was Elevator Shaft B.
The rescue team was waiting.
“Two survivors confirmed!”
“One injured, one dehydrated!”
The site sprang into action all at once.
Kengo and Riko were placed on stretchers and carried off to the medical team.
As she passed by, Riko grabbed my sleeve.
“Thank you… White Line person.”
“It is Minase.”
“Then, Minase-san. Thank you.”
That alone was enough.
Yet the matter did not end there.
When we returned to the surface, the Temonkai captain stood before the rescue team.
“The two unreturned persons were discovered by us, Temonkai. The civilian collaborator was merely accompanying them amid the confusion.”
I was too tired to even muster the energy to object.
I merely thought: here we go again.
But Mio was different.
“Is that announcement official?”
“It is a fact.”
“Then let us verify the facts.”
Mio operated her terminal.
On the large monitor, the streaming log was projected.
The conversation in the rest room.
“Temonkai will take over the rescue. Stop the stream. We will handle the rest through the guild’s official announcement.”
The captain’s voice played clearly.
Following that, the scene where he ordered them to escape to the right passageway.
The scene where I stopped them and the platform doors closed.
The scene where we found the inspection hatch behind the lockers and everyone escaped.
The comment section was no longer chaotic.
Words of anger and fact-checking were calmly piling up.
The theft of the rescue is confirmed. They would have died if they went to the right passageway. Isn’t Temonkai obstructing rescue operations? If Minase-san wasn’t there, both of them and Temonkai would have been in danger. The value of the guide can no longer be doubted.
The head of the rescue team turned back toward the captain.
“Temonkai will be formally interviewed regarding this matter later.”
“Wait, this is edited.”
“It is a live stream.”
Mio said flatly.
“I will submit the backups as well.”
The captain fell silent.
Amidst the commotion, Aoyama came over to my side.
“You picked a fight with a major guild on your very first day, didn’t you?”
“I did not pick a fight. I just rescued people.”
“That is what makes it strongest.”
I struggled for a response.
Strong.
That word did not suit me.
I had not defeated any monsters.
Talking down the Temonkai captain was also thanks to Mio and the logs.
I had merely followed the white line.
Yet, Kengo and Riko are alive.
Renta and Mio’s party are also alive.
If so, then this is fine.
“Minase Toru-san.”
An official from the Dungeon Agency stood before me.
A tablet in hand.
“We have confirmed your rescue activities as a civilian collaborator, as well as guiding two unreturned persons to safe survival. Here is your official reward for this incident.”
“Reward?”
“It is the combined amount from Asakura Mio-san’s commission and the Dungeon Agency’s emergency rescue cooperation funds. Please confirm.”
I looked at the numbers displayed on the tablet.
At first, I thought I misread the digits.
I looked again.
There was no mistake.
It easily surpassed my monthly salary as a night attendant.
“…Am I allowed to accept this?”
The official blinked with curiosity.
“You are the rescuer.”
At those words, the back of my throat tightened.
Junk class. Combat incapable. Civilian guidance assistance permitted only.
That evaluation field written on paper flashed through my head over and over.
Yet now, a reward was attached to my work.
Value was given to choosing the path that kept lives alive.
Mio said from the side.
“Please accept it. You will need it for the next rescue.”
“Next?”
“Requests have already arrived.”
She showed me her terminal.
Notifications were lined up.
Rescue requests. Escort requests. Lost child searches. Collapse route confirmation.
And among them, there was one without any sender’s name.
“If you can see the white line, do not go near Deep Strata Platform Three.”
At my feet, the white line broke off for a single split second.
Instead, an unfamiliar black line extended further into the depths of the Shinjuku station underground.