The next morning, after devouring all the combat rations we had brought, we descended the passage with grimy faces.
Before we set out, David decided that we would explore the ruins only until today.
In truth, even if we wanted to continue, we had no food left.
Now that we had eaten all the combat rations, the only thing left was the monster meat we had brought from the base.
The ant monsters caught in the canyon and the ruins looked difficult to eat.
If we forced ourselves, perhaps we could eat them, but there was no reason to go that far.
Since it seemed we would be turning back midway, instead of descending quickly, we decided to thoroughly check every fork in the path.
As we went down the passage, we checked every fork we encountered all the way to the end.
There were forks in every stone chamber, but aside from the main passage leading underground, none of the passages were very long.
“Looks like they stopped in the middle of construction, doesn’t it?”
“Didn’t it collapse partway through?”
Looking at a blocked passage, the middle-aged man and the young Black man argued with each other.
Perhaps both of them had experience in that line of work, because they spoke with confidence.
To me, it seemed like both were right.
The passages looked as if construction had stopped midway, and then they had failed to withstand the ages and collapsed.
I didn’t join their conversation.
After all, it was something that had happened dozens of centuries ago.
It had nothing to do with us.
Instead of looking at the collapsed passage, I examined the floor.
When I frowned and inspected the floor, Team Member Huiwon asked,
“What are you looking at so intently?”
“Excrement.”
I pointed at the dried, shriveled remains.
She tilted her head.
“What about excrement?”
“If there’s excrement here, it means there were monsters here not long ago.”
At my words, her eyes widened.
“Oh, that’s true. Shouldn’t we tell them quickly?”
I shook my head.
“At the very least, David probably knows. He said we’d only explore until today.”
If he had thought it was safe, he would have roasted even the ant monsters and eaten them.
David was not the only one who knew the situation was not good.
Margreta and the Latin man likely knew as well.
Margreta, who had stuck close to me yesterday, was now moving with the Americans.
Perhaps because of her, all the Americans had more energy than yesterday, and the businessman didn’t pick a fight with me either.
I felt relieved, yet at the same time, a complicated sense of regret.
It had only been a single day, and yet I felt this way.
A honey trap was terrifying.
It was around noon when we discovered new relics.
The place where the relics were found was a stone chamber that looked different from before.
Instead of forks, several small rooms were attached to this chamber, and the relics were in one of them.
After looking through the other rooms, David nodded.
“Lodgings… no, a barracks?”
There was almost nothing left inside the other small rooms, so it was difficult to tell what they had been used for.
All we could infer was that they were sleeping quarters, thanks to the metal structures that looked like bed frames.
However, David seemed to know what kind of rooms these were.
“This must have been a storage room.”
Unlike the other rooms, even I could recognize the room with the relics at a glance.
That was because rusted weapons were scattered around inside.
The rusted weapons and armor lying on the floor were so badly damaged that it was hard to tell what their original forms had been.
However, I could tell that no patterns had been drawn on the weapons and armor from the start.
On intact relics, the patterns were properly drawn, leaving no room for mistake.
Amid the ruined metal weapons and armor, three relics displayed their presence.
A sword and breastplate displayed on a metal stand in the back.
And a metal rod placed on a shelf in the center of the room.
The surfaces of all three relics were covered with translucent patterns.
Everyone tried to approach the relics with expectant eyes, but David stopped them.
“Everyone, wait. We haven’t checked for traps yet.”
David gestured to me, and I awakened my senses and examined the inside of the storage room.
While I inspected the storage room with my senses, I heard people talking.
The first voices I heard were those of the Latin man and David.
“A spear and a breastplate. Not bad.”
“Nothing special. It’s not the first time we’ve seen them.”
“Haven’t we gathered enough for research by now? I heard the others are already distributing theirs. It would be good if we used weapons and armor for hunting too.”
“They’re the first spear and breastplate obtained on this planet, so they’ll need to be studied.”
“If that’s the case, then it can’t be helped.”
It seemed the relics we found would first be sent to Earth.
“After studying them, do they distribute or lend them to those who need them?”
The space-expansion box I had, and the translation relic, had probably been brought over in that way too.
As someone who had received relics, I couldn’t oppose that method.
Even if I did oppose it, it wouldn’t mean anything.
After David and the Latin man’s conversation, I heard the other team members speaking as well.
“You must be glad we found relics. Those should be enough gifts to take back to Earth, right?”
The macho middle-aged man was picking a fight with the businessman.
The businessman responded calmly to his words.
“We’ll be getting the same bonus anyway. Are you still trying to start something?”
“Fucking filthy capitalism. If you don’t have money, you can’t even go back to Earth.”
This time, it seemed like he was taking things a bit too far.
He simply couldn’t go this time; I had heard the advance party would return in order.
If he felt wronged, then how wronged must the later contingents feel, with no promise of when they would be able to return?
“Sorry, but my return wasn’t bought with money. And I heard that Korean is going too. If you feel wronged, you should have obtained a useful ability.”
Perhaps the businessman was tired of listening to him, because he spoke bluntly.
However, because he dragged me into it, the atmosphere turned strange.
“Damn it.”
The middle-aged man who had been picking the fight grumbled and shut his mouth, and I finished checking for traps.
“I think those two should be fine to take.”
I pointed at the relic sword and breastplate on the stand.
“Is there a problem with the metal rod?”
“The pattern drawn on the shelf is connected to the metal rod. There’s no connected energy source, so there’s no way to neutralize it either. I can’t tell what will happen if that metal rod leaves the shelf.”
The reason the check had taken so long was also because of the metal rod.
A gray rod made of metal, about twenty centimeters long and easy to hold.
The part that looked like a handle was covered in patterns, and on the opposite end were several long, narrow holes.
I didn’t know what the metal rod was used for, but it seemed to be a relic that had to be handled carefully.
Since I hadn’t seen many patterns, it was hard to be certain, but the shelf and the patterns drawn on it were confining that metal rod.
It felt almost as if they were sealing its function.
However, that was only my feeling.
I had said that we needed to be as cautious as possible, but it was difficult to say even that much.
Fortunately, David accepted my words.
“As expected, there was a hidden trap.”
“There’s always something like this hidden in relics we’ve never seen before.”
It seemed this wasn’t the first time they had seen something like this.
To me, it didn’t seem like a trap, but I said nothing.
“It’s unfortunate, but let’s leave this here.”
It was a relic that had remained here for countless years.
There was no way anyone would take it before we came back next time.
At David’s decision, Margreta let out a sigh.
“It’s a relief there are other relics.”
“Huh?”
I had thought David had made a wise decision, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
Margreta’s words meant that if there had been no other relics, they would have taken the metal rod.
David made no reply to her words.
In any case, we had avoided doing something dangerous, so there was no problem.
I pushed the relic sword and breastplate into the box.
Perhaps because they weren’t space-related relics, they went into the box just fine.
However, once they entered the box, the power of the relics could not be used.
The sword and breastplate inside the box right now were nothing more than ordinary antiques.
After putting the sword and breastplate into the box, I asked Team Member Huiwon,
“I heard you get a bonus if you bring back relics. Can I get one too, even though I’m part of the later contingent?”
At my question, Huiwon made an awkward expression.
“…I don’t know about the later contingent either. I think you’ll have to ask directly once you go to Earth.”
It seemed there were still no regulations for the later contingent.
As part of the advance party, she seemed to receive a bonus.
That was when I was talking with Huiwon.
Suddenly, a startled voice rang out.
“Huh! It’s gone! The rod that was on the shelf is gone!”
When I looked toward the sound, the businessman was pointing at the shelf.
Just as he said, the metal rod that had been on the shelf a moment ago was nowhere to be seen.
David shouted,
“Nobody move!”
After stopping everyone, he continued giving orders.
“Slowly put all the equipment you’re carrying on the ground and wait.”
Did David think someone among the group had stolen it?
Following David’s orders, everyone placed their weapons and armor on the ground.
I also set down my spear, backpack, box, and translation relic.
Once everyone had put down their equipment, David ordered Margreta,
“Margreta, check Huiwon.”
David personally searched the men.
He patted down their bodies and checked the equipment laid on the floor, but the metal rod was nowhere to be seen.
Margreta, who had checked Huiwon, also shook her head.
“Could the ruins have hidden it? Or maybe it’s the relic’s power. Perhaps the trap was triggered.”
The young Black man offered various possibilities, but David’s expression did not change.
After checking me last, David asked me,
“Has anything changed with the shelf or inside this room?”
“No.”
Aside from the metal rod disappearing from the shelf, nothing had changed.
If something had changed, then the seal on the metal rod that the shelf’s patterns had blocked would have been released.
But right now, I couldn’t sense that.
“You didn’t notice it disappearing either?”
“No.”
Before the businessman spoke, I hadn’t known the metal rod had disappeared.
That might draw suspicion, or make people doubt my ability, but there was nothing I could do.
It was something I found difficult to understand as well.
“I’ll be holding on to the box from now on.”
After finishing the body searches, David took the backpack and the box.
It was the suspicion I had expected.
I hadn’t even gone near the metal rod, and I had a sufficient alibi, but there was no avoiding suspicion.
Aside from the fact that I was part of the later contingent, or that I was Korean, I was the owner of a box that no one else could verify.
There could also be some other hidden ability.
Except for having sharp senses, I had nothing, but I didn’t know if the others would believe that.
David did not restrain me or point a spear at me.
He simply took the box.
“We don’t know what might happen, so let’s hurry back. We’ll confirm everything after we reach the base.”
At his words, everyone gathered their equipment and left the storage room.
We turned around and headed toward the surface.
While we walked hard toward the surface, Margreta was watching one man closely.
He was the man she had been watching all day.
She knew neither the evidence nor the method of the crime, but she was convinced he was the culprit.
**
I couldn’t have known it then, but my guess had been right.
The pattern on the shelf was meant to seal the metal rod.
The metal rod was also dangerous enough to be sealed away.
That rod was a lure device that called in the life-forms of this planet—the things known as monsters.
The moment the rod left the shelf, every monster in the vicinity noticed that the metal rod had been activated.
Rumble, rumble, crash.
Far below the storage room where the group had been, from one unblocked fork in the passage, ant monsters began pouring out.