Episode 36
The source of the sense of wrongness Jonghyeon felt. It was none other than the stack of documents.
Clearly, before entering the dungeon, Jonghyeon had tossed the stack of documents somewhere visible.
But now, that stack of documents was nowhere to be seen.
“What is going on?”
Jonghyeon quickly sought out Butler Kim. Because Butler Kim knew everything that went on in this house.
“Butler Kim. Was there anyone who came into my room yesterday?”
Butler Kim spoke in a tone suggesting he had no idea what was going on since morning.
“No. I’m not sure about that. Because I’m only in charge of managing the main house, I cannot know. And Lady Bori asked me to deliver this.”
Saying so, Butler Kim handed Jonghyeon a lightly folded note.
The worst-case scenario Jonghyeon had anticipated flashed through his mind.
And sure enough, the one who had taken those documents was Bori.
[To Master.
You must have cared quite a bit, whether I knew it or not? To even conduct a dungeon survey like this for my sake. I’ll depart right this morning and be sure to show you me clearing it. Thank you, Master.
From your loving disciple.]
Since Jonghyeon couldn’t possibly swear in front of Butler Kim, he thought inwardly.
‘This crazy girl.’
Jonghyeon, now urgent, asked Butler Kim.
“Is Lady Bori not at home right now?”
Seeing Jonghyeon’s urgent expression, Butler Kim answered taciturnly.
“Yes. She said she suddenly had something to do with friends today and went out twenty minutes ago.”
Without even having time to change his clothes, Jonghyeon ran to his car still in the clothes he had slept in.
“Please. Please, I’m begging you, just don’t go in. Please!”
Muttering to himself, Jonghyeon was pushing the Benz to its top speed. He had never been one to violate traffic laws, as he didn’t much like getting traffic tickets, but today, he pressed down thinking he wouldn’t care even if a fine of one million won came flying his way.
The director, who had been taking a walk, ran over upon seeing Jonghyeon’s car arrive in front of the orphanage.
“Goodness, what brings you here so early in the morning?”
“Director, I don’t have time to explain in detail. Did a woman come here this morning?”
Jonghyeon roughly described her appearance, and after a moment’s thought, the director said.
“That girl went in just now with some friends, saying they would handle the dungeon that appeared here. It hasn’t even been five minutes yet.”
At the director’s words, Jonghyeon urgently asked.
“Where is that dungeon right now?”
Then he ran toward where the director pointed at a faster speed than ever before, and approximately two minutes later, he was able to discover the dungeon.
Without even time to catch his breath, Jonghyeon leaped into the dungeon.
And Bori’s group that arrived after him.
“See, I told you we should prepare drinks in advance. Why are you making a fuss about it now?”
“No, if it’s not lemonade, I can’t swallow it.”
Bantering with each other, Bori’s group entered exactly three minutes after Jonghyeon.
“Bori!!!!!”
Within Jonghyeon’s echo, the only things answering were monsters.
Paying no heed to something like monster aggro, Jonghyeon began calling Bori’s name, channeling ki into his voice.
Jonghyeon thought this dungeon was especially dangerous for beginners. Because it was a place where dinosaur monsters inhabited.
“Grrrr—!”
Perhaps because of the sound, a T-Rex-like monster was glaring at Jonghyeon fearsomely, and Jonghyeon ruthlessly hacked away at that monster as he continued searching for Bori.
The dinosaur monsters were quite dangerous, but Jonghyeon was someone who had already butchered giant snakes and scorpions in 4th-stage dungeons.
They weren’t a threat to Jonghyeon. But they would be different for Bori’s party.
Fortunately, due to the nature of dinosaur monsters, they did not move in groups. And because the dungeon interior was an extremely vast region like the Amazon, there were many places to flee.
“Please still be alive.”
With a heart burning with anxiety, Jonghyeon spoke in a low voice and began shouting Bori’s name again.
“Didn’t you hear something over there? I think I definitely heard Bori’s name… Anyway, why is it so hot here?”
According to Jonghyeon’s documents, it was stated that the dungeon interior was hot, but they hadn’t expected it to be like the Amazon.
On top of that, giant monsters.
Bori’s party had never encountered giant monsters in E-rank dungeons where bosses didn’t even appear.
Jonghyeon’s documents were personal documents, so the dungeon’s rank was not written on them. That was why Bori had mistakenly entered.
“Well. Maybe you heard wrong? No, in the first place, who else would be in this dungeon besides us? And someone who knows my name.”
Bori tilted her head strangely.
Jonghyeon’s heart grew more urgent. The Amazon-like rainforest was quite vast. Because he felt that finding the children amidst it was nearly impossible.
“How am I supposed to handle this.”
According to the director, they had definitely entered. Then in the end, it was one of two things. Either their paths had crossed, or they were already dead.
But even with his superhuman speed, he couldn’t find any traces of battle while running through the rainforest.
And dinosaur-type monsters were fast, but if you fled far enough, they couldn’t give chase due to stamina issues. But the fact that there wasn’t a single such trace meant.
“No way!”
Jonghyeon began running back toward the entrance quickly. In case they had fled from a monster, or their paths had crossed after entering.
“Bori!!!!!”
This time, it definitely reached Bori’s ears as well. Someone was approaching while calling her name.
“A monster?”
The party, tense at that enormous sound, assumed combat stances and fell silent. But Bori could tell whose voice it was.
“Shoot a firework into the sky.”
“Huh?”
At Bori’s sudden request, Hyeyeon, the team’s mage, was bewildered. A firework in the sky, in this tropical rainforest?
But because Bori’s name had been called, and because Bori reacted accordingly, Hyeyeon hesitated yet shot a flame into the sky with magic.
Pop—!
Seeing the light burst in the sky like fireworks, Jonghyeon’s heart grew even more urgent.
‘Did they hear me? Then is that a distress signal?’
Jonghyeon ran toward where the firework had burst at a speed nearing his limit.
And he was able to discover Bori’s group standing near the dungeon entrance, each holding drinks as if on a picnic.
Someone recognized Jonghyeon, who had run like mad.
“Oh! This person is the one from the news…”
Jonghyeon found it amazing that he was recognized even at that moment. Of course, he couldn’t quite feel it himself, but in the world of Hunter departments and rankers, Jonghyeon was currently the biggest issue.
And if they knew that the man at the center of that issue was doing such absurd things here, it would surely be a matter of great lament.
“Bori, do you know this person?”
Unable to say anything at the flood of questions from those around her, Bori remained silent. Then her four friends began whispering among themselves.
Jonghyeon simply stared at Bori as if he had nothing to say now that the situation had come to this.
Soon, Jonghyeon, whose half-shattered mental state had finally organized itself, opened his mouth first.
“Could you explain to me what on earth is going on here?”
Jonghyeon’s voice definitely had a knack for making listeners focus. His voice was one thing, but the atmosphere and pressure weathered by the world were something a college student could hardly endure.
The Bori group, who had been chattering continuously about Jonghyeon’s presence, were now all looking at Bori, and Bori could only stammer with her mouth agape, unable to say anything.
“For now, we need to get out of here quickly. A monster might come. I was shouting names everywhere…”
But unfortunately, Jonghyeon’s ominous premonition was not wrong. Though he didn’t know if it had heard the sound, one of the fairly large dinosaur monsters was approaching.
Though it was said to be approaching, the time it took for the giant monster to move its steps and reach the party was hardly any time at all.
“Run!”
If he were fighting alone, it wouldn’t be a problem. But Jonghyeon was currently pulling enormous wide-area aggro, so to speak. He didn’t know how many more would appear, and it would be difficult to fight while minding such things.
Anyway, if they went a little further ahead, it was the dungeon entrance. Because the dinosaur monsters couldn’t follow them there.
Running at full power, Jonghyeon and Bori’s group began to flee, but among the party, Hyeyeon, the mage with weak stamina, finally tripped and fell.
“Ouch!”
Hyeyeon seemed to have sprained her ankle and couldn’t get up easily from her spot.
“Hyeyeon!”
As a leader with a certain sense of responsibility, Bori changed direction and ran toward Hyeyeon.
‘Such stupid shit. If I end up teaching her anything, I should start with how to abandon others.’
It was clear that Bori was the one who had dragged her party to such a place in the first place. Therefore, Jonghyeon could guess the reason Bori had turned around to save Hyeyeon, but such a half-hearted attitude on the battlefield led directly to death.
“It can’t be helped. All remaining students, get out to the dungeon entrance.”
At Jonghyeon’s words, the remaining students nodded heavily and began running again, and Jonghyeon dashed like lightning to stand before Bori and Hyeyeon.
“Bori. You can carry her on your back and get out, right?”
Without even looking back as he asked, Bori quietly answered that she could.
“Good. I’ll handle things here, so take her on your back slowly and leave together. I’ll cover you.”
Saying so, Jonghyeon flew at the giant monster that had charged in.
Soon the monster’s body began to be torn apart, and the monster let out a huge scream, thrashing the entire forest.
‘Damn it. I can’t use my shadow ability either.’
His ability regarding shadows was something only he must know about.
It was a secret he could not tell even his closest confidants. Therefore, Jonghyeon had to face the monster using only his martial arts and techniques, and unlike when he had tied it up and killed it earlier, he was exerting quite a lot of strength.
“Please die!”
Only when Jonghyeon’s dagger pierced precisely into the center of the monster’s brain did the monster cease moving.
In the meantime, Bori carrying Hyeyeon on her back escaped safely outside the dungeon, and Jonghyeon was able to follow right out after her.
“Bori!”
At Jonghyeon’s shout filled with resentment, Bori couldn’t say a word. And her friends watched the scene from a distance.
“Do you know how dangerous that dungeon is? It’s B-rank. If I had slept in just ten minutes longer, do you think you’d be here getting an earful from me? You’d already be dead!”
Only then did Bori realize what an enormous thing she had done.
Bori, who had been unable to find Jonghyeon no matter what, had intentionally screamed. It was a trick because she somehow felt Jonghyeon would come if she did.
But when that didn’t work either, Bori had entered Jonghyeon’s lodgings saying she would wait there all night if she had to.
And what she had discovered were those documents, and the documents were practically personal papers, so the dungeon’s rank had not been written on them.
Having heard the whole story of Bori’s misdeed, Jonghyeon didn’t have much to say.
“To be honest. I’m still in a state where I haven’t even thought about what to teach you, and I have things I need to do. But once everything is settled, I’ll teach you then, so please just stay still. And call your friends over.”
When Bori called her friends over as told, Jonghyeon sent Bori on a brief errand.
The children looked at Jonghyeon with slight fear.
Jonghyeon, who had been somewhat puzzled, finally became aware of his own urgent state.
His body was currently covered in an enormous amount of monster blood.
It was a visual more than enough to scare Bori’s friends. Jonghyeon instead decided to make use of that visual.
“Friends. I hope you take what you saw today to your graves.”
Jonghyeon definitely had a talent for threats, as he had shown before. And this threat, delivered while drenched in blood, was too frightening for twenty-year-olds to endure.
Actually, when interrogating prisoners or extracting information, Jonghyeon had used smiling expressions more often, but this was simply best for children.
“If by any chance today’s events are leaked outside, I have no intention of treating you as Bori’s friends. You probably know what I said in my interview?”
Jonghyeon’s quiet threat applied greatly to the children, and they were so frightened that they couldn’t answer, only nodding their heads repeatedly.
“Good. For now, take your friend with the sprained ankle and go to the hospital.”
Saying so, Jonghyeon took out two 50,000-won bills from his wallet and handed them over. He did so thinking of it as an apology for Bori’s blunder.
“Yes. Thank you.”
The children thanked him and quickly disappeared, and shortly after, Bori arrived carrying drinks.
“Where did they all go?”
“I sent them. Gave them hospital money. Anyway, if you cause one more accident from now on, know there will be no such thing as a master. And keep your friends’ mouths shut. I gave them a stern talking-to so they’d understand, but they’re still kids. You know what I mean?”
At Jonghyeon’s blunt voice, Bori answered dejectedly.
After dropping Bori off back home and returning to his lodgings, Jonghyeon began packing his things based on the information from the dungeon he had just entered.
Judging by the scale, it seemed he would have to stay in the tropical rainforest for at least two days or more.
Having finished packing, Jonghyeon stepped back into the dungeon. Besides the purpose of clearing the dungeon, he needed to test the function of his watch.
---------= Author's Afterword ---------=
Hwibal-am~ Hwibal-am~~