Chapter 86

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The dungeon was just as I remembered it.

Did I mention that it was hidden in an abandoned historical site near Cheongju after excavation was finished?

When I investigated, there was only one such site, so I was able to find it quickly.

Starting with the cost of the warp gate for the party, I decided to pay for all the other expenses.

Everyone objected to it, but when I mentioned the fact that they had accompanied me on my private request without any compensation, everyone followed me without saying a word.

The party consisted of four people, as originally planned.

Me.

Han Soo-Young.

Choi Hyun-Woo.

And finally, it was Lee Yu-Na.

“…… .”

Lee Yu-Na pretended not to be, but she kept looking at me.

She suddenly took it upon herself to be the porter at the gathering of the four of us, but there was nothing that could be said luggage as it was a dungeon planned to be a day trip in the first place.

In the end, she became a part of the party in a more shriveled form and came together.

The reason why I had brought her along was solely for Jin Ye-Seul's favor.

I knew that Jin Ye-Seul was a so-called gold spoon, but I was well aware of the fact that she was in a subtle position at her home.

However, on that day, she spent a large amount of money to buy all of Lee Yu-Na's bonds.

And she told me to do as I please.

I didn't need to ask her about it to know that she had worked really hard.

And considering Jin Ye-Seul's usual behavior, this was a very meaningful act.

If she wanted to sell her grace to Lee Yu-Na, she would have done it earlier.

To infer from what she said or did, it seemed she wanted to avoid the confrontation between me and Le Yu-Na as much as possible.

She first put in a word there so that Lee Yu-Na kept apologizing to me.

She set aside the superficial bondholder so that Lee Yu-Na wouldn't notice that I had them.

She even secretly told me about the contract.

I'd be an idiot if I didn't notice even after she'd gone this far.

No matter what, Jin Ye-Seul was one of those who contributed to me in many ways, both physically and mentally.

So at least once I needed to follow her will.

In the end, with Jin Ye-Seul's arrangement, Lee Yu-Na signed a contract with me.

The remuneration to be paid to her would be paid differently according to her performance, and withholdings would be made to pay off her debts.

This was the main content of the contract.

Of course, I had her bonds, so I got a useful manpower from my point of view.

Of course, I didn't say anything to her other than about the contract.

I didn't bother to let her know, because it seemed like something annoying would happen if she knew for nothing.

While she was signing on the contract, she rattled off stories about how her credit had almost bottomed out and how that had prevented her from getting loans for academy students from banks and such, but she quickly shut up when I kept nodding.

From the first time I had met her until now, this was the first time I had seen her dejected and without her confident appearance.

And I couldn't help but feel unnecessarily complicated by that appearance.

Yeah, she's still young, what did she do wrong?

It was my fault for not being able to organize the traffic neatly.

Thinking so, I just treated her office-wise.

And from then until now, she has not said a word, just kept her position quietly, occasionally looking at me.

Han Soo-Young, who noticed our subtle relationship, carefully asked me.

“Um, Ji-Hyuk.”

"Yes?"

"Did something happen with Yu-Na by any chance?"

"Well…… There was something, but it's not a big deal. It has been resolved for now.”

"Really?"

She tilted her head and asked me again.

“But something seems to have changed these days.”

"With me?"

"Yes. Hyun-Woo said the same. Something about..… like the atmosphere has changed.”

I ruminated a little over what she said and asked carefully.

"So, is it weird?"

"Not really?"

Han Soo-Young nodded as if it were just that.

"That happens to me sometimes, too. And also Hyun-Woo, he pretends he's not, but sometimes he becomes very sensitive or reticent...… So there are times when it goes back and forth.”

Laughing jokingly, she muttered.

"Anyway, you must have something going on, too. If you want to tell me later, tell me then. … Like I said back then, I could wait for you at anytime, no, for a while."

Saying so, she returned to her original position.

She didn't forget to wave her hand at me before she left.

The dungeon was so sloppy that it didn't matter if she behaved in such a way.

Most of the things that appeared occasionally were goblins or slimes.

The strongest we had met here were about three orcs that had banded together, so I didn't need to say anymore.

It was a dungeon to such an extent that it didn't matter if I came alone, not with four people.

Perhaps that's why Choi Hyun-Woo, who had been silently swinging his sword for a while and opening the way, asked me about it.

“By the way, is this really a dungeon? It seems to be just a natural cave with a few monsters.”

“It’s a dungeon, so don’t worry.”

"If you say so, then it would be…… .”

Choi Hyun-Woo said that, but he still looked suspicious.

But I could be sure that this was the very dungeon that appeared in the tutorial for the sequel.

“…… .”

The item that can be obtained as a reward here is needed to be obtained in many ways.

To be honest, it's not very useful to me, but it's a very troublesome item if it fell on someone else's hand.

“… It's a door.”

We kept moving forward.

Several monsters appeared along the way, but they were literally weak enough to not even buy time.

In the midst of all this, we were able to discover an artificial stone gate that sealed off the passage with no gaps.

Choi Hyeon-Woo murmured in admiration at the sight of it.

He added quietly that it was real.

“Let’s see…… This looks like Latin?”

Han Soo-Young, who approached the stone gate and looked closely, nodded.

“What, Soo-Young, can you even read that?”

Looking at Choi Hyun-Woo, who seemed to be surprised, Han Soo-Young began to spit out words that were difficult to understand with a proud expression.

She was so fluent that her pronunciation surprised not only Choi Hyun-Woo, but also me and Lee Yu-Na.

"Are those the words that are written on that door?"

"No?"

Han Soo-young looked at Choi Hyun-Woo as if to ask what he was talking about.

“Then what did you just say?”

“I can't speak Latin.”

“…… .”

“Haa.”

Choi Hyun-Woo, who asked the question, looked at Han Soo-Young as if he was dumbfounded.

Lee Yu-Na burst into laughter without realizing it, then quickly covered her mouth and looked at me.

I took a step forward.

“I think it’s in the form of a riddle. Other than that, I don't know. Do we have to interpret it one by one … Latin is very complicated.”

Han Soo-Young muttered in a fast voice as if making excuses to me.

She was right, the way to open this door was to answer the riddle.

And I already knew the answer to that riddle.

The answer is the horizon and the clouds, respectively.

It was an event-based quiz that was taken from the name of the original story, Clouds on the Horizon.

"Should I break it with a hammer... ?”

Lee Yu-Na asked quietly, but I gave her a gesture to stay still for a moment.

Then I pretended to touch the door here and there as I quietly spoke the words horizon and clouds.

I don't know why I have to speak the correct answer in Korean when the question was written in Latin, but anyway.

The huge stone wall immediately began to open with a loud noise.

“What, how did you do that?”

"I checked just in case, but I found a few places where the device had come loose. It seems to have broken down a little over the years."

When I answered Han Soo-Young's surprised question as if it was no big deal, she nodded in wonder.

Then, she mumbled, frowning as if she were reviving his memory for a moment.

"I definitely…… have learned something like that before. No matter how accurate and perfect the mana engraved device looks, it will inevitably break over time. So, I heard that people engrave it semi-permanently in places like iron and rocks...… .”

“Anyway, let’s go in.”

Saying that, Choi Hyun-Woo naturally took the lead, unable to hide his seeming anticipation.

It was time to get ready, so I also followed him, putting my hand on the dagger's handle.

We walked a little further in, and soon came to a large square.

In the center of the square was a stone statue, strangely enough all four sides of which were carved with the faces of different people.

It was what I remembered.

There was no way I could forget such a unique appearance.

And that different appearance was also the reason why four people came here.

Because that boss monster was a guy that couldn't be caught without exactly four people.

“… Ji-Hyuk.”

"Your prediction is right. Everyone, get ready.”

From the moment we got to the distance where we could identify it, Choi Hyun-Woo stopped his steps and looked at me.

I drew the dagger and continued my explanation in a calm tone to the party, as if I had investigated it beforehand.

"According to the record, it's a guardian stone statue. Looking at it...… It looks like it's based on four cardinal directions."

"Isn't that a lost art?"

"I guess it wasn't like that in the past. Anyway, we're lucky. I can't believe we can fight that kind of guy.”

Choi Hyun-Woo muttered as if he was already itching.

I tapped his forearm as if to tell him to calm down.

"We'll have to figure out the details first…… I've seen records before that any attack won't work when the eyes are closed.  And in the case of a stone statue of the guardian based on such direction, it will never open its eyes unless its all faces are seen."

"It's fortunate that the four of us came.”

"Right. Otherwise, I would have to come all the way here and go back.”

I answered like that and fixed the dagger.

“Let's give it a shot first. We've come this far, and we're not just going to go back. If it's not what I expected, then we'll just run away.”

“… Yes, the dungeon is sloppy, and considering its shape and storage, there won't be any important items. Of course, the direction system would be relatively weak."

“Okay, then I'll go first?"

As soon as the signal fell, Choi Hyun-Woo quickly grabbed the sword so he could swing it at any time and jumped forward.

I also followed him, changed directions, and faced one of its faces.

Immediately, Han Soo-young and Lee Yu-Na also faced the others as if they were in charge of the remaining faces.

“―――――――!”

And the stone statue, which had been shaking since Choi Hyun-Woo rushed in, suddenly let out a loud cry.

A blazing flame poured out of its wide open mouth, and he turned to avoid it.

“My side eyes are closed!”

At Han Soo-Young's cry, Choi Hyun-Woo also returned the answer that his side is also closed.

Then, Lee Yu-Na's sides' eyes opened.

“Heup!”

She quickly created a large long spear in the air.

She was faster, more accurate, and more powerful than when I first saw her.

Soon after, the stone statue that was hit by the spear she had shot turned around as if in pain.

Then it spun around and began to spew out flames, wind, and rocks.

After a while, the guy stopped moving.

It was Choi Hyun-Woo's side that opened its eyes this time.

In that way, we took turns calmly attacking the place where it opened its eyes.

It had an overbearing appearance, but in the end, it was only strong enough to be the boss of the tutorial.

After a while, the guy fell apart with cracks all over its body.

Choi Hyun-Woo looked somewhat dejected at the ending, which was easier than expected.

“… What, is it over already?”

“… I guess so."

Han Soo-Young also looked as if she was leaking steam.

I put the dagger in and headed straight to the debris.

Then Lee Yu-Na also quickly ran to the place where the debris was like me and started searching there.

After a while we found a small pendant.

It was more shabby and old than I remember.

“Can I appraise it?”

"Sure."

I gently handed the pendant to Han Soo-Young.

She looked around for a moment as if to check it out, then mumbled something and used her magic, but immediately showed a vague expression.

“… Well, this just looks like an old pendant? I don’t feel any magic or anything like that.”

"There's nothing we can do. It's not like we could call this place a dungeon from the start."

“We should just keep it as a souvenir.”

“We should.”

I answered like that and naturally put it in my pocket.

Of course, no one objected to me having it.

And before I put it in my pocket, I didn't forget to use emotion.

Old Antique Pendant (Normal / ?)

―This pendant has been around for an immeasurable amount of time.

No magical measures have been taken.

It's just an old, shabby pendant.

It might be considered quite valuable in an antique store.

From the description alone, it was nothing more than a perfectly useless piece of junk.

But I was well aware of how meaningful this was.

This was a pendant that could be purified with enormous magical power or the power of existence.

Therefore, the main story was to recognize the existence of this pendant, fight a series of groups trying to take it away, and purify it by sucking in the remnants of the power of the Seven Evils that had already disappeared and caused another disaster at the time of the sequel.

I'm not sure how useful this is, but it's certainly worth it, as it was central to the story.

And this was also the only content of the sequel that I remember.

“What a let down.”

Choi Hyun-Woo said so and put his sword back into the scabbard.

Seeing that, Han Soo-Young glanced at me and said quietly, ‘See, I told you, right? Hyun-Woo seems to be a bit energetic today.'.

Looking at her, I let out a small laugh.

“Then, let's go back now…… .”

“There, who is it!”

Lee Yu-Na shouted in a high-pitched voice as she suddenly created several weapons in the air, blocking my way.

What.

Not long after thinking so, the guys wearing robes appeared in the place we had just passed by.

“Shit, we've been spotted.”

“There must have been a detection type over there."

There were exactly four of them.

Despite the sudden situation, Choi Hyun-Woo looked calm and natural as he stood beside Lee Yu-Na and put his hand on the scabbard.

"Who are you?"

“Do I really need to answer you, baby?”

I could tell who they were without having to tell me.

It was the Thorns Cross Society.

There was little reason I knew that.

It was because the branches of the World Tree were reacting violently and letting me know.

But more importantly, why the hell are they here?

With that question in mind, I stared at them in silence and began to do what I had to do.

“Wait, that face… ?”

"What's wrong?"

“Yeah, these are the ones we were targeting! Both the boy and girl!”

Among them, a young woman looked at me and Han Soo-Young and shouted that.

Then, a man with a particularly huge physique shed a small laugh.

“This is such a lucky day. Because of these bastards, three of the twelve apostles' seats are empty, right?”

"Maybe we can get into their position today.”

“Then let’s hurry. Before the Big Watch bastards and other humans come sniffing it.”

A small man nodded and murmured, and the man who seemed to be leading them stepped forward.

From the power I could feel from him, it was clear that he was also in a ridiculous position as the 12 apostles.

"It's a pity. On such a great day...… .”

I didn't need to listen to him.

I walked out between Choi Hyun-Woo and Lee Yu-Na, who stood in my way, and faced him.

“Just to be sure, I'm asking, you're the Thorns Cross Society, aren't you?”

“… You know who we are, but you still have that attitude? Can't you grasp the situation?"

“Well, it’s kind of important.”

The Thorns Cross Society was pointed out as one of the major organizations that attacked the academy at the time of the guild invitational.

As such, they were immediately wanted as a first-class criminal organization, and many of their branches were swept away by the association accordingly.

In short.

It meant that even if we killed them here, we wouldn't have to take any responsibility.

"Anyway, isn't that right?"

Then it doesn't matter

Those words were a signal.

As soon as the words were finished, the branches of the World Tree that had been spread out in an instant tore their bodies apart.

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[Note: One's fun is spoiled; one’s enthusiasm dies down.]

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