Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 3

Dungeon Expedition Log – Part 4

# 3

Dungeon Expedition Log

Part 4

The subterranean world wasn’t just filled with ferocious monsters. If there were apex predators, there had to be prey for those monsters as well.

And the monster the group had caught was one of those prey animals. With its blood splattered everywhere, it would have been stranger if predators hadn’t picked up the scent.

“Don’t step in the blood on the floor. Let’s move back,” Kim Jin-woo said calmly, looking at the crew members, who were already pale and fidgeting.

“Don’t run. They’re still some distance away.”

“B, but the sound is so loud!”

“All sounds echo underground. At this volume, they should be at least 20 minutes away.”

In other words, the footsteps were loud enough to be heard from 20 minutes away, meaning that heavy and ferocious creatures were approaching, but he didn’t bother telling them that. There was no need to make them more anxious.

“Let’s go.”

Perhaps overwhelmed by the echoing sound, even the bodyguards, who had been glaring at him with challenging expressions, followed his instructions without complaint.

The camera crew followed behind them at a brisk pace, with the cameraman constantly glancing at his shoes.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?” Jang Yoon-ju asked.

The cameraman rubbed his shoes on the ground and then started to follow.

Kim Jin-woo’s pace, which had started as a simple walk, gradually increased until it was almost a full sprint.

He himself didn’t seem to be exerting any effort, but the crew running after him were suffering.

“S, slow down a bit!”

“If you want to see what that sound is with your own eyes, then go ahead and do that.”

The group’s initial lack of cooperation had caused the current problem. Naturally, his tone wasn’t pleasant.

He had already explained that the reason the Under-Beasts had swarmed them was because of the blood of the monster that the bodyguards had gleefully turned into rags.

As a result, the bodyguards, who had received a fierce glare from their employer, had stiffened up, unlike before.

Sweat poured down inside their clothes, which had been keeping out the chill of the underground passage, but the group couldn’t even complain.

For some reason, no matter how long they ran, the sound behind them didn’t seem to be getting any further away.

Naturally, Kim Jin-woo was the first to notice the change.

He stopped running and sniffed the air, looking over the group. The group, unaware that something was wrong, were simply glad that he had stopped and sat down to catch their breath, looking pathetic.

“Damn it!” He scanned the group and then looked at the cameraman, cursing as he strode over. The cameraman, who had been bent over coughing, was startled and backed away.

“I clearly told you not to step in the blood, didn’t I?”

The cameraman, intimidated by his fiercely glinting eyes, unconsciously moved his foot back and looked away.

Kim Jin-woo bent down in front of the cameraman and roughly took off his shoe. He frowned at the red stains on the sole of the shoe.

“I accidentally stepped on it while filming…” The excuse he offered was ridiculous. He had warned him so much, but what glory did he think he would gain by playing with his life?

Instead of getting angry, he explained the situation in a cold tone. “Normally, we would have shaken it off by now, but the situation has become messy. We have to run again.”

They were still gasping for breath. The group’s faces turned ashen.

“I, I can’t go any further,” Jang Yoon-ju said, plopping down on the cold floor, resigned. Kim Jin-woo looked at her with a grim expression.

“Under-Beasts never kill their prey easily. They like it fresh. They’ll eat the soft insides and tear off the tender flesh of your limbs. And they’ll save your still-beating heart for last.”

Her face turned pale, and she jumped up from her seat. It was nothing special, but the situation made goosebumps rise on her exposed skin.

“There’s no point in running; we won’t last long anyway. Rather than being caught while running, it’s better to fight…”

Still feeling guilty, the bodyguards, who had been silent until now, stepped forward again. Having seen the power of the modified shotguns, they were subtly confident.

“It’s impossible. If you’re thinking of the monster we just killed, you’re sorely mistaken. Those things aren’t even worth calling Under-Beasts; they’re at the very bottom of the food chain.”

People sometimes blindly believe what they want to believe. This was exactly the case.

The group, with their trembling legs, labored breathing, and utter exhaustion, chose to turn away from the truth.

There were bodyguards who would fight in their place, and they had actually seen them take down a large monster in an instant.

It felt more rational to trust them than to drag their exhausted bodies and risk running.

“What are you going to do?” One of the bodyguards asked with a triumphant look, as if he thought he had completely taken control.

Kim Jin-woo stared at them with a stiff face, opening and closing his mouth several times.

He realized that no matter what he said, they wouldn’t be persuaded.

‘Jin-woo.’

For a moment, his mother’s face, holding his hand tightly and brimming with tears, flashed before his eyes.

Her wrinkled face, begging him not to do anything dangerous, was vivid in his mind.

But his mother’s face was soon pushed aside by Hyun-ji’s face, who had accepted the fifteen million won he had given her and was choking back tears of gratitude and apology.

The unpaid balance of thirteen million won came to his mind, and he bit his lip. And even as he was hesitating, the sound of the unidentified monster approaching continued to grow closer.

There was no choice from the beginning. If he had the power to choose his own destiny, he would never have been born a Dungeon Baby [a child born and raised in the dangerous environment of a dungeon] in the first place.

And he would never have set foot in the subterranean world that he had so desperately wanted to escape.

The thirteen million won was a trivial amount for those who frequented the upper floors [wealthier areas or social circles].

But it was a large sum of money for Kim Jin-woo’s family, who were on the verge of bankruptcy.

“Please follow my instructions.” Knowing how meaningless his words were, he said that as he snatched the jungle knife from the cameraman’s hand.

***

The creatures were clever. They knew how helpless humans were in the dark. The sound echoing through the underground passage quieted down, and then the lights on the ceiling began to shatter one by one.

Darkness approached, and the bodyguards rashly pulled the trigger once again.

And they had to pay the price.

The bullets from their meager modified shotguns, which held only a few rounds, were fired all at once, and they were dragged away by hairy hands that emerged from the darkness.

The long and grotesque arms, with sharp claws digging into their collarbones like hooks, dragged the men away.

People died like that.

Kim Jin-woo couldn’t stop their deaths. There were too many hands emerging from the darkness.

There were too many and too ferocious opponents to take care of the entire camera crew, who were either running away on their own or sitting blankly on the floor.

So he chose to save only Jang Yoon-ju.

“Hic… hic!” Jang Yoon-ju, who was on his back, sobbed, tears and snot streaming down her face. She coughed and groaned in pain every time he took a step, but he didn’t care.

With the bodyguards already gone, their schedule had failed.

He wasn’t sure if he would be able to receive the remaining payment in this situation, but if he didn’t save Jang Yoon-ju, even that slim possibility would disappear.

After running for a while, he dropped her to the ground. It wasn’t intentional, but her legs gave way, and she tumbled to the floor as if she had been thrown down.

Her once confident face was nowhere to be seen, and her face was a mess of tears and snot.

Kim Jin-woo looked at her with a heavy heart as she stared blankly into the air, unable to even think about getting up.

Only for a moment, he stared at the passage they had come through with a stiff face.

Originally, they should have been running towards the exit.

With the filming ruined and only she survived, there was no point in going to the 2nd floor labyrinth. But he knew that he had taken the wrong path.

It wasn’t that he was lost.

He had been herded.

The monsters, who were merely ferocious and violent, had cleverly blocked their retreat and were swarming from all directions. It was shocking, but it wasn’t surprising when he thought about it.

Anything could happen in the labyrinth.

It was bleak. With a burden and the way back blocked, the future was uncertain.

The monsters on the 1st floor were trivial to him.

But the reason he had such a stiff face was that the owner of the hairy arm he had seen was definitely not a creature that should be appearing on the 1st floor.

He took the camera from Jang Yoon-ju’s hand, which she had somehow managed to hold onto, and manipulated the small panel.

[Bang!]

[Kkyaaaak!]

Long, hooked claws and a black arm that looked to be over 2 meters long emerged from the darkness.

The bodyguard who had once cursed at him was dragged in with his collarbone pierced by the claws, like meat in a butcher shop.

[Save me!]

He saw beyond the bodyguard’s face, distorted with pain and fear as he cried out for help.

Dozens of red eyes glowed in the darkness.

Kim Jin-woo strained his eyes and stared at the screen. He could see their figures hidden behind the red glow.

They looked like orangutans at first glance, but they were several times more ferocious and ugly.

He saw them digging their claws into the ceiling and approaching like they were walking on a cloud bridge, and he realized that his guess was correct.

There was only one type of monkey that he knew of with a red crest across the center of its forehead.

And that monster was definitely not one that should be appearing on the 1st floor of the subterranean world.

“Damn it!” Had the food chain in the subterranean world changed while he was away? A ferocious creature that should only be seen on the 5th floor or higher was wandering around in a place less than a day’s journey from the entrance.

“Damn it!” He cursed once more and roughly picked up Jang Yoon-ju, who was lying on the floor sobbing. He slung her over his shoulder like a piece of luggage and started moving again.

The creatures wouldn’t give up on them. They were persistent hunters who never gave up on prey they had set their sights on.

But his eyes were shining even in that difficult situation. He was a Dungeon Baby who was born and raised in the deep layers of the 10th floor or higher, and had finally survived and returned.