Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 50

# 51

Dungeon Journal

Episode 20. Treasure Without a Master

“Which is superior, your army or the army of the dead?”

I already knew the answer, but I had to ask to confirm. At Kim Jin-woo’s question, Woo-seo hesitated before answering.

“The army of the dead is slightly superior.”

“Slightly?”

I subtly pressured him to tell the truth, and Woo-seo wriggled all over, bristling.

“Although they may be inferior to the Naga Kings, the Gluttony Legion is not so weak either!”

“For someone who says that, your reaction was immediate.”

I pointed out the past when he came and bowed his head as soon as I declared war, and Woo-seo grumbled.

“The power of the Nagas is water and cold, which is the opposite of the Gluttony Legion. Ordinary attacks can be taken with the body, but the cold of the Nagas freezes even such masses of gluttony and shatters them, making them natural enemies.”

No wonder the labyrinth on the 9th floor seemed so shabby; it seems there was such an inside story. Woo-seo, perhaps trying to relieve his frustration, called one of his subordinates and struck him forcefully.

Kkeueeeek!

The scream was loud, but as Woo-seo said, the gelatinous mass wriggled and soon returned to its original form. Even the slime that had fallen off due to the impact returned to its original state, so it seemed true that ordinary attacks could be taken with the body.

“We may not win, but we won’t lose either.”

Woo-seo seemed somewhat relieved to see Kim Jin-woo’s impressed face, but it was only for a moment.

“They might be more useful than I thought.”

Woo-seo trembled for a moment when he saw his face.

“Let’s go back and talk about it again.”

“But what are you trying to do…?”

Kim Jin-woo smiled without answering Woo-seo’s cautious question. Woo-seo wriggled all over, dripping slime, as if the smile looked ominous.

***

Kim Jin-woo, having visited Woo-seo’s labyrinth, immediately opened a portal and headed to the surface. A way to use Woo-seo and his army came to mind, but since he had neglected the situation on the surface lately, it was a priority to grasp the situation on the surface for the time being.

First, he called Lee Jun-young. It seemed she would do anything he asked, still trying to repay that life debt.

She was a priority over Mr. Baek, who was difficult to deal with due to various entanglements.

But for some reason, Lee Jun-young’s phone was turned off today. Thinking she might have gone underground, he soon gave up trying to call and called Mr. Baek.

[Where have you been and what have you been doing that I can only reach you now?]

Mr. Baek’s voice, who answered the phone before the signal even rang a few times, was sharper than ever.

“I had some business to go underground, so I went for a while.”

[Hmm. Did you have any success… no. Never mind that. Come to my office when you have time. There’s been a mess while you were gone.]

“Yes? What happened…?”

His voice was so urgent that I couldn’t help but ask.

[You know that labyrinth I commissioned you to find before.]

“Yes. There hasn’t been any particular success yet.”

[It’s not that, that labyrinth has been discovered!]

At Mr. Baek’s words, Kim Jin-woo stared blankly for a moment before belatedly grasping the situation and pouring out questions like a machine gun. But Mr. Baek cut off the phone, saying he would tell the details when they met.

In the end, Kim Jin-woo had to leave the house again before he could even relieve the fatigue accumulated underground.

“Where have you been and what have you been doing in this chaos?”

“Ah, I had some business to go underground, including the commission I mentioned before… More than that, what happened? You said a labyrinth was discovered?”

Kim Jin-woo asked, inquiring about the situation to Mr. Baek, who was making a fuss before he even sat down. Mr. Baek explained, spitting as he spoke.

“It seems a search team found it by chance. It’s been a while already. About three weeks have passed.”

It seems that quite some time has passed. Come to think of it, I’ve been away for almost a month due to various underground matters, so the timing was about right.

“The search team that discovered the labyrinth said that a Dungeon Baby [a novice dungeon explorer] fell into the labyrinth. But listen, don’t be surprised.”

Watching Mr. Baek hesitating, Kim Jin-woo’s mood sank. Somehow, he could guess what Mr. Baek was going to say.

“That labyrinth accepted the Dungeon Baby as its master! Isn’t that amazing? A human being is the master of a labyrinth!”

Mr. Baek, forgetting that he had been hesitant, became excited again and rambled on.

“Portal, they said portal! They call the door connecting the surface and the labyrinth a portal! Everyone was surprised when the Dungeon Baby opened the portal.”

Seeing that even the portal had been revealed, it was not just a rumor. Unless you were the master of the labyrinth, you wouldn’t know the existence of the portal.

But it didn’t make sense. If you got a labyrinth, why would you spread the rumor all over the neighborhood? If you thought about it a little, you would know how dangerous it is, but I couldn’t understand it at all.

“Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it amazing? A door connecting the surface and the labyrinth, I couldn’t have imagined it. If there is such a thing, we can go back and forth between the underground and the surface as much as we want in the future. There’s no need to waste time at the entrance.”

Kim Jin-woo, unable to listen to Mr. Baek’s rambling, asked.

“But did the Dungeon Baby who discovered the labyrinth spread it around?”

“No. There’s no way. Those who go back and forth between the underground, whether they are Dungeon Babies or searchers, know how dangerous treasures are. There’s no way.”

I thought it didn’t make sense, but it seems there was a reason. Listening to the story, it seems that it was not the person involved but a colleague who revealed the existence of the labyrinth.

Perhaps they told the story in a light-hearted way, but it blew things up more than they could have imagined.

“The Searchers Association pressured them to prove the existence of the labyrinth. If it was a lie, they would be completely buried, so the Dungeon Baby who obtained the labyrinth had no choice. And they demonstrated the portal in front of people, showed the labyrinth, and that became a problem. To people, portals and labyrinths were the real treasures, treasures that even Down Gems [valuable gems found in dungeons] couldn’t compare to.”

Mr. Baek’s tone calmed down a bit.

“In the end, the Dungeon Baby who obtained the labyrinth was murdered.”

“Ah……”

In the end, the story flowed as expected.

The Dungeon Baby who obtained the treasure was murdered, and the searchers who already knew the existence of the labyrinth were turning their eyes upside down and searching the underground like crazy. If they could find it, their lives would change, so there was no way they would stay still.

“Searchers and the government are in a mess right now. You should assume that there are no Dungeon Babies left on the surface right now. They’re all in the underground looking for the labyrinth.”

Kim Jin-woo, realizing how well he had kept his secret, looked complicated.

“The 7th floor will be in chaos again.”

“7th floor? 7th floor? Ah, I said 7th floor before.”

His tone of voice was strange, so he asked immediately, and Mr. Baek smacked his lips and said.

“The labyrinth was discovered on the 4th floor. You’ve been searching for it so hard on the 7th floor, there’s no way you could have found it.”

What is this again? Kim Jin-woo frowned.

“Anyway, do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to come? The client is also in a mess right now. The labyrinth they were trying to quietly occupy has been revealed to everyone, so how anxious would they be?”

“Haven’t they given up yet?”

“Give up? They’re hiring a large team this time. They’re offering a whopping 20 billion won [approximately $15 million USD] as a reward.”

The client seems to be participating in the search for the labyrinth openly, since things have gotten so big.

“So, that’s why. I’ve been waiting for you too.”

“Another team has already taken on the commission……”

“It’s separate from the client. This is a personal request from me.”

Kim Jin-woo sighed as he saw the greed flickering in Mr. Baek’s eyes.

“Are you tempted by the labyrinth?”

“It would be strange if I wasn’t.”

“How do you trust me?”

He shook his head and asked, and Mr. Baek said.

“I don’t trust you. But listen.”

Mr. Baek, as if he had prepared it in advance, took out a box from under the table and opened the lid.

“I can trust money. Money doesn’t lie.”

The box was full of shiny gold bars and Down Gems.

***

Kim Jin-woo left the appraisal office, saying he would think about it.

His head was complicated, perhaps because he had heard too many stories at once.

The labyrinth he heard was on the 7th floor was discovered on the 4th floor, so he couldn’t figure out how things were going.

Looking at his own case, the Naga’s labyrinth he found wandering around the entrance is on the 9th floor. He couldn’t figure out if the information that there was a labyrinth on the 4th floor was correct.

In the first place, the source of the information that a labyrinth was discovered on the 7th floor was unknown, so his worries could only grow.

“Hoo.”

He had already tasted the fun once by bringing the Core of Gyoryong [a powerful dragon core], so it is true that he was greedy. But he was worried about the checks from other searchers to participate recklessly.

Nevertheless, Kim Jin-woo eventually decided to explore the underground again.

After reconfirming the information through Mr. Baek, he tried calling Lee Jun-young a few more times. Seeing that she didn’t answer the phone, it was clear that she and her team were also participating in the search for the labyrinth.

“Portal.”

Kim Jin-woo headed back to the underground, having stayed on the surface for only two days to get information.

This time, he decided to explore from the bottom up, not from the top down.

Did the labyrinth that was discovered on the 7th floor suddenly move to the 4th floor, or did the labyrinth that needed a master meet a new master in an unexpected place, just as he was called to the Naga’s labyrinth?

Whatever happened, it was necessary to check both the 7th and 4th floors.

“Dominic.”

‘Yes, Master.’

Dominic, who was delighted to see Kim Jin-woo, who had returned to the labyrinth just two days after leaving, rushed over.

“Is there a way to contact Ricksha?”

‘I know there is a separate way to contact long-range patrols. It may take some time, but shall we try?’

Thank goodness. He urged Dominic, recalling the countless searchers who might be wandering the underground at this moment.

“As soon as you get in touch, tell everyone to come back. I have something to do.”

At his words, Dominic tilted his head and then left, saying he understood.

“Lovely master, what worries do you have that you have such a face?”

Angela, who suddenly popped out of the shadows, spoke as soon as Dominic left.

“Ah, I heard that quite valuable things are wandering around without an owner.”

“Is it a treasure hunt?”

She was right in her own way, so he nodded roughly, and she clapped her hands like a child and liked it.

“You’ll include me too, right?”

“Well, I’ll have to think about it.”

For now, Yoon-hee, who has guiding abilities, is a foregone conclusion, and Ricksha, who is also good at stealth and tracking, will be taken along. But Angela, who has not yet shown any special abilities, is on hold.

“Hmm. Is that treasure alive?”

“If it’s alive, it’s alive. But it seems a little different from what you think is alive.”

She looked disappointed at those words and said dejectedly.

“If it’s alive, I can find it……”

Kim Jin-woo suddenly raised his head at Angela’s words, which were filled with regret.

“You can find it if it’s alive?”

“Yes. I can find it even from very, very faaaaaaaaar away. Another name for our clan is Night Stalker, beings who chase the night.”