Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 115

Dungeon Memoir – 115

# 115

Dungeon Memoir

Episode 116

#46. The Reason for War

The first thing Kim Jin-woo did upon reaching the surface was gather information.

It was ironic to seek information about the underground on the surface, but the truth was that the information he could gather from the underground was limited.

The black marketeer, who had been his source, was nowhere to be found, and access to the 11th floor was practically forbidden.

In this situation, all he could do was ask around among those who had some connection to the 11th floor. But even then, the information he obtained was fragmented.

“Damn it! Because the deep levels are in such a state, the supply of Down Gems that used to be available has been cut off. Those cowardly explorers won’t even go to the lower levels anymore,” Mr. Baek lamented when they met after a long time.

Since the Guardians had stepped in and driven out the explorers, they were hesitant to venture underground. It seemed that this trend had intensified after the labyrinths of various countries were occupied by an unidentified force.

“And who is hoarding the Down Gems that were released into the market? They’re nowhere to be seen.”

Naturally, the price of Down Gems skyrocketed. The labyrinths secured for the development of the underground were lost, making the situation worse than before.

“Say, if you have any Down Gems, could you spare some? I’ll give you a generous price.”

As he needed funds to operate on the surface, Kim Jin-woo was planning to exchange Down Gems for cash.

He turned the bag he had brought upside down and emptied it onto the table, causing a pile of Down Gems to spill out.

“Oh! I knew you’d have some.”

Mr. Baek’s face lit up as he saw the table full of Down Gems.

“Let’s see. Most of them are mid-grade. Are you camping out in the underground? How do you have so many Down Gems?”

As Kim Jin-woo watched Mr. Baek excitedly appraising the Down Gems, he slyly took out another Down Gem from his pocket.

“Is that… is that a top-grade Down Gem?”

Mr. Baek was completely stunned by the fist-sized Down Gem, which had a distinctly different color from the others.

As if possessed, Mr. Baek reached out his hand, but Kim Jin-woo teasingly put the Down Gem back into his pocket.

“Information. I need information.”

“Tell me, what information do you need? I’ll tell you everything I know.”

Was the top-grade Down Gem that precious? Mr. Baek rubbed his palms together with an unusually excited expression.

“Information about the 11th floor, and any information related to the past war.”

Mr. Baek, who had been talking animatedly, suddenly shut his mouth.

“Information related to the war……”

“The war between the surface and the underground that ended 10 years ago, and even the minor wars within the underground.”

Mr. Baek, who had already been half-convinced, suddenly backed away. Seeing his hesitant expression, Kim Jin-woo slyly put his hand back into his pocket.

And when he took his hand out again, there were not one, but two top-grade Down Gems.

“Depending on the quality of the information, I’ll hand over all the top-grade Down Gems I have. Of course, I’ll accept the old market price.”

“You… you have more of those?”

This time, even Mr. Baek was surprised and stuttered.

Seeing Mr. Baek like that, Kim Jin-woo put the Down Gems back into his pocket. Then, he leaned back deeply into the sofa.

The situation was clear without him having to say anything. Mr. Baek licked his lips with a conflicted expression.

“Ugh.”

But the answer was already obvious. Whatever his ulterior motives, Mr. Baek was a businessman.

And a businessman cannot easily give up the profit before his eyes.

As expected, after much deliberation, Mr. Baek could not resist the temptation of the Down Gems.

“I’ll tell you, trusting that you won’t go around spreading this.”

“I have nowhere to tell it.”

“I know that, but… if the story spreads elsewhere, I won’t know anything about it.”

After opening his mouth, Mr. Baek hesitated for a long time before starting to speak.

“First, I’ll give you the details in writing, but I’ll tell you what I remember first. How much do you know about the war between the surface and the underground?”

“You can assume that I know as much as the average person.”

He was ignorant of the stories surrounding the war, even though he was a Dungeon Baby [a person born in the dungeon], one of the biggest victims of the past war.

That was because the Dungeon Babies were released shortly after the end of the war, and there was no way to know how the process had unfolded.

“Ugh. Then I’ll have to tell you from the beginning.”

Mr. Baek slowly began to unravel the story.

***

Kim Jin-woo’s face was grotesque as he left the appraisal shop. His expression, neither smiling nor crying, was stiff, like a crooked mask made by a child.

Even the passersby were intimidated by his bizarre aura and hurried past him as if they were being chased.

“Waaah! Mom! Waaah!”

Perhaps startled by seeing him, a child holding his parent’s hand burst into tears. Kim Jin-woo belatedly came to his senses at the sound of the wailing.

“Ah……”

The eyes of the child crying as he looked at him were filled with fear.

He unknowingly touched his face with his fingertips. Distorted facial muscles; he could tell what kind of expression he was making without looking.

So he fled the scene. The sound of the child’s crying followed him as he left, and Mr. Baek’s voice suddenly came to mind.

***

“Do you know how the war started?”

“I don’t.”

Mr. Baek clicked his tongue as if he knew it all along and continued to speak.

“It’s commonly known that the monsters of the underground invaded the surface first, and that we had to endure that terrible war to survive. But that’s not true at all.”

Mr. Baek’s eyes became blurred as if looking into the distance, and the old man, who had been moving his lips several times, finally opened his mouth.

“In fact, the war was started by the surface.”

And that one word, uttered with such difficulty, became a strange echo, resonating in the narrow appraisal shop.

“Until then, the existence of the underground was not well known and was not a place to be concerned about. Rather, it seems that the upper echelons were secretly cooperating with the underground. But when Down Gems were discovered, the story changed.”

A wrinkled hand caressed the sparkling Down Gem. But the touch was different from his usual way of treating Down Gems like gold; it was as if he was touching something filthy.

“The first Down Gem discovered, we called that Down Gem the Wish Stone.”

One Down Gem fell onto the pile of Down Gems, and the precariously stacked Down Gems collapsed.

“That one omnipotent stone caused a war that took the lives of tens of millions.”

The moment he heard that story, Kim Jin-woo felt the common sense and the world he had taken for granted all his life collapsing.

In the chaos of good and evil being reversed, the old voice continued.

“After that, the Wish Stone was never found again, but instead, these Down Gems were discovered. And the war continued until there was a certainty that no more Wish Stones remained in the underground.”

***

Baaang! Honk! Honk!

“Hey, you bastard! Are you crazy! What are you doing in the middle of the road!”

Kim Jin-woo woke up from his thoughts at the sharp noise that pierced his ears.

“Get out of the way, you bastard!”

A car that had swerved right in front of him was visible.

Behind it, a chaotic line of cars was tangled up. It seemed that he had unknowingly tried to cross the road while lost in thought.

“I’m sorry.”

Realizing the situation belatedly, he apologized briefly and tried to get off the road, but with a clank, someone opened the car door and got out.

“Is this bastard crazy?”

The man who stepped out of the driver’s seat was intimidating with his solid build, as if he had been working out.

The man, who glared fiercely, came closer, sticking out his thick arms as if to show them off, and spat out curses.

“Hey! If my life ends because of you, will you take responsibility! If you want to die, go die alone!”

“I’m sorry. I was thinking about something else for a moment. I’m really sorry.”

Kim Jin-woo apologized repeatedly, understanding the driver’s feelings, who had almost caused an accident.

But the other person seemed to be very angry, spewing out all sorts of curses and pointing his finger.

“You bastard! It’s because of bastards like you that good drivers like me get hurt! A young bastard with his head in the clouds!”

“I’m sorry.”

Even though the other person’s attitude was somewhat excessive, he bowed his head and apologized again. After all, he was the one who had caused it. Besides, he felt like he wouldn’t be able to control himself if he got into a fight.

So he tried to soothe his rising annoyance and anger.

But the man did not take his situation into consideration.

“Hey! Are you crying? Crying? Look up! You bastard, when someone is talking to you, you have to look at their face. Did you drop money on the street! Huh? You!”

Eventually, he reached out his finger and pushed up his forehead. Kim Jin-woo’s head, which had been bowed low, was raised.

“You bastard, when someone is talking……”

The man, who had been so arrogant and talkative until just now, shut his mouth and froze. The pale-faced man staggered backward.

“I’m sorry.”

Kim Jin-woo apologized as he looked at him, but streaks of blue light were flowing down from his eyes, making him look like a demon.

“If you’re hurt or your car is damaged, I’ll compensate you. Can I have your phone number?”

“Ah, no. No, it’s okay. It’s not necessary……”

The man got into his car as if fleeing. Then he disappeared without looking back. The blocked line of cars finally began to move forward with a jerk.

He watched the scene with clear eyes and turned around to start walking again.

Once again, Mr. Baek’s voice echoed in his head like an auditory hallucination.

‘You, including the Dungeon Babies of the deep levels, are the descendants of the first underground exploration team.’

Mr. Baek said that the Dungeon Babies were not the descendants of prisoners of war, but the descendants of the first explorers who had found the underground before that.

‘And they are the culprits who started the war, the plunderers who stabbed the underground creatures in the back and finally stole the Wish Stone.’