Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 164

Dungeon Journal – Episode 165

# 164

Dungeon Journal

Episode 165

Kim Jin-woo’s hideout wasn’t far from the Paju Gate. With monsters pouring out of the gate these days, the land value was understandably low.

He used the skills he had honed against Mr. Baek and the black marketeer to further drive down the price, and the landowner dumped all the nearby land, which had become a burden, onto him.

Having bought the land around the hideout, Kim Jin-woo immediately began construction.

His first step was to erect a fence around the perimeter of the property, and then pile up dirt and sand inside.

“Wow, surface dwellers are incredibly fast.”

Dominique exclaimed, watching the construction that continued day and night.

Now, in the evening when the sun had disappeared, was the only time she could exist in a perfect human form.

“These people are particularly fast, even among surface dwellers.”

He had offered generous overtime pay for night work, and even he, who was used to the surface, was amazed at the progress of the construction.

“Underground workers can’t compete with them.”

Dominique expressed her admiration once again at his words.

To her, who had spent her entire life in the underground, the surface was full of wonders.

The huge machine that made a deafening noise spewed out mountains of dirt and sand each time it came, and the machine with the rough arms quickly compacted the piles of dirt.

“If we could use this kind of power in the underground, we wouldn’t have to worry about Count Moaini or anything….”

“Those are just powers useful for piling up dirt. The real power of the counts is immensely greater than this.”

Even though he had never properly seen the true elites, the power of the 11th floor counts was immensely greater than that of the 9th floor.

Bringing this kind of heavy equipment wouldn’t instantly close the gap between them.

But Dominique seemed to think differently. She didn’t answer him and fell into thought. Her expression was so serious that he didn’t even think about talking to her and stepped aside.

“Hmm?”

The construction site, which had been bustling just a moment ago, was frozen.

The excavator, which had been diligently compacting the dirt, was not moving with its huge shovel raised, and the trucks that had been busily carrying the dirt were also stopped in the middle of the site.

“Oh, dear….”

Kim Jin-woo, who was looking around to see if something was wrong, belatedly realized the reason and let out a sigh of disbelief.

The workers’ gazes were all directed at Dominique, and their expressions were quite a sight. Judging by the blank faces of the workers with their mouths wide open, they seemed to be quite astonished by Dominique’s beauty.

Indeed, Dominique was exceptionally beautiful even in the underground, which was full of inhumanly beautiful dark elves and vampires.

Her standing silently under the moonlight, lost in thought, was so dreamlike that it could be called unreal.

In fact, many of the workers’ expressions were dazed, as if they were wandering in a dream.

“Dominique.”

“Yes?”

At his words, Dominique woke up from her thoughts.

“I don’t want to interrupt, but I think it’s interfering with the construction if I leave it like this.”

“Ah, am I being a hindrance?”

The sound of ‘gasp’ came from all over the construction site at the sight of her blinking her eyes with an innocent face.

“It may not have been intentional, but you are actually being a hindrance.”

Beauty in the underground was just a pretty shell. In a harsh world where survival was a virtue, her slender arms and waist were actually a disadvantage in terms of pure survival.

As such, it was natural that she couldn’t understand the situation where the workers were mesmerized by her beauty.

But as clever as she was, she had the sense to grasp the situation.

“Hmph! How dare they.”

She openly showed her discomfort at the workers’ gazes. The innocent-looking maiden from just a moment ago was nowhere to be found, and a cold face was revealed in an instant.

It seemed that she didn’t like gazes from anyone other than her master.

“Okay, okay. Go inside.”

“I understand.”

Dominique, who had been coldly glaring at the workers, quickly relaxed her expression at his urging and looked regretful.

But only for a moment, she was soon pushed back into the house.

He felt sorry for pushing her, who was so excited to see the outside world, back into the dark underground, but at this rate, the workers really wouldn’t be able to do their jobs all night.

“Ah, why do you keep pushing the young lady who doesn’t want to go in….”

“He must be trying to keep her all to himself. Tsk, a guy with so much money is keeping a woman and doing that, I don’t feel like working.”

As Dominique disappeared, the time at the construction site began to flow again.

Complaints and grievances flowed out from here and there. It seemed that they were quite disappointed that Dominique’s figure had disappeared.

“Damn it, some people are breaking their backs shoveling, while others are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, keeping women and dating.”

Some were even slandering Kim Jin-woo with absurd speculations.

“I wonder how the country is going to turn out, with a young punk not thinking about working and already indulging in women.”

“I’m so jealous, it’s already hard enough to live in this world. Argh! Argh!”

“Damn it, when will the world be a better place for us to live in?”

The national mood was not good due to the creatures flowing out of the underground, and the economy was also in recession.

The world, which was already hard to live in, became even harder, and as they gritted their teeth and worked, seeing someone flaunting their wealth in front of them turned envy into a sense of deprivation, and soon into anger at the world.

“Hmm.”

Literally nowhere to go anger, unfounded hatred was directed straight at Kim Jin-woo. To him, whose hearing far exceeded the level of ordinary people, it was as vivid as if they were talking right in front of him.

But he didn’t bat an eye. He simply stared silently at the man who introduced himself as the supervisor, giving him subtle pressure.

“These bastards are so full of themselves, who else is paying them overtime these days and letting them work!”

“Isn’t it natural for a rich guy to pay a lot of money and make them work?”

“Did you earn that money? Stop talking nonsense and get to work!”

The supervisor shouted and then looked at Kim Jin-woo.

“Then I’ll go in.”

Thinking that he wouldn’t see anything good if he stayed here any longer, Kim Jin-woo lightly bowed and turned around.

But that’s when it happened. A truck that was moving clumsily for some reason was heading towards the pile of materials.

“Huh? Huh? Why is that happening!”

The workers screamed and scattered.

“Hey! Stop! Stop!”

The truck, which was rushing like a madman, crashed into the pile of materials. As a result, one of the workers who happened to be nearby was crushed.

“Aaaagh! My leg! My leg!”

In an instant, the scene turned into chaos with terrible screams.

“Hey, you bastard! Back up! Back up quickly!”

“What are you doing, just standing there! Move the car and lift this up!”

The workers cursed and made a fuss, and in the meantime, the screams of the worker crushed under the materials continued.

“Argh! Why isn’t this bastard moving the car!”

The worker who was involved in the accident was screaming that he was going to die, but the panicked truck driver wasn’t thinking about moving the car. The precarious scene seemed like it could lead to a secondary accident at any moment. The workers screamed even louder.

“Hey! The car is falling! Get back if you don’t want to die!”

Belatedly, the truck moved its body, and the materials that were hanging on it shook as if they would collapse again.

“Get back! You bastards!”

“What about Mr. Kim!”

“We can only take out Mr. Kim and Mr. Park after the car is out! You stupid bastards!”

Some of the workers were still clinging to the pile of materials and not thinking about getting out, so the supervisor, who had been shouting all along, cursed again.

“You crazy bastards! You have nothing but your bodies, what are you doing now!”

“Aaaagh! Get me out! It hurts! It hurts!”

At the man’s shout, the workers who had seen the pile of materials precariously hanging on the top of the truck belatedly pulled themselves out. The crushed worker was screaming even more that he was going to die.

Clunk.

“Th-That! Th-That!”

It seemed that today was a day with really bad luck. The truck, which had been moving back and forth 정신없이 [frantically], touched the pile of materials again as it 빠져나갔다 [backed out].

With a rumbling sound, all sorts of brutal things, including steel pillars, collapsed.

“Mr. Kim!”

It was such a dizzying sight that even the tough guys who had spent their lives on construction sites screamed. It seemed that the body of the worker called Mr. Kim would be crushed under the pile of materials right before their eyes.

“Ugh….”

Mr. Kim was so frightened that he couldn’t even scream and only let out a groan. The workers closed their eyes tightly, 미리 떠올리고 [anticipating] the scene of the terrible accident that would happen before their eyes.

Thud.

But the sound that followed was strange. If a person was crushed by a solid steel pillar, there should have been a dull sound along with a scream.

But the sound that was heard was so small and insignificant that it was 맥이 빠질 정도로 [disappointing].

Even in the midst of the chaos, the workers who felt something strange opened their eyes slightly.

“Huh?”

In the eyes of the workers, they saw not the terribly damaged body of a colleague crushed under the pile of materials, but a man supporting the pile of solid steel pillars with both hands, the client.

“Ugh.”

While the workers were gaping at the amazing sight and unable to say anything, the client nonchalantly pushed the steel pillar aside.

Crash!

The pillars collided with each other, making a loud metallic noise, and the pile of dirt that had not yet been firmly compacted scattered in all directions.

“Please call 119 [emergency services].”

His low voice was strangely powerful. Even the workers who had been panicking and 갈팡질팡 [wavering] were startled by his words and widened their eyes.

Some of the faster ones took out their cell phones and called for an ambulance, and dragged out the truck driver who was the cause of this accident.

“What! Park, you bastard! You drank alcohol!”

“No, that’s not it….”

“You son of a bitch!”

It seemed that the truck driver’s accident was not just due to simple carelessness. It was strange that he had touched the pile of materials that had been well stacked in the corner, and the driver’s face was flushed.

After the accident, his 정신없이 어설픈 [flustered and clumsy] response was clearly due to drinking, not just a simple drink, but proper drinking.

“You crazy bastard, who are you trying to kill by drinking so much alcohol at the site and grabbing the steering wheel!”

“No, just one glass! I only had one glass! I drank alcohol, but it wasn’t drunk driving!”

“This bastard is 씨부리네 [spouting] a lot of things I’ve heard before. You crazy bastard, you almost sent a perfectly fine person to 골로 [to the afterlife/to die], what are you so loud about!”

“That’s not it! Argh! Listen to what I have to say! I’m sure I drank alcohol, but I drank just as much as I usually do, just that much!”

“Stop it, Park. I can’t just let it go this time. The police are coming, so take care of it.”

“That’s not it, I’m sure there’s something wrong?! There’s something strange here! The car that was going well turned around on its own, argh! I’m going crazy, really.”

The truck driver continued to 떠들어 댔다 [babble] with a frustrated face at the shouts of the angry workers. He kept saying that he saw something strange, that the car moved on its own, but no one else would listen to the words of a drunken driver.

“Ah, really! You guys did too! You said that there seems to be something wrong with this 터 [site]!”

While the truck driver and the workers were arguing, Kim Jin-woo rescued the worker who was crushed under the materials.

“I’ll save you now, so don’t open your mouth. If you do it wrong, your tongue will be cut off.”

Before Mr. Kim could answer, he was already moving. In an instant, the heavy steel pillar was 내동댕이쳐졌다 [thrown aside].

***

The man called Mr. Kim was eventually taken to the ambulance. The man who drove the truck was also taken to the police who were dispatched after receiving the accident report, and it seemed that the incident was 마무리 되는 [coming to an end]. But according to the police investigation that day, the truck driver’s alcohol level was not that high, and it was not enough to cause such a big accident.

There was something 석연찮은 [fishy], but Kim Jin-woo didn’t 신경 쓰지 [pay attention to] that again.

But the flowing situation didn’t let him do that, so accidents kept happening at the construction site.

A worker who was carrying luggage suddenly collapsed like he was drunk, and the heavy equipment that had no problems repeatedly malfunctioned. The work speed inevitably slowed down noticeably, and of course, Kim Jin-woo called the supervisor and 당부했다 [requested] several times.

But despite that, the accidents continued, and later on, the story that the 터 [site] was not good was 심심찮게 들릴 지경이 되었다 [becoming commonplace].

When the situation reached that point, Kim Jin-woo couldn’t help but notice. The workers who kept 떠들어대는 [chattering] that they saw something 헛것을 [hallucinations] and the repeated accidents were not normal.

And if something really affected them, its identity was obvious.

Maze. There were two underground mazes here now.