Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 204

# 205

Dungeon Journal

She looked ready to reveal the identity of the Summoning Stone, but the door burst open, and the Dark Merchant appeared, his timing impeccable in cutting Catherine off.

“Not now.”

Her stance suggested she’d been observing the scene inside. She narrowed her eyes.

“So, it’s you?”

With a clipped remark that offered no context, the Dark Merchant looked troubled, avoiding her gaze.

She didn’t relent. Her persistent stare followed him, and finally, he spoke with a sigh of resignation.

“Please, do not forget our covenant with the Black Merchants.”

Even with his subdued tone, her expression didn’t change.

“Covenant? What covenant? This is just a transaction.”

“Ugh.”

The Dark Merchant, rarely speechless, repeatedly glanced at her imploringly.

“Fine. It seems you have your reasons. I’ll refrain from interfering.”

She shifted her attitude quickly, as if preoccupied with something else.

“What are you two whispering about?”

Kim Jin-woo, feeling excluded, belatedly tried to join the conversation, but Catherine and the Dark Merchant ignored him, as if bound by a secret agreement.

“It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“It sounds like you’re talking about me. I need to know.”

He refused to be manipulated by blindly following along. He pressed them with a sharp tone.

But who were the Dark Merchant and Catherine?

One was a merchant hardened by the underground, and the other a High Lord, as cunning as she was powerful. They casually dismissed his fierce demeanor.

“Just know this.”

Kim Jin-woo, about to step forward, stopped at Catherine’s unexpected words.

“You’ve found quite the patron.”

“Lord of Lament!”

Before he could understand her cryptic words, the Dark Merchant shouted. His urgent tone, so unlike his usual exaggerated manner, genuinely surprised Kim Jin-woo.

“You two, don’t tell me you’re in a ‘non-contractual’ state right now?”

“My Lord! Any further remarks are a clear violation of our covenant.”

The Dark Merchant protested in an uncharacteristically stern voice. One could even detect hostility in his low tone.

However, she was a High Lord, and not easily intimidated by an imp. She glared at him with a furious expression.

“Do you, or rather, do the Black Merchants know what you’re doing?”

“This is not the underground that the Lord presides over. This place has its own rules, so please refrain from further interference.”

Was this the Dark Merchant’s true self? His true colors, hidden beneath his small and unimpressive exterior, were now on display.

“Fine, I’ve received something from you, so I won’t interfere further.”

Catherine surprisingly backed down. But only for a moment, as her eyes turned even colder.

“But let me give you one warning.”

She now exuded the overwhelming presence of a High Lord.

“If you want something, kneel at his feet and beg. If you deceive him, trusting in your petty intellect, the end will not be pleasant.”

It was an arrogant statement. The Black Merchants were a group even the powerful nobles of the deep layers treated with respect, and they wouldn’t ignore such words.

Yet, the Dark Merchant didn’t refute her, even after being treated like a lowly slave.

Instead, he quickly lowered his head, his face pale.

“Good, I trust you understand.”

After warning the Dark Merchant, Catherine turned to Kim Jin-woo.

“Although the authority and glory that were plundered are scattered throughout the underground, diminishing its former power, the High Lord is still the rightful ruler.”

Her voice was several times colder than when she spoke to the Dark Merchant.

“Your ignorance will not excuse your fate, so keep your eyes wide open and watch everything with unwavering clarity. Do not forgive those who deceive you and covet what is yours.”

He couldn’t easily respond to her hostile tone, and she scoffed.

“Hmph, I’m not in the mood for idle chatter today. I’ll be going now.”

With those words, she opened the door to the VIP room.

“Remember my words.”

He couldn’t tell who her last words were directed at as she left, but Kim Jin-woo found himself pondering them.

Thud.

As she left, the Catfolk woman, who had been enduring, finally collapsed. The presence of a High Lord was too much for an ordinary Catfolk.

However, Kim Jin-woo and the Dark Merchant didn’t even glance at her. The Dark Merchant avoided his gaze, looking guilty, and Kim Jin-woo stared blankly in the direction Catherine had gone.

“Then, I’ll be…”

“It seems like there’s a story that only I don’t know.”

He said coldly, stopping the Dark Merchant who was trying to escape.

“What’s the story that only you and she know? Tell me what I’m missing.”

Catherine’s story had opened a tiny crack. Kim Jin-woo intended to widen it.

“As you know, the Dark Merchants of the Black Merchants sponsor promising labyrinth owners…”

“I’m warning you too.”

He glared at the Dark Merchant, who was trying to justify himself.

“Don’t hide anything. Don’t lie. Don’t ever let me be humiliated because of you again.”

He had thought surviving was enough. But even he had pride.

Catherine’s condescending gaze still burned in his memory, chilling him.

“If you’re hiding something, tell me now. Because right now…”

Kim Jin-woo growled.

“I feel like an idiot.”

The Dark Merchant left. Despite the pressure, he didn’t reveal anything. He only promised answers on the last day of the auction.

“Please, just wait until then.”

The Dark Merchant, trembling from exposure to the High Lord’s presence, yet still refusing to speak, clearly held secrets.

He had no way to uncover them now, so he could only wait for the auction’s final day.

“Hoo.”

For some reason, the auction grew more complicated each day, to the point where he missed the Great Labyrinth.

He sighed deeply and looked up at a knock on the door.

“It’s me.”

Catherine, appearing with a casual knock like a friendly neighbor, showed no trace of her earlier fierce demeanor.

“I said it earlier, but I thought it would be good to tell you at least some of the story.”

She plopped down next to him.

“But before that…”

Catherine stared intently at his face.

“I need to hear how you awakened.”

Kim Jin-woo didn’t hesitate. You have to give to get, and holding back while only listening would diminish the information’s value.

So, after a moment, he told her everything about his awakening.

However, he omitted the fragment of the Radiant Monarch, unable to fully trust her.

“And now I’m at the auction house with you and the Black Merchants.”

The story, long or short, ended. Catherine frowned, lost in thought.

“It seems things have gone wrong.”

After a long pause, she spoke in a heavy voice.

“The most important thing that should have been given to the Successor was not passed on.”

What was she talking about? He frowned. He fought back the questions bubbling inside, waiting for her to continue.

“The One-Eyed Monarch had two crows.”

The moment he heard “crow,” Morrigan came to mind. Before she was the Black Harbinger, she was the Crow of the Battlefield.

“One roamed outside, displaying the Monarch’s power, and the other remained inside, guarding the Monarch’s side.”

She told him about the acting crow, the Black Harbinger, and the ruling crow, Baek-o.

One executed the Monarch’s desires, the other upheld reason and memory.

“Originally, you should have both the Harbinger and Baek-o by your side. But you only have the Harbinger. It’s not normal.”

She continued.

“But the problem is that Baek-o hasn’t appeared. If Baek-o had been there, you wouldn’t be so ignorant.”

Her face was serious as she lamented with a pitiful expression.

“The Harbinger is simply an executor who fights and annihilates. But Baek-o is different.”

She tapped her head.

“Baek-o is the One-Eyed Monarch’s memory and power itself.”

Catherine said he was only half-awakened and that she’d found the reason for his ignorance.

“That’s right, I fully inherited the memories of Lament.”

It would have been someone else’s problem if it was someone else’s problem, but her face was strangely dark. When he asked why, she sighed and explained.

“The first, the second, and even I were all waiting for the Successor of the One-Eyed Monarch. The One-Eyed Monarch was the one who drove out the terrible monster, ‘Night’.”

She paced anxiously, a rare sight, and said.

“This won’t do. I need to meet the first and second.”

“Didn’t you say you were on bad terms with them?”

“It’s not about liking or disliking. At this rate, we’ll all be killed by ‘Night’.”

The situation was more serious than he thought, and she seemed truly pressed for time.

“The game is over. I have to go.”

Catherine seemed ready to leave the auction house.

“Wait!”

Kim Jin-woo grabbed her as she turned to leave.

“Sister…”

“How touching. The situation right now is… Never mind. Sohee will come to find you when the time comes. And even if it’s not Sohee, I’ll find you first, so don’t worry too much.”

He had a complicated expression at her uncharacteristically kind attitude.

“Then, goodbye until we meet again.”

She left without looking back. He couldn’t tell if that was her true self or if the situation was truly dire.

Alone, he pondered their conversation.

“Originally, the vessel of the Monarch cannot meet any fragments until it is ready. It seems something has gone wrong.”

Catherine said Morrigan wasn’t just an ancient hero-grade summon and that their meeting was the first encounter, predating Ustus.

She also said it was no accident and had a serious expression.

Kim Jin-woo’s face twisted. If meeting Morrigan had hindered his complete awakening, it was someone’s trickery.

And he knew who.

“Anatolius!”

He gritted his teeth, thinking of the iron-faced giant who had sent him the Summoning Stone as a token of alliance and a down payment.