Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 270

Dungeon Journal – Episode 271

# 271

Dungeon Journal

Episode 271

On the surface, it always seemed like Kim Jin-woo was the one benefiting. That cunning Imp always made a fuss, emphasizing his losses, but Jin-woo didn’t truly believe his whining.

It just appeared that the visible gains were his; Jin-woo suspected Mimir was likely hiding sinister intentions and subtly working towards his own goals.

“I know you’ve been using me, knowingly or unknowingly. I’ve pretended not to notice because it was beneficial. But now I need to know the truth. I need to know what you really want.”

Mimir lowered his head at the firm tone that brooked no argument.

“Raise your head. Look me in the eye. I’m warning you one last time: don’t try to hide anything from me, and don’t lie.”

Mimir was startled by those words and quickly raised his head.

“Why are you suddenly doing this to me? Don’t you know how hard I’ve worked day and night for you, my lord?”

But, perhaps thinking there was still a way out, Mimir instead complained that his efforts were not being appreciated.

“If it weren’t for me, where would you have learned the ancient secret histories, and who else would help you so thoroughly from the shadows?”

Kim Jin-woo pursed his lips at Mimir’s attitude, which now showed resentment beyond mere complaint.

“Mimir.”

He called the little Imp’s name.

“Yes? My lord?”

The coldness in his tone was so chilling that the surrounding temperature seemed to drop. Mimir immediately shut his noisy mouth and watched him carefully.

“You’re underestimating me.”

Otherwise, there was no way he would be acting so evasive despite several warnings.

Mimir belatedly offered excuses with a bewildered look, but it was already too late. Jin-woo had no intention of watching him continue to play games with his cunning tongue, and he had no intention of showing any more mercy.

“L, Lord! Keuk!”

Kim Jin-woo grabbed the Imp’s collar with a rough hand. The Imp, choking, swallowed the words he was about to say and instead let out a groan.

Word of Command and the Eye of Truth. With just those two things, most people could get whatever they wanted. But neither ability worked on Mimir, and that was the most suspicious thing. The fact that a mere warehouse keeper, a trivial Imp, could resist the power of a High Lord was not normal.

“Y, You have to let go of this first… Keoeok.”

Kim Jin-woo didn’t even twitch an eyebrow at Mimir’s painful appeal. Instead, he tightened his grip on the collar even more.

“Kkeueoeok.”

Mimir, now completely out of breath, stuck out his tongue and drooled. The blood vessels in his head, which was abnormally large for his body, turned red, and his eyeballs turned bloodshot.

Fear and pain filled Mimir’s face. The Imp’s unique black and white eyes clouded over with the horror of death.

“L, Lord…”

The barely squeezed-out voice sounded like he was about to pass out, and the hand gestures struggling to remove Jin-woo’s hand gripping his collar looked desperate rather than pathetic.

But Kim Jin-woo didn’t even twitch an eyebrow. At this moment, it seemed like he didn’t care if this little Imp died. No, it wasn’t just that it seemed that way.

He really didn’t care about Mimir’s life or death.

It had to be now.

A sense beyond instinct, almost like a premonition, warned him.

The ominousness of Valhalla, hiding its fangs and waiting for him, and the gradual return of the Underworld to the past, made him unable to hesitate any longer.

A gaze with a wild glint met the Imp’s unfocused eyes.

[Mimir, on whom the Lord’s Command and the ability to see through the truth obtained by sacrificing an eye do not work, is no ordinary Imp.]

[To get what you want from such a Mimir, you need to show a correspondingly strong dignity.]

[And fortunately, you have the dignity to pressure this cunning Imp.]

[The source of existence has revealed itself to the world.]

“Kkeueueue.”

The suppressed groan now became a grotesque noise as he gasped for breath.

[An evil dragon tainted with malice, the greed of a hungry beast suffering from starvation, or the shadow of the countless High Lord fragments you absorbed. No one knows what Mimir saw in your origin.]

[But it is clear that it was by no means a gentle and pleasant kind of thing. Mimir is now feeling a fear worse than death.]

In a little while, this Imp, full of dark secrets, would become a handful of soil that made up the Underworld, without even having a chance to reveal what he had hidden in his head.

“I, I’ll tell you…”

But it seemed that Mimir’s name was not yet written in the Book of the Dead [a record of when and how individuals die]. The world of the afterlife, which had come so close, was pushed away by a word desperately squeezed out.

Kim Jin-woo slightly loosened his grip.

Mimir, who collapsed to the floor with a thud, coughed dryly and vomited.

“I hope your current decision is not a temporary measure to escape the situation.”

It was a long time before Mimir opened his mouth. The blue bruise marks on his neck were still there, but Mimir barely managed to regain his usual breathing.

“I, I’ll tell you everything.”

Mimir’s face, still haunted by fear, was as pale as a corpse. Looking down at the Imp trembling pitifully, Kim Jin-woo looked very pleased.

“Tsk, you should have done that from the start. You’ve made me look like a cruel bastard for nothing.”

It was a statement that didn’t match his terribly brazen expression, but Mimir couldn’t dare to argue.

The equal relationship that had existed until now collapsed, and the framework of the transaction that had been covering up the cooperation was broken. This cunning Imp could no longer resist him.

That’s because what Kim Jin-woo wielded was not just simple violence. It was a brand of fear engraved on the soul. It was an engraving of an overwhelming difference in class that could not be resisted. The Lord’s origin, revealed for a moment, was ferocious, savage, and merciless.

Tremble.

Even as his body rattled with the unsuppressed trembling, Mimir stammered.

“W, What do you want to know…”

Was the punishment too harsh? Mimir, who was so smart that he was cunning, was spouting nonsense.

“Let’s start with the reason you sneaked in.”

“Y, You mean the reason I came here?”

It seemed that he had not come for a good reason. Seeing that he couldn’t answer easily even after suffering such a terrible fate, there must have been an ominous motive.

“Tsk.”

There was no need to urge him. Just showing a displeased expression made Mimir panic and babble.

“I came here to confirm something.”

“Confirm?”

“I felt the presence of Valhalla [In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic hall in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. It is where chosen warriors are taken after death], and I just wanted to know if you had completely inherited the legacy of the One-Eyed Lord.”

“Why were you curious about that?”

Mimir did not answer easily this time, but the silence was not long. The fear engraved on his soul opened Mimir’s mouth.

“Because I thought you would fail.”

Mimir’s true feelings that came out like that were something Kim Jin-woo had not expected.

A premonition of misfortune. He couldn’t have felt good, but more than that, he was caught up in questions and confusion.

Mimir, who had been supporting him from behind until now, must have given him full support because he needed him, whatever his purpose. He could hardly accept the fact that Mimir actually wanted him to fail.

“I need to hear the reason.”

Kim Jin-woo said in a calm voice.

“Only a lord who has been broken, frustrated, and fallen into the abyss can become the master of that terrible monster created by piling up the despair of warriors who failed to achieve their dreams.”

It was a vague explanation, as if grasping at clouds, but he vaguely realized that, unlike his own thoughts, Mimir did not want his death.

“I was just trying to see how you would change when you fell into the abyss.”

What the secret history surrounding Valhalla was could be checked later. He first asked the question that flashed through his cluttered mind.

“What were you going to do after confirming that?”

“I wasn’t going to do anything. There was just someone who wanted to know.”

He couldn’t stand it any longer and urged Mimir, as the flow kept deviating from his expectations.

“Explain properly unless you’re trying to make me angry!”

Mimir, startled by his words, prostrated himself on the floor.

“I, I’ll explain! So please calm down!”

The fear once engraved on the soul swallowed the little Imp just by touching it slightly. Watching Mimir tremble, he belatedly withdrew his momentum.

“Hoo.”

As he barely calmed down, Mimir hurriedly explained.

“I am a warehouse keeper, but I am also a merchant of the Black Merchant [a clandestine organization dealing in rare and dangerous goods]. And a merchant never helps others for free.”

“Weren’t you the Eternal Warehouse Keeper, following me who inherited the name of the One-Eyed Lord?”

“I supported you long before you had any connection with the ancient power, and at the time, you were not suitable for investment, even as a joke.”

As Mimir said, he had received full support from the Black Merchant even before he met the fragment of the One-Eyed Lord. The relationship with the Black Merchant, which he had taken for granted until now, made him confused again.

“Then the Black Merchant helped me…”

“That’s right. I was asked by someone to support you.”

As expected, his prediction was correct, but he still felt frustrated. That’s because he couldn’t know who had asked Mimir.

“Who is it? Could it be that my connection with the fragments of the High Lords was all that someone wanted?”

Mimir replied in a voice that had sunk low along with his heavy voice.

“I don’t know who that person is. I just received the price for the request and followed it. After that, I don’t know whether it was that person’s intention for you to rise to the position of High Lord.”

*Tak*, he felt drained, and he felt stuffy as if he was blocked.

“There must be nothing to hide. If you still have something to hide, I really intend not to let you go.”

As his momentum, which had barely calmed down, became fierce again, Mimir, who had turned pale, hurriedly began to rattle off what he knew.

“I, I don’t know who that person is, but maybe you know that person.”