Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 313

Dungeon Journals – Episode 313 (313/319)

# 313

Dungeon Journals

Episode 314

109. Choice

My heart sank.

“Ah, Father, Mother.”

My fingertips were frigid, numb as if they weren’t even part of my body.

I forced my stiff jaw to move, uttering a single word that mumbled in my mouth before fading away.

And as expected, the voice was swallowed by the darkness before it could even escape my lips, never reaching them.

“Ugh….”

They didn’t seem to hear anything, their faces pale and etched with worry as they looked around.

Their pallid complexions, eyes darting around in confusion as they struggled to pierce the darkness, and the ragged breaths they drew vividly displayed the fear and despair they must be feeling.

“Father! Mother!”

The ache in my heart broke through the blockage in my throat, and a scream erupted. Their eyes, wandering aimlessly, immediately snapped towards the sound.

“Ji, Jinwoo?”

“Jinwoo!”

Their voices were terribly cracked and hoarse. Despite the darkness that human eyes couldn’t penetrate, they recognized their son instantly.

“Mother! Father!”

Kim Jinwoo shouted again.

“D, don’t come! Jinwoo! It’s a trap!”

“Jinwoo! Don’t come!”

The battlefield where tens of thousands had just died, how terrifying the unfamiliar stench of blood and sickening gore must be. How frightening the subterranean gloom and hostility that pushed away everything from the surface must be.

But instead of asking to be saved, instead of asking for help, Father and Mother shouted at him not to come.

The moment Kim Jinwoo felt the infinite worry contained within those words, sparks flew from his eyes. And a beat later, the anger that lifted its head grew instantly, becoming a massive monster.

“Father, Mother. Don’t worry.”

But what flowed out of his mouth was a surprisingly calm and gentle voice.

“I’ll save you.”

“Ah, don’t do that. Jinwoo, don’t do that. We….”

“Don’t be ridiculous, just run away. Jinwoo, we’re fine.”

His face turned cold at his parents’ voices, which disregarded their own safety to the point of recklessness.

“Was it you.”

His gaze brushed past his parents and turned to the woman standing right next to them.

“Did you bring them here?”

The woman trembled at the chilling anger directed at her. But even as she trembled, she never moved away from the hostages.

“Yoonhee, did you bring them to this damp place?”

At the increasingly cold voice, the woman, Yoonhee, darted her eyes around before giving the Lord of Depravity a desperate look.

“Be careful. She is nothing. Too small and insignificant to bear the wrath of someone like you. If her heart stops from your anger, theirs will stop as well.”

The Lord of Depravity subtly intervened, her words containing a veiled threat. She pressured him by saying that if anything happened to Yoonhee, they would share the same fate.

“Now, it’s my turn to ask.”

The Lord of Depravity, who had subtly retreated, stood next to Yoonhee. Until then, he couldn’t take any action.

He thought that if he rashly stepped forward, he would not be able to rescue his parents. Rather, Yoonhee, terrified, might resort to the worst possible measure.

“Can you be confident in the face of their deaths?”

It was an open threat, and he knew what she wanted.

“What you want is probably ‘Night.’”

Instead of answering, she gave a spiteful smile.

[Angela.]

[The interference of the divine is not completely resolved yet. I can’t save them until the divinity of the subterranean is completely gone from this area.]

While the Usurper was speaking, Kim Jinwoo spoke to Angela in his mind. But unfortunately, she said that he couldn’t save them with his current power.

[I’m sorry. If I had captured Yoonhee in time….]

When he ordered Yoonhee to be detained and the Wish Stone retrieved, he succeeded in retrieving the Wish Stone but failed to find Yoonhee.

She blamed herself for not carrying out her mission properly at the time.

[I should have paid more attention….]

Moreover, Angela had been in charge of guarding his parents on the surface. As such, it was not strange for her to feel responsible for the current situation.

[No, I was the one who returned you to the subterranean. And the one who took over your mission is….]

“Ah….”

Kim Jinwoo, who was telepathically communicating, exclaimed absentmindedly as he remembered something.

“If you’re trusting the Lord of True Blood [likely referring to Angela], give up. They will die immediately if Yoonhee dies or if the connection is cut off because they are too far away.”

The Usurper coldly warned, perhaps aware of Angela’s abilities.

“You asked if I could be confident in the face of death.”

He answered her warning with an irrelevant question.

“I am afraid of death.”

The Usurper looked puzzled at the sudden remark. But perhaps because she thought the initiative had passed to her, she didn’t bother to interrupt him.

“I am afraid of dying, and therefore I am afraid of losing others.”

The Usurper smiled brightly. It seemed she thought he had accepted her offer.

“Don’t worry. If you hand over the Night to me, they can return to the warm world as if nothing happened.”

Her attitude of pretending to care and speaking gently was simply brazen. But Kim Jinwoo didn’t bother to point that out. He simply looked at her with an inscrutable expression.

“But it’s a bit unexpected. I thought you wouldn’t feel much value for them now.”

Perhaps because the actions he had shown so far had been too ruthless, she looked somewhat surprised.

“You are still the little Jinwoo I remember.”

She uttered those words, which might have been mockery or admiration, and stepped forward, extending her hand.

“But that’s not bad either. My little Jinwoo didn’t belong in this cold and damp world from the beginning. Living happily with them on the warm surface is not a bad idea. After all, the Spider Duke you were trying to avenge is no longer in this world, so you should spend a happy life.”

“That’s right. That’s not a bad idea either.”

Kim Jinwoo echoed the Usurper’s words. The Lord of Depravity smiled brightly at those words. But her smile didn’t last long. Suddenly, he changed his attitude.

“But I don’t want to go back to the surface with them at all?”

Kim Jinwoo, who had been anxious about his parents’ safety, no longer existed.

“What?”

“There is no place for them in the life on the surface that I have drawn.”

Had the existence of his parents, whom he seemed to cherish so much until just now, suddenly become insignificant? Or had he become regretful about the power and authority of the Night? The Usurper noticed something suspicious in his sudden change of attitude and stepped back.

But it was already too late. He had already approached her and grabbed her hand tightly.

“What are you doing? Are you saying you don’t care if they die in terrible pain?”

Kim Jinwoo shook his head at the sharp voice that belatedly erupted.

“No, that can’t be. I’ll definitely feel sorry. Maybe I’ll even feel guilty.”

“I can’t understand. But now you look like you’re about to devour me.”

He grinned at the wary gaze.

“Could it be….”

The Usurper, who had been staring intently into his eyes, was speechless, and her complexion turned white.

“Why!”

The small hand that was tightly gripped belatedly struggled, trying to shake off the rough grip. But he had no intention of letting go of her hand.

“They are.”

With a chilling gaze, as if he had a prey he had caught right in front of him, Kim Jinwoo coldly retorted.

“Because they are not my parents.”

“What?”

The Usurper was startled and turned her head.

Those who had been stamping their feet and praying for the safety of their child were no longer there.

Only blurry, smudged, whitish shadows replaced them.

“I forgot too.”

Kim Jinwoo said, looking at the Usurper, who was wide-eyed, unable to grasp the situation.

“Among the summons I created, there are pitiful beings who cannot live without imitating others.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the shadows that had vaguely taken human form completely turned into a hazy gas.

“Mirror Specters. The identities of the hostages you believed were my parents.”

“Ah!”

Perhaps she realized the situation then. The Usurper staggered, her legs giving way.

“Yoonhee, did you know?”

Kim Jinwoo, who had been looking down at her for a moment, asked Yoonhee, who was still standing guard next to the Mirror Specters.

“Yes.”

“Why? Why did you pretend not to know even though you knew?”

Yoonhee hesitated for a moment before answering his question.

“Because I thought nothing would change anyway.”

It was an ambiguous answer, and she belatedly added an explanation.

“Whether they are your real parents or not, I didn’t think the situation would change. The you I’ve been watching by your side is the most ruthless being in the subterranean, and I couldn’t imagine that you would give up your lifeline for the sake of fake parents who aren’t even real.”

Kim Jinwoo’s expression became strange upon hearing her answer.

“Besides, you’re not stupid. Both you and I know that the safety of the hostages will not be guaranteed even if you accept her demands.”

He couldn’t refute her words.

He knew very well how meaningless promises were in this brutal subterranean world, and he also knew that there was no guarantee that the cunning Usurper would keep her promise even if he accepted her demands.

Since he knew that fact so well, the hostage situation itself was meaningless from the start.

But that didn’t mean that the existence of his adoptive parents was worthless to him. Even if he couldn’t fulfill all of the Usurper’s demands, he would have desperately tried to save his parents.

Perhaps in the process, he might have caused considerable damage to the Usurper and brought about a crisis. But now, it was all meaningless speculation.

Because what was in this place now were Mirror Specters, not his parents, and the value of the hostages had already become meaningless.

“Presumptuous. Don’t talk as if you’ve seen through me.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll be careful in the future.”

Looking at Yoonhee, who didn’t seem very sorry, unlike her words, he didn’t bother to defend himself, saying that he wasn’t such a cold-blooded person. This was also his weakness, and there was no need to deliberately reveal it.

“As you heard.”

Kim Jinwoo turned his gaze away from Yoonhee and looked back at the Usurper.

“Both Yoonhee and I know how meaningless a hostage situation is in this subterranean world where my life is at stake.”

His eyes sparkled transparently, as if looking into her heart.

“And you probably knew that too.”