Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 136

Dungeon Journal- Episode 137

# 137

Dungeon Journal

Episode 137

Kim Jin-woo’s words left Yoon-hee speechless, her mouth clamped shut.

“If you’re going to worry, shouldn’t you worry about something else?”

He snapped his fingers and continued.

“Just worry about two things: the fact that maintaining the Labyrinth will become difficult if we fail, and that you need the Down Gem more than I do.”

He was right.

With numerous subordinate Labyrinths, Kim Jin-woo could squeeze his Labyrinths to weather this difficult situation.

On the other hand, she and the Party Hall were in a situation where the Labyrinth itself would be difficult to maintain if they couldn’t find a way to overcome the depletion of Down Gems immediately.

Even if they wanted to relocate the Labyrinth, they would need top-grade Down Gems and Down Gems to rebuild the foundation in the newly established territory.

“What you really need to worry about is how to secure even a little more of your share, how to bring more Down Gems back to the underground.”

Kim Jin-woo’s simple but pointed words eventually made Yoon-hee sigh and grant his request.

***

The preparation didn’t take long. After all, the only people who could operate on the surface were Kim Jin-woo, Yoon-hee, and Angela, who were outwardly indistinguishable from surface dwellers.

Naturally, a small number of people didn’t require extravagant preparations.

“Then let’s go up.”

Kim Jin-woo, standing in front of the portal, said briefly and stepped through. Angela, who had been traveling between the surface and the underground, also crossed the portal without hesitation.

Only Yoon-hee remained.

“What are you doing? Come on.”

There was no way she wouldn’t feel fear of the unknown, fear of the new world she had to face for the first time.

“I said I would build up power on the 7th floor to help. Now, I can’t even keep that promise. Are you going to shamelessly stand by and take the Down Gems I give you?”

Kim Jin-woo’s face, looking at her from beyond the portal, showed a hint of exasperation. That expression made her grit her teeth, and she crossed the boundary between the underground and the surface—the portal.

“Ah……”

She had only taken one step, but the world had completely changed. She let out a sound that was somewhere between a groan and an exclamation.

“Welcome back to your hometown.”

Kim Jin-woo said with a smirk. His tone made her feel like he was teasing her, and she retorted gruffly.

“My hometown is the underground. The surface is just my mother’s hometown.”

“That’s not wrong. But don’t forget that we are human. No matter how much you imitate the masters of the underground Labyrinths, the fact that we are human doesn’t change.”

She knew that very well. When she was humiliated at the Black Merchant’s auction, the product name hanging around her neck was ‘The Last Underground Human Remaining in the Underground.’

“So, what are your impressions of coming to the surface for the first time?”

Kim Jin-woo asked, abandoning his teasing expression and looking genuinely curious.

“It’s not that different. It’s still dark and gloomy. The surface isn’t that different either.”

Kim Jin-woo chuckled at her answer. He found her childish answer amusing, as if she still couldn’t let go of the idea that she was an underground being.

As if she would feel that the underground was inferior if she mentioned the advantages of the surface, she pouted and spoke ill of it.

“I’m already curious if you’ll be able to say the same thing tomorrow morning.”

He deliberately didn’t show her the true surface.

All she had seen was the basement of the safe house he had prepared, a few steps away from the portal.

The air here, where even the core transferred from the underground was installed, was not much different from the underground.

Thinking about it that way, her childish answer wasn’t entirely false.

Yoon-hee, who had spent half a day in the basement of the safe house, was able to leave the basement only after the morning sun rose. And after leaving the basement, she faced the bright world for the first time.

“How is it? Is the surface still the same as the underground?”

Kim Jin-woo asked with a mischievous face, grinning. She, who had been ignoring his words with a nonchalant face until recently, couldn’t even answer with a blank face.

She was touching the sunlight on her fingertips with a face as if her soul had left her body.

“Ah……”

He knew the emotion he felt when he first came to the surface, so he silently watched her do as she pleased.

“Is this the sun?”

As she said that, she unknowingly moved towards the window. No, she was about to move.

If it hadn’t been for Kim Jin-woo’s touch, pulling her in as if to embrace her, she would have surely stood by the window and bathed in the pouring sunlight.

“Why?”

She asked, reaching out to feel the warmth of the sunlight with regret.

“Your eyes are not yet ready to accept the surface.”

Bright light was poison to underground beings. As beings who roamed the dark underground without any light, they felt pain rather than comfort in bright light.

In fact, personal shields used by explorers, body bunkers, were equipped with light-emitting devices to exploit these weaknesses of underground beings.

Even with that faint flash, which was incomparable to the intensity of sunlight, underground beings often went blind.

However, if she, who was born and raised in the underground and had never set foot on the surface, faced the bright sunlight without any preparation, it wouldn’t end with just a temporary loss of sight.

At his words, she let out an exclamation filled with regret and surprise.

“You didn’t even explain that to me.”

Angela spoke in a sulky voice, but he didn’t even answer.

In fact, there was a reason why Kim Jin-woo brought Yoon-hee to the surface without any preparation. She had sworn allegiance and revealed her secrets, but he couldn’t fully trust her.

That was because her essence was human, a being that the underground system couldn’t unconditionally control.

Just like himself, she could twist and use the laws and systems of the underground at any time if there was a loophole, so he didn’t fully trust her.

The suspicion started when she herself declared that she would remain on the 7th floor, far from the Naga’s fortress. In his eyes, she didn’t seem to want to be completely subjugated to him.

And she, who had reigned like a queen in her Labyrinth, was now relying on him like a child on the surface.

Even this would soon be adapted over time, but until then, he was going to tame her.

“Just as there are laws in the underground, there are laws on the surface. Until you know them all, you are banned from going outside this building. The work starts after that.”

Kim Jin-woo said, sitting on the sofa in the corner of the living room and crossing his legs arrogantly.

“Let’s start with the easy stuff. First, you must not attack anyone until I ‘order’ you to. And you must not leave this building until ‘permission’ is granted.”

At his words, Yoon-hee nodded with a blank face.

***

Even though Down Gems were running out, it wasn’t like they were so short that the Labyrinth would collapse tomorrow.

So, Kim Jin-woo wasn’t too impatient even if Yoon-hee had more trouble adapting to the surface than he thought.

Rather, it was Yoon-hee who was impatient. Unlike the 9th floor, which was maintaining the front line, the situation on the 7th floor was truly chaotic, and they had to secure Down Gems to relocate the Labyrinth as soon as possible.

“Let’s go back and do the rest, since we’ve been away from the Labyrinth for too long.”

“Weren’t we going to finish it all at once?”

Yoon-hee asked in surprise, as he had never told her the exact plan until now.

“If getting the Down Gems back was that easy, I wouldn’t have brought you here in the first place—you, who can’t even take care of yourself.”

She prided herself on her competence, but she had been so out of her mind from the things she had experienced on the surface for the past few days that she couldn’t easily refute his words.

“We’ll do the rest when we get back.”

Kim Jin-woo said that and opened the portal without hesitation, crossing the boundary. Angela, who was lying on the sofa and watching TV lazily, pouted and followed him through the portal.

Left alone, Yoon-hee looked out the window with a somehow regretful look before following him.

“Hmm……”

Her expression wasn’t good after crossing the portal. It seemed like she felt a sense of loss from breathing the pleasant air of the surface and then breathing the damp and musty air of the underground.

“Take care of the Labyrinth’s defenses until I call you again. I’ll gather information in the meantime.”

At his eviction order, she mumbled something, then closed her mouth and returned to her Labyrinth.

“What was she trying to say?”

Angela, who was next to him, asked with a face full of interest.

“I don’t know what she was trying to say, but I think I know what she’s thinking.”

“What is she thinking?”

Angela seemed very interested in Yoon-hee’s outing. Kim Jin-woo glanced at her, who was asking with sparkling eyes, and answered with a twisted smile.

“She now knows what she has lost.”

She would suffer from an inexplicable sense of loss like a fever. No matter how much blood of the underground nobility was mixed in, the fact that she herself was human did not change.

And the moment she acknowledged that fact, she would feel disgusted by the dampness of the underground.

Perhaps she would want to remain on the surface, not caring about the Labyrinth.

“Then isn’t that bad?”

“Of course not. There’s no one easier to handle than someone who has something specific they want.”

At Kim Jin-woo’s answer, Angela narrowed her eyes and said reproachfully.

“You’ve become a villain. You weren’t like this when we first met at the auction.”

“What can’t I do to survive?”

Now, he should rather be grateful to the Lord of Nightmares. If Dinariyon hadn’t forcibly dragged out the memories of the past that were sunk deep in his consciousness, he would still be in an ambiguous state.

It was thanks to the memories that surfaced in the nightmare that he was able to shake off his foolish past self, who longed for and yearned for the surface.

“More than that, keep a close watch.”

“Wooseo is more suitable for surveillance than I am. And the Gluttony masses have already spread to all floors.”

He nodded at her answer, sat on the throne, and began to time when to bring Yoon-hee to the surface again.

***

It had been a day since he had taken Yoon-hee on an outing, and just when he was thinking that it was time to go back to the surface to gather information, a guest came.

“It’s been a while.”

Kim Jin-woo, who had gone out to the outskirts of the fortress, was greeted by a two-headed giant waiting for him with an anxious face.

“It’s been a while, King of the Nagas.”

Krassto, the undefeated mercenary, accepted his greeting in a somber tone.