Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 170

Dungeon Journal – Episode 171

# 171

Dungeon Journal

Baek hesitated, and Kim Jin-woo sensed he was weighing something against his own self-preservation.

He also knew that if self-preservation won, Baek would likely interfere from the sidelines.

So, he released a portion of the High Lord’s aura that he had been suppressing.

“Ugh!”

Baek’s expression froze as the sudden surge of energy overwhelmed him.

“I asked, who is it?”

Kim Jin-woo didn’t raise his voice. He simply stated his business as quietly as always.

But that alone was enough to make Baek’s face pale as he stammered.

“If you’re not comfortable revealing it, you don’t have to. I entrusted it to you to find them a little faster, but it’s not the only way.”

His words sounded like a regretful withdrawal, but the underlying meaning was far from gentle. And Baek was cunning enough to understand the message even in his panicked state.

If he let him go like this, they would never be able to face each other amicably again. Or perhaps his name might be added to the list of those to be disposed of.

Baek understood the meaning accurately, and so he made his choice.

“The contact belongs to a man named Kim Jong-bin.”

Kim Jin-woo suppressed the aura he had released, watching Baek squeeze his eyes shut as he barely uttered those words. Baek, now freed from the overwhelming pressure, took a long breath and massaged his neck. Looking considerably older in a short time, Baek added hesitantly,

“And he is an executive of the Explorer Association.”

***

“Master?”

Dominique, seeing Kim Jin-woo return to his residence, widened her eyes and circled around him.

No matter what had happened, his aura had completely changed in a short time.

He wasn’t wearing a fiery expression, nor was he glaring intensely.

But she could tell that Kim Jin-woo was angrier than ever before.

He, who usually seemed relaxed on the surface, felt as if he were standing in the middle of the Labyrinth of the Underworld [a particularly dangerous and chaotic dungeon] at this moment.

So, she couldn’t help but worry that he might have been consumed by the will of the Labyrinth again.

Even Dominique, who rarely lost her composure, was subdued as she watched him carefully.

Kim Jin-woo’s expression was that grim.

But it couldn’t be helped. At this moment, he was barely holding back his boiling anger.

“It doesn’t seem like a simple scam. What glory would an executive of the Association gain from staging a hostage situation?”

“I’m the target, then.”

“It’s highly likely.”

Recalling his conversation with Baek, he gritted his teeth.

“Dominique.”

Kim Jin-woo finally spoke after a long silence, calling Dominique’s name. Startled, she immediately knelt before him, answering.

“It seems I’ve been too lenient.”

“Yes?”

Dominique, not understanding properly, asked with a blank face. He only said what he had to say, without explaining.

“It seems they saw me as easy prey because I was quiet.”

Only then did Dominique understand Kim Jin-woo’s words, and she spoke with even greater indignation.

“If there is anyone who dares to think of Master that way, they will not have an easy death.”

Kim Jin-woo finally chuckled at her chilling words filled with murderous intent.

“That’s what I’m thinking too.”

With those words, he instructed Dominique on the situation.

“Summon Espetos.”

Dominique asked back at his words.

“Espetos, you mean…?”

“I need a shadow.”

Kim Jin-woo didn’t explain further.

***

“Mother, I’m home.”

Kim Jin-woo greeted his mother with an indifferent face.

He acted as if he knew nothing about his father’s situation. His acting was so natural that his mother and Hyun-ji even expressed their disappointment.

“Yes, eat. I don’t know what you’ve been eating, but home-cooked meals are the best.”

But his mother welcomed him without showing it. Kim Jin-woo, watching her put side dishes on his spoon as he sat at the table, quietly looked at the darkness huddled in the corner of the living room before turning his head.

-Angela. Has anything else happened?

“Mother, please pack some of this for me. I’ll take it with me to eat.”

“Will you?”

He was talking to Angela in his mind while outwardly chatting casually with his mother.

‘Well, other than the fact that these people have a special affection for Master, I haven’t gained anything in particular.’

Angela, hidden in the darkness and not revealing her presence, drawled out the end of her sentence as if she was bored.

‘There will be movement soon. So, please take good care of my family then.’

If it was the Explorer Association’s doing, they would start making moves now that he had visited the Association.

Others might not, but Song Jong-cheol and Jeong Chan-sik would have some idea of his strength.

Of course, even that was only the ‘Dungeon Baby’ ability that he had hidden and revealed only a tiny bit.

They would never imagine his true identity. Furthermore, they would not expect that he would have a guardian in the shadows like Angela.

-Don’t worry, just eat the side dishes your mother is giving you. Your hands must be hurting.

He couldn’t help but chuckle at Angela’s actions, using the word ‘Mother’ so naturally, as if she had picked it up from somewhere.

“Why, Jin-woo?”

“Ah, no. I just thought of something funny.”

-Where did you learn those words?

-From that TV that Mother watches all day. They called it a drama? It was interesting.

Angela had adapted to the surface too well.

“Mother, I’ll go back now.”

His mother wanted her son to return home, but she couldn’t easily say those words.

She just hoped that he would stay home a little longer, even if it was just for a moment. Knowing her feelings, he took the time to visit her before the big event.

-In the worst-case scenario, take Mother and Hyun-ji and escape to the Labyrinth.

-I don’t think that will happen, but I’ll keep it in mind.

Just as Angela’s voice, which had been echoing in his head for a long time after leaving the house, finally disappeared, Kim Jin-woo realized that he was being followed by shadows.

“Hmm…”

Perhaps because of his title as the only Level 12 Dungeon Baby in Korea, these shadows didn’t approach him closely and kept a considerable distance.

But just because they were far away didn’t mean they could perfectly avoid his gaze.

The shadows continued to follow him, unaware that their every move was being exposed.

Their presence disappeared only after arriving near the hideout located in Paju.

In the meantime, he learned through Angela that the guys had contacted him again and had repeatedly urged his mother to see if he had noticed the hostage situation.

He was furious at the thought of his family being harassed, but Kim Jin-woo tried to control his anger.

They would pay the price anyway. There was no need to complicate things by not being able to control his anger for a moment.

So, he waited for his time, suppressing his anger.

When the dark night of the new moon came, he finally began to act.

“Please do as I told you.”

“Don’t worry about this side, Master. Please be careful not to get hurt.”

After entrusting a few more things to Dominique, he slipped out of the hideout.

Kim Jin-woo headed to the Explorer Association.

He already knew from Baek that the explorer named Kim Jong-bin spent most of his time in the Association’s office, so his steps were confident.

There were hidden watchers around the building, concealing their presence. The security was unusually tight, as if there had been some recent instructions.

Watchers with such sensitive senses that even Angela, who had the ability to completely merge with the darkness, was wary of them. Kim Jin-woo stepped forward confidently.

***

On a night when even the moonlight was faint, a watcher yawned widely before closing his mouth. He had spotted something moving quickly along the blind spot of the streetlight.

“Report to the top, we have a guest.”

The watcher quickly assessed the situation and responded quickly, and his colleague immediately took out his cell phone.

“Th, this!”

But the actions of the uninvited guest who approached under the cover of darkness were several times faster than their response. Before his colleague could take out his cell phone and turn on the screen, the shadow that had been far away had approached within striking distance.

“Be care…”

Before he could finish speaking, the attacker’s fist slammed into his colleague’s jaw. The colleague was about to press the button on his cell phone, but he collapsed as if crumbling.

“You crazy bastard. Who are you! What’s your identity!”

The watcher, belatedly taking out a specially designed baton, shouted at the attacker. The inside of the building quickly became noisy at the shout.

“You bastard, who do you think you are barging in here.”

The watcher, having completed his primary mission of alerting the presence of the intruder by shouting, quickly prepared to fight.

The opponent still hadn’t revealed himself. As the watcher had been hiding in the blind spot of the building for concealment, the attacker who had taken him down was also half-covered in darkness.

The remaining watcher strained his eyes and looked at his opponent. The Dungeon Baby’s unique visual ability, which could see through even the complete darkness of the underworld, was activated. But that was it.

The watcher could barely make out the jawline of the attacker, who was wearing a hood pulled down deeply. It felt as if the darkness was particularly thick around him.

Feeling a chill for some reason, the watcher swallowed hard and bluffed.

“You’re a dead man, you bastard.”

“The response is better than I thought. It’ll be hard to sneak in.”

Even though it was obvious that the attacker had realized that the surprise attack had failed, he seemed strangely relaxed.

That appearance made the watcher feel even more uneasy, and he growled, gripping the baton tightly.

“You bastard, did you think this was some neighborhood police box?”

The watcher, feeling his face improve only after sensing his hidden colleagues secretly surrounding the attacker, threatened him.

But the attacker was still full of composure. And the watcher soon realized why.