Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 294

Dungeon Journal – 295

# 295

Dungeon Journal

“But you know.”

There was just one problem.

“So, what do you get out of this?”

The stories she told were always grand and elaborate. That’s why they didn’t feel genuine.

The more beautiful the words people spoke, the more they cloaked themselves in the guise of serving a greater cause, the darker and more grotesque their true intentions turned out to be.

That was the harsh truth he had learned through his near-death experiences in the Underworld.

“No offense, but those High Lords aren’t exactly altruistic.”

From the very beginning, the Underworld was a place where survival meant killing and taking what belonged to others.

Believing that a High Lord who had risen to the top in such a brutal environment would be purely good was naive.

And he was no fool.

The path of a monarch, paved with blood and resentment-filled deaths, was the path he had walked. The identity of a monarch was etched into his very being, a fact he never forgot.

“Forget the grand stories about the Underworld’s destruction or whatever. What do *you* get out of it?”

It wasn’t sarcasm or a reprimand. It was a genuine question. Any lingering resentment from the past seemed to have vanished.

“Let’s stop with the pointless reminiscing.”

She closed her mouth, appearing speechless for the first time since their reunion. Yet, she didn’t seem flustered.

Her expression remained relaxed and smiling, just as it had been when they first met.

“You’re not as naive or innocent anymore.”

“You made me this way.”

If Kim Jin-woo had remained an ordinary Dungeon Baby [a person born and raised in a dungeon], he wouldn’t have become so jaded.

Perhaps he would have been content with simply covering his younger sister Hyun-ji’s wedding expenses and never returning to the Underworld for the rest of his life.

The reason he was now so deeply entangled in the Underworld’s hidden history was because he had something to protect here.

“So, stop sugarcoating things and let’s be honest.”

His voice, devoid of any lingering worries or confusion about the past, held a chilling edge.

“High Lord to High Lord.”

After uttering those words, he calmly waited for her response. She lowered her gaze, which had been fixed on him, and remained silent.

She seemed hurt, or perhaps she was searching for the right words.

The slight trembling of her shoulders suggested she was overcome with sorrow. Anyone else might have been moved by her pitiful appearance, forgetting the past and rushing to comfort her.

But Kim Jin-woo remained wary of her shadowed, unreadable face.

He knew that the silent trembling of her shoulders wasn’t due to sentimentality. The ominous air that had begun to swirl around her was proof of that.

“Amazing.”

And then she finally raised her head.

She was smiling, but the smile felt completely different from before. Only the corners of her lips had lifted slightly, yet that alone had transformed her into a completely different person.

The clear eyes and warm smile were gone, replaced by a weariness he had never witnessed before.

The manufactured smile and monotonous voice were utterly devoid of warmth. It was a chilling smile that felt as if her soul had been hollowed out, devoid of any emotion.

“No, in this case, I should phrase it differently.”

The refreshing, gentle breeze turned into a blade, lashing out in all directions, and her white clothes fluttered eerily. Her pale face even seemed ghostly.

“Since Night devoured Wandering, and that Night was consumed by you, there’s no way the Earth Dragon could have endured. You are no longer Wandering, nor Earth Dragon, nor Night.”

Her smile, which he had seen so often, felt foreign, as if he were seeing it for the first time.

“You are perhaps the only High Lord born anew since ancient times.”

She, the Lord of Depravity, declared.

“The promised Lord of Prophecy, the Eleventh Lord.”

The moment the prophecy that the Lord of True Blood had once spoken was uttered again from the mouth of the Usurper, Kim Jin-woo knew that the real story was about to begin. And as he expected, she no longer feigned emotions or sugarcoated things with grand causes.

“What is the prophecy?”

“Just as the mysteries of the Underworld encompass the Underworld, there were laws that governed the Surface, and those laws did not acknowledge our existence. That is why the integration of the Underworld and the Surface failed in the past.”

In the end, they needed someone who could circumvent the laws of the Surface.

“That’s me, or rather, the Underworlders born and raised in the Underworld.”

She shook her head.

“If all of them were capable, I wouldn’t be trying to persuade you in such an old-fashioned way.”

“Why me of all people?”

He couldn’t understand why the prophecy singled him out.

According to her, what the old lords needed was a Surface dweller who also belonged to the Underworld. If that was the case, there was the Lord of Lament, the Beast King, and Catherine, even if it wasn’t him.

“Their vessels are too small and insignificant. Although they have awakened to the power of a lord, that is the most they can contain.”

“So, you’re saying my stomach, which devours anything and everything, whether it’s Earth Dragon or Wandering, is bigger than the others, so it’s somewhat useful.”

“Your expression is excessively crude and violent, but you never miss the point.”

Kim Jin-woo snorted and ignored her criticism.

“So, what am I supposed to do now?”

“First, try to obtain the Wish Stone. Then you will know naturally.”

“How carefree. I have no intention of participating in that delusion at all.”

The Lord of Depravity smiled.

Many stories were exchanged after that, but not all questions could be resolved. No, he couldn’t even be sure if he could trust her in the first place.

“The truth will be revealed in due time, and that time will come sooner than you think.”

“Just one more question.”

Kim Jin-woo still glared at her with a displeased expression and asked.

“Why did you appear before me now of all times? You’re not going to tell me everything anyway. Whatever happened in the past, we’re not in a position to reminisce and laugh together, are we?”

“Do you resent me?”

The warmth that flickered across her expressionless face was as fleeting as a mirage. He couldn’t understand why he hadn’t noticed the emptiness hidden behind that smile back then.

“Of course not.”

He coldly shook his head.

“Yes. I am the same as you.”

She rattled off with an expressionless face.

“The affection I showed you back then was not a lie. I truly cherished you, and I sincerely felt compassion for you at that time.”

“Don’t bother saying things that don’t even….”

He gritted his teeth and snapped at her for her audacity. But before he could finish his sentence, she spoke first.

“But even so, I don’t feel sorry at all.”

Her voice was as dry as her expressionless face.

“If I were human, or rather, if I were an aristocrat of the Underworld, would I feel a little uncomfortable seeing you now?”

She stared at him with empty eyes.

“Perhaps the name I lost made me this way. I was alone for too long, and I had to endure the era of corruption alone for too long.”

The name she had lost was Benevolence, a name that suited the girl So-hee, as he had thought before he knew the truth.

“Maybe that’s why. Seeing you now, my heart doesn’t beat at all.”

If it had been the old him, it would have been such an audacious statement that his blood would have rushed backward. But instead of spewing out resentment, he coldly retorted.

“Don’t make excuses.”

He met her with eyes as dry as her empty eyes and said.

“Stop with the nonsense that doesn’t even make sense now. Countless Dungeon Babies who died because of you are crying, and the nobles are crying. You were just born that way in the first place.”

There was a coldness in his voice that did not betray even an inch of doubt.

“But that goes for you too, wouldn’t you say?”

She smiled at him as she watched him.

“When the moment of choice comes someday, you will make a choice that is not much different from mine.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. I’m not like you….”

“Don’t deny it.”

She spoke in a gentle tone, as if she were coaxing a stubborn child.

“As you said yourself, a monarch is originally such an existence.”

Her voice, like his, was full of conviction. And he somehow couldn’t deny those words.

“I haven’t heard the answer to my question yet.”

Kim Jin-woo changed the subject, feeling a little embarrassed, and she didn’t bother to point out his embarrassment.

“Why did you block my path now of all times?”

As the One-Eyed Monarch had said, there was definitely something secret in the Deep Layers. And the Lord of Depravity revealed herself as soon as he reached the Deep Layers. The timing was too coincidental to dismiss as a coincidence.

“I was just trying to tell you the priorities.”

“You speak as if you know why I came here.”

She nodded without the slightest hesitation.

“The reason you came here is probably because the One-Eyed Monarch blabbered his mouth. He’s always been a chatterbox. He lost an eye because of that useless curiosity, but he couldn’t break the habit.”

That wasn’t wrong. It was true that he had come here because of the message left by the One-Eyed Monarch through Baek-oh.

“Go back. You are not yet ready to meet the Underworld Tree.”

“The Underworld Tree?”

He frowned at the name he was hearing for the first time, and she spoke in a seemingly worried tone.

“So, it wasn’t just the duty of the Watcher that was cut off from transmission.”

She smiled as if it was nothing to be surprised about.

“What the Watchers guard is not the Underworld.”

Mirimir always said that the Watchers were the true guardians of the Underworld. But now the Usurper was saying that wasn’t the truth either.

“Hmm.”

He let out a low groan at the resonance that he somehow couldn’t ignore, and she added a word.

“What they guard is the only link connecting the Underworld and the Surface, and the executor of the mysteries that govern this entire dark world, the Underworld Tree.”