Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 5

Dungeon Journal – Entry 6

# 6

Dungeon Journal

Entry 6

“So, you’re saying everyone except Ms. Jang Yoon-ju is dead.”

“Yes, they were all taken down before we could even react.”

Despite the news that only two people survived, the head of the Dungeon Management Office didn’t even flinch. He seemed more interested in hearing about something else than the victims.

It was an excessively callous attitude, considering eight people had died.

But what could he do?

In the Underworld, it was common for several people to die on any given expedition, and even now, there was a stack of paperwork on his desk about those who had gone missing or died in the dungeons.

“Are you sure you didn’t see something wrong? We’ve never found wolf monkeys on the first floor before.”

As expected, he didn’t ask about the details of what happened, but instead brought up the changes in the dungeon.

“The details are saved in the camera I gave you for investigation. I was too busy taking care of Ms. Jang Yoon-ju to pay attention to anything else anyway. It’ll be faster to check the video than to listen to my explanation.”

He quickly got up, fearing he’d get caught up in a complicated situation if he stayed there. Fortunately, the director seemed to think it was a priority to check the video, so he didn’t stop him.

“I won’t be far.”

At the director’s brief farewell, he hesitated before speaking.

“The remaining payment…”

It wasn’t easy to bring up money when most of the people who went in with him had died. But he didn’t want to get involved in this anymore, so he wanted a quick settlement.

From the beginning, the only reason he had decided to set foot in that wretched dungeon again was purely for the money.

“Ah, the client must be out of their mind. We’ll take care of it here.”

As if understanding his situation, the director reassured him that he would take care of it. He felt his face burning for no reason and hurried out of the office.

“Please go to Hapjeong Station.”

He caught a taxi that had just arrived and headed to Hapjeong Station, where his family lived. His family was very worried because he had visited the dungeon again.

Even at this moment, he had received at least ten text messages telling him to come straight home as soon as he was done.

It was a bit of an excessive worry, but he didn’t feel bad; rather, he smiled.

But that was only for a moment, as his face hardened. It was because he had discovered a geometric snake pattern engraved on the back of his hand.

It hadn’t been there two weeks ago, before he left for the Underworld.

Looking at the tattoo with a complicated expression, he covered the back of his hand with the pattern with his other palm. At that moment, a transparent window popped up in front of him.

[Naga Dungeon]

□ Grade 1 Dungeon (Synchronization Rate 16.1%)

□ Durability 41/1050

□ Facilities

* Owner’s Room (Grade 1)

* Portal (1/1 Ready for Use)

*Unreleased

-The owner’s ability to manage the dungeon is insufficient.

-Dungeon facilities cannot be activated.

“Damn it!”

He cursed, seeing the bizarre message that appeared before his eyes, wondering if he was crazy.

The taxi driver flinched and glanced at him in the rearview mirror. He sensed the strange look in his eyes, but he couldn’t afford to pay attention to the driver.

Just thinking about what had happened to him made his head feel like it was going to explode.

***

‘Eighteen thousand two hundred and thirty, Liberator of the Serpent, Successor of the Damp Underworld, and One to Sit on the Throne of the Nagas.’

The moment he was bitten on the arm by the black snake that burst through the surface of the stone table, a strange resonance echoed in his head.

‘You are too small and insignificant to bear the weight of the crown. But I am also not well enough to hold back the flow of time, so I will consider this fate.’

A voice that seemed to be filled with regret, before Kim Jin-woo could even figure out what it was, the voice left one more word and disappeared.

‘Good luck.’

And suddenly, a translucent window popped up,

[Naga Dungeon]

□ Grade 1 Dungeon (Synchronization Rate 1.25%)

□ Durability 39/1050

□ Facilities

* Owner’s Room (Grade 1)

* Portal (1/1 Ready for Use)

*Unreleased

-The owner’s ability to manage the dungeon is insufficient.

-Dungeon facilities cannot be activated.

At first, he thought he was seeing things because of the shock of the fall. But even as time passed, the clearly visible texts did not disappear.

After hesitating, he reached out and touched the letters that scattered and gathered again like a mirage, and they were so unreal that it was almost sickening.

***

After that, Kim Jin-woo became indifferent enough to ignore the hologram-like letters. How many normal and common-sense things happened in the dungeon? He was soon able to accept his situation.

He didn’t know why, but the owner of this dungeon had passed the dungeon on to him.

Compared to the grandiose name of the Throne of the Nagas, the place where he was was too shabby, but he knew that this was an important place where the core of the dungeon was located.

In addition, he had barely managed to figure out that whenever he covered the black snake tattoo, which he didn’t know when it had been engraved, with his other hand, the letters he had just seen would appear.

However, he had no way of knowing more than that.

At that time, he was just surprised that his broken arm had been reattached, and he had barely managed to escape the dungeon with Jang Yoon-ju, whom he had barely found.

“We’ve arrived, sir.”

He must have arrived at his destination while he was lost in thought. He took out a 10,000 won bill from his wallet, handed it over, got out of the taxi, and headed home.

“I’m home.”

After greeting them as usual, he soon realized that the atmosphere in the house was unusual and hardened his expression. When he looked inside, he saw Hyun-ji, whose eyes were swollen from crying for a long time, and his mother with a stern expression.

“Mother, what’s wrong…”

“Hyun-ji, what are you doing! Give it back to your brother right now!”

He cautiously asked about the situation, but his mother scolded Hyun-ji in an angry voice. He widened his eyes at the sight of her unusual appearance, and Hyun-ji, her nose red, handed him an envelope.

“Mother…”

“Your mom and dad aren’t low enough to send Hyun-ji off in a flower palanquin [a decorative vehicle traditionally used in Korean weddings] with the price of your life.”

He immediately understood the situation. His mother, who was suspicious of where the wedding gift money had suddenly come from, must have pressed Hyun-ji, who couldn’t lie, and she must have told the truth.

“That’s not it. I’ve already set aside the payment, and that’s the money I saved up before…”

“You’re not my child, but you’re still looking down on me too much. Did you think your mother wouldn’t know that?”

“I’m sorry.”

In the end, he gave up trying to make excuses and bowed his head.

“Hurry up and take it.”

He felt sorry for Hyun-ji, whose face must have been bruised from being treated like the worst woman in the world for trying to enjoy her brother’s life.

But his mother was so firm at times like this that he reluctantly accepted the envelope that Hyun-ji handed him.

Hyun-ji handed over the envelope and ended up sobbing and disappearing into her room.

“I thought he had grown up well, but now I see that he has become a selfish person who only knows himself. They say the hardest farming is raising children.”

He looked at his mother, who was clicking her tongue, and then began to persuade her again.

“Mother, I don’t have any use for it anyway. I think it’s right to use this money for Hyun-ji’s wedding.”

At his words, his mother glared at him. He was startled by her rare display of anger, and then he heard his mother’s voice. It was a pitiful voice, unlike her angry face.

“I was worried, so I contacted the management office and heard it from there. Ten people went in, and only you and one young lady came back alive, right? Hyun-ji wouldn’t have accepted it if she knew it was money she earned by sending her brother to his death.”

He had hidden it because his mother was already worried, but he didn’t expect her to call the office. As the de facto guardians of the Dungeon Babies [orphans raised by the government due to dungeon-related incidents], they had the right to request relevant information at any time, so the director couldn’t have lied.

“People will curse if they find out. There are already so many children in situations similar to yours who have been hurt because of the greed of adults. I don’t want to be treated the same as those people, so keep that in mind.”

With those words, his mother turned her head, her face showing that she didn’t want to talk anymore. In the end, he closed his mouth and could only sigh silently.

***

He was worried about Hyun-ji, who must have been upset, but he was already at his wit’s end with what had happened in the dungeon.

The window that appeared whenever he covered the snake tattoo with his palm kept bothering him.

Ironically, it was only after searching the internet that he realized that it resembled the status window of a game that boys his age often played.

When he was young, he struggled to survive in the dungeon, and when he grew up and came above ground, he somehow found it difficult to get along with his peers.

Those who called themselves friends had asked him to play games with them several times, but he, who had already gone back and forth between life and death deep underground, felt nothing even when he played games.

He didn’t even play a few times and didn’t even look at games, but ironically, a status window was appearing before his eyes.

[Naga Dungeon]

□ Grade 1 Dungeon (Synchronization Rate 16.1%)

□ Durability 41/1050

□ Facilities

* Owner’s Room (Grade 1)

* Portal (1/1 Ready for Use)

*Unreleased

-The owner’s ability to manage the dungeon is insufficient.

-Dungeon facilities cannot be activated.

“Naga Dungeon…”

He had checked the status window several times, but he began to look at it again. Come to think of it, there was a circular button-like thing next to the word Portal that he hadn’t noticed before.

As he groped through the air, the moment he carelessly touched the button, his vision blurred.