Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 79

#34. Torrent

“One is an invitation from Parthenon, and the other is from Anatolius.”

Kim Jin-woo had expected Anatolius to contact him in some way, but Parthenon’s contact was something he hadn’t anticipated.

“Hmm…”

He frowned, sensing that things were taking a strange turn. The black marketeer remained silent, head bowed, as if waiting for him to acknowledge the letters and the wooden box.

After a moment of contemplation, he chose to pick up the letter from Anatolius first. Dominique, who had been waiting, eagerly approached, tore open the envelope, and read the contents aloud.

‘The timing was not right for me to assist, but I have been cheering for your success from afar. I commend you for exceeding the promised achievements and intend to send the maximum support befitting your accomplishments. I will send it through the Black Merchant as soon as preparations are complete. Congratulations on your victory, Commander of Triumphs.’

There wasn’t much else, but Kim Jin-woo focused on the phrase ‘maximum support’ in the letter.

The military funds sent so far had been enormous, and he was already looking forward to what the Count of the Underworld considered the maximum support.

In addition, Anatolius’s letter, which called him the Commander of Triumphs, felt strangely different than before.

He didn’t yet know if that was a good or bad thing.

“Ah, and the wooden box is from Parthenon.”

Kim Jin-woo frowned at the black marketeer’s words. He was still in a foul mood after crushing Parthenon’s nobles one after another, but the fact that Parthenon had sent something made him uneasy.

“This is…”

Since it was a gift, Kim Jin-woo opened the wooden box and frowned.

“It’s a Hero-grade Summoning Stone to replace the Raven of the Battlefield.”

In the end, even after losing the war, Parthenon had not given up his grudge against Morrighan.

He had to vent his resentment in this way to be satisfied, and Parthenon’s attitude, which didn’t care about him from beginning to end, didn’t sit well with him.

So, he put the shimmering Summoning Stone back in the wooden box and closed the lid.

“Let’s pretend I didn’t receive this.”

“Are you sure? Parthenon won’t give up like this.”

At the black marketeer’s worried question, Kim Jin-woo held out Parthenon’s invitation and the wooden box.

“Ugh. Then I can’t help it.”

The black marketeer said that and was about to take the wooden box and invitation he held out, but for some reason, he suddenly pulled his hand back.

“No. I’ve changed my mind.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll return this myself.”

The black marketeer’s eyes widened at his words.

“Is there a deadline for responding or anything like that?”

“He didn’t say anything like that…”

Indeed, Parthenon, who was born strong and had ruled over countless people, probably couldn’t imagine that a mere Baron of the 9th floor would be weighing his offer.

Even the black marketeer was looking bewildered, so this reaction was probably outside of Parthenon’s expectations.

“Then I’ll make time to return it whenever I can. This invitation, it connects to Parthenon’s Labyrinth, right?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“More than that, you’re really busy. You’re acting as a messenger for Anatolius and Parthenon.”

Kim Jin-woo changed the subject as if he had no intention of answering.

“Isn’t a merchant someone who can trade with anyone if the price is right? But what are you really going to do?”

Kim Jin-woo smiled at the black marketeer, who stubbornly brought up the question again.

“Who knows…”

“Ugh.”

The black marketeer left without ever resolving his doubts, and Dominique grabbed him and nagged.

‘I hope you’re not thinking of meeting Parthenon, Master. According to rumors, Parthenon is a typical high-ranking noble of the Deep Layers. Arrogant, violent, and ruthless to enemies and those who are useless.’

She seemed worried that Kim Jin-woo would do something strange again.

“Ah, I don’t plan to use this for a while anyway.”

Dominique sighed at his words, which subtly emphasized the word ‘awhile’.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m going to leave it as is.”

At the words that increased her anxiety, she finally let out the sigh she had been holding back.

***

The corpses of the Hero-grade Summons, from which the Down Gems [gems containing negative energy] had been extracted, were of no interest to the Allied Forces.

So, Kim Jin-woo was able to easily bring back the relatively intact corpses of the Summons.

Valiache was thrilled. Valiache grabbed the high-quality corpses he had obtained after a long time and secluded himself.

It seemed he was planning to create a new army to replace the Army of the Dead that had been completely consumed in the last battle.

Numerous Down Gems were consumed in the process, but Kim Jin-woo had obtained an enormous amount of Down Gems through this war.

Even if he converted it into Dungeon Energy, it would amount to tens of thousands, so he supported Valiache with Down Gems without any hesitation.

“I will create a true Army of the Dead that will make the enemies tremble at the mere mention of their name.”

Valiache, who had become more loyal since entering the body of a Naga worker, boasted.

Although there were limitations due to the limitations of the flesh, the work was going smoothly as there were no problems in creating the dead.

It wasn’t just Valiache who was revitalized.

The Naga mages were also researching the Labyrinth Core that Kim Jin-woo had given them, which had not yet been imprinted with an owner, and they were not sleeping day after day.

“As I said, it must not be damaged. And the period is until the Labyrinth is upgraded.”

The Naga mage spurred on the research even more at those words.

Since he could not decide how to utilize the newly acquired Core until the Labyrinth’s upgrade was complete, Kim Jin-woo did not urge them any further.

As the Naga’s Labyrinth was fattening up as a reward for victory, there was a man who was withering away day by day.

It was Boreas.

Boreas, who had lost everything due to the laws of the Underworld, showed no signs of improvement.

“I need him to come to his senses so I can see the situation on the 10th floor.”

‘The priests are doing their best, so it won’t take long for him to recover.’

Because Boreas had not regained consciousness, he had not been able to properly make a contract with his vassal, so he had to postpone his curiosity about Boreas’s Labyrinth and the current situation on the 10th floor for a while longer.

“I’ll be back in a few days, so take care of the Labyrinth.”

Kim Jin-woo took advantage of the short gap until Boreas’s injury was healed and the Labyrinth’s upgrade was completed to leave the Underworld for the first time in a long time.

“Hoo.”

Kim Jin-woo took a deep breath of the air on the surface, which he didn’t know how long it had been since he had breathed it, until his chest felt tight.

With a long exhale after a long time, it felt as if the humid air and stuffiness of the Underworld that had accumulated were flowing away, and he repeated the action several times.

*Ah, I feel like I’m alive now.*

Time had passed so quickly as he had been unable to leave the Labyrinth and stayed in the Underworld due to the war.

As soon as he turned on the power to his phone, which had been turned off, it vibrated dozens of times.

[59 missed calls]

[44 unread messages]

He made a face at the enormous number of missed calls and texts.

“They came from all over.”

From Lee Jun-young and Teacher Baek, to the Underworld Development Bureau and his family, he started checking the texts first.

[Jin-woo, where have you been and what have you been doing? Call me when you see this. I’m going to forget your voice.]

[Oppa, my husband asked me to have a meal with you last time, but my phone won’t turn on at all. Call me when you see this!]

These were the texts from his family, and

[Jin-woo, are you busy?]

[Your phone keeps being turned off. Call me when you see this.]

[Are you still in the Underworld?]

[Jin-woo, I have something important to talk about. Call me as soon as you check this.]

These were the texts from Lee Jun-young.

[Did you go into the Underworld? I’ll stop by as soon as you come up. It’s urgent.]

And finally, there was a text from Teacher Baek.

“Hmm…”

Leaving aside the texts from his family, the texts from Lee Jun-young and Teacher Baek were unusual. It seemed like something urgent had happened, so he hesitated between Lee Jun-young’s and Teacher Baek’s numbers before calling Lee Jun-young.

[The power is turned off, so we will connect you to the voicemail. After the connection, call charges will apply…]

Lee Jun-young’s phone was turned off again. He had no choice but to call Teacher Baek again, and the voice of the old Teacher Baek was heard after only a few rings.

[Where have you been and what have you been doing! The world is in such a mess!]

***

Kim Jin-woo burst into Teacher Baek’s appraisal office, and Teacher Baek was waiting.

“What mess are you talking about?”

Kim Jin-woo’s face was full of annoyance as he had come without fully relieving his fatigue because the voice he had heard over the phone was unusual.

“I won’t say much. Check this first.”

In response to his question, Teacher Baek pressed the power switch on the TV placed on one side of the appraisal office.

[Currently, our country has become the twenty-fourth country in the world to possess a Labyrinth.]

Kim Jin-woo jumped up from his seat at the announcer’s clear voice, which was heard at the perfect timing as he turned on the TV.

“What is this!”

Teacher Baek gestured for him to watch the screen quietly as he looked surprised.

[Following the United States, we have become the third country to possess a low-level Labyrinth. It is known that the Labyrinth possessed by our country is a 5th floor Labyrinth, which is only one floor different from the 6th floor Labyrinths possessed by the United States and China.]

“Did you see that? The world is turned upside down because of the Labyrinth. Not only TV but also the internet and everything else in the country is in an uproar because of that.”

Even at Teacher Baek’s words, Kim Jin-woo was still focused on the screen.

[Currently, the authorities are avoiding directly revealing the location of the Labyrinth, which is known to be a measure taken by the Underworld Development Bureau in preparation for any possible accidents. In fact, there have been incidents in which several countries that initially revealed the location of the Labyrinth were attacked by unidentified groups.]

[Even though such incidents have occurred, I don’t understand the authorities’ decision to reveal whether or not they possess a Labyrinth. Reporter Kim Jun-ho, was there any response to this?]

[Yes, ‘Harimau’ [Korean for ‘Tiger’], the first Labyrinth in Korea, is now completely stable, and the authorities say that preparations for invasion have been completely completed and are in full swing.]

[So, the development and defense of the Labyrinth have been completed to the point where we no longer have to worry about attacks…]

The announcer and the reporter took turns answering questions, and the background behind the reporter is the building of the Underworld Development Bureau that Kim Jin-woo had visited before.

Unlike the time when there was no sign or anything, the Korean flag and a sign saying Underworld Development Bureau were openly placed on top of the building.

“Does this make sense?”

Even if he conceded a hundred times that the government had obtained a Labyrinth, he couldn’t understand the reason for publicly revealing it.

“It seems that the government is planning to reduce the proportion of fruitless early-stage exploration through the newly acquired Labyrinth and immediately have them explore the lower floors. In fact, several explorer teams have gone straight down to the 5th floor through that portal.”

He still didn’t understand. It was only recently that there was an incident in which the owner of the Labyrinth, the explorer, was killed.

However, there was no reason to risk exposing the Labyrinth and announce the possession of the Labyrinth to the public.

“This is crazy.”

Kim Jin-woo couldn’t get his head around it, wondering how long he had been away for this mess to happen. Teacher Baek added an explanation as he looked at him.

“Our country is rather good. The country is doing a good job of controlling it.”

That meant that there were Labyrinths where accidents had occurred.

“The United States has completely exposed the identities of the owners of three of the seven Labyrinths they possess. One of them was killed and two are missing.”

“The owner’s identity?”

“Yes. They are Dungeon Babies [individuals born with an innate connection to Dungeons] of levels 8, 10, and 11, respectively. The one who was killed was an 8-level Dungeon Baby. He was found in his safe house with a hole in his chest. It seems that the government is quickly cleaning up the situation to prevent the Labyrinth from being transferred to others, but there seem to be constant problems in many ways.”

It’s getting worse and worse. Teacher Baek went on to say that some Middle Eastern countries had been attacked by terrorist groups and had lost ownership of the Labyrinth itself.

“Hoo, it’s really a mess.”

Kim Jin-woo said in a calmer tone, as if he had finally gotten his head around it a little.

“It’s a mess. But the real mess is not that.”

Teacher Baek said that and turned off the TV.

“What else is there?”

Kim Jin-woo thought that there was nothing more to be surprised about after seeing the public opening of the Labyrinth, but he was surprised once again at Teacher Baek’s subsequent words.

“There is one more Labyrinth that has not been disclosed to the public. Of course, it is a Labyrinth that does not have an owner.”

“How on earth…”

“I don’t know how they found it.”

Teacher Baek said that and suddenly his eyes lit up.

“But the important thing is not that.”

They were surprising things, but Teacher Baek wouldn’t have called him just to chat. Kim Jin-woo straightened his posture and waited for Teacher Baek’s next words with a stiff face.

“The government is looking for the owner of that ownerless Labyrinth.”

He frowned at the thought that it might be the case.

“That’s why they’re looking for you.”

“Is the government looking for Dungeon Babies?”

Teacher Baek answered his question.

“That’s right. The government is secretly looking for the owner of the Labyrinth by targeting high-level Dungeon Babies.”