Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 93

Dungeon Journal – Episode 94

# 94

Dungeon Journal

“Hey, you, go on ahead.”

“Ah, why again? Didn’t you hear Chief Manager Kim Joo-hyuk say not to do personal activities above ground?”

“Since when have we listened so well?”

“I can’t go! What useless things are you going to say after sending me away again!”

The sight of them bickering was quite a spectacle. Kim Jin-woo could only smile wryly at their behavior, which didn’t consider his own intentions at all.

“Aish, you little punk. You talk too much. Am I a kid? Stop with the nonsense and go first!”

“Ah! Why though!”

When Kim Jin-tae stubbornly refused to leave and shouted, Lee Joon-young yelled back.

“You little punk, I’m trying to have some romance, why!”

“Ah…….”

Kim Jin-tae froze at the sudden remark. Lee Joon-young, belatedly realizing what she had said, rolled her eyes around.

“Oh. I’ll be going. Don’t be too late.”

After a long while, Kim Jin-tae, regaining his senses, glanced at her face, which was flushed red, and disappeared like the wind.

With even the third party gone, an even more awkward atmosphere settled between Kim Jin-woo and Lee Joon-young.

“Um, Jin-woo.”

“Ah, I won’t misunderstand. Well, you had something else to say, right?”

When he spoke to change the atmosphere, Lee Joon-young frowned instead.

“No, that’s right, but…”

Just as Kim Jin-woo was about to speak again, sensing she was about to make some kind of bombshell declaration, she was one step ahead.

“Well, what I said earlier wasn’t entirely untrue.”

Having said that, Lee Joon-young strode closer. Kim Jin-woo swallowed nervously at the confident gaze that didn’t avoid his eyes.

“Well, I don’t intend to put any pressure on you. I wasn’t born and raised in the Underworld to suddenly start talking about girlfriends or boyfriends now. I just want you to know how I feel.”

Indeed, the favors she had shown him had been excessive, considering it was just to repay a life debt.

Even though he had repaid her several times, she seemed anxious not to give him something more.

“Why me…….”

“What else could it be? A girl who only knows how to bite like a stray dog met a man like a real wolf and fell for him.”

In the Underworld, weakness was a sin, and strength was good in itself. No matter how much she tried to blend in with the surface world, she couldn’t shake off the personality that had been ingrained in her while growing up in the Underworld.

Besides, having incurred a life debt, it wasn’t that strange for her to feel that way.

“You don’t have to answer. I don’t intend to clumsily imitate other ordinary people. I just hope you’ll think of me when you’re lonely, whether it’s physically or emotionally. I’m willing to come running whenever you call.”

It was a statement that reflected the deep self-doubt of a woman who had grown up in the Underworld and suffered from prejudices that she had lived a rough life, rather than being bold.

However, there was no begging for affection on her face. Kim Jin-woo ultimately nodded, seeing her face that was almost dignified.

“If that happens, I’ll contact Joon-young first.”

“That’s enough.”

She smiled brightly and playfully tapped him on the shoulder.

“We’re not going to get awkward, are we?”

She quickly changed the subject, her voice still cheerful.

“And this is what I was going to say earlier, but the Development Bureau will start operating in earnest as early as this week, or at the latest next week. They’re planning to open up hidden labyrinths to some teams and transport explorers to the lower levels.”

“It seems the defenses are complete.”

As the Underworld Development Bureau had been anxious about the labyrinth being stolen, they wouldn’t have disclosed it, even in a limited way, unless they had properly prepared for any subversive movements.

“The preparations are complete, and other countries have already started using portals to enter the Underworld in earnest, so they’re following the trend. Honestly, I don’t know about other countries, but how big is the Korean Underworld? They probably figured they’d rather take the lead since it’s going to be discovered anyway.”

Having said that, Lee Joon-young glanced at him and complained.

“It’s a fact that will be revealed anyway, and the information has already leaked here and there, but that Jin-tae is being so fussy.”

Although she was giving him information without hiding anything, she didn’t mention that Kim Jin-tae was the owner of the Harimau Labyrinth.

It seemed she couldn’t bring herself to say it, even out of goodwill, as it was a matter directly related to a colleague’s life.

“And they’re planning to create an explorer camp in a certain area near Harimau, so make good use of that too. After all, time spent in the Underworld is money for explorers like us, right? So don’t hesitate to spend money on the portal instead of wandering around at the entrance.”

Kim Jin-woo nodded at Lee Joon-young’s words. However, assessing the atmosphere of the Underworld was the priority, so he entered the Underworld through the Underworld Gate located in Paju.

***

As soon as he entered the 5th floor, Kim Jin-woo frowned at the sudden increase in activity.

He had heard there were many, but after coming and seeing it for himself, the presence of explorers everywhere made him wonder if this was the Underworld or the gate’s rest area.

He had come down here with his stealth ability activated, but from the 5th floor onwards, there might be explorers with stealth detection abilities.

It wasn’t that he would be in danger from that level of attack now, but to avoid unnecessary trouble, he deactivated his stealth and pulled his hood down low.

Finding explorers wasn’t difficult. Just moving a little, he could sense groups of explorers moving around.

He found a relatively small group of explorers and moved towards them. Then, he approached them naturally.

Explorers who would have immediately drawn their swords and been on guard at other times simply glanced at him and didn’t pay any more attention to him, as there were so many explorers on the 5th floor.

A group of about fifteen explorers, four of whom were Dungeon Babies [novice explorers], and eleven of whom were ordinary explorers consisting of spearmen and bunkers [defensive fighters].

Kim Jin-woo maintained a reasonable distance from them and followed them without being too intrusive.

“What, is he bothering you?”

“Leave him alone. He must have lost his party.”

“Is he a hunter?”

“Are you crazy? How many explorers are there on the 5th floor right now? Why would a hunter be wandering around?”

It wasn’t uncommon for an explorer to break away from one group and join another. And it wasn’t uncommon for one of them to turn into a hunter and attack the group of explorers.

However, the 5th floor was now overflowing with explorers everywhere, so it wasn’t a suitable environment for hunters to operate in.

Perhaps that’s why the groups of explorers only gave him wary glances from time to time and didn’t stop him. They probably thought there was no reason for him to target them, who weren’t particularly outstanding, among so many explorers.

“Ah, really, I heard that the Joosung gang searched the entire west side and came up empty, and it’s the same here.”

“It’s better to just collect Down Jams [monster essence]. Isn’t this just a waste of time?”

“Hey, if you find it once, you’ll hit the jackpot in life. Isn’t the title of Labyrinth Owner super unique?”

“That’s if you find it.”

While eavesdropping on the explorers’ conversations, he followed them for a while before spotting another group of explorers and immediately moving on.

“I think Chansoo’s kids found something?”

“That bastard is definitely bluffing again. Do you know how many kids have been screwed over after listening to him? That liar, we really need to set a date and deal with him.”

“He’s level 6, what can you do? The other kids aren’t leaving that shepherd [leader] alone for no reason.”

This group of explorers didn’t seem to have any special information either. Kim Jin-woo followed many groups of explorers, observing the atmosphere of the Underworld.

“Hey, forget it. It’s not on the 5th floor. If it hasn’t come out after searching like this, it’s not there. Let’s just go to the 6th floor. It’s more profitable to catch even one creature there. What is this, a wild goose chase?”

This was a conversation from a group of explorers filled with annoyance, and,

“Um, should we gather more people and go down one more floor?”

“Don’t bother. It’s really bloody down there. Even the creatures that have been pushed down from the 5th floor are in a real war zone, so if kids like us go down, we’ll be swept away and instantly deleted, instantly deleted.”

This was a conversation from a group of explorers who were right in front of the passage to the 6th floor.

After roughly grasping the atmosphere of the 5th floor, it seemed that the relatively high-level Dungeon Babies and explorers had all gone down to the 6th floor.

In the process, they had caught so many creatures that Kim Jin-woo didn’t encounter a single common creature while wandering around the 5th floor.

As Okoonutoshi had said, it was worth it for the creatures to move in groups.

With so many Dungeon Babies and explorers gathered, even the fiercest creatures of the Underworld wouldn’t be able to attack recklessly. They would be lucky if they weren’t hunted instead.

And that situation was even more serious when he went down to the 6th floor.

The atmosphere on the 6th floor was even more brutal. The smell of blood filled the air, and there was no place without traces of battle along the paths.

The corpses of beasts and creatures were scattered everywhere.

“They’ve been having fun rampaging.”

Kim Jin-woo frowned and muttered to himself as he looked at the corpses of the creatures.

The corpses of the creatures, with their teeth and claws all pulled out, were all in a terrible state. Kim Jin-woo stood up, looking at the corpses with their heads smashed in after having their Down Jams extracted.

Thud, thud.

The sticky fluids of the creatures stuck to his feet every time he moved, as the corpses of the creatures and beasts, completely dismembered by the explorers, were scattered everywhere.

Unlike before, it wasn’t that his personal strength was so weak that he would be harmed by creatures, but the unpleasantness he felt when wandering the Underworld was still the same.

So Kim Jin-woo’s expression gradually hardened over time.

This time, he saw the corpse of a fairly large creature.

Although its whole body was hacked to pieces, its teeth and claws were torn off, and even its skin was peeled off, so its former majesty was nowhere to be found, the huge corpse alone was enough to guess its power.

However, there were still no traces of explorers’ blood around the creature. After examining the floor and scanning the walls, he couldn’t find any traces of blood or any other traces left by explorers.

Something was wrong. It was unbelievable that no one was injured while catching a creature of this size.

“Hmm…….”

Come to think of it, there were too many footprints of explorers left on the floor.

It was to the point where he could believe there were explorers on the scale of an army, so he unconsciously followed the traces of the explorers rather than the traces of the creatures.

After following the explorers for a long time, Kim Jin-woo was finally able to spot the figures of the explorers for the first time since entering the 6th floor.

“Push the line up!”

“They’re asking for support from the west passage!”

“Tell them to shut up! We have to push when we’ve gained momentum, or we’ll be the ones who get hurt if we hesitate!”

A man who had reported to the explorer who was yelling angrily pleaded with a tearful face.

“If we protrude too much on this side, the other lines will collapse! The creatures might escape to other passages!”

“Why is everyone acting up when we’ve divided them with the same forces! Tell them to show all their cards!”

“Everyone’s going to die!”

“Ugh, you damn nuisance! Okay, stop whining!”

The man’s circumstances worked, and the explorer soon raised his hand and ordered them to slow down the offensive against the giant creatures that filled the passage.

“Ah, why again? We almost caught them if we had gone a little further!”

“You crazy bastard, can’t you see those guys over there trying to pull out? They’re telling us to run moderately so that the creatures don’t cross over to their side.”

Having said that, the explorer looked around and gestured to Kim Jin-woo, who was standing far away.

“What team are you from?”