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Secret Archive (3)
“Cough cough!”
Mumu, who had fallen down, coughed and looked around. Although he had fallen down suddenly, he had managed to land well. But, the surroundings were extremely dark so he couldn’t see anything.
All the while Mumu still held onto the black iron rod which had fallen with him.
The chains had broken during the fall, so the Moon Blade couldn’t be seen.
Clank!
Mumu loosened some of the broken chain which was still attached to the rod.
And then he heard a light flickering.
Wheiik!
It was none other than Im Jong, who was still holding a light.
And then the two made eye contact.
“…”
“…”
Im Jong had a lot to say, but he endured and remained silent. And all because something else was more important. I
m Jong, covered in dust, looked around trying to see where he had fallen.
“Manager?”
At Mumu’s call Im Jong’s expression darkened.
“Oh my. What mess is this?”
“Huh?”
“I can’t stay alive because of you! I feel like we are in the 3rd basement.”
“This is the 3rd basement?”
“How?”
The heavy pillars were falling and it did feel like they were moving down. But to be on the last floor was really something else!
“I was deceived by that cute face. You really are mischievous. Today we set a new record since the founding of the Academy.”
“Record?”
“Right. You are the first person to come down to the 3rd basement without even having stars! Ah, how proud you must be!”
Contrary to his words, the tone was sarcastic, as it should have been considering Im Jong was currently all drained of emotion.
Despite being the manager, he was only in charge of the first basement, the second layer onwards had a different person in charge.
The conclusion was this was his first time coming to this place.
“Can’t we get out?”
Im Jong glanced at Mumu, who had scratched his head and spoke as if he had no care in the world.
If it was as easy as that, then everyone would have come and gone just like them!
[I’m going to tell you something. Im Jong, I am advising you as a well wisher. Don’t even think about heading down to the 3rd basement floor just out of curiosity. Even if it is for your friend or for yourself, it will be dangerous, your life will be at risk.]
This was the advice given to him by the head of the Zegal clan.
It was ten years ago and it was engraved in his heart deeply.
“Woah, what good would I do to get angry at you? Heed my words from now. The 3rd basement is more dangerous than the ones above. You need to be careful with every action. Got it?”
“Yes!”
“Good answer.”
Im Jong shook his head and moved the lantern to check if they could head on up.
‘!?’
But the ceiling, which was supposed to have a hole in it because of the crash, was still completely intact!
‘Um, so the thing about recovering was true.’
He never expected to witness it with his own eyes.
Unlike the other floors, there were stories about this 3rd basement being equipped with a technique to recover, a defense to prevent escape.
This is bad, if only there were eight stars placed on the stone slab at the entrance, then the defenses wouldn’t hurt us.
And trying to bust through the ceiling might trigger some kind of trap, and the thought of this happening made it seem very daunting.
“Phew. I don’t know.”
They had no choice but to find an exit.
After contemplating for a moment, Im Jong ripped the hem of his robe and made a torch.
Black smoke billowed out.
Swosh!
The rising smoke flowed towards the south east.
“What are you doing?”
“Hohoho. This is a life lesson. The smoke will follow the direction of the airflow. Therefore, the direction of the smoke points towards the exit.”
“Oh.”
Mumu nodded his head as if he learned something.
Taking the lead Im Jong moved.
“Take it easy and follow me, never move away from me.”
“Yes!”
“Wait, are you bringing that with you?”
Im Jong asked, pointing to the black iron rod Mumu was holding.
“Yes.”
“Leave it and let's go. How are we supposed to get out with that heavy thing?”
“It is fine. I can hold it.”
Said Mumu while holding it, since the Moon Blade wasn’t attached to it, he could carry the rod.
Im Jong clicked his tongue at the sight.
He was surprised by this monster’s power.
‘Does this kid only focus on external energy?’
‘Is this why I can’t feel anything from Mumu?’
‘This isn’t important right now’
Im Jong nodded and said,
“Let’s go.”
Both started moving, as Im Jong moved he was on alert so as to not touch anything that might be trapped.
As he managed the 1st and 2nd basements once in a while, he knew what kind of defenses would be there.
“Don’t step there.”
“Okay.”
“From here on, only step where I step”
“Yes.”
Would all this be helpful?
Moving forty steps ahead, nothing happened. With that Im Jong gained confidence, he thought that he would be able to escape safely from this place.
Until Mumu called,
“Manager.”
“Be quiet. We still need to be alert.”
“Manager.”
“I told you to be quiet.”
“I think this is the same place.”
“What?”
Mumu pointed to the chain on the floor. It was the place where Mumu released the chains on the rod.
Seeing that, Im Jong frowned.
“Ah!”
“What?”
“We walked in a straight line so how did we come back here?’
Im Jong began to think.
“What is it?”
“Oh my, this is bad.”
“Huh?”
“It seems like we are trapped in a formation.”
“Formation?”
Im Jong spoke with a crying face.
“We fell right into the middle of the Hell of misfortunes!”
“What is that?”
“What is what? You and I are both done for.”
Hell of Misfortunate.
It was one of the worst things, and the best technique in Murim, which had been made by the Zegal clan.
He finally realized that this was why no one could come out alive.
“Is there no way out?”
“if I knew we would have picked that up right away! Why would I wander?”
Im Jong groaned and screamed.
If only Mumu hadn’t touched that rod this all wouldn’t have happened. Yet at the same time, he didn’t want to blame the kid. Even if they both worked together the changes of getting out were less than ten percent.
‘Im Jong. Im Jong. You need to calm down.’
Despite not being an expert, he had studied things in his childhood.
‘It is known to have 8 kinds.’
He learned some basic things and the 8 fold formations of the Zegal clan.
There were 8: hold, life, injury, prevention, land, death, fear and open.
‘let’s see.’
Looking around, he could see the line drawn. The lines formed a strange shape and connected together like a maze.
‘The solution seems to be we need to pass through this and…’
Im Jong moved along the north line.
According to this arrangement.
“We need to go there.”
“There?”
“Right. Follow me. And don’t stop.”
Mumu followed him and this time they walked on the opposite side from before and took 24 steps. And then turned south west. And then 24 steps like that.
Shhh!
The space ahead vibrated, and then the entrance to a large cave appeared.
“Wow! Must be the exit!”
“hohoho. See that? see that? this is what you get for following me!”
Im Jon proudly said.
He was worried what to do if something bad happened but they were safe. And he tried to sigh in relief.
“But it says Screaming Hell.”
“What?”
Im Jong looked up and went stiff.
As Mumu said, the entrance said Screaming Hell.
“…”
He gasped. He had barely managed to use his mind and he was only at the entrance to hell. Now he understood why this was the Hell of Misfortune.
‘Eight hells…’
In Buddhism, it is said that a person who commits a sin goes to one of the eight hells depending on their crime.
And this one they were seeing was the 5th one.
“I am going crazy.”
He was close to going insane.
If they entered this place, then they would be stuck in hell. And if they went back they would open the door to the other hells.
It was a dire situation.
“Ahh. I can’t move further”
Im Jong touched his head and sat down on the floor. It was impossible to know what was going to happen.
Im Jong said to Mumu.
“We should wait here. I think it would be better to wait for another manager to come for us.’
That seemed to be the safer option.
But then the entrance of Screaming Hell which was looming over suddenly approached them.
“Shit!”
In an instant, their surroundings changed. A round space, but like before there was no exit.
There was a luminous pole on the wall and the inside wasn’t very dark.
“Where is this…”
Swosh.
Before he could even finish speaking, water fell from the ceiling. In an instant, they were both drenching wet.
‘!?’
Water was soon filling the place they were in.
“Kyaaak!”
As the name suggested, Im Jong screamed.
He would end up drowning in water and ying.
‘How? Why?’
Im Jong was in a state of panic as he didn’t know what to do.
He tried to think if there was anything he could do, but he couldn’t think of anything.
Finally,
“You! You! Break the wall!”
Since there was no other way, he thought of breaking the wall and entering another space.
Splash!
The water was up to their thighs.
Im Jong, who gave instructions to Mumu, moved towards the common wall.
Chak!
The water was interfering with their movement but as a Super Master level warrior, he moved pretty fast.
Im Jong gathered all the power at once and hit the wall.
Bang!
It cracked very little with his palm imprinted on the wall.
Seeing that Im Jong was shocked.
‘What is this? How can it not break?’
He didn’t expect it to be this hard.
Im Jong tried once again.
Bang!
A sound stronger than before, but
‘Ah!?’
The wall cracked more than before yet the wall remained intact.
“Haa…”
He was at a loss for words.
There was no way to break through in time if it wouldn’t budge even when he used his greatest strength.
‘This is no ordinary wall. How was this even made?’
He understood again just how great the lord of the Zegal clan was and what he had meant by not venturing into this place.
This was a true hell that no one could escape from.
Swosh!
The water kept pouring in.
Before long they would be fully submerged in water.
‘How?’
Thud!
That was when he heard a roar. Looking there he saw Mumu punching the wall.
And the wall where Mumu hit had cracks but not as great as what Im Jong had done.
‘Ah. Right.’
It was only natural, if a Super Master level warrior could do nothing then a 1st year student wouldn’t be able to crack the wall.
Im Jong looked up with a disappointed face.
‘Ah! Is this manager going to die this way?’
It was the moment when he was about to fall into despair.
Mumu said as the water was rising to the neck.
“This can’t go on.”
“Of course. How can you crack it like i…”
“Please look after this.”
Mumu came close and handed the rod to Im Jong. Im Jong wasn’t shocked. He thought it was absurd for Mumu to hold onto the rod when they were going to die.
Why the hell was he so obsessed with this…
Tak!
‘Gasp!’
Im Jong, who got the rod, was puzzled by the weight.
Although the water made it easier, it was still very heavy. It was strange to see this kid carry this around so casually.
And then he saw Mumu doing something.
And,
Crack!
‘!?’
Im Jong’s eyes widened.
Mumu’s whole body swelled up and his muscles swelled too.
From the trapezius to the pectoralis.
It was as if mountains stood on his hands.
“You… Your… body…”
Mumu scratched his head and said to Im Jong.
“It would be better to destroy the wall than get buried right?”
“What”
Mumu wrapped one of his arms around Im Jong’s waist and,
“Oh my!”
And took the position of squatting.
Im Jong was pulled into the water because of it. Yet, he looked at the muscles of Mumu.
Mumu, who bent his knees for a spring-like action, immediately applied force to the soles of his feet.
It was then,
Kwang!
As the force was applied, the floor cracked. And with that, the body of Mumu soared up.
“Kuam!”
Im Jong clenched his lips and shut his eyes because of the speed.
He couldn’t breathe.
And then an unbelievable thing happened.
-chaaaa!
It was as if the water was flowing backwards as Mumu soared up. At the same time, water from the ceiling continued to move.
Paah!
The water moved to block the direction in which Mumu had jumped. Mumu simply stretched out his fists and cut through the water.
The moment his fist touched the ceiling to cut down the water.
Kwang!
The wall was pierced.
And that wasn’t the end.
Mumu’s fists pierced the ceiling and continued to soar.
Kwakwakwang!
‘W-what?’
Breaking down the space created by the defense technique by force.
Im Jong clung tighter to Mumu who was still moving up.