âAre you sure heâs not just phishing information? You uploaded that post on Abyss Online.â
âIt couldnât be. I definitely said those who contacted needlessly would be sued.â
âWell, if thatâs the caseâŠâ
No one would probably play a prank like this with the risk of getting sued. It meant that they had really found the last member of the team.
âWhatâs his name?â
âItâs special. You should have heard of it too.â
âWho is it?â
âKim Su-hyeun.â
âKim Su-hyeun? Really?â
Any awakener would have known of the name. Kim Su-hyeun was the rookie who had been breaking records starting from the lower floors. The other reason why he got famous was also that he was a hidden figure without any rank.
âNo, that canât be him. Heâs still a C-rank. If heâs as good as the rumors say, he should be at least a B-rank.â
âTrue. So two of the same name?â
âProbably?â
âHe doesnât belong to any guild?â
âYeah, he doesnât belong to any. Thereâs not much information on his profile either.â
While typing on his smartphone to reply to the other party, Lee Ju-ho said, âThis guy is just right.â
* * *
It was the new year. The year 2020.
Su-hyeunâs feeling this morning was very different from yesterdayâs. Impossible as it was, he had hoped for this day to not arrive.
âIâll be back.â
In the wee hours of the morning, Su-hyeun had his breakfast and finished his preparations. As if Shin Su-yeong wasnât scheduled to work for the day, she yawned and returned to her room after preparing breakfast for Su-hyeun.
âAre you coming back late?â
âMaybe.â
âGive me a call if youâre staying out late.â
There werenât many times when Su-hyeun returned early in the past year. He came back even later than Shin Su-yeong, who always returned home late after work.
âOkay. Iâll drop a text.â
Su-hyeun said those words and left the house. In fact, he, too, had no idea how long it would take this time.
Su-hyeun took the subway and bus. He finally arrived in front of Gwangjuâs City Hall in Gyeonggi Province. Su-hyeun fished out his phone and dialed a number. Then, a group of people who gathered on one side of the City Hall waved towards him.
âOver here.â
There were a total of six people waving at him. They were the team of awakeners who Su-hyeun would be entering the orange dungeon with.
âAre you Kim Su-hyeun?â
âYes, itâs nice to meet you.â
âYes, itâs nice to have met you. Iâm Lee Ju-ho. Over hereâŠâ
Lee Ju-ho introduced the others who were on the team. It seemed that both Lee Ju-ho and Kim Ba-reum knew each other, and the others joined them for the first time at the dungeon.
âAre you possibly that Kim Su-hyeunâŠâ
A female C-rank awakener, Lee Eun-mi, looked at Su-hyeun with sparkly eyes. Indeed, the name Kim Su-hyeun had always brought about huge interest.
It wasnât only her. The others â seemingly with the same thoughts â pricked up their ears, curious to hear Su-hyeunâs answer.
But that answer was filled in not by Su-hyeun, but Lee Ju-ho.
âAye, he shouldnât be. Kim Su-hyeun here had recently received his C-rank evaluation not long ago.â
âAh, soâŠâ
âAha.â
Their faces were saying âOf course.â
Su-hyeun laughed lightly at their reactions. He felt lucky that they understood immediately, and he did not have to come up with excuses every time.
âYouâve requested for the dungeon attack party with the institute, right?â
âYes. I did it yesterday.â
âWhat is your position? Please give an introduction of which skills or weapons you usually use.â
âI usually use the sword and my auxiliary weapon is the spear. I donât have any items yet, so the sword I borrowed from the institute is all I have.â
A Property of Dimension Order Form was needed to bring items from the Tower of Trials into reality. It was tough for awakeners below rank B to obtain the order form, as a substantial amount of achievement points was required as payment. Thus, Su-hyeun could only use the sword which he had loaned from the institute for now. Although it was a considerable amount to rent, if he joined in on one dungeon attack, he would receive enough to pay for it.
âIf this is your first time at a dungeon attack, you might be slightly confused. I will explain to you more about dungeons on the way there.â
âThank you.â
As they started heading to the dungeon, Lee Ju-ho shared various stories with Su-hyeun. Most were tips related to dungeon attacks, but amongst them, quite a few portions were mixed with foolish advice â it seemed as though an elementary student was teaching a college professor. Su-hyeun only felt frustration throughout the explanation.
They hopped on two vehicles that were prepared for them and arrived near the Yashi Mountain, where the dungeon appeared. The dungeonâs entrance was a cave with a glaring orange light. A few supervisors were on call at the entrance of the dungeon, where it was marked with an off-limits sign. Lee Ju-ho approached them as the partyâs leader and started with the procedures. Several conditions had to be met to enter a public dungeon, and the appropriate procedures were laid out.
Kim Ye-eun, a short-haired female, walked towards Su-hyeun and said, âSurprisingly, you donât seem to be nervous.â
She seemed to be around Su-hyeunâs age and despite not wearing any makeup, it was clear she had a fair-toned and pretty looking face. Although the average age of awakeners wasnât that high, they were still quite young.
Su-hyeun replied in a low whisper to her as she approached. âIâm actually quite nervous.â
âReally? It doesnât seem like it at all.â
âIt doesnât usually show on my face.â
âReally? Weâre quite similar. Iâm quite nervous, too.â Ye-eun shuddered quite a bit after those words.
âWhy are you so nervous?â Su-hyeun asked. âIs this also your first dungeon attack orâŠâ
âNo, itâs not like that.â
âThen what is it?â
âActually, those people make me feel a little uncomfortable,â Ye-eun said, pointing to Lee Ju-ho and the other members of the party.
Su-hyeun narrowed his eyes at Ye-eunâs answer.
âHow so? Did those people turn you into an outcast or something?â
âItâs not that, butâŠâ
Ye-eun shook her head.
âNothing, itâs just a feeling.â
âHmmâŠâ
Su-hyeun nodded his head at Ye-eunâs reply, seemingly to understand her point of view. Delighted, Ye-eun patted his shoulder lightly.
âIndeed, we have the same thoughts, right?â
âAh, just a littleâŠâ Su-hyeunâs words trailed off. There was no other reason to continue, but there was one thing that he was sure of.
<<It wasnât just an ordinary accident. There was a disaster that is supposed to happen here.>>
As he looked at the glaring orange dungeon entrance, Su-hyeun couldnât help but give a suspicious look.
<<There were definitely six reported deaths from that dungeon.>>
There was a minimum requirement of seven members in a party to enter the dungeon. The reason why the dungeon was the talk of the town was that nearly all members of the party had died.
But still, there was a point of doubt there. Seven members entered the dungeon, but only six were reported dead.
<<The bodies had been damaged⊠someone who would not reveal the truth⊠were they killed by a monster orâŠ>>
It could have been a planned attack. There was no way of knowing what had happened at this place. Su-hyeun had no intentions of finding out either. Even so, it wasnât his role to just leave the dungeon alone either.
<<Iâm treating this as a new yearâs present. The dungeon is too big.>>
The first start to the year 2020.
As everyone got excited about the new yearâs arrival, lives were ended, bodies crouched in the dungeon without anyoneâs knowledge.
* * *
The dungeonâs difficulty level was measured using colors ranging from red to purple. There were a total of seven levels.
The lowest level was the red color, and the highest level was the purple color. As the color got closer to purple, the dungeonâs difficulty got higher.
But at this period in time, dungeons with blue-colored difficulty and higher rarely appeared here. To Su-hyeunâs knowledge, the highest difficulty, the purple dungeon, had only appeared once.
Fafnir.
The monster that was brought from the end of human history â it was the dungeon where Fafnir appeared.
<<But an orange level dungeon isnât that low a difficulty at this time either.>>
Su-hyeun looked around the dungeonâs surroundings as he stepped in. The dungeonâs entrance actually also acted as a door to another dimension. There was no rule that the cave where the dungeonâs entrance appeared also determined that the dungeon itself was a cave. Perhaps it was coincidental, or for other reasons, that the entrance of the dungeon assumed that of a cave.
Of course, the inside of the dungeon was a lot more spacious than the original cave.
âItâs quite chilly and cold in here.â
The rest nodded at Kim Ye-eunâs comment. Although it was a step apart, inside the dungeon was an entirely different dimension from reality.
Chilly weather was similar to the start of the winter season. Although the awakeners did not feel extremely cold, it was the atmosphere within the dungeon that made their skin more sensitive to their surroundings.
âLetâs head inside first. Iâll take the lead from here.â
Lee Ju-ho started walking in front. Amongst all seven members of the party, Lee Ju-ho was the only B-rank awakener. As one B-rank awakener had the power that was equivalent to five or six C-rank awakeners, it didnât come off as suspicious that he should lead the party.
<<Lee Ju-ho, Kim Ba-reum.>>
Su-hyeun locked his eyes on both of them.
<<Surprisingly, the possibility of either them being the instigator is low.>>
Considering the relationship amongst all the members here, only the two of them were the closest. If one of the awakeners were murdered, it would be natural to be suspicious of Lee Ju-ho, who was the highest-ranked awakener amongst them.
<<Then could it be a monsterâs work? Or could it be that corpse had just disappeared?>>
The possibilities of either suspicion were valid. Since there were no leads in this case, Su-hyeun had to openly consider all the possibilities that he could come up with.
Su-hyeun carefully observed each and every member from all sides while following the group from behind. Then, Lee Ju-ho suddenly stopped in his tracks.
âPlease stop for a moment.â
Stepâ
As per Lee Ju-hoâs orders, all members came to a stop behind him. He had sensed something unusual right over the corner just ahead. Lee Ju-ho carefully walked over and stood beside it.
Lee Ju-ho peeked over the corner slightly and looked back at the members with widened eyes.
âWhat is it?â Lee Eun-mi, with the most impatient personality, asked. Lee Ju-ho bit his lips lightly and answered.
ââŠI think that something must have gone wrong here.â
âWhat do you mean?â
âThose guysâŠâ
Lee Ju-ho pointed to the monsters that were just around the corner and replied.
âThey arenât the usual monsters that should appear near the entrance of the dungeon.â
Lee Ju-hoâs low voice trembled. Su-hyeun looked at Lee Ju-ho. He was the highest-ranked awakener there. He should have met lots of other monsters of that level and should have known very well about the dungeonâs characteristics.
<<He must have noticed something strange, too.>>
The dungeon wasnât normal; it was a dungeon that evolved day by day. Su-hyeun was already aware that it wasnât an ordinary orange dungeon. The same went for Lee Ju-ho. Besides Su-hyeun, he was the most veteran amongst everyone else.
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<<An evolving dungeon. Instead of being an orange dungeon, it should be a yellow level dungeon by now.>>
Lee Ju-ho, too, could vaguely sense this fact. Although he might not have been as confident as Su-hyeun, he stood at a crossroad, finding it difficult to make a quick decision.
If so, thenâŠ
<<What kind of reactions will those who are present here make?>>