The Bukhansan dungeon gate was located halfway up the mountain. Climbing the mountain to enter the dungeon was tedious and troublesome, but it was truly fortunate that the dungeon had appeared in such a remote location.
If it had been before awakening, he would have struggled quite a bit climbing the mountain, but now that he was awakened, climbing a mountain of this level wasn’t much of a problem.
Since Section Chief Lim Yongtae wanted this matter handled discreetly, only the two of them had come to Bukhansan. Thanks to that, they were able to bring Kyaeng-kyaeng along. Perhaps excited to be outside after a long time, Kyaeng-kyaeng was energetically running around here and there throughout the mountain.
“I don’t even know how long it’s been since I’ve been to Bukhansan. I think this is the first time since going on a school field trip as a kid.”
“Same here. I think it’s been a long time for me too.”
While speaking, Jaehee glanced at his phone. Perhaps because they were getting deeper into the mountain, there were only a few signal bars. Since the dungeon wasn’t located where a path had been paved, if they went any further in, they might lose connection entirely. Jaehee hesitated for a moment before finally stopping.
“Jeongwoo. I need to… uh, just a moment. Let me make one phone call. I don’t think I’ll be able to talk if we go any further.”
“Hm? Ah… okay. I’ll wait.”
Jaehee quickly went back down the path they had climbed, putting some distance between himself and Jeongwoo. Then he took out his phone again to check it.
Mom.
He hesitated briefly before pressing the number, but Jaehee eventually hurried to dial it. The familiar ringtone played, but she still didn’t answer.
“Haa, seriously. Why won’t she answer her phone.”
They had exchanged texts once in a while during this time, but yesterday was the first time he’d called. Yesterday during the guild inauguration ceremony, they had a brief call where she congratulated him, but there was something he hadn’t been able to say then. So he sent his mom another text and called again, but he hadn’t been able to reach her at all.
Jaehee furrowed his brow and licked his parched lips with his tongue.
Can’t Mom answer the phone at this time?
Since they didn’t usually contact each other often, he had no way of knowing. Jaehee let out a short sigh and eventually sent a text. He didn’t know how long it would take once they entered the dungeon, so he wanted to contact her before then, but there was nothing he could do.
Jaehee planned that when his mom contacted him this time, he would reveal that he was a King and accept her as his subject as well. His stepmother had greatly influenced his decision to do something he hadn’t even dared to consider until now. When his stepmother comfortably accepted that he was a King, it gave him courage. Moreover, seeing his stepmother, who had always been engulfed in anxiety, become much more relaxed and at ease, made him keep thinking of his mom.
What if Mom is feeling anxious like this right now too? What if Mom is also struggling because she can’t find a King, when ordinary people aren’t easily accepted either? Once he started thinking like this, it became too hard to bear.
Furthermore, as he learned that there were quite a lot of strange Kings out there, he started worrying about his mom. As people became desperate to receive a King’s protection, there were apparently many Kings who made strange demands or treated people like slaves. After hearing such stories, he couldn’t just leave his mom alone and pretend not to know.
「Mom, please contact me when you see this text. I’m entering a dungeon now so I might not be able to answer. If you let me know when you’re available, I’ll call you again. This is important. Please. Please.」
Jaehee even added an entreaty he didn’t usually make as he sent the text. He hadn’t even entered the dungeon yet but somehow felt tired.
If I’d known this would happen, I should have contacted her earlier and persuaded Mom.
He’d procrastinated for no reason and it had come to this.
“Can’t be helped. Jeongwoo, let’s go now.”
Jaehee went back up to where Jeongwoo was and forced a smile. He was grateful to Jeongwoo for waiting without asking any questions.
The two of them entered deeper into Bukhansan and only after quite some time were they finally able to reach the gate. It wasn’t a particularly difficult path to climb, but it was hard to find.
“Oh! You really can’t just enter it? When I see things like this, it seems like the Management Bureau does their job well at least.”
“I don’t know. Rather than the Management Bureau doing well, it’s more like Section Chief Lim Yongtae does his job well.”
“What’s gotten into you? Praise coming from Jeongwoo who’s stingy with compliments. If you’re saying that much, Section Chief Lim must really do his job well.”
The Bukhansan dungeon was located in a place difficult to discover unless you were deliberately searching for it, and they hadn’t stationed personnel to guard an already-cleared dungeon. Instead, the entrance was being protected by an item that prevented entry without a password.
Jeongwoo chuckled as he placed his hand on the transparent barrier surrounding the gate entrance and entered the password.
“How many countries have already had their governments become powerless? There aren’t many countries like the Republic of Korea where the government maintains control similar to before. It’s not like they’re forcibly controlling citizens through military force, yet maintaining things like this is almost entirely thanks to Section Chief Lim. Though I don’t know how long it will last after the second mission opens… Okay, Jaehee, it’s open. Let’s go in.”
Jaehee, who had been about to ask what he meant by that, couldn’t ask because Jeongwoo beckoned to him.
What did he mean by not knowing how long it would last after the second mission? Didn’t he sound like he knew what would happen during the second mission? But it wasn’t good timing to ask that.
Jaehee entered the Bukhansan dungeon together with Jeongwoo.
“After the training dungeon, Daejeon Station dungeon, and subway dungeon, this is already the fourth dungeon.”
“Oh, our Jaehee, are you a pro when it comes to dungeons now?”
“Are you teasing me? Now that I think about it, you definitely said you’d carry me, but I feel like I’ve done all the hard work.”
“Ah, hey. I’ll do better from now on. It’s fine if I do well, right? And if this is already your fourth dungeon conquest, you are a pro. Section Chief Lim didn’t ask you to clear it for no reason. How many Awakened Ones are there who’ve cleared three high-rank dungeons?”
Jaehee and Jeongwoo exchanged trivial banter while surveying the dungeon interior. The Bukhansan dungeon had an environment almost identical inside and out, so at first there was no sense of incongruity about having entered a dungeon. Perhaps because it was an already-cleared dungeon, no separate notification appeared. But Jaehee didn’t trust the system. He had no idea how this thing called the system operated—delayed notifications sometimes appeared all at once, so it was better to be suspicious of everything.
Since he thought of it, Jaehee opened the system window to check the dungeon.
[Dungeon: Eurydice’s Forest]
“Huh? What’s this?”
The dungeon rank and description should have appeared, but all that was displayed in the system window was the phrase “Eurydice’s Forest.”
“Jeongwoo, have you checked the system window? It only says Eurydice’s Forest without even a rank.”
“Huh? Wait a moment.”
At Jaehee’s words, Jeongwoo checked too and frowned.
There was no mention of this in the report received from the Management Bureau. Jeongwoo remained still for a while, staring into space as if searching for something.
“This is strange. Jaehee, can you check Kang Mingyu’s status right now?”
“Kang Mingyu-ssi? Just a moment.”
When Jaehee opened the system window again and looked at his subjects’ status, Kang Mingyu appeared at the very bottom.
[Kang Mingyu: Weakened]
Without any particular explanation, it simply said “Weakened.” The 4-hour King’s Veil skill had long since ended.
“It just says weakened. I can’t tell where he is. It would be faster to find him if I could.”
While speaking, Jaehee, who had been looking around, tilted his head. Strangely, the forest felt like it had grown more dense than a moment ago. Once he thought that, the forest that had seemed ordinary now felt eerie.
“Jaehee. Let’s get out of the forest first. They say the Bukhansan dungeon is much larger than it looks from outside, so maybe something will change once we pass through this forest.”
“Y-yeah. Let’s get out quickly.”
“Let’s establish a direction first. If we just wander around, we might not even get out.”
Jeongwoo took out something resembling a strange sundial from his inventory. The rod standing crookedly on the round tin plate trembled, then soon stopped moving and cast a shadow toward one direction.
“What’s that?”
“It measures dungeon energy.”
“Dungeon energy?”
“Yeah. Various energies are mixed together inside a dungeon, and among them, the strongest is naturally the boss mob that’s the dungeon master, right? This catches that and tells you.”
“Ooh… Is that also an item sold at the Galaxy Shop?”
“No. This is… just a bound item. It probably won’t be sold in the shop. Anyway, it looks like it’s in that direction.”
Just as Jaehee was about to move following Jeongwoo, the voice was heard again.
—Save me… please.
This time it was much clearer and more vivid than before. It felt as if someone had approached and was whispering in his ear. Jaehee unconsciously flinched and looked around before gazing at Jeongwoo. Strangely, he thought this voice seemed similar to Jeongwoo’s.
