Continuously rubbing its soft body against his cheek and crying softly to draw attention, Raon stroked Bbobbo with one hand while looking at where Jaehwi was staring. All Raon, who had no special abilities, could tell was that the end of the gradually darkening space was pitch black.
That’s how it is for me, but it wouldn’t be for Jaehwi.
“Why?”
Raon, who had put the tablet he’d been holding back into his hip bag, took another step closer to him. Even then, Jaehwi was only staring piercingly into the darkness.
Expressionless. Literally, there wasn’t a single emotion dwelling on Jaehwi’s face. Even Raon, who prided himself on knowing Jaehwi’s various expressions compared to other people, was seeing this expression for the first time. Although Jaehwi was basically expressionless, this was yet another different expression from that.
Literally empty eyes that held nothing and unwavering gaze made it seem like looking at a mannequin. But deep inside them was filled with a terrible darkness. With sudden anxiety, Raon placed his hand on Jaehwi’s arm. Jaehwi was always warm and cozy, but right now he was far too cold. It wasn’t that his clothes felt cold to the touch, nor was it that the skin beneath those clothes had lost heat and become cold.
It was no different from usual, but to Raon it felt as if he was trapped in a very cold deep sea.
“The golem?”
At Jaehwi’s usual voice covering Raon’s hand with his large hand and holding it tightly as if saying it was okay, Raon swallowed the saliva that had pooled in his mouth. It wasn’t words directed at him but at Bbobbo.
“Ppiyoong. Ppyak. Ppyoo.”
Bbobbo, who had been fluttering around Raon’s side, was moving busily as if something had just occurred to it, chattering away. Though it was completely incomprehensible language, it seemed to be earnestly explaining something.
“Let’s leave.”
When he saw it fly swiftly inside, then come back again, continuously looking into the dungeon and chattering, the golem was definitely at the end of the dungeon. Otherwise, there was no way Bbobbo would be acting like this. Besides, he remembered Bbobbo’s desperate sound that he had momentarily forgotten in the joy of meeting Bbobbo.
As if being chased by something, or as if exposed to an incredibly dangerous or frightening situation, Bbobbo, who had flown over urgently, was definitely filled with fear. It had only found stability after seeing him and Jaehwi, so something had definitely happened.
“Bbobbo. Is there something inside?”
As Raon was talking to Bbobbo, who flew a little inside then came back again, he looked at Jaehwi at his action of embracing his shoulders.
“Bbobbo. We found you. Let’s leave.”
Jaehwi, who had hugged him tightly once then let go, took his hand and intertwined their fingers, just like when they entered the dungeon.
“What are you doing. I said let’s leave.”
Bbobbo, who couldn’t speak human language but understood everything, must have also understood Jaehwi’s words to leave just now. However, just as Jaehwi had stood like a statue earlier staring into the dungeon, this time Bbobbo was flapping its wings in place while looking into the dungeon.
Jaehwi urging them on and Bbobbo hesitating.
And with the feeling that it had become a little darker than when they first entered and the dungeon’s temperature had dropped overall, goosebumps rose all over Raon’s body.
The tablet hadn’t picked up any danger factors. However, Raon’s instincts were shouting that they needed to leave this place right now. And by the time he realized that, Raon’s body was already being led by Jaehwi’s hand toward the dungeon entrance.
In the space where only the occasional sound of dripping water and the sound of the two walking could be heard, the sound of footsteps had somehow disappeared. Unlike when they came in, tilting this way and that on the floor full of uneven stones, with the feeling of walking on a comfortable flat surface, Raon hurriedly looked down.
“Hwi?”
Walking on air? Raon, who looked up at Jaehwi in bewilderment, closed his lips that had been about to speak at Jaehwi’s action of briefly shaking his head. Bbobbo, who had been continuously muttering something alone, also kept its mouth tightly shut and was flying while suppressing sound. However, it kept looking back as if leaving something behind.
Before they knew it, the three had arrived at the dungeon entrance without making any sound. At Jaehwi’s action of erasing sound as if not allowing even the slightest presence, Raon was cautious even in breathing.
Not letting go of Jaehwi’s collar that he was holding tightly, a sound filled with pain—”Huk!”—burst from Raon’s mouth as he touched the dungeon entrance.
Generally, dungeon entrances are jelly-like, soft but with elasticity that doesn’t run down. Although he felt slightly different sensations each time he passed through, they didn’t deviate much from the basic framework but…
Raon, who had touched the dungeon entrance to exit, instinctively made a groaning sound at the strong pain felt in his hand and urgently grasped the painful hand with his other hand.
As Raon was rubbing his hand that still hurt with a tingling sensation with his other hand, he finally realized that Jaehwi was enveloping him with his entire body and shook his head.
“Are you okay?”
Jaehwi spoke silently with his mouth, and Raon, who understood, swallowed his groan and only moved his lips saying “It hurts.”
While Jaehwi removed the protective glove and checked his reddened hand, Raon stared at the dungeon entrance where red and blue lights rippled just as before. As the tingling pain like electricity passing through gradually disappeared, Raon touched his painful hand here and there.
Even while confirming that there was no external injury and no major problem in moving his hand, Raon, who was still looking at the entrance, shifted his gaze to Bbobbo, who flew in front of his eyes to catch his attention.
Raon’s lips drooped downward as he looked in turn at the entrance where light rippled, Jaehwi who enveloped him, and Bbobbo who cried silently while anxiously staring into the dungeon. Then he took out the tablet from his hip bag.
The first thing that caught his eye was a blinking red light.
Though it was a screen he was seeing for the first time, he wasn’t unaware of what the red flashing the tablet was showing meant. Anyone involved in dungeon-related work, or no, even without any knowledge, anyone who saw the word ‘Danger’ on the screen would be tense.
The red letters that had appeared flashing exactly five times disappeared and the tablet returned to its usual screen. However, the screen’s contents had changed.
The word “Fuck.” burst from Raon’s mouth as he first checked the upper left corner.
From ‘F’ to ‘?’?
If it’s F-rank then it’s F-rank, and if it’s SS then it’s SS. What the hell does ‘?’ mean?
Under Raon’s fingertip that moved urgently, a different screen appeared.
The dungeon map was still only revealed up to where they had gone, but the path there was densely packed with dots of various colors. Looking at the colorful lights as if a child had randomly splattered paint, Raon clicked on one silver-white dot.
A pop-up window immediately appeared and spat out information about what Raon had clicked. When he pressed other things in succession, detailed explanations related to them continued to appear and disappear. The space that had no valuable ore was now full of tremendous ores enough to make one’s head spin.
Knowing that Jaehwi was looking at the tablet together, Raon held up the tablet for him to see easily and touched the screen again.
“Ppi.”
Bbobbo’s very small sound pierced Raon’s ear. At the same time, Raon gasped, and Jaehwi stopped breathing.
It was a dungeon with exactly 3 green dots.
But now… From the moment of turning the curve about 60m ahead based on the space where he was currently standing, a green line was connected all the way to the brightened part of the map.
Not even dots but a line.
The master of this dungeon wasn’t a Gem Kitten. However, he had a feeling that it probably wasn’t the golem either. Remembering Bbobbo who kept looking back and hesitating, that is.
Even if the rank changed during dungeon clearing, there was something called a precursor symptom, and even when the actual rank changed, it was typical for it to fluctuate from half a level to about one level. But ‘?’? It wasn’t shown because there was insufficient information.
If it was lack of information, ‘-‘ would have appeared.
The ‘?’ showing now would mean ‘unmeasurable’. Wasn’t the existence currently holding him safely already unrankable? From the beginning, what happened to him and Jaehwi wasn’t normal. But even if things got twisted, how could they get this twisted?
Crackle.
Raon, who had been biting his left index finger with his teeth, quickly raised his head at the unfamiliar sound and dazzling light. His eyes involuntarily closed at the light generated by the electric force occurring at the dungeon entrance that was in contact with Jaehwi’s hand. Even with his eyes closed, the bright light continued to burst out, and even after the sound and light disappeared, Raon couldn’t open his eyes because of the flashing of red, white, and blue lights.
“Shwiuu…”
Though he didn’t open his eyes, just from Bbobbo’s sound alone, Raon could immediately understand the current situation. Then he put strength into his hand and placed it on Jaehwi’s chest.
“We’re… trapped, aren’t we.”
While saying words he absolutely didn’t want to say or acknowledge.
