# 036. The King’s Arrival (7)
Come to think of it, something like that was in the skill introduction that I had just skimmed over.
When I saw the taming skill, I thought it was just a useless thing, but I never expected it to come in handy like this.
Jaehee hesitated for a moment, looking at Aram who was wary of him like a stray cat with raised fur. Using a skill on a person felt uncomfortable, but he had no choice now.
As he mentally activated the skill, a small cluster of light could be seen traveling toward Aram. Judging by the lack of reaction from Aram or Kim Ji-su, he thought it might only be visible to him. As the light cluster seeped into Aram, the child’s demeanor changed slightly. What was unfortunate was that he couldn’t numerically confirm how much it had changed. Aram went from being like a stray cat with raised fur to more of a house cat wary of strangers. But even that much was enough to noticeably soften the atmosphere.
“Aram, if you tell us what’s going on, we can save people more quickly. Won’t you help us?”
“The people… they are over there…”
At Aram’s words, Kim Ji-su’s eyes widened. It was the first clue they had found since entering this place. Jaehee lowered himself to meet Aram’s eyes. Clear fear was visible in the child’s eyes. What was Aram afraid of? Was it fear of him, a stranger, or…
“Achoo! Aram, what’s in your bag? I think there’s some smell coming from it.”
As he approached Aram, the smell became more distinct. As soon as he thought about the smell, a sneeze escaped. Jaehee awkwardly smiled and covered his mouth with his sleeve. The child’s eyes grew round. Aram looked back and forth between the bag and Jaehee several times.
“Hyu, hyung. Can you smell this? Really? All this time, no adult believed me!”
The child grabbed Jaehee’s arm eagerly. The moment Jaehee saw the child’s desperate face, he instinctively knew that whatever was in the bag would be a very important key, even if he didn’t know what it was.
“What about noona? Can only hyung, only hyung smell it?”
“Huh? I… honestly don’t know… Sorry.”
At Kim Ji-su’s words, Aram looked back at Jaehee.
“Th-this bag contains herbs. They’re herbs from all over the dungeon, and even though I said they were strange, the adults kept eating them. So actually, this is… I st-stole what the adults collected. I know stealing is wrong! But, th-this is really something that shouldn’t be eaten…”
Tears welled up in the child’s eyes. Jaehee didn’t quite grasp what the child was saying and just made a perplexed expression.
“The adults ate these herbs? Didn’t you learn not to carelessly eat or touch things from dungeons?”
“That’s exactly it! I said not to eat them because something seemed off, but the adults kept eating them saying it was fine… It’s all because that strange woman brought the herbs…”
“W-wait. Aram. But the dungeon transformation only started a few hours ago, so are you saying many adults have eaten this?”
“What are you talking about, hyung? We’ve been trapped here for over three weeks.”
“What? Three weeks? That’s impossible. We came in shortly after the dungeonization began. At most, only about five or six hours have passed.”
“That’s impossible! The sun rises and sets here too. It was just recently the third week. That’s why the adults said we couldn’t expect a rescue team to come anymore.”
Jaehee and Kim Ji-su’s eyes met. It was the worst-case scenario.
Time was flowing differently inside the dungeon.
Actually, dungeons having different time flows from the outside was a relatively common occurrence. But usually, even if there was a difference in time between the dungeon and the outside, it was only a difference of a day or two. Was it because this was the first S-rank dungeon? There had never been a dungeon with such a time difference from the real world.
“Aram, then how many adults, no, how many survivors are there…? Are there m-many?”
At Kim Ji-su’s question, Aram pouted with an irritated expression. Meanwhile, the child was tightly clutching the bag said to contain herbs, as if afraid someone might take it away.
“Will you help me if I tell you? Will you save everyone?”
“Of course. We’re a rescue team. We came to save people. But to save them as quickly as possible, we need your help, Aram.”
While trying to persuade Aram, the child suddenly shrank back and hid behind Jaehee’s leg. Wondering what was happening, Jaehee turned around to see Park Yong-pil running toward them, sweating and out of breath.
“What, what happened? I heard a scream. Oh? A survivor?”
“Ah… Yong-pil-ssi. It’s a survivor. This is Aram. Kim Aram.”
“Aram, this is Park Yong-pil. He’s part of the rescue team that came with us to save the survivors.”
Park Yong-pil, aware of his intimidating appearance, didn’t approach Aram too closely. Even so, Aram remained wary and stayed right behind Jaehee. The funny thing was that Jaehee had also only met Aram a few minutes ago. Could it be the effect of the taming skill? Only after Jaehee explained a few more times about Park Yong-pil and Kim Ji-su did Aram come out from behind Jaehee’s leg.
“First, let’s eat something. Korean people run on rice power.”
Park Yong-pil glanced at Aram and suddenly brought up the topic of food. Jaehee saw Aram’s eyes grow momentarily larger. Belatedly, he realized that since non-Awakened Ones couldn’t use inventory, it must have been difficult for them to eat in the dungeon.
“There doesn’t seem to be any danger, so let’s eat here. There are tables too…”
“Yes. We can just take out pre-cooked food.”
Jaehee agreed with Park Yong-pil’s suggestion while quietly taking Aram’s hand. Now that he looked more carefully, the child’s appearance was in terrible condition. What kind of life had the child been living?
And at the same time, he thought of his stepmother. Would someone so frail and sensitive be holding up well? Jaehee forcibly pushed away the negative thoughts and shook his head. His stepmother would be fine. If she was injured in the dungeon, she could use a potion, and he would just safely rescue her and let her meet Yeong-i. That’s all he should think about.
The four of them sat at a four-seat table and began taking out food from their respective inventories. Because of Jeongwoo, who was serious about food, Jaehee had put various items in his inventory, from freshly cooked food to various ingredients. Since food in the inventory was preserved exactly as it was when stored, all the food still had steam rising from it. Jaehee took out kimbap, tteokbokki, and udon.
“Wooooow!”
Busy rolling his eyes, trying to decide what to eat first, Aram put down the tightly held bag and started using the chopsticks. Jaehee told the child to eat slowly several times, seeing how Aram seemed to be inhaling rather than chewing.
“By the way, Jaehee-ssi, I’ve never seen anyone who keeps such food in their inventory. It’s amazing. Most people store compact convenience foods due to limited storage capacity…”
“Ah…, well, I like it…”
At Kim Ji-su’s compliment that wasn’t quite a compliment, Jaehee’s face reddened slightly. She probably thought he really loved eating. In fact, it wasn’t him but Jeongwoo who was passionate about food. Because Jeongwoo loved eating so much, he had also started storing more and more food in his inventory.
Park Yong-pil and Kim Ji-su each took out lunchboxes. They also took out a few snacks that the child might like, but that was all.
“But, Aram. We don’t know what happened unless you tell us. From what I saw earlier, it seems like something happened, right?”
When Aram seemed to have filled up enough, Jaehee cautiously brought up the topic again. Kim Ji-su and Park Yong-pil also looked at Aram. Aram fidgeted with a slightly flushed face, then opened the bag and rustled to take something out.
It was a bundle of dried herbs. Seeing it, Jaehee felt his nose becoming itchy again and frowned.
“This, as I said earlier, is what I stole from the adults. They might be looking for me now that they’ve realized it’s gone.”
Through Aram’s gaze, Jaehee realized that the child was asking him for help. Jaehee nodded.
“Alright. If anyone comes for this and says anything, I’ll help you. But for that, I need to know what this is.”
“I don’t know either. The adults said it’s an herb that makes your mind comfortable and makes you feel good. The adults would either eat it or light it on fire like cigarettes.”
“But, Aram. Why did you steal it? Did something seem off?”
Aram chewed on his lips and then nodded.
“When adults smoke this, they change weirdly.”
“Weirdly?”
“They turn into animals or plants.”
“What?”
