Chapter 29 – Day 7, 7th Floor Language

The first thing that appeared in the darkness was the face of a man.

“Pant! Pant!”

After that, I saw the companions running beside him. There was the same emotion on everyone’s faces: Fear.

“Kyak!” The foot of a woman running in the back caught on a broken stone in the road and twisted. The woman fell to the ground in a tricky position. It was impossible to get up and run away, “Help me!”

The five companions all looked back. But no one reached out to help the woman. “Ho-jin! Please!” Only one man stopped while the others ran down the road. The price of his hesitance came straight away.

Quark!

A spear flew through the darkness and pierced the man’s belly before sticking into the ground. “… Keok.” Blood flowed from the man’s mouth. Disbelieving eyes glanced down and both hands grabbed the spear in his belly. However, he didn’t pull out the spear.

The woman screamed. She got up and moved with a limping left leg… Only, the pursuer was right behind her.

[Small Sun Knight – Spearman. Type: Golem Rank B]

[A top of the line golem soldier that forms the Talia Army. They are charged by the ‘small sun’ of Talia and when it is not on display, they act as night guards to protect the citizens of the city from the invasion of barbarians. If you aren’t an enemy then you have nothing to fear, even if you’re not regular citizens of Talia. It is their job to defend civilized people within the city, regardless of nationality.]

Indeed, like the name, the golem looked like a guardian of the city. It was four meters tall and there was armor wrapped around its body. The golem reached out one hand and grabbed the woman’s body. Without any resistance, the woman was raised up to the golem’s eye level. Then it quickly struck.

Bam.

It passed through the bloody pudding remains of the woman and approached the still struggling man. It grabbed the spear and pulled it out, causing the wriggling of the body to stop.

“…What? That…” Yang Su-jin squeaked in a voice that was 20 times smaller than before. From the time that the spear flew, we entered a building on the outskirts. We looked at the situation through the window.

“Oppa, can you win against that?” Just as I was about to answer, the party that ran away earlier came back to this side. They screamed as the saw the two bodies and the golem. Another golem walked out from the direction they appeared from. This time, it wasn’t a spearman but a swordsman.

“I can’t say for sure.” I said while looking at the slaughter. “But now I can’t win.” I thought I could catch one of them with Elmer’s Dummy Destroyer but it was different when there was two. One man threw something and caused a pretty intense explosion at the face of a golem. It was like a grenade.

Unfortunately for him, the statue wasn’t affected. Although the struggling group had fairly good movements, the golems were much stronger and faster. I waited quietly with Yang Su-jin. Soon, all of them became corpses and the golems disappeared with their bodies.

At that time, I heard a crying noise not far from us.

Hak!

I immediately activated Limiter Release. There was a moaning sound but I blocked the person’s mouth. It was a man. Rather than running away like the earlier party members, he slipped over here and survived.

“What is that stone statue?” He made a face like he didn’t understand. I kept his mouth shut as I twisted his fingers. There was an expression of pain on his face, but he regained his spirit. I asked again. “Answer in a low voice. What is that stone statue?”

“I-I don’t know… They appeared all of a sudden…” The main stuttered in a quiet tone. “I-I found a building. It contained items like a museum… All of a sudden, they appeared on the street.”

“So?”

“It tried to speak to us.”

“Speak?”

“They speak, but it sounds like a foreign language… It repeated the same words several times before suddenly attacking.”

“Is your party all dead?”

“I-I don’t know… Perhaps.” I lifted the man’s body. I had listened to his story and now it was time to eat him. It was time to go. I turned and looked at Yang Su-jin, but her face was stiff. I followed her gaze to see a golem watching us from the middle of the road.

“Hiik!” The man screamed. I was also surprised. I had been listening closely but couldn’t hear any footsteps. It had the ability to kill all sounds. I tried to act immediately.

“Tecka nop ka seb qu?” A gentle voice that sounded like it would come from an Arab man emerged, and the voice didn’t seem to go with its size. “Tecka nop ka seb qu?” After saying that, it slowly stepped towards us. “Tecka nop ka seb qu?”

The third time, I realized something.

[Talent has been acquired.]

I didn’t answer. I just, “Ack!” I gave a hard push to the man’s back. There was the sound of something breaking and the man fell to the ground. But he wasn’t dead.

“Hey. Run.”

“Yes!” I ran away with Yang Su-jin. I could hear the scream of the man I’d used as bait behind me.

Tecka nop ka seb qu. I didn’t know the meaning. But using the two syllables at the end, I was able to understand one syllable. It was a marker to indicate a question. I perceived it.

[Talent – Tellan (Conversation):  The ability to understand and speak Tellan will rise in proportion to the level. Planning and eloquence will slightly increase.]

I acquired this talent. The screams of the male bait echoed behind them. I scanned the map that I had drawn in my head. I remembered the path by using the arrangement of the street lights and the broken roads as signs. As soon as I entered the building that we were originally in, I heard a small scream. It was from the surprised Yoon Ji-hee.

“So there isn’t just one or two guards? The explanation says there is an army…” Yang Su-jin asked nervously. I nodded. I wasn’t focused on that part. The man had said a ‘museum.’

Yes. If I thought about it, this was a ‘city.’ It was reasonable to have a museum or library in a city. Groceries or wood would obviously be rotten and gone, but things that were commonly called ‘treasures’ wouldn’t age so easily.

“Locusts during the day. Guards at night. However, it is possible to hide to a certain extent at night… Every time we meet something dangerous, a bait can be used.” Yang Su-jin looked at Yoon Ji-hee as I said the word ‘bait.’ Yoon Ji-hee trembled at her gaze.

“Let’s take a little rest. Eat this.” I pulled out some kimbap and a water bottle and handed it to Yang Su-jin. Yoon Ji-hee stared at me. I also threw a kimbap to Yoon Ji-hee. “Here. I still remember my promise from earlier.”

“T-thank you.” She seemed like a little girl as she accepted it. I instructed Yang Su-jin to investigate the back of the building and the surrounding alleys to see if there was any way to escape. Meanwhile, I monitored the front windows. Yoon Ji-hee was reading the Swahili words when I beckoned to her.

She came right away. “What did you do while you were waiting?”

“Words… I’ve been memorizing them.” Thought it was obvious that she was memorizing the words, Yoon Ji-hee added something unexpected.  “More than 10 pages… I remembered.”

She avoided my gaze as I stared at her. It seemed she was embarrassed to say that she memorized words like a child. “Really? Great. It wouldn’t have been easy to concentrate.” I completed praised her and pulled out the introduction to Tellan.

“This… The words written on the wall…” She knew what it was?

“Ah, just… I was looking at the letters written on the walls as I came down… Then I got a skill. A-Although it is only level two…”

“That’s amazing. I killed a lot of people but none of them had such talent. I didn’t know about it until now. You must have some talent on this side. You should have gone to a language course instead of management.”

“… In fact, even in high school… I liked foreign languages…” Yoon Ji-hee’s expressions and words were brighter than before.

She was this type. I had seen a lot of them. In order to fill out my scholarship, I worked in the city hall every summer vacation. I often tutored low-income high school students.

Although the material wealth wasn’t comparable, I saw Yoon Ji-hee’s exact response from some of the children there. She wasn’t lacking in intelligence. There were many whose average, or rather, their academic achievements were very high. However, their self-esteem and confidence were low.

It wasn’t simply because of material poverty. It was often the case for those who grew up receiving physical or verbal violence from their parents, or if they grew up in a fairly high-pressure educational environment.

“Now, read this book instead of the Swahili.”

“Thi…s?”

“You’ve learnt two foreign languages and I think your language ability is several times better than mine.”

Even if it was to receive the scholarship, I taught the children with everything I had. I also advised the high school students. It was acknowledgment that they most desired. Someone who listened and showed interest in their specialties.

I also grew up in a house that I wasn’t comfortable with, so I reflected on some of my experiences and gave confidence to the students. Not only did it help them, I felt more confidence and it encouraged me to take control of my own life.

As a result, almost all the children I taught improved considerably in personality and confidence. They went to a good university and still occasionally called me to have a meal together. If there was something difficult, then they would consult me first.

“This is something we will need to get through here in the future. I want Yoon Ji-hee to take over this role.”

“…”

“You’re good, So I’ll leave it to you.” When I helped the students, I also got some psychological comfort. We have a healthy relationship with each other. But this wasn’t a voluntary activity.

“I-I understand.”

“Then work hard.”

When I first saw Yoon Ji-hee, I misunderstood that she was the spoiled daughter of a chaebol. I thought she would be so adored in her family that she would treat people as stupid. I didn’t realize that she was the same type as the low-income students I knew.

But then Yoon Sang-ah and Yoon Sang-min had appeared. I realized I was mistaken after hearing them talk. This girl was needy. She wasn’t treated ‘properly’ in the environment she grew up in. Her father, the son of the chairman, died and left his wife and daughter to suffer from uncertainties.

That’s why she thought she was a failure despite entering an international school. Therefore, she would crave and desire someone’s recognition. Finally, the door to this dungeon opened in front of her.

“Yes, I’ll work hard.” Originally, I didn’t think she would have any use. If I succeeded, then I would get a resource that was hard to obtain, but she was useless in the dungeon. In any case, if she didn’t betray me then I wouldn’t betray her.

I desired success as much as she wanted recognition. This was good as I could give that to her. However, this wasn’t a volunteer activity, but a method of control. So far, she was mentally independent from me.

Well, I didn’t need it in the first place. “Fighting.” I smiled at Yoon Ji-hee for the first time. Yoon Ji-hee hesitated but then she smiled back. There was no pretense in the smile. I turned and looked out the window.

I had already figured out how to clear the 7th floor.