26. Dungeon

“What did you just say? Did you say let’s go get the boss monster?” Park Soo-tae responded right away.

Ko Byeong-gap replied while he checked how many bottles of the potion were in his backpack.

“You heard me right. You have to get rid of the boss monster before it’s too late to survive.”

“No, it’s hard to deal with the pawns, so what do you mean by how you plan to take down the commander?”

“We could get it over with now. It’ll be completely impossible over time.”

Ko Byeong-gap zipped the backpack. There were two bottles of low-grade potions. Including what the other hunters had, it seemed that they could overcome that crisis a few times.

Park Soo-tae showed a gesture that demanded clarification. Ko Byeong-gap obediently accepted and explained, “As I said before, this dungeon is not yet complete. However, after seeing the subordinate monsters, it became clear. Currently, this place is at D-rank, but as time goes on, the overall difficulty will increase.”

“Are you saying that the monsters will get stronger?”

“Sort of. If it grows from D to C, it’s fine. But the moment it goes from C to B, it’s over.”

“If that statement is true, shouldn’t we remain hidden?”

Jo Young-hoon intervened. His tone had been much more relaxed since he witnessed Ko Byeong-gap’s prowess. Instead of answering, Ko Byeong-gap spoke, looking at Yeom Jeong-hwa.

“If you’re like Yeom Jeong-hwa, who is good at detecting Karma, you can feel it. The movement in this dungeon.”

Yeom Jeong-hwa licked her lips. She then nodded slowly.

“… Yes. Karma is swaying all over the place. Byeong-gap was aware of it.”

Ko Byeong-gap wasn’t very good with karma detection, but his senses were advanced like a wild animal sensing danger.

“Monsters have noticed our presence. Monsters will come looking for intruders soon. They sustained losses because of some lesser human beings.”

Ko Byeong-gap glared at Choi Min-young while he said so. Choi Min-young looked down on the floor with a teary face.

“After trying to catch up with them in their hide-and-seek game, the result is obvious. If we do nothing, we’re only giving the monsters time to grow.”

“…”

“So we have to do it now. To catch a dungeon off guard when it’s at the weakest. It’s the only hole we can come out of.”

The group agonized without saying a word. Ko Byeong-gap opened his mouth to break the silence.

“I didn’t mean to make you all worry. If you don’t want to follow my opinion, do as you please. Instead, we will act separately from here. I’ll just catch their eye if we stay together.” Ko Byeong-gap said sternly.

The rest exchanged glances.

“He’s right. The option of hiding is already out of the question.’

Yeom Jeong-hwa made a decision. “Byeong-gap is right. For now, the only solution is to confront them.”

“I would agree with you, if you said so. Well, it doesn’t look like there’s any other way than that.”

“I’ll follow you.”

Park Soo-tae and Jo Young-hoon also sympathized with Ko Byeong-gap. Choi Min-young looked carefully and raised himself.

“Now then, I will tell you the precautions. Never use a gun until I give you the signal. And protect yourself.”

“You want us to protect ourselves? We can’t fight like you.”

Park Soo-tae freaked out. Ko Byeong-gap immediately went into the explanation.

“Yeom Jeong-hwa and I will be in charge of the battle. When the battle begins, stay away and stand at a distance. But even if you do, there’s no guarantee that monsters won’t jump at you. You can take care of yourself then. You didn’t step into the cracks to be protected, did you?”

“… I understand.”

“Don’t be so disappointed. Aren’t there situations where you’re not in a position to take care of whoever?”

“There’s nothing to worry about because I’m not upset about it. That’s right.” Park Soo-tae smacked his lips.

Ko Byeong-gap turned his eyes and stared at Choi Min-young. No matter how much he thought about it, he would’ve shot again if he had left him alone.

“Hey, you.”

“Yes, yes?”

“Remove your bullet box and carry it out.”

“Ah, you want me to remove the magazine?”

“Why? You don’t want to?”

“Ah, it’s not that…”

“Or should I do this? If I hear a shot in my ear, you’ll die that day. What do you think?”

“Take it out, or I’ll take it out!”

When Ko Byeong-gap threatened, Choi Min-young trembled and removed the magazine. Yeom Jeong-hwa gave him a pitiful look.

“Do you have to go that far? But monsters are everywhere…”

“Because I can’t die because of him. I didn’t come into the cracks just to get killed.”

Ko Byeong-gap looked at the party. They seemed to be ready to move.

“Yeom Jeong-hwa, can you tell me where the boss monster is?”

Top awakeners were basically good at karma detection. Some of those with great senses were able to specify the location of the boss monster from a few kilometers away.

Unfortunately, Yeom Jeong-hwa shook her head.

“It’s hard because there are so many monsters around. I think it’s possible if we get closer.”

“Okay, then let’s move.”

The five of them began to move again.

***

Twenty-eight years had passed since the outbreak of the Deep Impact, but not much had been uncovered by humanity. No. It went without saying that there were hardly any.

To explore the cracks and the Back World wasn’t enough, but the dungeons were scary. However, aside from the fact that scientists had a headache, hunters were able to uncover some facts.

Those were valuable things that were obtained through experience, not research and reasoning.

The facts were as follows…

First, a dungeon was terribly wide. They could never know its end.

Second, there were many monsters in a dungeon. According to the records, there was even a dungeon with more than 20,000 monsters.

Third, time flowed slowly in a dungeon. Time inside flowed 24 times slower than the time outside.

Ko Byeong-gap was clearly feeling those statements. It was damn wide, there were too damn many, and time flowed damn slow.

-Beep.

It had already been ten hours. He started the stopwatch from the moment he entered the dungeon. Also, it had just been 10 hours since he entered the dungeon.

‘Damn it. It’s only been ten hours?’

It had only been 25 minutes outside. Those waiting outside couldn’t even have grasped the situation. Maybe they were just loitering on their cell phone playing games just about now. They had no idea what was going on inside!

Maybe 50 to 60 minutes.

So, based on the dungeon time, it wouldn’t take another 20 to 24 hours for them to recognize something strange.

What was taking them so long when a B-class went in? That would be their question.

“Whoosh, whoosh!”

Jo Young-hoon let out a hot breath. Blood flowed from his abdomen due to the deep cut by the sword of a skeleton. Next to him, Park Soo-tae gasped. He wasn’t seriously injured, but he was exhausted from fighting repeatedly.

“My intestines aren’t damaged. It’s a thousand blessings.”

Choi Min-young congratulated Jo Young-hoon by shaking his hands. Ko Byeong-gap was worried that Choi Min-young would do something stupid again. But fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Rather, Choi Min-young calmed down as time went by.

‘You have resigned yourself to death.’

People on the verge of death tend to be confused at first, but it became surprisingly calm beyond that chaos. If you go through such a process a few times, you could become detached even in the face of death.

If Choi Min-young returned safely, he would grow even more as a hunter.

“Whoa…”

Ko Byeong-gap also briefly caught his breath and looked to the side. Yeom Jeong-hwa stammered in the air with her eyes closed.

After a while, she opened her eyes. Ko Byeong-gap asked straight away, “Did you find it?”

She shook her head with a stiff face and said, “This is the right direction, but I can’t find the specific location. There are so many distractions around here…”

“I see.”

“Let’s take a break. The monster’s activities have calmed down. So we’ll be able to rest for a while.”

“Let’s do that.”

Ko Byeong-gap decided to take a break. They had been in a battle every half an hour for the past 10 hours, and he and Yeom Jeong-hwa had killed over 500 monsters.

He couldn’t help but be tired. He leaned his back against the wall and sat down. Yeom Jeong-hwa sat next to him.

“Sigh.”

She sighed and buried her face in her knee. She was the cleanest person there. It was all thanks to her Karma Barrier that she managed to counter all attacks aimed at her.

However, that wasn’t to say that she was invincible. She used up her Karma constantly, and the more she did, the more skeletal she became. He could tell she was very tired just by looking at the shade of her eyes at that time.

She paused for a while and then raised her head. She then asked him the question at once. “I’m only asking now, but what are you really, Mr. Byeong-gap?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean you don’t know? Your strength certainly doesn’t belong with the lower awakeners.”

“…”

Ko Byeong-gap quietly swallowed his words.

“At first, I thought you were just cheating your rating. However, your Karma was definitely of a lower rank. So, I wondered if you might be an augmenter. There are some people like that.”

Augmented power. It was an awakener who could temporarily amplify their Karma. It had been a long time since he heard that word.

“But it wasn’t that either. In the first place, you didn’t even use Karma in combat.”

‘Cause I’m not as full of Karma as you are.’

He didn’t express his thoughts in words.

Yeom Jeong-hwa glanced at Ko Byeong-gap. There was pure curiosity on her face.

“If you didn’t cheat your class, and you’re not an augmenter, then what the hell are you, Mr. Byeong-gap? Are you an android?”

“… I don’t know. I don’t think that’s important.”

“If you don’t want to talk, then you don’t have to since I don’t have the right to force you to speak.”

Yeom Jeong-hwa gave up. As Ko Byeong-gap said, it wasn’t a very important topic in that situation.

“While we’re at it, let me ask you a question. Why didn’t you abandon us?”

“What?”

“You’re different from us since you’re a top hunter. If you were alone, you would’ve been able to hide somehow and hold out until the rescue team came. But why did you choose to go with a hump on your back?”

Yeom Jeong-hwa laughed bitterly at Ko Byeong-gap’s question.

“There’s no particular reason. I just wanted to live with you all if I was going to. But, Mr. Byeong-gap, you didn’t run away too, right?”

“I just decided that I would have a better chance of living next to you, Jeong-hwa.”

“So if the odds of living were low, you’d abandon us?”

“The word “abandon” is a bit misleading. I’m just looking for a way to live. You’re not in a position where you’re the one feeding us every day, right?”

“Is that so?”

Yeom Jeong-hwa smiled vaguely and buried her face in her knee. Ko Byeong-gap also closed his eyes for a moment. He had to get his act together so he wouldn’t fall asleep.

The silence lasted for a few minutes. It was truly like honey. But the very next moment…

“Gasp!”

“Humph!”

Yeom Jeong-hwa and Ko Byeong-gap raised their heads at the same time. The two looked in the same direction without a hitch.

Yeom Jeong-hwa jumped to her feet and shouted, “It’s the boss!”

Ko Byeong-gap quickly grabbed his weapon.

“It’s so close! It’s weird! I didn’t feel it until a little while ago, but why?”

“It doesn’t matter what it is. Stand up, everyone!”

Ko Byeong-gap ushered the crowd that laid on the floor.

“You can use a gun from now on. Shoot everything you see.”

“Ah, I’m finally going to pull the trigger.”

“Well, can I shoot, too?”

“Are your ears clogged? Rip on everything you see!”

“Oh, I see!”

They quickly got ready. Their faces were full of determination.

“This way! Follow me!”

Yeom Jeong-hwa ran with her sword in front. Ko Byeong-gap and the rest of the group rushed to follow suit until they finally saw the high ground.