Chapter 332

Since I had made up my mind anyway, there was no reason to put it off.

Jin Haedo, whom I had not seen in a while, still looked strange. It was only because I had booked a restaurant with private rooms. If we had met at an ordinary café, I might have come across this scene on social media several times over.

‘It’s been a while.’

‘I’m grateful that you continue to show interest. I hear you’ve been busy lately, yet even so, you’ve kept coming to see us.’

‘I’ve always been interested in religion.’

‘My followers are beginning to grow curious about your identity.’

Since I had been visiting the Church of Heavenly Decree counseling center consistently, it was probably unavoidable. At first, it had been packed with nothing but dissatisfied bastards, but by now, the clients themselves were quite satisfied with the counseling.

Jin Haedo’s eyes gleamed as he spoke.

‘Since you’re helping me... it makes me happy.’

‘Yes.’

‘So why did you call me today?’

I quickly got to the point.

‘How did you keep the Dungeon open before? I’m also curious about the contract and whatever else you used.’

‘Why are you suddenly asking about that?’

‘There’s somewhere I can make use of it.’

At my words, Jin Haedo rubbed his chin as though thinking deeply, then answered in a calm voice.

‘Several conditions are necessary. First, the strongest... being in that place must wish to keep the Dungeon maintained.’

‘Yes.’

‘And, if possible... you must separate that being from the Dungeon through negotiation.’

‘What about imprisoning it by force?’

‘I’ve never tried that.’

The odds of a Dungeon Boss being an intelligent being capable of conversation were not especially high.

‘I understand. And?’

‘As time passes, the Dungeon’s mana waves rise, so in order to prevent a Break, you have to keep disrupting the flow.’

‘For example?’

‘By putting people inside, or suppressing the Dungeon’s mana with powerful mana. You bring it right to the brink of being cleared and leave it barely alive.’

Thinking roughly of how the Church of Heavenly Decree’s Dungeon had been operated, it made sense. I accepted that and asked about something else.

‘Then how do you make an entrance and exit? I don’t think entering and leaving an uncleared Dungeon could happen naturally.’

‘That depends on the Dungeon’s form. Among Dungeons, some have an “end.” With those types, if you see that end... you can leave the Dungeon. Just as I had prepared an exit from the maze.’

‘Aha....’

That was fairly welcome news. I smiled faintly and answered with an easy mind.

‘I understand.’

We continued talking about various things afterward, and before I knew it, quite a bit of time had passed. I lightly smiled as I recalled the interesting things Jin Haedo had told me.

Before leaving for a while, there were quite a few things I had to take care of. First, I went to Seong Eunha and had all my artifacts processed into usable forms.

I actively accepted Tae Hyunjin’s advice to modify the artifact into the form of a weapon and had the artifact completely dismantled and refined again.

‘Why are you suddenly trying to change its form?’

‘Because I can’t use it as protective gear anymore. It can’t be helped.’

I had continued wearing the restraint ever since that day. I had tried taking it off a few times, but each time, a burning pain swept over me, so there was nothing I could do. And naturally, I realized that this was the “physical abnormality” the Status Window had mentioned.

Whether it was an abnormality in my body or in the fiend remained to be seen.

‘It’ll be troublesome if it’s the latter.’

Because that would mean the system recognized my fiend as part of my “body” in any case.

Anyway, I actively accepted Tae Hyunjin’s opinion. Meaning, I modified the artifact into the form of a blade. That did not mean I intended to swing around a longsword. I had it made in the form of a dagger that was easier to conceal.

I had little intention of attacking with it. I planned to carry it and receive mana reinforcement from it.

Well, even if I did use it as an actual weapon, a dagger would be far more advantageous. I had never properly swung an ordinary longsword before, so I was not used to one. Because of the blade’s length, it would probably impose a considerable penalty on my movements instead.

‘Troublesome.’

In my case, I had no Skills that strengthened my body, so unless I used long-range frost Skills, I had to rely entirely on my original physical ability in close combat.

And in that situation, being handed a long, unfamiliar weapon I had not properly broken in? It was obvious it would be nothing more than an expensive nuisance.

I held the dagger Seong Eunha had made up to the light and checked the sharpness of the blade. I spun it once, reversed my grip, briefly pictured an attacking motion, then lightly threw it at the wall.

With a thud, the dagger flew and lodged itself in the center of the wall.

‘Have you handled daggers before?’

‘No, this is my first time.’

‘...But you’re very skilled.’

‘I know. It’s more useful than I expected.’

Besides that, I had one other item made as well. It was a new kind of object created using the mana stone I had brought back from the ‘Sandstorm’ Dungeon.

Mana Transformation Stone (C)

Allows the form of mana to be freely adjusted.

I had already thought it would be fairly useful, but with the fiend running wild now, there was almost nothing I could have welcomed more. Personally, I did not want to wear another accessory-shaped item, so I hesitated, but Seong Eunha instantly suggested a new form.

‘Would you like me to make it absorb into your skin?’

‘Permanently?’

‘No, only while you’re wearing it....’

At first, I did not immediately understand what that meant, but I soon admired the result.

When I put on the size-adjustable bracelet, it seeped directly into my skin. The bracelet disappeared, leaving only a tattoo wrapped around my arm.

‘If you push it out as though removing the bracelet, it comes right off.’

The tattoo moved along my hand like a shadow, then returned to physical form at my fingertips. It was enough to completely ignore the laws of physics.

‘Does that make any sense?’

Well, the opening of Dungeons and monsters coming out of them made no sense to begin with, so I stopped wondering.

‘If you turn the bracelet clockwise, your mana grows as though it’s temporarily amplified. Turning it the other way reduces it somewhat.’

‘Only for the wearer, right?’

‘Yes. But since its size increases....’

‘Excellent, Professor.’

When I praised them sincerely, Seong Eunha nodded proudly. Perhaps they had found the processing quite enjoyable, because Seong Eunha’s fingertips trembled slightly with excitement.

I handed Seong Eunha several expensive mana stones I had prepared and support funds in cash.

‘I’ll accept these gratefully....’

Seong Eunha counted the money in the envelope and smiled in satisfaction. Well, since Neo Core treated them like shit, the funding was probably welcome.

‘It would be better to join Haeseong instead. Then I could draw on them whenever I needed.’

I nodded with regret.

After rebuilding my combat equipment with the artifacts I had spent money on, I asked for one more thing.

‘Ah, Professor.’

‘Yes?’

‘Are you good with ordinary machines too?’

‘Fairly....’

I handed Seong Eunha the recorder I had taken from Joo Seowon and asked,

‘It’s a recorder. Could you recover and play what was recorded before?’

‘Let me take a look.’

If there was anything useful on it, I intended to take advantage of it. Even if there was not, I needed to cross-check things like the “conversation” Joo Seowon said they had with Do Yehyun, or whether they truly had never met Kang Sojeong.

‘And dispose of it if it’s useless.’

After carefully examining the recorder, Seong Eunha said,

‘I think this may take a little time... is that all right?’

‘Of course.’

I nodded readily and added,

‘Just don’t listen to the contents.’

‘That... goes without saying.’

They did not seem particularly interested anyway.

Seong Eunha gathered up the recorder and all the mana stones I had handed over, then left.

I wanted to get everything done as quickly as possible, but things did not move as fast as I had hoped.

Im Haekyung was busy, after all... and things I had to do were piling up every day as well.

Even so, they were things that would naturally be resolved with time. Of course.

***

November 1, 2 a.m., in front of the Gate in Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju.

“It really hasn’t closed.”

Im Haekyung, who had doubted me until the very end, said it the moment they arrived in front of the Gate.

“You didn’t believe me?”

“It isn’t easy to believe what you say, Jehyun.”

“You should still believe me.”

I met Im Haekyung’s gaze as they came up behind me and added,

“Because it’s me saying it.”

Im Haekyung stared at me for a moment, then abruptly asked an unrelated question.

“Why have you been so busy lately?”

“Because I had a lot to do. I worked a lot too. I also did things that would help Haeseong develop.”

“I don’t know. It didn’t seem like the number of Dungeons you entered increased very much.”

“I was busy with other things.”

I answered briefly and crookedly raised the corner of my mouth. I had already finished explaining everything to Im Haekyung.

Enter the Gate, but do not finish it... leave it alive right up until just before the clear. Then leave through the exit.

It was possible precisely because it was a trauma Dungeon.

The Special Response Team Hunters who had faced all their trauma inside must have seen the exit, assumed they had completed the clear, and left the Dungeon. That was probably why it had not closed yet.

For the product of coincidence, it was almost unbelievably lucky.

I stared directly at Im Haekyung and asked one last question.

“Do you have any trauma?”

“Nothing comes to mind.... I’m not sure.”

Well, they were not someone trapped by the past, but someone who constantly wondered about the future, so perhaps they did not have any.

I nodded and turned my gaze away.

Sinking Paradise (B)

A place that sinks deeper and deeper into thoughts, regrets, despair, and the past.

Only after reaching the rapturous paradise at the very bottom does everything end.

Dungeon Boss — Administrator of Paradise

Information on other creatures within the Dungeon...... View More

Would you like to view information on the ‘Administrator of Paradise’?

‘It’s B-rank?’

It had been reported as D-rank. Had there been an error? The mana I could feel certainly seemed somewhat duller than that of an ordinary B-rank.

“Guild Master, I don’t think this Dungeon is D-rank.”

“What rank do you estimate it to be?”

“B-rank?”

At my answer, Im Haekyung lightly raised the corner of their mouth and replied simply,

“It isn’t very important.”

“I thought you’d say that.”

I had not expected to go on a date inside an unclosed trauma Dungeon at two in the morning. I tilted my chin and said,

“Let’s go.”

I needed to see how useful a prison it would be. Im Haekyung stared at me quietly, then followed me inside without a word.