To Hell With Being a Hero!

Chapter 324

Near the end of the meal, the male hero regained consciousness. After seeing him open his eyes and listening to their explanation and then asking for food, Yunael was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. With the one heavy burden lifted, Yunael closed their eyes.

“Uh…” Yunael hadn’t felt this cozy in a long while. It felt like when they were on their dad’s endlessly spacious and warm back. Feeling reassured and protected, a smile naturally appeared on their lips. Even the slight shaking felt like lying on a soft hammock in a warm breeze, so Yunael smiled brightly. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to get up and stretch like this? But even then, Yunael didn’t want to open their eyes yet; if only this moment would last forever—

“We’ve arrived.”

“Here?”

“Yes, over there…”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Several voices interrupted their pleasant sleep, but it didn’t matter. Yunael could just ignore it.

“Yes, but before we go in…”

“Excuse me, Yunael? Yunael!”

Shake, shake. Yunael woke to the sensation of someone shaking them up and down. “Ugh—” But they soon buried their face back into the warmth with a slightly disgruntled groan.

“You need to wake up—It’s time to wake up—”

Yunael finally opened their eyes as a voice continuously called out to them. As soon as their blurred vision regained focus, Yunael returned to reality. “…What?” Why were they seeing the back of a man’s head? No, why were they on Chi-Woo’s back?

Chi-Woo asked, “Have you slept well?”

“…”

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“I’ll let you down first.”

Yunael’s expression was blank as their feet touched the floor. When they sat down, they felt something squishy under their butt.

“Pyu!” Steam Bun, who had been flattened into a pancake by Yunael, wriggled wildly.

“What the fuck!” Shocked by Steam Bun’s frantic movements, Yunael jumped up. Turning around, Chi-Woo saw Yunael soar into the air just in time and held out his arms to catch them in a princess carry. Although they were now in the front, Yunael, who was back into Chi-Woo’s arms, clutched their hands and slouched their shoulders. Then they looked up at Chi-Woo with wide eyes and yelled, “Let me go!”

When Chi-Woo put them nicely down again, Yunael was finally able to assess their surroundings. ‘This is…?’ Then Yunael couldn’t hide their amazement. Seeing the lone door in the dark cavity, they became sure that they had reached their destination—the deepest part of this underground structure, which they had been desperately searching for. Yunael was shocked to arrive at this place at the blink of an eye. No matter how hard they thought about it, they couldn’t understand what had happened, so they asked, “What happened?”

“Pyupyu!”

Yunael easily ignored the white lump that kept protesting and yelling at them. ‘Come to think of it…’ Yunael remembered closing their eyes in relief after seeing their teammate regain his consciousness. And they had been hit by a bout of drowsiness. “…” Did they fall asleep immediately after? Were they asleep this whole time? “You told me that I can sleep!” Yunael shouted before Chi-Woo could reprimand them. “And you told me you’d wake me up when we’re leaving!”

“Yes.” Chi-Woo readily agreed. “I did, and you slept well.”

Yunael furiously blinked. Fortunately, Chi-Woo didn’t seem to be blaming them… Then why? Was he teasing them? “…Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“From what I heard, you barely slept properly while you were here.”

As Chi-Woo said, Yunael had roughly stuffed food into their mouth during battle, but they would get attacked as soon as they tried to sleep.

“And Ms. Dulia said it would take at least three or four hours to find her way here, so I thought it would be good for you to at least sleep during that time.” In short, Chi-Woo was being considerate. No matter how superhuman a hero was, all heroes needed to eat and sleep to work.

Yunael could understand what Chi-Woo was saying, but still felt uncomfortable. “Even if that’s the case…you should have woken me up. How many times were we attac…?” Yunael realized something strange mid-sentence. Although they hadn’t wanted to admit it, they must have fallen asleep from all the fatigue that had accumulated so far. The rest was a long time coming, but it was strange that they hadn’t woken up even once. Did not a single enemy attack them the whole time on their way here? The senses that they had meticulously honed should have sounded an alarm if there were any threats.

‘Does that make any sense?’ Yunael, who had fought many battles so far, looked around with suspicious eyes.

“What Teacher said is true. We didn’t run into a single enemy.” The others nodded at Jin-Cheon’s testimony except for one person.

Dulia stared at Chi-Woo with a slightly tense face. Others might not have seen it, but she, who led the way, saw it clearly. On the way down here, she saw a group of enemies letting out smoke from a distance and approaching them. Or to be more precise, she saw the group suddenly flinch instead of continuing their approach before quickly turning around and disappearing, as if they were frantically running away to save themselves. Dulia was dumbfounded by the completely unexpected sight.

Still, she turned around thinking she should report this situation—but then she saw something no one else did. Chi-Woo was looking exactly at where the enemies were gathered, and he had been about to take something out of his bag, but put it back in after they disappeared. It looked like something long and dark, but she couldn’t see it properly. ‘What the…’

‘What…’ At that moment, Yunael and Dulia shared the same thought. Anyhow, the quick nap certainly worked wonders for Yunael. Their physical condition was far superior compared to before meeting Chi-Woo’s rescue team. Perhaps due to eating and sleeping well, the throbbing in their head subsided, and strength returned to their body, which used to be like an engine that was about to burst. Moreover, since they had gained many more reliable teammates, positive and optimistic feelings about this rescue mission soared inside them.

“It’s over there.” Chi-Woo pointed at the tightly closed door. Yunael frowned as they recalled having to leave their teammates behind and run away.

“I heard from Ms. Dulia that you received very important information related to what’s inside there. Would you share it with us?”

“Ah, yes. I have it. Wait a minute.” Yunael immediately called forth their device.

“Pyupyupyupyu!” While Yunael was doing this, Steam Bun continuously protested, telling Yunael to apologize for making a butt imprint on its body.

“Stay still! I can’t focus…here.” Yunael got angry instead of apologizing and shared the information with Chi-Woo.

A long message was printed in the air, and Chi-Woo quickly scanned through it.

[In the name of Kajolksh, the record keeper for this ritual execution team and the proud son of Jeolhemeder, I’ll leave the following information for my friend Ohakchwi, who will be part of the next ritual execution.]

[Ohakchwi, my dearest friend. The day we dread has finally arrived.]

[We wondered who between us would enter the ritual first. Or thought that maybe we’d go in together.]

[It felt like just yesterday when we made that bet with each other.]

[In the end, I got to go first.]

[As a record keeper with tremendous responsibility, I need to always keep cool and observe, protecting the record with my life no matter what happens.]

[But my admirable father, Jeolhemeder, told me that it’s okay for me to be afraid, but I should never evade my duty.]

[I did as he said. I’m not going to run away, Ohakchwi. I’m going to record everything that happens here in detail for you.]

[So if I come back safely, get ready to buy tons of drinks for me. I’ll make sure all your pockets are emptied.]

[I don’t know if you’ll ever see this record, but if it’s delivered properly, I’m sure you will, right? You might scold me, saying I should just focus on recording and stop writing useless stuff like this.]

[But you have to understand. While I’ve prepared myself, I can’t help feeling nervous. After all, it’s the fifth time we’re going in after we failed our ritual.]

[If we fail this time, you could be the sixth. Of course, this is just a joke—ah, we’re going in.]

[I’m going to start recording now.]

Chi-Woo hurriedly scanned through the text and threw a questioning gaze at Yunael.

“The Kobalos leader said that there are conditions that must be fulfilled when they go inside.”

“Conditions to fulfill?”

“From the moment they take the first step inside until the moment they finish the ritual and come back outside.” Yunael continued, “But the conditions aren’t fixed, and they change a little every time. He said most of them remain the same, but sometimes an event may pan out differently, or something completely new occurs.”

“Really?”

“Yes. So every time they go in, they form a group, and I guess they pick one of them to record everything that happens inside in real time. That way, the next ritual execution team can refer to the record.”

“Ah…”

“For your information, the person who wrote this was a Kobalos named Kajolksh, who was confirmed dead after going in most recently. The Kobalos didn’t hear from his group long past the time they should return, so they sent out a new group. And this was the record they found then.” Yunael looked down with a frown while speaking. “I told them to give me the original record without a single adjustment and…according to the Kobalos named Ohakchwi, who discovered this record, Kajolksh was found dead, clutching this record in his hand.”

“Pyupyupyupyupyupyu!”

“Even while having only one arm left—ah, fine! I’m sorry! I said I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were there!”

While Yunael and Steam Bun were arguing, Chi-Woo focused on the message. It was longer than he expected.

[We finally entered. It’s darker than I expected. We’re in the first space now.]

[As you know, there are a total of six events that occur before entering the ritual site.]

[I heard that at least this part has never changed.]

[Geez, it just started, but why does it feel so far away…]

[Damn it, we already hit the jackpot. A space that’s not in the original record appeared.]

[It’s a long passage. There are dozens of paintings hung haphazardly on both walls.]

[It’s hard to see from afar, but they’re all portraits. I don’t think there are any landscape paintings.]

[After discussion, we decided to pass through this place by looking down with the torch lit.]

[I think we’re around the midpoint, but not much has happened yet.]

[…But why do I feel gazes from all over the place?]

[I guess it wasn’t all in my head. The guy walking next to me just whispered, ‘Don’t you think the eyes of the portraits just moved?’]

[Was this guy not listening when the leader told us to not make eye contact?]

[Fuck, he just disappeared.]

[He was definitely walking next to me, and I even heard him bluffing, saying this was nothing when we were almost at the end, but he completely disappeared as soon as we exited the passage! What happened?]

[The space with pictures hanging. Keep your head down and look at the ground. Try not to say anything and never make eye contact.]

[We already lost one person in the first space, but we went straight to the next.]

[We’re currently walking through a dark passage. I don’t know what it is. I can’t believe we’re experiencing a new event two times in a row. How unlucky are we?]

[Wait a minute…I can see something whitish from a distance in the front?]

[If I’m seeing it right, I think he’s the guy that disappeared from the first space. Huh? I think he’s getting closer.]

[Shit, no matter how hard I’m trying to stay calm, I don’t think anything good would come out of this.]

[The leader gave orders this time to never look away from that thing for even a second. To not even blink. I need to stop recording for a bit.]

[Long live the leader! Hurray, hurray! We made it through a space that wasn’t even on the record!]

[Never look away. It’s dangerous for even one member to blink. If your eyes hurt, close one of your eyes and take turns between your left and right eyes.]

[Yeah, it would be ridiculous for a new event to occur the third time.]

[This is the passage of the torch thief mentioned in the original record. I guess I won’t have much to write for this one. But just in case…]

[Fortunately, we heard only two screams before exiting. Thanks to that, everyone passed safely with the torch before it completely went out.]

[Anyway, the screams were frightening. Ugh. I still feel creeped out.]

[Fortunately for us, the second scream was the last, but…Ohakchwi, you know what to do when you hear a scream the third time, right?]

[Ohakchwi, we just passed the fourth space.]

[If you asked me why I didn’t record it in real time, I couldn’t.]

[My hands are still shaking. It may sound like gibberish, but it’s because I’m trying to write as much as I can remember.]

[Listen well. They talk to you when you go through this area. Not only to you, but to everyone.]

[Then listen. You can’t stop it. Even if you close your eyes and cover your ears, you can’t help but hear them.]

[Those things will try to communicate in whatever form.]

[But don’t reply to them. No matter who it is or what it may be. You got it? It’s an obvious trap.]

[No, honestly—I don’t know. We made it through without answering anything according to the leader’s order.]

[But I think the leader was wrong this time.]

[As soon as we went past that place, I heard something crash open behind me.]

[Then the sound of howling and frantic running came out everywhere.]

[This is the important part.]

[If you encounter this event when it’s your turn, and you can’t find the right conditions like us.]

[Run away. Just look ahead and run.]

[Don’t look back. Don’t ever look back, okay?]

[Why? The two who looked back were taken first. What happened after that…I don’t want to think about it.]

[Passing condition unknown. However, in the event of an incident, never look back and run away as fast as possible.]

[We reached the fifth space, but…why do I see a strange stone statue with its eyes closed? This isn’t even in the original record.]

[All I can see is the stone statue. Nothing else. Not even a path to exit.]

[We’re all discussing it together for now. I’m the only one looking at the statue as the record keeper.]

[Maybe it’s because we lost two more members just now or because new events kept happening, but no one is really talking much. The atmosphere is not very good.]

[Wait, an argument broke out between the leader and another member. I think I need to stop them.]

[Shit! Shit! That guy just bit the leader’s neck! Oh my god! He’s ripping and eating the leader’s stomach!]

[I don’t know. I don’t know what the hell happened. I’ll just write down everything I remember first.]

[The fight spread like an epidemic. The rest of us started fighting like we were meant to kill each other.]

[The winner ate the flesh and drank the blood of their comrades, and the losers became food.]

[There was nothing I could do in this situation. I just lay on the floor and clutched my head.]

[…It was then I saw it. The word ‘worship’ written on the floor.]

[I unintentionally worshiped the statue. As a result, the stone statue split from side to side, and the door opened.]

[I left my teammates, who were frantically eating each other, and got out of there. I had no choice but to…]

[I ran for a long time like that and—]

[Sorry. I was so surprised that I stopped recording.]

[I arrived at the sixth space alone. The last one.]

[This isn’t a passage like the other ones we passed by. Except for the entrance and exit doors, it’s a completely enclosed room.]

[And as far as I know, there’s never been a room like this in the original record.]

[It’s another new event! It’s the first time a new event has appeared at such a frequency.]

[I wonder what the hell is the reason? I’m all alone. Should I go back to where the statue was, just in case?]

[What the? What the heck? The door…won’t open…]

[Then there’s only one door left…]

[Fucking hell, what was that noise?]

[It was a knock. I definitely heard a knock at the exit.]

[Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. The knocks aren’t stopping. I think it’s getting faster. What should I do? Should I open it? Or? Ohakchwi! What do you think I should do? What should I do? I think I’m going crazy. I wish someone could tell me what to do. Please, please, ple]

The sentence was left unfinished. The record was completely cut off from here. Yunael had told him that they received this record without a single adjustment and that really seemed to have been the case. The message wasn’t over. He had almost finished reading it, but there were a few lines left at the end. Chi-Woo lowered his gaze. It was written:

[Dear sirs! Oh, I speak as the son of Jeolhemeder. No need to fear more, as our great work has succeeded! Today is the day you have been desperately waiting for. Open the sixth door and greet her! Please her and accept her welcome. Eagerly embrace her teachings. Never doubt her and follow her to complete the last ritual!]