Chapter 20: 20

“He’s here!”

“Really? Now?”

“Yeah . He’s a C-rank awakener . ”

“Are you sure he’s not just phishing information? You uploaded that post on Abyss Online . ”

“It couldn’t be . I definitely said those who contacted needlessly would be sued . ”

“Well, if that’s the case…”

No one would probably play a prank like this with the risk of getting sued . It meant that they had really found the last member of the team .

“What’s his name?”

“It’s special . You should have heard of it too . ”

“Who is it?”

“Kim Su-hyeun . ”

“Kim Su-hyeun? Really?”

Any awakener would have known of the name . Kim Su-hyeun was the rookie who had been breaking records starting from the lower floors . The other reason why he got famous was also that he was a hidden figure without any rank .

“No, that can’t be him . He’s still a C-rank . If he’s as good as the rumors say, he should be at least a B-rank . ”

“True . So two of the same name?”

“Probably?”

“He doesn’t belong to any guild?”

“Yeah, he doesn’t belong to any . There’s not much information on his profile either . ”

While typing on his smartphone to reply to the other party, Lee Ju-ho said, “This guy is just right . ”

It was the new year . The year 2020 .

Su-hyeun’s feeling this morning was very different from yesterday’s . Impossible as it was, he had hoped for this day to not arrive .

“I’ll be back . ”

In the wee hours of the morning, Su-hyeun had his breakfast and finished his preparations . As if Shin Su-yeong wasn’t scheduled to work for the day, she yawned and returned to her room after preparing breakfast for Su-hyeun .

“Are you coming back late?”

“Maybe . ”

“Give me a call if you’re staying out late . ”

There weren’t many times when Su-hyeun returned early in the past year . He came back even later than Shin Su-yeong, who always returned home late after work .

“Okay . I’ll drop a text . ”

Su-hyeun said those words and left the house . In fact, he, too, had no idea how long it would take this time .

Su-hyeun took the subway and bus . He finally arrived in front of Gwangju’s City Hall in Gyeonggi Province . Su-hyeun fished out his phone and dialed a number . Then, a group of people who gathered on one side of the City Hall waved towards him .

“Over here . ”

There were a total of six people waving at him . They were the team of awakeners who Su-hyeun would be entering the orange dungeon with .

“Are you Kim Su-hyeun?”

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you . ”

“Yes, it’s nice to have met you . I’m Lee Ju-ho . Over here…”

Lee Ju-ho introduced the others who were on the team . It seemed that both Lee Ju-ho and Kim Ba-reum knew each other, and the others joined them for the first time at the dungeon .

“Are you possibly that Kim Su-hyeun…”

A female C-rank awakener, Lee Eun-mi, looked at Su-hyeun with sparkly eyes . Indeed, the name Kim Su-hyeun had always brought about huge interest .

It wasn’t only her . The others — seemingly with the same thoughts — pricked up their ears, curious to hear Su-hyeun’s answer .

But that answer was filled in not by Su-hyeun, but Lee Ju-ho .

“Aye, he shouldn’t be . Kim Su-hyeun here had recently received his C-rank evaluation not long ago . ”

“Ah, so…”

“Aha . ”

Their faces were saying “Of course . ”

Su-hyeun laughed lightly at their reactions . He felt lucky that they understood immediately, and he did not have to come up with excuses every time .

“You’ve requested for the dungeon attack party with the institute, right?”

“Yes . I did it yesterday . ”

“What is your position? Please give an introduction of which skills or weapons you usually use . ”

“I usually use the sword and my auxiliary weapon is the spear . I don’t have any items yet, so the sword I borrowed from the institute is all I have . ”

A Property of Dimension Order Form was needed to bring items from the Tower of Trials into reality . It was tough for awakeners below rank B to obtain the order form, as a substantial amount of achievement points was required as payment . Thus, Su-hyeun could only use the sword which he had loaned from the institute for now . Although it was a considerable amount to rent, if he joined in on one dungeon attack, he would receive enough to pay for it .

“If this is your first time at a dungeon attack, you might be slightly confused . I will explain to you more about dungeons on the way there . ”

“Thank you . ”

As they started heading to the dungeon, Lee Ju-ho shared various stories with Su-hyeun . Most were tips related to dungeon attacks, but amongst them, quite a few portions were mixed with foolish advice — it seemed as though an elementary student was teaching a college professor . Su-hyeun only felt frustration throughout the explanation .

They hopped on two vehicles that were prepared for them and arrived near the Yashi Mountain, where the dungeon appeared . The dungeon’s entrance was a cave with a glaring orange light . A few supervisors were on call at the entrance of the dungeon, where it was marked with an off-limits sign . Lee Ju-ho approached them as the party’s leader and started with the procedures . Several conditions had to be met to enter a public dungeon, and the appropriate procedures were laid out .

Kim Ye-eun, a short-haired female, walked towards Su-hyeun and said, “Surprisingly, you don’t seem to be nervous . ”

She seemed to be around Su-hyeun’s age and despite not wearing any makeup, it was clear she had a fair-toned and pretty looking face . Although the average age of awakeners wasn’t that high, they were still quite young .

Su-hyeun replied in a low whisper to her as she approached . “I’m actually quite nervous . ”

“Really? It doesn’t seem like it at all . ”

“It doesn’t usually show on my face . ”

“Really? We’re quite similar . I’m quite nervous, too . ” Ye-eun shuddered quite a bit after those words .

“Why are you so nervous?” Su-hyeun asked . “Is this also your first dungeon attack or…”

“No, it’s not like that . ”

“Then what is it?”

“Actually, those people make me feel a little uncomfortable,” Ye-eun said, pointing to Lee Ju-ho and the other members of the party .

Su-hyeun narrowed his eyes at Ye-eun’s answer .

“How so? Did those people turn you into an outcast or something?”

“It’s not that, but…”

Ye-eun shook her head .

“Nothing, it’s just a feeling . ”

“Hmm…”

Su-hyeun nodded his head at Ye-eun’s reply, seemingly to understand her point of view . Delighted, Ye-eun patted his shoulder lightly .

“Indeed, we have the same thoughts, right?”

“Ah, just a little…” Su-hyeun’s words trailed off . There was no other reason to continue, but there was one thing that he was sure of .

As he looked at the glaring orange dungeon entrance, Su-hyeun couldn’t help but give a suspicious look .

There was a minimum requirement of seven members in a party to enter the dungeon . The reason why the dungeon was the talk of the town was that nearly all members of the party had died .

But still, there was a point of doubt there . Seven members entered the dungeon, but only six were reported dead .

It could have been a planned attack . There was no way of knowing what had happened at this place . Su-hyeun had no intentions of finding out either . Even so, it wasn’t his role to just leave the dungeon alone either .

The first start to the year 2020 .

As everyone got excited about the new year’s arrival, lives were ended, bodies crouched in the dungeon without anyone’s knowledge .

The dungeon’s difficulty level was measured using colors ranging from red to purple . There were a total of seven levels .

The lowest level was the red color, and the highest level was the purple color . As the color got closer to purple, the dungeon’s difficulty got higher .

But at this period in time, dungeons with blue-colored difficulty and higher rarely appeared here . To Su-hyeun’s knowledge, the highest difficulty, the purple dungeon, had only appeared once .

Fafnir .

The monster that was brought from the end of human history — it was the dungeon where Fafnir appeared .

Su-hyeun looked around the dungeon’s surroundings as he stepped in . The dungeon’s entrance actually also acted as a door to another dimension . There was no rule that the cave where the dungeon’s entrance appeared also determined that the dungeon itself was a cave . Perhaps it was coincidental, or for other reasons, that the entrance of the dungeon assumed that of a cave .

Of course, the inside of the dungeon was a lot more spacious than the original cave .

“It’s quite chilly and cold in here . ”

The rest nodded at Kim Ye-eun’s comment . Although it was a step apart, inside the dungeon was an entirely different dimension from reality .

Chilly weather was similar to the start of the winter season . Although the awakeners did not feel extremely cold, it was the atmosphere within the dungeon that made their skin more sensitive to their surroundings .

“Let’s head inside first . I’ll take the lead from here . ”

Lee Ju-ho started walking in front . Amongst all seven members of the party, Lee Ju-ho was the only B-rank awakener . As one B-rank awakener had the power that was equivalent to five or six C-rank awakeners, it didn’t come off as suspicious that he should lead the party .

Su-hyeun locked his eyes on both of them .

Considering the relationship amongst all the members here, only the two of them were the closest . If one of the awakeners were murdered, it would be natural to be suspicious of Lee Ju-ho, who was the highest-ranked awakener amongst them .

The possibilities of either suspicion were valid . Since there were no leads in this case, Su-hyeun had to openly consider all the possibilities that he could come up with .

Su-hyeun carefully observed each and every member from all sides while following the group from behind . Then, Lee Ju-ho suddenly stopped in his tracks .

“Please stop for a moment . ”

Step—

As per Lee Ju-ho’s orders, all members came to a stop behind him . He had sensed something unusual right over the corner just ahead . Lee Ju-ho carefully walked over and stood beside it .

Lee Ju-ho peeked over the corner slightly and looked back at the members with widened eyes .

“What is it?” Lee Eun-mi, with the most impatient personality, asked . Lee Ju-ho bit his lips lightly and answered .

“…I think that something must have gone wrong here . ”

“What do you mean?”

“Those guys…”

Lee Ju-ho pointed to the monsters that were just around the corner and replied .

“They aren’t the usual monsters that should appear near the entrance of the dungeon . ”

Lee Ju-ho’s low voice trembled . Su-hyeun looked at Lee Ju-ho . He was the highest-ranked awakener there . He should have met lots of other monsters of that level and should have known very well about the dungeon’s characteristics .

The dungeon wasn’t normal; it was a dungeon that evolved day by day . Su-hyeun was already aware that it wasn’t an ordinary orange dungeon . The same went for Lee Ju-ho . Besides Su-hyeun, he was the most veteran amongst everyone else .

Lee Ju-ho, too, could vaguely sense this fact . Although he might not have been as confident as Su-hyeun, he stood at a crossroad, finding it difficult to make a quick decision .

If so, then…