episode_0025

Dungeon.

After an unprecedented cataclysmic event in human history, a kind of ‘monster lair’ appeared all over the world.

The dungeon in Mt. Yeongdeung’s game is called ‘Mad Mage Kate’s Laboratory.’

In the past, a mage named Kate discovered the dungeon and conducted experiments by capturing humans and monsters to combine them into one organism.

Kate, in order to prevent intrusion from the outside, set up traps inside the dungeon and released monsters, making it like a fortress.

The dungeon’s performance as a dungeon was excellent, as heroes had already failed in their conquest once.

Especially the traps.

Traps like falling rocks, disappearing floors, tentacles rising up, ceilings coming down, traps randomly moving people…

In Mt. Yeongdeung’s dungeon, traps are more dangerous than monsters.

But, you know.

Traps only show their true value when you don’t know about them, right?

What if, just what if, you enter the dungeon almost fully aware of its structure, traps, monsters, facilities, devices, etc.?

“Wait a minute.”

As seven members were exploring the inside of Mt. Yeongdeung’s dungeon following the footsteps of the vanguard.

“Just a moment here.”

Euijinhyuk, who was cautiously looking around and following behind, suddenly called out to the others.

Oh Jeongnam and Park Sangcheol stopped in their tracks and looked back.

Why is he suddenly calling out?

“Why are you doing that?”

“Would you like to take a look over there?”

Euijinhyuk pointed with his finger to the ground a little away.

The members turned their gaze to the ground and could see that rectangular-shaped tiles were very, very slightly protruding.

“That looks like a trap.”

“Oh, really?”

Oh Jeongnam, who took the lead in identifying the presence of traps and was responsible for the safety of the team, looked straight at Euijinhyuk.

A trap?

This passage is a place that the vanguard has already passed through once.

Moreover, Oh Jeongnam, who was a veteran, found nothing.

Could it be that a Union academy trainee who just enrolled found a trap that even he, a veteran, couldn’t find?

“If you look closely, you can see a structural device in the gap in the floor. It seems to be a trap that activates when stepped on.”

“….”

Oh Jeongnam furrowed his brows slightly.

Did he really identify that tiny gap with his naked eye?

Slightly doubtful, he carefully examined the ground again for the sake of caution.

As Euijinhyuk had said, he could see an unknown mechanical device through the very slightly opened gap.

Leading the team while carefully checking, this was Oh Jeongnam’s mistake as the scout.

If they had walked on, one of the team members following behind would have surely fallen into the trap.

“Ah… I’m sorry, I must not have examined it properly.”

“No, it’s okay. This place was a place that even the vanguard passed through without noticing, and it was so dark that it was hard to see.”

Indeed, the trap was hidden so discreetly that it was difficult to notice at a glance.

Perhaps if they had searched thoroughly, they could have found it, but knowing that the vanguard had passed through safely, he unconsciously examined it less.

“But, student Jinhyuk?”

“Yes?”

“Your eyesight is amazing, isn’t it? How did you find that in such a dark place?”

It was not at all that Euijinhyuk felt his pride hurt for finding what the pro Oh Jeongnam missed, but out of pure curiosity that he asked the question.

Euijinhyuk mentioned that he was an archer, and since Union had many talented individuals, he might not have known that he had better eyesight than Oh Jeongnam.

But.

“I watched the video from the Body Cam of the advance team. So, I was able to figure out some things.”

“Oh, really?”

Jinhyuk’s response was a bit unexpected.

Body Cam…

Even Oh Jeongnam saw that?

“No, I saw it too, but the video wasn’t clear enough to detect any trap devices, right?”

“Oh. That? After upscaling the video a bit, increasing the brightness to the maximum, and splitting it frame by frame, I carefully examined it.”

“Really?”

“By doing that, I found about 108 suspicious places, and among them, the ones with a high possibility of traps were separately submitted as data for you all.”

“Oh, I see…”

“It’s okay. I wouldn’t have paid much attention to it anyway. It was a place that the advance team had already passed, and the data was analyzed by an aspiring hero like me who doesn’t know much about the field.”

Looking at Jinhyuk speaking sincerely, Oh Jeongnam was slightly impressed in his heart.

It required a considerable amount of concentration and memorization to watch videos all day and memorize them.

Moreover, he memorized the locations suspected of traps just like that?

Even though Jinhyuk had never been here before and only illuminated the area with a lantern, the fact that he could pinpoint the memorized locations in the dark dungeon at once was quite astonishing.

Come to think of it, I heard that his theoretical score was excellent.

He must have studied really hard, considering that he passed the top hero training institution in Korea with a perfect written score.

But did he pass the Union with a poor practical score for nothing?

“He seems to have put in quite an effort for the first dungeon exploration.”

Oh Jeongnam nodded in agreement with himself.

There were various eccentrics and geniuses in this world.

Some could remember something they saw in an instant, or calculate multiple digits at once.

Oh Jeongnam had seen a complete memory expert in Gaon Nuri Clan in the past.

That’s why he didn’t think much of it.

But a little while later…

“Eek, eee, eee!”

“Eek, eek, eek.”

“Red blood-sucking bats confirmed in front.”

The bat monsters flying vigorously from afar.

Flapping their large wings, they rushed towards the group like a full moon.

Their sharp fangs seemed ready to tear flesh and suck blood.

“Everyone, prepare for battle.”

Han Seowoo tightly gripped her whip.

They weren’t powerful monsters, but there were many of them.

Being beasts, they had good mobility and could consume a lot of stamina by regenerating wounds through their blood-sucking ability, so fighting without thinking could lead to a lot of stamina consumption.

“Mr. Sangcheol, should we aggro the ones in front…?”

That’s when…

“Wait, you!”

In the midst of the chaos, Jinhyuk was spraying something into the air.

At the sudden action of Jinhyuk, Han Seowoo furrowed her brows and hurriedly tried to stop him.

What is that guy doing!

“Don’t do useless things and come over here quickly… Uh, huh?”

But what’s going on here?

“Eek, eee? Eee, eek?!”

“Keek?! Kekkek…!”

“Eek! Eek!”

The red blood-sucking bats that swooped down like arrows were writhing in agony, unable to flap their wings properly.

Some bats bumped their heads against hard surfaces like rocks without flapping their wings properly.

The bats, splattering blood, fell to the ground and trembled all over.

The remaining bats were caught in a 36-step trap.

“What is this…?”

The current situation was quite bewildering, but as a veteran, Sangcheol dealt with all the surviving bats first before approaching Jinhyuk to speak.

“What on earth did you do? Why are they like that…?”

“The red vampire bats have a highly developed sense of smell, making them vulnerable to certain chemical odors.”

“What?”

“Humans are particularly sensitive to a substance called geosmin compared to other animals, and as you can tell, those vampire bats over there are much more sensitive to specific chemicals than other organisms…”

“Wait, hold on.”

At the sudden explanation from Lee Jinhyuk, Han Seowoo waved his hand dismissively.

“How do you know that?”

“I read it in a paper recently.”

“A paper?”

“Yes. It was a paper presented by Professor Kuseokyeon two days ago, detailing the biological evolution of red vampire bats and their characteristics and epidemiological relationships. That’s where I got it from.”

“Huh.”

Han Seowoo was taken aback.

What is he talking about?

Did he really read a paper related to vampire bats recently and figure out their weaknesses?

It’s strange enough that a busy Union hero trainee would be reading useless papers, but how did he anticipate the appearance of red vampire bats?

“How did you know that red vampire bats would appear? They’re not even mentioned in the survey data of the advance team.”

“I didn’t know.”

Huh?

He didn’t know?

“I just made a guess.”

Lee Jinhyuk continued in a calm voice.

“Based on the survey data of the advance team regarding the environment near Yeongdeungsan, the temperature, humidity, terrain, light and shade inside the dungeon, monsters, magical power concentration, scale, indigenous plants, etc., I estimated that there would be about 53 species of monsters that could inhabit such an environment.”

“Uh, I see.”

“Among them, I searched the internet for the most likely monsters, summarized their characteristics and countermeasures, and familiarized myself with them as much as possible.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course, I also prepared items for other monsters, not just countermeasures for red vampire bats.”

Suddenly, Lee Jinhyuk started pulling out various items from the backpack he had brought.

Flashlights with over 100,000 lumens, high-frequency repellents, 170-decibel sound devices, pheromone perfumes of lotus-toothed frogs, and so on.

These were items that could be very effective against some of the monsters that might appear in the dungeon.

“…”

Wait, why did he bring such a big bag?

Did he really bring those items?

Han Seowoo made a slightly disgusted face.

“You found, memorized, and prepared all these items in just one day?”

“I already knew a lot of them beforehand, and most importantly, Yuseolhyun helped me prepare them quickly.”

Han Seowoo was speechless.

“You said you memorized the possible traps by watching the body cam footage earlier. In just one day.”

“Yes.”

Is he crazy?

How did he investigate, memorize, and prepare all that in just one day?

“They say ‘better safe than sorry,’ right? So I tried to prepare as much as possible.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And I didn’t mention this earlier because I wasn’t sure that such monsters would appear, and I didn’t want you to think of me strangely.”

I can’t really say no to that.

“Come to think of it, he mentioned having collected and compiled information for the survey. Did he gather all this in just one day? Did Yuseolhyun provide him with information in advance during the advance team’s conquest?”

Regardless, thorough preparation is never a bad thing.

But it’s necessary to caution him about acting on his own.

As Han Seowoo was about to speak slowly, Lee Jinhyuk spoke first.

“I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

“I realize I acted a bit independently without considering the team position. I was lucky this time, but there’s no guarantee I’ll be lucky next time.”

“…Well, I guess so.”

“I’m sorry, Team Leader Han Seo-woo. I won’t act on my own without permission next time.”

“…Alright, just keep that in mind.”

He couldn’t say much when I bowed my head and admitted my mistake.

Moreover, he had also pointed out a trap that Oh Jeong-nam had missed earlier, and his decisive actions had garnered enough sympathy and support from the other team members.

Just like this.

“Oh, no, it’s okay, Mr. Lee Jin-hyuk. Thanks to you, we were able to drive away the bats easily. Seo-woo will understand too, right?”

The kind-hearted Park Sang-cheol praised him.

It was to be expected considering his usual personality.

Furthermore, if Lee Jin-hyuk hadn’t discovered the trap earlier, Park Sang-cheol would have been the one to step on it.

“Since this was the first time, I hope you’ll be more careful in the future.”

Even the magician Erina shrugged her shoulders as if to say it was okay, and Han Seo-woo could only sigh inwardly.

Because there was nothing good to say in this atmosphere.

“Well… then let’s regroup and continue moving.”

And not long after that.

“What’s this now?”

“There’s only one way here, but there’s a door…”

The team members paused for a moment.

A large metal door blocked the path ahead.

Only strange numbers were displayed on the screen above the opening mechanism. What is this about? The team members fell into contemplation.

5212 = 0

6202 = 2

9408 = 5

8102 = ?

*If you get it wrong more than 3 times, boom!

“A riddle? Is this a joke?”

“I heard there are dungeons of this kind, but this seems a bit too artificial, doesn’t it?”

“Should we just break the opening mechanism? Maybe it’ll open if we do it right?”

“Stop it. If you do it wrong, the door might break completely.”

“Hmm. The door looks pretty solid. It would take quite a bit of time to break through, right?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m not good at using my head.”

As they exchanged various opinions, Lee Jin-hyuk took a step forward.

“I think I know the answer to this.”

“What?”

Han Seo-woo was a little surprised.

He solved that strange riddle already?

So soon?

“Can I try entering the answer?”

“Um… well.”

Glancing at the other team members for agreement, Han Seo-woo sought their approval, and the other team members nodded as if to say go ahead.

Since it didn’t seem like they would figure out the answer by just thinking about it.

And with more than 3 chances, there was a bit of expectation for Lee Jin-hyuk’s performance so far.

“What’s the answer then?”

“I’m not sure, but it’s probably 3.”

“3? Why?”

Han Seo-woo expressed his doubts.

Why 3?

“I think it’s easy if you think about the pattern of the riddle. Just consider the holes in the numbers as 1.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Yes. Numbers 0, 4, 6, 9 each have one hole, so 1. Number 8 has two holes, so 2, like that.”

“Hmm…”

What can I say?

It was really an intuitive problem.

Of course, I don’t know if it’s the correct answer or not.

Han Seo-woo scratched his chin.

“I’ll try entering it once.”

Finally, Lee Jin-hyuk entered the number 3 on the panel.

Han Seo-woo watched him, wondering what would happen.

And then, clunk! The large door opened.

Oh, it was really the right answer?

“Really?”

“To be honest, it was a bit straightforward and simplistic for a riddle, wasn’t it?”

“…”

Han Seo-woo pursed his lips.

No, she couldn’t even come up with that simple idea.

Although the riddle answer itself was a bit vague, as someone who didn’t even think of any deductions, what could Han Seo-woo say.

“Anyway, now that the door’s open, shall we continue? The traces of the advance team seem to extend all the way over there.”

“…Alright, yeah. Let’s go.”

Han Seo-woo thought to himself as he continued on.

Honestly, this guy.

I was relieved that there were no interruptions.

But I think I need to change that thought a bit.

No, not a bit, but a lot.

***

A wide courtyard.

A brief rest period.

Yuseolhyun and Lee Jinhyuk, who were a little apart from the group, whispered.

“Oh, how did I memorize all that in just one day, really.”

Well, it was strange to remember the contents of the game from my past life to this extent.

Of course, there were quite a few things I had forgotten as well.

“Kook kook, good job. Saying you read the paper in advance… or that you memorized the video frame by frame… these excuses were quite funny.”

“…But seriously, the paper thing is true. It was presented two days ago, right?”

“Oh really~? Kook.”

“But why does everyone just believe it without question? If it were me, I would have looked at them as if to say, ‘What nonsense are you talking about?’”

“You were the top in theory.”

“Well, even so…”

Yuseolhyun, who had been listening to Lee Jinhyuk’s unbelievable excuses, just chuckled.

You should make use of the information you’ve discovered through future foresight, Jinhyuk.

Don’t you think so?