episode_0026

026

Memory is a vague thing.

Even though the memories of playing the game came flooding back vividly as if it happened just yesterday when recalling his past life, they were nothing but faded fragments of memory.

No matter how diligently one played the game of life in their past, like a sandcastle that easily crumbles in the face of time, it is natural for it to disappear.

Therefore, being able to come this far without much difficulty using the memories of his past life could be considered partly lucky.

Luck, they say…

Jinhyuk couldn’t help but smirk to himself.

Indeed, it could be considered luck to say the least.

Considering that the types of monsters, the locations of traps, and even the foolish riddles that came to mind from his past life memories almost all matched up.

It felt like receiving an exam paper with consecutive questions that he had studied for.

And most of all, being able to reach this point without encountering monsters directly was definitely worth describing as luck.

If it were a regular game, he would have had to engage in at least three or four more battles.

Despite moving as cautiously as possible to avoid the monsters due to the places they were likely to appear and Yuseolhyun’s psychic abilities, Jinhyuk couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy as he didn’t expect things to go so smoothly.

Games and reality are different.

Reality can create countless variables that cannot be compared to games.

Wasn’t it not long ago that Jinhyuk failed to defeat the black-handed monkey in a way that he couldn’t in the game?

This is to say that many variables can arise.

Whether they are good or bad variables.

“Things are going well now, but let’s not get complacent. We don’t know what might happen in the future.”

Jinhyuk’s thoughts deepened.

This was because Jinhyuk was so weak that he couldn’t even properly deal with monsters and villains, let alone conquer dungeons, without the help of others.

Not only was he lacking in innate talent, abilities, and family background, but also the area he was trying to catch up in was not something he could excel in through effort alone.

Those who could laugh off unexpected events, good or bad, without much concern were only the strong.

Even if an unforeseen situation arises, a strong person is someone who can somehow overcome it or survive.

But Jinhyuk?

If unfavorable variables, unforeseen events, or bad luck occur in the future, will Jinhyuk be able to handle them alone?

“Ugh, seriously. I need to farm items quickly…”

In order for the weakened Jinhyuk to be able to proactively respond to danger to some extent, he needed the item that was deeply hidden in the depths of this dungeon.

After all, in RPG games, it’s either leveling up or item farming.

“But what’s the use of knowing where various items are? I can’t go farming.”

Although Jinhyuk knew well where the unrevealed items were located, the reason he hadn’t retrieved them yet, or rather couldn’t, was one thing.

Most of the items were in dangerous places.

Dungeons, monster lairs, villains’ secret bases…

How could Jinhyuk retrieve items from such perilous places?

In order to actively retrieve items, he needed someone to help him.

That’s why Jinhyuk approached Yuseolhyun.

To provide her with information, dispatch a hero team, clear the dungeon, and share some rewards.

“Yuseolhyun isn’t that bad.”

Even though she had the setting of being a villainess, she was a fairly reasonable person before her corruption(?).

Furthermore, Yuseolhyun had her own hero team under her command, right?

She had good abilities, talents, a good family background, good communication skills, and heroes under her command…

It could be said that she was the most suitable person at the moment.

Having lied about having future foresight abilities, she wouldn’t have much doubt even if she mentioned where certain items were located.

Yoo Seol-hyun would accumulate achievements by conquering numerous dungeons and gaining recognition from her family members, while Lee Jin-hyuk could secure items and wealth without doing anything, so they could have a mutually beneficial relationship.

In other words, Yoo Seol-hyun was an excellent business partner.

“If I successfully finish this task, I should ask her to tell me the locations of a few more hidden dungeons so we can share the items there. Since she knows I have future foresight abilities, she won’t do anything strange just for a few items.”

Of course, for now, she needed to focus on successfully clearing this dungeon.

If she could get through this task smoothly, there wouldn’t be any issues with Yoo Seol-hyun’s mental state, so they could form a friendly relationship for a while.

“Lee Jin-hyuk? What are you thinking about?”

Yoo Seol-hyun’s puzzled voice caught Lee Jin-hyuk, who was lost in deep thought.

“Just this and that.”

“You seem to be lost in thought.”

“We’re almost at the lab once we defeat the gatekeeper. We need to be prepared to face Kate.”

“Hmm? Really?”

The insane wizard Kate.

Kate was immersed in alchemical magic, mixing her own body with that of monsters to become a monster herself.

As a result, she had an almost ageless body with powerful magic and strength. However, her mind was corrupted, causing her intelligence to deteriorate and her mental age to regress to that of a child.

If the game world was similar to reality, Kate and the missing heroes would be trapped there.

“With this level of power, we should be able to subdue her without much difficulty.”

In the world’s lore, she wasn’t an overwhelmingly strong monster, and her weaknesses were clear. Moreover, for veterans like them, Kate wasn’t a particularly dangerous opponent.

They were skilled enough to subdue even the Black Hand Gibbons, provided they dug deep enough.

Well, she didn’t fully believe in her past life memories, but after investigating various aspects, she could somewhat anticipate Kate’s strength.

As long as they didn’t get scattered and defeated, they could clear this dungeon without any issues.

“Alright, break time’s over. Let’s start moving.”

“Already?”

Erina responded grumpily to Han Seo-woo’s voice announcing the end of the break.

As a former wizard, she had lower stamina compared to other heroes.

“Erina, I told you to work on your stamina, didn’t I?”

“I guess I’m just not cut out for fieldwork.”

“Stop complaining and get up. Don’t you feel embarrassed in front of your juniors?”

“Fine, fine, I got it.”

Grumbling, Erina got up from her seat and glanced at Lee Jin-hyuk and Yoo Seol-hyun.

“Alright, I’m leaving now. Hurry up, come on.”

“Yes.”

Lee Jin-hyuk and the others started moving again.

Towards the deep, dark depths.

For the upcoming battle with the dungeon boss.

And to defeat the gatekeeper guarding the lab.

***

“It’s a really spacious room.”

The group soon reached the room where the gatekeeper was waiting.

“It’s about 100 meters long, roughly?”

Like a sports field, the room was wide open with an exit on the opposite side.

“Hmm?”

While examining the unusually spacious room from outside, Oh Jung-nam soon noticed a giant figure in the center.

“Is that an orc? It has horns and is quite tall, right?”

“It might be a mutant.”

As Oh Jung-nam and team leader Han Seo-woo discussed, Lee Jin-hyuk also looked at the orc.

That guy was the dungeon gatekeeper, the Black Horned Orc.

Kate’s intelligence had deteriorated before she synthesized one of the monsters with alchemy, making it much stronger than a typical orc.

Of course, an orc is still an orc.

If they were to engage in a fight, they wouldn’t last more than a few minutes and would likely lose their lives.

“The important thing in this room isn’t that orc.”

Because there was a random teleportation trap set up in this room.

The most dangerous and troublesome trap in this dungeon could be considered the random teleportation device.

It was a terrifying trap that could randomly teleport people all over the dungeon.

As soon as they entered the room, the magic circle on the floor emitted a faint light, and 5 minutes later, the random teleportation device would activate, so as long as they didn’t do anything unnecessary, they were quite relaxed.

The room was about 100m wide at most.

Even if they defeated that orc and walked leisurely, they could reach the exit in 3 minutes.

Or maybe…

They could just retreat back to the entrance.

“Yuseolhyun, how’s the room? Are there any hidden monsters other than that orc?”

“Just a moment.”

Han Se-woo asked Yuseolhyun a question.

The reason he asked the amateur Yuseolhyun a question was because of her extraordinary ability.

Yuseolhyun’s ability was exploration.

She could detect monsters within a certain radius excluding humans.

Although it consumed a lot of psychic and mental energy, making it difficult to use frequently and for a long time, it was quite useful for dungeon exploration.

If there was a monster hiding in that large room, it would definitely be caught in Yuseolhyun’s radar.

“The room is too wide to fully grasp, but as of now, there doesn’t seem to be anything suspicious.”

“Really? Well, for now…”

“Just a moment.”

Erina quickly approached and activated her luck.

“There seems to be a magic circle-like thing on the floor of this room.”

“A magic circle?”

“Yes.”

Erina then enhanced her magic to start interpreting the contents of the magic circle.

“…It seems to be a magic circle related to teleportation. It probably activates when an intruder enters. Of course, it will take some time to activate. Maybe around 5 minutes?”

Thanks to Erina, who explained it like that as a wizard in the game, the players didn’t waste time in this room unnecessarily.

“Can we break through the magic circle?”

“It probably won’t work, right?”

“Even if we break the ground with the magic circle drawn on it?”

“Yes.”

“In that case, we should quickly defeat that orc.”

“No, why don’t we just lure the orc out of the room?”

“Is that a barrier… maybe?”

“Should I try luring it with magic?”

After exchanging their opinions, the team decided to lure the orc once.

However…

“Ah, damn it, the orc isn’t following us?”

“It seems like it’s not working.”

As it was a barrier, it didn’t chase after them recklessly.

Since Kate had directly synthesized and created it, it obeyed her commands through brainwaves.

In the game setting, Kate could command and control the experimental subjects she created with her brainwaves.

Of course, she couldn’t do that to other monsters.

“We just wasted our magic.”

Erina tried to attack with magic from outside the room, but the distance was quite far, so she didn’t hit the target well, and it was unlikely to expect powerful firepower from her, who was skilled in support magic.

In this place, the only long-range dealers were Lee Jin-hyuk and Erina.

Therefore, the team eventually reached the conclusion to quickly defeat the orc and pass through the room.

“Let’s maintain a triangular formation and quickly break through. Be cautious of any traps.”

With Erina’s shout, the team set foot into the room.

The moment their feet touched the floor of the room.

“The magic circle is activating! We only have 5 minutes, so we need to hurry.”

“Got it!”

With Erina’s shout, the team rushed towards the orc.

“Ugh, eeeek, eeeek?!”

As the saying goes, there’s no business in a ditch, right?

The black horned orc let out a roar and fell to the ground, not even lasting two minutes in battle.

Originally, it wasn’t a particularly strong monster.

In the setting, there were a few more monsters with Kate, but they weren’t powerful enough to be of concern, and since they didn’t appear in the game, there wasn’t much information about them.

‘Even if they appear with Kate, there shouldn’t be a problem with this level of strength.’

At that moment, as she was thinking that…

“It’s nothing, let’s hurry and leave this place…”

“Just a moment.”

Startled, Yoo Seolhyun shuddered.

She looked intently towards the exit. From the dark entrance, something unknown was slowly approaching, not just one or two, but dozens of them.