058. Dungeon Conquest War (3)
The Dungeon Race was still in its early stages, but it was proceeding smoothly. As anticipated, the three major guilds had taken most of the dungeons with lower point scores by virtue of sheer numbers, and Minah had shone brightly, already seizing two of the high-value dungeons. Additionally, Jisoo had secured a 5-point dungeon, so our guild had already earned 25 points.
Because of this, I, who had been on standby in case of any emergencies, found myself without tasks. I had planned to keep an eye on Minah, who was playing a risky game, for a day at least, but it seemed my concerns were unfounded.
“Aw, aww!”
“That’s it, that’s it.”
While patting Baeksul-i on the back, I continued to check on the crows. I had dispatched Luke to keep an eye on Uprising, but so far, there had been no point of contact. Since this side only required simple surveillance, there wasn’t much to worry about.
“Changwoo’s side seems to be… without special problems, too.”
Changwoo was managing the Genesis side, but there also hadn’t been any notable incidents yet.
“Ah, mister, I want to hold Baeksul-i too.”
“Isn’t she a bit heavy for you to carry?”
“Is that so…”
The only one without a task, Lyn, showed a downcast expression at my words. Siwoo was busy synthesizing the leather of the archery equipment and the mantle of the Dark Night that I had given him, and since I had already placed several other equipment requests, Lyn was currently responsible for taking care of Baeksul-i. Since I currently didn’t have appropriate armor, my job was to simply play with Baeksul-i and keep tabs on the dungeons. I had no real need to intervene at the moment.
‘I’m still not used to being called “mister.”‘
Even though I was used to the term from my previous life, it still felt odd considering I was only 23 years old. Considering Lyn was 13, it wasn’t strange to be called “mister,” but it still irked me.
“Can’t you teach me how to fight like Jisoo unnie?”
“Why?”
“Well, I feel like I’m not helpful at all…”
Lyn fidgeted with her fingers as she spoke in a small voice. Though she didn’t say it, she must have been the most shocked by the recent attack by Shinja Un.
“Not yet.”
“Because I’m young?”
“No.”
It was too soon to train Lyn.
“You need to start by understanding yourself first.”
“Understanding myself?”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm, I have no idea…”
It was to be expected. There was no need to hastily nurture Lyn’s talent on blind faith. Moreover, she was far from the idea of training and nurturing. She’d become stronger simply by observing us. She had to realize this. Effort for something came later. Having grown among average people, Lyn thought she was average too, her talent unmanifested and unknown to her—apart from the occasional flashes of brilliance.
“Awoo, wooo!”
Suddenly, Baeksul-i, with her tiny hands grasping and releasing, created a large soap bubble in the air. The bubble floated towards the sullen Lyn and popped with a plop. Once hit by the soap bubble, Lyn’s gloomy expression slowly relaxed.
“Uh? Wow. I feel refreshed.”
Refreshed, huh?
I looked at Baeksul-i, holding her in my arms. She just chuckled happily.
‘Magic?’
That was the only thing that made sense. Perhaps it was some form of magic that stimulated or healed the mind because Lyn’s face lit up. Instinctively, Baeksul-i must have used magic sensing Lyn’s bad mood.
‘Now that I think about it, she’s not a normal child either.’
Only two days old and already using magic. Considering the very few players who could use magic, it was more than surprising.
When I stared at Baeksul-i, she seemed to feel something in her nose, snorted, and then let out a big sneeze.
“Eh, heh, heh-achoo!”
Whoosh!
A beam of light emitted from the single horn on Baeksul-i’s forehead and just grazed my cheek. It effortlessly made a small hole in the building after cutting through a few strands of my hair.
“…”
I carefully placed Baeksul-i down on the floor. Delighted to be down, Baeksul-i crawled around happily. Lyn looked at me cautiously.
“Mister, are you surprised?”
“Not surprised.”
I just thought I was about to die. I never expected a ray to shoot from her horn. Even the giraffes I had seen in my previous life didn’t shoot beams from their horns.
“Baah~!”
Baeksul-i seemed delighted, waving her hands at me. Innocent and cheerful, but I had to step a little to the side. Not because I was scared of the beam. Really.
***
“Is it coming out today?”
“That’s what the announcement said.”
Since the start of the Dungeon Race, people had gathered in Gwanghwamun Plaza for the first time in a while. The reason was that the current standings would be displayed on the giant screen in the plaza according to the notice.
Specifically, the notice stated the rankings would be updated every Friday, and today happened to be Friday. Five days since the Dungeon Race began.
“Which guild do you think will be first?”
“Obviously, the strongest, Pianghwa, right?”
“But there’s a rumor that every time they enter a dungeon, they face obstructions.”
“Pianghwa, Pianghwa… obviously, it’s Uprising.”
The crowd that had gathered in the plaza speculated which guild would be in first place. Most slightly favored Uprising as the top guild, followed by Pianghwa, with Genesis in third.
“Oh, it’s showing! It’s up!”
After some time, the screen in Gwanghwamun Plaza began displaying the Dungeon Race rankings, starting from 20th place upward. Players reacted with joy and disappointment as each rank was announced.
“Ah, our guild’s 17th.”
“Look at that! We made it into the top 15!”
The rankings didn’t deviate too much from the players’ predictions. Small and medium-sized guilds were happy about their own rankings, curious to see who would make the top 10. The surprise came when the name for 5th place was displayed.
==
5th Place. Pianghwa Guild
32 points.
==
“32 points?”
“That Pianghwa?”
Players stirred at the sight of the screen. Some subtly shifted their gaze to where the Pianghwa guild members were congregated. Guild leader Lee A-young wasn’t visible, but vice guild leader Park Shin-il was visibly reddening.
“If only those dungeon collapses hadn’t happened!”
The Pianghwa guild seemed cursed with bad luck in this Dungeon Race. Each time they found a decent dungeon and tried to enter, it would collapse, blocking their progress. It wasn’t just one or two missed dungeons, so Park Shin-il’s frustration was understandable.
“Then who’s above them?”
“If one of the big three guilds is in 5th…?”
Nobody had a guess. Then the 4th place was displayed.
4th place was Grimm Moon.
“It makes sense if it’s Grimm Moon.”
Grimm Moon’s infamy was slowly growing among the players. Although still perceived as inferior to other big guilds, this event showed they had the power to rival the big three. The name displayed for 3rd place, however, was unexpectedly blank – indicating equal points between 2nd and 3rd places. The crowd focused on the next name, suspecting it to be the event’s dark horse.
==
Joint 2nd Place.
Genesis Guild
Dearside Guild
55 points.
==
“Dearside?”
“What guild is that?”
It was expected for Genesis to be in 2nd place, but the real surprise was the guild listed beneath it—Dearside, a name unfamiliar even to players who thought they knew most guilds.
Lastly, Uprising was revealed to be in 1st place on the screen, but the focus remained on the mysterious 2nd place, Dearside, for they were the storm’s eye in this Dungeon Race.
***
Genesis Guild Master’s Office.
A man and a woman were engaged in a conversation. The woman was Hong Ga-eun, the vice guild master of Genesis, and the man was Park Sung-hyuk, the guild master.
“As expected, we’re in 2nd place.”
“Yes, exactly as we predicted. It’s better to let Uprising have the 1st place for now.”
Uprising was in 1st place due to their aggressive dungeon conquests and lack of significant obstruction. Genesis could have overtaken them, but they chose not to, to avoid being targeted by Uprising.
“We maintained the score, so next week, we should increase our lead significantly, big enough that they’ll struggle to interfere.”
Since they were ostensibly cooperating, it wouldn’t be too problematic if Genesis got a big lead.
‘It seems neither Uprising nor Pianghwa understand the dungeon scoring system.’
On the table was a map of Seoul, marked with the locations of dungeons and connected lines.
“Constellations.”
An intriguing hint—could it foretell events related to constellations?
“But Guild Master,”
“Yes, what is it?”
“What do you think about Dearside sharing 2nd place with us?”
“Hmm…”
Park Sung-hyuk’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. He was already troubled by the emergence of Dearside.
“I asked the deity for a revelation, but even they seemed unaware. It appears Dearside is operating very covertly.”
This could mean it was a subject too sensitive for a direct answer. The game rules prohibited discussing other deities carelessly. Usually, remarks about lower deities were permissible, but abstaining from such comments meant the being involved was at least of equal stature.
Park Sung-hyuk’s deity was Tyr, a high-ranking law deity. That he was cautious about speaking out suggested Dearside might have a high-ranking deity’s avatar too.
‘The real question is which dungeons they’ve conquered to earn points.’
Genesis had already checked all the high-scoring dungeon conquering guilds, with no sign of Dearside responsible for any. 55 points required more than just the 1 and 3-point dungeons.
‘Perhaps they concealed themselves as an ordinary guild while earning points? No, that’s implausible.’
‘Then it leaves these collapsed dungeons.’
Based on the star positions, the dungeons were from the Zodiac. Among them, the collapsed dungeons were at the brightest star’s location. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
“I’m guessing they’ve taken over the dungeons Pianghwa was aiming for.”
“Ah! There are four 10-point dungeons indeed.”
“The rest of the points could be made up by taking over a few 3 or 5-point dungeons.”
That would approximate their own scoring range.
‘They seem to know that constellations are related to scoring.’
If so, this was serious. If they shared this info with other guilds, future competition would become difficult.
‘We must keep an eye on Dearside’s movements.’
If they targeted high-scoring dungeons, tracking them wouldn’t be hard. Preemptively setting a trap and ambushing them might render them helpless.
After reaching this conclusion and looking up, he noticed Hong Ga-eun cautiously watching him—her subtle signal of curiosity. Unlike Park Sung-hyuk, Hong Ga-eun struggled with strategic thinking.
“Do you have a question, Ms. Ga-eun?”
“…Embarrassingly, yes. I can’t understand it.”
“What can’t you understand?”
“If Dearside collapsed the dungeons, how did they engrave and escape them? They surely appeared completely buried under rubble.”
“That is…”
Park Sung-hyuk pondered seriously, then replied.
“I don’t know.”
“Huh?”
“How would I know that.”
“Right, of course.”
Even Park Sung-hyuk, known as the brain of Genesis and avatar of the god Tyr, admitted ignorance of something he didn’t know.
058. Dungeon Conquest War (3)
The Dungeon Race was still in its early stages, but it was proceeding smoothly. As anticipated, the three major guilds had taken most of the dungeons with lower point scores by virtue of sheer numbers, and Minah had shone brightly, already seizing two of the high-value dungeons. Additionally, Jisoo had secured a 5-point dungeon, so our guild had already earned 25 points.
Because of this, I, who had been on standby in case of any emergencies, found myself without tasks. I had planned to keep an eye on Minah, who was playing a risky game, for a day at least, but it seemed my concerns were unfounded.
“Aw, aww!”
“That’s it, that’s it.”
While patting Baeksul-i on the back, I continued to check on the crows. I had dispatched Luke to keep an eye on Uprising, but so far, there had been no point of contact. Since this side only required simple surveillance, there wasn’t much to worry about.
“Changwoo’s side seems to be… without special problems, too.”
Changwoo was managing the Genesis side, but there also hadn’t been any notable incidents yet.
“Ah, mister, I want to hold Baeksul-i too.”
“Isn’t she a bit heavy for you to carry?”
“Is that so…”
The only one without a task, Lyn, showed a downcast expression at my words. Siwoo was busy synthesizing the leather of the archery equipment and the mantle of the Dark Night that I had given him, and since I had already placed several other equipment requests, Lyn was currently responsible for taking care of Baeksul-i. Since I currently didn’t have appropriate armor, my job was to simply play with Baeksul-i and keep tabs on the dungeons. I had no real need to intervene at the moment.
‘I’m still not used to being called “mister.”‘
Even though I was used to the term from my previous life, it still felt odd considering I was only 23 years old. Considering Lyn was 13, it wasn’t strange to be called “mister,” but it still irked me.
“Can’t you teach me how to fight like Jisoo unnie?”
“Why?”
“Well, I feel like I’m not helpful at all…”
Lyn fidgeted with her fingers as she spoke in a small voice. Though she didn’t say it, she must have been the most shocked by the recent attack by Shinja Un.
“Not yet.”
“Because I’m young?”
“No.”
It was too soon to train Lyn.
“You need to start by understanding yourself first.”
“Understanding myself?”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm, I have no idea…”
It was to be expected. There was no need to hastily nurture Lyn’s talent on blind faith. Moreover, she was far from the idea of training and nurturing. She’d become stronger simply by observing us. She had to realize this. Effort for something came later. Having grown among average people, Lyn thought she was average too, her talent unmanifested and unknown to her—apart from the occasional flashes of brilliance.
“Awoo, wooo!”
Suddenly, Baeksul-i, with her tiny hands grasping and releasing, created a large soap bubble in the air. The bubble floated towards the sullen Lyn and popped with a plop. Once hit by the soap bubble, Lyn’s gloomy expression slowly relaxed.
“Uh? Wow. I feel refreshed.”
Refreshed, huh?
I looked at Baeksul-i, holding her in my arms. She just chuckled happily.
‘Magic?’
That was the only thing that made sense. Perhaps it was some form of magic that stimulated or healed the mind because Lyn’s face lit up. Instinctively, Baeksul-i must have used magic sensing Lyn’s bad mood.
‘Now that I think about it, she’s not a normal child either.’
Only two days old and already using magic. Considering the very few players who could use magic, it was more than surprising.
When I stared at Baeksul-i, she seemed to feel something in her nose, snorted, and then let out a big sneeze.
“Eh, heh, heh-achoo!”
Whoosh!
A beam of light emitted from the single horn on Baeksul-i’s forehead and just grazed my cheek. It effortlessly made a small hole in the building after cutting through a few strands of my hair.
“…”
I carefully placed Baeksul-i down on the floor. Delighted to be down, Baeksul-i crawled around happily. Lyn looked at me cautiously.
“Mister, are you surprised?”
“Not surprised.”
I just thought I was about to die. I never expected a ray to shoot from her horn. Even the giraffes I had seen in my previous life didn’t shoot beams from their horns.
“Baah~!”
Baeksul-i seemed delighted, waving her hands at me. Innocent and cheerful, but I had to step a little to the side. Not because I was scared of the beam. Really.
***
“Is it coming out today?”
“That’s what the announcement said.”
Since the start of the Dungeon Race, people had gathered in Gwanghwamun Plaza for the first time in a while. The reason was that the current standings would be displayed on the giant screen in the plaza according to the notice.
Specifically, the notice stated the rankings would be updated every Friday, and today happened to be Friday. Five days since the Dungeon Race began.
“Which guild do you think will be first?”
“Obviously, the strongest, Pianghwa, right?”
“But there’s a rumor that every time they enter a dungeon, they face obstructions.”
“Pianghwa, Pianghwa… obviously, it’s Uprising.”
The crowd that had gathered in the plaza speculated which guild would be in first place. Most slightly favored Uprising as the top guild, followed by Pianghwa, with Genesis in third.
“Oh, it’s showing! It’s up!”
After some time, the screen in Gwanghwamun Plaza began displaying the Dungeon Race rankings, starting from 20th place upward. Players reacted with joy and disappointment as each rank was announced.
“Ah, our guild’s 17th.”
“Look at that! We made it into the top 15!”
The rankings didn’t deviate too much from the players’ predictions. Small and medium-sized guilds were happy about their own rankings, curious to see who would make the top 10. The surprise came when the name for 5th place was displayed.
==
5th Place. Pianghwa Guild
32 points.
==
“32 points?”
“That Pianghwa?”
Players stirred at the sight of the screen. Some subtly shifted their gaze to where the Pianghwa guild members were congregated. Guild leader Lee A-young wasn’t visible, but vice guild leader Park Shin-il was visibly reddening.
“If only those dungeon collapses hadn’t happened!”
The Pianghwa guild seemed cursed with bad luck in this Dungeon Race. Each time they found a decent dungeon and tried to enter, it would collapse, blocking their progress. It wasn’t just one or two missed dungeons, so Park Shin-il’s frustration was understandable.
“Then who’s above them?”
“If one of the big three guilds is in 5th…?”
Nobody had a guess. Then the 4th place was displayed.
4th place was Grimm Moon.
“It makes sense if it’s Grimm Moon.”
Grimm Moon’s infamy was slowly growing among the players. Although still perceived as inferior to other big guilds, this event showed they had the power to rival the big three. The name displayed for 3rd place, however, was unexpectedly blank – indicating equal points between 2nd and 3rd places. The crowd focused on the next name, suspecting it to be the event’s dark horse.
==
Joint 2nd Place.
Genesis Guild
Dearside Guild
55 points.
==
“Dearside?”
“What guild is that?”
It was expected for Genesis to be in 2nd place, but the real surprise was the guild listed beneath it—Dearside, a name unfamiliar even to players who thought they knew most guilds.
Lastly, Uprising was revealed to be in 1st place on the screen, but the focus remained on the mysterious 2nd place, Dearside, for they were the storm’s eye in this Dungeon Race.
***
Genesis Guild Master’s Office.
A man and a woman were engaged in a conversation. The woman was Hong Ga-eun, the vice guild master of Genesis, and the man was Park Sung-hyuk, the guild master.
“As expected, we’re in 2nd place.”
“Yes, exactly as we predicted. It’s better to let Uprising have the 1st place for now.”
Uprising was in 1st place due to their aggressive dungeon conquests and lack of significant obstruction. Genesis could have overtaken them, but they chose not to, to avoid being targeted by Uprising.
“We maintained the score, so next week, we should increase our lead significantly, big enough that they’ll struggle to interfere.”
Since they were ostensibly cooperating, it wouldn’t be too problematic if Genesis got a big lead.
‘It seems neither Uprising nor Pianghwa understand the dungeon scoring system.’
On the table was a map of Seoul, marked with the locations of dungeons and connected lines.
“Constellations.”
An intriguing hint—could it foretell events related to constellations?
“But Guild Master,”
“Yes, what is it?”
“What do you think about Dearside sharing 2nd place with us?”
“Hmm…”
Park Sung-hyuk’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. He was already troubled by the emergence of Dearside.
“I asked the deity for a revelation, but even they seemed unaware. It appears Dearside is operating very covertly.”
This could mean it was a subject too sensitive for a direct answer. The game rules prohibited discussing other deities carelessly. Usually, remarks about lower deities were permissible, but abstaining from such comments meant the being involved was at least of equal stature.
Park Sung-hyuk’s deity was Tyr, a high-ranking law deity. That he was cautious about speaking out suggested Dearside might have a high-ranking deity’s avatar too.
‘The real question is which dungeons they’ve conquered to earn points.’
Genesis had already checked all the high-scoring dungeon conquering guilds, with no sign of Dearside responsible for any. 55 points required more than just the 1 and 3-point dungeons.
‘Perhaps they concealed themselves as an ordinary guild while earning points? No, that’s implausible.’
‘Then it leaves these collapsed dungeons.’
Based on the star positions, the dungeons were from the Zodiac. Among them, the collapsed dungeons were at the brightest star’s location. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
“I’m guessing they’ve taken over the dungeons Pianghwa was aiming for.”
“Ah! There are four 10-point dungeons indeed.”
“The rest of the points could be made up by taking over a few 3 or 5-point dungeons.”
That would approximate their own scoring range.
‘They seem to know that constellations are related to scoring.’
If so, this was serious. If they shared this info with other guilds, future competition would become difficult.
‘We must keep an eye on Dearside’s movements.’
If they targeted high-scoring dungeons, tracking them wouldn’t be hard. Preemptively setting a trap and ambushing them might render them helpless.
After reaching this conclusion and looking up, he noticed Hong Ga-eun cautiously watching him—her subtle signal of curiosity. Unlike Park Sung-hyuk, Hong Ga-eun struggled with strategic thinking.
“Do you have a question, Ms. Ga-eun?”
“…Embarrassingly, yes. I can’t understand it.”
“What can’t you understand?”
“If Dearside collapsed the dungeons, how did they engrave and escape them? They surely appeared completely buried under rubble.”
“That is…”
Park Sung-hyuk pondered seriously, then replied.
“I don’t know.”
“Huh?”
“How would I know that.”
“Right, of course.”
Even Park Sung-hyuk, known as the brain of Genesis and avatar of the god Tyr, admitted ignorance of something he didn’t know.
