Friday at Phenomenon Realm Analysis’s class, today was the day where the teams would have to present their team challenge presentation.
Each one of them had to go up and analyze a previously selected Dungeon. The first time to go up was Chae Nayun’s team.
The result was a complete mess. While their investigation wasn’t that bad, it wasn’t the best, and it all got worse when their magician, Oh Junsik, insisted on doing the presentation. He ended up stuttering and messing up even the PowerPoint out of nervousness.
Following up was Rachel’s team with Kim Hajin doing his presentation. He didn’t only use the horn flute and a serenity pill, but he also brought glasses, which gave him the look of a professor giving a class.
The rest of the class went on, and soon, they all finished their presentation, and cadets started to go out of classes. As today was the team challenge for PRA, other classes were suspended.
“Man, that sure was the easiest full score I ever got!” Olivia said with a grin as she walked towards the dorm, accompanied by Cristopher, Rachel, and Kim Hajin.
“Yeah, talk about being a leecher.” Cristopher said with a smirk.
“I’m not a leecher! I also did my part of the work!” She said grumping.
“That’s true, she did her part.” Kim Hajin, who was smiling awkwardly, said. “By the way, why didn’t you go with your friend to celebrate?”
“Hm?” Olivia tilted her head for a moment. “Oh, I’m actually close to completing my training for Quick-Step, so I thought that it would be best if I got back and started training earlier.”
“Really?” Hajin looked amused. “Amazing...”
“Yeah...” Olivia smiled awkwardly. “It’s been harder than I thought...”
“Pfft...” Cristopher almost laughed at her. “I’m pretty sure it took you so long because you’re dumb.”
“What!? Care to repeat that!?”
“Relax.” He said with a shrug. “I’m just joking. I know it’s not an easy technique. But hey! You’ve learned a lot while training it.”
“*Sigh...* Sometimes I seriously worry about your mental health...” She muttered while Hajin nodded at her comment.
“Hey. A ‘thank you’ would be good.” Cristopher frowned at her.
“Nah, don’t want to.” She said as she crossed her arms and smirked.
Cristopher looked at her and let out a deep sigh.
“So this is what my teachers felt back then huh...” Cristopher muttered.
Hajin left out an awkward chuckle at Cristopher’s comment.
Once they got to the crossroad separating the girls' and boys' dorms, the group stopped.
“Um...” It was then that Rachel suddenly spoke. “Hajin-ssi...”
At her words, everyone turned to look at her.
She took an envelope and gave it to him.
“Could you give this a look?” She said while she gave him the envelope.
“Mm?” Hajin took it, his head tilted. “Sure, what is it?”
“Um... ” She smiled awkwardly. “It’s a contract. Please read it carefully and consider it.”
“A contract?” Olivia asked with a tilted head.
“Oh, sure.” Hajin nodded as he put the contract on his bag.
“What’s the contract for?” Olivia turned to ask Rachel.
“That’s for those two to know.” Cristopher said with a sigh.
“Oh, come on! I thought we were friends.” She retorted with a frown.
“And why the fuck would that be a motive for them to tell you?” Cristopher frowned before he facepalmed and sighed. “You know what, forget it. I don’t have time for this.”
“Mm?” Rachel, who was smiling awkwardly at Olivia and Cristopher’s talk, turned to him. “Why? Are you going somewhere, master?”
“Yeah, I have something to do tonight and have to prepare. And I’ll be outside of Cube for the weekend, so I won’t be able to train you guys.”
“Why!?” Olivia was the first to react.
“Because I have things to do.” Cristopher said as he rolled his eyes.
“It’s okay, I can train by myself this weekend, master.” Rachel nodded with a smile. “I’m also getting close to learning Quick-Step.”
“...” Cristopher listened to Rachel and turned to Olivia. “Why can’t you be more like her? She’s not bitching around.”
“I’m not bitching!” Olivia said with a growl. “It’s just that I know you’re going to a Dungeon by yourself!”
At her words, Cristopher raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not.” He then crossed his arms and tapped his chin. “But now that you mention it… You and Hajin should go to a dungeon.”
“Huh?” Hajin let out a surprised voice.
“Just as I said. Go to a dungeon, you two. There’s one you two can conquer pretty easily.” Cristopher said with a shrug. “So, why don’t you try to go this Sunday? What do you say?”
“But...” Hajin tried to say something but was interrupted.
“Sounds like a good idea.” Olivia nodded as she thought about something. “I’ve been wanting to test my strength since a while ago.”
“Perfect then.” Cristopher smirked. “I’ll text you the one later tonight, Hajin.”
“Right...”
“...” Meanwhile, Rachel stood there with a pout.
“Mm?” Looking at her face, Cristopher couldn’t stop himself from asking. “What’s the problem?”
“I want to go too...” She said, almost in a whisper.
“*Sigh...* Sorry, Rachel.” Cristopher smiled awkwardly. “You know you can’t go, but don’t worry. Focus on finishing Quick-Step, next week we’ll go to a dungeon together.”
“Really!?”
“Yeah, I’ll talk to Randy about it.” Cristopher said with a smile.
“Thank you, master!” Rachel smiled brightly.
The group then disbanded and went to their respective dorms.
Once inside Cristopher’s dorm, Evandel and Shina received Hajin and Cristopher.
Evandel, being in a festive mode, started to pack her things, as they would be going to stay out of Cube for a couple of days.
“Are you ready?” Cristopher asked Hajin.
“Yeah.” Hajin nodded. “I don’t think there will be a problem, honestly.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure you know how to take care of yourself.” Cristopher nodded at him. “Also, how does it feel?”
He nodded towards Hajin’s body.
“It’s great.” Hajin said with a smirk as he clenched and unclenched his fist. “I can’t really explain the sensation, but it’s great. Thanks for it.”
“Don’t worry, we’re on this together, man.” Cristopher chuckled. “It’s normal for me to help my teammate, and my friend.”
Hajin just smirked.
“Well, I guess it’s time for you to go, right?”
“Yeah, it’s time I leave.” Hajin said as he stood up. “Well, I guess we’ll see each other later?”
“Sure.” Cristopher smiled. “Let’s go eat tomorrow. I’ll be in Spain.”
“Oh? Spain? I remember there are a few dungeons around there.” Hajin said. “Though I don’t remember anything specific about rewards or even bosses.”
“Yeah, I’ll go to the Low-ranked ones.” Cristopher shrugged. “Evandel will be with me, so I can’t go crazy.”
“I thought you would be tired of the Low-ranked rewards.” Hajin tilted his head while he grabbed his backpack.
“I am. But I’ll go to train with Evandel, or well, train her. She’s slowly understanding how to use Natural Energy, Spirit Power, and Magic Power in her own way, but having the basic stuff handled will help her to get better at it.”
“Right.” Hajin nodded. “What about her Draconic Power?”
“She can’t control it right now. For the moments it’s just slightly amplifying her power passively. I would say that’s kind of dormant at this point. Once she awakens, it will awaken with her. Also, after today, we’re going to be rich, right? That will make me happy enough to forget any low-ranked reward I may get.”
Looking at Cristopher’s smile. Hajin also smiled.
He also remembered that today was an important day for both investors.
After talking for a little bit, Hajin said goodby to Evandel and Shina and quickly departed towards Suwon.
Meanwhile, Cristopher finished packing his stuff to leave with Evandel and Shina to Seoul’s International Portal Station.
***
Bus stop near Suwon Station.
“Hey, Hajin.” Kim Suho, who was wearing a simple outfit, walked towards Hajin, who was waiting for him at the bus station.
“Hey.” Hajin raised his hand to greet him. “You look ready.”
“Yeah.” Suho said with a calm smile. “By the way, your presentation was amazing, really.”
“You think so?” Hajin tilted his head as they both started to walk.
“Yeah, everyone was full of praise for you.”
“They did?” He asked, slightly surprised. “Oh well, that’s good, I guess. More importantly, which way should we be going?”
“Follow me.” Suho smiled as he led the way. “Also, thanks for helping me out.”
“Don’t worry.” Hajin smiled as he followed Suho. “You’re taking me to the Dungeon, the least thing I could do is to take care of the food and preparations.”
As Kim Suho was from a normal family and was currently low on money, Hajin volunteered to take care of anything regarding money, including food.
As they walked, Kamak Mountain soon made its appearance. They went up through the mountain full of monsters, evading them the best they could thanks to Hajin’s eyes.
“It’s here.” Suho said as he pointed to a wall of rocks that was covered in moss and vines.
At last, they made it to the entrance of the Dungeon.
“So this is why no one ever found this place...” Hajin said as he looked at the perfectly hidden entrance.
Not only was it completely covered by vegetation, but the entrance was also so narrow that it looked like a tiny gap on an otherwise normal rock wall.
“Once we go in, it won’t be easy to escape.” Suho said as he turned to look at the surprised Hajin. “Are you prepared?”
Hajin smirked at his words, before taking out his Desert Eagle from the holster.
“Of course.”
He wasn’t lying, as he even prepared a special bullet to hunt the Swordsman of Destruction, the boss that would be awaiting them inside this place.
It was a (High) Intermediate-ranked monster, and there was a big difference between the Intermediate and the (High) Intermediate rank.
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The bullet in question was a special light-attributed bullet that cost him 70 SP, which would be further strengthened by his Desert Eagle and the Draconic Coating. Cristopher even inscribed some simple runes on it.
While it wouldn’t become a finishing shot, it would at least be able to hurt the thing waiting for them, enough to make Suho’s fight easier.
The moment Suho heard Hajin’s answer, he smiled.
“Then, let’s go in.”
At Suho’s words, both of them went inside the narrow passage after Suho cut some of the vines covering the entrance.
As they both walked through, the narrow passage slowly but surely turned into a wider space. The only difficulty was the complete darkness surrounding them, but even that was easily bypassed by Hajin, who took Suho’s hand and guided him through the dark passage without using any flashlight.
“It’s kinda creepy.” Suho said as he followed Hajin through the passage.
“Tell me about it-” Hajin answered, but stopped at the middle of his sentence. “Hold on.”
He stopped, eyes wide open. There was another path in front of him, and it led out of the dungeon.
{It wasn’t like this in the novel...} He thought for a moment before he found two people walking forward from the other side’s end.
“Where is this?” One of the guys asked.
“A hidden stage? I’m just guessing.” The other guy answered as he shrugged.
Even while looking at their faces, Hajin couldn’t identify them.
“Wait...” He quickly told Suho. “Stay quiet for a moment.”
At his words, Suho just frowned, sensing something was weird.
Hajin turned on his smartwatch, and just as he thought, there were two notifications from his laptop.
[Criticism - Kamak Mountain Dungeon, which Kim Suho conquers, is too small considering its rewards.]
[Solution - Made Kamak Mountain Dungeon a hidden stage in Suwon’s Devil Nest.]
{Damn...} Hajin thought for a moment.
Today was August 14th. The day that Packhorse Master would conquer Suwon’s Devil Nest, which means that the two guys that were slowly approaching them from the other end of the pathway were Djinns from Packhorse Master, disguised as heroes.
{Thankfully they’re too far for them to look at us, and with how dark this place is...}
“What’s happening?” Suho asked in a whisper.
“There are other people here.”
“Damn...” Kim Suho let out a sigh.
Djinns from Packhorse Master were fairly strong, at least compared to simple cadets. They were at least Intermediate rank, and even Kim Suho would have trouble fighting against them.
“Let’s go back first.” One of the Djinns spoke while Hajin eavesdropped on their conversation. “Rather than arguing about what we got from the hidden stage, it’ll be better to conquer it together.”
“Yeah… You’re right.” The other one also agreed, and both Djinns turned around.
Once he confirmed they left, Hajin let out a sigh.
“Come on. Let’s finish this fast.” He said. “They left, but they’ll probably come back with more people.” He said as he entered the main passage of the hidden stage.
Suho just nodded and followed Hajin.
As they were on the main passage, Hajin focused Stigma’s Magic Power on his Thousand-Mile Eyes, his vision expanded and he got a complete look at the Dungeon’s internal structure.
{Straight, then right twice.} Taking note of the location of the boss’s room, Hajin guided Kim Suho.
***
Suwon Devil’s Nest was a medium-scale Dungeon that was located in the valley of Suwon Mountain’s Range, and right now, this Dungeon was close to being completely conquered, the only part being the hidden stage.
Meanwhile, in another part of Suwon Devil’s Nest separated from the hidden stage, a group from Packhorse Master was waiting with the rest of their team.
With them was an African-American man called Khalifa, who was also the seat of Blue from Chameleon Troupe.
He was looking around the tired members of the Packhorse Master guild, who were currently sitting, catching their breath after conquering the boss room.
{7 out of 9… Not bad.} He thought, as he listened to the guild master talking towards the missing members.
“James, Johong, did you find something?”
[Yes, we discovered a hidden path. It seems to be a hidden stage.]
“Oh?” The guild master looked surprised and excited. “Is that so?”
[We’re currently on our way back. We can conquer it together.] James answered.
“No.” But the guild master denied it. “You two keep investigating the place, we’ll go towards you.”
[Yes, understood.]
“You hear that guys?” The excited guild master said with a smirk. “It’s time to get up!”
At his words, Khalifa tapped his ears and transmitted a signal. After that, he quietly walked a couple of steps away from them and unleashed his Magic Power.
One of the abilities of his Gift was quickly activated and a blue portal appeared beside him.
Phase Shift. It was an ability that only one human had, Khalifa, and that perfectly imitated the Djinns portals.
“Cullen?” The guild master frowned. “What are you doing? Who told you to open a Portal?”
His ability did look like a Portal, even with a couple of differences, and he sure wasn’t going to correct them.
“Cullen. Close that Portal.” The guild master said again, but instead of hearing him, he just put on a pair of sunglasses.
“CULLEN!”
Khalifa frowned at the bothersome guild master and put on a pair of earplugs.
“You son of a bitch...” Finally irritated, the guild master started to walk towards Khalifa and the portal.
But just as he was about to reach the Portal, a black blade shot out and cut him in half.
Silence descended on the place, broken moments after by the sound of two halves falling on the ground.
The other Djinns were frozen in place, not daring to move.
At the same time, from the portal, a woman slowly walked out. Looking around with her pitch-black, drowsy eyes.
Every time a Djinn looked into the eyes of the beautiful woman whose only average attribute was her height, they fell on the ground, like puppets with broken strings.
After the woman looked around at the six Djinns that were dropped unconscious on the floor, she turned to look at Khalifa.
“Leave one or two alive.” She muttered in a cold voice. “We need them for the sake of stock price.”
“You’re right.” Khalifa grinned. “Now then, should we go find the hidden stage?”
“...” Bossed thought for a moment before shaking her head. “You wait here.”
“Yes…?” Khalifa tilted his head.
“We confirmed that there’re two candidates right now inside the hidden stage.”
“Aha...” Khalifa nodded. “Is it a… test?”
Not answering, Boss simply liquified, turning into shadows. Quietly moving towards the hidden stage.
***
At the same time, in Spain. Cristopher was walking with Evandel through the wilderness, looking for a particular Dungeon.
They were talking and laughing moments ago, but Cristopher suddenly turned silent, something that Evandel noticed.
“Um… Is something wrong, daddy?” She asked while Shina traced some monster’s tracks.
“...” Cristopher turned to look at Evandel for a moment. “Say, Ev. Are you bored?”
“W-What!?” Evandel flinched. “No! I’m not bored! I’m with you, daddy! How could I get bored! I’m having a lot of fun! I always do! Really-” She kept talking, until Cristopher stopped her, chuckling.
“Relax, I wasn’t asking you if you were bored right now.” He said as he patted her head. “I just thought that maybe being in Cube's dorms was getting boring… Maybe even lonely.”
“...” Evandel looked down. “I…”
She tried to speak, but somehow, words didn’t leave her mouth. She was fidgeting with her hands as she walked.
“You can be truthful, Ev.” Cristopher said with a soft smile that would give Olivia and Hajin the chills. “I swear that I’m not going to feel bad or angry. No matter what you answer.”
“...” Evandel looked up at his eyes, slightly nervous. “I… I somehow get lonely...”
“Mm...”
“But it’s only when you and uncle leave the dorms! I love being with you!”
Cristopher chuckled as he patted her head.
“Relax, I know.” He said as he stopped and crouched down at Evandel’s eyes level. “I know that it must be lonely to be inside the dorm all the time. That’s why I try to take you out from time to time.”
“...” Evandel’s head dropped before she weakly nodded.
“So...” Cristopher said, coughing a little bit. “What do you say if we go make some friends?”
“F-Friends…?” Evandel looked up with wide eyes.
“Yes.” He smiled. “Friends. You see, I take care of a place that fosters a lot of kids like you.”
“Really!?” She smiled.
“Yes. Really.” He said as he rubbed her head. “And I was thinking that maybe we could go there to play from time to time, what do you say?”
“Yes! I want to play!” Evandel excitedly said as she jumped with her arms raised high.
“Great.” He spoke as he stood up, his smile never leaving his face. “Then let’s finish what we came here to do, and we’ll go back to Seoul. I’ll let you meet the kids tomorrow morning.”
“Yes!” Evandel shouted as she kept jumping.
“Haha, come on Ev. Let’s go training.” He said as he started to walk followed by an excited Evandel.
“Oh, right. I almost forgot.” Cristopher turned to look at her. “You can’t create friends while we are there, understood?”
“Mm...?” She tilted her head, with her arms still high from excitement. “Why?”
“Because you’ll make the other kids jealous, okay? Your ability is special.” He said. “You are special. So let’s keep it a secret, okay?”
“Mm...” Evandel thought for a moment before she smiled brightly. “Okay!”
She kept walking and jumping around while repeatedly shouting the word ‘friends’ while Cristopher chuckled and Shina looked at her with what seemed to be a warm smile.
The trio kept walking through Spain’s wilderness, looking for the Dungeon.