# 61
* * *
“How is it?”
The arrogant question, clearly brimming with pride, left Jin-ha with no choice but to nod his head without resistance.
With a flushed face from the excitement of looking around, Jin-ha answered.
“Honestly, yes. It was incredibly enjoyable.”
The place they were currently in was, in this world’s terms, a polluted extraterritorial land, or in Earth’s terms, a dungeon.
During his last visit to Earth, Jin-ha had taken time to access the World Gate Information Association’s gate information system to check new dungeon lists, analyze photos, and leave comments. Quite a few information requests had accumulated during his brief absence.
Then he accidentally clicked on a banner. It was for a dungeon that had appeared about ten years ago.
The reason such an old, unconquerable dungeon hadn’t been abandoned and still received attention was, first, because it had emerged in Central Park, New York—a location in America, which still wielded powerful influence even after the world had changed. Second, because there had been a children’s event taking place at the site, trapping an enormous number of children in the dungeon. Third, because, unusually, these children were observed occasionally surviving and moving about on top of the fortress walls.
America wanted to conquer it, but regrettably, they couldn’t even begin an attempt—the gates wouldn’t open.
Sometimes there were dungeons like that. Instead of storming in and killing all the monsters, they could only be conquered by winning according to the dungeon’s rules. In such cases, specific conditions had to be met even to start the game, but no one had figured out those conditions yet.
Even Jin-ha couldn’t. He had gone all the way to America to examine the gates himself, but powerful security magic prevented him from reading any information. He still clearly remembered the disappointed faces of the children’s parents.
Despite the time that had passed, America hadn’t given up on the Central Park dungeon, even posting a banner on the World Gate Information Association to form a team for researching entry methods.
“I’ve always been curious about this dungeon, but I never expected to come across it in a place like this. Thank you so much, Riyekan.”
After finishing their meal, Riyekan had led Jin-ha to a secluded spot on the third floor, and as soon as they crossed a thicket, a familiar fortress wall greeted Jin-ha.
Surprised by the sight identical to the Central Park dungeon, Jin-ha was left speechless when he saw Riyekan purchasing tickets to pass through the fortress wall. Riyekan knocked on a small mouse hole at the bottom of the wall near the gate, summoned a small chipmunk, handed it a few grains, and received tickets in return.
To think the method was so simple.
“This is exactly what I wanted.”
“I’m glad you’re so satisfied. The preparation was worth it.”
That wasn’t all. Riyekan perfectly explained to Jin-ha which routes to take, which paths to follow, and how to deal with which enemies to conquer this dungeon, sometimes even demonstrating. It was information beyond what Jin-ha could know with his Information Eye.
Having received such detailed instructions on conquering Aoldor’s Castle, the Central Park dungeon, Jin-ha was excited like never before.
“Next is the Dead Temple of Dalsey Plains, right? What kind of place is it?”
“A temple built over a shallow lake. In the lake live lizards with extremely powerful jaws. Have you seen it before?”
After pondering for a moment, Jin-ha nodded.
“Yes. I know it’s a dungeon that appears quite frequently overseas. I’ve heard the lizards aren’t very strong, but their numbers make conquering difficult.”
“The Temple of the Dead Plains can be conquered in a day if you know the method.”
“In just one day? Is there a special strategy?”
“There is.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll tell you when we get there.”
“Then let’s go quickly.”
Jin-ha grabbed Riyekan’s slowly moving hand and pulled. Only then did Riyekan reluctantly begin to quicken his pace.
* * *
The Dead Temple of Dalsey Plains was a lonely white brick temple standing on a glass-like shimmering water surface. The conquest method was to enter the temple and destroy the idol.
This simple strategy might seem easy, but the problem was the swarm of lizards on the way to the temple—the teeming lizards waiting for Hunters once they broke through the forest and reached the lake.
Naturally, Jin-ha expected to head straight for the lake, but Riyekan stopped after just a few steps into the forest.
“You have to be careful of the mushrooms.”
“Mushrooms… you say?”
Jin-ha looked back at the pink mushrooms abundantly growing at the base of a large tree.
“Those aren’t actually mushrooms but lizard egg sacs. If disturbed, the spores burst, and when they reach the lake, they become adults in less than an hour.”
“You mean… the reason the lake was teeming with lizards was because these were disturbed?”
“That’s right.”
Checking with his Information Eye, the word “animal” was clearly marked.
Jin-ha sighed with regret. If he could have checked directly, he would have known long ago that these weren’t mushrooms.
His ability only allowed him to check information on things he’d seen with his own eyes, and since this dungeon had never appeared in Korea, he had no way of seeing it before.
His resolve to visit Africa someday strengthened.
“Now, watch carefully.”
While Jin-ha groaned, imagining the faces of those who would oppose this for safety reasons, Riyekan picked up an acorn-like fruit from the ground and levitated it.
The acorn wobbled with a strange movement as it moved upward. Soon, a squirrel-like creature that fed on acorns began to chase after it, following it toward the mushrooms.
The moment the squirrel-like creature finally got hold of the acorn, a mushroom right beside it burst with a pop.
“That’s…!”
The mushroom spores spread through the air like pine pollen on a windy spring day, then attached to the squirrel. Covered in powder, the squirrel began to crawl rapidly across the ground with strange, wobbly movements, heading somewhere.
“Is it parasitic?”
“Yes. It can move through the air but mainly attaches to living creatures to move. Ah, don’t worry—it can’t parasitize humans.”
Now he understood the reason for reports claiming that the more they fought, the more lizards seemed to multiply. The spores from mushrooms that Hunters carelessly burst while moving toward the lakeshore must have reached the lake first and transformed into adults.
The reason it felt like the numbers wouldn’t decrease no matter how many they killed during battle was probably because spores attached to Hunters’ clothes kept turning into lizards during the fight.
“According to our tower wizards’ research, freezing is better than burning them.”
Frost began to spread from beneath Riyekan’s feet in all directions. It was as if snow-white ice particles, like ink, silently swept across unnamed grasses, mushrooms, and trees on the ground.
Jin-ha stood open-mouthed, unable to take his eyes off the sight before finally staring blankly at Riyekan in disbelief.
“What?”
“Isn’t this something only someone like you could do?”
“Do I have to worry about the incompetence of your people too?”
Of course not, but the conquest method from the Noon Moon Tower Master was far too difficult for ordinary Hunters.
Even for Hunters capable of ice-attribute attacks, this would be impossible. To respond on Earth, it might be better to burn them, even if less efficient.
“Not exactly… Anyway, thank you.”
Just discovering the countermeasure was a great achievement. The information obtained today would help people conquer the field more safely and quickly.
“But how are dungeons inside the tower?”
“They were originally external dungeons, but we selected a few needed for research and moved them here using fairy power. This dungeon is scheduled for disposal, so I included it in today’s schedule. I’m pleased to see you happy.”
Riyekan said with a gentle smile.
“Well then, shall we go destroy the idol now?”
Riyekan held out his hand.
Just then, light shone down, making the frost around Riyekan sparkle. As if deliberately staged, the sight pounded Jin-ha’s heart.
Riyekan’s words, forgotten while exploring dungeons today, suddenly came back to him.
‘I’ll do things my way, and Hunter Lee Jin-ha should do things his way.’
The man’s current show of goodwill, generously providing information about dungeons, had the purpose of winning Jin-ha’s heart. He had guessed that Jin-ha would prefer being shown these places and taught dungeon strategies above all else, and had even gone so far as to investigate other wizards’ research results.
Jin-ha felt one side of his heart trembling with joy.
He could intuitively sense that taking the hand now was a dangerous action—that it wouldn’t end with just holding hands.
“…Do I have to hold your hand?”
“If you’re confident you won’t fall behind, you don’t have to.”
Jin-ha clenched and unclenched his fist. Tension was evident in his faintly trembling hand. Even his breath trembled with the premonition of some avalanche or storm that would begin at his fingertips.
“Hunter Lee Jin-ha.”
“……”
“Your hand.”
As Jin-ha, led by those words, extended his hand but stopped midway, Riyekan snatched it. When a surprised Jin-ha looked up, Riyekan was staring at him with narrowed eyes, wearing his usual arrogant and haughty expression.
As if to say, did you think you could escape?
‘No, maybe I’m just being too conscious of it.’
Jin-ha took a slow, deep breath while his hand was firmly grasped. Even kindergarteners held hands. It was he who was placing too much meaning on such a simple action.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
Regardless of Jin-ha’s resolute state of mind, Riyekan unnecessarily smiled with his eyes again. Jin-ha pressed his lips together to resist Riyekan’s temptation.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
