Chapter 58
Wasn't this a luxury problem? Ten years ago, there were no dungeon maps at all, so they had to draw them by hand. If this place was said to be the size of the Korean Peninsula, then the Great Dungeon must be as large as the American continent. There were a few hunters who attempted to map out such vast areas, but they weren't experts, and the maze-like terrain made them give up on cartography altogether, leaving them to wander aimlessly instead.
Yoon Seo pressed his throbbing forehead and took out a pill bottle from his pocket.
He swallowed two pills and put the bottle back into the left inner pocket of his coat. Park Soobin watched him with a look of concern.
"Yoon Seo, how did you end up… needing to take medicine?"
"The Cataclysm. A lot of people have been taking medication since that day."
"That's true, but… you seem to be taking them a little too often. This is already the third time today. That's six pills in total, is that really okay?"
"It's fine. I brought plenty. Soobin, do you not need any?"
"No, I…"
['Park Soobin' has activated the
Mid-sentence, Park Soobin cast a skill on a hunter who was under attack by a monster. Then, he gave Yoon Seo a look that seemed to say they would continue the conversation after the battle. Yoon Seo also focused on the fight, more precisely, on Hwashim.
That righteous and kind hero, Kwon Jihan, was probably keeping an eye on Hwashim as well.
***
'Damn it, my legs are heavy, my burns sting, and it's so hot I feel like I'm going crazy, even with my clothes off.'
'Stop whining, Kim Hyungtae. There are kids over there collapsing from mana exhaustion, and you're complaining?'
'Ugh… Can't I say anything?'
The lava zone of the Great Dungeon. Aside from Yoon Seo, there was no one else who had the skills necessary to withstand its extreme environment, so he had to protect hundreds of people all on his own, like a young head of the family.
In the lava zone, Yoon Seo often found himself lying down, unable to do anything due to mana exhaustion. And beside him, in the same near-death state, was always Lee Domin.
When Yoon Seo and his friend collapsed like that, the Revengers cleared the surrounding monsters while waiting for them to recover. Those who were particularly close to them, including Lee Kangjin, gathered around and chatted.
'Why is our world like this? In comics and novels, when a dungeon break happens, people get inventories, potions, and life becomes more convenient. But this damn world is on the verge of destruction.'
'That's why this era is called the Apocalypse. If we had inventories and potions, it would just be modern fantasy, don't you think?'
'Kangjin oppa, you're too cold.'
'I'm just facing reality.'
'Still, doesn't it make you feel a bit better listening to Hyomi noona's stories? Noona, tell us more. What's an inventory?'
One of Yoon Seo's friends, who was receiving healing with his eyes closed, suddenly asked, making Hyomi jump in surprise.
'Wait, how can a twenty-year-old not know what an inventory is? Chaeyoon, didn't you and him ever play games?'
'The only game we played was a mobile one where you match three of the same thing to make them disappear.'
'Then did you just study all the time?'
'We gave up on academics when we got to calculus.'
'Then what the hell did you even do?'
'Good question. What did we do…? It was only two years ago, but I can't remember.'
At those bitter words, silence fell over the group. Everyone was recalling their ordinary lives from two years ago, lives they could never return to.
Feeling like he had dampened the mood, Lee Domin asked Hyomi to continue talking about web novels. Before the world became like this, Hyomi had been an ordinary college student dreaming of becoming a pianist. Now, she absentmindedly recited the settings of various web novels.
A virtual bag called an inventory, potions that restore mana and stamina when consumed. Killing monsters grants experience points, which can be used to increase health or mana. A system window conveniently displays sponsorships from higher beings, and when obtaining an item, notifications appear to reveal its abilities. Before entering a dungeon, the system provides information about the terrain and monsters inside.
Yoon Seo, pretending to be asleep, listened to those stories.
'What nonsense.'
It was an unrealistic fantasy, so fantastical that it only made reality feel more hopeless.
'But…'
But if reality had truly been like that…
If the world had really been like that, many more people could have survived. So many more….
Everyone who had that conversation back then, except for Yoon Seo, was now dead. Yoon Seo wanted to tell them. That the future they had dreamed of had actually become real.
'Someday.'
Someday, he would tell them. If there were dungeons and skills in this world, surely there had to be an afterlife, too. Once he had fulfilled all the wills left behind, Yoon Seo planned to go find them. Someday, for sure.
***
The group fought three more battles before finally finding solid ground to step on. No, it wasn't land, but an island. A pink-colored landmass about the size of a soccer field, surrounded entirely by lava. The sun had long since set, so they decided to stay there for the night. After clearing out the monsters that had been occupying the area, the healers purified any harmful substances.
Yoon Seo expected them to start setting up makeshift tents, but that wasn't the case. Several people pulled campers out of a subspace.
[Guild Subspace Use: -1,000,000]
[Current Guild Experience: 10,028,199,000]
"This S-rank dungeon is bleeding us dry. Gaia is seriously stingy."
[The God of Death agrees with 'Soo Jaehee's' statement.]
Each camper cost one million experience points, and since they brought out six, a total of six million experience points disappeared. As Soo Jaehee grumbled, the God of Death immediately agreed. It almost sounded like he was laughing.
'Campers, huh.'
Feeling somewhat dumbfounded, Yoon Seo inspected the campers. The interiors were spacious and clean, complete with showers. There was even a temperature control system, meaning they could turn on air conditioning inside.
As Yoon Seo quietly observed, biting the inside of his cheek, Kwon Jihan approached him.
"Hyung, share with me."
Yoon Seo immediately frowned.
"I don't want to."
"It'll be more comfortable if you stay with me. If you share with me, it's a two-person camper. If you go with someone else, it's a six-person camper. This one's my personal camper. Look, it's huge."
Where Kwon Jihan was pointing stood a luxury camper, even bigger than the six-person ones. Yoon Seo took a glance around the exterior before replying indifferently.
"If you insist, I will use it."
"Okay."
Kwon Jihan smirked. Yoon Seo walked toward the two-person camper that was supposedly Kwon Jihan's private one. The interior was practically a hotel room. While he was looking around, Kwon Jihan kept smiling. When Yoon Seo could even hear his soft chuckles, it started to get on his nerves.
"Why are you laughing like that? Are you mocking me?"
"Why would I mock you, hyung?"
"Then why are you laughing?"
"You said you don't like righteousness, but I guess that's not true."
"What?"
"After that suicide bombing incident, your walls dropped way down. The moment you decided I was a good person, you just opened right up."
"Don't worry, I'll raise them right back up for you."
He'd build them up all the way to the sky. Yoon Seo stomped his way toward the bathroom.
"I'll wash up first."
"Sure."
Kwon Jihan answered with laughter still in his voice.
Yoon Seo locked the bathroom door tightly behind him.
To be honest, Kwon Jihan was right. Yoon Seo himself could feel that his feelings toward Kwon Jihan had changed.
It annoyed him that the concept of 'good person' had rooted itself in his mind when it came to Kwon Jihan, but what could he do? It was the truth. And Yoon Seo wasn't such a rotten person that he hated good people.
Even if he wanted to deny it, it was cool.
Throwing himself over the bomb without hesitation.
It had been so long that just untying his shoelaces and unfastening his holster belt took a full minute. He threw off his heavy leather ammo vest, peeled off his two layers of shirts, and revealed his well-toned upper body. His body was covered in scars, making it far from a pleasant sight. Because of his healing resistance, the Great Dungeon's marks hadn't fully disappeared.
When he turned on the water, it gushed out, hot enough to be almost scalding.
'This doesn't feel like a dungeon. It feels like a camping trip.'
Yoon Seo sighed, he had lost count of how many times it was today.
"Hyung."
"Ahhh!"
Along with the sudden sound of a door being flung open, a low voice rang out. Startled, Yoon Seo instinctively activated a skill.
[The
Tang, tang. The shampoo bottle and conditioner bottle clattered to the floor.
"Wow, shit. I almost died."
At the last moment, Kwon Jihan had ripped the bathroom door off and used it to shield himself from the flying shampoo and conditioner bottles. He peeked his face around the detached door.
"It's me, hyung. Calm down. Don't use a skill."
"Forget calming down, get out right now!"
"Let's shower together. I'm all gross from monster blood."
"Then, Kwon Jihan, please go ahead and wash first. I'll leave."
"Why are you being so modest? We're both guys. Just shower together."
Kwon Jihan set the door down and casually stripped off his bloodstained clothes. His broad shoulders, solid chest, and abs so tight a finger wouldn't slip through, his physique was flawless enough to catch anyone's eye, even another man's. But Yoon Seo, utterly horrified, quickly averted his gaze.
"You're seriously leaving?"
As Yoon Seo picked up the clothes he had set aside, Kwon Jihan sounded almost disappointed.
In truth, the shower was spacious enough for two grown men to wash comfortably. But Yoon Seo had zero interest in standing naked in front of this guy.
"Just hurry up and wash."
Ignoring Kwon Jihan, who was now in the process of removing his pants, Yoon Seo stepped out of the bathroom, only to hear a low chuckle behind him.
"Hyung, I kinda noticed when I hugged you last time, but you must work out a lot. Your body's really nice. No fat, all muscle… Those scars, are they all from the Great Cataclysm? They're kinda sexy."
Yoon Seo was about to close the bathroom door, only to see that it had been torn off and was now lying uselessly on the floor. He let out a deep sigh.