Chapter 113

Seoyeon Ha immediately looked at Cho-i Hyeon, who had drawn his sword, with uneasy eyes.

“What is it?”

“There are nine bowls.”

“Right?”

“What was the item we could have obtained before coming here?”

At that moment, Jihan Kim interjected.

“Oh, Nine Lives of Myoyeong!”

“That’s right. The problem is what to place on it.”

Cho-i carefully examined the golden bowl again. The bowl shone brightly and was a flat plate. Cho-i Hyeon chuckled, tilted his head, and then placed his fist on the bowl.

“Don’t you think this size would fit perfectly?”

“…If so.”

Jihan Kim smiled with a deep frown.

“No. It’s impossible.”

“Why?”

When Cho-i Hyeon asked, Jihan Kim, still frowning, only erased his smile and said,

“We don’t have the Nine Lives of Myoyeong in our hands right now.”

“But the hidden dungeon opened, didn’t it?”

Cho-i made a face that suggested he roughly understood. Perhaps another condition for this dungeon was nine lives. To be precise, a hidden dungeon that opens when someone with the Nine Lives of Myoyeong clears three dungeons. However, the Nine Lives of Myoyeong did not exist here; something else did.

‘Me.’

It was highly likely that the condition was not the Nine Lives of Myoyeong, but rather someone with more than nine lives.

“Then it’s rather easy.”

“What do you mean ‘easy’? We managed to get into the hidden dungeon, but we’re about to leave empty-handed.”

“Why would we leave empty-handed?”

Jihan Kim looked at the plate with a suspicious gaze.

“The circumstances suggest we have to offer a heart on that.”

“That’s right.”

“Even the Entity needs nine.”

“Yes.”

“Even if we had the Nine Lives of Myoyeong, it’s still a problem. Anyway, it’s impossible. It’s right to give up on Myoyeong Dungeon’s hidden dungeon.”

“What if we don’t have to give up?”

Jihan Kim looked at Cho-i Hyeon with a crumpled face. Cho-i Hyeon smiled brightly. Was this why Taehyeok Sa said those words to me? But if there’s a way to break through, why avoid it? Cho-i Hyeon asked himself and then stopped. The answer was still unknown. Jihan Kim held his head and said,

“This isn’t the time to be stubborn here.”

“Then leave. I’ll clear this hidden dungeon and then leave.”

“…How on earth?”

“How? The method you’re expecting.”

“You’re going to take out your heart?”

“If it’s not the heart, I’ll offer something else. Something a person can’t live without. It’s either the heart or the head, but the head is a bit small to offer, isn’t it?”

The lighter Cho-i spoke, as if joking, the more Kim Ji-han’s face contorted.

“Hunter Cho-i Hyeon, I know this might be rude, but are you crazy?”

“No, I’m perfectly sane, hmm. Am I not sane?”

“Did you do drugs before coming in? Like methamphetamine…?”

“It’s forbidden in Korea, isn’t it?”

“It’s forbidden everywhere. Then marijuana?”

“It’s just as forbidden in Korea, isn’t it?”

Cho-i grinned, drew her sword, and spun it around. Kim Ji-han looked at her face with uneasy eyes.

“Just trust me this once.”

“Trust what? How can I trust someone who’s about to take out their own heart?”

“Oh, Sa Tae-hyeok trusted me.”

“That bastard is crazy.”

“Oh, you know him well?”

“I don’t want praise for that.”

Kim Ji-han ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. Cho-i Hyeon liked the sensible person she had met after a long time. That made her want to break through this place even more.

“Then just stay still.”

Cho-i Hyeon approached the bowls. The bowls inside were clean and arranged in a row. She muttered,

“Whoever thought of this, it’s a very dirty method.”

To connect to God’s World, I have to sacrifice my life? Is this even more malicious than the hidden dungeons I’ve been through? There, they just came at me to kill me, they didn’t tell me to kill myself like this. Cho-i Hyeon stopped her idle thoughts, reversed her grip on the sword, and pointed the tip at herself. How much would it hurt to take out her heart? Even as she thought that, didn’t they say there are no nerves in the internal organs? Such thoughts came to her, and then. Thud. She stabbed her own chest.

“Gah, ugh-“

It’s because it’s me that I can endure this much. If it were anyone else, they would have lost their mind here. Oh? Not bad, actually? The more insane people there are in the world, the more people will understand my mind. Cho-i thought that and stabbed the sword deeper, deeper. She twisted her wrist, carved out the center of her chest, and then put her hand inside. Squish, squish. The sound of a blood-soaked hand moving to find her heart. Everyone who heard it was horrified and speechless. If anyone saw this scene, they might all point fingers and call her crazy. Even Ja Yuri, Kim Ji-han, and Ha Seo-yeon all thought Cho-i was doing something insane. But despite that, they couldn’t stop her because of the strange conviction she had shown.

“……Th-this.”

“Ugh, ah, ahaha.”

Cho-i broke the obstructive ribs and pulled out the heart inside. She saw numerous vessels connected to the heart, but Cho-i did not hesitate and placed her heart on the bowl. Then, she cut the blood vessels connected to the heart with her sword. Thump. Immediately, Cho-i’s body fell to the floor. The three people’s faces turned pale, confused if the scene they had just witnessed was real.

“Huh, Hunter Cho-i Hyeon?”

Ha Seo-yeon called her once. But there was no answer. Kim Ji-han soon let out a scream-like sound.

“I’m going crazy!”

“Guild Master?”

Ja Yuri called her, flustered.

“What should I tell Paehyeok about this? I thought she had something since she was so confident.”

“How about telling them as it is?”

“What, that she went into a hidden dungeon, suddenly went crazy, took out her own heart, and then died? That she committed suicide?”

“Th-the Entity is the only answer, isn’t it?”

Just then, a voice interjected between them.

“What are you worried about, cough. Oh….”

Everyone froze at that voice. Then they slowly looked back at Cho-i Hyeon’s corpse, which hadn’t been clearly visible because they were huddled together. She was standing up. Still with bloody hands.

“Does the heart take a long time? Or is it similar?”

She didn’t know because she had never actually timed it. Cho-i grumbled, looking down at the wound on her chest that was regenerating.

“Ah, I have to tear it open again.”

While she was complaining, Jihan Kim stammered and asked her.

“H-h-hunter Cho-i Hyeon? How exactly did you get up now? Did you perhaps have the Nine Lives of Myoyeong?”

“No, I don’t. If I had that, I would have given it to Taehyeok Sa long ago.”

“There’s no answer other than the Entity, what are you talking about!”

“I don’t die.”

“Pardon?”

“You saw it last time. I told you I don’t die?”

“No! Surviving the dungeon last time was a miracle! And now you’ve literally revived after committing suicide!”

“Oh, suicide. That’s a bit harsh. I’m just performing a ritual to clear the hidden dungeon. Look.”

Cho-i Hyeon pointed to the Stone Statues she was standing among. One of the Stone Statues, which had its eyes wide open,

“closed its eyes.”

“One for each offering.”

Then Cho-i pointed beyond the plate. At the end of the path was a lavishly decorated red box.

“It means they’ll close their eyes.”

“Then what’s over there…?”

“A hidden item.”

Cho-i shook the blood off her hands.

“How about it, willing to sacrifice a life for a hidden item?”

“If I had known this, I would have somehow gotten the Nine Lives of Myoyeong and come in…”

“Don’t you have anything in the guild?”

“I’m sorry, but I sold everything I got as soon as I got it. I thought I could get it anytime as long as the dungeon was in our hands.”

“Tsk tsk, that’s why you’re still in second place.”

“What did you say?”

“Ah~ I didn’t say anything. Well, let’s continue~”

Cho-i Hyeon spoke brightly, like an amusement park employee, and once again held her sword in reverse. And she began to repeat that act, an act no one understood or experienced, the act of gouging out her own heart. Gulp, ugh. Ugh. Groans of pain repeated from her mouth, but for some reason, the smile on her face did not fade. Cho-i Hyeon thought.

‘I don’t know what item will come out, but…’

She was the one with the authority to kill Taehyeok Sa. Hmm, but I died about nine more times to get that, so just killing him nine times won’t be enough. I have to kill him more. I don’t know what will come out, but I have to kill him more somehow. Even if it meant cutting off the limbs of a dead body, she had to kill him many times. There was no hesitation in her fingertips as she stabbed her own heart. Everyone looked at her actions with terrified expressions. Could that be a human? Doing something that harms her own body to that extent? But Cho-i didn’t know how her actions would look to others. She had never thought about such a thing even once. Of course not.

* * *

Thud, flop. So, when she placed her ninth and final heart and collapsed to the floor, the party members exhaled the breath they had been holding. All the standing Stone Statues had their eyes closed. Creak, creak. A sound of someone getting up from their seat, dragging their knees, was heard. It was the sound of Cho-i Hyeon getting up from the floor, a sight that never got familiar no matter how many times they saw it.

“……I understand why Taehyeok Sa protects you.”

“Huh? That bastard never protected me.”

“Because it’s obvious this would happen if you were left alone.”

“No, I told you he never protected me.”

Cho-i shook her bloody hands with a sour expression. The cold, hardened blood wouldn’t wash off. She rubbed her hands on her thigh, then realized it wasn’t coming off easily and soon stopped.

“Since all the Stone Statues have their eyes closed, will it be safe?”