Chapter 94

“Dungeon stabilization?” -They’re dungeons that have been neglected for a while, so a攻略 is urgent. “Neglected?” -The guild that owned them collapsed and scattered, and since then, they haven’t received proper care. “Ah, then I’ll have to step in again.” -Heh.

Taehyeok Sa let out a hollow laugh, and Cho-i Hyeon just grinned. What’s good is good, right? Cho-i Hyeon asked,

“So, which one should I enter first…?” -Wouldn’t it be better to go from the lower-ranked one? “I guess so, right?”

Mantis Cave, Blade Mantis Forest, and Blade Bug Night were D, C-rank, and C-rank, respectively. Cho-i Hyeon decided to go to Mantis Cave first, as Taehyeok Sa suggested.

“Wow, memories are flooding back.”

It felt fresh to re-enter those three dungeons he had gone to while being nagged by Hyeonchan An and his group. Taehyeok Sa, whether he knew this fact or not, just said he would prepare and hung up. Haha, this guy who doesn’t know phone etiquette.

“Then, let me wake up Nara Shim…”

After that, Nara Shim couldn’t control her power and went around breaking things. From the coffee pot to the microwave, and even the closet door. She broke everything. In the end, Cho-i Hyeon had to knock her out once a day to make her sleep. Cho-i Hyeon approached the bed where Nara Shim was lying and shook her awake.

“Hey, wake up.” “Huh? Uh, hmm, yeah…”

Nara Shim stirred and got up, then yawned widely before her eyes snapped open when she saw Cho-i Hyeon. She immediately took a defensive stance.

“Stop knocking me out!” “I won’t anymore. We have to go to a dungeon. Get ready.” “A dungeon? What dungeon?” “Mantis Cave, Blade Mantis Forest, and Blade Bug Night. We’re going to do three in a row.”

At that, Nara Shim tilted her head for a moment.

“Those are places we went to a long time ago. Why there?”

Cho-i Hyeon pondered for a bit, then told her,

“I think I’ve figured out the basic conditions for entering a hidden dungeon.” “What?!”

At the mention of a hidden dungeon, Nara Shim immediately shot up and tried to grab Cho-i Hyeon by the collar. Of course, Cho-i Hyeon deftly dodged, and Nara Shim, instead of falling flat on the floor, no, she’s an A-rank now, so she balanced herself coolly in mid-air and landed on her feet.

“So, I might be able to go to a hidden dungeon too?” “Hmm, if you go to a hidden dungeon now…”

Cho-i Hyeon looked Nara Shim up and down and said,

“You’d definitely die, wouldn’t you?” “Oh, come on.” “But it’s true?” “You can help me.”

Then Cho-i Hyeon smiled brightly and said,

“Why would I?” “Oh, unnie!” “Since when was I your unnie? Since when!” “Obviously, only when it benefits me!”

Nara Shim whined, clinging to Cho-i Hyeon’s waist, but Cho-i Hyeon easily detached Nara Shim and tossed her onto the bed. The bed springs squeaked loudly. Nara Shim slowly got off the bed again and began to get ready to leave.

“So, what’s the connection between those three dungeons and the basic conditions for the hidden dungeon?” “Well, it seems the basic condition is to clear three similar dungeons consecutively.” “What? Such a simple rule?” “Of course, it’s not just that. If it were, everyone would have gone there.” “That’s true.”

The two women began to get ready to go out. Since they only needed to pack items from their inventory, their clothes didn’t matter, so they both looked like beggars. They were wearing sweat shorts and T-shirts they wore at home, dragging their slippers, looking even worse than if they were just going to the convenience store in front of their house. Anyway, since they were both S-rank and A-rank now, there was no need to be on edge when going to D or C-rank dungeons. The two took a taxi and headed to Dongnam District, where Mantis Cave was located.

“Taehyeok Sa said he’s prepared everything for us to enter, so we just have to go in, right?” “The Guild Master really suffers because of you.” “Why does he suffer because of me? I suffer because of him!” “Isn’t all this suffering you’re going through now self-inflicted?” “…Hmm.” “Aaaah! You damn bitch, don’t reach out your hand when you have nothing to say!”

Cho-i Hyeon obediently released Nara Shim’s hair. Nara Shim, with her hair disheveled, huffed and tidied her hair. Cho-i Hyeon, perhaps feeling sorry, smiled brightly and ran her hand through Nara Shim’s hair, not to fix it, but to mess it up even more. Nara Shim looked at her with a truly annoyed expression, but when their eyes met, she immediately looked down. The taxi smoothly stopped on the road near the Dongnam District dungeon. From now on, they had to walk. As they went further in, they saw a guard line set up.

Hello~

Cho-i greeted the dungeon management team and entered past the guard line, while Nara Shim looked around. It wasn’t her first dungeon, but it was her first time entering one since becoming A-Rank, so it seemed that was why. As the two approached the dungeon entrance, one of the dungeon management team members approached them.

“The dungeon’s condition isn’t good. As the Guild Master probably told you, it’s been neglected for quite a while… Ah, please listen before you go in!”

“Hahahaha!”

Cho-i Hyeon heard that and immediately ran into the entrance, leaving Nara Shim and the dungeon management team to look at each other’s faces and sigh simultaneously.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Since both of you are high-ranked, I’m not too worried, but please take good care of Hunter Cho-i Hyeon.”

“Is she the type who listens when you ask her to? I’ll try my best.”

With that, Nara Shim also rushed into the dungeon. With a dizzying sensation, she soon opened her eyes and found herself inside ‘Mantis Cave’. This cave-style dungeon had a long path ahead and occasional branching paths. She remembered having a hard time if she took the wrong path at a fork, as many mantis monsters would appear.

“Hey, where’s Cho-i Hyeon!”

Nara Shim looked around for Cho-i Hyeon. She seemed to be far ahead already. The cave walls were covered in moss, and there were numerous marks as if cut by a knife. And it was very dark. Nara Shim closed and opened her eyes to adjust her vision, then began to move forward. And it wasn’t long before she met Cho-i Hyeon.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Cho-i Hyeon was pressed against the wall, staring at those knife-like marks. Cho-i Hyeon’s face was quite serious. Nara Shim approached and asked her.

“What on earth are you looking at?”

“Letters.”

“Letters?”

Nara Shim looked at the wall again, but there was nothing but shapes that looked like layers of knife marks.

“I didn’t know this at first.”

Cho-i Hyeon chuckled to herself, a small laugh. Her laughter echoed eerily in the cave.

“What’s wrong? If they’re letters, what do they say?”

Then Cho-i Hyeon turned her head sharply to Nara Shim and replied.

“We shall rise again.”

“And?”

“We shall rise again.”

“…So, what’s after that…?”

“We shall rise again. We shall rise again. We shall rise again. We shall rise again. We shall rise again. We shall rise again.”

Cho-i Hyeon read the characters, counting them one by one with her finger. They all said the same thing. Nara Shim got goosebumps and rubbed her arm.

“Look closely. There’s a pattern to the knife marks.”

“Uh, uh-huh…”

Nara Shim looked closely at the knife marks at Cho-i Hyeon’s words. Was there a pattern? It was too dark to see clearly, so Nara Shim honestly didn’t know what was there. But since Cho-i Hyeon said so, she could only nod. Cho-i Hyeon was the type of person who would let things go if you agreed with her, even if she called a rock a rice cake. Cho-i Hyeon started to go deeper. And just then, a monster appeared in front of them. Screech- Screech-!

“Hey, I’m the Support…!”

Snap! Cho-i Hyeon didn’t even draw a weapon, but pushed off the ground and instantly slaughtered two monsters. He grabbed their heads and necks and tore them off. Splatter—Mantis blood burst everywhere. Cho-i Hyeon wiped the blood from his face and looked at Nara Shim.

“Huh? What?”

“Oh, oh, nothing.”

Now that he thought about it, the dungeon’s rank was so much lower that it probably didn’t matter if he was a Support or not. Even Nara Shim, a buffer, could probably kill them with basic attack skills.

“I’ll take care of it too.”

Thinking that, Nara Shim immediately began to advance with Cho-i Hyeon. Since they had been there once before, the two went in the right direction without getting lost. And they safely defeated the final boss, ‘King Mantis,’ and exited the dungeon. They cleared it as quickly as possible, so it didn’t even take half a day. Nara Shim was a bit deflated. Cho-i Hyeon had slaughtered everything before she could do anything, leaving her with nothing to do. She even grumbled, wondering if she, at her rank, should be touring low-rank dungeons.

“Damn it, I wanted to do something too.”

“Do it in the next dungeon.”

“The next dungeon is C-Rank!”

“Whether it’s D-Rank or C-Rank.”

“The feeling is different, the feeling.”

Since Nara Shim was originally a C-Rank buffer, she must have still been psychologically afraid of C-Rank. Cho-i Hyeon smiled thinly and immediately exited the dungeon, with Nara Shim following behind him.

“We expected it, but you came out very quickly.”

“Of course.”

“Though Nara Shim didn’t do anything.”

“Hey! Let’s get this straight. You’re the one who wouldn’t let me!”

“Ahaha, so you’re going straight to the next dungeon?”

The dungeon management team nodded.

“Yes, we’re going to Sword Mantis Forest. Let’s take our car.”

So, Cho-i Hyeon and Nara Shim got into the dungeon management team’s car and started moving to the next dungeon. As a result, it didn’t even take a full day to clear all three dungeons: Sword Mantis Forest and Blade Bug Night.