Chapter 142: World Unconquered Dungeons Forum (4)
TL: SHW
Even if they’re overflowing with talent and constantly called geniuses, at the foundation, they’re just physically strong idiots. I let go of my expectations and faced reality. These stubborn idiots are our hope.
…Is this really okay? Truly?
They’re empty-headed bastards who think they’re the strongest in the world. The reason why Hunters have such short average lifespans is undoubtedly this.
Unable to hide my frustration, I looked around at the Hunters in the hall, then focused on the moderator’s words. It had started as a briefing on the current state of unconquered dungeons, but at some point, it had shifted into a desperate plea not to enter dungeons without reporting.
Overlaid on that was my own image. I wasn’t in the position of pleading up there, but I was in the position of having to resolve the fierce complaints that came through the Association.
Going in secretly and conquering a dungeon causes problems, but failing to conquer one is also an issue. Sure, if they fail and die, that’s one thing, but when they succeed and get all puffed up with pride, cracking those bastards’ heads takes quite a bit of effort...
“Teacher Woo.”
I looked up. Hong Seok-young was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. There’s no way the Association brought in faulty chairs, yet the chair creaked.
“Among those.”
This time, Hong Seok-young cut off the sound. What does he want to ask?
“Can you tell me later which dungeons among those haven’t been conquered?”
“Among those?”
“Yes.”
“There aren’t that many…”
There were some dungeons that had conquest strategies but were left alone on purpose due to resource issues. But it didn’t seem like that’s what Hong Seok-young was asking about.
If that’s the case, then he’s asking purely about the dungeons that have completely failed to be conquered.
Even by 2021 standards, it’s been twenty years. And even after that, they still haven’t been conquered. These days, only reckless Hunters or mages who wanted the knowledge inside tried to sneak in, but even that stopped around the thirty-year mark.
Ever since a gate appeared on the top floor of the monastery, it has remained an infamously unconquered dungeon for a staggering forty years.
Thinking differently, maybe we should be grateful that the dungeon hasn’t collapsed in all that time. If that dungeon had exploded, who knows what kind of disaster might have occurred.
…No, wait. Did it? If all the dungeons had erupted that day, then that one must have as well.
I pointed to the dungeon currently displayed on the screen.
“The most famous one is that one.”
The Library of Mont Saint-Michel.
“That one? A library? Even I didn’t conquer it?”
“Have you ever been inside?”
As far as I remember, he hadn’t.
Sure enough, Hong Seok-young shook his head.
“No. But I’ve heard about its notoriety.”
“Really? I’ve never been inside either, but I did hear about it from Teacher.”
There are very few things the old man explicitly told me not to do.
The Mont Saint-Michel Dungeon was one of those rare things.
“No matter what happens, never go in there.”
***
The first day of the forum ended with the moderator’s heartfelt plea.
I considered speaking with Alex Hope once more, but the guy was dragged off by other Hunters from Australia. Still, when our eyes met, he kept grinning and waving cheerfully until the end.
Chris Wilson, who was dragging Hope away, bowed slightly when he saw me and Hong Seok-young.
“A very polite guy.”
“…If he were really polite, he wouldn’t have shouted like that in front of us.”
“He’s a Westerner.”
“That doesn’t seem particularly relevant… Didn’t you say Hope’s mother is Taiwanese? Maybe it’s because of that influence.”
Considering Wilson scolded Hope, mentioning his mother, they definitely seemed to know each other. According to Lee Mi-seon’s investigation, there was nothing suspicious on that side. But it’s becoming a headache.
All the Australian Hunters who attended the forum were names I hadn’t seen before. Meaning they weren’t important enough for me to remember their time of death. The Brown family and Bennett still had a strong influence even after their deaths. Especially since I even knew Dylan, if not James Brown or Asher Brown.
‘What the hell are you?! You said you’re not a Hunter! Then why are you so strong?!’
That face filled with shock while covered in dust.
Now… was he fourteen? Forget about me, he probably wouldn’t even meet Mini-me.
I stared at the Australian Hunters with suspicious eyes for quite a while. Hong Seok-young, meanwhile, flinched as he looked around at the Hunters surrounding him.
“What the hell? When did everyone start taking such an interest in me?”
“Well, you’re the one who always said you'd never raise a disciple, and then suddenly showed up with one. Hong, care to have a drink after a long time?”
“Come to think of it, didn’t you say you created something?”
“Ah! Right, you said you were founding a school! Then you suddenly returned to Korea!”
The Hunters teasing Hong Seok-young were all well-known Hunters themselves. Some of them were even said to have led reforms in their home countries’ Hunter scenes. Although, that was still in the future, they hadn’t become quite that great just yet.
Among those surrounding Hong Seok-young, there were also Korean Hunters.
He wasn’t the only one from Korea who met the forum’s invitation criteria. Compared to foreign Hunters, these ones were easier to recognize. However, they seemed more interested in me than in Hong Seok-young.
For now, Alex Hope is enough. After giving a light bow to Hong Seok-young, I stepped out of the hall. He’ll find his way over eventually.
The forum was held at a hotel on the outskirts of Seoul. Accommodations were also assigned in the same hotel. I doubt the hotel was accepting other guests at the moment. What if something happened by mixing civilians and Hunters?
While checking out a room that was clearly arranged by Lee Mi-seon, I tried to organize my thoughts.
Just what is Alex Hope scheming?
Why did he deliberately approach us and start a conversation?
My head spun. I hadn’t expected the Ark matter to unfold this way. I only played the role of whistleblower in the beginning because the timing worked out well, but I thought it would all wrap up within a few years at most.
Don’t be ridiculous. You think a group like this can be handled in just a few years? I haven’t even figured out how large the Ark really is.
“Abandoning your teacher and running off?”
Hong Seok-young came back quicker than expected.
“They’re your connections, aren’t they, Teacher? You should manage them yourself.”
“A teacher’s connections are the disciple’s as well.”
Hong Seok-young opened the fridge to check inside. The way he pulled out a beer was practiced. He tossed me a can of beer, too.
“You’re throwing it?”
“If you’re my disciple, you should be able to catch it.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
I set the thoroughly shaken can on the table. Hong Seok-young chuckled and sat down across from me.
“So.”
“Yes?”
“Earlier, you said you might need an engineer, didn’t you?”
Hong Seok-young took a swig of his beer as he spoke.
“Ah. Right.”
When Lee Mi-seon or Kim Chae-min asked me about runes, I would dodge the question by saying it was just the work of a kind-hearted genius mage. If I acted like there was some backstory, they’d stop pressing me, which was convenient.
Now that both of them knew I was from Ark, that excuse worked even better.
“Actually, what I’ve shown you so far about runes isn’t everything. There was always something that came as a set.”
“The runes alone were already impressive, though?”
“You might be so shocked when you see this that you’ll faint.”
Hong Seok-young raised an eyebrow.
“Especially Teacher Kim.”
“Is it something that’ll screw over mages?”
“They did freak out from the sense of crisis it gave them.”
I reached into the pocket of my suit jacket. I had taken it out earlier, unsure of how Alex Hope would act.
“A fountain pen?”
“It’s called a mana pen.”
I picked up a memo pad from the desk.
I didn’t need a complex rune that required a lot of effort. Right now, I just needed to show what kind of power this pen had.
I drew a simple lighting rune. The great and convenient thing about the mana pen is that you don’t need to do anything special, just draw the rune.
I lightly brushed my palm over the completed rune.
It wasn’t a bright light. Among Hunters, this rune was sometimes referred to as a sleep light. I’m not sure if anyone actually used it as a sleep light, though.
Still, light is light, and the rune had activated.
Hong Seok-young stared at the rune as if spellbound, then reached out toward my mana pen. I handed the mana pen to him.
He began drawing a rune on the memo pad.
Maybe it was the result of watching the rune lessons I’d been giving, despite clearly seeing the lighting rune for the first time, Hong Seok-young drew it perfectly.
And just like I had, he activated it by sweeping his palm over the rune.
“……”
Hong Seok-young looked at the rune as if he were a human discovering fire for the first time.
He fiddled with the mana pen and the memo pad with the rune on it several times, then looked up, trying to hide the tremor in his voice.
“So, an engineer?”
“Yes.”
“In the future, this is...”
“A necessity. Mana pens are mass-produced, so they’re not even expensive.”
“There’s no limitation to using them?”
“Did you notice any just now?”
Hong Seok-young let out a dry laugh. Still, he didn’t look upset.
“Are there other items like this? Enough for you to say you need a prematurely-deceased engineer?”
Suddenly, I felt regret over the potions I had poured into the dying Yoo Ji-eun. If I had even one left, it would be useful now. But no matter what, I couldn’t figure out the composition of a potion.
Even so, I shook my head. Even if I went back to that moment, I would still have used the potion on Yoo Ji-eun.
“There are various things… but the one we urgently need is this.”
I pointed to the mana pen.
“And the mana meter.”
“Mana meter?”
“It’s a device that measures the mana distortion phenomenon of a gate and gives a warning of when it will break. There were some trials and errors at first, but twenty years later, it was fully commercialized. At that point, it became mandatory to install a mana meter immediately upon the appearance of a dungeon in Korea.”
Hong Seok-young blinked. Like he had just learned the earth was round.
Then, with a face hard to read, he asked,
“Even with something like that, the world still ended?”
“Even with something like that.”
I repeated Hong Seok-young’s words exactly. It was the same phrase, but the meaning it held was different.
Hong Seok-young opened his mouth slightly, then closed it.
After giving him a moment to process the downfall of the future, I packed up the mana pen.
“That’s why it’s time for the inventions of a prematurely-dead engineer, once treated like a slave in Ark, to finally see the light of day.”
The mana pen came out of Daeyeon’s research lab.
The one who made the mana meter didn’t have any noble sense of duty like wanting at least one person to survive, like that French archmage. He just lived a good life off the money he earned from the mana meter patent.
He had plenty of other patents besides the mana meter, so even if I took this one, he’d still have no trouble living well. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to contribute to humanity’s survival at least once.
“…Isn’t that a little too convenient of an excuse? Didn’t you say even a mage you knew had died?”
“Did I kill them? This is all Ark’s fault. Those bastards are the ones who killed them.”
At my words, Hong Seok-young burst into laughter.
“Yeah, that’s right! It’s all their damn fault. That’s why people need to live good, honest lives, you know?”
Figuring the beer can he had tossed earlier had settled by now, I opened it. It made a loud noise, but no foam spilled out.
Hong Seok-young raised his own can of beer. The cans clinked together.
***
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