Chapter 707: Ruins (1)
It would take some time to make the pocket watch, and Meteor Dragon was still in the middle of his astrology.
So in the meantime, we decided to handle the outside request.
This was the content:
[Puzzle Solving(D)]
▷Client: Hyeseong Group
▷Dismantle a large puzzle discovered in nearby ruins
▷Reward: An item equivalent to C-rank value, or partial distribution of the puzzle’s rewards
This does feel a little underseasoned.
Since we had to accept something within our official authority, D-rank was the ceiling.
In reality, I was casually going in and out of C- and B-rank dungeons and even using [Book of Chaos].
The reward too.
Because it was a request posted by Hyeseong Group, it had been set more generously than usual, but even so, it was still only C-rank.
It was not even as good as a single random box opened by my Lucky Charm.
Still, if we accepted it, we should finish it.
Whatever the rank, we had come here under the name of Dragonslayer Academy. If we handled it responsibly, it would help preserve a good reputation.
It would also make it easier to receive other requests later.
So we told Ahn Jeongmi that we intended to start as soon as possible.
*****
The next day.
While we were getting ready to leave after breakfast, Ahn Jeongmi opened her mouth with a serious expression.
“There’s something I would like to tell you both.”
“I’m listening.”
“You’ve heard several times about the Blood Cult’s movements.”
“They clashed with a dragon near Hyeseong.”
“Yes. We had also been closely watching the movements of the forces under them... but we received a report that they’ve lost track of them.”
And that had happened only the other day.
I slowly nodded.
“So now nobody knows when or where they might appear.”
“That’s right. On top of that, we’ve heard that hostile organizations have also been showing suspicious signs.”
“By hostile organizations, you mean?”
“Cultists and gangs, most notably.”
Their scale and military strength were insignificant compared to dragons, witches, and the Blood Cult, the enemies of humanity.
But even among them, there were always a few genuinely capable people. If you ran into them out of nowhere, you could still end up in trouble.
And judging by the situation, the chances of that seemed to have gone up.
“So we don’t know which side will move either.”
“At the moment, no.”
“In the worst case, they could even join hands.”
Cultists usually moved for sacrificial offerings, and gangs usually moved for material profit or turf.
Depending on the situation, their interests could line up.
Especially when they shared a common enemy called Hyeseong.
Ahn Jeongmi slowly nodded.
“Yes. There may be danger involved in carrying out the request as well. Internally, the opinion leaned toward suspending it, but I’d like to hear your intentions too.”
Seo Ye-in and Fast-Luckless answered immediately.
“Continue.”
No suspension.A flicker of surprise passed through Ahn Jeongmi’s eyes as she asked again,
“Could you tell me why?”
“Not scared.”
We’re invincible.“Got stronger.”
Kim Ho got stronger too.“Have bracelet too.”
Godfather No. 2.As she said it, she showed the bracelet on her wrist.
We did not know its exact effect, so blind faith was out of the question, but since it was an item made by Sky-Healing Dragon Jupiter, a minimum level of safety was practically guaranteed.
And just as Seo Ye-in said, our own abilities had also grown quite a lot. In most situations, I figured we could get out safely well enough.
Even if, by some absurd chance, we ran into Blood Demon or a dragon.
So I added my own piece.
“I think part of their goal is to make us shrink back and stop moving. Rather than playing along with that, it would be better to break through head-on.”
“...If that is truly what you both want, then understood.”
Ahn Jeongmi stopped trying to dissuade us and accepted it. Then she contacted someone.
A little later, she led us in front of the lodge.
Waiting there was not the luxury sedan we always used, but a line of rough off-road vehicles.
In some ways, they looked closer to armored cars.
We have to go outside the city.
As the request said, the ruins were near the city.
There was no reason to expect a clean paved road all the way there.
So the vehicles had been changed to fit the route.
The fact that they were better for escort duty was just a bonus.
Ahn Jeongmi opened the rear door.
“This way, please.”
After seating Seo Ye-in and me inside, she gathered Hyeseong personnel separately and began giving instructions with a grave face.
It looked like a kind of operation briefing.
......The personnel listened just as seriously and nodded along, then boarded the various vehicles and started moving out one by one.
The belly button’s gotten bigger than the belly.
The whole point of assigning outside requests to students was to save manpower.
And this was not even some grand operation. We were just going to solve a puzzle.
Yet not only was Ahn Jeongmi, the manager of the Future Strategy Office team, coming along, there was even an escort convoy attached.
Still, safer is always better.
If we got cocky, moved in a small group, and something went wrong?
Someone could die or get badly hurt.
Rather than accept that kind of risk, it was better to prepare more than enough force.
Of course, if nothing happened, then yes, it would be a full-on waste of manpower.
But so what?
This was Hyeseong, of all places. They could afford to waste a little now and then.
While I was thinking in that suspiciously positive Go Hyeonwoo sort of way, the number of buildings, vehicles, and pedestrians outside the window gradually began to thin out.
And at last, once we had clearly left the city, the road opened up.
Meanwhile, Ahn Jeongmi gave us a more detailed explanation of the ruins we were heading to.
“They were discovered about two months ago, and exploration is about halfway complete.”
“So you’re still working on them now.”
“Yes. When we arrive, you’ll be able to meet the exploration team.”
“We’re not getting in their way, are we?”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
As she answered, she pulled out a terminal and started operating it.
A holographic map appeared. One glance was enough to tell it depicted the inside of the ruins.
Pointing to one corner, she said,
“The exploration team is moving along this route. The puzzle you’ll be handling is here.”
Sure enough, the puzzle was on the complete opposite side, tucked away in a very remote corner.
I had expected as much, so I nodded slowly.
“That’s a relief. Are there any special precautions?”
“As long as you act within common sense, you should be fine.”
In other words, unless we went around touching random things out of curiosity, there was little chance of an unexpected incident.
Ahn Jeongmi finished the explanation by saying that as long as we solved the puzzle, the request would be treated as completed.
Soon the paved road ended and we entered a mountain path.
Thanks to how many times vehicles had already been coming and going, there was at least a usable track, but the billowing dust and violent jolting were unavoidable.
Seo Ye-in, who had been trying to fall asleep on my lap pillow, drowsily opened her eyes.
“Angry...”
Someone was basically shaking her awake over and over, after all.
But maybe because there was no one she could really blame, she just swayed back and forth with a thoroughly sour mood.
Fortunately, Seo Ye-in’s bad-mood time did not last long.
A gigantic structure soon appeared straight ahead.
It had come from a distant past, yet looked excessively futuristic.
From our point of view, it was ruins, but in reality, it had probably once been operated as some kind of factory or facility.
At a glance, it looked exactly like the sort of place where lost technology would be sleeping.
The ruins were half-buried in the ground, but according to Ahn Jeongmi, it was actually the other way around.
This much had been excavated from what had originally been buried.
Since excavation work was apparently still ongoing, a fairly large number of laborers were moving around the area.
Heavy equipment could be seen here and there too.
This is pretty serious.
It was a clear sign of how much Hyeseong was expecting from this place.
Which made sense. Ruins and dungeons of this sort did not reset the way the dungeons we usually entered did.
Which meant—
Everything that comes out of here belongs to Hyeseong.
If it was not explored to 100%, someone else might take over the exploration later.
But Hyeseong was obviously the type to leave no room for that and scrape the place clean down to the bottom.
As the original discoverer, they had every right to insist on that.
Before long, the group started crossing the construction site toward the ruins.
As I walked along with them, I calmly looked around and watched the work.
RATATATAT!
In one place where dirt was being dug up at a furious pace, some bearded guy was whipping a shovel around with dazzling flair.
Elsewhere, a scrawny old man was carrying steel beams several times larger than his own body as if it were nothing.
There were people using mana all over the place, so the work efficiency was almost on the level of living heavy machinery.
And in another area, two muscular men were hauling sacks.
Not just hugging armfuls of bags the size of a human body, but stacking them layer upon layer to the height of a second or third floor as though they were carrying snack bags.
But for some reason, their faces looked extremely familiar.
So I stopped walking, and Ahn Jeongmi, who had been leading the way, turned back with a puzzled look.
“Kim Ho?”
“Please excuse me for a moment.”
“Is something the matter?”
“I’d like to go say hello to some seniors.”
After asking her leave, I walked over to the muscular men.
Right then, they had just finished moving their tower of sacks to its destination and setting it down.
THUD!
The two men, who had been expertly organizing the pile as it spilled out, looked over at us, perhaps sensing our approach.
One of them narrowed his smiling eyes into a gentle curve.
“So it’s Kim Ho. Fancy seeing you here.”
“It’s been a while, Senior.”
It was Oh Sehun, the head of the Discipline Committee.
The man beside him was Kang Daesan, also from the Discipline Committee.
We had never been particularly close, but the moment he saw me, something seemed to come to mind, and a trace of interest entered his eyes.
“...You’re the one who was dating Dang Gyu-young.”
“Yes. We’re still maintaining a good relationship.”
We are biting each other all the time, after all.
Oh Sehun smiled faintly and asked,
“Come to think of it, I haven’t heard anything about Gyu-young in quite a while. How’s that kid doing? If I remember right, they said they were going into the Thief Guild.”
“They changed their mind at the end and are doing something else now. They’re living hard.”
“I’m glad to hear they’re doing well. Their skills must’ve improved a lot too.”
“Yes. They’ve been itching for it. Said if they ever ran into you again, Senior, they’d challenge you one more time.”
At that, Kang Daesan also added a comment with clear interest.
“Even at graduation—no, even during the tournament—they weren’t below me. If that rate of growth continued, they really might have surpassed me.”
“Now I’m looking forward to it.”
The smile at the corner of Oh Sehun’s mouth deepened.
Then he shifted the subject and asked, gesturing toward the ruins.
“So you two came to explore too?”
“Not yet. We don’t have that kind of authority yet, so we’re just here to solve a simple puzzle.”
“I see. You’ll need to raise your rank more first.”
“Yes. We’re planning to do it step by step.”
“You two will climb fast enough.”
“Thank you. If it wouldn’t be rude—”
I deliberately paused for a moment, then looked the two of them straight in the eye and continued,
“—may I ask what brings you two here, Seniors?”
“...”
Oh Sehun’s smiling eyes curved softly once more.