Chapter 20
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Translator: MJK
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Baridegi's Domain (3)
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After clearing the first entrance, the very first thing I sensed was that this dungeon would keep calling to me until I cleared it entirely.
Was that why?
Even after escaping the Twilight Dungeon, reality didn't fully return to normal.
The light was still vivid, but its boundaries felt more sharply defined than before.
Back in my dorm room, I couldn't sit down for a long while.
Sitting in a chair felt like it would loosen my body, and loosening up might dull my judgment.
So I stood at my desk, placing a gold coin on my palm and staring down at it quietly.
Three gold coins dropped when the dungeon vanished.
Just as the rumors always said—exactly three.
They looked like ordinary gold coins.
The color, weight, and texture all felt familiar.
But something was off.
Looking at these coins kept bringing a river to mind.
A river I'd never seen in person, yet the sound of flowing water and the sight of boats drifting on it flashed through my head.
I frowned.
It didn't feel like my imagination.
That was when it happened.
In the corner of my vision, a familiar string of text appeared.
It wasn't something I saw with my eyes—it was imprinted directly into my mind.
I drew in a breath and read it.
[Baridegi's First Bonus!]
It was a system notification.
"Huh? They notify you like this?"
Sometimes, when you earned a dungeon clear bonus or special reward, it would pop up directly like that.
But I'd never once imagined I'd be on the receiving end.
The notification continued.
[Participation Reward: Three Underworld Ferry Coins]
My eyes widened.
The word "Underworld" was just too blatant.
And the very next line followed right after.
[Ferry coins usable when crossing the Underworld River. If used in non-intended situations, the function will be substituted.]
And the explanation came right after that.
[Substitution skill per coin: C-rank Invisibility (Bound/One-time use)]
-Duration: 15 minutes
I was speechless for a while.
Calculations started running automatically in my head.
Fifteen minutes wasn't short.
It was plenty of time to dodge combat or slip through dangerous areas.
For a hunter like me with no combat ability, it was a skill that could outright change survival odds.
"But where am I supposed to use this?"
I picked up one of the gold coins.
The moment I did, its surface shimmered faintly, and something began to engrave itself.
I held my breath and watched.
Jin Hari.
My name etched itself clearly, letter by letter.
Crude handwriting, like someone was scrawling it right then.
The same name appeared on the other two coins in turn.
"Can't be transferred, huh?"
I let out a small laugh.
Truth be told, from the moment "Baridegi" was attached to it, this reward had been hard to chalk up to mere luck.
"Feels like it's pushing me toward the Underworld, too."
An object straddling the line between the living and the dead.
Using something like that in the mortal world would likely come with consequences.
This world was like that.
I slipped the coins into my pocket.
No immediate use for them anyway.
"Well, if I end up needing to enter a dungeon again, they'll come in handy."
No hunter in this world could completely avoid dungeons forever.
Especially if you made it to graduation unscathed.
If things went according to plan, I wouldn't need to enter any after graduating, but until then, I'd have to sneak in a few times for performance metrics.
That's when these coins would shine.
I placed my hand over my pocket, took one more deep breath, and scanned the room.
Three days passed.
Short in terms of time, but after passing through the Twilight Dungeon once, those three days felt strangely stretched out.
Today, I wasn't alone.
Without me even asking, Hyeon Iseo and Lee Hae-sol had come along.
"Iseo, didn't I tell you never to make requests like this again?"
"I can see you're heading here—how am I supposed to not follow?"
Hyeon Iseo's sulky face was full of annoyance.
Absurd as it was, Lee Hae-sol spoke up.
"You can head back if you want."
"No way. Turning back now would feel like losing."
"Losing what?"
"Just a feeling."
How did it end up like this?
That thought hit me first.
We walked side by side, but we still barely knew each other.
Too ambiguous to call close, but we'd exchanged more words than strangers.
"Heading to that dungeon again today?"
"Yeah."
I brought up the dungeon first.
Silence would've just made it more awkward.
Hyeon Iseo nodded.
"It opens every three days, right?"
Lee Hae-sol glanced around as he said,
"The night air definitely feels different here."
I smiled at that.
"It's always like that near that dungeon."
The smile was to ease the tension.
We kept the conversation going with small talk, nothing major.
Like how the dorm cafeteria food was getting blander. (I held back from saying I couldn't even eat it.)
Or how the recent training schedules were getting tighter. (I skipped mentioning I wasn't even getting trained...)
Rumors of someone newly awakening. (Couldn't say I only cared if it was one of the protagonists...)
That kind of chatter, but no one delved into personal stories.
When we reached the spot where the dungeon would appear, the darkness was already gathering.
The moonlight was hazy, the air strangely humid.
Similar to the first time, yet different.
I muttered inwardly.
'The difficulty feels a bit different from the first time.'
The thick, cozy dark mist gathered in the same inviting way.
Not repelling people, but beckoning them.
Now I could kind of understand why regular hunters got drawn in.
This mist didn't threaten.
It demanded nothing.
It just gave the feeling that you could let go.
That's probably why so many stopped there.
I pulled out a special potion.
E-rank again this time.
Hyeon Iseo eyed it and asked,
"Does that stuff even work?"
"It's enough."
He didn't press further.
Lee Hae-sol just nodded quietly.
That reaction stuck with me a bit.
I wrapped the rope twice around my waist.
Two this time.
One to Hyeon Iseo, one to Lee Hae-sol.
"Just in case."
Before I could finish, Hyeon Iseo said,
"Got it."
Lee Hae-sol added curtly,
"Until dawn breaks."
I downed the potion and stepped into the entrance.
The moment I entered, my vision shook slightly.
Faster this time.
The spatial distortion started right at the entrance.
The wall ahead receded then rushed close; the floor looked tilted.
I didn't stop.
Stopping would give the dungeon time to make me think.
And thinking time was the most dangerous.
'I want to become a great potion maker.'
I clung to my wish again.
Kept my steps steady.
No touching the walls, no reacting to sounds—just reading the mist's flow.
The mist was moving.
Stagnant spots differed from flowing ones.
Stagnant areas were where people had lingered too long.
The flowing side was the path.
I breathed deeply on purpose.
Conscious breathing brought back the sense that my body was here, now.
The mental strength potion's effect meshed with my judgment.
The path grew clearer bit by bit.
I kept walking.
The dungeon was quieter than the first time.
Which meant more thoughts surfaced.
I deliberately let them drift away.
Only the path and my wish mattered now.
The mist parted, revealing another fork.
Again, I didn't rationalize.
Chose the unnecessary side.
Those choices accumulated, converging the path into one.
Was the second path guarded by Twilight again?
I walked the quiet path once more. But without the mist this time, my mind didn't blur. Thoughts came naturally.
The words "I want to become a great potion maker" circled my mouth several times, but repeating them only bred doubt.
'Is that really my wish?'
The moment that thought grazed my mind, mist began to settle. Wow, mental dungeons like this are really sensitive.
The cozy darkness didn't push me away this time either.
Instead, it enveloped me like a gentle stroke on the head.
Strength ebbed from my body little by little.
My fingertips warmed; sensation dulled in my soles.
I reached for the mental strength potion, but my hand clawed at empty air.
Forgot where my pocket was for a split second.
"Hari."
Someone called my name.
The voice was low and soft.
Not Hyeon Iseo. Not Lee Hae-sol.
The way it called my name felt so natural, like someone I'd known forever.