Dungeon & Commander (6)
Kim Jun whispered to Kang Jin-gu first.
"What? No way. Don't even say it out loud."
Kang Jin-gu jumped back in shock.
But as an hour passed with no changes, he let out a long sigh.
"...Looks like there's no other way. Can you pull it off?"
"If we just sit here, we're all dead."
"Hoo...."
"We have to try something."
Kim Jun forced a smile for Kang Jin-gu.
Kang Jin-gu went to Han So-young's side and whispered Kim Jun's idea. She glanced at him in surprise, shook her head, then relayed it to her leader, Gwon Jun-sang.
"Cover for me a sec."
Gwon Jun-sang said.
As Han So-young stepped up, he approached Kim Jun. It felt like a bear lumbering over.
"Newbie."
"Yes."
"If they catch you, you're dinner."
"...I know."
Kim Jun recalled the sound of the Dongbang team's carrier being torn apart. His body shuddered involuntarily.
"Still up for it?"
"Yes."
Kim Jun meant it.
"Good."
Gwon Jun-sang informed O Yong-geun of the plan, then went to Socrates team's buffer, Park Hong-sik, and asked him to lay the best buffs on Kim Jun.
Speed Up, Anti-Ice, Ice Fire.
He was to pour every buff he knew onto Kim Jun. The Dongbang team's buffer got the same orders.
Kim Jun shrugged off his storeback and stretched.
He swung his arms and legs smoothly. Surprisingly, his condition wasn't bad. If a monster chased him now, what would his half-marathon time be? He might shatter the one-hour barrier.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
As Kim Jun answered, light emanated from his body—silver, orange, bluish hues wrapping around him in a swirl of buffs.
As he slipped between Gwon Jun-sang and Lee Gyu-tae, they both said almost in unison,
"Good luck."
Kim Jun walked slowly toward the edge of the light.
His legs shook, but he didn't look back. The moment he did, it felt like a monster would lunge from the darkness.
Then, the orb of light Han So-young had conjured floated over him.
Now, no matter where he went, that light orb would follow. Kim Jun bolted straight into the darkness.
The light chased after him swiftly.
Thud-thud, the sound of his feet hitting the ground. Huff-huff, his ragged breaths. Soon, heavy monster footsteps shook the earth, drawing closer.
A roar seemed to echo right beside him. The pounding footsteps behind were deafening. Terror chilled his bones, but Kim Jun grew eerily calm. He shortened his stride, quickened his cadence—switching to a sprint style suited for short distances over long hauls.
A white dinosaur appeared dead ahead.
Cold breath blasted from its maw.
Kim Jun hurled himself sideways. Even the graze stiffened his clothes with frost. Without the buffs, his limbs would've frozen solid, leaving him crumpled and done for.
He rolled once in a combat landing, sprang up, and kept running without losing speed.
A fact from a dungeon documentary flashed in his mind. Kim Jun, who'd been running straight, switched to zigzags.
A slippery sliding sound came from behind.
Then, an eerie noise from ahead—like tree branches clashing in the wind.
'Ah!'
Realizing what it was, Kim Jun cranked his speed to max. Breath burning his throat, he hit the light's edge—and a dense forest loomed into view. The moving forest he'd seen upon entering the dungeon.
Kim Jun, with his keen interest in dungeons, knew exactly how deadly it was.
In the early days after gates opened, raiders had ventured in out of curiosity, only to vanish.
If a German raider hadn't witnessed five Wyreshisaurs—the massive monsters—trapped and slowly drained by vines and roots, countless more would've died.
That raider had survived and named the living forest Schwarzwald.
Just as the Gelusaurus's icy blast hammered his back, Kim Jun dove into the Schwarzwald. Thick trees and tangled vines deflected some of the cold, absorbing the rest.
The Gelusaurus bellowed in rage from the poison, slashing vines with its claws as it pursued into the forest.
The two that had hesitated followed their kin inside.
Kim Jun stepped on snapped branches and clambered onto a massive dead tree trunk.
Sap stuck gooily to his hands—disgusting, but no time to care. Scraping his palms raw and ripping his pants, he climbed. A silver claw sank into the dirt right below his carrier boots.
He saw its eyes.
Diamond-shaped pupils gleaming cold as a serpent's.
Three Gelusaurs encircled the tree in a triangle, glaring up. One watched Kim Jun; the other two battered the trunk with their bodies.
Thud-thud.
Kim Jun slipped from the knot he'd gripped. The watching Gelusaur leaped, claws slashing.
Its crescent talons nearly severed his ankle—when gnarled roots erupted, vines ensnaring the beast and yanking it down.
The Gelusaur thrashed, immobilized in an instant. Kim Jun tumbled onto its snout.
Standing atop its nose ridge.
The Gelusaur glared with bulging eyes.
The saying rang true: eyes revealed the soul. Beyond those massive orbs... nothing but primal killing instinct.
Kim Jun leaped to a mossy thick root.
Vines dragged the monster down. It roared, struggling, but couldn't defy the Schwarzwald's might.
Crack—bones snapped, legs buckled. Already, its limbs sank into the earth, pulled by vines.
Watching the three Gelusaurs perish, Kim Jun startled back. A vine had crept toward his foot.
He slipped cautiously from the forest.
The Schwarzwald receded beyond the light's reach.
He scanned around.
No signal yet.
He wanted to collapse and rest, but couldn't. Not all pursuing monsters had entered the forest. A Gelusaurus and Pyrosaurus approached slowly.
The chase resumed.
Ice storms and flame blasts vied to claim him.
Turning left, a fireball grazed his back, vanishing into the dark.
Rolling right, frigid wind frosted his clothes and hair.
Then, flames piercing the dark, rising high.
The signal!
Kim Jun sprinted toward it.
Two red Pyrosaurs blocked the way, but he dodged their savage claws and fled. The flare neared; an island of light appeared through the gloom.
His breath scorched his throat.
Arms and legs refused to obey.
'Just a bit more!'
Clenching his teeth, Kim Jun entered the light—seven monsters hot on his heels.
A barrage of spells erupted at them. Impossible for solo dealer Han So-young alone.
One was the girl he'd seen at the entrance.
"Good work, kid."
Kang Jin-gu offered a water bottle.
Kim Jun drained it, then devoured the chocolate bar handed next.
Then he collapsed. His chest heaved.
Moments later, silence fell.
As he tried to rise, Han So-young pressed his shoulder.
"Stay down. You're done for today. Lucky the other teams found us."
"But the cores..."
"Leader's orders."
She nodded toward Gwon Jun-sang watching them.
He quickly faced front.
"...Thank you."
"No—we thank you."
Han So-young beamed.
Core collection finished swiftly, with Kang Jin-gu and the other carriers combining efforts.
Soon, Jushin Hangang's leader called retreat. Out of the dungeon at last.
Kim Jun's back ached under the heavy storeback, stuffed with cores from the slain monsters.
Dongbang's leader O Yong-geun decided against taking cores this expedition—ceding his share to Socrates team. Surviving was blessing enough, in his view.
At the gate, Kim Jun handed his storeback to the dungeon manager, who meticulously logged core types and weights before stacking them in a large metal box.
The cores would go to a Dungeon Association facility for special processing.
The sun dipped low.
Kim Jun sat beside Kang Jin-gu, who was lighting a cigarette.
After the hell inside, the world outside seemed paradise.
"Good work today."
Kang Jin-gu patted his shoulder.
"...I still don't get how it all went down."
"First raid like that for me too."
"Really?"
"That dungeon's probably getting sealed after today. Scout team'll check for changes, regrade it. My guess? At least D-Rank, maybe C-Rank."
"Ah!"
O Yong-geun approached.
"Good work."
Kim Jun glanced at Kang Jin-gu, bewildered by the outstretched hand. A nod, and he shook it politely.
"Thank you."
"See you around."
"Yes."
Kim Jun watched O Yong-geun lead his team down Bukaksan. Had losing a member weighed his shoulders so heavy?
Gwon Jun-sang stepped up next.
"Newbie."
"Yes, Leader."
"Leader?"
"...Han So-young called you that."
"Heh, that'll do. We lived thanks to you today. Kim Jun, right?"
"Yes."
"I'll remember."
Gwon Jun-sang headed to the manager.
Lee Gyu-tae, Park Hong-sik, and Han So-young gathered, reliving the thrill. Kim Jun felt accepted, body and soul.
The sensation was indescribably good.
After-party followed.
But Kim Jun couldn't join the awakeners'. An invisible wall divided carriers from raiders. Kang Jin-gu took him to another— the carriers' bash.
Just ordinary folk sharing ordinary tales. They praised Kim Jun's heroics endlessly.
"You'll be a star if it airs."
"...Airs?"
Only then did Kim Jun think of his mom and sister.
"Carrier heroics are rare. Awakeners are special—innate powers mean they fight and survive better. But carriers? Viewers are mostly normals like us. They'll all know your face if it broadcasts."
A few shots of soju, and Kang Jin-gu loosened up.
Kim Jun sipped cola, heart sinking.
The joy of survival evaporated.
'What now?'
He sighed.
Guild Master Go Cheolmin and Choi Muhyun joined, stretching the party late.
Even leaving midway, it passed midnight.
No subway—Kim Jun trudged home. Looking up, the moon shone full and bright.
Chill air paled it ghostly.
Drunks staggered by. An office worker dashed to the road for a cab, boss in tow. A woman hurried, phone to ear.
The world turned on, normal as ever.
Kim Jun, who'd nearly died in the dungeon today, felt it all like a dream.
And with it, boundless pride swelled.
Those ordinary folks would never know that darkness, that despair, that rush. The solemn aura as death named you—they couldn't even imagine.
When dungeons first appeared, panic surely reigned—but humanity adapted fast. Even novel tales become routine.
Now the world split cleanly, naturally: the shadowy dungeon realm of awakeners and carriers, versus the everyday worries of jobs, promotions, kids' futures. Same space, worlds apart.
Nearing home, buried worries resurfaced.
If the raid aired, everyone would recognize him. Fine for others.
Mom and sister were the problem.
His mom, widowed by a dungeon, would never allow it.
She stood at the apartment entrance.
Waiting for her son.
"...Mom?"
"You're back."
Her voice differed from usual. How'd she know? The broadcast couldn't have aired yet.
"Why're you out?"
"To see my boy."
"...Yeah?"
Kim Jun eyed her warily as they climbed to the fourth floor. His sister slept.
"Jun, come in a sec."
Mom called him to the master room.
He sat on a small chair; she on the bed edge.
"The guild master stopped by earlier."
"...What?"
"Said you'd joined Uramata Guild."
"Mom."
"I didn't know why you studied so hard these two years—like your life depended on it, acing tests. If he hadn't come today, I might've never known. Maybe forever."
"Sorry."
"You went into the dungeon today?"
"Yeah."
Head bowed, Kim Jun inwardly cursed the guild master for spilling without asking.
"Glad you're safe. My heart dropped hearing it. You'll keep going in?"
Kim Jun went silent, unable to meet her eyes.
"Hoo."
Her deep sigh.
"I..."
Tears welled in his eyes.
"No matter what I say, you'll go anyway. Just like your dad. That blood's in you."
"Mom."
He looked up. There she was—worried for her son, yet unable to break his will.
"You must be beat. Go rest."
In his room, Kim Jun exhaled long.
He'd known this day would come. Couldn't fool her forever. But facing it, his heart ached. Every dungeon run would remind her of her husband's death.
Thinking of her, he shouldn't go near dungeons. But Dad? His blood boiled. Unbearable.
'Gotta get stronger. More agile. Higher survival odds.'
Kim Jun steeled himself.