Ferrofero's Tearful Reunion
Ferrofero sprang to his feet and shouted the moment he spotted Han Ji-woo.
"I-I did it, sir! I made it safely to the Hidden Space, yo!"
Ferrofero clenched his fists and thrust them high into the air. Han Ji-woo watched the overwhelmed little guy and asked,
"How'd you get here?"
But no answer came.
"Your loyal guard knight Ferrofero pays his respects to the princess, yo!"
The instant he confirmed Lucy by Han Ji-woo's side, Ferrofero dropped into a deep bow, too busy kowtowing to reply.
Nyaa?
Lucy tilted her head, watching the spectacle. With his forehead pressed to the ground, Ferrofero kept going.
"Please forgive this insolent wretch for failing to serve at Your Highness's side all this time, yo! From now on, I swear to be your hands and feet, serving you with all my might, yo!"
Did his sincerity finally reach her? Lucy slowly approached, raised a front paw...
Smack!
"Kek!"
...and just smacked him across the head.
Like hell it reached her. Lucy still remembered Ferrofero's first impression all too well—the guy who'd tried to mess with Han Ji-woo.
Haaack!
At Lucy's hiss, Ferrofero ignored his throbbing head and prostrated himself again.
"I'm sorry, yo! I was wrong, yo! I'll atone for my past sins for the rest of my life, yo!"
Pitying the groveling Ferrofero, Han Ji-woo stroked Lucy's head to soothe her.
"Come on, Lucy. He's apologizing like that—forgive him."
Nyang?
"I'm fine with it. From now on, Ferrofero's one of us."
Nyaaao~
Lucy nodded as if she understood, then gently licked Ferrofero's head.
At that moment—
Thud!
"H-Huh?!"
Ferrofero's heart plummeted with a thump!
"To bestow such grace upon a failure like me who couldn't even serve you properly...? I could die without regrets now, yo! Hueeuk!"
Overcome with emotion, Ferrofero burst into tears.
"Hey, that guy's crying."
Han Ji-woo chuckled at the sight, and Sasuri sniffed the air before adding,
"Smells like a total loser in here, sniveling just 'cause a smaller cat licked him."
Pao, who had been rummaging for something, paused with an 'Eh?' and pointed at Ferrofero.
"Found it! That's the crybaby! So that's a loser?"
Turkan scolded the pair.
"Sasuri! Pao! That's too harsh! You don't call a fool a fool. We don't call you ugly either. Don't call a loser a loser! Kwiik!"
"I can hear you all, yo!"
Ferrofero huffed indignantly. Then Seibier, who had been staring at him for a while, suddenly gaped wide and licked his face with a massive tongue.
Keuruk~
Despite having been roughed up by Ferrofero once before, the chubby one was surprisingly friendly. But Ferrofero misunderstood.
"Hiiiik! S-Sorry, yo! Back then, I accidentally hurt you without meaning to, Hatchling sir! P-Please don't eat me, yo!"
Han Ji-woo giggled at Ferrofero's gasping panic.
"He's doing it 'cause he likes you."
"Pardon? H-He's not trying to eat me, yo?"
Gulp!
Ferrofero swallowed hard and looked at Seibier. Seibier met his eyes and grinned broadly.
Keuruk!
Finally relieved, Ferrofero let out a sigh.
"Haaah. What a relief, yo."
"But seriously, why are you here? How'd you even get in? This isn't a place you can just pop in and out of."
"Ah, I got delayed explaining my situation, yo. So here's what happened..."
Kkok-kkok.
"...But could I maybe get some food first, yo?"
"You're getting bold."
"My apologies, yo."
Munch munch~ Gulp!
Crunch crunch! Gulp!
"...And that's how it all went down, yo!"
Ferrofero wolfed down the braised pork, seasoned greens, and rice Han Ji-woo had offered, recounting everything that had happened. As his tale dragged on, the pets all drifted into deep sleep. It was well past midnight, and their eyes had already been heavy. They'd always turned in before then, so their body clocks made it impossible to fight the waves of drowsiness.
Han Ji-woo was exhausted too but desperately held back sleep.
...or tried to.
...Zzz.
"...Are you even listening, yo?"
"Huh? Oh, uh... the greens are tasty, right?"
"The Dungeon Guard, yo!"
"Ah, right right. The Dungeon Guard showed up. You borrowed the Creator's power like last time to get here, yawwwn..."
"Yes, yo. But it cost another 25 years of my lifespan, so who knows how much I have left now, yo. If I live an average cat tribe life, maybe another 25 years—but if not, I could drop dead tomorrow, yo."
Ferrofero's ears drooped sadly. Han Ji-woo patted his head.
"You'll live a long time. Don't worry."
"How can you be so sure, yo?"
"If you were the short-lived type, you'd be dead already. Right?"
It made sense when he put it that way. Ferrofero was the sole cat tribe survivor when the Bryunak continent fell. He'd scraped by as a manager afterward, surviving crises when the 27th heroes arrived. Even with the Creator descending and the Dungeon Guard awakening, he hadn't died.
Ferrofero's eyes sparkled as he grinned.
"Maybe I'm the luckiest cat tribe ever, yo!"
"Nah, not that lucky."
"Whose tune am I supposed to dance to here, yo?!"
"Anyway, congrats on making it to the Hidden Space."
Ferrofero shook his head vigorously.
"No no, yo. I'm the one grateful—you've taken such good care of our princess, yo."
Born into the guard knight clan sworn to protect the princess for life, the last of his line gazed at his sleeping charge.
"It's so mysterious, yo. How on earth did Her Highness end up safe here...?"
"Yeah, tell me about it."
Han Ji-woo shared the same question. How had the cat tribe princess, presumed dead on the continent's fall, ended up hidden in the Hidden Space?
"Hey, did Lucy really die? You saw it with your own eyes?"
"N-No, but the Bryunak continent exploded massively, yo! Everything except the 'objets' the Creator took beforehand got swept up, yo!"
"Objets?"
"The creatures the Creator kidnapped before the blast to decorate the dungeon, yo."
"Ah. And you were one of them?"
"Yes, yo. But among the objets kidnapped with me, there was no sign of the princess. Not a single cat tribe member, yo."
"Hmm."
Han Ji-woo pondered. One thing was clear from Ferrofero's story: all the monsters dungeon delvers faced were kidnappings from Bryunak. But Lucy wasn't an objet. So how was she hidden here...?
'Wait. What did the dragon elders say when I met them in the Dungeon Prison?'
He recalled that memory. Thanks to Sasuri, he'd entered the dragon tomb and communed with the elders' lingering thoughts.
-The ark containing the last hope of a perished world. That is the Hidden Space.
'Ark!'
The word evoked Noah's Ark instantly. When the flood submerged the world, Noah loaded it with food and animals—two of each—per God's command. Noah survived, landed on Mount Ararat, released the beasts, and started a new civilization with his family.
The ark was a safe haven from doom and a cradle for future life.
Han Ji-woo's gaze swept over the sleeping pets. Lucy, the princess and sole surviving cat tribe besides Ferrofero. Seibier, hatched in the Hidden Space's salt mine when all dragons were entombed.
'Pao, Turkan, and Sasuri weren't the only survivors.'
Turkan and Sasuri had lived in herds in the Dungeon Prison; Pao too, with his minions on floor 3.
His face lit with realization as he glanced at the beehive.
'The Ironclad Pumpkin Queen Bee appeared as a larva too.'
She was alone as well.
'Ark... a sanctuary sheltering the young of species on the brink of extinction!'
The scattered puzzle pieces suddenly clicked into place. Ibelius created the Hidden Space to grant special powers to whoever arrived, supporting the heroes' dungeon clears. And she hid the young of Bryunak's endangered species here too.
The dragon elders' voices echoed in his memory.
-That's all we know. Before the sudden apocalypse, Ibelius had no time to explain to the other elders. We last saw her tearing into a dimensional rift to create the Hidden Space. Thus, she was never buried in this crypt.
Seibier, still in his egg; newborn kitten Lucy; the queen bee as a larva—they'd been on death's door when Ibelius sealed them in the Hidden Space. And when Han Ji-woo met special conditions, he could summon them.
That realization made "Hidden Space" take on new meaning. He'd always thought of it as just "a hidden spot in the dungeon." But it could also be...
'The space hiding the young of every species.'
Han Ji-woo's eyes widened as he scanned the towering outer walls. There might be even more sealed young of other species here.
"Why so serious, yo?"
Ferrofero's voice snapped him out. Han Ji-woo laid out his deductions step by step.
Ferrofero clapped his hands.
"Mind-blowing, yo! That could totally be it, yo!"
"But... Bryunak's already gone, right?"
"Yes, yo."
"Sorry to say it, but what's the point of saving just the young when their home's destroyed?"
"No idea there, yo."
"'No idea'? You just nodded along while I figured it out."
"D-Did I? Wasn't I pondering too, yo?"
"Whoa. Where's your conscience?"
Han Ji-woo mulled Ibelius's true intent but got nowhere. He tabled it and asked what had been bugging him about Ferrofero.
"Anyway, with the Dungeon Guard awake, what about the others? They okay?"
"Fine for now, yo. Dungeon Guards can't just kill heroes willy-nilly, yo."
"'For now' sounds like trouble later."
"Kinda worrying, yeah. Esperona... she's really lazy, yo. Hates hassle so much she wants heroes dead quick."
"But she can't kill them directly?"
"Right, so she might throw impossible extra quests or appoint a new manager."
Ferrofero paused, then shook his head.
"Nah, appointing a manager's too much hassle—she'd hate the process. So probably..."
"Probably?"
"...She'll use the heroes who died this round, yo."
The dungeon delvers reaching floor 19 froze at the figure blocking their path, gasping in unison.
"...Andra!"
A forgotten name slipped from someone's lips, shattering the stunned silence.