Who Is the Traitor? (2)

I spoke up.

“That woman from the Jeguk Group… her name’s Jang Pomi, right?”

Ki Ju-hye gave me a puzzled look and shook her head.

“What are you talking about? Who’s Jang Pomi?”

“Then who…?”

“The woman I’m talking about is the one who gave up her spot on the Phoenix for me back then—Jang Sara! That’s who I meant.”

Jang Sara?

“How much did Jang Sara pay you?”

Ki Ju-hye’s face crumpled like she’d been caught red-handed.

“Ugh… I got two thousand for the public broadcast interview.”

Damn it. So that had been Jang Sara’s doing too.

“And this time, I agreed to get another two thousand for following you around and reporting on your every move. The Rune Stone: Scent of Relics and the heals were provided for free…”

Well, I’ll be damned.

The day before the interview, I’d told her I was going to earn some “tower credits,” and she had immediately bought Ki Ju-hye to keep tabs on me.

“Exactly what kind of behavior was she asking you to report?”

“Whether you and Yoo Ji-min were hitting it off or not…”

Good grief. Jang Sara really still hasn’t grown up…

I was clicking my tongue when a sharp woman’s scream echoed from deep inside the pyramid.

“Kyaaaaah! Somebody help meee!”

Yoo Ji-min was running for her life, two enormous mummies hot on her heels.

I shouted at her.

“Duck!”

Yoo Ji-min lowered her head instantly.

In a flash, I pulled the Holy Adamantium Point Spade from my belt and scooped up a shovelful of dirt, flinging it straight at the mummies.

Shwaaaaah—

Khaaaaaah—

Kuhuuuuh—

The moment the dirt hit them, both mummies dissolved into sand and vanished.

It was the moment the holy damage I had paid a fortune to add at the temple finally proved its worth.

At that moment, I saw Ki Ju-hye trying to help the fallen Yoo Ji-min to her feet.

But Yoo Ji-min’s eyes had already turned a sickly orange.

A burning wound had appeared on her shoulder. She had clearly been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠caught by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a mummy and cursed.

I tried to shout at Ki Ju-hye not to touch her, but another woman beat me to it.

“Don’t touch her!”

Ki Ju-hye flinched and scrambled backward.

Before the two inexperienced-looking women stood a thoroughly professional one.

It was Professor Seok Dong-mi, the instructor for this class.

Seok Dong-mi immediately shielded Ki Ju-hye with her own body and slammed the flat of her spade into Yoo Ji-min’s face with all her strength.

Thwack—

The instant she was struck, Yoo Ji-min crumpled backward, blood gushing from both nostrils.

“P-Professor…?”

Seok Dong-mi dragged Ki Ju-hye over to me, keeping a wary eye on the collapsed Yoo Ji-min.

“Be careful! Ji-min’s already been cursed!”

“Ughhh… What do we do?! Ji-min, nooo~! Sob…”

But the fallen Yoo Ji-min trembled violently and spoke in a shaky voice.

“Th-that woman… she pushed me… toward the mummies…!”

Ki Ju-hye looked back and forth between Yoo Ji-min and Seok Dong-mi in shock.

Then Seok Dong-mi spoke.

“She’s lying! I saw everything just now. Ji-min touched the sarcophagus, which woke the mummies! That’s why she was cursed!”

Yoo Ji-min’s bloodshot eyes burned with demonic fury as she screamed.

“Liar! Liar! I saw it! That… that woman touched the sarcophagus and woke the mummies! This whole thing started because of her…!”

But before she could finish, Yoo Ji-min lost consciousness and blacked out.

Suddenly, foul-smelling rotten bandages began sprouting from her shoulder wound, rapidly wrapping around her entire body.

At the same time, she shook violently, her orange eyes snapping open as she began shrieking ancient words loud enough to burst eardrums.

“Indumili… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Quaduhwa Jentu… Horuwa……”

Yoo Ji-min’s voice grew louder and louder. Then, arching her back like a bow, her tiny frame somehow produced a roar so massive it seemed impossible.

“Tokamoo… Nandu… Nan……”

Ki Ju-hye, Seok Dong-mi, and I all had no choice but to cover our ears.

Seok Dong-mi cried out through her tears.

“Quickly! We have to kill Ji-min right now! Her Bard of Labor Songs trait has been corrupted. She’s become a Bard of Curses and is drawing every mummy here with her song!”

With that, Seok Dong-mi raised her spade and took one slow, deliberate step after another toward Yoo Ji-min.

“Sob… Ji-min! Please forgive your worthless teacher!”

Seok Dong-mi swung the spade down at blinding speed. If that blade buried itself in her forehead, Ji-min would undoubtedly die.

Clang—

Blue sparks flew as the spade bounced away.

My Holy Spade had blocked it.

Seok Dong-mi looked frustrated.

“…Geumpa. My heart is breaking too. But don’t stop me! I have to make a decision here to save all of you!”

Sure enough, Yoo Ji-min had turned into something straight out of The Exorcist, screaming incantations like a demon-possessed girl.

“Mashitamus… Ideolo… Tamus……”

I said calmly,

“I agree with you. But that method seems too cruel. It would be better to finish it with my spade.”

I scooped up another shovelful of dirt.

“My spade has a holy attribute, so it reacts quite effectively against evil-aligned opponents, you see?”

I lightly sprinkled the dirt onto Yoo Ji-min’s shoulder. The rotten bandages that had been wrapping her suddenly recoiled back into her shoulder, their momentum weakening.

“Aaaargh!”

Yoo Ji-min’s eyes turned pure white before she fainted again.

Seok Dong-mi shook her head.

“That’s not enough. She’ll wake up again soon!”

“I agree. We’ll need stronger measures. But before that…”

I scooped up another shovelful and suddenly flung it at Seok Dong-mi’s arm.

Sssssss—

“Aaaargh!”

Seok Dong-mi clutched her arm and screamed.

I immediately swung my spade and struck her ankle. She lost her balance and collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.

“Aack!”

I pressed the spade against her throat and said,

“Fuck, that’s strange, Professor. My spade only reacts to people who’ve committed crimes like murder or rape… So why is a respected professor like you burning up so badly under it?”

Seok Dong-mi immediately burst into tears.

“Ughhh… sob…”

“I’ll give you one last chance. Tell the truth and I’ll spare your life. If you lie even once, you die for real.”

I pressed the spade harder against her throat. One more push and she would be dead.

“Kuhk… ugh… p-please…”

I eased up slightly. Seok Dong-mi finally spoke.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I… I ended up cooperating with bad people… sob…”

“So it was you who deliberately touched the sarcophagi to release the mummies?”

“Khuhk…”

“And when Ji-min happened to witness it, you threw her to the mummies to curse her?”

At that moment, Ki Ju-hye spoke with an expression of utter disbelief.

“P-Professor… why? Why would you…?”

I asked,

“Who ordered you to do this? Was it Jang Pomi from the Jeguk Group?”

Seok Dong-mi nodded with the face of someone who had given up on everything.

“Why is she targeting me?”

“She said you scammed her with an item.”

Damn it.

“Professor, how did you get mixed up with a woman like that?”

“…I stole an artifact from a Jeguk Group excavation site. It was to pay off my lover’s business debt…”

I should have known.

Everything—from dragging me into this class—had been part of Jang Pomi’s scheme.

This excavation site was under the control of the Jeguk Guild. Even if they tortured or killed me, there would be no evidence or rumors. It was the perfect trap.

They had even dropped the sealing stone under the pretext of quarantine, probably wanting to test whether I truly had the ability to rescue 138 people.

Seok Dong-mi.

Part of me wanted to punish her right then and there.

But she might still have some use left.

“Well, you’re still the professor for our class, so I’ll ask you one question. If we complete ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Painted Pottery of Blessing, can it cure the Mummy’s Curse?”

Seok Dong-mi shook her head.

“If we could complete it, maybe. The surface is supposed to have hieroglyphs explaining a ritual to break the curse. But… that’s impossible from the start.”

“Why?”

“We don’t have time to collect all the fragments. …In two hours, Jang Pomi herself is coming into the pyramid. Along with S-class and A-class hunters from the Jeguk Guild pretending to be a rescue team.”

I said,

“What if I gather every last fragment within those two hours?”

“Is that even possible? No matter how fast you can dig up relics… the number of mummies is growing too quickly.”

Just as expected, the status window showed the number of mummies steadily increasing.

“Is there another collaborator?”

“No. The released mummies are freeing the others themselves. It’s exponential. Soon the entire pyramid will be packed with them.”

Then Seok Dong-mi’s expression softened as she said,

“If the rumor that you can open waypoints is true… then open one and run. There’s no chance of survival if you stay here.”

I thought for a moment.

A hundred mummies would certainly be a headache.

If I only had to fight mummies, it wouldn’t be a big problem. I could just put my back to a corner and hold them off.

But right now I had to excavate relic fragments while simultaneously dealing with mummies swarming in from every direction.

That was definitely too much.

“Let’s pull aggro.”

“Aggro?”

“You said Ji-min became a Bard of Curses and is drawing the mummies in, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then if someone carries Ji-min and runs in the opposite direction from where I’m going, luring the mummies away… that would be a huge help, wouldn’t it?”

Seok Dong-mi thought for a moment before nodding.

“You’re right… It’s not impossible.”

“Then would you do the honors, Professor? Since touching the sarcophagi didn’t curse you, it seems you came prepared with some kind of curse immunity.”

Seok Dong-mi stared blankly for a moment before asking me,

“If I do this now… can I earn Ji-min’s forgiveness?”

I replied,

“Whether Ji-min forgives you or not isn’t something you can decide. But there is something you can decide right now.”

“What is it…?”

“…To do your absolute best as the professor in charge of this pyramid excavation practicum—for the sake of your students!”

Seok Dong-mi closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them with a resolute expression. She lifted the unconscious Yoo Ji-min onto her back.

The fainted Yoo Ji-min had already lost some of her peak beauty; her face now looked like that of a woman in her early thirties.

But that was nothing.

Soon she would age through her forties and fifties in a single hour and become an old woman.

“This is your last chance, Professor. If you pull any more tricks, there really will be no turning back.”

Seok Dong-mi lowered her head and said,

“I’ll… do my best.”

Of course, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t betray us again. But to decipher the hieroglyphs on the pottery fragments and perform the curse-breaking ritual, her cooperation was absolutely necessary.

At that moment, Yoo Ji-min’s orange eyes snapped open again and she began muttering a disgusting melody in a small voice.

“Berskov… Dikar Maiyo……”

Seok Dong-mi said,

“I’ll head to the southeast line where your team already dug up fragments. In the meantime, you clear the northeast and northwest sectors.”

“Understood. Good luck!”

“……”

Seok Dong-mi started running.

I turned to Ki Ju-hye, who was still standing there in a daze.

“You take those guys hiding over there and head southwest to collect fragments. That side will need more help.”

“The guys who are hiding?”

While Ki Ju-hye looked confused, Shin Ki-seok and his junior emerged from behind a rock, scratching their heads awkwardly.

It seemed they had been working deep inside like us and hadn’t been able to escape before the sealing stone dropped.

Shin Ki-seok asked,

“How long have you known we were hiding?”

“Shut up and take this girl with you to gather fragments. If we don’t collect them all within two hours, we’re all dead.”

Shin Ki-seok asked crookedly,

“Isn’t it you who has a grudge against the Jeguk Guild? Why should we have to suffer?”

I gave a small chuckle and said,

“You idiots. After pulling off a scheme this huge, do you really think the Jeguk Guild will leave any living witnesses? The only way for you to survive is to cooperate with me right now. Decide for yourselves.”

Shin Ki-seok was an unpleasant guy, but he wasn’t stupid. After thinking for a moment, he seemed to realize I was right.

“Be careful of the mummies and try to bring back at least three or four fragments. Time is short, so even that will be a big help.”

They said they understood and set off first.

And… the last one to start running was me.

Spade Long Jump

Passion for Digging

Power of Digging

Holy Adamantium Point Spade

Lucky Compass

I mobilized every skill and item I possessed and poured everything into collecting the fragments.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa—

I thought I was going to live a pretty cool life.

Leading a million-strong army that flew through the sky.

Riding a hawk and soaring through the air.

But when I came to my senses…

I was back to…

digging like a madman.

I don’t hate it anymore.

I’m not even embarrassed anymore.

No—in fact, this feels like the best time of all.

Without thinking about anything.

No past, no future, no regrets, no worries.

Just pure focus.

Dig!

All the way to the end!

Time remaining: 103 minutes!

I’ll gather them all within that time!

All 100 fragments!

To complete the Painted Pottery of Blessing that can break the curse!

To obtain the key to the second floor of the pyramid!