The Mid-Low Rank Dungeon

"We will be departing without breakfast this morning. Please prepare yourselves at once."

At Oh Jin-ho's words, the cadets and security guards scrambled into motion. And among those guards, one was nowhere to be seen.

Huh? Where is he?

I wanted to check on his condition, so I looked around — but Go Chungshin was nowhere in sight. One of the guards noticed me scanning the area and came over.

"Administrator, it seems Mr. Go Minhyuk — the one who had trouble on the first day — is unwell again."

"Ah… can't be helped. I'll go check on him. Keep preparing."

"Yes, sir."

I gave the cadets a quick heads-up, then headed alone for Go Chungshin's room. One thing was already certain as I walked.

Did I crank the output too high yesterday? Looks like he still hasn't recovered.

I should learn some unusual magic beyond just dismantling techniques.

Once I got to Sutra, I planned to comb through every kind of magic circle I could find. Memorize the ones useful in actual combat rather than theory, then recombine them with alchemy. Done.

Working through that plan, I arrived at the room where Go Chungshin was staying.

Whoa… even the door looks rough.

I had no idea what kind of facilities the guards usually enjoyed at the Hero Academy, so I couldn't tell whether this was good or bad by their standards. But one thing was clear.

This bastard's been treated pretty well up until now. Living in a place like this must be pissing him off.

Grinning to myself, I knocked on Go Chungshin's door and stepped inside. The moment he saw me, he flinched hard, and his voice came out trembling.

"Th-that is…"

"Ah, take it easy. I heard you were sick?"

"…Yes."

Go Chungshin answered with difficulty, hostility plain in his eyes. As expected — our Mr. Go Chungshin still couldn't hide his face for anything. But for as long as I was stuck dealing with him, I fully intended to remain the densest, most oblivious superior ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠imaginable.

Because this is fun for me~

I casually looked around the room as I spoke.

"Rest for today."

"E-even now, I could…"

"Don't worry about appearances. Just rest. If you go out like that and get hurt, it'll be a much bigger problem."

"…Yes."

Go Chungshin let out a sigh of relief at my words. No one hates being told to take a break. But the real reason I'd come to this room had nothing to do with his rest.

"I have something to ask you."

"Yes."

"You and Ms. Yoon Jia broke up, correct?"

"…What?"

Go Chungshin's face went completely blank as he stared at me. I kept going.

"I've already heard about it. But you did break up, right? Because if you didn't…"

"W-we broke up! We did! Th-that was… old news, so there was no point bringing it up…"

"Hmm…"

I fixed him with a look full of suspicion. Go Chungshin fidgeted, flustered, and kept babbling.

"W-we just happened to end up working in the same place by chance… s-so…"

"All right. I'll believe you."

"…"

It should have been a relief — but Go Chungshin looked anything but pleased.

"I'll believe you, but…"

"…?"

I finished surveying the room, walked over to his bed, and set my hands on his shoulders, kneading them as I spoke in a voice heavy with pressure.

"If I see anything even slightly suspicious, I'll report it straight to the principal."

"…Yes. I'll keep that in mind."

"I don't have the authority to fire anyone. If Instructor Yoon Jia takes pity on you and covers for you, that might work. However…"

"Kh…"

I dug my fingers harder into his shoulders and tilted my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head, murmuring,

"This last intrusion… cadets died and were injured because of it. I've already decided, for myself, that anyone who becomes a problem will be completely cut out — so that never happens again."

Go Chungshin took the full force of my "massage," clenched his teeth, and muttered quietly,

"I'll keep it in mind. Nothing like that will ever happen."

"Good!"

I took my hands off his shoulders and smiled.

"Rest today, then. I don't know what tomorrow's schedule will look like, but depending on how you're feeling, I'll decide whether you join us."

"…Yes."

"I'll be off, then~"

I wrapped up the conversation, left Go Chungshin sitting there with his jaw locked and irritation written all over his face, and walked out of the room.

I honestly hadn't expected them to leave without breakfast for real. Right before departure, Oh Jin-ho told us to just grab whatever food was stocked in the vehicles and make do. More than that, something he'd said kept nagging at me.

If it takes four hours just to get there, how far are we ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠going?

Well, it's not like I can figure out what those two are plotting anyway. I'll just deal with it when the time comes.

I set my mind at ease and glanced at Yoon Jia sitting beside me. I'd been using Dream Intrusion on her for days now, but aside from that first-day bump in her favorability, her attitude toward me hadn't changed much. The reason was simple. When I entered her dreams, I never showed her my own face.

What I did inside those dreams was cultivate her distrust of Go Chungshin. Transformed into him, I treated her like little more than an object. I made sure nothing resembling affection ever entered the picture. Go Chungshin could have tried calling or anything else — but Yoon Jia didn't seem to be giving him the time of day. If she were, he wouldn't be turning into a fly every night to spy on my room.

I should try entering Go Chungshin's dreams too, eventually…

That said, I had no desire to force myself to sleep next to that bastard, or crash in the guards' quarters. Annoying either way.

While I was turning it over in my head, Yoon Jia rummaged through the vehicle's interior, pulled something out, and held it out to me.

"Here, eat~"

"Ah, thank you."

Bread and milk. I already knew eating inside the vehicle was allowed. The problem was that everything in here looked so high-end I wasn't sure I was even allowed to touch it — so aside from the seat, I'd been keeping my hands to myself.

"Just so you know, please help yourself to whatever you like. This is all provided by the Church, so there's no need to be shy."

"…Really?"

"Pfft…. You barely touched anything, so I figured that might be it."

I'd gotten a rough explanation when we first boarded, but I'd assumed it might just be for show and hadn't dared mess with anything. I opened the compartment beside me — the one glowing with fancy LED lighting — and checked inside.

"Oh…"

"It's not just snacks. There are quite a few useful things stocked as well."

Just as Yoon Jia said, the space at my seat held more than food.

"…Is that alcohol?"

"Yes, there's liquor too."

Not the ordinary stuff you'd find at a corner store. From wine to whiskey, row after row of bottles that looked extremely expensive at a glance.

"Is it all right to drink on a mission?"

"Well… most people wait until after the mission is over."

Apparently some people still had a glass or two beforehand. Those types sometimes performed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠better for it, so the Church didn't interfere with drinking, she explained.

"But if you drink and then mess up… you'd get chewed out pretty badly, right?"

Yoon Jia said she'd never even heard of anyone making that kind of mistake. Naturally, I had no intention of pulling out a bottle. After a quick look, I closed the liquor compartment and started on the bread.

By the time we arrived, lunch hour had already passed. We climbed out of the vehicles and gathered in front of the dungeon. Oh Jin-ho and Park Huiyeon stood with their backs to the entrance, facing us, and began.

"I apologize for rushing everyone out so early this morning. Sometimes missions come up this suddenly, so I deliberately ran things this way."

"There are also times when they'll wake you up in the middle of the night, so get used to it."

"Ah…"

Watching the cadets try to relax at those words, Oh Jin-ho spoke again in a low voice.

"But the fact that we've come here at all means this is no ordinary job, correct?"

The cadets glanced at one another, then kept listening. The dungeon right in front of us, he explained, had never been fully cleared. A vanguard team had gone in to assess it and roughly classified it as mid-low rank.

If the dungeons we'd entered so far were low rank, this one emitted miasma a full step stronger — and the beasts inside were that much tougher. And that was only the vanguard's estimate.

"Some of you will no doubt join vanguard teams yourselves someday. Think of this as a rehearsal."

"More importantly, dungeons aren't structured so you stroll in during the morning and stroll back out every afternoon."

Spending several days inside a miasma-filled dungeon was common, he said. You could get scattered by a gimmick like last time, or lose your way and burn hours. Treating the interior like a nine-to-five commute would be inefficient on its own merits — especially when the round trip already took four hours.

Oh Jin-ho finished his briefing, turned toward the dungeon entrance, and said,

"All right. Let's go."

This really is a different tier.

Low rank and mid-low rank. Both still fell under the "low" umbrella, but for cadets who'd only just started real combat, the gap was enormous. From the strength of the beasts to the dungeon's miasma, it was obvious the students were still overmatched. Even so, without my support it wouldn't have been a major problem.

"Haaaah!"

"Hmph!"

Park Huiyeon's roaring swordsmanship crushed beasts in a single stroke, while Oh Jin-ho incinerated the ones spaced farther out with magic. The two of them, who'd been half-assing it in the low-rank dungeons, were putting on a full display of power now that we'd arrived here.

So heroes aren't heroes for nothing.

Compared to how casually they'd been coasting, today they were actually showing their skill. And yet it didn't make sense. If they were going to handle most of it themselves, didn't that kind of defeat the point of an observation tour? Was there even a reason to come here?

What the hell are they thinking…

From my position, though, I wasn't in any place to object to their itinerary. My top priority was watching the cadets' condition and covering them if anything dangerous flared up.

Barely thirty minutes after entering the dungeon, the miasma buildup on the cadets was already visible. The moment combat ended, Yoon Jia cast status-ailment removal on them. I'd already cleared my own miasma with the same skill while the others finished fighting.

Hah… good thing I learned this.

I'd combined it with a wind-attribute magic circle into a personal formation, so the mana cost was low — that was the real advantage. And if it came down to it, I could just use it on the cadets. In terms of practical value, it was a hugely useful skill.

"All right. Let's move out again."

We wrapped the situation and pushed deeper into the dungeon. The entire way in, Oh Jin-ho and Park Huiyeon kept shooting me meaningful looks.

Would you two stop staring already.

I grumbled inwardly and followed from the rear. Along the way, several cadets triggered gimmicks and got hit with paralysis, vision disruption, and other status ailments. Yoon Jia treated them the instant it happened. Watching that, a hypothesis formed.

Did they deliberately bring us to a dungeon packed with status effects?

Oh… that actually sounds right.

Dungeon gimmicks were said to have a degree of randomness. But an uncleared dungeon was far more likely to still be loaded with traps and similar mechanisms. And the further we went, the more certain my hypothesis became.

They're deliberately letting the kids get hit with status ailments so the image of a recovery mage gets burned into their heads, aren't they?

I couldn't think of any other explanation. The problem was that knowing it didn't give me anything useful to do about it.

Well, whether they're flexing the Church's prestige or whatever else, as long as the kids are safe, that's enough.

Honestly it was annoying, but it had nothing to do with me. Polish the Church's image or don't — as long as the cadets came out in one piece, I was fine.

I was still grumbling to myself when the cave interior began to shake.

Rrrrrumble…

I'd heard that sound somewhere before. Where was it?

"Ah — this is…"

"Everyone, watch out!"

By the time Oh Jin-ho's shout and my own memory of what that sound meant collided, I was already being pulled somewhere deep into the dungeon.