The Maze Dungeon
Inside a conference room perched at the very peak of the Ivory Tower, a circle of old men sat around a round table, chattering away at full volume.
They ranged from those who looked to be in their sixties at the youngest, all the way up to ones who could easily have been pushing eighty.
Most of the walls were glass, and even a casual glance outside was enough to produce the dizzying sensation of freefall from a great height. The old men, however, could not have cared less about the view. They were far too absorbed in their gossip.
"Aigoo, at my age, what am I doing putting myself through this…"
"Would you quit with the age talk already? Someone listening would think you were a hundred."
"Oh, for crying out loud… So if I'm not a hundred, I'm not allowed to complain?"
The room dissolved into laughter.
"I actually like it. Feels like being around my grandkids… Where else am I going to get a chance to talk with kids like that at my age?"
"That's fine for a day or two… Me, five minutes of conversation with those brats and I'm completely drained…"
"On the other hand, it ends tomorrow, so I'm feeling a little bittersweet about it."
While the conversation rolled on, the conference room door opened and a child stepped in with a greeting.
"You're all here. Sorry I'm late."
"Late? If anything, we got here far too early."
"Old folks like us can't hit a schedule on the nose if we try, so we have to show up early like this."
Everyone welcomed Ye-riel with smiles, and she hopped up onto a chair, smiling back at them.
"I'll take that as advice meant for me, and next time I'll arrive even earlier."
"Oh, for heaven's sake…"
Despite her appearance, Ye-riel was the eldest person in the room, and she loosened the atmosphere with that kind of banter. The easy mood did not last long, though. They moved into the real business soon enough.
"Thank you, all of you, for carrying out this field trip so well."
"We hardly did anything."
"The instructor kids looked like they were suffering plenty, fretting over us watching them."
Most of the magic-class instructors belonged to the Tower. From their perspective, the Wise Stars were the equivalent of board-level executives at a company.
Employees and executives. The Tower was not a perfectly vertical corporate hierarchy, but there was no way those instructors could act casually in front of the Wise Stars.
"That kind of experience is necessary too. Let me explain why I called you all here."
Until now, every magic class had been assigned to separate dungeons, with no chance of running into one another. Tomorrow would be different.
"The place you'll be going tomorrow is… the Maze Dungeon."
I lay on my bed, turning the problem over in my mind.
What am I supposed to get her…
Cho Seohyun's birthday was tomorrow — Saturday. So far I had done nothing but fretting over a suitable gift, without ever settling on one.
Given where we stood, something that wouldn't feel too heavy-handed would be ideal. At the same time, anything too cheap was a perfect way to disappoint her. That was the kind of tightrope our relationship was walking right now — a precarious line, one careful step at a time.
Something practical? Something luxurious? Or just flowers?
That works.
There was no need to go through the hassle of shopping for one. Unless it was something truly special, I could just make it with Enel. For a simple luxury item, being able to fabricate it with Enel was actually convenient.
The problem was…
…what kind of ornament do I give her?
One mountain after another.
If all else fails, should I just give her a Jeju Island dol hareubang figurine?
…
Why not? Those things are cute…
In the end, I went to sleep without having chosen a birthday present.
Seong Sua and I watched the milling crowd and exchanged awkward looks.
"This is… complete pandemonium."
"What on earth is going on…"
Until now, each class had been sent to its assigned dungeon for practical training. Today, every magic-class cadet and every instructor had been gathered in one big open field. The person who had summoned us here — Ye-riel — still had not shown herself.
While everyone was milling about in confusion, Ye-riel finally appeared. She climbed onto the platform in the field, leaned into the microphone, and began speaking as if delivering a formal address.
"I'm sorry for changing the schedule so suddenly on the last day. But if we spent even the final day just beating up monsters, I felt the field trip would leave a lot to be desired."
"…"
"So today I gathered you all here to experience a rather special dungeon. That dungeon is…"
Ye-riel swept her gaze across the crowd, then lifted her eyes and finished.
"The Maze Dungeon."
"…?"
The cadets, not understanding, started peppering their instructors with questions. The instructors, for their part, let out sighs of relief at Ye-riel's words and began explaining to their students. On our side, Seong Sua took up the explanation.
"I've only ever heard of it, but it looks like this is where that dungeon is."
"What kind of place is it?"
"The Maze Dungeon… There isn't anything particularly special about it. People just call it that because it resembles a maze."
What set it apart from other dungeons, she said, was that the internal layout kept changing and it was packed with gimmicks. On the other hand, the number of monsters was relatively low, so it was considered reasonably safe.
"Most of the time a vanguard goes in and clears it first, so I've never actually been inside myself. Unless you're on a vanguard team, you almost never get a chance to experience the Maze Dungeon."
Once Seong Sua finished, Ye-riel spoke again from the platform.
"All right. I assume everyone has heard enough of an explanation by now."
She added a few more details. The Maze Dungeon they would be entering had been thoroughly explored already, so monsters were nearly nonexistent, and most of the gimmicks had already been destroyed. The monsters and gimmicks had only been low-grade to begin with, and with so few of them left, it would be that much safer.
"And of course, the Wise Stars will be accompanying you again, so if anything goes wrong, they'll handle it immediately."
Cadets and instructors alike relaxed at that, the tension draining out of them — and that was the moment Ye-riel chose to continue.
"But just going in like this would be boring, wouldn't it?"
"…?"
Ye-riel smiled at the people staring holes through her.
"I've placed a few modest prizes inside the dungeon. Some of you may find them underwhelming, but for the cadets… I've put in things I think they'll like, so I hope you'll all search with some real enthusiasm."
At those words the cadets began murmuring, motivation flaring to life. Our side was no different.
"It feels like a field trip."
"It really does. Ye-riel seems to be enjoying herself more than I expected, too."
While we talked, the crowd kept buzzing, and Ye-riel on the platform looked thoroughly satisfied with the reaction. She smiled faintly and opened her mouth again.
"Well then. Let's begin."
A maze-type dungeon. One of the things that set it apart from other dungeons was that it did not have just one or two entrances. With so many ways in, it was extremely common for people to wander around inside and come out through some completely random exit.
Ye-riel entered the dungeon alongside us and spoke up.
"The Wise Stars and I will not be acting as guides. Partly because most of us have terrible senses of direction, but also…"
"Haha…"
"I only gave the order to hide the boxes. I don't actually know exactly where they are."
The modest prizes Ye-riel had mentioned, she explained, were inside boxes that would be obvious at a glance. She had not gone out of her way to tuck them behind rocks or bury them underground just to confuse people.
This place doesn't just split into one or two paths…
Unlike dungeons that only forked once or twice, this one kept branching again and again, deliberately scrambling any sense of position.
Armonia, just in case — keep a record for me.
Okay.
With the map fixed in mind, I led the cadets deeper into the dungeon. With every stretch of progress, their hunger for treasure grew more visible — an urgency that was starting to show on their faces.
"Instructor! Let's try this way!"
"That way loops back to the path we just came from."
"Ah…"
Not long after that, Seong Sua turned to me with a question.
"What if we head a little farther inward?"
"That direction will probably take us back toward the outside."
"Ah…"
It went on like that. No matter how hard everyone concentrated, once they were inside the dungeon their sense of direction was clearly slipping away bit by bit. I, on the other hand, kept the map Armonia projected in front of me and stayed at the front the entire time. The cadets started murmuring among themselves as they watched.
"Whoa… Instructor Sung Suho is basically a GPS at this point."
"Insane. Maybe that's his actual ability?"
"I want an ability like that."
Most magic-class cadets had weak directional sense. Perhaps because of their talent for magic, they tended to have extraordinary memories — but their sense of direction was often completely hopeless. They would start out remembering the path well enough, only for that memory to turn into a mess the moment they got turned around.
Physical-class cadets, by contrast, generally had poorer memories than the magic students, but their directional sense was excellent. In other words, every single person here had the natural attributes of someone who got lost easily.
Including Seong Sua and Ye-riel…
"Wow, Instructor Sung Suho, that's impressive."
"Seriously… I'm jealous."
"Haha…"
Treasure hunt aside, at least I was racking up some good points. After roughly an hour of walking, we came to a major decision.
"We're going to have to split up."
We had already been running into and parting ways with other magic-class groups and instructors. The other groups seemed to have scattered to search on their own as well.
"Then let's divide into two teams."
"In that case, Instructor Seong Sua and I should each take a group, then assign the cadets."
Ye-riel ended up joining my group. Even with few monsters and gimmicks, if something unexpected happened, my side would be at more of a disadvantage.
"Since Ye-riel will be with you, Jieun should go with Instructor Sung Suho."
"Yes…"
Seo Jieun shot me a look full of questions, then quietly took up a position behind me.
"Instructor Seong Sua, please try to keep as straight a line as you can. I'll focus on covering the places we haven't passed through yet."
"Understood. See you later, then."
And so we split into two groups and continued the search.
Ye-riel followed behind me with the cadets, muttering under her breath.
"This was a miscalculation. I never expected someone with this good a sense of direction."
"Haha… I'm just used to pathfinding."
If this had been a proper vanguard team, they would have drawn a careful map and checked every detail as they explored. The cadets and instructors who had entered this dungeon were in no position to do that. The whole point was to move quickly through an already-cleared dungeon and find the boxes. That meant they had no choice but to push the pace, with no leisure for mapmaking or meticulous inspection.
I, on the other hand, had a map that updated itself, so I had nothing to worry about.
Feels like we've been looking for a while, but nothing's turning up…
I'd rather finish this treasure hunt fast and get back to the Tower so I can pick out Cho Seohyun's birthday present…
I was walking at the front, motivation already flagging, when something caught my eye — a dark shape swaying in a stretch of tunnel ahead where visibility was poor.
What? Another group?
Even so, something about it looked deeply unnatural. There seemed to be at least three figures, but their movements were clearly not human. One of them could not keep its balance properly… and another was crawling on all fours…
The moment the shapes fully entered my field of vision, I was certain.
Those are… the ones from last time, aren't they?
Three humanoid monsters, their entire bodies covered in purple, came charging straight toward us.