Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Got Nothing Better to Do, You Damn Snitch?
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The portal on the lake surface connected to the 12th layer.
As soon as I stepped into it, a dizzying sensation hit me like being swept away by raging rapids.
"Urp?! ...Glurp!"
It felt just like getting devoured by a whirlpool that had sprung up underwater.
Dizzy, unable to breathe, desperate to reach the surface but unable to tell up from down, left from right—I was sure I'd drown just like that.
But right then.
"Snap out of it! Hyunjun."
The being who clamped down on my wrist with a firm grip just as I was on the verge of blacking out.
When I forced my eyes open, there above me—struggling to haul me to the surface—was Princess Lee Miran.
"No way am I letting you pull a stupid stunt like dying after we finally escaped!"
"Master! Hang in there!"
Lime and Princess Lee Miran had my left and right arms in their grasps, respectively, underwater.
With that, the two of them started thrashing toward the surface like mad.
"Pha!"
"S-survived!"
"Master, you okay?!"
"Y-yeah... Thanks, Lime. You too, Princess."
Thanks to the two of them, I managed to cheat death and gaze at the blue sky once more.
"I nearly passed out from the dizziness... Thank you so much."
"Jeez, with a build like that... Guess some things can't be helped when you're born a guy."
"Hahaha..."
"But don't worry. As long as I'm by your side, nothing dangerous will happen to you, Hyunjun."
Princess Lee Miran flashed an awkward smile and let out a charming laugh.
But hadn't we already been through plenty of danger? Still, now wasn't the time to nitpick over little things like that.
"Anyway, this is the 12th layer, right?"
The landscape I'd glimpsed beyond the layer 1 lakeside.
Palm trees, sandy beaches, and a vast lake... no, an ocean stretching out in the mid-layers. I asked just to confirm if this matched.
"Yeah... looks like it."
Just the three of us bobbing in the middle of the sea.
Princess Lee Miran scanned the handful of uninhabited islands around us before confirming that this was indeed the 12th layer as she remembered it.
"The 12th layer doesn't have anything like a 'continent.' The only land you can set foot on is islands smaller than Dokdo—nearly 1,000 of them. That's this place, the dungeon's 12th layer."
"...! So this is one of those mid-layers I've only heard about..."
"That's right. Hehe. Scared or something?"
"Well... it's my first time in the mid-layers."
Word was, it took at least five years as a hunter to make it up to the mid-layers.
After piling up enough experience in the lower layers up to the 9th, you'd somehow squeeze into a C-rank party as a 'porter' for your first step in—that was the norm, or so I'd read in books.
'But hasn't it only been about a month since I became a hunter?'
Well, my debut was in the 8th layer.
I wondered if it was okay, but shook my head anyway—it probably wasn't.
"For now, let's swim to the nearest uninhabited island. If we stay in the water like this, we'll get hypothermia in no time."
"Got it."
At any rate, we'd managed to escape that Clan Head Halkas unscathed.
I figured I should just be grateful we'd survived the immediate danger for now.
With that thought, I started swimming alongside Princess Lee Miran toward the distant uninhabited island that looked like a tiny nail.
"Master! You wanna go over there?"
"Huh? Yeah, but?"
"Hehe. If that's the case, leave it to me!"
For all its looks, Lime was a water-attribute monster.
Maybe to a slime, our swimming speed looked like a snail crawling.
Suddenly, Lime started gulping down seawater by the mouthful, then began swelling up to the size of a house.
"Hop on!"
It transformed into a massive liquid beast big enough for us to stand on—a personal submersible that put motorboats to shame.
"Hoh. Turns out this monster's got some brains after all."
"P.S. Land dwarf princess can't ride."
"...Hey, you wanna flash your ass again?"
Even in a moment like this, those two were bickering like total kids...
I let out a sigh but grinned as I soothed Lime, then scooped up Princess Lee Miran bridal-style and set her down next to me.
We were all clearly exhausted, after all.
"Lime, just to that uninhabited island, okay?"
"You got it!"
Mid-layers or whatever, we were heading for solid ground to get some rest.
The 12th layer was exactly as Princess Lee Miran had described: a map made up of a vast ocean dotted with just a few tiny uninhabited islands.
"How big exactly, for reference?"
"About three times the size of the Philippines. Obviously smaller than Earth, though."
Still counted as mid-layers, huh.
Knowing it was smaller than Earth let me breathe a sigh of relief.
If this were an upper layer bigger than Earth, just finding the exit downward could've taken months.
"At least all the fish living here are nutritious. That's a relief."
"The 12th layer's all about the underwater areas, so as long as we're chilling on an island like this, we shouldn't face much threat."
"Oh yeah, the entrance to the 13th layer is at some crazy depth here, right?"
"Yep. Makes this the layer with the highest drowning deaths out of all of them."
The bare minimum requirement to access the mid-layers.
Even D-ranks got improved lung capacity—up to 10 minutes of holding your breath.
In a way, the 12th layer might be the real 'wall of tears' for the mid-layers.
I stared out at the ocean I had no intention of diving into and mulled it over.
Meanwhile.
"By the way, Princess Lee Miran?"
"Yes?"
"Your preparedness... it's on another level."
"Hehe. Of course. If I wasn't prepared going into a dungeon, I'd have died ages ago."
We arrived at the uninhabited island, took turns standing watch for one to sleep soundly, and once we felt refreshed, we got to foraging for food.
And just like that, three days passed?
By now, we'd gotten somewhat used to life as castaways on a 12th-layer uninhabited island.
And what surprised me most was Princess Lee Miran's preparedness—even down to gear for beach layers like this.
"Never thought you'd bring a dungeon-exclusive 'swimsuit'..."
"You run into water a lot in dungeons. I always keep one on hand."
No matter how you sliced it, it looked like a standard school swimsuit.
But according to the princess, it was 'cutting-edge gear.'
And sure enough, it held up flawlessly even on day three in the 12th layer, where buoyancy kicked in past 10 meters. Definitely dungeon-grade, not just for show.
'Pro hunters really are on another level...'
"Something on my face? You've been staring without a word."
"Oh, uh, yeah. Just thinking pros really stand out no matter what..."
"Hehe. If you think so, feel free to praise me more~."
"Master!"
"Ah, Lime."
"But how long we staying here?"
"Ah..."
At first, the kid had been thrilled, splashing around with me in our swimsuits.
But like all kids, it was starting to miss home now.
On the third day.
Gloomier than ever, Lime started whining about wanting to go back to our old one-room apartment.
"I hate the sea now! Wanna eat yummy food at home with Master!"
"I get it... but Princess says it's too dangerous to head back right now."
"Waaah! Sun's come up three times already—when are we going?! Stupid land princess!"
"Ha?!"
But.
The furious expression on Princess Lee Miran's face that shut even the bawling kid up.
Lime—traumatized from that butt-smacking incident—clapped both hands over its mouth and hid behind me in a flash.
"Eek... scary..."
"Princess, cool it. Kid stuff."
"Ahem! ...I wasn't mad. Just putting on a scary face for fun."
Liar.
I'd figured out her berserk button after just a short time together.
"Anyway! We can't head to the 1st layer yet."
"Yeah... 'cause they'll be waiting for us?"
"Exactly. Open that lakeside portal now, and we'll find that ancient Clan Head—still drooling pussy juice at her age—parked right there, waiting. Might as well walk into the tiger's den ourselves."
True. No fool, she'd seen exactly how we'd slipped away from her.
And inside the dungeon, no calling for backup. Climb up layer by layer from the 11th? I'd considered it.
"Bet the entrances from the 2nd layer to the 1st are crawling with Supreme Lee Clan servants by now, too."
No matter how we climbed, we'd end up in the dungeon's 1st layer.
Knowing that, Clan Head... What if we ended up living in this dungeon forever? The thought crossed my mind.
But even a puddle can birth a dragon.
"Four days from now."
"Pardon?"
"Huh?"
"Have Lime open the portal then, and we'll head back to the 1st layer."
"Y-yes?!"
"Yay! We can go home?"
I whipped around to Princess Lee Miran, wondering if I'd misheard.
No—opening the lakeside portal meant facing off straight-up against that silver-haired Halkas planted there. The most dangerous route possible?
Too reckless. I tried to talk her out of it.
But.
"This was originally meant for Lee Gok, but..."
She turned to me with a grin like she had an ace up her sleeve, then thrust both arms straight up toward the sky.
"Don't worry, Hyunjun. I'll protect you for sure."
"You... have some kind of plan?"
"Naturally."
With that, she suddenly started twisting her petite body this way and that, diving right into some impromptu 'stretchy gymnastics.'