A Man and a Woman: 2 Days 1 Night in a Dungeon (2)
A Man and a Woman: 2 Days 1 Night in a Dungeon (2)
The plan was set, but I couldn't carry it out right away.
Even formulating and executing a plan alone requires preparation.
There was no way I could unilaterally proceed with a mentoring class alongside Lee Ji-yeon.
[Contact: Senior Lee Ji-yeon]
▶Senior Lee Ji-yeon: Do you happen to have some time?
▶Senior Lee Ji-yeon: How about we meet briefly and talk?
So when I sent a text asking Lee Ji-yeon about her intentions, she replied suggesting we meet to discuss it.
It did feel a bit awkward, just tapping away at messages from a distance like this.
It's not a simple matter, and a discussion as important as a dungeon raid is best done face to face.
After reading her reply, I got ready to head out.
'Clothes... I'll just wear this and go.'
I wavered between my uniform and my activewear for a moment, but in the end I went with the pure white clothes I'd already been wearing.
The outfit Lady Ariel gave me isn't flashy in design, but the pure white color draws the eye more than most.
And since my hair is a similar color, to anyone watching I probably looked like some pure white blob wobbling along.
I'd gotten fairly used to attracting attention, but that didn't mean I enjoyed deliberately seeking it out.
Still, I had no desire to reject the clothes Lady Ariel had given me over such a minor reason.
It wasn't as if people staring at me was going to make me drop dead.
"...Going out again?"
As I was changing and packing my things, Seo-yul approached with a sullen look and tugged on my pants.
[Urk.]
Her sharp gaze and the word "again" stabbed straight through me.
I finished dressing, turned around, and pulled Seo-yul into a tight hug.
[I'll be back soon. Really soon.]
This outing was just for a quick discussion with Lee Ji-yeon.
Even if it dragged on, it would only take two or three hours at most.
I would actually be back before evening.
Though, admittedly, the dungeon raid that would follow that discussion might lead to an overnight trip... anyway.
[It won't be a long trip today, so how about I pack a lunch and we go out for a bit?]
"You already promised me that yesterday."
[Ah... well, then...]
After a fierce negotiation, I ended up issuing Seo-yul a 'Lee Ha-yul One-Day Autonomous Use Coupon,' the same one Baek A-rin had used before.
.
.
.
I left the mansion and headed toward the second-year academic zone.
The meeting place was one of the countless cafés on campus.
A perfectly ordinary café with no particular flair, but its presence within Siyoram guaranteed a certain standard.
When I arrived at the café with that thought, I spotted Lee Ji-yeon loitering near the entrance.
Truthfully, I'd seen her hovering from quite a distance away.
But the only question was why she was deliberately standing outside.
'...Her aura has changed.'
That wasn't the only thing that struck me as odd.
As I examined her more closely through my perception, I sensed an energy that was different from before.
"You're here?"
That impression hit me even more clearly through my qi sense as I drew near.
Lee Ji-yeon spotted me walking toward her and waved in my direction.
I waved back, my hand sweeping through the air as I focused my senses.
She had definitely changed.
Even just standing still, the impression she radiated was different now.
Before, she'd had a gravity about her, like a solid boulder. But now, she felt even harder, even more resolute.
[Yeah.]
[Senior, why are you out here? You could've gone inside and sat down.]
Had she achieved some kind of advancement in her realm of mastery?
I set that question aside for a moment and asked, genuinely curious. She shrugged.
"I just felt unusually fidgety sitting still today. So I decided to take a bit of a walk and wait outside. Here."
Lee Ji-yeon, who had a coffee in one hand, took a sip and then held out what was in her other hand toward me.
A bright orange liquid... I scanned its composition. Orange juice. A simple chilling spell had been applied to the cup to keep it cool.
[Thank you.]
I accepted the juice with a slightly complicated expression.
"Oh, do you not like orange juice?"
Lee Ji-yeon suddenly asked. I'd tried to keep my expression neutral, but maybe a hint of it had shown.
I shook my head from side to side.
[No, that's right.]
[I do like orange juice.]
Coffee or fruit juice... if I had to choose, I'd lean toward the juice side.
Coffee was usually too intensely bitter for me to enjoy.
Something like a café latte, with plenty of milk, was tolerable, but at that point I'd rather just order juice or drink milk on its own.
...I'd never actually told Lee Ji-yeon any of that.
I'd simply ordered juice or milk instead of coffee during our various café meetings, and she must have remembered.
So now I was branded as someone who drinks orange juice, not coffee...
It was a childish thought, but it left me with an odd feeling. As if I were being treated like a kid who asks for juice instead of coffee.
- Sip
I swirled the juice gently, then drew it through the straw. The cool liquid pooled in my mouth.
I tilted my head, letting the liquid roll across my tongue.
'...My sense of taste.'
The sensory sealing... no, according to what Lady Ariel told me, was it the Curse of Solitude?
Because of that curse, my senses of sight, taste, and smell were sealed away. But currently, that restriction doesn't apply to two people.
I could see their forms with my bare eyes. When they came close, their scent would drift across me, vividly human.
And if I happened to taste their skin, I'd feel it... their saliva too.
- Ahem.
Indecent thoughts suddenly flooded my mind, and I shook my head sharply to dispel them.
"What's wrong?"
[Nothing.]
[Just went down the wrong pipe for a second.]
[Should we head inside to talk?]
Lee Ji-yeon looked my way with concern over a mere cough, and I walked into the café with her.
"A Clean espresso, double shot, with Dravond added... Junior, is there anything you'd like?"
[I'll have... hmm... the almond cookies.]
"Alright. Almond cookies, a glass of milk, and the slice cake assortment."
We ordered some simple snacks as usual and took a private room.
Before long, a staff member entered and set our order down on the table.
"I heard you wanted to shift the mentoring progression into a dungeon... Have you thought about which dungeon to use?"
[Yes, I've already gotten the application approved.]
Lee Ji-yeon asked from across the table.
I nodded as I watched her cut her chocolate cake with a fork, and manipulated my smartwatch.
- Ding!
A hologram materialized above the table.
I adjusted its position roughly and projected the file I'd received onto the hologram.
[Siyoram Dungeon Raid Application]
▲Grade 2 Dungeon: 2-3 Grassland-Forest Complex Terrain Dungeon
▲Type: Terrain Survey and Mentoring Class
▲Applicant
△First-Year Ipchun Class Lee Ha-yul (Approved)
△Second-Year Ipha Class Lee Ji-yeon (-)
▲Decision: Approved
△Vice Headmaster Venus Litera
"...A Grade 2 dungeon?"
Lee Ji-yeon, who had been calmly scanning the application, fixed her eyes on one spot.
She blinked vacantly as she read the Grade 2 Dungeon entry.
Faced with her bewildered expression, I nodded inwardly.
[Yes, I've gone ahead and submitted the request for a Grade 2 dungeon.]
I'd expected that reaction.
A Grade 2 Dungeon.
From Grade 4 up to Grade 1... not counting the Special-Grade exceptions, it's the second-highest danger category a dungeon can fall into.
Looking purely at the monsters that appear, 6th-Rank ones are common, and if an Alpha shows up, even 4th-Rank creatures can emerge. It's a high-tier dungeon.
Meaning, if an Alpha did appear, something comparable in sheer Rank to the Twin-headed Poison Dragon back then could come charging out.
Of course, you can't call the Twin-headed Poison Dragon a mere 4th-Rank.
Its body, having fallen from 3rd Rank, is far tougher than an average 4th-Rank.
More than that, even if the Twin-headed Poison Dragon's venom was weaker than in its 3rd-Rank days, it was by no means something you could treat as a 4th-Rank-level threat.
If the Twin-headed Poison Dragon fought a standard 4th-Rank monster, the 4th-Rank one would probably be slaughtered without putting up much of a fight.
Anyway, the danger level is enormous even considering just the monsters that appear, but when you factor in the dungeon environment and traps, the risk multiplies.
During the Chaos Period, entire nations were destroyed by monsters flooding out from Grade 2 dungeons that erupted one after another.
Even accounting for how chaotic that era was, and how clumsy the small number of inexperienced superhumans made responses, it was still a calamity capable of toppling a nation of that time.
So bringing up a Grade 2 dungeon as a mentoring class destination was naturally going to cause some bafflement.
"Grade 2... Setting everything else aside, I'm surprised they allowed just the two of us to enter... And with the Vice Headmaster personally approving it, no less."
[She approved it right away when I went to see her.]
"Maybe because you're a Special Admission Cadet, or maybe because your ability's been proven..."
Tap, tap— Lee Ji-yeon, who had been drumming her fingers on the table, tilted her head.
Among the many, many dungeons in Siyoram, there are also quite a few Grade 2 ones.
It's not a dungeon grade that's frequently used.
Periodic subjugation runs happen often with Grade 4 dungeons for training purposes, but the same isn't true for Grade 2.
The internal paths probably aren't cleared out, and there's likely a fair buildup of monsters.
"Is there a reason it has to be this dungeon? If it's for mentoring progression, a Grade 4 would be plenty fine, wouldn't it?"
Lee Ji-yeon, who'd been lost in thought for a moment, asked.
She was weighing the dungeon entry with a careful attitude, so I straightened my posture as well.
The dungeons preserved at Siyoram exist for the education of its cadets.
True to that purpose, cadets can enter dungeons upon application, and safety is guaranteed through the emergency escape bracelets provided by the Vice Headmaster.
But that doesn't mean barging in without a plan is a good idea.
Even if it is safe, treating an operation that simulates real combat with proper seriousness is the right attitude for Siyoram's evaluations, and for one's own future.
'Hmm...'
So I needed to persuade Lee Ji-yeon, who was approaching this with appropriate gravity, of the necessity of raiding this dungeon.
The thing is, my reason for entering this dungeon is a little personal.
This dungeon is a grassland-forest complex terrain dungeon.
A convoluted way of putting it, but in simple terms, it's a sprawling terrain of forests thick with undergrowth and grassy plains.
Undergrowth... a place brimming with nature and vitality, and a high-grade dungeon at that, so it's saturated with mana.
In other words, it's a perfect environment for spirits to live in.
And I'd heard this dungeon had quite a few spirits because of it.
The advance strategy guide I'd read beforehand also said so.
It's the type that doesn't have many traps, but spawns lots of monsters and spirits.
So my plan was to focus my training in this dungeon on necromancy and spirit arts.
Release a horde of undead and spirits to subjugate monsters, raise the monster corpses as undead to train necromancy.
Whenever I find spirits, I'll approach them and gather them under my wing.
All the spirits I currently have are on the cusp of ascension, so my idea is to bring back a whole new batch of fresh spirits.
Along the way, I'll collect mana crystals if they appear, and since the place is full of greenery, if there are plenty of herbs or materials, it'd be good to gather them...
'More than anything, I need to get a grasp on high-grade dungeons.'
The Reverse Side.
In the original story, it's a phenomenon treated as an unpreventable, unblockable calamity.
Its occurrence locations are random.
Even though you can roughly estimate based on previous iterations' records, even that isn't precise.
Even if you know the location, there's no way to stop it.
The best you can do is evacuate civilians from the initial impact zone, anticipate the damage range, and deal with the monsters that pour out.
But.
'If it's me...'
With the Authority of Observation, I might be able to detect signs of the Reverse Side. Maybe even pinpoint its exact location and prepare accordingly.
With the Authority of Space, I might be able to interfere with the Reverse Side. Or maybe even prevent it.
The Reverse Side is a phenomenon caused by the repeated cycle of dungeon creation and annihilation.
Whatever it is, it's a phenomenon of space.
To do something about it, I need to understand dungeons... space, more deeply.
"Hmm..."
When I voiced my thoughts, leaving out the details about the Reverse Side, Lee Ji-yeon folded her arms and sank into thought.
I tilted my head, noticing how the pose further emphasized her full chest, and kept sipping my milk through the straw.
A moment later.
Lee Ji-yeon, who'd been deep in thought, glanced my way and spoke.
"I'm not saying I'm going to refuse, but if I did, would you give up on this dungeon?"
Ah, so a refusal then.
Well, nothing to be done in that case.
I shrugged in reply.
[No, if that happens, we'll do the mentoring in a different dungeon, or make up for it another way.]
[This dungeon, I'll enter by myself later—]
"Let's go together."
[?]
Contrary to all her earlier hesitation, Lee Ji-yeon accepted without a second thought.
I tilted my head.
What was that expression on her face... like she'd just seen a child wandering alone in a dangerous place.
It left me with an odd feeling.
* * *
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul→Lee Ji-yeon
●●●●●●○○○○(60/100)
｢Successor of Taesan｣ ｢Good Person｣ ｢Disappointment｣
▽Change▽
●●●●●●○○○○(60▷61/100)
｢Successor of Taesan｣ ｢Good Person｣ ｢Boulder｣ ｢Dependable?｣