The Unexpected Joy of Digging

Unexpectedly, the digging proved to be enjoyable. Yeonhee chatted about whatever came to mind.

"Hoo... Should we move sometime in mid-March? By ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠then we'll have saved enough to buy a house much bigger than this one."

"Mmm..."

Even now, a single dungeon run earned the two of us at least ten million won combined. Adding our current savings, the income we could pull in over the next month, and the mine profits scheduled to start the month after, four hundred million won was easily within reach. Just earlier this year our daily earnings hadn't even cracked a hundred thousand won. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If this wasn't a complete life reversal, what was?

Swish—she brushed my bangs aside and shifted the topic to me.

"For your class-change quest, wouldn't a place crawling with monsters be best, Ilwol?"

"Mmm!"

"Hmm... Then the wolf den would be better than orcs, right? The experience might not be as good, but the boss fight has wolves swarming in huge packs. Among the D-grade dungeons we can reach right now, that place has the highest monster count by far."

"Mmm!"

"Haa... Come here."

"Ubu bueo..."

Yeonhee couldn't resist my cuteness and launched another chest attack, making it impossible to speak properly. Still, at the moment the wolf den was the optimal spot for the quest. Most people didn't know that. But the true champion for sheer monster numbers in D-grade was the Dungeon of Nargul. I remembered the point where the undead charged like a tidal wave of rotting flesh. The only question was whether the rest of the party could endure it.

Quite the dilemma.

Knead, knead—her fingers mashed my face like dough, and the sweat from her raised thigh left my backside damp, yet I somehow lasted a full thirty minutes.

With exactly one minute of Mimicry time remaining, I pushed her away with great effort and rose from the bed.

"Yeo-nee— (Yeonhee.)"

"Yes! Yes! Talk to me."

"Aei—duobaa. (Just wait till tomorrow.)"

"Hmm? What kind of baby talk is that? Anyway, sounds good!"

"Aww."

I nodded and headed for the door when I felt her eyes on me. Turning back, I saw Yeonhee lying on her side in a seductive pose that beautifully outlined her waist and hips. She gave me a bright, refreshing smile.

Ha... What a temptress. A total vixen...

As I left the room with that thought, the Mimicry duration ended and I reverted to my original form.

Slither—

Phew—this form really is more comfortable.

Not just my body, but my mind felt cleansed, as if my brain had been scrubbed in pure spring water.

...It even assimilates the target's personality. What a terrifying skill.

Until just a minute ago I truly hadn't been myself. Looking back now, the whole thing was absurd. Why had I gotten so flustered and embarrassed over simply sharing a blanket? Ridiculous.

During Mimicry I became someone else entirely. It was a point I needed to remember for future uses.

The next Mimicry target...

In just a few days the information-gathering order had completely changed. This ranking finally made sense.

Bae Jua... I have a feeling that expanding the Mimicry list will raise the skill level. But who knows when I'll actually get around to transforming into her.

They said that raising the Mimicry level would let me use the target's abilities. That meant I could try out Bae Jua's rock magic. Just using it once would probably give me a feel for it. After all, I already had an aptitude for rock magic.

Hmm... Her favorability is actually lower than No Hayun's. That "information gathering" seems to have some extra factor related to trust in me.

Anyway, it didn't seem like something I could raise intentionally, so I could probably ignore it for now.

More importantly, what should I do about this...

The second time I used Mimicry, the detected target had been much farther away than the first. I'd worried it might be outside my sensory range by now, but here they were.

To think they're gathered in such a large group so close by. What the hell are they doing?

Exactly twenty-two people—no, twenty-three—were gathered in a basement three hundred meters away. It was the location of that rundown house I'd sensed earlier while Yeonhee was showering.

What surprised me was that my mental minimap also showed exactly twenty-three dots.

I thought it only marked one bad guy at a time. Well... I was the one who misunderstood. It did say "sinister group," after all.

Even though Mimicry had worn off, the people within my sensory range remained in the same spot. Being underground, I couldn't tell exactly what they were doing.

(I'll be back in a bit? Watch the house for me.)

When I conveyed my intent in the language of summons from the windowsill, Ran jumped into the air and replied.

(Alright. Ilwol is heading out again. In his absence, I shall temporarily assume the role of acting commander. You there! Lizard troops, gather here first. We'll begin with mental training.)

(Little bird, acting commander? Let's settle this with a duel.)

(Hmph! How foolish! This is exactly why the younger generation needs—)

The bickering between Ran and Lizard No. 1 would have been entertaining to watch, but something far more interesting waited three hundred meters away. I leapt outside.

Part of it was curiosity, but mostly it was because I felt deeply uneasy about filthy creatures like these appearing so close to our home. It was like the annoying buzz of mosquitoes flying around a dark room with the lights off. Irritating, infuriating, and incredibly bothersome.

Flutter—

Using High-Speed Flight, I reached the house in moments. Hovering in the air, I looked down.

The house is small... They must have dug out a basement themselves underneath it.

Just like the Blue Eye cult members who had dug tunnels near the dungeon entrance to perform their rituals, these bastards also loved hiding underground like rats. It suited their nature perfectly. Damn them.

The problem was that they had locked the door tightly. I could smash it down and start a fight, but that was the absolute worst option. I wanted to sneak in first and see exactly what they were up to.

There's only one entrance, but I have this.

Using this sooner than I expected.

I landed in the yard and looked around. It was an extremely old and shabby standalone house. There was one semi-basement room; climbing a short set of stairs from the yard brought you to a living room and three bedrooms at about the 1.5 floor level. The group was located one floor deeper than even the semi-basement.

Ordinary people couldn't dig that deep. They must have had an expert among them. Impressive.

Using the Rune of Levitation to erase my presence, I positioned myself at the spot farthest from where they were gathered. Then I placed my hand on the ground and activated Tunnel Destroyer.

Swoosh— Scrape— Scrape—

Whoa? This is pure ASMR.

If I exaggerated a little, the earth parted as easily as scooping pudding with a spoon.

Wow, the improvement is real.

It was on a completely different level from the Tunnel Digging I'd used after killing the mole cricket. At this rate I could compete with Wangwang.

Excited, I began digging down frantically. A skeleton frantically burrowing through the ground like a mole. Anyone who saw me now would have nothing to say if they immediately opened fire.

Saaak— Saak— Scrape scrape—

Hmm... This is... strangely... fun?

The crisp scraping sound, like scooping ice cream, cleansed the confusion and embarrassment I'd felt while being toyed with by Yeonhee.

Kyah! This is complete healing! Why haven't I been doing this?

I had unexpectedly discovered a method for mental satisfaction. Feeling happiness from digging through the earth. I really was one crazy skeleton.

But it was so fun. The emotion I felt now might be influenced by the skills of the mole cricket and cliff worm. I remembered how Wangwang always brimmed with energy whenever it dug. The cliff worm was probably the same. I'd thought of them as pitiful worms trapped in cliffs, but they were actually living quite happy lives?

For Wangwang's sake, we needed to move quickly to a place that felt like a proper detached house—though we couldn't leave the city, of course. A place like that would improve the summons' welfare. It wasn't that I wanted to move quickly so I could dig to my heart's content... and Yeonhee had mentioned it too. Anyway.

I wriggled downward like a worm and eventually reached the vicinity of my target.

Rustle, rustle—

Eek... Careful, careful.

Once I dug deep enough underground, I could sense their behavior so clearly it was as if I could see it without ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠eyes.

No wonder my senses felt blurry from above. They had Cognitive Impairment cast over the place.

But by concentrating all my sensory waves into the basement, I pierced through that barrier like it was nothing.

Let's see—what exactly were you sinister bastards doing... Hmm?

My expectation that they were doing something bloody was lightly shattered. What my senses caught were completely unexpected scenes.

— Ahhng... Euhhng...!

— Ugh...!

Inside the basement, the mingled moans of men and women filled the dark space. What the hell were these idiots doing in this damp underground room that would get you wet just by standing still, at this hour?

And it wasn't just one couple. All twenty-three of them were naked, writhing and entwining like snakes, exploring one another's bodies. At the center was a middle-aged man with a narrow patch of chin beard. His face looked strangely familiar.

Ha... Where have I seen that face before? Sip... Where was it... That distinctive pointed goatee, that large mole on the nose...

Pulling scattered fragments from the bookshelf of my previous life's memories took time. But it didn't take long before I found the man's identity within the hazy recollection.

Ah! Nam ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yong-seok! It's Nam Yong-seok! Why is that bastard here?

To think I'd encounter the son of a bitch who would become one of the greatest villains of the era a few years from now. No, calling him a villain wasn't enough. His skill was so unique that even until the moment of his death its exact nature hadn't been fully revealed, but I remembered it as something between hypnosis and aphrodisiac.

A bizarre ability that drew in people he'd grown close to at church, corrupted them with his unique power, and gradually drained their life force through sexual union, making himself stronger. There had been many victims, and since he didn't discriminate between men and women, the media had covered it heavily for a while. Even now I could sense men mixed among them.

Ugh... Shit... Nothing to throw up but it's still coming. Disgusting bastards.