Chapter 57
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: The Woodcutter's Cabin (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Alright, this should be good enough.”
The next morning.
The first thing I did after waking up was climb the ancestral mountain behind my house.
There was only one reason I'd headed deep into the mountain at the crack of dawn, breathing in the fresh air.
“As they say, gacha pulls should be done with a clear mind, drawing upon the energy of nature.”
A mystery box with a question mark on it was bouncing before my eyes.
That's right.
A random box.
I'd come all this way just to pull for an item.
“I wonder what kind of item I'll get this time.”
[The Sage watches you silently.]
As I muttered in anticipation, the Sage quietly brought up a status window.
I turned to find the purple blob staring at me with a pathetic look in its eye.
What? What is it?
I got that monocle from doing this exact same thing.
If I had just picked my nose and opened boxes at home, you think I'd have ever seen a unique-grade item like that? No way, you punk.
[The Sage cheers you on~ ( ᐛ )و]
I dismissed the clearly half-hearted cheer and glared at the random box again.
“Alright. Sage, cheer for me!”
[٩(•̤̀ᵕ•̤́๑)૭✧ (۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶ ୧( ⁼̴̶̤̀ω⁼̴̶̤́ )૭]
Now, with the Sage's cute cheers and the sanctity of my ancestors!
This is the moment!
[Consuming one Premium Draw Ticket.]
The box began to spin, glowing brightly.
“Gold! Did it turn gold?!”
This is a pull infused with the sacred energy of the ancestral mountain.
After putting in this much effort, I should get at least an A-grade or higher...!
“Uh... huh?”
However.
The world, as it turned out, was not as easy as I thought.
The color imbued in the random box was bronze.
In MonMonMak, a 'bronze' random box...
[Congratulations. You have drawn a C-grade item from a Premium Draw!]
...meant the appearance of a trash-tier item.
“A-Alright. This was just a practice run. I'm going again!”
I forced myself to push aside the bronze random box and opened a new one.
The result of the second consecutive pull was...!
[Congratulations. You have drawn a C-grade item from a Premium Draw!]
“...”
It went up in smoke.
The draw tickets I'd gotten from selling Akasha and Ru's special soulstones, no less.
I stared silently at the bronze-tinted random box.
[The Sage expresses its deepest condolences.]
“Yeah, well. These things happen.”
If everything always went my way, would it even be the real world? It'd be a utopia.
Still, it was a mistake.
Usually, with gacha, if you get bad luck, the best thing to do is stop right there.
I closed the gacha window and tapped the boxes to check the items.
[Goblin Tutu's Shield - C-Grade]
[A shield once wielded by a brave goblin in days of yore.]
[All Stats -3, Movement Speed decreased, Attack Power decreased, Skill 「Turtle Stance」 acquired]
[Turtle Stance: All elemental resistances slightly increase.]
Yep, it's trash. An irredeemable piece of trash.
I tapped the other box, which was still glowing.
[Staff of Malevolent Talent (Yojae) - C-Grade]
[A ritual staff made from the arm bone of a death god. It is powerful. But, oh dear. The price for that power is quite absurd.]
[All Stats +10, Necromancer-type skills amplified]
[This is a cursed item. Upon equipping, you will be afflicted with the 'Curse of Dominion' and die after 24 hours.]
“That's ridiculous.”
The stats themselves are comparable to an S-grade item.
But the condition for using it was absurd.
Guaranteed death?
“It's been a while since I got a dud.”
It's not even good enough to toss to an undead.
In MonMonMak, death means 'annihilation'.
Even for an undead, there are no exceptions.
“Well, if I store it away, it might be useful someday.”
It does increase stats. If I get a monster like a skeleton later, I could equip it as a disposable item.
With that thought, I opened the MonMonMak interface.
After checking the undead-related items, the pile of bones in the Audience Chamber suddenly came to mind.
The cooldown had long since reset, but I'd been too busy lately to pay it any mind.
[Iramatus's Demi-body's cooldown is over. Please stroke the flawless skull!]
Sure enough, the status window blinked insistently.
With a sullen expression, I tapped the pile of bones where the ice turtle was crawling.
[You have stroked Iramatus's Demi-body with a gentle touch.]
[Iramatus's affinity has increased by 0.5.]
“Huh?”
It used to go up by 0.1 with each tap, didn't it?
[Current Iramatus Affinity: 99.5/100]
“Looks like this chore is almost over.”
In any case, at this rate, Iramatus will be resurrected after just one more stroke.
I'll be able to get my hands on a 7-star named lich.
“Sage, let's head back now.”
I came up to the ancestral mountain this morning to pay respects to the graves and to do my gacha pulls.
Now that I was done, it was time to go back.
But then.
*Nyaaa.*
A cat's cry pierced my ears.
That's right. It literally pierced them, as if it came from right beside me.
“?”
So I turned my head, and there, between the dense trees and bushes...
“A cat?”
...a small cat was watching me from a distance.
It had ruby-red eyes and fur as white as snow.
But what caught my attention even more...
‘It feels like an illusion.’
...was its form, which was hazy, like a mirage.
No matter how I looked at it, this was no ordinary cat.
“Sage.”
[The Sage informs you that it cannot analyze the target.]
It can't even be analyzed?
*Nyaaa.*
The cat cried out once more.
Then, it turned and started climbing up the mountain.
It glanced back, as if telling me to follow.
“Let's go.”
As long as the Sage was with me, I didn't have to worry about getting lost in the mountains.
I immediately followed after it.
* * *
After about thirty minutes of hiking...
...the cat finally stopped.
It was halfway up the mountain, in a valley that connected to the ridge of another mountain.
And right next to a flowing stream, there was something I'd never seen as a child.
“...A cabin?”
A Western-style log cabin, completely out of place in the remote Korean mountains.
*Nyaaa.*
The cat let out a low cry, sat down in front of the cabin, and licked its paw.
It looked at me for a moment with its red eyes, then turned toward the cabin.
“Wait...!”
And just like that, it vanished like a mirage.
I walked toward the cabin, following where it had been.
At first glance, it looked like a simple pension someone might have built for lodging.
But.
As soon as I got close to the cabin, a familiar status window appeared.
[The Woodcutter's Cabin]
Grade: A
Party Limit: 1 person
Type: Specific Condition Clear Dungeon
“A dungeon... and an A-grade one at that?”
My eyes widened as I checked the dungeon's information.
Normally, A-grade dungeons are strictly managed by the government or one of the top three guilds.
Not only is the risk of a dungeon break higher compared to lower-grade ones, but the difficulty is also far too great for a small or medium-sized guild to clear without help.
But there were no recent signs of human activity around here.
On top of that.
‘A one-person limit.’
An A-grade dungeon with a one-person limit is a special case.
An ominous feeling washed over me.
“Sage, are there Fragments of Interference here too?”
[The Sage informs you that it has yet to determine the presence of Fragments of Interference, and that entering the dungeon is necessary for more detailed information gathering.]
“Anything else you've found?”
The Sage stared at the cabin with its large eye before casually speaking.
[The Sage informs you that a monster on par with 「Ru」 may exist within this dungeon.]
* * *
“Aigoo, you should stay a little longer. It feels like you just got here.”
“I'll call often.”
My mother saw me off, walking all the way to the front gate.
Thanks to that, it wasn't until I'd walked quite a ways down the country road that I could finally take out my smartphone.
- Yep! What's up, CrappyGame-bro?
The cheerful voice of the Russian girl echoed from the speaker.
I didn't have time for pleasantries, so I got straight to the point.
“It's been a while, Asha. I have something to ask you.”
- Straight to business as soon as you call? How cold.
“I'll hold a fan meeting for you when I get back.”
- See, Koreans are so full of warmth. What is it, what is it?
“Can you use your ability to check out a dungeon for me?”
- Hmm, I can, but...
Asha's voice was tinged with curiosity.
- The Management Bureau should have data on most dungeons, right? Unlike with Gates, they're pretty thorough when it comes to dungeons.
“I asked, but they didn't know.”
The Management Bureau was completely unaware of the existence of a dungeon called 'The Woodcutter's Cabin'.
Contrary to popular belief, their dungeon database was established through a meticulous process, which made this quite surprising.
- Huh, really? The dungeon must have appeared recently then.
“I'm not sure.”
It was hard to be certain.
I searched my memory, recalling my childhood days of sitting on a rock and watching the Hunters who came for expeditions.
The D-grade dungeon that had disappeared after being fully cleared had been in that very spot.
- Okay, I'm ready. Where is it? Give me as many details as you can.
“It's a dungeon called The Woodcutter's Cabin.”
I told her the location, including the longitude and latitude, its name, grade, and the fact that it had a one-person limit.
As expected, Asha sounded quite surprised.
- An A-grade dungeon with a one-person limit? There's no way I wouldn't know about a dungeon like that. Hold on, I'll check right now.
About ten minutes passed.
Asha's quiet voice came through.
- Yeah, you were right, CrappyGame-bro. A-grade, one-person limit. And the dungeon... well, it wasn't created recently.
“Then?”
- Hmm, according to my sister, it's a very old 'amusement ground'.
Amusement ground was how her Divine Seat referred to dungeons.
“Then why didn't the Federation Headquarters know about it until now?”
The Dungeon Management Department was unaware that a dungeon had even appeared on the ancestral mountain.
- It wasn't detected by the measurement devices. Dungeons like that pop up sometimes. For some reason, the magic they emanate is faint, making them hard to observe. If a civilian doesn't report it, it might never be found. And I checked—there's a record of a similar dungeon being in that exact spot before it disappeared after a full clear, right?
“That's right. There was a dungeon around here. Almost twenty years ago.”
- Then there might be a connection... Haa. I'll have to investigate this further to know for sure.
Asha groaned.
Then, as if a thought struck her, she asked in a startled voice.
- But wait a minute. Don't tell me you're planning to go in there, CrappyGame-bro?
“I am.”
I've already submitted a dungeon clear application to the Federation Management Headquarters.
It was a dungeon with no guild ownership, and on top of that, it was an A-grade dungeon with a one-person limit. It's not like they could easily find someone for it anyway.
The process went smoothly.
- No, there's no database for that place! It's A-grade with a one-person limit! That's incredibly dangerous!
“That's why I'm asking you. To minimize the risk as much as possible.”
It's a dungeon right on my hometown's doorstep.
Of course I couldn't just leave it and go back to Seoul.
Besides, the Sage said there might be a divine beast inside.
Knowing how extraordinary Ru's abilities were, this was an opportunity I couldn't miss.
- Aaargh, seriously!
But the Russian Hunter was suddenly getting annoyed.
“What's with all the fuss?”
- Well, that means I have to find out for sure for you. And asking my sister is kinda awkward, you know? That's why I don't use this ability often.
“Then it's fine. You don't have to push yourself.”
I'd only called on the off chance she might find something; it wasn't a big deal if she didn't.
I had no intention of forcing her.
- No, you contacted me because you trust me. I can't let you go in empty-handed. Wait, I'll risk my life and beg my sister.
Risk her life?
[The Sage feels a bit jealous about the recent conversation. It emphasizes that it is the only one you can trust for information! (Ò ‸ Ó)]
While I was placating the grumbling Sage on my shoulder, Asha's dejected voice came through.
- ...Sorry. My sister isn't telling me easily. But I did find out one thing.
“Oh.”
- The Woodcutter's Cabin, was it? She said when you go in, look at the trees, not the forest.
“Isn't it usually 'see the forest for the trees'?”
- Yeah, I don't really know what she means either.
Anastasia either sees the dungeon's landscape directly through her Libra Eyes or hears a message from her Divine Seat about it.
It seemed to be the latter this time.
The trees, not the forest.
Does it mean I should focus on the individual components rather than the overall structure?
I committed it to memory and thanked her.
“Okay, thanks.”
- And my sister said one more thing.
“Oh? What'd she say?”
- She said to stop working me so hard if you don't want to be divinely punished.
Ah.
Hmm, that's fair.
Asha's voice continued.
- So be nice to me, okay? And stop making me worry.
“Worry?”
- Call me when the expedition is over.
With that, the call ended.
“Hmm... Have I been working her too hard?”
Then again, if someone called me and bluntly demanded I use my Divine Seat's power, I'd probably feel the same way.
I should treat her to something delicious after this expedition.
Given her taste for ssanghwa-cha, pork belly and soju would be perfect.
[...( ｰ̀εｰ́ )]
So why are you pouting now?
* * *
[Would you like to enter The Woodcutter's Cabin?]
I stared at the blue rift in front of the cabin.
It was a strange feeling.
As a child, I had nurtured my dreams while watching the Hunters enter this very place.
And now, I was the one about to clear that same dungeon.
I stepped straight into the rift.
[So, this is The Woodcutter's Cabin.]
My vision spun.
[There is a reason for every action. Find the hidden key in the cabin.]
A familiar pixelated window zoomed in and then vanished.
The world unfolded.
[Welcome to The Woodcutter's Cabin.]
I was in a forest full of giant conifers.
A small log cabin was visible.
Nearby.
“Uh... uh!”
A sturdy man holding an axe was staring at me.
And the man, who looked more intimidating than an orc at first glance...
“Oh, my goodness! You're the mercenary, right? You must be the mercenary!”
“...?”
...prostrated himself before me with a voice full of immense relief.