Gathering Squad 1: Mochi's Hunger and the Catacombs
Mochi's 'hunger' was mostly the feeling it got from licking the Blood Raven Ring. Thanks to that, the frequency of the ring's [blood... blood... blood... blood...] whispers had definitely decreased lately. It had never shown hunger when licking An Hyeonmi, Haruna, Harina, or U Jeong... but it was a bit odd that it was feeling hungry now, even though I was supplying plenty of mana. Licking that shattered mana crystal earlier was weird too. Who knows. Maybe it's a growth spurt and needs to eat more. I'll just pump it full of extra mana. I had mana to spare anyway.
"A gathering squad dorm in a crumbling dump like this?"
Harin's voice started to tremble a little. It was a place I knew well from the novel's descriptions.
[A crumbling west wing next to the grand east wing, a stark contrast. They'd patched the concrete just enough to keep it from collapsing. Down through the underground parking lot, deeper still. Finally, they reached an old iron door. Like the penalty team's hideout in a survival game.]
The west wing from the novel matched my imagination perfectly. I'd always wondered, 'How the hell did they patch the concrete?' Turns out they'd bolted rusty H-beams vertically along the sides to prop it up.
"Frankenstein's monster of a building."
There was a parking lot, but it was too risky to park thanks to the collapse danger... The passage was so decrepit that even painting it felt like a luxury. They'd angled mirrors just right to pipe sunlight all the way underground. Thanks to that, it was bright enough during the day without lights.
We trudged down the spiraling ramp for vehicles and finally hit basement level 5. A massive iron door blocked our view. The gleaming handle screamed, 'People live here!'
"Perfect."
I pushed the door open, and a moldy stench assaulted our noses.
"Ugh..."
A few pinched their noses. But I grinned in satisfaction. Faint dwarf script on the right wall. This was the hidden treasure vault the protagonist Hadojin stumbled upon by chance.
"W-Welcome... newbies..."
Out of the darkness shuffled a third-year guy, skin and bones. Sunken eyes, messy hair, tattered uniform. He looked like a starving zombie.
"Eek!"
He forced a smile at the startled freshmen.
"I'm Park Do-hyun, third year. Gathering squad captain."
His smile was bitterly self-mocking. His pale gums peeked between his teeth.
"Captain, my ass. More like king of the trash heap."
Four more students emerged behind him. Two second-years, two third-years. All in similar shape. Sure, there were more squad members, but they had zero interest in newbies. Faces etched with despair, vacant eyes, the listless slump of the defeated.
"Damn, more newbies than I thought..."
Park Do-hyun counted us and blinked in surprise.
"Over a dozen? What the hell...?"
"Hello, seniors."
I bowed politely.
"First-year Hadojin. Looking forward to working with you."
Park Do-hyun eyed me up and down.
"You're... that rumor guy. Immeasurable."
He tsked as he sized me up. That's when it happened.
"Um... I quit the gathering squad. A noble like me can't live in a dump like this."
One freshman declared and trudged back up the way we'd come. Others followed.
"Me too. Sorry."
"Even if it means canceling enrollment, I quit."
Looked like they'd only come because of me. Eight more than in the original. A noble couldn't hack catacomb life.
"Hmm..."
The guy in the back turned, thick brows furrowed over buttonhole eyes. Face alone screamed his name: Cha Gi-tae. The lovable screw-up from Hadojin's early episodes. He nodded like he'd made a grand decision.
...In the end, the freshmen left matched the original. No, with Harin and U Jeong, that made two extras.
"Hello, seniors. I'm Cha Gi-tae."
"Park Byung-woo here."
"Sukok."
"Nice to meet you, seniors! I'm Harin!"
The freshmen introduced themselves one by one. All eyes turned to the last one, U Jeong.
"Hi. I'm Hadojin-nim's combat maid, 'Yujeong de Valois.' Love the filthy apocalypse vibe with zero light. You all moles or what?"
"C-Combat maid?"
Park Do-hyun looked disappointed that the squad's sole hottie was a combat maid.
"Whoa, this place is nuts. Even healthy folks would turn zombie living here. You all actually like it?"
U Jeong's blunt shot made the seniors flinch. They glanced at each other's gaunt faces and gave awkward laughs. Drown in despair too long, and you forget how to complain.
"Not satisfied... just used to it."
Park Do-hyun muttered bitterly.
"Guys like us are screwed anywhere. Better to hole up like rats here, scrape by some cash than get kicked from the academy."
The others nodded silently. Resignation's gray dust coated their eyes thick.
"I don't think that way."
Cha Gi-tae broke the silence, surprisingly. His bushy brows twitched as he met Park Do-hyun's gaze with fiery resolve.
"Environment doesn't make the man—man makes the environment! Sure, it's dark and damp now, but if we band together, clean up, fix it up... one day it'll be a pad rivaling the east wing!"
His voice boomed pointlessly, brimming with passion. Like a solo campaign rally. But no one bit.
The seniors just eyed him like, 'Another dreamer.'
"Yeah... keep at it."
Park Do-hyun encouraged soullessly. Then, Park Byung-woo, slouched against the corner wall, spoke low.
"Environment ain't the point. It's what you get out of it."
His tone was calm, low—but sharp with real-world bite. He scanned us, continued.
"Gathering squad don't get hunter squad or mage squad spotlight. But without us? Academy grinds to a halt. Potion ingredients, magic tool catalysts, even rare kitchen stuff... all through our hands. Info and profit. Snag that, and this ain't a dump—it's a gold mine."
I nodded inwardly at his upbeat take. In the original, Park Byung-woo was the squad's quiet brain. Nabbed gains under the radar, built his info net, clutch for Hadojin in crises.
"Ooh, positive vibes. Dig it?"
U Jeong eyed him with interest. Park Byung-woo dodged her gaze, melting back into the wall's shadow.
"Grrr... shut it."
The last to speak was Sukok, the biggest brute. The squad's lone inhuman—a lion beastkin.
Or... I knew the truth. He faked lion beastkin, but Sukok was really a hyena beastkin. Bulkier than average, fooling everyone. He'd stuck to the lion lie, even covering hyena spots with elaborate tattoos.
Like a bear fresh from hibernation, he growled thick and gravelly.
"Captain. Assign rooms already. Sleep. Grrr."
Sukok's red eyes fixed on Park Do-hyun. Harin's brow twitched at his breathing-room rudeness.
"Hey, you. That's how you talk to seniors?"
"Grrr...?"
Sukok's eyes swung to Harin for the first time. Wild ferocity in them, body quivering like it'd pounce.
...But I knew. He shook from fear, not rage. Extreme coward, that Sukok.
Wait... wouldn't a beastkin—the fiercest kind—joining gathering squad raise flags? No one questioned it.
"Enough, enough."
Park Do-hyun jumped between them.
"Sukok, fights mean expulsion from squad. And Harin, right? He's a lion beastkin—cut him slack. They love scraps by nature."
Hyena beastkin, actually. I watched them quietly, scanning the dorm interior. Mold and dust. But my eyes locked elsewhere. Right wall. Faint dwarf script.
[Where sun and moon touch, the harmonious sea they embrace shall open.]
In the original, Hadojin finds this script but doesn't get it till way later. But I was different. I already knew the answer.
The dwarves' hidden treasure vault here. Planning to farm it tonight after everyone crashes.
"Plenty empty rooms—pick any."
At Park Do-hyun's words, freshmen scattered. Lone wolves, all hunting corner rooms.
"Hyung-nim, where we headed?"
Harin asked me. I pointed at the dwarf-script wall.
"We'll take that one."
Harin and U Jeong blinked, puzzled. Farthest corner, darkest, dampest spot.
"Master, that dump...?"
"Got reasons."
I didn't elaborate, shoved the creaky iron door open. Inside was worse than expected. Bare concrete box—no bed, no furniture.
"Whoa... actual prison? Nothing here?"
Harin whistled. I ignored her, stood dead center. Channeled mana into the Ancient Druid Wood Ring.