Darkness Keeper (2)
Upon hearing Kim Dokja’s words, the party members regarded her with worried expressions, yet they soon steeled their resolve. With serious faces they descended from the platform and stood upon the tracks leading toward Yaksu Station.
“You’re planning to go into the railway?”
Just as everyone began to move after Kim Dokja at the front, a voice called down from the platform above. The party halted and looked up.
“Well, looking at it long-term, we do need a team dedicated to clearing scenarios. Go ahead.”
Standing on the platform with his hands clasped behind his back, Cheon Inho gazed down at Kim Dokja’s group with a thin smile, several members of the Mainstream Group arrayed behind him.
“If you’re going that way, would you mind taking one of our people along? We’d like to gather some information on the clear as well.”
“D-do I really have to go with them?”
Han Myungoh edged out from behind Cheon Inho, fidgeting as he spoke.
“Come now, hyung. Why the cold feet all of a sudden? Ever since last night you’ve been clinging to Dokja-ssi, Sangah-ssi, Hyunsung-ssi, and little Gilyoung, begging to apologize and make up.”
“Th-that’s…”
At Cheon Inho’s words, Han Myungoh stole a glance at Kim Dokja and carefully addressed her.
“W-well, Dokja-ssi… if it’s all right, maybe I could come along too…”
“Sure. Let’s go together.”
Kim Dokja looked at him with an impassive face and agreed readily. Han Myungoh stared at her in open astonishment; he had clearly expected her to refuse after he had abandoned the party for the Mainstream Group.
“Thank you truly for accepting one of our members so willingly, Dokja-ssi.”
“Not at all. We’ll be off, then.”
“Safe travels. Do return unharmed.”
Kim Dokja gave a single nod at Cheon Inho’s words and set off into the tunnel toward Yaksu Station. The rest of the party hurried after her.
“Wow, Sangah-ssi. You’re really thorough with your preparations. I never expected you to have a flashlight. Where did you get it?”
“I picked this up on the roadside on the way to Geumho Station. I brought it just in case, and I’m glad it’s useful.”
A few Constellations admire the preparedness of Incarnation ‘Yoo Sangah’.
Thanks to the flashlight Yoo Sangah had happened to pick up, Kim Dokja’s party could walk the dark tunnel with relative ease. Perhaps because nothing had gone wrong so far, the rigid tension on their faces gradually eased.
“Hiiiiiik!!!”
“Hey, why are you screaming all of a sudden?! I nearly went deaf!”
In that slightly relaxed atmosphere, as everyone walked in silence, Han Myungoh suddenly let out a piercing shriek. Park Jinwoo, standing right beside him, clapped his hands over his ears with a pained expression.
“Th-there! C-corpses…!!”
Han Myungoh pointed with a violently trembling hand. The party turned in that direction and their faces hardened. Just as he said, human corpses lay there.
“Y-Yoo Sangah-ssi! It’s dangerous—hold my hand!”
“…You seem far more frightened than I am, Manager.”
“Th-that’s not—hiiik! D-didn’t you just hear something?!”
“Wow, fuck… this is seriously pathetic.”
Han Myungoh held out a shaking hand toward Yoo Sangah, thoroughly terrified. She let out a quiet sigh and spoke to him. At her sigh he bristled as if to retort, then claimed he had heard a noise and ducked behind her back. Watching from the side, Park Jinwoo looked thoroughly disgusted and muttered a quiet curse.
“Dokja-ssi, is it really all right to bring that man along…?”
“He’s neither a threat nor a help, so we can just leave him be.”
Lee Hyunsung, bringing up the rear, spoke to Kim Dokja in a worried tone as he watched Han Myungoh trail behind. Kim Dokja answered with a completely indifferent expression that there was no need to concern themselves with someone who was neither useful nor dangerous.
“More importantly, Heewon-ssi—are you truly all right? You haven’t fully recovered yet…”
“I’m more worried about Gilyoung.”
Kim Dokja looked at Jung Heewon with concern. Jung Heewon smiled faintly and turned her head toward Lee Gilyoung, saying she was more worried about him than herself.
“It’s really dangerous up ahead. You’re not seriously planning to keep going like this, are you?”
“To be honest, I’ve been uneasy for a while as well. Perhaps we should send Gilyoung and the women back even now…”
“I understand Hyunsung-ssi’s concern, but in a situation like this we can’t keep protecting the child and the women forever, can we?”
“Jinwoo-ssi is right, Lee Hyunsung-ssi. I’m not as strong as you, but I can fight pretty well myself. I used to do kendo.”
“But…”
Just as the argument between Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung threatened to heat up, Kim Dokja stepped in at the perfect moment.
“Both of you seem to have forgotten. A few days ago, the world we lived in changed completely.”
Leading the way through the dark tunnel, Kim Dokja stopped and turned her head toward Lee Hyunsung behind her.
“The idea that women and children are physically weak is now nothing more than prejudice. Anyone can raise their stats and grow stronger. And if we remove the child and the female members from the party right now, that leaves only three people—Lee Hyunsung-ssi, Park Jinwoo-ssi, and Han Myungoh-ssi. Are you still fine with that?”
“Ah… I was shortsighted. I apologize.”
Lee Hyunsung’s expression showed he had not considered that; he apologized to Kim Dokja.
“Gilyoung, show them your ability.”
At her words Lee Gilyoung nodded once, stepped forward to her side, crouched on the tunnel floor, and pressed his hand to the ground.
“Good heavens, what is that?”
“F-fuck! Cockroaches!”
Moments later, black cockroaches approached from all around them. Jung Heewon and Yoo Sangah’s eyes went round as they took several steps back; Han Myungoh screamed in pure terror.
“My attribute is ‘Insect Collector.’ I can hold simple conversations with insects.”
Lee Gilyoung seemed to murmur something to a cockroach that had come right up to him, then turned back to the party and continued.
“They say there’s nothing up ahead. We’ll be safe for the next hundred paces.”
The party stared at him with blank faces after witnessing his ability. Lee Gilyoung looked over the adults’ expressions and spoke again.
“I’m grateful you’re worried about me, but I didn’t come along just to freeload off my hyung and noonas.”
“Ah… right.”
Jung Heewon nodded with a slightly awkward expression. Having finished speaking, Lee Gilyoung stuck close to Kim Dokja’s side; she ruffled his hair.
“By the way, it looks like those people were attacked by something. Will it be all right to go any farther?”
“Even if we wanted to go farther, it’s pitch black ahead, like some kind of barrier is blocking the way. I can’t see a thing.”
Jung Heewon glanced once at the corpses, then turned to Kim Dokja with clear reluctance about advancing. Yoo Sangah likewise spoke in a worried tone; no matter how she shone the flashlight forward, the tunnel remained dark.
At her words Lee Hyunsung stretched a hand toward the darkness ahead.
Ding!
Sub Scenario — Food Acquisition
📂 Category: Sub
📊 Difficulty: E
🎯 Clear Condition: Directly hunt a monster usable as food, then cook it.
⏱ Time Limit: None
🎁 Reward: 500 Coins
💀 Failure: ???
Whatever barrier had been there vanished, and the sub scenario appeared before the party’s eyes.
“Hiiik! M-monsters…!”
After dismissing the scenario messages and looking ahead, they saw the corpses of fairly large monsters. Han Myungoh screamed again at the sight.
About the size of a full-grown wolf, with mole-like front paws and spines bristling along their backs—Grade 9 subterranean species, Ground Mole-Rats.
“Well, if this isn’t a spectacle, I don’t know what is.”
“Is this really the time for casual remarks, Jinwoo-ssi?! More importantly, who on earth did this?”
Park Jinwoo spoke with mild admiration as he looked at the countless Ground Mole-Rat corpses littering the floor. Jung Heewon lightly scolded him for his nonchalant tone and wondered who had killed them all.
“Dokja-ssi, couldn’t we clear the scenario with these?”
“It said we have to hunt them ‘directly,’ so probably not.”
“…So we have to catch these monsters ourselves. Catching them is fine, but how do we cook them? Just roast them over a fire like normal?”
Jung Heewon stared at the dead Ground Mole-Rats on the ground, fretting over how to cook them once they were caught.
“More than that, Heewon-ssi—you said you were good at kendo, right?”
“Uh, well, calling myself good might be a stretch…”
Kim Dokja turned her head and spoke to Jung Heewon, who was still fretting over cooking methods. Jung Heewon stopped fretting and awkwardly averted her gaze.
Kim Dokja looked at her, then turned back to the Ground Mole-Rat corpses. She crouched in front of one, stabbed it with a Stone Hog spine, and began dressing the carcass with the knife in her hand. The entire party, Jung Heewon included, watched her in silence.
Clumsy though her work was, she somehow managed to dress the Ground Mole-Rat; in her hand she now held its spine. The party looked back and forth between Kim Dokja and the spine with interest.
“What are you going to use that for?”
“If we’re going to hunt monsters, we need weapons.”
Kim Dokja answered Jung Heewon and began refining the spine. Her handiwork was rough, yet as she gradually shaped it the spine took on the form of a blade. When it was finished she handed the spine to Jung Heewon.
“…I suddenly feel like we’ve gone back to the Stone Age.”
“You’ll need to sharpen the edge more for it to be useful. Use a nearby rock or something.”
“Heh. Got it, Chief.”
At Kim Dokja’s words Jung Heewon began sharpening the edge on a nearby rock in a slightly excited voice. Seeing her, the others picked up suitable stones and did the same.
“Hey, Dokja-ssi, why don’t I get a spine?”
“…Jinwoo-ssi, you already have a gun.”
“I’m a little hurt, you know.”
“Haa…”
Kim Dokja looked at Park Jinwoo with an expression of pure disbelief. He grumbled under her gaze, and she let out a small sigh.
“Come to think of it, Dokja-ssi, your handiwork looks amateurish yet you somehow made it quite well.”
“…You all have coins saved up, right?”
Yoo Sangah looked at Kim Dokja with admiration while sharpening her blade. Kim Dokja avoided her gaze and hastily changed the subject.
“Leave only enough for survival expenses if possible, and invest everything else into Strength, Stamina, and Agility. If you don’t, you won’t survive.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
At her words, everyone except Park Jinwoo opened their attribute windows and began raising their overall stats.
Rustle.
Then a rustling sound came from behind. The hands of those raising their stats all froze at once, and they turned toward the noise. Kim Dokja looked at them and continued speaking.
“This may sound cruel, but honestly I don’t expect all of you to survive. Even so—everyone, survive.”
The moment her words ended, Ground Mole-Rats began crawling out from all over the floor. As the creatures slowly approached, the party swallowed dryly and gripped their weapons tightly.
Grrrrr…
“There are twenty-one monsters right in front of us! That’s more than I expected. Everyone, be careful not to get surrounded by the Ground Mole-Rats while you fight!”
Graaaaaah…!!
“Enchant.”
Exclusive Skill ‘Enchant’ has been activated!
Exclusive Skill ‘Enchant’ skill level has risen!
As the skill level of Exclusive Skill ‘Enchant’ rises, its duration and attribute values increase slightly.
The attributes that can be granted by Enchant have increased!
Currently, Exclusive Skill ‘Enchant’ can grant four attributes: ‘Flame’, ‘Frost’, ‘Holy’, and ‘Darkness’.
“Frost Enchant on the grenade.”
Frost attribute temporarily granted to the grenade.
“Hup!”
Park Jinwoo applied a Frost Enchant to a grenade he had bought from the general store, pulled the pin, and hurled it at the Ground Mole-Rats at the very rear.
Grrrk?
The Ground Mole-Rat trailing at the back of its pack stared with pure eyes at the round object that had suddenly dropped in front of it—and that was its final memory.
KWAANG!
“Wh-wh-what did you just throw, Jinwoo-ssi?!”
Kim Dokja had been examining the baseball-sized object Park Jinwoo had thrown toward the Ground Mole-Rats when it suddenly exploded. The rearmost Ground Mole-Rat and several others near it froze solid. Startled, she urgently called Park Jinwoo’s name and turned toward him.
“It’s a grenade. This is the perfect medicine for clustered enemies. Anyway, Dokja-ssi—I did good, right?”
I just cut their numbers by a whole eight with that one throw!
Park Jinwoo beamed brightly at Kim Dokja and the rest of the party, who were staring at him with blank faces.