Darkness Keeper (4)
I finished off the last remaining mole cricket with my gun, then stepped past the corpses littering the tunnel path and made my way over to the others, looking them over carefully.
Having claimed their first clean victory against the mole cricket swarm, the whole party looked exhausted. Scrapes and minor cuts marked them here and there, but thankfully no one seemed to be carrying any serious wounds.
"Everyone did great. You all worked hard."
At my words, small smiles tugged at the corners of their tired mouths. A moment later they were looking at one another, trading quiet encouragements—well done, we won, and so on.
"Hm? Heewon-ssi, what are you doing right now?"
"Ah—I was counting how many each of us took down."
Jung Heewon had been tallying kills among the mole cricket bodies sprawled haphazardly across the floor. She let out a small sigh and turned to Kim Dokja.
"Good grief… I only managed two. Dokja-ssi, how many did you take down by yourself?"
"Four."
"I got three myself."
When Heewon asked about the numbers, Kim Dokja answered flatly that she had taken four, while Lee Hyunsung lifted his spear with a proud look and announced his three.
Kim Dokja blinked at Hyunsung's answer, staring at him for a beat in open surprise, then called the group together.
"Everyone, please gather the mole crickets we killed into one place for now. We still need to prepare today's rations."
"But how are we supposed to cook these? We can't eat them like this."
"We can't eat them raw, no—but there will be a way."
At Kim Dokja's words, Yoo Sangah looked down at the mole cricket corpses with an uneasy expression. Dokja simply repeated that there would be a method.
Silence settled over the party. Then, as one, they all turned to stare at Kim Dokja.
"Um… there's something I've been wanting to ask. Dokja-ssi, do you… happen to know something about this situation?"
"That is…"
Lee Hyunsung was the one who spoke, eyes fixed on Kim Dokja. The rest of the party followed his gaze, watching her intently. Under the weight of those stares, Kim Dokja carefully averted her eyes and fell silent.
The Constellation, Secretive Plotter, awaits the choice of Incarnation Kim Dokja.
A handful of Constellations await the answer of Incarnation Kim Dokja.
"Uh—uwaah?! U-uwaaaaagh!"
Han Myungoh's scream from the rear of the group snapped every head away from Kim Dokja. When they turned, they found him being dragged off with a mole cricket clamped onto his leg.
"S-someone save meee…!!"
"G-grab this! Wait—ah?! Kyaaak!!"
The mole cricket had seized Han Myungoh by the leg in its jaws and was hauling him toward the burrow it had dug. Yoo Sangah, closest to him, urgently thrust out the shaft of her spear and told him to grab it—but the terror-stricken Han Myungoh latched onto her arm instead of the spear. In an instant, she was being dragged along with him.
"Yoo Sangah-ssi…!"
The Constellation, Prisoner of the Golden Headband, is outraged at the impending sweet potato moment.
Lee Hyunsung lunged too late, hand outstretched toward Yoo Sangah as she vanished with Han Myungoh. By then, both of them and the mole cricket had already disappeared into the burrow.
"Ugh, seriously…. I just knew that old man was going to cause trouble…."
Jung Heewon covered her face with one hand and vented her irritation at Han Myungoh.
"…I'm sorry. Because I was too slow, even Yoo Sangah-ssi…."
"In a situation like that, it wasn't anyone's fault. So please don't blame yourself, Hyunsung-ssi."
Kim Dokja stepped up beside the dejected Lee Hyunsung and gave his shoulder a firm pat, offering what comfort she could.
"We should go after them, right?"
Lee Hyunsung looked at the burrow the mole cricket had vanished into and put the question to Kim Dokja. In answer, she pulled her smartphone from her pocket and began checking something on the screen.
"Dokja-ssi?"
When Hyunsung pressed her with a restless look, Kim Dokja slipped the phone back into her pocket, met his eyes, and nodded.
"We're going in."
"Ah—then…."
"Lee Hyunsung-ssi and Jung Heewon-ssi, please stay here and keep watch on all sides. Gilyoung, Park Jinwoo-ssi, and I will be the three who enter that burrow."
Jung Heewon stared at her in open surprise and shot the question back.
"You're really only taking three people?"
"Gilyoung's ability will help us track the thing. And if a fight breaks out, Jinwoo-ssi's gun will be useful."
"What about my opinion? I hate dark places. I don't want to go in."
"But…!"
"Hello…? My opinion? Dokja-ssi? I said I don't want to go in."
Jung Heewon tried to push back, but Kim Dokja breezed right past both her protest and my own clear refusal, turning her attention to Lee Hyunsung instead.
"And Hyunsung-ssi—Heewon-ssi's condition isn't good, so please look after her carefully."
Lee Hyunsung glanced at Jung Heewon, then nodded.
"Understood. Please be careful out there."
"Hold on a second. I really am fine!"
"Heewon-ssi, confidence is good, but don't be reckless. I know full well your body still isn't right after the toxic fog."
"I really am fine, though…."
Jung Heewon muttered under her breath and looked away from Kim Dokja's gaze.
"Then the three of us should get moving as well."
"Ugh, I really don't want to go in…."
Kim Dokja looked at Lee Gilyoung and me as she spoke. Gilyoung nodded. I just scowled at the burrow and grumbled.
Neither of them paid my complaints the slightest attention. Kim Dokja and Lee Gilyoung headed into the tunnel first.
I stared after them, heaved a long sigh, and followed them in.
Inside the burrow, a darkness so thick we couldn't tell one inch from the next closed around us.
In that pitch black, we linked hands and pressed forward, relying on Lee Gilyoung's touch as he used Diverse Communication to guide the way.
"Hey, Noona. Hyung."
"Hm?"
"Yeah?"
As we walked through the absolute dark, Lee Gilyoung called out to Kim Dokja and me.
"You did that on purpose earlier, right?"
"Huh? Did—did what?"
"………."
"When the monster dragged Noona and that ahjussi away. You let it happen on purpose."
At Gilyoung's words, Kim Dokja flinched and stopped short for a moment.
"I was watching both of your faces back then. Why did you do it?"
Constellations of the Absolute Good alignment frown at your cruelty.
The Constellation, Secretive Plotter, watches you with gleaming eyes and urges you on.
"It was because of the mole crickets' habits. They stockpile their catches in one place. Sometimes they even gather rare objects or items there—but the path to that spot is complicated, so the only reliable way to find it is to follow the tunnels they dig themselves."
Lee Gilyoung listened in silence. Kim Dokja studied him for a moment, then continued.
"I expected them to take Han Myungoh. I didn't expect Yoo Sangah-ssi to get dragged along too."
"So Noona's goal was the items, then?"
"That's right. Are you disappointed?"
"No."
When Kim Dokja asked if he was disappointed in her, Lee Gilyoung gave a small shake of his head, then turned his gaze on me.
"What about you, Hyung? Why did you let the two of them get taken?"
"Dokja-ssi wasn't doing anything about it, so I figured she had some other reason or purpose and stayed put."
"I see."
I couldn't exactly admit that I'd already read the webtoon and knew how the next stretch of the story would play out, so I offered a suitably vague cover. Fortunately, Gilyoung nodded as if that made sense to him.
"Noona's a terrible liar. If she were really that kind of person, she wouldn't have saved me on the subway either."
Gilyoung paused to catch his breath, then went on.
"And if Hyung were really a bad person, you wouldn't have treated me so well at Geumho Station. I trust Noona and Hyung."
Some Constellations are moved to tears.
You have received 200 coins.
With the conversation finished, we pressed on diligently through the dark once more.
"Um… Noona."
"Hm?"
As we walked steadily through the blackness, Lee Gilyoung called out to Kim Dokja again.
"Noona… are you a god? Or the 'protagonist'?"
"…What?"
Kim Dokja fell quiet for a moment at Gilyoung's question, then answered him.
"I'm neither a god nor the protagonist. If anything, I've always been jealous of the protagonist."
"But you know something about this world, don't you?"
Kim Dokja hesitated, then answered.
"…That's true."
"Then once we clear every scenario… can we have our wishes granted?"
"Wishes?"
"Stories like this usually have a reward at the end, right? Don't they?"
Lee Gilyoung's voice trembled as he put the question to her.
"Yes. There is."
Kim Dokja quietly rested a hand on Gilyoung's shoulder and told him there would be a reward.
"We're almost there, Noona. Hyung."
A very small number of Constellations hold their breath.
The moment Lee Gilyoung said we were nearly there, the darkness began to lift.
Whoosh—!
Through the receding dark, blue flames came into view—and at the far end of those blue lights, a single chest glowed with a purple radiance.
If a dungeon from a game had ever existed in the real world, it would have looked exactly like this.
I stood there for a moment, overwhelmed by the sight—then a clear ding rang in my ears, and a message bloomed before my eyes.
The sub scenario has been updated.