Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Criminals in the Cave
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Kang Min-ji racked her brain trying to figure out what she might have said wrong as she stared at the other woman's suddenly hardened expression, but nothing came to mind.
"Could you say that again?"
"...Pardon?"
"How many years of cafe experience did you say?"
"Oh... about five years."
"Do you like cleaning, by any chance?"
"I can't stand leaving dirt alone, if that's what you mean."
Kang Min-ji answered while still feeling utterly baffled. This wasn't an interview, and yet here they were, chatting about cafe part-time jobs in the middle of this dire situation.
Kim Yu-jeong smiled at Kang Min-ji's response. It was the softest expression she'd worn all day.
"You said you were looking for a part-time gig, right? How about working at my cafe? I'll make sure the benefits are as good as they can be."
...No, it really was an interview after all.
"I'd love that! If it's close to home, I'll bring my resume right over."
Kang Min-ji nodded reflexively, but then she remembered their predicament and let her smile fade.
"If we can just get out of here..."
Yeah, if she could just survive and make it back in one piece, what wouldn't she do? Even if they told her to hop on some deep-sea fishing boat, she'd have said yes.
Kim Yu-jeong nodded slightly in agreement, then directed her gaze somewhere else.
Kang Min-ji noticed her eyes trembling faintly and turned to follow her line of sight.
There, surrounding the cave entrance, were more of those exact same monsters she'd glimpsed earlier.
They clustered around like flies swarming a corpse, drawn to the scent of prey. Kang Min-ji held her breath.
Their slit pupils, characteristic of reptiles, fixed on the cave interior.
One by one, the gazes converged.
As Kang Min-ji desperately tried to deny reality, hoping it wasn't happening, Kim Yu-jeong muttered,
"...Yeah, Min-ji, I think we need to run. I just made eye contact with one."
The monsters charged into the cave.
"Aaah!!"
Kang Min-ji and Kim Yu-jeong instinctively fled deeper into the cave to escape them.
The desperate chase for their lives began anew.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ How could she be this unlucky?
It was her day off on Monday, and she'd been waiting for the subway to handle some quick errand.
Then, out of nowhere, her vision flashed white, and with a burst of light, she found herself inside a sudden gate.
At first, she came to in a dense forest and thought she must be dreaming while standing up.
Then she remembered the light she'd seen just before arriving here.
'White... low-rank, then?'
Gates were generally classified by the color of light they emitted upon formation.
A detailed rank required wavelength analysis, but typically, white meant low-rank, green mid-rank, blue high-rank, and red—the Red Gates—were considered top-tier.
Having grasped the situation, she pondered her next move.
Being pulled into a low-rank dungeon was a small mercy, but things were still far from good.
The way to close a gate leading to another dimension was to eliminate its core—whether that was the dungeon boss or some symbolic object.
Destroy or kill whatever anchored that dimension.
'Sure, that's basic knowledge... but...'
The problem was how she was supposed to do that and get back.
She let out a wry laugh, thinking she should at least look around for something useful, when suddenly a scream pierced her ears and a person came sprinting toward her with monsters in tow.
She ended up joining the escape by sheer accident, and from then on, she and that person had been fleeing the monsters nonstop.
"Min-ji, this way!"
And that was how they'd ended up deep in this cave.
It had looked small from the outside, but the interior was surprisingly spacious.
Once inside, they faced several branching passages leading who-knows-where, and they dove into the nearest one.
In hindsight, that had been the right call. The entrance was so narrow that the monsters immediately got stuck against the walls.
They didn't seem all that smart, crowding the tight opening without yielding an inch.
"W-We survived...!"
The relief was short-lived. Kang Min-ji glanced toward the now-blocked exit.
"But what now? We can't get out this way..."
"We go deeper."
"...There aren't worse things waiting inside, right?"
With that, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a card.
"Ah, that...!"
Kang Min-ji's eyes widened as she recognized what it was.
It was a Center access card.
A silver one, with two lines etched in the top right corner—marking it as C-D rank Esper clearance.
The rank section was scratched out, so the exact grade was unclear.
Whatever it was, even Ju Yeon-woo, who'd been E-F rank, had unleashed that kind of power during rampage. A C-D rank Esper might be able to clear this low-rank dungeon solo.
"Found it near the cave entrance."
Kang Min-ji's face, which had brightened momentarily, fell again.
"Oh, don't tell me the owner of that card is the corpse outside—"
"Probably not. Look at the photo on the card? Doesn't match the corpse at all. The owner seems to still be alive..."
"Oh, I didn't get a good look at the corpse's face. But why bring it up now? We should've come in here sooner!"
"Because who knows what's inside, and if the owner already made it out, it could be dangerous. Anyway, no choice but to head in now."
"Yeah, you're right... Wow, Yu-jeong, you seem like the type who'd survive anywhere."
Kang Min-ji marveled at her survival instinct. She almost joked that she'd already survived one such drop but held back.
"Did this person get dragged in like us? Lucky break—minimum D-rank Esper in a sudden gate. Let's go!"
Kang Min-ji took the lead. Following behind, she stared at the access card in her hand, lost in thought.
'Something feels off...'
The photo meant the owner was at least C-rank.
So how did an Esper like that lose such an important Center card?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ She soon realized the source of her unease.
The corpse they'd seen had its throat neatly slit—no other wounds, like it'd been sliced by something razor-sharp.
Meanwhile, the monsters roaming outside were reptile-like beasts.
They had sharp teeth and claws, sure, but it was hard to imagine them killing a human so cleanly.
Of course, she didn't know this dungeon inside out, so she couldn't be certain.
But considering how that body ended up near the entrance like that, the conclusion was surprisingly simple.
"Kuhaha! That bastard was yapping about reporting us and all that. So I showed him—slashed his throat just like this..."
The owner of this very card had killed the Esper outside.
The man in front of her burst into laughter as he scooped up magic stones. His face matched the photo on the card exactly.
Hong Min-sik, Center-affiliated Esper, it read.
"Talking all high and mighty about laws and honor. That's what he gets. Stuffy prick... Thinks it's just us? Plenty of others do the same."
He stuffed the magic stones into a sack, then grabbed the hair of the man collapsed before him and yanked his head up.
"And look at this. Strutting around like hot stuff, but a mere B-rank—one step above me—and he's lying here beaten to a pulp."
"Urk... Esper Hong Min-sik, what the hell have you... Do you even realize what you've done? Killing innocent civilians, luring in monsters—you've committed a major crime...!"
"Oh, I know exactly what I did. But here's the thing: what happens in a gate ends when the gate closes. No one finds out."
Overhearing their conversation, she was thankful they'd found a spot to hide right by the entrance.
Otherwise, they'd have been exposed to these criminals.
She and Kang Min-ji held their breaths, cautiously scanning the surroundings.
This seemed to be the deepest part of the cave—every direction blocked except the passage they'd come through.
In the center stood a massive stone embedded in the ground, glowing differently from the surrounding rock.
It gave off a profoundly alien vibe; that had to be the dungeon's core symbol.
Problem was, escaping meant destroying it, and the situation wasn't ideal.
She'd heard all sorts of things could happen in dungeons, but stumbling on a crime scene like this?
"Y-Yu-jeong..."
Kang Min-ji looked up at her with anxious eyes, clearly realizing the same.
She just gave her a smile.
"We're screwed..."
No better way to put it.
After a moment of panic, she decided to calmly assess the situation.
There were four men total. One lay in ruins, beaten by the other three—presumed criminals.
All three were armed and guarding cages holding what looked like illegally captured monsters.
Right behind them was the dungeon core.
As she racked her brain for a way to reach it, Hong Min-sik approached the fallen man with a syringe-like object in hand.
'He said that guy on the ground is a B-rank Esper...'
With eyes gleaming maniacally, Hong Min-sik plunged the needle hard into the man's neck.