Chapter 241
Chapter 241
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 241
>Chapter Title: The 31st Horse Overturns the Game Board
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Rumble rumble rumble...
Clang-!
The elevator lowered the giant soldier carrying Kang Seol, Seolhong, and Chiwoo deep into the tunnel.
“What a dizzying height.”
“At least the elevator’s working properly—that’s some small comfort.”
Seolhong’s shoulders were tense.
This mission was dangerous enough, but every single decision they made was directly tied to its success or failure.
The speed and accuracy of those decisions were crucial.
Beep beep beeeep—
The gauge blared noisily.
“Is the ghostly energy higher than expected?”
“It doesn’t look normal. It’s way above the average we were told.”
“Something must have happened.”
“I hope it’s just a simple collapse... At these levels, you’d pass out the moment you take off your hazmat suit.”
“That bad?”
“We’re not even that deep yet, and it’s already like this...”
Click...
Click...
Fwooooosh...
The giant soldier’s headlights beamed out.
“Collapses everywhere... Getting to the survivors’ position is going to be tricky.”
“No need for the map?”
“I inputted it into the cockpit before entering. The problem is that it’s incomplete in spots...”
Seeing Seolhong take charge like this felt a little unfamiliar.
It was the first time Kang Seol had followed her lead.
“Impressive.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Nothing impressive about it. Just a child’s selfishness.”
“Selfishness?”
Seolhong turned back to Kang Seol, her respirator dangling.
“Are you used to praise?”
“...Who knows?”
“I wasn’t. I never did anything praiseworthy, and the only one who could’ve praised me was Cheonju.”
Seolhong seemed to be recalling her childhood.
“I couldn’t stand out in any field where my siblings excelled. Instead of praise, I got scorn. But... when I tinkered with finicky calculators and got grease on my hands, everyone was pleased. So I dove into it. Because I wanted praise.”
“Very childlike thinking.”
“Even so, it wasn’t something Yonghwa would bother learning. It’s a skill that gets less respect than sorcery, martial arts, or any real talent.”
Heh...
She laughed.
“Isn’t it ridiculous? People’s lives now hang on knowledge born from a child’s inferiority complex. Life truly is unknowable.”
As Seolhong and Kang Seol chatted, Chiwoo suddenly cut in.
“Hey, you two. Done talking?”
Kang Seol and Seolhong turned to him.
“If you’re done, take a look over there?”
“Hm?”
“That’s...”
No matter the extent of the collapse, Kang Seol and Seolhong had assumed it was caused by the collapse of the tunnel’s support beams.
But.
Once they spotted the massive hole Chiwoo was peering at through the periscope, they changed their minds.
“What is that?”
“This collapse... doesn’t seem like a normal accident.”
“What do we do? Go down?”
The bottom of the hole wasn’t visible.
But position-wise, descending through it seemed the most fuel- and time-efficient route.
Kang Seol and Seolhong nodded.
* * *
A miracle isn’t anything grand.
No fatalities in a tunnel collapse—that alone qualified as one.
Yet to the actual survivors, it didn’t feel like a miracle.
“Damn it...”
The hazmat suit fuel was steadily running low.
When ships drifted at sea, limited rations often led to murder among the crew.
There was no guarantee the same wouldn’t happen to these trapped miners.
Twenty-two survivors.
They were still alive.
But the fuel kept dwindling.
“We’re... all gonna die.”
“You! Don’t jinx it! The rescue team will come, and we’ll all get out alive.”
“Rescue team? You said rescue team? Who do you think is coming to save us? This isn’t some ordinary mine—it’s the ghost ore mine!”
“......”
“You think Suni’s gonna spend money rescuing us? They’d shortchange our funerals... And Sodong’s on bad terms with the Khan too—rescue’s a pipe dream.”
On the third day since the incident, arguments like this had erupted countless times.
“Damn it... I can’t die leaving my kids behind!”
“The kids’ll be the union’s responsibility, won’t they? Don’t take death so personally, mister.”
“That’s not the point! I wanna see them myself! Not die... like this underground...”
Boom...
“W-what was that?”
“It’s all because of that thing, right?”
“Shut up! Don’t go making up weird crap!”
Lately, strange things had been happening in the Sodong Mine.
As mining expanded the area per the plan, a door etched with bizarre patterns had appeared a few days ago.
It was so recent that they’d spent time debating whether to report it to management.
There had been cases where ruins nearby halted mining operations.
If Sodong shut down too, the miners—who lived off excavation—would fail to provide for their families and face misery.
With closure looming, the workers decided to discuss it further among themselves.
Then.
Screeeeech...
- Wh-what?! The door’s opening on its own—
KABOOM-!
That’s when the mine collapsed.
Sensors detecting ghostly energy screamed instantly, and even in hazmat suits, a stinging sensation hit.
And this was the aftermath.
The path to the surface had caved in, and the ground beneath them had crumbled, sending them plummeting.
Fortunately, the suits functioned properly, cushioning the fall—but at the cost of heavy fuel consumption.
The miners didn’t know the mine’s layout had changed drastically, or that most tunnels had collapsed, blocking rescue entry.
But everyone here knew that trapped miners rarely made it back alive.
Especially since this area required giant soldiers to access, and most were undergoing maintenance in Hongyeon.
In short, there was zero hope.
“Cold...”
“Come here! It’s warm by the giant soldier.”
“Ah... no thanks.”
“Why?”
“Bad luck hanging around those things.”
“What’d it ever do to you? Such a temper...”
Click... click...
The miners who’d been talking looked up.
Five mechanics dangling from the giant soldier.
The miners basking in its warmth called out.
“Hey, can’t fix it?”
“......”
“Can’t fix it? It’s been three days.”
“The power unit’s half-wrecked. Fix it here without tools? I’d have to be a god.”
“So what’s the exact situation?”
“One’s completely toast. This one can’t move normally either.”
That both giant soldiers weren’t totaled was a miracle in itself. Otherwise, even huddling for warmth would’ve been impossible.
“So...”
“I’ve told you a million times. It’s barely functional from overworking it. Fuel’s almost gone—won’t make it to the surface.”
“...So this is our tomb.”
Boom...
Booom...
Vibrations rumbling through the ground.
“What the hell is that noise from earlier...”
“Eek...”
“Did we mess with something dangerous? It’s a curse, right?!”
“Shut your mouth! You saying we’re cursed and all dying here?”
Boom...
Booom...
“It’s over! It’s coming this way!”
“D-don’t be ridiculous! It’s the rescue team saving us!”
No, it couldn’t be.
A rescue team finding trapped miners after just three days?
Impossible.
Forget detection difficulty—three days wasn’t enough to even assemble one.
Meaning the vibrations might truly be the curse manifesting.
Someone clutched prayer beads and prayed.
“O God... O God... Please protect us. Return us to our families.”
Rumble rumble rumble—
“Argh!”
The miners clung to the giant soldier, trembling.
Vibrations shook the entire wall, growing stronger.
And soon.
Crumble...
Part of the wall collapsed.
“Huh... huh?”
“That’s...”
What emerged from the wall was Seolhong’s spherical giant soldier, Towa No. 1.
“Towa? It’s Towa!”
The man praying with beads shouted.
“It’s a god! God has come! He heard my prayers!”
He rushed toward Towa No. 1, yelling.
“We’re here! Over here! God! Save us!”
Rumble rumble...
Towa smashed through the wall and entered.
Its size defied “giant”—far larger than the ones here.
Combined with its crude, early-model design, it felt like a deity descending underground.
Seolhong’s voice echoed through the speaker, reverberating in the chamber.
“Found you.”
* * *
Bursting through the wall, Seolhong and Kang Seol explained the surface events during their entrapment.
“Rescue team? You said rescue team?”
“They came for us?”
At “rescue team,” even the mechanics dropped their work and rushed to Seolhong’s giant soldier.
“R-really?”
“But that’s Towa No. 1? Why’s this relic...”
“You brought it all the way here?”
Click...
Click...
“Out of the way. Might step on you.”
“Uh uh...”
Seolhong’s Towa approached the under-repair and slumped giant soldiers.
Kang Seol asked.
“Any problems?”
“Checking now.”
Whirr...
A long cable slithered from Towa’s arm, connecting to the downed soldier.
Beep—
The downed soldier’s status appeared on Towa’s screen.
“Power unit’s completely shot. Everything else is usable.”
Whirr...
The cable connected to the other one under repair.
Beep—
“Hm... This is odd.”
“What’s the issue now?”
“This one’s power unit is fine. The rest is mostly wrecked. Opposite situations.”
“Then...”
Whirr...
Click...
Seolhong’s Towa reached out, placing a hand on one soldier’s power unit.
“W-wait! What are you doing?! Stop!”
“No knowledge and you’re messing with it? Screw up and the power unit’ll explode—”
Pssshhhh...
Smoke billowed as the overheated power unit opened, and Towa extracted it.
The mechanics screamed as if fainting, but Seolhong didn’t flinch, doing what needed doing.
Whirr...
Clank-!
The power unit transferred to the other soldier.
Vreeee—
- Hello, world! It’s a bright morning! I am...
“Oooooh!”
“What?! You said it couldn’t be fixed!”
The miners glared; the mechanics protested.
“We said without tools! Of course we could’ve if we swapped the power unit!”
“Hmph! Let’s go!”
Everyone approached Seolhong.
“The protective umbrella isn’t working yet?”
“Protective umbrella? What’s that?”
The mechanics asked back.
Beep—
Beep beep—
Seolhong fiddled briefly, then flicked her head like she’d been had.
“Damn, that function was removed in newer models.”
She pounded away at something.
Extracting two batteries from the depowered soldier, she connected them to Towa.
Soon, a mechanical voice emanated.
- Protective umbrella activating.
Whirrrrr...
Like a fountain’s spray, an umbrella-shaped hemispherical barrier formed.
Kang Seol said admiringly.
“...Gauge readings are dropping.”
“Tell me when it hits green.”
“Already green.”
“Then you can ditch the hazmat suits.”
Click...
Hiss...
The cockpit opened, and Seolhong and Kang Seol emerged.
Suitless, they looked like gods to the miners.
“See? Told you—gods!”
“The hazmat suits...”
“Huh? Gauge is normal now...”
Seolhong said.
“Everyone, you can take off your suits.”
“No way...”
Then, something fast seemed to move.
Pop-!
Pssh...
Pssh...
The hazmat suits auto-detached.
More precisely, Chiwoo had undone their zippers.
“Gasp... What!”
“Wha—?”
“It’s real?”
Seolhong addressed them.
“You’ll be fine as long as the protective umbrella’s up.”
“D-did Towa have that function?”
“Who are you, anyway?”
“I am...”
She continued her interrupted explanation.
After hearing everything, the people sighed.
“We got excited for rescue... but it’s an old Towa...”
“Just you three? No one else?”
“Enough! Pull yourselves together! They came down for us!”
“Sorry on behalf of these moles.”
Some apologized to Seolhong.
Kang Seol asked them.
“I have a question too.”
“Ask away.”
“Any guesses on the collapse cause?”
“Th-that...”
The miners glanced sideways, gauging each other. After a while, who seemed the foreman stepped forward.
“Sigh... Honestly, it’s probably that door.”
“...Door?”
“Well...”
The man continued.
A door with bizarre patterns and sticky talismans unearthed, opening on its own—then the Sodong Mine collapsed.
“What? Puhahaha! What, ghosts did it?”
Chiwoo burst out laughing.
“......”
“If ghosts caused all this, that’d be a sight, heh heh...”
Kang Seol shot Chiwoo a glare.
“Chiwoo, quiet.”
“...Oh?”
As the mood soured, Seolhong intervened.
“Definitely... felt that way.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
The miners asked her, baffled.
Kang Seol answered instead.
“We felt something eerie the whole way here.”
“Eerie... feeling?”
“Yes. Do you know how long after the accident?”
“About three days...”
“Even with collapsed tunnels, would it take three days from the entrance to here?”
“You cleared debris on the way...”
Seolhong rebutted.
“No, we didn’t clear any debris coming here. We followed the set path and direction. Though it did burn fuel.”
“......”
They’d wandered three days for a trip that should’ve taken hours.
Kang Seol speculated.
“Space keeps distorting. Probably the same trying to escape.”
“Eek... Y-you mean...”
He scanned the mine.
“That door. Something came out of it.”
“No way...”
“Any other clues on the incident?”
Then, a lone miner from the back approached.
A young man, frowning deeply.
“...I definitely heard it when the door opened.”
“...Pardon?”
The young man’s words tied into an ancient legend.
“Hagumu-nim... awakened me...”
Hagumu.
In the East, that name was legend.
And the evil dragon Hagumu’s name emerged from this unexpected place.
Swish...
Seolhong, Chiwoo, and Kang Seol’s gazes met.