The Deep Layer (1)
The Swordsmanship Club. One of the pillars holding up the Murim Alliance among the Four Major Factions. Its single requirement for entry: you must use a sword as your primary weapon. As the saying goes, the sword is the king of all arms, and students who wield blades outnumber those who use any other weapon by an overwhelming margin. What's more, as long as you used a sword, the club accepted members from factions outside the Murim Alliance without discrimination. Gather all these swordsmen in one place, and what you get is a super-colossal force that ranks first or second in the entire Dragon Slayer Academy. Only the White Magic Club comes close to matching it, and the gap between them and the clubs below is a chasm. If an all-out war broke out, a mid-tier club like the Thief Club would be crushed flat in an instant — which is why even Dang Gyu-young couldn't afford to ignore them entirely.
Of course, a club president of her caliber would have a few means of smoothing things over if trouble did arise. Still, most of Dang Gyu-young's worries were probably about me.
"You know this already, but getting on the Swordsmanship Club's radar is on a whole different level from getting on Emerald's. You're still going to do it?"
"Yes, I am."
When I answered without a single second of hesitation, Dang Gyu-young looked flustered. Apparently she'd assumed that by this point I'd at least think about backing down.
"……You're actually doing it? For real?"
"For real."
I did think it a bit of a coincidence, though. I hadn't expected the Swordsmanship Club and my goals to overlap at precisely this moment. But that was all it was — a coincidence. Sooner or later, I was bound to either deal with the Murim Alliance or clash with them; contact was inevitable. Having that schedule pulled forward a little was no big deal.
"I'll handle the fallout myself. Let's proceed."
"………"
Dang Gyu-young stared at me with a complicated expression, then quickly shook her head as if to say there was no stopping me.
"Hoo, fine. Our junior who's graduated over two hundred dungeons must have some trick up his sleeve again. Then let's call it a go. When are you heading down?"
"It's a dungeon that takes a while, so Friday would be best."
"Yeah, Friday works for me too. Who's going? That handsome kid and the pretty gray-haired girl from last time?"
She probably meant Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in. They'd gotten to know each other in passing while observing my duel with the Emerald Magic Tower.
"Just the handsome one."
"You took him to a D-rank on Monday too, right? With Byung-cheol as guide. For the Deep Layer, two more will be joining. Me and her."
Dang Gyu-young pointed at herself and then at the tablet girl in turn. Shin Byung-cheol flinched and objected.
"You're going yourself, nuna?"
"If we're doing this, we might as well do it right. In exchange, I'm charging extra. How about it?"
Dang Gyu-young asked for my opinion on that. As for me, if a club-president-level powerhouse was going to cover us, I was nothing short of grateful even with the higher fee.
"I prefer certainty too."
"Good."
Dang Gyu-young would use her shadows to erase the group's presence, Shin Byung-cheol would handle the physical mechanisms, and neutralizing the magitech devices like surveillance orbs would naturally fall to the tablet girl. Speaking of whom, the tablet girl sat off to one side quietly listening to the conversation, her face worn down by fatigue — her hands never resting, ceaselessly tapping away at her tablet.
Dang Gyu-young glanced back and forth between me and the tablet girl, tilting her head.
"……?"
Her expression plainly asked why these two were so awkward with each other. Then something seemed to occur to her, and her eyebrows shot up.
It's not awkwardness, it's a first meeting.
We'd crossed paths during the infiltration of the Temporary Confiscation Storage, but I'd been wearing a mask then. She'd only recognized me because I still carried a tablet around everywhere; otherwise she wouldn't have had a clue. Dang Gyu-young belatedly caught on and made the introduction.
"Ah, this is Chae Da-bin."
Her necktie pin said second-year. Chae Da-bin gestured at me with a flick of her chin and asked, "I don't mind coming down with him since it's a job, but he's a first-year, isn't he? And he's telling me he cleared a B-rank?"
"Well…… honestly, explaining this is getting complicated. Hey, can I tell her about 'that thing'?"
Before answering the question, Dang Gyu-young sought my permission. I caught what 'that thing' meant and nodded. Chae Da-bin didn't seem like the type to blab it around, and even if she did, I was confident I could smooth it over.
Dang Gyu-young introduced me.
"He's Inferno Fist."
"!!"
Chae Da-bin's eyes went round as saucers as she looked at me. Apparently it had never crossed her mind that the powerhouse who took down Gwak Seung-jae was a first-year.
"That was you?"
"Yes, that was me."
"Then…… a B-rank might actually be possi— wait. Is it possible?"
Unable to be certain from her own level of experience, she turned to Dang Gyu-young. But Dang Gyu-young seemed no surer than she was, looking at me with an ambiguous expression.
"Honestly, I don't know either. Kim Ho, tell me straight. Are you stronger than me?"
"Of course not. How would I beat a third-year?"
"Then what's the plan? Even I suffer like crazy in a B-rank."
"No need for a long explanation. Just look at this."
I handed Dang Gyu-young a single document. A strategy guide for the Black Snake Chamber, heavily condensed from the version I'd given Go Hyeon-woo for quicker reading. From the very first page, Dang Gyu-young's eyes took on an unusual glint. With every flick of a page, hollow laughs kept escaping her lips.
"I mean…… where on earth do you get this stuff?"
A curious Shin Byung-cheol and Chae Da-bin stood behind her, reading over her shoulder. Gradually the three pairs of eyes took on an ominous cast, and they began shooting glances at me and muttering.
— So to summarize: we go in, pluck out only the good stuff, and walk out? This is basically……
— Basically a thief's mindset, yeah.
— The man's a born bandit.
— I told you, didn't I? He's exactly the talent profile our club is looking for.
— Now that I look at him, he does seem a bit sneaky……
— I knew it from the start. I could sense a kindred spirit's aura, you could say.
Somehow it felt like a recruitment offer was about to come my way again, so I moved first, just before Dang Gyu-young could open her mouth.
"So, do you think it's doable?"
"……! You and your devil's instincts. Fine. Following your guide, we'd barely have to fight at all."
Then Dang Gyu-young pointed to a section of the strategy guide.
"But looking at this part, we'll need one more person to dismantle the mechanical traps."
"I was going to ask for that as well."
"No need to look far. He's right here."
Every gaze in the room converged on Shin Byung-cheol. He pointed at himself with a finger.
"Me? You want me to go in? It's a B-rank dungeon!"
"You said it yourself last time, remember? 'If it's got me on the job, mechanical traps are child's play!'"
"Yeah, I did say that, but B-rank is a different story. People's lives are on the line here."
"What danger could you possibly be in? You've seen the guide. And worst case, there's emergency escape."
"What if something goes wrong? Then I'm just gone, kaput!"
"Then don't let it go wrong!"
The bickering between Dang Gyu-young and Shin Byung-cheol carried on for a while. Shin Byung-cheol had always been so cowed by the club president's authority that he couldn't squeak a word of protest, but this time, sensing a threat to his personal safety, he stood his ground and refused to back down easily. For her part, Dang Gyu-young — mindful that real danger existed inside the dungeon — tried persuasion rather than forcing him to go. The balance between them was so exquisite that left alone, the argument would have lasted all day.
Left with no choice, I cut in mid-squabble.
"Shall we talk compensation? Your mind might change after you hear it."
"Nope, not doing it. Whatever you offer, I'm not going. Really not. Beat me to death, still not going. Just, no."
Shin Byung-cheol expressed his refusal to enter a B-rank dungeon with his entire body.
"Is that so? You'll regret it."
"I'd rather regret it. I'm the type who wants to live a long, slender life. Sorry, but honestly, we should just find another sen—"
"Phantom Shadowless."
"……!"
"……!"
The faces of all three Thief Club members froze at the same instant. Phantom Shadowless was a hidden piece that no profession valuing stealth could ever simply pass by. Even the assassins Jang Sam and Wang Pil had snapped it right up, and the thieves before me were no different. Dang Gyu-young asked,
"That thing actually exists? I thought it was an urban legend."
"It exists."
And I knew how to find it, too. It would take some time, but I'd have it within this semester. And sharing that hidden piece with the three before me — that was the compensation I'd set out.
"Of course, Phantom Shadowless for a single Deep Layer run would be a loss on my end, so I'll be asking for several more runs."
"That goes without saying. Da-bin?"
"………"
Chae Da-bin frowned, apparently deep in thought, and didn't answer. Having such an enormous hidden piece suddenly dangled as payment must have been hard to believe. She turned to Dang Gyu-young for confirmation.
"Can we actually trust him?"
"At the very least, he's not the type to make things up out of thin air."
"……Then this is not something I can let slip by. I accept the job."
"Me too. With Byung-cheol dropping out, we just need to fill his slot. There's that one junior who's good at cracking mechanical traps."
Dang Gyu-young and Chae Da-bin were already talking about a replacement, Shin Byung-cheol struck from the roster. He executed a lightning-fast one-eighty and bulldozed his way into the conversation.
"Whoa whoa, hold on, time out. Who's dropping out? You can't talk about mechanical traps without this Shin Byung-cheol — it doesn't even make sense!"
"Weren't you the one saying people's lives were on the line?"
"I gave it some careful thought, and if we just follow the guide properly, it'll be fine. Right?"
Shin Byung-cheol sought my agreement. I served his own words right back to him.
"Didn't you say you wanted to live a long, slender life?"
"Me? When? A true man, by nature, must go short and thick. Obviously."
Shameless as ever. His face was so thick a savage could hurl a spear at it and the point wouldn't bite. Not that it cost me anything. I'd already confirmed that Shin Byung-cheol's trap-disarming skill was on par with second- and third-years'. If he wanted to share a boat with me, he was welcome aboard. In exchange, though, he'd have to do the bare minimum.
I smiled sweetly and produced another stack of documents.
"Memorize all of this by Friday."
The Black Snake Chamber strategy guide — not the condensed version Dang Gyu-young held, but the original, the same one I'd made Go Hyeon-woo memorize. Shin Byung-cheol checked the thickness of the stack and his breath caught in his throat.
"Th-that's a lot, isn't it? A bit much to memorize in two days?"
He'd be entering the dungeon in person, so there was far more he had to know — the document couldn't help but be thick. But on this point, there was no room for compromise. Skimping on memorization of a Deep Layer dungeon guide, or buying him extra time — neither was possible.
"That's why you give something up, don't you? Take fewer errand-center jobs, or cut back on sleep."
"………"
"Or you can just not do it."
At that, Shin Byung-cheol accepted the strategy guide with the utmost deference.
"Not do it? Heavens no. Hand it right here. I'll have every last line pumped into my skull, I promise."
"I'm testing you later. Get anything wrong and you're not coming."
"Don't you worry. I said I'd memorize it, didn't I?"
Apparently intending to start immediately, Shin Byung-cheol tucked the documents under his arm and headed for a corner of the clubroom. A faint mutter drifted back to us.
"So the day's finally come when I actually study for something……"