Dungeon & Commander

Dungeon & Commander – 10

“As the Lyposaurus crossed the dead forest, which seemed like it would crumble at a touch, sprouts and leaves emerged, and vines broke through the ground. The Socrates team followed the Lyposaurus, skirting the reviving Schwarzwald.

A tedious march ensued. Thirst overwhelmed the team members, and their water supply had long been exhausted. Park Hong-sik launched flares into the sky every couple of hours, but no one held out much hope anymore.

Han So-young, whose stamina was the weakest, was the first to collapse. Kwon Joon-sang supported her as they walked. When Park Hong-sik began to stagger, Choi Moo-hyun took over supporting him. The eldest, Kang Jin-goo, endured with his well-trained body.

“I’m sorry,” Han So-young said.

“If you’re really sorry, go on a diet,” Kwon Joon-sang joked.

“I should join you,” Park Hong-sik added.

An hour later, Kwon Joon-sang was carrying Han So-young on his back. Choi Moo-hyun forcibly carried Park Hong-sik, who wanted to keep walking, to conserve his magic for launching signals.

Kim Joon occasionally looked back to check on the team’s condition. They looked like they could collapse at any moment.

With a sigh, Kim Joon noticed that the Lyposaurus had come to a complete stop. It hadn’t paused for this long since they started following it. If aggressive monsters like Gelusaurus or Pyrosaurus appeared now, the Socrates team’s fate would be sealed.

At that moment, Park Hong-sik mustered his remaining magic to launch a flare into the sky. As the flare faded, a faint light appeared in the distance beyond the darkness.

Kim Joon rubbed his eyes.

‘Is this a dream? No! No!’

He pinched his cheek hard and then turned to shout. His parched throat made his voice unintelligible at first, but he soon managed to speak clearly.

“There! Over there!”

Kim Joon pointed ahead.

The team finally saw the flare.

Three seconds of silence.

Then chaos erupted.

Han So-young, who had been carried, jumped off and ran towards the flare, shouting. Park Hong-sik, Kwon Joon-sang, and Choi Moo-hyun followed her.

Kang Jin-goo paused beside Kim Joon.

“I’ll catch up soon,” Kim Joon said. Kang Jin-goo nodded and ran off, silently cheering.

Kim Joon turned to the Lyposaurus, bit his hand, and extended it forward. The Lyposaurus approached and licked the bleeding hand, healing the wound instantly.

“Thank you. And don’t let anyone catch you,” Kim Joon said sincerely.

White tears fell from the Lyposaurus’s eyes, landing on Kim Joon’s hand. The round droplets soaked into the healing wound, erasing even the scar.

Kim Joon was astonished.

The Lyposaurus turned and disappeared into the darkness.

“Kim Joon!”

The shouts of his teammates brought Kim Joon back to his senses. He started running slowly.

The flare signal had been launched by the gate manager, not another team. As a carrier, Kim Joon didn’t have to deal directly with the strict Dungeon Association officials. Kwon Joon-sang, Han So-young, and Park Hong-sik handled that.

Noticing the unusual phenomena inside the dungeon, reconnaissance teams composed solely of raiders, without carriers, were visible. This indicated that the Dungeon Association had begun a full-scale investigation.

Upon exiting the dungeon through the gate, all the Socrates team members shed tears. Kim Joon spotted his mother, standing beyond the iron fence, clasping her hands and looking towards him. Beside her stood Kim Ji-hyun.

“Mom,” Kim Joon called out as he walked towards her.

Mission: Join Forces

That day marked the worst disaster in the history of dungeon raids. Globally, the disruption of dungeon grades resulted in the deaths of around 70,000 raiders. In dungeon raids, disappearance equated to death.

High-level monsters appeared in lower-grade dungeons, and bizarre forests of a different dimension grew inside higher-grade dungeons, engulfing the awakened ones.

The World Dungeon Association declared a temporary halt to raids. They announced that raids would be prohibited until the cause of the grade disruption was identified. The Korea Dungeon Association supported this decision.

The tragedy of that day, dubbed “Devil’s Day,” dealt a severe blow to the Jushin Guild. They lost about 400 out of their 1,000 raiders. Fortunately, their strongest raider, Yoo Wan-seop, managed to escape the dungeon but lost an arm in the process.

With Yoo Wan-seop’s retirement, Lee Hwan was considered for the top ranker position. However, due to personal reasons, Lee Hwan delayed participating in raids and did not appear in public.

Dungeon associations worldwide began sending out reconnaissance teams to explore the changes within the dungeons. Not only the awakened but also experts in related fields were mobilized.

Ph.D.-level core personnel, who had spent their lives focused on various theories and experiments, entered the unfamiliar world of dungeons for the first time, protected by raiders.

The ban on dungeon entry severely impacted companies related to the various cores extracted from dungeons. The U.S. military-industrial complex, which led the Mars colonization project, announced a six-month delay in their plans, causing their stock to drop by 15%.

Multinational pharmaceutical companies, which had promised a rosy future, were also in turmoil as they could no longer obtain cores like Medicinium, essential for their products.

The World Dungeon Association announced that they were continuously researching the grade disruption phenomenon and would find a way to detect such events in advance.

Under the Korea Dungeon Association, an organization with the same purpose, the Dungeon Exploration Team, was formed. Raiders from well-known guilds, including Jushin, were appointed as members of this team.

The Dungeon Exploration Team was only convened when necessary, allowing members to continue their activities within their guilds.

Lee Hwan volunteered for the Dungeon Exploration Team and helped investigate various dungeon interiors. Choi Min-soo of the Thunderbolt Guild also accepted the Dungeon Association’s request and participated in the exploration.

Until a definitive conclusion was reached, the Dungeon Association prohibited raiders from entering dungeons except for the exploration team.

This ban led to the collapse of small guilds. Medium-sized guilds, which relied on core acquisition to fund their operations, went bankrupt one after another.

Many raiders who experienced the disaster of grade disruption firsthand declared their retirement, and the rest couldn’t fully escape its impact.

Uramata was also on the brink of collapse.

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***

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The harsh spring passed, and the sweltering early summer approached. In the span of about three months, much had changed.

Yoo Min-jung looked up at the guild house building beyond the empty parking lot. The building, with its peeling paint, was in a sorry state. The sign that once read “Uramata” now only displayed “U” and “Ta,” with the other letters having fallen off.

The rumors were true. The Uramata Guild had suffered massive losses three months ago. Three of its teams had been wiped out. Only the Socrates team had miraculously returned, but even those members retired due to the psychological trauma.

The guild’s expenses for rent, equipment maintenance, and fixed costs had ballooned, while income had ceased due to the dungeon entry ban. Since last month, people had come by, threatening to put seizure notices on the property.

Industry insiders whispered that the luck of the once-prominent Go Chul-min had run out.

Yoo Min-jung walked towards the building under the scorching summer sun. Wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, the sun’s rays felt hot against her skin. The entrance consisted of two glass doors, but one was missing, making it impossible to open. She pushed through the remaining door and looked around the empty interior. The simulation room had only one old simulator left, and the space that once held exercise equipment now only had faint traces on the floor and pillars.

Just as she began to think her visit was in vain, the simulator lid opened. Kim Joon emerged, drenched in sweat.

“Wow! It’s finally over!” Kim Joon, wearing a simulator suit that clung to his body, cheered with a clenched fist but froze when he saw Yoo Min-jung. Covering his important parts with a towel, he asked, “How can I help you?”

“I heard you were recruiting raiders,” Yoo Min-jung replied. She hadn’t expected much, but since she was already there, she decided to hear them out.

“Oh! Please wait a moment. Don’t go anywhere, just wait a bit,” Kim Joon said, rushing to the locker room to quickly wash up and change clothes before coming back out.

She was the first applicant since they posted the recruitment notice! Kim Joon didn’t want to lose her.

“You’re still here,” he panted.

“You told me to wait, didn’t you?”

“Oh, right. I did. I forgot. Please, follow me upstairs.”

Kim Joon led Yoo Min-jung to the master room on the second floor, accessed by a rickety iron staircase. The door rattled as he opened it, but he smiled and led her inside, where they found Guild Master Go Chul-min sprawled on the sofa, snoring with a bottle in his hand.

“Just a moment,” Kim Joon said. He left Yoo Min-jung by the railing and went inside to wake Go Chul-min. The guild master mumbled something about killing everyone.

With a sigh, Kim Joon grabbed Go Chul-min’s hand and pulled. The guild master fell off the sofa but continued to sleep. With no other choice, Kim Joon pushed Go Chul-min under the desk.

Kim Joon quickly tidied up the scattered documents and empty bottles before rushing to the applicant waiting just outside the master room.

“Ah, it’s ready. Please come in,” he said.

Yoo Min-jung entered, wrinkling her nose at the stench of stale alcohol. It wasn’t the kind of smell that came from just one night of drinking.

Seeing her expression, Kim Joon opened the windows wide and turned on the air conditioner with a remote. The air conditioner whirred, but the hot, stuffy air that blew in did little to cool the room.

“Would you like a cold drink?” he offered.

“Are there any raiders here besides me?” Yoo Min-jung asked.

She hit the nail on the head. It seemed like she was ready to leave. Kim Joon began to dislike her. She looked barely in her early twenties. How dare she speak so informally… Ah!

It suddenly dawned on Kim Joon who she was. She was the dealer from Jushin who had participated in the Bukaksan dungeon raid last year. He even knew her name, her tendencies, her level, her abilities, and even her minor habits.

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Jushin?” he asked.

“Your memory is surprisingly good,” Yoo Min-jung smirked.

“What brings you here?” Kim Joon sat across from her. Realizing she wasn’t a genuine applicant, he felt no need to be overly polite.

“I told you, I saw the recruitment notice for raiders,” she replied.

“That’s not funny,” he said.

“It’s the truth.”

“…Really?”

“Well, if you don’t need me, there’s nothing I can do.”

Yoo Min-jung stood up. Having already been rejected by ten guilds, she wasn’t too shocked.

“Oh, come on, don’t be in such a hurry. Sit down. Let’s talk this through calmly. Sit down. I said, sit down,” Kim Joon said, oscillating between kindness and forcefulness.

Yoo Min-jung sat back down, crossing her long legs. The sight of her legs exposed by her shorts was quite attractive.

“I’m a DF6. I want a salary of 700 million won, a 10% share of dividends, and 15% of any prize money from winning raids.”

Three months ago, any guild would have eagerly accepted such terms, even competing to offer her 1 billion won. However, with the current situation where all dungeons were treated as at least C-grade, possibly B-grade or higher, no guild could guarantee a 700 million won salary.

“You got kicked out of Jushin, didn’t you?” Kim Joon asked.

Yoo Min-jung flinched.

“…No.”

“You did get kicked out. Tell me the reason first. Then I can decide whether to accept your terms.”

“Where’s the guild master?”

“He stepped out for a moment,” Kim Joon said, glancing at the desk without realizing it.

“Having an interview with a mere carrier, what a joke,” Yoo Min-jung scoffed, standing up and walking out of the master room without looking back. Her demeanor was resolute.

The reason Yoo Min-jung listened to Kim Joon was because she had witnessed him, a mere carrier, running through monsters to draw aggro during the Bukaksan dungeon raid last year. She came to the Uramata Guild hoping it might have something special.

“Alright, 700 million won salary!” Kim Joon shouted.

Yoo Min-jung stopped but didn’t turn around. She started laughing and shook her head.

“Are you a billionaire or something?”

“Not at all.”

“Then how can a carrier guarantee a 700 million won salary?”

Yoo Min-jung glared at Kim Joon with cold eyes.

“I just judged that if I raid with a dealer of your caliber, I could afford to pay you 700 million won,” Kim Joon said, dropping his playful tone.

“These days, no guild sees me as worth that much.”

“Those guild masters have fish eyes. I saw your skills firsthand. In that dungeon.”

Kim Joon omitted that he had seen her in other dungeons as well.

“Alright, fine. What about a tanker? You have one, right?” Yoo Min-jung asked out of curiosity.

“…He’s just wandering for a bit. He’ll be back soon. He’s an amazing tanker. Became a TL7 raider just a few years after awakening and is expected to become a TL5 within three years. You can look forward to it,” Kim Joon said, thinking of Choi Moo-hyun, who was currently out of contact.

“Liar.”

Yoo Min-jung thought Kim Joon was quite naive; his lies were written all over his face.

“It’s not a lie. Just a bit of an exaggeration.”

“And a buffer?”

“…We need to find one,” Kim Joon sighed.

Even he knew the current state of the Uramata Guild was a mess. All the raiders had left. Only Choi Moo-hyun remained in the guild, but his whereabouts were unknown. The guild master was perpetually drunk. The only person left was Kim Joon, the carrier.

For the past three months, Kim Joon had been busy with tasks assigned by Go Chul-min. He maintained his stamina through running and reviewed raid footage in the simulation room, which had fewer simulators due to being sold off to pay debts. Sometimes, he even visited guilds that had participated in those raids to gather information.

“And the carrier?”

“The world’s strongest carrier, that’s me,” Kim Joon boasted.

Yoo Min-jung burst into laughter. The last time she saw him, he seemed like a quiet rookie, but today he seemed like a completely different person. Could the shock of Devil’s Day have changed him so much?

“So, for now, you can only enter F-grade dungeons?”

“…Are you joining the Uramata Guild?” Kim Joon asked, hardly believing his ears.

“For now.”

“Yay!”

“If the money doesn’t come in, I’ll sue you.”

Kim Joon ran over and hugged Yoo Min-jung, spinning her around in circles. Yoo Min-jung was startled but found herself enjoying the atmosphere she hadn’t felt in a long time. Jushin used to be a lively, spirited place too.

At that moment, Go Chul-min crawled out from under the desk.

“Who the hell is making all this noise…”

Kim Joon quickly kicked Go Chul-min, causing him to fall back and lose consciousness.

“He’s a homeless guy, a homeless guy,” Kim Joon said with an awkward smile.

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***

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Choi Moo-hyun lay in a hermitage, staring at the ceiling. A bug crawled along the exposed rafters. He envied even that bug. He shuddered with shame, knowing that hiding away in an unknown place was proof of his cowardice. Despite knowing this, he couldn’t bring himself to leave.

A monk from the temple below opened the door.

“Young benefactor, someone has come to see you.”

“What?” Choi Moo-hyun sat up, shocked to see Kim Joon entering the room.

“How did you find this place?”

“I asked around,” Kim Joon replied.

“…I’m not going back down,” Choi Moo-hyun said.