Chapter 26
I slowly read through the contents of the trade post.
The request was for a dungeon located near Daejeon Jungangno Station.
It said to retrieve a relic deep inside that dungeon.
"Daejeon, huh..."
I leaned back against the seat and searched my memory.
"I always wanted to go there."
Before the world changed like this, I had seriously thought about going down to Daejeon one day, standing in line at that famous bakery, and buying some bread for myself.
Now I regretted putting it off because it was a hassle.
Even if I went now, I wouldn't be able to eat those breads.
It was a bit odd to be going on about bread in the middle of a ruined apocalypse, but I still felt oddly wistful.
I shook off the bitter taste in my mouth and operated the driver's panel to turn the train toward Daejeon.
Ssshhh—
As the train slowly picked up speed, the door opened and Jiwoo and Sua peeked out.
They had completely changed into the children's clothes I had just given them.
Sua's light pink lace dress and Jiwoo's easy-to-move-in tracksuit and new sneakers fit perfectly, as if they had been made for them.
Their soft, fresh appearance made me smile without realizing it.
"Those clothes suit both of you."
"Hehe..."
The two of them gave awkward smiles at my praise.
Thud!
The train gave a small jolt.
Usually, that meant a monster had slammed into the train.
"Is it a monster?"
"...Yeah."
People say children grow faster than you think.
At first, even when a monster appeared far outside the window, they would tense up and cling to each other tightly.
Now, even when a monster came close enough to be separated only by a single windowpane, they looked at it calmly.
They even watched blankly when the train's turrets or spikes blew a monster's torso apart.
"...Aren't you scared?"
"Huh? Umm... yes."
Yeah, they're growing up strong.
Before I knew it, the train had entered Daejeon and come to a smooth stop near Jungangno Station.
Come to think of it, I had to ask Sua for help once more.
"Sua, big sister needs your help again this time. Can you help me?"
I knelt to Sua's eye level as she trotted over to the driver's cab and asked gently.
Rather than carelessly tearing through the dungeon, I needed to use Sua's scouting skill to check its danger level and features in advance.
For safety's sake, too.
"Yes! Should I do the same thing as last time?"
Maybe because she was excited to be wearing pretty clothes, Sua nodded without the slightest hesitation and answered readily.
"Thanks. First, I'll have the robots check whether it's safe outside, then we'll go out together."
"Okay."
Sua's skill could only activate if she walked right up to the dungeon rift.
Before taking Sua out, I launched the drones outside the train first, just as I always did.
It was to pinpoint the dungeon's exact location and clean out any monsters lurking nearby.
The upgraded reconnaissance drone floated like a ghost over Jungangno Station without a sound, and began transmitting its view to the main monitor.
I crossed my arms and studied the screen closely.
But something about the situation felt off.
"...Why is it so quiet?"
The area near Jungangno Station on the monitor was eerily silent.
Normally, there should at least be some monsters around a dungeon rift.
It had been that way in Incheon, and in Siheung too.
But the street on the screen was empty.
"There should be at least one monster."
Even though I'd upgraded the reconnaissance drone and expanded its search radius, nothing showed up on the screen, and the only sound was the drone's faint hiss.
Looking more closely, it didn't seem like the monsters had been absent from the start.
Traces of monsters were visible between the ruins of collapsed shops and shattered asphalt.
Mana stones and dropped items appeared here and there.
Those traces grew slightly more numerous along the road toward the dungeon entrance.
It looked like someone had already swept away the monsters in this area.
"Did someone enter the dungeon before us?"
If the trade post was still up, it probably hadn't been completed yet.
I frowned and leaned my face closer to the monitor in the driver's cab.
The fact that there were no monsters in the street left a strange feeling of unease, but it also meant it was a good time to bring Sua to the dungeon entrance.
I decided to hold Sua's small hand tightly and carefully make our way to the dungeon entrance.
"Sua, shall we go out?"
"Yes!"
Holding Sua's hand and escorted by the drones, we arrived at the front of the dungeon.
In front of the dungeon rift, Sua, already somewhat used to it this time, activated her skill and read the text before her.
"Big sis, this one's called 'Graveyard of the Skeleton Soldiers.' It's low-grade... There are 41 monsters in total, and there are two bosses."
"Two bosses..."
A low-grade dungeon.
It was one tier above the lowest grade.
Sua had been reading the text carefully when she suddenly tilted her head.
"Huh? That's weird... Big sis, it says there are seven people inside."
There were already people inside after all. Seven Awakened, to be exact.
So dungeon scouting didn't just detect monsters.
It seemed the Constellation's skill enhancement voucher reward had lured other Awakened in as well.
"Hmm..."
I stroked my chin and fell into deep thought.
Was there any need to get into a tiring competition with them?
The reward was tempting, but—
"...For now, Sua, let's go back."
After taking Sua back to the safety of the train, I quietly sent only the waiting reconnaissance drone deeper into the dungeon.
It was time for the newly installed eavesdropping function and silent flight mode to shine.
Once it entered the dungeon, a dark, underground, graveyard-like place abruptly appeared, just as Sua had said.
Not long after the reconnaissance drone glided silently through the dark graveyard, the main monitor picked up seven young men holding flashlights.
"Those must be them."
Their hunt was going pretty smoothly.
When the man in front burned away the skeleton soldiers and their shields with a fire skill, the others were bludgeoning the skeletons helplessly with steel pipes and baseball bats.
With that much firepower and teamwork, they looked like they could push all the way to the boss room without trouble.
Sure enough, when I looked through the reconnaissance drone, I could see a huge door not far away.
Unfortunately, it seemed better to give up on this dungeon and look for another request.
I looked away from the monitor for a moment to search for another trade post.
At that very moment.
"What the hell is that crazy bastard doing... Guh!"
"Aaagh!"
A savage curse and a ghastly scream boomed through the driver's cab via the speakers.
Hearing a human scream made the back of my neck and the top of my scalp go cold.
I said to Sua and Jiwoo, who were startled and hunched their shoulders.
"Jiwoo, could you take Sua to Car 2?"
"Y-yes..."
After quickly pushing the frightened children into the rear car, I glared back at the monitor.
The scene on the screen had changed completely in the brief moment I'd looked away.
Three people were lying on the floor, and the situation for the ones still standing didn't look good either.
It was obvious right away that the cause wasn't some kind of surprise attack by the skeleton monsters.
"I... fuck...!"
Just moments ago, they had been laughing and chatting back-to-back.
Two of the men standing behind them were now pressing blades against the backs and napes of the comrades who had been leading the fight.
"Ugh..."
It was hard to keep watching.
Blood splattered across the dungeon floor, along with people's betrayed expressions and sickening sounds.
In the screen illuminated by the reconnaissance drone, the people had reached the front of a huge door—the entrance to the boss room.
They had been betrayed right before the boss room.
The man who had used the fire skill and was bleeding from the neck looked up at the two traitors in disbelief.
The man who had stabbed him flicked the blood off his blade and curled his lips into a sneer.
"Hyung. You worked hard clearing the way to the boss room. You know it too, right? The skill enhancement voucher the Constellation gives us is only one. No matter how I think about it, there was no way for seven people to share it nicely."
"So my friend decided to give it up this time. The two of us are pretty close, you know."
"...Bull...shit..."
My whole body froze cold at the chilling voices coming through the speakers.
They had used their comrades all the way to the boss room, then stabbed them in the back at the most crucial moment to monopolize the reward.
The two traitors snickered, readjusting the flashing blades in their hands as they tightened the encirclement around the remaining survivors.
It was too late to save them.
They had already lost too much blood.
Hot anger and disgust surged up from deep inside me.
"This is wrong."
Normally, I wouldn't have wanted to go into that dungeon and get dragged into a pointless fight over one reward.
I could have just used my train to go to another area and look for another trade post.
But the moment I saw the Awakened bleeding to death on the screen, and those bastards smiling while trying to snuff out a person's life...
I heard some rational thread inside me snap.
'Don't let Awakened like that take the reward and get even stronger.'
That thought struck my mind like a hammer.
If Awakened who hurt people without a second thought upgraded their skills and gained power, it was obvious how many more victims they'd create.
They were basically no different from monsters.
I shut off the driver's panel and sprang to my feet.
When I firmly gripped the handle of the mace propped behind me, confidence surged through me.
"Combat Drone, Sniper Drone. Escort me."
At my command, the two drones waiting in the air emitted cold metallic sounds as they entered combat formation.
I kicked open the train door and stepped toward the dungeon entrance.
***
"Hey, Junghoon. Let's finish this quickly and go into the boss room. Before the other bastards get here, the two of us need to grab the relic."
"Of course."
The two men faced each other over the blood-soaked floor and came to an agreement.
Junghoon agreed with him, but inwardly he was sharpening his knife coldly.
'Idiot. Once I smash the boss monster's head in, I'll put the same hole in your neck too.'
The wiry man also curled his lips, fiddling with the handle of the dagger hidden behind his back as he swallowed his sinister intentions.
'The moment the boss dies will be your last. I'm taking the skill enhancement voucher all for myself.'
In their heads, they were only waiting for the perfect moment to drive their knives into each other's throats.