Chapter 56
At first, I didn't know.
There were only a few old light bulbs spaced here and there, and the ground beneath my feet was completely damp.
The wet rock walls gave off a musty smell, and water droplets occasionally fell from the ceiling, so I more or less assumed.
‘Is this a cave?’
That was as far as my thoughts went.
But the farther I went inside following Baek Sawol, the more my impression changed.
The scale was strange to begin with.
The narrow passage suddenly widened enough for dozens of people to walk side by side, while in another section, a cavern with no visible end opened up like a plain.
The terrain was far too chaotic to be a naturally formed cave.
Rusty equipment lay strewn across the floor.
Mysterious claw marks had gouged deep into the rock wall.
And every so often as we walked, the smell of old blood brushed past the tip of my nose.
Only then did a single word come to mind.
A place where Hunters shed blood.
Lost their arms and legs.
Sometimes, even returning alive was a miracle.
“I was honestly surprised.”
Baek Sawol, who had been walking ahead of me, spoke.
“I never expected to meet Doctor Seo Jihoo in a place like this. Much less in a ‘D-rank Dungeon’ in Incheon.”
“Just as I thought.”
I looked around again.
“So this is a dungeon.”
“Yes.”
She answered briefly.
Then, after walking a few more steps, she suddenly stopped.
“And the reason I’m guiding you this way is⋯ because Guild Master Jin Yeoryeong, whom I currently serve, is hiding here.”
“⋯What?”
Jin Yeoryeong.
The eighth guild master of Cheongryong.
A high-ranking A-rank Hunter.
And according to the status window, a patient currently poisoned by Black Blood Snake Poison.
A poison said to stem from a taboo in the Chinese Murim world, just like the Gu Worm I had removed from Guild Master Jang Mi-ran.
That kind of patient.
Not in a hospital.
Not in an intensive care unit.
“You hid her inside a dungeon?!”
My voice hardened despite myself.
“For a whole year?”
“⋯Yes.”
“Wait.”
I pressed my fingers to my temple for a moment.
“When was the last time she had a proper blood test?”
“That⋯”
“What about her liver and kidney function? Have you been monitoring her urine output? Have you recorded her temperature and changes in consciousness?”
There was no answer.
The silence alone was enough.
“An IV line?”
“We established IV access several times. But it was difficult to keep obtaining equipment for high-ranking Hunters⋯”
“Painkillers?”
“Whatever we could get⋯”
“Wound cleansing?”
“I’m doing it. I change the bandages every day, too.”
I let out a sigh.
Of course, I couldn’t blame Baek Sawol.
If anything, keeping the patient alive for a year in this situation was practically a miracle.
But medically, it was another story.
A patient exposed to an unidentified poison for a prolonged period.
No proper blood tests.
No imaging equipment.
No way to check how well the liver and kidneys were holding up, and not even a culture test to determine whether there was an infection.
And they were managing such a patient inside a dungeon full of moisture and dust.
“Why on earth⋯.”
When I let my words trail off, Baek Sawol lowered her head.
“We had no other choice.”
Her voice dropped.
“Ever since Ma Jaerim took control of Cheongryong, we’ve been constantly pursued. We can’t go to a hospital, and if we seek out a private healer, that person would be put in danger, too.”
“So you came into a dungeon?”
“They say that if you want to hide a tree, you should hide it in a forest.”
It was a bitter smile.
“When we looked for somewhere to hide a Hunter, in the end, a dungeon was all we had left.”
It sounded insane.
And yet.
If you thought about it for even a moment, it was almost unnervingly rational.
“B-rank and higher-tier dungeons aren’t left unattended for long.”
Baek Sawol, who had started walking again, explained.
“The risk of a break is high, and the surrounding damage is difficult to contain, so when one appears, people clear it as quickly as possible.”
“D-rank dungeons are different, on the other hand.”
“⋯As expected, you know about them.”
“I’ve learned that much.”
Dungeon structure had also been included in the basic curriculum when I studied Hunter medicine.
I had to know where and how Hunters were injured.
D-rank dungeons.
The lowest-ranked dungeons.
Even if a break occurred, they were unlikely to wipe out an entire city like a higher-ranked dungeon, and the monsters that appeared were comparatively weak.
So some stable, low-rank dungeons weren’t always closed down.
Instead, their populations were managed periodically, and they were used as practical training grounds for novice Hunters or places to gather resources.
Put simply.
‘An experience dungeon.’
I didn’t like the game-like expression, but it was the easiest analogy to understand.
“Is this place one of those, too?”
“Yes. This dungeon has been here in Incheon for twenty-eight years.”
“Twenty-eight years⋯.”
“It’s spacious inside, but the danger level is low. The monster that appears most often is the goblin.”
Goblins.
Whether in games or movies, they were always treated as total pushovers among monsters.
Of course, they would be dangerous if an ordinary person encountered one barehanded, but by Hunter standards, they were the sort of opponents newly awakened novices fought to gain practical experience.
Then most of the people coming in and out of this place were beginners.
Baek Sawol, on the other hand, was an assassin with A-rank stealth abilities.
‘No one would find her.’
This wasn’t merely hiding a tree in a forest.
It was like stashing gold bars deep inside a warehouse no one would ever search.
“In particular, the place I found is the most remote area of the dungeon. There are almost no goblins here, and it’s completely off the current clearing routes.”
“Then what about the path we’ve been taking?”
“It was abandoned after they tried to use it as a clearing route long ago.”
She pointed up at the ceiling.
Old electrical wires.
Rusty sockets.
Light bulbs that still worked here and there.
“I heard it was abandoned because the yield was poor and the route was too long. They decided it would cost more to retrieve all the equipment, so they left it as it was.”
“So you brought it back to life, Ms. Baek Sawol.”
“I replaced a few bulbs and patched a few broken wires.”
Ah.
So that was why the facilities had seemed strange from the beginning.
There wasn’t a single new thing.
They hadn’t brought in new equipment on purpose, either.
The path had been abandoned decades ago.
They had merely revived it enough for people to pass through.
Had they renovated it extensively, they would only have left traces behind.
‘They hid her incredibly well.’
How long had we been walking like that?
Goblins occasionally sprang out of the darkness.
When about thirty minutes had passed.
“We’ve arrived.”
“⋯This is it?”
What stood before me was none other than a ‘wall.’
No matter how I looked at it, it was an ordinary rock wall.
Wondering if she had put up something like a tent, I lightly tapped it with the back of my hand.
Tap, tap.
It was solid.
“It really is a wall.”
I turned to the side.
Then.
Snap.
Snap-snap-snap.
“Oh⋯.”
Baek Sawol’s hands were moving.
Fast.
Her fingers repeatedly intertwined and came apart, forming seals so complicated they were difficult to follow with my eyes.
As expected of a kunoichi.
When she finally brought both hands together—
“Ninjutsu: Hidden Door Technique.”
Poof!
“⋯!”
Smoke burst out.
And in the place where it vanished, a door that definitely hadn’t been there moments ago stood perfectly intact.
“A door appeared?”
Was this why ninjas were so frightening?
Could Japanese men be getting kidnapped by kunoichi popping out of walls like this?
“This way.”
Baek Sawol politely opened the door.
I stepped inside.
And then.
“Huh⋯?”
A voice came from the darkness.
There was no strength in it.
And yet, it was strangely composed.
“I sensed a presence other than Sawol’s⋯ I thought the time had finally come.”
A faint smile.
“But this really is⋯ an unexpected guest.”
“⋯!”
I froze in place.
Brown hair.
Long hair loosely tied back.
Pale, bloodless skin framing light-green eyes.
She matched the description I’d heard.
Jin Yeoryeong.
The problem was what came next.
“Gasp⋯.”
Her breaths were short.
“Hoo⋯ gasp⋯.”
Fast and shallow.
Her rib cage couldn’t fully rise each time she inhaled, and cold sweat had gathered at the nape of her neck.
Her lips were parched.
Her eyes were open, but their focus wavered ever so slightly.
‘She’s conscious, at least.’
But she wasn’t normal.
I went straight over to the patient.
Then, a smell stabbed at the tip of my nose.
“Ugh?!”
Old blood.
Damp bandages.
An unpleasant stench mixed in among them.
It wasn’t simply the smell of someone who hadn’t washed for several days.
Exudate from a wound.
Old blood.
And the kind of smell found in a patient with severe tissue damage.
“Damn it.”
I cursed without realizing it.
“You’ve endured a whole year in this condition?”
“⋯Yes.”
Baek Sawol, who had followed me in, lowered her head.
“This was the best we could do.”
I couldn’t answer.
Jin Yeoryeong’s upper body was wrapped in broad bandages.
But something about her condition was strange.
There were far too many layers of bandages.
Areas where old blood had dried brown.
New dark-red stains seeping through.
Even signs that someone had hastily added more layers.
‘The pressure isn’t even.’
Some parts were loose, while others were tightened enough to press against her rib cage.
Of course, I had no intention of blaming her for this right now.
A nonmedical person had kept one patient alive for a year in a dungeon without proper equipment.
That alone meant Baek Sawol had already done everything she could.
So now it was simply my turn, as the doctor.
“Guild Master Jin Yeoryeong.”
“Hmm?”
“Let me examine your condition for a moment.”
“Hehe⋯.”
She smiled faintly.
“To show my breasts to a man⋯ if I show him the lower half, too, I’ll have no regrets even if I die.”
“If you have enough energy to joke, save it.”
I knelt down.
And when I saw the skin exposed between the bandages, my hand stopped.
“I expected this, but this is⋯!”
It was black.
This was beyond the level of a bruise.
Skin that had once been white and healthy had died into a dark red-black, while the center had turned ash-gray-black, as though scorched by fire.
The black discoloration didn’t end around the wound.
Below the chest.
And it had spread black across both ample breasts as if swallowing them whole.