Chapter 50
Namanbuhaeopseo : What was that dwarf's name again?
ㄴSodaegari : Chase.
ㄴNamanbuhaeopseo : Wasn't that bastard the one crying and throwing a fit last time??
ㄴSodaegari : Yeah, that's right.
ㄴNamanbuhaeopseo : It's really ironic.
ㄴSodaegari : That's delicious in its own way.
ㄴSodaegari : It's his own karma anyway, so once he comes in, he has to deal with it lol.
ㄴNamanbuhaeopseo : I'm not trying to defend him, but I kind of feel sorry for him.
ㄴNamanbuhaeopseo : He lost his memories and is doing that crap again... sigh...
ㄴNamanbuhaeopseo : But honestly, I think he deserves to die, yeah.
ㄴSodaegari : The moment he stepped foot here?
ㄴSodaegari : I think that dwarf's fate was already decided.
ㄴSodaegari : In the end, a wave is just a final showdown, yeah.
ㄴSodaegari : A life-or-death showdown between the Dungeon Master and the intruder.
ㄴSodaegari : Dreamland feels like one of those places where the final showdown keeps going even after you leave the dungeon.
ㄴOrange★ : Hahahahahahahahahaha
ㄴNamanbuhaeopseum : Why are you suddenly laughing??
ㄴOrange★ : Because I can already predict the newbie's chaos.
ㄴNamanbuhaeopseum : ????
ㄴOrange★ : That demon bastard is 100% going to do that.
ㄴNamanbuhaeopseum : No, I mean what exactly??
ㄴOrange★ : Hm... should I say it or not...
ㄴOrange★ : Never mind, just watch.
ㄴOrange★ : You'll know soon enough anyway. Yeah.
***
"You ripped out a healthy tooth that violently, and it doesn't hurt?"
"Yeah. I told you it doesn't hurt. Look at the cut surface. It came out ridiculously clean. There's not even any blood or a wound."
Gronak's speech was slurred, but not to the point where it was hard to understand.
Chase checked Gronak's teeth while stroking his shortened beard.
There was no wound, no bleeding; in every respect, it was strange, but fortunately it was better than the alternative.
Come to think of it, even if he'd been distracted by that minion, it was still strange that he hadn't screamed while a healthy tooth was being pulled.
'Is this that woman's ability?'
Chase let out a sigh.
"So what the hell was that insane behavior? She's obviously dangerous. No matter how pretty she is, who knows what might happen? And when you said 'yes,' I was fucking speechless."
"No, I just told you this a minute ago. I still don't know why I acted like that back then... it was just, what do you call it? I felt like I was bewitched by a beautiful ghost."
The minion they'd just met had the following traits:
1. She's so mysteriously beautiful you can't take your eyes off her. Keep looking at her face and it feels like you'll fall under a spell.
2. After incapacitating someone, she takes all of their belongings.
3. She sells the stolen belongings to intruders and takes the payment.
4. She gives out a bottle of perfume as a gift. (Not sure what the intention is)
Putting it all together, that's not a merchant at all—it's just a ridiculously beautiful highway robber.
Be careful not to get bewitched.
Judging by Gronak's condition, if they'd kept trading any longer...
He'd have needed dentures, and he might even have ended up living as a cripple for the rest of his life.
"Next time that woman shows up, don't look at her face at all. You might die, got it?"
"Got it, got it. But that woman has our stuff, right? Then that means she's got the escape scroll too, so what are we supposed to do? She took eight front teeth for just a bottle of water and two pieces of bread, goddamn...."
This was definitely a huge problem.
Food and water were one thing; the other supplies were, too.
Even if they happened to find an elevator that could take them to the next area, if they couldn't recover the escape scroll, they'd be facing the worst-case scenario.
And there were still two more areas ahead that would show that kind of mercilessness.
The difference between having an escape scroll and not having one would surely have a huge psychological impact.
After all, we came into this dungeon for the sake of investigation.
Trading is a bad move for now. Let's leave it as a last resort.
It'd be best to think of a way slowly.
They weren't relaxed, but there was no point in rushing.
There had to be some way to get it back.
"Chase.",
"Yeah?"
"Hey, why have you been making that shit-eating face since earlier? Are you that worried about my tooth getting pulled?"
There was one thing bothering Chase.
Say they had come to this cave on the previous raid.
But if they hadn't found any decent method besides trading.
Then what price had I paid the merchant to get the escape scroll back then?
'It wouldn't be my beard.'
Chase rubbed his short beard.
"Hey, take a look at this. Even without front teeth, I can still chew food just fine."
"You crazy bastard. Eat sparingly."
I should rest a bit today.
Facing bizarre phenomena is incredibly mentally exhausting.
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Dungeon Exploration Day 2
Chase opened his eyes.
When he looked up at the sky, the sun was rising.
Morning comes even in Dreamland's 3rd Area.
Not figuratively. Literally.
Since the sleeping bags and everything like that had all been confiscated by the merchant.
The two of them slept on the dirt floor with nothing but their bodies.
Fortunately, it wasn't that cold.
The temperature was moderate and there was no wind, so they didn't have to worry about catching a cold.
Anyway.
Krrrgh...
Unlike Gronak, who was sprawled out snoring.
Chase stretched and diligently did some warm-up exercises.
Starting today, they'd begin investigating the interior of the cave in earnest.
Since it was quite large from the 1st floor to the 80th floor, they had to keep moving.
Just as he was about to wake the sleeping Gronak.
Seven goblins were walking this way from the distant entrance.
Chase's face stiffened.
Can those bastards come outside the cave too?
He'd thought the outside was a safe zone, but apparently not.
"Wake up. Goblins are approaching."
"Uh, uhh!?"
At the mention of goblins, the sleepy Gronak sprang to his feet.
"H-hey, hey... then aren't we in big trouble? What do we do now?"
"Calm down. They're still a bit far away, so spray some of the perfume we got from the merchant yesterday."
Psssh.
The two dwarves hurriedly sprayed the foul-smelling stuff onto themselves.
"Damn, that smell is really gross. Will this be enough?"
"Not sure... just stay quiet for now."
The goblins drew within a certain distance.
They flared their nostrils, but unlike yesterday, they didn't scream or anything.
They simply ignored the two dwarves and went on by.
'Where are they going?'
Chase and Gronak exchanged glances.
Then they carefully followed behind the goblins.
There was a tree there.
The tree had something like fruit hanging from it.
But if you looked closely, it wasn't fruit—it was rotten meat.
A tree that bears rotten meat doesn't exist.
Still, after everything they'd gone through yesterday, it was something they could just take in stride.
The goblins began gathering the rotten meat.
Then they shouted at the two dwarves, who were hiding in the bushes and watching.
■■! ■■! ■■ ■■!
For a moment, Chase flinched, but he kept his cool.
Unlike yesterday, he didn't sense any hostility.
'Could they be telling us to work...?"
The goblins were pointing at the tree with their fingers.
Chase swallowed nervously.
He had no choice but to think it over.
Because a mistake would lead straight to death.
What on earth did this phenomenon mean?
Should they just do as the goblins said?
Or should they ignore them and go into the cave?
Unlike Chase, who couldn't easily make a decision.
Gronak had already finished sorting things out and strode over to the goblins with cheerful confidence.
Then he helped the goblins gather meat from the tree.
Gronak gave Chase an OK sign with his hand, as if to tell him to come over.
He didn't want to, but there was no other option, so this time he followed his lead.
And so, the dwarves
worked with the goblins until sunset.
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It didn't take long for Gronak's action to be proven right.
The sun set.
Before long, a goblin wearing a red hat approached the dwarves, who had finished working.
"■■■■."
The goblin handed each of them one coin embossed with braille.
…….
Chase blinked.
Working in the dungeon like miners was ridiculous enough, but getting paid in coins on top of that was absurd.
The goblins went into the cave before the sun had completely disappeared.
Could they not come out at night at all?
Chase made a mental note of the new information.
"I think maybe in a place like this, we should act like goblins. If they find out we're not goblins, they'll attack us, or something like that, I think."
Suddenly, Gronak spoke up.
"What's your basis?"
"There's no basis. It's just a hunch. What do you think, smart guy?"
Chase stroked his beard.
Gronak's guess was certainly reasonable.
The moment we doused ourselves in that stench, the goblins stopped treating us as enemies.
"I agree with you. What we've figured out so far is that goblins use language and distinguish one another by smell, so for now it'd be best to communicate by hand signals as much as possible inside the cave."
Gronak nodded.
"Let's go inside before the sun disappears too. To get to the next area, we need to investigate the cave."
"Okay."
They entered the cave like that.
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Nothing like yesterday's bullshit happens.
Even when the two dwarves entered the cave, no goblins screamed.
At least while the stench was still clinging to them.
It seemed they wouldn't have to worry about being surrounded by countless goblins.
But.
'We can't just act like goblins.'
In the 1st-floor lobby, large goblins were roaming around.
They repeatedly clubbed goblins without coins.
Sometimes it ended with just broken bones.
Quite a few of them were also bleeding from the head and dying on the spot.
'I should act like a diligent goblin.'
There is a famous saying: if you come to the North Kingdom, follow the North Kingdom's laws.
Goblin Cave was no different.
If you'd come to their den, you'd have to follow their laws.
The outline was slowly starting to take shape.
He had a pretty good idea what to do.
'Let's go.'
Chase signaled to Gronak with his eyes.
He nodded.
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Chase divided the 1st floor in half.
Then he and Gronak each took one section and investigated the cave.
While doing so, he found a memo lying on the floor.
The memo had ragged edges, as if it had been torn from a book.
'What is this?'
Familiar handwriting came into view.
Chase immediately figured out who had written the memo.
'It's the note I wrote, isn't it?'
Why the hell was this lying on the floor?
After a moment of doubt, he picked it up and started reading.
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Undeniably, stepping into Dreamland was the stupidest thing I'd ever done.
■■■ or ■■ or whatever... those were just tiny fragments of it.
The most horrifying thing was something else.
That I could clear this dungeon.
That we should definitely go back after gathering lots of information and then start the raid.
Only now do I realize how stupid those thoughts were.
I want to go back.
I want to go back.
I want to go back.
I don't want to go back outside.
I want to go back to before the 6th raid began.
I don't know.
Outside
If I go outside, could I really return to the way things were?
I don't have the courage to face the sins I've committed.
At least being able to lose my memories was a relief.
It was better to live as a coward than to die bravely.
That's for sure.
If.
By some chance.
If I were given the chance to forget everything that happened in this dungeon and live a new life.
I would never waste that life.
God, please give me the chance to set everything right
just once
...
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…….
Chase burned the memo.
Then he moved on again.
That information is fabricated.
There must be a trap that can even manipulate handwriting.
Even if that really was something I wrote.
I didn't see anything.
Then there's no problem.
Let's not worry about it.
The moment our resolve breaks, all that awaits us is death.
Chase moved forward.