Dungeon & Commander

Dungeon & Commander – 11

“Who said anything?” Choi Moo-hyun had been hiding out for three months, and it was unlikely he would come down just because Kim Joon showed up. He must have his reasons.

“Still, isn’t it nice to see me after so long?”

Choi Moo-hyun was about to go outside to greet Kim Joon, but Kim Joon entered the hermitage instead. He had a store bag slung over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m staying here too.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m staying here. There’s nothing much to do down there.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Huh? Why? I already got permission from the monk down there. He said it’s fine if I stay here.”

Kim Joon put down his store bag and lay down, using his arm as a pillow. Choi Moo-hyun was at a loss for words.

The two of them lay there, staring at the ceiling in silence.

As evening approached, Choi Moo-hyun went outside to light a fire in the stove. Kim Joon took out a burner and a pot from his store bag and cooked rice. Once the white rice was ready, he brought out side dishes like seasoned squid, radish kimchi, and beef jangjorim, and ate heartily.

Having subsisted on rice and vegetables for months, Choi Moo-hyun couldn’t resist the aroma.

“…Let’s eat together.”

Choi Moo-hyun set aside his pride for a moment.

“Promise you’ll come down,” Kim Joon said.

Choi Moo-hyun didn’t respond and continued eating his rice and vegetable side dishes, finishing his meal in the traditional Buddhist way.

Kim Joon started cooking ramen.

“Food tastes better in the mountains,” he said, slurping the noodles noisily.

The hermitage was small, and the smell of ramen filled the cramped space. Choi Moo-hyun, glaring at Kim Joon, sighed and went outside.

A little while later, Kim Joon came out with a paper cup of warm coffee and stood next to Choi Moo-hyun, who was looking down at the darkened valley.

The sweet aroma of the coffee made Choi Moo-hyun’s stomach rumble loudly, the sound carrying quite far.

“Want some?”

“You’re really annoying.”

“Just drink it. I won’t ask you to come down tomorrow.”

At that, Choi Moo-hyun took the paper cup and sipped the coffee. The sweet taste filled his mouth.

For a brief moment, he considered leaving the hermitage and returning to the bustling world filled with amazing food.

“Your mother is worried about you,” Kim Joon said, having met Choi Moo-hyun’s mother while searching for him.

“…Of course she is.”

“And your father too.”

“Don’t joke about that.”

Choi Moo-hyun’s father was the strongest person he knew and had raised his son to be strong as well. Even Devil’s Day hadn’t broken his father’s spirit. Despite the enormous losses the Heavenly Soul Guild had suffered, his father was undoubtedly working hard to rebuild.

“I’m envious of you.”

“Why?”

Choi Moo-hyun looked at Kim Joon.

“You have a father.”

At those words, Choi Moo-hyun crumpled the paper cup and threw it into the fire pit.

The paper cup turned to ash in the glowing embers. After nearly an hour of silence, Choi Moo-hyun pulled out some sweet potatoes.

“Want some?”

“Sure.”

The two of them sat on the porch, peeling and eating the hot sweet potatoes. The roasted sweet potatoes paired well with the cola Kim Joon had brought.

After eating his fill, Choi Moo-hyun propped himself up with his hands and looked at Kim Joon. In the distance, the faint sound of birdsong could be heard.

“I’m amazed by you,” Choi Moo-hyun said.

“Amazed?” Kim Joon asked, his mouth smudged with soot from the sweet potatoes.

“Everyone who miraculously survived that dungeon left. You’re the only one who stayed.”

“Oh, that?”

“I swore I’d never enter a dungeon again. I realized then that I couldn’t do raids anymore.”

“So, you ran away here?”

“…I came up here to rest and clear my mind. It’s not running away.”

Choi Moo-hyun tried to justify himself, but he knew better than anyone that he had indeed run away.

He looked directly at Kim Joon, his gaze intense.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“Of entering a dungeon?”

“…Yeah.”

Choi Moo-hyun was more honest than ever, surprising even himself with his straightforwardness.

Kim Joon put down the sweet potato he was eating. He sensed the seriousness of the moment. He understood why people abandoned their guilds and the profession of raiding. However, Kim Joon had an edge over them: he knew how to confront the monster called fear.

People fear the unknown. The terror of an unidentified entity is hard to endure. Initially, they fear the entity itself. But as time passes, they begin to fear their own fear and even come to despise themselves.

Kim Joon first felt the terror of dungeons through his father’s disappearance. When he was a freshman in high school, he went to the guild house and declared his desire to become a carrier to break the vicious cycle of fear. He wanted to understand the essence of his fear directly.

From the day he decided to become a carrier, his insomnia, sudden shortness of breath, and auditory hallucinations vanished as if by magic. From the day he set his sights on the dungeon that had swallowed his father, Kim Joon could sleep peacefully and go anywhere without fear.

Kim Joon shared the story of those difficult times, the sudden realization and determination that came to him, and the intense period of studying and running like mad. Though Choi Moo-hyun was close to Kim Joon, he had never heard such a deep and personal story before. As the story ended, Choi Moo-hyun understood why Kim Joon was the only one who remained at the guild house.

The overwhelming fear was a tunnel Kim Joon had already passed through. Suddenly, Choi Moo-hyun felt a surge of warmth in his chest. If Kim Joon could get through that tunnel, so could he. Kim Joon was both his friend and his rival.

But then, Choi Moo-hyun shook his head and sighed. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t bring himself to step into a dungeon where he had once barely survived a nuclear explosion by a miracle.

“Even if I go back, it won’t matter. There are no raiders left in the Uramata Guild. The master is probably still drowning in alcohol.”

“One has joined,” Kim Joon said, as if he had been waiting for this moment.

“…No way?”

Choi Moo-hyun knew well the dire situation of the Uramata Guild. The building was on the verge of being sold off. Without a miracle, the guild house would either be demolished or replaced by some other business.

“It’s true.”

“Who?”

“DF6 dealer Yoo Min-jung.”

“A level 6 dealer? Someone like that joined Uramata? Are they out of their mind?”

Choi Moo-hyun couldn’t help but get excited.

“That’s why we need you. We can’t raid without a tanker. The world’s strongest carrier is already here, so that’s covered.”

Choi Moo-hyun chuckled, and his laughter grew louder until he was openly laughing.

“You’ve learned to joke. You’ve changed a lot.”

“Someone has to keep talking.”

Kim Joon grinned, but Choi Moo-hyun could sense the weight behind his words. The guild house had suddenly emptied. Close friends had fled. Raiders had left like the receding tide. In such a situation, debt collectors had swarmed in. The guild master drowned himself in alcohol.

So, Kim Joon had endured for nearly three months, saying things like that. Choi Moo-hyun felt a mix of respect and mischief.

“How much will you pay? I’m a TL7.”

“Three hundred million won a year.”

“…What?”

Choi Moo-hyun was taken aback. Even though he had been hiding in the hermitage, he knew how the world worked. Raiders were no longer popular. Instead, they were seen as a profession to avoid, the number one job where you could die at any moment.

“What do you think?”

“Did you win the lottery or something?”

“It’ll be like that soon.”

“What do you mean?”

“The dungeons will open soon. We just need to go in and hit the jackpot.”

Kim Joon was talking about cores.

“You should quit being a carrier and become a con artist. You’d be great at it.”

“A con artist? Oh, you mean a scammer?”

“You’re saying such unbelievable things, but you make them sound so convincing.”

“Does that mean you’ll do it?”

Kim Joon’s eyes sparkled.

“Even if I wanted to, I can’t. We don’t have a buffer.”

“I’ll find one.”

“How?”

“I have my ways.”

Kim Joon was confident. Choi Moo-hyun couldn’t tell if he really had a plan or if he was just bluffing. He wondered if the hardships of the past three months had turned his amazing friend into a con artist.

“I can’t go down tomorrow.

“When will you come down?”

“It’ll take two days. I need to show some gratitude to the people who let me stay here.”

“Alright.”

Kim Joon knew well that Choi Moo-hyun was a man of pride.

“By the way, do you have more ramen?”

“Want me to cook some?”

“I’m going crazy here. Hurry up and cook it. Make two packs. No, three. And add some eggs.”

Choi Moo-hyun was already licking his lips.

====

***

====

Yoo Min-jung stood in front of the club. She could just push the thick glass doors and walk in, but she spent nearly five minutes standing there, contemplating why she had to do this.

She had decided to join the Uramata Guild because of the 700 million won salary, the good conditions, and her curiosity about the strange carrier named Kim Joon. But now she had to go around looking for a buffer?

If she found that carrier who disappeared claiming to look for a tanker, she would definitely give him a piece of her mind.

“Hey, Yoo Min-jung!”

Yoo Min-jung bit her lip as she turned her head. She had run into someone she didn’t want to see.

It was Noh Jung-hak, the buffer from Jushin.

“Hey.”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? About a month?”

“Maybe.”

“Let’s go in. Why are you standing out here?”

Noh Jung-hak led Yoo Min-jung into the club.

The ‘Young Raiders’ club was a place where young raiders gathered to listen to music, drink, and chat. It was dark, but the lighting was just right, creating a strangely comforting atmosphere.

“Everyone, look who’s here.”

When Noh Jung-hak shouted, the raiders turned their heads to look at Yoo Min-jung. A few of them got up and approached her.

“I heard you left Jushin,” said Son Hyun-soo, a tanker from Brave. He was in his late twenties, big but very agile.

“It just happened.”

“What do you mean, it just happened? You left because of your pride,” said Baek Hee-joo, a buffer from Jushin.

Yoo Min-jung said nothing.

Her position had been greatly shaken when her father, Yoo Wan-seop, once the strongest raider in Korea, opposed the official stance of the Korea Dungeon Association and Jushin. Eventually, Yoo Min-jung had no choice but to leave Jushin.

“Why are you here?” Noh Jung-hak asked.

“…Just because.”

“Just because? The Ice Princess, who never does anything without a purpose, is here just because? Oh, right. I heard you joined the Uramata Guild? They only have one tanker, and even he’s missing. Are you here looking for a buffer? If you find a decent buffer, you could start raiding again.”

It was Baek Hee-joo.

Yoo Min-jung’s face turned red. She was more curious than angry about how they knew the details.

“Is it true?” asked Min Tae-sik.

Yoo Min-jung didn’t know why she thought of Kim Joon at that moment. His nonsensical, delusional talk came to mind, and she found herself speaking without realizing it.

“Yes, I’m looking for a buffer. The salary is 500 million won. Spread the word. If any buffer is interested, tell them to come find me. Make sure to mention that their level should be at least 7.”

She spoke without changing her expression, leaving everyone speechless. This wasn’t the Yoo Min-jung they knew. To them, she was the proud and arrogant daughter of Korea’s strongest raider, someone hard to approach.

Slowly, like a model with perfect posture, Yoo Min-jung walked out of the club. Once outside, she dashed away, her face burning with embarrassment. She couldn’t understand why she had said such things.

“It’s because of that guy,” she muttered, running faster.

====

***

====

No matter how much he drank, he couldn’t forget the fact.

Thirty-two people had died.

Except for the Socrates team, all other teams had gone missing in the dungeon. As days turned into weeks, some people trickled out of the gate, but none were from the Uramata Guild. The fact that the Socrates team returned safely was a miracle.

A nuclear explosion had occurred inside the Gwanghwamun dungeon, killing everyone involved in the raid. The Nakdong River team from the Jushin Guild was also wiped out. Other dungeons had their share of casualties due to grade disruption, but the Gwanghwamun dungeon’s toll was particularly severe.

According to statistics compiled by the Dungeon Association, the survival rate for raiders on Devil’s Day was 65%. This meant that out of every hundred raiders, 35 had died.

The Uramata Guild, which had been growing steadily, faced numerous crises. Each time, it was a struggle, and sometimes it felt like dying would be easier. Especially when bank loans for the guild house were blocked for trivial reasons or conflicts with the Dungeon Association caused harm to the raiders, the anger made him want to destroy everything.

The hardships of the past seemed like a joke compared to the pain in his chest. The curses from the bereaved families sounded like sweet music. He drank with a sense of resignation.

When he sobered up, he reached for more alcohol. Each time, Kim Joon was there. He thought Kim Joon would leave eventually. No, he even harshly told him to leave, thinking it would be easier for him to find another path if he cut ties.

But Kim Joon, as if he had no feelings, would smile and bring more alcohol. When debt collectors came, Kim Joon dealt with them one by one. He also kept the guild house relatively clean.

Go Chul-min couldn’t understand why Kim Joon stayed at the guild house. Waking up sprawled on the master room floor, he reached out for the kettle. He grabbed it from the table and drank water in big gulps, then collapsed onto the sofa with a groan, his eyes still closed.

Fatigue washed over him. He wanted to sleep peacefully, but if he did, the faces of those who died in the dungeon would haunt him vividly. They would even come to him in his dreams. He couldn’t forget the wailing families.

“Alcohol!” Go Chul-min shouted.

This time, there was no response. His heart sank. Even Kim Joon had left. He thought he would feel relieved if Kim Joon disappeared, but he was wrong. It hurt even more. Having Kim Joon around had been a comfort. It made him feel like his life wasn’t a complete failure, not entirely hopeless.

“Kim Joon!” he shouted with all his might, but still, there was no answer.

Yeah, this is life. In the end, you’re left alone. The guild house he had built, forsaking marriage to achieve his dream, had collapsed. Soon, the police would come to drag him out.

Then, how should he live?