Chapter 1192

<Chapter 1192>

I stopped in my tracks and glanced around the area.

Solid ground, towering trees with heavy branches, and a sky filled with pristine white clouds. Nothing out of the ordinary caught my eye.

There was nothing special here. I wondered why Ha Seung-hui had chosen this particular spot. Silently, I observed her.

Ha Seung-hui gently placed the bag she’d been carrying on her back onto the ground. From what I heard, it’s an expensive artifact. The bag has far more capacity than it appears, and it even reduces weight. Rumor has it that it costs over 1 trillion won.

I didn’t envy her bag at all since I’ve got an inventory system way more convenient than hers.

She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a glass bottle filled with green liquid. HB-1. A replica of Hebel’s Catalyst. Its appearance was practically identical to the original.

“Testing it here? There’s nothing here… Are you planning to use it on the tree?”

“You don’t know much, do you? There’s a Bellafric right there.”

“Bella… what?”

She started rustling through the bushes. She found a plant and smirked. Carefully, she began digging up the plant by scratching at the soil.

“Bellafric. It’s one of the common herbs you’ll find in dungeons. Excellent for reducing fevers. Especially, its roots are used as ingredients in potions.”

“…If it’s a potion ingredient, it must be pretty pricey, huh.”

“Yes. It usually trades for about 120,000 won.”

After harvesting the Bellafric, she shredded the roots into pieces and scattered them around. Then, she poured an entire bottle of HB-1 onto the ground.

The shredded root fragments wriggled and regenerated. The roots burrowed underground while the upper parts grew into stems. Seung-hui and I stepped back to observe as the Bellafric herb sprouted in less than a minute.

It didn’t stop there. The fruit of the Bellafric fell to the ground, and where the fruit landed, new plants sprouted and multiplied.

In just three minutes, the entire surrounding area was covered with Bellafric.

“This should be about 300 plants or so. I’m satisfied.”

“120,000 won times 300…”

“36 million won.”

“How much are you planning to sell HB-1 for?”

“I’m thinking of selling each bottle for 50 million won.”

“That expensive?”

“It’s cheap. Think about it. If you can get seeds of herbs worth over 500,000 won each, you can make several times more profit. Of course, the price of the herbs might drop eventually.”

“You using HB-1 to monopolize herb cultivation and sales? That way, you could make even more money, right?”

“Monopolizing creates problems. The biggest issue is that it makes unnecessary enemies. Personally, I’d rather create allies than enemies.”

Ssssshhhhh…

A chilling sound echoed.

Seung-hui and I looked around, our eyes widening. All the plants except the Bellafric—trees and bushes alike—began to wither and twist grotesquely.

“The side effects are quite strong, huh. Did the same thing happen on Earth?”

“…No. It wasn’t this extreme. We need to figure out if this only happens in dungeons or if the Bellafric herb itself is special.”

She took out a wooden box and stored the Bellafric inside. I could sense mana emanating from the box—it seemed to have some kind of special effect.

“Planning to take it with you? It would be a waste to just leave it.”

“Yeah…”


“This also needs to be studied. The surface looks fine, but… we don’t know what problems might be inside.”

We moved again. We found more herbs. Just like before, we used HB-1 to instantly cultivate the herbs. The result was exactly the same as with Bellapuric. The surrounding plants immediately withered.

“…We should test this in other dungeons too. Will you help?”

“Yeah, it’s not that hard.”

I looked ahead.

There was a serene lake. It must have been about 1 km in diameter. Pink lotus flowers floated on the water.

It was a mysterious and peaceful scene. However, Ha Seunghee and I didn’t approach the lake closely. Beneath this beautiful lake lurked a D-Rank monster called Fogsnake.

The Fogsnake is a snake with a frog-like head and legs. They attack with their long tongues. The tip of the tongue is sharp like a needle and carries poison.

“Senior, do you know what happens if you spray HB-1 into water?”

“I’ve never tried it in water, so no idea.”

“It weakens when diluted in water. If there’s too much water, the effect disappears completely.”

“Hmm… spraying HB-1 here probably won’t work then.”

“That’s still uncertain. This *is* a dungeon after all.”

Seunghee took out three bottles of HB-1 from her bag. She poured all three bottles into the lake at once. The green liquid seemed to dilute, but it was absorbed by the nearby lotuses. Changes began. The lotus petals fell off, and seeds were expelled from the receptacles. The seeds sank to the bottom of the lake and started growing rapidly.

“The reaction is the same as with the other herbs.”

A problem arose. The other lotuses around them dried up and died. Not only that, the water became polluted and murky. Only the lotuses affected by HB-1 maintained their proud appearance.

Seunghee reached out to harvest one of the lotuses. I pulled her back by the collar. A Fogsnake suddenly leaped out of the water, its tongue stretching toward where Seunghee’s head had been. The tongue was over 1 meter long!

“Fogsnake?! Why would it… even though we didn’t enter the lake?!”

“The water’s polluted. Maybe it got pissed off.”

I stepped forward, drawing my Hwalnyubido sword and swung it. I cut off the Fogsnake’s tongue and struck its head, killing it easily. Fogsnakes aren’t hard to deal with as long as you avoid their surprise attacks.

‘Avoiding those surprises is the hard part.’

I kept my sword out, staying alert. There was no guarantee only one would attack.

“Yu Jin-senpai, please gather some lotuses.”

“Got it. One will do?”

“No, five. We need them for research. Pull the roots too.”

Approaching the lake, I extended my left hand and grabbed a lotus, pulling it towards me. I failed to pull out the root; the stem broke instead.

“This’ll have to do.”

“…What about the root?”

To get the root, I’d have to go into the lake, and I didn’t want to.

“You can do it yourself if you want.”

“…Didn’t you agree to help properly?”

“Don’t feel like getting wet.”

“Is that so? I heard the hotel we booked has an amazing bathtub… guess you won’t be enjoying that then, huh?”

“…Bathtub play, huh? Not bad.”

I stepped into the lake. A few Fogsnakes swam over to ambush me. I swung my sword underwater, sending their corpses floating to the surface along with the disturbed water.

‘This is annoying.’

Crackle.

Lightning sparked in my palm.

“Don’t use lightning. It might affect the lotuses.”

That made sense.

“Alright.”

Carefully, I began digging up the lotuses from the roots.

‘This kind of grunt work is something slaves should do…’

It was bothersome, but there was nothing I could do. After all this effort, Ha Seunghee would surely give me some service tonight.

‘After using me like this… I should at least see her ‘heat dance’ tonight to break even.’

Peeeeeeeeeek.

While harvesting the fourth lotus, an irritating sound rang in my ears.

It sounded like someone blowing hard into a flute without playing any tune.

Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!

I located the source of the sound. About 300 meters away, deep in the forest.

‘There’s something like this in this dungeon…’


There aren’t any monsters making noise. Was the preliminary investigation wrong? Or….’

Or it could be the doing of someone who snuck into the dungeon.

The moment that thought crossed my mind, I discarded the lotus in my hand and stepped beside Ha Seung-hee by the lake.

“Senior?”

“…They’re coming.”

I pushed Ha Seung-hee behind me and extended my hand towards the front. Dozens of Fognecks suddenly burst forth and charged.

Zzzziiippp.

I discharged the lightning gathered in my palm. Dozens of lightning tendrils swept through the Fognecks. The electrocuted creatures collapsed helplessly to the ground.

Peeeeek! Peeeeeeek!

The sound of a whistle rang out again.

Dozens of Fognecks leaped out from the lake. Those snake-bodied, frog-legged creatures can move on land. What’s more horrifying is that they don’t slither like snakes but hop around like frogs.

“…Every time the whistle blows, Fognecks appear. Are they being controlled by the whistle?”

Hunters have all sorts of abilities. It wouldn’t be strange for someone to control monsters with a whistle. And you could think of it differently—it might not be a person but a monster-controlling flute.

“It seems like someone snuck into the dungeon without us noticing.”

“…But there were Guild employees guarding the entrance.”

“They must’ve slipped through a gap. The skill level of those guards was pretty average after all.”

Zzzziippp.

Dozens of Fognecks charge against me while crackling with electricity. Fortunately, these guys are D-Rank monsters without electrical resistance. Just releasing the lightning is enough to kill dozens of them.

‘As long as my mana doesn’t run out.’

Peeeek! Peeeeeeeeeek!

Splashsplashsplash.

Fognecks leap out of the lake. They’re aiming precisely at me and Ha Seung-hee. I ran with her towards where the whistle is coming from.

“…Senior. We need to eliminate whoever’s blowing that whistle here.”

Ha Seung-hee said coldly, her face set in stone. She swung her hand towards the Fognecks chasing us from behind. Her invisible nails ability tore the Fognecks into five pieces.

“Is this Ha Joon-soo’s doing?”

“No. That’s unlikely. Big Brother already missed his chance. Physically harming me would mean losing his position as heir forever.”

“He wouldn’t get caught if the president didn’t find out, though.”

“There’s no way Grandfather wouldn’t have put someone to keep an eye on Big Brother. Anyway, we need to take care of this guy here. HB-1 shouldn’t be revealed to the world yet!”

“Any idea who this guy might be?”

“…Too many possibilities. The most likely culprits are rival companies…but there are over five capable of doing something like this. Including guilds or overseas companies…it’s giving me a headache. Honestly, it’d be easier just to capture him and interrogate him.”

“If capturing and questioning him is so easy, let’s do it. What’s the problem?”

“Senior!!”

Ha Seung-hee shouted. We had no choice but to stop. We were surrounded by hundreds of Fognecks.

“This kind of encirclement makes no sense. The intelligence of Fognecks is…on par with ordinary beasts.”

“The one playing the flute must be controlling them.”

I gave a nonchalant reply and gripped my Hwaryeonbidu swords in both hands. Zzzzip. Crimson lightning coursed along the blades.

Eeeeeeeek!

The Fognecks emitted sharp cries, opening their mouths and lunging forward simultaneously. It looked like hundreds of tentacles were reaching out to grab us.

Bang!

I plunged the Hwaryeonbidu into the ground.

Crimson lightning seeped into the earth before surging upward toward the sky and spreading in all directions. Hundreds of Fognecks were electrocuted, and trees and bushes caught fire.

“Let’s go.”

“Aren’t you going to collect the magic stones? Even D-Rank bottom-tier stones…in that quantity, it’d be like hitting the jackpot.”

“I’m not interested in pocket change.”

I spotted him.

He sat atop a rock, cloaked in a hooded robe. His curly black hair reached his shoulders, and his sunken eyes stared deeply. Seeing us, he lowered the wooden flute from his lips.