258 – Dungeon and Nymph: Nymph’s Journey #1
“…Rejection?”
Yu Ara could not believe the news that her retirement application had been rejected.
It was the moment when all her plans to hand over the Patriot B team to her friend and colleague, Mayuhee, and retire fell apart.
It was also the moment when her dream of becoming a full-time housewife and ideal wife fluttered away, fading into the distance.
Yu Ara could not understand.
“Why? Why are you rejecting it? Didn’t you say that this time, the retirement application would be accepted? Yura, you need to explain this well. If not, I’ll pinch you!”
Yu Ara frowned deeply.
At this, Cha Yura trembled and calmly explained the information she knew.
“…Well, there was also the prison break incident recently, and the security situation has become severe. The higher-ups seem to think that if a powerful Awakened like you leaves, it would result in a significant loss for national security.”
Yu Ara was an unofficial S-ranker.
With public sentiment in turmoil due to the prison break incident, it was obvious that if Yu Ara quit her job, Korea would experience a security gap.
For the government, losing just one Awakened individual was a significant concern.
“It’s no wonder they’re considering releasing Kang Cheol-Min again.”
As Cha Yura shrugged her shoulders, Yu Ara calmed her slightly excited heart and asked again.
“Is that man being released again?”
Yu Ara and Kang Cheol-Min were colleagues as well as seniors and juniors, and they were competitors in a sense.
Of course, after Kang Cheol-Min had stranded Haildo on a deserted island, their trust in each other had completely broken. It was Yu Ara who had put Kang Cheol-Min in jail.
All the level 0 prisoners were monsters that Yu Ara and the Patriot team had locked up.
“There are not many people with skills as good as Kang Cheol-Min’s when it comes to chasing after the escaped level 0 beasts and criminals. In other words… it’s a judicial transaction. It wouldn’t be a bad thing for you, Ari.”
“Why? How could that not be a bad thing for me? I wish that man was still in jail.”
Yu Ara disliked Kang Cheol-Min.
It was because he had attacked Haildo.
How could it not be a bad thing for her if such a Kang Cheol-Min were to be released?
“The rejection of your retirement application is mainly because the escaped level 0 prisoner, Lee Dong-sik, is likely to harm you. You were the one who captured him, right? So it’s a protective measure.”
Yu Ara was someone with heightened senses.
She was also quick-witted.
“So, if I catch all the prisoners and the ‘instigator’ of the level 0 incident, my safety will be guaranteed again, and my retirement will be accepted? So you want me to bring back the escapees?”
“…Well, that’s how it is. But I’m not going to ask you to do it alone. This time, a pretty reliable ally will be joining the Patriot B team. Lee Yeon, come out.”
Clap-clap.
As Cha Yura clapped her hands, a slightly gloomy-looking woman appeared timidly.
Her identity was one of the level 0 monsters, “The Seer – Jin Li-yeon.”
“So it was you in the bird mask. The government agent who put me in prison…! I will never forget the grudge of being captured and locked away back then!”
Jin Li-yeon revealed her hostility towards Yu Ara.
Of course, when Yu Ara frowned, she flinched and took a few steps back.
“Jin Li-yeon, if you try to harm Senior Haildo after being released, I won’t let it slide.”
Yu Ara warned coldly and solemnly.
Then Jin Li-yeon trembled and curled her body.
“…Harm? Never, I revere that man, Haildo…! He is a person with infinite potential for quantitative expansion…! He is truly the ideal savior I have been looking for…!”
“……”
“The name of the new religion I’ll establish has been decided as ‘The Path of Truth’…! Truth means a single way. Ari, would you like to join? Since it has come to this, let us forget the grudges of the past.”
“‘The Path of Truth’…”
Yu Ara felt somewhat uneasy.
If it were ‘Ari♥Path’ instead of ‘The Path of Truth,’ she might have had the slightest inclination to join.
Shaking her head vigorously, Yu Ara said.
“Alright. Once I catch all the escapees, then I’ll retire.”
Yu Ara wanted to end her busy public servant life.
Once she became free, she planned to be a bit more proactive in ‘supporting’ Haildo.
Ding-.
At that moment, Cha Yura’s phone rang.
“Oh, it’s a call from Il-do, who went home…”
Swiftly, Yu Ara checked her phone.
There was no contact from Haildo on her phone.
Whoosh-.
Yu Ara pinched Cha Yura’s cheek.
“Corebug, pinch!”
“Hiyaah…! Why…!?”
“First of all, I contacted Cha Yura and Seo Ye-rim.”
The ones who could exert influence over the entry of T-class rifts were S-rankers.
Even if it was an anomalous rift that appeared in the well in my house, if it was T-class, recklessly deciding to enter could lead to a great disaster.
However, Seo Ye-rim and Cha Yura must be busy dealing with the aftermath of the prison break incident at Namsan Prison today.
I honestly didn’t know if they could be dispatched to my house today.
“Yura Yura Yura Inoi: Il-do, it seems it will take at least 3 hours to get to the well. Ye-rim probably needs about that long too?”
“Three hours? What to do.”
I peered into the well.
Crackle, crackle-.
The magical energy flickered at the entrance of the rift.
“If the little one, Ji-ho, went in here with Kalilnoi….”
Woof-woof…!
The Kkungkkungi perched on my shoulder barked.
It seemed Kkungkkungi caught the scent of little Ji-ho near the well.
The chances of a young child surviving after falling into a rift were not high.
Especially with it being T-class, the survival rate was even lower.
Even though there were Kalilnoi and Squirrel Beast on the inside, could a child really survive for three hours in a T-class rift?
Time might flow differently between here and inside that rift.
Three hours here could potentially mean several days there.
“I need to rescue the honorary Nymph…!”
Oinoi declared while looking into the well with determination.
After pondering various factors, I ultimately decided that entering was the best course of action.
“To be honest, with my current abilities, I might be able to go head-to-head with S-rankers.”
I recalled Tang So-hae, the youngest S-ranker.
Tang So-hae had ascended to the rank of S-ranker using bees and the Nymph of the Four Heavenly Tribes.
But I had a record of defeating Tang So-hae.
Although at the time, she was an A-ranker.
“If I have Bang Bang and Kkungkkungi, Ahn Ahn and Mion can help, we might be able to manage somehow, right?”
With that thought in mind, I decided to enter the anomalous rift.
Swish-.
Just as I tied a rope around my waist and was about to move toward the rift.
Clack-.
I sensed a presence approaching the yard.
As I turned my head while sitting on the well, a woman dressed in a black gown and a technical suit looked at me with a gas mask shaped like a bird.
It was the information agent I had always been wary of, “Plague Doctor.”
“You are—.”
“I am Korea’s unofficial S-ranker, ‘Plague Doctor.’ Haildo, I heard you were in trouble, so I came. A lot has happened so far, but let’s put it aside for a moment and cooperate, shall we?”
Sniff sniff-.
Hearing her distorted voice, I caught a scent.
The mask of the Plague Doctor emitted a refreshing peppermint scent.
Had she sprayed perfume to numb my sense of smell?
Woof-woof…!
It was the scent of mint that Kkungkkungi liked.
Kkungkkungi seemed to be in a good mood, wriggling all around, and it was quite distracting.
Oinoi also raised his hand enthusiastically.
“This Oinoinoi senses a familiar energy from this peculiar woman with the bird mask…! She surely is an acquaintance of mine…!”
Oinoinoi perked up as if he sensed something.
Upon hearing this, Haildo reacted.
“Is that true? Oinoinoi, do you know her? If you know someone, there’s a high probability that I might know them too…”
Haildo, sitting by the well, opened his narrow eyes.
Yu Ara, trying hard to keep calm despite feeling her hair stand on end, smirked.
“You must be mistaken. We have no connection and I don’t know her. Is there anyone among your acquaintances who could do something like this?”
Yu Ara picked up some balls that had fallen in the yard.
They were items that Kkungkkungi and the Squirrel Beast often played with.
“Look.”
Lying on the ground, Yu Ara used her hands and feet to juggle five balls simultaneously.
Spinning, spinning, spinning, spin-.
It was a very skillful performance, and Haildo was greatly impressed.
“Impressive. You look like a circus performer! I don’t think anyone I know could do that. Oinoinoi, you must have made a mistake.”
“……”
Oinoinoi kept silent, with his eyes half-open.
Feeling somewhat anxious as Oinoinoi perked up his little triangular ears, Yu Ara pushed Haildo’s back, urging him to enter the rift.
“Come on, let’s hurry up and go in.”
Yu Ara, Haildo, the Nymph Oinoinoi, and the small animals entered the rift.
Upon facing the sight within, everyone stopped their thoughts, mouths agape.
“The village has appeared…! It looks like a very lively village…!”
Just as Oinoinoi said, the scene revealed before the group was reminiscent of a peaceful village.
In this situation, Haildo, who had significant experience with rifts, calmly assessed the situation.
“It seems the entrance coordinates were unstable. Anomalous rifts have many variables. There’s no guarantee that entering the same location will lead to the same place.”
As the nostalgic medieval village landscape with chimneys rose, a group of armored soldiers soon appeared, surrounding the group.
“━─!”
“──!”
Though they couldn’t understand the soldiers’ language, it was clear that they were not welcoming.
For a moment, everyone tensed as the soldiers bound Oinoinoi!
“Hiyaah…! I don’t understand why they’re binding this Oinoinoi…! Surely, they’re Nymph-hating Nymph hunters…! Hiyaaah…!”
Nymph hunters!?
The villains I had only heard of!?
I thought I had to save Oinoinoi and pulled Kkungkkungi from my pocket.
At that moment.
“Everyone, stop!”
A person wearing a white veil like a bride appeared among the soldiers and spoke.
“Put down your weapons! On a night when two moons rise, stars fall, and people are led to the hero… the prophecy has been fulfilled! Brave warrior from a distant land, we have been waiting for you!”
