75. Ghost Is Moving
One of the three leaders of the radical faction, Ghost, came in.
Dark Lady, who was in the middle of reading through a report on the dungeon explosion, was not pleased at Ghost"s visit.
Despite Ghost"s lack of interest in the internal power struggle of the radical faction, he was still one of the leaders that stood on the same level as Joker and herself.
There was always a possibility that he could turn with a hidden blade.
With a bright smile on his face, Ghost spoke.
"Hey… If you saw someone arriving, you should at least greet them, Dark Lady. What about Joker? You still haven"t found him?"
"….."
"Where did he go? Our leader Joker? It amused me how he charged as if to kill if I made fun of him."
"Ha… What"s your business?"
"Aren"t you curious? If he really did enter the Unknown Dungeon, or…although it would be impossible, but maybe he was killed by someone?"
"I asked what your business was, Ghost."
"Cold as usual. No reason. It"s been awhile since we have seen each other in the meeting with Zekill, so I thought to drop by."
"So you"re done with your business now?"
"Are you telling me to leave already? You"re being too harsh… Oh! Is that the report on the project?"
"….."
With a playful expression, Ghost pointed the report on Dark Lady"s table.
To his action, Dark Lady frowned.
Giving a sharp glare at Ghost, Dark Lady began to gather the paperwork.
Looking at her actions, Ghost spoke.
"Pfft! Dark Lady, are you doing that because you think I"ll sneak a peek? You"re a lot cuter than you let on."
She clenched her fists, clearly angered.
The killing intent around her seemed to become visible.
She did not enjoy Ghost"s carefree att.i.tude.
Dark Lady spoke in an aggressive manner.
"I do not understand how… you are still able to hold onto the role of leader. I even doubted Zekill"s abilities. All thanks to you. I had doubted it when he placed a crazy clown like yourself on the seat of leadership."
"Hm… Sometimes, I think so too. I"m not someone who"s good at climbing the ranks, so don"t hate me too much. And don"t you know I don"t have any interest in projects like that?"
"Is there anything you"re interested in?"
"Dunno. Wanna guess?"
"You aren"t interested in anything. Business, honor, and even Zekill and his subordinates. To be fair, your cla.s.s and trait, and even your name is like a ghost, without a form. There"s no way I could understand."
"Wow! What you said just now, were you that curious? If you want to know, come to Gangwon-do to play. Let"s talk over a meal. I"ll explain everything. How about it?"
"Can you cut it out with that modest act?"
"Heh heh."
"Whew… Please get out of my sight. Unlike you, I"m not someone who is always idle."
"Alright. Alright. I"ll leave quickly. But….."
For a split second, Ghost"s face became serious.
Turning around, he spoke as held onto the door handle.
What he spoke, it could"ve been serious or a joke.
"Stop wasting Necklace of Searching. Joker is already dead."
"Didn"t you understand me the first time? Stop joking around and get out!"
"Pfft. I"ll come back later to play. See you."
"Crazy b.a.s.t.a.r.d…."
After leaving the room, Ghost muttered as if speaking to someone else.
His expression wasn"t really a smile or a frown, and wasn"t expressionless either.
He had a twisted expression, as if many emotions had been all crammed into one face.
His mad mutterings slowly became clearer and clearer.
"Joker… Dead…. Yangpyeong… Someone… Ha.. Pff-hahaha!"
"Hm… I"m not sure if this is the correct answer to your question, but a portal to another dimension had been opened before."
"Are you sure it"s not the Lich King dungeon? The gate that forms next to the exit, I mean."
Jong Ho, Ho Jin, and me.
The three of us were gathered at the office.
I had told them about the abilities behind the marble and the swords, and was asking about the Unknown Dungeon.
When I had obtained the highest ranking Lich King"s armor set, I remembered that a gate had formed next to the exit: the Door to h.e.l.l.
It was the 2nd boss room, where Lich Kings of all 7 ranks appeared.
It was possible that what Ho Jin was talking about was the Door to h.e.l.l.
Noticing the reason behind my question, Ho Jin spoke.
"Are you talking about the Door to h.e.l.l? That"s not it."
"Oh… Then is it really the Unknown Dungeon."
"I can"t say for sure, but would you care to listen?"
"Yes. We have to try to succeed. Please tell me."
"Let"s do that then. This happened around 5 years after I joined the a.s.sociation, around 15 years ago."
"Min-Cheol, doesn"t it feel like Jo Hin hyung-nim is reading us a bedtime story?"
"Pfft."
"Hoho… It was the 25th anniversary since the portals began forming. The a.s.sociation went into a state of emergency. As it was every year, a portal that gains a growth ring would explode. You are probably aware of how the monsters that appeared after level 20 were on another level. The Awakened were given only a year. The growth you could achieve in that time was laughable…."
Swallowing down his spit, Ho Jin continued to speak.
"… Just like every year, the portal exploded without fail. Thankfully though, a single portal had exploded. It was a level 25 portal, where only physical attacks would work. 300 warriors and 100 healers in the a.s.sociation were deployed."
"There were that many Awakened in the a.s.sociation back then?"
"Yes. Guilds had just started to form around that time."
"Ah…."
"Continuing on. Out of the deployed Awakened… only a hundred returned after defeating the boss. Out of the 400, the survival rate was only 25%."
"300 Awakened were killed…."
"At the time, the Awakened that were exiting the cleared portal couldn"t help but stop."
"Why is that?"
"It was because two exits were formed."
"Hm… From what you"ve said so far, it sounds like the Lich King dungeon."
"Yes. That"s right. Just like with the Door to h.e.l.l, a gate that was shaped differently from the exit formed."
"If that"s the case, is there anyone who went in there?"
"Yes. There was. The major at the time, Park Joon Sik, headed in."
"Did he come back alive?"
"No. Sadly, he went missing."
"He made a reckless choice."
"Yes. He made all the survivors leave through the exit first. Since it was something he decided all on his own, no one knows what he really was thinking."
"Hm.. So you"re saying that the Unknown Dungeon was the portal that opened back then?"
"Ah… Please think of it as a gate to another dimension had opened within the dungeon."
After Ho Jin finished speaking, I sunk deep in thought.
It was to figure out the reason behind why the gate formed.
That lasted for a brief moment, as I opened my mouth while looking at Ho Jin.
"I can narrow the condition required for the portal to form into three possibilities."
"Are we thinking the same thing?"
"Yes. Hyung too?"
"Yep. The first possibility is that the gate forms when a portal the leveled all the way from level 1 explodes. But there were a lot of portals that exploded from level 1 to 25. Since the gate only formed in the level 25 portal, it"s highly unlikely."
"Correct. The second possibility is that there is a low rate of the gate opening in the level 25 portal."
"That"s right. You really did study a bit before Awakening. O-gugu."