Awesome Awesome and much more Awesome
The goods that we got after clearing the rooms in the North side passage were only gold coins. However, if we totaled all the gold that we had collected in this expedition till now, it was 102 gold. It was okay for me, and the kids also didn’t seem to have any problems. It seemed like after getting the huge hit in west aisle, our ambitiousness had resided.
I encouraged them to take a break, but the kids themselves requested and decided to enter the rooms on the eastern side. Everyone had happy faces. And seeing these kids, a smile made its way onto my lips. Originally, when seeing the faces of the kids when they didn’t find the treasure, it affected me too.
The proceeding of the first floor of this Institute in the Ruins can be regarded as quite smooth. While there weren’t much dangerous moments, originally, it was uncommon to lose a caravan member when exploring a dungeon. Considering such things, we could say that our attack speed is very fast.
At the centre of this expedition that was going on were me and Vivian. Of course, all the players have been very observant about their surrounding, but Vivian was always in that state of mind, and she was skillful in a way. Not sure when she was dealing with a single monster, but she was of great help when dealing with the groups of major monsters.
After a while, we found the first room after entering the eastern passage. As a result of my detection, there was actually only one in the east passage. That is, if the room was all, then it is safe to say that we completely cleared the1st floor.
“There are stairs in front of me.”
I heard the voice of Jung Ha Yeon who turned her head to the side. As she said, 80 meters ahead, and we would reach the second floor. After clearing the room in front of my eyes, will we go to the second floor or will we have to camp? While I was worried about it, I opened my mouth after looking at everyone.
“That stairway over there is probably the one that leads to the second floor.”
“Origi, originally, the dungeon rooms on the second floor are more likely to get difficult to face.”
As Shin Sang Yong ended his statement, I nodded in agreement. Not all of the case, but from my experience, it could be considered that the dungeons on the higher are difficult and more likely tough to handle. I looked at the people who were waiting for my next words, as I was a little late.
“Firstly, lets clear the room that is in front of me, and then we will decide whether to continue the expedition on the same day or put up a camp.”
“Uh. This institute has no windows too. I don’t know whether this is day or night.”
Yoo-Jung grumbled in a low voice after scratching her head once or twice and placed her hands on her hips. Now, I could feel the same sensation in the members of the party too. However, I couldn’t catch out any reaction from inside of the room that we had detected. I was about to open the door without any hesitation.
Thulgak!
“Oh?”
“What hyung?”
When I paused. An Hyun put his head a little back.
“This room….”
I pushed it a little more, but the door didn’t budge. What kind of door this was I didn’t know, but to have a door closed like this.
“It is locked.”
“Ah. Then what? We just go up?”
“No.”
After briefly answering the easy question of Yoo-Jung, I kicked the door with my foot. Of course, I did use a certain amount of magic. Soon, I could see that there was something broken about the door, and the previously closed door was now opened freely. The people who were nervous, were amazed now and took out their weapons, but I couldn’t see anyone in that room. Everyone had a sigh of relief. Of course, Jung Ha Yeon didn’t forget to add in her thoughts.
“…… its hot.”
As we entered the room, we could see that the floor with the marble tiling was fading its color. There was a small bed on a side, and the sheets were nicely laid. As I turned my gaze towards the corner, I saw a desk, and butterflies were roaming in my stomach. A quill pen and rolling ink bottle, and a record sheet spread on one side.
There were clothes hanging on the shelf on the wall, that weren’t touched. More than half of them were damaged. As I looked around the room, I walked over to the bed and then moved near the sheets. There were a few pieces of ashes that appeared to have come from the human bones on the sheet. That meant the human being that last lived here, these were the bones of that human, and he was last alive on this sheet.
“Su-Hyun. Su-Hyun. Are we going to explore this room?”
Vivian lifted her head and asked me.
“Yes. That seems like it. One of you keep a lookout at entrance and all the others explore this room.”
As I completed saying, Shin Sand Yong departed from the room and walked towards the door. And the rest of the players spread out began to look inside room.
After a while the members of the party stood still with a blank expression. I was also the same. I couldn’t find anything that was worth being called as a profit. I wasn’t sure, so I activated the 3rd eye, but the result didn’t change yet.
“But I was hoping for something, a little more as the door of this room was locked.. Huh. This is bad.”
“Cheer up. Like the saying, this isn’t the end, it’s just clean.”
“Huh? Cheering up is okay, but the saying is a little weird.”
“Is that so.”
An Hyun and Yoo-Jung talked with each other and were trying to take lead in the conversation. Idiots.
“Oppa….”
Everyone was trying to get rid of their dull faces, when Sol called out. Once again, I was able to see her heading towards us with the speed of lightning. Soon, I could see that she had something in her hand when approaching us, and flinched when everyone was looking at her. After a while, Sol looked at all and started to cry. All the members of the party were flustered at this act.
“Why is it only when I want to say something….. why is it like that to me….. huek.”
I didn’t feel this to be right. So I approached her and calmed her down. Soon, Hyun also came towards Sol to comfort her.
“Haha. Sol had been silent so far, so everyone was expecting something.”
“Yes. Our Sol is a blessing. But if you cry you won’t be one.”
“…. Really? I’m a blessing?”
Was the expectation of the party a burden on her? Anyway, as Sol was calming down, I could see the subtle changes in the faces of everyone. Particularly, Jung Ha Yeon who stared at me as she wasn’t able to comprehend what she saw, and then a ‘kick’ sound was heard. As I turned my head I saw Sol, covering her mouth with her hand to stop the crying, and it was a funny thing to see.
After a few moments I received the records that Sol had in her hand, I could see some unknown characters. No. There were a few recognizable characters. Our ability wasn’t that blooming, but most of it was about the 1st level Hall Plane.
There were a few recognizable characters but honestly, I couldn’t say that it was so profound. As I looked at it briefly, I stopped at the middle of the record. There was smoothing in it. Certainly, there was a word that I understood, and I was looking at it. But Why was this….. I looked at the records for a while and then called out to Shin Sang Yong who was at the entrance.
“Mr. Shin Sang Yong.”
“Yes. Leader.”
“We have found an ancient record.”
“I will go over it now.”
He ran towards us to look at the record. When he tried to read the record, well, he just looked at me and frowned. This was the first time we’ve seen a look like this on him.
“Leader. It is too difficult.”
“Ha? Even then…. Uhm. Is that so?”
I almost said “D minus, and you can’t decode it?”, but I managed to keep my mouth shut, barely managed. Shin Sang Yong nodded his head with a sorry face and scratched his head.
“The ancient decoding rank isn’t as high as I thought. In particular, this institute contains words that only these people knew. Intermediate decryption is possible but it is difficult to grasp the whole content.”
“Hum.. Then that is it…”
I also frowned. The record in front wasn’t a simple record. This record was most likely to contain the information about this institute. And now it was a matter to continuing to explore and think about coming back and finishing it. It was then.
“Then give it to me. I’ll read it.”
“Huh?”
As I turned my head around, I saw Vivian trying to reach out to the record with an uncomfortable face. When I gazed at her, Vivian’s face turned much serious. That moment, I and al the members of the party, out faces turned blank, I a single thought passed through my brain.
“Vi, Vivian. Do you remember all the letters that were used in the ancient times?”
“…. What? Do you think of me as fool? How is one supposed to use magic then? Huh?!”
When I saw Vivian who was speaking to them I smiled. Why didn’t I think of this? I need not depend on Shin Sang Yong, but I already had Vivian who knows the ancient language. I smiled and handed the record to her. Vivian took the record and looked at it.
“I’m offended! I won’t decode!”
“Then give me the cape back.”
At my words, Vivian held onto the cloak tightly.
“Screw you. giving it once and taking it back….. Ah, okay. I’ll do it. I’ll do it… Ho Ho.. I’m not even supposed to joke around… hish! Sorry.”
Vivian tried to cover up her mistake, but as I kept staring at her, she just turned away. Soon, looking at her, it gave me the expression that she was working really hard at reading the record. I just sighed and took out tobacco and bit it with my mouth. It was a embarrassing feeling.
As soon as I tried to put it on fire, I saw the sparks at the end of it and an image near the door. I gulped reflexively and looked at it. I could see Jung Ha Yeon who was making a new face while looking at me.
“You have a good sense.”
“It was nothing.”
When Jung Ha Yeon answered humbly, Shin Sang Yong opened his mouth looking at us.
“Ha, Miss Ha Yeon. Didn’t you hate the smell of tobacco?”
“Huh?”
When this question came out if Shin Sang Yong’s mouth, Jung Ha Yeon had a flustered expression. However, Shin Sang Yong was speaking with a loud voice. Jung Ha Yeon was sending him a signal to shut his mouth up, but he wasn’t the kind of player who knew what that meant. He continued to speak with an unfamiliar face even after seeing the deathly face of Jung Ha Yeon.
“Ah. In the other caravan that we joined in the past, there were a few players. She really hated the smell of the tobacco. If someone wanted to smoke, they usually go afar or they wouldn’t smoke at all.”
“This.. I made a mistake.”
At those words, I lowered my hand with the tobacco, when Jung Ha Yeon’s slender hand caught mine. Then she lifted it and held back towards my mouth. And when I was shocked with it, she spoke.
“It is alright. Please smoke.”
“No. Is this is something that you don’t like….”
“Huuh. If it is Mr. Su-Hyun then it is okay. I can tolerate smoking a couple of times. And for your reference, those players used to smoke quite a lot of times in 10 minutes. I hope you don’t think of me a rigid woman.”
“Ah. Ye yes, of course.”
It seemed logical, but I also felt very uncomfortable. She didn’t have to say all those. Whatsoever, I could smoke…..
But. At those words Shin Sang Yong wasn’t done. He closed his eyes as if recollecting something, then opened his mouth again, shaking his head a little.
“Two times in ten minutes? That wasn’t it… Hmm”
Once again, Jung Ha Yeon was staring at Shin Sang Yong with sharp eyes and I noticed that. And at the same time there were subtle changes in the face of Yoo-Jung. Anyway, it was okay so I took the tobacco again and sucked on it. Still, I vented out the smoke towards the ceiling to keep a normal courtesy.
In the party, an awkward atmosphere fell. By the time this could get cleared up, Vivian had went to reading the last of the record as she was looking at the bottom and nodded her head with a strange look.
“Ha.”
“Is the decryption done?”
“Yes. This record is very interesting.”
“Oh, how is that? Master?”
Vivian Master, it didn’t have ring to it. She looked at Jung Ha Yeon and said to her.
“Honestly, I don’t deserve to say these kinds of words, but as I have looked into it…. I’ll say it. The contents of the record are different, it all points out to being crazy. Yes that is it. This lab is literally the place when all the crazy people gather to.”
“What does it contain…”
When Shin Sang Yong asked that, Vivian bit on her lip. But slowly Vivian opened her mouth.