No Dark Secrets In This Book

Episode 99

…As soon as I, a damn genius, felt the earthquake-like vibration, I had a hunch. 

“A dungeon break…?!”

Moreover, this dungeon is in the shadow world.  

“Damn it, I thought it wasn’t supposed to break yet!”

The report delivered by the Russian military led by Ivan Karpin had the expected date of the dungeon break written on it, and it was clearly far from today’s date. As soon as I felt the vibration, curses burst out before I could even think about keeping up appearances as the mastermind behind ‘Cassice Demillang’. Although it had already been a profanity party since earlier, still, as the shadowy figure… There was no more room to comfort my heart with nonsense. The vibration was too intense. If Ryuseong hadn’t grabbed and lifted me up, I would have fallen over.

When I quickly looked outside the tent where we were, everywhere had already been swallowed into the dungeon. There was nowhere to run. The barracks we were in hadn’t been engulfed yet, but it seemed like avoiding it would be pointless anyway. No matter how much a person ran, a dungeon break was like a wave or an earthquake, so it was impossible for a person to beat nature, as if to show that the terrain and objects were breaking, crumbling, collapsing, and…

Splash! 

…The moment it seemed like ‘someone’ was trying to embrace ‘me’, all the senses I possessed as a person scattered.  

As far as I know, a diver throwing their body from a cliff into the sea is not called a dangerous act. However, in some cases, cliff diving is called dangerous.

When the surface of the sea they are trying to jump into is low, or if the person has decided to die.

I think this dungeon has a low sea level.

‘This is dangerous…’

I don’t know what’s what, but the thought that it’s dangerous… Tho-ught. Did I have a thought? Dungeon? What’s that? I don’t remember. Anyway, ‘I’ fell into somewhere. That’s the one thing I clearly remember. Like Alice in Wonderland crawling through a small gap, ‘I’ fell into a wormhole, and…

I’m floating between Cassice Demillang and Jeong Ian.  

‘Huh. What nonsense.’

In an instant, I feel myself going crazy. The senses pour out in a lump and flow back down the esophagus. I want to spit it out, but I feel nauseous at the forced meal. Perhaps this is not a meal, but the process of ‘recognizing’ reality, but I run away. Someone may sneer that I’m stupid, but I feel the need to escape from reality, even for a moment. I feel like I need to spit out crazy words before my ego goes insane in order to come to my senses.

So let’s start from the beginning. Let’s retrace.

‘Hello, Cassice Demillang. My name is Jeong Ian.’

The name of the person who fell into the book from a distant place that Cassice Demillang cannot know is Jeong Ian, Jeong Ian. Even if no one remembers, ‘I’ have to know that. I am Jeong Ian. The place where I have lived is the 21st-century modern society. For me, who has lived in a world without monsters or awakened ones, the experience of being sucked into a dungeon where a break has occurred is – of course – the first time. I’ve had all kinds of experiences, but this feeling is different from sinking into a swamp. It feels like my body is being plucked out and my soul is being pulled out. As if a vacuum cleaner sucks up the dust on the floor, or as if a black hole greedily swallows stars and planets and closes its mouth. Everything is…

‘Shut up. I’m not curious about such things, so talk about yourself.’

Did I say that? I don’t remember well. What’s certain is that I want to cover my ears. But to move my arms and legs here and there, the concept of limbs is detachable to me, so it doesn’t matter.  

‘You’re definitely crazy.’

The senses are all vibrating. It’s like a fetus being born from the womb. I have to get out of this square, even if I have to put strength into my head. I try to swallow back the senses I was spitting out. I must not lose my mind.

‘Why?’

I feel a fishy and foul smell sticking to me. The intangible scent detected by the sense of smell can carry out the concept of a question, that’s really amazing…

‘Why must you not lose your mind?’

Oh, what the hell are you saying. I feel like I have to answer. But the an-swer. The language is cut off in a lump and revives wriggling. The an-swer. It feels like something is trying to delete my right to speak. But you messed with the wrong person. The person named Jeong Ian becomes even more stubborn the more you try to break her. Damn you. If you wanted to shut my mouth, you should have at least been my family.

When I open my mouth wide, I feel something barging into my mouth by force. What rushes in is a squishy and unpleasantly damp jelly-like thing. I frantically bite it with my solid and robust teeth, aiming for a bit of room to operate my vocal organs. 

I feel like I’m screaming.

“Stop the barking noise!”

Then in an instant, my senses awakened. To be precise, the perception called cognition revived, and “Uweeegh,” I desperately started vomiting. It was too disgusting to bear. Because, the thing I was chewing on until just now was a squishy mud slime monster, damn it! “Uweeegh.” I consistently vomited and wiped under my nose with my hand to draw blood, then silently drew a formula. “Uweegh.”

Kueeegh…!

Don’t misunderstand. This sound was not made by me. It’s just that the mud slime was baked faster than the vomiting subsided, overlapping the vomiting sound with its dying throes. But I can’t be satisfied with a simple death. Like a craftsman who thoroughly dries the clay to bake pottery, I seriously made a bowl shape with the dead slime corpse, and as soon as a shape I liked came out, I smashed it with a bang!

“Damn it damn it. F*cking slime.”

Damn, I was really surprised. When I only heard about the shadow world, I let my guard down a bit, but it was no joke. Now that the monster, the owner of the dungeon and the target to clear it, has become a named-grade, the shadow world, which is the monster’s territory, had become a strict neighborhood where even mud slimes attempt mind control. I had to keep a tight grip on my mind to be able to escape.

‘Ah, right. It’s not about running away, it’s about me gaining merit here to save face.’

Daaaamn it. Merit or whatever, I just want to see Ryuseong?

“Oh my. What was I thinking to do such a stupid thing…”

Life is so tough that a sigh naturally comes out. Of course, I know. I’m aware. It was a necessary task. It was something that had to be done to save everyone. But whether it’s essential or not, what’s hard is hard. I’m so worried that I might get sick from playing the role of a strategist that’s not even in my fate… Suddenly, I remembered a phrase that caught my eye while investigating the shadow world.

“Human memories are reassembled and generated in the shadow.”

…So falling into the shadow world means having your memories dug up every time.

Is this what it means to be a strategist, having to voluntarily do this kind of crap?

‘It’s really a damn 3D job.’

I tried to forcibly turn away from the bleak future and looked around. Unlike the real world, the shadow world has a slightly more murky and darker shade. Therefore, the space swallowed by the shadow world can be distinguished with the naked eye.

Of course, for me who had been notified of the dungeon opening schedule in advance, it was an absurd and infuriating situation.  

‘I thought it wasn’t breaking yet. Ivan Karpin, are you senile?’

Anyway, as I finished looking around, the cheat key of the regressor that I firmly believed in was nowhere to be seen. I guess we got separated while entering the dungeon. None of my business.

Suddenly, resentment surges up. Damn it. Damn bastard. You said you wouldn’t disappear. You said you’d always be by my side!

“Already breaking your promise?”

You’re dead now. You bastard.

I ominously rolled up my sleeves. And no matter what happened, I tried to walk to tear apart the dungeon, but…

“Ouch.”

Right. I’m severely injured. That dick Baskerville beat the crap out of me and knocked me down. I was caught by the slime in that state, and my mind nearly collapsed and my ego was about to shatter, so it made sense that I couldn’t move. Damn it.

The next moment, I collapsed without being able to walk and made groaning sounds while holding my stomach. 

…Can I heal with a potion? This?

‘…Ryuseong said no?’

I need a doctor. No matter how much I think about it, this can’t be solved without a doctor. But then I heard something like a presence coming from the alley next to me, so I let it approach. Just in case, I dreamed of a miracle, hoping that a group of healers might appear.  

Kieeeegh!

But what appeared were shadow monsters trying to swallow quality meat.

‘Oh, man.’

I swung the killing tool I had wrapped around my hand towards them with cold eyes. Bam! The monsters died easily. It was natural. This is a super strong wide-area murder weapon designed to kill Dick Baskerville.

However, I regretted not using this magic on Dick Baskerville’s corpse.

‘The nation of familial execution made a mistake.’

I was having such thoughts when,

Thump, thump.

The sound of human footsteps could be heard.

‘What? Is this the sound of Ryuseong’s footsteps…?’