Chapter 27
“Noah!!!”
In an instant, the distance between Baek Yi-heon and me widened.
He shouted loudly, then wrapped blue mana around his legs and leaped effortlessly across the sea surface.
My body sinking into the sea, him getting closer, and a dark hole appearing beneath my feet all happened simultaneously.
“Noah!!!”
The moment his hand finally grasped my wrist.
Both our bodies fell into the center of the black seawater vortex.
In an instant, the scenery before my eyes changed.
[(Messenger) You have entered the hidden dungeon ‘Sea of Mangsang (望祥)’. Dungeon difficulty assessed as E-rank.]
I opened my eyes, which I had closed, and blinked again in confusion.
The sea was upside down.
“What is this…”
Even the always-calm Baek Yi-heon froze in place for a moment this time.
Above our joined hands was the blue sea with waves crashing.
Below our feet, a sky with white clouds drifting spread out.
An instinctive fear that we might fall straight down if we took even one step washed over my whole body.
“Where on earth is this place?”
Baek Yi-heon muttered with a stiff face.
This is the dungeon.
When the dungeon door opens, all the monsters pour out from inside.
It’s a system created by evil gods to kill humans even in places far from the Tower. If I had to compare it, it would be like a branch office in the Tower.
Therefore, dungeons usually occur in areas densely populated by humans.
‘Since it’s a beach, there must have been a time when people gathered here, so it formed inside the sea.’
Inside here, the dungeon’s master, that is, a minion of the evil gods, resides.
The dungeon won’t be destroyed unless we kill it.
“I’m not sure either. However, according to my guardian spirit, this place is structured to kill humans who intrude.”
I gave a minimal explanation for Baek Yi-heon, who, unlike me, was dragged into this dungeon without knowing anything.
“To kill humans? This scenery doesn’t look particularly threatening right now.”
“This isn’t real.”
I retorted sharply.
The characteristics of each dungeon are influenced by the location and environment where it formed.
Mangsang (望祥) Beach.
Mangsang means ‘hoping for good things’, a name derived from a poem written by Jeong Cheol, a Joseon Dynasty scholar and poet, as he passed by this beach reminiscing about an old lover.
The combat difficulty of this dungeon itself is markedly low.
That’s why I deliberately brought Baek Yi-heon, who doesn’t even have a proper weapon, from the beginning. However…
‘The danger here lies elsewhere.’
Far away, something hazy approached through the clouds in the inverted sky.
“That’s…”
Baek Yi-heon trailed off, uncharacteristically.
At the same time, my eyes lost focus as I recognized the identity of the approaching figure.
‘Don’t be fooled, you absolutely must not be fooled.’
The figure that came right up to my face muttered softly.
“…Noah-ya.”
Soft brown hair reaching down to the chest.
A face and neck and hands still without a single wrinkle.
Warm eyes looking at me.
“Noah-ya, my daughter.”
Mom was smiling at me.
This dungeon, in exchange for its low combat difficulty, is ruled by a mental monster.
It’s not for nothing that this place is named Mangsang (望祥, hoping for good things).
That inverted sky mirror shows the deepest, most desperate wish hidden in a human’s inner self.
Should I say it’s a dungeon perfectly suited for this apocalypse?
Outside this dungeon situated in the sea is a ruined world teeming with monsters.
Humans trapped in the hope shown by the dungeon, even knowing it’s a false dream, can’t easily escape.
‘One of the protagonist’s companions called this dungeon a ‘Venus flytrap’.’
Where flies, drawn by the sweet smell, unknowingly fall in and die.
“Go away.”
I tried to steel my heart as I glared at the approaching illusion of my mother.
“I know what you are. You’re a lie, an illusion…”
“Noah. My beloved daughter.”
“…What a ridiculous dream.”
Because there’s no way Mom would call me that.
No matter how much I wished and wished, Mom never loved me after my father’s crime was revealed when I was seven years old.
“Noah-ya. Mommy’s sorry.”
“Stop it, you bastards!”
I shouted roughly, covering my ears with both hands.
I had expected this when I decided to come here, but facing my long-held wish directly shook my heart violently.
After all that happened.
After being abandoned until the very end.
In the end, I found myself unbearably irritated and ashamed that I most wanted my mother’s apology and love like this.
I felt like a dog that whined and clung back to its owner even after being kicked and cursed at.
“I said stop! You monster bastards! Demons! Is human suffering so amusing to you?!”
“I’m sorry. But you know mommy loves you, right Noah?”
Since it was an illusion echoing in my head anyway, closing my eyes and covering my ears was useless.
Baek Yi-heon is probably seeing a different illusion from mine right now.
Baek Yi-heon.
I, who had been writhing with my ears covered, suddenly raised my head.
That’s right.
I brought him here with my own hands.
‘If I break down here after doing that, I won’t be able to face Baek Yi-heon.’
Remembering this fact suddenly cleared my head.
I bit my lip hard with my teeth.
The sharp pain brought me back to reality.
“Noah-ya…”
“Get lost.”
I took out the fruit knife I had secretly pocketed at the mart and gripped it in my hand.
“I don’t have parents anymore.”
With those words, I unhesitatingly gripped the knife.
Red blood spilled onto the floor where the sky mirror was spread.
“I’m sorry, but I know how to break free from this illusion.”
In the novel, it took Baek Yi-heon’s companions days of struggle to figure this out because their leader panicked.
The Venus flytrap is the hint.
That plant doesn’t have the ability to kill trapped flies instantly.
Instead, it waits for the fly to exhaust itself, trying to escape the sticky trap before eating it.
The thing showing this illusion is ultimately a monster too.
So, I decided to give it what it wanted willingly.
Like spreading bait in seawater.
‘Reveal your filthy true form.’
The image of my mother in front of me crumbled like a sandcastle.
At the same time, the sky mirror split as if being torn, and a hideous monster poked its head out from the gap.
That’s right.
It must have been hibernating in the hidden dungeon without tasting prey for a long time.
So, how could it resist the smell of prey?
The monster finally revealed its full body above the surface.
A long body closer to a snake than a lizard, with four short legs attached.
“C-rank marine monster, Nicker…”
It’s a dragon derivative, but much weaker than the strongest monster, the dragon.
In animal terms, you could call it a water snake.
It mainly inhabits wells, rivers, and seashores, and because it lives in water, it has no wings but fins instead.
Unlike dragons whose scales can’t be pierced by ordinary means, this creature is physically very weak.
My fruit knife could probably pierce it.
That’s why it releases its venomous fangs into the water to trap humans in illusions before eating them when they’re near death.
Excited by the prospect of prey after a long time, the Nicker opened its mouth full of teeth and lunged at me.
“You water snake bastard!”
I thrust the fruit knife into its open mouth with all my anger.
Kyaaaagh—!
Then I quickly stepped back.
The giant water snake let out a spine-chilling scream and writhed in pain for a while…
Soon, it went limp.
Along with that, with a shattering sound, the surroundings began to crumble.
We had escaped from the illusion prison.
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