Chapter 55

The first Level 2 gate outbreak produced the coldest winter in Korean history. Numerous Hunters tried to defeat the boss somehow before the Dungeon Break occurred, but in the end, they failed. Countless people died in Cheorwon, and countless people had to swallow their longing.

One of them was Seora, who had only been ten years old.

Seora’s mother, Hyun Jaehee, died because of the dungeon.

Everyone said, “It was never a vain death,” because she had gotten the Lock by killing the monster that had come out of there, preventing a bigger disaster. Although a boss mob later killed her, everyone survived with one sacrifice.

But had she really saved everyone? Was she really the hero who saved everyone?

She, who eventually brought longing to her young daughter, would never be called a hero for life by her daughter.

‘Of course, I don’t blame you now.’

Twelve years had passed since then, and Seora, who had grown into an adult, was not a child who cried every night looking for her mother.

Yes, obviously. But why was her chest so heavy?

“-ra.”

Seora clenched her fist. Her fingertips were cold, perhaps because her chest was heavy.

“-ra.”

It felt strangely stiff, as if immersed in ice water, so she grabbed her hands and rubbed her fingers. Still, there was no warmth.

Like the last of a hero who saved everyone and died long ago.

“Seora!”

Seora bit her lips tightly. Calm down. Don’t look pathetic, and calm down.

[Administrator: ๐(৹˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥˚৹)๐]

“Ah.”

At that moment, her reason suddenly returned because of the emoticon that flashed before her. When she came to, Jarim was watching her.

“Are you okay?”

Seora wiped her face. Even if she pretended not to be, it seemed she hadn’t forgotten all of the past.

“I can work.”

I should. It’s the theft of the Key.

Something terrible could happen, so Seora patted her cheeks to awaken her mind.

After the interrogation, the two headed back to the Castle Tower Guild headquarters to find out if the guild leader had hidden the Key somewhere in the headquarters. They would have to prepare for the worst if it weren’t here.

“Where is Guild Leader Jung?”

When Seora asked the staff of the accident investigation team who was thoroughly examining the inside of the headquarters with Jung Hoyoung, he pointed to the inside.

“She’s searching in the guild leader’s office, looking for a hidden safe.”

“Thank you.”

When she entered the guild leader’s room with the door wide open, she saw Jung Hoyoung tearing the wall behind the desk. Thud. Thud. Bang. A lump of hardened cement and something resembling a steel frame fell to the floor, half-broken.

Was the original wall supposed to break so easily?

“You’re very strong.”

“The person beside you will probably find it easy as well,” Jung Hoyoung said softly, throwing a heavy lump of cement back lightly. “I’m glad I came. There’s a safe here.”

Inside the shattered wall was a safe, like a small square box.

“There was nothing in the underground warehouse. If it’s not here either, that means the Key isn’t here.”

“Please open the safe.”

The guild leader who knew the password is dead. So how are we going to open the safe?

When Seora glanced at Jarim, she smiled broadly, saying, “Don’t worry,” before grabbing the safe door and ripping it off.

Crack! Crack!

“…”

Although she had asked for it, it was very disturbing to see the door of this solid safe open so easily.

From now on, I’ll have to be nice to Jarim. She might get rid of me like that safe if I slight her.

“Seora, I can’t tell you the good news.” Jung Hoyoung, searching through the safe, made a sad face. There were gold bars, jewels, and a few documents, but the most important Key was nowhere to be seen.

That meant.

“It seems that the guild leader kept it in his inventory.”

An Awakened’s inventory was the best secret warehouse of the present time. Once you put it inside, there was no way to steal it.

However, only until the owner died.

When an Awakened died, all items in their inventory would spill out.

“It looks like someone has found the Key. Here. There’s a situation where it was sold to an auction.”

Seora received the documents from Jung Hoyoung and looked through them.

Auctions were different from item stores run by the system. It was a dark place to trade dangerous goods for sale in a traceable shop secretly.

The document contained the circumstances in which the Key was bought and sold at the auction.

“As expected, the purpose was money. WDO and the association reward the person who finds a Lock or Key, but many people want to buy them at auctions with more money than that.”

Seora patted the papers and sighed. Trading people’s lives for money. How stupid.

“The exterminator of Castle Tower Guild may have been someone the guild leader came into contact with at the auction. The culprit must’ve killed him immediately without rummaging through a safe or a warehouse because they already knew about his information.”

“What about Hunting Guild?”

“We’re checking the alibi.”

Nothing was certain, but Seora thought he was innocent. Baek Guntae’s, who shouted that the Key had been stolen, face had been sincere.

‘Besides, just looking at the traces left here…’

Widespread bloodstains or mutilated bodies carried to the mortuary contained the other person’s emotions.

A volcano of anger.

Isn’t it just someone he contacted at the auction? I can’t figure out why he committed such a cruel thing as if he had a grudge.

“We’ll have to prepare for now.”

First, contact the World Dungeon Management Organization and ask them to strengthen the boundaries of the locked dungeons.

There were a total of five dungeons locked in the world, as Seora knew. Except for the one in Korea, all of them were Level 1, the only places that could not be attacked and required the power of Locks. When this fact became known, the world would go into a state of emergency.

After deep breathing, Seora came out of the guild room alone. She had something to check.

“I saved his name as ‘Absolute Damage’. But I often contact him.”

Kang Sejun, a regressor who still didn’t say anything even though this had happened. Seora called him.

— I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to tell you. I didn’t know either.

But at the reply that came back, Seora doubted her ears.

“What? Again? Hey, how many times have you lived your life? The appearance of Sung Jarim is the same. Why don’t you know so many things?”

— Regressors don’t know everything. The reality is that even the smallest thing can change things.

“Ugh, so this has never happened before? Then what about the conflict between Hunting and Castle Tower?”

— Mm… I can’t remember the little things, so I don’t know.

Unbelievable. You’re such a useless returnee.

— Do you think I’m useless now?

“Don’t be quick-witted only at times like this. What about the extermination of Castle Tower? You should be able to remember this much.”

— … Sigh. I certainly remember that. That didn’t happen, either.

Seora frowned at Kang Sejun’s assertion. This may be more troublesome than I think.

— There was a time when a locked dungeon was opened. But that wasn’t in Korea, and the Key wasn’t stolen. The US opened a dungeon with a Key found by chance.

“You mean that Cheorwon has never been opened?”

— Yeah, that’s for sure.

“Can you come to the Castle Tower guild headquarters and investigate the traces of the Key stealer? You said you could use magic of all attributes.

— Send me the address. I’ll go right away.

After sending the address, Seora called Do Junyoung and reported the situation. It would be nice if Kang Sejun could find traces, but if not, it would be difficult.

Seora rubbed her heavy shoulders for no reason. The dark ominousness was still clinging to her back, and it was unknown when it would fall.

***

It was a day when the whole world was wet with gray.

Seora, sitting alone in the living room with a large window, stared blankly at the sky. The pouring rainwater made her feel like crying.

I’m the one who wants to cry, but what does the sky cry for? The bad sky that took my mom.

Today is the funeral of Mom and Dad.

They said that Mom was killed in a fight with a monster. It is said that Dad escaped at the last request of Mom but eventually died of severe wounds.

Those were all the words she picked up from people who liked to chatter. Aunt Hanna and Brother don’t tell me things like this.

Seora couldn’t tell if it was fortunate to hear such a thing or if it was better not to know.

Click. Click. At that time, someone opened the locked door and came in, but Seora did not even turn her head and sat quietly in front of the cold window.

The next moment, she was in a large, generous, hot, and lonely embrace from someone who had lost her most beloved friend.

“Seora.”

Her shoulders were wet.

“Seora, my niece.”

Seora hadn’t attended her parents’ funeral, which had been held on a grand scale in Seoul. Hanna didn’t want the young siblings, who were left behind after losing their parents, who sacrificed for everyone, to hear people’s gossip.

Although the brother Jaehun refused her suggestion and attended, Seora decided to stay quietly at home.

“Don’t stand out.”

Because she didn’t like the gaze watching her every move as they had done to her parents.

“Your aunt will protect you. I will protect you so you can live quietly without everyone noticing.”

They. Those who chirped like birds.

Both parents were Awakened, and the mother was even an S-class, so perhaps they thought their children might grow up that way. They’d sacrifice themselves for everyone, just like their parents.

People tried to put shackles at will.

Seora didn’t like that.

“Seora, I promise that that weight will not weigh you down.”

I don’t like being strong, and I hate having to protect someone.

I like a normal life where you don’t have to worry about protecting others.

Just like my family did before the world fell.

“Mom and Dad are idiots.”

But, as a young girl, that was all she could say.

Like the gray sky, Seora’s sleeves soon got wet.

[T/N: I first thought Seora doesn’t want to let Hanna knows about her reawakening because the author meant to make Song Hanna a character with a comically unrealistic sense of justice, who will force Seora to fulfill her responsibility as an S-class. But after seeing this chapter, it seems like she’ll even help Seora hide it from the mass, so I don’t understand why Seora insists on not letting her know. What can I say? It’s a fictional story, and some things will always have a hole without any explanation that makes sense.]