Chapter 131
The mansion didn’t have any of the personal information of pre-Awakened while the Second Virtue was out. There were no locked computer files or paper files in a safe either. Apparently, he must have carried it with him all the time.
That night, I could now confirm that the files were back in his desk drawer. I skimmed through the entire list and found a person with the trait ‘Explorer’ as I had expected. Woo Yeon-Hee and I had received it as a reward for being the first and second to discover dungeons, but this person had gotten it out of luck like Leon. He would have definitely encountered a dungeon, and he was fortunate since he was still alive. In the past, people called him ‘Braun Nase[1]’ because he had once stuck his nose on his boss’s butt and got poop on his nose.
There were others who were as lucky as Braun Nase, but no one had psychic skills like Woo Yeon-Hee as she was an extremely rare case.
***
The next day, the pre-Awakened were gathered, and there were no defectors. The atmosphere had been solemn last night, probably because no one knew why the dungeon shut down. I knew that this would only happen when all members of the invading party died, even if they were civilians. I turned towards the civilian mercenaries who were packing their backpacks.
There were two groups here. One was made of only pre-Awakened, and the other held the civilian mercenaries. In total, there were around one hundred people, and there were more civilians present. The Second Virtue was explaining that all of us would enter the dungeon while Braun Nase was loitering around him. The Second Virtue let him be as he knew that Braun Nase was special. In fact, the dungeon we would head to soon might have been discovered by Braun Nase.
I noticed that the group already had a hierarchy as those the Second Virtue placed in the frontline had useful skills and traits, such as Chaser and Explorer, and could bring results from the dungeon. The Fourth Virtue was one of them, but he was treated the same as others despite his wishes.
When I first joined, I thought that the Fourth Virtue would be the Second Virtue’s henchman, but I had never seen them talking at all. He was like Mick as he had pledged his loyalty just because of the Second Virtue’s charisma and the allure of belonging to his group.
“I don’t know if you are lucky or not. I’ve been training intensely for a year, but you’ve done it only for a week. There’s bound to be a difference in the dungeon, so stay close to me,” the Fourth Virtue told me.
The Fourth Virtue had asked his superior to get me into his team. It might have been because I was the only other Asian beside him here.
“Get on board!”
I heard the shout in the distance, and the Fourth Virtue got up first after tapping my shoulder. The trucks loaded with supplies and the vans were about to move, and a total of eight people, including the Fourth Virtue and me, got on the truck. We were the only pre-Awakened, and the other six were civilian mercenaries.
When a mercenary who seemed strong and experienced spoke up, everyone else stopped talking and paid attention to him. He had a briefing in German and seemed to be warning the Fourth Virtue. Then, the Fourth Virtue translated it into English for me like last night.
“His name is Oliver, and he is the leader of our team. He’s treating you like a burden since you joined last week and cannot communicate in German. I believe that you’ll be able to prove yourself that you are capable enough for this,” the Fourth Virtue said.
Then, he taught me everyone’s name in the van, the names I didn’t need to remember. I exchanged greetings with the mercenaries, and it was obvious that they were not welcoming me. The reality was that inexperienced pre-Awakened were thought to be weaker than mercenaries who had survived battlefields.
It felt surreal that the most potent force Revolucion had started like this and that the Fourth Virtue was treated like this. When I smirked, the mercenaries stared at me coldly, and the Fourth Virtue instantly warned me, “Forget our abilities. The only advantage you have against them is your insignias. Now that we’re on one team, our life depends on them. You would know this already, right?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“Then, what’s wrong?” he asked.
The problem was that nothing was going right. The Second Virtue was carrying out a massive scale of military operations, and the Fourth Virtue clearly wasn’t aware of it. The number of people didn’t matter as it could be poisonous. It could lead to enormous panic in the dungeon, resulting in significant casualties.
“Common sense won’t work in dungeons as a strong mentality would be more significant than marksmanship in there. I was just wondering how many of them were strong-minded,” I said.
“They’ll be much stronger than you and me, so shut up and do as you’re told,” he replied bluntly, as if he wanted to punch me.
***
It took more than two hours to get there, and our van arrived later than the others. When we arrived, the supernatural scene had already caught everyone’s attention. I saw the eerie blue light emitting from the underground stairway leading into the dungeon. The Second Virtue had arrived first and opened it already. He was now speaking to his troops in front of the entrance.
In the past, his speeches were famous as he was well-acknowledged for being able to mesmerize a crowd. I had no choice but to agree because everyone’s eyes, including the Fourth Virtue’s, were now fixed on him. No one interpreted for me, but I could feel the aura coming from the Second Virtue. When he finished his speech, Braun Nase clapped with tears in his eyes and everyone started cheering.
Waaaaaaah!
People seemed to be shouting something like ‘We can do it!’ in German. While the area was secured enough so people could scream out loud, the incursion should have been done quietly. However, the Second Virtue urged them on by shaking their hands and acting like the head of a country who encouraged commandos before they left for a special mission.
Before they lost steam, the Second Virtue began sending teams into the dungeon, and it was our turn.
“Thank you for trusting and following me. The reward will be shared with everyone, so please do your best, Lee,” he said.
He seemed to have planned to enter last or not at all. It didn’t matter, but the best-case scenario would be him joining us.
“You have given me courage. I’ll wait for you there,” I replied to check his reaction. His gaze was not disturbed, nor did he try to hide his emotions with a smile. Surprisingly, it looked like he was planning to come in, despite everything he had in this world. I was impressed that such a rich man was trying to step into an unknown space where he could die. I had to admit that he had been consistent in treating his subordinates, or at least he didn’t seem pretentious. That was important.
“Are you ready?”
The Fourth Virtue tapped my shoulder when the Second Virtue left to encourage others. Braun Nase was beside him, flattering as much as he could.
“Words mean little, and if things go as you said, our leader will realize who the real deal is in the dungeon,” the Fourth Virtue said while looking at the Braun Nase with his eyes filled with hatred and jealousy.
“What did you do in your civilian life, Michael?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter.”
He avoided answering me, and he must have been a social outcast. Society, especially Wall Street, said it was ridiculous when incompetent men tried to be sycophantic to others, but it was considered ‘political power’ when those with abilities did the same thing. People who could sell themselves and their abilities lasted longer as spots everywhere were limited. Political fights between the intelligent and ambitious elites often began with flattering others, so I thought Braun Nase was doing a smart thing. People like him had a strong mentality even though they sometimes pulled dirty tricks.
Anyway, the Fourth Virtue entered first and looked at me in surprise when I took a step off the stairway.
“I got a skill called ‘Night Eyes.’ What about you?” His voice was filled with joy.
“I got it, too. But it’s too early to be happy if we all received the same skill,” I replied.
“Oh…right.”
“There’s no reason to think too much about skills because the cooldown times are quite long, and they are quite weak. Let’s head down first,” I said.
The next team started coming down the stairs, and the entrance room was quite noisy. Oliver, our leader, was trying to turn on the flashlights, but modern technology didn’t work down here. The mercenaries were asking the pre-Awakened questions as they were using flames from simple flint and propane lighters to see. Oliver and my team’s mercenaries also held onto the Fourth Virtue and began asking a bunch of questions.
“...These people can’t see anything. They are basically trapped in the dark,” the Fourth Virtue said.
Some of the mercenaries hurriedly created torches, and they seemed to have realized that the dungeon’s darkness wasn’t normal. Regardless of the size of the lights, they all illuminated the same distance. It was only bright enough to check the face of the person next to them. When the tension built up, a few more teams came down with the Second Virtue. His voice echoed, and the Fourth Virtue translated his words into English.
“He said he will reorganize the teams. Follow me.”
1. ‘Brown nose’ in German. 👈