TRPM 424

chapter 424

For now, I left the completed dungeon detector with Morris.

It was fairly large, so I wondered how he would carry it around…

“I didn’t expect him to bring a truck.”

Morris had rented a truck and loaded the detector into its cargo bed, saying he would drive around testing it in various places. I warned him that the detector only works properly just outside the range of low-frequency devices, so he needed to be careful about where he went.

“Yes, I’m aware of that much,” he said.

After assuring me not to worry, Morris drove off in the truck.

…Would this be okay?

“It should be fine. Nowadays, you can check where low-frequency devices are installed just by searching online,” Sophia said.

“…Really?”

“You didn’t know?”

“Nope.”

Ah, I vaguely remembered seeing a news article about something similar. Back then, it had reported that investigations were underway so that anyone could check safe zones where dungeons wouldn’t appear.

‘Looks like that investigation has been completed over time.’

So, while I attended school and Sophia and Yeon Mirae went to the Ironblood Guild, Morris diligently tested the detector. About two weeks later—two days before Morris’ vacation ended—we finally confirmed whether the detector worked as intended.

“This is it! The hidden dungeon has been successfully detected! We’ve also confirmed that there were no other dungeons nearby,” Morris exclaimed.

“Calm down.”

“Oh, right. You’ll want the evidence first, right? Here’s the video I recorded, this certificate proving the dungeon has been officially recognized as a hidden dungeon by the Association, and here are samples I took to ensure the detector didn’t pick up any other nearby dungeons…”

Morris, unable to hide his excitement, pulled out all the documents he had prepared. I had felt a bit guilty for giving him such a tedious task, but seeing his enthusiasm, there was really no need to feel sorry. That said, it wasn’t like I wasn’t going to reward him for essentially working through his vacation.

More importantly…

‘During finals, I completely forgot about Morris.’

When we were studying for our finals with our classmates, I suddenly remembered Morris when he contacted me about the detector. I wasn’t the only one who forgot—Yeon Mirae and Sophia had also been busy with guild duties, and only remembered to entrust the task to him after he contacted them.

“I wonder if it was slow or fast for the detector to find a hidden dungeon in two weeks,” I said.

“Probably fast, considering the number of hidden dungeons is small. Even people specifically searching for them have a hard time finding them,” Sophia replied.

Listening to that, I photographed all the materials Morris had sent and prepared to forward them to Association Chairman Richard.

“So, my part is done, right?”

“Yes. Why?”

“I just hope you’re not going to give me more work before I leave.”

As I was sending the data, I overheard a conversation behind me between Morris and Sophia.

“I’m busy these days, but it’s not to the point that we need your help. You’re not in a position to help either,” Sophia said.

“Same here. The incidents keep happening, but those are matters for the police and criminal-specialized guilds,” Yeon Mirae added.

…As they said, incidents hadn’t stopped for about two weeks. Things similar to the hostage situation on the first day kept happening. Luckily, the police and guild responded quickly, so casualties weren’t too high.

‘The Ironblood Guild specializes in dungeon raids, but previously they were a criminal-specialized guild, so they helped a little.’

But that was only during the first week. With incidents happening continuously for so long, the Ironblood Guild returned to focusing on dungeon raids instead of following every incident. And they weren’t the only ones.

Buzz…

I felt my phone vibrate and checked the screen.

“…Looks like another incident happened nearby,” Yeon Mirae murmured, probably because her own phone vibrated as well. A message appeared, warning that a crime had occurred nearby and to stay away from the scene. On the surface, there was nothing wrong. It was just to prevent civilians from getting caught in the incident. The problem was…

“This is the third message today.”

The messages had become far too frequent. Even though they were genuine alerts from the police, people had started to treat them as nuisances. Honestly, I was partially annoyed by them myself.

‘I can handle getting involved in crime, but ordinary civilians can’t.’

People had grown desensitized to the warnings, leading some to ignore messages and go into crime scenes or visit out of curiosity. The police tried to prevent this, but couldn’t stop everyone, so there were still victims.

“Have they identified the mastermind?”

“No. A Mars-based organization is the main suspect, but there’s no concrete evidence. Meanwhile, other criminal organizations that had been hiding seized the opportunity to emerge, making the investigation difficult. The biggest problem is a lack of manpower.”

Initially, the widespread crimes were suspected to be a smokescreen to divert attention from the real target, but after nearly two weeks, that theory was losing credibility.

I decided to forget about the detector and the ongoing minor crimes and focus on school. Some might call it irresponsible, but I had done everything I could with the detector, and as for crime…

‘Maintaining public order isn’t really my role, is it?’

There was a time when I had worked as an “artist” to catch criminals, improving public safety in Korea. But I couldn’t always be the totem reducing crime rates.

‘I only acted as an artist in the past because things were chaotic.’

Also, unlike before, I now had no dolls to use for artist activities—the doll is currently using Woo Ji-min’s body.

“Hmm… Hey, how do I solve this?”

While thinking this, Ryu Ah-young, who was diligently working on a workbook, asked.

“Oh, this one…”

Elena approached and began to patiently explain. We were at Kang Garam’s house studying together for finals. Even though it was a group study session, it seemed like Ryu Ah-min and Ryu Ah-young were the ones receiving most of the instruction.

‘I thought Jin Chun-ha would occasionally ask questions, but apparently not.’

Watching Jin Chun-ha diligently working, I realized he was probably trying to solve all the problems before asking questions, so he could retain more information.

‘This is better for memory than asking immediately when stuck.’

I looked over at the problems he had solved.

‘This one’s correct. This one too… Oh, this is a trick question, and he got it right?’

He had clearly studied hard. I continued watching him work.

‘Oh, correct. Wow, this must have been tough. Correct again.’

But…

‘…Correct.’

Something felt off.

‘…Correct.’

Jin Chun-ha had gotten all the problems correct so far. That didn’t make sense. There was only one problem left, and he had answered every other question correctly. If someone like Lee Ha-eun, Elena, Lee Doo-min, or Kang Garam had been solving this workbook, it would have made sense—they were smart and had studied hard.

‘Not that Jin Chun-ha is dumb or hasn’t studied…’

At that moment, he said:

“I’ve finished. Can someone grade it?”

“I’ll do it.”

Kang Garam took Jin Chun-ha’s workbook to check the answers.

“…Hmm?”

Garam also seemed to notice something unusual.

“What’s wrong?”

“Wait a second.”

As Garam reacted strangely, everyone’s attention focused on him. Naturally, Jin Chun-ha was also watching.

Thud!

Garam finished grading and placed the red pen down.

“Hey, Jin Chun-ha.”

“You called me?”

“Where else would Jin Chun-ha be?”

Anyway.

“You didn’t cheat, did you?”

Everyone turned to look at Jin Chun-ha.

“What do you mean?”

“How did you get everything correct? That’s impossible!”

“…That seems a bit harsh,” Jin Chun-ha said, looking wronged. But no one believed him. Considering his usual grades, it was understandable.

“Even so, cheating seems unlikely.”

“The disappointment is huge.”

“Eh, why cheat when you can just guess like me?”

The other students assumed he had cheated.

“Wait, guys,” I stopped them. Then I asked Jin Chun-ha:

“Hey, you didn’t cheat, right?”

“I didn’t.”

…He looked me straight in the eye as he said it.

‘The confident posture, steady gaze, and the marks he left while solving the problems.’

All things considered…

“Looks like he solved it honestly.”

I couldn’t assume he had cheated. The students’ reactions split in two:

“…Really?”

“Wow… you really worked hard?”

Some believed me and admired Jin Chun-ha, while others were skeptical:

“That’s impossible… He must have memorized the answers beforehand and just pretended to solve them.”

The best way to decide was obvious:

“Bring more problems. Let’s have him solve them.”