UHNA 18

Chapter 18

Bari-degi’s Domain (1)

[You might be better off taking the mental barrier potion yourself.]

“I see. That’s good. Mm, and what you heard is right.”

I shrugged slightly.

“I’m weak, so I just have to work harder. So I won’t be as much of a hindrance.”

Yuhui stared at me for a moment.

Her eyes wavered, just a little.

It was only for a brief instant.

When I said I was weak first, it felt like the sharp edge of her mood snapped off somewhere.

“Hari.”

Yuhui spoke quietly.

“Do you really think that?”

“Yeah.”

I answered honestly.

“Everyone knows I’m weak. So I thought that if I could at least make useful potions, it might help. You said it was good, so I’m really, really happy.”

Of course, the biggest reason was that I liked not being dragged into dungeons.

But there was no one in this school who would understand that. Entering dungeons was considered beneficial, and also an honor.

There was no need to say it out loud.

‘It would only interfere with business.’

Yuhui looked at my face for a long time.

As if she were trying to read something inside my expression.

As if we had been close for a long time and she had been watching me for years.

‘In reality, it’s only been a few days.’

Strangely enough, despite that, the atmosphere right now was quite good.

Later, after Yoo Hanseong safely saved the world, if I ever had to sign a potion supply contract with someone, I thought it would be nice if it were with Yuhui.

Out of pure fan feelings.

“Hari.”

Suddenly, Yuhui lightly grabbed my wrist.

There was almost no strength in it, but it felt careful, deliberate.

“…This won’t do.”

“Huh?”

“You—don’t stay alone. Even when you’re practicing, it’d be better to put some kind of precaution in place.”

Suddenly?

But outwardly, I replied gently.

“I’m fine even if I’m alone.”

“I don’t think you will be.”

Yuhui interrupted me very quietly.

“Why?”

“All I can see is a future where you get taken advantage of—”

“Hm?”

She muttered so softly that I couldn’t hear it clearly.

At that moment, I heard Erich sigh once, and the constant muttering stopped.

Now it seemed like I should be able to hear clearly.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing. It’s just a feeling. I think it’s better if you’re not alone.”

A feeling?

More than that, we weren’t even that close, but she was being extremely considerate…

I tilted my head blankly, and even after finishing her drink, she continued gently persuading me for a long while.

She even suggested that I draw a simple barrier formation at the entrance of the workshop to keep intruders out.

For about thirty minutes, I listened in a daze, enjoying it without thinking much. After that, I just nodded mechanically.

‘I think I read somewhere that Yuhui is an interrogation specialist. Was this kind of interrogation…?’

No. That wasn’t it. Definitely not that.

Only after I nodded three times did Yuhui stand up, looking oddly refreshed.

She walked me all the way to the old school building teacher’s office when I said I was heading to the workshop, left me with some bright encouragement, and then left.

Surprisingly, when two weeks had passed since I started running around nonstop,

I asked Erich, who lately had grown quieter and only made his earrings sparkle, what he thought.

“Erich, do you think I might not actually be hopeless with my hands?”

[What nonsense are you saying?]

“No, really. My D-rank potion success rate has gone up a lot already.”

It wasn’t a speed you could call normal for an F-rank. No—most healers of other ranks would be shocked by this speed too.

Was it because I could practice nonstop thanks to Erich?

“It’s faster than expected. Then it’s about time to start something more serious.”

After raising my potion success rate to a certain level, I needed to begin preparations for the first dungeon.

That meant not only mental barrier potions, but also several special potions.

“I need materials!”

[Special potions cost money to make, and you won’t be able to sell them for a proper price, you know?]

“Still. If we don’t have them, it’ll be even worse in an emergency.”

[Hoo.]

Listening to Erich’s strange sigh, I clenched my fist.

Thinking that it was finally time to clear that dungeon.

There was one dungeon in the original story that Yoo Hanseong never knew about.

Every time I thought about that fact, I couldn’t help but smile a little.

That dungeon became known when a certain supporting character miraculously survived and discovered it.

The fact that only one person came back alive already explained what kind of dungeon it was.

And the words that person left behind were this:

‘It only leaves behind what kind of choices the dungeon forces on you, what makes you die, and what lets you live.’

They said it was a peaceful death, like falling asleep.

As if he had postponed death just long enough to pass on that information.

Anyway, according to the words of that sage-like survivor, the dungeon appeared irregularly, only at a specific location on nights when the moon was dim.

Not full night, and not a time when the sun had completely disappeared.

The gate opened only during the time when light and darkness overlapped, unable to push each other away.

And when day broke, it vanished as if nothing had happened, leaving behind three gold coins.

Always three. The number had never changed even once for a very long time.

So people called it a lucky dungeon.

Because you could get gold coins without even entering it.

But at the same time, there was a rumor that if you entered that dungeon, you would die.

Because except for one person, no one had ever come back out.

And that one person spoke first not about what he saw inside the dungeon, but about what you must not do.

‘There is a path that leads straight to hell, a path that guides you to the entrance of a higher-grade dungeon, and a path where you die in the middle of the maze while asleep.’

He also said that if you heard the sound of a flute, you must not turn your head, and that you must not entrust your body to the black, cozy fog.

He added that the dungeon felt less like a place trying to take something from you, and more like a place willingly trying to hold onto something for you.

That was why it was more dangerous.

The only person who came back alive summarized it like this at the end:

‘Only by keeping your mind sharp, making a wish, and searching for the exit can you reach the reward room and escape.’

Those words were a warning, and at the same time, a hint.

In the original story, Yoo Hanseong heard that story in passing and moved on.

At that time, it was far too distant a matter for him.

And yet, strangely enough, for something like that, the original work described the reward in quite a lot of detail.

What kind of reward it was, and why it looked useless.

And among those rewards, there was one that fit my current situation perfectly.

I had prepared a mental strength potion to avoid being lured by the calming fog.

It was only E-rank.

But the original story clearly stated that once you know the true nature of what lures you, its effect drops dramatically.

I already knew.

I knew what this dungeon used to draw people in, and what it used to loosen their hearts.

So I judged that E-rank would be enough.

Still, just in case, I prepared one more safeguard.

Before going near the place where the dungeon would appear, I spoke to the person who always sat next to me.

“Hi.”

“…?”

“My name’s Jin Hari. You’re Hyun Iseo, right? We sit next to each other, but I’m only greeting you now.”

After that, it became an occasional battle between his annoyed replies and my chatter. Hyun Iseo was a reclusive loner even in the original story, so it was exactly as expected.

Still, thankfully, even though he frowned several times while listening to me, he didn’t leave his seat until the end.

I was making this effort because I knew from the original story that he was neutral and tight-lipped.

And today, thankfully, Hyun Iseo was here with me.

Pointing at the rope tied around my waist, I asked him,

“If I go in and don’t come out even right before daybreak, could you pull this rope from outside the dungeon?”

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“You said it’s a dungeon where you could die.”

“I still want to try. There’s something I want from it.”

He took a deep breath and wrapped the end of the rope around his hand.

“If there’s no response before dawn, I’ll pull right away.”

“Okay. Thank you!”

As the moon grew dim, the air changed.

The presence of a dungeon that carried no killing intent slowly filled the space.

There was no threatening pressure, no monster’s roar.

Only the sensation that the boundary of reality was thinning.

Black fog gathered and formed an entrance.

It looked cozy.

It looked warm.

That was why I had to be even more cautious.

I immediately drank the mental strength potion.

Then, while checking my clearing mind, I repeated my wish to myself.

‘I want to become a great potion maker.’

The most direct goal for entering this dungeon.