Chapter 18 - Basement's 5th Floor (1)

Chapter 18: Basement’s 5th Floor (1)TL: SHW

May 15, 2021.

23:10.

Gyeonggi-do. An abandoned training center.

People dressed in black were moving quickly in the darkness.

“…Where did you bring those people from?”

“Shh!”

“No, I mean….”

“Shhh!!!”

He won’t let me say anything.

I looked at Kim Chae-min, who was also dressed in black and holding a finger to her lips at me. Gesturing at me to be quiet again, Kim Chae-min frowned and glared at the darkened training center building.

The building, unused for a long time, could hardly be called nice even as an empty compliment. The first floor walls and the parking lot were miserably destroyed, possibly due to a dungeon opening nearby. That wasn’t all. The windows were all broken as if someone had deliberately shattered them, and the doors were wrapped in rusty chains…. In horror movies, this is the kind of place where clueless kids wander in and get cursed and killed.

Kim Chae-min shuddered.

“Oh, I’m weak against this kind of thing.”

She tells me not to speak, but then…

“I don’t even go into dungeons like this.”

“How can you be an Archmage and say that?”

“Because I’m an Archmage, I can choose my work.”

…That makes sense.

No. This isn’t the time for idle chatter.

I looked at Hong Seok-young, who was standing a bit away. He was talking on his cell phone.

I looked back at the training center.

No matter how you tried to frame it nicely, it was a ruin. There was no sign of life at all.

Even Hong Seok-young asked me to confirm the location several times after hearing it.

But this is the place.

This is the research lab where I was.

Well, to be precise, it was one of the research labs I was in. But this is where I stayed the longest and until the end. It was one of the largest in the Ark.

“Preparations are complete.”

Hong Seok-young hung up and sauntered over.

I looked at him with suspicious eyes.

“Who are those people?”

“Employees of someone trustworthy.”

That’s a strange descriptor.

“Sounds like someone you shouldn’t trust.”

“No. In that field, they’re thorough. You can trust them.”

“Who exactly?”

If it were the police, they wouldn’t move so secretively. Those movements clearly belonged to Hunters. And trained ones at that.

Their coordinated movements were not for dungeon raids. They were more like a special forces unit about to storm in.

There’s no Management Agency. At this time, who on earth would use Hunters like this? It’s a waste of manpower.

Hong Seok-young’s cell phone flashed. He checked it.

“We’ll go in first after 20 minutes.”

Kim Chae-min and I nodded.

“The goal is to locate the kids. If possible, block escape routes. If we can get any important information before they destroy it, that would be great. Capturing someone who looks important beforehand is also… well, fine. After roughly doing that, send the signal to overturn the lab.”

“Isn’t that just saying to do everything?”

“These situations call for improvisation.”

Hong Seok-young handed me a sword. Yoo Ji-eun’s sword. I hadn’t held it in a long time.

Of course, the Mana Control Device on my ankle was still there. Hong Seok-young warned me.

“I’m giving it back because there might be a fight. You won’t have to draw it since I’ll be beside you.”

Kim Chae-min looked at me and Hong Seok-young alternately with a somewhat puzzled face but said nothing. I didn’t speak because the situation wasn’t appropriate, and Hong Seok-young pretended not to notice.

Once we go inside, it will be evident. Or they might have already figured it out since they know I provided the location.

Alright.

Let’s focus.

From now on, I am Woo Hwijae, the whistleblower of Ark.

Hah…. Haven’t I fallen too far? How did I climb up to that position?

I might as well create the Management Agency myself and take the Director’s seat…. No, then I’d have to go through all the hell the Director went through. If I’m going to wear the title, there are better positions.

One thing I learned while being under the Director was that the principal of the Hunter Academy is surprisingly a cushy job.

The principal is also a public servant, so money steadily comes in, and everyone recognizes and treats you well as the principal of the academy. How many great Hunters come from the academy? Just thinking about the gifts that come to the Director every Teacher’s Day….

Right. Let’s become the principal. I’ll create the Management Agency, kick that old man out, and become the principal of the academy. Anyway, I’m already teaching kids and an Archmage, so becoming a principal shouldn’t be a big deal.

“Hmm? Teacher Woo, you need to focus.”

“…I’m focused.”

“I know it’s tense, but hang in there a little longer.”

For some reason, Hong Seok-young looked at me with pitying eyes. I got goosebumps all over.

…What?

“It’s only natural to worry about your younger brother. But we’ve come this far, haven’t we?”

“Oh my, younger brother?”

“Younger brother?”

Kim Chae-min was startled, and I also looked at Hong Seok-young with a dazed face.

“Yes, younger brother.”

Younger brother? I don’t have such a thing, or maybe the unknown member whose identity I borrowed has one.

Was it one of the pieces of information Kim provided?

This isn’t good.

“Thanks for trusting me. We will bring your brother out safely.”

It’s fortunate that Hong Seok-young misunderstood on his own without me having to explain.

I quickly recalled what I had said before.

…I had spoken vaguely enough that there wasn’t anything particularly suspicious.

But I added information about the insider from Kim.

Did he want to leave the organization to save his brother?

I felt that responding with half-knowledge would be counterproductive, so I changed the subject.

“Isn’t it time yet? Let’s go in.”

* * *

Ssss….

Kim Chae-min’s vines crawled along the floor.

Besides simply capturing monsters, Kim Chae-min’s vines had many functions. For instance, they could explore within their range.

Kim Chae-min opened her eyes, which had been closed.

“I don’t detect anything.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Yes. There are some small insects, but no larger life forms. No surveillance cameras either…. Is this really the place?”

“It is.”

Kim Chae-min cautiously glanced at me. She’s been like that ever since the younger brother topic came up.

“Can’t you sense anything underground either?”

“No….”

I frowned. The Ark wouldn’t be foolish enough to reveal the lab facilities immediately upon entry.

The training center was in an isolated mountain area and was private property, so space was secured through illegal construction. The children were in the deepest part.

I had never met Kim Chae-min when she was alive. But like other Hunters, Archmages had abilities that were hard to consider human.

Even though Kim Chae-min didn’t have much experience as a Hunter, an Archmage is still an Archmage. For Kim Chae-min to miss something….

Was the Ark’s preparation that thorough?

“I’m going in.”

“What? Wait!”

Hong Seok-young grabbed me. He didn’t use Mana. I smoothly evaded Hong Seok-young’s hand.

Kim Chae-min’s vine, still crawling on the ground, flinched and moved aside. I stood in front of the main entrance of the training center. It was locked with thick chains and a padlock.

I gripped the sword.

The padlock was big but crude. There was no need to use Mana. Though I wasn’t entirely used to using a sword, I wasn’t completely incompetent either. Besides, I trusted Yoo Ji-eun’s sword.

To be precise, I trusted its performance.

Yoo Ji-eun had used the sword more like a club. Yet, its edge never dulled. Yoo Ji-eun’s sword was always sharp.

If the weapon is good, you can get by effortlessly.

Whoosh.

Snap.

Just once.

The chain was cut. I caught it before it made a loud noise and gently placed it down. Hong Seok-young and Kim Chae-min approached and stood behind me.

Screech.

I opened the door. Despite the accumulated dust, it opened smoothly.

The inside was a mess, too. Dust, garbage, and stones were everywhere. It was as if the training center was shouting in my ear that no one was there.

I won’t be fooled.

It’s a place so familiar that I could find my way around with my eyes closed. Hong Seok-young and Kim Chae-min are following me. I walked deeper into the training center. The elevator. I need to find the elevator.

The training center is a building with floors underground and six floors above ground. I heard it was mainly used as a training center for a large corporation when it was in good condition. There are three elevators because it used to accommodate many people at once.

The one in the middle. I forced the doors open by twisting them with my sword. Dust billowed out. I won’t be fooled.

I entered the elevator. Numbers appeared. I pressed the button.

6.

6.

6. 5. 1. 2. 6. 6. 3. 4. B1.

“…….”

No response.

“Damn.”

The elevator should have power for it to work.

I rushed out of the elevator. If this elevator doesn’t work, I need to try another method. This is the outer entrance. If they noticed us, this would be the first place they’d block.

“Teacher Woo!”

“Teacher Woo!”

I found the stairs. Dust rose thickly with my footsteps. There were no tricks in the central staircase where many people once walked. I was looking for the emergency stairs. The place mainly used by employees.

Next to it was the freight elevator.

I forced the door open.

There was a button here too. I raised my hand. If there was power, the numbers should light up when I placed my palm on it. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the NʘvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Again, no response.

I pressed the button. In reverse order from the entrance elevator.

Starting from B1. 4. 3. 6. 6. 2. 1. 5. 6. 6. 6.

“…….”

This is the Ark’s lab.

It had to be the Ark’s lab.

The place where a much younger version of the old man rescued young Woo Hwijae and other children.

It had to be that world.

There are many works that deal with time travel in the world. Movies where you go back in time to help your parents fall in love to prevent yourself from disappearing. Or changing the past and ending up committing suicide before you’re even born…. Maybe that’s not quite right.

Anyway, the protagonists of such works usually take one of two actions.

Preserve the past to protect the future.

Or change the past to dream of a new future.

However, another classic movie suggests a different possibility for the current situation.

Parallel worlds.

What if this place isn’t my past?

What if it’s another world?

A world where I can’t use the information on the Mana Watch, where all the future I know doesn’t exist from the start?

No.

From the moment I woke up in Myeong-dong, I changed the past. So is this the world that ten-year-old Woo Hwijae experienced? Or is it a new world?

…I don’t know.

I probably won’t ever know.

But I believe this place is my past. For that to be true, this has to be the Ark’s lab. In my timeline, it was.

Ding.

An incongruously cheerful bell sound rang. The elevator button blinked and lit up.

The elevator spoke.

[Welcome.]

I never thought I’d be so glad to hear that damn voice it almost brought me to tears.