This was my first successful dungeon crop.
Well, every crop I’d grown was technically a first for me, but this was my first actual dungeon fruit.
I’d heard of Leila, of course, but I’d never seen one or eaten one before.
It was hard to find and appeared in such small quantities that Awakened who came across it while clearing dungeons usually ate it on the spot.
“So this is how it grows.”
The plant looked rather like a cabbage, except that its outer leaves were blue.
When you peeled away those cabbage-like leaves, you found the fruit inside.
‘About the size of a Korean melon, maybe?’
The outer leaves made it appear as large as a watermelon, but the actual fruit inside had to be smaller.
I was even more excited about this than the carrots or tomatoes because, unlike those vegetables, Leila was classified as a fruit.
“I’ll have to replant all its seeds too.”
There were plenty of unused sections in the underground field, so I could just plant them there.
“Anyway, when can we harvest it?
It looks almost ready.”
Squirm!
The new recruit wriggled in response.
Based on the slime communication skills I’d acquired over the past three days, that seemed to mean there was still a little time left.
Squish!
Squirm!
But it would be soon, so I shouldn’t get impatient.
At least, I thought that was what it meant.
“So how soon is soon?
Not today?”
Squirm!
“Tomorrow?”
Squish!
“Tomorrow, huh?”
That was a little longer than I’d expected from something that looked almost fully grown.
Judging by how quickly the other crops were maturing, Leila was definitely on the slow side.
Or perhaps all dungeon plants took this long.
“I should check Embergrill’s growth rate too.
Oh, but first…”
I took out a notebook I’d brought back on my last trip and began writing furiously.
I wanted to record which crops I was growing, their growth rates, their harvest times, and so on.
I made notes about the slimes in a separate notebook.
“Hmm, good.
Shall we head downstairs?”
I climbed down the ladder and found the fields still bare of sprouts.
Even the tomatoes and carrots had taken about a day, so I supposed they needed a little more time.
Squish!
Just then, Dokdoki approached and shook its body like a wobbling pudding.
“What’s up?”
Squish!
Squish!
“You want me to follow you?”
Could I really be understanding slime gestures because of Slime Lord?
Whatever the cause, I was starting to read their movements reasonably well.
Squirm!
“All right, let’s see what you’ve found.”
As I followed Dokdoki, I glanced at the others.
The slime with Physical Resistance was swimming in the pond, while Mark Two was rolling around the field.
“They’re having a good time.”
The whole scene was refreshingly peaceful.
I felt as though I could watch it all day without getting bored.
Squirm!
“Oh!
Is this the place?”
Dokdoki had led me to a wall in a secluded corner.
Something about it was strange.
“This looks artificial.”
From a distance it hadn’t stood out, but up close the surface looked distinctly man-made.
Squirm?
Dokdoki tilted its body as it stared at the wall.
Even though it had discovered the place, it didn’t seem to know what the wall was.
Tap, tap!
“There’s a hollow space behind it.”
A few knocks were enough to tell me that the wall concealed an empty space.
“Should I break it down?”
Squirm?
“Hmm…
There aren’t any gaps you can squeeze through, right?”
Squirm!
Come to think of it, one of the slimes that had merged into Dokdoki was the same one I’d previously ordered to report anything unusual it found.
They supposedly shared all their memories and experiences during synthesis.
Apparently, combining two slimes didn’t mean one of them simply disappeared.
“Isn’t there some other way?”
Putting that aside, I examined the wall.
I touched it all over, knocked in several places, and even kicked it, but nothing changed.
Then I picked up Dokdoki and rubbed it against the wall.
Squiiirm…
“Hmm.
Not that either.”
Was it time to get out my pickaxe again?
I had sworn I’d never pick it up another time.
“I’m sorry, Dokdoki.
Squirm?
After spouting that nonsense, I went upstairs, fetched the pickaxe, and came back down.
But just as I was about to strike the wall, my body froze.
I didn’t even know what was behind it.
What was I doing?
“Hmm.”
I leaned on the pickaxe and considered my options.
Whatever lay beyond the wall, there was no harm in being cautious.
‘Come to think of it, dungeons are supposed to contain a lot of hidden pieces.’
I’d also heard that transformed dungeons needed to be searched much more thoroughly than normal ones.
Supposedly, a dungeon that had undergone a transformation was guaranteed to contain some hidden treasure room or secret feature.
“Maybe I should just make a small opening.”
I didn’t have to go through myself.
Couldn’t I send a slime to investigate?
“Dokdoki, are you ready to go exploring?”
S-squirm?
“Haha, you must be excited to set off on an adventure!
I’ll send you right away!”
Squirm?!
Ignoring Dokdoki’s gestures, I raised the pickaxe high and brought it down hard on the wall.
Whack!
“Oh!”
Was this the strength of an Awakened person?
I hadn’t broken through, but the pickaxe had embedded itself in the wall with a single blow.
When I used it as a lever and wrenched it back and forth, the crack grew wider.
“Three more hits should connect it to the other side.”
At this point it was barely a crack, but if I struck the same spot accurately, I should be able to make a hole.
Whack!
Whack!
Whack!
The pickaxe struck the crack again and again with impressive accuracy.
Suddenly, its tip went loose.
“Oh, there’s a hole.”
I pulled the pickaxe away and peered through.
Unlike the chamber I was standing in, the space beyond was pitch dark, and I couldn’t see anything.
“Dokdoki, ready?”
S-squirm…
“Then let’s go on an exciting journey!
Well, you’re the only one going.”
I pushed Dokdoki into the hole I’d made.
True to its slime nature, it slipped right through the narrow opening.
“Come straight back if it’s dangerous!”
I called after it, but no answer came.
As I waited by the wall, the other slimes came wriggling over.
“Have you been having fun?”
Squish?
“Dokdoki has gone on a little journey of its own.
Let’s all pray that it comes back safely.”
And that our Dokdoki finds a treasure room…
No, that it returns safely.
I’d almost let my true feelings slip, but surely that was just my imagination.
About five minutes later, Dokdoki wriggled back through the hole with a cheerful squishing sound.
Squish!
“So?
Find anything?
Nothing dangerous in there?”
Squirm, squirm.
Dokdoki nudged the pickaxe, and everything seemed to be fine.
Presumably, that meant it was all right to break through.
“Good.
Everyone wait here.
I’ll knock down the wall in no time.”
I rolled up my sleeves and raised the pickaxe.
Now that I knew there wasn’t any danger, I had every intention of opening the passage.
‘A hidden piece!
A secret treasure room!’
Wait for me, treasures!
I, Lee Gyuseong, am coming!
* * *
“Hmm…”
Choi Yeongseong was at home, studying the tomatoes and carrot he’d brought back with him.
He had formerly headed the Ara Hongryeon Guild’s research department.
Despite not being Awakened himself, he’d made outstanding contributions as a researcher.
Only the guild’s executives and a few research staff knew about his past.
“Poison resistance…
If I can develop this effect further, maybe I can find a way.”
In the small laboratory he’d set up at home, Yeongseong massaged his tired, aching eyes as he analyzed a tomato.
While he rested with his eyes shut, a woman’s voice reached his ears.
“Honey.”
“Hm?
What is it?
Is something wrong?”
He immediately rose and went to the nearby room.
It was equipped with a variety of medical devices, almost like a hospital ward.
“You came home early today, but you’ve been working nonstop.
“Hmm.
Something came up that I want to look into.”
A woman lay in the bed.
The medical equipment and familiar routine suggested that she had been ill for a very long time.
“Don’t overwork yourself.
What if you get sick too?
Hehe.”
“…I won’t.
I promise.”
Yeongseong gently took the hand of his wife and only remaining family member, Kim Siyeong.
It was so thin he could feel little but bone, yet to him it was warmer than anything in the world.
“I’m sorry.”
“What’s that supposed to mean all of a sudden?
Don’t start.”
“You left the guild because of me, and every day you search for something that might cure me, staying up all night researching treatments and items…”
“Don’t talk nonsense.
I didn’t leave because of you.
I just got tired of that work.
And I’d always wanted to run a general store.
Research is something I’ve always enjoyed too…”
“Meeting you has made me feel like the luckiest person alive.”
At her words, Yeongseong fell silent.
His trembling hand revealed what he couldn’t put into words.
“So when I die, don’t spend the rest of your life thinking about me.
Find someone good and live happily…”
“Kim Siyeong, stop teasing me and go to sleep.
Don’t say such ridiculous things.”
“Hehe.
You caught me?”
She gave him a faint smile.
Her face was pale and drained of strength.
Looking at the pitiful figure of the woman once known as a pillar of the Ara Hongryeon Guild tore Yeongseong’s heart apart.
“Don’t you regret meeting someone like me?”
“What’s gotten into you today?
Keep saying things like that and I won’t give you the present I brought.”
“Hmm?
You brought me something?”
“That’s right.”
Yeongseong held up a tomato.
He’d used almost all of them in his research and happened to have exactly one left.
“Remember how I told you about a younger fellow I think of as my nephew?”
“Oh, Gyuseong?”
“Yeah, him.
He got hold of these tomatoes.
They taste unbelievable.”
He didn’t mention that they were items granting poison resistance.
His wife was Awakened and would be able to tell for herself as soon as she ate one.
Yeongseong handed her the tomato, then fell into thought.
‘Could I get more?’
His wife, Kim Siyeong, had been poisoned by one of the monsters known as the Seven Deadly Sins.
Most of the Awakened who’d participated in the subjugation had died.
The survivors were all poisoned and now spent their days awaiting death.
‘If I could study these tomatoes a little further, I might find a clue…’
As the guild’s former head of research, he knew just how valuable the carrots and tomatoes Gyuseong had brought him were.
He also knew it would be shameless to ask for more.
But for his wife’s sake, he was prepared to make an even more unreasonable request.
“Mmm?!”
For a brief moment, Siyeong’s face brightened when she ate the tomato.
Seeing that, Yeongseong smiled faintly.
“How is it?
Delicious, isn’t it?”
“This is a tomato?
Honey, this is an item!”
“I know.
Gyuseong found something extraordinary.
I have no idea where he got it.”
“Don’t you have any more?”
“Hm?
Well, I…”
It was awkward to admit he’d consumed the rest in his research.
Instead, he hooked his little finger around hers and made a promise.
“I’ll get some more.
I told you, didn’t I?
Gyuseong brought them.”
“Wouldn’t that be asking too much of him?
These aren’t ordinary tomatoes…”
“I’ll pay him a fair price.
Anyway, it’s time for bed.
You should get some rest.”
“I’ll sleep if you come to bed too.”
“Good grief.
All right, let’s call it a day.”
He grumbled, but in the end Yeongseong lay down beside Siyeong without further resistance.
The only thing filling his mind was his determination to save his wife, whatever it took.