Chapter 19: Headpats Are Required For Survival

“If you go through multiple dungeons, you’ll get a rough idea of the clear points.”

“…..”

“With the kind that move without possessing a true self like that, usually taking out the controller solves it.

But if the controller is the dungeon boss, even if you tear off their limbs, they’ll keep regenerating or attacking, so you end up consuming energy the whole time you’re advancing towards the inner core.

In that case, you do this…”

Even while witnessing the dozens of dolls before his eyes, Jin-yeop was calm, showing no sign of fluster.

With a placid face, he continued explaining to Eun-ru for a while, but when the grotesque-looking monsters charged towards him, he finally stopped explaining, reached out his hand into the air, and lightly stirred it.

At that moment, a blue flame ignited from his fingertips.

Skill Activation: (A) Blue Flame Mist

A status window flashed before Jin-yeop’s eyes and then disappeared.

The flames that had flickered and gathered at each fingertip like candlelight shot into the air as if launched.

Each shape, like a will-o’-wisp, moved as if dancing, as if possessing its own consciousness, and then began to rain down, precisely targeting only the heads of the charging dolls.

“You just need to blow their heads off.”

“…..”

“Generally, the controller’s mark that makes them move is located around the head.

To make them move even without limbs.”

The falling flames fiercely ignited, using the dolls’ heads as kindling.

Under the unquenchable fire, the heads melted like candle wax, and with that, the controller’s mark completely disappeared.

The dolls thrashed about noisily, twisting their limbs, then all began to fall one by one.

The sight of human-like dolls’ heads burning and melting was not just unpleasant, but to the point of being disgusting.

“…This seems like something I can’t handle even if I know it.”

Eun-ru muttered in a voice that somehow sounded a bit scared, and only then did Jin-yeop turn his body to look at him.

He himself was unfazed by that sight, but that probably wasn’t the case for Eun-ru, seeing such a horrific scene for the first time.

‘He looks like he was raised preciously…

He said he watched my clear broadcasts often, but seeing it in person is different.’

Muttering this to himself, Jin-yeop unconsciously reached out and patted Eun-ru’s head.

“It must have been scary.

I wasn’t considerate.

I should have just turned them all to ash.”

“…..”

“Guide Lee Eun-ru just needs to quietly follow me.”

“I, I… he-head.”

“Head?

Is there still one alive?”

With his tracking skill, any within range should have been burned automatically.

As Jin-yeop hurriedly tried to resume combat readiness, he caught sight of Eun-ru’s face, flushed bright red.

At that moment, Jin-yeop realized he was ruffling Eun-ru’s head thoroughly, as if petting a puppy.

“Ah, I… sorry.”

Jin-yeop quickly removed his hand from Eun-ru’s head, but Eun-ru urgently grabbed it.

“No, please keep patting me!”

“…..”

“I’m, I’m scared.

So scared...”

The ears of the one claiming to be scared were so red they looked ready to burst into flames.

So much so that Jin-yeop wondered if the flames from his skill had mistakenly targeted Eun-ru’s ears instead.

“It’s very reassuring when you pat my head!”

Dumbfounded, Jin-yeop couldn’t even think to shake off Eun-ru’s hand, and Eun-ru actually bent his knees and moved Jin-yeop’s hand arbitrarily, making him pat his own head.

“Guide Lee Eun-ru is…”

“…Yes?”

“Perfect for dungeon clearing.

Not very scared, are you?”

“Ah, no?

I’m completely terrified right now?”

“…..”

“I’m serious…”

“Fine, let go.

Since you’re scared, I’ll quickly catch the boss for you.”

At that, Eun-ru glanced at Jin-yeop’s face and then, reading the mood, released the strength from his grip.

“Since you’re wearing items, you should be able to take down mannequins like that.

In-house Guides will have many opportunities for dungeon clears, so as you earn money, prioritize getting good items.”

“Yes…”

“It’s good to learn a martial art too.

If hand-to-hand combat is difficult, learning kendo or archery helps.

Weapon items are highly efficient.”

Saying this, Jin-yeop started walking ahead.

“B-but, Senior.

Why don’t you use a weapon item separately?”

“As you saw, I have many area-of-effect skills, so it’s pointless.

My stats are high, so hand-to-hand combat isn’t an issue either.”

Jin-yeop kicked aside the headless, rolling dolls as he walked, his manner almost awe-inspiring.

As if he had an immunity to disgusting things, he wasn’t easily startled.

Come to think of it, mentioning weapon items reminded Jin-yeop of something.

The bow item he had gifted to Kang Jung-hoon.

Jung-hoon was someone who greatly avoided entering dungeons in the first place, but not long after they became partners, he had no choice but to accompany Jin-yeop to a dungeon they had previously won a bid for.

Back then, Jung-hoon could barely endure being inside the dungeon.

So after much thought, Jin-yeop gave him a bow item as a gift.

A bow is a weapon not easily adapted to, but that item had good performance and came with an auto-aim skill.

With a little practice, it was good for landing critical hits, and more than anything, using an indirect weapon caused less psychological impact than slashing off necks with a sword or smashing heads with an axe.

It allowed you to see less of the gruesome and horrific, and the sensation of killing something wasn’t as direct.

It was also suitable for defensive threats.

But Jung-hoon never once used the bow item Jin-yeop gave him.

After that, he simply stopped participating in dungeon clears altogether.

‘What a waste.

I should have given it to Lee Eun-ru.’

In the car, Eun-ru had been sitting with his arms crossed, and his arms, like his chest, looked solid.

With that build, he’d probably be able to draw a bowstring skillfully in no time.

After that, it had auto-aim, so nothing to worry about.

“A pearl necklace around a pig’s neck, truly.”

“Huh?”

“No, nothing.

Looks like we’re almost there.”

Was the single wave of the doll army all there was?

As they moved towards the dungeon’s inner core, he noticed there were no by-products worth collecting here at all.

This was what’s commonly called a ‘trash dungeon,’ an unpopular one.

Only good for training purposes.

Just then, a wide-open door came into view at the end of the path.

“The central area where the boss is located is called the dungeon’s inner core.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Why do we catch the boss?”

Jin-yeop stood before the open door and suddenly asked Eun-ru.

“Uh… because the escape gate only appears when you kill the boss?”

“Yes, correct.

But there’s one more reason besides that.”

“…..”

“You saw the pouch on my belt earlier, right?

That’s an item made by reprocessing a spatial pouch.”

At the words ‘spatial pouch,’ Eun-ru immediately understood why Jin-yeop’s hand could go endlessly inside it.

The bag itself was connected to some kind of space.

“‘Reprocessed item’ means there needs to be a raw material.

And ‘item’ also means it has a grade.”

There was a reason for training a new Awakener inside a dungeon.

It was precisely for this spatial pouch.

“The boss of an F-class dungeon is F-class.”

“…..”

“So the raw material for the spatial pouch we’ll obtain will also be F-class.”

“Does it drop when killed?”

“You could see it that way, I suppose.”

“…..”

“We’ll be cutting open its stomach.”

“Stomach?”

Eun-ru didn’t easily understand the word ‘stomach.’

Jin-yeop chuckled and continued.

“Stomach.

The organ inside its belly.”

“…..”

“A boss monster’s stomach isn’t for digestion.

It only serves the purpose of storage.”

Explaining how he knew this was a bit unpleasant to get into.

Eun-ru hadn’t seemed particularly affected even after seeing the grotesquely twisted doll limbs, so perhaps it would be fine to explain it as is, but he couldn’t be sure.

The moment you enter a dungeon, everything that appears here, regardless of appearance, is treated as a non-human entity.

So no matter their form, they are considered lighter than any living thing existing outside the dungeon.

You have to think that way to survive.

It’s directly linked to life, so it’s natural.

Also, perceiving it that way minimizes psychological damage as much as possible.

If you constantly thought that you were living by harming countless beings of unknown identity inside dungeons, enduring daily life would become difficult.

So, explaining what one had to witness to realize that a monster’s stomach was a spatial pouch was a different dimension from seeing monsters with severed heads rolling around.

“I’ll postpone explaining the detailed parts.

Anyway, the stomach of a higher-grade monster becomes a spatial pouch of a similarly higher grade.”

“…..”

“The higher the grade, the smaller it can be reprocessed.

Part of my personal dungeon clearing was dedicated to obtaining intact spatial pouches.

Damaged ones are hard to reprocess.”

As a fire-type Esper, Jin-yeop’s attacks themselves involved burning monsters to death, making it difficult to obtain intact spatial pouches.

Additionally, to reprocess a stomach, it had to be one that didn’t contain anything.

Ultimately, the boss monster must not have eaten anything and must not have sustained fatal damage to its stomach, making acquisition难度 inevitably high.

For dungeon clearing, spatial pouches were essential.

Both for holding items and because of by-products.

Eun-ru was A-class like him, so it was advisable for him to have one, if possible.

“Even if reprocessed, an F-class one will be a bit large, but it’ll be decent enough until B-class or higher dungeon clears.”

This was one of the purposes of the training.

To cut out an F-class monster’s stomach and reprocess it into a spatial pouch for him.

To achieve that goal, they assigned an instructor of C-class or higher who could easily catch the low-grade boss and cleanly cut out and obtain its stomach.

“Due to my skill characteristics, obtaining a clean spatial pouch is a bit difficult for me, but…”

“A-are you giving it to me?”

At Eun-ru’s question, Jin-yeop nodded as if it were obvious.

“Of course.

I already have an A-class item.”

“Then we can just come again!”

At that, Jin-yeop narrowed his brow and stared at Eun-ru.

Then Eun-ru, watching his reaction, started fidgeting his fingers.

“I, I think it would be fine to do training several times.”