Chapter 451

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 451: Lord Jeong Yeongwoo 07 (4)

It was a curious coincidence.

Of all things, the two dungeons contrasted starkly—one black, one white.

“What is this? One’s a dungeon of evil karma and the other of good karma or something?”

Faced with this unprecedented situation, Yeongwoo instinctively drew Bastard.

Shwaaa!

But nothing leapt out from either of the dungeons.

Instead—

Flicker!

Glowing rectangular forms appeared in front of each dungeon.

‘Ah, those are…’

They were a kind of text box displaying dungeon information.

Despite this being the first time two dungeons had appeared at once, the method of accessing them remained completely unchanged.

“So it’s just more options this time?”

Tilting his head, Yeongwoo stepped forward.

Clack.

The white tower’s information appeared first, faster than the other.

Flash!

[Tower of Otaf]

| Dungeon Grade: Ancient

| Difficulty: B

| Required Party: 6

| Recommended Party: 12

‘It really is a tower.’

An ancient-grade dungeon with B-level difficulty—on par with the Moral Lecture dungeon he’d entered previously.

Of course, he’d grown significantly stronger since then, so the actual difficulty would likely feel different.

‘With 6 required and 12 recommended, that means it’s doable as long as everyone’s skilled.’

Basically, if each person could handle the burden of two, the party would manage fine.

In contrast, the tooltip for the second dungeon was highly suspicious.

Flash!

[Torture Chamber]

| Dungeon Grade: ??

| Difficulty: ??

| Required Party: 4

| Recommended Party: ??

*You have been invited to a private dungeon.

“Huh? What’s this?”

Yeongwoo blinked several times upon reading the tooltip for the black dungeon.

“I’m not seeing things, am I?”

The dungeon grade, difficulty, even the recommended number of participants—all marked with question marks.

“…Are you kidding me?”

But what stood out the most was the final line of additional text.

*You have been invited to a private dungeon.

“A private dungeon… So someone just opened this up themselves.”

Which likely meant that the dungeon wouldn’t offer the official equipment Catalog as a hidden reward.

‘No Catalog? Then there’s really no reason to go in there.’

Still, Yeongwoo couldn’t bring himself to step away.

(You have been invited to a private dungeon.

‘…Invited personally.’

The white dungeon, the Tower of Otaf, was an official dungeon he could visit again tomorrow or the next day.

But the black dungeon—Torture Chamber—was likely…

‘This one was opened just to invite me. Which means there may not be another chance.’

And more than anything, the question lingered:

Who had invited him?

“……”

For someone as naturally curious as Yeongwoo, resisting this bait was nearly impossible.

‘Even if it’s a private dungeon, it’s still a dungeon. There must be some kind of reward, right?’

Shh.

As Yeongwoo stepped toward the black dungeon labeled Torture Chamber, the white dungeon began sinking into the ground.

Rrrrmmmble!

‘So choosing one makes the other vanish.’

He figured that if he changed his mind now, the white dungeon would rise again and the black one would disappear.

But Yeongwoo had already made up his mind.

‘Today’s choice is the unofficial dungeon.’

At last, as he stood before the private dungeon’s entrance, the mysterious tooltip with all its question marks flickered away.

Behind it, a pitch-black portal opened wide.

Swaaah!

[3/??]

Displayed inside the portal was a status showing the number of people inside—just as mysterious as the tooltip.

Yeongwoo tilted his head at the sight.

‘Three already inside?’

Of course, it wasn’t unusual for other players to enter night dungeons first.

But this time, he’d been outside waiting from the very moment the dungeon opened—and this was a private dungeon, no less.

One literally named Torture Chamber.

‘…Is this a trap?’

Yeongwoo scanned his surroundings.

Then, after sheathing Bastard, he pulled out a hidden whistle from inside his armor.

「Pumpkin-Colored Whistle」 - Legendary Necklace

【Summons a friend.】

| Yeongtae, Taejoon, Younghyeom, Geumhwa

Just in case, he wanted the option of calling in backup.

‘If I start backing down just because something feels sketchy, I’ll never become a big shot gangster like the Chairman.’

Even when facing a problem, solving it head-on would naturally lead to resolution.

Yeongwoo didn’t hesitate further and stepped into the black vortex.

Shhhk.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

The suspicious portal of the private dungeon began to swirl, pulling Yeongwoo’s body inward.

Shhhhhhhh!

‘So far, nothing unusual.’

The only oddity he could sense was the portal’s black color.

And just as darkness swallowed his vision—

—a completely new space filled his view.

Fwoosh!

“……!”

Before he knew it, he had passed through the portal and entered the dungeon.

Clink!

As soon as he stepped forward, a somewhat foreign scraping sound echoed from the floor.

‘Stone?’

Looking down, he saw a deep navy-blue stone floor that was almost black in appearance.

‘Much narrower than I thought. Like a waiting room, maybe.’

Just as Yeongwoo noticed that the visible width of the floor wasn’t very wide, a low voice came from the opposite side of the room.

—Are you the Shipmaster, Jeong Yeongwoo?

“…What?”

Yeongwoo reflexively answered, then was inwardly startled.

He hadn’t sensed the presence of the speaker at all until now.

Moreover—

‘Shipmaster?’

A strange title.

It was the first time anyone had called him “Shipmaster Jeong Yeongwoo” since he had become connected to the universe.

“By shipmaster… do you mean the ship’s owner?”

Shipmaster the owner of a ship.

Yeongwoo was merely voicing his best guess, but based on the response that followed, he instantly realized it was the wrong answer.

—So you are that one.

There was a clear murderous intent in the voice from the other side.

“You know me?”

Yeongwoo cautiously moved his hand toward his waist, ready to draw his sword at a moment’s notice.

「Preemptive Strike」 - Mutant One-handed Sword

【Increases the power of the first attack by 20%. Reactivates on successful hit】

He was prepared to finish the opponent off in a single blow if necessary.

‘The structure of this room is odd. Where’s the light coming from?’

The indigo stone chamber Yeongwoo was in was about five meters wide.

However, the overall dimness made it hard to gauge the depth, and a hazy beam of light from somewhere above was illuminating the floor about four meters in front of him, making visibility even trickier.

The spot where the light hit was clear, but it made everything beyond it seem even darker.

‘Seems like keeping my back to a wall would be the safest move.’

Just as Yeongwoo was preparing to take tactical action based on the layout—

Step.

He heard footsteps accompanied by a faint presence from the direction of the mysterious voice.

‘Barefoot?’

As he guessed from the sound, the opponent was barefoot.

About four meters ahead, on the illuminated floor, appeared a reptilian foot clad in ashen scales.

Gripping the hilt of his sword, Yeongwoo warned:

“You call me here without explanation and then start closing the distance? Isn’t that a bit rude? What is this place, and who are you?”

Then the opponent stepped partially into the light, revealing the upper half of his body.

Ssshhh.

—Ah, you’ve got quite the temper, fitting for a shipmaster.

Waiting for Yeongwoo in this private dungeon was a lizardman wearing a black hood.

But he was unlike any mutated lizardman Yeongwoo had met before—his eyes alone radiated something entirely different.

A dark, malevolent aura swirled around him.

‘He’s good at hiding his presence. Maybe an assassin?’

A pitch-black dungeon that couldn’t be exited until cleared.

And inside it, at least three assassins already lying in wait.

Given these conditions, Yeongwoo felt his heart involuntarily pound.

It meant he had finally become significant enough for someone to send assassins to kill him.

Just like the old chairman, who once scolded his guards for sending too few assassins to his bedroom.

“You… you guys were sent to kill me, weren’t you? Right? I’m right, aren’t I?”

As Yeongwoo widened his eyes and questioned them, the lizardman standing calmly under the light flinched.

—…What?

“I’ve been getting a lot of threatening letters from the nearby families. So it has to be one of them who sent you, right?”

Yeongwoo started darting his gaze around to find the other two assassins, causing the lizardman to panic and wave his hands.

—Wh-what are you doing?

“Where are the other two? Don’t tell me they’re clinging to the ceiling or something?”

With that, Yeongwoo swung his sword, Bastard, into the air.

Whoooosh!

A red arc trailed through the air—and he felt something brush the tip of his blade.

“…Huh?”

There was someone on the ceiling.

“Oh crap.”

As Yeongwoo awkwardly retracted his sword, another lizardman fell from the ceiling.

Thud.

Cleanly severed in two.

—K-Kisane!

The first lizardman screamed the name of his fallen comrade.

Yeongwoo instinctively stepped back and muttered an apology.

“S-Sorry… but you are assassins, right? So this was bound to happen anyway…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a swift presence surged from behind.

Fwoosh!

—You bastard! How dare you kill Kisane…!

‘Ah, assassin number three was behind me.’

Though his senses were already at their peak and his perception steal ability couldn’t activate, a hostile entity approaching still triggered a warning.

「Sensory levels have reached the maximum limit.」

Then a hologram guide flashed a warning—an attack incoming from behind.

A needle-like weapon aiming straight for his lungs.

A fast strike, to be sure—but not nearly enough to kill someone who could punch Pluto itself.

“What the hell do you take me for, thinking a sneak attack like this would work?”

Moving faster than assassin number three could attack, Yeongwoo swung Aratubank.

Sensing the movement, the first lizardman’s eyes went wide.

—W-Wait!

But it was too late—Yeongwoo had already smashed the third attacker’s head.

Splurt!

In a blink, two of the three were dead.

Only one remained to testify to who sent them.

“Now, before I take your head too, talk. Who sent you guys? I skipped a regular dungeon today for this, so you’d better have a damn good answer.”

With golden light gleaming from his eyes in the darkness, Yeongwoo spoke.

The lone surviving lizardman pulled back his hood.

Sssk.

Then took out what looked like a command token from his robe.

—We… no, I was sent under the orders of the Ship Management Bureau…

Yeongwoo’s eyes widened.

“What? From where?”

—The Ship…

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]