Chapter 80
There was no longer any warmth coming from Joo Sarang’s body, which lay in my arms.
I stared at her, now turned into a golden statue.
Her expression looked peaceful.
Surprisingly, it didn’t feel like the emotional outburst I had experienced back when it happened with Seo Da-hee.
Honestly, I thought my body would remember enough to at least shed a few tears.
Yet, instead, I felt calm.
No—maybe I should say I felt relieved.
The emotional turmoil I used to feel whenever I looked at her was gone.
Just the absence of that constant torment brought me an immense sense of peace.
After gently laying her down, I stood up and looked toward the sky.
Still, I had made her a promise—I couldn’t just leave her like this.
The only light that pierced the darkness of the cavern was now descending from above.
‘The Star of Art.’
That was the very reason I came to this Hidden Dungeon.
Soon, a small jewel, no bigger than my palm, emitting a beautiful glow, settled into my hand.
A gentle warmth radiated from the Star of Art.
Then, a tremor ran through the dungeon.
The dungeon was collapsing now that it had been cleared.
Still holding the Star of Art, I walked over to Seo Da-hee.
It was time to fulfill the promise—to bring her back.
No… maybe “bring back” wasn’t the right word, since she wasn’t completely dead.
Normally, when a Demon dies, nothing remains in this world.
That’s because a Demon is a being completely bound through a contract with a devil.
At the moment of death, a devil’s hand appears to collect the soul.
But her body still existed, and no devil’s hand appeared.
That meant—she wasn’t dead yet.
Though, if I left her like this, she might truly die eventually.
Those devils were tenacious and insidious creatures; they could send another being to attack her at any time.
I took out a beautiful jewel that emitted a crimson light from my chest.
“Good thing I kept this, just in case.”
The jewel’s blood-like glow reflected the radiant light of the Star of Art, scattering in a beautiful shimmer.
It was a fragment of Lia’s heart that she had given me.
The Homunculus Core could be divided, just like Frankenstein’s Heart, and Lia had entrusted me with a piece of hers.
She’d said something about it being like “marking her territory,” or something along those lines.
Seo Da-hee had been so embarrassed when she heard that.
Anyway, this fragment of heart retained some of the original functions of the Homunculus Core.
It couldn’t create a new Homunculus, but it could still absorb and release energy.
I infused the Power of Restoration into Lia’s heart fragment.
Ah—maybe I should use the Star of Art together, just in case.
The Star of Art had healing and purification effects, so it could help bring her back.
Joo Sarang’s condition, in game terms, was equivalent to being afflicted with a fatal status ailment.
As I channeled mana into the Star of Art, a soft, radiant light began to spread, illuminating Joo Sarang.
It was like watching a lighthouse pierce through a dark sea.
Alright, time to do this properly.
I created a small hollow near Joo Sarang’s chest, now turned to gold, and embedded Lia’s heart fragment inside.
The incomplete Power of Restoration could only be used by the one who possessed it.
But with Lia’s heart, that limitation could be slightly bypassed.
Soon, the Power of Restoration began to spread from Lia’s heart fragment.
As crimson wisps of light drifted out and touched her body, her golden skin slowly regained its natural color.
The starlight from the Star of Art and the restorative glow from Lia’s heart blended together, creating rippling waves like an aurora.
I stared blankly at the scene.
And when the light finally faded, Joo Sarang had completely returned to her original form, lying still on the ground.
Her chest rose and fell faintly.
Though she hadn’t regained consciousness yet, her breathing and bodily functions seemed fully restored.
It looked like her recovery was complete. Maybe I should retrieve the heart now.
I reached toward the spot on her chest where I had placed the heart fragment.
“Huh?”
It was gone.
Lia’s heart fragment had melted into her body.
...I was going to get an earful from Lia for this.
She’d told me to keep it safe for emergencies, and I went ahead and used it.
But what else could I do?
If this wasn’t an emergency, then what was?
I lifted Joo Sarang into my arms.
She was so light—perhaps she hadn’t been eating properly.
Holding her, I looked around at the collapsing space.
Since I had taken the dungeon’s core, the Hidden Dungeon itself was crumbling apart.
White light filled my vision completely—and then vanished.
We had returned to the original labyrinth.
But strangely, I didn’t sense anyone nearby.
Well, it made sense. I had been in the dungeon for quite some time. Park Siwoo and Dan Chun-woo had probably cleared it long ago.
The labyrinth was still cold and damp, but the unpleasant demonic energy that had filled it was gone.
Then, from the distance, I heard voices.
“There’s definitely a mana reaction coming from this area.”
“I see light over there.”
“See? I told you!”
Before long, a bright light flooded the dungeon, and someone appeared.
“Found you! You troublemaker!”
It was Instructor Mabel.
She hurried over and pinched my cheek hard.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
“What! Were! You! Thinking!”
Her hand struck my back sharply.
How could someone who used magic have such strong hands?
With my cheek pinched, I couldn’t even dodge.
“Why do you always disappear whenever something happens?! What kind of mess were you trying to make this time?!”
“Keep going, Instructor Mabel.”
Instructor Kang Jae-seok, who had come along, glared at me with sharp eyes.
...I must’ve really worried them.
My goal had been to clear the dungeon before Park Siwoo or Dan Chun-woo, but thanks to certain interruptions, things hadn’t gone so smoothly.
“But who’s that cadet behind you?”
“She’s one of the students from my Class B. Though that’s strange… I’m sure they weren’t even on the same team.”
I averted my eyes slightly.
If I told them I’d discovered and cleared a double-layered dungeon, they’d probably freak out.
Then Instructor Kang Jae-seok spoke up at just the right moment.
“Since we’ve found the last of the missing students, let’s return to the Academy. There’s much to discuss, and no reason to linger here.”
“True enough.”
And so, I handed the unconscious Joo Sarang over to Instructor Kang Jae-seok, and we returned to the Academy.
A strange ceiling.
When she came to, she sat up blankly and looked around.
Several beds were arranged nearby, and other people were sleeping in them.
Then she suddenly sat up straight and rubbed her eyes at the familiar scenery.
‘Am I... alive? My power went berserk, I should’ve...’
She should’ve died.
Joo Sarang couldn’t accept the fact that she was alive.
Perhaps this was an illusion created by a devil to toy with her.
As her mind raced, a voice spoke up.
“If you’re awake, lie back down and go to sleep.”
“You’re…?”
“The school nurse.”
A woman, holding a pen in her mouth, sat cross-legged on a desk with an irritable expression.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“I’m not going to. So just lie down and sleep.”
Joo Sarang’s brows twitched at the sharp tone.
She was already too disoriented to grasp the situation properly.
For a brief moment, irritation welled up inside her, but she barely managed to suppress it.
The word school nurse meant that this wasn’t some devil-made illusion or a hellish Wonderland—it was the Academy.
Indeed, when she looked around, the scenery was unmistakably that of the Academy’s infirmary.
Which meant… she was really alive.
Letting out a sigh, Joo Sarang lay back down on the bed.
She had countless questions.
From how she was still alive—to where Seongwoo was.
She didn’t even know what was going on right now.
Sleep was the last thing that would come to her. The rustling of her body on the bed grew louder as she tossed and turned.
“You’re so noisy I could die. Worried about your boyfriend that much?”
“...What?”
“The guy you came in with. The healthy, handsome one.”
“Oh, right. Is he... not here?”
The nurse spat out the pen she had been chewing and reached into her pocket.
Then, realizing there were no cigarettes there, her expression twisted.
“Damn that principal. Won’t even let me smoke on school grounds.”
‘Isn’t a school supposed to be a non-smoking area?’
Joo Sarang thought so but kept her mouth shut.
She figured that provoking the woman might keep her from getting any answers.
Opening a drawer, the nurse took out a lollipop, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.
“Want one?”
“No, thank you. But what about him? What happened to him?”
“Can’t you tell, since he’s not here?”
The moment she heard that, Joo Sarang’s heart sank.
Could it be… something bad had happened because of her?
“The infirmary doesn’t take patients who aren’t injured or sick.”
“Then... you mean he’s fine?”
“Yeah. Your boyfriend’s perfectly fine. Now go to sleep.”
There were still many things she wanted to ask.
But at least the biggest question had been answered.
Nodding quietly, Joo Sarang lay down again.
Then, she suddenly remembered the words he’d said to her before she lost consciousness.
He’d said that if they survived, she would owe him anything.
She wanted to see him again soon.
If only the first person she saw upon waking had been him instead.
[Ah, ah. Groom? I saw you using the device—nothing happened, right?]
“…?”
A voice suddenly echoed inside her head.
Startled, Joo Sarang shot up and looked around in confusion.
But there was no one nearby.
“What now?”
“Did you just... say something to me?”
The nurse gave her a baffled look, as if wondering what nonsense she was talking about.
“Stop spouting nonsense and sleep. You’ll wake the others.”
“Ah, sorry.”
Thinking she must have imagined it, Joo Sarang lay back down.
Then, once again, a voice rang out in her head.
It sounded like that of a child.
[You’re not the Groom! Who the heck are you—and why are you holding the device I gave to the Groom? You didn’t do anything to him, did you?!]
The voice pierced through her mind like a sharp noise, making her cover her ears instinctively.
So it wasn’t a hallucination after all.
Joo Sarang quietly spoke toward the voice in her head.
“For god’s sake, what are you even babbling about? And who the hell are you supposed to be?”
[That’s my question. Answer me—nothing’s happened to Seongwoo, has it?]
“Seongwoo…?”
[Yes! The only reason I can talk to you right now is because of the device I gave Seongwoo! So why do you have it?!]
Joo Sarang searched herself, but no matter how much she patted down her clothes, she couldn’t find any so-called “device.”
Still, she could guess one thing.
The voice in her head was probably someone Seongwoo was supposed to communicate with secretly.
Which meant… most likely, this was the person he met every weekend.
“I don’t know what this ‘device’ is, but Seongwoo’s fine. Why don’t you just contact him directly?”
[Ah-ha.]
The voice grew quiet, as if realizing something.
That told Joo Sarang one more thing—whoever this person was, they didn’t seem very smart for someone supposedly working to bring down Pandemonium.
Just then, the nurse appeared in front of her with a grim expression.
Still chewing on her lollipop, she bit down hard with a crunch.
“Ah.”
“I told you to lie still and sleep. Guess my warning wasn’t clear enough?”
As the furious nurse glared down at her, Joo Sarang recalled the voice that had suddenly disappeared.
‘That voice... it called Seongwoo Groom.’
Now she was very curious to see the face behind that childish-sounding voice.