Chapter 123: Nuclear Fallout Shelter (1)

The already steep slope rose to an angle that was almost like a cliff.

However, it wasn't quite a wall.

To call it a wall, the slope would need to be at a 90-degree vertical angle, right? This one was about 70 degrees? Anyway, it was an unstable composition that induced unease in anyone looking at it.

And on this slanted slope was a heavily rusted iron door which looked as if it were forcibly attached to it. The bright red rust swelled like moss.

If I took a picture and posted it online, I could easily create a couple of creepy stories.

This alone was enough to create a ghost story. But in addition, there was the writing on the iron door.

If you don't open it, a million will die, and if you do, one will die.

"At this point, it honestly feels a bit childish, doesn't it?"

I turned my head to look at Goo Jin-cheol for a moment.

"This wasn't here before."

"Then the chairman must have written it."

Plus one point for Cheong-ho's survival score.

But minus one point for Cheong-ho's sanity score.

"Couldn't someone else have written it?"

"In Tanhyeon...? Do you not remember how we got here?"

If it weren't for Jang Hyeon-deok, it would have been impossible to come this far by car.

"This wasn't Tanhyeon from the beginning..."

-G'hyaaaaaaa!!!

-G'hyaaaakkk!!!

"What?! What is that?"

Jang Hyeon-deok screamed while pointing in a vague direction in the sky. Not that way... no, if I gave him the exact direction, he might faint. I calmed the startled Achilles and spoke to Jang Hyeon-deok.

"Maybe it's a crow?"

"A crow? What kind of crow makes such a strange sound?!"

Without adding much, Goo Jin-cheol also shivered with a rather pale face.

Quite an ominous sign, huh?

Even that sound alone had an unsettling presence, enough to affect a person's mind. I looked at the shadow lurking above the tree branches.

The moment my gaze met it, the "black thing" moved slowly and disappeared behind the tree.

A crow? A shadow?

No, it's just a "black thing". For now, it existed with an indescribable presence, but who knows what it might become later.

-G'hyaaaaaaa!!!

Ah, that bastard. It's really noisy.

"Jil Oh-mok... is that it?"

"What?"

"That person, Cheong-ho, Park-ssi?"

"It's Jeong-ssi."

"Ah, I see."

"What are you trying to say?"

"This isn't the place, but back then, someone called Park-ssi... oh, I knew his name... what was it? Anyway, he couldn't find a perfect burial site for someone, so he gave up searching for a great spot."

"You?"

"No, not me; it's a legend."

"Ah, a legend."

"Anyway, the person who was looking for the burial site was about to give up when suddenly."

"Suddenly?"

"He stopped when he heard a crow's cry, and it turned out to be an excellent burial site."

This guy, come to think of it, he used to tell these kinds of stories sometimes.

The surprising fact is that every time he talked like this, something extraordinary would happen.

"Isn't that the story of Ogeum-ri?"

Goo Jin-cheol suddenly interjected.

"Oh, is it?"

"Director, where is this Ogeum-ri?"

"It's a neighborhood tucked in the corner of Tanhyeon. You have to go a long way northwest from here."

"Anyway, a crow...? A great burial site? Do you want to say that Cheong-ho came to find a place to die??"

"No, it just came to mind. When you drive a taxi, you hear all kinds of things."

"Hmm... did it just come to mind the last time too?"

"What?"

"Didn't you tell a legend about a celestial maiden dancing somewhere over in Tanhyeon before?"

"Did I say that?"

Jang Hyeon-deok looked puzzled.

This was somehow ominous.

"Let's drop it. It's better to talk about this later when we have time."

Let's go in for now.

"I'll open it."

"No, step aside for a moment."

[Trap Detection]

[Magic Detection]

[Lifeform Detection]

[Invisibility Detection]

"Ugh. What's this?"

I felt a slight dizziness from the information flooding into my mind.

The magical power density inside is too high.

"Whatever it is, it's no joke."

"What is it? Is there something strange?"

"It's beyond strange."

"Huh?"

"Honestly, instead of saying that Tanhyeon expanded and made this place weird, it feels like this place caused Tanhyeon to expand."

"You're trying to scare me on purpose, aren't you?"

"Stay still. I'm not sure yet. We need to open it to find out."

"There are security devices inside. If you open it carelessly, it will be dangerous."

"I understand."

It's more of a trap than security devices.

If touched without authorization, it triggers loud alarms, deploys barriers, shoots bullets suddenly, and there's even a section where you could get electrocuted due to a high-voltage wire that the crazy Cheong-ho installed.

I extended my hand towards the door and activated the magic.

[Gremlin's Scream]

[Spell Enhancement: Range Increase]

Zzzzzzzing!!

The iron door hummed and vibrated and repelled the magical sound waves.

"What?"

"The chairman spent quite a fortune installing various devices. Some of them are meant to prevent intrusions by mages."

Goo Jin-cheol had a slightly proud expression on his face. Oh, really?

[Insight]

A magic that has exploration and analysis effects, augmented by the artifact's power. There's an artifact that's perfect for this situation.

[The unique effect of the L-rank accessory 'Carcosa's Mask', 'Madman's Dexterity', has been activated.

// Madman's Dexterity: You can unlock the hidden abilities of an artifact or attempt modifications to bestow other powers.]

Golden magical lines extended from the mask.

Even to the eyes of an ordinary person without magical detection abilities, the radiant glow was vivid.

Dozens of magical lines rooted themselves into the door with tremendous speed the moment they made contact. At the same time, the lines branched out and split into hundreds and thousands of strands, transforming into a complex circuit diagram.

The internal structure that was previously indiscernible to the naked eye or simple detection abilities became clear enough to grasp.

They laid silver under the iron door. Not just any silver, but consecrated silver. Where did they get something like this?

Then, there was the electric circuit passing through the complex space between the iron door and the silver. If I had touched it carelessly, I would have been electrocuted. However, this setup wasn't just to cause electric shocks.

High-voltage electricity above a certain level shared similar properties with magic.

It was the cheapest barrier that those unable to use magic could create. Actually, the quality of the electricity was quite good. They must be using a magic stone for internal power generation. At this level, it was strong enough to prevent lower-tier mages from breaking through.

I was planning to overload it with something like a lightning strike, but it would be a shame to destroy this door.

There was no need to break it anyway. I could open it. I added a new property to the magical lines I had inserted for analysis.

[Mechanism Corrosion]

Crrrreeeak.

A barrier to block mages? It was just a crude trick by those who couldn't become mages. Instead of destroying the barrier, I infiltrated its structure and changed it from within.

And while I'm at it.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!!

I went deeper inside. Alarm? Silent. The barrier that drops when an intruder enters? Still. Improvised turrets that fire upon detecting movement? Too dangerous, so just blow up.

Boom!

Finally, I unlocked the door latch.

Creak, clunk.

While I was at it, I added physical force to the magical lines and pulled the door.

Screeeeech.

The massive iron door opened with a heavy noise.

"Let's go in."

"This is unbelievable, Mage-nim!"

"This is nothing."

"We can't go in yet! There are traps inside, remember?"

Why was this idiot so ridiculously stupid?

No, it was my fault for bringing Jang Hyeon-deok this far.

"I took care of everything."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes."

"That's... amazing. I'm sure they said no mage could break through this barrier."

I'm glad I brought Goo Jin-cheol along. Yes, this is a normal reaction. Not that I needed praise, but hearing his words right after Jang Hyeon-deok's idiotic comments almost moved me.

"Well, I roughly resolved it."

The first room had some rather sadistic traps, but those were already dealt with from the outside.

A deep inner structure.

Somehow, it looked more like a hallway than a room.

Other than that, nothing particularly noticeable stood out. Since there was no need to consider aesthetics, the walls were just thickly coated with waterproof paint.

Step, step, step.

Without any furniture to absorb the sound, every footstep echoed loudly. It was distracting.

"This place feels strange, doesn't it?"

"Maybe it's because it's not well-ventilated. It feels a bit stifling."

Ventilation?

No, that wasn't it. The density of magical power here was high enough to block sensory perception. Even a non-mage would feel uncomfortable.

To me, it felt like I was pushing through a dense forest.

Annoying.

I expanded my influence to push it back, but it grew heavier the further in we went.

"Nothing much here?"

"I took care of everything."

"Ah.... as expected from a genius mage."

"Stop it."

At the very end of the long room was another thick iron door.

No, it was big, thick, and round, so...

"A submarine ha... Hmmm? An iron door. What is that iron door?"

"You want to say "hatch" right?"

"Oh, yes, that's it. But why is something like this installed here?"

"They originally intended to build a nuclear fallout shelter."

"A nuclear fallout shelter?"

"Yes. It was built about 30 years ago, before the great collapse."

A nuclear fallout shelter built in the 90s.

"Really? It's that old?"

"I heard it was built by someone with paranoia."

"Ah, I get it. It was made in preparation for a great collapse, right?"

"No, how could they predict and prepare for that?"

"Then why was it built?"

"Back then, North Korea was still a threat."

"Right, North Korea. They must have built it out of fear of nuclear missiles."

"Nuclear missiles? What does that have to do with North Korea?"

Hmm, I've never had a conversation with an NPC using these keywords, so this is interesting.

Jang Hyeon-deok was born just before the great collapse. The information Jang Hyeon-deok has about North Korea is probably completely different from what kids in my reality know.

"North Korea originally... no, let's drop it. I'll explain it separately later."

Even Jang Hyeon-deok, as oblivious as he was, understood that this was not the time to start a long history lesson.

Besides, there were far more exciting things right in front of us.

"Ugh."

When Goo Jin-cheol exerted a bit of strength, the hatch opened easily.

Whatever he was thinking, as soon as Goo Jin-cheol opened the hatch, he shouted downward.

"Chairman! Chairman Cheong-ho!"

Thud!

Heeheehee!

A laugh followed the thudding sound. No, was it really a laugh?

"That? Was that a laugh?"

"It didn't sound like a person."

"As expected, the chairman is..."

People do various things to forget their fear.

Pointless chatter and nonsensical babbling are among them.

Just moments ago, Goo Jin-cheol had been engaging in pointless chatter and talking about the unimportant origins of this secret warehouse, all in an effort to ignore the unpleasant and scary atmosphere that was difficult to describe.

But even that was silenced by the laughter that came from below.

I looked down at the hatch again.

A vertically long passage with ladders hanging closely together.

Even though there was obviously a light below, it somehow looked like a dreadful pit leading down to a dangerous dungeon.

"Is this... okay?"

"It's just a small fallout shelter with only three rooms. It'll be over soon."

In the end, it was something made by people

It wasn't a big deal.

If nothing had changed from my memory, there was a room with security and defense equipment, a storage room, and another room, and that was it. Even estimating generously, the total area was about 30 pyeong.

It wasn't the type of scenario with countless rooms, endless corridors, and deadly traps like in other dungeon exploration scenarios.

"That's a relief, but..."

Once again, the sound of laughter, or rather the devil's temptation to lure us in, echoed.

Heeheeheehee!!

Heeheeheeheehee!!!

Hahaha!!

Ahahaha!!!