Acquiring Talent in a Dungeon - Chapter 31

Chapter 31 –  Day 7, 7th Floor A Different Class

Another night. Day. Then night again. Just before the end of the next day, I was able to be certain.

“Kao to…” I spoke.

[Text Decryption. Lv 4. 566/800]

[Tellan (Reading, Writing) Lv 3.  312/400]

I could already read Tellan at a reasonable level. I learned hundreds of words from the introduction and mastered some essential verbs and adjectives. But, I wasn’t the only one to memorize the language.

“Uo mek ru gike ger bu.” The words flowed seamlessly from Yoon Ji-hee’s mouth, just like the original spoken language. I couldn’t know for sure since I didn’t know the words, but it was clear that Yoon Ji-hee was speaking Tellan very naturally.

Yoon Ji-hee mastered the method of pronunciation that was written in the introduction, so she was several steps ahead of me. As her pronunciation became more natural, it became harder to hear what she was saying.

Maybe it would be the same if I met someone who spoke the actual Tellan language. It was just like how people who learned English from books couldn’t talk to Americans.

“Excuse me. Are you even saying it properly? Will you tell say if it isn’t correct?” Su-jin grumbled.

“Cor… It is correct.”  Yoon Ji-hee responded to the grumbling Yang Su-jin. It was worth it. Even if she was shown the books, Yang Su-jin couldn’t understand the structure of the verbs properly. Actually, this wasn’t a matter of making fun of Yang Su-jin.

I had checked Yoon Ji-hee’s intelligence related stats. Obviously, some of her stats were lower than Yang Su-jin’s, who had eaten Yoo Su-jeong. But the thing I paid attention to was the speed at which her talents were rising.

My Text Decryption was now at Level 4. Tellan reading and writing was at Level 3.

But Yoon Ji-hee’s Text Decryption was at Level 2. Her Tellan reading and writing? Surprisingly, it was Level 5 and on the verge of becoming Level 6. I didn’t understand why her Text Decryption was lower, but she had spent longer reading the introduction to the language.

This was also true of Yang Su-jin. Apart from mixing poisons and wielding her dagger, Yang Su-jin read the English book I brought, but her talent lagged behind my rise on the fifth floor. It seemed like I had a talent for talent acquisition.

Even the process of getting the talent was funny, because it reflected the quality that I had. Fortunately, it wasn’t that important. There was another way to get talents here, by ‘eating’ a person who had talent in this field. I wouldn’t think too deeply about it right now.

“Go.” I ordered when it became dark. I dragged the two people onto the streets. We didn’t walk down the dim paths but in the centre of the street lights. I could hear Yang Su-jin nervously swallowing her saliva.

We only walked for a few minutes. “Kyaaak!” Yoon Ji-hee screamed. A golem stood before us. Although Yang Su-jin stiffened, she didn’t take any action. I placed my hand on Yoon Ji-hee’s shoulder to calm her down.

She looked at me with terrified eyes.

I laughed as, “Tecka nop ka seb qu?” The golem asked this question.

&

It was a good feeling. “Now we definitely have over 30 people, Oppa.” Yoon Sang-ah spoke happily but Yoon Sang-min wasn’t pleased. It was because the previous words were still ringing in his ears.

He was told to shut his mouth. He was hiding stupidity behind his image. Those were the words.

An arrow that suddenly flew at him. It was the feeling of someone penetrating his weak point that he hadn’t even be aware of. He didn’t know how that man, Hee-chul, knew about the matter. But… It was the truth. Unlike the image on the surface, Yoon Sang-min’s grandfather only gave him a ‘medium’ evaluation.

He received a worse evaluation than his younger sibling Yoon Sang-ah, so it was natural for him to feel bad. The only ones lower were his five year old brother, who didn’t enter the dungeon, and Yoon Ji-hee.

The other two above him… Yoon Sang-min couldn’t beat them. It had been like that since childhood, so he had to admit it. They were ‘real.’ They weren’t fakes reigning over mediocre people. One of his female cousins came to mind. She was the one who told his grandfather about the existence of the dungeon.

Yoon Sang-min had arrived earlier than the other grandchildren and was the only witness. He saw the evidence she used to convince their grandfather. It was two days before the end of the fifth floor.

She had a relaxed and interested expression. He realized it again after a few years. She was a special existence. Life was unfair. He couldn’t reach the sky, while they had already transcended the sky. The other two people above him.

“…But… It will be different from now on.”

“Eh? What did you say? Oppa?”

"Never mind. Jin-tae?”

“He is controlling the guard. It uses a club, so a little bit of practice is needed to manipulate it.” Yoon Sang-min nodded. His key was Kim Jin-tae. He was a good friend of Kim Sung-tae and someone who followed Kim Sung-tae since childhood.

No, a friend who was a hound. After clearing the ‘special dungeon’ on the fourth floor, he got a technique called ‘Doll Possession.’ Although it put him into a comatose state, he could control a golem or doll of a certain rank. He used it to control a golem and then joined forces with the others to hunt the golems.

It wasn’t a method without sacrifices. There was one person who was seriously injured in the fight against the golems, and once a third golem was added to the fight, one person had to be left as bait while the others retreated.

However, this loss of personnel could be compensated from the fifth floor. The other groups couldn’t catch the locusts or golems and tore their tickets one by one, so it wasn’t hard to obtain them.

“Sang-min hyung.” Kim Sung-tae came up with 12 tickets. They were the tickets of the group members who joined this time.

This was the condition that Yoon Sang-min gave to those who wanted to join.

“There is no need to sacrifice items or your lives. If you want to come with me, then hand me all the tickets you have and follow me.” As a result, he had accumulated approximately 60 tickets. Those idiots seemed to be unaware, but these tickets would be precious from now on.

They had already stayed on the seventh floor for more than two days. Tickets were the only means of securing food, supplies and safety. It might not be as good as items or lives right now, but in the end, Yoon Sang-min would be able to reign if he had the tickets.

‘I will remain until the end and become the successor.’ As that man said, he was no different from someone pretending to be a genius. Based on his chaebol background, he was able to get followers like Kim Sung-tae and Kim Jin-tae.

There was only one sky.  Yoon Sang-min was a strong leader. Someday, he would be able to beat that sky. The dungeon would make this possible, even if he wasn’t as perfect as his other two cousins. Now he had 60 tickets in his hands and things were just starting.

The knowledge of the power of the guards had already been gathered in abundance. Due to a considerable number of guards being hunted, there wouldn’t be many guards that would pass by tonight.

“Someone is coming?”

“..” Yoon Sang-min stood up as he received the report he heard outside the building. After going to the fifth floor several times, he realized that almost all of the groups on the seventh floor had joined him or died.

There was only one group left. It was like he expected. Three people. Yoon Ji-hee, a man, and a female in her late teens. “I never told you my location. Yet you managed to come.”

However, in the process, there must have been a severe loss of manpower. There were only three of them left. Even if Kim Jin-tae didn’t borrow the golem’s power, he now had dozens of people to suppress them.

“I won’t ask you to give me your items or your lives. Do you have any tickets? I will allow you to join if you give all of them to me.”

“Hey, Oppa.” Yoon Sang-ah approached and knocked on Yoon Sang-min’s back.

“Can’t we just take it?” She was smiling but she seemed unhappy. Of course, Yoon Sang-min wouldn’t spare them even if he had the tickets. Even though Hee-chul was trouble, he was a person with great combat power, so Yoon Sang-min would be able to make great progress if he killed him.

“The day is cold. The golems might come. It is better to make a decision quickly.”

“…” The man, Hee-chul, walked forward with the two people. Then he looked at the golem behind Yoon Sang-min. “You can control this.”

“Didn't I tell you? I have a talented person. Besides, look at these people. It is the power of cooperation that can’t be achieved through violence.”

Hee-chul nodded and placed his hands in his pocket. Victory.

Feeling excited, Yoon Sang-min held out his hand before the other could pull out the tickets. But… What came out of Hee-chul’s pocket wasn’t an item. It wasn’t something that could be passed over.

A fist.  The fist stopped just in front of Yoon Sang-min’s face. “Indeed. You don’t have the talent for a poker face. I was right.” The man said. 

His face was distorted in anger, but Yoon Sang-min had enough sense to move back.

In a voice that had no volume control, he ordered Kim Jin-tae who controlled the golem. “Catch him!” Kim Jin-tae moved immediately. He was used to controlling the golem for two days already. The golem quickly flew towards Hee-chul.

Kwang!

There was the sound of stone hitting stone. People noticed the sound and carefully looked. It was another golem. It came from the direction of Hee-chul’s party and held a club.

“T-this…” Did the woman with Hee-chul have the capability to control the golem?

It didn’t matter. Yoon Sang-min calmed himself. Even if they each had a golem, Yoon Sang-min had dozens of allies. Before Yoon Sang-min could give any instructions, Kim Sung-tae was already leading the others into combat postures.

“Give it up!”

“… Hey. There are a lot of you.” Hee-chul said as he looked at all the people who came out of the building. This was it. At that moment, Yoon Sang-min stiffened.

“…”

Now the sight of Hee-chul was remarkably similar to his female cousin that he saw before. It was the atmosphere, rather than the outward appearance.

What the? Come to think of it, Yoon Sang-min hadn’t focused on the words that came from the mouth of the golem.

“Tecka nop ka seb qu?” Do you need help, Citizens? The golem asked in a gentle tone.

“De fork Te mei, joo re.” It was asking the man. Hee-chul replied with a pretty awkward pronunciation. And she, Yoon Ji-hee who was Hee-chul’s key, responded as the controller.

“Re Iooy Ewe Kee De Grefeb.” Catch all the barbarians threatening us. It was a neat pronunciation and accent.

Yoon Sang-min realized with irritation. It wasn’t Hee-chul, but Yoon Ji-hee who resembled his cousin.  Her face was filled with confidence. The atmosphere was exactly the same. Something he wanted but always failed at. The atmosphere of a genius was absolutely impossible for him to reach.  She was the same type of human.

Yoon Sang-min’s eyes shook. In the darkness, 200 golems had surrounded them without a sound.  Then they faithfully followed the words of the citizen.