Main Character Hides His Strength

The mysterious man was elated and began to wolf down food at a rapid pace.

‘The mind will work better once the belly is full.’

Sungchul remained patient as the man ate through 10 tokens worth of food

And finally, the moment Sungchul awaited for finally arrived.

“I am Dillo Buron. A guild member of the Holy city of Troimea’s thieves guild as the beginner class.”

The man seemed to regain some of his mental faculties as he explained his story.

But Sungchul soon noticed that there was no small amount of suspicion in his eyes. And as if to prove him right, the man directed a question at Sungchul with an accusatory voice.

“Where are you affiliated?”

Dillo Buron asked.

“I am not affiliated anywhere.”

Sungchul replied.

To this, Dillo Buron seemed angry.

“That’s impossible.”

“And why is that so?”

It was Sungchul’s turn to ask.

“This god’s dungeon, Aegehios, is the property of the Holy city of Troimea. In other words, it’s impossible to enter here without the permission of the pontiff of Troimea.”

“Troimea?”

It was a name he had heard a few times.

It was one of the terms he had seen from time to time attributed to Lesser Gods since he obtained Transcendent Senses. And even the name of the key he obtained that possessed the power to open Soul Storage carried the name ‘key of the vault keeper of Troimea’.

He had been thinking it must refer to a place somewhere, and finally he came across someone who seemed to know the place.

“Are you telling me you don’t know what Troimea is?”

Dillo Buron asked with a disbeliving look.

“Truthfully, I do not know very well. But I do have this.”

Sungchul took out the key of the vault keeper of Troimea he had obtained from Horneko and pushed it forward.

“Mmm? T…that…?! Sir Issac Laccetem’s key?”

“What is that? Do you know him, that centipede?”

“Centipede? What outrage! He’s a man of integrity, responsible for the storehouses of the Holy city of Troimea, the wisest and the most greedless man in existence.”

“…”

Sungchul watched the livid Dillo Buron an thought to himself.

‘This man… his clock is stopped ten thousand years ago.’

Just what happened in the past? But before that, there was a need to fix a misunderstanding first.

Dillo Buron suddenly took two daggers from his Soul Storage and pointed them towards Sungchul.

“You… You couldn’t be…. Are you a warrior of Kire? What have you done with Sir Laccetem?”

“What the hell is the Kire now? Did you mean curry?”

Sungchul stood up as he replied. In his hands was Fal Garaz.

He had taken it out to show more than anything, but Dillo Buron did not recognize Fal Garaz.

‘Fal Garaz must have not been made ten thousand years ago.’

Sungchul thought to himself as he pointed Fal Garaz at Dillo Buron.

“Nonsense!”

Dillo Buron replied vehemently, but his eyes were already trembling. He was already somewhat aware of the fact, the result of unimaginable amount of time passing in the darkness.

“If you desire so, I shall face you.”

Sungchul raised Fal Garaz as he said calmly. It goes without saying that an unspeakably overpowering aura poured out of his body.

Dillo Buron’s eyes shook.

Clack.

The one to put his weapon down first was Dillo.

“… It is not because I believe you.”

Dillo murmured quietly and bitterly.

“I know I can’t win even if I were to fight you.”

“A wise decision.”

Sungchul also put away Fal Garaz into the Soul Storage.

Once again, the two men gazed at each other from across the table.

The two off them were both aware where the conversation needed to start.

Dillo Buron took a sip of the tea the fairy had brought before starting with a exhausted voice.

“As someone from the thieves’ guild of Troimea, I was given the role of guiding the citizens of Troimea towards ascension.”

“Ascension?”

“It refers to becoming an immortal and leaving this world.”

Dillo Buron frowned deeply before whispering quietly.

“And damn it all, I was supposed to be next.”

Sungchul thought to himself.

‘Something must have happened inside of the dungeon.’.

Dillo Buron continued to explain.

“My role was that of a delivery man. The holy orders’ warriors would earn dungeon tokens from higher level trials and my job was to deliver them to weaker ones.”

“Is that possible? No, let me change my question. This dungeon permitted that to take place?”

“Of course it didn’t. that’s why a deliveryman like me was valuable.”

Dillo Buron said this before winking with one eye and vanishing from Sungchul’s sight.

It was a complete invisibility. Sungchul realized that he couldn’t so much as detect his slightest presence.

‘This ability. It feels familiar.’

Ahmuge’s face crossed his mind for a moment.

“This is much better than before.”

Sungchul replied while staring at thin air.

Dillo Buron reappeared in front of Sungchul with a grin using his few remaining teeth.

“I was on the verge of death earlier. I was hungry and out of my mind. There’s no way I would have been caught normally.”

“How did you end up like this in the first place?”

Dillo Buron’s face darkened as a response.

“There was something seriously wrong that day.”

“…”

“Warriors of the order left the dungeon and ascended that day. And they informed me the next batch of warriors from the order were supposed to arrive. But no matter how long I waited, the next group never arrived. And then suddenly the entire dungeon went dark.”

Sungchul’s eyes twitched slightly.

‘This man seemed to have been sealed in here along with the dungeon.’

“It’s not supposed to happen, for the entire dungeon to cease functioning entirely. All the fairies went to sleep and the lights at the palace of genies went out. The entire world was plunged into deathly silence. That was… just… it was a really shitty experience…”

Dillo seemed traumatized just being reminded of that day as he curled up and began to tear at his nails with a sickened look on his face.

“How did you survive?”

Sungchul asked.

Dillo turned his gaze back to Sungchul with face still full of fear as he shook his head.

“I don’t really know. Not long after the dungeon went dark, I also fell into sleep. No, more like I think I was asleep. I would occasionally wake up from the time to time, but since the world was completely silent and dark, I would close my eyes and force myself back to sleep. Again and again hundreds… perhaps tens of thousands of times…”

Sungchul thought to himself upon hearing this.

‘So, he slept for ten thousand years.’

It might have been thanks to the mystical energies contained within the dungeon that he managed to survive until now. The god’s dungeon safeguarded even Dillo Buron who was but an intruder.

“Then, will you please tell me about yourself?”

After a bit of time passed, Dillo was able to overcome his fear enough to ask Sungchul with a piercing gaze.

“It’s fine if you only want to share your affiliation and purpose. I already know you must be from Kireh.”

To this, Sungchul shared with the man a brief but truth more terrible than any lie he could have said.

“Are you aware that ten thousand years have passed since the era you have lived?”

“Ten thousand…?!”

Dillo’s eyes shook as if there was an earthquake.

“The Troimea or Kireh you speak of no longer exists any longer in the world. In fact, the name has already been lost to history and forgotten by the world at large.”

“Lies!”

Dillo shouted loudly with rage in his eyes.

Dillo was aware that some time must have passed since he was last out. But it was on a scale of years. Perhaps a few decades at best.

No, it would be more accurate to say that he wanted to believe it to be true.

“In fact, it has been more than ten thousand years.”

Sungchul clapped his hands. A few fairies poked their heads out from outside the doorway to look in.

“What is it yeyo?”

Sungchul turned to address the fairies.

“How long has this dungeon been buried underground?”

“Stop.”

Dillo said.

“Stop it.”

Sungchul understood exactly what Dillo Buron was going through right now.

Dillo was aware of the fact that an unbelievable amount of time has passed while he was stuck inside of the darkness. But understanding something did not mean his heart could accept it.

Because the moment he admits to it, everything he had ever done and lived for would mean nothing. Not only was there was no one to remember him, nothing of what he remembered remained either. In some ways, this was a truer oblivion than even death.

Sungchul thought to himself and arrived at a conclusion. He asked the restaurant’s fairy with a calm voice.

“How many years has it been?”

“It has been few decades past ten thousand years yeyo.”

Dillo exploded in anger.

“Lies!”

He was enraged.

“Utter bullshit!”

He slammed his fast down on the table, which broke it in half. The plates fell to the ground and shattered with loud noise.

Bertelgia shivered as she muttered to herself.

“What’s his problem?”

Sungchul calmly watched Dillo Buron’s fit of rage.

The anger that had been sleeping within the man for the last ten thousand years seemed to burn deep and strong, with no end in sight.

As is with all things, it would need time to heal.

What an irony, that the only cure to Dillo Buron’s pain was the very flow of time that tormented him so.