Chapter 104
Chapter 104
Chapter 104: Horns Grew on My Head
‘Horns, of all things.’
The instant Rokan caught sight of the ethereal horns emerging from Min-jun’s scalp, sheer astonishment seized him.
The mere fact that horns had sprouted on a human brow was alarming in its own right.
Yet that was hardly the sole reason for his shock.
‘Those shapes… they match what I uncovered in that ancient era.’
Long ago, Rokan had come across an archaic chronicle—a sacred text reserved exclusively for the eyes of the Dragon Lord—depicting horns strikingly identical to the pair now gracing Min-jun’s head.
That was the true source of his profound disturbance.
‘This could become very complicated.’
He found himself wondering whether Min-jun was even aware of the growth, and if he were, whether he understood the manner and moment of their emergence.
Beyond that, how the young man had managed to conquer that double dungeon entirely on his own remained a mystery.
A myriad of questions clamored for answers.
Even so, examining Min-jun’s physical state took absolute precedence over everything else.
“Are you holding up?”
“Just… exhausted.”
With eyelids half-drooping, he appeared ready to collapse onto the floor at any second.
“That brings me relief.”
Aside from sheer lethargy, Min-jun’s overall health remained fairly intact.
It was an astounding feat, particularly considering he had overcome an S-rank double dungeon without any assistance.
His internal energy fluctuated unevenly, and minor abrasions were scattered across his skin.
Still, such minor afflictions could easily be mended with a dash of recovery magic alongside half a day of peaceful slumber.
“We should make our way to my domain first. Lean on me.”
Even while propping Min-jun up, Rokan discreetly glanced back toward the young man’s forehead.
The horns that had previously crested Min-jun’s brow were now slowly dissolving into nothingness.
By the time they crossed the threshold of the Gate and arrived inside Rokan’s sanctuary, every lingering remnant had dissolved away entirely, leaving behind no evidence of their presence.
My recollection seemed to have severed abruptly at some point.
I could distinctly recall striking down the abomination that wore Sia’s face and then heading out through the portal’s threshold…
Yet upon opening my eyelids and taking in my surroundings, I found myself resting inside Rokan’s private retreat.
Beneath me was a plush mattress, and beside it sat an elixir container.
Judging by the circumstances, I had evidently lost consciousness due to the severe backlash of straining my strength past its limits, prompting Rokan to carry me directly back to his home.
‘Just how much time… have I lost?’
Right as I reached out to locate my mobile device to check the hour, I picked up approaching presence just before the entrance swung open.
Rokan entered.
“You have awakened. How does your body feel?”
“A bit tight and stiff… but overall, nothing too serious.”
“Splendid. That eases my concerns.”
Rokan retrieved a vial of medicine from his pocket dimension and offered it to me. Since parched dryness lined my throat, I emptied the flask in a single gulp.
Perhaps owing to the curative properties, the lingering haze clouding my thoughts steadily dissipated.
“Pardon me, Lord Rokan. Have you happened to come across my phone?”
“It rests right over here.”
Rokan pulled my smartphone from the small cabinet situated next to the mattress. Grasping it immediately, I checked the digital clock.
The display read 5:05 p.m.
Our descent into the Gate had commenced shortly past eleven in the morning, which suggested merely six hours had elapsed.
—Or so I assumed, until I noticed with a jolt that the calendar display had advanced an entire day.
To put it plainly—roughly thirty hours had slipped away since my entry into that perilous S-rank Gate.
Considering the agonizing duration I had endured inside that towering spire, one could argue that far less time had slipped by than anticipated.
Yet that was hardly what troubled me.
This day was meant to be the exact occasion when Sia and I had arranged to visit my family home.
“This is bad…”
“Now that I recall, today was meant to be the day you and Sasha traveled to see your mother and father.”
Both Sia and I had anticipated this family gathering with immense excitement.
We had put so much care into setting aside the schedule, and knowing the arrangement had collapsed like this left a heavy weight on my chest.
“For the moment, Sasha mentioned she reached out to your family and rescheduled the gathering for next week.”
It was a small comfort that the trip had merely been postponed by seven days… yet a nagging sense of guilt still weighed upon me.
A milestone date I had crossed off days for had fallen apart completely outside my control.
I ought to reach out to Sia without delay… or so I thought to myself.
“Sasha requested that I notify her the instant you regained consciousness. She seemed utterly desperate to see your face.”
Precisely on cue, Rokan spoke of Sia.
Reflecting on it, precisely seven days had passed since our prior encounter, meaning there should be zero hindrance in reuniting with her.
I nodded in agreement, and Rokan initiated contact with Sia without wasting a second.
The signal had barely connected.
Seemingly warping straight from her personal abode without a second’s hesitation, Sia materialized on the spot, sprinted toward the bed, and wrapped her arms fiercely around my neck.
“Oppaaaa!”
The exact moment Sia’s voice reached my ears and her visage met my vision, a tidal wave of sentiment shattered my composure, drawing tears down my cheeks.
The illusionary Sia who had callously manipulated my heart inside that subterranean labyrinth surged unbidden into my thoughts.
Now that the genuine Sia was holding me with genuine affection right before my eyes, the crushing stress unraveled completely, and profound solace mingled with uncontrollable weeping.
Catching sight of my tears, Sia blinked in astonishment, promptly reaching up to wipe them from my cheeks.
“You’re safe, oppa. Everything is fine.”
“It’s truly you, Sia. It’s really, genuinely you…”
“Mhm. It’s truly me, oppa.”
I held Sia in my arms far longer than was customary between us.
Ordinarily during our embraces, Sia would cling persistently without letting go, yet on this occasion, the roles reversed.
I embraced her closely, completely unwilling to part.
Clutching her firmly against my chest gave me the grounding sensation of having truly returned to reality.
Once my erratic emotions had ultimately settled down.
Sia positioned herself beside me, clasping my fingers with gentle warmth.
“Grandpa shared the broad strokes with me. However, he didn’t know what actually unfolded within that secondary dungeon.”
“If your strength allows, tell us what occurred inside.”
It remained an account I would inevitably have to share eventually. And yet.
“…”
My vocal cords locked, completely refusing to form the words.
Recounting it in Sia’s presence was terribly difficult, and merely surfacing those recollections felt agonizing.
“…Oppa?”
Faced with my prolonged quiet, Sia stared into my eyes with evident dread.
The look in her pupils mirrored the exact gaze that fraudulent mimic had cast upon me within the inner dungeon, forcing me to shut my eyelids tight for a brief moment.
“What is… wrong? Exactly what took place within that realm?”
Doubtless because my demeanor diverged so sharply from my normal self.
The hand Sia rested over mine shivered slightly, betraying her inner apprehension.
Brushing a comforting palm over the distressed Sia’s shoulder, Rokan addressed me in a hushed, considerate tone.
“You appear to require respite. Do not force the matter; you are welcome to speak whenever your resolve settles.”
Observing how uncharacteristic my disposition had become, it was plain that both Rokan and Sia were proceeding with delicate care around me.
“Haaaah.”
Though painful to dredge up, keeping it hidden forever was impossible.
The sole distinction was whether one endured the strike early on or delayed the inevitable impact.
If the strike was unavoidable anyway, taking the blow sooner felt wiser.
“I am fine. I will recount it right now.”
I began my testimony without hesitation.
I chose to initiate the narrative gently, recounting the trial against the succubi.
Sia’s features twisted into a slight scowl at the initial mention of the temptresses, but as I explained how I neutralized them while entirely brushing aside their allure, the rigid tension on her visage gradually relaxed.
Soon after, however, Sia’s expression shifted yet again.
Her eyes carried a silent query: ‘If that was all, why did your color look so terribly drained?’
Gliding past the intermediate developments in brief fashion.
I moved directly into the climactic core of the ordeal.
“Lord Rokan, what sort of challenge awaited you on the highest tier?”
“A vexing labyrinth lay ahead. Lacking the patience to maneuver it carefully while hurrying to your side, I simply shattered the walls by brute force.”
“…”
To think he casually demolished an intricate puzzle intended to test mental acumen purely through overwhelming destruction.
In any case, it appeared the interior architecture of the double dungeon morphed based on the individual challenger.
The deeper I pondered it, the more absurd that Gate’s inner workings appeared, from its initial threshold to its core.
Perhaps every labyrinth rated S-rank and beyond exhibited such madness.
“…Evidently, your trial was rather different.”
Gauging my momentary silence, Rokan grasped the reality of my circumstance immediately.
“Indeed. I would have gladly traded it for a labyrinth instead.”
Exhaling a weary, bitter breath, I laid bare the trauma I encountered upon that final tier.
“The entity lurking there wielded the capacity to extract and mirror personal recollections.”
I laid out how the abomination flawlessly recreated the catastrophe from the Gate one year ago, deliberately targeting my deepest emotional wounds in a scheme to shatter my psyche from within.
At last, I explained the path I took to push past that illusion and successfully conquer the lair.
Throughout the telling, I frequently stole glances at the reactions of Sia and Rokan.
Sia, seemingly struggling against a surge of anguish while absorbing my words, kept wringing her fingers anxiously, whereas Rokan observed with a solemn countenance, his features carved in stoic concentration.
When the protracted chronicle reached its conclusion.
Sia leaned forward and wrapped me in a wordless embrace.
She uttered not a syllable, yet every ounce of devotion and ache she harbored poured straight into my heart.
Once the prolonged embrace between us finally loosened.
“You have my gratitude, alongside my deepest apologies.”
Rokan offered quietly.
“I ought to have exercised greater prudence during the selection of our destination.”
He had made allowances for ferocious beasts of Cerberus’s caliber manifesting, yet the emergence of such an abnormal secondary structure had slipped entirely beyond his predictions.
That was the essence of Rokan’s admission.
Naturally, holding resentment toward Rokan never crossed my mind for even an instant.
Unpredictability was simply the intrinsic nature of Gates.
“There is no need for blame. Misfortune simply worked against us. Besides, it is not as if you engineered this ordeal on purpose, Lord Rokan.”
Above all, surviving the ordeal meant everything ended satisfactorily anyway.
I offered the brightest grin I could muster to alleviate Rokan’s remorse, yet lingering tension refused to vacate his hardened features.
“Should we venture into another Gate in future times, I shall establish stringent safeguards beforehand.”
“There is no reason to carry such guilt. Nobody can hold command over an act of god.”
Somewhere along the conversation our positions had inverted, leaving me in the seat of comforting Rokan instead.
“Very well, understood.”
Conceding to the reassurance, Rokan finally revealed a quiet, subtle grin.
He subsequently raised an arm, parting the fabric of reality to reveal his spatial vault.
“Now then, since our conquer of the anomaly is complete, etiquette dictates we resolve the aftermath.”
Reaching into the dimensional fold, Rokan began withdrawing an array of relics that radiated undeniable rarity.
“It is time to distribute the spoils of war.”
“Did all of this… truly originate from within?”
Given the state of total bewilderment I had fallen into, my memories regarding the moments immediately prior to departing the Gate were utterly blank.
I faintly recalled encountering Rokan and exchanging brief phrases before crossing the exit, yet the exact dialogue eluded my recollection.
Naturally, the scenery adjoining the threshold was equally lost to my mind.
“Indeed. Every artifact here rested atop the crest of that tower. I scooped them up while departing.”
Rokan methodically arranged the items fetched from his pocket dimension in orderly rows.
Fitting for the hoard of an S-rank breach, every singular object bore an extraordinary aura.
Ranging from luminous gems clearly commanding staggering fortunes, to an arsenal of weaponry including fine blades, ornate trinkets, masterfully crafted gold treasures, and various treasures…
Liquidating the entirety of this cache would easily yield multiple hundreds of millions of won, by my conservative estimation.
Rokan then plucked a handful of golden relics from the center of the display.
And subsequently.
“The remainder belongs entirely to you.”
He pushed every remaining treasure toward my side.
“Is it truly… acceptable for me to claim this much?”
Judged strictly by our relative contributions toward subduing the Gate, Rokan rightfully deserved at least half… if not a minimum of two-thirds of the bounty.
Yet when I raised my hesitant query, Rokan let out an amused chortle as though humoring a child.
“My purpose in traveling there was never the accumulation of treasure. This modest selection suffices for my needs.”
Rokan ceded the loot with complete indifference, prompting Sia to crouch beside the pile and inspect the artifacts with curiosity.
Kneeling alongside Sia, I glanced over the artifacts while monitoring her expressions, noting how her pupils shone with fascination toward particular pieces.
“Should anything catch your fancy here, please keep it.”
“Oh, nonsense. These represent the rewards of your bitter struggle, oppa.”
Despite my invitation, Sia politely gestured in refusal, claiming she shouldn’t.
“Do not say that. The assistance I have received from your hands is already beyond measure, and I constantly seek opportunities to balance the scale. Please, if something catches your eye, select it. Honestly, consider it my earnest request.”
“If you insist to such an extent, oppa…”
Pressed with such persistence, Sia feigned mild reluctance before picking up an arcane staff crowned with a delicate gem, accompanied by an exquisite bracelet.
Noticing the pronounced curve lifting the edges of her lips, it was evident she had harbored an interest in those exact items from the very moment she spotted them.
Her reaction was truly endearing.
As I lingered over the accumulated riches, trading warm chatter with Sia.
Rokan shifted forward, settling himself solemnly before me.
“Min-jun. There is a particular matter I must clarify with you.”
“Yes?”
“The moment you exited after clearing that secondary dungeon, I witnessed horns protruding from your scalp. I wish to know if you possess any awareness regarding how they manifested.”
“Horns, you say?”
Shocked by the revelation, my hands flew toward my forehead to inspect it.
Yet far from encountering any horns, nothing irregular met my touch.
‘Horns on my own head…?’
I harbored zero comprehension regarding such a feature.
And yet.
‘An oddity certainly occurred.’
Back when that mimic attempted to deceive my senses, an alien cadence entirely distinct from my natural voice had resonated from within my throat.
‘A profound sensation of detachment washed over me then, almost as if my awareness had slipped into a vessel that was not my own.’
While I had experienced that eerie estrangement, no memory existed of physical horns pushing through my brow.
“…Do you retain no awareness of this?”
Witnessing my sheer confusion, Rokan appeared thoroughly perplexed.
A warrior of Rokan’s stature was incapable of hallucinating, nor would he devise a frivolous falsehood.
Which indicated the manifestation of horns upon my scalp had indeed occurred.
‘Could it be…’
To verify the possibility, I willed my interface window into existence.
“What in the world is this…?”
A newly registered technique, completely foreign to my knowledge, boldly occupied the interface.
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