If you’re trying to sneak into the dungeon building, it’s best to choose a time when few people are around.
So, after getting some rest, I made my way to the dungeon building around midnight.
I looked around, but there was no sign of Shin Byeong-cheol or Seo Ye-in.
Guess they’re not here yet.
Since I had arrived a little early, I decided to use the time for a quick check-up.
[Side Quest: 2nd and 3rd Week Strategy Battle] (Complete)
▷ Objective: Clear the Conquest Dungeon (1/1)
▷ Bonus Objective: Clear within 4 days (2/4 days elapsed) seaʀᴄh thё NovelZone.fun website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
▷ Reward: Varies depending on completion level
That’s been the trend since the second semester.
The higher difficulty of the entered dungeon must have factored into the reward too.
I far exceeded the objective anyway.
We cleared a large-scale dungeon not in four days, but in just two which was half the time.
And the reward I received was:
[Material Selection Ticket (B)]
▷ Obtain a B-rank material of your choice.
That’ll save me some trouble.
Thanks to Seo Ye-in pulling the Leaf of Chaos, the completion of [Crow Branch] was pushed significantly forward.
Now all that’s left is to obtain the final S-rank material and bring everything to the Crow Seamstress to combine.
Of course, I’ll need to prepare the crafting fee separately.
Since the octopus statue worked so well before, I could probably make another statue this time too.
It’d be neat if I could use the Material Selection Ticket to get one of the required items for that.
While I was thinking about all that, Shin Byeong-cheol appeared in the distance.
He walked over lightly and smiled.
“You got here first. Am I late?”
“No, it’s not even time yet.”
“What about Seo Ye-in?”
“She’ll come.”
The next moment, we both turned our heads toward the girls’ dormitory.
We must have had the same thought.
Shin Byeong-cheol scratched his chin and said,
“…She’s not asleep, is she?”
“…She might be.”
Could our sloth of a lucky charm really wake up after midnight?
Even I couldn’t say for sure.
Shin Byeong-cheol asked again,
“What if she doesn’t come?”
“Then we’ll have no choice but to cancel and go another day.”
Any other dungeon might be fine, but with our luck, a randomized dungeon without her would be unthinkable.
Sure, we could brute-force our way through it if we had to, but it would just mean unnecessary hardship.
And the reward likely wouldn’t be worth the trouble.
Fortunately, our worries turned out to be unfounded.
We each stared at the girls’ dormitory and said a few words.
“She’s coming.”
“Coming.”
Seo Ye-in was approaching very slowly.
She had managed to wake up and come, but she still seemed half-asleep.
After trudging forward, she came to a halt and her head slowly tilted to one side.
She looked like she was dozing off while standing.
I waved my hand broadly and called out to her.
“Hey, Miss Seo!”
“….…”
“Hurry up! Let’s go!”
“….…”
At my shout, Seo Ye-in lifted her head, which had been leaning at a 45-degree angle.
Then while swaying like a jellyfish, she shuffled over to us.
“Sleepy…”
“Yeah, we’ll finish quickly so you can go back to sleep.”
“Carry me…”
“Then you’ll wake up even less. We’re entering the dungeon soon, so try walking a bit.”
I gently pushed away the hand Seo Ye-in had extended, then turned to Shin Byeong-cheol.
“Let’s get moving.”
“Is she gonna be alright? She’s really out of it.”
“She’ll wake up on the way.”
“Well, you guys know what you’re doing. Let’s roll~”
We all stepped onto the underground stairs together.
As we rode the elevator down, Shin Byeong-cheol double-checked.
“Was it the D floor?”
“Yeah, Room 336.”
“[Rabbit Room]. This is the random-type dungeon?”
“Yeah.”
At that, Shin Byeong-cheol smacked his lips and asked in a casual tone.
“Hey, mind if I come in too?”
“Out of nowhere?”
“Well, it’s boring just waiting outside. I want to see what it looks like.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
It felt like just having him with us would make the dungeon harder to clear.
But unexpectedly, Shin Byeong-cheol answered confidently.
“I’m not who I used to be. I’ve changed over the break. Didn’t you see I paid off all my debt?”
“That’s impressive and all, but I doubt your luck improved.”
“Come on, you’re missing the point. When you accumulate wealth, fortune naturally follows. That’s how the world works, right?”
Shin Byeong-cheol boasted loudly, but to me, he still didn’t seem all that reliable.
So I decided to ask the original good luck charm for permission.
“What do you think? Should we take him?”
“……”
Seo Ye-in glanced at Shin Byeong-cheol for about half a second, then gave a slight nod.
It felt more like she couldn’t be bothered and just gave a half-hearted response, but permission was permission.
So I told Shin Byeong-cheol,
“Come if you want. But you’re clearing all the traps.”
“Of course, that’s the least I can do.”
“And you’re not getting a cut of the rewards.”
“Oh, absolutely. I do have some sense of decency, you know.”
Following us just to watch and then demanding a share would be worse than a thief. He would be more like an outright robber.
Besides, Shin Byeong-cheol had already received more than his share of random boxes during the first semester, so he owed us a few rounds of unpaid guiding.
He seemed to understand that point and agreed to all my conditions without complaint.
Soon, the elevator stopped at the lowest level of the E floor, and we cautiously began descending the stairs to the D floor under Shin Byeong-cheol’s lead.
“……”
By then, Seo Ye-in seemed to have shaken off quite a bit of her sleepiness. She looked around with curious eyes or stared off into the distance.
It was probably her first time coming this far down.
As I kept walking, just going with the flow, we eventually arrived in front of the target dungeon.
[No.336] [Rabbit Room]
“Hold on a second.”
Shin Byeong-cheol bustled around the area, setting up a few devices.
They were meant to help us stay out of sight from the patrolling staff or members of the student council.
They weren’t all that effective, so there was a good chance we’d get caught. But it was better than nothing.
“Okay, all done.”
Before long, Shin Byeong-cheol finished his preparations, and after exchanging glances, we each stepped into the teleportation portal one by one.
The next moment, we were standing in the middle of a spacious room.
It wasn’t just big. It felt even more empty because there wasn’t a single piece of furniture or item in sight.
The only things in the room were the four doors. One on each wall.
Each had a cute little rabbit drawing on it.
Seo Ye-in and Shin Byeong-cheol spun around, checking out the doors.
Then Shin Byeong-cheol was the first to speak.
“So, I guess we’re supposed to open a door and move on to the next room… Do the rabbit drawings look different?”
“No, they’re all the same.”
“Then how are we supposed to know which way to go?”
“It’s basically luck.”
“There’s no walkthrough or anything?”
“There is, technically, but it’s mostly luck.”
The progression system of the [Rabbit Room] was simple.
You just keep opening doors and moving from room to room.
At a glance, it seemed similar to the [Teleportation Labyrinth], but the key difference was that all the rooms were randomly arranged.
That’s why walkthroughs don’t really help much here.
Shin Byeong-cheol asked another question.
“So, we just pick any door and go through?”
“Not just any door.”
Doing that would make it all too easy to end up wandering aimlessly.
Of course, we had already prepared a solution for that.
I stood beside Seo Ye-in.
“Lucky Charm Radar, activate.”
“Wheein—”
The Lucky Charm Radar slowly spun around a few times.
Then she suddenly stopped and pointed to one of the doors.
“Wheein.”
“Is it that one?”
“Wheein.”
We opened the door chosen by Lucky Charm and stepped inside.
At first, nothing was visible, but as soon as the door behind us shut, the room came into view.
It was an empty room, similar to the last one.
However, the door behind us had turned into a wall, and in front of us and to the left were doors just like before. To the right, a staircase led upward.
Shin Byeong-cheol nodded.
“So this is how it works. Got it.”
“This is how we reach the boss room.”
The location of the boss room was random, too.
If you were really lucky, you could find it after just a few rooms. But if you were unlucky, you might have to search for days.
And my goal didn’t end there.
I added an explanation.
“While we’re here, I want to check out the hidden boss and bonus rooms too.”
“There’s stuff like that?”
“There is. If we’re lucky, we’ll find it.”
Back when I played the game, it was rare to even see them once. But with Lucky Charm’s luck, it was definitely possible.
I glanced at Seo Ye-in and asked casually,
“So, Lucky Sloth, where to next?”
“……”
Seo Ye-in alternated her gaze between the left door, the front door, and the stairs to the right.
Then Shin Byeong-cheol quietly joined the conversation.
“Hey, hey, can I pick this time?”
“I don’t know if I trust that at all.”
“Just trust me this once.”
“And if it turns out to be a weird room?”
“Then I’ll take whatever’s coming.”
I gave another sidelong glance, and Seo Ye-in gave a slight nod as if to say, “Go ahead.”
Honestly, I was a little curious too.
Had the teahouse owner really accumulated fortune and luck over the break?
Besides, since we were still early in the game, even if we did hit a strange room, we could recover.
With my thoughts settled, I said to Shin Byeong-cheol,
“Alright, your pick.”
“I choose… I choose…! The left one! I feel auspicious energy coming from the left room!”
“Alright, let’s go.”
We opened the left door and stepped inside.
As the door closed behind us, the next room came into view.
“……”
Several life-sized rabbit dolls stood in the center.
Each held some kind of bladed weapon. Like swords, axes, spears.
Then, all at once, the rabbit dolls turned their heads toward us.
Snap!
Shin Byeong-cheol began backing away with cold sweat on his brow.
“Why did the mood suddenly turn so nasty?”
“I thought you said you felt auspicious energy.”
“Ahem, well… let’s deal with them first.”
We each drew our weapons, and the rabbit dolls charged at us and swung their blades.
Not that we felt even a hint of danger.
They’re just D-rank mobs, after all.
Whoosh—
I used an explosive blast to group them together. Seo Ye-in followed up, unloading a burst from her assault rifle and launching a grenade.
Boom—!
A moment later, the rabbit dolls were neatly wiped out.
Shin Byeong-cheol had been about to throw his chopsticks like a weapon but awkwardly put them back.
“Wow, you two have gotten even stronger. Hehe.”
“Byeong-cheol.”
“Huh?”
“You said you’d take whatever came, didn’t you?”
It was a promise he made himself.
Seo Ye-in chimed in too.
“Shut up.”
“…Yep, shutting up now.”
Without another word, Shin Byeong-cheol zipped his lips.
From that point on, he left all decisions to Seo Ye-in, and we moved from room to room without much trouble.
Seo Ye-in took the lead again, this time pointing toward a staircase off to the side.
“There.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go.”
We hurried up the stairs in a rush, opened the door attached to the ceiling, and stepped into the next room.
At that moment, as if he couldn’t take it any longer, Shin Byeong-cheol unzipped his mouth.
“So, what does the hidden boss look like?”
“A rabbit.”
“Yeah, but what kind of rabbit?”
“Like that.”
Where I nodded toward with my chin, sure enough, there was a rabbit.
It was about the size of a large dog, similar to the dimensional crows.
It was neatly dressed in a suit, with a thick chain connecting the suit to a large pocket watch.
It looked very much like the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.
The Clock Rabbit.
The hidden boss of the Rabbit Room, with a difficulty level of A-rank or higher.
Soon, it turned its head toward us.
“Kyuuik?”
The Clock Rabbit was startled for just a moment before curling into a sly smile.
Then it held out its pocket watch toward us.
Immediately, everything before our eyes turned black and white like an old screen and froze, while a rhythmic ticking echoed in our ears.
— tick— tock— tick— tock— tick— tock—
Time freeze.
That’s why its difficulty was rated A-rank or higher.
The moment it sees you, it stops time.
And that pocket watch is especially powerful, too.
Even the Underworld Dragon King could only manage a 4–5 second freeze at best, but this thing could freeze time for much longer.
Maybe that’s why the Clock Rabbit didn’t flee immediately. Instead, it took its time, bouncing toward us playfully.
It looked up at us and sneered.
“Kyuit, you foolish humans. Did you really think you could capture me? Far too soon for that.”
Of course, that sneer didn’t last long.
Because it made eye contact with me who wasn’t frozen.
Looking down at it, I asked Shin Byeong-cheol and Seo Ye-in,
“Well, that’s what it says. What do you two think?”
“What a nasty little rabbit.”
“We’ll teach it a lesson.”
We surrounded the Clock Rabbit from three directions.