(EP-85.2) Club #4

085 – Adventure Club #4

… Why did I have no subordinates or colleagues?

Of course, there were quite a few people whom I’d hired, but the only colleague I could say to be ‘reliable’ was Marmar.

Gorgor was fine, but he’d be too conspicuous.

“Hmm.”

Someone who could move around without being noticed, loyal and trustworthy. There was only one that fitted these criteria…

─Wiiiii-.

I whistled.

In response, a crow singing in a tree flew over and perched on my shoulder. Seeing this, Marmar exclaimed in surprise.

“Wow, what? What did you just do? That’s awesome!”

She looked amazed about my bird-handling.

“You can call birds with a whistle? This makes hunting them so much easier! There are a lot of kkwings (뀡) here, can you call them over too?”

“You mean, pheasants (kkweongs, 꿩)?”

[T/N: a play on words, both words are very close in spelling]

“Yes! Pheasants! They’re tasty!”

To use my taming magic to hunt birds… I never thought of this idea before, but it might work. However, that wasn’t the point right now.

I took a small scroll from my pocket and tied it to the crow’s foot.

“Deliver this to the infirmary in the Central Student Center building.”

[T/N: Central Cadet Office changed to Central Student Center]

─Caww-!

The crow then soared as if it understood my words.

* * *

Paseukseuk.

As I cut through the bushes, I saw a building covered in vines among the trees. The limestone building looked about three stories high.

The ugly and desolate exterior wall seemed to have been painted on, but it had peeled off after a long time.

It was literally an abandoned building amongst the forest.

“That’s the Wish Hall.”

“It looks spooky…”

I could see ‘who came and went’ graffiti under the vines which made me infer that this place was used as a meeting place by delinquents or as a courage test.

Wiik-.

I whistle to a nearby bird. The sparrow perched on my finger and I instructed it to search the inside of the building.

After some time, the sparrow returned.

━Tweet Tweet.

“You’re saying there’s no one there?”

━Tweet.

“Okay, go there for now.”

The sparrow quietly entered Marmar’s bag. Someday, it would turn into Marmar’s meal…

Marmar, who got a sparrow free of charge, happily hummed.

“Hehe. Dotdodoo~. A chubby sparrow.”

“… Well then, let’s go inside.”

I slowly approached the abandoned building.

The still-standing building abandoned 20 years ago had an eerie and gloomy atmosphere.

If it was like this even in the daytime with shining sun and noisy bugs, I would not have been able to do anything other than shiver if I came here last night.

Dolgak, kiiiik.

Opening the front door that had a broken lock, I entered the building. The temperature was cool.

According to the records, the meeting place of the adventure club was underground.

“Marmar, do you know the way to the basement?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen stairs leading to a basement.”

I looked at the floorplan of the building attached to the front entrance. Although it was old and faded, there was no problem in recognizing the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors.

However, there was no underground floor.

Was there really no basement?

No, that couldn’t be…

I walked down the hallway, wondering if I could find a way down.

Looking around an abandoned office, various things that people had left 20 years ago could be spotted.

“Oh, that kettle looks usable…!”

Marmar found something useful among the discarded items and put it in her bag.

I was also looking for useful things next to Marmar, but something was bothering me.

“This abandoned building, people seem to have just thrown away all their belongings and left.”

I originally thought that people would grab their stuff while leaving, but they clearly didn’t do that from the looks of things.

It was like the residents of a radiation-leaked area where everyone just abandoned everything and quickly left. As if… the residents of this building were focused only on ‘getting out’ to avoid something…

「You have calmly judged the situation!

You have gained experience points through the talent 《Calm Thinking》.

All job experience +5」

‘… But what for?’

“Marmar, do you know why this place is closed, or the exact date or time?”

“I don’t know either. I’ve only heard of this place from the Nymphs but nothing specific. It seems like everyone doesn’t want to talk about the Wish Hall.”

It really was like a ghost story.

A building that was suddenly abandoned.

A basement that didn’t exist.

There was even Angmar’s bloodline that had since ceased, resurfacing.

My fairy senses were tingling. There was something here.

I said to Marmar, who was stocking up on more wooden bowls.

“We have to find the door that leads down to the basement. Otherwise, we might have to stay the night here. Let’s try to find it before the sun goes down.”

Marmar’s tail began to vigorously swing left and right.

“Ah, it’s like a treasure hunt. How exciting!”

“You can think of it that way. Anyway, try tapping on the floor. If there is an entrance to the basement, there would be a part where it would sound different.”

And thus, Marmar and I split up to find the basement entrance. Alas, it was nowhere to be found.

Watching the sun slowly set, I began to feel anxious.

Was this a waste?

At this moment, Marmar then said, realizing something.

“Maybe the basement you’re looking for is not underground?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the secret and mysterious underground meeting of the Nymphs was not in the basement, but on the third floor. Maybe it’s the same, just a name and not really a basement.”

“…….”

“Because Nymphs love to play. There are times where things are deliberately made the opposite. So underground might actually be upstairs if a Nymph is involved in that adventure club.”

It was a ridiculous thought.

However, I already witnessed and experienced that ridiculousness in the ‘Fairy Night’ with Marmar. So, just in case, I headed to the 3rd floor.

… And there it was.

“… Who designs a building like this?”

In the farthest corner of the third floor, there was a ladder leading down to the lower floors.

3rd floor, 2nd floor, 1st floor….

And B1.

It went down till the first basement floor that was supposed to not exist.