I acted as if those who didn’t know this simple riddle were the strange ones.
The implication was that anyone who had spent a normal childhood should naturally know this much.
Yet, I was the one who had spent the most dismal period, making my claim nothing short of brazen.
Still, it seemed my acting was improving.
The three people seemed to be convinced by my smooth answer and readily agreed.
Woo Jaehyun even gave me a thumbs-up, saying I was amazing as expected.
“By the way, it’s a little different from what I expected. Is there only one passage?”
Just looking at the door, one might think the interior would be vast, but it wasn’t.
The width of the passage, which stretched so far the end was invisible, was only as wide as the door itself.
‘It feels like we’ve entered a tunnel.’
Just as abandoned tunnels are usually covered in messy graffiti, this place was densely covered with murals.
The scene, which spread out indefinitely following the torches, was hard to take in all at once.
And these murals were the key point of the 61st floor.
“Then, let’s move.”
Once again, Do Soohyuk led the way, followed by Woo Jaehyun.
I also walked along behind the two without a word, then subtly glanced back, pretending to look around.
Sure enough, Cha Rui was walking a little behind, examining the murals.
While Do Soohyuk and Woo Jaehyun were focused only on the front, Cha Rui continued to show interest in the murals.
‘Is the diverging point about to start soon…’
I slowly moved toward him, pretending to look at the murals together.
At first, Cha Rui seemed conscious of my movement, but as I walked alongside him, he began to focus on the murals again.
Taking advantage of the moment, I touched my lips and quickly applied the patch to the inside of my lower lip.
Still, my eyes never strayed from the murals.
If I had let my guard down, the plan I had painstakingly devised might be ruined.
‘Hmm?’
As I carefully examined the murals, the drawing I was waiting for finally came into view.
At first glance, it looked no different from the other murals, but the person in the drawing uniquely had the head of a crocodile.
This was one of the Egyptian gods called ‘Sobek,’ who also occupied a space among the statues.
And the moment one made eye contact with the ‘Sobek’ mural,
Kooong—!
A wall would fall from the ceiling, blocking the path.
I kept my eyes fixed on the mural because only the person who made eye contact with ‘Sobek’ was separated onto a different path.
On the 61st floor, they were inevitably divided into two groups, and the original plot was that Cha Rui, who was examining the murals, fell into the ‘Sobek’ trap and was left behind.
Knowing how much Cha Rui suffered in that process, I couldn’t bear to leave him alone.
Knowing what was about to happen, and judging that two were better than one, I decided to move with Cha Rui.
“…”
However, I didn’t know exactly where the wall would fall.
‘I can’t believe it fell right in front of my nose.’
If I had taken even one more step forward, I would have been crushed by the stone.
Thanks to Cha Rui pulling me back at the last possible second, I narrowly escaped the disaster.
Feeling my heart pounding, I swallowed quietly while still held in his arms.
Cha Rui, also considerably startled, remained frozen for a while, holding me tightly.
“Are you okay?”
“Uh…”
When I answered hesitantly, still flustered, he grabbed my face and checked if I was hurt anywhere.
Only after confirming with his own eyes that I was fine did he finally seem relieved.
“A trap, huh.”
Then, he casually glanced over the wall blocking the passage and immediately slammed his fist into it without hesitation.
He didn’t seem to use much force, but the thick wall burst open like a sandcastle.
However, what lay beyond was not the passage we knew, but another space entirely.
The space had completely twisted the moment the wall came down.
“What? Where did the path go?”
According to my memory, the situation of Do Soohyuk and Woo Jaehyun, who had gone ahead, was not much different.
They, too, immediately destroyed the wall that had fallen behind them, and a path they had never seen before connected from there.
That was why Cha Rui was isolated in this episode.
Beyond the crumbled wall, a not-so-large room suddenly appeared.
Surprisingly, countless treasures and decorations were scattered everywhere like junk inside.
Golden ornaments were piled up disorderly along the walls, and gold coins sparkled in thick heaps on the floor.
Anyone seeing this scene would first think of a treasure vault, but the reality was a little different.
A single sarcophagus sat forlornly in the center of the room.
Judging by its magnificent exterior and meticulously drawn pictures, it was an exact replica of a Pharaoh’s sarcophagus.
“Looks like a tomb.”
As Cha Rui said, this was a tomb for a king.
However, it wasn’t a real tomb, but rather a trap disguised to look plausible.
“Wait, let me check first.”
As I unconsciously began to move, Cha Rui held me back.
Sensing something was wrong, he entered the room first and began to examine the interior.
I took the opportunity to pull out a small patch from my item pouch.
It was an anti-hallucination patch, the same kind I had used in the ‘First S-rank Dungeon.’
As expected, this room was the stage for the first Mid-Boss.
The reason I applied the hallucination patch beforehand was precisely because of this.
Although it looked like a king’s tomb where treasures were enshrined, that sarcophagus was merely a device to lure people in.
The structure was that as soon as the sarcophagus was opened, fine particles would spread into the air, causing hallucination.
Although Cha Rui, like Do Soohyuk in the ‘First S-rank Dungeon,’ should normally be immune to hallucination, one of his characteristics acted as a weakness.
That was his exceptionally keen sense of smell.
The hallucinatory effect wasn’t simply due to particles, but to the scent emanating from the sarcophagus itself.
For Cha Rui, whose sense of smell was sensitive, there was nothing more fatal than this.
Knowing that fact, I had prepared the patch in advance.
I was planning to hand it to him naturally, telling him to put it on just in case when he approached the sarcophagus.
I think the scent was similar to the smell of flowers.
I remembered being puzzled while watching the movie because it was an expression that didn’t suit the dungeon atmosphere at all.
Just like now.
‘Wait, just like now?’
I, waiting at the room entrance, sniffed the air.
At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but a subtle floral scent truly lingered.
‘This shouldn’t be happening.’
Flustered, I quickly entered the room and looked at the sarcophagus in question.
As expected, the end of the sarcophagus was slightly ajar.
It seemed the particles had spread out through that narrow gap.
In the movie, the story progressed only when Cha Rui touched the sarcophagus.
But for some reason, the flow had changed.
‘The plot is changing here?’
If so, my plan was already ruined.
Since I had applied the patch beforehand, I wouldn’t fall under the hallucination even if I smelled the scent, but Cha Rui was in a different situation.
Come to think of it, Cha Rui had been unusually quiet for a while now.
I nervously fiddled with the patch in my hand and cautiously turned around.
‘Damn it.’
Cha Rui, standing tall in the distance, was staring intently at me without saying a word.
His eyes were somewhat vacant yet consumed by desire.
For reference, when one smells this scent and falls into hallucination, their inherent desire is amplified to the maximum.
Reason evaporates, and raw emotions are exposed.
In the movie, Cha Rui’s desire was destruction.
He rampaged, smashing and turning over the entire room.
“…”
However, the Cha Rui in front of me now exuded a completely different atmosphere.
In his eyes, not destruction, but a different desire was violently surging.
Even though I desperately wanted to deny it, my instinct kept sending a warning.
It felt strangely familiar because it was the same look I had seen in Igor’s mansion.
At that time, Cha Rui stood alone in the study and stared at me with eyes similar to these.
However, this time, it was much more imposing and the intention was explicit.
“Cha Rui… could you hold your breath for a moment?”
I spoke to him, trying to cover his nose even now, but of course, it didn’t work.
Just seeing his cold expression, Cha Rui was already deep under the hallucination.
Even if I were to somehow put the patch on him now, it would be irreversible.
‘How did Cha Rui break free from the hallucination?’
I was trying to recall the memory and subtly move sideways.
I hadn’t taken my eyes off him, but Cha Rui’s large hand was suddenly right in front of my nose.
If I hadn’t used the evasion skill reflexively, I would have been caught.
I lost my balance because of the sudden movement and flopped onto a pile of gold coins.
But before I could panic, Cha Rui closed the distance again, forcing me to quickly stand up.
Once again, I narrowly evaded him by a hair’s breadth.
“Snap out of it!”
I shouted loudly, trying to awaken his mind, but it was useless.
He kept charging without a moment’s pause, leaving me no time to recall the original plot.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he caught me, so I felt I had to escape the room.
However, just as I was about to use the skill once more toward the entrance, my body was strongly yanked backward.
Cha Rui, who had already seen through my movement, had grabbed my arm.
‘No, is this possible?’
Just as my mouth dropped open in shock, Cha Rui pulled me and slammed me onto the floor.
“Ugh!”
My expression contorted from the impact, but Cha Rui’s actions didn’t stop there.
Cha Rui, who walked over slowly without any sign of haste, climbed onto my body.
