Dungeon Maker

Chapter 212: Glorious Return (2)

Yong-ho fought the king in a place where any outside help was blocked from the beginning. Because of this, the reserved mana in the dungeon was more than enough despite a series of big battles in succession, which turned out to be better for the House of Mammon.

Yong-ho, standing at the door of space with Kaiwan and Catalina, looked back.

He made eye contact with Skull first, who stood out most among the dungeon spirits.

“Skull Skull.”

Skull was still in the shape of a Dragon Bone Knight.

He said with a bitter smile, “Let me make the decision after I come back.”

“Skullkull.”

A magic sword containing the secret of necromancing and a lich specializing in necromancing.

Yong-ho eventually chose both and paid for them. This took the House of Mammon into deficit again, but he didn’t feel any regret about it. Skull always showed more returns on his investment than expected. The real wealth of the House of Mammon was always the few “talents” who made up the elites.

Yong-ho again rolled his eyes and looked at a larger entity than Skull.

He smiled with a sorry expression.

“I’ll bring you something you can eat this time. You can trust me.”

Treant responded by shaking its branches. Like the Goblin Ranger and Goblin, he was no longer an ordinary Treant thanks to repeated evolution.

When Yong-ho looked back at his subordinate spirits one by one and promised them a gift, Kaiwan pulled him slightly. Then she said mischievously as if she was a bit critical, “You’re going to use all the money to buy the gifts. You need to save some money.”

Of course, she cracked a joke, but Yuria got serious, who was waiting for her turn to make eye contact with him, trying to suppress her excitement.

Yong-ho couldn’t hold back his laughter when he saw Yuria, who became seriously worried about the financial situation of the House of Mammon.

He reassured her by pinching her cheek and said, “You do not have to worry. We have a lot of money.”

“Bye.”

Feeling relaxed, Yuria quickly bowed to him, followed by Baduk and the baby dungeon meerkat.

“Wal! Wal!”

“Meowing! Meowing!”

After exchanging greetings with his subordinate spirits, he turned his eyes at his most trusted aides. On behalf of his subordinate spirits, Ophelia said, “Don’t worry about things here. Have a great journey!”

“If anything happens, let me know right away.”

“Okay.”

Ophelia, Eligos, and Tigrius bowed to him. Their atmosphere was somewhat different from Yuria, Baduk, and the baby meerkat.

Yong-ho turned. He tightly held Catalina’s hand, who was just happy because she had been there already, as well as Kaiwan’s hand, who seemed to be a bit nervous.

“Let’s go.”

Yong-ho and Catalina jumped at the same time, and Kaiwan hit the ground a bit late as if she was sucked into them.

The door of the deep blue space swallowed up the three.

***

The door opened. It didn’t come to his mind well how he passed through the door.

It looked like it took long but short at the same time. What he saw when he opened his eyes was the unfamiliar living room of his house in the human world.

Yong-ho took a big breath. Catalina also expressed her peace of mind by waving her tail gently. Only Kaiwan looked around, turning white with nervousness.

Right at that moment, his father called, “Yong-ho?”

His father, who was sitting at the kitchen table over a meal, blinked, holding a spoon.

Yong-ho smiled brightly and turned around.

“Daddy.”

His father calmly put down the spoon and drank cold water.

He got up and said, “The one on your left is my daughter-in-law.”

Thanks to the interpreting magic, Catalina recognized the expression ‘daughter-in-law’ and flapped her ears and tail. Then he turned his eyes to the right.

“Who is this lady on the right?”

This time, Kaiwan was more quick-witted. Holding down a little motion sickness, she said hello to his father cutely, which didn’t fit her usual behavior, “How do you do, sir? My name is Kaiwan. I’m Yong-ho’s wife.”

She unusually pronounced strongly when she mentioned ‘wife.’

His father blinked once again. He looked at Catalina, just in case, but he realized that he could not find any sign of her divorce or separation in her expression.

Then there was one possibility left.

“Yong-ho, you must be a king, right?”

Yong-ho smiled awkwardly at his father’s prodding.

“By the way, Dad, why are you at home at this hour?”

When he asked, blinking his eyes, his father frowned.

Then he knocked on the table with a bang and said, “It’s morning, son. Do you think the chicken house is a 24-hour convenience store? It’s closed in the morning.”

“Uh? Time difference?”

When he left the demon world, it was obviously in the afternoon. When he visited here last time, there was almost no difference in time between the demon and human worlds. Did the passage of time change by any chance?

His father narrowed his eyes then said right away, “Well, it’s March here.”

Yong-ho knitted his brows. Since he last visited, he has spent less than two months in the demon world, but more than three months passed in the human world.

Obviously, the passage of time was different between the two worlds. And it changed significantly than it did last time.

He didn’t know how the passage of time between the two worlds was different, but it was going to be a problem if the current difference would be bigger than now.

‘Should I take him to the demon world soon?’

It would be a big headache for Yong-ho if his one-year stay in the demon world would mean the passage of ten years in the human world, with his father getting ten years older than now.

While Yong-ho was agonizing about it, his father took the spoon again.

“Let me finish my meal first. Did you eat anything?”

“Yes, I did.”

Although his son suddenly brought a new daughter-in-law, he never lost his composure, as always. After looking back at Catalina and Kaiwan, who were standing blankly, he said to Yong-ho again, “Wives... That expression of mine is weird. Anyway, go into your room with them and watch your picture album. Let me finish eating and join you in no time.”

“Uh, yes.”

“See you later, daughter-in-law.”

He looked back at Kaiwan, who quickly smiled and said, “Yes, father.”

Smiling at her again, he began to eat again.

Yong-ho quickly led Kaiwan and Catalina into his room.

The room was empty and spacious because all the furniture was put away. Kaiwan, sitting in the middle of the room, looked around curiously.

“This place is very small. Is it a warehouse or an annex?”

Yong-ho recalled the House of Mammon when he visited first. It was definitely a ruined house, but it was big. Even Kaiwan’s office there, relatively small, was bigger than his living room.

Catalina quickly whispered to Kaiwan, “All the houses in the human world are small.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Kaiwan again looked around Yong-ho’s room again. Looking at her glittering eyes, it seemed that she was thinking of bringing someone from his family that she had once planned. At that time, she thought of it to get some help from a remote relative, but given the condition of his house, it seemed that she would need to help him.

“Let’s look at your album.”

To change the topic, Yong-ho unfolded an album chosen by his father but regretted it in no time. But Catalina and Kaiwan burst into laughter, watching his pictures.

Among the pictures of his baby days was one showing he was all smiles, fully naked.

***

Yong-ho’s embarrassing moments lasted until his father came into the room. The album was filled with his humiliating photos as if his father chose them deliberately.

Just like someone who knew the etiquette, his father served Catalina, Kaiwan, and Yong-ho a cup of green tea.

Yong-ho asked, sipping the tea after blowing on it to cool it a bit.

“Did you have anything special, Dad?”

“Not really. How about you?”

“I’m fine, too. I’m comfortable.”

He hid his expression by lifting the teacup, but he knew he was already caught by his father.

As expected, it was impossible for him to deceive his father.

However, his father didn’t bother to ask him. After putting down the green teacup, he said again, “Come to think of it... Have you seen it when you came here last time? I mean the article about those who fell into a coma while playing online games.”

“Uh, yes. I remember it.”

Obviously, he saw the news on the electronic bulletin board while delivering chicken.

Since he mentioned it out of the blue sky, Yong-ho prodded him to continue.

He continued, “Such people increased significantly. I hear there are over hundreds of thousands of people in a coma all over the world.”

Hundreds of thousands were never small. Catalina and Kaiwan were embarrassed, while Yong-ho leaned forward.

“Were they playing any specific online games?”

“No, they played irregularly. There are even some who fell into a coma while doing Super Mario multi-play. Their game machines were all different.”

This was definitely a phenomenon in itself. Moreover, this was not all.

“But what happened next after they fell into a coma is weird. Their recovery period is all different.”

“Recovery period? Are there any who regained consciousness?”

“A lot. Almost all of them regained their consciousness. But as I told you already, their recovery periods are different. Some wake up from their coma right after they fall into it, and others wake up a few days or a month to two months later. There are even people who have not been able to wake up until now.”