It was a little past 7:00 AM.
Near the hiking trail of Mt.
Inwang, staff from the Awakeners Association were stationed in force.
“What’s the rank?”
“Upon confirmation, it has been identified as a D-rank dungeon, ‘Wind Valley Tainted by Darkness.’ By the time we arrived, the closure process was already underway, so we couldn’t get detailed information about the dungeon’s interior.”
Normally, brief information about a dungeon appears the moment one enters.
Of course, the finer details have to be figured out step-by-step while clearing it.
However, once a dungeon transitions into a closed state, entry is barred.
Instead, one can learn the dungeon’s rank and name just by touching the sealed portal.
“D-rank, huh. Anyway, since the closure process is ongoing, it means someone entered, right? And they triggered the closure conditions?”
“Yes. Since it’s practically impossible to distinguish between a normal dungeon and a closed dungeon from the outside, it seems they went in thinking it was a regular one. Then, they happened to fulfill the closure conditions by chance.”
At the staff member’s words, the Team Leader of Team 1 of the Dungeon Management Bureau let out a smirking chuckle.
“Of course they did. What crazy person would walk in knowing it was a closed dungeon? So, who is it? The people who entered the dungeon, I mean. You’ve confirmed that much, right?”
The staff member answered immediately at the Team Leader’s question.
“The dungeon’s initial formation is estimated to be around 1:00 AM. After reviewing the CCTV installed at the start of the hiking trail, a total of six people entered the trail between midnight and 3:00 AM. Three of them were civilians, and the other three were Awakeners. For the record, the civilians have all been confirmed to have returned. The three Awakeners were only caught going up and not coming down, so we believe those three discovered the dungeon and entered it.”
When told that only three people had entered the dungeon, the Team Leader let out a deep sigh.
“Sigh, they entered with only three people? So, have you identified the hunters who went in?”
“Comparing the faces caught on CCTV, the person presumed to be the first discoverer is B-rank Tanker Park Gwang-taek. The other two have been identified as F-rank Ranger Choi Yu-seon and F-rank Buffer Kim Seong-jun. It’s estimated that Park Gwang-taek found the dungeon and called his party members, Choi Yu-seon and Kim Seong-jun.”
The Team Leader wore a bitter expression at the staff member’s report. And why wouldn’t he?
A B-rank Tanker might be one thing, but an F-rank Ranger and an F-rank Buffer?
Trying to clear a D-rank dungeon with that composition was nonsense.
“If it were a B-rank Dealer instead, there might have been a sliver of hope, but of all things, it’s a Tanker. The only person capable of dealing damage is an F-rank Ranger. That means the B-rank Tanker has to do everything from tanking to dealing damage. While they might scrape by against normal monsters and elites, the boss is practically impossible. The damage won’t even register properly. Tsk, in a time when we’re already short on Tankers and Healers, we’re about to lose a high-rank Tanker for nothing.”
The Team Leader was certain that their dungeon raid would end in failure.
Even for a full party of C-ranks, clearing the boss would be nearly impossible, so what could one B-rank and two F-ranks do?
The unfortunate part was that in a situation where Tankers and Healers were scarce, they were about to lose a high-ranking B-rank Tanker.
“How long do you think they can hold out?”
Since clearing the dungeon was obviously impossible, the focus now shifted to how long they could survive.
“With that combination, they’ll struggle to last even a day. Well, if they give up on hunting and hide somewhere, they might last a bit longer, but even then, three days would probably be the limit. Regardless, keep everything strictly controlled and check the progress rate constantly. Report immediately if anything strange happens.”
Failure in a closed dungeon means death.
And from a general perspective, the current combination of hunters was one that would struggle even with hunting normal monsters.
In other words, the death of Seong-jun’s party was being treated as a foregone conclusion, and now they had to prepare for the aftermath.
Even if the hunters died and the lockdown was lifted, the fact that the dungeon itself was a closed type wouldn’t change.
Whatever the closure condition was, once the lockdown lifted, they needed to deploy a force capable of clearing all the way to the boss, even if it became sealed again.
“Understood. I’ll instruct them to report as soon as the lockdown is lifted.”
The Team Leader of the Dungeon Management Bureau Team 1 glanced at the closed dungeon portal once more, sighed, and shook his head.
Then, he slowly walked away.
***
The Guild Leader’s office of the Path of Glory Guild.
Guild Leader Yu Se-hyeon was finishing some simple paperwork and getting ready to head to a dungeon.
Knock, knock.
After the sound of knocking, Kang Shin-woo, the Vice Guild Leader and Team Leader of Combat Team 1, opened the door and entered.
“Guild Leader.”
“Ah! Vice Guild Leader. What is it?”
“This is information I just obtained from the Awakeners Association. A D-rank closed dungeon was generated at Mt. Inwang around 1:00 AM today.”
At Vice Guild Leader Kang Shin-woo’s words, Yu Se-hyeon showed a puzzled expression.
“A closed dungeon? It’s hard to distinguish them from normal dungeons until they’re sealed, so it just means someone entered and the dungeon shut down. Why bring that up?”
It wasn’t like closed dungeons were a rare occurrence, so why would someone as high-ranking as the Vice Guild Leader personally visit the Guild Leader for this?
“The person you’re convinced is an Irregular, Kim Seong-jun. It turns out his party has entered that closed dungeon.”
At the Vice Guild Leader’s words, Yu Se-hyeon’s expression finally changed.
“What? Kim Seong-jun’s party?”
“Yes. The problem is that after Kim Seong-jun’s party entered, there are no signs of any other hunters or parties entering before the dungeon was sealed.”
In other words, only Seong-jun’s party was currently inside the closed dungeon, and they had to complete the boss raid by themselves.
“Hmm, so you’re saying only the three members of Kim Seong-jun’s party are currently inside the closed dungeon?”
When Yu Se-hyeon asked for confirmation, Kang Shin-woo nodded and spoke.
“According to the Association’s investigation, the probability of that is over 90 percent. In your opinion, Guild Leader, do you think they can clear a D-rank dungeon on their own?”
The Association didn’t seem to know yet that Kim Seong-jun had re-awakened as an Irregular, which was likely why they accepted the failure of the raid as a fact.
That was why he was asking Yu Se-hyeon. After all, Yu Se-hyeon had seen Kim Seong-jun personally and judged him to be an Irregular.
In response to Kang Shin-woo’s question, Yu Se-hyeon appeared to be in deep thought.
“I don’t know exactly what Kim Seong-jun’s rank is, but I think they can handle normal monsters or elites. However, the boss… Even I find it hard to be certain.”
While he was fairly sure the man was an Irregular, it wasn’t easy to make an accurate judgment without seeing him hunt in person. Still, one thing was for sure: it wouldn’t be easy to take down a boss with just those members.
“The Association seems to be taking their annihilation as a given. If they defy expectations and clear the dungeon… No matter what anyone says, Kim Seong-jun will be at the center of it. That would mean his rank is at least A-rank, wouldn’t it?”
It wasn’t even a full party, but only three people.
And that included an F-rank Ranger.
In this situation, no matter how much of an Irregular Seong-jun was, it was judged that clearing the dungeon would be practically impossible if he was below B-rank.
This was because it’s impossible to hunt a dungeon boss with two B-ranks and one F-rank.
Nevertheless, if they were to clear it?
Then the probability of Seong-jun being A-rank or higher was very high.
“I suppose so. Or perhaps Choi Yu-seon, who is known as an F-rank Ranger, isn’t actually an F-rank. Regardless, the situation is interesting. Dispatch our staff to check the dungeon’s status frequently. And don’t forget to check the progress rate, just in case.”
Looking at it objectively, it was practically impossible for Seong-jun’s party alone to clear a D-rank closed dungeon. However, for some reason, Yu Se-hyeon felt that Seong-jun would create a miracle and clear it.
Perhaps that was why he ordered people to be dispatched to the closed dungeon and for regular reports to be made.
***
Twelve hours had passed since entering the dungeon.
Perhaps because they had stayed up all night without a wink of sleep and had been hunting without rest, everyone looked haggard.
“Ugh! This is exhausting! I can finally get some sleep.”
While hunting, they had discovered a cave and decided to use it as their base camp.
Having hunted without pause, Seong-jun’s party decided they couldn’t hold out any longer and returned to the cave.
“I was shooting my bow while nodding off. I learned today that your eyes can still close from sleepiness even when your life is on the line. Please tell me I’m normal.”
Watching Gwang-taek and Yu-seon slump onto the cave floor, Seong-jun spoke with a smile.
“As I said earlier, we don’t know when, where, or what kind of variables might occur. So, let’s take turns standing guard for one hour each. Since you both look like you’ve hit your limit, I’ll take the first watch. Since Brother Gwang-taek worked hard tanking in the front, he’ll go last. Yu-seon, I’d like you to go after me. How does that sound?”
At Seong-jun’s words, Yu-seon nodded and spoke.
“Yeah, okay. Part of me wants to go first and just sleep straight through, but I don’t think my body can handle staying up right now. Whatever the case, I need to sleep first.”
In a way, the person standing guard in the middle was the most annoyed and tired.
They had to sleep for an hour, wake up in the middle to stand guard for an hour, and then go back to sleep for another hour.
Because of this, Seong-jun had intended to take the middle shift if possible, but seeing Yu-seon’s current state, it didn’t seem feasible.
“Alright, go ahead and sleep. You too, Brother, try to get some shut-eye.”
Since their food situation wasn’t abundant, they had to clear the dungeon as quickly as possible.
To do that, they needed to minimize wasted time, so they planned to focus on clearing the dungeon while getting only the minimum amount of sleep.
The most important thing for now was to clear out all the monsters in the dungeon.
Whether clearing the boss was possible was the next problem.
Regardless, if they still had food left after that, they planned to rest deeply until their fatigue was gone.
“Yeah, then I’ll sleep first. Wake me up in a bit.”
“I’m sorry for sleeping first when you must be tired too. Hang in there.”
With that, Gwang-taek and Yu-seon fell into a deep sleep.
They had fallen into a slumber almost as soon as they finished speaking.
Snore! Snore!
Phew-phew.
Seong-jun smirked at the sight.
“Seeing how they fell asleep as soon as they stopped talking, they really must have been exhausted.”
Seong-jun, who had been sitting quietly watching the two sleep, soon stood up.
“Anyway, a cave, huh? Since I’ve already cleared out the monsters in the area, should I take a slow look around?”
Having found this cave, which was in a good location and wasn’t very deep, he had immediately set about clearing the area.
He had cleared not just the nearby monsters, but had gone even further out for the safety of the base camp.
Thanks to that, there were no more monsters in the vicinity of the cave.
Perhaps because of this, Seong-jun was able to take his time and carefully examine the cave.
He hadn’t been able to look properly when they first discovered it because he was focused on hunting.
“Even if it’s a field-type dungeon, this cave is a bit out of the blue. It doesn’t look like there’s anything hidden, though.”
He hadn’t explored the entire interior of the dungeon yet, but so far, he hadn’t seen any other caves besides this one.
That was why it felt somewhat out of place. Of course, on the surface, it didn’t look like anything special.
Regardless, Seong-jun began a detailed observation of the small cave, which was neither wide nor deep.
‘From the outside, nothing looks artificial. That means it’s a naturally formed cave.’
Most places that could be called ruins had artificial elements.
This was because ruins themselves were made by humans or intelligent beings with equivalent intellect.
However, this cave showed no signs of anything artificial.
‘Doesn’t seem to be anything special.’
Since it was such a small cave, it didn’t take long to check everything.
“Sigh, there’s nothing to look at. Anyway, only 10 minutes have passed. What am I going to do for the remaining 50?”
Actually, while he had checked the cave because it felt out of place, the biggest reason was to pass the time.
Although he was standing guard for any potential incidents, he had cleared out all the monsters in the area, so he didn’t think any threatening situations would occur.
However, if he just sat there, Seong-jun was also tired and might fall asleep unintentionally.
So, he had looked around the cave to kill time, but it had ended much faster than expected.
“Time really isn’t moving. Yawwwn!”
Time flies when you focus on something, but it moves horribly slowly when you’re doing nothing.
Perhaps that was why Seong-jun yawned and leaned his body against the cave wall.
Thud!
But then.
Rumble!
The cave wall Seong-jun was leaning against suddenly slid backward.
“Whoa! Wha-what!”
He almost fell backward but managed to hold on by quickly tensing his legs.
After regaining his senses, Seong-jun checked the wall he had been leaning on.
“What is this?”
He could see that the specific section he had leaned on had slid back slightly.
‘There was definitely nothing there when I checked earlier.’
When he checked just a moment ago, there wasn’t even a tiny crack.
That was why he had judged there was nothing special.
“Besides, it looks like a faint light is coming out. What on earth is it?”
He could see a faint light emanating from behind the slight gap.
With a curious expression, Seong-jun reached out his hand to get a better look.
‘Let’s just check it out for now.’
He reached his hand toward the recessed part and pushed hard.
Then.
Rumble!
That section slid back smoothly, revealing another wall.
The important thing was that a magic circle of sorts was engraved on that wall, and a faint light was radiating from it.
‘A magic circle?’
Wearing a puzzled expression, Seong-jun casually reached out his hand to the magic circle.
Clack!
The magic circle, which had been emitting a faint light, suddenly flared with a bright brilliance.
“Flash!”
Seong-jun instinctively shielded his eyes.
“Ugh! What the—!”
At the same time, Seong-jun’s body was sucked into the magic circle as if being absorbed.
“Eh? Wh-what is… Whoa? Whoa?”
Whoosh!
In an instant, Seong-jun disappeared, and the brightly glowing magic circle returned to being an ordinary cave wall.
***
In the eyes of Seong-jun, who had been sucked into the magic circle, a space he hadn’t seen before appeared.
Strictly speaking, a staircase leading downward had been opened.
“Heh! Stairs? Is this really a ruin?”
A new place entered via the magic circle, and a new staircase.
Seong-jun judged that this might be the path leading to a set of ruins.
At that moment.
[You have discovered the hidden space, ‘Alchemist Jabil Rainon’s Hideout.’]
As expected, a notification sound rang out.
“I knew it! It really is a ruin!”
Confirming it was a ruin through the notification, Seong-jun clenched his fists in joy.
He had been continuing the hunt while relying on an uncertain level-up.
What if he failed to reach a higher level?
To be blunt, the success of the boss raid was extremely uncertain.
No, it was safe to say the chances of winning were slim.
But in such a situation, a ruin had been discovered.
If he could obtain something helpful for the boss raid, he wouldn’t have to stake everything on leveling up.
That was why he was so happy.
However, setting that aside, it was unavoidable that a difficult situation had unfolded.
“Discovering ruins is a happy thing, but… Sigh, seeing as the path back is blocked, it means it’ll be hard to go back out the way I came in. Since I, the one supposed to be standing guard, have vacated my post, they might not be able to respond properly if an emergency occurs. Whatever the case, I need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
He had been forcibly moved to a new location against his will, and as a result, only Gwang-taek and Yu-seon remained fast asleep in the cave.
If an unexpected situation were to occur now, Gwang-taek and Yu-seon, who were deep in sleep, would be defenseless.
“Well, the back is blocked anyway and there’s only one path, so I have no choice but to move forward. Let’s go for now.”
As he stepped inside, a narrow staircase leading down appeared, and Seong-jun slowly followed the stairs down.
After descending the narrow steps that barely allowed one person to pass, a long corridor appeared.
And after moving for a long time, he finally reached the end of the corridor.
“This must be the end.”
There was a small stone door at the end of the corridor.
The ruins likely lay beyond it.
After staring at the stone door for a moment, Seong-jun raised both arms and pushed.
Grrrind!
As the door opened, a stone chamber of modest size revealed itself.
Step.
The first things that caught Seong-jun’s eyes as he entered were a pile of ingots and potions.
‘It doesn’t look like there are gold coins or jewels. For now, is it just ingots and potions?’
Moving his feet, Seong-jun checked the ingots and potions.
“Whoa! Are these Mithril ingots?”
He had thought they were just ordinary iron ingots, but the entire heap was made of Mithril.
‘I’m not sure, but each ingot looks to weigh about 10 kilograms. From what I know, 10 kilograms of Mithril is worth about a billion won. There look to be about forty of them, so… 40 billion just for the ingots? Wow! Damn! This is a massive jackpot that can’t even be compared to the gold coins from that B-rank ruin last time!’
Selling the ingots alone would bring in 40 billion, and there were other things as well.
He hadn’t checked the artifacts yet, but depending on the situation, he could earn even more than he did from the B-rank ruin he found before.
“Haha, a jackpot is a jackpot, but… for now, is it just pie in the sky? Anyway, I have to clear the dungeon boss to take these out.”
It was certainly a jackpot, but since he couldn’t take them out unless he cleared the dungeon boss, for now, it was nothing more than a dream.
“Let’s leave the ingots for now. Next is the potions?”
A total of 10 potions were placed next to the ingots.
[A-rank] Potion of Defense Weakening
-Upon use on a target, reduces Defense by [50%] for 30 minutes.
[A-rank] Potion of Attack Weakening
-Upon use on a target, reduces Attack Power by [50%] for 30 minutes.
[A-rank] Potion of Vitality Weakening
-Upon use on a target, reduces Maximum Health by [50%] for 30 minutes.
The 10 potions consisted of 3 Defense Weakening potions, 3 Attack Weakening potions, and 4 Vitality Weakening potions.
The important thing was that the performance of these potions was insane.
“I thought they were something like health or mana potions, but they’re offensive debuff potions? Whoa! If it’s this, it’ll be a huge help in clearing the boss!”
They were monstrous offensive potions that reduced Defense, Attack, and even Vitality by 50 percent.
Although there was a 30-minute time limit, there were 3 each of the Attack and Defense weakening potions, meaning he could weaken an enemy for a total of 1 hour and 30 minutes.
“With this, I should be able to clear the boss. Exactly what I needed showed up. Anyway, this can’t be all there is…”
After checking the ingots and potions, Seong-jun looked around the stone chamber once more.
Since it was a ruin, there were bound to be artifacts.
—
I Became an EX-grade All-Rounder Priest Episode 27
E-book Publication Date 2025.11.14
Author | Kim Hyun-jun
Publisher | Heo Heung-beom, Park Gun-won
Published by | Poten
Address | [04783] 10th Floor, 8 Yeonmujang 11-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul
Phone | 02-6320-8500
Fax | 02-6320-8585
ISBN 9791175302167
Price | 100 Won
Kim Hyun-jun 2025
This e-book is a work protected by copyright law.
This e-book was published by contract with the author, so unauthorized transcription, reproduction, distribution, or sharing is prohibited without the written consent of both parties.