MTLNOVEL 12.
12.
What exactly is a dungeon? Ryu Ho-yeon suddenly pondered this question while leisurely reclining in the bathtub, which felt warm, even hot. The bathroom’s moisture, neither cloud nor fog, blurred his vision in wisps.
Enjoying long baths in water hot enough to turn his sensitive skin bright red was a new, luxurious habit that developed after his pair Guide appeared and they moved into this spacious accommodation. Though it’s almost painful to mention again, it’s worth recalling that Ryu Ho-yeon had spent his entire life in a small space set up in a corner of the laboratory, never experiencing the pleasure of immersing his whole body in water like this. The simple shower booth and sink installed for researchers during overnight studies were all the ‘bathing’ facilities he had been given and experienced.
From the time he heard about him being Lee Han-seo’s cousin, Ryu Ho-yeon had somewhat guessed that his first Guide seemed to have enjoyed a rather luxurious life. Not only was the living space large enough to fit five or six normal two-person accommodations, occupying an entire floor, but every piece of interior and decoration filling this vast area was extraordinary. Even this bathroom where Ryu Ho-yeon was now comfortably enjoying his bath was no exception.
Until a few days ago, this was a relatively ordinary bathroom equipped with a toilet, sink, and a bathtub with a shower. (The word ‘relatively’ is used because all the fixtures, from the faucets to the bathtub, appeared to be of uncommonly high value to anyone who saw them.)
However, noticing that Ryu Ho-yeon would first fill the bathtub with water every time he returned from training or combat (regardless of Choi Jae-won’s one-sided affection and its direction, it would have been more difficult not to notice while living in the same house), one day after returning from training, the normal bathroom had been torn out and replaced with just a large masonry bathtub, literally turning it into a ‘bath room’.
Ryu Ho-yeon, who was generally dull in expressing emotions, showed quite a surprised look that day. But even that wasn’t enough, as Choi Jae-won, with a somewhat dissatisfied expression, apologized for not being able to install sauna facilities because it would take too much time. It was then that Ryu Ho-yeon clearly realized that his Guide was truly a ‘young master’. Even Lee Han-seo, who had just officially entered at fifteen, didn’t show such signs of being so pampered.
Anyway, being surprised was one thing, and enjoying what was available was another. Ironically, the person who ordered the bathroom renovation never once filled the tub to soak, finding a shower sufficient. Thanks to this, Ryu Ho-yeon would always soak in the tub at least once a day, even if briefly, when not in a dungeon. He would choose one colorful bath bomb or bath salt named after a famous hot spring region that caught his fancy.
“Hyung. I’ll leave your robe outside!”
Just as he was starting to feel dizzy, Choi Jae-won’s voice came from outside the door. Ryu Ho-yeon responded with a simple “Okay.” He might have added a word of thanks under normal circumstances, but he hadn’t been interacting closely with others for long enough for such thoughts to occur naturally. In other words, though grown physically, he was still far from being socially mature.
The bath additive he had put in the tub today was a deep blue color with lots of pearls. It was Ryu Ho-yeon’s favorite among the many bath products Choi Jae-won had provided. Didn’t the sight of pearls scattered over the deep blue, almost black color, look just like the universe? A blueberry-scented universe – something he had never imagined before. The silver sparkles crossing this watery universe, undulating with his movements, were beautifully fragrant. He thought to himself that his peace smelled like blueberries.
Thinking it was time to get out, he pulled the plug, and the blueberry-scented universe swirled down, leaving countless silver sparkles on the bathtub walls. He stood up and turned on the shower to wash off the remaining pearl particles on his body. As his view rose, his eyes met his reflection in the wall-mounted mirror.
“…”
The reflection in the mirror was smiling naturally. Finding this sight somewhat unfamiliar, Ryu Ho-yeon paused his rinsing and traced his upturned lips with his fingers. Only after confirming his smiling face did he realize. He was enjoying himself right now. Happy? If he had to say, it seemed so.
This simple act of cleaning his body with water was making him immensely joyful and happy.
It was a newfound realization and a novel sensation. So unfamiliar that he felt like he might burst into tears.
The world’s strongest S-class Esper shouldn’t, and had no intention to, do something as unseemly as crying while taking a bath, so Ryu Ho-yeon strained his large round eyes even more and blinked while looking at the ceiling.
The emotion that had welled up momentarily subsided quickly as usual, but the unfamiliarity left in his mind remained.
He never thought it would be this scary and unfamiliar to experience spontaneous peace and happiness in his own daily life, without immersing himself in artificially created stories like animations where only beautiful dreams and hopes artificially frolic, or novels, movies, and dramas full of expectations that always end with the protagonist’s victory or a picture-perfect love story, no matter how difficult the trials and hardships.
People often said easily, “Still, the world is beautiful,” “Still, the world is worth living in.” These were propositions Ryu Ho-yeon had never acknowledged as true.
But just because he now had a compatible Guide… The world he had only known intellectually through media began to unfold and envelop him, wrapping around his skin like a blooming flower.
Now he could take hot baths, and he was free from the researchers’ 24-hour real-time monitoring for possible incidents due to lack of guiding (although he still had a roommate), and for the first time in 25 years, he even went outside the Center. It was almost vexing how easily the Center’s doors opened just by having a pair Guide accompany him.
The training was arduous and the dungeons unfamiliar, but it was okay. If it was the price for tasting the outside world he had only glimpsed through screens and indulging in all the sweet freedoms and civilized life he hadn’t enjoyed before, he felt he could muster the strength to go in again and again.
But perhaps because the freedom he tasted for the first time in his life was too fragrant and tempting, even though he knew he was already living a luxurious life compared to his previous one, questions like these would occasionally float around in Ryu Ho-yeon’s mind like smoke:
What exactly is a dungeon? Why did dungeons appear in the first place? If there were no dungeons and the monsters swarming inside them… maybe I could have… from the beginning…
Thinking about the reasons made him feel wronged, and feeling wronged made it impossible to endure the forced confinement. Originally, whenever similar worries started to emerge, Ryu Ho-yeon would quickly try to clear his mind by immersing himself in other stimulating content.
The emergence of Espers and Guides with abilities completely different from ordinary people was not a very old occurrence in the long history of humanity. At most, it had been just over two hundred years.
It was almost funny to debate the order of events now, but it was only a few years after Espers and Guides, who had been treated as objects of all kinds of discrimination and contempt due to their abnormality, started to be treated as fellow humans that ‘dungeons’ appeared to humanity.
Research on dungeons was still insufficient. In those black spaces thrown at humanity like sudden calamities, monsters that couldn’t be scratched by artificially made weapons would frequently emerge, and there was only one way to deal with them: entering the gate directly before the dungeon exploded and fighting fiercely. Only Esper abilities could inflict effective damage on the monsters.
It didn’t take much effort for the objects of criticism to transform into objects of reverence. Under the strict standards of utilitarianism, people praised the ability users while endlessly trying to control them. The perpetuation and salvation of humanity was the best weapon that would work as an excuse in any era. At least, to the extent that they could easily turn a blind eye to the sacrifice of the swept-away minority.
As he thought about it, he found it funny again. If dungeons really didn’t exist, Espers might still not be treated as humans even now. In that light, perhaps the existence of dungeons was better for establishing at least minimal human rights for ability users?
Usually, at this point in his thoughts, the assumption “What if I wasn’t an Esper from the beginning” should automatically follow, but this was impossible for Ryu Ho-yeon. Living his entire life in hiding and confinement because he possessed abilities so desirable that he absolutely must not be taken by other countries, Ryu Ho-yeon had internalized his identity as an Esper too naturally. To the extent that he couldn’t even imagine himself as anything but an Esper, even as a fleeting assumption.