Chapter 22
Part 3. Bari-degi’s Domain (5)
It was a night when the moon was dim.
The campus was covered in an ambiguous light that was neither fully dark nor bright.
“Moving around in a group at this hour… if we get caught, we might have to write an explanation.”
Gong Seoyoon laughed as he stretched his arms upward.
“But the moon’s nice, isn’t it?”
Yoo Hanseong replied casually.
Hyun Iseo grumbled but didn’t drop out, and Lee Haesol remained silent.
I took a breath and loosened up my body as well.
The wind was cool, and the smell of grass drifted through the air.
I wasn’t sweating, but I could feel my body gradually relaxing.
In the meantime, casual, everyday chatter flowed naturally.
What we had for dinner today.
Why training had been so brutal lately.
Even a rumor about someone slipping again in the dorm showers.
“Hari, aren’t you scared of going into a dungeon?”
Gong Seoyoon asked lightly.
I thought for a moment.
“It’s not that I’m not scared.”
“Then why go into such a dangerous place?”
I glanced at the moon and continued.
“If I don’t go because I’m scared, I feel like something even scarier will happen. And the reason it has to be that dungeon is because I need what’s inside.”
The atmosphere went quiet for a moment.
Yoo Hanseong smiled.
“That sounds like you.”
Lee Haesol nodded in agreement.
Gong Seoyoon burst into laughter.
“So you’re tougher than you look.”
I didn’t dislike that assessment.
Hyun Iseo didn’t say anything, as if still uncomfortable, but his expression had softened a little.
As we talked, we eventually found ourselves searching the area.
Naturally scanning places where the dungeon might appear.
No one had given instructions.
As the moonlight dimmed, everyone unconsciously drifted in the same direction.
Near the stone wall beside the cafeteria, the air changed.
It felt as if the wind had stopped, and sounds arrived a beat late.
I stopped walking.
The others stopped at almost the same moment.
Darkness was gathering above the stone wall.
Black, cozy fog.
By now, it was a familiar presence.
But familiarity didn’t mean safety.
If anything, this time it felt like the dungeon was aware of more people.
“Was this dungeon always like this?”
Gong Seoyoon muttered quietly.
Yoo Hanseong swallowed.
Hyun Iseo glanced down at his waist, as if remembering the rope.
Lee Haesol’s expression hardened.
I stepped forward.
There was clearly a door in the stone wall beside the cafeteria.
A gap that hadn’t existed during the day.
Dim moonlight brushed across it.
The Lucky Dungeon, Bari-degi.
Toward the final door.
I stopped just before entering and glanced back.
There were more faces than I expected.
I had no way of knowing what the main characters of the original story were thinking.
But at least right now, I was grateful.
Maybe I was more nervous than I thought.
“I’ll be back!”
The darkness slowly began to open the door.
***
This path had no forks.
From the moment I entered, there was only a single straight corridor.
No left. No right.
No visible option to turn back.
It felt like a declaration that hesitation was no longer allowed.
There was barely any fog.
The black, cozy darkness that used to wrap around my body didn’t appear.
Nothing grabbed my ankles.
Nothing pressed on my shoulders to make me sit down.
The air was clear, and visibility was sharp.
That made me even more tense.
It felt as if the dungeon had abandoned its method of putting people to sleep.
I steadied my breathing and walked forward.
This time, I didn’t take out any potions.
I didn’t feel like I needed them.
This path wasn’t dulling my mind.
Instead, it offered something else.
Treasure appeared ahead.
A chest sitting on the floor.
Its lid was open, filled with glittering materials.
Things I had once longed to get my hands on while making potions.
Crystallized forms of rare herbs.
Refined mana cores.
Materials that looked like they could raise a potion’s rank with a single use.
I didn’t stop walking.
I didn’t even look at the treasure.
In this dungeon, what appeared was always something I wanted.
What lay before me now was greed from a stage I had already passed.
I walked past it.
After going a bit farther, the scenery changed.
A peaceful scene unfolded.
The academy’s athletic field.
People were laughing.
Faces that were supposed to die in the original story were alive.
As if nothing had ever happened.
A world without dungeons.
A world without tragedy.
My heart pounded hard for a moment, like someone finally facing a long-awaited dream.
‘It’s a good thing… but why is my body reacting this strongly?’
Was there something about Jin Hari that even I didn’t know?
Those kinds of clichés existed, after all.
But no matter what—
‘This isn’t the choice I make right now.’
I clenched my teeth.
This was a result, not a reward.
I didn’t turn my gaze away.
Instead, I passed through the scene.
Like walking through mist, it scattered into empty air.
Next came power.
People called my name.
Someone who could turn the tide with a single potion.
Scenes where dungeon raids revolved around me.
A position filled with both respect and expectation.
I smiled inwardly.
‘It’s almost funny how irrelevant this desire is.’
After some time—
The dungeon stopped testing me.
It was confirming something.
How far I had come.
The path continued.
Temptations changed shape as they appeared.
Safety.
Fame.
A life free from responsibility.
Things I had once wanted to cling to.
But those were desperate wishes for the people of this world.
They weren’t enough to shake my resolve.
As I moved forward, the end of the corridor came into view.
There was a door.
Unlike the previous ones.
The entire surface was carved with an image.
Bari-degi.
Exactly as she appeared in folklore.
A figure standing on the road.
A being who sometimes leads people away, and sometimes sends them back.
The carving wasn’t flashy.
But it was solid.
Standing before it, my steps stopped naturally.
The door was closed.
There was no lock, no handle.
Only the carved surface faced me.
I raised my hand and touched the door.
It was neither cold nor warm.
It felt like the point where reality and the boundary met.
The door began to open.
Silently.
Slowly.
Light seeped through the gap.
And the moment it opened, a voice spoke.
“Greedy one. What is it that you seek, coming all this way?”
…Was that directed at me?
***
Beyond the door stood the figure of Bari-degi, quieter and more beautiful than any depiction from folklore I had known.
She wasn’t a god who pressed people down with overwhelming authority.
She looked like a being who had stood on an ancient road for a long time, silently seeing people off.
Her robes flowed softly, as if stirred by wind, and faint light seeped from their edges.
The light wasn’t blinding.
Nor was it dark.
It was the color that lingered between night and day.
Her face was clearly visible, yet felt like something that wouldn’t stay sharply in memory.
She looked like someone’s mother.
Or a guide leading a lost child home.
Meeting that warm gaze made me feel as if I had returned to my hometown.
‘Even if her first words were strange.’
So I neither bowed nor ran away.
I steadied my breath and spoke slowly.
“If possible, I want to see a future where more people survive.”
My voice didn’t tremble.
Those words didn’t shake me.
Bari-degi looked at me for a moment.
Her gaze settled gently.
“Humans will eventually head toward death regardless.”
Her quiet, deep voice made my heart beat a little harder.
“Do you know that without preparing for farewell, one cannot grow?”
I simply nodded.
“Still, I want to see it.”
I said again.
“Not a future where tragedy becomes fuel for awakening. If possible, one where fewer things are lost along the way.”
At that, Bari-degi’s lips seemed to relax ever so slightly.
“You know many things.”
“Yes.”
I smiled as I replied.
“Do you also know that a human must not become salvation?”
“I’m not trying to become salvation. I just want to see a good ending. I was a reader.”
Bari-degi fell silent for a moment, then nodded.
With that single motion, the texture of the space changed.
She extended her hand toward me.
Her palm looked empty.
But I knew.
I knew what was there.
“This is my domain,” Bari-degi declared.
“It is a place for the dead, but also a ground the living may borrow.”
I accepted it with both hands.
