Dungeon Maker - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Demon Labor Market

Suppose that in the last year of middle school, you were told that you were not a normal human being and that you, in fact, have demon blood running through your veins. And that they were able to prove it.
If you had imagined yourself as a demon dozens, no, hundreds of times in the last five years, would that be considered normal?
Yong-Ho had imagined it.
He had imagined himself becoming a demon king and reigning over a kingdom.
The reality was that he attended an all-male middle school and high school and graduated from an engineering college. Furthermore, he had also finished his compulsory military service. Despite that, Yong-Ho still continued to imagine such a life.
Of course, as people grow old, so do the whims of their imagination. Nevertheless, even though it made him seem delusional, Yong-Ho still imagined.
In the end, Yong-Ho had become a demon.
Though, the reality of being a demon was quite different from what he had imagined.
*** 4
“It must have been when I was at the hotblooded age of 17 when I imagined a slender nude succubus laying beside me.”
He wasn’t entirely wrong.
When Yong-Ho woke up, he was lying next to a beautiful silver-haired woman with light brown skin that resembled the color of melted chocolate.
Though she wasn’t naked nor lying on the same bed as Yong-Ho himself.
“Hey, hey. HEY!!”
Mammon’s dungeon sorely lacked a supply of mana, and this was the only room that supplied a decent amount of it.
On the floor of the throne room, there was an old red carpet draped from the entrance of the room to the throne.
And there were two people lying next to each other, on top of it.
One was Yong-Ho, who was sitting up, and the other was Catalina, who was covered in a monster skin cloak.
Yong-Ho shook Catalina’s shoulders and yelled at her, causing her to groan and writhe in apparent agony. As a mix between a succubus and a dark elf, she was weak to mornings.
“Ugh…”
Catalina gave off a moan while partially opening and closing her eyes again. The sound that she made was so peculiar, and the way that her face poked out from beneath the cloak made her look so beautiful that it caused Yong-Ho to suck in a deep breath.
He had thought that he had gotten used to it, but Catalina was simply too beautiful for a man such as him, who had attended all-male school and graduated in engineering, to face so casually.
Eventually, Yong-Ho gave up trying to wake her up and decided to get up himself while scratching his head. The dungeon’s butler Eligor had gotten up early to go out and fetch some water.
‘We even need to go and fetch water to fill up the jar.’
Yong-Ho sighed once again as he thought about how much of a bad state the dungeon was in, but there was nothing he could do.
According to Catalina and Eligor, it wasn’t like this in the beginning. When the previous master of the dungeon was alive, the dungeon had still maintained quite a prestigious appearance, despite the fact that the rest of the demon world still associated it with the downfall of the Mammon Family.
‘After the last master decided to commit suicide… many things have changed.’
The summary of the story that Eligor told through tears was as follows.
First, the dungeon spirits left the dungeon and robbed the dungeon of all its wealth, with the excuse that it was their retirement fund.
Second, after the dungeon master died, since there wasn’t anyone left to supply the dungeon with mana, they were forced to reduce the size of the dungeon. Unlike the other spirits, Catalina and Eligor belonged to the dungeon and couldn’t leave, so their lives were put on the line.
Third, it took them a long time to find the new master of the dungeon, Yong-Ho. During that time, they had sparingly used the remaining mana to try and save it, so that’s why they were now in this state.
Yong-Ho looked around the throne room with a blank expression. The dungeon master’s throne room was truly vast. He probably couldn’t have a game of soccer here, but he surely had enough room for a game of volleyball.
‘Just doing a small touch up would make a huge difference. Moreover, at least there isn’t any debt.’
Yong-Ho started to laugh after looking at the positive side. Instead of sitting back down in a daze, he checked to see what had to be done.
At this moment, it was impossible to return home.
To open a door between the two worlds required an immense amount of mana. According to Catalina and Eligor, they opened the portal with the belief that they might soon die. If Yong-Ho had decided not to become their master, they would have either threatened him or broke down and started weeping.
Regardless, it was impossible to go back or even contact home at this moment. Eligor later excitedly explained that once a permanent door was set up, Yong-Ho would be able to go back home without a great consumption of mana. However, looking at Catalina’s despondent expression, he was doubtful whether such a day would come.
Yong-Ho made a decision.
In the demon world, this dungeon was his home. Therefore, the dungeon had to be remodeled to be suitable for people to live in. He planned to make the dungeon powerful enough to install a permanent portal between the two worlds.
Yong-Ho walked to the only piece of furniture available in the room, his throne. As soon as he sat down upon the throne, the voice of the newborn dungeon spirit greeted him once again.
[Hello, Master. Isn’t it a nice morning?]
The voice imitated that of a young girl, which reinforced the fact that it was a newborn spirit. After nodding and greeting her back, Yong-Ho waved his hand in the air.
[Mammon’s Dungeon]
[Master: Demon King of Evolution, Chun Yong-Ho]
[Dungeon Rank: -]
[Dungeon Mana: 30/300]
[Daily Mana Production: 30]
This situation would cause anyone to feel uneasy, but Yong-Ho didn’t feel frustrated.
‘The dungeon had fallen into ruin because it had been without a master. However, now that a master had returned, things would get better.’
Yong-Ho closed his eyes as he decided to check his resources.
The dungeon spirits, Catalina and Eligor.
The butler Eligor wasn’t useful in battle. He did, however, have the ability to take care of housekeeping. According to him, he has worked as a butler, a cook, and a teacher for the previous generation.
The guard Catalina was currently the only fighter in the dungeon. Though, to be honest, he couldn’t help but doubt her combat ability.
According to Eligor’s evaluation, she wasn’t weak and she did have the ability to evaluate the strength of the Crimson Ogre. However, she seemed quite helpless before, so he couldn’t really rely on her.
Those two were the only available spirits.
The remaining mana was just thirty.
Plus, thirty mana could be produced each day. The mana production would increase if either Yong-Ho himself became stronger or the dungeon advanced in grade.
A single jar for water.
A worn red carpet.
A throne.
There was also the t-shirt and boxers that he was wearing, a suit left behind by the previous generation, and the desk that came with the computer from his world. 2
He had also received the power of the Seven Deadly Sins, Greed, but he wasn’t sure when it would reveal itself.
And finally, perhaps the most valuable asset that Yong-Ho currently possessed…
As he closed his eyes, he recalled his greatest power.
The power of Demon Evolution.