ALL NOVEL Chapter 245
Chapter 245. Replica (4)
Fran Fager’s father, Gadan Fager, opened his mouth wide in shock.
There were no other dwarves in Maz with the same name as Fran Fager.
So, it was clear that the Fran mentioned by Kim Si-hu referred to his son.
But to hear the name of his son, who had vanished, from humans he had never seen before!
“Do you know anything about my son?”
Gadan quickly approached Kim Si-hu.
Chilla, who stepped forward in front of Kim Si-hu, gently pushed him back.
“Chirp! Step back a bit!”
“If you know even a little, please tell me.”
His eyes and tone were full of desperation.
Kim Si-hu felt an odd familiarity from Gadan, who was waiting for an answer.
No matter the differences in race between humans and dwarves, the feelings of a father concerned about his son were the same.
“Fran is in our hometown.”
“Is that really true?”
“Yes.”
Fran Fager had crossed over to Earth, a completely different dimension from Kallem.
Kim Si-hu explained that according to the setup of the Pig’s Soup mercenary corps, they had come from an unexplored continent.
“That young boy is still alive…”
“Fortunately, we have some recordings of his voice.”
“…?”
Yoo Ji-han pulled out a recorder he had brought along.
This recorder contained various sentences Fran had recorded in the local accent before arriving in Kallem.
—We are humans from a very distant land.
—We are not your enemies.
…
…
Gadan, who had been looking at the recorder with suspicion, soon shut his mouth and listened closely to the sound.
It was the voice of a young man who still sounded somewhat boyish rather than mature.
The accent suggested he had lived in Kallem for at least several years.
‘…It is definitely Fran.’
The voice from the recorder matched exactly with the memory of Fran’s voice in Gadan’s mind.
Even without seeing his face, there was no way he couldn’t recognize his son’s voice.
“Fran is alive…!”
Grun, who had been close to Fran in the past, was also shocked to hear the news of his survival.
He had thought for certain that Fran had perished somewhere after disappearing.
When the playback of the recording ended, Gadan opened his mouth again.
“Why was this made?”
“I initially thought there would be a language barrier. But it was resolved by good fortune.”
“Fran’s voice is firm and powerful.”
The voice of Fran maintained the same tone with precise pronunciation until the end.
Such a clear recording could not have been made if it had been forced.
In other words, Fran must have taken it upon himself to provide help to these individuals.
“Why didn’t my son come with you?”
As he said this, Gadan glared at the heroes in front of him.
Why had they come to Kallem, leaving his son all alone behind?
His gaze seemed to contain a hint of blame, and Yoo Ji-han responded.
“We did ask him, but he refused.”
“…”
“He said he doesn’t want to come to Kallem even if it means dying.”
“…Is that so.”
Gadan’s expression turned bitter.
Yes, if it is that son, he could very well think that way.
In fact, it could be said that not coming to Kallem was more befitting of his son.
“Hey, humans.”
“Yes?”
“If it’s alright, I’d like to treat you to a cup of tea. Do you have time?”
*
Yoo Ji-han’s party followed Gadan Fager to an area with a long row of chairs.
That place was a resting space exclusively for the miners in the mine.
It was supposed to be work time now, but since Gadan was practically the foreman on-site, he could spare a moment.
“Here.”
Gadan poured some drink into cups from a teapot.
He had prepared the tea inside the teapot ahead of time.
Kim Si-hu, receiving the teacup, looked at the teapot with a curious expression and said,
“I can sense magic power?”
“It’s a teapot with a heat-retaining function. I picked up scraps and made it myself.”
“You’re quite handy.”
“Ahem! It’s nothing special.”
Kim Si-hu genuinely admired Gadan, who had created a magical tool from scraps in such a harsh environment.
Gadan looked a bit pleased with the compliment.
“What kind of tea is this?”
“It’s dried tea made from Deva leaves. It’s essential for the dwarves working in this mine.”
“Haha! This will sell very well in Japan!”
Watanabe was quite fond of the Deva tea.
It gave a refreshing sensation like mint and cleared his mind greatly.
Drinking something like this while working would surely boost efficiency significantly.
“I didn’t expect to meet Fran’s father here.”
Maz had many mines, both large and small.
Finding Fran’s father among them was no easy task.
Yoon Do-ha had plans to search for him once their exploration was over.
But meeting him in the first mine they visited was completely unexpected.
“I never thought I would hear news of my son.”
Fran Fager had suddenly disappeared as if into thin air from Maz years ago.
Since he had always voiced dissatisfaction with his situation under human oppression,
Gadan had thought his son might have been killed by humans.
But today, he had confirmed that his son was alive.
“Is Fran doing well?”
“He’s doing fine with beings of a similar plight.”
“Is it similar to the situation in Maz?”
“It’s much, much better compared to here.”
Korea, like Kallem, had racial discrimination in society.
But compared to the treatment dwarves faced in Maz, it would be considered paradise.
“Such a useless son of mine! … But I’m just glad he’s alive.”
He was his only blood relative.
Even if they couldn’t meet directly, Gadan felt a great relief from confirming his son’s survival.
“Why are you all here?”
“We came looking for someone.”
“For that human named Yoon Do-ha, who spoke with Fran’s voice?”
“Yes. And also, the humans who last visited this mine.”
“……”
Gadan, who had heard the purpose from the recorded voice of Fran, fell silent.
Seeing him suddenly quiet, Yoo Ji-han spoke.
“Do you know something?”
“What? I don’t know anything!”
“……”
His suspicious tone and flustered mannerism.
It was clear he seemed to know something.
Surely, being a foreman, he would know a lot about the mine’s information.
‘Si-hu, show him.’
Yoo Ji-han sent a silent signal to Kim Si-hu with his eyes.
Kim Si-hu slightly nodded and said,
“Well, actually, I’m quite close to Fran.”
“……?”
“On his tenth birthday, I gifted him a gem I dug from the mine, remember?”
“No! How do you know that!”
Gadan was taken aback.
The fact that he secretly took the magic crystal during work and gave it to Fran when he turned ten was a secret known only to him and Fran.
“Fran often wonders about news from his father, who is left behind in Maz.”
“My news?”
“He seemed quite worried about you. Well, when we return to our hometown, we could tell Fran news about his father—or not…”
“I hope you deliver it! I’ll even write a letter for you!”
“Ah, but it feels a bit wrong to do that for free…”
Having shared personal memories to a degree, Fran and Kim Si-hu had grown close.
Kim Si-hu took advantage of his relationship with Fran to persuade Gadan.
“I think it would be fine if you just told us what you know.”
“……”
“Cough! We’re not asking for much.”
Gadan’s eyes started to shift rapidly left and right.
He seemed to be deep in thought about Kim Si-hu’s words.
Just when everyone was waiting for his answer.
“…I know where those humans went.”
Gadan had finally succumbed to the persuasion using his son.
*
As the sun sank, marked with signs of destruction, and the three moons rose into the night.
After meeting Gadan, Yoo Ji-han’s party and Watanabe’s party returned to the mine.
“What’s that sound?”
“Over there!”
After lightly evading the watchmen guarding the mine,
Yoo Ji-han threw himself without hesitation into the dark entrance.
After a while inside, the party lit their way with magic, revealing an endless tunnel.
——The worker in my jurisdiction claimed to have seen them disappear right in front of his eyes.
——But if this becomes our responsibility, all the dwarves working in this mine will be in danger.
Team 2, who had visited the mine earlier, had vanished inside.
Indeed, there were dwarves who witnessed them disappearing, but they hadn’t reported it to their superiors.
If they reported it, the very dwarves present at the scene would be punished.
And in Maz, there was no upper limit to the punishment delivered to dwarves.
‘They could face execution.’
Simply witnessing humans disappear in front of them could be enough guilt for the dwarves.
They had likely kept it hidden until now due to that risk.
Thus, they promised Gadan they wouldn’t leak this information outside.
“Everyone, follow me.”
Yoo Ji-han recalled the map of the mine in his head and ran ahead.
With Gadan confirming that no dwarves would remain in the mine that night, they could move without worrying about being watched.
But then, it happened.
‘Hmm?’
Before his eyes, the Thread of Truth emerged.
Seeing five threads appear, Yoo Ji-han stopped in his tracks.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s something ahead.”
“…It looks like there’s nothing there?”
Watanabe couldn’t sense any presence up ahead.
However, once he slowed down and began to move forward, he detected a slight presence after another 20 meters, twitching his eyebrows.
‘He sensed that faint presence from that distance?’
Watanabe, who had worked hard to develop his senses as a swordsman from Japan,
Had invested over a hundred billion on various elixirs alone.
Yet, it was hard to believe that Yoo Ji-han had sensed the opponent from further away than he did.
‘Haha! I still have a long way to go!’
Indeed, there was still much in the world that he didn’t know.
He didn’t even have to travel to another world; such a remarkable hero existed right next door in Korea!
“That’s…”
“A dwarf.”
A little while later, what they discovered inside the mine was a group of dwarves.
Gadan, who believed there wouldn’t be any workers here tonight, was mistaken.
As many as thirty dwarves were gathered, secretly engaging in conversation.
“Should we take them all down?”
“Stop it.”
“It’s too suspicious.”
Lee Mi-a cracked her knuckles ominously, glaring at the dwarves.
Yoo Ji-han stopped her, ready to spring into action at any moment.
“Let’s move.”
“Let’s follow them.”
In the darkness without light, Yoo Ji-han’s party followed the dwarves at a distance.
They were not moving towards the exit of the mine but deeper into it.
“They’ve stopped.”
The dwarves had paused right in an area where a space distortion was detected.
The Threads of Truth that had appeared in the mine also led inside the space distortion.
Soon, as they jumped into the space distortion with a familiar movement, Yoo Ji-han immediately followed them inside.
“Who, who are you?!”
“Grr!”
As he quickly restrained the startled dwarves,
Yoo Ji-han gazed at the scratch marks etched into the ground within the space distortion.
‘There’s no doubt.’
Countless traces of battle presumed to be caused by Park Jae-kyung and Team 2.
Finding a red bloodstain there, Yoo Ji-han narrowed his eyes.
When they made contact earlier, they were undoubtedly here.
As Yoo Ji-han was thinking this,
“Everyone, be careful!”
“……!”
Drumming sounds filled the ground as a massive quake resonated through everyone’s feet.
If it weren’t for the space distortion, one would think the mine was on the verge of collapsing from the sheer power of the quake.