“Hmm. He’s likely going to take quite some time to regain consciousness.”  

“That bad, huh?”  

The soldier who had suddenly appeared and collapsed in the middle of our meeting was examined by the medic.  

“It seems he was in an extremely malnourished state to begin with. I’m not sure why, but he must have pushed himself too far even in that condition…”  

“Even so, your medical skills aren’t enough to handle this?”  

Lance Corporal Sa Uijun, the medic.  

While I had been the one single-handedly cooking for our unit and gaining experience, our two medics and chaplains had been responsible for treating countless injured soldiers from battles, steadily gaining high-level experience.  

The two healers had reached quite high levels, capable of saving all but the most grievous injuries.  

“The problem isn’t the injury, it’s an issue of energy depletion.”  

“What’s the difference?”  

“If it was just malnutrition, I could at least give him some nutritional supplements. But this man seems to be an awakened.”  

Hearing that, I belatedly looked closer at the man.  

[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]  

[Freshness – Mid-Low]  

[Awakened: Kim Young-gwan]  

[Occupation: Junior Grade Messenger Lv. 11]  

[Status: Magic Energy Depletion]  

“From what I’ve observed over the past few months, Awakened individuals are quite resistant to falling into malnutrition. Even if their physical nutrition becomes problematic, their inner magic energy somehow keeps them going.”  

“So, what’s wrong with this man then?”  

“He’s pushed his body to the point of completely depleting his magic energy. At the lowest estimate, he’ll likely to remain in this state for at least a week, maybe even a month.”  

Even without the medic’s explanation, it was clear the man was not in a normal condition. The “Mid-Low” freshness rating from the Ingredient Identification confirmed it.  

The freshness of a living being is almost always at the highest level.   

Even corpses are typically rated as “Good” if they have recently deceased.  

Yet this man was only “Mid-Low” – barely clinging to life, his physical state akin to a corpse.  

“…Should we try feeding him a meal at least?”  

I did have experience in reviving even the blind with my cooking.  

If I could just get him to eat, perhaps it could restore his depleted mana.  

“Feed an unconscious person? Forget it.”  

“So, it’s no good, huh?”  

“Even if it’s your cooking, Sergeant, he could choke on it before it takes effect.”  

“Hmph.”  

“Besides, he’s not an urgent patient that needs immediate treatment. Saving him won’t be too difficult, it’ll just take some time.”  

“Well, that’s fortunate at least.”  

The issue was the plea for help this man had made.  

I had no idea about the circumstances behind it.  

The only keyword I knew was “dungeon.”  

If not for that, I would have simply waited patiently for his recovery.  

I glanced sideways.  

My eyes met those of the soldier standing there.  

“Byeong-min.”  

“Yes, Lance Corporal Byeong-min.”  

“You didn’t hear anything?”  

“Well, that is…”  

Byeong-min was the one who had brought this man to the meeting room.  

“I didn’t hear the details. I just asked where he came from, and he said the Chuncheon area…”  

“Chuncheon, huh.”  

“The man looked like he was about to die, so I just quickly brought him here when he kept asking for help. Looking back, I should have tried to get more information out of him calmly.”  

“No, you did the right thing.”  

In that state, the man likely would not have been able to provide much detail anyway.  

The key information he did give was “dungeon.”  

It wasn’t something completely new to us.  

We had already achieved significant growth by conquering a dungeon that had appeared in the subway.  

The explosive level-up of our unit members, not to mention the guild skills we obtained – it was an unprecedented reward.  

But since then, we hadn’t made any attempts to take on a dungeon.  

The simple reason being:  

“We’d love to, but we need to know first about the location of a dungeon.”  

Dungeons were far from common.  

Even Jeong Soo-ah, who had thoroughly scanned the Inje-gun area through her spirit vision was unable to find any dungeon apart from the one that we had conquered.  

Dangerous as it may be, it was the best farming spot with rewards to match.  

The fact that this man requesting help had mentioned that precious dungeon was quite intriguing.  

‘This is not just a request for help, but also an opportunity to conquer a dungeon.’  

Now that we knew we couldn’t leave Gangwon-do for the time being, seizing this chance to grow our unit for the future was a must-not-miss opportunity.  

‘But it’s too risky to just charge in without any information.’  

I opened the guild message window.  

And summoned our [Shaman: Sergeant Park Taejun], the [Astrologer] Awakened of our guild.  

But.  

[Chef: Hello?]  

[Chef: Are you sleeping?]  

It took quite a while to get a response.  

Just as I was starting to worry something might be wrong,  

[Shaman: Ah, it’s you, Young-joon.]  

The reply finally came.  

[Chef: What’s up? Are you busy? …If there’s some issue on your end]  

[Shaman: No, there’s no immediate big problem.]  

[Chef: Really?]  

[Shaman: I just had something I needed to focus on, that’s why the reply was delayed. What’s the matter?]  

It was a bit puzzling.  

Come to think of it, the Taejun I knew would have warned us even before any issues arose, about whether we should go or not.  

It seems it’s been quite a while since he stopped giving those warnings.  

‘Something he needs to focus on, huh.’  

If it’s the Taejun I know, then there’s probably no major cause for concern.  

But I can’t help feeling a bit worried.  

‘Well… If he needs help, he’ll let me know himself.’  

I decided not to pry.  

That’s not the most pressing matter right now.  

[Chef: Well, this happened…]  

[Shaman: Hmm, let me take a look.]  

For now, as originally intended, I relayed the details about the man who had come from Chuncheon.  

[Shaman: I’m seeing something, but… it’s a bit abstract.]  

[Chef: Oh, what is it?]  

[Shaman: The landscape is too abstract. I’m not sure how helpful it will be.]  

Abstract, huh. That’s the weakness of this guy’s ability.  

[Chef: Still, it’s better than nothing. Tell me about it.]  

[Shaman: Well, I’ll just share what I see, and you can make your own judgment.]  

The landscape Taejun described was roughly as follows:  

[A city half-submerged in water.]  

[Water pouring down from the rooftops of the buildings like waterfalls.]  

[Shrouded in pitch-black darkness even in broad daylight, with gilled humans roaming within.]  

…It is indeed quite abstract.  

A landscape that doesn’t seem to exist in reality at all.  

Taejun’s occupation as an [Astrologer] makes this understandable.  

His abilities are akin to a fortune-teller, able to perceive the future, but rarely providing direct information.  

Most of the time, it’s expressed in abstract and symbolic ways.  

‘Rather than Chuncheon literally being like that, he’s likely exaggerating certain key features.’  

It’s a powerful ability, no doubt, but this aspect can be frustrating.  

Even Taejun seems to feel a bit troubled by it.  

‘No… This might actually be better in a way.’  

It would be ideal if he could show the actual scenery clearly.  

But from a certain perspective, this approach may be better.  

‘It highlights the core features I need to prepare for.’  

By not showing the full, realistic landscape, but rather an abstract depiction, it means he’s filtered out the unnecessary details.  

And only the critical characteristics remain.