Owner of the S-Rank Dungeon Campsite (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 15

The weather was unusually clear today. The river gurgled as it flowed, and fluttering creatures—butterflies or moths, it was hard to tell—danced through the air.

Before entering the dungeon, I saw flower buds forming, so spring must now be in full bloom outside.

Each dungeon had its own season, but the Valley of Blue Starlight closely resembled the outside world.

‘Cherry blossom viewing must be in full swing out there right now.’

Here, instead of pink petals, sky-blue leaves drifted through the air. Though I’d probably missed the cherry blossoms this year, this wasn’t so bad after all.

No, it actually felt even fresher and more special.

“Woof! Woof!”

While I was lost in thought, the puppy snapped my attention back. It had spotted something and circled around, wagging its tail excitedly.

“Woof!”

“Alright, alright. I’m coming.”

I walked over to where the puppy was. In front of it stood a new plant I’d never harvested before.

“Got it! Got it! Got it!”

[‘Yubom (F)’ has harvested ‘Girin Grass (B)’.]

Ever since harvesting Hwangyeon Grass, I’d used the ‘Got it!’ skill several more times, but nothing S-grade had appeared.

‘Maybe it’s because I wasn’t as desperate as I was back then.’

The skill description clearly stated that the more desperate you were, the more likely it was to produce a golden-hand result. As Hunter Chae Donghwa had said, the system had its own oddly finicky quirks.

[Plant Codex

– Girin Grass: Effective against body aches.]

The Plant Codex, received as a quest reward, automatically added new plants upon harvesting and briefly described their effects.

[Quest

– Register entries in the Plant Codex. (31/50)

– Completion Reward: Rank Up]

Currently, I was working on the quest to fill the Plant Codex. It was good timing anyway—I’d already thought it wise to gather and learn the effects of various plants.

Plus, the completion reward mentioned a “rank up,” though I wasn’t sure which rank would be upgraded.

‘Is it my harvesting skill? Or does the codex itself have a rank?’

Alternatively, maybe I could choose a sub-skill to upgrade. Since they’d previously given me an item selection right for the camping market, this wasn’t entirely implausible.

“No way… it can’t possibly be a unique skill level-up, can it?”

Occasionally, someone’s unique skill level did increase—but the odds were as terrible as finding a needle in a desert, even harder than winning the lottery.

“Even if it did upgrade, I’d just go from F-rank Camping Ground Owner to E-rank Camping Ground Owner… Well, I’ll take it slow.”

“Woof! Woof!”

“Huh? Is there another one over there?”

When I first got this quest, gathering fifty different types seemed impossibly daunting, yet I’d already collected thirty-one.

All thanks to this puppy. Strangely enough, it always sniffed out new plants like a ghost.

‘Could the puppy have received the camping ground quest too?’

As I prepared to harvest again, a sudden thought struck me—maybe the puppy understood the quest and was actively helping me.

Camping ground quests sometimes gave directives like having guests assist me.

Moreover, there’d been a moment that made me suspect the puppy understood human speech.

‘Woof!’

‘What? What’s wrong?’

On the second night at the camping ground, the puppy scratched insistently at the tent where it had slept the first night. Thinking it wanted to sleep inside due to the dungeon’s large temperature swings, I handed it the bracelet.

[Medium Tent has been rented.] [‘Yubom (F)’ has earned 500C.]

‘Again…?’

If the coin payment on the first day hadn’t been a coincidence, then the moment the puppy took the bracelet, payment went through instantly.

How did the puppy even know it needed the bracelet to enter the tent?

Unless it understood human speech, how could it possibly know that…?

If it really did understand human language, then everything made sense—its help now, even taking the bracelet on its own.

“Do you understand human speech by any chance?”

“Woof!”

“Can you read words too?”

“Woof!”

“…”

The puppy kept nodding eagerly. It seemed like it understood what I was saying—but then again, maybe not.

“Ugh, forget it.”

A puppy that understood human speech and even completed quests? Even I thought my imagination was running wild.

If, by some miracle, it really had received a quest, the system probably delivered it in a way the puppy could understand—not in human language.

Either way, one thing was certain: it couldn’t speak human words like Teddy. All its secrets would be revealed once its owner showed up—but the owner still hadn’t appeared.

Three days passed like that.

“Could it have been abandoned? That’d be so sad.”

“Woof!”

I looked at the puppy with pitying eyes, then crouched down and stroked its head.

The puppy, clearly pleased, wagged its tail vigorously. Its warm body and soft fur made me feel all fuzzy inside too.

‘If its owner never shows up… could I keep it at the camping ground?’

I’d always wanted to raise a pet since I was little. I never could because my mom was allergic to dogs and cats.

“Wanna live with me, pup?”

“Woof!”

“Aren’t you making this too easy? No hesitation at all?”

“Woof! Woof!”

After all, having one more small puppy stay at the camping ground wouldn’t drastically change anything.

It was only after coming to the dungeon that I finally got to fulfill my childhood dream of keeping a pet.

“Master! Time to eat!”

“Yes!”

At Teddy’s call, I immediately jumped up and ran toward the firepit. The puppy trotted after me.

Lunch was generously laid out on a rustic folding table.

“It’s dumpling ramen! I cooked it well this time, right?”

For a while, Teddy had kept asking me to make ramen whenever our eyes met. Eventually, probably feeling awkward, she asked me to teach her the recipe.

Since chopping scallions or tearing open seasoning packets seemed difficult for her, I prepped everything in advance and registered it in the vending machine. Ever since, she’d been cooking on her own.

“It looks delicious! You’re doing great all by yourself now.”

“Hehe, just be careful—it’s hot!”

“I’ll dig in.”

The hot broth paired perfectly with chewy noodles. The dumplings’ savory juice blended in, creating a rich, nutty flavor.

“And this is for the puppy.”

The puppy sat right beside my seat, having nudged a log-dwelling slime off its spot to claim the place.

It gazed expectantly at Teddy.

Teddy gave the puppy some fruit she’d gathered from the dungeon.

“Woof!”

The puppy protested as if it disliked the fruit. When we just watched silently, it even swatted the fruit away with its paw.

“But we can’t give you human food today…”

This puppy, trained by its owner somehow, always craved human food. If we looked away for even a moment, it would snatch something off our plates.

Right now, it was eyeing the ramen hungrily, drool pooling in its panting mouth.

“Here, this is tasty too. I’m eating it myself.”

I picked up the fruit and took a bite. Its texture resembled an apple, but inside was a thick, honey-like substance.

‘I only meant to pretend to eat it, but it’s actually delicious.’

Before I knew it, I’d eaten half. The puppy watched how much I ate, then finally took a bite itself.

The puppy listened to me unusually well.

“Teddy, if the puppy’s owner still doesn’t show up, should we just keep it here?”

Since I was already sitting down, I asked Teddy’s opinion. Though Teddy was a monster I’d captured, she helped run the camping ground, so I wanted to respect her thoughts.

“I don’t mind, but shouldn’t we give it a name then?”

“A name?”

“Yes.”

As Teddy said, giving it a proper name would surely deepen our bond. I couldn’t keep calling it “pup” forever.

The puppy stared at me intently, its eyes somehow full of expectation.

“But what should we name it?”

I fell into deep thought.

Naming things had always been hard. Hadn’t I ended up pressing the random name button for the camping ground itself after agonizing over it?

“They say naming something after food makes it live long… Should we pick a food name?”

“Ramen?”

Teddy’s eyes sparkled.

I said a food name—not specifically ramen…

But Teddy clearly wanted to name the puppy Ramen.

“Grrr… Arf!”

The puppy growled, clearly disapproving.

“It doesn’t like it…?”

“How can anyone dislike ramen? Poor puppy doesn’t know the taste of ramen.”

Teddy shook her head in disbelief, utterly obsessed with ramen.

“How about Choco, since it’s brown?”

“What’s Choco?”

“It’s another food from outside—super sweet dessert. It hasn’t appeared in the vending machine yet, but it’s incredibly delicious.”

“Your world has so many tasty things, Master! It’s amazing!”

Seeing Teddy so excited reminded me of the past. I’d felt the same wonder the first time I tasted dungeon fruits.

The most iconic was Cynthia. Its flavor had shocked me the first time I tried it.

That was probably when my view of the dungeon started improving. That fruit had deeply influenced me.

But now, I couldn’t quite recall its exact taste—maybe because it’d been too long, or maybe because I’d deliberately tried to forget.

“It’s probably just because it’s your first time. It’s not actually that special.”

Suddenly, the lingering juice in my mouth tasted bitter.

I shouldn’t start liking the dungeon. I was here to survive, not because I enjoyed it.

I feared that if I grew fond of it, the dungeon would strike me in the back again.

“No way—it’s really delicious!”

Teddy slurped up the rest of her ramen. I set down the fruit I’d been eating.

Choco stared at my face intently, then gently licked the back of my hand as if to comfort me.

A puppy comforting me—how strange.

[This is the timeline separator]

The chimera possessed exceptional speed, thanks to its unusually developed leg muscles and special fur that reduced wind resistance.

[‘Ji Seokhyun (A)’ activates ‘Eagle’s Eye (A)’.]

But to Seokhyun, who had activated ‘Eagle’s Eye,’ no matter how fast the chimera moved, he could always pinpoint exactly where to aim his bowstring.

As he targeted the red bullseye, the monster staggered.

[‘Blue Starlight Chimera (S)’ takes a critical hit.] [‘Blue Starlight Chimera (S)’ is paralyzed by poison.]

“Phew… This monster shouldn’t even be here.”