13. Finding the exit door from the underground city
Starting November 2023, The Korea Daily is excited to publish the fantasy novel series “Sword of Malta – Lightning in 72 Years” on our website. This new captivating series follows a trio of young adventurers on their quest to uncover the mysteries of ancient civilizations, including the Maya and Inca. In an exciting development, Netflix is currently adapting the novel’s storyline into a film.
The ‘Sword of Malta – Lightning in 72 Years’ is the latest novel authored by Jeeyoon Ha, who created the “Pangaea series.” Ha’s debut novel, “The Pangaea: Finding Xibalba,” was selected by the Korea Creative Content Agency in 2022 as part of their initiative to support the global export of fantasy literature.
Readers can eagerly anticipate the online publication of two installments each month, with new chapters appearing bi-weekly, offering a regular escape into this magical realm. *Mark Oh translated the Korean novel into English.
“It’s a wall made of Rubion. To see this unique red metal here… wow…”
Suri couldn’t believe his eyes, even after seeing it.
“The wall has finally awoken.”
Suri uttered an incomprehensible remark as he touched the Rubion with his hand. Suddenly, a strong flowed through his mind.
“The wall came into my head!”
Suri exclaimed excitement.
“…Oh, come on, what about the wall?”
Maru ridiculed Suri.
“I became one with it…”
Suri complained as if he was confiding.
“…Now even the wall ghost has appeared… I’m tired. This is too complicated.”
Maru tore at his hair in frustration.
“…Find the Sword, Lightning of 72 years, Winged traveler, Ballad of Sansuna, Dead Disk, Torch Sword, Marble War, old map, Canis Major, Malta in the triangle, complex numbers, steganography, flag of the knights, Dragon Library, Moloch, Eridan, Nova Empire, descendants of Altima. Avalon, Yellow Gorge, six tribes, oracle, Altima39, dwarf barrel, Valetta in Valetta, fairy’s chimney…. Now we’ve descended into the unidentified underground, and the wall spirit… What is this? Who’s throwing all these baits?”
Maru exploded with a raised voice.
“Hold on… It might not be complicated. Actually, I was stuck on the word ‘ballad’… Listen to me.”
Sabi put on her glasses again.
“Please, spare me the glasses… I think all the clues that Maru listed are all pointing to one truth. It may seem very complicated on the surface, but it’s not complicated at all in content. It could be a huge steganography, right? In fact, how complicated is steganography? Only trained experts can understand it, right?”
Suri rolled his eyes and ranted.
“So? Who’s the expert?”
Maru crossed his arms and smirked.
“That is…”
Suri had been disheartened in the meantime.
“Last place in the whole school, Suri? Aren’t you the king of bluffing? Isn’t this cheating? Honestly, I’m fighting to death because I only trust you… expert? We can be experts, right? When did we ever hire an expert? We might be reckless, but… we figured out everything in the end, didn’t we?”
Maru pretended to be smart.
“…Maru…you were kind of cool~”
Sabi pecked Maru’s cheek.
“…Anyway, move quickly. Those lowly creatures are all dying. We’ll end up like that too.”
Maru’s face turned as red as a beet.
“RIP.”
Suri had a moment of silence looking at the bodies sprawled on the floor.
“The one who got gaslighted by the wall sorcerer.”
Maru winded Suri up.
“Can’t you use some philosophical words? What’s a sorcerer? A magician. Even now, there’s a lot of noise in my head.”
Suri didn’t stop his sophistry.
“…And speaking of the Rubion wall… the pyramids of Egypt were originally covered in limestone, weren’t they? It was stripped away by the ravages of time… Don’t you think there might be another identity hidden if Rubion is stripped?”
Suri whispered.
“…Why are you whispering? Let’s go quickly. I have claustrophobia, and even tunnel phobia. No, I have arachnophobia, musophobia, acrophobia, dentophobia, scopophobia, hemophobia… I might not live long.”
Maru suddenly took a deep breath and struggled.
“What on earth don’t you have? Ah~ Cibophobia ”
Sabi smacked Maru on the back of his head.
As they got closer to the center, the hieroglyphics on the Rubion wall became clearer. It was exactly the undeciphered text Suri had seen in his dream.
“Listen carefully…the sound is moving…”
Sabi stopped and listened closely.
“What? The sound is moving? It must be the *Doppler effect or *panning. Are you going crazy now?”
Maru was about to explode with anger.
Then someone emerged from the heart of the darkness. Their skin was as white as if bleached, they had barely any hair, almost no pupils, and their ears were pointed.
“…Who are you?”
Suri, seeing the stranger’s appearance, was taken aback.
“…We are a tribe that listens to the echoes of voices. I am Bahar of the Bahar tribe.”
Bahar seemed to be speaking at nothing.
“…We are the guardians.”
A girl emerged from the shadowy darkness behind Bahar.
[To be continued…]
