Artifact Reading Inspector-Chapter 1: Inside the unknown stone chamber… (Prologue)

The stone chamber was pitch-black. The place had lost its former looks, it was in a mess. The ground had been dug up here and there.

If it wasn’t for the light coming from the small LED lantern hanging on the wall, you wouldn’t even be able to see your own hands. 𝙛𝘳𝘦e𝓌e𝗯n𝗼ѵ𝙚l.𝒄𝚘𝑚

“Hay, Park! What are you doing? We must get out!”

Even though it was a whisper, the voice still sounded urgent. Yunseok looked back for a moment, but soon he turned back to the front.

His bloodshot eyes were staring at the pile of soil in the dark.

‘There’s something!’

It felt like someone was calling him. At first, the sound was similar to when someone is gnawing something. However, as he kept listening, he felt like it was talking to him.

As if he was possessed by something, he started to dig without using a hoe or a bamboo knife. He just used his hands but, as if he knew where it was, his hands moved without hesitation.

He didn’t even worry about damaging the hidden object. No, he couldn’t even think about that.

“Park! The police are coming! Are you crazy? Get out!”

“Wait… wait…”

As he was urgently called from behind, Yunseok could only tell Jo to wait.

“Sh*t… I am leaving. You’re on your own. I’ll be in Cheongdo Port until the 17 th . You know I can’t wait for you if you’re late.”

“…”

Yunseok didn’t answer, he just kept digging. Strangely, the soil, which should have been hard, was dug so easily as if it was sand in a playground. Normally, he would have found this strange; however, he currently couldn’t think straight.

“Ha… don’t blame me for this!”

The sound left. Jo crawled through the small tunnel that led to the chamber where Yunseok was. They had already robbed a lot of artifacts, so they were about to receive a huge amount of money. Jo couldn’t afford to waste time and get captured.

It was the same for Yunseok. If he had thought about his son who was waiting for him, he would have run without looking back. However, having already lost all signs of reason, he kept digging like a madman. His thoughts were only on finding it.

“Pant, pant…”

Soon, his hand grabbed a black wooden box. Yunseok then woke up while gently brushing off the soil.

“It’s not rotten?”

The artifacts of this tomb were at least a few centuries old. However, the box with a strange symbol, that he had never seen before, wasn’t rotten at all. Maybe it wasn’t made out of wood.

Crick…

Yunseok flinched. He didn’t open it. No, maybe his hand touched it…

Inside, there was a black rectangular object with no decorations. Yunseok ditched the box and put the object in his pocket. Next, he went through the small tunnel that was barely big enough for his body.

It was time to escape.