Ch.13Ah, I’m going to die.

# 13. 1-1

‘A storm worse than the Creamora aftermath, I see.’

The morning of the seventh day was more chaotic than ever. For better or worse, Cutjukyeora’s memory was surprisingly intact, and her kick was powerful enough to send the blanket flying all the way to the bathroom door.

The aftermath only ended when the tavern master, who mistook it for a burglar break-in, came to check the room.

“When you drink, you get drunk, and when you’re drunk, these things happen. It’s not like you committed a serious crime, so don’t worry too much.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, really. There’s a reason they call it ‘diminished capacity,’ right?”

“I get it, please stop.”

It was quite entertaining to watch the college student squirming while clutching her head. Pretending to comfort her while actually teasing was fun, but her reactions were the best part. Cutjukyeora might be suffering, but this was better.

If I hadn’t resisted her (diminished capacity) temptation at dawn and an “accident” had occurred, things would have been suffocatingly awkward.

“Ahem, hem, hem!”

Seeing Cutjukyeora clearing her throat now as if nothing had happened, while the image of her bold behavior at dawn overlapped in my mind, made me laugh again.

“Oh, come on!”

“Sorry.”

“The captain doesn’t need to apologize, but aaaargh!”

Cutjukyeora’s hair became disheveled once more. How is her hair still so nice despite all this?

**

[Gold Coins Owned: 245.2]

“Having an inventory is truly a blessing.”

“Must be the last bit of mercy from the system.”

After a proper hangover cure, we stopped by the shop to purchase equipment, food, camping gear, and other consumables within our budget. Having an inventory to avoid carrying a full load was nice, but the visuals couldn’t be described as decent even out of politeness.

Why would “avatars (skins)” sell in games like this? While high-level equipment had some cool designs, low-level gear showed no mercy. At best, we probably looked like “country bumpkin adventurer siblings setting out on a new journey.”

“To think I once had level 991 gear…”

While Cutjukyeora was feeling depressed about the enormous gap between her past equipment and what we just bought with money earned from a week of hard labor, we were steadily making our way out of Edenguard.

“Captain. Want to make a bet?”

“A bet? What kind?”

“A bet on which of two hypotheses is correct.”

Cutjukyeora, seemingly having accepted reality and returned to her normal self, suddenly proposed a bet. It seemed like an attempt to change the mood, and curious about the stakes, I nodded.

“This area is quite vast even excluding Edenguard, so there might be other spots besides Edenguard, or once we go beyond a certain distance, it ends. Choose one of these two. Of course, no duplicate choices!”

Oh. This wasn’t just a simple time-killer?

“What’s at stake?”

“Money seems inappropriate, so how about granting a simple wish?”

“A wish token?”

“Yes.”

Or was this her main objective all along?

Cutjukyeora after the drinking session and blanket-kicking incident seemed different, or perhaps her true self was gradually emerging.

Not bad.

“Want to choose first?”

“Is that okay?”

“Sure.”

“Then I’ll take the first hypothesis.”

“I automatically get the second one then.”

We hadn’t let our brains idle while doing odd jobs. Among our numerous mental simulations were hypotheses about this place, the neutral zone of the first floor, so we’d soon find out which one was correct.

“But to determine which is right, don’t we need to check all directions?”

“Do we?”

“Huh?”

“If the first hypothesis is correct, exploring itself has meaning, and if the second is correct, we won’t need to walk far anyway, so it doesn’t matter, right?”

“Oh. As expected of a Yeonsin University student.”

“What are you saying?”

Cutjukyeora smiled slightly while adjusting her armor. We soon passed through the city gates. Unlike when we entered, there was no restriction when leaving.

“Captain.”

“Yeah?”

“If we meet another raid group, what do you plan to do?”

“Well… I haven’t really thought about that.”

“You, Captain?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Someone like you wouldn’t not have a plan. You’re the person who emphasized even minor patterns multiple times.”

“Identifying boss mob patterns and this are different things.”

What kind of person am I in Cutjukyeora’s eyes anyway?

Anyway, it was true that I hadn’t given it much thought. The only consideration regarding other raid groups was getting ahead of them first. Wasn’t that why we did all those odd jobs that weren’t even in our nature?

“They’re not raid mobs; you respond differently to different people. Even with raid mobs, you need several tries to respond to patterns. Have you ever cleared a raid on the first try? No, right.”

“I see.”

“That’s how it is.”

“I…”

“Hm?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

What was that about?

Anyway, if they’re bad people, we can ignore them or retaliate, and if they’re good people, we can maintain a good relationship. The response itself isn’t difficult. It’s the degree of response and categorizing that’s challenging.

After passing through the city gates and walking in one direction with weapons equipped from our inventory, we soon discovered the result of our bet.

“Space-time dis—!”

“Stop!”

If you complete that word, there’s no turning back!

As if someone had deliberately split it in half, a black space where nothing was visible suddenly appeared. And right in the center of our vision was a “portal” that looked like it would suck you in if you stared at it.

“So I win the bet, right?”

“Yes. What are we going to do?”

“Keep it.”

Not moving in another direction was based on intuition. A feeling that if we left through a different gate and proceeded straight ahead, we’d see the same scene. It was such a clearly abnormal, nonsensical sight that we decided to call it a “game-like” or “systemic” allowance.

“How nice it would have been if it were just a normal door.”

“Saying that only makes it weirder. Ah, I’m going in first.”

“No! I’m the main tank, I should go in first!”

“There’s only two of us though?”

“Still!”

Cutjukyeora tapped her shield with her sword to shake off her hesitation, then disappeared into the portal.

“I’ve already been sucked in here, what’s another portal?”

My vision went dark.

**

[This is Floor 1-1.]

As soon as my vision returned and the message appeared, I assumed a rough stance and surveyed the surroundings. Seeing no immediate danger, I then looked for my only companion, Cutjukyeora.

“Seyeon.”

“We’ve got a headache-inducing situation.”

She was standing in front of a door between a pair of knight statues ahead, sighing heavily at the sight of the statues. And I could understand her reaction.

“Nothing would surprise me at this point, but why does this have to appear when we’re at our weakest?”

“If I had known this would appear, I would have stayed in Edenguard longer. At least, that’s what I would have argued. Me.”

The Knight’s Trial.

It was a special dungeon located in a corner of Dawn Plains, one of the fields leading to Edenguard. Special dungeons each had different rules, but to cut to the chase, the biggest feature of the Knight’s Trial was its “penalties.”

You had to overcome virtual duels or battles while bearing randomly assigned penalties. Some included “prohibition of consumable items,” “250% mana consumption,” or “80% increase in enemies’ physical resistance”—penalties that made you sick just hearing about them.

If your basic specs were decent enough, it might be manageable, but with our current specs, even a seemingly easy penalty like “all stats -3” could be fatal.

Moreover…

“I think we have to enter together?”

“Fuck.”

Two-person entry had a higher difficulty than solo entry. If the perceived difficulty of solo entry was 100, two-person entry would be around 105-110. Even among veteran players, quite a few skipped the Knight’s Trial. Good rewards, but annoying and shitty.

‘I’m not even a knight, what the fuck is this Knight’s Trial?’

Swallowing my curses, I stood next to Cutjukyeora, and a message appeared.

[Overcome adversity and advance toward the ideal.]

[After entering, you may retreat with a certain probability, but if you exit completely, your progress will be reset.]

The Knight’s Trial, a roguelike dungeon within an MMORPG. There, if you die, you’d receive differentiated rewards based on criteria such as the number of trials passed or difficulty level, but what about here?

Would we revive and receive rewards if we die?

Or would death be the end?

The shield that Cutjukyeora was holding slightly ahead of me was trembling subtly. She was probably thinking something similar to me. I placed my hand on her right shoulder.

“If we fail in a place like this, our title as the number one raid group would be wasted.”

“…Captain.”

“It’s okay. We can do this.”

I checked our equipment and status windows. The free stat points I hadn’t used yet would be used today, and the basic skills we newly learned, though simple, would help our survival even a little.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s enter.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the two knight statues raised their swords high. Then the door opened with a rumbling sound to both sides. Despite wearing unremarkable leather equipment and holding untrustworthy swords, the main tank and raid captain of the world’s number one raid group stepped forward with solemn determination.

However.

[First Trial]

[Choose your Trial Oath]

[1. All stats -3]

[2. Immediately consume 50% of total mana]

[3. Health regeneration and healing effects -50%]

[4. All skill ranks -1]

[If not selected, one will be chosen randomly.]

“What the hell.”

“This game sucks…”

Starting with such a trial from the very beginning is crossing the line!