Ch.21Unknown

# 21. Unknown

[Identity verification passed.]

[Current location is 1st floor neutral zone ‘Edengard’.]

“What in the world…”

What’s this tower, and what’s this room of beginnings?

After barely clearing it as if being pushed through, I received a strange reward—a B-grade that seemed not bad but wasn’t particularly satisfying either—and somehow ended up inside Edengard.

Only then did it sink in.

This bizarre phenomenon of being pulled into a game was real.

And I felt lost.

Going to work was no longer even a minor concern. How was I supposed to survive alone in this dangerous world? I couldn’t help but recall the countless times I’d died while gaming.

‘If I count roughly, I must have died hundreds of times by now.’

If I’d been kidnapped instead, at least there’d be a chance of being released after paying a ransom, but this—what even is this?

As I stood by the roadside, blankly watching people pass by, two individuals who clearly didn’t look like Edengard NPCs approached me.

“Excuse me, are you the Golden Wings raid leader?”

“…Arili raid leader?”

“Yes, that’s right. And this is the Yalyali raid leader.”

“N-nice to meet you.”

So I wasn’t the only one brought here?

“You must be quite shocked.”

“I can’t deny that.”

“Including you, Golden Wings raid leader, there are ten of us gathered in one place now.”

“Ten? You mean nine others besides me have been brought here?”

“Yes. And we all share the common trait of being raid leaders.”

“Well.”

The two nodded as if they understood my reaction.

“So, what exactly is going on here?”

“Actually, we haven’t been here that long ourselves. We don’t even have money for food and lodging, so we’re working part-time. Our job is to greet raid leaders like you who arrive later.”

“What about Veritas? What about the Veritas raid leader?”

“Veritas…”

If there were raid leaders who had arrived before me, they would surely be people who led top-tier raid groups aiming for world-first clears or something comparable. It would be absurd for such people not to know about Veritas.

So I asked, but—

“There isn’t one.”

“Excuse me?”

“There was no Veritas raid leader.”

“Do you mean they never came, or they left?”

“We don’t know either. But isn’t what happens to us right now more important than someone who may or may not exist?”

I couldn’t deny that. Perhaps I had just assumed that the leader of a world-first raid group would have something special about them.

“Will you come with us for now?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Just knowing there were people from my country in the same situation was incredibly comforting.

The three Koreans soon disappeared into an alley.

**

‘Ugh, my body is killing me.’

This must be when people say “oh my aching bones.”

With guard duty cutting into my already reduced sleep time, and an uncomfortable sleeping arrangement on top of that, I tossed and turned all night. For a game that never implemented sleep condition mechanics for characters, why couldn’t it offer some convenience in this regard?

Just when I thought I’d finally adapted to sleeping next to Keutjukyeora in Edengard Onor, Keutjukyeora was replaced by Saeaex, resetting my adaptation progress.

‘I thought I was going crazy from the lack of circulation.’

What’s worse, Saeaex tossed in his sleep and trapped my leg, and his grip was so strong that the pain woke me from what little sleep I’d managed to get, making it even harder to fall back asleep.

While Keutjukyeora slept quietly like Sleeping Beauty, Saeaex was more like a child tightly hugging a teddy bear.

When I thought that it might be due to loneliness, I felt a twinge of sympathy despite the pain, but—

“Heehee…”

Judging by that sleep-talking, maybe not.

“Ah, you’re awake?”

“Yeah. Tired?”

“A little. But what can we do? Is Yuri still sleeping?”

“Yeah. I should wake her up now.”

Thankfully, there were no additional attacks during the night. I would have liked to rest more, but that would just be robbing Peter to pay Paul. Maintaining a regular schedule was important, especially in times like these.

“I’ll go prepare breakfast. Could you wake her up instead?”

“Yes, captain.”

I exited the tent as Keutjukyeora took over. The air was refreshing, probably because we’d promptly cleared away the corpses. It felt so peaceful, almost like being on a vacation.

Chirp-chirp—

After enjoying the air for a moment with birdsong as background music, I poured the remaining ingredients into the pot and thought:

“Kairend Plains, huh.”

Edengard, the long forest path, forest goblins.

As far as I knew, the only field that connected these three elements was the Kairend Plains. And the Kairend Plains were in the same direction as the Knight’s Trial.

In other words, it was fair to say we were progressing far in one direction.

‘Okay, I understand this is the Kairend Plains. But what exactly is the objective of Floor 1-2?’

Floor 0 was about choosing an illusion and commanding illusory raid members.

Floor 1-0 was a neutral zone, so it didn’t count.

Floor 1-1 was about overcoming the Knight’s Trials.

Coming back to the fundamental question: how do we pass Floor 1-2?

It was too unfriendly. So I had to rack my brain for any stories or side quests related to the Kairend Plains.

Hiss—

“Oh no.”

I decided to have a proper breakfast first before thinking further.

**

“I can’t remember much. I rarely explored large fields like the Kairend Plains, and there weren’t many related quests either.”

“I barely recalled the Kairend Plains after hearing you mention it, Captain. We mostly moved around using portals anyway, and it’s a low-level zone. It’s been too long.”

We packed up our campsite and started walking again. I asked the raid members if they remembered anything, but they shook their heads, saying they didn’t know.

“The Kairend Plains are quite vast. If the goal is simply to find an exit—”

“…That’s not good.”

“Is that even possible? No portals, shouldn’t they at least give us mounts?”

The two grimaced or frowned as they grasped what I was implying.

“There are three most likely places.”

“Three places?”

“Yeah. If we keep going straight, we’ll reach Albrant. If we take the left fork in the road, we’ll reach Tabs Gorge, and if we go right, we’ll reach Inaren. If moving to another region itself means passing the floor, one of these three is most likely, don’t you think?”

Even Saeaex, who was unfamiliar with the Kairend Plains, nodded. It seemed like all three—Albrant, Tabs, and Inaren—were well-known regions.

“Or it could be all three.”

“Can’t rule that out.”

“Then shouldn’t we just keep going straight for now?”

Saeaex asked as if wondering what the worry was. I scratched my head as I answered.

“That’s true, but we don’t have unlimited food and water in our inventories.”

“Ah.”

“It would be better if all three directions had exits, but if there’s only one, it becomes quite troublesome.”

I had packed as generously as possible, but still. With Saeaex joining us, consumables would deplete faster, and what was even more frightening was that I couldn’t guarantee how long it would take to cross the plains.

‘In this unfriendly tower, there’s no way they’d provide a map function, right?’

There was no solution. But there were things we could decide.

“We need to determine how many hours we’ll walk, how fast we’ll walk, and how much food we’ll eat until we reach a point where we can roughly guess where we are.”

“For food… if we eat like yesterday, I have enough in my inventory for 3 days, or 4 and a half days if we’re frugal.”

“Really? I have about the same… Then our first destination is the fork in the road. It’s roughly in the center of the Kairend Plains. We need to reach there within 4 days.”

“Eh, we’ll have to walk diligently.”

There were no objections. We began a march that was never in our destiny.

**

[Raid Group](3/6)

– UjikhanDwitmun(Online)

– WaterKnowsTheAnswer(Online)

– PhysicalTherapist(Online)

– JeanneDarcIsASaint(Offline) 3 days ago

– Saeaex(Offline) 1 day ago

– Keutjukyeora(Offline) 2 days ago

“That’s strange.”

[YebeopNojeong: Has anyone received personal messages from the Captain/Keutjukyeora/Saeaex?]

[UjikhanDwitmun: (negative emoticon)]

[UjikhanDwitmun: I don’t have their contact info]

[UjikhanDwitmun: I tried through personal open chat too]

[UjikhanDwitmun: Nothing came through]

[WaterKnowsTheAnswer: Oh no]

[WaterKnowsTheAnswer: Did something happen to them?]

[PhysicalTherapist: One day would be fine]

[PhysicalTherapist: But the Captain and Jukyeora being away this long]

[PhysicalTherapist: Is strange]

[PhysicalTherapist: Of course, I haven’t received any messages either]

The Captain wasn’t someone who would disappear without contact. The Captain was someone who cared for and respected the raid group and its members. Though they had never met in person, after playing together and listening to them talk for over a year, one could tell.

As WaterKnowsTheAnswer suggested, perhaps something really had happened—thinking this way wasn’t necessarily making a fuss over nothing.

“I didn’t want to do this.”

They’ll probably think I’m pathetic, right?

But since I’m basically like an abandoned child they’ve paid to get rid of, they probably won’t care about the pathetic actions of their abandoned child.

“It’s me.”

[PhysicalTherapist: Is Yebeop not here either?]

“Please find someone for me.”

[WaterKnowsTheAnswer: I guess Yebeop is asking us because he’s not here either…?]

“I’ll send the information via chat.”

[UjikhanDwitmun: With three people not logging in]

“How long will it take?”

[UjikhanDwitmun: It feels empty…]

[UjikhanDwitmun: (crying emoticon)]

“Alright.”

[YebeopNojeong: Understood. Let’s wait for now.]

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