Ch.93Total Disaster

# 93. Total Crisis

‘Uh, hmm. It’s Raye Hyun. The older sister.’

As energetic as she is in the game. Hmm.

‘Damn it.’

Everything I thought about felt awkward. I never imagined she would interpret this situation as a dream.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one; Seyeon and Yuri appeared to be in the same boat. None of us said, “No, this isn’t a dream.”

Or rather, we couldn’t say it. Muldabal’s tone was so full of conviction, and we were all in such bad shape. We lacked the strength to stop a drunk person who was energetic and confident in their beliefs.

‘Help me, Seyeon-emon!’

Seyeon avoided my gaze. It was a signal that she couldn’t handle the aftermath. Yuri was just giggling… Danya, who was flaring her nostrils at the smell of alcohol, and Soyu noona, who was still mentally unstable, were out of the question.

The only one left was Subin, but judging by how she remained lying down despite being awake, her physical condition seemed worse than mine.

‘Right. I’m the raid leader after all.’

I gestured to Seyeon. She immediately clung to me, supporting me as if she’d been waiting for this.

Meanwhile, Muldabal, who had been muttering things like “Huh? Why is everyone lying down so weakly?” or “Ah, is it because of that backdoor talk? Geez,” grinned again as Seyeon and I approached.

Whether she was naturally smiley or just drunk, it was nice to see… but for someone trying to deny this was a “dream,” it made my heart sting twice as much.

“Our handsome raid leader! Hehe, did you want to talk to noona?”

“Thanks for the compliment. Seyeon.”

“Yes?”

“Go pinch her cheek.”

“Huh?”

I decided to use a primitive method. Muldabal, whose cheek was grabbed by Seyeon, made a stupid sound. After Seyeon released her cheek and stepped back, Muldabal blinked repeatedly and then pinched her own cheek once more.

“Uh… why, why does it hurt? Ugh, this, this is strange.”

“Muldabal.”

“Ah, aah! Right! That’s it! Lucid dream! It’s a lucid dream! That’s it!”

It felt all too familiar. I was the same when I was first dragged into the starting room.

But at least I was alone. Muldabal… when she sobers up, her head will throb. In a different way.

‘The best approach would be to just let her sleep and let her realize it’s not a dream tomorrow.’

But that would only postpone today’s issues. And to prevent being perpetually tormented with questions about why we didn’t tell her sooner, I needed to block that element in advance. Morally speaking, too.

“Try saying ‘Character Window.’ You can think it to yourself if you prefer.”

“Cha-racter Win-dow?”

*Hiccup*

An earthquake occurred in Muldabal’s eyes.

“This, this too—”

“This could also happen because it’s a dream, right? Yes. Well. Ms. Hyun.”

I got the feeling.

This person has realized it.

But she’s denying it.

Out of embarrassment? Or habitually?

‘I understand.’

It’s a fact that’s hard to believe. I get it. And she’s been drinking too. It must be even harder to discern reality.

I decided to drive in the final nail to prevent her from running away further.

“All of this isn’t your imagination, Ms. Hyun. If it were your imagination, wouldn’t I know what happened after I disappeared? Since it would be born from your imagination.”

After all, dreams are manifestations of the unconscious.

“How could you, who’ve never seen my face, imagine it so accurately? The same goes for Seyeon, Yuri, Subin, and Soyu noona.”

If our faces were based on game characters, I might understand, but they’re based on our real faces. For her, who’s never seen our faces, to accurately imagine five people’s faces—that was beyond the realm of probability.

“No way… really, it’s all real?”

“Yes.”

“Really real?”

“Really real.”

Muldabal slumped down again. She curled up and frantically messed up her hair.

…It seemed she had moved past denial and started to accept, but I couldn’t gauge how long it would take.

“Seyeon. Look after Ms. Hyun instead of me. She’s going to be in shock.”

“…Okay.”

“Sorry to ask only you. You must be tired too.”

“No, no! I’m not tired at all! Just tell me what to do, leader.”

Grateful, I patted Seyeon’s head. She smiled softly and went to the side of the mentally collapsed Muldabal as I asked.

‘It’s good that Muldabal came with a 50% probability, but….’

Me – Combat incapacitated

Yuri, Subin – Action incapacitated

Soyu, Hyun – Panic

Danya – Cat (cute, drained from using magic)

Seyeon – Normal (tired)

‘Whatever the next floor is, we’ll have to go in nursing home mode.’

It’s just sad to think about what our healer, Soyu noona, went through to end up like this. If Seyeon had been seriously injured too…

‘I don’t even want to imagine it.’

Perhaps because we received the reward, the space began to break apart. As I hugged Danya, who had been quietly observing but was startled again, I fervently hoped the next floor would be uneventful.

**

“I’m certain.”

“About what?”

“That another raid team came and went before us. Didn’t you guys feel it?”

The three Golden Wing raid leaders, who had barely convinced the gatekeeper to give them a quest by arguing they needed to enter first before they could craft or buy anything, and had just managed to enter Albrant.

Having scraped together all their money to rent a triple room, their expressions were very gloomy.

They had only glimpsed the Albs’ xenophobia, but they had almost run out of money! The cost of living was even higher than in Edengard!

“It did seem strange. But that’s not the important thing right now. At this rate, we’ll have to leave again tomorrow. If we starve ourselves, we might be able to stay one more day! Argh! Living in this mountain backwater by themselves, how dare they charge so much!”

“Hey, hey! They’ll hear you!”

“So what if they hear? We paid for the room!”

“Sigh…”

Fatigue from the long journey. The brief expectation of relief, quickly overshadowed by new stress.

Aniri, the raid leader and the only woman in the group, who had been trying to lift the mood, started venting her frustration.

As if this wasn’t the first time, Yalriyalri sighed and distanced himself. The Golden Wing raid leader, seeing this for the first time, ignored her completely, arms crossed, lost in thought.

At times like this, one should either calmly accept it or agree and vent together… but when the two men completely ignored her, Aniri’s mood soured, and she stormed into the bathroom.

The two men thought it was for the best. Even as comrades, they were honestly annoyed listening to her. It wasn’t like she was the only one having a hard time.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

“We haven’t looked around completely, but I don’t see any other raid teams or leaders.”

“Right. But I don’t think the Blockbuster raid team would have come. If that many people moved, there would be traces. Like rumors.”

“True. Then, do you think the floors split like channels as we go up?”

“I don’t think so.”

The Golden Wing raid leader thought it was fortunate.

‘Yes. At least one of them should be like this.’

Considering that both had initially whined similarly (though thankfully they weren’t trolls and did their part), he felt the other was also sensing something.

“You can tell from the gatekeeper’s reaction. This is definitely not the reaction of someone seeing us for the first time. Hey, are you familiar with achievement quests?”

“No. I don’t bother with those.”

“I’m also clueless about that. Hmm. But judging by the NPC’s mention of alcohol, it seems related to affinity quests.”

Achievement quests, affinity quests, Albrant, NPC, alcohol…

Muttering these keywords, Yalriyalri suddenly looked toward the bathroom. Following his gaze, the Golden Wing raid leader asked with his eyes.

Is she knowledgeable about this?

Yalriyalri nodded.

“Juheon.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“My last relationship was 10 years ago.”

“What?”

“Try to appease her somehow.”

The Golden Wing raid leader, who had conquered raid bosses but never conquered women, muttered bitterly.

“Suddenly craving a cigarette.”

“Hyung… I’m just an ordinary game addict.”

“Don’t talk like you’re the same as me when you have close female gaming friends.”

“Yes, sir.”

**

“It’s not terminal, but it makes me feel sorry.”

My leg was badly damaged and needed multiple surgeries… thinking about it now, it makes my heart ache.

Fortunately, I had saved up money, but where else could I, without family, receive such concern?

It still throbs a lot, but I don’t need my toes to send messages.

So I opened the familiar messaging app…

[Muldabal: I’m sorry… I didn’t know you were that sick and kept bothering you all this time.]

[Muldabal: Get through the surgery well… and contact me when you recover! I’ll be waiting!]

[Muldabal: Promise!]

These were messages I received before going into surgery.

It’s been a day, two days, why are there no new messages?

What the heck.

The person who insisted we greet each other three times a day instead of once, saying it would be scary if I suddenly stopped contacting her, hasn’t messaged for over a day?

No way.

No way… has Muldabal disappeared too?

Come on.

No way.

Stop joking, seriously.

The surgery went well, this isn’t funny anymore.

When I get better. When the prognosis is good.

Maybe, I thought I could meet her.

I was trying to gather courage.

[StubbornBackdoor: Muldabaaal]

[StubbornBackdoor: I finished my surgeryyyy]

Muldabal, who would check within 30 minutes no matter when I messaged and always reply two or three times as much…

[StubbornBackdoor: (frustrated emoticon)]

Hadn’t checked even after six hours.