Chapter 136 – Negligent Homicide (Or Not)

“Hyaaaam…”

The past few days flew by quickly.

Of course, time spent in that damn dungeon—where you can”t afford to relax and must keep your senses razor-sharp—was so dense with danger it made modern society feel like a safe place, where the biggest risk is jaywalking and getting hit by a car like a human deer.

‘That said, I don”t really miss it.’

More than missing it, it was so comfortable that time seemed to fly by like an arrow.

There”s no way life isn”t easier when you”ve pulled out a fluffy blanket, spread it thick on the floor, and watch your backlog of movies and dramas on a giant TV while eating ice cream and popcorn.

“Ugh… paradise. I don”t know why I didn”t live like this sooner.”

I”d wake up with the sun high in the sky, mouth dry and sticky with a foul taste, lazily kick on the computer, brush my teeth while scrolling social media, and admire my sparkling clean teeth in the mirror, making a *squeak* sound.

Then I”d debate what to eat for brunch but end up ordering delivery out of laziness.

The perfect life of a splendid NEET.

I”d been living lazily like this for days.

“Aren”t you slacking off too much?”

“I think I deserve this much reward after all the hardships.”

When Kali tried to nag me like a mother, I shut her up with a casual “I”m resting, so what?” and blocked her at the source.

Squirm- squirm-

Slime bounced on me like a playground, pestering me for something, but a bottle of cola solved it.

Her tastes seemed to be getting picky—she ignored flat cola—but buying cola by the box fixed that.

For me, now a trillionaire overnight, it was no expense at all.

“Ssshh-!”

Even the spider, still struggling to speak human, succeeded in getting her own home and smiled proudly, but when I tore it down, she sobbed like a beaver losing her den and immediately started rebuilding.

In this house, I am invincible, I am a god!

“Ugh… living like a shut-in, I can feel my body melting by the second.”

Taking on the 20-hour-a-day lying-down challenge, I understood why people become shut-ins.

My body was breaking down, but it was so comfortable I didn”t want to stop.

Only two days remained before being dragged back to the dungeon, yet I hadn”t stepped outside once.

‘Actually, I haven”t gone out since I was first dragged in.’

I even took a leave of absence with the strange excuse of exploring the Amazon jungle to find myself, so I couldn”t just go out to meet friends.

Still, once I return, I”d probably get a warm welcome asking why I didn”t do YouTube.

Though I didn”t go.

‘Well, I did get eaten alive by mosquitoes in the jungle, so maybe it”s not a lie?’

While pondering such trivial thoughts, I suddenly wondered how the gallery was doing.

The game had been out for a while, and the gallery wasn”t that big, so with Jeff locking up people, it was probably dead, right?

If even one post appeared a day, that would be a lot.

“Come to think of it, why haven”t I checked it out?”

I”d only turned on the game a few times to clear it and had been too busy playing with my kids to check the gallery.

Wuuung-

The cooling fan spun, and a black loading screen appeared on my monitor, whose screen was half-broken from a cleaning mishap.

I couldn”t call a technician, and it was a pain to fix, but I wasn”t sure whether to marvel at the monitor still working or at my own senses that had broken it yet kept functioning.

“Let”s see~”

I clicked the familiar browser icon, then the bookmarks, then the familiar list of names.

*Click-click* Even with the broken monitor, instinct guided my clicks smoothly, letting me access the gallery without looking.

——————————————————————————————————–

Dungeon Dive Galleryⓜ

Dangerous journeys, little gold, unfair criticism, hopeless traps, endless monsters, uncertain no-death clears, success posts.

——————————————————————————————————–

No.  Tag              Title                                   Author          Date  Views  Likes

36532 💭 Got a 5th rank gold sword ㅁㅌㅊ? [3]    ㅇㅇ (116.72)  14:02  76    7

36531 💭 What the hell is the armband for?                   DonationIsKing 13:44  33    0

36529 Question Newbie, how do I get past this? [2]            ㅇㅇ (221.84)  13:27 124   2

36528 Proof 13-win streak 꺼억www [64]                     DungeonDemon   13:11 672  33

“Huh?”

Scratching my cheek, I was surprised by how fast posts were appearing—roughly every 15 minutes, faster than I expected.

“How many people has that bastard shown? This doesn”t add up…”

Of course, not all Dungeon Dive players were on the Dungeon Gallery, but the number of reflected people in that double-mirror-like barrier seemed to be at least thousands.

That would be enough to kill a small gallery with barely a dozen regulars.

Scratching my head, I scrolled through the backlog.

‘Surely they didn”t bring one person from each different world?’

For a moment, I wondered if I was the only one kidnapped from this world, but shook my head.

‘Judging by that bastard”s situation, he wouldn”t waste efficiency by kidnapping only one person from a connected world.’

Well, he might, but he”s desperate.

Rationally, that made sense, but I”d wait for confirmation before jumping to conclusions.

Page 6… 7… 8…

I checked posts one by one, going back in time.

“Oh, here the post regen is all messed up.”

From around late page 10 to about page 20, the intervals between posts suddenly stretched dramatically.

One post a day? Two at most? Views and likes were far below those of recent posts.

This had repeated for about three months.

The gallery had only recently become somewhat active again, about a week ago.

“What”s going on..? Doesn”t look like new users… I see fixed users too.”

Of course, the Dungeon Gallery Pack had vanished without a trace, no one talked about it, and no new Dungeon Dive updates had come.

Seeing familiar nicknames here and there, I couldn”t hide my confusion.

“What the hell is this?”

“Why are you so troubled?”

Kali, holding a slice of Quattro Cheese Steak Gold Chili Shrimp Spicy Mala Chicken Combination Special Plus… or whatever pizza, bit into it and pressed me from behind, concerned about my groaning over the computer.

Feeling the soft, heavy weight of her body against my back, I realized the weakness of humans who seek comfort, but I rested my chin on my hand with a sulky face.

“No, keep eating what you were eating.”

“You should eat a slice too.”

Ugh-

Before I could refuse, baked dough, melted cheese, tomato sauce, and protein all rushed into my mouth, demanding I chew faster!

The freshly baked, hot cheese stuck to my teeth, introducing itself.

[I am cheese. I am melted.]

“Gyaaaak!!!”

Hit by a surprise hot cheese attack, I paused and stared blankly at the pizza I ordered.

At first, it was novel, but now I was so used to it I ordered whatever I wanted on the delivery app.

‘Where on earth do they find these things…’

I couldn”t even understand why the pizza had such a long name.

I just learned such a pizza even existed.

“Who ordered this?”

“Kihi-!”

The spider raised her hand eagerly.

Though busy building her home, she never missed a snack.

“Good job ordering delivery yourself.”

“Ssshh!”

Not wanting to ignore the spider waiting for praise with her chest puffed out, I ruffled her hair.

She smiled, gently biting my thumb as I pulled my hand away.

Watching her raise her front legs and dance happily, I thought she was cute.

Behind her, Slime happily stole our cola, only to be subdued by Kali and turned into a puddle of goo.

‘Peaceful.’

Feeling the spider”s soft tongue licking my thumb, I thought maybe this was a good thing.

‘Anyway, since I”m not meeting anyone else there, I don”t need to worry.’

It wasn”t me who brought the others, so I trusted they”d manage.

Only ten floors left.

Considering special floors without combat, only seven or eight remained.

All I had to do was succeed.

“By the way, do succubi eat?”

They probably didn”t die, right…?

I cast a wary glance at the mimic disguised as a treasure chest in the corner.