Chapter 18: Challenge, Failure (3)

“[Summon the ‘Messenger of the Night’ and defeat it within 1 minute.]”

“Again?!”

It was the same problem as before, but both Rahee and the male teammate had fallen into despair beyond just being shocked.

Just by looking at their expressions, it seemed like their thoughts were laid bare.

How could they fight that crow without a weapon?

They had won easily before thanks to their weapon.

But I was secretly laughing.

Although it wasn’t intentional, the situation was turning in my favor.

I calmly walked toward the podium and, without hesitation, pressed the red button.

“Oh, oppa?!”

Rahee raised her voice in surprise, but I ignored it and focused on positioning myself.

‘It should be around here…’

Caw!

Once again, the same spot darkened as the head of the crow-like creature popped out.

This time, as soon as it appeared, I made the first move.

Since the appearance location was the same as before, I could attack faster this time.

I lightly tapped the empty scabbard at my waist twice.

Thud.

Thud.

Clink!

Like a scene from a movie, the ‘Return Sword’ reappeared from the empty scabbard, shimmering with a faint light.

The name of the item had truly lived up to its reputation.

Flash!

For some reason, the scoreboard suddenly lit up brightly.

What was this reaction?

I drew the sword that had reappeared and, just like before, swung it with all my strength.

Swoosh!

Slash!

Thud.

Before the second crow-like creature could fully emerge, it had its neck sliced clean off and fell to the floor without even a chance to resist.

The room fell into complete silence.

“Uh, huh? I’m sure I offered the sword as a sacrifice on the altar…?”

“Oh, oppa?”

Rahee and the male teammate couldn’t close their mouths, and I also felt a little embarrassed as I sheathed my sword.

Just moments ago, Rahee had felt guilty for making me offer my sword as a sacrifice.

I couldn’t look her in the eye.

It was a little awkward.

[…Mission…success…]

[Success 6/10 Failures: 1/10]

I scratched my head awkwardly as I looked at the scoreboard, which seemed to lag a bit in displaying the success message.

Normally, the scoreboard would have shown the success immediately, but it flickered for a few seconds without any response, then slowly updated the success count, almost as if it didn’t understand the situation or had some sort of system malfunction.

I hadn’t purposely tricked the creature.

It had only been overhearing our conversation and fell into the trap.

“Oppa, where did that sword come from…?”

“Actually, it’s a special item. It comes back at least once…”

“Ah, I see… That’s amazing. I’m impressed…”

“Phew… That really surprised me!”

The male teammate took a deep breath, trying to calm his startled heart, while Rahee, with a mixed expression of relief and surprise, raised her voice for the first time.

I lightly apologized to Rahee and glanced at the scoreboard.

Blink, blink.

Flash.

The scoreboard flickered irregularly for a while, unable to display the next question.

‘Could the next question be another absurd one?’

Honestly, I thought from the fourth question onward, they might just start asking impossible, clearable questions.

After the request to cut off a finger, they might ask me to gouge out an eye or something next.

But it didn’t happen that way.

Was there some sort of rule behind this?

After a quiet pause, a new question finally appeared on the scoreboard.

[Kim Min-jun, the employee, will now leave alone.]

[Red Button: Challenge / Blue Button: Forfeit]

Then, a small exit, just big enough for one person to pass through, appeared on one side of the wall.

It almost seemed like it was pushing me to leave.

It was, indeed, a command to exit.

“U-umm… We’re not supposed to leave, right?”

The male teammate looked back and forth between the entrance and me.

As soon as he finished speaking, the entrance turned back into a smooth wall.

It seemed like it was an exit only for me.

“…Maybe you should go first… since you’re from a different team…”

“Y-yeah, oppa, you go first. If you leave and succeed three more times, we’ll be fine…”

I looked at the scoreboard.

The letters blinking “just leave” on the screen made me think—

‘…Strangely, I don’t want to leave.’

I shook my head at the two of them and spoke.

“No, we all should leave together.”

They both looked at me in surprise.

“Uh, why? It’s an opportunity to leave…”

“Ah…”

Actually, there were plenty of reasons.

I felt like I could finish the success count and leave without having to exit like that.

I still had the option of breaking the scoreboard as a last resort.

Most of all…

The creature seemed desperate to get rid of me, which made me feel certain about something.

‘Am I really that annoying?’

In essence, the creature had made this offer to me.

‘Wouldn’t you leave already?’, ‘How about we call it a draw?’

Thinking that, I didn’t want to leave.

BEEP!

[…Forfeiting challenge…]

After getting the agreement from the two, I pressed the forfeit button, and a disappointed voice echoed from the scoreboard.

And immediately, the next question appeared.

[Kim Min-jun, the employee, will now stab himself with his sword and commit suicide.]

[Red button: Challenge / Blue button: Give up]

“Why are you asking such a question again…!”

“…Wait a moment!”

As the male employee was shocked, Rahee seemed to have thought of something and raised her hand.

“…Didn’t you also say to cut off a finger right after giving up on a question back then?”

“Oh, now that you mention it!”

As Rahee spoke, the male employee reacted by slapping his palm.

Thinking back, that was indeed the case.

Previously, after giving up on a question related to regulations, a nonsensical problem had come up, forcing us to give up again, resulting in a failed count increase.

There was a reason why the scoreboard kept showing such malicious questions.

We could only face such questions if we gave up on problems.

“So if we give up again this time, will we face another question like this…?”

“That shouldn’t happen. If that happens, the failure count will increase…”

[…We choose to give up.]

This time, we obviously gave up, pressed the blue button, and the give-up count was accumulated to 2.

As a result, the give-up count reached 2, and the failure count increased:

[Success 6/10 Failure 2/10]

The next question appeared.

[Can you guess if there’s a spy from another company in this room?]

[Red button: Challenge / Blue button: Give up]

“See? A weird question like this… Huh?”

Rahee, who was speaking as if her guess was correct, was suddenly startled upon seeing the content of the question.

“A spy…?”

Not only me but Rahee and the male team member exchanged glances, both looking bewildered.

Why is the topic of a spy coming up all of a sudden?

What kind of trap is this?

At least, there wasn’t an atrocious question like telling us to commit suicide or self-harm, as Rahee had feared.

Instead…

“What kind of question is this…?”

Do we just have to guess whether there’s a spy or not?

In fact, the problem itself might have been the easiest one yet.

Either yes, or no.

With no information, it would be a 50% chance even if we just guessed.

But, what if there really is a spy?

The intention to sow distrust between us was obvious.

Even though the question was somewhat malicious, there was no better question to raise the success count.

“…There’s no way any of us are spies, right?”

Rahee said nervously, but we couldn’t answer right away.

In fact, for a big corporation like Dongto, it wouldn’t be surprising if a spy had been planted by a competing company to steal information.

Now, looking back, there were some suspicious circumstances.

An unusual situation had occurred when the top exploration teams were absent on other missions.

We had failed every single easy problem set by Seokpan, which had caused the scoreboard to turn into a chaotic mess.

The experienced team leader and other team members, not rookies, had collapsed without being able to do anything.

And amidst all this, the scoreboard suddenly brought up the mention of a “spy.”

The seemingly insignificant situations were starting to fit together, giving me an ominous feeling.

Could this have been a spy’s planned action from the beginning?

“This… Should we just give up? They’re trying to make us fight amongst ourselves.”

The male employee said anxiously, but Rahee and I shook our heads.

“We have to challenge it.”

Because there was one piece of information I had just figured out because of Rahee.

‘If we give up, we’ll face an absurd question next.’

In effect, whether we failed by challenging or gave up and faced a malicious question, the situation would be the same.

“Challenging is the right choice. But…”

“OO!”

“…Team Leader?!”

One of the two men who had been lying on the floor, the middle-aged male team leader of Team 12, groaned and slowly opened his eyes.

He seemed disoriented at first, looking around in confusion, but quickly checked the scoreboard and his face hardened.

“No…!”

He somehow managed to get up, despite his unsteady body, and although his steps were shaky, his gaze was strangely sharp.

Before we could stop him, he rushed to the platform and forcefully pressed the red ‘Challenge’ button.

[You have accepted the challenge.]

“Team Leader! What are you…!”

The male team member, flustered, shouted, but the awakened team leader cut him off.

Breathing heavily, he pointed with trembling fingers directly at the male team member.

“A spy…!”

His voice was hoarse and cracked, but the words were shockingly clear.

“That guy! He’s the spy!”

“…What? M-Me? T-Team leader! What are you talking about? Please, come to your senses!”

The male team member, pointed out, turned pale and stammered, stepping backward.

Rahee also looked back and forth between the team leader and the male team member, unable to believe it.

The male team member, whose eyes met mine, stared at my sword and started trembling.

“N-No, it’s not true!”

“…?”

Suddenly, the team leader’s revival and the shocking accusation created a tense atmosphere.

The scoreboard was silent for a moment, then it flickered and announced the result of the challenge.

[Challenge successful.]

[Success 7/10 Failure 2/10]