Chapter 31 – Floor ?. Time for Settlement

“Well done in there.”

The water in the sewer, which had completely evaporated from the Flame Storm’s aftermath, was beginning to rise back up to ankle level.

As the rising steam was rapidly increasing the discomfort index, Albert patted my shoulder.

“I didn’t want to perform like that… How many died?”

“Three. Two were swept away by the water, and one was hit by the tail.”

Charcoal lumps with completely crushed bones and someone who became minced meat after hitting the wall with great force.

I turned my eyes away from those grotesque remains.

Although I never thought I’d save all the criminals, let alone have them all survive, seeing the actual results was extremely unsettling.

Those remaining were Albert and Dave, one criminal with a severed left arm, and two criminals with intact limbs.

The fact that a group of twenty people at the edge of Floor 4 was reduced to just five on Floor 5 reminded me once again of how vicious a place this dungeon is.

‘If I’d been unlucky, I would have collapsed and died like one of them.’

Thinking this, goosebumps rose on my arms.

“Without you, we wouldn’t have survived even this much. If this had been a battlefield, your performance would deserve to be praised as a battlefield hero.”

“Stop laying it on so thick, it’s making me cringe. Let’s each go our own way now.”

Albert’s joint combat proposal was until escaping from these underground sewers.

Having cleared away all the obstacles blocking our escape with only the exit remaining, there was no need to face this bearded old man anymore.

“I see.”

Though he nodded as if agreeing, Albert’s feet remained in place as if he had no intention of leaving.

Since Albert, the leader, was standing firm, the criminals, though now free, couldn’t go anywhere and stood awkwardly.

I made an exasperated expression.

“You’re not a pretty woman, so what’s the benefit for me in looking at an old man’s face for long? Go quickly.”

“I will. I’m just deliberating at a crossroads of choice.”

“Sure. Think hard about it. I’m going first.”

I had used up both scrolls obtained from defeating the Wanderer and all my healing potions, and my armor was so badly damaged that it could no longer be worn.

All of those were high-performance items, and since the newly acquired skill and Memory were not immediately useful, future progress would likely be tough.

But what could I do? First, I needed to survive before worrying about difficulties.

“The courage and achievements you’ve shown these past days have refreshed my soul, which had grown dull from long peace.”

A voice from behind me as I stretched my hand toward the portal, undulating in the air like a monster’s maw.

“I’ll take my leave first, then.”

And Albert quickly brushed past me and leaped into the portal.

“If we’re both still alive, we’ll meet again someday!”

“…What?”

The face that had been expressionless all day was grinning with joy just before jumping into the portal.

As I watched the portal where Albert had disappeared, I scratched my head.

“It’s not like he’s a grandfather opening a Korean buffet because he’s bored in his retirement…”

As I muttered this and turned my head slightly, the remaining criminals were stealthily sticking to the sewer wall, passing behind the portal.

***

A pure white space.

A monochrome plain filled with a brilliant white light that could blind the eyes, impossible to gauge whether it had an end or was infinite.

And unnaturally, in the middle was a sofa and an old TV sitting alone.

“What is this.”

I had just stepped into the portal. Then my vision was dyed white, and now I’m standing here.

In this place that clearly didn’t seem to be Floor 6, I carefully checked if there was anything wrong with my body after this forced teleportation.

Arms and legs. Fortunately, all still attached with nothing missing.

Backpack. Everything neatly organized with nothing missing.

My face. The century’s most handsome GOAT.

“Status.”

It works fine.

“Map.”

It doesn’t work.

I tried to think about what difference there might be, but D.D. shouldn’t have areas that can’t be registered on the map, unlike some online games.

There’s only the breathless hell journey from Floors 1 to 30.

Honestly, there wasn’t much point in thinking further, so I walked directly toward the TV and sofa, which appeared to be the only clues.

After walking about 10 meters, I approached the sofa close enough to touch it. Someone was lying on it in a posture that would give anyone disc problems in their neck and back if they sat like that for about three hours, staring at the TV screen which was only emitting static noise.

“It’s time for settlement.”

And so, that someone stared at the static-filled TV screen for a while, letting out sounds like “hmm—” and “ohhh—” in admiration.

While wondering what he was watching that made him so satisfied that he even clapped, I examined his appearance during that time.

“Excellent. Just excellent.”

Golden hair longer than usual for a man, drowsy eyes that seemed to belong to someone exhausted, clothes of a style I’d never seen before.

Though I was clearly seeing him for the first time, he felt familiar, as if I’d met him somewhere before.

“You’ve neatly cleaned up the monsters lurking in the underground sewers, completed an empty map, defeated all three guardians, saved those destined to die without a trace, recruited those who were heroes in the past, and even allowed my beloved child to rest—I can’t help but have expectations.”

The words flowing from this man’s mouth were about what I had been doing in the underground sewers.

Is he watching the past on the screen that appears as static to me?

Even as I thought this, I felt it was nonsensical, but then again, is it logical to throw someone who was just posting on the gallery into a game dungeon without anyone knowing?

From among those who could make such absurd things possible, I voiced the one that came to mind.

“Are you 112.311?”

“You’re less surprised than I expected.”

Essentially an admission.

The anonymous IP who dared to chuck me into such a place, leisurely getting up from the sofa after taking his time.

“I didn’t think there’d be many who could do something like this, so I took a guess. I’m a bit cold-headed and intelligent, you know?”

I interlaced my fingers and stretched my body, doing exercises to relieve my stiff muscles.

The anonymous user sat on the armrest of the sofa without any meaningful purpose in getting up and smiled subtly with his arms crossed.

Compressed muscles, rotating core, thrown fist.

A straight punch extending in a beautiful trajectory toward the anonymous user’s chin, with the three elements of the body harmoniously performing their tasks.

“This level of perfect strategy is qu— bleh”

CRACK—

The anonymous user’s jaw turned, and a few white particles flew into the air from inside his mouth. The crushed nasal cartilage was grotesquely flattened, and red blood erupted from his nose and mouth.

Teeth and blood droplets flying somewhere added color to the pure white floor.

The sensation of breaking bones and cartilage felt through my fist gave me the certainty that it had connected perfectly.

“GWAAAACK!”

With a sound like pig slaughtering, the anonymous user toppled over backward behind the sofa with a crash, and I laughed as I shook my stinging hand.

“Ah~ That feels good!”

Indeed, there was no communication method in the world as quick and excellent as a sucker punch.

“Sniff! Yud’t habd to hit me sho hard…”

SNIFF—

The anonymous user, picking up his fallen teeth from the floor and roughly sticking them back into his gums, acted aggrieved. I felt the urge to give him another punch for feigning such distress, but I decided to hold back for now.

If this guy was truly the one who distributed the DunGal Pack with IP 112.311, I needed to hear his reasons.

CRACK—

When he grabbed his twisted nose and turned it with his hand, it returned to its original state.

What a grotesquely crude healing method. If that’s possible, couldn’t he just solve it with regeneration?

“Ah… It’s been a really long time since I’ve been hit by someone…”

“Whether you get hit elsewhere or not, I don’t care? Just tell me why you brought me to such a place.”

As the guy who had been grumbling gestured, a sofa identical to the one he was sitting on appeared from thin air.

Following his cue to sit, I sat on the sofa reluctantly, but my body felt like it was melting into this product of civilization that I was experiencing for the first time in two whole weeks.

To deprive someone of something this good, he surely must lack a human heart.

“Sniff… I can’t tell you much yet. Maybe one important question?”

“What’s that supposed to…”

“The game you enjoyed, Dive Dungeon, is a world that actually exists. And it’s also my homeland. More precisely, it’s like a copy modeled after my world.”

112.311 looked into the void with somewhat wistful eyes.

As if what he longed for existed there. To my eyes, he just looked like a mental patient about to mutter something while staring into empty space.

“To put it briefly, my world was destroyed. Had been destroyed. Since I haven’t confirmed that future.”

What’s he talking about now?

The facts he was telling me were fragmented, hidden, and glossed over, so there wasn’t much I could properly understand.

All I could grasp was that the world was about to be destroyed, and he was doing something to prevent it.

“So you summoned us? To save your ruined world?”

“It’s embarrassing, but that’s about right.”

I couldn’t help but sigh deeply enough to sink the ground.

My head was throbbing.

“Can’t you explain more clearly so I can understand? It’s tough to interpret.”

“This is unavoidable. The restrictions are severe just by postponing the confirmation of the future.”

What a convenient excuse. What’s more unfortunate is that all I can do is sigh so deeply that my luck might run away.

Perhaps luck has already fled without a trace. If I had any luck in the first place, I wouldn’t have been involved in such a mess.

“Wouldn’t the probability of saving the world you’re talking about be higher if you brought in someone like a special forces soldier instead of a game addict like me who wasted 3,000 hours of life on a game?”

No matter how good my basic physical fitness or physical specifications might be, it’s embarrassing to compare with professionally trained individuals.

As if understanding what I meant, the guy nodded.

“I understand what you’re saying, but just a slightly higher starting point doesn’t hold much significance for this plan. Besides, how was the performance of my creation?”

“Creation… what are you talking about…”

“Didn’t you feel strangely light-bodied, or notice your wounds healing quickly?”

When I looked at him with a suspicious expression, he was grinning, so I delivered another straight punch to his jaw.

CRASH— The guy who fell spectacularly behind the sofa staggered up, leaning on the sofa, and wiped the blood flowing from his mouth with his sleeve.

“Haha… Anyway, the difference in basic physical abilities that you’re talking about is trivial. Plus, it’s not like I can bring just anyone.”

“Tsk.”

It’s true that thanks to this abnormal recovery speed, I was able to stay alive until now.

Even if an athlete or special forces had come, without this ability, they would have died several times over.

“Anyway… as a reward for conquering the transformed underground sewers, I can send you back to your original world for about a week. And before I send you back, I can answer one question. Is there anything you’d like to ask?”

“Hmm.”

I pondered. The guy said he could only answer one question.

Though I wasn’t pleased with how he arbitrarily brought people over and used them like cheap labor with minimal rewards, pondering what would be most efficient to ask was a gamer’s fate.

‘Should I ask if I can go home after clearing? No, they usually send you back anyway.’

Some crucial information that isn’t certain but should be known.

When I tried to think of something, nothing really came to mind. It felt like deciding on a character name in an online game.

“Ah.”

That’s it.

“Why is my skill Onahole Creation? Dive Dungeon wasn’t an adult game, not even with subtle depictions.”

If I keep thinking, there might be something worth asking, but if it’s what I’m most curious about, this is definitely it.

Why does a crazy skill like Onahole Creation exist?

If that world really existed, doesn’t that mean someone who created such a crazy thing existed? It was absolutely terrifying just to imagine.

“Hmm…”

The guy buried himself in the sofa with a seemingly contemplative expression. And then a prolonged silence.

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“Anyway, you’ve been using it well, right? Isn’t that enough?”

The guy, who shrugged as if he didn’t know, snapped his fingers. Along with that sound, I felt a sensation of buoyancy enveloping my body.

“Farewell~”

“You fucking bastard! Why this?! Answer me!!! KYEEEEEEK!!! Where are you touching! Where are you touching?!”

“I have high expectations for you this time. See you later, Shin Yuhyun.”

“Hey! Hey!”

As I reached out toward the guy who was waving with a shameless face, I blinked at the flashing light, and when I opened my eyes, I was in my dusty room.

“…”

And so I returned.

Still wearing the chain mail armor half-torn by the alligator.