ALL NOVEL #009
#009
“Hmm, I don’t usually like instant coffee, but…”
“Wow, it’s delicious!”
Shin Serim drank the coffee with a disapproving face. But soon her expression brightened, and she quickly closed her mouth. She should have just said it was delicious like Kang Sodam did. How delicious can instant coffee be when you’re shivering from the cold?
When I brought out the ‘[Yeonsoo] Sweet Crackers’ I made myself, people’s cheeks turned rosy. Hehehe, I knew they’d like it. I may not look it, but I’m a max-level chef, you know!
‘I might be hopeless at cooking in real life, but at least I’m good at it in the game.’
Anyway, everyone ate and drank with warm expressions. With a cozy fireplace installed too, they were all sprawled on the sofa with relaxed faces.
“It’s quite nice working with Guide Lee Jaeha, regardless of rank.”
Someone muttered quietly. Kim Sehyun, who had been sitting quietly next to me, smiled brightly.
“Right? He’s my friend, and he’s talented in many ways.”
“Ah, I heard that Guide Kim Sehyun recommended him.”
The flow of praise for me quickly shifted to Kim Sehyun. The guides, sitting close together, started talking about guiding and the guide team. Naturally, I didn’t know the content, so I quietly closed my mouth again and just listened to everyone’s conversation for a while.
“Ah, Haejun’s team is coming back.”
Kim Sehyun, fiddling with the piercing in his ear, said with a bright face. The piercing seemed to have a communication function. They said they were going north, so they must have cleared everything.
“We should start cleaning up the by-products soon. Um… should I help a little?”
Once an area is cleared, monsters don’t respawn there. The dungeon is divided into areas corresponding to the cardinal directions and blocked off by transparent walls, so monsters from the west don’t move into the northern area. That’s why the powerless guides split into teams to clean up the by-products at this time.
Shin Serim, who had firmly told me to clean up alone, asked hesitantly. It seemed she felt a bit guilty after eating all the food I provided.
“No, I said I’d do it. I’ll do it all myself.”
Shin Serim seemed to have asked reluctantly, and when I replied with a smile, she didn’t insist further.
It was a little while later when two of the Espers returned. Shin Haejun, upon returning, made a subtle expression when he saw us gathered in my tent.
“Haejun, do you need guiding?”
As I was about to get up to go clean up the by-products, Kim Sehyun reached out his hand to Shin Haejun and asked. Shin Haejun then extended his hand. It seemed he was going for a simple hand-to-hand guiding since they were in the dungeon.
“Ah, Jaeha. I’ll finish soon, so come with me. It doesn’t seem right for you to clean up alone.”
Kim Sehyun looked at me with a worried face and said this while sitting on the sofa, holding Shin Haejun’s hand.
‘He probably thinks something will happen if I’m alone with Kim Sehyun again.’
I shook my head, patted Kim Sehyun’s shoulder, and immediately opened the door.
“I said let’s go together?”
Kim Sehyun suddenly let go of Shin Haejun’s hand and stood up, shouting. His voice was a bit too loud even if he was worried about me, so I turned to Kim Sehyun with round eyes.
“What’s going on?”
Shin Haejun, whose hand was suddenly released, frowned and looked back and forth between me and Kim Sehyun. Kim Sehyun then blushed and mumbled hesitantly.
“Since Jaeha is the only one who can’t do guiding… he agreed to collect dungeon by-products alone. But as a friend, I feel uncomfortable letting him go alone…”
The conclusion was that he wanted to wait and go together. Kim Sehyun was worrying about me with an angelic, kind face.
“Then I’ll go first. Follow if you want.”
“Th-that… Jaeha!”
Is there any reason we need to wait for the guiding and go together?
I slipped out of the tent.
“Oh right, since we’re moving, I’ll collect the tent.”
I warned the people inside and then collected the tent into my inventory. The people who were suddenly on the cold ground after being in the cozy tent looked at me with somewhat reluctant faces.
‘I shouldn’t let them get too used to my kindness. I’ll just end up being taken advantage of.’
I nodded inwardly, gave a smile to the people with empty expressions, and then turned around completely.
On the path heading north, monsters killed by Shin Haejun and the other Esper were scattered about. Transparent glass spiders, tree stumps with faces, and all sorts of strangely shaped monsters were lying dead on the ground.
I looked at the dagger I was holding and opened my inventory. They probably use this knife-like dagger because no one knows how to wield a sword, but it seemed inefficient to get blood or slime on your hands.
‘Hmm… I’m not sure if this will work.’
I took out a scroll from my hand. It was an ‘Automatic Collection Magnet Scroll (15 minutes)’. When you use this, a large magnet appears above your head. As you walk along the path, items on the ground automatically enter your inventory – a very convenient miscellaneous item. Without this, I would have had to manually pick up items throughout the game.
I tore the scroll to see if it would work. A magnet appeared above my head, and immediately, something like a purple crystal was sucked towards the magnet from the corpses.
“Hmm, this is completely convenient.”
This world is too primitive, it’s not like we’re living a hunting lifestyle. Seeing the Espers carrying swords or guns and the guides using things like armor, it seems items are being made to some extent, but it looks like these convenient items haven’t been developed at all.
‘Well, I couldn’t develop such items in reality either if asked to.’
Anyway, I walked slowly between the monster corpses, feeling as if I was taking a stroll. This was rather more comfortable than sitting quietly earlier without being able to say anything.
As I was leisurely walking towards the north, suddenly a notification sound went off.
: *Put Kim Sehyun in Danger*
Quest Rank: C
Kim Sehyun is following behind you! It’s finally time for you to take action! Let’s put Kim Sehyun in danger using the one remaining monster!
Reward: ???
Ah geez, can’t I refuse this quest?
I looked at the quest window dejectedly. Why are all the quests Nine gives me like this?
‘No matter how I think about it, this is serious trouble. If I’m a minor villain, I’ll be done for here.’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think of any scenario other than me putting Kim Sehyun in danger here, and in return, getting my neck sliced by Shin Haejun. Even if I don’t die yet since I’m supposed to be dropped around chapter 68, something unimaginable might happen, like losing a body part.
“I might not lose my life, but my health might be ruined…”
I sighed deeply and read the quest window carefully again. It was to check if there was any way out.
The quests I receive are generally vague unless they’re specific like the cold weather gear collection quest.
For example, if it’s a quest to go somewhere, it doesn’t specify detailed conditions like whether it counts when ‘passing the entrance of that building’ or ‘entering the building and completing within 1 second’. So, conversely thinking, it might be possible to slightly put him in danger without him knowing, and then rescue him myself.
‘What a genius idea.’
An attitude of desperately trying to figure out how to escape the situation!
A civilian-like attitude of being ready to kneel before Shin Haejun, begging profusely and offering items to avoid death if necessary!
These were things I should never forget, even if I safely overcome this crisis.
‘By the way, there’s one monster left?’
If I play it right, I might be able to shift the blame onto Shin Haejun. It’s clearly the Esper team’s fault for not thoroughly sweeping the area and killing all the monsters.
Now, to check where that monster is…
“It’s on… the map.”
I opened the game map just in case, and red and green dots appeared.
The green dots clustered in the center represent party members. Although I don’t really consider them party members, it seems the system automatically recognizes them as such. And the red dots – one in the north, a few in the south, and a swarm in the east and west – seemed to be monsters.
‘This is completely convenient.’
There was even a purple dot representing the boss mob. The boss of this dungeon seemed to be in the east.
‘The red dot in the north is… not far from here.’
It was sitting right on the straight path I had come up, showing how carelessly the author had written, ignoring plausibility. It’s strange that Shin Haejun didn’t see it. But I decided to ignore it, considering it as the author’s convenience.
Kim Sehyun was moving quickly about 20 minutes away. I didn’t really think he’d come, but he has his own sense of loyalty. It didn’t feel good to have to set a trap for a loyal friend, but I had no choice.
‘They said to put Kim Sehyun in danger, but they didn’t say not to fall in together.’
There’s no other way. I decided to become the bait.
Since I needed to set up the act before Kim Sehyun arrived, I drank a speed increase potion and ran towards the monster.
“Silent Assassin?”
It was the first time I saw a live monster here, and just like in the game, there was a name floating above the monster.
I shouted, “Hey, over here!” to attract the monster’s aggro. Then I ran like mad towards the path I came from. I ran at a speed that allowed the monster to follow, and when Kim Sehyun came into view in the distance, I shouted loudly.
“Sehyun! Run away!”
As I shouted wildly, Kim Sehyun stopped, hesitating with a pale face. Then he just blinked his large eyes, unable to do anything, his body trembling. He seemed scared of the ghost with a dagger following behind me.
‘Well, it is scary. But shouldn’t you move a bit…?’
I frowned and grabbed Kim Sehyun’s hand. I was planning to run with him to the base camp.
“Move quickly! Hurry!”
At my words, Kim Sehyun finally came to his senses and started running with me, turning our backs to the monster. If we can just get to the base camp like this, it should be fine. Then it won’t be bad enough to get sliced up, just an evaluation like “you were a bit unlucky” and it would be over.
However, the author was not on my side.
“Ack!”
There was clearly nothing on the ground.
But I fell. And I fell hard.