〈 Chapter 7 〉What is This Again?
One of the many events, the Room of Terror’s Box.
In the game, it was a roulette game where creepy illustrations would spin around. Naturally, the outcome of the roulette was purely based on luck.
There were good effects like health recovery, Mentality recovery, and treasure acquisition, but there were far more negative ones.
Health reduction, Mentality loss, acquiring random status ailments—if you were really unlucky, a monster could even jump out of the box….
‘How would they have implemented that damned roulette game?’
The room was surrounded by pitch-black walls, and right in the center was a bizarre, ominous-looking box that screamed “do not touch me.” It was the kind of thing you instinctively wanted to avoid.
[You have entered the Room of Terror’s Box.]
[To pass through the Room of Terror’s Box, all party members must pass the trial of the box.]
[To take the trial, you must place your hand inside the box.]
“All party members must pass?”
In the game, you only had to spin it once. But now, we had to do it twice?
I instinctively glanced at Kaya, and she was staring at the box with an expression full of disgust.
“Kaya.”
“Captain.”
When I called her name, she looked back and forth between my face and the box before biting her lip. Was it because she’s a nun? She seemed to show an unusual amount of repulsion and rejection towards that box.
“It looks like we have to deal with that box to pass through here. I’ll go first, so just wait.”
“…No. I’ll go first.”
“No. Everyone has to do it anyway, and just in case, keep an eye on the surroundings.”
Would I want to be the first to touch that ominous box? I was just more worried because Kaya’s Mentality was at -88. If she went first and something like Mentality loss occurred, her Mentality would be shattered in an instant. I decided it was better to go first and see what happens, even if it meant making some preparations.
‘Phew. It looks even creepier up close.’
From a distance, it just seemed ominous, but up close, it was downright revolting. It looked like a regular box, but staring at it gave the impression that I was staring at a hideous monster covered in filth.
I took a deep breath and then lightly tapped the lid of the box with the tip of my knife.
Creak—
If this were still the game, this would be the moment when a roulette with various pictures would start spinning.
Gulp—
Kaya’s gulp was unusually loud, and soon, the box opened completely.
[Result of the Room of Terror’s Box]
[Forced Expulsion]
“…What?”
[All party members are expelled from the dungeon.]
[You cannot receive any rewards.]
“…Shit.”
Without even opening the box, we were forcibly expelled from the dungeon.
***
“Captain.”
“….”
“Captain.”
“….”
“Captain!”
“Huh, huh?”
“Get a grip.”
“Ah, right. I need to get a grip. Focus. Yeah, focus.”
I was dazed. I still couldn’t comprehend what just happened.
Forced expulsion?
I’m certain there was no such gimmick in The Long Terror. So, there were only two possibilities to consider.
Either it was added as a feature in the DLC to increase the difficulty, or it was a variable introduced because I was dragged into this place. Neither was a welcome thought for me.
And on top of that, an urgent problem had already arisen.
‘I’m broke.’
All I gained was a common artifact and a few coins. Considering I spent almost all my assets before entering the dungeon, I might not even be able to afford a night at an inn with Kaya.
‘It’s better than having Kaya’s Mentality break inside the dungeon… but is it really better?’
I checked my coin pouch. There was barely over 5 silver left. I remembered paying 5 silver when staying alone, so it seemed my concerns were about to become a reality.
“Captain.”
“Kaya, listen carefully. We’ve run into a serious problem.”
Gulp-
At my serious tone, Kaya gripped her war hammer tightly, despite us being outside of the dungeon.
“We’re out of money.”
“…What?”
“We don’t even have enough money for an inn tonight.”
“Oh.”
Kaya had a dumbfounded look on her face. Was it because she couldn’t believe what I just said, or was she expecting something far more serious due to my grave expression?
If it’s the latter, I’d have to say I’m sorry. Because I’m dead serious right now.
“We’re not in good shape. Going back into the dungeon in our current state is out of the question. We’ll have to sell off our dungeon supplies.”
“All of it?”
I nodded with a bitter expression. Kaya still didn’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation.
“Once you come out of the dungeon, consumable supplies need to be purified within a few days. If not, they become unusable. The dungeon’s fear or dark magic or whatever contaminates them. But forget all that. Do you know how much we can get if we sell them?”
“Since it hasn’t even been a day, we should be able to get at least 50 to 70 percent back, right?”
“20 percent. If we’re lucky, maybe 25 percent.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
Only now did Kaya react the way I expected. She looked ready to bash in the heads of the merchants with her blood-stained war hammer.
“If we don’t sell them, they’ll just become trash. But if we do sell them, we only get 20 percent back. If we try to enter the dungeon in our current state, it’s out of the question. So what happens if we sell them? Our next dungeon run becomes uncertain because we’ll be missing essential supplies. And if we try to buy them back, we’ll have to pay five times what we sold them for.”
“How can they do that…!”
“They claim it’s the purification cost, but the city and the merchants have a monopoly on the purification method.”
Kaya trembled, making her clunky armour rattle.
‘Forced expulsion… it’s a terrifying gimmick in more ways than one.’
If it were just a game?
If something like this happened in the early stages like my current situation, I could just restart the game. If this were mid or late-game when I had a decent number of resources and personnel, it would just be an annoying setback, one that would require re-entering the dungeon to recover.
“I’m sorry, Captain.”
“What? What are you saying all of a sudden?”
“If my condition were just a bit better, we could’ve gone back into the dungeon right away… This is happening because of me. Maybe I should give up being a Hero and try to make some money in this city…”
“What nonsense are you talking about? If we’re going to go there, then it’s my fault for getting us expelled from the dungeon in the first place.”
I cut her off immediately. What she was saying was completely ridiculous. Give up being a Hero to make money?
Even if she wasn’t a top-tier Hero, she could at least be considered second-tier. And I’d have to let her go when she was my first companion, and I’d acquired her without much effort?
It was good that Kaya understood the seriousness of the situation, but it wasn’t ideal for her self-esteem to plummet even further.
“Let’s sell it all. The sooner we sell it, the more we can get for it.”
Kaya seemed like she wanted to say something, but she kept silent in the end. I took it as her agreeing with my decision and headed towards the marketplace. I soon heard the sound of clunky armour following behind me.
I checked her Mentality score discreetly. The value hadn’t changed, but despite the game-like elements, her heavy footsteps showed her dejection.
‘Where does the game end, and where does reality begin?’
Game, reality, and then somewhere in between—the strange allowances made by the game’s mechanics.
If it leaned more towards one side, I could get a handle on it, but sometimes it strictly followed game rules, and at other times it completely disregarded them. It made things hard to grasp.
Did I simply get dragged into the game’s world as a bundle of data for some reason? Or was Han Yujin already dead, and I’ve been reincarnated as Hendrik, with only my memories from my past life intact?
I didn’t know the reason, but one thing was certain: the more this ambiguity increased, the more the reliability of the data I’d built up eroded.
“Hmm… All this for 6 silver coins.”
“Huh? We should at least get 8 silver! It’s been less than a day, not even 12 hours!”
“What difference does it make? The condition is poor.”
“But we barely used them…!”
“If you don’t like it, go somewhere else.”
The merchant’s face clearly showed his annoyance.
‘What’s a rookie like you going to do? If you don’t like it, take your business elsewhere.’
That’s exactly what his expression said, without any hint of reservation. He was clearly a shady merchant who took advantage of greenhorn Heroes.
And from the way he spoke, I could smell the stench of collusion among the merchants.
In the end, I sold everything for 7 silver coins, though I had to grit my teeth while doing so. I managed to get 1 extra silver coin only because I signed a contract promising to buy at least 1 gold coin worth of items from this place before my next dungeon run.
It was a ridiculous agreement, and I would never have signed it under normal circumstances, but right now, every single silver coin counted.
‘Come to think of it, the dungeon itself is a ridiculous concept, and this city of Salem, thriving because of such a dungeon, is an equally ridiculous place.’
The cost of goods in Salem and the merchants’ practices were considered normal within the city, and that in itself was laughable.
“Let’s go, Kaya.”
“…Yes, Captain.”
With our bags much lighter and the remnants of my dignity as a leader scattered like feathers in the wind, my steps toward the inn felt incredibly heavy.
“One night, please.”
“Separate rooms, or like yesterday?”
“Like yesterday.”
“That will be 8 coins.”
I handed over the silver coins as casually as I could, despite feeling like I was bleeding internally. Then, I headed up to the second floor.
Just 4 silver coins left.
There were a few copper coins left in my pocket as well, but they weren’t worth counting. Counting those would only amplify the sense of emptiness, and I’d probably burst into tears if I thought too hard about it.
After we washed up and changed into clean clothes, we sat on the bed. Kaya, now in her modest nun’s robes instead of heavy armour, looked quite different, but her beauty didn’t matter at the moment.
I shook my pockets out, and four silver coins and a few copper coins fell onto the bed, making a pathetic clinking sound as they collided with each other.
Kaya stared blankly at the coins for a moment, then met my eyes, only to lower her gaze again.
“If this keeps up, we won’t be able to stay here tomorrow night. We only managed to afford tonight because we sold off our supplies.”
She nodded silently.
“The prices here are absolutely insane. It’s beyond unreasonable. But this city itself is insane, and what’s unreasonable becomes the norm here. Since our goal is to reach the dungeon, we have no choice but to adapt.”
Nod-
Her silent compliance frustrated me, but I was also grateful for it. I continued speaking.
“I’ll say it again, working part-time is forbidden for Heroes. But there must be ways to earn money other than working part-time. Otherwise, how could there be so many Heroes here? And like you said, if you give up your Hero title to earn money through part-time work, you’d just become another drifter staying at an inn every night. Or you’d have to leave this damn city altogether.”
This place isn’t entirely a game.
That’s what I’m betting on.
Even though they said you couldn’t leave the dungeon without defeating the boss, they suddenly introduced this mechanic called ‘Forced Expulsion,’ which didn’t exist before.
So it wouldn’t be strange if there were ways to make money outside of part-time work, right?
Kaya, who had been diligently nodding along to whatever I said, spoke up for the first time.
“Captain, why are you so determined to go to the dungeon?”
“What?”
“Pardon me for asking, but I’d like to know why.”
Her Gray eyes were fixed directly on me.
It was at that moment—
[‘Relationship Chart’ has been unlocked.]
[The Relationship Chart reflects the relationship status with your companion Heroes. It affects the mental state and teamwork of your Heroes, independent of Mentality.]
‘What the hell is this…?’
—
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