Chapter 148

“Finally, finally!”

Lying absentmindedly on the bed, mindlessly tearing pages from a book, I shot up from my spot. Someone had finally entered. Should I be happy that someone came in after 11 days, or should I be sad that it took this long? Well, at least it wasn’t 20 or 30 days.

“…No, stay calm. Just a moment.”

I had been about to rush out of my room with a delighted smile when I caught sight of myself and abruptly stopped. Hair unwashed for three days. A drool mark was imprinted on my cheek. And, most importantly, I wasn’t wearing a single piece of clothing.

If I stepped out like this, there was a high chance I’d cause unnecessary misunderstandings.

“…First, let’s wash up.”

I grabbed the clothes scattered on the floor and tossed them near the bathroom before bolting into the shower booth. A man, when necessary, can finish showering in under three minutes.

“Hey, I hear water running.”

“What the—grab your weapons. Stay on guard.”

“Jinsu—Jinsu’s missing. Where did he go?”

“Wait! I’m human! And I’m just taking a shower! Please wait a moment!”

Hearing murmurs outside my door, I quickly shouted and rushed to finish my shower. This should be passable—well, except for the fact that I hadn’t shaved. But the murmuring outside had grown louder, so I had no choice but to step out.

“Jinsu has to be in there, right? There are only five doors.”

“Hello?”

“From what I can tell… hello.”

As the door opened, two men and two women, deep in conversation, turned to look at me.

Four pairs of bright, curious eyes locked onto me.

“…”

My first impression of them? Young. Not middle or high school young, but college freshman young. They had that fresh, energetic vibe. They were probably around twenty.

“Are you here alone?”

One of the guys craned his neck, peering past me into my room. His gaze swept across the space, but it seemed he didn’t find what he was looking for.

“Uh… should we talk in the next room instead?”

***

About ten minutes later, after exchanging stories, the initial tension had mostly faded.

The four people in front of me had become friends online. Originally, they were a party of five, but their leader, a guy named Jinsu, had gotten separated.

“So you’ve been here for ten days?”

“Eleven, actually.”

“Whoa…”

The Glasses Girl covered her mouth, clearly shocked.

“Ahjussi, have you seen a guy around our age? His name’s Jinsu.”

“No, I haven’t. And why are you calling me Ahjussi…?”

“Hing…”

The Short-Haired Girl visibly deflated when she heard that Jinsu wasn’t there.

“Well, I guess we’ve cleared things up. Let’s move on?”

“This Ahjussi must be bored out of his mind. Let’s hurry up and clear this floor.”

“Seriously, why do you keep calling me Ahjussi…?”

Even the two guys, who shrugged and urged us forward, seemed utterly carefree.

How should I put it? They gave off an air of baseless confidence. There wasn’t an ounce of tension among them. They lacked the sharpness of high-ranking players.

“…”

If this were the past me, I would have just thought, Hah, idiots, and moved on. But right now, if I died, I’d have to go through these same eleven days all over again. If we proceeded this recklessly, someone might die, or worse, we could fail the clear condition.

“Guys, I get that staying relaxed is important, but shouldn’t we at least make some minimal preparations?”

I kept my tone soft while nudging them toward a bit of caution.

“Pfft, Ahjussi, don’t worry about it.”

“We’re pretty strong, y’know? Just watch.”

The two guys chuckled and shook their heads, sneaking glances at the girls. Ah. They’re showing off because there are girls here, aren’t they?

…Should I just beat them up now and activate my trait to intimidate them?

No. Hold on. I can deal with them after I know what this floor entails. Taking a deep breath, I continued.

“Still, shouldn’t we at least know each other’s abilities before moving forward? This floor might require teamwork, like the third floor did. I’ll go first—my trait is Swordsmanship. It enhances my sword skills.”

“Hmm… That’s decent.”

“Alright, good enough.”

Then came their turn.

The two guys had traits that enhanced their physical abilities. The Glasses Girl had a trait that allowed her to see the enemy’s weak points.

But the Short-Haired Girl’s ability was unusual.

“My whole body bursts into flames, but…”

“But?”

“It’s always active, so I have to constantly suppress it…”

Apparently, she was in a perpetual state of not being on fire through sheer willpower.

So, basically, she was the Hulk, but with fire.

“Jinsu controls water, so I usually stay near him…”

She fidgeted anxiously. Something about her made me feel uneasy.

Somehow, I had a bad feeling that her ability was going to be the reason I’d have to go through another regression.

“Alright, if everyone’s ready, let’s go!”

“Yeah, let’s move out!”

And with that, we finished our so-called ‘preparations’ and stood in front of the giant door.

[ 5/5 ]

“…Oh. It’s an automatic door.”

The door slid open with a soft whoosh, revealing a long, gaping corridor beyond.

“…Shall we?”

“Let’s go. I’ll take the lead.”

At least they weren’t complete idiots. The two guys who had been bouncing around just moments ago visibly calmed down. Good. If they had kept messing around even after stepping in here, I wouldn’t have held back.

“…”

“…”

-Step. Step. Step.

The five of us carefully made our way down the silent corridor. About five minutes must have passed.

Still, shouldn’t we be getting a message by now? When is the system going to explain things?

“Ah, over there.”

“A door.”

Just as the growing boredom threatened to overpower the tension, the seemingly endless hallway came to an end, revealing a translucent glass door. When we gently pushed it open, we found a small room inside.

In the center, five metal chairs were arranged in a circle. On the opposite side of the room, an elevator door stood in place. I called it an “elevator door” specifically because of the arrow-shaped button pointing upward beside it.

Just as I finished analyzing the room’s layout, a message window popped up in front of me.

**

<12th Floor>

You must pass a total of three rounds of “tests.” Each person can participate in only one test each round, and if the final test is failed, no rewards will be granted.

All rewards will be given individually after clearing the 12th floor.

**

“…What the hell does this mean?”

“Hmm.”

A test? Just like that? Did I miss something? This floor feels oddly unkind in terms of explanations.

- Now, please take a seat.

A mechanical voice echoed through the room, indifferent to our confusion.

There was nowhere else to sit except the five metal chairs in the center. And conveniently, there were exactly five of them.

Looks like they really want us to sit.

“…Guess we should sit?”

“…Yeah.”

After exchanging glances, we carefully lowered ourselves onto the chairs.

The moment all five of us were seated, the voice rang out again.

- Before we begin the first test, please select your reward for the first round.

[1] 10x Low-grade Potions

[5] Custom Equipment Box (B~D Rank)

[10] Universal Elixir – Increases all stats by 3.

“…?”

The instant the message appeared, I instinctively glanced around. But before I knew it, a barrier had formed around me, blocking both sight and sound. My legs felt as if they were glued to the chair.

So, the reward selection is done individually.

“Hmm.”

Judging by the list… the rewards get better the higher the number. Low-grade potions were practically useless to me now, while elixirs that increased stats were always valuable.

But the numbers before each option caught my attention.

What do they mean?

Something tells me that the higher the number, the worse it is.

“Ugh…”

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have hesitated—I’d pick [10], see if anything weird happened, and just regress if necessary.

But now?

If I die, I’ll have to relive eleven whole days. I can’t afford to be reckless.

…No. I need to be bold. There’s no way to avoid regression entirely, so I should at least gather as much information as possible before it happens.

Having made up my mind, I firmly pressed [10].

- All climbers have completed their selections.

As soon as the barrier around me disappeared, the others came back into view.

“Ah, you’re back?”

“Look at this. The elevator door opened.”

Apparently, I had taken the longest to decide. The others were already standing by their chairs.

Above the elevator door, a number was displayed: [35].

It seemed they had already pressed the arrow button because the elevator doors were now open.

“This panel’s kinda weird, isn’t it?”

I still didn’t know the two guys’ names, so I decided to label them for convenience—let’s call one Acne Guy and the other Mole Guy.

As Acne Guy pointed out, we stepped closer to inspect the panel inside the elevator.

It wasn’t a regular elevator button panel.

It looked more like a calculator.

There was even a ‘clear’ button and an ‘enter’ button. This was definitely more of a calculator than an elevator control.

[Only one person can participate in a “test” at a time.]

A message appeared in my peripheral vision, but I ignored it.

Instead, I decided to input [99] just to see what would happen.

[Only numbers 35 or below can be entered.]

Another message popped up, rejecting my input.

Fine. Let’s follow the rules.

I entered [31] instead, then quickly peeked outside to check the number displayed above the elevator.

The [35] had now changed to [4].

“Ah.”

At that moment, I understood what this floor’s challenge was.

This was… a group project.

– – End of Chapter – –

 

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