< Chirp (2) >
Creaak
I quietly opened the door and came out to the hallway. The dorm floor security camera was still only at the entrance, and my place was on the inner side, so thanks to the winding hallway, up to here didn’t stand out in anybody’s eyes and I could move around.
After searching the surroundings and firmly putting on the hat, I used Lizard Stuck to a Wall to its maximum.
It was originally a D-Rank skill without a big effect, but it was different now. Since the special skill that hid your appearance had as much as four times the effect. Even if someone was A-Rank, if they didn’t pay attention to their surroundings, they wouldn’t be able to notice.
Still, just in case, I had already tried it out last night.
I had held my breath and stood still in a corner of the hallway while using Wall Lizard, but none of the A-Ranks coming and going recognized me.
‘Yerim went to the Association, so I just have to be careful of that little brother.’
If I did happen to be caught, well, so what. Like Sung Hyunjae said, it was okay for me to be a little more assertive. I wasn’t trying to do something bad, and what would that guy Yoohyun do with me being caught secretly trying to go out? Try to confine me like before?
It might’ve been different if it was before the familiar-related negotiations, but even if he was the Haeyeon Guild Leader, he couldn’t do anything he wanted with my personal matters. He would probably just nag a little. Grumble ‘can’t you trust me’, and get disappointed, being like ‘as expected, there was something you were hiding’……
As expected, I should strive as much as possible not to get caught; it was annoying.
When I went toward the elevator, I saw a Haeyeon A-Rank Hunter who had brought over a chair and was reading. I observed her as I stood quietly in a corner.
The door to the emergency stairs were locked, and if the elevator moved on its own, she would think it was suspicious. So I had no choice but to wait. For the cafeteria delivery person.
I had come out around lunch time, so it didn’t take long for the elevator to come up. Then, the cafeteria employee passed a lunch box to the Hunter. In the meantime, I took the chance to enter the elevator.
“Thank you. Please have a good meal.”
The cafeteria employee got on the elevator again. There was a security camera inside the elevator, so while the employee was covering the buttons as they pressed the one for the floor the cafeteria was on, I stretched out a tentacle and stealthily pressed the 1st floor too. Thankfully, if the elevator button was pressed on the relevant floor, then the inside button also lit up, so the employee didn’t seem to think much of it. From the security camera’s point of view, it would look like the employee had accidentally pressed it.
After passing the cafeteria floor and going down to the 1st floor, I saw the closed glass door between the lobby and the connecting hallway. This was the biggest problem.
I had no choice but to keep waiting for someone to come and go.
‘It’d be okay as long as Yoohyun doesn’t come out.’
Don’t come, don’t come, do your work. And if I delayed too long, Yerim could return too. If only someone would quickly come in or go out.
Thankfully, it wasn’t long before a Haeyeon B-Rank Hunter came over. As soon as the security room opened the glass door, I quickly went out. There was one A-Rank Hunter stationed in the security room, but maybe because there were a lot of people coming and going, they didn’t notice a hint of weirdness.
‘If they don’t have a special skill, of course A-Ranks, but even S-Ranks would have a hard time secretly coming in.’
The type of special skill that hid your appearance was extremely rare. The only known perfect hiding skill holder was just the Dokkaebi. Normally, only monsters had them and the Dokkaebi wasn’t human either, so I thought it might be a problem of aptitude. Though, even if someone had one, if it was decent, it wouldn’t be revealed.
I safely left the building, and followed along the street for about 10 minutes. Then I released the skill while in a gap between buildings, bought sunglasses at a nearby shop to completely cover my face, and then called over a taxi.
The F-Rank dungeon I soon arrived at, was a small building[1] that was like it was hidden behind other buildings. It seemed like it was originally a small parking lot. Since the F-Rank dungeon that was hard to compensate for wasn’t inside the building, the building’s owner had good luck.
I went to the building surrounded by a special wall, put in the number I had gotten ahead of time into the keypad next to the door, and let it scan my Hunter license’s chip. The door was opened and when I passed the short hallway, I saw a gate in a space that didn’t have anybody. I wanted confidentiality so they had vacated the place, but security cameras were operating. And they would have checked the number of people, too.
Entrance records were stored for one month to prepare for any case. Other people wouldn’t check.
‘Then, should I try going in?’
It was an F-Rank, but since I was going to go into a dungeon alone, I felt strange. I didn’t hesitate long, and quickly stepped into the blue gate.
-Kkiik! Kkiii!
The air abruptly changed. I heard some unknown beast’s noise between the heavy shade.
I took off the hat, hung its cord around my neck, and passed it over to my back, and then took off the sunglasses too. Against the monsters here, not having anything on should be enough. Still, I was wondering whether I should take out my equipment and put them on, when I just took out and put on only a Strength increase bracelet on top of the earrings that I was already wearing. They were just integer increase, so they wouldn’t have a big effect, and it would be annoying to wear them.
‘Should I also prepare some ratio increase equipment too?’
Since a similar event could happen. I didn’t have many keyword applied targets yet, but as I steadily raised monsters and the number increased, there could be a case where an unfortunate accident happened. I didn’t want that, but it wouldn’t never happen.
I should be resolved to it.
Rustle
I sensed motion on top of an overgrown tree. Then, a green tinged face popped out between the leaves.
-Kkiook! Kkiook!
It was a Moss Monkey. I used Thorn Trap toward the monster that was inspecting me.
-Kkik!
It was an F-Rank dungeon monster, so it obviously couldn’t even resist and fell forward, but it was still breathing. And it caught on the tree branches so it didn’t even fall.
As expected, Tentacles would be better than Thorn Trap. The densely packed trees in the surroundings looked much higher than 10 meters, but they got thinner the higher up, so the big and heavy monkeys would only be able to move around at the thick middle and lower branches. So, the length was enough.
If it didn’t work, then I could pick up a rock and throw it. As an experiment, I picked up a pebble and spread a little poison on it and then threw it.
Puk!
Along with a dull sound, the monkey stuck on the branches fell to the ground. It really was good having a high stat rank. With my usual strength, it would’ve been impossible to make it fall in one stroke.
Maybe because the rock had split its head or maybe because the poison permeated through, the Moss Monkey stopped breathing soon.
‘Do I have to look for the magic stone or not?’
I didn’t want to searched the corpse. Before the regression, that would have been talking high and mighty, but now it was annoying. And my clothes could get dirty too.
‘Won’t contact start to come?’
I opened and closed my status window several times but there was no change. In the meantime, another Moss Monkey approached so I grabbed its neck with the tentacles and broke it.
‘……It wouldn’t be that it was actually done with the ‘checking done’, right?’
If they didn’t have any other business with me, it might be relieving and it might be frustrating.
It was just then. Finally a message window popped up.
[ИºԵ ¥ºµЯ Ғ∆µ└Ե]
……Not, your? Fault? Did it mean me? That it wasn’t my fault? What nonsense was this suddenly.
Then, a new message window popped up. This time, they were proper letters.
[Wish Stone – Myth Grade
Grants one wish for the user.]
It was the wish stone item explanation window. Why this again out of the blue……
Wait. It was only two lines. Originally it was three lines.
……Fuck?
“You said a dead person couldn’t be revived!”
Was it not like that?! Could it be that the person who made the system pulled a scam? And normally it’s possible? Huh?
“Shit, no wonder, it could turn back time, so not being able to simply save one dead person really was weird…”
I was fooled, deceived.
I was angry for a moment, but I calmed down soon.
Truthfully, turning back time actually was better in various ways than saving Yoohyun that time. Not just for me, but also overall.
Even with just Suk Hayan’s research results being distributed impartially, it would become a much safer world than the original 5 years later. Adding to that, there were even familiars, so it was obvious that it would change a lot toward a better direction than the chaotic original future.
So, being deceived itself was okay, but.
‘……Saying that it wasn’t my fault.’
Returning to the past was because the person who made the system deceived me, and it meant that it wasn’t my fault.
Then this, so…
‘……Does it mean problems could occur because of the regression?’
They were probably purposely telling me this because there was a problem that would make me go ‘ah, could this be my fault?’. They sure were friendly.
So what problem was it.
I waited for a while but another message window didn’t pop up. For now, let’s sort this out.
I was fooled by the guy the-rest-omitted system and returned to the past. System guy knew about before the regression, like me. Due to the regression, some problem was going to occur.
It was roughly those three things.
And if you added one more thing, it was clear that when system guy sends me a message that isn’t connected to the system, they can’t use normal text. Though I noticed that since they started writing vertically.
The limitation was lesser inside dungeons, but still, it meant they could only send indirectly. If they sent messages directly, errors appeared like last time.
Anyways.
“So exactly what kind of problem is going to appear? Tell me properly!”
I was frustrated to death. Just then, a message window popped up again.
[☞’≠’☜ ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ(._. )]
Just draw a picture why don’t you. Was it that their mouth was blocked so they couldn’t say?
“Even if a problem appears like last time, this time I can take care of it so just say it!”
I was right in front of the gate and was already using Wall Lizard to its maximum. Unless something like the Lauchtas jumped out, I could run away without a problem.
Shortly after yelling that.
[Oh no, my dear[2], don’t get mad. We also know it’s frustrating. That’s right, we want to refreshingly tell you too, but it’s that we can’t. For direct conversation, there needs to be a sacrifice. And preparation too. Last time, the newcomer– time being turned back was just for your side. Dungeons are separate. And we are blocking to delay the progress. The more interference there is, the faster it is caught. If the related information. Gets well known. Danger. Properly. Prepare. One week. Dungeon.]
The messages poured out. Wait, slowly. What?
Time turning back was just on our side and the dungeons were separate. In other words, it should be the level of difficulty and number from 5 years later, but they were in the middle of delaying the process.
……Did it mean that the dungeon level of difficulty would rise faster than before? That’s crazy? And what was that about being caught? Did they mean there was something else?
It looked like they were telling me that the preparations would take a week and to come back to a dungeon again, but if it was after one week, the Repayment duration time would have ended. I did tell Yoohyun that I wanted to go to a dungeon, so I could ask him.
Just then, the message window shook heavily and started to become distorted. As expected, it seemed like they had forcefully sent the message.
On top of that, even the surrounding background blurrily wavered like a summer’s heat haze. It was an atmosphere like something incredible would appear.
Thankfully, the gate activation still hadn’t ended, so I was going to directly go out without using the gate stone when,
Drop
Something white and round dropped from the air. The chubby sticky-rice-cake-like thing rolled before opening it’s beak wide while upside down.
-Chirp!
……What was it, cute.
-Chirp!
It cried again. The two legs raised to the air flailed. Fluff like a single dandelion seed, tiny round black eyes, light yellow beak and feet… a baby bird? The size was at most that of two fists combined, and no matter how I looked at it, it was a completely harmless appearance.
-Chirp chirp!
Flap flap
……Fuck, look at the wings. They’re tiny. What was that? Did that really come out? It didn’t seem so. Didn’t it just fall from a nest on a tree?
With a baffled heart, I used the Seed-Leaf skill.
[□□□□□ – □□□(Juvenile)
Current stat rank F
Growth possible stat rank □
Optimized initial skills
□□□□□□ Achieve after growth
□□□□□□ Achieve after growth
□□□□□□ Achieve after growth
□□□□□□ Achieve after growth
□□□□□□ Achieve after growth
※□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□]
……It looked like it was a kid that popped out through the error. Outside the fact that it was currently F-Rank and a baby, there wasn’t information I could understand. But looking at the number of optimized initial skills, it definitely didn’t seem to be a normal monster. There were five.
Even possible Awakening stat A~S-Rank Peace and Yerim only had three or four. Seeing how there was only one rectangular space, it didn’t seem to be SS or above that, so was it S-Rank? Though there was no guarantee that those spaces and the number of letters were in accordance.
‘……What should I do?’
Was it okay to just leave error monsters alone? But to kill it, truthfully… I really didn’t want to do that.
In the meantime, the baby bird that had succeeded in righting itself was tottering around in the grass thicket. Maybe because I was using Wall Lizard, it seemed like it hadn’t noticed my existence. Instead, it discovered the dead Moss Monkey and went toward it.
-Cheep cheep cheep cheep
Chattering something, it was going to disturb the monkey corpse with its beak, oh! That was poisoned! If a stat F-Rank just touched it, it was instant death!
“No!”
-Chirp
When I ran over and quickly snatched it up, it froze for a moment, maybe from surprise, and then vigorously flapped its small wings.
-Cheep! Cheep! Cheep! Cheep!
“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.”
I quickly lifted the Wall Lizard skill and soothed it. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to have caught the poison. The tiny black eyes, blink, looked up at me.
-Chirp!
“Okay, okay. Be good. Chirpie[3].”
It was really soft and warm. Cute. What should I do? Should I just take it with me? If it was this size, I could just hide it in my arms and go.
If I was asked where it came from…… could I just say I picked it up? I don’t know, I’ll insist or whatever.
“Want me to give you a magic stone? Do you want to eat it? Is a C-Rank magic stone too much for a stat F-Rank?”
It might get sick. But I didn’t have F-Rank magic stones. No, it wasn’t that I didn’t. When I lifted my head, I saw a Moss Monkey peeking from the trees.
It looked like I had to catch them without using poison. Just wait a bit, Chirpie. I’ll prepare your food.
[1] I kno there’s a lot of ‘building’s in this paragraph, tho the krn switches bw the krn word (meaning any constructed structure that ppl work/do things/live in) and the eng word transliterated (tend to mean more ‘big/tall buildings’). But it doesn’t do sth like sticking to the krn word just for the dungeon structure, for ex. in the following sent. it was like this: ‘Since the F-Rank dungeon that was hard to compensate for wasn’t inside the building(krn), the building(eng)’s owner had good luck’, so I didn’t really differentiate bw the two. The word building, in eng w the eng def, sounds like it implies sth manmade and that you can see entirely, imho, so to me ‘structure’ (much more vague & therefore includes an unknown-system-made gate/portal that leads to a different space) would’ve sounded better in eng, but idk if that connotation is true for the krn word. And again, there seemed to be not much diff in the usage bw the krn and eng word so I tl’d both as ‘building’. Also by saying that the dungeon was a building, it might have meant the surveillance building/structure that is built around a dungeon when it is discovered.
[2] idk if relevant but ‘my dear’ was in eng transliterated to krn
[3] so what the bird is saying, and the title of the ch, is ‘bbi-ahk’ (i.e. like that bird monster in ch 20-sth), which is closer to ‘peep’ in eng bc imho chirp is like a normal bird talking and peep is a weak noise that a baby bird makes, which is what ‘bbi-ahk’ is. However, as u can see, yj names it that here, and ‘peep’ or ‘peepie’ didn’t seem like a viable name, same with ‘cheep’. Also, yj named it the noise itself, nothing added, but that doesn’t really sound right in eng, so I added ‘-ie’ to the name. Fyi what I’ve tl’d as ‘cheep’ is just the ‘bbi’ part of ‘bbi-ahk’.