A Makeover for the Waiting Room

Whew.

As I scrolled down the shop menu, debating what to buy, my eyes drifted to the empty expanse of my Waiting Room.

Two basic beds, plus a small desk and a chair. Nothing more.

On the community boards, I'd seen people buying furniture from the shop and decorating their Waiting Rooms…….

My armor and weapons were stashed away in Moongchi, but looking at my climbing gear slumped over the chair, the place really didn't look great.

You know what, I've got some points to spare. Might as well start with the Waiting Room.

But the moment I actually tried to decorate it, I found myself stumped. Where was I even supposed to begin?

Which furniture should I buy? How should I arrange it?

Oh, right — I remember seeing a post on the community a while back about Waiting Room interior design…….

I used the search function and dug through the community for a bit, and it didn't take long to find it.

Apparently the author had actually worked in interior design back on Earth, because the long post was explained in a way anyone could understand.

Types of furniture and how to arrange them — it even covered how to repaint the Waiting Room's walls and floor.

I didn't feel like going through the hassle of painting, though, so I decided to just buy furniture and set it up.

Since the Waiting Room's walls were white, antique-style furniture seemed like the way to go.

Come to think of it, upgrading my bed to a top-tier one sounded pretty good too.

Unlike before, now that I had things I actually wanted to buy, I couldn't help humming a little tune as I opened the shop.

The Waiting Room had transformed completely. Elegant, clean wooden furnishings filled the space.

It was still a room with no door leading outside, but compared to the hollow void it had been, it finally felt like a place where a person actually lived.

"Good work."

"Kkiik! Suyeok, you worked hard too!"

When I patted Dobby on the head for helping me haul all the furniture around, he grinned and flung himself onto the bed.

Then he immediately bounced on it. Once, twice — boing, boing.

Evidently the new bed and mattress were very much to his liking.

I hadn't exactly moved house, but somehow I found myself craving Chinese food. I was just about to suggest jjajangmyeon to Dobby when a message came in from Ha Heijeong.

Well, she'd said ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she was bored, so I gave her a fairly detailed rundown.

Everything from the interior design post I'd found on the community to my furniture selection and placement.

Ha Heijeong had surely done all of this herself back in her first regression, but she still listened to me with genuine interest.

She had a point.

Every piece of equipment I currently wore had come from hidden missions.

The performance gap wasn't big enough to justify spending points on replacements.

And overdosing on elixirs wasn't a great long-term strategy either.

So maybe I should just keep hoarding points and swap out all my gear at once? Or gift equipment to the people around me instead?

I replied that I wasn't, but her answer was slow in coming. She seemed to have thought of something.

Waiting with a flicker of anticipation, I watched for her next message.

That was a first. I didn't remember ever seeing anything like that in the shop…….

I was just about to open the shop window and search for it when Ha Heijeong messaged me first.

It struck me as awfully expensive for what it did.

The stats I gained from combat training were around 0.5 per session. Even with a bonus effect tacked on, that would only come to another 0.1 or 0.3, wouldn't it?

Hmm. Or was I wrong?

Once after clearing a floor, once after finishing training. If it raised my stats by 0.6 each time, then over just ten floors that would amount to a 6-point gain.

And it would apply to every stat — so that's 24 points of growth over ten floors.

Assuming I used it consistently, the longer I kept it, the better it looked.

It would definitely pay back more than 65,000 points…….

While I was still mulling it over, Ha Heijeong's message drove the nail home.

With time to spare before entering floor 24, I was browsing the community when I came across a post about me and my party.

Hm. Since I didn't pay it much mind, it caught me off guard.

Well, I suppose. The number one member of the top-ranked party walking out of it.

From the other climbers' perspective, tongues were bound to wag.

Ha Heijeong and the rest of my party hadn't seen the post yet, judging by the silence.

If I just leave it alone, people are only going to spin more baseless speculation.

Innocent people getting hurt by groundless rumors, their reputations dragged through the mud — that happened on Earth too, all the time.

Because the people who never bothered to verify anything simply swallowed the rumors as truth.

I didn't leave the party over anything ugly. I'd better clear this up.

Forty minutes remained until floor 24.

Plenty of time to set the record straight. I posted on the community.

That I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hadn't left the party because of any conflict.

That I'd grown stronger than necessary, and keeping me in the party would only be a net loss for my teammates — so I'd left for their sake.

And that I had no intention of forming a new party.

Granted, it might come across as insufferable to some of the other climbers, but it was the truth.

Now that I knew every climber on every floor would be watching the All-Floor Assembly, there was no one in this community who could afford to badmouth me openly.

Not that I can stop people from cursing me out behind my back.

Either way, the surface-level reactions were favorable.

People said I'd taken a risk for the sake of my party members, that only a true powerhouse could afford to make a call like that.

Quite a few even asked me to carry them again at the upcoming All-Floor Assembly.

After skimming the general response, I closed the community.

Alright. Time to head up to floor 24.

As my vision brightened, a gloomy, overcast jungle came into view, and I hurriedly checked the notification window that had floated up before me.

The Kokari Swamp.

It wasn't what Ha Heijeong had described.

Just like on floor 23, it looked like I'd been handed a trial of my own.

A faint sigh slipped out of my mouth.

Unless it was a floor like 15 or 16 where all the climbers participated simultaneously, it seemed Ha Heijeong's information would be useless going forward.

The intel I had is out of date, so I'd better read this notification carefully.

Hidden missions — or the clues to clearing a floor with ease — were always buried in the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Tower's messages.

But even after going through the notification window slowly, nothing seemed particularly useful.

There was only one thing I could reasonably deduce.

That the "heretics" here were very likely the followers of what Comeet had called the Standing Terror.

The swamp itself is what worries me, though.

This was hardly an environment where I could move freely.

Worse, the enemy had recruited criminals and black mages who had lived in this place for hundreds of years.

Odds were they knew the geography of this swamp like the back of their hands.

I couldn't tell where solid ground ended and the bog began, which meant I couldn't move freely — and in that situation, enemy ambushes and traps were a serious concern.

There's just no information.

There wasn't even a signpost pointing me toward where the heretics were.

Which meant Dobby and I would have to hack our way through this swamp with no destination in sight — just the two of us.

With no idea when or where the enemy might be lying in wait.

Some of them might slip past my senses, sure…… but maintaining perfect focus for forty-eight straight hours was simply impossible.

"Dobby, stay sharp out there. Let's move."

"Kkiik! Got it!"

"Moongchi — the deodorizer."

I left Dobby nodding behind me and tapped the mimic, pulling out the deodorizer.

The goal was to mask Dobby's scent and mine from the things that lived here.

With the fishy stench of the swamp wafting in from every direction, the smell of body wash would carry all the more.

I was spraying the deodorizer over every inch of Dobby and myself when a sound like water parting came from the swamp ahead.

A ripple cutting through the water deep in the wetland.

So it begins.

I handed the deodorizer to Dobby and pulled my axe out of the ground where I'd planted it.

Moments later, moss-flecked water burst into the air as if it had exploded.

Through the falling spray of dark green droplets, alligator beasts — each one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠roughly three meters long — revealed themselves.