Becoming the Dungeon Master
It felt like I'd been caught badmouthing the Dungeon Master, so I'd thrown together that whole act to lighten the mood and naturally boost Luna's self-esteem. But how the hell did things spiral like this...?
“Whaaaaah...”
“W-wait, calm down, Lunacchi!”
I hadn't expected her to actually cry.
“S-sorry! I was wrong!!”
“Sniff... No, I'm sorry for interrupting your meal...”
Luna said that and shuffled back to her shop. Hiding behind the counter like that, she'd probably be in that state for a while.
“Um...”
“...Ahem, little bro...”
Oh, right—in the middle of my fake show, I'd shoved that gamey wild boar meat on Dennis, who can't stand smelly stuff.
“Sorry.”
“Nah...”
I'd overdone it to keep low-self-esteem Luna from overthinking, but it felt like I'd just caused trouble everywhere.
The mood got super awkward, so we scarfed down our food in silence.
The dishes that came out... were honestly tough to finish, so I ended up dumping the leftovers on Kkomangi.
Well... I bought it as Kkomangi food anyway.
*
On the way back, my mind was racing with thoughts.
Thanks to my transmigrator special ability, I'd been living the stable NEET life of my dreams and had been willfully ignoring it, but...
In all sorts of ways, it really felt like the world had gone to shit.
Chronic resource shortages. Even safe in the Shelter, people still suffering.
The subtle anxiety about the future I always sensed scrolling the gallery threads in the community.
The feeling of a briefly postponed apocalypse creeping closer.
I turned to Dennis walking beside me.
“Hey, bro.”
“Yeah?”
“Lots of people like Luna around here?”
Dennis glanced up at the Shelter ceiling for a moment before answering.
“...This is the central area, so you don't see it much... But the outskirts? Tons of 'em. People too messed up physically to work properly, end up getting kicked out.”
“Can't you heal sick folks with some magic or whatever?”
“Haa... It's frustrating for me too. If we just had steady material supplies, treating them wouldn't be hard.”
“Huh? ...Didn't you say holy magic couldn't fix it earlier?”
I asked Dennis about that nagging question.
“Oh, magic doesn't work, but potions do. But after fighting monsters for so long, potions became super scarce ages ago, and by the time we hunkered down in the Shelters, there wasn't much left.”
“...Can't get materials in the Shelter?”
“Nope... Not from our dungeons or any other Shelter ones. No way to go topside and forage either.”
From what he explained, each dungeon had wildly different environments and monster spawns.
“If the monster attacks hadn't screwed things up and the Shelters had finished as planned, we'd have like ten times more now, with way more dungeon variety...”
He sighed wistfully about how Shelters could've traded resources stably.
“Whew... Unless we miraculously tunnel into a dungeon with potion mats, making them's impossible.”
But that meant...
“Hekhek...”
My gaze drifted to Kkomangi, wagging his tail happily ahead of us.
...Think it'll work?
“Bro, mind sharing some potion material info? And if I get 'em, could you make some? I'll pay.”
“What? Did you even hear me? Getting materials means... Wait, you're a transmigrator, so you've got some ability, right?”
Dennis figured, eh, maybe he can pull it off, and promised to lend me a book when we got back.
“Um... Thanks, but you trust me way too easy...”
“Hmm, you know Soo-chan that the Isekai Survival Gallery was made by a transmigrator, right?”
“Uh... Yeah?”
I'd heard from Joodak before that she'd just taken over admin rights from the creator, but it was a transmigrator, huh.
“Insane ability. Recreating that with magic's damn near impossible. Forcing through every intelligent being's mental barriers to implant this 'community,' plus unlimited spatial teleport for trades and markets without distance limits. That's straight-up divine power territory. If this community vanished one day, society would panic hard.”
Researcher mode activated—he got chatty about his favorite topic.
But yeah, from a modern perspective, having smartphones or not is a huge deal.
Anyway, Dennis made it clear: transmigrator powers were beyond common sense.
-You're a transmigrator, right? If your abilities keep growing, you'll definitely solve the Shelter's resource issues someday.
Joodak's creepy level of faith came from this, huh.
Chatting as we walked, we arrived home before I knew it.
“Thanks for today, bro.”
The results were... whatever, but I appreciated him rolling with my sudden outburst.
“Nah, I was startled when you yelled outta nowhere, but I think you did good. Honestly... I knew someone like that too. Couldn't say anything helpful back then.”
Dennis gave a bitter smile.
“Don't worry! I'll snag those potion mats somehow, and we can fix any regrets when I hand over the potions later.”
Honestly, I was confident.
Potions... Even if it's tough now, once my abilities grow, I'll make 'em somehow.
If this were back when I was a powerless NEET, maybe not. But with spare time and powers? Contributing a bit to society and helping folks around me didn't sound bad—
“Nah, it's fine, Soo-chan. That person died.”
“...”
The unexpected words froze my brain solid. ...Tough to respond to that. What do you even say?
“Guess I killed the vibe, huh. It's old news. Head in—see ya.”
Dennis shut the door and went inside. I stood alone in the entryway.
Was it 'cause I'd cut off from people for so long...? Even I thought my social awareness was trash.
*
Back home.
“Oh right, forgot the book...”
But heading back to ask felt awkward.
“Guess next time.”
I washed up roughly, dove into bed, and fired up the community window for some light gallery scrolling to unwind.
“Hm?”
What the...?
...Whoa, the place was on the verge of total meltdown. Posts flooding in by the dozens per minute... no, per second.
Did I piss her off?
The countdown was flying down.
“What the hell.”
Something told me nothing good happens when it hits zero.
Shit... Hate this one, but I frantically changed my nickname.
And shortly after.
In the gallery, choked with Dungeon Ticket bait and utter chaos,
Joodak's notice went up.