Building Up to Enter the Family Dungeon (2)

Two older sisters and one man entered the room. Thick, acrid smoke blanketed everything, making it hard to even open their eyes. Their gazes locked instantly onto the bed.

"Lucian!! Are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?!"

The eldest sister, Elysia, swept aside the flickering flames and rushed toward him. Her usual cold composure was gone, replaced by a frantic voice that cared only for her youngest brother's safety. She whirled on the escort knights who were only now arriving and shouted sharply.

"Lucian's safety is the top priority! Deploy the barrier immediately and contain the fire!"

Meanwhile, the second sister, Rosalyn, kept her cool and scanned the surroundings. Her shining eyes searched for the cause of this sudden arson. The moment her gaze narrowed—

Lucian cut in at the perfect time, as if deliberately disrupting her thoughts.

"U-unnas…! Cough, hack! Th-there…"

"Someone suddenly jumped out from that window over there and set the fire…"

With tears welling up in his eyes and a delicate finger pointing beyond the window, his shota performance was flawless.

The Demonic Sword inside his heart couldn't keep up with the shift and screamed in shock, but Lucian's build didn't stop for a second.

"Don't worry, Lucian. Now that your sister is here…!"

Elysia sighed in relief and reached out to pull him into a tight embrace.

"Unnaaa…!"

Right before Lucian's body could touch her chest, he was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠suddenly yanked backward as if by an invisible force and sent flying in a tragic arc.

-Shwoooong!

-Crash! Bang! Thud!

"…?"

Lucian's form sliced through the air and slammed hard into the floor beside the bed, knocking over furniture with a deafening racket.

"Lucian!!"

Elysia's scream echoed through the room. Rosalyn, who had been checking the window, jolted in terror and instantly drew her sword.

'Telekinesis?'

'Don't tell me the invisible mage is still hiding in this room?!'

Rosalyn scanned the area with razor-sharp eyes, but of course, there was no one there. The forced-dragging movement had been one hundred percent Lucian's self-hit motion.

Using his agility to fling his own body around in a dizzying display—he had practiced this exact technique.

'Heh, just as planned!'

The family head had taught him swordsmanship, yet Lucian had spent all his time practicing this instead.

'Good thing I practiced it!'

Lucian cheered inside his head. This was the self-hit motion he had secretly drilled every night on top of his blanket, trying to copy the glitch techniques of the Glitch Master. A truly bizarre technique. Useless for swordsmanship, but perfect for a speedrun build!

'I've completely mastered it, if I do say so myself!'

While perfectly drawing his sisters' attention and aggro, he made it look like the Speedmaster was somewhere in the room. At the same time, this build let him reach his desired crash point in the fastest possible way.

-Kwaaaang!

'Perfect!'

This spot looked like it would collapse. The floor, already weakened to the extreme by the fire, couldn't handle the weight. With a massive boom, it shattered.

"Uwaaah! Unnaaaa!!!"

A heartbreaking, pitiful scream rang out as the adorable youngest brother fell in a tragic moment.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Luciiiiiiaaaan――!!"

Elysia's face turned deathly pale as she rushed downward after him. But the falling furniture blocked her path, creating a brief gap.

"Unnaa!!"

'Build proceeding smoothly.'

On the outside and inside, our Lucian was completely different. His mind was flooded with speed and dopamine.

The family dungeon that would normally require begging Father while enduring endless lectures just to get permission—he had now built a route straight to it.

'From now on, I, the Speedmaster,'

'will skip the entire boring quest line and get a dungeon free-pass ticket!'

The instant he vanished completely from his eldest sister's sight, scattered among the falling furniture, the build was complete.

However, stacking the build had dealt too much damage. Right before slamming into the ground, Lucian spoke casually.

"Hey."

Lucian's stamina couldn't withstand all that damage. He had built it knowing he would faint.

"I'm gonna pass out."

Before the Demonic Sword could finish, Lucian slammed into the floor.

-BOOM!!!

Before its thoughts could continue, the Demonic Sword lost its life force from the heart and blacked out along with him.

The sea of consciousness.

In that place, Lucian's hazy mind opened the gallery window. Ever since he had been invited to the Speedrun Gallery, he always came here whenever he slept or fainted.

At the same time, a silhouette slowly appeared.

"You are…?"

Lucian's pupils shook violently as shock hit him. On the black silhouette was an all-too-familiar, rage-inducing neon sign.

It was Pattern Doctor Kim. The mysterious entity that had been teabagging him walked leisurely toward Lucian.

"You couldn't even dodge that?"

Pattern Doctor Kim spoke immediately.

"Breaking the floor was a pretty decent build, I'll give you that."

"It was fresh. I acknowledge it."

The silhouette crossed its arms and looked down at him, radiating arrogance and leisure.

"However."

The lecturing began.

"The fall was the problem."

"You should have analyzed the falling trajectories of every single piece of furniture and the predicted scatter range of the debris."

"Then patternized the whole thing and dodged everything."

"You couldn't dodge it and fainted instead."

And then came the unbearable line.

"Newbie."

"Shut the hell up."

Lucian shot back firmly. He glared at the silhouette with clear displeasure.

"Patternize every piece of furniture?"

"Dude, you expect me to calculate every single trajectory of those countless breaking, flying fragments and dodge them all?"

"How is that even a pattern? It's completely random! It's literally impossible!!"

"Impossible?"

The silhouette shrugged. The motion looked so infuriatingly smug.

"You don't know anything. There is no such thing as random. It's all patterns."

The silhouette laughed. Its voice was pure provocation.

"Newbie."

Pattern Doctor Kim muttered briefly and turned away. The annoying silhouette slowly faded and disappeared.

"Me…? A newbie?"

Lucian's soul trembled.

"Me? Not someone else, but me??"

An indescribable, deep rage surged up.

'The guy who tore apart countless game builds.'

'The guy who set world records in front of tens of thousands of viewers!!'

'The living legend of speedrunning!!!'

"Calling me a newbiiiiiiiiiie!!!!"

Lucian screamed and opened his eyes.

"Lucian!! Are you awake?"

The moment he opened his eyes, he heard his eldest sister's voice, thick with sobs. Her eyes were red as she clutched his hand.

"You were screaming… Does it still hurt somewhere?"

"Call the healer! Bring the healer right now!"

Elysia, who had been urgently shouting outside, whispered affectionately again.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you right away…"

"I'm so, so glad you're safe, Lucian."

"…Huh?"

The surroundings had changed. Lucian immediately switched to a pitiful voice.

"It's okay… Unna, I'm fine…"

Like he had run out of strength, he slowly sank back onto the bed.

Then he began thinking furiously inside.

'Why the hell did that Pattern Doctor Kim guy suddenly show up?'

The terrible rage still lingered, but dealing with the current situation came first. Lucian resumed his shota act.

"Cough! Now that Unna is next to me… I'm okay now…"

The Demonic Sword inside his heart had also regained consciousness. The fire scene had been completely cleaned up without a trace. The room was now filled only with peaceful warmth.

The Demonic Sword sent a mocking thought.

'Skip.'

Lucian lightly skipped the whisper.

'The fire wasn't a failure. It was a build.'

The corner of his mouth twitched upward invisibly.

Under the blanket, Lucian activated a small system timer on his arm.

'Time to start the speedrun using the stacked build.'

'Fifty minutes until dungeon arrival.'

"Lucian, are you really okay? If anything feels off, don't hide it. Tell me."

Elysia gently pressed a cool towel to his forehead and kept checking on him with utmost care.

"Mmm…"

As if he disliked the cold, Lucian shook his head and buried his face into the pillow, mumbling.

"I'm fine now…"

It was perfect spoiled-child behavior. But at that exact moment, the tips of his fingers tugging the blanket moved in a bizarre way.

Bizarre. Alien.

-Creak.

The door opened, and Rosalyn walked in, followed closely by the male lead who trailed after her like a puppy. The male lead was in full "Rosalyn simp" mode.

"Lucian, you're awake?"

Rosalyn approached the bed. Her sharp eyes were still tracing the mysteries of the fire.

"Do you remember what the intruder looked like?"

"He was only wearing underwear and had a really weird helmet on his head."

"And then—"

Lucian's terrified expression was there, but unlike his usual shota performance, it wasn't perfect. It was intentional. He mixed in a slight sense of the bizarre and the alien.

While using the cute tone the family adored, his eyes stayed coldly fixed on Rosalyn's forehead or chest.

'What was that just now?'

A crack formed in Elysia's mind. It was definitely her brother, but the movement didn't feel human.

'The way he speaks is the usual Lucian. But those eyes…'

Rosalyn felt the same. On the surface Lucian looked terrified, but his eyes seemed to be staring at something far away.

The strange feeling continued even as the conversation went on.

"That person set the fire and pushed me."

The terrified Lucian. The slightly recovered Lucian. Everything was overly optimized to the point of being grotesque. Not a single unnecessary frame existed. That sense of alienation.

-Swish.

Suddenly, Rosalyn felt an instinctive threat. Without realizing it, her hand moved toward the hilt of her sword at her waist before stopping. She wanted to confirm the source of the discomfort radiating from the boy in front of her right this instant.

'Wait, Rosalyn. We need to assess the situation first.'

Elysia beside her felt the same thing, but her eyes sank deeply as she silently warned Rosalyn with her gaze not to act.

'But Sister, that thing…!'

The tension rose so thick it felt like it could stop their breath. Lucian could feel their gazes sharpening against his skin.

'Heh, it's working perfectly.'

Feeling their cold stares only made the dopamine surge higher.

'As expected, my build is flawless!'

'This is my double performance build!'

The Demonic Sword asked in confusion. It simply could not understand its contractor's behavior.

'It's simple.'

'I'm making them think I'm not the real Lucian.'

'I'm making them believe the Speedmaster is wearing Lucian's skin and acting!'

'The real Lucian was swapped out the instant the fire started and the room began to collapse. The moment he left his eldest sister's sight for a split second. That's the setting I'm planting in their heads.'

This world ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was originally a romance fantasy where the tomboy female lead ran away from her family to join the knight order. And the character Lucian, whom Kim Jae-hoon had reincarnated into, was originally a sacrifice who died in the story.

What kind of sacrifice? It was never explained. He was simply a victim whose role was to give the female lead, Rosalyn, a reason to abandon her family.

That was Lucian's original role.

'But if you're a speedrunner, you have to exploit even the role you've been given!'

The Demonic Sword once again heard its contractor's incomprehensible inner monologue.

'If I keep leaking this sense of wrongness, they'll be convinced that the Speedmaster kidnapped Lucian to kill him, following my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠original death setting, right?'

'And the place where Lucian can currently be sacrificed is…'

The Demonic Sword, synchronized with Lucian's inner thoughts, finished the sentence. It spoke with a hint of fear toward Lucian, who continued his speedrun without the slightest disturbance despite his fated death one year from now.

'See it? The build.'

The door to the family dungeon would open, and the shortest path to a speedrun would appear. The sisters would open the dungeon gate and rush down to save their "real little brother" who didn't even exist.