I Became an NPC
"So that kobold had a mechanic like that."
Once I'd dealt with the wolf pack and finished skinning the carcasses, I checked the gallery. It was a little disappointing that no howling wolves had shown up afterward, meaning I couldn't farm any bonus experience — but more importantly...
"She looked like the type who'd be playing a nice, relaxing healing game from the outside... but that was the touch of someone who's played games like this for far more than a day or two."
Seo Arin's party, as I'd seen in the video. The other members had certainly done their part, but the one who stood out was Arin herself.
It was as if she had every party member's skill cooldowns running through her head — whenever danger loomed, she'd pull the aggro onto herself, then hand it right back the moment the rogue's skills came off cooldown. And she wasn't tanking blindly, either: aggressive and pushy whenever heals were available, pure evasion the moment they weren't.
✦ Adventurers will receive rewards based on dungeon clear progress!
✦ Additional rewards will be granted based on your contribution to the dungeon clear!
I cast a glance at the quest that had been assigned to me. Clearing the dungeon all the way to the bottom would require a party.
For now I was only up against monsters with simple patterns and weak bodies, but someday I, too, would need comrades to watch my back. And if I had the choice, partying with genuinely skilled players would be the better call. In that sense, Seo Arin was an undeniably attractive prospect.
The problem was that, as things stood, I was being treated as an NPC — and who in their right mind would party up with an NPC? In any game, NPCs are a huge help in the early going, but the deeper you go, the more they tend to become dead weight instead.
"Sigh... I wanted to kick back and enjoy this game too, you know."
Everyone else gets to laugh and have a good time, while I'm the only one running a one-credit, hardcore Souls-like. Then again, the thrill of surviving it all is that much greater for it, so I suppose I can't complain.
Besides, taking down the Gatekeeper on the 5th floor had pushed my quest progress forward — and the rewards that came with it had landed me a genuinely useful item.
Just then.
"Ah! Found you!"
It was Seo Arin's voice. Turning toward the sound, I found her bounding toward me and waving both arms, the healer trailing behind her with a sigh, and the rogue fixing me with an oddly intense stare.
"...Hello."
"Hi."
"Siwoo-ssi! I knew you'd be here!"
Cutting through the awkward, stiff greetings came a bright muahaha~ of laughter and Seo Arin's voice.
"It's your first time meeting my friends, right? This cutie here is Ha-yoon!"
"I'm Jung Ha-yoon."
"And this is Yoon Se-ah, the one with the soft, squishy chest!"
"Eek?! W-wait, Arin...!"
Jung Ha-yoon introduced herself with a perfectly deadpan face, unmoved even as Arin poked and prodded her from the side. Yoon Se-ah, on the other hand — the healer blessed with a chest that would draw any man's eye against his will — let out a soft whimper as Arin's hand latched onto her breast, and scrambled to hide her burning face.
Hm... now that was a lovely sight. A different kind of healing than the vast grassland scenery around us.
"Seo Arin...!!"
"Hm? What's up?"
"I told you not to grope me whenever you feel like it in front of other people...!"
"But Siwoo-ssi is an NPC? He's not a person."
...I should have been wounded by that. But since it had granted me such a delightful view, I found I didn't really mind.
"You two seem close."
"Of course~! We're besht fwiends!"
"Mm-hm."
"Haa..."
At my words, Arin pulled both girls into her arms with a grin. Ha-yoon responded with a firm thumbs-up and a nod; Se-ah just exhaled, looking thoroughly exhausted.
"I'll skip my own introduction, shall I? If you've been traveling with Seo Arin, you've probably heard everything about me by now."
"Yeah. She talked about nothing but you the entire way down here."
"...Your reaction really is different from the NPCs back in the village."
"See, I told you! Siwoo-ssi has to be an NPC built with top-of-the-line, ultra-high-performance AI~!"
So even a human counts as ultra-high-performance AI, huh. Not that I had any intention of correcting her. As I'd learned before, the moment I tried to say I was human, the system filtered it right out.
"So what brings you all the way down here? There was no need to rush, was there?"
"We came to see you, Siwoo-ssi, obviously!"
"Me?"
Did I do something to Seo Arin?
"Mm-hm! There's something super, super important I need to tell you!"
"If it's that important, couldn't you have just said it when we met earlier?"
"Because I only thought of it after we said goodbye!"
With that, Arin puffed out her cheeks and blew a loud hmph through her nose. Behind her, Se-ah was already regarding her with the weary eyes of a long-suffering caretaker. Thinking about it from her perspective — clearly a different breed from the ever-unbothered Ha-yoon, forced to keep pace with Arin's whims and clean up after her...
Ugh. That sounds exhausting.
Even now, her eyes darted anxiously between us, as if bracing for whatever nonsense Arin might blurt out next.
"Arin, I have no idea what you're about to say... but maybe think it over one more time before you do?"
"It's fine, it's fine! This is a decision I made after careful deliberation!"
"Somehow that makes me more worried..."
"Yeah. I agree with Arin's thinking."
"Ha-yoon... Arin hasn't even said anything yet."
Se-ah's sigh deepened.
"Fine. So what is it you want to say?"
"Well, you see~!"
After a brief dramatic pause, Arin glided right up in front of me — and then, without warning, seized my hand.
"Siwoo-ssi, party up with us!"
"...What?"
"With skills like yours, Siwoo-ssi, we could clear this dungeon faster than any other party out there!"
Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at me.
"Hold on, Arin! Um... Siwoo-ssi is an NPC, remember?!"
"Yup, yup! He is! The Supporter NPC who's here to help us out~!"
...Supporter NPC?
In that instant, my mind went back to the reward I'd received just moments ago. The new accessory fastened at my shoulder.
◈ Increases maximum party size by one.
That was the effect it was supposed to have — but my glitch-riddled system had gone and rewritten the item entirely.
◈ Item effect has been altered due to a glitch.
◈ Allows you to form a party with an NPC without a quest.
◈ NPCs do not count toward the party member limit.
Ordinarily, an entity flagged as an NPC like me could never party with other players without some special quest. But with this accessory equipped, I could form a party with players freely, NPC status and all.
...Is this really just a "glitch"? The thought crossed my mind, but hey — good is good.
Still, a Supporter NPC, hm...
Going by the concept Arin had assigned me, that role might just let me slip into other players' parties as their designated helper.
Swordsman Seo Arin
Cleric Yoon Se-ah
Rogue Jung Ha-yoon