I Became an NPC

"Jii───."

Seo Arin, who had just declared she would bring me into the party as a support NPC, stared straight at me, plainly waiting for an answer. The glitter in her eyes was a little much, so I let my gaze slip aside—only for her to scurry right back into my line ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of sight, as if she meant to hold it until I replied.

I needed party members myself, so I had no real reason to refuse. Even so, with her staring like that, the words wouldn't come easily. ...Or maybe my mouth had broken down again in the meantime.

"Haa... Right. As if anyone could stop Arin."

"Yeah. Once Arin sets her sights on something, she never lets it go."

Yoon Se-ah and Jeong Hayun's voices came from behind me. Yoon Se-ah let out a deep sigh, already resigned, while Jeong Hayun simply went along with Seo Arin, same as before.

"Well... if anything, I was the one who wanted to ask."

"Then that means—!"

"Yeah. I'm counting on you."

"Yes!!"

From Seo Arin's point of view I was nothing but an NPC, and yet the mere fact that I'd accepted her invitation was enough to set her bouncing in place.

"But if our teamwork doesn't click... it'd be all right to rethink the party, wouldn't it?"

"Doesn't matter! There's no way you and I wouldn't click, Siwoo~!"

Where did that confidence even come from? She said it as if the two of us had already fought side by side. Then again, quite a few videos of me hunting had gone up on the gallery. She might have watched them and run the whole fight through in her head. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Her sense for combat did seem extraordinary.

"I'm counting on you two as well."

"Thank you for agreeing to such a sudden request. Um... would it be all right if I called you Siwoo?"

"I don't mind."

For someone who took me for an NPC, Yoon Se-ah was being awfully careful with me. Did she, like Seo Arin, think I was some kind of special one?

"Yeah. Counting on you. Peace."

This one, I couldn't read at all. She had stared at me now and then in the middle of things, and pairing a deadpan face with something as cute as a peace sign made her seem thoroughly offbeat.

"All right~! Siwoo's in, too! Let's look around the sixth floor some more!"

"Mmm... Arin, it's about time we logged off."

Yoon Se-ah shook her head at Seo Arin, who had been swinging her arms in circles to loosen up as she talked. She had a point. I'd already spent a good while hunting from the first floor through the fifth, and on top of that I'd reached the sixth and taken down a wolf pack. Quite a lot of time must have passed.

"Aww... but still..."

"You need a proper sleep. You can play again tomorrow."

"...Fine."

She said so, but she still looked unsatisfied. Lips pushed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into a pout, Seo Arin trudged over to me.

"We'll head back first... Siwoo, see you tomorrow..."

"Yeah. See you later."

I gave the gloomy Seo Arin a small wave, and this time her eyes went fully glassy.

"Hnnngh... We could have hunted together and had so much fun, Siwoo...!"

"Come on, come on. Stop clinging to Siwoo and let's go."

Yoon Se-ah caught the arm of Seo Arin, who stood planted in front of me as if she had put down roots, and dragged her off.

"Um... see you tomorrow, Siwoo."

"See you tomorrow."

With that, Yoon Se-ah and Jeong Hayun waved at me just as Seo Arin had, then headed for the stairs leading up to the fifth floor.

So you couldn't log out inside the dungeon. Did that mean they started over from the first floor every time they connected? ...That sounded like a genuine pain. Not that it applied to me. Leaving the dungeon had been impossible from the start.

Once they had vanished completely from sight, I made up my mind.

"Guess I'll just take a look around."

I decided to survey the area so I could sketch out a rough map. ...The other players had a map UI, didn't they? This was seriously unfair.

I walked for quite a long time, and what I learned was that monsters appeared far less often on the sixth floor than on the floors above. All I encountered were horned wolves, or the goblins that turned up now and then higher up.

There was one more thing that set this floor apart.

"...There's actually a town."

Just as I'd muttered, a town really did exist. It wasn't especially large from a distance, but it had the look of a proper settlement—an inn, a smithy, the basics.

Better still, I was about to see people for the first time in a while. No players had come down this far yet, so they would all be NPCs. Even so, the thought of visiting something that actually felt like a town—for the first time since I'd come to my senses in this dungeon—put a lightness in my step.

As I approached what looked like the entrance, people who seemed to be guards shot me a sidelong glance. Judging that I wasn't a threat, they soon looked away again. I'd been wondering what I would do if they demanded something like identification. Fortunately, they didn't.

"Lively enough that you'd never think this was inside a dungeon."

Children were running about, and merchants were selling all kinds of goods. Then the building that mattered most came into view far ahead: the Adventurer's Guild.

"I ought to get at least some kind of identification."

I'd confirmed that a town could exist inside the dungeon. I'd been let through this time without any papers, but nothing guaranteed that the towns waiting farther down would pass me as easily as this one. With that in mind, I stepped into the guild building marked with the adventurer's emblem.

Inside, people stood about in their own armor and with their own weapons, and a little farther in I spotted a woman who looked like a receptionist.

"Welcome~. Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild. How may I help you?"

As I came up to the counter, she greeted me with a bright smile.

"I'd like to join the Adventurer's Guild."

"Of course~. Give me 1,000 coins, and I'll process your registration."

"...1,000 coins?"

Now that I thought about it, I had no money. I'd opened my eyes inside the dungeon from the very start, and I'd never met a merchant who would trade my loot for coin. There might have been coins in the starting package the system had given me, but I couldn't open my inventory.

...What do I do?

"I'm short on coins. Do you accept loot as well?"

"Of course. Since you aren't a guild adventurer, though, a higher fee will be required. Will that be all right?"

"Yes. That's fine."

If I couldn't sell the loot, I couldn't get into the guild at all. From the pouch at my waist I took out the wolf pelt I'd just obtained and the Black Dog claws I'd harvested on the upper floors.

"Hmm... One-Horned Wolf pelt and Black Dog claws, confirmed. The pelt isn't in very good condition, however, so I won't be able to offer a high price."

"I understand."

I'd never been properly taught how to harvest anything. I ought to be grateful they could be sold at all.

"Claws fetch a better price at the blacksmith than they do here at the guild, so I'd recommend going there. Would you also like to continue your registration with 1,000 of the coins, once the settlement is finished?"

"Please."

"Yes. Confirmed."

The receptionist then handed me a sheet of paper from beneath the counter, along with the settled coins.

"Fill in each field and bring it back to me. The pen is right here."

I nodded, took the quill beside the counter, and stepped away. After filling the form out simply and handing it back, she passed me something that looked like a card. An Adventurer Card, more or less.

Card in hand, I left the guild and turned toward the street where the merchants had their goods out. I didn't know about the rest of it, but not being able to use an inventory was fucking miserable. I hadn't been using one to begin with, yet the moment I realized I'd have to carry the coins myself, the hassle became no joke. The weight was bad enough, and the clatter of coin against coin was genuinely maddening.

So—general store or street stall, it didn't matter—I decided to look for something that could fix the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠problem. In some games you could spend currency to expand your bag. ...Most of the time it was paid currency, granted. Fortunately, the developers of Arcadia Online had said outright that they only sold skins for real money, and that everything else could be handled with in-game currency. I'd take them at their word.

Han Siwoo (Not an NPC)