Basement Floor 1
I stood with only my feet in the water, staring blankly out at the sea.
Do I go in? Or not? That pitch-black water is kind of terrifying.
It wasn't that I had never known how to swim. When I was little, I'd been playing in the ocean when I had the rotten luck of getting a cramp. I swallowed so much seawater that day it was a miracle I didn't drown.
Ever since, the moment I stepped into water my body locked up like I'd eaten one of those Devil Fruits from that old manga.
Crash. Whoosh.
The waves rolled in, and there was no telling how deep the water went.
Maybe I'll go in tomorrow.
But my Intuition kept hammering away, as if insisting I head into the sea.
And then—
Advance toward the sea where the Night Goddess has come.
Once I confirmed the quest text, it felt like going in now was the right call.
Just until my feet still touch the bottom.
I slowly lifted a foot—
"Hey."
A low male voice came from behind me.
"Hiiiek!"
I spun around in shock. Standing there was the office worker I'd seen during the day.
Why is he here?
I hadn't noticed him at all. His vacant, glassy eyes still gave me the creeps, and the smile hanging on his lips made it worse.
"What are you doing out there?"
Thump.
There it was again. Another reaction. The moment words with some kind of intent reached me, my heart started thrashing. I didn't answer. I just stared him down.
"……."
"……."
Silence swallowed the night sea. His hollow gaze, set against the black water, made everything feel even more unnerving.
"Hey. When a person talks to you, you answer."
"…."
I said nothing.
Rustle. Rustle.
Thump. Thump.
He took a step toward me, and with every footfall my Intuition screamed at me to get the hell out of there.
"Hey. If you go any farther, it's dangerous."
Run.
Yeah. Running was the right move. But where?
I whipped my head around—and the only place left was the sea.
"Shit………."
Whatever happens, happens. The quest told me to go. How bad could dying be?
Splash.
I stepped deeper into the water. The man seemed to panic—he came charging after me, shouting.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?! Goddamn it! Don't go!"
His sharp voice stabbed into my ears. That cracking, strained tone of his made me think he was probably a terrible singer. A random thought, but my feet kept carrying me into the sea.
When the water reached my chin, the man who'd been chasing me stopped where he stood and stretched out a hand.
What the—?
The sudden gesture stole my attention for a second—and in that second, a staff appeared in his grip.
Where did he pull that from?
A staff that had materialized out of thin air. And at its head, a cluster of tiny lights began to gather.
Swaaaah—.
Oh, hell. That looks dangerous…. The visual effect screaming "magic incoming" filled my vision.
Pew!
A light shot out with a crisp whoosh of displaced air.
"You son of a—"
I threw myself under the water, desperate to dodge the beam. The moment my body submerged, I felt myself locking up with tension. My heart was still hammering away.
Fwoom.
I felt the light slam roughly into the surface, twist off course, and skim past me.
"Pah! Hah, hah."
I shoved my head back up, gasping for air. The man, clearly not getting the result he wanted, started gathering light again.
"Please… how far am I supposed to go?!"
My whole body was soaked and clammy, and at least a bucket of that moisture had to be my own sweat. The farther I got from him, the less my feet could find the bottom.
And the moment my feet completely left the seafloor, the light fired again.
Gurgle—.
I dunked my head and dove back under.
What do I do?
One wrong move and I was dead. That light would kill me if it hit, and drowning would do the same. My heart wasn't just racing anymore—it felt like the blood was surging the wrong way through my veins.
FWOOM—.
The light struck the water and the shockwave of the detonation rolled through me.
I carefully lifted my head. He'd lost track of me—he was scanning the water, searching.
"He lost me. You bastard."
The terror of almost dying had, if anything, cleared my head. For a second I thought I saw the road to the afterlife, but if I could just stay out of his sight, I might make it.
Careful. Don't make a sound either.
But how was I supposed to not make a sound? My feet couldn't touch bottom, and I could barely breathe. What the hell was I supposed to do in this situation?
Splash.
I made a sound after all. And it seemed he'd found me.
"Pretty light."
I could see the glow gathering in the distance. If only that light had been moonlight.
Fwoom—.
Gurgle-gurgle.
The instant the light fired, I sucked in a deep breath and submerged.
Then—thump.
The rhythm of my heartbeat changed. Pitch-black darkness all around me, but I started swimming clumsily in the direction my Intuition pointed.
I'm going the right way, right? Forward?
I could feel my air running out, but I wrung every last scrap of strength from my body and dog-paddled for my life.
Before long I reached the place Intuition had indicated, and a sudden stillness washed over me.
I couldn't open my eyes, but this had to be the place the quest meant—the place to advance toward.
A faint holographic message shimmered into view. I couldn't hold my breath any longer, so I jabbed the message with my finger, mashing it anywhere.
Shaaaaaaa!
Brilliant light flooded everything, and I felt that same sensation as when I'd first entered the Tower.
"Blaaaargh. Cough, cough. I'm alive…!"
I spat out water thick with the taste of salt and felt, for real, that I had survived.
Quest: 'You Are a Diver (1)' completed.
Reward: Inventory, Community, 100 pt
I shook the water off and collapsed onto the ground. The holographic messages floated gently in the air, making their presence known. Looks like I'd finished the quest, at least.
"But where the hell am I?"
Through the messages, I could tell this was the Tower's basement. I turned my head and tried to look around, but making anything out in the darkness was basically impossible.
"Ah, whatever! It'll work out somehow!"
I'd only just given that bastard the slip and escaped. He might be able to follow me here, but my Intuition wasn't sending any danger signals.
Ding!
A cheerful chime rang out, and a new quest appeared.
You Are a Diver (2)
📍 Objective: Discover the traces of the Night Goddess.
⏱ Time Limit: None
🎁 Reward: ???
The details were still as vague as ever. Traces? What traces was I supposed to find in a place this big?
I closed the quest window and checked out the Community I'd received as a reward. It looked no different from any other online community I'd seen on the internet. I tapped the Korean Gallery—the one that felt most familiar.
"Oh?"
Posts from people who'd already been using the Community caught my eye. I tapped one that piqued my curiosity.
Title: Guys how far have you gotten on the quests?
Mine told me to find party members to hunt with so I've been trying hard to recruit, but people aren't gathering as much as I expected.
Fifth one…. The thought that there might be even more You Are a Diver quests made me feel a little hopeless.
I checked a few more posts, but nobody seemed to know anything particularly useful yet.
And then—Inventory.
How do I open this?
The moment I thought it, a subspace that looked like an inventory appeared before my eyes.
"So that's how it works."
Inventory was the ability that let that guy earlier pull a weapon out of thin air.
I stood up and surveyed the land around me.
"I need to be able to see something before I can find it. What am I supposed to do here?"
Seriously, what kind of hardship was this? Yesterday I was still elegantly brewing coffee at a café. I looked out at the dark stretch of sand, then lay back down. Walking into that darkness would be insane.
Who knows what's out there. Forget going in. Just sleep.
I decided to stay put, just as my Intuition told me to.
Caw. Caw.
A bird soared high overhead.
"Ugh… seagulls…."
But why was it so bright? How was the inside of a Tower this dazzling? This was a basement, and somehow the sun was up. The ultraviolet light hitting me square in the face dragged me out of sleep. I looked around the beach again….
"Huh? Palm trees?"
This place, with its salt-scented sea breeze, was an island. And there was one particularly unusual building: a single house with a red roof. One palm tree beside it.
"I feel like I've seen this somewhere before……."
When I was a kid, the Turtle Hermit's house in that old cartoon looked just like this. The difference was that here, there was no sign of anyone living in it. The only living creature I'd seen so far was a single seagull. Assuming it even was a seagull.
"It's pretty small, though."
In the dark, I'd thought it was a huge forest. Instead, I'd washed up on a tiny little island. Even if I sent up an SOS, nobody was going to come for me, right? Thinking that, I got up and headed for the red-roofed house.
Creak. Creak. I stepped across the wooden planks and stopped in front of the door.
Knock. Knock.
Just in case, I spoke as politely and respectfully as I could.
"Is anyone home?"
Didn't seem dangerous, thankfully. I took the handle and opened the door, and a cozy interior welcomed me in.
"Whoa. This looks a hundred times nicer than my place."
The antique sofa and kitchen were genuinely stylish. The kind of place where you could elegantly brew a cup of coffee. Still, better to stay a little tense. Another godawful situation could crop up at any moment.
Confirmed empty. Nobody here.
There seemed to be a room further in, but it was too quiet for anyone to be inside. I passed through the kitchen adjoining the living room with the sofa and headed for the bedroom.
Creeeeak.
I'd tried to open the door carefully, but the noise shattered the silence of the empty space.
"Nobody inside… so where are you, traces?"
I searched the room for whatever traces the Night Goddess was supposed to have left behind, but I found nothing.
"Ah, come on. What am I supposed to find here?"
Not a single sign of life. I was about to head outside for another look when something caught my eye—a peculiar bottle sitting on the kitchen counter.
Should I take it?
A luxurious design that would look great in a café. Nobody was watching. I picked up the bottle and felt liquid sloshing inside.
"There's something in it."
I was incredibly thirsty, but I had no particular desire to drink it.
"But what's your problem?"
My heart was thrashing as if it were demanding I drink the thing. The house was so quiet that the pounding sounded even louder. And the weird part was that it didn't even feel bad.
Pop.
I pulled the cork free with a clean, refreshing sound. I sniffed it—nothing. No scent at all.
An odorless liquid.
"Fine. What's the worst that could happen."
After meeting that psycho yesterday, I'd earned a bit of a tough-heart buff. I downed the mystery liquid.
Gulp. Gulp.
"Mmm……."
I smacked my lips. No major change. No taste, either—just a slight strain behind my eyes.
Thump.
Quest: 'You Are a Diver (2)' completed.
Reward: Trade, Eye-Opening, 100 pt
Ah. So that was the Night Goddess's trace. I was about to check the Trade function I'd just received when—
"Finally. Someone who can see me has shown up."
"Whoaaaah! Who the hell are you?!"
"And who might you be, young man?"
I yelped and scrambled several steps backward. Then I took a good look at the old man standing in front of me.
"Turtle Hermit?"