How Am I Supposed to Survive My Real Life?
Tarte had survived to the farthest point possible, having been chased by the Deer God itself. When she rejoined the rest of the party, all three teammates were already gathered.
“You made it out alive.”
“I told you we’d figure something out.”
The party’s mage, Ninejibdaepokpal, let out a whistle of admiration.
Tarte offered a small, gentle smile in return.
At first there had been no plan at all, but surviving was the only thing that mattered.
A good thing was a good thing.
“I picked up some magic along the way. Honestly, the journey was brutal.”
“That’s great.”
Daepokpal’s eyes practically begged for details, but Tarte simply didn’t provide any.
“No, since we don’t even know when the Deer God will appear again, we should get out of the forest first.”
Tarte didn’t ask the similarly soaked and battered Geomseong about his story, nor the seemingly unscathed Muraebae.
< lol lol lol lol lol lol>
“Sir Muraebae, did you happen to find anything in the forest?”
Just in case, Tarte sent a message to Muraebae through the chat.
The rare item-hoarder appeared, showing off a whole pile of loot.
“Equipment I picked up while avoiding monsters.”
‘Even if I chased treasure chests until I dropped, I’d never be able to carry this much.’
Should I pretend I got caught trying to take it all myself?
Or, like I said earlier, should I just assume they haven’t told me because I never asked?
“From now on, if you find anything that catches your eye, report it to me immediately.”
Muraebae was the one who had appointed Tarte as party leader.
Tarte quickly composed and input the command.
“Understood.”
Tarte distributed the new gear among the party.
Greaves that protected the shins to the knees went to Geomseong.
A throwing knife was given to Muraebae.
The mysterious ring that raised mana went to Daepokpal.
The last remaining item was the long sword.
Tarte hesitated.
‘Normally I should give it to the warrior Geomseong.’
But she had the strange feeling that she, herself, would make the best use of this particular thing.
Besides, her own basic weapon—the prayer blade—had been lost when she threw it at the Deer God and failed to retrieve it.
If combat started right now, she’d have to fight with nothing but her hands.
After much thought, Tarte made her decision.
“I’ll hold onto this sword for the time being.”
The birth of the sword-wielding priestess had begun.
“Now, let’s head back to the village. We need rest and supplies.”
The journey back was dull for the viewers watching from afar.
For those walking it themselves, however, tension was constant—wondering where the next threat would strike and whether new enemies would appear.
Every step drained both stamina and mental focus.
When they finally reached the village, three out of four party members were completely exhausted.
Only one remained untouched—Muraebae.
‘Is that just part of the thief’s nature? Specializing in movement and scouting?’
As leader, Tarte felt the responsibility to understand each member’s abilities and specialties.
Her private mental notebook was filled with notes about them all.
“I’ll go see the village elder and report that I met the Druid. You three look for an inn.”
The Druid had already promised to gather the relic from them, so there might be no need to share the news with the villagers.
But the villagers were the ones most directly tied to the forest deity’s fate.
Tarte decided she had to report progress anyway.
“They must have started that fire! Or one of you purge factions did it!”
“There’s no evidence. It could’ve been lightning.”
The area in front of the elder’s house had turned into a full battlefield.
Fortunately, the villagers who had grown up together here were all close relatives, so it hadn’t escalated into bloodshed.
Still, the atmosphere was so charged it felt like anyone could throw a punch at any moment.
“Outsider!”
A young villager’s shout drew every eye in the village straight to Tarte.
More than twenty gazes locked onto her at once, and Tarte felt a genuine weight settle on her shoulders.
“I met the Forest Druid.”
“The Druid, sir!”
“Yeah, there’s a way?”
The purification-faction elders rushed forward, ready to tackle her.
“To purify the Deer God, we have to pass the Wolf God and Bear God trials and collect the relic.”
“There’s a way! Thank goodness, thank goodness.”
“But those trials won’t be easy.”
“Pilgrim! I mean, savior of the village!”
Tarte had gone from simple pilgrim to “save the village” hero status after nothing more than meeting the Druid.
Of course, during the process she had been chased by bears, nearly swallowed by wildfire, and nearly trampled to death by the Deer God itself.
Thinking about it now, Tarte realized that being called a savior in words alone wasn’t enough.
“Alright, if you believe me, give me a proper reward. I was almost killed by the Deer God earlier.”
This time she received not just herbs but refined potions, heirloom treasures, bows, and arrows from the village elders.
“Alright, alright. You’ve earned it.”
She was right to come back with the middle report.
Tarte nodded, turned, and headed back toward the village.
There was only one small inn in the village.
Muraebae had already returned to the exact spot they had parted ways and was waiting.
While walking to the inn, Muraebae explained that she had secured three rooms.
One for Tarte, one for Daepokpal and Geomseong, and one for herself.
‘Money is tight, but sharing a room with men…’
Tarte, who had once been a man but was now a beautiful girl, found the thought strange.
More eyes would be watching.
Then separate rooms for men and women?
Or had Muraebae simply decided based on their pre-Tower friendship?
Maybe the innkeeper had forced three rooms because the inn only offered two-person units.
Still, Tarte had no intention of broadcasting her complicated thoughts across the entire world.
People were watching no matter what.
The pressure of gazes was unavoidable.
“The inn has privacy mode activated, so the broadcast is stopped.”
“Really?”
It was real.
[Privacy mode applied. Broadcast transmission halted.]
The moment Tarte stepped inside, the chat froze and the message appeared.
After all, twenty-four-hour monitoring was impossible.
They couldn’t even change clothes.
What about the bathroom?
Tarte gave thanks to the Demon’s mercy.
“Now I can finally talk without worrying about being watched.”
“Everyone watching is a real concern,” Geomseong replied.
As before, B Team had known each other in real life.
The reason they spoke sparingly about the Tower and its scenarios was simple: they refused to let anyone’s personal information leak to the world.
They only mentioned the Tower and the scenarios, nothing more.
“Does anyone have any idea why we were summoned to the Tower?”
The inn was exactly what one would expect from a fantasy world.
A simple meal could be had on the first floor, and several bedrooms were available on the upper levels.
The four of them sat around a table in the dining area, ordering food and beginning their conversation.
Daepokpal, the mage, was the first to ask.
“Could the Demon have found our party’s first clear run entertaining?”
Tarte asked back.
What was a “party’s first clear run”?
It was the shortened form of “first clear run.”
It referred to the endless attempts made by parties or raiding groups to defeat the updated boss as quickly as possible.
None of them had been a streamer, but Geomseong had kept a first-clear-run broadcast open for limited viewers.
“It’s not impossible,” he said. “Considering the weird nature of that Demon.”
Daepokpal agreed.
“The Demon could’ve just decided to mess with our lives because the broadcast was interesting.”
Daepokpal finally vented the frustration he had been holding in and turned to the others.
“So, how are we supposed to handle real life? The outside world didn’t stop when we came here.”
It was the most important question of all.