Falling (2)
Falling (2)
I did lie about my Skill, but I wasn't lying about being good with a sword.
Back on Earth. I trained by swinging a sword every single day.
No matter what else, I was confident that no one my age could handle a sword better than me.
"So what about you guys? Doesn't matter if it's combat-useful or not. We'll find a way to use it somehow."
Deokgu said that as he asked the kids about their Abilities. That's when one girl raised her hand.
"It's an Ability to manipulate ice."
"You can fight with it, right?"
"Probably."
Seoyun, who had been top of the school, said that, and Deokgu nodded like he got it and sent her and Han-young over to me.
"Take good care of them."
"Yeah."
"Why the hell do I have to listen to that asshole...?"
Me, who was good with swords; Seoyun, who awakened the Ice Manipulation Ability; and Han-young, who awakened Super Strength.
We gathered three people, but no more fighters showed up. Naturally, Deokgu tilted his head like something was off.
"Why is it only this many...?"
"Oh, mine makes my hands twice as fast."
"...Is that really your Ability?"
"That's what I said. What, you think I'm bullshitting?"
"...No. Fine. Whatever."
As I looked around at the kids' faces, I realized one thing. Just like I hid my Ability, the kids could hide theirs too.
And obviously, after just watching a friend die, very few people would step up to fight that monster.
Unless their Ability was already out in the open and they couldn't hide it.
Or they had some reason to lie about it.
Or...
'They've got hearts of steel that don't give a shit about something like that.'
Seoyun had rumors even back at school that ice ran through her veins instead of blood—a total cold-blooded type. She wouldn't bat an eye if a few class delinquents she wasn't even close to dropped dead.
She probably stepped up and revealed her Ability for the same reason. A monster like that didn't scare her one bit.
"But three is a bit few..."
"I'll go."
"Huh?"
Deokgu snapped his head down at the voice. Eunha, who barely reached his waist, had her hand raised.
"No, but..."
"It's fine. My Ability is [Pain Immunity]... As long as I don't die, the Class President can heal me, right? Right, Class President?"
"Huh? Yeah... I guess, but..."
Eunha said that and started walking over to us. I didn't know how much help a girl around 150cm would be, but one thing was for sure.
'These fuckers are total trash.'
Eunha was the smallest girl in our group. Not just height-wise—her weight probably didn't even hit 40kg.
Yet this little girl was stepping up to fight with an Ability that wasn't even useful in combat, while kids twice her size and weight were avoiding eye contact.
"Alright then! These four will go, but first... Everyone, strip."
"What?"
The girls freaked out at Deokgu's words, clutching their chests. The boys' faces turned ugly too.
But Deokgu said it with a face like he had zero interest in 3D girls.
"What else? Take off your padding jackets. I'm gonna sell 'em. Oh, hand over your smartphones too."
"B-But these cost over a million won..."
"So? If we don't sell this shit, we got nothing. You ain't sending the kids out empty-handed, right?"
Hearing that, I immediately pretended to take off my padding jacket. Now that I thought about it, the guy had a point.
'This dude... smarter than he looks.'
No matter how good their Abilities were, sending them out armed versus bare-handed made a huge psychological difference.
He wasn't even going himself, but thinking like this? Maybe he was more capable than he let on.
After that, Deokgu sold off the padding jackets and smartphones and took us four to the Adventurer Guild.
We got a little lost at first, but with his info Ability, finding the guild was like using GPS.
He pointed at us at the guild counter and said whatever, and the Guild Staff's eyes lit up as they welcomed us.
"You're Skill Holders? Welcome!"
The Guild Staff handed us four small badges. Then we rented weapons with the remaining money.
"What weapons you guys want?"
"One-handed sword. Longer than 60cm but under a meter."
"Anything."
"Huge hammer."
"...Dagger."
I got a sword, Seoyun a long staff, Han-young a hammer, and Eunha a tiny dagger.
With light leather armor on top of our weapons, we followed Deokgu's directions to the Dungeon entrance where monsters came out.
Deokgu handed over a map at the entrance and said,
"Floor 1 has no traps, just Goblins. This is the map for Floor 1."
"Got it. Thanks."
"Goblins are worth about 8,000 won each in our currency. Eleven of us gotta eat and sleep, so catch at least fifty."
"That's a lot. How we hauling fifty bodies?"
"They drop a stone when they die. Just bring those."
"That's it?"
"Yeah. We'll figure out how to survive in the city too... Don't die."
"You guys hang in there too."
With that, we headed into the cave. To hunt the monsters hiding underground.
They call the underground caves where monsters come out Dungeons.
According to Deokgu's Ability, they've been called that for so long no one knows when it started.
Modern people who entered the Dungeon all agreed the name fit perfectly.
'Can't see shit.'
This place was an underground prison. One where they failed at managing the prisoners.
The prisoners had revolted, coiled up, waiting for the guards.
An underworld filled with malice.
I raised the rod Deokgu gave me. Intense light shot out from the Magic Stone embedded at the tip.
But the light didn't spread far before the darkness swallowed it. Like the darkness had substance, devouring the light.
'Visibility's about... 3.5 meters? Not quite 4.'
My field of view wasn't wide. Thanks to that, my other senses started sharpening to compensate for sight.
"Fuck... why the hell are we doing this shit."
"Quiet."
"What? You ignoring me too? 'Cause I listened to that Deokgu fucker, I look like cannon fodder?"
Han-young, now inside the Dungeon, started venting. I sighed pitifully at him.
"Shut up. Sound echoes. You gonna kill all the monsters if they swarm?"
"Fuck, I'll kill 'em!"
"With that arm that turns to shit after one swing?"
"...Fuck. This is such bullshit."
Han-young finally shut up and moved forward. Muttering under his breath wasn't pleasant, but at least he controlled it a bit.
But the group's steps didn't last long. Probably hearing Han-young yell, rustling footsteps started coming from all directions.
Familiar footsteps. Goblins. At the sound, Han-young clamped his mouth shut and gripped his hammer handle tight.
"Kiruk?"
When a Goblin poked its head out at the 4-meter mark, tilting it, Han-young charged and raised his hammer.
"Die, you fuckmeat—!!"
Kwaaaang-!
A 2-meter-long, 30cm-diameter, 100kg sledgehammer. Han-young hoisted it overhead and smashed down on the Goblin.
By the formula of mass times velocity equals destructive power, the Goblin was obliterated, not even leaving a corpse behind.
"See that? See that, fuck yeah!"
Just one swing, and Han-young was panting as he lifted the hammer again. Then he showed off his perfectly fine arm.
I passed him and checked the corpse.
No body where the Goblin had been—no bones even. Just the stone Deokgu mentioned, sitting there alone. A Magic Stone.
"Hey, grab that."
Ignoring Han-young's order, I picked up the Magic Stone and put it in my bag.
'This little thing's worth 8,000 won?'
Bitter smile at the fact we'd need dozens to scrape by for a day.
'We've got these cheat Abilities, so we catch 'em easy... but normally, these aren't pushovers.'
Armed with blades. Even with armor, there's gaps. The enemies are small and nimble enough to exploit them.
Dozens swarming at once.
Yeah, dozens...
'Wait, why just one?'
The first time they faced Goblins, dozens attacked at once. But now, only one.
Feeling the weirdness, I walked forward, and there they were—dozens of Goblins impaled on Ice Pillars, waiting for us.
"...What the hell."
"Wow—how many is that."
Seeing the Ice Pillars, I turned to Seoyun. She said flatly with an expressionless face,
"Figured I could do it, so I did."
Seoyun said. Her words reminded me of her Ability.
「Ice Manipulation Ability」
Han-young, with his Super Strength Ability, wiped out dozens of Goblins in one attack.
So, the other kids with Abilities could do the same.
Seoyun did just that.
"Kieeeek!"
A Goblin impaled on the Ice Pillar groaned loudly. But it was pointless. All the surrounding Goblins were skewered too.
I drew my sword and approached the Goblins.
'Figures. No spotlight for me.'
With just being decent with a sword, no chance to show off.
So all I could do was the grunt work the kids with powerful Abilities wouldn't bother with.
Puk-
The sharp longsword dug deep into a Goblin's neck. It gurgled and rolled its eyes before dying and turning into a Magic Stone.
I picked up the fallen stone and checked the remaining Goblins.
"A lot..."
At least we wouldn't fall short of today's quota. I slowly stabbed each one's neck one by one.
Beep beep beep beep!
A sharp electronic tone rang from my wristwatch. I shut off the alarm and checked the time.
It was the rendezvous time I'd promised Deokgu.
"Already?"
Han-young, now decent at controlling his strength, spun his wrist and asked.
I nodded and let him know it was that time.
"If we're late, no exchanging."
"True. Let's go."
Han-young took the lead. After smashing over ten Goblins, he'd blown off all his daily stress, walking with surprisingly light steps.
Seoyun looked unfazed despite massacring dozens, while Eunha—who'd done nothing—had a stiff, tense face.
"You okay?"
"...Yeah."
When I approached and asked, she glanced at my face then looked at the ground to answer. It stung a bit, but I laughed it off with a "Good then" and went back.
Since none of us four were that close, the way back was oppressively quiet.
We finally exited the Dungeon and caught our breath, looking up at the sky.
'Whoa—this is pretty.'
Countless stars adorned the night sky. Something you couldn't see easily in the polluted modern world.
If I had a smartphone, I'd snap a pic to keep, but we'd sold off smartphones and most modern stuff long ago.
How long did I spend stargazing? Deokgu and the Class President came out smiling to greet us.
"Yo, our heroes! Good trip? No injuries?"
"If you're hurt, say so. I'll heal you."
"No injuries... Abilities are more broken than expected."
"Well, yeah. They're cheat Abilities."
Deokgu grinned and asked about today's haul. I honestly told him the number of Magic Stones we got, and he was mildly shocked, not expecting that much.
"Ooh, impressive. Let's head to the guild, exchange, and hit the inn."
"You booked rooms?"
"Yeah. Top-class inn with baths."
We went to the guild, exchanged the money, and headed to the inn Deokgu led us to. The inn's first floor was a tavern. Adventurers fresh from exploring chugging booze noisily.
And right in the middle of that tavern. Ga-hee, with her hair in braids, was lightly singing.
"No way, why's Rae singing here...?"
Han Ga-hee, the idol trainee who skipped school all the time. Even in this changed world, her looks and singing didn't suck—she had people drinking booze with her song as a side dish.
"Heh, told you she found work upstairs?"
Deokgu smiled. Her Ability charmed anyone who heard her sing, and combining that with her trainee vocals made this a no-brainer.
I looked at Deokgu after hearing that. Dude was way too competent no matter how I sliced it. Made me wonder why he was just giggling at anime in school.
"Hey, where's my room? Wanna wash up and crash."
"Oh, Seoyun. Sorry. Rooms are from the innermost one, pick whichever fifth or whatever you like..."
"Innermost. I'll take it solo."
Thud. Seoyun left those words and went inside. Deokgu looked dumbfounded, like he hadn't seen this coming.
"Ooh, what? Solo room jackpot. Guess I'll take the fifth?"
"No, wait..."
"What, we risked our lives out there, and you can't hook us up?"
"...Fine, got it."
Han-young said that and headed up to the second floor. Deokgu gave a "no way" look and turned to me and Eunha.
I smiled and said,
"...So where's our room?"
"Dojin. We're bros from now on."
"The fuck outta here suddenly."
I shoved off Deokgu trying to hug me outta nowhere and grabbed a table for dinner.
Click.
Seoyun entered the innermost room, locked the door, and for good measure, froze the doorknob solid with her Ability.
Confirming no one was watching, she stripped off her clothes and headed to the bathroom in the room.
A foggy mirror, a basin of water, and a toilet swarming with slimes greeted her.
'Lame...'
She just quickly washed her face at the sink, then spotted a large wooden tub and small basin deeper in the bathroom.
A countryside-style bathtub. She frowned slightly and left the bathroom.
Dropped from a modern world full of luxuries into the Otherworld overnight. All sorts of inconveniences hit her, but the most annoying by far was...
'Why's my body so hot?'
Right after entering the Dungeon. More precisely, after starting to use her Ability, the low-grade fever tormenting her.
If it was a pounding headache fever, she'd chalk it up to a cold, but it wasn't.
'My whole body's burning up.'
Especially her lower belly throbbing and scorching. She knew exactly what that meant. She wasn't a kid.
But at the same time, knowing the reaction only made her more confused.
In the end, she spent the night groaning internally.