Adapting
“H-how are we supposed to handle this now, boss?”
“If I knew that, do you think I’d be standing around like this?”
The shock from earlier still hadn’t worn off.
As I snapped irritably, Park Deokgu started glancing at me warily in silence.
Since the incident at the Start Point, I’d kept speaking casually, and yet he hadn’t said a word about it. Apparently, he’d decided to accept my dropping the honorifics.
“For now, we don’t even know exactly where this place is. We need to look around first.”
“You mean… go outside?”
“Not right now.”
“T-then you mean we’ll go outside someday?”
“I just said not right now.”
This was a hidden chamber we’d barely found inside what felt like a maze.
It was a little cramped for the two of us, but not bad. At least, it seemed like we could secure some minimum level of safety here.
Water, food, and weapons.
I didn’t know how long we’d be able to hold out, but we could survive for a while. The real problem was how long that “while” would be, and whether this place was truly safe.
There was far too much to think about.
“I really didn’t think something like this would happen….”
“You saw the status windows and the monsters. This isn’t a hologram, and it sure as hell isn’t a game. This is real. I’d be happier if it were a dream, honestly.”
“Gghh….”
What we were dealing with was reality, plain and simple. I wasn’t mentioning what had happened at the Start Point, but I had seen people die with my own eyes, and I’d seen those indescribable monsters come storming in.
Denial wouldn’t change anything.
“T-that woman definitely said something about the tutorial goal being survival, didn’t she? I-I think that’s what she said… If that’s true, then if we just hide here long enough….”
“It’s not that simple.”
“What else is there?”
“The problem is that we can’t tell how long this situation is going to last. We’ve got food and water, sure, but it’s barely enough to survive a week. And there’s no guarantee this place is safe. For all we know, the place we’re hiding in now could be those monsters’ shelter.”
“R-really?”
“That’s just a way of speaking. And even if we somehow make it out of the tutorial… what are you planning to do after that?”
“W-what do you mean?”
“I can’t say for sure, but once the tutorial ends, we’re supposed to go to someplace called the continent. In other words, there’s a chance we’re headed for conditions so bad this dungeon will feel like heaven by comparison. There’s no guarantee the place we enter after leaving here will be any safer than this one. Simply surviving isn’t enough.”
The guy shut his mouth tight. He couldn’t deny what I was saying.
Of course, nobody could know what lay ahead. But if the woman was telling the truth and we really had been chosen as players to save the continent, then this wasn’t the end.
We might have to face those monsters again and again. We might even have to fight other humans. And there could be even worse situations waiting for us after that.
“If we just curl up and wait here, it’ll still be the same story once we leave. We’ll die either way.”
“D-do you have some other idea, then?”
“We fight.”
“Those monsters?”
“Have you ever played a game?”
“W-who in the world hasn’t?”
“Status windows, stats, titles, gear, classes. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Let’s say we’re inside a game. What would we need to do?”
“I don’t know….”
“Level up. That’s what we need to do. We have to get strong enough to protect ourselves. Move our bodies, kill monsters, raise our stats, and if that woman was right, we can even get classes. Traits should open up too. It’ll be tough, but if we get to that point, we won’t have to keep running from those monsters anymore.”
“Ah….”
“We’ve already got swords and shields, and we managed to bring water and food too, even while running. We’re a little better off than most people.”
“B-but still….”
As expected, he wasn’t happy about going outside.
Honestly, most people would feel the same. Who in the world would want to run into those monsters that ate human beings?
But we didn’t have a choice. If we fell behind, we’d be eaten. We wouldn’t survive.
“Think about it that way.”
“Is there even an answer here?”
“If there isn’t one, we make it.”
If there’s no answer, then we make one. No, the answer is actually simpler than that.
“We can kill them.”
“And how are we supposed to beat monsters that eat people?”
Come to think of it, they weren’t unbeatable.
I couldn’t remember anything from the first battle. Everyone had been too terrified as the monsters swarmed in from all sides.
But my hands still remembered the feeling.
The sickening sensation of a spear driving in. I hadn’t even put my full strength into it. And yet my spear had pierced through the bastard’s skin far too easily.
They were just monsters. We’d only been terrified—panicked by creatures we’d never seen before, and lost the will to fight.
I’d done it. Park Deokgu had done it. Everyone there had been the same.
They’re not unbeatable.
When I thought about it calmly, they really weren’t impossible opponents.
“We need to think simply. As simply as possible.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying we need to stop trembling in fear and look at them for what they are. Of course it won’t be easy. My body’s shaking right now too, and I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do. You too. Me too. But unless we’re surrounded or jumped from behind, we’ve got a chance. Their skin is soft, and they’re not exactly gifted in the movement department. None of the ones chasing us kept up. They all dropped off somewhere in the middle. People died at that so-called Start Point because they were outnumbered, plain and simple. And because they were too scared to respond properly.”
Nothing was certain until I saw it with my own eyes.
Still, I was pretty sure my guess was right.
Compared to human bodies, the only thing they had over us was bite strength and claws.
In raw physical ability, we might actually be superior.
Unlike those things charging us bare-handed, we had spears and swords. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say we had the edge in almost every way.
“If we stay calm, we can win.”
The problem was that Park Deokgu, big as he was, didn’t seem to be living up to his size.
Even after I finished explaining, he kept swallowing nervously.
What a frustrating bastard.
That was when it happened.
“Gek.”
A voice came from somewhere.
It was only natural that I drew a sharp breath.
Not just me—Park Deokgu beside me sucked in a breath too.
“Gek!”
I had no idea whether they simply didn’t live in groups, or whether this one had been separated from its pack.
But I could hear it.
“Is this really where those things live?”
Shit…
I couldn’t help cursing inwardly.
Can I do this?
We were going to have to face one of them sooner or later anyway.
My heart felt like someone was pounding on it with a club, but I bit down hard on my lip.
If I backed off here, we’d be dead and gone for nothing.
[Checking the status window of the monster, Gluttonous Maw.]
[Name: None]
[Title: None. You’ll need to work harder.]
[Age: 5]
[Disposition: Instinct]
[Class: Unemployed]
[Stats]
[Strength: 11]
[Agility: 15]
[Stamina: 14]
[Durability: 12]
[Luck: 10]
[Mana: 00]
The monster’s information, visible through the narrow crack, floated in my field of vision.
It works.
This ability activated against monsters too.
That was good news, at least.
I can win.
What I needed to overcome was fear.
I hadn’t been able to see it clearly before, but it was definitely disgusting. Setting aside the naked upper and lower body, that green eye, the jutting jaw, and those teeth were offensive enough to make me nauseous.
My mind kept replaying the image of those jaws and teeth sinking into the throat of that nameless woman.
Still.
The stats were terrible.
Mine weren’t exactly stellar either, but this thing’s numbers were even lower than I’d imagined.
At that level, I could do it.
My grip on the spear tightened without meaning to.
Park Deokgu looked at me anxiously, but I had no intention of running.
I had to show him that we could win.
“A-aren’t we supposed to stay here?”
“……”
I didn’t bother answering.
My back was already slick with sweat. My hands and legs were shaking uncontrollably.
Damn it….
One mistake and I’d die. Probably die.
But we couldn’t stay like this forever. I didn’t know when, but we were inevitably going to collide with these bastards.
“If we don’t go out, we’ll die anyway.”
I held my breath once, then shot out into the open.
“Gek!”
Shit!
I’d expected it to notice me once I got a certain distance away, but it was faster than I thought.
Of course I meant to swing my spear the moment I moved.
But my hand wouldn’t obey me. My body had frozen with fear.
“Aaaaagh!”
In the end, I could only scream like a man possessed and thrust the spear toward the thing’s head as it came at me.
As if it had predicted the attack, the monster ducked instantly.
It wasn’t easy to redirect the spear’s path. With my trembling hand, I forced another downward thrust, and by sheer luck the spear sank into its shoulder.
“Geeeeek!”
Thwack!
The horrifying sensation almost made me let go of the weapon, but there was no time to stand there stupidly.
“Aaaah!”
I shoved the spear straight into the wall, pinning the monster there with it.
I grimaced at the sight of it writhing, but I grabbed the stone beside me and started smashing its head with everything I had.
Its thrashing claws scratched me, but I didn’t feel any pain.
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”
Crack!
The weird mucus and blood splattering onto my hands and body made my skin crawl.
My arm wouldn’t stop swinging.
“Damn it!”
Crack!
“Die!”
Crack!
“Geeeeek….”
Crash!
“Huff….”
It wasn’t until its face had been reduced to a bloody pulp that I finally put down the huge rock in my hand.
“Huff… huff….”
My heart was racing, and I couldn’t calm down. My arm was coated in some liquid I couldn’t tell was the monster’s saliva or blood.
Killing a living creature was a first for me.
My jaw trembled as I met Park Deokgu’s eyes through the narrow gap.
His eyes were wide with shock.
He hadn’t really believed I could do it.
Truth be told, I could hardly believe it myself.
Effect:Strength stat has increased by 1.
The result matched my expectations.
When I curved my lips into a grin, the guy cautiously spoke up.
“W-well, what’s your name?”
“Lee Kiyoung.”
“C-can I call you Brother Kiyoung?”
Instead of answering, I gave a small nod.
Looking at the man watching me with strange eyes, I met his gaze straight on and went on.
“If I can do it, you can too. No—maybe you can do even better.”
“I think I understand what you mean, Brother Kiyoung. Leave it to me. What do we do now?”
Looks like I’d picked up a decent enough ally.
There was still plenty to do.
Staring at him, I opened my mouth.
“First, let’s get you out of the unemployed category.”
We get a class. That’s the first step.
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