Death Tastes Good?
How long had I been out cold?
My consciousness, which had been sinking into an endless sea, gradually rose back toward the surface.
I forced open eyelids that felt as heavy as lead.
And then… a delicious smell drifting over?
Gurgle-gurgle—
"Ah. Looks like you're awake."
When I sat up, the sight that greeted me was the others roasting mole-rat meat over a mana brazier and eating it.
"…Did I pass out?"
"Yes. You suddenly started acting strange and then collapsed."
What the hell?
The thought that I had to kill Han Myungoh had completely taken over my mind, and I had no memory of anything after that.
Come to think of it… some attribute had awakened…
"But why are you back to formal speech again?"
"W-what?"
"You know. When you were helping me earlier, you were talking casually."
…Had I done that?
"…I did that?"
"Yes. And you even called me by name."
I wanted to die.
Talking casually out of nowhere to a companion. To a woman, no less. And then I'd even passed out in the most pathetic way possible.
I wanted nothing more than to crawl under a blanket and thrash my legs in pure mortification.
"I don't really mind, though."
"…What?"
"I mean, just keep talking casually. I'll do the same."
This suddenly?
Is that okay?
Honestly, it was so abrupt that I was thrown completely off. I'd steeled myself to get chewed out for being rude, but that resolve became meaningless in an instant.
"You don't want to?"
"N-no, it's fine!"
"Pfft… What is that reaction."
She was pretty.
At what might have been the first genuine smile I'd ever seen from her, that thought slipped out unbidden.
"Then… from now on, I'll call you Dokja."
"Okay, Hayeon."
Thump—
My chest pounded.
Even when I'd been fighting the Darkness Watcher earlier, my heart hadn't raced like this. So why was it thrashing now?
"S-so, what have you all been doing this whole time?"
I changed the subject a little unnaturally. I had no choice. If I didn't, my heart felt like it would burst right then and there.
"Ah. We were eating the mole-rat meat."
"That monster?"
"Yes, it's surprisingly delicious. Want some, Hayeon?"
Dokja held out a perfectly cooked piece of meat to me.
Honestly, it was hard to refuse. The insane visual straight out of a manga, the smell that made my mouth water. And the extreme situation of having eaten nothing for days made the meat in front of me shine even brighter.
"Th-then… thanks for the meal!"
With a shout of determination, I took a huge bite of the meat in front of me.
"!!!!"
The insane flavor of the meat filling my mouth. The oil that smoothly coated my throat as it went down. The aftertaste lingering behind.
"Whoa…"
I tore into the meat like a madman. Because the first food I'd had in days was insanely delicious. In an instant, I left nothing but bones of the meat in front of me.
"Phew…"
"You were eating pretty frantically."
"Ah, well… I hadn't eaten anything for days."
"Still, eat a little slower. Look. You've got some on you."
Before I could even react, Dokja's hand came up to my mouth and wiped away a scrap of meat. At that touch, my heart, which had just started to calm down, started thrashing all over again.
Seriously… she had a talent for driving people crazy.
"A-anyway! Let's take the leftover meat and head back!"
"Heewon and Hyunsung will be waiting for us!"
"Pfft… Yeah. We should head back soon. Gilyoung. Are there any bugs left around here?"
"Nuna. About that…"
"There aren't any insects nearby at all."
Well, of course. No ordinary bug would be able to withstand the Darkness Watcher's presence.
"Not even one?"
"Well, actually… there is one I can call, but…"
Saying that, Gilyoung closed his eyes and started concentrating. Then he muttered something incomprehensible, and soon the ground began to shake.
"Dokja, Gilyoung's acting weird!"
"Gilyoung!"
"Gilyoung! Snap out of it!"
Gilyoung soon started nosebleeding as he summoned something.
This was dangerous.
"Gilyoung, snap out of it! Gilyoung!"
"Lee Gilyoung!!"
"Uh… Hyung? Nuna?"
"Gilyoung! Stop the skill! Hurry!"
Soon the vibrations died down as if Gilyoung had stopped the skill.
"Hoo…"
"That skill is sealed for a while. Don't use it until I say so. Got it?"
"Yeees…"
"We almost got buried alive…"
So… no useful bugs around…
Now it was Yoo Sangah's turn?
"Um…"
"If it's just about getting back, I think I can take Gilyoung's place."
"I have a similar skill, you see."
Then Yoo Sangah grasped a glowing thread that led into the cave.
"I'll take the lead, so everyone please hold onto this thread and follow me."
Saying that, Yoo Sangah strode ahead.
By the way, that black thing in Dokja's hand…
"Dokja."
"Hm?"
"What's that black thing?"
"Ah. Th-this?"
Kim Dokja fidgeted as if she'd been caught red-handed at something major.
"It's fine. Just tell me this one thing."
"…What?"
"That. It's not dangerous, right?"
"Huh? Yeah, it's not…"
"Then that's enough."
With that, I followed after the others who had already started ahead. Dokja, who had been spacing out for a moment, seemed to come to her senses and hurriedly started chasing after us.
How long had we walked?
We soon returned to the entrance of the burrow where Han Myungoh and Yoo Sangah had been kidnapped, and we handed the roasted mole-rat meat over to Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon.
"Wow, this is really delicious!"
"Eating that should help restore some of your energy."
What even is this guy?
While I was briefly pondering Bihyung, Jung Heewon spoke up.
"But it looks like you got a lot of items while you were gone? Besides the mana brazier…"
"Yeah, well…"
"We got a few."
Hah—
Crunch crunch crunch—
"…Is there anything I could use, by any chance?"
"Nope."
"What about that sword?"
"That's mine."
Got any popcorn?
"…You're going to share the meat with the people, right?"
"I'm going to charge coins for it."
"…That's petty."
"Let's just call it strong survival instinct. Well, we're here."
Just as Dokja said, we arrived at the station.
And the sight that greeted us was a station with a somewhat unsettled atmosphere.
20 minutes remaining until paid settlement.
Please prepare your survival fee.
"Kyaaaak!"
Ah, right.
There was the survival fee, wasn't there?
"Please give me some coins! My kid doesn't have any coins!!"
"Please, some coins…!"
"I'll definitely pay you back next time!"
"I'll give you a million won—no, ten million won! Someone sell me just 100 coins!"
People on the verge of death because they hadn't prepared their survival fee. And the sight of them thrashing about just to stay alive.
"Where's my sister who volunteered for the scouting party?!"
"I was supposed to get coins from my sister!"
"Hmm, where could she be? Go look carefully or something."
"What…?!"
"Are you sure she volunteered for the scouting party? Are you sure~?"
"Why don't you volunteer and go look for her yourself~"
"Those bastards…!"
It was clearly a wretched sight. A horrific sight. A scene I didn't want to look at.
And yet I felt no revulsion.
Probably because of the newly awakened attribute.
Attribute Urban Values.
It was currently dormant, but it seemed to be affecting me to some degree.
"Oh, Dokja! Hayeon! Perfect timing."
"Come to think of it, Dokja seemed to have a lot of coins…"
"How much was it again?"
And in an instant, Han Myungoh latched onto Cheon Inho.
I really should have killed him back then…
"C-coins?!"
"Who has a lot of coins?!"
The moment Cheon Inho finished speaking, the citizens rushed at us.
"D-Dokja, was it? P-please save us…!"
"Just 100 coins…! Please give us 100 coins!"
"Please help us just once, Hayeon…!"
"Just 100 coins, just 100 coins is enough! Please save us just once…!"
"Haha, Dokja. Hayeon."
"I don't have enough coins myself to help these poor people…"
"But aren't you two different? Are you just going to stand by and watch?"
That bat bastard.
Still trying to manipulate us with that silver tongue of his.
But.
"I see. You're asking for coins?"
"But."
"Why should I?"
"Why should I?"