Entity Hunt

The pond that had vanished suddenly filled up once more.

I wandered around, checking if any more explosions had occurred, and approached the nearby area.

The water was so clear and clean that I could see straight to the bottom, but not a single Magic Stone fragment remained inside.

It had exploded without leaving behind any clean dust.

If I had been nearby, I would have vanished cleanly along with the Magic Stone.

According to the posts, it was said to have averagedly torn people apart, but my world's mana far exceeded the average.

Its explosive power that could evaporate a pond one meter deep...

Of course, it wasn't exactly evaporation, but pushing, and it was close to that. This was an unimaginable level of power.

With this much, catching an Entity was no dream.

But the problem here was that I knew nothing about Entities.

It wasn't just that it wasn't a dream; I had no confidence that this alone would allow me to catch them.

When I encounter an Entity, I run away.

The trauma imprint in my brain made me unable to gauge how strong the Entity was.

It was better than fighting stupidly and feeling its strength with my life, but the situation was frustrating.

Well, with an explosion of this level, it wasn't meaningless to be optimistic about not dying in the Backrooms.

Just charging in and disappearing was instantaneous.

I wanted to believe the System didn't give impossible missions, but...

If possible, it would be nice if it had the difficulty similar to the main quest "Meet the closest survivor".

"Wait, how am I supposed to hunt a black monster that looks like it's at least 3 meters tall...?"

Before the difficulty issue, it was a fear issue.

If I had all modern weapons like guns and cannons, I wouldn't want to face such a monster.

Of course, living with monsters is even worse.

Every time I accidentally encounter them, I get at least 3 nightmares.

I let out a deep sigh.

I didn't want to fight that black monster, and it was appropriate to prepare thoroughly and fight after putting in a lot of time.

But in this situation where I live being chased in the same space as the Entities, I wanted to escape as soon as possible.

"What do I do...?"

My mind rapidly turned gloomy, so to cheer myself up by glancing at the community, I opened the System.

[Name: Jeong Ji-an / Gender: Male / World: Backrooms (Birth: Earth)]

[Guide]

[Inventory]

[Community]

[Exchange]

While clicking the Community button with a slight drag, I suddenly noticed one of the buttons I had left behind.

"Right, the guide said it would provide some kind of guidance, didn't it?"

According to the newbie tips I had seen earlier, the guide would lead me to the nearest person.

Of course, the main quest assumed the recovery of civilization and the existence of survivors.

But since the main quest had been localized so simply, I wondered if the System wouldn't provide a guide essential for conquering the Backrooms.

Like the Entity's weakness, or the location of a button that erases the Entity when pressed...

At the very least, it would be nice if it wasn't just "No survivors, so guidance is impossible" like some kind of garbage behavior.

It really shouldn't be.

Please.

When I pressed the guide button, the main quest appeared again, and as expected, additional functions began loading below it.

Some familiar message.

Why was it tracking? It had never said tracking was possible.

Ah... as expected.

The sad premonition had never been wrong...

Tracking complete.

Entity 5 confirmed location

(Grade: Danger)

(Remaining HP: 100/100, 100/100... [More])

(Attack Power: 1~20)

(Caution: Primal Fear)

There they were?

Because I had gotten too ahead of myself, after a moment I received a useful guide.

The sad premonition had been wrong in this case.

I had thought it was tracking the location of a dead survivor like looking for a missing child, but it was actually tracking Entities.

Moreover, this wasn't just location tracking; it provided simple information as well.

The caution about primal fear was something I could have guessed anyway.

I had no idea how strong the grade, HP, and attack power were, but it still seemed useful.

More importantly, the locations of the Entities.

When I looked at the map provided by the System, it showed the approximate positions and expected movement paths of the Entities.

Yes, this was enough to give me chills.

From now on, I would no longer tremble in fear not knowing where the Entities were.

"These guys aren't moving toward me at all. They ignored most of the sounds from earlier."

The explosion in the water had burst like it was pushing the entire water away, so it couldn't have been a small sound.

A momentary, almost ear-shattering sound had swept through the entire Backrooms.

Now, having half-cleared my status as a dog-like fugitive, the time for Entity hunting had almost infinitely expanded!

However, that hope didn't last long and was immediately dashed.

"Is the map zooming in?"

At the end of the map that had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been vaguely finished, I pulled it slightly, thinking there might be an end to the Backrooms too.

It smoothly reduced in size.

Even after pulling it once, the end of the map was still vaguely finished, just like before.

It meant I needed to zoom out much more.

Zoom out.

Zoom out.

Zoom out.

By continuously zooming out, the size finally reached its limit, and there was no end to the Backrooms.

It was just a space labeled ??? that surrounded the Backrooms.

It was as if there was something there, but blocked.

Moreover, this map was reduced by almost 1,000 to 10,000 times compared to the original map I had seen.

The Entities that had seemed randomly placed on the original map were actually clustered in one point from the Backrooms' perspective.

Centered around me, too.

Goosebumps rose all over my body.

Those monster guys were circling nearby with some distance, as if watching me.

Now, the expected movement paths that had seemed random looked like they were circling me.

If, hypothetically, these Entities approached me all at once, what would happen?

A tight encirclement would form.

My whole body trembled.

"Quickly... quickly catch them..."

Until I hunted all the Entities, I would probably have nightmares every day.

"Huu... Calm down. They don't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seem to be approaching me, so I need to think of a way to hunt them as fast as possible."

The positive side about catching Entities was that they had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠HP.

It meant they weren't cheat monsters that ignored appearance and only dealt damage.

The negative side was whether that 100 HP was a lot or little.

I could explode a Magic Stone and catch them in one shot, or even if I did, it might only consume 0.1 HP.

And to check this...

"I have to try exploding one myself."

Without a comparison group, this was the only method.

With 5 Magic Stones received and 2 used, 3 remained.

Since I could almost certainly get more through exchange, there was nothing to worry about.

"But doing it right now is a bit..."

It was a life-or-death matter, and charging in blindly seemed to require a lot of preparation.

Still, there was a method I had decided on.

Think about it. What was the real reason that monster was scary?

Because it wanted to kill me, because it wanted to attack me.

Even the primal fear thing, I decided to skip that for now.

Then what should I do?

"I need to equip armor."

Since I had attack, I would pour everything into defense.

Since I didn't know the Entity's attack power level either, I would prepare evasion along with armor.

A means of rapid escape faster than anyone else after testing.

This was the first step for Entity hunting.

Now that I had decided what to get, how to get it was clear.

Through exchange, of course?

Without hesitation, I went out and clicked the exchange button.

Everyone was still actively exchanging.

Sometimes people sold armor, and there were those selling cars or speedy shoes, people selling useful ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠things.

However, this alone was not enough to entrust my life.

What I realized this time was that ultimately, exchange was about swapping what you don't need for what you do need.

First, keep what you really need and important things, then put the rest that aren't needed on the exchange.

In other words, to take out something deep in the treasure chest, you had to present the item first.

And to take out something you've protected with your life, the presented item had to be of equal value.

Air had been a test.

Since there weren't many hours left until exchange was possible, I had to post first while waiting.

"I wonder how far I'll be able to take out."