The Innkeeper's Warning and the Witch's Hideout

“Good day to you.”

The innkeeper greeted him with a nod, and Ryu Hwi returned a slight bow.

“Sorry about the room—I rented it and left it sitting empty for a long while.”

Time flowed inside a game labyrinth even while the renter was away in the real world. At least ten days would have passed by now.

“Eh, no trouble as long as the coin keeps coming. You're one of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those from the outside, aren't you... a Gamer?”

“I am.”

“Gamers like you have a habit of vanishing for long stretches before they come back. Some never come back at all. That's why I only take long-term bookings from Gamers for up to twenty days.”

It wasn't just here, either. Every inn in every town had the same policy.

A single day in the real world amounted to ten, sometimes twenty days inside a game labyrinth.

The 'twenty-day cap on long-term stays' was a constraint born of simple necessity—an innkeeper couldn't leave rooms empty forever for renters who might never return.

It wasn't some stingy design choice by Latia, the creators of World of Phantasm. It was a rule the residents living in this world had come up with on their own.

“You look like you've only just arrived, so take an old woman's advice if you like—get yourself registered at the government office first, before anything else.”

“Thank you for the advice.”

Stepping out of the inn, the village came into view.

True to its classic RPG roots, the setting's foundation was medieval—or rather, not the Middle Ages of actual history, but a fantasy vision of them. Architecture and clothing that could never have existed in the real medieval era were everywhere the eye turned.

Villagers were out and about, and they kept glancing sideways at Ryu Hwi, wary and guarded.

The YggON he'd left in his room came chasing after him.

Since no one else could see it, none of the villagers found the hovering device strange.

“YggON, I distinctly remember you telling me that labyrinth residents can recognize Gamers on sight.”

[Affirmative. There is no outward difference, but they know the moment they look at you.]

“Figures.”

The villagers' gazes were anything but friendly.

Ryu Hwi considered it only fair.

He knew exactly what Gamers had been capable of.

Plenty of them treated this place as nothing more than a 'game,' and ran wild with every manner of degeneracy. Some massacred labyrinth residents for fun. Some used them as bait, as tools, as playthings.

With virtually no restrictions on how a Gamer could play, they did whatever they pleased—never realizing that one day, those same actions would come back around to squeeze their own throats.

“Well then. Time to test out the mods, I suppose.”

Besides Probability Manipulation, Ryu Hwi had installed two additional mods. The moment he ran one of them, new information surfaced across his field of vision.

“Oh, this is nice.”

World of Phantasm offered its own map-drawing feature, but system-provided maps had their limits—so much so that some Gamers took to charting their own dedicated maps by hand.

This mod handled all that tedious work on the spot. The instant Ryu Hwi perceived something, it was logged onto the map as data.

Conversely, he could erase any information he decided was useless.

Checking his map as he walked, Ryu Hwi followed the neatly paved road. With every step, new entries appeared on the 'map' spread across his vision.

Before long, a plaza came into view.

Something had stirred up quite a commotion there, but it was none of Ryu Hwi's concern, and he headed straight for the government office.

Not far from the plaza stood a massive building whose style belonged less to the Middle Ages than to the early modern era.

He confirmed the label marked 'Government Office' on his map and walked straight in.

“Welcome. Are you here for Gamer registration?”

The receptionist greeted Ryu Hwi with a smile.

But her eyes weren't smiling at all.

It was a look he'd seen plenty of since becoming an Unknown.

The look reserved for criminals—or for something dangerous.

“Upon registering as a Gamer, you will be issued an identity card. Without one, a Gamer's activities throughout World of Phantasm will be heavily restricted. We ask for your understanding.”

The innkeeper hadn't sent him here first for no reason. Because labyrinth residents didn't trust Gamers, this was their way of clapping a shackle on them in the form of an 'identity card.'

“Once your identity card is issued, your name will be shared across all of World of Phantasm. Please take care never to have your registration revoked.”

Registration was finished in no time.

The receptionist handed over a card bearing Ryu Hwi's name.

Her cold gaze made him click his tongue inwardly.

Why should he have to be treated like this because of other idiots' doing?

It was the same in the real world and the same in the labyrinth.

It had been someone else who dragged down the world's estimation of Ryu Hwi.

Swallowing the anxiety and fury that fact ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stirred in him, he took the card.

“And finally, one last piece of advice... no, rather, a notice.”

The receptionist opened her mouth after reviewing the documents containing Ryu Hwi's information.

“There have been a lot of problems lately because of the migrants. Please take care not to stir up trouble carelessly.”

“Migrants?”

“You'll understand if I say they're people who immigrated from other game labyrinths. Three months ago, a labyrinth called Space Alien was terminated, you see.”

Labyrinth Termination.

It meant that the labyrinth ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in question would vanish from Yggdrasil entirely.

The residents who lived there had no choice but to migrate to other labyrinths in order to survive.

Ryu Hwi thought he understood why the plaza had been in such an uproar.

To the natives here, the migrants were uninvited guests no different from the Gamers themselves.

“Thanks for the advice. I'll be careful.”

Tucking the identity card into his coat, Ryu Hwi left the government office.

Back when he'd merely dreamed of becoming a Gamer, he might have taken an interest in the village commotion or the migrant problem.

But to the Ryu Hwi of now, none of it mattered. To achieve his goal, he had no spare attention to turn ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠anywhere else.

“Then I'd better finish off Linpel and Linzea before that happens. All the more reason to hurry.”

After finishing his preparations in the village, he set out immediately for his destination.

Any ordinary Gamer would have spent hours in town grinding through quests to level up. Ryu Hwi skipped the whole process.

Several hours from the village, past the open fields, his destination finally came into sight.

A cave wedged between cliff walls exuded a mood foul enough to sour anyone at a glance.

Gamers who earned the right to challenge the Tower of the Demon God were granted the title of Phantasma. From that point on, a Phantasma could no longer leave records in any dungeon besides the Tower.

This dungeon's record had been set by Linpel right before his Tower challenge.

Three years later, it still stood unbroken.

Unless a Gamer of talent beyond Linpel appeared, his record would continue to stand exactly as it did today.

In front of the dungeon, several parties of Gamers were visible—no fewer than three groups running through their final preparations before entering.

A few of them noticed Ryu Hwi and threw glances his way, tilting their heads at the sight of a man approaching a dungeon alone, without even a party.

Ryu Hwi didn't slow his stride, making straight for the cave mouth. One of the onlookers panicked and hurriedly moved to stop him.

“Hey, wait! What do you think you're doing going in there solo, no party?”

The Gamer who grabbed Ryu Hwi's arm was a man boasting a frame well over two meters tall. Despite his intimidating bulk, he had a soft, good-natured face.

“Don't tell me you don't realize that's a dungeon ahead? It's dangerous up there. A party of at least four is recommended.”

“I know that much.”

Ryu Hwi stopped and turned back to face the giant.

“I'm clearing it solo.”

The moment the words left his mouth, laughter erupted from every direction.

The Gamers took him for a clueless fool with no sense of the world and laughed their fill.

“That's... not exactly a wise decision. Did you become a Gamer recently? You're not thinking that because you're a Gamer, dying is no big deal, are you? Even an avatar feels pain just the same.”

Only the giant of a man looked at Ryu Hwi with worried eyes and tried to talk him out of it.

“I'm fine. I know it very, very well. So then...”

Ryu Hwi turned and walked back toward the cave entrance.

The big man tried to stop him again, but his party members raised their voices first.

“Let it go, let it go. Idiots like that only come to their senses after they've been made a sorry spectacle of.”

“He's the one who wants to die. Why bother stopping him?”

Pressed by his party, the giant reluctantly backed off.

Under the eyes of every onlooker, Ryu Hwi entered the cave.

Though it looked like an ordinary cavern, its depths connected to another space entirely.

The moment Ryu Hwi set a single foot toward the cave, his figure vanished somewhere else.

“What kind of Gamer charges in without even reading the strategy guides? There's all kinds of lunatics out there.”

“It's not about the guides. Lately the existing methods don't work in the Witch's Hideout anymore—you literally can't clear it at all.”

“Not our problem. Come on, let's finish gearing up. This time, for sure, we're clearing it.”

The others lost interest in Ryu Hwi and returned to their preparations.

Except for one of them.

A Gamer who had been silently studying Ryu Hwi's figure let out a low murmur.

“I feel like I've seen him somewhere before... who was it?”

Inside the dungeon, Ryu Hwi scanned his surroundings.

The cave's darkness stretched deep into the interior, and even he couldn't make out its structure.

Dungeons in World of Phantasm randomized their layout every single time. There was no way to know what kind of structure had been generated without walking in and seeing it for yourself.

Ryu Hwi drew his short sword. The Gunsword's blade was far too long to wield inside a cave.

“Only eight minutes apart?”

Ryu Hwi was stunned by YggON's report. Back when he'd been in Linzea Guild, no one had ever come close to Linpel's record.

The second-place party back then had clocked 21 hours—a yawning gulf from Linpel's time. And now the gap had shrunk to this...

The current second-place holder: Asea's team (GA-ES).

Ryu Hwi committed the name to memory.

“Well, then...”

He drew in a deep breath.

“Let's go.”

And walked straight into the cave's depths.

Before long, the dungeon's first obstacle barred his way.

Countless bats clinging to the cavern ceiling.

They were far larger and far more menacing than ordinary bats.

Giant Bats.

Monsters that frequented dark caves.

Not powerful foes, but they swarmed in groups and inflicted Status Ailment: Disease, which made them a genuine nuisance to deal with.

The counter-strategy is already established, so no problem there.

Ryu Hwi pulled out something he'd prepared back in the village and hurled it deeper into the cave.

A sound bomb.

A device that detonated a deafening blast of noise across a fixed radius.

Giant Bats, being monsters, reacted acutely to sound.

And when that sound reached the level of an explosion...

Thud.

The Giant Bats hanging from the ceiling dropped all at once. Ryu Hwi worked his way through the unconscious creatures one by one.

“In World of Phantasm, cutting your time comes down to how efficiently you clear a dungeon's mechanics. Rushing blindly doesn't solve anything.”

As Linpel's record made clear, dungeons were marathons by design.

Sprint frantically from the start and you'd burn out long before the end.

In other words, the key was how quickly and how efficiently you brought the dungeon to heel.

“The dungeon's layout randomizes, but the mechanics that appear are fixed. And I have every single gimmick pattern in the Witch's Hideout memorized.”

His grasp of the strategy was complete.

Clear every mechanic in the shortest time possible and aim for a time attack.

The goal was first place.

Wiping Linpel's record off the board—and doing it solo, not with a party!

YggON was mocking him—as if it fully expected him to fail.

Ryu Hwi knew exactly how to conquer the Witch's Hideout, and he was confident he could clear it solo.

The real problem is that a variable that didn't exist three years ago has appeared.

Zero clears in the last three months.

This was a dungeon whose strategy was already known inside and out. If it still couldn't be cleared, then some unknown element had emerged—one that had never existed before.

Well, I chose this dungeon knowing full well.

Having dispatched the Giant Bat swarm, Ryu Hwi pressed deeper into the cave.

Toward the depths—where something unidentified was waiting.

Again.

Yet another 'invader' had come.

??? seethed with rage.

The role this world had assigned to ???. Until now, ??? had followed that role without question—but one day, a doubt had taken root.

From that moment on, ??? became a foreign body, misaligned with this 'world.'

All of them would become offerings.

Every last invader who tramped into someone else's home with filthy, uninvited feet, permission never given.

On the crystal surface ??? was watching, a figure appeared.

Ryu Hwi.