All I Did Was Avoid the Boss Room
Two days later.
I stood in front of the E-class dungeon again.
"Haa...."
I let out a sigh so deep it felt like the ground might cave in. I didn't come here because I wanted to.
Mom's hospital bills were draining my account every month without fail, and I had to cover the cost of the gear I lost in the last dungeon. My daily wage of 200,000 won had vanished into thin air, leaving me deeper in debt.
This time, please, just let me carry the loot quietly and get out.
I gripped the straps of my backpack tightly. At least this dungeon was the Moss Forest.
An open-field dungeon, so unlike the last cave, I wouldn't get trapped. Easy to escape, wide visibility.
"Porter! Stop spacing out and let's move!"
The party leader, a C-class spearman, shouted.
Unlike the last party, he seemed pretty straightforward and boisterous.
"Yes! Coming!"
I hurriedly followed behind them.
And there, still floating in front of my eyes, was the blue window.
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This damn chat window had been following me around for two straight days.
While eating, shitting, sleeping.
At first, it drove me insane, but humans adapt, they say. Now it just felt like an annoying fly.
Ignore it. Just ignore.
I shoved the chat to the corner of my vision and focused ahead.
The dungeon interior was a vast forest.
Damp moss covered the trees, and a dreamy fog hung in the air.
"Eyes forward. Slimes incoming."
At the leader's word, the party members drew their weapons.
Green slimes burst from the bushes.
I instinctively stepped back.
The trauma from last time was etched into my body.
"Porter, stay back. Don't get hurt."
"Yes, got it!"
While the party handled the slimes, I hid behind a tree and sneaked a peek at the chat.
No... I hid because I'm scared...
Protesting in my head was pointless.
These people had already pegged me as a 'hidden powerhouse nerd' or whatever.
After the fight, the party moved on.
The forest path split in several directions.
"Which way?"
The leader pondered over the map.
E-class dungeons were usually simple: straight to the center for the boss room, side paths for resource zones.
I sneaked a glance past the leader's map. Central path.
That way meant boss. Boss?
No way in hell. Just thinking of that golem made my legs shake.
"Um... Leader."
I spoke up cautiously.
"What? Know something?"
"No, just... the right path looks safer. That way feels off somehow..."
Truth was, it wasn't 'off'—I just picked the opposite direction from the boss room.
I wanted to get as far from the boss as possible.
The leader stared at me intently.
"Hmm. Porter's hunch, huh..."
He thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Alright, no rush anyway. Let's try the right. More resources can't hurt."
The party followed my suggestion and veered onto the right side path.
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Hidden route? There's something like that?
I panicked reading the chat.
I just came to avoid danger—what if this was worse?
"Haa...."
A deep sigh escaped me without thinking.
Please, let nothing happen. Just gather herbs and go home.
That's when it hit.
Viewers are focusing on your 'sigh'.
The emotion interpreted as 'boredom' forms pressure.
A subtle ripple spread from my body.
An invisible tremor in the air.
Rustle.
Something moved in the bushes to the right.
Two E-class monsters, Poison Rats.
Rat-like beasts with venom, ambush specialists.
They'd been lying in wait for our party.
About to spring.
But my sigh's faint pressure brushed their sensitive whiskers.
Squeak.
The rats froze.
Instinctual terror.
Like a top predator boredly exhaling, "Haa, what a hassle."
Crushed by the pressure, they tucked their tails.
And silently, oh so silently, backed into the bushes and vanished.
No one in the party noticed.
Only I saw the bushes shake and jumped.
"Eek!"
"What?"
The leader turned.
"N-nothing! Just... rats."
"Rats? Where?"
The leader checked the bushes, but the rats were gone.
"Nothing here? You sure you saw 'em?"
"Uh, yeah... I'm just jumpy..."
I scratched my head awkwardly.
Good. The rats ran away.
But the chat reacted differently.
No.
They just went home.
I felt wronged but couldn't explain.
I just stuck close behind the party and kept walking.
The forest path grew deeper.
Moss thicker, fog denser.
"Huh? Paths are getting complicated."
The leader tilted his head at the map.
The right path wasn't detailed on the map.
"This way?"
We turned left at the fork, then right, then left again.
I lost all sense of direction.
No clue where we were or where the exit was.
Just following the back in front of me.
"Huh? What's that?"
The lead dealer pointed.
The forest ended at a massive ancient ruin entrance.
A stone door half-open.
"Boss room?"
The leader gripped his weapon tensely.
"Nah, boss is central. This isn't even on the map..."
A room not on the map.
Ominous.
Super ominous.
"Um... can't we just go back?"
I suggested timidly.
"We came this far? Might be something inside. Chest? Jackpot."
The leader couldn't resist curiosity.
The hunter's dream of a 'big score.'
"Alright, entering. Stay sharp."
The party crept through the door carefully.
I had no choice but to follow.
Better than being left alone.
The interior was a vast stone chamber.
Chilly air hung heavy.
A pedestal in the center, an old sword stabbed into it.
And guarding that sword,
a knight in black armor.
"......"
Blue glow flickered from the helmet. About two meters tall.
But the aura it exuded was far sharper than that golem.
Encountered hidden boss 'Possessed Knight'.
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My jaw dropped.
Planning my ass.
I came to avoid, and stepped in shit.
"H-hidden boss!"
The leader screamed. The party backed up in unison, but the knight already drew its sword.
Shing.
Black aura rose from the blade. It kicked off the ground and leaped.
I was at the rear. To escape, I'd go first—but my legs locked, frozen.
The knight's sword fell toward my crown.
Dead.
This time, really dead.
But then.
Viewers' anticipation explodes.
Gaze Pressure reaches E-class.
Hundreds of gazes fired from my eyes toward the knight.
The knight's mid-air downward strike halted abruptly, like hitting an invisible wall.
The blade tip trembled 10cm from my nose.
I couldn't even breathe, just stared at the blade.
Why... why isn't it killing me?
Kill me quick or move aside.
This suspense was scarier.
But the sword didn't fall.
In that moment, the entire chamber fell eerily silent.
The leader's breathing, the party's retreating footsteps—all sounded distant. Only the blade tip and blue glow filled my view.
One more inch, and it was over. But that inch wouldn't budge.
Then I realized.
This wasn't my doing.
But everyone would see it that way.
My throat dried up.
The escape path wasn't safe.
And I seemed to be the only one who knew.
I swallowed tiny, eyes glued to the blade tip.
My back hit the rear wall.
Cold stone seeped through my shirt.
My breath grew shallow.