Chapter 41: Sixth Scenario.

"…He's sleeping well."

"Well, didn't he suffer the most? It's no wonder fatigue has piled up so much."

Yoo Sangah and Kim Dokja muttered while looking at a man.

To be precise….

"Looking at him like this, he really seems like a harmless person. It's just two young children sleeping next to him."

Kang Yuhyeon, who was sleeping with Shin Yoosung clinging to his right and the one who used to be Shin Yoosung clinging to his left.

'Was there ever a scene in the novel where this guy was sleeping defenselessly like this?'

Kim Dokja read through the text file of Ways of Survival while receiving additional rewards for the fifth scenario.

However, contrary to his expectations, his description was less than the explanation of the taste of Underworld food, so he couldn't get a satisfactory result.

"Ah, Dokja-ssi—!!"

Was he continuing his thoughts like that?

At that moment, hearing Jung Heewon calling him, Kim Dokja shifted his gaze from Kang Yuhyeon to that place and couldn't help but be surprised.

"…My goodness, where did you find this?"

"I picked it up quickly because it was over there. Shouldn't we have a drink to celebrate at times like this?"

"Hmm…."

Unlike Jung Heewon and other party members whose eyes sparkled with anticipation, Kim Dokja wasn't very keen on it.

First of all, he wasn't someone who liked alcohol very much, nor was he strong with it.

His head was filled with thoughts that it would be better to go find Hidden Pieces at this time, but.

"Oh. Alcohol, it's really been a while?"

"Mister. Can I drink too? Huh? Since the law is gone anyway, who cares about being a minor. Right?"

"Ah. T, then me too!"

Seeing Han Sooyoung, Lee Jihye, and Kim Namwoon already grabbing a handful of beer cans each, he sighed as if it couldn't be helped.

"Well, let's do that then."

It didn't take long for the chilly and quiet street to turn into a chattering feast while drinking.

The party members weren't very strong drinkers than expected; Lee Hyunsung dozed off repeatedly and collapsed with a thud-, and Jung Heewon unfolded her saga with slurred pronunciation.

"Hehe…, Jihye-yaaa…."

"…Fck, get lost…."

Did those two, who were interested in alcohol while talking, also drink secretly?

Holding a bottle each, the two enacted a scene that might appear in a romance movie, but it ended with Kim Namwoon being hit by Lee Jihye's fist and collapsing with a nosebleed.

Like that, the ones who survived the long drinking session were….

"What. I thought you couldn't drink much, but it goes down better than I thought?"

"It would be troublesome if I got drunk recklessly."

"…."

Han Sooyoung, Yoo Sangah, Kim Dokja.

And….

"By the way, until when are you going to pretend to be asleep?"

"…Did you notice long ago."

Kang Yuhyeon, these four.

"…Since when have you been awake?"

"Not long ago."

After answering Yoo Sangah's question briefly, Kang Yuhyeon carefully withdrew his arms so as not to wake the two children and approached near the bonfire.

And then.

-Glug, glug….

"What, you too?"

"I don't particularly avoid it."

Naturally taking a sip like that, he takes something out.

A box large enough to fill a hand, that is….

"It's an Item Box? Where did you get it?"

"…Not even surprising anymore. Got it from the guys who tried to kill me."

"Lucky. But why that?"

"Because it's a bit lacking to just drink alcohol."

Kang Yuhyeon, taking out a Magic Power Stove and several Mole Cricket meats, began to cook them one by one.

Han Sooyoung, who looked at it indifferently at first, and Yoo Sangah, who drooled slightly with sparkling eyes from the beginning, couldn't take their eyes off that place by now.

"Want to eat?"

"Oh, giving it? Then thank f…."

"100 Coins per piece."

"Stingy bastard…. Forget it! Won't ea…."

"Here. Please give me a delicious one."

"Please give me two."

Unlike Han Sooyoung who sulked as if offended, Kim Dokja and Yoo Sangah quickly paid Coins and took the meat when the opportunity arose.

Perhaps feeling betrayed quite a bit at that sight, Han Sooyoung slammed the soju cup she was holding onto the floor with a thud-! and continued speaking.

"…Hey! Do you guys have no pride!?"

"Shut up. The kids will wake up."

But as always, since she had considerable PTSD towards Kang Yuhyeon, she had no choice but to lower her tail again just by his fierce glare.

"…Phew, drinking makes me feel very languid. Ah, if you don't mind, how about we talk about what we did before the world perished?"

"Doesn't matter."

"What? Why bother with such…."

"I think that would be good too."

Yoo Sangah's effort to change the atmosphere seemed successful on the surface.

Right. Of course, only on the surface.

"I was an ordinary office worker. Minosoft…, would you happen to know?"

"Well. I was interested in games, but not in game companies."

"Ah…, then what did you do before the world perished, Yuhyeon-ssi?"

"I was jobless and unemployed. Had no need or thought to earn money."

"…Ah."

The conversation content is somehow.

Unlike her thoughts….

"What. Are your parents rich, or building owners…, something like that too?"

"No, I was an orphan. Grew up in an orphanage. Though even that orphanage went bankrupt due to an accident and disappeared."

"…Uh, um."

Somewhere, little by little. Even more little by little….

The atmosphere became darker.

"Must have had no one to rely on."

"Indeed. No, actually, didn't even feel the need for someone to rely on. Wondering if friends, lovers, family, such things are really necessary for living."

"Didn't have any hobbies? Like…, reading novels."

"Thought about that too, but I didn't feel like reading texts. If I have to name a hobby…, eating. Is that all."

But the conversation with Kim Dokja was different.

A paradoxical conversation that interlocked yet didn't interlock somewhere, understandable yet incomprehensible, continued.

"…By the way, what is your drinking capacity? Didn't you already finish two bottles?"

"Well. Never really counted. Just drink and stop if bored, and continue if not bored."

"…Fck. What, can a liver be like that?"

"I'm quite a good drinker too…, but Yuhyeon-ssi really drinks well."

"Even Kim Dokja is really unexpected. His body is frail and face looks delicate, so I thought he would collapse after just one glass."

"Well…."

Since he couldn't honestly say 'My original capacity is about half a bottle, but I'm holding on thanks to my skill.' to Han Sooyoung's question, Kim Dokja smiled awkwardly.

Like that, did the drinking session continue again and again?

"…Kuh, ku-eok…."

"…."

Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah, the two passed out first.

"Keeping up better than I thought."

"You, speak honestly. You are expelling the intoxication with Cursed Energy, right."

"Is there a need to do that while drinking? Just feels bad."

"…Ha."

Like that, Kang Yuhyeon who drank honestly and Kim Dokja who drank in a cowardly(?) way finished the drinking session after drinking all the remaining alcohol.

The noisy feast became quiet again, and the sound of fire burning, which had been buried by conversation, began to be heard again.

"…Kang Yuhyeon."

"What is it?"

"I have something to say."

The silence of a night that came quietly.

Looking at the atmosphere alone, a certain Constellation would have smiled blankly and made a fuss.

"About the deal we made last time. Can't you give me a little more time?"

"…Until when. Speak clearly."

Just looking at the conversation the two shared vocally, it would have been extremely natural.

[Kim Dokja: Sixth Scenario, can you sit this one out.]

[Kang Yuhyeon: I have no obligation to listen to your suggestion.]

But the Midday Tryst, the true conversation they were sharing, was not like that.

"Hmm…, well? Would before the tenth scenario be okay?"

"Too long. Let's make it until the eighth scenario."

[Kim Dokja: Listen to the story first. It won't be a bad proposal for you either.]

[Kang Yuhyeon: How can it not be a bad proposal for me when I don't participate in a scenario?]

"Stingy."

"Want to die?"

[Kim Dokja: That's because, in that scenario, 'Shin Yoosung' will be in danger. No, to be precise, 'that child who was Shin Yoosung'.]

[Kang Yuhyeon: …Go on.]

"Is there anyone in the world who wants to die?"

"I thought you would. Guess I was mistaken."

[Kim Dokja: The seventh scenario has relatively lower danger than the sixth scenario. And it's sufficient to grow that child whose stats and skills have all been reset.]

[Kang Yuhyeon: So. So what? Did I look like a foolish guy who would give everything for that child? Funny. I won't move unless there is a benefit for me….]

[Kim Dokja: That's why I'm making a proposal.]

[Kang Yuhyeon: …?]

Silly talks vocally, and somewhat important talks in the Midday Tryst began to go back and forth.

Like that, finally, when Kim Dokja informed Kang Yuhyeon of most of the thoughts he was currently conceiving in his head.

"…Crazy bastard. Are you sane?"

[Kang Yuhyeon: …Crazy bastard. Are you sane?]

Kang Yuhyeon couldn't hide his true feelings and spat out the same words both vocally and in the Midday Tryst.

[Kim Dokja: As you know, I don't bring up proposals with no possibility. I propose when I have some certainty.]

[Kang Yuhyeon: …But the scale of the proposal you just mentioned is different. Is that really possible?]

[Kim Dokja: Of course. Why not?]

[Kang Yuhyeon: ….]

"…Right, if that is the case."

[Kang Yuhyeon: I will accept your proposal.]

"Okay~. Then…."

[Kim Dokja: We are in the same boat now, right?]

Kim Dokja continuing to speak with his unique unlucky smile.

And Kang Yuhyeon still not recovering from the shock looking at such a man.

Like that, after a short handshake meaning 'partners'.

[A new scenario will be announced soon!]

They listened to the briefly echoing scenario notification.