"What are you staring at like that?"
"...A calendar."
"Yeah, right. Like you're looking at a calendar. You're probably looking at something dirty."
Back when she was in high school, I still had no idea how she managed to get her hands on those kinds of magazines...
She'd piled them up like a mountain and hidden them under her bed.
And the weird part was, every last one of them was incest-themed.
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"I'm kidding. Let me see what you're looking at—!"
"..."
"..."
She's reading this even now?
"This is just a blank memo pad—!"
"You still want to read Ways of Survival at a time like this?!"
"!!!"
We're in the middle of deciding whether we're going after Yoo Joonghyuk or not.
And in a situation like this, she's calmly reading Ways of Survival?
No, in this world, Ways of Survival was basically a book of prophecy... so maybe that was actually a huge advantage.
But the internet should've been completely down. How was she reading it?
"You can see this?"
"Of course I can. Why wouldn't I?"
「I've given up on this life.」
「In the next life...」
「Surely in the next life...」
"Want me to keep going?"
"..."
[All the Constellations in the channel are expressing dissatisfaction with the excessive filtering.]
Filtering?
[Ways of Survival isn't visible to them.]
[Looks like they can't hear it either.]
Well, Ways of Survival was the future of this world itself, so maybe that was only natural.
[Since we're on the subject, let me ask. What regression turn is Yoo Joonghyuk on?]
[3rd Regression.]
So this was the turn where she'd just started losing her humanity.
No wonder she kept talking about killing people.
And we had to go save someone like that.
[We'll need Lee Jihye... right?]
[Right.]
[Then I'll go bring her.]
"Wait, ma'am! Mister!!"
[Perfect timing.]
"Good, you're here. We were just about to come get you."
"...Really? Where are you trying to go right now?"
""Yoo Joonghyuk is in danger.""
Even if the early Scenarios put limits on growth, Yoo Joonghyuk was still Yoo Joonghyuk.
Just looking at how she subdued me proved that.
Subduing someone was harder than killing them in the first place.
You could only do it when there was a clear gap in skill.
So if someone like Yoo Joonghyuk had spent eleven hours in a hidden dungeon?
That meant something was wrong.
"That bitch went into the hidden dungeon by Exit 1, right?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"And now it's been eleven hours since she went in?"
"Y-yeah..."
"If we leave it like this..."
""Yoo Joonghyuk dies today.""
.
.
.
['Hidden Dungeon' has been discovered!]
[This dungeon has already been discovered by someone else. You cannot obtain the first discovery achievement.]
[A new Hidden Scenario has arrived!]
<Hidden Scenario - Theater Dungeon>
Category: Hidden
Difficulty: A-
Clear Conditions: Defeat the master of the Theater Dungeon.
Time Limit: None
Reward: 4,000 Coins
Failure: —
[You have entered the 'Theater Dungeon'!]
"Mister, is it true? Is Master really in danger?"
"Of course it's true. What, you think I'm lying?"
"Mister, how does ma'am know that?"
"And didn't you hate our master? Why are you trying to save her?"
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is curious about your true intentions.]
"Because I know things you don't."
"Things... I don't know?"
That Yoo Joonghyuk was on her 3rd Regression.
That without Yoo Joonghyuk, this world was doomed to destruction.
Things Lee Jihye didn't know. Things the companions we'd meet in the future wouldn't know either.
Only Dokja and I knew them.
"Hyung, noona, all the posters are torn up. Who did that?"
"Who knows."
"Who else? That gorilla who got here before us, obviously."
I didn't know what item had been in that movie, but if a Regressor had already passed through here, then it had to be something valuable.
Or maybe an item that made future Scenarios easier to clear.
"Let's go upstairs."
It would've been nice if the escalator still worked.
Instead, it was dead, so now we were just getting exercise for no reason.
"Hey, but why do you speak politely to Heewon and casually to me?"
"Huh? Uh... I'm kind of weak against cool older girls."
"Are you saying our Dokja isn't cool, then?!"
"Jeez! Why are you the one freaking out?!"
Our Dokja might not be cooler than Yoo Joonghyuk... but she was still incredibly cool, and beautiful too!!
-Tap!
"Shh. There's someone here besides us."
Someone besides us?
First of all, it probably wasn't Yoo Joonghyuk.
If it were Yoo Joonghyuk, she wouldn't still be stuck in a hidden dungeon after eleven hours.
Then a third party?
That was the most likely answer.
The location was hidden, sure, but someone could still find it by luck.
"What the hell, it's already all torn up. Is there anything left?"
"There's one left here!"
That's strange.
Why was a hidden dungeon called hidden?
Because it was concealed so people couldn't find it easily.
"...You're sure, right? That there's a ton of that stuff in here."
"I told you, didn't I? I paid the [Prophets] 1,000 Coins for that information."
We already knew about this place, but finding it by luck alone without any information was incredibly hard.
But from the way they talked, it sounded like they already knew this place existed.
More than that, they sounded like they even knew what was inside.
[I expected variables, but this one's bigger than I thought.]
[Yeah. You're not getting scared, are you?]
[I mouth off even to Constellations.]
[What a thing to brag about.]
Everything had been torn up... and only this one was left.
Then a random thought hit me.
I wonder if dinosaur meat tastes good.
-Flash!
"Ah, damn, my eyes."
-Wheeeeeeeen
"Aagh! What the hell is this?!"
"U-ugh!"
Why was Gilyoung flailing his arms around so damn cute?
"Heewon, do you like movies?"
"Of course. Doesn't everyone, usually?"
"Then you might start hating them from now on."
"What? What are you suddenly—"
[You have been struck by a projection beam.]
[The screening for this floor is beginning.]
.
.
.
"Where the hell... are we?!"
"Ah, seriously. I hate hot weather. Was this the only one left?"
"Is that really what matters right now?!"
Of course it mattered.
Sure, [Cleanliness] could keep me clean, but sweating was an extremely, extremely, extremely unpleasant experience.
"We're inside a movie."
"Only impossible things keep happening..."
"Ma'am, what kind of movie is this?"
What kind of movie?
A movie packed with every dream and fantasy men ever had!
"A movie Gilyoung would probably like."
"Gilyoung? Wait, runt, what are you doing—"
-Shaaa!
At that moment, a giant mantis leaped out of the grass.
"Hey, kid! Get back, now!"
But insects were right in our boy's wheelhouse.
-Grab
"This one's called a Titanoptera. It's an insect from the Triassic period."
"What?"
Honestly, I hated the insects in this movie.
Because of that goddamn shitty grasshopper world: Dominion.
No, seriously, it's supposed to be a dinosaur movie because dinosaurs show up, but the grasshoppers get more screen time than the dinosaurs.
And on top of that, the graphics are realistic, so they're disgusting as hell.
They said genetically modified locusts, but it turned into a genetically modified movie, for fuck's sake.
"That kid... what is he?"
"Fabre."
"Our youngest."
"At least get your story straight before you talk. Even the surname is different."
"I adopted him."
"Where's the paperwork?"
"Looking for paperwork in a ruined world... Jihye, Jihye, you're still too soft."
Anyway, thank god the Titano-whatever Gilyoung liked was a mantis.
If it'd been a grasshopper, I would've stomped it to mush.
"Uh...? What did you say?"
Gilyoung's face turned pale in real time.
"Noona...! Hyung...!"
-Thud
-Thud!
"Sounds like it's here."
-THUD!!
-THUD!!!
"W-What is that?! The ground...! What do you mean something's here?!"
-Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
-Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
- Thump
-THUD!!!
"Aaaagh!"
"S-Save me!"
"Those people were on the first floor earlier...!"
Judging by how they were running, it was almost here.
"...I think I know what movie this is."
"...Yeah, me too."
"GWOOOOOOOOAR!!!"
All right!
So you've finally shown yourself!
"Aaaagh!"
"It's lizard meatttt!!!"
"Are you actually insane?!"
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is stunned by your remark.]
[Many Constellations are stunned by your remark.]
[The Demon King 'Demon King of Wrath and Lust' bursts into laughter.]
-Shhk!
What was that? I just heard something else in the bushes.
-Shuk!
-Shhk!
-Sssshhk!
That was a massive swarm of bugs, wasn't it?!
Why the hell were those suddenly here?!
"...Why does it feel like they're looking at me?"
-Slam!
The swarm of insects suddenly rushed me and swept me away.
"Oppa!"
"Run first!!"
What the hell kind of situation is this?!
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