Chapter 548: The Tutorial Will Begin (2)
I couldn’t be certain since I didn’t have a clock, but I thought that about three days had passed at this point.
I wasn’t sure, of course. I only based my calculation on how I felt. I slept about three times, so that seemed right.
‘I’m hungry. Is it time to eat? How much time has passed since I last ate?’
I thought at least 8 hours had passed since then. I opened my bag and saw water and food inside it. I didn’t know if I should say that I was fortunate to have these.
However, seeing that there was still a lot left, I nodded my head.
If I saved it, I could eat for ten days or more. If I ate the bread once a day a little bit by bit, maybe, I could even last 30 days.
Didn’t it come out on TV or the internet? Some people survived for days with just water. Since I still had a lot of food, perhaps my situation was better than those people.
Of course, for them, they…
‘There wouldn’t be such things as monsters.’
It wasn’t only monsters that posed a danger to my life. My situation forced people to act like monsters. People killed each other for food, and when driven into a corner, they lost their humanity and committed murder and crimes while lingering around the dungeon.
I heard people fighting just yesterday at dinner time.
More than that…
I was also a monster. I also couldn’t call myself normal after ignoring so many pleas for help to escape from that Hell. As I was overwhelmed with guilt, my stomach kept grumbling.
It was at that moment when I heard voices from outside.
“I-I-Is… there a-a-anyone there?”
“…”
“P-please let me in. I am so hungry and tired. Please…”
“…”
“Please, I beg you. Please…”
I covered my ears to ignore the pleading.
“I-I think… there are some monsters around here. I beg you. Help me.”
“…”
I knew that I had to help. I thought I had to help and shouldn’t ignore her, but I became cold-hearted in front of survival.
‘My hiding spot isn’t big enough for two people to stay in. There isn’t much food left, and the person might be bad. They might try to take my food away… they will definitely do that.’
“…”
“…”
I could no longer hear the woman’s voice that was crying for help. She had probably given up. Or maybe she thought a person wasn’t inside in the first place.
Maybe she had been talking to herself. She could’ve been talking to herself because she was so tired. I looked up while taking a small piece of my bread and ate it little by little.
‘I can’t help it.’
I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t sure when the Hell I was in would end, and I had to endure and survive for as long as possible. I had to be cold and even colder to survive. I could’ve only survived from that place because I was cold-hearted.
I pushed away cries for help into a deeper place in my heart and silenced my breathing once again. And just like that, another day went by.
I didn’t just stay still. I sat still and thought because I felt like I would go mad if I didn’t think. I tried opening up my status window or tried to guess what the voice I had heard was.
Of course, I couldn’t find out. It just made me realize that what I was experiencing was real again.
The voice had said that it was a tutorial dungeon.
I didn’t know what would happen afterward, but it seemed unlikely that I could go back home.
I thought if that was the case, I should do something like level up, but how could I go back to that Hell?
I thought multiple times a day to get out, but courage didn’t form. My mind was still fixed on the image of corpses rolling in a pit of blood while people screamed for help.
It was too much for me, who had never fought before, to engage in a battle with monsters. Maybe I could have gained more courage if I had a weapon, but there were no weapons with me.
I even threw away my shield. I couldn’t think of fighting with my bare body. I was in the same place again. I ate the bread pieces in my bag and hoped that I would be at home when I woke up again.
I thought another day had passed by. I could hear the voices of people who were escaping from monsters.
Of course, I didn’t move. There was no guarantee that monsters couldn’t come to where I was even if I already blocked the small entrance.
“It was self-justification.”
I recognized that I was self-justifying myself, and I couldn’t help but slump my head down again. It was at that moment that I heard a strange voice.
“I think someone is in here.”
“What is that sound?”
“Stay quiet for a bit.”
“O-Okay…”
“…”
“…”
I immediately covered my mouth. I worried that they would hear that.
I didn’t know why but the voices didn’t sound welcoming. Maybe they were companions of the guy named Jung Jinho, who I had heard about last time. If they found out that I had food, they would definitely cause me harm.
About 30 minutes seemed to pass after that. I couldn’t hear anything outside. They probably thought that they misheard it. That was definitely it.
Like that girl from last time, they thought that too. I let out my breath that I had been withholding.
“See. Someone is inside.”
“…”
“It looks like they went through a hole down here… That’s lucky. It looks like they’ve blocked it from the inside, and seeing that they’ve been holding it in there, they probably have some food. I don’t know where this person started from, but I guess they accidentally escaped and stayed stuck in there.”
“…”
“We all know you are in there, so there’s no need for you to stay silent like a mouse…”
“…”
“I told you that I know you’re inside. I guess you’re trying to stay there until the end. Let’s see if you or I will win. I don’t know how long you’ve been hiding, but we call the monsters out here Starving Demons. They smell rotten flesh really well, and you see, rotting bodies are all over the place. Let’s see if you will continue to stay there if I push a rotten body inside your mouse hole. I’m sure you’ll notice it as those demons approach you… If I hear a scream, I’ll know that a person is in there, and if I don’t hear anything, then that means that there’s no one.”
“…”
“I guess they’ll come here looking to bite on a rotting flesh but feast on a living person instead. I think you tried to block your place crudely, but how long do you think it’ll last? With just a few Starving Demons, they’ll blow through the entrance. Don’t think the demons won’t be able to get into the gap from underneath.”
“…”
“It seems like there isn’t even an exit. Okay, enjoy your time with the Starving Demons in there. We will leave the area for you.”
“…”
“Don’t regret it. This is your choice, after all.”
“…”
“Okay, it’s going in.”
“W-Wait…Wait. I am inside. I-I am inside.”
“Right.”
“Please spare me. Please…spare me… don’t hurt me. Let me just stay here…”
“Nobody asked what your situation is. Honestly, I’m not even interested. I only want to ask you something more constructive. You have food, right?”
“Ah… no.”
“You’re a bad liar. Okay, let’s do this. I will believe you that you don’t have anything. This hyung has a big heart. But you’re going to have to push something from the hole to this side. Whether it’s food or drinking water, if you have anything, you have to push it this way. Do you understand me?”
“I r-really don’t have anything. Really… nothing. I don’t have weapons. I lost my bag and shield…I really don’t have anything. I am hungry too. I’m telling you the truth.”
“If you don’t push anything out, a Starving Demon will go in. Don’t test my nerve, brother. My mouth hurts because I talked too much. Let me tell you one more thing, brother. I won’t yield.”
“But…”
“I will give you exactly 5 seconds. Five.”
‘What should I do?’
“Four.”
‘Do I really have to give it to him? Really?’
“Three.”
‘If I don’t have this… how?’
“Two.”
I didn’t have a choice. I took out 2/3 of the food I had from the bag and pushed out the bag. The person replied like I made the right choice.
“Good job. You made the right choice.”
The sobbing continued.
“But…”
“Yes?”
“The portion seems too small…”
‘T-this… bastard…’
“I think I heard you rummaging through some things. You must have thought that I wouldn’t notice.”
“I-I also don’t have much. That’s all I have. With what I have, I won’t even be able to last three days.”
“That’s your problem. And if you save three days’ worth of food, you’ll be able to survive ten days. You’re stuck in there anyway, right? We need calories because we’re moving around and beating up the Starving Demons. You don’t need them, don’t you? Push out a little bit more. It’s not like I don’t have a conscience. If you give us some more, I’ll put a weapon in there. A sword, how does that sound?”
“I-I don’t need that.”
“You won’t lose anything by having that. Anyway, if you have anything, push it out again. If I’m not satisfied again this time, the deal is over. Think about who’s going to lose. I assure you, starving to death will be less painful than getting eaten by those bastards.”
“…”
1/3 again- no, because of what he said, I became afraid and added another half-piece of bread.
“Umm…”
‘Please…’
“Well, that’s enough to say you’ve passed the cut line. You’ll crawl outside if you’re hungry anyway. I’ll throw you a weapon, brother. It’s a little weird to say this, but if it’s really hard, you can kill yourself. There are a lot of people who had done that.”
The weapon that the man had pushed in was a bit longer than a dagger.
I laughed in disbelief.
‘You dirty bastard.’
“It was a satisfying deal, customer.”
“T-Then, will you just leave now?”
“Yes, then, did you think we will kill you after receiving everything? Goodbye.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“What? What does age matter here? Shut up. There was even a young guy who hung around a murderer. Are you going to talk about age to them too?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
I didn’t know what was happening, but it seemed like the man was arguing with his companion.
With an irritated voice, a sword and half-piece of bread rolled back into the small hole.
“You’re lucky.”
“Sorry?”
“My companion says that it’s heartbreaking that you’re stuck in there. Stay there in moderation and come out. If possible, don’t move north, and if you slay a few demons, you’ll get a class and get used to things a bit. There are almost no Starving Demons around here. My companion also wants to take you with us. But we’re not in a good situation right now either, and you’re so young…”
“I am not a kid…”
“How old are you, then?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Name?’
“It’s Kim… Kim Hyunsung.”