🔊 TTS Settings
CHAPTER 04
“I’m sorry, but I’m not in a position to enter a castle. I can’t escort you inside the castle walls.”
“Oh, no—it’s fine. Just guiding me to the village is already more than enough help.”
At least I wouldn’t have to worry about starving in the mountains anymore. And I was also less likely to be torn apart by monsters.
I chewed on the jerky Calion gave me and drank some water. At his waist hung a small pouch. It was palm-sized, but it seemed to contain plenty of stored food, camping supplies, and even spare clothes for changing.
Is that an inventory or something?
Since I already assumed this might be a game world after seeing the system window, I wasn’t particularly surprised. Probably some kind of compression magic.
“We should find a place to stay before it gets dark. Can you walk?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
My legs ached a bit since I hadn’t hiked in a long time, but this wasn’t the time to complain when monsters were involved. I followed Calion quickly. He matched my pace and occasionally looked back to check on me.
It seemed like he wanted to hold my hand and guide me, but after hesitating with his raised hand, he lowered it again.
My pace wasn’t particularly slow, but to Calion it probably felt frustrating. I couldn’t afford to become a burden right after joining the party. I took a deep breath and looked around energetically.
“Calion, I see a cave over there.”
“Yes. It would be good if we can rest there.”
“If we can rest?”
“There may be monsters nearby. We must inspect the inside.”
Ah, I see.
Calion went ahead to check the cave. After confirming there was no monster presence, he signaled me to enter.
The cave was fairly wide and comfortable. It extended deeper inside, but as he said, nothing seemed to be living there. Honestly, I was more worried about snakes or insects than monsters, but thankfully there were no signs of any non-human life.
Long live bug-free sleeping spaces.
“Stay hidden here, Joo-in.”
“What about you, Calion?”
“I will check the surrounding area. I won’t be long.”
He spoke slowly and politely, as if to reassure me.
For a moment, a faint anxiety crossed my mind—what if he leaves me behind?
But if I had been a burden, he would have abandoned me from the start. I decided to trust Calion.
“Yes. I’ll wait here. Please be careful.”
“Yes, Joo-in.”
Calion left the cave, jumped over a rock in one smooth motion, and quickly disappeared from sight.
Even wearing heavy armor, he moved lightly and effortlessly.
With his entirely white appearance, he looked like a snowflake dancing on ice.
I stared at the entrance he had left through, then turned and curled up.
He told me to stay hidden, so I would stay hidden.
Don’t move a single step. Just endure here like I’m dead.
In stories like this, the classic pattern is that people ignore warnings, wander off, and end up in disaster. I had no intention of becoming one of those frustrating, burden-inducing characters.
So I would endure. Until Calion returned!
However, despite my determined plan, that damn system window popped up without any sense of timing.
[I hate lazy righteous people!]
You’ve stayed in the shelter for too long.
In 15 seconds, the shelter will collapse.
Time until burial: 15 seconds
Are you kidding me?
It really can’t stand the sight of someone resting comfortably.
Sure enough, a rumbling sound—kururur—came from the other side of the cave, like something collapsing. If I stayed any longer, I would be crushed or suffocated under the debris.
Only then did I understand why so many “annoying, burdensome characters” in stories acted so irrationally.
It wasn’t that they wanted to annoy readers—it was because they had no choice.
Just like now.
Sorry, Calion! I want to live!
I already had a 30-day death sentence—I had absolutely no desire to die right now.
I immediately ran out of the cave.
KURURUR— The collapsed rubble sealed off the entrance. If I hadn’t moved, I would definitely have been crushed.
Fortunately, it didn’t look like it would trigger a landslide. This world didn’t seem to be a natural-disaster blockbuster.
Thank goodness…
The moment I felt relief, I heard another sound behind me.
“Grrrrr…”
The cave collapse was kururur. This was a different sound—a low, ominous growl.
…But now wasn’t the time to analyze that.
I didn’t turn around, but even just the size and shape of the shadow above me made it obvious. It was definitely a monstrous creature.
Could this be one of the monsters Calion mentioned?
As if confirming my suspicion, a distorted clapping sound rang out, and a system window popped up.
[Skill Acquisition Chance]
Sudden quest! You have encountered a monster.
Please scream at the top of your lungs.
If your volume exceeds ??? dB, success.
Reward: Skill [Scream]
Thank you so much for kindly confirming the monster behind me.
But scream? Not fight, not run—just scream? What, does it get stunned or something?
“Grrr… grrk.”
There was no time to think.
The shadow raised something massive—maybe an arm, maybe a leg.
“GROOOAAAR!”
“Kyaaah!”
I screamed while dodging its strike. Barely avoiding the first attack, I finally saw its full form.
It was the size of a house, covered entirely in something like black tangled thread.
No—those weren’t threads. They were writhing, like thousands of living worms crawling over its body…
“Ah—ugh—AAAHH!!”
A scream burst out from pure disgust and fear of death. The sound was so loud it nearly numbed my own ears.
And perhaps because of that, the monster staggered for a moment.
Did it work?
As I thought that while gasping for breath, a smaller window appeared beneath the quest UI.
Current progress: 77%
Try a little harder ㅇㅅ<
Time remaining: 5 seconds
I’m confiscating that damn emoticon.
Fueled by anger at the system, I screamed even louder.
“HEEELP MEEEEEEE!!!”
THUD.
The ground shook heavily, and everything went silent. The world felt like it was moving in extremely slow motion—including me.
The monster lunging at me seemed to split in half, then tear apart left and right.
Through the grotesque, bumpy outer surface, the clean cut revealed—
Calion’s face, holding a silver sword.
“Joo-in! Are you alright?!”
He had rushed here after hearing my scream.
And the moment I realized that, a festive fanfare sounded again and a slightly larger system window appeared.
[Chain Success!]
Congratulations!
You have successfully learned the skill [Scream].
[Scream Lv.1]
When your scream is heard, allies rush to your location.
Effect: Allies within hearing range have their speed doubled
Duration: 20 seconds
Stacks up to 5 times
I thought it was just a nuisance skill meant to annoy readers, but it turned out to be a buff skill. And it could stack up to five times.
At maximum stacks, speed increases by 32 times—which theoretically means you could turn a marathon runner at 20 km/h into someone moving at 640 km/h.
That’s almost twice a KTX train. Is that even allowed?
If I scream like that for 20 seconds five times, my throat will break first…
Still, I survived. I relaxed my stiff shoulders and turned to Calion.
“Thanks for saving me, Calion.”
“I heard the cave collapse and rushed here. I thought it was safe, but I still put you in danger. I apologize.”
So he didn’t come because of my scream, but because of the cave collapse.
Well, I only got the skill after he cut the monster down anyway.
“Don’t apologize. You were trying to protect me.”
The cave collapse wasn’t Calion’s fault—it was that damn system’s trick. From what I saw, it didn’t look like a place that would collapse so easily.
But this means I can’t even hide safely anymore.
And my skill wasn’t even a self-buff—it only helped allies.
So now I can’t even stay hidden. I just have to run around screaming whenever I find monsters so I can buff Calion?
From Calion’s perspective, I must look like some useless troublemaker who keeps running into danger.
Not someone worth abandoning—someone worth killing.
Me… a nuisance troll… a troll?!
I had lived my life responsibly without bothering others.
And yet this damn system had turned me into a troll.
