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Chapter 02
Amidst the mind-numbing horror of a full-blown catastrophe, there was exactly one thing that managed to be utterly ridiculous.
“That notebook… you really won’t let it go, will you?”
“I know… it’s kind of funny to me, too…”
My lungs burned as I fought against the water swirling up around my thighs, forcing my body forward. Around us, there wasn’t another living soul in sight.
How many forks in the road had we taken while fleeing this far? The maze-like corridors had spat us out into some completely unrecognizable place. Even if Hunters arrived, would they even be able to find us? The doubt crept in far too late.
“But what do we do? Everyone’s scattered,” Choi Arin muttered, her thoughts clearly mirroring mine.
I wanted to burst into tears like a little kid, but the terrifying certainty that a magical beast would track us down kept my throat tightly locked.
“I don’t know…”
The inside of my nose stung with a sharp, burning heat. The water was freezing, and my body shivered, but my head felt ablaze. It was likely the suppressed urge to cry. Forcing down the hot lump in my throat, I kept plowing through the water.
“Hey, hey. Where are you going?”
“If we stay submerged like this, we’re going to get hypothermia. We need to find high ground.”
Choi Arin’s mouth fell open in a look of newfound respect as she huddled closer to my side. Linking arms, we relied entirely on each other’s body heat to keep moving.
As she trudged along diligently beside me, she suddenly murmured, “By the way, do you know what time it is? How long has it even been since we dropped into the dungeon?”
“No idea. Don’t you have your phone?”
“I left it at home to charge. Besides, don’t electronics fry inside dungeons anyway?”
Still, it should at least show the time, I thought, fumbling around in my pocket. Despite the violent rushing around earlier, my phone was miraculously still there. I pulled it out and tapped the screen.
“Oh, wow.”
The impact from when I’d wiped out earlier must have been brutal; the screen was spiderwebbed with severe cracks.
“What time is it?”
“The time? I can’t see it… and the date is completely messed up.”
Averting my eyes from the dead, blacked-out bleeding ink on the LCD, I focused on the glitching numbers flickering beneath it.
“Month 29, Day 134.”
“Oh.”
“Year 16,578.”
“Wow.”
The flat awe in her voice was profoundly absurd. Granted, it wasn’t quite as absurd as the numbers displayed on my phone.
“This phone didn’t just break; it broke through the space-time continuum,” I muttered, shoving the high-tech brick back into my pocket. And I bought it with a student discount, too.
Desperate to escape reality, my mind fixated on anything but the immediate danger.
Right then.
Kyarrrrgh—! Skrrrrt. Crack.
The high-pitched screech of a magical beast echoed down the path, followed by the spine-chilling sound of grinding teeth. The moment the noise reverberated through the narrow, tight corridor, goosebumps erupted across my back.
“R-Run!”
“Hurry! Move!”
Gripping each other’s arms in a vice-like clutch, we began a frantic, bumbling dash. The water rising up to our thighs severely dragged at our movements, but stopping wasn’t an option. Aquatic monsters could glide through water without making a sound. The only way to survive was to outpace them through sheer, relentless effort.
Bound together like runners in a three-legged race, we fled. We probably hadn’t even made it that far—the water anchored our feet, and exhaustion had already drained our reserves. Calling it a ‘dash’ was generous; we were practically power-walking at best.
And in our frantic haste, we splashed loudly.
It didn’t take long for the beasts to pinpoint our location.
Kyarrrrgh.
The chittering grew noticeably closer. The ominous sight of shapes breaking the surface of the water before submerging again filled me with dread.
Then, a miraculous sight caught my eye.
“Choi Arin, look! Over there! Go up that way! To the side!”
“What? What way? Where!”
“To the right! There’s a path! Look up! Look up!”
Slanted upward to the right was a ledge that sat well above the water level. Wherever it led, we needed to get out of the freezing water immediately.
“Where is there a path?!”
“Oh, for God’s sake! Right here!”
“Ah, wait, wait! Don’t push! I’m going to fall!”
I forcefully hoisted Choi Arin upward. Her hands finally caught the edge of the opening above. She looked back at me, her expression instantly brightening.
Is now really the time to be looking at me?!
“What are you doing! Scramble up, quickly!”
“Ah, right!”
Climbing into the elevated passage proved to be an awkward struggle. After slipping several times, Arin finally managed to haul herself up. Meanwhile, the monster was closing the distance by the second.
“Grab my hand! I’ll pull you up! Hurry, hurry! Hurry!”
“Yeah!”
“Not just one hand, give me both! Drop the notebook and give me both hands! Whoa!”
“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t slip! Hold on tight!”
Tossing the notebook ahead into the tunnel, I grabbed Arin’s arms with everything I had.
By now, the monster was fully visible. It lunged toward us, its upper body breaching the water completely.
Crunch. Snap.
With the sound of gnashing teeth, it lunged straight at me. Simultaneously, Arin threw her weight backward, pulling me into the tunnel with a desperate heave.
Splat.
“…”
“…”
What was that sound?
Neither Arin nor I could immediately process what had just happened. However, it was Arin who turned pale first.
“Aaaaahhhhh!”
Her piercing shriek rattled loudly against the narrow walls of the stone passage. I slowly turned my head to follow her horrified gaze.
The magical beast was chewing on something.
The water below was blooming a deep, vivid crimson.
Even as my brain registered the sight, I felt absolutely no pain. Instead, my eyes drifted further away, focusing on the notebook that had landed open on the floor.
My reality and my thoughts refused to align, tangling into a surreal mess. My final thought before the darkness took me was remarkably detached:
Wow. If that notebook gets left behind as my final earthly possession, my legacy is absolutely ruined.
And with that, a pitch-black curtain fell over my consciousness.
Deep within that dark void, a bizarre, foreign sound brushed against my ears.
Ding—
[Current entity does not meet the requirements for Awakening.]
[Unable to find any eligible Traits to bestow.]
[Searching for alternative Traits…] [Searching for alternative Traits…] [Searching for alternative Traits…]
Inside a dungeon where even a smartphone shouldn’t have been able to make a sound, the notifications pinged relentlessly, dragging me out of the heavy slumber that tried to claim me.
[An assignable Trait has been located.]
[The systemization of the Trait is incomplete.]
[Awakening is impossible.] [Impossible…] [Impossible…]
[Applying a makeshift Trait assignment.] [An Awakening triggered by a makeshift assignment may result in system errors.]
[Proceeding with temporary Awakening.]
Choi Arin blinked rapidly, struggling to clear her vision. Tears heavily obscured her sight—partly from the residual terror, but mostly out of sheer, overwhelming awe.
Chomp. Crunch. Slurp.
Ignoring the gruesome noises echoing from below, her best friend was slowly pushing herself up off the ground. A faint, ethereal glow radiated from her body, signaling a profound anomaly.
It was a phenomenon Arin had only ever seen on breaking news broadcasts or in archival footage from the early days of the dungeon outbreaks.
“Ch-Choeun? Ha Choeun? Are, are you… okay? Did you just Awaken?”
Her friend, whose entire lower half had just been violently severed, now stood on two perfectly intact legs. The girl slowly raised her head.
“Ha Choeun?” she echoed, her tone laced with confusion, as if questioning the very name.
Arin could only stare back at her friend, thoroughly bewildered.
[A makeshift Trait has been successfully assigned.]
[Temporary Awakening complete.]
In that exact moment, vibrant pink flower petals began cascading gracefully from thin air above, while pitch-black, thorny brambles erupted from the stone floor beneath her feet. The instant the two contrasting elements collided in the center, a sudden burst of flames enveloped her friend, obscuring her from view before parting to reveal her transformation.
“Choeun!”
For a split second, a wildly inappropriate thought flashed through Arin’s mind given the life-or-death situation.
…What kind of magical girl transformation sequence is this?
The resurrected version of her friend looked exactly like something plucked out of a teenager’s sketchbook. Crimson eyes, cascading silver hair, two pairs of translucent, dragonfly-like black wings, and a pair of golden, triangular animal ears poking out from the top of her head.
It looked like a chaotic mashup of every fictional trope imaginable.
Kyarrrrgh! Crunch. Snap.
Still entirely unsatisfied, the beast didn’t hesitate. It lunged toward her, its massive body leaping from the water with its razor-sharp teeth bared.
But in that exact instant, a bright, cheerful, and incredibly bubbly voice rang out.
“Oh dear.”
Arin’s gaze instinctively snapped toward the source of the voice. She watched as Choeun’s crimson eyes began to glow with a soft, pastel-pink hue.
“Everyone, help me out.”
At her bright, smiling exclamation, thick vines suddenly erupted from the surrounding walls. The plants, which shouldn’t have even existed in this barren stone cave, coiled tightly around the magical beast like thick ropes. In the blink of an eye, the monster was completely immobilized, thrashing helplessly against its bindings.
“What a naughty creature. It’s bad manners to attack people. If you keep doing that, you’re going to get pun-ished!”
Staring at the scene unfolding before her, an entirely absurd, ridiculous, and impossible hypothesis formed in Arin’s mind. Her panic-scrambled brain completely bypassed her filter, blurting the thought right out loud.
“Uh… Chloris?”
The friend who had reacted with confusion to the name Ha Choeun suddenly whipped around to face her.
“My, do you know who I am?”
“Wow.”
Arin instinctively fumbled for her pockets. She wanted nothing more than to record this exact scene, archive it safely, and play it on a massive loop at her friend’s 70th birthday party.
“Ah, right! I left my phone at home!”
Unfortunately, her phone was currently crushed beneath the rubble of her collapsed apartment building.
“Hm? What is that?”
“Oh? No, it’s… it’s absolutely nothing, your highness?” Arin replied awkwardly, shaking her head.
As she spoke, her hand crept toward the floor, quietly retrieving the fallen notebook. Her friend had thrown literal tantrums in the past to ensure no one would ever lay eyes on this item, but right now, Arin desperately needed it as a reference guide.
[ Fairy: Flora Anemone Chloris ] A fairy born in a garden of flowers. Incredibly kind and gentle. Possesses a pure, innocent personality from growing up sheltered among the blooms. Her actions are so adorable that the other fairies dote on her endlessly.
“Oh, I’m gonna lose it.”
Arin found herself facing a monumental dilemma. How exactly was one supposed to react upon discovering a friend’s deeply buried, cringeworthy past in the flesh?
-
Tease her.
-
Tease her mercilessly.
-
Tease her with absolute relish.
-
Tease her until the day she dies.
-
Feign ignorance to preserve what little remains of her friend’s dignity.
While there was a very clear right answer, Arin lowered her head, her shoulders shaking violently with suppressed laughter. Noticing her distress, her uniquely transformed friend stepped closer.
“Oh dear, whatever is the matter? Are you injured anywhere?”
The voice was vastly more delicate and sweet than Choeun’s normal tone, making Arin’s shoulders quake even harder. Every fiber of her being screamed to burst out laughing. However, Arin summoned every ounce of loyalty and survival instinct she possessed.
Loyalty aside, her survival instinct clearly pointed to the only safe option.
5. Feign ignorance to preserve what little remains of her friend’s dignity.
“Ugh, sob, pfft— I’m just… I’m just so sad! Wahhh!”
Let’s just cry! It’s safer to pretend to cry! Having made her decision, Arin began to sob hysterically.
“You are sad? Whatever for? Goodness, is there anything I might do to assist you?”
“Please, hic, just… please stop talking.”
Even in the middle of a literal crisis, the sheer comedy of the situation kept her brain firing.
Choeun, oh Choeun… What on earth were you watching when you wrote this down? Magic Knight? Wedding Peach? Sugar Sugar Rune?
Unfortunately, her brain couldn’t pinpoint the exact source material. Instead, her overwhelming amusement only intensified.
“If you refuse to speak, this king cannot offer you aid. Do you not wish to live?”
The tone above her head shifted abruptly. The voice dropped, taking on a husky, commanding undertone. It was as if a completely different person had taken over the body.
It wasn’t that her friend had suddenly developed a split personality. There was no such setting listed under Chloris’s profile in the notebook. Keeping her face hidden, Arin hurriedly flipped through the pages.
[ Dark Fairy: Black Chloris ] Chloris, who fell into darkness after being betrayed by humans.
“Pfft, sob! Don’t tell me it’s an edgy phase?!” Arin mentally screamed, keeping up the tears as she flipped the page again.
[ Demon King: Kitreus ] Naturally looks down on others and speaks using arrogant, self-aggrandizing pronouns.
Betting everything on this new development, Arin forced herself to speak through her feigned tears.
“Excuse me, by any chance… sob… are you Lord Kitreus?”
As she sniffled and raised her head, she came face-to-face with a pair of glowing, golden eyes. They resembled the piercing gaze of a predator caught in the beam of a flashlight at night.
The entity possessing those eyes scoffed.
“What is that preposterous name? Do you dare suggest this king’s name sounds so utterly ridiculous?”
Wait, there’s more?! Please, no…
Fighting through her overwhelming urge to laugh, Arin flipped the page once more. Finally, another entry revealed itself.
[ Celestial Nine-Tailed Fox (天狐) ]
The sheer weight of the cringe was becoming too much to bear. Arin slammed the notebook shut. The poorly scribbled, crooked Hanja characters drawn by her teenage friend were so tragically embarrassing that her ribs practically ached from holding it in.
As Arin curled into a ball on the floor, trembling violently, Ha Choeun (or whoever was currently occupying her body) crossed her arms.
“Do you wish to be left behind?”
“Nooo, sniff, haha… It’s just… we’re stuck in a dungeon right now… and my parents, my family, they’re in danger.” Arin could no longer tell if she was crying or laughing. Covering her face with the closed notebook, she barely managed to look up.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the entity moved.
“Aiding the humans who betrayed us holds little appeal, but for this once, this king shall grant you aid.”
“Pfft— sob, wahhh!”
Ultimately, Arin burst into tears all over again.
