Fell in the Highest Difficulty Dungeon 7

Chapter 7 – What Is This?

3. What is this again

One of several events, 〈 Box of Horrors 〉.

In the game, it was a roulette game with eerie illustrations drawn on it. Of course, the result of roulette is bokbulbok.

Good effects such as physical strength recovery, mentality recovery, and treasure acquisition could have been won, but there were far more bad ones.

Starting with a decrease in physical strength, decrease in mentality, and acquisition of random abnormal conditions, monsters even popped out of the box if there was no luck…

‘How would they implement a dog-like roulette game?’

The room was surrounded by pitch black walls, and in the middle was a box that looked sinister at first glance and that I absolutely didn’t want to touch.

[You have entered the Box of Fear room.]
[To pass the Box of Fear room, everyone must pass the Test of the Box of Fear.]
[To take the test, you must put your hand into the Box of Fear.]

“Power pass?”

In the game, I only had to run it once, but this time I have to run it twice?

I reflexively looked at Kaya, and she glared at the surface of the box with a look of disgust.

“Kaya.”

“Leader.”

When I called out to Kaya, she looked back and forth between her face and her box, then bit her lip. Is it because she is a nun? In particular, it seemed to show aversion and rejection to that box.

“Looks like the only way to get through here is to deal with something that looks like a box. I’ll do it first, so I’ll wait for you.”

“… No. I will go first.”

“No. I have to do everything anyway, and just in case you don’t know, be vigilant around you.”

Would I want to touch this ominous box first? Kaya’s mentality was -88, so I couldn’t help it because I was more anxious. It was because Kaya told me to try it first, but she unluckily decided that it was better for me to go through and prepare first, rather than having her mentality explode due to something like a decline in mentality.

‘Whoa. Seeing it up close, why is it so creepy?’

It ended up looking ominous from a distance, but up close it was very repulsive. It just looks like a box, but when I look at it, I feel like I’m looking at a monster with filth all over it.

After taking a deep breath, I tapped the lid of the box with the tip of my knife.

Kiik-

If this was the game now, it was the timing where the roulette with various pictures would be running.

Gulp-

The sound of Kaya swallowing her saliva was unusually loud, and then the box opened completely.

[Box of Horror Result]

[Forcible Deportation]

“… Uh?”

[All party members are expelled from the dungeon.]

[Reward cannot be obtained.]

“… Fuck?”

Kaya couldn’t even open the box and we were forcibly kicked out of the dungeon.

**

“Leader.”

“…”

“Leader.”

“…”

“Leader!”

“Uh, huh?”

“Relax.”

“Ah oh. Have to dress up mental. You need to get your mind right. Yes.”

My mind was blank. I still haven’t figured out what this is all about.

Forced deportation?

It was definitely a gimmick that didn’t exist in The Long Terror. If so, there are two possible cases to consider here.

Either it was added because the difficulty level increased in DLC, or it was a variable that came about because I was brought here. Either way it didn’t please me.

Besides, an urgent problem has already arisen.

‘I do not have money.’

All I got was one common artifact and a little bit of money. Considering that he had used up almost all of his possessions before entering the dungeon, he might not have been able to stay overnight at the inn with Kaya.

‘It’s better than Kaya bursting mentally in there, but… Can this be considered better?’

I checked the money bag. A little over 5 silver left. Considering that he paid 5 silver when he stayed alone, it seemed that his concerns would eventually become a reality.

“Leader.”

“Kaya. Listen carefully. We have a major problem.”

Gulp-

At my serious tone, Kaya clenched her mace even though she was out of the dungeon.

“I have no money.”

“… Yes?”

“I don’t have money to sleep at an inn right now.”

“Ah.”

Kaya made a dumbfounded expression. Did my words not yet come true, or did I expect very serious words because it was a really serious problem.

If it was the latter, I wanted to say sorry. Because I’m talking very seriously.

“We are not in very good shape. Entering the dungeon again like this is nonsense. In the end, we have to sell the dungeon items back.”

“You mean everything?”

He nodded his head with a sad expression. Kaya still didn’t seem to fully appreciate the seriousness of the matter.

“Once you enter and exit the dungeon, consumable items are useless unless you purify them within a few days. The fear of dungeons, dark magic, blah blah contaminates the essence, so they say what to do, but that’s over. Do you know how much I would get if I resold it?”

“It’s been less than a day, so why don’t you get 70 percent out of half?”

“Two. If you hit it really well, it’s 2.5 pennies.”

“Such nonsense!”

Only then did Kaya give the reaction I expected. She was poised to break the heads of the merchants with her blood-dried mace.

“If you don’t sell it, it becomes garbage, and if you sell it, you only get 20%. As I said before, going back to the current state because things are wasted is out of the question. So what if you sell it? The next dungeon line is unclear. Because I don’t have the things I need. If you want to buy it again, you have to pay 5 times the price you sold it for.”

“How could that be… !”

“It is said that it is the cost of the purification work, but the method is tightly held by the city and the merchants.”

Kaya trembled at her. Her crude heavy armor groaned.

‘Forcible deportation… It’s a terrifying gimmick in many ways.’

What if it was a game?

If something like this had happened in the very beginning, like my current situation, it would have been a matter of boldly turning Rigame. What if it was in the middle and late stages when the funds and manpower pool were somewhat ample? It could have been nothing more than an annoying happening where I had to go back into the dungeon.

“Sorry, Captain.”

“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“If my condition had been a little more intact, I would have been able to enter the dungeon right away… Aren’t you in trouble because of me? I’d rather give up my job as a warrior and make money in this city.”

“You are talking nonsense. If that’s the case, it’s my fault that I was expelled from the dungeon itself.”

Kaya’s words were dismissed. It was really nonsense. Giving up a soldier’s job to earn money?

Even if her 1st tier level is not enough, her 2nd tier level seems to be enough, and she releases her who rolled in from her first recruitment without much effort?

It’s good that Kaya fully realized the seriousness of her job, but it wasn’t desirable for her self-esteem to go down beyond that.

“Let’s sell it. If you want to sell it, you have to sell it as soon as possible so that you can get even a little more.”

Kaya opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but she didn’t say her words at all. I assumed she agreed and took her steps to her storefront. A creak soon followed.

When I sneakily checked her mentality, there was no change in the numbers, but apart from the game-like elements, I felt gloominess in her steps.

‘How far is the game and how far is the reality?’

Game. Reality. And several game permits that lie somewhere in between.

If I had been on one side, I would have been at least able to figure out how to respond, but sometimes it followed the game system as it is, and other times it was completely different from the game, so it was hard to get my bearings.

Did it simply become a piece of data and fall into the world in the game for some reason, or did Han Yu-jin die immediately and reincarnated as Hendrick’s body, only having memories of her previous life.

The reason was unknown, but one thing was certain: the higher this uncertainty, the more the reliability of his own data he had previously accumulated was drastically reduced.

“Hmm… Six silver coins in all.”

“Yes? You should get 8 silver coins! A day, no, less than 12 hours have passed!”

“What if you don’t have much time? Management is different.”

“No, I barely touched it… !”

“If you are dissatisfied, go somewhere else.”

I read the annoyance and sorrow in the merchant’s expression.

What would you do if you were to be a young warrior? If you twist it, go somewhere else.

Such thoughts were revealed without filtering. It couldn’t be anything but a vicious merchant who preyed on ephemera or novice warriors.

And from the nuance of the words he had just spoken out, the smell of collusion was strong.

I handed over all the items for 7 silver coins, crying and eating mustard. The reason why I received 1 more silver coin was because I wrote a memorandum stating that I would stop by this place unconditionally and buy at least 1 gold coin or more when preparing for the next dungeon.

It was nonsensical, and it was something I would never have done normally, but right now, the 1 silver coin was precious.

‘But. The existence of the dungeon was nonsensical, and this city, ‘Salem’, which is active because of such a dungeon, is also a nonsensical place.’

It was no laughing matter that Salem’s prices and merchants’ behavior were also normal in Salem.

“Let’s go. Kaya.”

“… Yes. Leader.”

In contrast to his lighter body and his pride as a team leader fluttering like feathers, his steps towards the inn were very heavy.

“One night.”

“Each room? Or like yesterday?”

“Like yesterday.”

“Eight.”

Shedding tears of blood inside, I handed over the silver coin as calmly as possible and went up to the second floor.

Only 4 silver coins.

I had a few more fairy tales in my pocket, but they didn’t have much value, so I didn’t bother counting them. The moment I counted up to that, I felt like I was going to shed tears at the shabbiness that came rushing in.

After washing and changing our clothes, we sat down on the bed. Taking off her heavy armor and wearing her elegant nun’s uniform, Kaya was quite different, but her beauty was not in a situation that caught her eye.

I dusted the pockets down. Then four silver coins and a few copper coins clashed against each other with a shabby sound.

Kaya blankly looked at it, then met my eyes and she lowered her head again.

“At this rate, I won’t be able to sleep here tomorrow. The fact that I was able to sleep today was possible because I added the money I sold the items to.”

She nodded her head without speaking.

“The prices are ridiculous. It’s not a common sense price. But since this is a city of nonsense in the first place, it is a place where nonsense is common sense. With going to the dungeon as our goal, we have no choice but to adapt.”

Nod-

Even though she was frustrated by her lack of words, she continued her words, feeling grateful for being compliant.

“I’ll say it again, but it’s forbidden to work part-time with the title of hero. But even if it’s not part-time job, there must be a way to make money. Otherwise, so many warriors cannot be explained. And as you said, the moment you take off the title of warrior to earn money with part-time job, it’s just a day to stay at the inn. Or leave this fucking city.”

That this is not a game at all.

I bet on it.

There was also a gimmick like ‘forced expulsion’ that didn’t exist on the subject of saying that you can’t return unless you beat the boss.

Wouldn’t it be strange if there were also ways to make money besides part-time job?

Whatever I said, Kaya, who was working hard on the stack, opened her mouth for the first time.

“Captain. Hendrick, why are you aiming for the dungeon?”

“What?”

“If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to know that.”

Kaya’s gray eyes looked straight at me.

It was then.

[The ‘Relationship’ item has been unlocked.]
[Relationship is an indicator of the relationship with fellow heroes, and it affects the mental state and teamwork of heroes in a different direction than mentality.]

‘What the fuck is this… ?’