Chapter 31
[- Abrea: Hey! What took you so long—! Ah, no, this isn’t the time to argue about that. First, let’s move to that glass cave from last time. I set up a movement artifact there. I’ll give you this, so follow me right now.]
Speaking urgently, as if someone were chasing him, Abrea used the artifact first and went off to a place called the Glass Cave. It seemed they’d decided to call the place with the glass castle gate the Glass Cave.
But why did he look so anxious and rushed? How had the story ended last time again? Since it felt suspicious to enter the gate right away, we’d decided to report to the higher-ups first and observe the situation, hadn’t we? I think the quest ended with him saying something roughly like that.
……Did something go wrong because he reported it to the higher-ups? When I recalled and pieced together what Retake had said, that seemed like the only reason Abrea would be anxious. Witerahite would never just sit back and allow a situation where a contradiction of god, a flaw in god, might be revealed. But how would they know what only the two of us saw? Is there something in that place?
All sorts of thoughts crossed my mind, but since I knew full well that I couldn’t come up with a clear answer like Retake even if I racked my brains, I shook my head from side to side as it began to ache. Thinking deeply was a pain. If I sent him the video later, Retake would figure it out on his own.
I used the artifact that had entered my inventory and moved to the Glass Cave. The loading illustration showed a pure white glass floor, walls made of mirrors and glass, and a majestic, enormous castle gate standing in the middle. Around the gate, the tiny clumps of light similar to the millet grains I’d seen before were glowing.
When I arrived, I saw Abrea standing in front of the castle gate with his robe off. A quest mark was proudly floating over Abrea’s head. I approached him and pressed the F key to talk, and the screen briefly faded to black before a story cutscene began playing.
[- Abrea: “Phew, good. You came here with the artifact, right?”]
▷ (Ask what happened.)
▷ (Ask why he looks so pale.)
They were choices with no particular meaning. Without hesitation, I pressed the first option.
[- Did something happen?]
[- Abrea: “……I’m telling you this because I trust you, so don’t tell anyone. Well, honestly, I don’t think you’d go around blabbing about it anyway…… But I’m warning you in advance. Don’t ever talk about it. Not even to Howa.”]
After giving a firm warning, Abrea stood with his arms crossed.
[- Abrea: “After returning to the base, I wrote and submitted a report about this Glass Cave. I filtered out the conversation I had with Adam to a reasonable degree. First, I wanted to figure out where this place was and gather information.”]
[- Abrea: “But I guess I was being shortsighted. The very day I submitted the report, I was summoned immediately, and the moment I entered the reception room, I was almost summarily executed.”]
[- Abrea: “……Does that make any sense? No matter how grave a crime someone commits, they don’t handle it like this. Even when they catch the Eideas they hate so much, they don’t execute them on the spot!”]
Abrea, who had been venting his resentment in a voice full of rage, swept his long hair back and showed his neck. As the screen zoomed in, I could see a clear cut wound still there, with only the bleeding barely stopped. My character gasped in shock.
After showing me the wound, Abrea, who had been huffing and swallowing his breaths, slowly began taking deep breaths. Then, as if he had regained his composure, he let out a short sigh and spoke in a calmer voice than before.
[- Abrea: “It was extremely fortunate that I was on guard because they summoned me so suddenly. If I hadn’t been, I wouldn’t be here right now.”]
[- Abrea: “At any rate…… this seems to make things a little more certain. The temple, Witerahite, is hiding something. That must be why that light led me here.”]
[- Abrea: “What they’re hiding in this place, and why they’re hiding it. I have to find out.”]
Having steeled his resolve, Abrea stubbornly turned toward the castle gate. With that scene as the last, the story cutscene ended, and I became able to enter the “Mirror Maze.”
I pressed the keyboard and approached the castle gate. As I moved closer to the now-interactable gate, a white hologram shone faintly. When I pressed the F key, the system window that appeared when entering a dungeon popped up.
Since it was a two-person-only dungeon, I figured I’d be matched quickly and pressed the server matching button.
“…….”
One second. Two seconds.
Hm. Maybe there aren’t many people yet because maintenance only just ended. It’s taking longer than I thought.
“…….”
Five seconds. ……Six seconds.
……Since it’s for two people, did everyone already pair up and leave? Still, I’m a tank, so why isn’t this working?
Ever since I’d played a tank from the CBT onward, it had been extremely rare for me to wait more than five seconds for matching. Already lacking patience as it was, I wondered if it might be a server error, so I pressed the cancel matching button and tried matching again.
“…….”
It was the same.
I tried waiting patiently, but when it went past ten seconds, I finally couldn’t stand it anymore and had no choice but to pick up my phone and do something else. If I killed some time doing this, I’d get matched eventually.
When I turned on my phone and unlocked the screen, I saw a Kakaotalk notification on the top bar. Without thinking much of it, I dragged the screen down and opened the top bar. Then I saw an unexpected name.
Surprised inwardly, I immediately tapped the notification and entered the chat window.
[Gang Jegyeong]
Honeybun-nim
Bun-nim
Bun-nim
Bun-nim
Bun-nim
Goyeong-nim
Yeong-nim
Yeong-nim
Mr. Goyeong 12:23
Since he’d been urgently looking for me right up until I entered the chatroom, I was about to reply at once, wondering what was going on, but a new message popped up at the speed of light.
Kitty 12:23
What the hell.
I was so flustered that I couldn’t even reply, and my thumb froze in place. Even after seeing the 1 disappear, Retake maintained the silence.
[Gang Jegyeong]
No;
Um
You weren’t looking 12:23
So I tried calling you with a magic spell
And you... checked it haha
I guess it really is a magic spell..
Haha...
I’m sorrry... 12:24
It was obvious that Retake was just as flustered as I was. Whether because Retake had called me that, or because I was simply too surprised, I’d encountered a nickname I’d heard so often in my school days that my ears had practically grown calluses, but I didn’t feel bad. I was just flustered, so I gathered up my startled heart and replied.
[Me]
No, it’s fine lol I was just kinda surprised;;
What is it? 12:24
[Gang Jegyeong]
Ah, well
Have you gotten matched yet?
This dungeon. Mirror Maze.. 12:24
At Retake’s message, I glanced at the screen. More than forty seconds had passed since I started matching, but there was still no news at all.
[Me]
Not yet
Matching is taking super long for this dungeon
Even though I’m a tank... 12:24
When I sent that along with my complaint, Retake replied as if he’d been waiting.
[Gang Jegyeong]
I’m going to try an experiment
If you get matched, could you send me a reply right away? 12:24
An experiment? What experiment? Is there some problem with matching?
No wonder I couldn’t get matched even as a tank. Just as I was thinking that, a cheerful notification sound rang out like a miracle, announcing that matching was complete. I shot up from where I’d been leaning back in my chair. Then, just as Retake had said, I sent a Kakaotalk message.
[Me]
Matched! 12:24
Excited at the thought of wandering around a new dungeon, I held my phone and waited for Retake’s reply before entering. But perhaps because he was busy, Retake had checked the message and still hadn’t replied. Was he unable to reply right away because he was streaming? Understanding with great generosity, I put my phone down. I wouldn’t be able to check the chat now anyway, since I’d be clearing the dungeon.
When I pressed the dungeon entry button, the other person must have accepted too, because the number of people waiting to enter changed from 1/2 to 2/2.
That was when it happened. My character suddenly let out a short scream and collapsed. Then the screen cracked all over, just like when I became unable to fight.
Startled, I tried to look around, wondering what the hell was going on, but the aim was fixed so I couldn’t rotate the screen. It went dark, and soon changed to the loading screen. What was truly chilling was that even on the loading screen, the cracked effect remained exactly as it was.
Did I die right before entering the dungeon? Was I attacked? But the Glass Cave was solo-only, so other users couldn’t enter. Did Abrea kill me, then? No, why would Abrea? Abrea isn’t that kind of mastermind character. There’s no way.
I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. I forced myself to stay calm and smoothed down my hair. It’s just a game effect, that’s all. There’s no need to be scared. Good Yeong, good Yeong.
The loading ended, and I heard the sound of a party being formed. Thinking that I wasn’t alone anymore, I roughly shook off my fear and naturally placed my hands on the keyboard, then casually greeted my party member.
[Party] Honeybun: Hii
The chat window that appeared when I typed was not a broken screen, but was clean as usual. Fortunately, it seemed the screen had returned to normal.
And not long after, a story cutscene began to play. Since the cutscene that played on the first run couldn’t be skipped, I soothed my chest and quietly watched it.
The entirely black screen moved along a single beam of light. Then my character and Abrea could be seen lying on the floor. As the beam of light fell over his face, Honeybun opened his eyes first. Perhaps dazzled by the light, Honeybun blinked repeatedly, then came to his senses and sprang to his feet. Behind him as he looked around, Abrea could also be seen groggily getting up.
[- Abrea: “What…… What happened? Don’t tell me, Witerahite?”]
Abrea, who had been clutching his head and groaning, became fully alert, suspecting Witerahite might have attacked. Around the time his wings were trembling so much it was pitiful, a clump of light that appeared from somewhere approached Abrea. It was a millet grain.
The millet grain about the size of Abrea’s nose—in other words, the angel—fluttered its wings gracefully and flew around in front of his eyes. As Abrea stared at that light as if entranced, the angel descended, gently took hold of his finger, and tugged him toward the place where the beam of light was.
Abrea looked bewildered, but obediently let himself be led along by the angel. Following the two of them, my character slowly trailed after them, matching their pace.
The beam of light that grew closer and closer was shining through a gap where a door had been slightly opened. As they followed the white beam of light so intense it was not merely blinding but almost painfully sharp, the cutscene switched to Honeybun’s point of view and showed Abrea’s wings. The ivory wings that swayed like a wedding veil with every step he took were, for some reason, growing clearer in light the farther forward they went.
Just like when Retake and I were near each other.
Perhaps sensing something strange from that, Honeybun was just about to speak to Abrea. Abrea, having reached the door, carefully pushed it open, and white light so bright it made it impossible to see swallowed the view before my eyes.
That time did not last long. Before long, eyes grown accustomed to the light slowly began to focus. As the blurry view ahead gradually cleared, what was revealed distinctly inside the room was,
……Inside the room was.
[Party] Retake: Ah... lol
Wow.
[Party] Retake: I had my suspicions, but seriously
This was a fucking insane god-tier game.