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Thud, thud, thud!
The sound of heavy footfalls echoed throughout the floor, and Kim Soleum slid around the corner, his breaths coming in short bursts. He looks ahead and grimaces, right as Baek Saheon slides besides him.
“What the hell are you pausing for? We need to keep–”
“It’s a dead end.” Kim Soleum cuts Baek Saheon off, despair in his eyes.
“...Oh, shit.”
Oh shit indeed.
Before them was a corridor, but each door alongside it was blocked. The only visible thing was the window at the end of the corridor. Slowly, a thought began to form in Kim Soleum’s mind.
“Shit, do we have to fight? But gunshots are only going to attract more of them, and I don’t have my bat–”
“We jump.”
“...Excuse me?” Slowly, Baek Saheon turned slightly towards Kim Soleum, still mainly facing the direction they had just came from.
After all, that’s where the zombies would come from.
Kim Soleum screamed internally, the part of him that feared pain crying at the thought of having glass shards stuck into his skin.
Unfortunately, there was no other way out.
“We jump.” Kim Soleum stressed, his voice deliberately calm, because letting Baek Saheon catch a hint of weakness at a time like this was pretty much asking to be abandoned.
“Sir, with all due respect, ARE YOU INSANE–”
“–Out the window.”
Baek Saheon stopped talking for a bit.
“Goat, are you stupid? Where else could we have jumped?”
“I don’t fucking know, off a bridge?” Baek Saheon snapped back, and then he was slowly walking backwards as the first zombies came into view.
“Goat.” Kim Soleum warned, taking larger strides until he could feel the curtain right behind him.
“Yes, Supervisor?” Baek Saheon asked, his teeth gritted, a false-casual Kim Soleum had gotten far too used to seeing at this point.
“On the count of three.”
And for all that Kim Soleum did not trust Baek Saheon, and Baek Saheon did not trust Kim Soleum in turn, it made partnering up easier, somehow. As easy as it could come to the both of them. It’s easier when you know exactly what to expect from the other– betrayal.
“One.”
The zombies slowly shuffled forwards, their antlers scratching on the ceiling, mycelium spreading everywhere they touched.
“Two.”
Baek Saheon put his arm back and undid the latch on the window, hastily throwing it open.
“Three!”
Kim Soleum throws himself through the window, and does his best to aim the direction of his fall into the tree beneath them. Baek Saheon, less luckily, falls straight to the floor. Fortunately for him, seeing as it was only a two floor distance, alongside the specific buffs he had gotten from the Darkness, at best his ankles will hurt for the next few hours. It’s honestly sort of unfair, Kim Soleum despairs, because his own body is scarily fragile.
“Catch.” He calls coldly, screaming and wailing on the inside and praying that Baek Saheon fears him enough not to let him drop to the floor, because then that would absolutely ruin any fear that Baek Saheon had of him.
Baek Saheon seems to panic for a moment, before he’s beneath the tree and Kim Soleum is firmly in his arms. If it were anyone else, Kim Soleum might even call the princess carry comforting. Unfortunately, because it’s Baek Saheon, Kim Soleum can’t. He isn’t insane, no matter how much he plays it up for the persona.
…He gets the feeling Braun would have cut in there with a witty comment. Fuck, Kim Soleum missed Braun. This was so unfair, why couldn’t Braun have come with them…?
“What are you thinking about, Sir?” Baek Saheon, who, for some reason unknown to Kim Soleum, and has yet to let him onto his own feet, began jogging away. Kim Soleum couldn’t even complain, because it was true that Baek Saheon running while carrying him was faster than Kim Soleum running by himself.
“About how we landed in this mess.” Kim Soleum said, because he was most definitely not thinking about how Baek Saheon’s arms were unfairly muscled, letting genuine ire slip into his voice. He could hear Baek Saheon gulp in fear.
He’d better, after everything he put Kim Soleum through! Though his expression remained cold, he let himself despair inwardly and think about how they even landed in this Darkness.
:: Post Experiment Z - the XXth Campaign!
A Darkness based on zombie survival horror, with the elements of classic tabletop RPGs such as DnD, where dice rolls and random stats shape how you interact with the world. Set in a post apocalyptic world infested by zombies, the goal is to find a designated item, survive, and leave.
To enter, one must pick open the lock of a specified storage item without having the key. The thing that all these specified items had in common were that they were usually chests, boxes or doors, all of them marked with a certain Cheerful Research Institute logo.
A B-grade Darkness that required an item to enter, and incredibly specific conditions… and of course, Baek Saheon triggered all of them. If only Kim Soleum hadn’t been caught up by that guy’s paranoia…
No wonder Braun had warned him to stay away from Baek Saheon, enough so that he decided to send him a text every day about being careful which locks he picked. And now they had to look for the “Key” of the Darkness– a literal one. It was debated whether or not it counted as an item, for it was powerful within the Darkness, but relatively useless outside of it– that was, if anyone even found it before dying.
If you think about it, it’s all Baek Saheon’s fault…! Kim Soleum mentally kicked a rock, and then bemoaned the fact that he couldn’t even stay away from Baek Saheon because that would mean being alone in this apocalyptic Darkness, and that meant facing all the zombies alone…!
Even if it’s Baek Saheon, at least it’s someone…
It had started off like this: On a relatively ordinary day, after Kim Soleum had gotten off work and was resting in his room, that madman came rushing into his room demanding answers.
Answers as to why the lock on a small chest he had taken off was now glowing ominously.
And Kim Soleum, who was not an idiot, turned tail and ran like his life depended on it (because it did) with Braun cheering him on.
And then Baek Saheon had chased him.
Kim Soleum had tried to throw Baek Saheon off his tail by taking the stairs and weaving through the building, but he was forced to stop at the basement parking lot.
“–I know you know something about this, so just tell me what the hell you– what the fuck is that?”
Kim Soleum stands, face pale, as he looks at the fire exit of the parking lot. Because, instead of a functional door and a set of stairs leading up, all there was was an empty doorframe and overgrown grass.
And on the other side…
A destroyed city– no, perhaps it would be more apt to call it the ruins of a destroyed city– lay before them.
“...What the fuck?” Baek Saheon whispered, once more, and Kim Soleum rounded on him with the coldest scowl he could muster.
“Do you know what that thing is?” Kim Soleum asked, because there was an idea in his head and he very, very much hated the conclusion he was coming to.
“...A locked box?” Baek Saheon tried.
“Think harder.” Kim Soleum said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Baek Saheon didn’t answer.
“It’s an item.” Kim Soleum stressed, “the key to enter this Darkness.”
“...Darkness?” Baek Saheon asked, before it was clear that what Kim Soleum said caught up to me.
“Sir, we’re not–”
Kim Soleum gestured outside, and Baek Saheon fell silent.
It was, after all, rather difficult to deny that something supernatural was going on, and Baek Saheon was not a stubborn enough fool to deny it when he could be focusing on ensuring his own safety instead.
All in all, it was rather impressive how quickly Baek Saheon could change tracts.
“Do you know anything about this Darkness, sir?” He asked, in that sickly polite voice of his that probably fooled many a coworker.
Kim Soleum chose not to reply, doing his best to project an indifferent and annoyed aura. He took in a deep breath, and turned back around towards the other flight of stairs he had come down from.
With slightly shaking hands, he reached out, and beyond the door–
Kim Soleum slammed the door shut immediately. Baek Saheon had caught on, and had pressed the button for the elevator. As far as Kim Soleum could tell, though, the elevator didn’t seem to be moving at all. That was out as well, then.
And, considering the fact it was a basement parking lot, which meant that there were no windows–
“We’re effectively trapped.” Kim Soleum summarized, looking out the fire escape door and into the wilderness.
The grass was wild and overgrown, vines creeping up everything he could see. A path of concrete was there, only faintly visible through the green, and in the distance was a small, worn down shack.
Kim Soleum recalled the details of the ghost story.
–at the beginning of the exploration, all players must visit the [Dungeon Master]’s residence to help properly set up the campaign.
That was probably the residence, Kim Soleum assumed. The good news about working with someone like Baek Saheon was that he did not, in fact, need to explain himself to him.
“We’re going over there.” Kim Soleum stated.
Baek Saheon stared at him, opened his mouth, reconsidered with a calculating expression on his face, before nodding and plastering a sleazy smile onto it.
“Alright, Supervisor.” He said, simply, and Kim Soleum could not shake the feeling that he was simply waiting for the opportunity to do… something.
What that “something” was remained to be seen.
While walking, Kim Soleum took stock of the items he had on him at the moment. He had been preparing to leave for work, so he had his mask and his dream essence collector with him. Unfortunately, he hadn’t had the time to finish collecting any items.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could notice Baek Saheon doing the same. He was still carrying the cursed box, holding it very carefully with his right arm, and trying to reach the pocket on the other side of his suit with his left arm. Why he didn’t simply switch the arm he was carrying the box with was beyond Kim Soleum.
It was an incredibly awkward walk. While Kim Soleum was aware that the [game] hadn’t officially started yet, which meant there were no entities other than the designated players, he was still on high alert for the slightest hint that anything was going to jump out of the bushes.
It was too quiet, with Baek Saheon choosing to remain silent.
…Wait.
It was too quiet.
“...Braun?” Kim Soleum whispered, reaching for the pocket of his shirt.
Braun wasn’t there.
Braun wasn’t there.
Kim Soleum flinched, pausing only for a moment before resuming his walk, lest Baek Saheon notice anything was off.
He double checked again.
The signature pink rabbit plush was simply… absent. Missing. There was nothing in the pocket where it was supposed to sit.
...No wonder I haven’t been hearing any of Braun’s snarky comments! Kim Soleum despaired, suddenly incredibly uncomfortable with the knowledge that the only person he could actually talk to was Baek Saheon.
Somehow, he already missed Braun. Even though Braun was… him, he was still–
Kim Soleum stopped before the door of the residence, and turned around to see Baek Saheon lightly jogging to catch up.
He waited until Baek Saheon was closer to speak.
“I’ll be opening the door now.”
“Is that wise? The area’s pretty large–”
“If you have any complaints,” Kim Soleum said, slowly. “You are free to travel by yourself.”
Baek Saheon stared out at the ruins of the city, then back at the run-down shack.
“What’s one detour.” he muttered underneath his breath, and then stepped back and to the side slightly, just in case something jumped out from behind the door.
Kim Soleum begrudgingly respected the survival instincts Baek Saheon showed.
He reached out and opened the door.
Despite its moss covered appearance, it was deceptively easy to open. In fact, the door barely even creaked despite the dilapidated nature of the shack.
He took in a deep breath and stepped inside.
Instantly, the lights within the residence turned on, and the world outside turned dark.
“...What–” Baek Saheon startled, turning to look at the now-night sky. The moon floated far above in shattered pieces, and the buildings in the distance crumbled.
And then closer buildings crumbled.
“Baek– Goat. Get inside.” Kim Soleum said, as authoritatively as he could.
Baek Saheon took one last look out at the buildings collapsing towards the shack, politely stepped inside, and closed the door behind him.
Kim Soleum was, once again, aware of how quiet everything was. He turned to survey the shack properly.
It was surprisingly clean. Dust scattered around the entire room, with no greenery anywhere to be seen, and in its center was a single, pristine table.
And atop that table were a set of cards and dice, with an instruction manual and what appeared to be pieces of a map underneath them.
Kim Soleum stepped closer and picked up the instruction manual first.
Welcome to Post Experiment Z - the 74th Campaign!
This game is recommended for 2-8 players. To begin, please create your character. Shuffle the job cards and draw two to choose from!
Kim Soleum obediently picked up the labelled pile of cards, shuffled them, and drawed two for himself. He gestured to Baek Saheon, who begrudgingly drew two cards as well.
Kim Soleum turned his own cards over.
Hmm…
A gray ‘Medic’ card and a blue ‘Sniper’ card.
The colors corresponded to rarity, with the Sniper card giving higher stat bonuses. However…
Kim Soleum glanced over to Baek Saheon, who had already chosen a green ‘Militant’ card. His suit glowed and faded away into a sleeveless shirt. Kim Soleum frowned, because he was certain Baek Saheon’s arm muscles weren’t actually that large. It must be the Darkness’ influence, then.
It was lucky that Kim Soleum had the information of <Darkness Exploration Records> to fall back on.
The first thing was that the way of transmission of the “zombie virus” depended on the type of map drawn –Kim Soleum quickly skimmed the instructions– which would be done at the fourth stage.
And in each map, there would only be a few antidotes.
Kim Soleum recalled the 44th exploration records.
6 employees entered, but the map difficulty was rated high, with transmission by polluted air. Antidotes ran out by the 3rd day, and infighting occurred. One survivor used the fighting as a distraction and managed to escape. Remaining presumed dead with map reset.
Militant was a medium ranged fighting class, giving bonuses to strength, dexterity and constitution. Provided equipment was a handgun, bat, ammo, clean water and military rations.
If Kim Soleum picked Sniper, he would have gotten, well, a sniper rifle. However, the class negatively affected both strength and constitution, and a sniper rifle wasn’t exactly the lightest thing to carry. Starting supplies were more limited, and with the nature of Sniper, he’d be expected to scout and stay further away from the skirmish.
Which, in turn, meant there was a non-zero chance that Baek Saheon would be able to abandon him to escape from a fight if he found himself losing, with Kim Soleum none the wiser thanks to a certain Braun’s absence.
It was something he didn’t want to risk.
Sure, the buffs sounded nice, with great increases to dexterity and wisdom, but Kim Soleum preferred the smaller intelligence boost from Medic.
Moreover, Medic came with three antidotes…
Kim Soleum put down the Sniper card, and the Medic card glowed slightly before crumbling away.
The glow settled around his body, and Kim Soleum found himself in a change of clothes. He was wearing a hoodie now instead of his usual suit, but it was comfortable so he didn’t complain.
Step two: rolling dice.
Character stats are an important part of any Tabletop RPG! Roll the 20-sided dice six times, and assign the values you obtain to any stat you want! There will be one reroll opportunity provided, so please don’t cheat! Write down your stats on the sheet provided, and move to step three!
Kim Soleum did not acknowledge the sudden appearance of the character sheet and instead silently rolled the dice.
18, 12, 6, 15, 3, 20
He felt his eye twitch at the results, and decided to assign the highest rolls first.
The 20 could go to dexterity– that was what Kim Soleum considered the most useful of his stats. 18 to intelligence, which would be generally helpful.
3 was too low, so he chose to reroll that one and got a 7.
It was still pretty bad, but at least it wasn’t a 1.
6 to charisma, seeing as there were usually no npcs on the maps and the only person he had to work with was already intimidated by him, though if Braun were here he’d be complaining that Kim Soleum was letting his acting skills go to waste.
15 to constitution– that and the dexterity roll meant he could run for a good while, which should ensure he got out of any sticky situations.
Then 7 to strength and 12 to wisdom.
After all, Kim Soleum would be offloading any heavy-lifting to Baek Saheon.
He jotted down his stats on the character sheet, and wrote down a name for his character, as per the instruction manual.
“Do not write down your real name.” Kim Soleum said, flatly, as he passed Baek Saheon the pen.
He could visibly see Baek Saheon open his mouth to question him, but in the end he wrote down “Goat” in the space provided.
Step four: create the map for your campaign!
Turn over the map boards and shuffle them, then place them in any order you want. A minimum of 50 boards are required, with a maximum of 1000. After placing all the map boards, wait for the map to join together before flipping it over! Recommended number of boards for players…
That process alone took ten minutes. Kim Soleum and Baek Saheon both quietly settled for the minimum of 50 boards.
As they finished and stepped away, Kim Soleum watched with fascination as the board pieces linked up together seamlessly. No matter how many videos of people he had seen trying to replicate the board, nothing compared to seeing it in person…! Except that now wasn’t the time for fanboying.
He gripped the edge of the map and flipped it over.
The first thing Kim Soleum noted was that, thankfully, the map consisted mostly of land pieces. The 23rd campaign was set in the middle of the ocean.
“A city, huh?” Kim Soleum muttered. Three landmarks stood out to him.
The first was a local school, set in the southeast corner of the map. It was pretty big, taking up an entire three boards. It seemed to be a boarding school, considering the size of its campus.
The second location was the hospital. There was no explanation needed there– even if they didn’t find the mission item, there would at least be medical supplies and antidotes for the zombie virus.
The third location was the park in the center of the city. It was large, vast, and likely contained hints to the origin of the infection.
Step five: start your campaign and have fun!
Check over your character sheet to make sure everything is in order, then step into your brand new adventure!
Kim Soleum checked his character sheet. The stats and bonuses were showing, and ‘traits’ had appeared as well, most likely based on how he acted normally. In the top left corner was the name “Roe Deer”, with the “Medic” class underneath the name.
Behind him, the door slowly began to creak open.
“Wait a minute.” Baek Saheon said. “Where’s the equipment?”
“Where else, Goat?” Kim Soleum said, tiredly. “What in this room looks like it could feasibly contain something?”
They both stared at the box Baek Saheon had put down earlier, one with the Cheerful Research Institute logo at the bottom.
Baek Saheon, to his credit, opened the box instead of sniping back at him. And inside–
“Two backpacks.” Kim Soleum stated. He unzipped one of them to find a handgun. Not his, then. He took out two bottles of water before throwing the backpack at Baek Saheon, who dropped Kim Soleum’s backpack to grab it.
Baek Saheon spluttered at the blatant theft, but calmed down when Kim Soleum handed him a single vial of the antidote.
“So… we’re heading to the hospital first, right, sir?” Baek Saheon asked, but the gleam in his eyes made it clear that he wanted to find more antidotes so he didn’t need to rely on Kim Soleum.
Kim Soleum instead raised a hand to signal him to be quiet, and flipped open a small travel booklet found in his backpack for the [party leader].
After all, there was no dungeon master available to introduce the setting of the story. This booklet would suffice.
“This is City Z. The outbreak reached it a month ago, and they weren’t prepared. All remaining humans have been evacuated, but the key to the notes of a researcher who led Experiment Z is in this city somewhere… The currently named ‘Zombie virus’ is transmitted by… consumption of a certain species of fungus, or by direct contact with blood.” He summarized, before reading through the booklet again to memorize it seeing as they had no second copy.
“Preferably, we should get masks, and all the water we drink will need to be bottled or filtered and boiled.”
There was a second of silence.
“...Yes, we are going to the hospital first.” Kim Soleum eventually said.
And with that, the door to the shack swung open by itself.
The information provided by the booklet was little, with it containing only hints. After all, what was a story if the characters figured out exactly what they needed to do from the start? Braun would say that it was a predictable plot, so it would attract less viewership.
…Kim Soleum was already starting to miss his smooth voice, even if the things he said were scary at times.
They weren’t able to bring the map with them, but Baek Saheon had drawn a crude imitation of the back of the booklet, which was accurate enough that they should be fine for a while.
“Let’s try to get to the hospital before sundown.” Kim Soleum said, as they stepped out the door and into a bright dawn, and then they both set off to the distant hospital building.
Their first encounter with zombies happened a street away from the hospital. Baek Saheon heard them before Kim Soleum did, and quickly hauled himself up a tree, with Kim Soleum following soon after. They both remained quiet as they watched a group of four shuffle underneath them, antlers clinking against the bark of the tree.
Baek Saheon had sent him an inquiring look, but they both agreed that attacking this small group when it didn’t seem like there would be any information to gain wasn’t worth it at all.
They waited until the zombies had passed before climbing down the tree quietly.
The antlers seemed to be something grown by the zombie virus, though their purpose was unclear to Kim Soleum at the moment. However, they did seem to have bad senses. None of the zombies noticed them, and they seemed to directly walk into obstacles or, at best, slightly turn themselves away.
Didn’t seem bothered by the noise they made either. Kim Soleum thought.
For now, it would probably be safe to say that the zombies didn’t have the best eyesight or hearing. Then maybe they reacted to smells? But it wasn’t something that he was willing to test at the moment.
“Let’s keep moving.” He said to Baek Saheon, who was inspecting the part of the tree the antlers had knocked into.
Something glinted in his eyes as he observed the marks, but he followed along quickly enough.
The density of zombies increased the closer they got to the hospital. It made sense; they had most likely been quarantining them close by to monitor their condition, and weren’t prepared for the zombie virus to manifest. As they passed by a large square full of collapsed tents, Kim Soleum kept an eye out for any movement at all.
Beneath the tents were dead bodies, their injuries filled with mushrooms, and Kim Soleum nearly felt like throwing up from the gore. He tried not to look too closely at the tents or the corpses beneath them, so he nearly failed to notice the movement of a hand slowly reaching out at him.
The keyword being nearly.
Kim Soleum suppressed a high pitched scream as he retracted his foot from where he was about to step, the fingers of the arm reaching out from the ground grasping weakly at the air. On closer inspection, it appeared that mushrooms grew between the flesh of the fingers, but Kim Soleum truly felt like he was about to throw up from the sight alone. His faint heart couldn’t handle the horror.
“Walking through the park isn’t safe,” Kim Soleum whispered, “and there are probably more zombies near the main entrance.”
“What are you suggesting, sir?” Baek Saheon asked, but he was now more alert and on the lookout for potential corpses coming back to life.
“There should be a fire exit somewhere, or we could go in through a window.” Kim Soleum glanced at Baek Saheon for his answer.
“...Let’s look for a back entrance first.” Baek Saheon said, and that was that.
If this was the real world, Kim Soleum would feel bad about entering through a door marked “employees only”. Thankfully, this was not the real world, but thinking about it did make Kim Soleum grimace with the amount of time that must be passing outside as well.
“Take the lead.” Kim Soleum gestured to Baek Saheon, who glared at him in turn.
“What the hell? Why should I do everything you tell me to? You’re seriously making me pull all the weight here? What do you even–”
“Yes.”
“...Excuse me?”
Confronted by Baek Saheon’s befuddled expression, Kim Soleum picked a rock off the ground and threw it at him to make his point.
“I– what was that for?” He whisper-screamed as the rock bounced off his body, because he still had enough survival instincts not to scream out loud.
“You barely felt it, didn’t you?” Kim Soleum asked. He could visibly observe Baek Saheon’s confusion, before he gave out a small “Yes.”
“The nature of this Darkness is in the form of an adventure. It’s a fair game, if luck can be called fair. We walked the same distance at the same speed, but we should have begun to feel tired hours ago. You barely even feel winded, don’t you?”
Kim Soleum was exhausted from walking for so long, and if they didn’t manage to find a way into the hospital he would prefer to find shelter and a place to rest. Baek Saheon, on the other hand, looked as though he had just taken a light jog instead of walking a marathon.
Despite the fact that he looked like he wanted to open his mouth to keep arguing, Kim Soleum cut him off with a single statement.
“If I get attacked and can’t react, I’ll scream. You can hear the zombies before I do and can react faster.” He said, blandly, and watched Baek Saheon try to puzzle out his words before giving up.
“Psychopath.” He heard Baek Saheon mutter underneath his breath, but he did move in front and open the door.
They avoid all the zombies they come across and manage to obtain more rations and some masks, which they put on immediately. They clear each floor out slowly, and it is at the 6th floor that they make their first major discovery.
“Transcriptions of emails about Experiment Z.” Kim Soleum mutters. “They must’ve known in advance that electricity would go out eventually.”
“No one sane would stay here.” Baek Saheon agrees as he begins flipping through the transcriptions.
They flip through the papers in silence before Baek Saheon speaks up.
“This looks like a timeline.”
The zombie virus began somewhere in October two months ago, and an antidote was developed two months later in December. At that point, there was no saving those already infected as they were too far gone. This city had then been evacuated, and all that remained were zombies. Only a few researchers had remained behind after the evacuation out of a sense of duty for those they were unable to save.
“The outbreak reached here in November, and all the people who weren’t infected were evacuated before the end of December.” Kim Soleum drew out the timeline in his mind. If all the people were evacuated before the antidote was developed…
“The only antidotes they have are the ones for any remaining researchers.” Baek Saheon concluded.
Alright. There would be an extremely limited supply of antidotes. This was fine. Kim Soleum could work with that. He just had to be much more careful.
“There’s still a chance the researchers didn’t use all of them up.” Kim Soleum says, and upon concluding that there was nothing else of worth in the email transcripts, proceeded to look through desk drawers instead.
Baek Saheon turned to search the cabinets, and it was then Kim Soleum used a trick tied to the nature of the Darkness.
It was less of a trick and more of a mechanic, one known to anyone who has tried to play DnD before.
“I am going to look through this drawer to find an antidote.” Kim Soleum whispered quietly. “I am going to look through this drawer to find an antidote. I am going to look through this drawer to find an antidote.”
Baek Saheon turned to shoot him a dirty look, but he went back to riffling through the cabinets. At least Kim Soleum now knew just how sharp his hearing had become.
He waited another ten seconds for the metaphorical throwing of dice, before opening the drawer.
…
Two antidotes??? Kim Soleum mentally screamed. That was insanely lucky– the [Dungeon Master] must have rolled him a natural 20.
That was the gimmick of this Darkness– though it seemed very player focused, with direct survival corresponding to the person’s ability to plan and escape, the [Dungeon Master] watched over everything and tossed dice to determine things attributed to luck.
At least, that was what Kim Soleum had concluded.
He spots a note next to the antidotes, reading it over quickly.
“Oral consumption of an antidote is best used within half an hour. Injection of antidote is best used within two hours. Anything more, and there’s a high chance it will fail.”
Baek Saheon’s face scrunched up slightly, but he accepted the information, turning around to face Kim Soleum. The curious thing was that he was trying to keep his backpack as out of sight as possible, even when he was turning around.
Kim Soleum let his smile freeze on his face.
Baek Saheon, in response, tried to shove his backpack further behind himself, which made it look all the more suspicious.
“Goat.” Kim Soleum said, sweetly. “You wouldn’t have found a gas mask, would you?”
“I only found one! There was only one of them!” Baek Saheon instantly defended himself.
“Do you really think I would fight you for something? I’m not that childish.” Kim Soleum says as he walks towards Baek Saheon.
Baek Saheon instantly slides to the side, but Kim Soleum doesn’t turn to him. Instead, he says:
“Why are you trying to hide a gas mask inside this cabinet from me?”
One might say that the [Dungeon Master]’s dice rolling to replace luck was fair, seeing as luck did not discriminate.
However, one record did hint otherwise.
Exploration 47:
Subject D insisted that they were the luckiest person alive. Despite having average luck in the outside world, they kept getting lucky and cleared the campaign without a single injury while the entire group suffered at least 3 casualties.
The [Dungeon Master] did whatever they thought was funny, amusing or otherwise vital to the plot.
Much like Braun, in a way, while any person would be able to clear the Darkness as long as they had the skills, to get all the rewards out of the Darkness, the favor of its host was needed. And this [Dungeon Master]? Kim Soleum had reason to believe it loved petty actions and making other people angry. A Dungeon Master of any game would love a good story most, where its players paid attention to the story. At the same time, sometimes, a Dungeon Master would simply allow something to happen if the player rolled high enough or if it was funny and within reason.
Case in point.
Kim Soleum pulls out another gas mask, before turning around to Baek Saheon, who has gone incredibly pale.
“I would understand if there was only one mask, or if you were hoarding two.” He said, softly. “But lying that there is only one?”
Baek Saheon visibly paled and scrambled away, which was sort of funny, but Kim Soleum wasn’t a psychopath so he wasn’t going to admit that out loud. The feared Viper from <Darkness Exploration Records>, looking like he was about to die even though he was physically stronger than Kim Soleum in this Darkness.
“There– There was only one mask when I checked! I must have overlooked it, sir, –”
“You mean to say you didn’t notice it? How should I trust you for scouting, then?”
Baek Saheon flinched.
“I found two vials of antidotes… I originally planned to give you one, but since you’re lying to me about important information, I don’t think I’ll be giving you a vial. You already have one. You’ll be fine as long as you’re careful.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll scout ahead, but I want another vial of antidote after!” Baek Saheon argued.
“If you insist.” Kim Soleum said, which seemed to surprise Baek Saheon a bit. He probably didn’t expect me to give up that easily, Kim Soleum thought.
However, why wouldn’t Kim Soleum, scaredy-cat extraordinaire, be pleased? He wouldn’t need to scout ahead, which meant that Kim Soleum wouldn’t have to stare at piles of fungus-filled gore as hard to check whether or not it was moving! Just the mere thought of it made Kim Soleum want to throw up again, so he kept his mouth shut.
He was offloading his problems onto Goat, and he felt no guilt at all. After all, Baek Saheon was hardly bothered by the gore, while Kim Soleum felt weak at the knees simply seeing the amount of dried blood on the hospital walls at times!
All in all, Kim Soleum was happy with the conclusion. Even if he got infected, he could use a vial of antidote and withhold it from Baek Saheon for not doing a good job. And it wasn’t like Kim Soleum wasn’t going to give him another vial if he used the first one up; it was just good motivation for Baek Saheon to work properly!
…
Is this the true corporate spirit? Kim Soleum wondered, then felt that that was too depressing to think about while in a Darkness, so they’d better get a move on and continue searching.
“And while you’re at it, give me your gun.” Kim Soleum said, sweetly.
“What the hell? No way!”
“Would you rather I be caught off guard and all our antidotes break?”
Kim Soleum could clearly see the words ‘then you should just give them all to me, bastard’ forming on Baek Saheon’s lips, but he seethed and handed Kim Soleum his handgun.
They stay at the hospital for two days. Nothing actually happens, despite Kim Soleum’s ever present paranoia. Baek Saheon keeps his word and acts as a good scout, and they manage to not run into any zombies at all.
The good news is they manage to collect more information about the zombie virus. Apparently, it was a type of fungus which would slowly infect the host over the course of 72 hours, with fatality rates reaching 100% after 24 hours. The infected hosts would try to spread the virus no matter what, but only human beings seemed to be capable of sustaining them. Infected hosts would detect uninfected humans by the smell of their blood, which was apparently different from infected blood. Kim Soleum thought that Go Youngeun would be able to make more sense out of the medical records than he or Baek Saheon did, at least.
The eyes couldn’t function well, and their hearing was impaired. However, it didn’t mean they were incapable of hearing sound. As long as neither he nor Baek Saheon did something like screaming out loud, they’d both be fine.
In fact, nearly the entirety of their exploration in the hospital went fine. Things were going so well that something had to go wrong.
And “go wrong” it did.
It was a night where the red moon hung high up in the sky, the oppressive darkness ever-present within the dim hallways on the eighth floor, where the hospital director’s office was. They would just go in, find some notes left by the researcher who was most knowledgeable about Experiment Z, and then get out.
Except, of course, despite the fact that the electricity was down, somehow opening the door to the hospital director’s office triggered an alarm.
A very loud alarm.
And suddenly, the hospital came alive.
The fleshy growths on the walls Kim Soleum had done his best to ignore began to pulsate; and the corpses neatly on the sides of the walls slowly began to rise, broken limbs shoved underneath themselves to allow for movement.
And worst of all, the antlers began to glow.
“Goat!” Kim Soleum yelled, running towards the fire escape. “We’re getting out of here!”
“Ki– Roe Deer, the info’s–”
Baek Saheon casts a glance back behind himself, but he grits his teeth and follows instead of pushing to block the director’s office in so the zombies can’t get it. As Kim Soleum watches the antlers of the zombies pulse and mycelium creep onto everything it is in contact with, he realizes that it would have gotten into the office through the cracks in the door.
Running is the right call, then.
The problem is getting out.
Kim Soleum checks to make sure his gas mask is on properly as Baek Saheon overtakes him, knocking down the zombies in their path. It would have been much harder had they been fighting up the staircase, but seeing as they were fighting down, the zombies falling against each other led to a snowball reaction where they would stay down at the landing of a floor, unable to get up and continue pursuing them.
It works in their favor up until they reach the second floor.
Kim Soleum blinks in surprise as Baek Saheon bolts past him and back up the stairs, but he turns around and runs as well when he witnesses the flesh blockade for the door to the first floor fire escape. It was something that should simply not be put into words. It was something that–
No wonder Baek Saheon ran. Kim Soleum’s eyes were now bleeding. Or, well, the blood vessels in his eye socket, but the point was it was getting hard to see. And also that every zombie in his vicinity turned to look at him.
…Fuck!! I really miss Chief Lizard right now!!!
There was no doubt in Kim Soleum’s mind that no matter what, when faced with the zombie virus, Lee Jaheon would come out on top. Zombies could be physically exorcised, after all!
Kim Soleum nearly runs into Baek Saheon’s back as he tries desperately to open the doors to the other staircase, but he steps away in time for Baek Saheon to throw himself away from the door, where black mycelium was slowly creeping out of the cracks.
“I think there’s a staircase in a different corridor.” Kim Soleum yells, before running off, trusting Baek Saheon to follow him.
But before that, they have to get through the corridor first. Kim Soleum finally pulls out the gun, due to a lack of any other weapon. The corridor was densely packed enough that even if he missed, he would still hit something. The mycelium spread throughout the air, dense enough to be visible, and Kim Soleum realized that their gas masks were quickly becoming useless, as the mycelium simply blocked any air from entering the mask. Cursing, he took it off, and then took the Roe Deer mask off as well. It dropped to the floor, and Baek Saheon’s Goat mask dropped down besides it.
“We’ll be down two antidotes after this is over.” Baek Saheon sulked, and then he began to make a bloody path to the door, Kim Soleum following at his back as he shot at any stragglers. By the time they cleared the room, Kim Soleum felt as though they’d eliminated the majority of zombies housed within the hospital.
It was lucky that this Darkness was fair enough to give them a way to fight back.
Kim Soleum picked up everything they dropped, and then they continued running, the sounds of the zombies upstairs slowly making their way towards them increasing in volume bit by bit.
The corridor ends up being a dead end, and they end up jumping out of the window, which is how they get to the present moment.
“C-can, can I put you down now, Roe Deer, sir?”
Baek Saheon is panting, and Kim Soleum can feel the way his arms are straining. He felt bad, but it was indeed faster for Baek Saheon to run carrying him than to wait for Kim Soleum to catch up.
He lowers his feet and lets himself down as Baek Saheon tries to catch his breath. Distantly, the ruined building that used to be the hospital slowly becomes swallowed in fungus and flesh.
…Truly, a disturbing sight. Braun would probably say something here that would both soothe Kim Soleum’s nerves and freak him out at the same time. Unfortunately, that pink rabbit plush still seemed to be missing.
“We should be closer to the school than the park.” Kim Soleum says, as Baek Saheon continues to pant, his hands on his knees.
The school and the park had the same level of danger to Kim Soleum. It would be easy to be trapped within the school, like the hospital had tried to do. However, many rooms would grant them more cover than the open nature of a park, where it would be easy for them to be swarmed with no escape.
“Catch your breath.” Kim Soleum said, dismissively. “We’ll walk after… hm, five minutes.”
They had been running for twenty minutes straight. It was important to take a break to drink the antidotes before doing anything else. Kim Soleum tossed Baek Saheon another antidote to replace the one he used, and then returned his gun to him. He didn’t like the feeling of pulling the trigger.
Deep down, Kim Soleum felt the tiniest bit of pity for making Baek Saheon run around carrying him. However, the glower that Baek Saheon gave him which turned into a smile as soon as he noticed Kim Soleum watching made him think that making sure Baek Saheon continued to be afraid of him was the right decision.
Who knows what this madman would do if he realized Kim Soleum was a natural coward?
Regardless, they continued to walk, taking care to avoid all the zombies they found. Now that Kim Soleum had observed them for longer, he found that most of them were in a ‘dormant’ state, where their antlers were black and they moved without purpose. However, back in the hospital, those zombies’ antlers were bright white and mycelium spread from everything that was in contact with them. Kim Soleum had the feeling that had Baek Saheon chosen to shoot the antlers of the zombies, a spore cloud would take the antler’s place, which would then proceed to infect them.
The school was in a worse condition than the hospital. The school gates were broken, the name of the school illegible. Most of the windows were cracked and broken, with dried blood and fungi alike creeping along the walls.
Kim Soleum and Baek Saheon once again decide to enter through a side entrance than the main one.
Baek Saheon stops them both to gesture at an equipment locker, likely for a gym club. When Kim Soleum gives him an inquiring look, he merely pulls his gun out and then gestures to his ears.
That made sense. Kim Soleum shrugged, then grabbed a baseball bat. He would have preferred a crowbar, but this would do for now.
They continue to wander through the corridors of the school, slowly making their way to the principal’s office. Kim Soleum doesn’t have to swing his bat once; instead, Baek Saheon takes out a zombified student, their ratty school uniform unrecognizable. Their body splatters against the wall, and Baek Saheon holds the bloodstained bat as far away from himself as possible.
The school has nearly become a maze, with the number of classrooms barricaded in and corridors untraversable. By the time they enter the principal’s office, the sun has nearly set. This time, both he and Baek Saheon check to see if the door is rigged somehow before entering.
Strangely enough, the principal’s office is pristine, as though not a day has passed since the zombie outbreak. There was no dust, no blood, and strangest of all the lights in the room turned on properly.
They both looked at each other and proceeded to begin checking the desk and cabinets for anything useful.
To be fair, the fact that the principal’s office was too clean should have been suspicious enough.
The both of them stop at the sound of coughing.
Slowly, Kim Soleum turns around, ready to chastise Baek Saheon. Instead, what greets him is a middle-aged, balding man, his suit neat and ironed. Warning bells began to blare in Kim Soleum’s head.
“Excuse me, sirs, but don’t you realize that breaking into a school is quite rude?”
“We thought this place was abandoned.” Baek Saheon says, quickly. “We didn’t expect that you’d still be here, sir.”
The man frowned, and his hand came up to adjust the namepin on his suit. The characters were illegible to Kim Soleum, his eyes hurting by simply looking at it. If Braun were here, perhaps he’d be able to translate…
“What do you mean abandoned! Our school is one of the most prestigious high-schools around, don’t you know?” The man raised his voice, affronted. “Our students are always on time, and the only reason any of them are ever late is because there was a traffic jam!”
“Sir, please, calm down.” Kim Soleum cut in, politely. “You’re going to attract them.”
And then Kim Soleum felt the metaphorical rolling of dice.
…Except that he hadn’t expected to run into any NPCs, which meant his charisma stat was abysmal.
“Them?” The man asked, suddenly calm. “What do you mean by them?”
“Goat?” Kim Soleum called. “Run.”
He ran underneath the principal’s outstretched arm, and immediately booked it to the nearest staircase. Baek Saheon followed close behind, a fresh splatter of blood on his suit.
The intercom began buzzing, and then crackled on.
[Dear students. It appears we have some terrorists without our esteemed school.]
Kim Soleum noticed something out of the corner of his eye.
[Do not fear. I am certain you are all capable of working together to protect yourselves. Keep yourselves safe; the adults will deal with this.]
Unlike the hospital, the school did not come alive. Zombified students within the halls actively retreated into classrooms– did they have intelligence, after all? But what was most concerning–
“It’s not being broadcast to just the school.” Kim Soleum whispered. “It’s being broadcast to the entire city.”
Outside, tides of zombies began to flow towards the school.
…The difficulty of this campaign was rigged.
Think, Kim Soleum, think! What would be best for covering ground? Baek Saheon might be able to outrun the zombies, but not without abandoning him. Cars would be broken down and unusable. Motorcycles might work, but they’d be far too loud. However, when one thought of motorcycles, they’d naturally think about–
“Bikes! There should be bicycles near the main entrance! Since the public transport system in this city isn’t that developed, some students should be biking to school!” Kim Soleum yelled as he ran.
Most of the corridors were clear of zombies. But standing in front of the main entrance?
A few zombified teachers and janitors turned to face them.
The broadcast mentioned that the adults would deal with it. Kim Soleum realized. And standing before them were the adults of the school.
Baek Saheon gave up on subtlety, pulling out his gun and shooting two teachers between the antlers. The first one stayed down, but the second one began to slowly lift themself off of the ground. Kim Soleum grit his teeth. If the rest didn’t go down quickly, that one would get up again and continue to fight.
What was the difference? Why did the first one stay down? Why did the zombies they killed earlier not get back up?
!!!
Kim Soleum rushed forwards, and slammed his bat into the head of a janitor. His mouth was closed so as to not get any blood into his mouth, but he nearly screamed at the splatter that got onto his mask. The janitor’s head crumpled, as though the skull was nothing but soft putty, and the walking corpse moved no longer.
…It makes sense why the government’s reaction was mass evacuation, and not trying to control the spread of the infection while they can.
“Goat! We need to destroy the brain! Entirely!” Kim Soleum punctuated each word with a swing of his bat at the next teacher. Anything large enough to destroy the brain would have been far too destructive and resulted in too many civilian casualties. Baek Saheon must have gotten lucky and shot the zombie in the right part of the head. The other one still seemed capable of functioning, so perhaps it was tied to a certain part of the brain? It was still a better idea to destroy the head entirely, Kim Soleum thought.
Kim Soleum broke through the remaining two zombies, who seemed to have much better intelligence compared to the other zombies. They tried to pin him down by working together, but a quick swipe at their legs saw Kim Soleum running out the school gates.
He quickly located a few working bicycles, the ones that didn’t have a bike lock and also didn’t look like they were about to fall apart.
“Goat!” Kim Soleum called, only to freeze up upon glancing back at the main entrance of the school.
Baek Saheon was locked in combat with a gigantic zombie. He was on the floor, trying to push it away. His bat was in its mouth, and he was trying to leverage its head away from him, where its antlers were growing brightly and releasing visible spore clouds.
…Fuck.
Despite the fact that it was Baek Saheon’s fault that they were in this Darkness, Kim Soleum found himself measuring the distance the zombie wave was from the school and running back to help Baek Saheon.
What is wrong with me? Kim Soleum wondered. He could get out by himself right now. He could do so. It would be safe. There was still enough distance for him to get away. Running back to Baek Saheon would only cut down on the time between them leaving and the zombie wave arriving.
…”Them”.
Kim Soleum had long made up his mind to at least try to save Baek Saheon.
He needed to at least try. He couldn’t lose his morals in a world like this.
It was risky? Sure! Kim Soleum had enough antidotes. Even if he got infected, it would be fine as long as he consumed the antidote within a half an hour. He had to try.
He had to.
Kim Soleum dived towards Baek Saheon’s bag, and despite his shaking hands, managed to locate the gun. He tears his mask off to aim properly, but Baek Saheon and the zombie are moving around too much.
Fuck it.
If Braun were here, perhaps he’d be saying something scathing about Baek Saheon. Thankfully, he’s not here to watch Kim Soleum be an idiot. He’d probably complain about Kim Soleum wasting his attention on scum like Baek Saheon, or something along those lines.
Kim Soleum lets the thought bring his face into a smile, and then he charges and tackles the zombie off of Baek Saheon.
“Shit!” He hears Baek Saheon curse. “Hold it off for a bit!” There was the sound of wet coughing, which meant Baek Saheon’s mask had likely broken in the scuffle and zombie blood had gotten through it.
Baek Saheon would come back soon enough to help with the zombie. Probably. The main reason Kim Soleum had tackled the zombie instead of shooting directly was that he was worried he would miss and hit Baek Saheon instead. Now, though.
The bat slides out of the zombie’s mouth, and Kim Soleum shoves his arm into its mouth to stop it from tearing out his neck, which was far more fatal.
It hurts!
Of course, what else did he expect? The pain that blooms is blinding, and Kim Soleum is well aware of the blood dripping onto his own cheek.
Then, with a shaking hand, he brings his arm up and the sound of a gun firing goes off once, twice, three times.
The zombie drops down.
Kim Soleum shakily removes himself from underneath the zombie, and begins running back to the bike rack.
“Let’s go!” He calls, and Baek Saheon, because he was a psychopath but not insane, followed.
“I’ll need extra pay for all this.” Kim Soleum stated, and then he began firing, uncaring of the noise the gun made. After all, all the zombies were already swarming here!
“Why aren’t we losing them?” Baek Saheon bites out, angered, as they both peddle for their life.
They had circled the city at least twice now. Kim Soleum was rapidly running out of energy, and the wound on his arm was not doing him any favors. It wasn’t too deep, as his clothing had taken the most of the damage, but steering the bicycle became significantly harder when he functionally had only one arm to do everything with.
There had been no new broadcasts, but every time they stopped they could notice the zombies slowly but surely shambling in their direction. Kim Soleum was bleeding, sure, but there was no explanation for the zombies who were definitely too far away to smell them shambling in their direction. Perhaps a hive mind thing? It varied by zombie disease, after all, and the only other reason he could think of the zombies targeting them like this was if they had obtained the escape item.
…
…
Kim Soleum turned to observe Baek Saheon properly.
Blood on his face and arms from fighting the zombies earlier, blood on his shoes for stepping in all the fungus, and a suspicious patch of blood near his left trouser pocket. As far as Kim Soleum could tell, Baek Saheon did not keep his gun nor the vial of antidotes in his left trouser pocket, because he had seen the man put the gun in his backpack and the antidote in his trouser pocket.
Suddenly, Kim Soleum was very, very, tired.
“Baek Saheon.” He asked at their next rest point as he double checked his injury to make sure he did not in fact need to down another antidote, “did you or did you not pick something up when you killed the headmaster of the school?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Baek Saheon responds. “I was too busy running for my life, or did you not notice it?”
If Kim Soleum pushed, Baek Saheon would reply that he had no evidence to back his claim that ‘Baek Saheon might have an item from the headmaster’ up. However, that was something which only worked on reasonable people.
Kim Soleum employed Tactic: Going all in on the Psychopath Behavior!!!
“Goat.” Kim Soleum asked, his face blank. He leaned in until their faces were barely apart. “You know I don’t like being lied to, right?”
“You have no evidence–”
“I don’t need any.” He let a crazy grin spread on his face. “If you picked the item up, let’s just split the party up. Then all the zombies will swarm you, and when they’re done I’ll go pick it up from your corpse.”
Kim Soleum watched with amusement as the gears spun within Baek Saheon’s mind, and the way his face rapidly paled.
“The zombies are not attracted to it.” Baek Saheon said weakly, having given up on hiding the fact he took an item. It was nice that he knew insane people couldn’t be reasoned with! It cut Kim Soleum some slack, even though he felt like it was cringe to roleplay like this every so often.
“Goat.” Kim Soleum said, as though he was talking to someone slow. “Do you not remember how you got into this situation in the first place?”
Baek Saheon opened his mouth. Baek Saheon then closed his mouth, because he couldn’t really say anything to that.
Wordlessly, he reached into his pocket and took out a rusty, antique key.
Throughout all the campaigns, what stayed consistent was that the required [escape item] was always a key.
Kim Soleum resisted the urge to facepalm.
“Goat. That is the escape item we need to get out of here.”
Kim Soleum’s tone was as though he was speaking to a kindergartener, and though Baek Saheon grit his teeth the words he spoke were still polite.
“Apologies, sir, I thought–”
“You can keep it.” Kim Soleum interrupted. “After we get out of here.”
“Sir, with all due respect–”
“Or should I just keep it forever?”
Baek Saheon handed over the key. He was surprisingly easily intimidated, Kim Soleum thought.
It took them another loop around the city– Kim Soleum did not want to describe nor remember any of the scenery, thank you very much– for them to arrive back at the small rundown shack they started in.
Kim Soleum knelt down, finding the box that had started all of this. With a contemptful glare to the ‘Cheerful Research Institute’ logo, Kim Soleum inserted the key to the box and twisted it.
Click.
Baek Saheon audibly startled as the door slammed shut behind the both of them, and then the world was colored in white.
– Goodness, friend! What a wonderful showing that was!
Kim Soleum blinked at the clean, luxurious room he suddenly found himself in.
Was that…?
“Braun?” Kim Soleum asked.
– It is me indeed! Why, friend, I knew you were startled when I suddenly vanished! Worry not, this plush body is in perfect condition!
Kim Soleum stood up from the comfortable chair he had been sitting in, taking in the room properly. It was as though someone had cleaned out the shack that had been the [Dungeon Master]’s residence and decided to upgrade it, with that someone being Braun. A couch of red velvet, a big TV-screen, an entire camera crew…
That was Braun’s work for sure.
On the table was the pink Good Friend plush. Kim Soleum picked it up, feeling relief in his heart.
– I know you’re tired, my good friend, but stay a bit longer, hm? It appears this fan was far too… eager to meet you.
Kim Soleum glanced around. Aside from the faceless camera crew (Braun’s crew, presumably), he saw no one else.
And then the small portable whiteboard atop the table began to float.
…?
A whiteboard pen was uncapped, and frantic scribbling appeared on the whiteboard.
…That made sense. The [Dungeon Master] being invisible was not what he expected, yet it did explain how they could always monitor what was happening without anyone ever seeing them.
‘Please give me your autograph please i will literally beg’ were the words on the whiteboard.
“There’s no need to beg, um, [Dungeon Master], I don’t mind giving you an autograph.”
Despite the fact that the [Dungeon Master] was not a visible being, Kim Soleum distinctly felt as though he just saw them fist pump the air.
The whiteboard turned and showed some words to the pink rabbit plushie.
‘Would you mind inviting me next time Sir Host?’
– Why, you run such an entertaining game! This Braun is certain there will be many who are eager to see what becomes of it.
The whiteboard spun midair, which was probably how the [Dungeon Master] expressed their joy. They were surprisingly endearing, Kim Soleum thought.
– My friend, now that you’ve obtained such a staunch fan, won’t you consider appearing in this Braun’s show again? I’m certain many more fans are waiting for you to reappear.
Kim Soleum chose his words carefully.
“You know I’m always considering it, Braun, but right now I think I’d like to take a shower.”
Braun was quiet for a moment.
– Of course!
Braun’s voice was a bit too cheerful.
– Why, my friend, your appearance is simply awful! A good shower is what you need. We’ve kept him for long enough, haven’t we?
The shack– no, the entire world around Kim Soleum shuddered.
…Right. Braun was… a true monster.
The door quickly swung open behind Kim Soleum.
“I enjoyed the experience.” Kim Soleum said, because the [Dungeon Master] seemed a bit dejected. “It’s a fun game. I’m sure many other people would enjoy it as well.”
With that, the [Dungeon Master] cheered up, and Kim Soleum could finally leave!
When he stepped outside the door, he expected to find himself in the garage. Instead, he was back in his dorm room, where he carefully placed Braun away and took a shower. An entire two days had passed, and it was Monday afternoon. While Kim Soleum would be afraid of Daydream Inc. in any other circumstance, the fact that he had a Dream Essence Collector full of B-grade essence meant he got off relatively lightly.
Baek Saheon, on the other hand, returned to the dorm room late and with dirt all over his body. Kim Soleum felt exactly no pity for the man– after all, his actions were the reason they had landed in the Darkness in the first place.
…
Even so, he felt like giving one last piece of advice.
“Hey.” Kim Soleum called. Baek Saheon turned to face him slowly. “The key unlocks most things, but every so often it’ll open a door to its origin.”
Baek Saheon shuddered for reasons Kim Soleum could not comprehend, but he nodded his head quickly and all but fled from his presence.
Why is Baek Saheon like that? Kim Soleum wondered. He then shrugged and decided that he deserved a good night’s sleep, even if he’d end up staring into the ceiling until 3 am.