Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 122

Episode 122

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

Contrary to my expectation of facing the monster's horrific stomach when I opened my eyes.

When I opened my eyes, a rather familiar space unfolded.

A dirty alleyway lit by the red sunset, and shacks lined up in a row.

"This place is..."

It was the slum where Nise and Liv were born and raised.

It seemed Nise was somewhere here.

The moment I realized that, a system window suddenly popped up.

A health reduction penalty occurs every 10 minutes due to the evil spirit's curse.

'HP -99'

HP 900

"What, why...!"

I was feeling wronged by the sudden penalty, but then I saw my forearm, mottled from the attack, and reluctantly accepted it.

I didn't know what kind of evil spirit it was, but my health had also continuously dropped when I was swallowed by the eyeball monster before.

In any case, the eyeball monster was still a monster, so this seemed to be the penalty for being attacked by it.

The situation was already urgent, and now there was a time limit for finding Nise.

At this rate, I'd be auto-summoned in 90 minutes.

"Hoo... First, let's figure out my location."

I immediately opened the chat window to ask the developers.

However.

[Real-time chat is unavailable in this area.]

Instead of the chat window, a system window I'd never seen before popped up.

I was so dumbfounded that I let out a few dry laughs, then shouted in annoyance.

"Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to find him here!"

The densely packed shacks all looked the same, as if they were made from a mold.

Of course, I remembered glimpsing the inside of Nise's house when I was swallowed by the eyeball monster before, but I didn't know the way there.

"Hah... Damn GMs."

I sighed deeply and thought.

The only fortunate thing was that the slum was dead silent.

If I walked around and called for Nise loudly, wouldn't he respond?

Just as I was about to enter the alley with that thought.

Ruuuuuumble.

Suddenly, pitch-black darkness began to surge from the end of the alley.

And.

"Food... It's food...!"

The silent slum instantly became chaotic.

"What."

Hearing what sounded like a person's voice, I froze and warily watched the rapidly approaching darkness.

Looking closely, it wasn't darkness, but pitch-black figures.

Some looked like humans or beasts, and sometimes they had strange, unknowable shapes like monsters.

"Hungry... Food... I'll eat...!"

The common denominator was that every single one of them had its mouth wide open and was rushing toward me at an incredible speed.

"Crap. The 'food' is... me?"

Standing there stunned, I sensed the distance closing rapidly and hurriedly opened my mouth.

"Annihilate!"

[Lv.999 Annihilate skill has been activated.]

Fwhoooosh!

Simultaneously with the skill activation notice, a large flame erupted at the front of the black figures.

"Ahhhh... Hot...!"

As if they could feel the heat, the ones engulfed in flames slowed for a moment and flailed.

But that, too, was brief.

"Uhhhhh..."

"Hungry...!"

They burst through the flames and started running at me again as if nothing had happened.

Since they were shadow-like figures, to begin with, I couldn't even tell if they were burned or not.

"Aargh."

Just like when I confronted the eyeball monster in the arena, the skill didn't work, so I backed away anxiously.

Then, I suddenly felt something hard and awkward in my hand.

I glanced down unconsciously and saw a dagger clutched in my hand, which was mottled as if with black mold.

[Lv.120 Holy Dagger]

I had been so tense this whole time that I didn't even realize I was holding it.

I didn't know if it would work here, but the shadows were already right in front of me, so I had no time to consider my options.

"Sure Strike."

[Lv.999 Sure Strike skill has been activated.]

I immediately chanted the skill and swung the dagger.

"Aaaaaah...!"

"Kkieeeeeek...!"

This time, it was clearly effective.

With terrible screams, the shadows cut by the dagger crumbled away like dust.

When the shadows at the front disappeared in a chunk, the ones behind them faltered and didn't charge any further.

And then.

"Hungry..."

"Over there, too... food..."

They turned their backs to me and began to slink back into the alley.

Their momentum was so different from their ferocious charge that I felt extremely anticlimactic.

"These bastards are the evil spirits...?"

As I tilted my head in confusion, they quickly moved further into the alley.

"Food... if we knock more..."

"If we wait... might be able to eat..."

I couldn't understand their fragmented language exactly, but it felt ominous for some reason.

'Is the 'food' they're talking about... a living thing?'

If my guess was right, there was only one such being here besides me.

I followed my intuition and trailed after the shadow figures.

After wandering the alleys for some time like that.

Thud. Thud-thud! Thud...

Suddenly, I heard a loud, rhythmic pounding, as if something was being struck repeatedly.

The moment I hurriedly chased the shadows that had disappeared around the corner.

"Ugh...!"

I frowned at the scene before me and stopped in my tracks.

In the most remote corner of the dirty alley.

Countless shadow figures of all shapes and sizes were densely packed in front of a single, isolated shack.

Thud. Thud-thud! Thud!

The steady, dull pounding was the sound of them banging on the shack's walls and door.

"Open... Open..."

Thud, thud, thud!

The crude shack shook precariously, as if it would collapse at any moment from them wailing and pounding on the walls.

I knew, as if by instinct.

Nise was inside.

"Sure Strike!"

[Lv.999 Sure Strike skill has been activated.]

Before the house finally broke and they spilled onto Nise, I hurriedly ran toward them, swinging my dagger.

"Kkieeeeeek...!"

There were quite a lot of them, but taking them out was extremely easy.

It made me think they probably weren't very strong beings even when they were alive.

"Sure Strike. Sure Strike. Sure Strike. Sure Strike."

Before long, I had easily cut through the densely packed figures and reached the shack's door.

A health reduction penalty occurs every 10 minutes due to the evil spirit's curse.

'HP -155'

HP 745

In the meantime, I had been attacked by them, and the amount of health reduction had increased significantly, but it was fine.

It was still bearable. If things got dicey, I could just take out a health potion.

"Kkieeeeeek...!"

After clearing out the last of the figures clinging to the door, I hastily opened it.

Creeeak.

Fortunately, the door wasn't locked.

Unlike the shadows, which had been wandering outside, unable to enter, I could easily step inside.

Slam! K-chunk.

I practically dove inside and immediately shut and locked the door, lest any remaining figures follow me in.

"Whew..."

Breathing a small sigh of relief, I immediately raised my head and scanned the inside of the house.

The interior was so cramped, barely a few yards across, that finding Nise was extremely easy.

He just wasn't in a normal state.

The child from the past I'd glimpsed when I was swallowed by the eyeball monster.

Twelve-year-old Nise was lying helplessly in the middle of the room, which was filthy with unidentifiable dark red stains.

Even though a stranger had invaded his home, the child just stared blankly into the air, not reacting at all.

"Mrow."

Instead, the three-eyed, cat-shaped monster sitting next to him acknowledged me.

I looked at Samsaek for a moment, then trudged toward the child.

"...Nise."

I crouched by his head and leaned in. Only then did his clear silver pupils turn to me.

"...Who are you?"

I was a little flustered by Nise's question.

It was only natural he wouldn't recognize me like this, without my robe.

I hurriedly opened my inventory window to take out my robe.

But.

[Inventory is unavailable in this area.]

'What the hell!'

I had to feel a deep surge of anger at the system window that popped up again.

The robe was one thing, but at this rate, I couldn't even drink a potion.

Seeing my HP window, which had dropped quite a bit, made me extremely anxious.

At his silver eyes, which were still staring at me as if waiting for an answer, I managed to open my mouth.

"...Your friend."

This was the limit of my creativity.

But, surprisingly, Nise, who had been expressionless, brightened up.

"A friend...? By any chance, are you an Angel-nim?"

"Uh, well..."

I didn't know what to say.

My conscience pricked me at the thought of confirming I was an angel, so I quickly changed the subject.

"S-so, what are you doing here?"

Fortunately, Nise didn't question my awkward reaction and answered diligently.

"I'm waiting."

"For what?"

"For destiny to be reversed. The words the Angel-nim whispered to me."

I was dumbfounded by his completely incomprehensible words and asked again.

"What... What did I say?"

"You said my power is like pitch darkness and like a mirror, so it tends to reverse destiny... You told me to atone and pray."

Nise, who had answered cheerfully, soon muttered with a slightly sullen face.

"So I was waiting here, praying."

"...What kind of prayer?"

"That it's all my fault... A prayer to change my destiny and Liv's back to how they were supposed to be."

The more I heard, the harder it was to understand.

I frowned and tried to carefully parse Nise's words.

"So what you're saying is... Liv's original destiny was your destiny?"

"Yes!"

As if he thought I finally understood him, Nise's face brightened, and he began to chatter.

"I was always curious. Why the Angel-nim gave this power to me and not Liv."

"..."

"Ever since I was little, I stuttered and was weak, so I was called a retard, right? On the other hand, Liv was always a bright and pretty child..."

"Nise, that's..."

"So Liv should be the special one, not me. Right?"

I couldn't say anything to Nise's plea for agreement.

The child stared at my silence, then calmly muttered.

"But after hearing the Angel-nim's words, I understood. It seems... Liv's destiny and mine were switched."

"..."

"I should have been the one to die back then..."

The last words were so quiet they were almost a whisper.

When I finally processed them, I was utterly stunned.

'That bastard "God," what on earth did it say to this kid?!'

It seemed that because of that, this crazy bastard Nise had decided to hand over his powers to Liv and die.