Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 146

Episode 146

'Throwing heroes to a monster as food... Has the Emperor gone senile?'

I, barely accepting the unpleasant truth, quickly asked the next question.

Me: Then what's with the tournament rules being changed?

This wasn't in the original either.

Me: Imperial Palace quest or whatever, because of that rule, I'm now in a situation where I have to catch the boss mob!

Me: Kassel is supposed to be the one to catch it. Why do I have to catch iiiit!!!

GM Jinu: sry. Take it up with Kassel.

I felt empty at the reply. In the end, it was an anomaly of this hell-difficulty, flopped game.

Of course, since I had heard that Kassel-bastard change the rules with my own ears earlier, the words to 'take it up with him' made sense.

However,

Me: Are you kidding? If I could take it up with him, I would have already!

I'm not even an official tournament participant, and I'm spending my days on edge, miniaturized, not knowing when I'll be caught.

Right, I'd really be able to take it up with that bastard.

I panted roughly and furiously typed in the chat.

Me: No, even if it's the AI's 'will,' shouldn't you have blocked this?!

Me: If it were normal users, this would be a 'riot and quit the game' angle.

Me: Ah, I just thought of a good way.

Me: How about I just let the monster rampage, regardless of whether the Imperial Palace gets wrecked?

Then maybe the AIs will take care of it of their own 'will'....

As soon as I finished typing, system windows popped up.

[GM Jinu has given you an S-Grade Oxygen Mask as a reward.]

[GM Jinu has given you 10,000,000 Coins as a reward.]

[Current Coins: 74,519,500C]

'Now we're talking.'

I checked my current coins, smiled with satisfaction, and closed the chat window.

Thanks to saving up little by little while going through all that shit doing quests, my coins had grown quite a bit.

It was a huge improvement, considering I only had four million coins at the start.

'Hehe, almost 100 million! I'm coin rich!'

I was staring at my 70 million coins, my heart swelling, when I suddenly felt a sense of self-pity.

It was because I wondered what the point of collecting all this was, when I couldn't even use it after seeing the ending.

Because as soon as I escape this damn game, I plan to quit my job and never play it again.

'No, I'm lucky to even have rewards like this.'

If I hadn't at least satisfied my need for rewards, I might have just gone crazy and wasted four years.

I tried to shake my head and clear away the negative thoughts.

And I quickly called out to wake up Elaine.

To defeat the boss mob, I had to go to Dover Village first, and to use a teleport scroll, I had to be in a dungeon.

"Hey, Green Mask! Wake up."

Fortunately, it hadn't been long since he'd gone to sleep, so the unfortunate incident of smacking his cheek didn't happen.

He quickly sat up and stared at me with a displeased expression.

"...You kept muttering to yourself, what's wrong. One minute you tell me to take medicine and sleep."

"Get up, we're going to the dungeon. I need to go to Dover Village for a minute."

"Suddenly? You just went there a little while ago."

Elaine's eyes widened at my sudden words.

I nodded silently and replied.

"The lake monster, I have to catch it right now."

Time was much tighter than expected, but there was no choice.

If I don't, that Elaine-bastard is about to become monster food.

Besides, since that damned Kassel changed the tournament rules to require clearing the assigned dungeon, I had no choice.

"...I get it. Get in."

As if sensing my firm resolve, Elaine scratched his head in annoyance but obediently got up and held out his pocket.

I quickly drank a miniaturization potion and, with my thumb-sized body, dove into the pocket.

Elaine took me and strode into the dungeon.

When Kassel's monitoring knights were out of sight, I jumped out of his pocket and said.

"Come get me later when the communication crystal is right."

The giant bastard looked down on tiny me arrogantly and nodded.

That untrustworthy appearance naturally made me worry.

"And, I'm saying this just in case! Until I get back, if the Emperor comes and offers you food again, you absolutely cannot follow him! Got it?!"

"Aish! Noona, do you think I'm a pig?!"

"You're not just a pig! You're a wild boar!"

"Eek... I said a piglet!"

Only after bickering with him for a round did I finally tear the teleport scroll to Dover Village.

'Nothing bad will happen, right...'

As I watched Elaine's form slowly distort and disappear, I felt a strangely uneasy feeling.

When I feel uneasy like this, something always seems to happen.

But I tried to shake off that feeling.

Anyway, the Emperor was scheduled to come at midnight, and I was planning to be right back.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

But as always, something happened.

"Kkueeeeeeek!"

"Agh, that damned birdbrain...!"

My words about being right back felt pointless, as I couldn't leave Dover Village until the sun had set.

I hadn't expected that Cheondung-bastard to be this stupid.

But right now, to catch the Imperial Palace dungeon's boss mob, I needed Cheondung's help.

To do that, this thing had to listen to what I was saying first!

"Ha..."

As I was sighing at the suddenly dark sky, Elena approached and spoke with a worried tone.

"You should go, Shari. We'll try to train him somehow on our own."

"I think we need to cut back on his food for a while, Elena."

"Aw, but he's still a baby. How can we cut back on his food..."

"Kkueeeeeeeeek!"

Flap, flaaaap!

Despite being unable to understand a damn thing all day, that Cheondung-bastard must have understood the words 'cut back on food' like a ghost, as he flapped his wings violently and cried.

"Ugh, cut it out!"

As the house-sized bastard thrashed, a gale-force wind swept the area.

Elena laughed awkwardly, 'Haha,' as she tried to fix her messy hair.

I stared blankly at the new monster bird, which looked easily twice as big as when I first saw it at the black market.

I had been a little worried, having left the care of the baby Cheondung, just hatched from its egg, entirely to the elves, but it was a needless worry.

In a short time, the elves had raised the bird too well.

'Just because its level doubled, its size doubled too? What's with that?'

At our first meeting, it listened well when I bopped it, but now that it's been hit a few times, it's not even intimidating.

"Shari-onni! Thith!"

It was then. Lucy ran over from a distance and abruptly held out a piece of clothing.

[Robe Crafted by Mid-Grade Elves]

When I showed my confusion at its appearance, which was no different from the robe I was currently wearing, Elena smiled softly and added.

"The one you're wearing now got very dirty from training Cheondung. You're going to the Imperial Palace, you can't be looked down on."

"Elena..."

I looked at Elena, my face quite touched.

Even though it was just a game, this kind of consideration and care was unfamiliar, but not bad.

"Elaine must make you very tired, right? If that kid doesn't listen, please tell me. I'll scold him sharply."

Hearing those words, my heart grew heavy.

In truth, when I was first struggling with that Cheondung-bastard, I was starting to regret this whole thing, not caring if that Elaine-bastard got eaten by a monster.

I, who had been quietly accepting the clothes from Lucy, suddenly realized it was too late and hurriedly asked.

"Gasp, by the way, what time is it now?"

"A little after 10... It's very late, right?"

I had been so distracted, I'd completely lost track of time.

Fortunately, there was still quite a bit of time left until midnight.

I hurriedly took off the NPC-exclusive shabby robe I was wearing and slung the new clothes Lucy brought over my shoulder.

The new clothes weren't much different in color from the original shabby robe, so they didn't look new, but that was actually a good thing for me.

Finally, I handed the robe I'd taken off to Elena.

"Please keep this in that Cheondung-bastard's nest."

But for some reason, Elena didn't take the clothes right away and just stared blankly at me.

"...Elena?"

When I tilted my head and called her one more time, she finally flinched and reacted.

"Shari. You're so pretty, why on earth do you go around covered up like that?"

Elena let out a groan that was half sigh, half gasp, and pointed at the robe I was wearing.

At that, Lucy shouted triumphantly.

"What'd I tell you, Mom! Onni has no scars! I thaid her hair color ith like sparkly-sparkly cherry blossomth!"

I only then realized that I had shown them my true appearance under the robe for the first time.

Perhaps because I'd even worn the robe inside the house, a rumor like that must have spread among the elves.

'It's understandable.'

I laughed awkwardly and quickly pulled the hood, which I hadn't put on yet, over my head.

Only then did I look like the familiar NPC.

Explaining why I kept insisting on this kind of outfit would be quite long, so I naturally changed the subject.

"It's waterproof, too?"

When I quickly checked the clothes' stats and asked, Elena nodded with a proud expression.

"Yes. We treated the thread with Ragonia oil when weaving it. That makes it waterproof. And there's a little of our hair mixed in, too. That's supposed to bring good luck."

Sure enough, at the end of the item information, I could see a small option written: 'Luck +5'.

Although its defense was ridiculously low compared to the NPC-exclusive robe I usually wore, it would be the same no matter what shop I bought from anyway.

I took my original robe, which Elena hadn't managed to grab, and approached Cheondung.

It was a bit of a shame that this was the only thing I could leave, but there was no choice.

"Smell this properly and find me. Got it?"

"Kkueeeeeeek!"

When I put the dirty robe on that Cheondung-bastard's head and growled lowly, that bastard shrieked and struggled.

It was an extension of what it had been doing all day.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

The alley in front of the Imperial Palace.

Because I was later than expected, I hurriedly took out the communication crystal.

Trururururu. Trururururu.

But even after waiting for quite a long time, it just kept ringing; Elaine didn't pick up.

"Agh, don't tell me this bastard is sleeping?"

It was a pretty reasonable assumption, since I had forcibly woken that bastard up when he was about to fall asleep earlier.

I, who had tried calling two or three more times, nervously put the crystal away and peered out of the alley.

At the Imperial Palace entrance, as always, several royal guards were standing watch grimly.

As the mere employee of a tournament participant, I couldn't come and go as I pleased without someone to vouch for my identity.

Besides, dammit, it was the tournament period, so I couldn't even use a teleport scroll unless I was inside a dungeon.

'...It would be nice and easy if I just stunned them all and went in.'

But when I remembered the Crown Prince, who was probably inside the Imperial Palace with his eyes wide open, that thought quickly vanished.

If it were one or two, maybe, but as befitting the importance of guarding the entrance, there were too many soldiers.

Drawing attention before the big event was not good in any way.

I, who had been staring wistfully at the firmly closed entrance gate, soon hardened my resolve.

It was already approaching 11 o'clock, so I had no choice.

I picked up a leaf rolling on the alley floor and, holding back tears, drank a miniaturization potion.

Right in front of the Imperial Palace entrance, where the royal guards were lined up in a row.

Perhaps because of the wind, a leaf on the ground was slowly, stealthily moving.

At first, no one paid it any mind.

That is, until the squirming, slowly moving leaf, stubbornly got stuck in the crack of the firmly closed Imperial Palace gate.

"Huh? The wind isn't even blowing, but what's with the leaf..."

One of the royal guards, who happened to spot it, tilted his head and bent down.

The moment a huge finger grabbed the leaf stuck in the door crack and tried to pull it out.

"Ack!"

The royal guard yelped in surprise at the sudden stinging pain that bloomed on his fingertip, and let go of the leaf.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Ow, that hurts! Did a fucking ant bite me or something."

At his colleague's question, the man muttered in annoyance, rubbing his bitten finger.

The throbbing fingertip was already swollen red.

'I didn't bite you, I used a skill, you punk!'

I, who had passed through the castle gate at full speed in that gap, ground my teeth and muttered inwardly.

"Pant, pant..."

Finally, having run to a deserted corner wall, I looked around and quickly downed the miniaturization antidote potion.

It was because in a shrunken state, I couldn't reach the dungeon located deep inside the Imperial Palace even if I ran for a whole day.

Poof!

As my body grew and my vision heightened, my pounding heart finally calmed down.

As soon as the miniaturization wore off, I ran straight to the front of the dungeon without delay.

And I roughly threw open the tent door.

Bang!

"Hey! You, I told you to pick up the call on time! Because of you, what is all this shit...!"

But despite my loud entrance, the small tent, only about three or four pyeong, was completely silent.

"...Green Mask?"

No matter how much I looked around, the green head was nowhere to be seen.

Grrrind.

In the end, I had no choice but to grind my teeth and let out a bizarre shriek.

"Elaine, you wild boar-like bastard! I told you not to follow him if he offered you food!"