Chapter 109

“I was definitely at home though?”

“I get it! This is a hidden camera prank, right? Hey! We’ve caught you, so come out quickly!”

“…What is this? Am I still drunk?”

A vast clearing surrounded by trees on all sides.

Inside were gathered what looked to be at least a thousand people.

Different genders, different ages.

The only common point was that everyone seemed to be in a state of confusion.

Some looked around with anxious eyes, some pinched their cheeks doubting reality, some shouted loudly or picked fights with those nearby.

What calmed the increasingly heated atmosphere was a voice that rang out from above.

“Everyone, quiet.”

A voice that cut clearly into everyone’s ears without being drowned out by the noise of hundreds.

People who instinctively looked up couldn’t help but doubt their eyes.

A mysterious figure completely covered in black robe, hat, and mask was floating in mid-air without any visible support.

An eerie sight that defied common sense.

An icy silence fell over the clearing.

“Congratulations. You are…”

“Wow, amazing. Really amazing. Even if you want to film people’s surprised reactions, isn’t this scale a bit too much? Hundreds of extras and I can’t even figure out how that thing is floating.”

“……”

“Hey, sorry but I have a prior appointment so I should go now. I feel bad considering what you prepared, but honestly this is partly your fault too for filming without saying anything, right? I’ll make time later…”

Crack!

“Kuh-hack, kuh-hack!”

Violent coughing erupted from the mouth of the man who had been wearing a glib smile.

No, that wasn’t coughing.

It was the death rattle of a man with a huge hole in his chest.

The man looked back and forth with trembling eyes between his pierced chest and the floating figure before coughing up blood and collapsing to the ground.

Despite someone dying, not a single person let out even a small scream.

They instinctively realized they shouldn’t make a sound.

Once again, the mysterious figure’s voice rang out.

“Congratulations. You have been chosen as toys to alleviate the boredom of the Great Ones. What you must do is simple. Struggle as much as you can. Until just before death… no, struggle until the very moment of death. Being entertainment for the Great Ones is your only reason for existence.”

“W-wait! What do you mean? Toys? How can you say such…”

Tear!

A familiar sound of flesh tearing.

The young man who had been opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish collapsed to the ground with the same dumbfounded expression as the man who died before him.

Another silence.

However, this silence held a slightly different meaning from before.

If the previous two silences were merely keeping mouths shut, this silence involved completely sealing their mouths to prevent even breathing sounds from escaping.

“The real stage for the toys is elsewhere. This place is a preliminary stage created to upgrade the toys and add various functions so the Great Ones won’t be disappointed by inferior toys. You will spend two weeks here preparing to entertain the gods before being sent to the real stage.”

“……”

“Everything you do and obtain while here will be recorded as points. Money, hunting, items, skills, spoils – everything. On the final day, those who achieve high scores will be rewarded appropriately for being diligent in their role as toys, while those who achieve low scores will be punished appropriately for being negligent in their role as toys.”

“……”

“This place is divided into five zones. The central zone with amenities, the eastern zone where fierce winds blow, the treacherous and dangerous southern zone, the eternally burning western zone, and the northern zone gripped by extreme cold.”

The mysterious figure continued explaining without pause, and only when people’s tension had gradually begun to ease did all the explanations finally end.

“…That is all. I will say one final thing again. Struggle as much as you can to entertain the Great Ones.”

“……”

“Before leaving, I’ll give you one first and last tip. Go that way.”

After raising a hand to point in one direction, the mysterious figure’s form gradually grew blurry before vanishing without a trace.

Though the mysterious figure had disappeared, people still didn’t open their mouths.

Two people had died for the reason of opening their mouths.

No one wanted to become the third casualty.

Grrrr.

What broke the silence that seemed like it would last forever was the sound of howling from the forest.

Where people’s gazes turned, there was a wolf drooling.

Grrr!

Grrrrrr.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

Correction.

Not one, but dozens.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

Awoooooo!

As someone crushed by fear screamed and ran into the forest, the wolves began howling and charging at the people.

“Fuck! Move!”

“He-help… Kuh!”

“What are you doing? Everyone run!”

The clearing instantly became chaos with people fleeing and wolves chasing them.

The number of people reached a thousand while the wolves numbered barely 50.

If they stayed calm and responded carefully, it was a number they could somehow drive away, but people who had not only been suddenly dragged to a strange world but also witnessed two consecutive deaths could hardly maintain composure.

“Kuh!”

A dull impact felt on the nape of his neck.

In the eyes of the young man who collapsed with a scream, he saw someone grabbing and pulling his collar.

Thud!

“Aaaah!”

The fallen young man immediately curled into a ball and screamed.

With people’s legs catching on him or stepping on him, there was no way he could get up.

How much time passed?

When the young man faintly opened his eyes as the impacts were no longer felt, he instantly froze.

Grrrr.

A wolf was licking its lips while staring at him from close enough to feel its breath.

He could understand what it meant for one’s vision to turn white.

The young man who had been staring at the wolf with trembling eyes soon closed them slowly as if resigned.

And when the young man’s eyes opened again, they held completely different emotions from moments ago.

Woof!

The moment the hungry wolf leaped, time began flowing slowly around the young man.

In the world that had become like slow motion, the young man’s fist shot out.

And just before the wolf could bite his neck, at the last possible moment, the young man’s fist struck the wolf’s head first.

Yelp!

A short death cry.

The young man immediately jumped on the fallen wolf and brought down an elbow with his full body weight onto its head.

Crack!

He felt it.

The young man who stood up staggering quickly scanned his surroundings to assess the situation.

‘Separated situation, 10 wolves nearby, they’re distracted hunting others now but will chase immediately if I start running. Then…’

After catching his breath for a moment, once he confirmed his stamina had recovered somewhat, the young man stood up and ran at full speed.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The wolves that spotted the fleeing young man began chasing.

Though the distance between them was shrinking at a frightening pace, the young man wasn’t worried.

From the start, the young man had no intention of outrunning the wolves.

Pat!

The young man who kicked off a tree trunk and leaped upward reached for a branch above.

A hopelessly far distance that he couldn’t even graze.

However, the young man didn’t fall.

This was because the Thorny Vine that extended from his fingertips was firmly gripping the branch.

“Last time drowning, this time wolf food? Isn’t this too intense?”

Yuseong, who had been making a bitter smile, shook his head and manipulated the Thorny Vine to climb onto the branch.

The wolves were howling fiercely right below, but wolves being canines couldn’t climb trees.

As the wolves that had been scratching the tree while growling began leaving to target other humans, Yuseong leaned against the tree trunk with a sigh of relief.

[Synchronization with ‘Kim Hyun-jun’ is complete]

[You can now use ‘Kim Hyun-jun’s’ skills]

“Kim Hyun-jun?”

-Yes? Did, did you call me? No, more importantly, who are you? Why is my body moving on its own?

“Hmm, where should I start explaining.”

Until now in the quests he had performed, there hadn’t been leisure to explain the situation at the start so he had made rough excuses, but this time there was considerable time while waiting for the wolves to disappear.

After pondering briefly, Yuseong began explaining the circumstances step by step, and when all the explanations were finished, Kim Hyun-jun burst into hollow laughter.

-…Haha, so that’s what happened.

“Well, I know it’s odd for me to say this, but is it okay to believe it so readily? The content is too far-fetched, isn’t it?”

-If we’re talking about far-fetched, the current situation is more far-fetched. Being toys for gods…

Satisfied with how quickly Kim Hyun-jun accepted reality, Yuseong nodded approvingly and as always, first called up the status window.

Name: Kim Hyun-jun

Class: Job Seeker

Level: 18

Title: Wants to Get Hired by a Major Company

Strength: 16

Agility: 19

Wisdom: 42

Constitution: 18

Mana: 3

Skills: –

“…Now this is a very relatable status window.”

All ability scores except Wisdom are hovering around 10 points or single digits.

Making a bitter smile at how it felt like seeing his own status window when he first became a user, Yuseong closed the status window and immediately opened the quest window next.

[I Don’t Think I’m the Protagonist No Matter How I Look at It]

-Civilization Classification: W-1

-Civilization Grade: 0.79  

-Difficulty: B+

-Kim Hyun-jun, an ordinary job seeker who could be found anywhere, suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar place. At first he was excited about becoming the protagonist when he realized the situations from web novels he enjoyed reading had become reality, but when chased by wolves, Kim Hyun-jun realized he didn’t have the courage and wisdom of novel protagonists. Please help Kim Hyun-jun, who can’t even be a supporting character, become a protagonist.

-Clear Conditions

1. Rank in the top 10 when the preliminary stage ends: 10,000,000 Karma, 10x10m Subspace, Stat Increase Elixirx100, Growth Acceleration Potionx3, Skill Rank Increase Elixirx1, B-rank Skill Free Choice Ticketx1, B-rank Artifact Free Choice Ticketx1

-Additional Conditions  

1. Higher and Higher!: For each rank increase, 10,000,000 Karma, Stat Increase Elixirx20, Supreme Magic Stonex10, Orichalcum Ingotx20, Adamantite Ingotx20

Yuseong scanned the quest with serious eyes.

Though it was content he already knew, he checked once more because there was an unbelievably large gap between the indicated difficulty and actual difficulty no matter how many times he looked.

“…And they’re saying this is B+ rank.”