Chapter 4 : Adventure Level 1 (4)

“We didn’t end up catching it, but we did make some progress.”
“Yeah, we did. More importantly, let’s order first. What do you want?”
“Just pick for me.”
He didn’t even look at me, already browsing the Slime Detector site.
“Mango juice then?”
“Sure.”
I ordered mango juice, a cappuccino, and a cheesecake.
Do Yugeon was writing a post verifying that a slime had appeared at the location we searched.
“You didn’t take a picture—how can it be verified?”
“I’m an honorary member of this site. Right after it launched, I posted slime pictures and even verified catching one myself.”
He bragged.
I didn’t know how long the site had been up, but having an honorary member rank already? People are really proactive.

Soon, a comment appeared.
– Don’t post verification without photos or videos. It lowers the detector’s accuracy.
I looked at Do Yugeon, and he avoided my gaze.
Embarrassed, he deleted the post.
Just then, the order buzzer rang, so I sent him to pick up the items.
My feet felt sore, so I discreetly slipped off my shoes and rested my feet on top of them.
We hadn’t actually walked that long, but perhaps due to my usual lack of exercise, even this much made the soles of my feet sting.
At this rate, I’ll get exhausted like on Tuesday.
Back then, after searching for slimes, I got tired and treated Do Yugeon somewhat irritably.
Once or twice might be okay, but seeing his enthusiasm, it seemed likely this would continue, making it a problem I couldn’t simply ignore.
I wiggled my toes to loosen them up.
I need to come up with a plan. A plan to conserve energy while still hanging out with him.

Why do I get tired?
Because I walk a lot.
Then, I should walk less.
Even if the locations detected are nearby, there’s no reason to walk there, right? Walking around after arriving might be unavoidable, though.
Hmm. Instead of walking, I could take a taxi.
As he brought the order, I started talking.
“I was thinking, instead of walking…”
I stopped mid-sentence as a thought struck me.
Wouldn’t this method cost a lot in taxi fares? It’d be an unaffordable expense for him.
As I hesitated, Do Yugeon handed me the cappuccino.
“You were thinking something weird again, weren’t you?”
What’s he talking about? It’s not that bad.
“It’s nothing like that.”
“Then why did you stop talking? Keep going.”
This kid is suddenly acting smart.
“Uh, bicycles. Right, bicycles. I was going to suggest we stop by my house and get bicycles.”
“Bicycles?”
I lifted the cappuccino and blew on it.
“Yeah, bicycles. We have bikes at my house. It’s my dad’s—you probably saw it once before. He bought it saying he’d commute by bike for exercise, but winter came soon after, and now it’s just sitting in storage. The weather’s warmed up quite a bit, but seeing as he hasn’t taken it out yet, I think he gave up. Probably because of the fine dust. It might be a bit big, but maybe we could adjust it to make it rideable?”

He said, “But you don’t know how to ride a bike.”
“I’m not riding it—you are.”
“Me? You’re the one whose legs hurt—what about you?”
Obviously, I’ll take a taxi—no, wait.
“I’ll ride on the back.”
So, we went back home to get the bicycle.

Do Yugeon rode the adjusted bicycle in a circle around the apartment complex.
“It seems a bit big, but it’s rideable.”
“Right?”
He slapped the rear rack.
“Get on.”
“Wait a sec.”
I readjusted the laptop bag I was carrying on one shoulder so it hung diagonally across my body.
Then I carefully sat on the luggage rack.
It was bumpy and hurt my butt.
“If you sit sideways, you’ll probably fall off.”
“Really?”
I shifted to sit facing forward.
Do Yugeon started pedaling.
“How is it? Can you pedal okay?”
“Let me just speed up a bit.”
He rode straight for a bit, then stopped.
Do Yugeon nodded.
“It’s heavy at first, but once you get some speed, it’s fine. Is it okay for you sitting back there? Looks uncomfortable.”
My butt hurts, and it’s hard to find a good position, but…
“It’s bearable.”

Riding together, we began searching for slimes in earnest.
It was definitely faster than walking, allowing us to check multiple locations quickly.
However, all of them were empty.
Finding slimes consecutively so quickly before was just luck, so it couldn’t be helped.
This is why just searching online at home would be easier.
Through the search process, I developed some know-how and devised a method to pawn off the searching onto Do Yugeon.
After arriving at a location and getting off the bike:
“I’ll search here—you take the bike and search around. Call me if you find anything.”
This way, I entrusted a large part of the search area to him.
He saw through my trick and protested, but objectively, it was a faster way to search many places, so he eventually agreed.

After a long search, evening approached.
We still hadn’t found anything.
As I debated whether to feed him dinner before sending him home or just send him home, he called.
“Hey! Found one!”
When I got there, a slime was crawling inside a fence hedge next to the road.
Do Yugeon, looking at the slime, reached his hand toward me, asking for the rubber mallet.
“Mallet, mallet.”
I took the mallet out of the bag, let it lightly touch his hand, then pulled it back.
He turned around.
“Why?”
“I was thinking. Is it really okay to absorb the gold powder again?”
“Isn’t that why we’re catching it—to check?”
“It’s just that we’re acting too much like it’s a game. It worries me. Honestly, doesn’t this situation feel more like cosmic horror than a game?”
“Cosmic horror?”
“Like, what if the gold powder turns out to be an alien virus? An infectious disease with no vaccine.”
“Uh, um.”

He looked back and forth between the slime and me.
Then he laughed.
“Well then, let’s find out!”
Do Yugeon ran toward the slime and kicked it.
The slime burst with a pop and turned into gold powder.
He looked back at me.
“If any problems arise, you clean up the mess.”
This is ridiculous.
The gold powder was absorbed into him.
But at that moment, I felt a strange sensation, different from my five senses.
It felt like when your senses feel unfamiliar after pulling consecutive all-nighters.
The world felt slightly different, so I pressed my temples firmly.
Maybe I got tired from wandering around until evening. It was indeed time to go home.

“Hey! Look, look!”
Do Yugeon suddenly shouted.
Looking at the excited kid, he was pointing at empty air.
Following his finger, I saw the ordinary sky.
“What?”
He changed the direction of his finger forward.
“Not the sky—this!”
Looking in front of him, there was nothing there.
“What is it?”
“The status window!”
Status window? That internet joke?
I scanned the empty air in front of him, but still, nothing.
“I don’t see it.”
“This?”
“Yeah. Don’t see it.”
I looked more closely where he was staring intently.
Concentrating, I couldn’t see anything, but I felt like something was there.
What could possibly be there? Maybe my senses are off because I’m tired.

Do Yugeon waved his hand through the empty air in front of him.
“Guess other people can’t see it.”
“Is it really there?”
“I’m telling you it is.”
Honestly, it seemed more plausible that he was hallucinating from the gold powder than that a status window actually existed.
After all, slimes could be considered a natural disaster, but a status window implies intervention by an intelligent entity.
“What does it say?”
“There are two windows. One says ‘Condition Met,’ and the other says ‘System Connection Successful.’”
“And?”
“Nothing else.”
“Hmm.”
Do Yugeon thought for a moment, then shouted.
“Status Window!”
Instantly, I felt something move.
Another strange feeling.
“It says Level 1! Level 1!”
He waved his arms and cheered.
Honestly, he looked a bit crazy.
“Calm down first.”
“You catch one too! Just catch two slimes, and the status window appears!”
“Okay, okay. I get it. Let’s just calm down first.”

Do Yugeon took out his smartphone to take a picture.
“Did it capture?”
“Um… No. It didn’t.”
So it is a hallucination.
“Right. Then, besides the status window, do you feel anything else different?”
“What kind of feeling?”
“Like sounds or sensations.”
Auditory hallucinations, for example.
“Nothing like that. Maybe things will change once I level up.”
Nothing besides hallucinations? That’s a relief.
Do Yugeon peered into the empty air, then tilted his head.
He muttered, “Login.”
Again, the strange feeling washed over me, and Do Yugeon disappeared.
Uh…
I looked around, but he was gone.
What just happened?
“Do Yugeon? Hey?”
Suddenly, I felt him emerging from the spot where he disappeared.
Immediately after, Do Yugeon popped out of thin air.
He landed hastily.
Jumping up, he approached, grabbed my shoulders, and yelled.
“Awesome! It’s totally fantasy! Fantasy!”
“Huh? Huh?”

The world became fantasy.
Common sense crumbled, and fantasy flooded in.
Reports overflowed, and pranks became indistinguishable.
Where does reality end and delusion begin?
What should be believed, and what should be doubted?
I don’t know.
I wish the world were a bit more sensible.
Dinner was a convenience store lunch box.
Since catching just two slimes supposedly makes the status window appear, we decided to catch both today.
Previously, this plan would have been impossible, but now things were different.
Our search method was about to change drastically.

It happened while we were heading to the convenience store.
Feeling a strange sensation, I looked up at the distant sky.
Watching for a moment, a slime suddenly popped out of the sky and fell.
From that height, it would have died wherever it landed.
I even got a distinct feeling that the slime had died.
Apparently, this unidentified new sense could locate slimes.
With this hunch, I decided to utilize it.
Go to the predicted location from the Slime Detector, use intuition to guess if a slime is present, and if I feel nothing, move to the next location.
It was a method easy on the body and mind—except for Do Yugeon, who had to pedal.
Moreover, the results were fantastic; we found both slimes in less than an hour.

The second slime approached.
Cha Haneul swung the rubber mallet down.
The slime burst, died, and the gold powder was absorbed.
Now for the system.
[Condition Met]
A holographic window popped up before my eyes.
And suddenly, I felt a sense of displeasure—like an intruder rummaging through my room without permission.
[System Connection—Successful]
“See? Just like I said, right?”
“Huh? Yeah, right. Just like you said. Though you didn’t mention how incredibly unpleasant it is.”
“Unpleasant?”
Do Yugeon looked puzzled.
“It’s unpleasant.”
“What is?”
“When the system connects.”
“Why?”
I stopped answering and looked at him.
The conversation felt slightly off.
Could it be that this kid didn’t feel it?
“Nah, it’s nothing. More importantly, send me a party invite.”

During the hour of searching, whenever we took short breaks, I tried to figure out the system.
I discovered several things, one of which was the party function.
It seemed to have features like EXP distribution, system visualization, and more.
“Party Invite. Target: Cha Haneul.”
Do Yugeon said while looking into empty air, but nothing happened.
[Try shouting ‘Login.’ The adventure begins.]
An irrelevant message.
Do Yugeon came closer and poked my forehead.
“Cha Haneul is this one.”
[Party Invitation Received]
Leader: Do Yugeon
Objective: Adventure
Members: 1 / 10
Condition: None
System: Party Public
Experience: Member Distribution
“Ac…”
I stopped myself before saying “Accept.”
Thinking about it, did I really need to say it out loud embarrassingly?
Accept. Accceept. Agree. Agggree.
It’s not working.
“Accept.”
[You have joined the party.]

“Alright! Let’s go! Log…!”
“Wait.”
“What now?”
“Let me see the status window. Status Window.”
[Status Window]
Level: 1
He peered at the window.
“Same as mine.”
“Nothing special here. Okay, let’s go.”
Do Yugeon threw both arms up and shouted.
“Fantasy! Here I come! Login!”
He disappeared.
We’re not going together…
“Login.”
A wave of nausea hit me, and my vision changed.
I was inside a white building.
Looking ahead, there were doors.
Looking behind, weapons lay on shelves.
Is this fantasy?
It’s more sensible than I expected.
Do Yugeon, having picked up a sword at some point, swung it around.
He admired himself, striking various poses.
He even asked me to take pictures.
Everything would be great except for this kid. It’s a bit embarrassing to be with him.
Still, I took the pictures for him.