Chapter 6 : Adventure Level 1 (6)

I arrived in the white space, which people on the site called the Preparation Room.
As I took a breath, my feet felt cold.
Right, I’d rushed to log in and hadn’t even thought about putting on shoes.
I returned to my room, put on shoes, and logged in again.
Turning around, I saw the weapons.
I approached and picked up a sword.
Heavy.
I wasn’t sure if I could even swing it properly.
The spellbook is useless against goblins, and according to the site, spears are hard to use in the forest—swords are supposedly better.
So I should take the sword, but I probably can’t use this well either.

I opened the Level 1 room door and entered.
The room was empty—perhaps slimes don’t respawn.
I opened the inner door.
A forest dense with trees and bushes appeared.
“Sigh… What am I supposed to do?”
Truthfully, I’d tried to persuade Do Yugeon not to go because it was dangerous, but that wasn’t the only reason.
My physical abilities are poor.
As a middle schooler, I’m not fully grown, and I don’t enjoy moving my body, so I lack stamina.
Plus, my coordination is bad—I always fall at least once every winter.
In this state, how am I supposed to fight a bipedal monster called a goblin and navigate a dense forest?
Honestly, I doubt I’d even be helpful to him if I found him now.
Wouldn’t I just be a hindrance?
Not that I wasn’t going, though.

Stepping through the doorway, I felt an uncomfortable sensation.
Intuitively, I sensed some kind of spatio-temporal magic at work.
It seemed the space and the forest weren’t in the same location.
Turning back, I saw only a single door standing alone on the ground.
My intuition was correct.
That was somewhat reassuring.
Since my physical abilities were lacking, I decided to trust my intuition and senses, however unclear they might be.
I closed my eyes and focused.
When searching for slimes in the city, I’d relied on an unidentifiable feeling, but now it was clearer.
Every object and animal possesses mana of a certain density, allowing me to perceive their existence by sensing it.
Although not as easy as with slimes, which have relatively high mana density, I should be able to find Do Yugeon by sensing his mana.
I hadn’t tried it before, but I had a gut feeling.
He was constantly moving, but considering it was a forest, his pace didn’t seem like he was seriously injured.
If only I could perceive more finely, I might even know his posture as he walks, not just his location.
I tried for a bit, but it seemed impossible for now.

I started walking in his direction.
The forest wasn’t incredibly dense, but it wasn’t easy to walk through either.
Tangled bushes frequently blocked the path, requiring me to cut through them with the sword, and roots or branches often tripped my feet.
After cutting through bushes a few times, my stamina quickly depleted.
Swinging the sword was too exhausting.
It was heavy just to hold, let alone swing.
At this rate, I’ll collapse before I even find him.
I briefly placed the sword on the ground and massaged my arm.
I needed a plan.
Magic came to mind almost immediately.
I caught a slime with magic, so dealing with bushes should be possible too. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Apparently, magic still felt unfamiliar.

I gathered ambient mana and shot it at the bushes.
Stems broke, and a hole appeared, but the branches were still tangled—not enough to walk through.
Repeating this method a few times would work, but I thought of a better way: shooting the mana sharply enough to cut the stems.
I hadn’t tried it, but it felt possible.
I gathered mana again and shaped it into a sharp curve.
It didn’t work at first, but after a few attempts, it became somewhat sharp.
Easy.
I shot the mana at the bushes.
It wasn’t clean, but the stems were cut.
The projected mana lost its edge quickly after traveling a short distance, but it was a decent result.
Using magic, I continued walking, dragging the sword on the ground.

Before coming to the forest, I’d worried about how to deal with goblins, but now that I was here, I realized I didn’t need to.
I knew where they were and where they were moving, so I could just avoid them.
It meant taking slight detours, but since he didn’t seem to be in immediate danger, it should be fine.
Do Yugeon was still wandering the forest.
I wasn’t sure if he couldn’t find the door or if he was trying to hunt goblins.
If he’s lost, he should just log out. If he’s trying to hunt goblins, I hope he bangs his head on the ground in remorse.
I reached a distance where I thought I might be able to see him soon.
According to my senses, he had just encountered a goblin.
He immediately charged, suggesting hunting was his goal.
Hah, honestly.
Experience points flowed into me, and I spotted him between the trees.
Despite just fighting a goblin, he looked perfectly fine.
Well, that’s fortunate. Though I kind of wished he was a little hurt.

“Hey, Do Yugeon.”
He jumped in surprise and looked toward me.
I carelessly dropped the sword nearby.
It was killingly heavy.
Why did I bring this useless thing and suffer like this?
He looked like he was about to say something, so I beat him to it.
“Check your phone.”
“Phone?”
Strangely, communication worked here.
So I’d been calling and messaging him continuously while coming here.
Not that he checked.
Do Yugeon looked at his call history and laughed awkwardly.
“Uh, I had it on mute…”
“Whatever. Didn’t I tell you yesterday it was dangerous? Is my memory faulty?”
“You did, but…”
“Do you have a brain or not? You brainl—”
He held up his palm, gesturing for me to stop, so I did.
I crossed my arms and stared at him.
“What.”
“It’s not that I came without thinking. I saw on the site that you can log out. During a hunt. So safety is guaranteed.”
“You believed that blindly?”
“No, it’s not that I believed it, but…”
“Isn’t that what believing means?”
“Well…”
“Nice going. Really.”
He took a step back and said, “Anyway, if it gets dangerous, I can just log out… Logout.”
Do Yugeon disappeared.
“Huh?”
Uh…
Huh?!
Did this brat just run away?

The next day, it was time for school.
Cha Haneul boarded the subway and watched the doors.
All last night, Do Yugeon hadn’t answered his phone.
He read KakaoTalk messages when sent but didn’t reply.
So I was waiting for him to board the subway for school.
We arrived at the station where he usually boards.
He wasn’t there.
I waited during the after-school commute time as well, but he was still missing.
It seemed he was avoiding the usual commute times.
Is he trying to challenge me? I should go to his house.
From his school, if you run fast to the bus stop, you can catch the earlier subway line.
So he should be home by now.
If not, I’ll just wait.

Getting off at the station, I walked to Do Yugeon’s apartment building.
I considered calling him on the way but decided against it to avoid unnecessarily alerting him.
Cha Haneul stood in front of the door and pressed the doorbell.
Soon, a voice came through.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
“…Who’s ‘me’?”
“What are you talking about? I came to hang out—open the door.”
“Uh, um. Are you really just here to hang out?”
“Is there something else?”
“…No. There isn’t, but you’re not here to get angry, right?”
Of course, I am. Did he do that knowing I’d be angry?
“What, were you worried because of yesterday? That’s something we can move past with an apology.”
“Right? I was sorry about yesterday. I was flustered for various reasons and couldn’t even think about replying. Sorry.”
“Yeah. It’s fine. More importantly, open the door. My legs hurt.”

The door still didn’t open.
Should I just open it myself? I know the passcode.
After a moment of silence, he spoke.
“Are you really okay?”
“Yeah. I got an apology—what else is there to do?”
There was a sound, and the door opened slightly, held by the security chain.
What is he doing?
He peered at me through the crack.
“You’re really okay, right?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
He looked uncertain.
I smiled at him.
He hesitated for a moment, then said, “Did you check the site today?”
“The slime one?”
“Yeah.”
“I haven’t checked it yet today.”
“Then you wouldn’t have seen the results of the offline meeting. We have a lot to talk about today. Come in.”
The door opened.
It opened, it really opened. I went inside.

“The offline schedule was tight, so I thought only a few would show up, but surprisingly many went. The detector creator participated too.”
He started walking toward his room.
“Do Yugeon.”
“Huh?”
I pointed at the living room sofa.
“Sit.”
He glanced around nervously for a moment, then grumbled and sat on the sofa.
I headed to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
Juice… I took out the tomato juice; it looked like there was barely enough for one glass.
No other juice either.
I poured it all into one cup and made instant coffee mix in another.
Hot. I checked the freezer, but there was no ice.
With no other choice, I carried the juice and coffee as they were to the living room.
I sat down next to him.
His nervous glances were reflected on the black TV screen.

Now, what should I say? I came here angry, but now that I’m about to speak, I hesitate.
Scolding him feels weird since we’re middle schoolers of the same age, but if I just let it go, he might do something dangerous again.
I wish he’d grow up a little so I wouldn’t have these worries.
I blew on the coffee and drank.
It was hot, and I felt hot.
I should have just dumped the coffee and gotten cold water.
The weather has been unseasonably chilly lately, but today it’s suddenly hot.
Do Yugeon got up, brought over a fan, and turned it on.
Quick on the uptake. Wish he’d been like this yesterday. Or was the problem that he was too quick yesterday?

He glanced at me, then cleared his throat while still standing.
“I know I didn’t reply, but there’s no need to create this kind of atmosphere, right?”
“What? You think this is about that?”
The problem was his reckless behavior, but he’s talking nonsense.
He averted his gaze and said, “That was, well, reckless. But the outcome was good, wasn’t it? I caught three goblins. If I had gotten hurt, maybe, but I didn’t get a single scratch, and it wasn’t dangerous.”
“‘Reckless, but’? ‘The outcome was good’? Next, you’ll be throwing yourself off a cliff, huh?”
This kid doesn’t seem to understand how dangerous his actions were.
We need to talk.
So, I took the time to explain everything—starting from how dangerous his judgment was, moving on to the blindness of being swept away by internet information, and finally, the excessiveness of his game-like mindset.
Ah, that feels better.
I drank the coffee.
It had cooled down in the meantime.

Looking at him, he was in a state somewhere between sulking and being depressed.
Uh, did I go too far? What should I do?
Should I change the subject?
“Okay, enough about that. More importantly, what’s this about the offline meeting?”
“Huh?”
“No, I mean, you said earlier the results of the offline meeting were out. I was wondering what that was about.”
“Ah, that.”
Do Yugeon stared blankly for a moment, then jumped up and shouted.
“Yeah, right! That’s it!”
What, what was that? So sudden.
He looked at me.
“Alright. I’ll show you—let’s go to my room.”
He picked up his juice and led the way to his room.
This is quite baffling.

Following him into the room, I saw the computer was on.
It was open to the Slime Detector site, specifically a review post about the offline meeting.
The purpose of the offline meeting was to verify resurrection.
So, the participants formed parties as planned and logged in for verification.
Then, an experienced player who had resurrected multiple times died to a goblin and resurrected again, demonstrating it right before their eyes and concluding the verification.
“This part is important.”
“I get it—just stop moving the mouse. It’s distracting.”
After the main purpose was achieved, they apparently had an after-party.
During that process, a consensus formed that information needed verification.
So, talk emerged about creating a credible verification organization, and following the suggestion of the detector creator who was participating, they decided to revamp the site and form the organization.
They named it the Exploration Alliance.
The rest of the post was gathering additional opinions and recruiting people to join, then it ended.
Exploration Alliance… Somehow, only this part feels detached from reality. Or maybe I’m the one who’s detached.

“Exploration Alliance. Whoa. Cool.”
“Right?”
Yeah, figured you’d say that.
“No. That’s not it. Ahem.”
Huh?
He continued.
“The Exploration Alliance verified resurrection. Right?”
“Calling it an alliance or whatever doesn’t make it sound very trustworthy.”
“Anyway, right?”
“Okay. The possibility has increased, sure. So?”
“Then minimum safety is guaranteed, right?”
“That again? Didn’t I tell you about blindly…”
He cut me off.
“Wait, wait. The minimum safety I’m talking about is possibility. Possibility. Like, it’s good if it exists, doesn’t matter if it doesn’t—possibility.”
“Hmm. Okay…”
Saying ‘possibility’ or whatever, it just means he wants to believe it, right? There’s a huge difference between safety being guaranteed and the possibility of safety being guaranteed. It’s a matter of life and death—can he really just gloss over it like that?
I kept the thought to myself.

He said excitedly, “So let’s go hunt goblins.”
“Huh?”
“You were nagging earlier about goblins being dangerous. Based on my experience, they’re not. And now that minimum safety exists, let’s go hunt together. I’ll show you it’s fine.”
Honestly, at this point, I question if goblins are truly that dangerous.
He caught three of them, and I sensed him moving around, so I don’t think they’re unmanageably dangerous.
On the site, most stories are about encountering them and running away, or briefly clashing, getting beaten, and barely escaping.
Apparently, they run slowly, and goblins are cautious, so escaping is possible, or something like that.
During the weekend when the offline meeting was scheduled, there was even a pride-fueled debate about how many times you needed to resurrect while killing a goblin to prove you had talent for fighting.
At the time, I thought, Well, it seems true they’re dangerous enough that you have to run away.
But this kid caught three without a scratch…
“How fast do goblins run? Is it possible to escape?”
“They seemed slow. You could probably escape easily too. But there’s no need to run—you can just catch them. It’s easy.”
They don’t seem weak, though. Hmm.
“Okay, fine. Let’s go hunt.”
Let’s just experience it first.
Then I’ll know.