WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie ◈
Chapter 41: Strange School
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The tiny camera was observing the intruders again today.
"Max. Now we're truly in the same boat."
"......"
"You're not stupid enough to miss that cooperation gives us the best odds, are you?"
Things were getting interesting.
Jack, the man who seemed to be a Thief class.
He had cleanly stabbed Max in the back with the Helper's Escape Scroll.
In the case of the Branded Elf expedition, they had caused a bloody mess, killing one another over Escape Scrolls because everyone wanted to survive.
But Jack had burned it without hesitation, escape or no escape.
Wasn't that called making a last stand?
The strategy of cutting off the soldiers' retreat and forcing them to fight for their lives.
It was not exactly a rational decision.
They still did not know how to escape Area 2.
Whatever the reason, Jack had stabbed Max in the back.
Honestly, if I were Jack, I would have torn Max apart right away, same boat or not.
Still, it worked out well for me.
newbie: Why didn't he run away??
└humanluvr: 100% mental illness
└golemking: An active menhera diagnosing someone with mental illness, damn...
└dip: This does seem credible, yeah...
└humanluvr: Shut up
└humanluvr: Usually, intruders who enter dungeons aren't normal people, right?
└humanluvr: Unless they were forced into it by a lord, a leader, or something like that... Most people who walk in on their own have a lot missing from their lives.
└humanluvr: Maybe Jack has PTSD over a situation where someone, including Jack, escaped alone...?
└humanluvr: Well! I'm not a psychologist, I'm a newbie psychologist, so just listen for fun... T_T
└newbie: Love is smart!
└humanluvr: I'm happy...
Was this how people who read conspiracy theories felt?
Figuring out the logic behind intruders' actions was pretty fun too.
Anyway.
I was observing the Helper right now.
Honestly, I thought the Helper would beat Jack to death.
But unexpectedly, he was calm.
He had brought over late Denrid's journal and were continuing to write in it.
He had written quite diligently.
I took a screenshot and posted it in the gallery.
no_minions_4_me: Are there only two Minions left now??
└magichero: If we're talking about Minions who haven't appeared yet, th-th-th-that's right...
└cowhead: Thanks to that thief bastard, we get to watch this insanely entertaining live show longer... Thanks...
└whaleyeah: Terrifying fact...
└whaleyeah: None of this would've happened if that Max bastard had brought several Escape Scrolls and handed them out to the party, yeah
└whaleyeah: He could've deducted the price of the Escape Scrolls when they split the Magic Stone later LOL. This is his own karma.
* * *
Max stopped writing.
Max turned to look at the gloomy, grimy clock.
23:00
After the Escape Scroll was burned, Max was spending some time alone, separated from the others.
There was nothing on his mind right now.
He just felt listless and sleepy.
It felt as though he was lying in a bed at home.
It was true that he had felt murderous toward Jack.
After recovering from the paralysis, he had considered beating Jack to death thousands of times.
But.
In the end, he could not do it.
He was scared.
Once, as a member of Sinclair's party, I had devoted myself to Dungeon Raids, and now I was afraid.
If anyone saw me like this, they would surely laugh their heads off.
He knew he looked like a coward.
He knew it well enough.
But conquering Dreamland alone was impossible.
He desperately needed Jack and Luka's help.
"Fuck..."
Survival instinct suppressed their emotions.
Only then could Max get his anger under control.
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23:30
Max eventually rejoined the group.
They were sitting in the corridor.
There was a book in the middle of them.
It seemed to be the journal Luka had mentioned.
"Max."
"......"
"Burning your Escape Scroll was for everyone's sake. I hope you understand."
"I feel like ripping your throat out right now, so stop."
Anger welled up inside him.
Still, he did nothing more than spit out a few insults.
Jack nodded as well.
"So what were you doing?"
"Reading a journal. It has information about this dungeon."
Max sat down.
Then he leaned forward to inspect it.
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【Strange School Exploration Journal】
【Author: newbie】
Strange School.
This isn't the school I attend.
Somewhere scary, creepy, and gloomy.
How did I end up in this place?
There are many classrooms.
And many grades.
Three students.
One caretaker.
And one teacher.
There is a bathroom every ten floors.
There is a cafeteria every twenty floors.
You can eat even when it isn't lunchtime.
But they don't give you water in the cafeteria.
So I got water from the sink and drank it.
Where is the Faculty Office?
There are eight class periods.
You have 30 minutes to get to school.
Lunch is 50 minutes.
Break time is 10 minutes.
You have to keep track of time here.
Otherwise, you get expelled right away.
Sometimes the teacher comes in during class.
The teacher always looks unhappy...
Class is so boring...
Why are there no students at school...?
Could it be because the teacher's classes are boring?
But the teacher gets angry if you don't pay attention.
The teacher is scary when angry, so you have to focus.
Still, the teacher likes enthusiastic children.
Even if you're wrong, the teacher always pats you kindly.
Don't run in the corridor.
Don't talk to anyone.
The prefects and the head prefect might be watching.
It's okay when they aren't watching.
But if you get caught, run as fast as you can.
I don't want to get scolded.
Be careful when the lights go out.
The caretaker guy hates light.
He's busy doing inspections in the caretaker's office.
Don't interrupt someone who is concentrating.
I'm somewhere.
I don't want to get expelled.
I want to go home.
And I know how to get back.
But I'm scared to go alone.
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"This..."
"It doesn't seem like it was written by someone who entered the dungeon like us."
What kind of insane explorer wrote a journal like this?
At the very least, they would have written it in the diary style Denrid and Max used.
This was closer to some kind of code.
"It looks like everyone has roughly figured it out..."
"Yeah. What's written in this journal is very similar to what we've experienced."
And there were clearly parts that seemed to provide answers.
Late Denrid had said that even a wrong answer was an answer, so the next time they met the teacher, they should answer confidently even if they were wrong.
Jack had deduced that Denrid was the only one to die in the darkness because he had used light.
Those things were written in this journal.
Max blinked.
Maybe this was a Dungeon Walkthrough.
But.
"Who wrote this? Who's newbie? Can we trust it?"
"I don't know that either."
Luka, who had been silent for a while, spoke up.
"It says there are three students in this journal. It mentions prefects and a head prefect, but there is no mention of any other students. Could the owner of this journal be a student? A student named newbie."
"Then that means they're a Minion..."
Why would a Minion directly tell them about the School's weaknesses?
No matter how they looked at it, it was suspicious. Ah.
Max muttered as though they had remembered something.
"Some Minions are the type that impose weaknesses and maximize strengths. This is still a dungeon, after all. Maybe this Minion named newbie is one of those types?"
Max had one of the highest ability ratings among the Helpers.
The reason they had felt unable to win against the teacher then...
"No, that's a little..."
"I don't think so either. Everyone said it in front of that device. This dungeon feels different from ordinary dungeons."
Embarrassed, Max scratched their head.
"Still, I might not be entirely wrong. Handing out this journal might be part of their 'rule.' They say they know how to get back. If we meet them, we might be able to reach that device."
The group stared intently at the journal.
There was no information they could confirm for certain, which made their heads hurt.
Could they really trust this journal...?
"I don't think we should trust it."
"Then how much should we trust, and how much shouldn't we? Things we thought were answers are already written there."
They had to choose.
And their deliberation did not last long.
"Let's trust it."
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8:30
Once midnight passed, the clock pointed to 8:30 again.
Time itself had not skipped or gone back.
It was probably more like the School's clock simply did not show the time between 12:01 and 8:29.
The group divided each floor into sections A, B, and C. They would investigate their assigned sections separately, then meet in the classroom marked with the number 50 on the next floor.
With Denrid dead, this was the best method.
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9:00
Max entered a classroom.
He sat in a chair and stared blankly at the ceiling.
He had gotten used to those white lights by now.
There had been countless troubles and accidents.
He had suffered terrible thirst.
Broken an arm.
Been injected with Paralysis Poison.
Watched an Escape Scroll burn.
The situation was utterly hopeless.
Even so, he still wanted to move forward.
What kind of place was Area 1?
What kind of person was the Dungeon Master?
Could I return with a Magic Stone?
Countless questions weighed on their mind.
Yet they still wanted to move forward.
That was enough.
That was enough.
Creak.
The classroom door opened.
A familiar face entered.
It was not human.
"Hello, everyone! Good morning! The teacher's here, so... you should be looking this way!"
The first meeting had been shocking and terrifying.
The second meeting was not nearly as intense.
Was it because he knew how to deal with it?
He even felt relaxed.
Class began.
The teacher made incomprehensible sounds.
Max became a student attentively listening to the bizarre lesson.
"That problem the teacher just solved, Max, why don't you stand up and give us the answer?"
Max rose from his seat.
"315."
Max shouted confidently.
Then.
Crack!
Their leg bent grotesquely.
"Wrongyoufuckingworthlesswormwhatthehellareyoudoingduringclassdon'ttellmeyou'resleepingwithyoureyesopeneeeeeeeeeeeee!?"
Max blinked.
What they felt most intensely through the pain was confusion.
Giving a wrong answer was not the rule?
Denrid, Jack, Luka, and even the journal had said that was the answer.
They had definitely said so...
Warning 1.
"That problem the teacher just solved, Max, why don't you stand up and give us the answer?"
"I-I don't know..."
"Youfuckingidiotdoyouthinksayingyoudon'tknowfixeseverythingyoumongrelbastardaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!"
Warning 2.
"That problem the teacher just solved, Max, why don't you stand up and give us the answer?"
"Th-the body, I mean, next..."
"Someonelikeyoushouldneverbeallowedintosocietyyoushouldjustrotawayherebecauseyourteacherisfuckingtryingtoproperlyteachyousopleasecouldyoujustgiveacorrectanswernexttimeyoumoron!?"
Warning 3.
"That problem the teacher just solved, Max, why don't you stand up and give us the answer?"
"......"
"DieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDie"
Warning 4.
Max’s neck snapped.
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9:30
“Ahh, ughh….”
The moment they woke up, Max grabbed his own neck.
His broken body had regenerated. Proof that Max was alive again.
When he checked the clock, it was 9:30.
Though class had not yet ended, the teacher was gone.
Warnings could be given a maximum of four times.
And saying a wrong answer was also a wrong answer.
The journal was fake.
Then what had happened to everyone else?
Max finished exploring the ninth floor and headed to the tenth.
He waited for his party in classroom 10-50, but...
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17:00
In the end, no one came.
“Ha ha.”
He was alone in the classroom.
The silence remained unbroken.
Max suddenly looked out into the hallway.
He saw familiar faces.
Of course, they were not people.
They had no eyes, noses, or mouths, and wore yellow armbands.
Bloodstained prefects wandered around nearby.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
Max simply laughed.
As if he could not possibly hold it in, he clutched his stomach.
He laughed madly, like someone watching a clown's performance.
He looked extremely happy.
Happier than he had ever looked before.
He was even crying.
“Puhuhu, kekeke, whew….”
Max wiped the corners of his eyes.
Then, looking refreshed, he rummaged through his backpack.
And then...
He hung a rope from the ceiling, the kind one might use to cross rough terrain.
And then...
He climbed onto a chair.
Clunk.
Then...
There was no one there.
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.
Creak, creak.
A human-shaped shadow fell across the classroom floor.
It swayed without rest.
The sound made by rope and wood echoed over and over.
Creak, creak.
For a while, it seemed this rhythm would remain unbroken.
* * *
sealedphilo: Againagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagain, it’s newbie causing chaos!!!
└sealedconq: Seriously, there’s probably no one in Dungall who uses slimes as effectively as newbie, fuck lmao
└squintychar: At this point, give Malrang double the food fr
└tvhead: In my opinion, putting that bastard in a Mafia game would completely wreck the balance
└nightraven: LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL for real
└magichero: M-m-Mafia game my ass, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
└cowhead: That bastard understands the hearts of truly desperate people way too well...
└no_minions_4_me: That was insane...
└humanluvr: new bie so sca ry T_T
└skullbones: Isn’t this the first time in Dungall history that someone’s made a Helper kill themselves??
└kingslayer: One of a kind, fuck lmao
└psychward_mvp: Hmm... How will Sinclair react?? He’ll know the Helper is dead, at least.
└whaleyeah: But they don’t know where or how the Helper died anyway, right??
└psychward_mvp: Still, I think they’ll figure it out if they follow the traces.
└kongkong: There isn’t much time left until the next Position Shift anyway, so they can probably get away before then??
└anonbutcher: (standing ovation through tears)
└golemking: Weren’t you not originally that kind of character...?
└anonbutcher: No, people seemed to like it whenever I did this... So I thought I’d try it too...
└golemking: I wasn’t trying to give you shit... sorry.
└dip: The moment the Escape Scroll burned, newbie immediately fed them false information. Good call fr.
└dip: But newbie is so fucking creepy and sly. newbie listened to all their conversations, then immediately wrote the answer they’d settled on into the journal. That’s fucking terrifying lmao
└orange★: That scares me too lol...
└worldiscold: I should make sure not to mess with newbie...
└antqueen: I’m trying not to overreact too much, but...........
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“Wow.”
The rewards for this Wave are insane.
Footnotes:
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