WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

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◈ The Protagonist Doesn't Want to Leave the First Floor ◈

Chapter 19

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Rain began pouring down that night.

He postponed the trip to the riverbank that he had planned for the following day.

That was not all he postponed. He put off hunting too and stayed in the hollow.

“It’s really coming down.”

The sky seemed to have gone mad.

The water upstream must have risen, because the waterfall was much larger and louder than before.

Fortunately, the hollow in the cliff where he lived was at least some distance from the waterfall itself.

As the waterfall swelled, it affected the hollow more than before, but not enough to reach the space he had chiseled out.

“It was a good thing I expanded it in advance.”

Still, he needed to take a few measures.

So many small droplets splashed up that the floor deeper inside the hollow was getting damp too.

He fashioned a temporary barrier outside to block the water, then lit the stove inside to dry out the wet interior.

Not a campfire, but a stove.

He had bought that from the marketplace too.

It was about the size of a forearm. It was a mini stove that could not take full pieces of firewood. He had to split the wood into smaller pieces or break off thin branches to feed it.

He had bought it because it was collapsible and looked convenient. Being usable even on a rainy day like this was another advantage.

Using a stove also greatly reduced the risk of sparks flying somewhere they should not.

The drawback was that it did not seem very durable, perhaps because it was made from scrap metal. But he could make up for that by repairing it from his inventory, like equipment.

‘They sell things like iron scraps, after all.’

Iron scraps, or iron ingots.

Some people listed metals on the marketplace. Where were they mining and refining them?

He had seen posts saying that people panned for gold dust in certain rivers, but would they not need a proper vein to get metals like this?

‘They don’t seem to be monster drops. There must be somewhere like a mine.’

A rare break.

He regularly added branches to the stove and warmed himself by its heat.

Of course, just because he could not go hunting did not mean he would lie around doing nothing. Vulcan was inside even now, widening the hollow with a chisel and hammer.

Not toward the cliff, but toward the waterfall.

If he continued this way, the hollow would probably connect to the space behind the waterfall.

‘Once it reaches that far, it’ll at least be a hideout, if not a home.’

How long would he stay here?

He did not know yet, but that was why he needed a space where he could live more comfortably.

A rocky hollow in a waterfall cliff.

It was cold, damp, and loud, but it was relatively safe. That was enough.

‘If I dull my senses, I can barely hear the water anyway.’

That was another advantage of his Unique Ability.

It was why he could sleep even somewhere like this.

‘Though we sleep one at a time anyway.’

It was nearly time to switch, so he brought Vulcan back beside the stove and had Juggernaut take the chisel and hammer.

If the space had been larger, they could have worked at the same time. Since it was not, they had to take turns.

‘The entrance doesn’t need to be wide anyway.’

And it would eventually break through into the space behind the waterfall. He did not need to worry about air holes.

“Still... when is this going to stop?”

If he had not made a shelter in a hollow halfway up a cliff and had instead dug a burrow in the ground, he could have been in serious trouble.

The Wolves were Aggressive Mobs, so he would not have been able to do that anyway. In a way, that was fortunate.

“It’s raining across the whole Area.”

According to the message board, users in other Areas had also stopped hunting and taken shelter.

Those on higher ground only needed somewhere to avoid the rain. Those in lower areas, on the other hand, were struggling with flooding.

There had been considerable damage at the camps built in the rabbit field in particular.

They had dug channels for the water, but even those had turned into mud. The ground had softened enough for even firmly planted wooden palisades to collapse.

‘After going through this, they’ll build something sturdier.’

Which country was it?

He vaguely remembered seeing a foreign documentary about indigenous people building homes on pillars, like stilt houses.

‘Something like that might be good too.’

It was not his problem.

He shook his head and checked how much meat remained in his Subspace.

‘At least a week won’t be a problem.’

He had tried putting spare meat on the marketplace before, but Wolf Meat had never sold well.

Rabbit meat was plentiful, and mountain goat meat was available too. There was no reason to buy Wolf Meat, which smelled bad and did not taste very good.

‘Even I mix other meat powder into my shakes.’

Still, if this was not a passing shower but the beginning of a long wet season...

He opened the marketplace and looked for meat and other food listings.

There were still quite a few listings, but it already felt as though there were fewer pages than usual.

‘Some people must have pulled their listings, and others are probably stockpiling.’

If he had to rest anyway, he should not worry about overloading his inventory. He needed to buy whatever he could.

It was not as if rain made hunting impossible, but it would create all sorts of unpredictable variables.

‘I should stock up too.’

He bought rabbit meat, mountain goat meat, Mountain Goat Milk, all kinds of vegetables, cheap herbs, mushrooms, and more, filling his Subspace.

The Subspace did not organize items automatically, but like his inventory, it preserved the condition of stored items. He did not need to worry about food spoiling.

‘There are still people hunting in this weather. Some even seem to be in parties.’

Some claimed hunting was actually easier at times like this. Normally, there were too many users, so prey was sometimes killed the moment it respawned.

‘So that’s what that field is like.’

This side had more than enough monsters, but that was the problem. Everything was better in moderation, but this place had none of that.

‘I’m unintentionally monopolizing the hunting ground.’

Juggernaut dug into the rock wall while Vulcan sat by the stove, reading the message board.

Apparently, some people were logging instead of hunting. One post added that bears did not come out of their dens in weather like this, which made it safer.

“So there are bears.”

He was curious about that field too.

Unlike Wolves, bears did not always attack first. Supposedly, as long as you did not get too close, they would not attack.

But bears could take an interest and approach first. When that happened, the advice was to run without hesitation.

‘There don’t seem to be many of them, so if I set my mind to it, I should be able to hunt them.’

There were already people going bear hunting in parties. They seemed to be succeeding several times, but there was not much discussion about it. That either meant the efficiency was poor, or it was so good that people were keeping quiet about it.

‘It could be a hidden gold mine.’

If he had the chance and the means to move to another field, he decided he would try a field with bears rather than the rabbit field.

He took a piece of grilled meat from his inventory and chewed it.

* * *

The rain had not stopped for a week.

There was no food left on the marketplace. Even when something was listed, it sold immediately unless the price was absurdly high.

‘Good thing I stocked up in advance.’

Food filled one side of his Subspace.

It felt like grocery shopping before an apocalypse, but he felt more worried than satisfied.

‘This has to be the wet season.’

If rain like this continued, even his stockpile would not last long.

He could reduce one mouth to feed.

He could reverse-summon Companion No. 1.

But the odd jobs he handled were worth far more than the food he consumed.

“If the rain lets up even a little, it’ll be better to go out, even if I have to take the risk.”

The rain did not stop, but it occasionally grew lighter.

When it did, he could see farther from above. That also let him judge how much rain was falling.

‘Food over experience... then I should probably try that, right?’

It was something he had planned to do anyway.

He decided to check it out while keeping an eye on the rain, focusing on expanding the shelter.

But the rain showed no sign of easing that day, so he did not push himself and stayed inside.

“Hmm.”

According to the message board, the rabbit field camp had become little more than a refugee settlement.

Most of the wooden palisades had collapsed, or someone had taken them to use as firewood. That was causing arguments too.

Those who had resumed hunting later did not need to worry as much about starving, but hunting in heavy rain was clearly difficult, both physically and mentally.

‘More than anything, they don’t have homes to return to and rest in.’

Most of the campgrounds no longer served their purpose. The few that remained intact needed people left behind to guard them, which inevitably interfered with hunting.

But if they went hunting without leaving anyone behind, they might return to find that a building which had been fine before they left had disappeared entirely.

Perhaps they would later discover a new building being constructed with materials similar to those from their old one.

Stories of bloodshed over such matters were spreading across the message board.

These were not old events.

They were happening right now.

‘Large buildings use too many materials.’

If they had made small tent-like shelters, they could have dismantled them and stored them in their inventories whenever they needed to leave.

‘Then again, they could not have expected rain this severe.’

Everyone in this Area was Korean.

They had experienced monsoon seasons, but not a full wet season. There was a limit to what they could imagine.

“Lumberjacks are having their moment.”

The price of wood listed on the marketplace had risen a little, but it was still selling well.

People needed to build new shelters.

People needed dry firewood right away.

Either way, they needed trees.

‘Maybe I should have gathered some wood while I had the chance.’

There were plenty of trees in this forest.

The same was true near the waterfall.

But the moment he thought about it, he shook his head. The reason, of course, was the Wolves.

‘They won’t leave me alone.’

It was better to leave logging to the lumberjacks.

Watching the sky grow dark, he spread bedding in a space that was now large enough for two people to lie down comfortably.

They slept in turns anyway, so he did not need to spread it out so widely. Still, having a larger sleeping space felt good.

It was somewhat like changing from a single bed to a queen-size bed.

“I hope it rains less tomorrow.”

But nature did not do what he wanted.

It only began to ease after another three days of pouring rain.

“Now?”

If he missed this timing, there was no telling when the heavy rain would return.

He hurriedly finished preparing and left the cliff.

He did not need to figure out a direction.

He only had to follow the water downstream.

* * *

Grrr! Bark bark!

Awoooo!

Frenzied Wolves.

Dozens of them, not one pack but several, had gathered and were running wild along the edge of a flooded stream that had swallowed part of the forest.

Perhaps such a severe wet season was rare even here. Where the forest met the water, the ground had already subsided, toppling some trees sideways.

But more noticeable than that were the mad Wolves and the Crocodiles facing them.

“Well, look at that.”

Normally, neither would invade the other’s territory.

But the flooded river had expanded the Crocodiles’ territory.

And someone had made them come into contact.

Seo Hajin.

“So it works.”

It had only been an idea.

If he used fake teleportation through his Subspace, could he lure Wolves over and throw them at a group of Crocodiles?

He had thought it might work, but seeing the result with his own eyes was spectacular.

The Wolves had never gone after the Crocodiles before, but they would not ignore Crocodiles that attacked their packmates.

The Crocodiles, on the other hand, tried to bite anything that approached, whether it was human or beast.

One had actually bitten a Wolf.

That was where it began.

“They respawned again. I should make another trip.”

Juggernaut was waiting in a tree in the forest.

After checking the situation from an aerial viewpoint, he leaped down.

Then came another round of luring Wolves.

He did not hunt them directly. Instead, he led them toward the riverbank, then entered his Subspace at the right moment.

When Vulcan opened the Subspace from the original tree, he came back out through it.

“I guess I am getting experience after all.”

There was no separate experience gauge.

But despite not doing anything that could truly be called hunting, Vulcan had somehow gained another level.

‘It can’t be giving me one hundred percent.’

Vulcan had probably been close to leveling up.

Still, the fact that he received experience at all was important.

“I only planned to collect drops, but now I have no choice but to take this more seriously.”

Originally, he had wanted to secure food to store in his Subspace. Having plenty of Wolf Meat would help him get through the wet season.

But along with Wolf Meat and other Wolf drops, Crocodiles occasionally died and dropped items too.

And apparently, he even received some experience, however little.

‘If it only gives a little, I just need more of them to die.’

The Wolves would respawn.

So would the Crocodiles.

Watching from above, it looked like far fewer Crocodiles died than Wolves. That seemed to be because their defense was better.

“Companion No. 1 is working hard.”

Companion No. 1 belonged to him, but monsters would not target him as long as he did not attack first.

So he had stopped working in the Subspace and was now moving quickly around the battlefield, gathering the items that had fallen to the ground.

Crocodiles dropped things like these.

Crocodile Leather, Crocodile Meat, bones, teeth, internal organs, and other biological byproducts. Like Wolves, they dropped meat most often.

Leather seemed to drop at roughly the same rate as Wolf hide, but Crocodiles were fewer in number and did not die easily, so it was not piling up in large quantities.

Instead, there were far more drops from the Wolves dying while fighting them.

Either way, it was nothing but good news for Seo Hajin.

‘Will Crocodile Meat be better than Wolf Meat? I think I heard somewhere that it tastes like chicken.’

The meat was one thing, but Crocodile Leather looked incredibly hard and tough.

If he made armor from it, it would surely be useful when fighting Wolves.

‘I can protect the exposed limbs and give him a breastplate and greaves without interfering with his movement.’

He could process Wolf hide with a Skill, so he should be able to do the same with Crocodile Leather.

Even as he continued luring Wolves with Juggernaut, he used Vulcan to plan the armor he would make in the future.

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