WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

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

Chapter 37

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It was a boring field overall.

All he could see was forest.

Nothing but enormous trees blocking the view in every direction.

It was fortunate he could survey the surroundings from above. Otherwise, it would have felt terribly stifling.

There was no large waterway in sight.

Not even a stream, much less a river.

According to the map, a river ran vertically along the western side of the basin, at the boundary with the rocky cliff field in the center. Other than that, there were only small ditches.

Thin trickles of water.

Naturally, both animals and people used them, so contamination was unavoidable.

Apparently, some people even welcomed winter for that reason. They could melt snow and get clean water more easily.

“We’ll find it once we cross that valley.”

It was called a basin, but there were still rises and dips within it. Nothing on the scale of a canyon, but there were valleys.

They looked toward the frozen stream and the forest stretching beyond it.

Seo Hajin shifted his aerial viewpoint and confirmed the Logger Clan’s camp on the other side.

‘It really is there.’

Based on the map, it was at the eastern edge, backed against the high mountain slopes that marked the field’s boundary.

“Looks like Beavers appear around here.”

“Ah, yes. If you head farther upstream, there’s a fairly decent water source. The Beavers live around there.”

There supposedly were not many of them.

They did not offer much from hunting, nor were they Aggressive Mobs, so people generally ignored them.

That camp was different.

The Loggers there used the natural terrain created by the Beavers without destroying it.

There were also signs that they had reinforced it further for defense. The tall wooden walls built against the mountainside looked difficult to breach.

Several people stood watch atop the walls. They rubbed their hands by the fires scattered around them, but their eyes never strayed far from outside the walls.

They looked serious.

They had no choice but to be.

This was a field with two Villain Clans. It was not simply that the Loggers were outnumbered in clans. Even in terms of scale, they could not compare.

The camp had endured this long because the two Villain Clans were not on good terms.

‘It’s a pretty delicate balance.’

The Villains were not close enough to attack the camp together. And if either one attacked it alone, their forces would be nearly evenly matched.

If they lost people and equipment while attacking the camp, the other Villain Clan would seize the opening and take control of the Area.

So the situation had settled into an uneasy stalemate. Neither side made a move, and each held its own territory from a distance.

‘That doesn’t mean they’re good people either.’

The Loggers likely knew what the Villains did to the people they kidnapped.

But they did not try to save them. They only took in those who escaped and made it to their territory.

The reason the Villains could not attack the camp was also why the camp could not attack the Villains.

‘At least it’s fortunate that they take people in.’

If nothing else, they were better than the Villains.

Most people would consider that enough.

And today, two more Loggers were added to that camp.

Seo Hajin watched the man and woman climb down from Sangun.

They had been recognized for properly confirming the camp’s location and received an additional Personal Effects bag each.

Their Inventories now had ten slots.

It was half what they had started with, but still far better than having none.

“Thank you so much.”

“Aren’t you coming with us?”

Juggernaut shook his head at their question.

He had confirmed the camp, and quite a few new sections had been added to his system map during the trip.

‘It isn’t very different from the map uploaded to the community board, but some parts were different.’

Since the map had ultimately been made from individual reports and information, there could be small errors or deliberate distortions.

Reducing those inaccuracies was a satisfying result. Watching Beavers from above had been enjoyable too.

‘Though I was curious what would happen if I destroyed their homes, I didn’t need to go down there and do it myself.’

Just then, the man who had crossed the valley turned around and raised one hand high.

“My name’s Sang-in! Please remember me!”

He gave a casual wave in reply.

It was not new information. He had already heard the name on the way here.

‘He said it was his real name.’

His surname was Jeong.

Jeong Sang-in.

It was a name that made him wonder what his parents had been thinking, but Sang-in did not seem embarrassed by it.

‘Judging by the name, he was normal enough.’

Sang-in had said that if he ever returned home, Juggernaut should not forget him. He had promised to repay the help he received here.

‘Who knows.’

Hajin did not particularly believe him.

Among the people from his army days, seniors, juniors, and peers who had said they would definitely stay in touch once they got out, very few had actually contacted him or met up with him afterward. This connection would probably be no different.

Crack. Crack.

He lightly shook out his body, stiff from the cold.

The man and woman disappeared from Juggernaut’s view, then gradually moved out of his aerial viewpoint as well.

Before long, they arrived beneath the Logger Clan’s walls and were led inside without any trouble.

‘So they really do accept escapees who come here on their own.’

Maybe the rumors were wrong.

Maybe that camp was another Villain Clan after all.

Remembering a line from a comic, that there was no paradise at the end of an escape, Seo Hajin focused his aerial viewpoint on the camp again.

Beyond the tall, thick walls, numerous people worked hard to fell the trees growing along the mountainside.

Fortunately, he saw no one being watched or oppressed nearby.

“I hope things go well for them.”

With that, he turned away and put Juggernaut in the Rest Area, then called out his other two Avatars.

They had not been able to log trees on the way here, and the marketplace’s firewood supply had dropped sharply. He planned to replenish it while he was at it.

“They were logging at that camp too, so why isn’t there any stock in the marketplace? Do they not even have enough for themselves?”

He did not know why, but being able to empty out his Subspace stock was good news for him.

- Juggernaut, you fucking bastard.

ㄴ What now?

ㄴ He bundled an ice maker with the firewood lol.

ㄴ Huh?

ㄴ He really did lol.

ㄴ What do you need an ice maker for in winter?

ㄴ What’s this? These can come out of Boss Chests too?

- Fuck, it’s funny how the price is actually reasonable.

ㄴ lol.

Among the items from the Boss Chest, he could also unload machines that were useless to him or that he had too many duplicates of.

- It’s leftover stock. I’m buying one for next summer.

ㄴ You’re seriously buying that?

ㄴ You’ll definitely regret not buying it when summer comes around.

ㄴ Are you buying stocks or something?

ㄴ lololol.

* * *

“So, it really was true?”

“It’s highly likely.”

It was a crude office.

Rather than a proper building, it resembled a burrow made by haphazardly piling wood and dirt together. Still, it was precious space that blocked out the cold and wind.

A woman sat on a wooden chair, handling documents on a tablet that looked somewhat different from anything on Earth.

At her subordinate’s answer, she raised her gaze with one eyebrow slightly lifted.

“Juggernaut really came here?”

“There were signs that trees nearby had been cut down. It looked like they used saws rather than axes…”

“You said there were several people?”

“Yes. And there were footprints on the ground.”

“A Tiger?”

“That seems likely. It was a type you can’t find around here.”

“Ha.”

Her laugh held a touch of helplessness and tension.

After a moment of thought, she shook her head.

“Impossible.”

“We could try tracking them now…”

“No, no. If he’d had a favorable impression of us, he would have come here instead of turning back. He would’ve at least said hello.”

“That’s true.”

“Besides, this is the first time he’s ever left the north. They say he’d stayed there until now.”

Juggernaut was one of the many well-known users discussed in the community.

Depending on the topic, he was always mentioned whenever people ranked the strongest users.

If he had come, she naturally wanted to recruit him.

But at the same time, she feared that they might be looted if things went wrong.

“We need to reinforce the walls.”

“They’re already…”

“Faster. We need to hurry.”

The woman nodded as though she had become more certain of her own hypothesis.

“The Bears will be let loose across the field.”

“The Bears…?”

“He came here to hunt them.”

“By himself?”

“He’s been doing it all along. And now he isn’t even alone.”

“Ah.”

The boss of this field.

If it was hunted, the Field Level, which had never risen before, would increase.

Many things would change afterward.

They could already make reasonable guesses about those changes from what had happened in other fields.

And the woman focused on the Bears, which currently respawned in small numbers only near the boss.

“There’ll definitely be more of them. The population, I mean.”

“Hmm.”

“We need to reinforce the walls enough to hold back Bears too. Villains won’t be our only problem anymore.”

“I’ll speak with the team leaders.”

“Tell them about Juggernaut too. Don’t leave anything out.”

“Yes.”

After her subordinate withdrew, the woman let her shoulders sag slightly.

“The firewood bundled with all those strange things came from our trees, not the north?”

She was not displeased.

The forest had no owner.

It was simply that Juggernaut, who had been doing fine even in the supposedly harsh north, and the subordinates he commanded had begun moving.

‘At least they aren’t hostile. For now.’

She nodded and picked up the tablet she had set down. She knew this had come from a Boss Chest too, and she had paid a high price for it in the marketplace.

“Instead of bundling weird things, couldn’t he bundle something like this?”

Juggernaut’s party had monopolized the northern boss, so they had probably obtained similarly useful things.

“What will the Bear drop if it’s killed? Hide and meat, probably… Should I go watch instead?”

The boss’s habitat was not far from here.

It was far from the Villains’ base, so there was little concern that they would interfere or attack.

She had nearly found an excuse to put off her pile of paperwork.

Then she lost the chance.

[The absolute powerhouse of Valley Basin in Area 7, the ‘Giant Brown Bear,’ has been defeated.]

[The region's level increases by 1.]

“What?”

It was killed already?

It had not even been an hour since they took in the escapees from the Villains’ camp.

They had heard about Juggernaut from them, sent someone to confirm it, and received the report only moments ago.

“They said he logged there too.”

There had been evidence of it.

Then how long had it taken him to kill the boss?

Goosebumps rose along her arms.

‘It’s not like we hadn’t tried.’

She quickly opened the community.

Some people reacted as though the Loggers had finally gotten around to doing their jobs, but users from this field were more puzzled.

‘Should I tell them?’

That Juggernaut, not them, had killed it.

That his party had come out of the Northern Forest.

“…”

She shook her head.

It might not have been information worth hiding, but somehow, she did not think Juggernaut would want it public.

‘Maybe he hates noise. He definitely doesn’t seem to like people.’

He had saved the escapees and brought them here, but based on their story, they could have simply been headed in the same direction by chance.

“Ah.”

There was no need to worry anymore.

Even though she had not said anything, people had already started mentioning Juggernaut. She did not know who had started it.

- Juggernaut went to the lumberjacks’ forest?

ㄴ It’s close to the north. You just have to head southeast.

ㄴ Easy for you to say. Do you know how far that is?

ㄴ Don’t they say he rides a Tiger?

ㄴ For real?

ㄴ Pics or it didn’t happen?

People talked as they pleased.

Juggernaut himself and his party members gave no response.

But perhaps because so many questions were piling up beneath his firewood listings, he finally reacted.

He did not reply to the comments.

He simply posted a new listing.

No, not just one.

- Fuck, Bear hide is up.

ㄴ Why did he bundle an ice generator with it again?

ㄴ How many does he even have lol?

ㄴ Where’s the firewood? Bundle firewood with it.

Bear hide had appeared in the marketplace.

It did not seem to be from the boss monster, but it was an item that could not be obtained outside this Area.

‘Even if you hunt them, it rarely drops.’

Naturally, no one sold it in the marketplace.

Posting it was enough proof that Juggernaut was here.

“He could’ve just written a comment.”

She looked over the Bear hide listing.

Of course, it was not her first time seeing Bear hide. The ice generator bundled with it was much more unfamiliar.

“What is this?”

It turned out to be a device that gathered moisture from the air and froze it into ice instead of freezing added water.

“Then I need to buy this.”

This field at least had a nearby water source, but for users in fields where clean water was difficult to obtain, it had value.

Even if they received it as ice, they could melt or boil it to get clean water.

- It makes ice without adding water?

ㄴ What?

ㄴ Whoa.

People reacted belatedly.

Then someone bought it.

The Bear hide had value too, but they had likely wanted to secure the ice generator.

“How much longer will he stay?”

She stared at the marketplace page after the listing disappeared, trying to guess how much longer Juggernaut would remain here.

It was difficult.

“If he plans to hunt more bosses, he’ll stay. If he just came to look around, he might leave right away.”

She would probably know around this time tomorrow.

That was when the boss monster would respawn.

And the next day, the Giant Brown Bear, this field’s Field Boss, was killed once more.

But it was not the only thing killed.

The woman had hidden in one corner of the boss’s spawning area in advance, and she saw it clearly.

Villains had gathered there with thoughts similar to hers. No, more accurately, their thoughts had greed added to them.

One particular Clan had openly sent in more than twenty of its goons.

They had not come merely to get a share of the boss hunt.

Perhaps Juggernaut understood that. Before beginning the raid, he swept them away first.

Swept them away.

There was no more accurate expression.

“He wasn’t alone.”

After witnessing everything, including the brief Giant Brown Bear hunt that followed, she returned to her office and collapsed into her chair with a helpless murmur.

She had already known.

That he had a party.

People who might have been companions or subordinates.

But there were more of them than previously known.

There wasn’t a weak link among them.

“Not to mention the Tiger. No, Tigers.”

She had heard that from the escapees too.

They had ridden one of two Tigers to get here.

But hearing about it and seeing it were entirely different.

He had tamed a boss monster.

And it was obvious that he had raised its level considerably after taming it. Otherwise, it could not have torn apart people who had reached level 20 so easily.

“Boss!”

The office door burst open.

It was her subordinate, who had never forgotten to knock before.

“Look at the board!”

“Why? What happened?”

Confused, she hurriedly opened the community board.

What she saw there was exactly what she had been thinking about and worrying over moments ago.

“Ah.”

One of the Villain Clans was being completely destroyed.

It was the very Clan that had hidden near the Giant Brown Bear’s habitat and ambushed Juggernaut.

But something else was far louder than that.

The things the Villain Clans had done, which had been hushed up and hidden within the Area, were finally beginning to be exposed.

“Looks like they can’t bury it with rage-bait spam anymore.”

“It seems like they tried, but it wasn’t enough.”

As one Clan base was destroyed, the people imprisoned there had been freed.

With their guards gone, there would naturally be no problem using the board.

And so, posts filled with all kinds of evidence they had gathered poured onto the board.

“The problem is that we’re getting cursed at too.”

She understood what that meant.

But she shook her head.

“Leave it.”

“Pardon?”

“We did deserve it. We stood by and watched.”

They lacked the strength.

They could not deal with two Villain Clans, so they had only been able to protect as much as they could.

They could explain it that way, but everyone would know it was only an excuse.

“Let them curse us. We need to prepare for something else first. Are the wall reinforcements progressing well, like I said before?”

“Yes. We repaired the damaged sections overnight, and we’re adding further reinforcements now…”

“Refugees will flood in.”

“Ah. Right.”

“It’ll be a problem just as serious as the increase in Bears. We won’t know who might slip in among the refugees.”

“I’ll make the screening procedures more thorough.”

Her subordinate left in even greater haste than before.

The woman watched their back, then closed the community board, where new posts continued pouring in.

“Juggernaut.”

Before it was a comic-book character, it was probably a word derived from Indian mythology.

“It meant something that couldn’t be stopped, didn’t it… He really lives up to his nickname.”

Footnotes:

Jeong Sang-in’s full Korean name, 정상인, also means “a normal person,” which is why Hajin remarks that he seems normal based on his name.

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