The Protagonist Doesn't Want to Leave the First Floor - Chapter 47

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

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

Chapter 47: 047

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“Juggernaut is coming!”

The boy’s voice was noticeably excited, and his eyes brimmed with anticipation. He did not look older than eighteen at most.

But despite his appearance, no one knew his actual age.

There was no way to know unless he said so himself, and he seemed to identify with the boy Avatar he had personally created. So everyone simply went along with it.

Rumors said he might actually be a hairy, bald middle-aged man, but whenever he heard them, he only laughed brightly.

An innocent, cheerful boy.

Since the guy who claimed to live in the countryside was practically shouting, the woman listening waved one hand dismissively.

“I saw it too.”

Username, [Owl].

She had been dragged here after working overtime every day, so she had chosen that name when setting up her Avatar.

She was actually in her thirties.

Of course, she had never told anyone. Still, despite her youthful appearance, people said she was obviously in her thirties based on her eyes, behavior, and way of speaking.

‘What’s wrong with me?’

Thinking about it irritated her again.

She frowned slightly, then stared at the boy bouncing around in front of her.

Username, [Cheolsu].

He looked as though he had stepped straight out of an old textbook, and his behavior was much the same.

That was why people suspected him even more.

No matter how they looked at him, his Avatar seemed like the product of someone who had lived long enough and poured all his private desire to return to youth into its design.

‘He acts immature, but he probably isn’t.’

Among the many well-known users mentioned on the community board, Cheolsu was one of them.

A high-level trapper.

A specialist in scouting, stealth, and trap hunting.

He claimed he caught snakes in the mountains back home. It sounded ridiculous in this day and age, but when she saw him actually do it, she started to wonder if it was true.

‘That isn’t something he’s just cobbling together with Skills.’

Owl was also considered a well-known user. She simply did not welcome that kind of fame.

‘It sounds like one of those comics boys read when they were kids.’

And it annoyed her when strangers who barely knew her kept calling her sis.

“Sis!”

“...What?”

“When Juggernaut gets here, he’ll smash up the people controlling the area too, right?”

“Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean, huh? Juggernaut is going to look out for himself first too.”

She knew.

Juggernaut had not dealt with the Villains to help ordinary users.

Anyone could tell just by looking more closely at the posts tracking his movements.

‘He went there to hunt the Bear. Something probably got in his way.’

He would not have destroyed two Clans beyond recovery for that reason alone. The fact that they were Villains was good justification, but would he really do all that over something so minor?

‘It’s more likely he didn’t set out to destroy them. They fell apart on their own.’

That initial annoyance.

She thought that without it, Juggernaut would most likely have passed by.

‘There’s a Villain Clan in the Wasteland too. But he didn’t touch them.’

The Villains in the Wasteland had not committed atrocities on the level of the Logging Forest ones. Still, they behaved nearly as viciously.

Perhaps that was why the users in the Wasteland seemed disappointed that Juggernaut had simply passed through.

‘As if they’d left the job to him.’

She shook her head.

Then she looked at Cheolsu, who was still talking excitedly.

More than half of that behavior was probably an act. But now, even that act seemed to have become part of who he was.

‘He got absorbed into the character.’

Maybe that was what he wanted from the start.

Cheolsu stopped speaking and cautiously watched her expression.

“Then who will stop them?”

“They’ll start fighting among themselves.”

“Among themselves?”

“They’re a group formed by greed in the end.”

The people who had gathered under the name Expedition Force.

They had no grand goal. They had simply increased their numbers to hunt Boss Mobs in other fields.

‘There were no problems when we hunted the Feral Dogs in Rabbit Field. It was almost too easy.’

But then the Boss’s level rose too high, and problems began. Raids were becoming difficult, but there were also too many people trying to get in on the rewards.

So people with similar goals gathered and headed to other fields.

That was the beginning of the Expedition Force.

‘We went through a lot.’

She had been part of the Expedition Force too.

Together, they explored new Areas. They met users from those Areas and received help from them, or were kept in check by them.

The Expedition Force began to fall apart once trouble started elsewhere.

A rumor from the highest-level user among them.

-Leveling up no longer gives reward skills.

They said it probably began at Level 25.

The user promised to check again at the next level-up in case they were mistaken.

Much later, they said they had not been mistaken. Skills and function rewards truly stopped appearing.

In other words, after Level 25, it seemed they could only receive something when they used a Key to break through a level lock every ten levels.

It was shocking news at a time when the supply of Skills was already decreasing.

But there was another place to obtain Skills besides Level Breakthroughs.

The chests dropped by Boss Mobs.

‘Regular Mobs can drop them too once the Field Level rises, but the chance is extremely low.’

Boss Mobs, on the other hand, always dropped a certain number of chests whenever they were hunted.

That was when it began.

The Expedition Force split apart.

Those who wanted to settle down and keep hunting Bosses.

Those who wanted to cross into other fields and continue exploring as originally intended.

At some point, they began excluding and keeping watch over people outside the Expedition Force, starting with local users who had gradually gathered around them.

That was probably when they began controlling and monopolizing the Boss Mob spawn area.

It was also when Owl became disgusted with the Expedition Force and left.

‘If it weren’t winter, I’d go back.’

Rabbit Field was practically her hometown.

All she had to do was keep going west, but it was not as easy as it sounded.

Something mixed with cold and toxic miasma drifted through the Swamp on the wind. If she wandered carelessly, she could end up in the middle of poisonous gas without realizing it.

Over time, she had figured out which areas the miasma mainly moved through. But now, the bitter cold itself had become an obstacle.

‘Maybe I should’ve gone east instead.’

When the Expedition Force split, quite a few people had headed east as planned. If she had gone with them, she would probably be in the supposedly warm Wasteland by now.

But remembering recent posts on the community board, she shook her head slightly.

‘Things didn’t end well for the ones who crossed over either.’

Their stated goal of continuing onward was admirable, but their leader was far too stubborn.

It bordered on obstinacy.

It was fine to push ahead with forceful momentum, but there seemed to have been problems during raids.

‘Maybe they forced one through despite not having enough people.’

As she thought that, Juggernaut came to mind again.

The master of the Northern Forest.

He had stayed there long enough to earn that nickname, yet he had come out during this freezing winter.

Then came his subsequent movements.

At some point, he had passed through the east and was presumed to have defeated the Boss of the southeastern field.

The next field was where she was now.

The Swamp field in the south.

She could understand why Cheolsu was excited.

He was probably hoping Juggernaut would reopen the Boss Mob area blocked off by people who were stagnant, rotten, or at least not particularly desirable.

‘They would take me back if I returned.’

But she did not want to bow to them.

Since she was known by name too, they would say okay and take her back after she bowed and scraped enough. Still, the process would not be simple.

“Don’t expect anything. Just watch. There’s nothing we can do anyway.”

Owl pointed with her chin toward the distance.

It was where Juggernaut was expected to come from, and where the remnants of the Expedition Force currently controlling this Area had set up their defenses.

Cheolsu shook both fists with a deeply disappointed expression.

“Won’t there be anything we can do to help?”

“Help with what? The best thing to do around a natural disaster is avoid it. Stay too close, and you’ll get swept up in it.”

“Come on.”

“What do you mean, come on? Go check the traps again. Why are there so many damned venomous snakes in this place?”

“At least the meat is edible.”

“I never thought I’d end up eating snake meat.”

That ended their conversation.

But even Owl, who had sounded indifferent, could not help occasionally glancing in the direction Juggernaut was expected to come from.

He might not accomplish something as spectacular as he had in Logger Forest, but perhaps he could at least introduce a new variable to this field.

‘Still, the opponents are different.’

The users in Logger Forest had been predictable.

Even the Villains had simply been a group of stragglers who could not establish themselves in other fields, crossed over there, and swelled their numbers.

But this place was different.

There were many high-level users famous enough to be known by name. Even if Juggernaut had formed a party instead of acting alone, it would not be easy.

‘Even if he lets that famous Tiger loose, there are enough people here who can deal with it.’

After thinking for a moment, she shook her head.

She did not want to see Juggernaut get beaten down, nor did she want him to unexpectedly cooperate with the remnants of the Expedition Force.

“I hope spring comes soon.”

For now, she only wanted this awful freezing season to end quickly.

“......?”

Several days passed beyond when Juggernaut should have arrived.

Then, one afternoon, absurd news reached her.

“The snakes are going wild?”

Snakes that had suddenly respawned in the east of the field were running rampant.

They should have been hibernating underground for winter, yet they were swarming across the surface.

Most were venomous snakes, so the users there, especially the remnants of the Expedition Force, could not help struggling.

Of course, given their nature, snakes could not endure such cold weather for long. But from what she had seen so far, they seemed to survive longer than expected.

“What’s going on?”

“I know. Suddenly, the snakes...”

She was discussing it with Cheolsu, who had come by as usual, when he trailed off and stiffened.

“Why?”

“They might not have crawled out from underground.”

“......?”

“If someone killed the snakes underground.”

“Ah.”

Snakes respawned on the surface.

If Cheolsu was right, someone was killing snakes underground.

Was that even possible?

They would need to break through frozen winter ground and slaughter the snakes inside.

“Juggernaut.”

Owl spoke someone’s name.

The person who should have appeared days ago had not shown up, so many people said Juggernaut had likely ignored the field because its Boss had already been defeated.

That was possible.

It was already well-known that Juggernaut had a Subspace. He might have left his party members inside it and crossed the field alone in secret.

But if that was not it.

If he was underground.

“He really is beyond all common sense.”

Then, that night.

The common sense of many people shattered.

[The Ancient Python, ruler of Misty Swamp in Area 3, has been defeated.]

[The region's level increases by 1.]

“Haha.”

An earthen cave open on one side.

As she spent the night beside a campfire, Owl laughed without realizing it when she saw the unexpected system message.

“He’s really something else.”

The remnants of the Expedition Force.

How flustered must they have been after controlling the Boss Mob spawn area?

That thought alone made her feel rather pleased.

* * *

“Everyone, good work.”

He had been digging since before crossing into the field.

It had probably started near the boundary.

There were not many Mobs around, few people passing through, and plenty of thorn bushes. He had thought he should dig some up before leaving.

But then his thoughts changed.

“Should I go underground too?”

The Swamp would be cold.

Naturally, it would be once he left the Wasteland.

Still, would it not be less cold underground?

‘Besides, they said the Swamp Boss is underground. More precisely, it moves back and forth.’

Since this was an Area where the Boss had already been defeated, related information had gradually leaked onto the community board.

There was no need to catch users and ask them for information.

‘The problem is obviously speed.’

Digging tunnels underground would inevitably be slower than running across the surface.

Even so, he did not discard the idea because the Swamp Boss’s territory was near the eastern edge.

‘The eastern part of the southern field. That means it isn’t far from where I’m heading.’

Of course, he would arrive faster by traveling aboveground. But according to the board, quite a few people had gathered there.

‘There’s no need to avoid them, but it sounds like something annoying could happen.’

If they were Villains, he could just crush them.

But if they were merely a group of veterans controlling the Area, it was slightly different.

Controlling the area could also be considered Villain behavior. But according to posts on the board, their justification was not banning people from hunting. It was more about controlling the pace and preventing indiscriminate freeloading.

‘If they hunt it every day, the Field Level rises too quickly. It isn’t a problem if they can handle it, but there’s toxic miasma in the air there too. You have to take that into account.’

Of course, preventing freeloading was simply the logic of the strong. They just did not like their share becoming smaller.

‘Fine. We’re going with the tunnel meta.’

His deliberation did not last long.

He wanted to avoid trouble, and he was also curious about what could be dug up underground in that field.

That was how the work began.

He released five Large Rabbits and twenty regular Rabbits. Avatar after Avatar emerged as well, holding pickaxes and shovels as they dug.

The speed was incredible.

Enough to make anyone who saw it stare in shock.

“Good thing I converted it to Bound.”

The Rabbits had low intelligence.

Thanks to the Skill he had found in the marketplace, he could competently command even regular Rabbits that had not evolved.

[Control Enhancement]

The detailed description made it seem like a Familiar-related Skill. The seller wrote that it did not create or summon Familiars.

Instead, it was a support Skill that allowed the user to more clearly command and receive information from Familiars they had created, summoned, or acquired, even from farther away.

-Also applies to pets.

That short additional line caught Seo Hajin’s attention.

The price was high.

Even considering how Skill Coin prices had become increasingly volatile, it was expensive enough that it had remained unsold until he saw it.

‘If the seller put it up instead of using it themselves...’

Several comments called it a rip-off, but the seller gave no response.

Seo Hajin had enough money to buy it.

‘If I need it, I buy it.’

So he purchased it.

Rather than use it directly, he used one of his remaining Bound Conversion Tickets to turn it into a Passive Skill.

Skills were shared anyway, but he knew making one Bound could add an effect it had not possessed before during the conversion process.

‘It gained an additional effect suited to my situation.’