The sizzling sand crunched in his mouth, and his whole body seemed to be grating because of the sand that had burrowed between his clothes. Panting with roughened breath, Raon waited for even a little of his depleted stamina to return. He couldn’t let his guard down since he didn’t know when it might snatch his ankle and hang him upside down again.
“Bbobbo.”
Raon, who spat out the sand mixed with saliva pooled in his mouth, made a small sound. Here his owner is struggling and rolling around like this, and instead of helping, where did this thing go? Since there was no particular change in not only screams but also voice sounds, Raon even laid his slightly raised neck comfortably on the sandy beach.
Without moving, lying sprawled out, nothing bothered him. Is this a hot sand bath? Though the heat was scorching, it wasn’t hot enough to be unbearable with sweat dripping or breath choking. If he had the tablet, he could figure out what had just attacked him and respond, but he couldn’t do that either.
Raon carefully moved his hand and fumbled at the top he was wearing. Even without the tablet, inside the zippered pocket of his top were his cell phone and a button that could send an emergency rescue signal to the Center.
This must be the kind of variable that can happen in a dungeon. The basic principle of dungeon entry is accompaniment by at least two people. He had already broken the most basic principle. He hadn’t reported to anyone that he was entering a dungeon, so if he died now, he’d only catch the eye of the collection team coming days later.
Should he consider himself fortunate that at least he had a chance to request rescue? Just thinking about the things he’d hear from Hyukjin and the relevant parties as soon as he was rescued made his head spin. But since he couldn’t die in vain, Raon took out the button.
“Fuck. Crazy… Who’s the bastard that made this?”
Less than 3 seconds after taking out the button, Raon ground out curses. He wanted to scream loudly, but he couldn’t do that either because he was tired, and threw the button that had broken from just rolling on the ground a few times to the side.
Throwing away all pride and everything, he should have contacted Jaehwi before entering the dungeon. Let’s go to the dungeon together. Raon, who took out his cell phone, his last hope, let out a sigh of relief when he saw there was a signal.
Is it really okay to stay still like this? Raon, who had been looking at his cell phone screen, slowly looked around. His sense of direction had dulled from continuously surging up and slamming into the ground.
Moving his fingertips to enter the call list, Raon saw Jay’s name at the very top, and right below that, Hyukjin’s name. The call list itself had never shown the designation “Hwiya.” He’d learned his contact information through Jay too, not by asking directly.
Raon, who had curled his fingertips several times, weakly pressed the call button.
After ending the call, Raon blankly stared at the space covered in golden sand. No matter how many times he spat, sand grated in his mouth. His backpack came to mind, containing water and survival-related items. At the thought of immediately rinsing his mouth with water and gulping it down refreshingly, Raon scratched his throat. In the midst of that, a black object entered his eyes. An unfamiliar object that didn’t match this dungeon. Could it be my backpack? Raon unknowingly shot up his upper body.
“Heuk!”
Following the feeling of his ankle being wrapped, his body cut through the air and Raon, hanging upside down again, covered his face with both hands because of the sand flowing down from his body and falling to the ground. Dusty clouds rose centered around his body.
Stupid, to be this stupid. Whether his brain had gone wrong or what, even knowing that moving recklessly would cause this to happen, it was his fault for moving recklessly, distracted by the backpack.
Only after the sand that had been embedded grain by grain in his clothes stopped flowing down his body did Raon hastily remove the hands covering his face. His body swayed helplessly in the space that wasn’t particularly different whether seen upside down or right side up. As heat and blood began rushing to his head, groaning sounds flowed from Raon’s mouth.
Fumbling his thigh, he gripped the short sword he fortunately hadn’t lost yet. It would have been nice if it were a longsword instead of a short sword. Slowly turning his head, he looked for the stem that was clearly made of sand. Sometimes it was close to his body, and sometimes it was in a place far enough that his arm couldn’t reach.
“Fuck… This is driving me crazy.”
If it was in a place he could reach just by stretching out his hand, he’d just need to drop down, but the stem that entered his eyes this time was quite a distance away. He had to choose between throwing the short sword to hit the stem, or doing a sit-up in midair and stabbing the knife into the stem wrapped around his ankle.
I don’t have the physical ability to do a sit-up in midair. Moreover, his body wasn’t in good condition with bruises and such from stiffening in surprise and falling.
“Bbobbo.”
After trying several times to tense his body and raise his upper body but only managing to squirm, Raon weakly called for Bbobbo. If he hadn’t left for the dungeon alone, it would be somewhere in this dungeon. It would be nice if it heard this sound and came. No matter how many times he called for Bbobbo, all that filled the space was the sound of empty wind.
As time passed, feeling dizzy and his body losing strength, Raon slowly closed and opened his eyes. Since he didn’t have the strength to raise his upper body, there was no method other than throwing the short sword. As he moved his arm to gauge the throwing distance, his body swayed here and there.
There’s only one chance.
“Keup…!”
The moment he threw the short sword, Raon’s body surged through the space. Having risen high, Raon, who crashed to the ground with strong force, curled up his body while letting out sounds rising from inside and rolled. It really felt like his body was crumbling.
Pain wasn’t a familiar sensation to Raon. Even during the NCSC mandatory education period, he’d been busy slipping away and running away. The only thing Raon felt as pain was all the muscle soreness from recent exercise. It was a different quality of pain from the occasional cold body aches.
As Raon, who had been rolling with his body curled up, felt the strongest pain subside, he completely relaxed his body. Not only standing up, but even raising just his upper body would get him caught by the monster.
Raon, who had been tearing at the ground in pain, could clearly know that the monster didn’t move as long as he was lying down. If you received my call, you should immediately bring a teleportation Esper and come rescue me. Why aren’t you coming! Even though it was a situation he’d created, his resentment was directed at Hyukjin. The backpack entered the eyes of Raon, who was spitting out the sand in his mouth while lying face down. The backpack that had been quite a distance away just moments ago was in a not-too-distant place.
The water he’d packed in his backpack, the dungeon first-aid kit, wet wipes and such flickered before his eyes. He wanted to crawl, but when his body wouldn’t properly gain strength, Raon moved his prone body to lie flat.
Having realized that rolling was easier than crawling, Raon tried to turn his body over again but realized there was a problem with him. Something like an unfamiliar pain felt in his left leg. It didn’t seem broken, and it seemed the problem was the ankle that had been continuously wrapped in vines. It had been squeezed strongly and hung upside down with only the ankle wrapped, so it was natural for strain to go there.
Moreover, there was also chest pain. He couldn’t know whether it was because of the bruises from continuously bumping into things or whether a rib was cracked. It wasn’t like fumbling his chest with his hand would heal it, and whether to wait for Hyukjin who hasn’t arrived in this state or roll a bit more to at least drink water was all his choice.
Though it would take quite a bit of time, if he just got his hands on the backpack by rolling his body, he could solve several urgent things, so Raon didn’t mind rolling around on the sandy beach with clenched teeth. It would be nice if at least Bbobbo was here. The last appearance of Bbobbo he’d seen was it excitedly taking a sand bath as soon as they entered. It didn’t appear even when called and its characteristic sounds couldn’t be heard either.
Not even 1 degree of help, what a monster. The Gem Kitten’s activity inside dungeons was tremendous. Flying fast and hard to catch, and its strength was such that if it planted its feet on the ground and held out, moving it was close to impossible, they said.
Moreover, it had good strength so there were cases where it arbitrarily snatched people and threw them into the air, and if there was such a Bbobbo, it might be able to bite him and fly to carry him to the entrance. Or at the very least, it might bite and bring the backpack.
Seeing the backpack at a distance where it would be reachable if he rolled just three more times, Raon stopped for a moment and caught his breath. There was also Jaehwi whose skin cracked open and who suffered from noise that felt like his head would burst, so this was nothing. Rather, he became more stubborn.
All of this happened due to lack of experience. Next time he’d prepare more thoroughly, and he’d be careful even when taking a single step. Not Jaehwi, but forming a bond with an Esper or making a contract with a Guide would also be a method.
The first time was easy, and the second was also manageable, so it’s his fault for looking down on dungeons too much. Jaehwi’s words came to mind, pointing out that grades and such weren’t important, that the problem was the countless variables that could occur inside dungeons.
And his selfish and stubborn personality was also a problem. Anyway, Raon, who had been rolling his body to save himself, couldn’t stop his body rapidly rolling down the suddenly formed mound.
