Chapter 115

CHAPTER 115

The only light inside the ventilation shaft came from faint rays slipping through the metal grates scattered along the way.

Their field of vision was limited.

Ahead of them lay nothing but darkness.

And from beyond that darkness—

something appeared.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Light footsteps echoed through the passage.

Or perhaps they were threatening?

Tae-woo flinched, but he didn't freeze up or scream.

Seo-jun simply waited.

The approaching figure finally revealed itself.

"Looks like it's that hero we saw in 2D earlier, everyone."

It was the protagonist from the game-within-a-game shown during the intro.

"Ah, I got scared for nothing."

The figure had emerged just enough from the darkness to identify itself.

[What?]

[The protagonist?]

[Wait! Stop right there!]

[Why are you so fast?!]

The protagonist turned around the moment their eyes met.

Then he immediately took off running again.

So those really were cheerful footsteps, Seo-jun thought as he followed after him.

Unlike the frantic voices of the characters, Seo-jun strolled leisurely.

Meanwhile, Tae-woo couldn't move ahead of him.

There was no telling what might jump out from the darkness ahead.

Naturally, he pretended he simply preferred walking too.

But Seo-jun could see right through him.

• The cognitive dissonance lololol
• The characters are screaming "Stop him!" while the streamer looks like he's out for a casual walk lololol
• The game wants you to run. Maybe run?

[Catch him!]

[I don't know what's going on, but we need to catch him!]

They continued strolling along until the passage suddenly became brightly lit.

Far ahead, they could see the protagonist's back.

Then the protagonist abruptly disappeared downward.

As they approached, they found a section of missing grating.

That explained the sudden brightness.

"They designed it so you can't cross to the other side."

In other words, they were meant to fall.

No helping it.

Thud.

Seo-jun landed on the floor and looked around.

At last, they had entered the interior.

But even this room felt strange.

"Conveyor belts?"

"I can't see the floor."

Seo-jun agreed with Tae-woo.

The room was enormous.

The ceiling was incredibly high.

The space below was equally deep—so deep that the floor couldn't be seen.

So where exactly had they landed?

A lone conveyor belt suspended in midair.

That was their platform.

"Seo-jun, if we fall off this thing, we die, right?"

"Why don't you try it and find out?"

As a result, the area they could move around in was limited.

Most of the room was empty space.

Looking up, they could see numerous other conveyor belts attached to walls far above, well beyond their reach.

[Hey! The door's closing!]

At the same time—

the section of conveyor belt leading up to the door suddenly lowered.

The path was cut off.

Looking ahead, they saw a door leading to the next room.

The protagonist was entering it.

For a brief moment, Seo-jun thought he saw the protagonist smirk.

The door shut.

The light above it changed from green to red.

• Locked lol
• The bridge disappeared too lol
• Where even is this place?
• Feels like something's gonna jump out from below...

[My sword disappeared.]

How were they supposed to open that door?

Just then—

Click.

A sound rang out.

At the same time, something new appeared.

A slight weight settled at their waists.

[What's this?]

[Something suddenly appeared in your hand!]

New objects had been delivered to Seo-jun and Tae-woo.

"Hmm. Nails and a gun...?"

Seo-jun examined the nail gun in his right hand and the small pouch attached to his left side.

Meanwhile, Tae-woo had received a gun with a long nozzle and something resembling an oxygen tank strapped to his back.

• Both got guns?
• Time to kill each other!
• Tae-woo's looks like an air gun. The streamer's got a nail gun. Streamer wins that fight.

I see.

"Looks like they want us to do something with these."

Seo-jun walked toward the end of the broken path.

The lowered bridge.

The closed door on the opposite side.

And beside it—

what looked like an electronic access panel.

A control panel, perhaps?

"For some reason, I really feel like I should shoot that."

He loaded a nail into the nail gun by hand.

Then aimed forward.

And pulled the trigger.

Pew!

Thunk!

The nail embedded itself into the control panel.

Szzzt!

Electric sparks flew.

The lowered bridge rose back into place.

The door opened.

"Ahh. So that's how it works."

He understood now.

Behind him, Tae-woo grumbled.

"What the heck? Doesn't that make me useless? This is why I said I didn't want to be support."

He activated his air gun and waved it around in empty space.

Seo-jun looked at him fondly.

It was the sort of look that said:

"I'm honestly jealous that even while trembling in fear, you can still say stupid things without thinking."

"Use your brain for a second. How could you possibly be useless?"

They moved into the next room.

It was connected by more conveyor belts.

And—

"See? It happened immediately."

The path right in front of them suddenly dropped away again.

"Go shine."

"No! It's scary!"

"You're admitting it openly now."

At the moment, they couldn't fully understand the shape of the room.

Was it L-shaped?

Or perhaps shaped like a lowercase "n"?

They needed to go farther and turn left to find out.

Unfortunately, the bridge had collapsed just before that point.

And where was the next door?

"Go over there."

Seo-jun pointed ahead.

Off to the front-left diagonal stood a small platform that hadn't sunk down.

"No."

"Scared?"

"Yeah. Scared."

That trick didn't work anymore.

A disaster.

"Just looking at it, there's no way I can reach that with a double jump."

That was Tae-woo's reason for refusing.

"Ah!"

Tae-woo clapped his hands.

"Ah!"

"You think of something?"

"No, but this thing's output is ridiculously strong."

Tae-woo activated the air gun.

Fsssshh.

Air currents formed in front of the nozzle, pushing him slightly backward.

"See? It can absorb air too, but what I wanted to show you is this."

He took a short running start and jumped.

A distance too far even for a double jump.

FSSSSSH!

Midair, Tae-woo aimed the air gun downward and fired.

His body rose once more.

• Triple jump! lol
• Well, if double jumps exist, why wouldn't that work? lol
• Ohhh

So he hadn't been playing games carelessly all this time after all.

He landed on the platform diagonally to the left and sighed in relief.

He hated falling more than death itself.

"Whew. That was a little tricky."

"See anything?"

"Yeah. The room really is shaped like an n. Hmm, how do I explain this? The door isn't at the end of the n. It's directly to your left."

Ah.

So there was a door immediately to the left from where they'd entered.

The problem was that a protruding wall blocked it from view.

More importantly, that wall also prevented him from firing nails directly at it.

"No way to do it with a triple jump?"

"Nope."

"Hmm. Hey. Try firing wind straight ahead."

"Got it."

A current of air formed before Tae-woo.

The wind pouring from the nozzle of his weapon twisted into a small vortex.

Pew!

Seo-jun fired a nail diagonally toward Tae-woo.

The nail flew straight for a moment—

then struck the stream of air.

Its trajectory bent.

Thunk.

The sound of impact echoed through the room.

"Oh? That was close."

The game probably had some aim assist.

A little adjustment and they'd get it.

"Hey. I'll keep firing from the same spot. You move around. I don't know exactly where the control panel is."

"Okay."

Pew!

Thunk!

Pew!

Thunk!

Pew!

Thunk!

After repeatedly adjusting the trajectory—

at last.

Rumble.

The nail hit the control panel instead of the wall.

The path rose from below.

A bridge connected Seo-jun's position, the central platform where Tae-woo stood, and the exit on the opposite side.

"So that's how you're supposed to do it."

"Let's move to the next room."

They entered the next chamber.

The bridge dropped again.

And—

"Oh. A split path this time?"

Corridors branched off to the left and right.

The doors at the ends weren't locked.

After examining the room, Seo-jun and Tae-woo reached a conclusion.

"Left side is yours. Right side is mine."

The puzzle on the left required Seo-jun's nail gun.

The one on the right required Tae-woo.

"Where's the door?"

"The only difference is that it's on the right. Everything else is identical. Control panel and all."

Tae-woo reported after sacrificing himself with another triple jump.

This time the door was on the right.

And the small central platform from before was gone.

The protruding wall still blocked the door.

The control panel setup was the same.

"Let's solve our puzzles and meet back up."

With that, Tae-woo entered the room on the right.

The room hidden behind the protruding wall.

Hmm.

Left alone, Seo-jun suddenly had a thought.

"Everyone, does this really need two people?"

• ?
• Here we go again lol
• This game's minimum spec is literally having a friend...
• Streamer...
• Knew this was coming. The Heavenly Demon route begins now.
• The guy who typed Heavenly Demon is definitely from the Orthodox Faction. I know it.

Wasn't playing the game normally the outcome nobody wanted?

More importantly, Seo-jun had to prove how excellent this game was.

That was the whole point of the advertisement.

"Think about it. All I have to do is hit the control panel. It's not like I don't know where it is."

He already understood the room's structure from the previous puzzle.

Holding a nail between his fingers, Seo-jun said:

"AAAAAH!"

A scream echoed from the neighboring room.

Apparently Tae-woo had encountered something startling.

"Let's give it a try. If this works, it means this game is a masterpiece! It means the freedom is incredible! Which means you should buy it!"

• What kind of insane logic is that?
• Freedom in a co-op adventure game lol
• Stop scamming people lol
• If this works, I'll buy it.
• Same.

Seo-jun familiarized himself with the feel.

Then—

he loaded the nail gun.

Placed another nail between the fingers of his right hand.

And clenched his fist.

"You all said it yourselves."

He swung his arm.

The nail between his fingers flew forward.

Just like when fired from the nail gun, it embedded itself into the wall.

He tried again.

Watching its speed.

The control panel was to his right.

The protruding wall blocked it.

He briefly considered jumping forward and throwing the nail around the corner.

But then he'd fall to his death and have to restart.

That would defeat the purpose.

So instead—

what if he curved the shot from the beginning?

No.

Not curved.

What if he altered its trajectory in mid-flight?

Seo-jun took a deep breath.

Then swung his arm.

The nail left his fingertips, flying weakly toward the right.

At the same moment, his left hand moved.

He fired the preloaded nail gun.

PEW!

The nail from the nail gun was much faster than a hand-thrown nail.

SHOOO!

It instantly caught up.

And struck the tail end of the first nail.

The thrown nail lost momentum and spun wildly.

But—

its trajectory changed.

Turning sharply to the right.

• ???
• No way.
• What the hell am I watching?

THUNK!

The sound of a control panel breaking echoed throughout the room.

Even Seo-jun stared at his own hand in admiration.

"Wow..."

"This actually works."

The bridge rose from below.

Apparently—

he had just discovered an entirely new hidden weapon technique.

• WOW, MASTERPIECE GAME!
• Grappling hooks, swords, daggers, and now hidden-projectile techniques. This map is completely broken lol.