“W-What should we do now, dude?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“Would we be standing here like this if I knew?” I answered.

I was still in shock about what just happened.

When I answered him angrily, Park Deok-Gu started walking on eggshells around me.

After the incident at the starting point, I continued talking to him casually but seeing how Park Deok-Gu didn’t say anything about it, I guess he didn’t mind.

“Since we don’t know exactly what this place is, we should first look around,” I suggested.

“A-Are you going to go outside?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“Not right now,” I answered.

“T-Then are you saying that you’re going to go outside eventually?” he asked again.

“I said not right now,” I answered.

We barely managed to find a hiding place within the maze-like interior. It was a bit cramped, but it wasn’t bad since we were safe here at the very least.

‘Water, food, and weapons.’

I didn’t know when the end was going to be, but we could endure it. The problem was how long and whether this place was really safe.

I had a lot on my mind.

“I didn’t think something like this would actually happen…” Park Deok-Gu said.

“You saw the status window and those monsters. They’re neither holograms nor from a game. It’s definitely reality… I wish all of this was a dream too.”

“Ugh…”

The situation we were in was definitely real. Even though we weren’t talking about what happened at the starting point, we actually saw people dying and encountered monsters we couldn’t describe with words. Denying reality wasn’t going to change anything.

“D-Didn’t she say that the goal of this tutorial was survival or something? T-That strange lady d-definitely said that… then, i-if we continue hiding here…” Park Deok-Gu didn’t finish his sentence.

“It’s not as simple as you think,” I said, interrupting him.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“The problem is that we don’t know how long this situation will last. We managed to obtain food and water, but it’ll be difficult to last a week with this… and there’s no guarantee that this place is safe. This place might even be the shelter for the monsters,” I explained to him.

“Really?”

“I’m just saying that it’s a possibility, and even if we finish the tutorial now… how are we going to survive afterward?” I asked Park Deok-Gu.

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“I’m not certain about this, but when the tutorial ends, we’ll be going to a place called the Continent. That means that we might get into a situation where the dungeon we’re currently in may feel like heaven. There’s no guarantee that the place we’ll be heading next is going to be safer than here. Simply enduring this isn’t everything…” I explained to him.

He remained silent because what I said was true. Of course, no one knew what was going to happen in the future. But as the woman mentioned, if we really were the players that were chosen to save the Continent, this wouldn’t be the end.

We may encounter the same monsters as before, and there may be a time when we need to fight people instead of monsters. We could also encounter something worse than these in the future.

“Whether we stay or leave this place, we’ll get attacked either way,” I told him.

“Then, d-do you have something in mind?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“We need to fight.”

“With those monsters?”

“Have you played video games before?” I asked, ignoring his question.

“I-Is there a person that has never played video games before?” he asked back.

“Status window, stat, title, gear, job. Haven’t you seen these words before? Think about it as if we’re currently in a game. What should we do?” I asked, hoping he would figure it out.

“I don’t…”

“It’s leveling up. We need to get stronger so that we can at least protect ourselves. If we move and kill monsters, our stats will increase, and like that woman mentioned, we can even get jobs. Our attributes will open up and it may be difficult, but when that time comes, we’ll no longer have to avoid those monsters,” I answered, cutting him off.

“Oh…” Park Deok-Gu could only squeeze out this reply.

“When we escaped earlier, we managed to obtain a sword and a shield. Not only that, but we also have food and water.. We’re in a better situation than the others,” I explained.

“B-But…”

As expected, Park Deok-Gu wasn’t happy about going outside. Honestly, everyone was probably the same. There wasn’t a person alive who would want to encounter man-eating monsters.

However, we had no choice. Falling behind meant death and being eaten alive.

“Let’s think about leveling up too,” I suggested.

“Is there a way?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“If there isn’t one, we have to make one,” I answered.

If there wasn’t one, then we had to make one. No, the answer was simple.

“We can kill them,” I told Park Deok-Gu.

“How can we win against man-eating monsters…” he questioned.

If you think about it, we have a chance. 

I had no clear memories of my first encounter with the monsters. Back then, the monsters swarmed us and everyone had been scared out of their wits. However, the sensation still lingered in my hands. The goosebumps I got when I stabbed my spear into them. I hadn’t even put a lot of strength into it, but my spear had easily penetrated the monster’s skin.

At that moment, I was filled with fear. I panicked in that situation because I’ve never seen those monsters before and I lost my will to fight. Next to me, Park Deok-Gu and the others felt the same way.

‘We can defeat them.’

But if we think about it objectively, we should be able to win.

“We need to think simple. As simple as possible,” I suggested.

“What are you talking about?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“What I’m saying is that we need to look at them as-is instead of getting scared of them. Of course, it won’t be easy. I don’t even know what to do right now since my body is still trembling. Both you and I. But as long as we don’t suddenly get surrounded or get raided, we have a chance. Their skins are thin, and they lack stamina. When we were running away, none of them chased after us. They left while we were running. The reason why so many people died at the starting point was because there were so many of them. And we couldn’t deal with them properly because everyone was terrified,” I explained in detail.

Until I saw it with my own eyes, I couldn’t be certain about anything. However, I believed that my assumptions were correct.

Compared to a human’s physical capabilities, those monsters only had their jaw strength and claws as their advantages. We may have the upper hand when comparing physical capabilities. Unlike the monsters that charged in bare, we had spears and swords. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that we had the advantage in everything.

“If we think objectively, we can win,” I told him.

The problem was that Park Deok-Gu was easily scared. After my spiel, he gulped anxiously.

‘How frustrating.’

Just then.

“Screech.”

I heard a voice from somewhere. I naturally took a deep breath and Park Deok-Gu, who was next to me, did the same.

“Screech!”

I wasn’t sure if it traveled alone or if it got separated from the group. However, I could hear it.

“Is this really where they live?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

‘Shit… can we really do it?’ I asked myself.

We would inevitably encounter them at least once.

It felt like someone was squeezing my heart, but I bit my lips hard. If we left this place, then our efforts would’ve been for nothing.

[Checking the Gluttonous Mouth’s Status Window.]

[Name - None]

[Title - None. Please work harder.]

[Age - 5]

[Nature - Instinct]

[Job - Unemployed]

[Stats]

[Strength - 11]

[Agility - 15]

[Stamina - 14]

[Endurance - 12]

[Luck - 10]

[Magic - 00]

I was able to see the monster’s information through the narrow gap.

‘It works.’

I can use this ability against monsters too. This was slightly good news.

‘We can win.’

We needed to overcome our fears.

I couldn’t see it clearly before, but it definitely looked horrendous. Its entire body was bare, but its green eyes, jaws, and teeth that were sticking out were unpleasant to look at. The moment when a monster used the same jaw and teeth to bite the neck of the woman whose name I didn’t even know continuously replayed in my head.

‘But.’

Their stats were terrible. I couldn’t say that we had good stats, but the monster’s stats were worse than I imagined. With their stats, defeating them was possible. I tightened my grip around my spear for no reason.

Park Deok-Gu looked at me nervously, but he wasn’t thinking about backing out. Still, I needed to show him that we could win.

“I-I thought we can’t go out?” he asked nervously.

“...”

I didn’t bother answering. It was because my back was covered in sweat and my hands and legs were trembling.

‘Damn it…’

A single mistake meant death. We would most likely die, but we had to do something. We would definitely encounter them sooner or later, I simply had no idea when.

“We’ll die even if we don’t go outside,” I told him.

I took a deep breath and immediately went out.

“Screech!”

‘Damn it!’

I knew that the monster would notice me once I got close to it, but it noticed me sooner than I anticipated.

It was natural for me to think that I needed to swing my spear while moving. However, my hands didn’t move the way I wanted. My body froze in fear.

“Ahhh!”

As I screamed with all my might, I had no choice but to attack its head with my spear as it approached me. It must’ve realized that I was attacking because the monster immediately ducked. Changing the rotation of the spear wasn’t easy. I put strength into my trembling hands and when I lowered my spear, it happened to pierce into its shoulder.

“Screech!”

Stab!

I almost let go because of the hair-raising feedback from its flesh, but I didn’t have the time to space out.

“Ahh!”

When I pushed my spear into a wall, the monster got stuck on the wall. I unknowingly frowned as I watched it struggle, but I grabbed a rock that was next to it and started beating its head with it. The monster’s claws injured me, but I didn’t feel any pain.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”

Crack!

I got goosebumps when the monster’s strange mucus and blood landed on my hands and body. Yet, I couldn’t stop beating its head.

“Damn it!”

Crack!

“Die!”

Crack!

“Screech…”

Crack!

“Whew…” I started panting.

I was able to put the large rock down after the monster’s face was completely destroyed.

“Whew… whew…” I continued panting.

My heart was beating fast and it wouldn’t calm down. I wasn’t sure if it was the monster’s saliva or blood, but my arm was covered in the mysterious liquid.

This was my first time killing a living being.

My eyes met Park Deok-Gu’s as he narrowed his eyes with chattering teeth. He looked surprised. He probably thought that I wouldn’t be able to do it. I also couldn’t believe what I had done.

[Strength increased by one point.]

My assumption was correct. When the corner of my lips went up, Park Deok-Gu spoke cautiously.

“Hey, what’s your name?” he asked.

“Lee Ki-Young,” I answered.

“Would it be okay if I called you hyung-nim?” he asked cautiously.

I gave a slight nod instead of answering.

As he looked at me with a strange gaze, I looked straight into his eyes and continued talking.

“If I can do it, you can do it too. No, you can do better than me,” I encouraged him.

“I think I understand what you’re saying. Hyung-nim, leave it to me. What should I do now?” Park Deok-Gu asked confidently.

I think I picked a decent guy. We had a lot of things to do, so I spoke while looking at him.

“First, let’s get a job,” I suggested.

Getting a job was our first task.