An all too familiar door appeared and opened in front of them, from which each of their collectors stepped out, forming a semi-circle around them.
They all took their places, standing in the order of their player’s number, looking down at them, as the Dokkaebi, seeming the one with the highest authority based on the others’ demeanor, stepped forward.
Everyone stood frozen at their spots, mentally reliving the experiences and the helplessness they faced when they were taken. The feeling of suffocation and paralysis from the pressure that occurred simply from their presence was overwhelming — a power that seemed distant and beyond their control. They knew, the appearance of these beings spelled nothing but the word "danger" for them.
Of course, except for Zhiren, who viewed their existence as a savior, a second chance for her, as she looked their way with sparkling eyes reflecting her gratefulness, not knowing that she would soon be disappointed.
While Daiki, just viewed them as a nuisance, who interrupted his chance to finally escape, delaying his liberation.
However, Alice, being the most hot-headed and impulsive member of the group, was the first to recover from her shock as she recalled the annoyance she experienced during that one month and embarrassment she felt as she was dragged away.
She stepped forward with trembling legs, attempting to keep her back straight and chest puffed out, interrupting the Dokkaebi, who had just opened his mouth to speak.
‘Why are you here now?!’, asked Alice, indignantly.
The other collectors simply looked at her threateningly, exuding pressure which pressed down on her shoulders, making her barely able to stay standing. They looked her way, as if looking at an annoying insect buzzing in their ear, barely holding back from squashing her.
Despite being able to perceive the threat radiating towards her, her personality made her unable to back down, as she continued staring at them.
While different from his colleagues, the Dokkaebi showed a twisted smile and looked at her amusedly, sending shivers down the team’s spine.
The other’s were unable to put themselves in harm’s way, for persuading a person they barely know against being stubborn.
Seo-Jun, with the most experience dealing with these entities among them, knew, that if you annoyed an NPC enough, they’d just wipe out everyone in the vicinity, regardless of why they were brought here.
They truly were nothing more than insects, perhaps even less significant, in the eyes of these beings.
There were enough humans in the world, even more so considering there were multiple worlds, to replace them. In front of the vastness of the universe, the existences of specks of dust like them was probably somewhere in the negatives.
With knowledge of this devastating reality, he immediately stepped forward, and placed a hand on her shoulder to make her stand down, trying to hold her back, as he pleadingly explained while bowing, ‘I deeply apologize for the insolence of my colleague here in front of your greatness. I beg of you to bestow your valuable consideration by ignoring the background noises of us lowly beings.’
The Dokkaebi looked back at the kitsune, with a cheeky smile saying, ‘Hey, didn’t I tell you, this cute little human is smart. He knows not to test our patience more than they already have while being brought here, hehe.’
The kitsune glanced his way saying, ‘Perhaps...though it seems he overestimates their importance in our eyes, considering he thought we would pay any mind to their meager existences. Who even pays any mind to an existence with value akin to a bacterium?’
The black dragon seemed to mediate, ‘Now, now, you should consider his overestimation a consequence of the young interns playing around in his world. It seems their fun must have scared the child.’
The Dokkaebi agreed, ‘Yes~ it indeed seems so, heh, and besides I wouldn’t say he’s a bacterium, he looks more like a cute little mouse to me.’
The kitsune rolled her eyes saying, ‘Well, you have always held these things in higher regard than they should be.’
Seo-Jun listened to their conversation, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
On one hand, it seemed they’d be safe, but on the other it turned out all those deaths, all that loss, was nothing more than the fun and games of kids to them. He didn’t know what he should make of this.
Unaware of his thoughts, Alice tried to step forward again, but this time Jason also helped and held her back while covering her mouth, as she flailed her arms and legs about, struggling to break free, somewhat resembling a raging octopus, from a cartoon.
The Dokkaebi let out a hearty laugh, while covering his face with one hand at this scene, though the sound brought on goosebumps as they heard one word causing them to turn pale and have an urge to smack this hot-headed teammate unconscious, ‘Haha, the insolence…’
He smiled threateningly, and said, ‘Ah, humans, ah, humans, you really drive me crazy, but for the cute little mouse, I’ll ignore it, hehe.’
He straightened up and continued, ‘Ahem, well, I’m on official business here today~ so I’ll have our dear calm dragon friend here explain your miserable fates from here on out~’
The Dokkaebi stepped back, making space for the black dragon, who put on rectangular-framed glasses and took out a notebook, quickly flipping the pages and looking through it as he mumbled, ‘Hmm, oh, yes, yes, that, okay,’ then he looked up, pushing his glasses up with a claw, cleared his throat, and started explaining.
‘Okay, so this is what will happen’.
‘Firstly, as you were all brought into the stage of evolution, naturally that’s what you’ll be doing, however instead of evolution, what you will experience will be an awakening. You see, for the evolvers worldview their abilities are indeed a consequence of natural selection, which sets up the perfect conditions for mutation through this world's allocated program.
However, it’s different in your cases. Due to factors that I’m unauthorized to reveal, you all already have abilities which lie dormant and sealed. All you need is enough stimulation to sufficiently remove the seal and awaken them. And in case you were wondering, that is also exactly why it was you five who were chosen, among other reasons.’
It then put down its book and asked them in a tone resembling that of a teacher after completing a topic, ‘Are there any questions so far?’
Daiki, who was still sitting, now with his legs crossed, looked like an actual student, who was listening attentively to the lecture.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
To everyone’s surprise, Daiki, unlike the impression he gave off, wasn’t a passive learner as he raised his hand, taking the initiative to ask the first question, ‘What other reasons, sir?’
The dragon said blankly, ‘I’m not authorized to tell you.’
‘What abilities are we supposed to have?’, Seo-Jun asked again.
‘I’m not authorized to tell you’, it repeated.
Jason tried asking, ‘Why are our abilities dormant?’
‘I’m not authorized to tell you,’ it said.
‘Why are they sealed?’ Zhiren attempted.
‘I’m not authorized to tell you’, it repeated.
‘What are you authorized to tell us?’ Alice asked in annoyance.
‘What I just did’, it said with a smirk.
‘Then why’d you ask if we had any questions’, Daiki asked
‘Because I could’, it said proudly.
[ Players: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻]
They all just looked at it, dumbfounded, not sure what to do.
‘Hahehehe’, the Dokkaebi giggled at its reply, nudging the kitsune saying, ‘I love it when he acts like that, the youngest is the youngest, after all, haha’, then continued saying, ‘Why don’t we continue with our explanation, hmm, why don’t you continue red?’
The red dragon stepped forward with its claws behind its back and continued, ‘Well, now you know why you’re here, I’ll continue on the roadmap from here.’
Then, it took out a similar notebook and read from it, ‘Rights now, you’re in the safe zone of the Forbidden Forest. These woods are the tutorial stage, you’ll have to clear it to start the main quests.
Once you complete the tutorial, you’ll arrive at Trucehaven Village, which is kind of like a rest stop and information center, you’ll receive further instructions once there. That’s all for now. Good luck surviving.’
It stepped back, however at that moment Jason quickly asked, ‘Can we go back home after awakening?’
The red dragon looked at him pitifully, but before it could say anything, the Dokkaebi interrupted, ‘Of course you can ~ Though you can’t stay there, since we’ll have work for you. I’m curious, why do you want to go back? Family? Friends? Or perhaps…a little lover~?’
‘Family…my mother. I’m all she’s got and apparently its already been years since I've been gone, but I want to go back and tell her I’m okay, to at least say goodbye, properly’, he said sorrowfully.
‘Hmm, I see ~ humans really are sentimental and worried about the most useless stuff. But don’t worry ~ you can all go back for a bit and say your goodbyes if you want…Think of it as a reward ~’ it said cheekily.
Jason looked motivated upon hearing this, unknowing of what would await him, were he to return.
Every one of them had some lingering attachments to their world, even Daiki who was trying to leave it all behind. This gave them a purpose to keep going.
The kitsune smirked at this, while the Dokkaebi seemed unable to wait to see the look on their faces, when they realize they’d been pranked.
[Alice: Can I punch this a**h***?!
┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻
Author: Not yet.]
‘Well then, any other questions?’, asked the black goo, who’d been quietly standing to the side till now.
This time no one tried to ask anything.
‘Aww~ no questions? that’s a shame. Well then, see you again if you liveee’, said the Dokkaebi as it made its way back to the door, then turned as if it just remembered, ‘Oh, and remember to check your inventories, bye~’ then it disappeared, followed by the other.’
‘Our what?’, asked Alice.
‘Inventory’, repeated Seo-Jun, but not to her, to his stat window and found a new addition in weapons. It was a sword, termed Beginners fight-stick =_=.
He wondered if it was the Dokkaebi who named it.
He said,
‘Select…Beginners fight-stick.’ Before the other's could ask what the hell sort of non-sense he’s saying a simple sword appeared in his hand.
‘I guess we’re supposed to use that to fight whatever’s in those woods,’ he said.
Alice yelled, ‘What the hell is this?! Why do we have to do what they want anyway?! I oughta just use that thing to stab those pieces of shits. Why’d they even leave after telling us about this? Are they scared? Huh? Are they? Well they should be ‘cuz I oughta…’, when Jason interrupted ‘Hey, calm down, we don’t know whose listening and…’
Before he could finish, Seo-Jun finally lost it after the nerves from their encounter with the collectors calmed down, and yelled at Alice,’ What the hell is wrong with you?! Stop acting like such a damn cannon fodder! If you’re in a hurry to become one then do it when we’re not there!’
He turned to Jason, ‘And you! Stop acting like a typical ML and making me feel like I intruded on your story like a transmigrated character!’
Then he pointed at Daiki and Zhiren, ‘And can you two please stop acting like some extra side-characters, who’re just there to fill up space! Seriously we’re supposed to be a team of equals like in a multi-protag story so why the hell are you making me feel like I’m an MC stuck alone in a transmigrating into a novel story!’
They all looked at him, confused, not having a clue what he was talking about. ‘Uhh…what?’ they said simultaneously.
‘Ugh, come on! Get out your swords, and lets get on with this shit’ said Seo-Jun in frustration. ‘Uh…yeah, right, sure’, they all said to him.
They all had swords in their hands, at the ready to start their long journey. ‘Together, on 3, okay?’ said Jason
‘Fine, just hurry, you damn perfect ML’, said Seo-Jun impatiently.
Jason replied, ‘Uh…yeah, sure…1, 2, 3’
As soon as they all took a step forward a message appeared on their stat windows.
Notification!
‘You Have Exited The Safe Zone.
Safe Zone has now been nullified.
Welcome to the Forbidden Forest (tutorial).’
At that moment, they heard a growl. They looked towards the source of the disturbance and saw a grey wolf coming out of the woods and staring at them like prey. It seemed to be about 8ft tall, big and hungry.
They were terrified at the sight, realizing they probably shouldn’t have left without a plan, though nothing would’ve prepared them for this. They tried to go back to the safe zone, only to discover what nullified meant. It didn’t work anymore.
Zhiren was about to try to run when Seo-Jun noticed and stopped her, ‘Wait, stop acting like a side character who dies first and think. Can you really outrun that thing, in this open space no less. We won’t be able to make use of the dense trees fast enough for now. The only way is to work together to fight that thing.’
Everyone turned pale at his words, since they knew it made sense. They had to steel their hearts and choose to fight instead of flight.
But before they could do anything, the wolf lunged their way.
‘Jump’, yelled Jason. They managed to avoid being crushed by about a cm when Alice saw an opening and stabbed its side. It howled and swiped its tail toward her, which she narrowly rolled to dodge. She was only able to survive because of her quick reflexes.
‘Attack at any chance you get!’ she shouted.
Its size proved to its disadvantage in this narrow space, leaving it vulnerable to their attack as they stabbed at every chance they got however, it also left them little room for escape. They slashed at its legs, neck, and paw successively, drawing blood; however, it was never deep enough to inflict significant enough damage to its thick coat.
‘We’re not strong enough to penetrate its skin, we need to attack with enough force’, said Jason.
‘I have an idea, keep it occupied for a bit’, said Daiki.
‘Easier said that done!’, said Zhiren. They all continued what they were doing when Daiki clung to its tail and started climbing it as it thrashed about. He continued climbing up until he reached its back, as he held its fur to keep from falling and yelled, ‘Make it stay still for a bit!’
‘I swear if this doesn’t work I’ll kill you’, said Alice.
‘If it doesn’t work, I’ll already be dead’, Daiki replied.
Alice gave her all and stabbed it from the side, and instead of dodging, stood still. It saw an opportunity and used its paw to hold her down, preparing to bite her head off as it brought its head down, it's thick drool dripping on her face.
As soon as it stopped moving, Daiki quickly stood up and jumped on a branch and climbed as fast as he could. As soon as he reached a high enough spot, he stood above the head of the beast which was ready to devour his newfound teammate, and despite wanting to let it happen he decided, 'nah, I shouldn’t'.
He jumped with his sword pointed downwards, and stabbed through its head. It fell and twitched in shock for a bit, but it was over.
They survived this.
They all collapsed onto the ground, as exhaustion and relief washed over them. They stayed like that for a bit, laying on the ground.
It seemed like hours had passed, when really, it was only a few minutes. But before they could bask in the feeling of relief, Seo-Jun said, ‘We don’t have time to rest, we have to get out of here, run, hide, climb the trees whatever, quickly.’
Zhiren asked, ‘Why? What’s wrong? We’re safe now, aren’t we?’
Seo-Jun said despairingly, ‘Wolves move in packs, remember? Haven’t you read any novels? In cliche scenes like this, the pack always shows up after the characters barely survive after killing one.’
Hearing his words, they quickly got up, ready to escape when they heard the sound of multiple growls coming from all directions.
‘Crap.’
To be continued…
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Everyone: Why can’t we just catch a break you damn author?!
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
Author: Heh ╮(╯▽╰)╭
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Thank You For Reading ^_^
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