image [https://i.imgur.com/z2JlAro.jpeg]

All Matt wanted from the vending machine was to try the cheese-flavored chips he had seen for the first time. For about five seconds, before the portal design on the Taso that came out of the chips moved and pulled him in, he was thinking about the taste of the chips. Savory, salty, and cheesy. Oh, if only he had an ice-cold fizzy drink to go with it, he thought, as the portal had already pulled him in from the waist up and continued to pull the rest of him.

Can a person, who just barely found their first job, fall into a world of monsters through a portal?

Apparently, he can.

Matt, who had managed to get this job with great difficulty thanks to his retired policeman father’s last pleas, was now a white-collar worker.

His hobbies were playing video games halfway through and then quitting, dreaming of birdwatching, and collecting Japanese race car models. If he had the money, another hobby would be owning Japanese cars themselves.

The greasy plastic Taso piece that came out of the chips had a pleasant decorative design on its front. Although the Taso was round, it resembled a treasure chest. Matt thought it looked like a very fancy Poké Ball. When he turned the other side of the Taso, he felt as if he had opened a treasure chest and read the name of the portal in surprise: “Awaiting Forest Journey.”

A green, vine-covered, and wooden portal image was depicted. Before the branches and twigs moved and pulled Matt in, there was a great rush of air, and Matt’s hair took on a blown-out look.

As the portal sped up, a screen appeared before Matt, and a cinematic began.

image [https://i.imgur.com/LgX8k9C.jpg]

“Great King Tharu, the Six-Armed Legendary Gunman, Iron-Hatted Hon, Mysterious Esra, and many more heroes, hunters, and rangers extend their congratulations and best wishes for your voluntary participation in the Kazukh dungeons, which they did not dare to face. To survive in these perilous dungeons, spanning the size of 12 worlds, you need to level up and grow stronger.”

The screen expanded and filled Matt's entire view.

Matt had now dived into the terrifying world he was watching. This, of course, increased his horror even more. Just moments ago, he had seen perhaps 50 different monster silhouettes in the cinematic.

Something big was approaching him, rustling the trees in the forest behind him. And it was enormous!

He had just found a new job, and it was his first day. In this cold and damp city, far from his family, he had rented a dingy attic and had taken 20 minutes to dress carefully, trying not to wake his landlord downstairs.

Used to the close-knit nature of everything in his hometown, he was naturally late for work and had received a stern reprimand on his first day.

Feeling crushed by the harsh scolding, Matt wanted to grab a bite to eat during their lunch break. And at that very moment, he had seen the new vending machine brought by the mysterious hatted man and was instantly intrigued.

Matt, who was elderly, wearing a leather coat and a rather comical hat, didn’t look like a vending machine attendant at all; he asked, “Excuse me, is this machine new?”

The man did not respond. He didn't even turn around.

“Does it only work with coins?” he asked, glancing at the unfamiliar products.

The man slightly turned, examined Matt, and said, “Use these,” handing him a handful of coins. Enchanted by the man’s charisma, Matt instinctively opened his hand and took the coins. Normally, you shouldn't take anything from strangers, especially money like mysterious coins. Everyone knew that.

While inspecting the unfamiliar shapes of the coins, Matt asked, “Excuse me, where is this currency from? Is this a token?”

The man had already left the room. If you paid very close attention, you might catch a glimpse of him on the building's security camera, covering his face with a grin as he left the corner of street.

So when Matt saw the man was gone, he thought as much and then didn't care.

He inserted one of the tokens into the vending machine and bought the orange-colored, savory, salty, cheesy chips. The name of the chips was “Kahrun’s Mystery Chips.”

The curiosity of what that huge thing approaching Matt was quickly replaced by the fear of dying as he decided to run without looking back, having already run about five meters.

Even the most fragile people can find miraculous inner strength in a difficult situation. Astonished by his own speed, Matt turned to see how much distance he had gained.

The terrifying, monstrous creature was right behind him, ready to bite, with at least four of its mouths open. It had a grotesque shape, as if a bull and a giant ball of dough had been kneaded together, but it was also athletic. Just before Matt could examine it, his life flashed before his eyes like a film strip, and he tripped on a stone and rolled under the creature.

The strange, hairless creature, not expecting this sudden maneuver, couldn’t stop in time and continued its furious run, leaving Matt behind with a roar.

Having an internal debate about how many years had been shaved off his life, Matt fainted within two seconds.

A warning screen opened before him.

image [https://i.imgur.com/1yBIMe1.jpeg]

Matt didn't hear the last parts as he had already passed out.

Matt woke up in a place that was quite cold and dark but also very comfortable. The first thing he saw was the vending machine, full of different products, about to fall on top of him. The vending machine, swinging back and forth on a thin thread, was about to let itself go.

Matt immediately realized that the thin threads he had woken up on were a strange spider web with a quick observation.

“What’s this!” he managed to shout. Under the influence of the shock he was in, he repeated this 121 times, and the hologram screen reappeared.

image [https://i.imgur.com/mNpaa8R.jpeg]

“What’s this!” Matt said again. This time, the hologram responded.

“This is a material type produced by a creature’s secretion.”

Matt: "Where am I?"

“You are inside materials produced by a creature’s secretion.”

“What kind of creature? What's happening? I want to get out of here! Is this a dream?” The hologram answered all these questions in rapid succession, all related to “a material type produced by a creature’s secretion,” and then Matt gave up asking questions.

Just then, he saw the daylight seeping through a hole further up above the vending machine. His logic told him that the ground had collapsed, causing the vending machine and himself to fall into this cavernous place, but his heart didn't want to believe it.

The thin thread holding the vending machine couldn't withstand Matt’s cries any longer and let go, and they both slowly fell to the cavern floor as the threads snapped one by one. Matt, barely escaping being crushed, freed himself from the webs and quickly assessed the situation.

“Okay, stay calm, Matt. You started work this morning, got scolded by the boss, and then got hungry. Then you fell into some kind of game with a mysterious Taso that came out of a bag of chips. Now I need to ask the right questions!”

“Hey! How do I get out of here! Hologram, I'm talking to you!”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Matt's quiet wait echoed in the cave.

“I said, how do I get out of here! Hey! Hey!”

image [https://i.imgur.com/Ptv9U0C.jpeg]

Matt, of course, pressed “Yes.”

image [https://i.imgur.com/eO1Hy8w.jpeg]

"Your first piece of information was free. Would you like to acquire more information?"

Matt immediately pressed “Yes.”

image [https://i.imgur.com/AUj7S95.jpeg]

In real life, Matt didn't have enough balance either. He saw this most often on ATM screens.

Without knowing this currency, the only money Matt had was the three tokens left from what the mysterious man had given him. Who knows where the other tokens had been scattered to dangerous places, and so were the savory, salty, cheesy chips.

With his stomach growling, Matt looked around the cavernous place they were in, at the vending machine, and at the seemingly unreachable distant hole. There was nothing to see except for purple stalactites and stalagmites, old webs, and skeletons. It seemed as if there were passages in various parts of the cave.

Matt was actually lucky because normally, victims caught in these webs would be eaten by the cave’s owner, the “Sedimentary Gorgucek.” But the “Gorgucek” of this cave had already been eaten by another terrifying monster. These species live alone.

So Matt, who was left in an abandoned cave with a vending machine full of chips, wasn't in too bad a situation.

The chips inside the vending machine had three different flavors. Matt had already tried the “savory, salty, cheesy” flavor. He didn’t plan to use it again for a long time. The package read “Kahrun’s Mystery Chips.”

“I think each chip has a different Taso inside,” he thought out loud, expecting some response from the hologram screen.

He waited a bit longer.

“Ugh, I’m so hungry, at worst, I’ll be teleported to another place, maybe I’ll get out of here!”

If he looked a little more carefully, he could have found the “Kofu Mushrooms” in the corners of the cave. If cleaned of their thorns, they could have made a nice snack. But Matt couldn’t have known that. He didn't have enough balance anyway.

Matt first chose the green “Onion Beef Sour Chips.” As the token entered the machine, he instinctively covered his face, expecting something to jump out, and watched the mechanism slowly drop the chips.

With a deep thud, the chips fell into the compartment, seemingly heavier than they appeared. Matt always got nervous when taking items from vending machines because he had pinched his finger a few times and once even dropped his wristwatch inside. This time, his anxiety was more about, “Will the machine rip my arm off?”

Shivering from the metal parts that were freezing cold from the cave's chill and partly from fear, Matt took the chips into his hands without opening them. Using his childhood skill of checking if there was a Taso inside the chips, he carefully felt the package. He had become so adept at this that he could tell immediately if there was a Taso inside and gained respect among his friends for this skill. Matt was both happy and sad because he found the Taso inside the chips.

I wonder what this Taso is?

As his stomach rumbled, echoing off the purple cave walls, he closed his eyes and opened the package in one go.

Besides the overwhelming smell of onions, there was no need for caution. With hunger gnawing at his stomach and his hands trembling, he grabbed a chip and put it in his mouth. First, he tasted a delicious steak marinated with onions and then felt a tiny drop of lemon placed right in the middle of his tongue, causing him to wince. This savory and sour experience slightly calmed Matt’s frayed nerves.

Without neglecting his appetite, he immediately downed five more pieces. The crunchy sounds and the rustling of the chip packet were music to Matt’s ears until his fingers suddenly grabbed the plastic Taso.

First, he started cursing the mysterious man with the funny hat. Then, closing his eyes, he slowly pulled out the Taso and looked at it. The treasure chest design was on the back this time.

Matt: “Legendary Voice Helmet: HOULER!” he read and examined the image on the Taso.

image [https://i.imgur.com/Wp9Zon1.jpeg]

Before Matt could understand what was happening, the Taso in his hand glowed and disappeared, replaced by a shiny yellow Legendary Helmet. Holding the helmet in his hand, the hologram appeared next to it, explaining some features.

Seeing the increase in endurance and health, Matt put the helmet on without thinking. This revealed another hologram he hadn't seen before.

image [https://i.imgur.com/bcj4No4.jpeg]

This revealed another hologram he hadn't seen before.

image [https://i.imgur.com/ATKG6SV.jpeg]

Matt immediately pressed “Yes.” It was a sort of character menu where he could see his life stats.

image [https://i.imgur.com/0AvIg66.jpeg]

“I think I’ve really fallen into a game,” Matt said. “Could this be some kind of simulation? Maybe I wake up when I die?” He was afraid to try this idea because he could definitely feel pain. He had experienced this when he was trampled by the monster and crushed by the vending machine.

Feeling much stronger with the helmet, Matt found the courage to get another package.

“This time I should try the other flavor, maybe I’ll get a weapon!”

Knowing the hologram's nature, he asked, “What is the reward for winning the game?” repeating it a few times.

image [https://i.imgur.com/rV3KAur.jpeg]

“If this money can be transferred to real life, all my troubles would be over!” Matt thought. “Or at worst, I can find valuable items like the helmet and sell them to antique dealers.”

With such nonsensical thoughts, Matt decided to try the red “Spicy Gum Corn Chips” with his second token.

As the chips moved inside the vending machine, Matt’s helmet, with its passive feature, suddenly sang a chorus:

Ah, where should I go to ease my woes?

Find a place where no one knows,

Or sail away where the dream wind blows!

"The helmet’s passive feature is really strange," Matt thought, reaching for the chips. The helmet’s spontaneous song was quite audible to the “Gorguceks” in the neighboring caves. Matt was unaware of this, yet.

Before opening the chips, he wanted to thoroughly examine the packaging.

image [https://i.imgur.com/WF6IaRE.jpeg]

“Hmm, I guess these are some kind of magical snacks with various things hidden inside Taso by a spell. But why is such a thing at our workplace?”

“Does the boss use this method to get rid of employees he doesn’t like?”

On his first day, he vaguely heard that an employee at the desk two seats away was abruptly dismissed. Or he wanted to remember it that way.

And what about the mysterious man? He didn’t look like a wizard at all. He looked homeless but dangerous. “How did this guy get past security? Did he carry the vending machine up all those floors on his back?”

Matt's eyes were now fixed on the vending machine. This was indeed an extraordinary vending machine with its decorations. It had symbols he couldn’t identify. There were various buttons, pistons, and wires in different places. Right in the back middle, there was a place labeled “Do not pull the lever in case of emergency” and a wheel lock labeled “Portability lock” on the diagonal.

“I guess it was transported this way,” he thought. “If I were a wizard who could trap objects inside something, I’d transport this vending machine like that.”

Again, a faint clatter and a few of the old webs twanged tensely. Matt hadn’t heard these either. It’s quite possible not to hear small sounds while wearing a helmet. The smell of spicy corn overwhelmed the onion scent as soon as the chip package was opened. Matt was more curious about the gum flavor. After a slight crunch, the gum aroma from the chips emerged. And it took exactly twice as long to chew as a regular chip.

As he struggled to finish the bite in his mouth, “m- mia - fe-ım-na, no ım-spicy-ım-very-ım-mía-sweet,” he said. After a few more chews, he excitedly pulled out the Taso from the package.

When he opened his eyes, he was looking at the round treasure chest design. When he turned the Taso over, he saw the strange object.

image [https://i.imgur.com/hCPlkFU.jpeg]

Matt watched with great disappointment as the Taso transformed into a whistle with a lackluster glow. Instead of a long sigh, he thought, “I might as well blow the whistle!” and blew the long whistle.

Aside from a very faint “Fss...” sound, no other sound came out.

“Yes, a broken whistle, just what I needed. Thank you!” Matt, frustrated, put the whistle in the pocket of his wrinkled fabric trousers, which he had hastily ironed to get to work on time. “Just in case, at worst, it will be firewood.”

Speaking of firewood reminded him of how cold he was. He could find some fuel around but needed a fire starter. “I wish a ‘lighter Taso’ or something similar had come out!”

He tried to get some information from the hologram about the vending machine and the types of chips inside but couldn’t succeed. The clattering and twanging in the webs were increasing. Matt still didn’t hear them.

With his stomach full, his only concern was warming up and figuring out how to get home. "Which chips should I spend my last token on? Should I wait until I'm really hungry first? What if a Taso that lights a fire comes out?"

"But what if the return-type portal Tasos only come out of the Savory, Salty, Cheesy Chips?"

This idea settled in Matt's stomach like a stone. Curling up to warm himself, he thought about sleeping with the sense of security the helmet provided. He fell asleep in 5 minutes.

Wake up, my eyes, from heedlessness

Wake up, sleepy eyes, wake up

The intention of the Gorgucek is truly for your life

Wake up, my eyes, from heedlessness!

Matt opened his eyes to this “tune” and saw green eyes staring at him. Instinctively jumping up and pressing his back against the vending machine, he looked in horror at the creatures surrounding him.

He had persuaded the hologram to give more information with repeated identification.

image [https://i.imgur.com/TXIKzNu.jpeg]

As the multi-legged monsters got closer and closer, Matt pressed himself against the vending machine and made a very quick decision.

With his last token, he immediately ordered another Spicy Corn Chip. He quickly did the math in his head. Orange-packaged “Savory, Salty, Cheesy Chips” probably contained portal and similar area-related items. Green-packaged “Onion Beef Sour Chips” contained wearable items. And lastly, the red-packaged “Spicy Gum Corn Chips” contained usable accessories.

In this case, the most logical option was to hope for a fire starter from the red package.

With a lighter or torch that came out of the red package, he could burn the webs, escape the monsters, and warm up.

Fire was known as the first step to civilization, Matt knew. How many such “correctly known” wrongs there were.

In a very swift move, he began stuffing the chips into his mouth to reach the Taso. Even at the brink of death, he didn’t forget his mother’s admonitions, “Not a crumb will be left on the ground, my lamb.” The Taso from the chips read, “GRANDMOTHER'S TRAP: Enlarges the monster tenfold!”

image [https://i.imgur.com/FXyx12p.jpeg]

Matt cursed the mysterious man with the funny hat as he vanished into the shadow of the monster that had grown before him.

“I just wanted a desk job!”

image [https://i.imgur.com/XaW8zD5.jpeg]