Chapter 167. Scenario Gate
“No way, I’m caught too.”
…But saying that would ruin the mood from the start, so let’s try a normal greeting first.
“Hello!”
But at that moment, something suddenly intruded into my line of sight.
A short little creature with rainbow-colored wings.
“Wow! Another new guest!”
The moment I heard it speak, I held my breath for a second.
“Hi! Welcome!”
Korean.
Moreover, it spoke in logical sentences that conveyed meaning.
“This is the ‘Fairy Kingdom!’”
A dungeon creature that can talk to humanity…?
Through this encounter with the fairy, I instantly realized what type of feeding box I was trapped in.
*
Originally, tastes can be peculiar.
Some people would even say they dislike universal flavors like sweetness or saltiness, so unique preferences like liking sour tastes do exist occasionally.
==【 Community Board 】———==
[Post by: National Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Association President]
Why doesn’t everyone mix mint chocolate ice cream into cola? It’s so delicious! ㅇ_ㅇ
[Comments (11)]
[That’s not delicious; it’s your taste buds going crazy!]
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Just like that, there are always grotesque foods that stray from the mainstream.
But suddenly, why am I saying this…?
Because the gate we’ve entered is exactly the place touched by that food enthusiast.
If a creature that’s not hostile to humanity shows up, and moreover, communicates in a familiar language, it confirms it for sure.
“Hmm.”
First, let’s settle one thing.
This gate is a place designed to extract human emotions. Except for fear.
Ki-simche usually feeds on the fears and pain of intelligent beings.
Some, however, occasionally crave other emotions.
Joy, pleasure, sadness—something along those lines.
‘Looks like I’ve hit a unique taste.’
The peculiar ki-simche created narratives in dungeons to elicit various emotions from living beings.
Unlike simple pain, making others cry or laugh requires quite a bit of effort.
‘I knew this would happen one day.’
What would Earthlings say upon witnessing this unusual situation? They’d probably argue that the academic community needs to classify EX-Class Gates in more detail.
And if a new classification name is assigned, “Scenario Gate” sounds quite fitting.
Honestly, there’s no more intuitive name than that.
“Wow! Wow! You’re really big.”
“Big!”
“Come in, nice to meet you!”
I gathered my thoughts and soon returned to the current situation.
By the time I came to my senses, a crowd of fairies had gathered around me.
“We’re in the middle of a festival! You’re invited too. Would you like to sit down?”
Those little creatures urged me to participate in the festival.
The light atmosphere momentarily made me forget about anything else, but as soon as those words were spoken, the onlookers suddenly panicked and shouted.
“Sit down, now!”
“Absolutely say yes!”
“Hiiiii!”
Yikes.
Now that I think about it, why were they so terrified from earlier?
I tilted my head and approached someone I knew. Then, I settled down on an empty patch and asked,
“What happened during that time?”
First, I need to understand what caused the atmosphere to turn this way.
“Actually…”
After a moment’s wait, Seonwoo-yeon listed out what had happened.
“Before Mr. Gi-ryeo arrived, we had a casualty among us. Three of them, actually.”
Ah, that explains it.
“The first victim was an Association employee who came in with me. They judged an approaching fairy as a monster and attacked first, but…”
“Do they retaliate if touched?”
“It’s not just retaliation. Fairies may seem gentle initially, but if they feel threatened, they completely change…”
Seonwoo-yeon was sweating coldly, possibly due to the fear she felt back then.
“If you flip that face, there are three layers of teeth hidden inside. Fairies can swallow a person’s head in an instant.”
“Ah, I see.”
“I had my analyzer on during that time, and I confirmed that the fairy’s magic level, marked as E-Class, shot up to unpredictable levels.”
“Hm.”
“Honestly, I have no idea what’s going on. But anyway, it’s best not to provoke the fairies…”
Those cute fairies are hiding a gruesome true form.
It’s rather fascinating, but what’s important is something else.
“How did the second casualty happen?”
I quietly listened to Seonwoo-yeon’s words and then asked. She carefully connected the sentences.
“Well… We can’t just ignore the death, so our Investigation Team went to find the missing people in the dungeon…”
Meanwhile, the fairies danced happily around us.
“Fortunately, we quickly found the missing analysts, but the problem arose after that.”
“Problem?”
“First, no matter how hard we searched, we couldn’t see the exit…”
Hehe! The fairies were merrily enjoying their campfire, making high-pitched sounds.
They looked pretty adorable, but those who had arrived earlier all stiffened their expressions whenever a fairy came into view.
Seonwoo-yeon then said, “In the midst of all this… we had been in the dungeon for about nine hours when suddenly, the fairies invited us.”
“We will have a festival today! You’re invited too. Would you like to sit down?”
“Just like you heard, the fairies invited us to the festival.”
Seonwoo-yeon and her companions, having no sharp tools right away, accepted the fairies’ invitation, but that’s when the incident occurred.
The fairies suggested playing a “Balloon Game” during the festival and brought something…
By the way, the rules of the Balloon Game were like this: everyone gradually blows air into a rubber ball, and at someone’s turn if the rubber pops, that person becomes the loser.
‘It’s a game that’s common on Earth.’
But the problem was that the Investigators casually let slip one fairy’s remark.
– The person who loses gets a ‘penalty’!
The hunters on the human side approached the game with some tension, but not enough to put their lives on the line.
And this lack of seriousness soon resulted in defeat.
– Bang!
In the end, one of the hunters popped the balloon.
Upon seeing a human lose, the fairies burst into high-pitched giggles and soon enacted the previously mentioned penalty.
“…The fairy beheaded the first victim just like that.”
That penalty was something humans could hardly imagine.
Just for losing a game, a person died.
“Then the third victim…?”
But do you know what’s even scarier here?
This kingdom’s festival doesn’t end in a single night.
After kindly offering a place to sleep and food to the shocked victims, the next day, they started the festival all over again.
– “I-I don’t want to. No way!”
One analyst expressed that, due to the events of the previous day, he was too frightened to participate in the festival.
Of course, the fairies tried to coax that analyst, saying that he should join and that every guest to the kingdom must attend the festival…
But how could a mere analyst who isn’t a combat class endure such a situation?
Soon, that person fled from the fairies.
“Ugh.”
“Don’t cry. Ms. Seonwoo-yeon.”
They say the fairies mercilessly killed the girl who tried to escape.
So that’s why the atmosphere was like a funeral. Everyone understood that if they went against the fairies, a bloodbath would ensue.
“Hey, should we show the dance again? Can you clap your hands?”
“Huh!”
“Ugh.”
The humans participating in the festival hurriedly clapped their hands at the fairy’s opening.
A festival on a green hill.
What could be a beautiful scene out of a fairy tale, yet the actual participants had pale faces that painted a grim picture.
“Mr. Gi-ryeo, please help us… What on earth should we do in this situation?”
Seonwoo-yeon desperately pleaded for the festival to end, but I was also unsure what to do for now.
‘Is there any hint?’
Of course, being a Scenario Gate.
There must be a significant flow that we should follow here.
‘Maybe I should use the Balloon Game that occurs at the festival to kill all the fairies…’
As I contemplated a daring solution befitting a former Mage Commander.
“By the way, the guests seem really big. Aren’t they giants?”
“No, no way. The colors are all different.”
Whispering softly.
Beyond the loud heat, muffled whispers trickled through.
“Giants?”
Hearing that, I voiced my question loudly, and Seonwoo-yeon was astonished to see me eavesdropping on the fairies’ conversation.
But that didn’t matter now.
The deaths so far likely happened just to steer the invaders into this festival.
“What exactly do you mean by giants?”
The residents of the Scenario Gate usually don’t need to panic unnecessarily.
So I questioned the fairies without hesitation. To gather whatever information I could.
“Giants? Scary creatures. Monsters that like to eat us!”
“Hmm.”
“But it’s okay now. They’ve decided not to harm us anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because if they eat us all, they won’t have anything left to eat~”
The chattering fairies approached us gently, leaving behind blue afterimages.
“The giants promised to spare us. Instead, we agreed to offer one fairy as tribute every year.”
“Well, that makes the rest safe.”
“We’re safe!”
Is this the basic setting of a feeding box?
Then maybe it’s time to get to the main point.
“I understand. Anyway, I really don’t want to stay in this kingdom. If you know a way to get out, please let me know.”
The people gathered around the campfire gasped again at my words.
But contrary to their expectations, the answers that came back weren’t bad.
“Leave?”
“Get out of the kingdom?”
“Go away?”
The fairies didn’t get angry; instead, they cheerfully suggested solutions.
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t know the way either.”
“But there’s a girl named Apa living under a big tree over the hill.”
“Apa roams around here and there every day. So she might know a path no one else does?”
Swish.
The fairies said that, all pointing in the same direction.
“Try going over there!”
At that moment, one of the hunters asked what would happen to the festival, but…
“The festival is over.”
“Over. Now go.”
“What, what?”
Thus it became clear that the fairies’ festival only served to inject information needed for the conquest.
The delay in the proceedings was because Seonwoo-yeon’s group had been too scared to interact with the fairies.
‘Of course, as it’s an initial form of a dungeon, the inducement doesn’t flow smoothly.’
I thought briefly and stood up.
Then the surrounding people hesitantly followed behind me.
These unfortunate missing persons who were consumed by the EX-Class Gate. Wait, but something seems off about the number.
“Let’s see. One, two, three, four… Only four people?”
As I counted the heads quizzically, Seonwoo-yeon explained.
“Oh, by the way, we still haven’t found the first raid team, the Treasure Hunter Team. We searched the village all day, but couldn’t find them.”
That matches the count.
The relevant people on the list were four from the first team, four from the follow-up investigation team, two analysts, and one civilian.
That makes a total of eleven.
‘But it’s unfortunate that two casualties have come from the investigation team.’
Currently, aside from Seonwoo-yeon and an unnamed association employee, everyone is a non-combatant.
I closed my eyes, realizing the team’s desperate situation.
“Mr. Gi-ryeo? What’s wrong?”
But this shouldn’t be hopeless.
The wind mage is still a useful asset, and we haven’t just wasted the time we’ve spent.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. For now, since there are many people I just met, shall we briefly introduce ourselves?”
I firmly grasped the handle of the Hydra’s weapon.
