CHAPTER 79 Where I am

Brush my teeth and go to sleep at night.

Wake up and eat breakfast in the morning. People do those everywhere. When I realized that everyone did all these things on a daily basis, everything started to feel so boring

Haruhi Suzumiya

(The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)

......

Never Tell Me the Odds!

After all, there is a saying that it's not zero percent. In my case, that's as good as 100 percent!

So it would be a good idea to open it at home where if something goes wrong, I could handle any situation that may occur…

Now I couldn't wait to reach my home, so I stood up.

Tap tap.

"Jinho."

Tap tap.

"Yoo Jinho."

"Mm-what."

I shook and lightly slapped the young man, but Yoo Jinho was completely out. What to do now?

'Didn't this fool say he was going to take the test at the Association tomorrow?'

Forget the test, I had to get Yoo Jinho home somehow. I picked up Jinho's phone.

"Of course, I can't call Chairman Yoo Myunghan or Yoo Jinsung."

Was there anyone else I could call to pick up Yoo Jinho? Looking through the contact list, I noted a name.

'Yoo Soohyun?'

Unlike the heir's father or brother, the young man had contacted this person quite a bit. It looked like a girl's name… and if I remember correctly, she should be his cousin. Considering calling her for a moment, I put the phone down.

It would be a hassle to explain everything to her. I want to go home as soon as possible.

I looked through the shop and found what I was looking for.

Rarity: E

Type: Consumable

Drink to recover your status.

You may keep this item in your inventory.

Untradeable.

After confirming the transaction, a yellow bottle appeared on the table. It was different from the red healing potions or the blue mana potions. I looked around, then quickly tilted Yoo Jinho's head back and poured the potion down his throat.

The effects took hold instantly.

Yoo Jinho's eyes shot open.

"Hyungnim?"

"You awake now?"

His head was tilted back, and his hyungnim was standing over him, looking down.

"Hyungnim, what are you doing?"

"..."

I could not figure out how to explain all this, especially considering the time, so I decided to feign ignorance.

"Let's go."

"Yes, hyungnim!"

Yoo Jinho quickly got up from his seat, still looking confused.

'Huh? Why does my body feel so light?'

The young man stretched his body here and there, then ran after me with a bright expression.

...

POV switch

As the pair left the restaurant, the news on the TV continued:

[-Here's the next report. The U.S. government remains silent on the explosion at the FBH headquarters a few days ago…]

... 

At home 

*Jin-Woo POV.*

As soon as I reached my home, I ignored everything, even the delivery of the new clothes, and strolled into my room. I locked the room from inside and started to cast a bunch of defensive spells.

"Stone Wall, Mana Shield, Water Wall, Globe Of Invulnerability, Protego, Mana Skin, Wind Wall."

With that out of the way, I was done. I looked around and saw that I was surrounded by multiple walls and barriers, and even my skin had a faint pink glow.

And with that, I was done with the preparations. But before doing anything, I closed my eyes and activated all my passive sense skills in active mode.

As I checked everything around me, I found that everything was stable, and there was nothing out of the ordinary happening in the neighborhood.

After confirming that, I pulled out my strongest Shadows who could fit in my room.

"Attack if anything appears," I commanded them, and they just nodded. I did this because I couldn't afford to take a chance. There is a high probability that there could be a dangerous beast inside.

As I sat down on my bed, I pulled out the Mystery Box.

It looked like a Blessed Random Box. I recalled the description on the Blessed Random Box:

Blessed Random Box

Will provide what the 'Player' wants.

As I took out the box, information appeared in front of me.

Ding~!

[Mystery Box

Will provide what the 'Player' really, really wants

It's a box that came from outside of the world.]

Two things stuck out to me.

So what do I really, really want? And it's a box that came from outside of this world.

Now, what does this mean? Is it from another planet or universe?

I don't know, but I will soon find out.

I waited and waited until I felt that my senses didn't detect any danger from the box, and the skill "close call" didn't activate.

So, with slow peace, I moved my right hand and lightly touched the ribbon, and again, "close call" didn't activate.

Realizing that it would get me nowhere, I slowly started to open the box.

In all this time, I didn't realize my hands were trembling, and I was sweating a lot.

This shouldn't be happening because the AC was on, and I was always surrounded by cold. But I could understand that this could be my death sentence that I was going to give myself.

As the cover of the cardboard box opened and it started to shine brightly, by instinct, I jumped out of my bed, ran to the corner, and prepared to cast my strongest spells to kill anything that could come out. My shadows also took fighting stances with their weapons and skills ready to be used.

And when the glow faded away, I was just one ward away from destroying everything within a kilometer. If something very strong came out, it would be wise of me to kill it now, even if it caused the lives of thousands, because if I let it leave, the number could be in millions.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Sigh…"

I sighed when I saw that nothing happened. After glancing at my shadows, I saw that they all had the same look as me, which meant they also didn't sense anything bad.

So, I once again looked at what came out of the box. It was a small piece of golden paper, and it had the same look and size as a golden concert ticket.

I still didn't reach out to touch it, as I knew from watching Death Note that even papers can be very dangerous. They can have some nasty surprises.

So, I walked to my bed, and without touching it, I circled around the bed, trying to look at it from all angles.

After doing this for the next five minutes, I found nothing about the golden ticket, and even after ten more minutes, I said, "Fuck it," and grabbed the ticket.

And the moment my middle finger came into contact with the ticket, my senses went wild. Before I could even do anything, I felt a great pull, far greater than even my strength, as I turned around and saw a black void behind me.

"God dammit I fucking knew it. Fuck! Why the fuck did I do this?" I screamed at the top of my lungs. As I activated the skills "Time Accelerator" and "Thought Acceleration," even after both skills were activated, it only gave me enough time to use Shadow Storage and pull back every shadow.

And before I knew it, I was pulled into the black hole with my mind being 10,000% faster. I could still only see bits and pieces of what was happening around me.

Everything was black, and the pull was so strong that I felt like my body was being stretched like spaghetti.

The pain intensified to the point where my pain resistance had to level up. With everything around me moving slowly, the pain felt 10 times more intense.

It truly felt like I was being pulled into a black hole. And before I realized it, my eyes grew heavier. I started to feel my consciousness slipping away, and before I could even do something, it was already too late. My consciousness slipped away.

...

Waking up in the middle of the land of ice wasn't something I expected to do.

It was a spacious place with many stacks of ice mountains, a musty odorless smell, and a complete mess.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was lying in an ice field. I got up and looked around discontentedly, but all I saw was ice as far as my eyes could see. There were whole mountains of ice, and there weren't any signs of life as far as my senses could reach.

The weather was so cold, with continuous hail that could kill a normal human in hours.

"Is this a Dungeon?"

"Is this a kind of Dungeon with its own world?"

"Was that ticket for some secret Dungeon?"

"And why did it have to be ice?"

"Is it possible that it's a frozen hell from mythology?"

"Do I have to find the boss, kill it, or let it survive to get out of this place?"

"I fucking knew something like this could happen, yet I still fucking touched that shit."

How could I be so careless just because everything had gone as I predicted? I got overconfident and let my guard down. How could I let such things slide?

These types of questions spread like a wildfire in a dry forest. But I took a deep breath and shook my head. It wasn't the time to cry about it.

Quickly calming down, I immediately realized that it would be better not to attract attention. This crazy situation could quickly get out of hand if I didn't pull myself together!

What had to happen has happened, and it cannot be changed now. I have to find a way out of this situation.

And I want to make sure that I never make such a mistake in the future ever again.

"Impossible, but it doesn't look like glitches... or a normal dungeon, at least not the one I am aware of!" - Beginning to examine my body, I created a puddle of water.

I had short dark black hair and blue eyes.

"Not surprising..." - I was still myself, touching the three stripes on my cheek. I sighed. It was good to know that my soldiers were ready to kill anything that dared to approach me.

So with those positive thoughts, I ran towards a direction that could most likely be North.

As I wasn't sure, there wasn't any sun in the sky or even stars, just white clouds. It was raining snow.

Even if there was a star, I couldn't blindly follow it, as for all I know, this could be an entirely different world with its own star and laws.

Which is the most likely scenario.  So on the way, I paused and picked up a little snow, then molded it into a ball. Then I lightly tossed it into the air, and when the snowball fell down, I learned more about the place. I realized that things still fall, gravity exists, and its pulling force is identical to that on Earth. I am breathing oxygen, and there is mana in the air. 

With this newfound knowledge, I continued running and conducted various experiments along the way. I found out that this place mostly follows the same laws as the universe I came from, with a few exceptions here and there. After running for more than three hours at my top speed without using any skills, I was still in the lands of ice, even after covering a considerable distance. However, I hadn't found any signs of life until I noticed black smoke gathering in the sky, not far from me.

I smiled when I realized that the smoke was likely caused by creatures with a certain level of intellect. So I ran toward the location where the smoke was coming from. Just to be safe, I stopped 500 meters away from the place, which appeared to be a small village, most likely inhabited by humans. The homes were designed in a medieval style, made of wood, reminiscent of the medieval period in Japan, around the Son Goku period.

What intrigued me the most was that the place seemed to be in chaos, with people screaming and running around. I could clearly hear them, and somehow, I understood the language they were speaking. They were all dressed like savages, which was more confusing since their homes resembled medieval times, but they were dressed as if it were the Stone Age. Additionally, they carried weapons like swords and knives on their wrists, which seemed to be forged using late-time techniques.

I couldn't understand how they were surviving with so little clothing, not just the adults, but also the women and children. Their attire only provided modesty. This added to my confusion. I overheard that the empire had dispatched its strongest man to subjugate them, and some important figure was tasked with subjugating the Northern Tribes.

So this was Norton, as I had expected, and it had numerous Northern Tribes. I learned that the empire had already conquered all the other Northern Tribes, and this village was the last one standing. The empire's forces were on their way and would soon arrive.

This was most interesting because I noticed that these people were humans, possibly twice as strong as normal humans, with great resistance to the cold, likely developed from living here for years.

To be cautious, I used stealth and cast silent steps. I couldn't afford to be careless since this was a new territory and could be a reason for my death. With caution in mind, I walked forward to gain a deeper understanding of what was happening.

As I entered the chaotic village, I continued walking. People were still running around, preparing for war and protecting the young. Even the women were readying themselves for battle, and they appeared capable of fighting against well-trained soldiers as if they had been fighting their whole lives.

Despite knowing the odds were against them, I saw bloodthirsty smiles on their faces, as if they were prepared to die but wanted to take as many lives as possible.  

After inspecting the place, I realized that the tribes were fairly modern, with buildings and functioning steam workshops. Their largest city, which might be the capital, served as a powerful stronghold.

Armies were assembling in a location that seemed to be a gathering point for the tribes. I followed them and upon arrival, I saw around a thousand people gathered in a state of pandemonium. High above, many individuals appeared to be strategizing for the upcoming war. These must be the generals. Among them, I noticed a young man who looked about the same age as Yoo Jinho, sitting in the center and advising everyone.

He had long black hair and blue eyes. He wore a gray suit of armor over a purple high-collared shirt, along with a metal headpiece bearing the tribe's symbol, which matched the ones on his chest plate and shoulder guards. He commanded the respect of everyone around him, and when people looked at him, I saw fanatical belief in their eyes.

He must be either the king or the hero, although he seemed too young for both roles. But I didn't care. While I felt bad that children would die, when I looked into those fanatic eyes and saw their bloodthirsty smiles, I couldn't do anything. After all, most species in the multiverse resembled humans, including gods.

Ignoring them, I wandered around in search of a place that might contain books about the region or its history.

...

*POV Switch*

Not far from the capital of the Northern Tribes...

"General, your strategy is excellent," said a fat old man with a beard. He wore lavish clothes and was being served warm food by two young women on each side, both wearing dog collars around their necks.

"You don't have to flatter me, Marky. Even though you're a noble of the empire and I was assigned to protect you, you should keep that expression off your face," replied the general in a cool and collected voice. Her charm and sultriness filled the top makeshift tent of the empire's army. The room was filled with men, and she was the only female, yet her dominating personality commanded the respect of everyone, including the old noble.

The general, an umbrella beauty, turned to her team and spoke, "Let the troops rest for the next two hours. After that, we will march towards them and annihilate them. We will return to the empire with good news. This meeting is now over..."

...

As the general stood up, she called out, "Daidara," to a man of large muscular build with long, spiky blond hair and pure white, pupil-less eyes. He wore a headdress resembling horns and the same uniform as his teammates. He was one of the Three Beasts.

Daidara's ears twitched, and he responded quietly, "Yes, Lady Esdeath?"

"What do you think of Numa Seika, the hero within their military and the prince of the north, and the killing we have been doing in the last few months?" The icy blue-haired woman, perched on top of an ice mountain, swiveled her wine glass and questioned.

"Nothing, Lady Esdeath. They hold no space in my mind or my heart, and he stands no chance against you," Daidara replied naturally, maintaining a calm look. His words were filled with nothing but the truth, without the excessive reverence displayed by many members of the army. He was one of the two men in the army who didn't need to act that way for the sake of the army and its general.

"I see," Esdeath whispered.

"Ah, this reminds me. I felt someone stalking me, like vermin. If they only target me and the Three Beasts. 

"They should be ready to face the consequences of their actions at the very least, and accept them. But..."

Her pupils flicker with annoyance. "If these vermin try to harm you three, the children, or the orphanage in any capacity, break them. They will be left alive for their families, but they don't need to enjoy the luxuries of life any longer."