Episode 9

   

   

   3.

   

[The dungeon you are currently in, <Necromancer’s Laboratory>, is in the process of Abyssalization].

[The name of the dungeon has been changed from <Necromancer’s Laboratory> to <Bastion of Pride>].

   [If the boss of the Abyss Dungeon is not defeated, all areas within a 5 km radius will be contaminated with the Abyss; the current time remaining is 2 hours and 7 minutes].

   

“I have plenty of time.”

   Roughly two hours, enough time to make a good congee.

   I nodded slightly as I read the message window that popped up in front of me, then slowly looked around.

   The grayish passageways were deserted.

   The torches scattered along the walls provide more of an eerie atmosphere than illumination.

   The underground structure looks like something out of the Middle Ages.

It reminded me of the catacombs of a certain cathedral that I experienced in Eden.

“Wow.”

   The Magi definitely got stronger as I entered the dungeon.

   It wasn’t all at once, but it seemed like the entire dungeon was filled with Magi, not just a specific target.

I think it was related to the word “Abyssalization” in the message window, but more importantly, I could detect the magic of some of the players through the miasma.

   Perhaps there were still players resisting the Magi.

   I let out a short breath and walked forward in silence.

   Winding passageways.

I walked for a long time, past walls carved with unrecognizable markings before my eyes finally caught the first glimpse of something.

   Two adult men in blue breastplates lay on the floor.

   From a distance, I thought they were dead, but when I got closer, I realized that their bodies were still intact.

But then I noticed something eerily bizarre.

“Faceless.”

   Literally, they had no face.

   Their eyes, which humans are supposed to have, were not where they should be.

   Instead, there was a grotesque black smoke.

It wasn’t until I checked the condition of the two men that I was certain of the identity of the monsters I’d smashed earlier in the dungeon.

   

“Mimic.”

   A strange demonic beast that uses magic to stun its opponents and then disguises itself as the target it stunned.

   The reason they stun their opponents instead of killing them is quite simple.

Their disguise is a mirror of sorts. If there’s nothing to reflect, they can’t disguise themselves.

Their disguises are so perfect that they are indistinguishable from the outside, but they have a distinct disadvantage.

Mimics can’t speak.

   They don’t have vocal organs in the first place.

   At this point, I’m starting to realize that the boss, the one who created this whole damned situation, is also a Mimic.

   

[The system detects changes in your body].

[In response to the aura that occupies the current environment, the skills you have accumulated in <Dimensional System: Eden> will automatically manifest; the system will analyze them].

   A mimic is a demon that can never exist alone.

There must be a higher entity that commands them, and they are only minions of that higher entity.

“Pride’s scouts, the Doppelgangers.”

   

   [You have identified the keyword <Doppelganger>].

[The boss of the Abyss dungeon is revealed to be a <Doppelganger>].

   

   Doppelganger.

   A higher entity that can perfectly replicate another just by looking at them, unlike Mimics who can’t speak.

   He’s probably the one responsible for this.

   Doppelgangers have little combat power of their own, but they can mimic some of the powers of the person they’re cloning, which makes them a difficult foe to deal with in some situations.

   Of course, that only applies to other people, not me.

Anyway, he’s dead if you blow its head off. And if it’s lucky enough to survive a beheading, I can crush its entire body.

   As soon as I assessed the situation, I hurried forward.

   Doppelgangers and Mimics are hard enough to deal with even when you know about them, but being attacked while you don’t is a real living hell.

Not being able to trust your allies.

   There’s nothing worse than that on the battlefield.

Aaaaahhhhhhh!

   

It was then.

A shrill, high-pitched scream came from far down the passageway.

   Screaming in this situation means it’s either a survivor or a doppelganger.

   First, let’s head that way.

Either a survivor is waiting or a doppelganger.

I have nothing to lose.

   

   4.

   

   To conclude, there was a survivor.

   “Oh, that was a good scene…… but what if he just walks out of there? What? We’ll have to do it again.”

A little too much.

   

I smirked at the survivors, who were looking at me with resentment, and said.

   “I heard a scream out of nowhere, and I just kind of stopped…… sorry.”

   “Did our boys at the …… entrance just let you go, this is the dungeon we bid on and we’re in the middle of filming, and we don’t want you barging in like that.”

A survivor is a survivor, but I guess the situation wasn’t as urgent as I thought it would be.

   At this point, these people were filming a MyTube video without knowing what was going on in this dungeon.

Unlike outside, even the person holding the camera was a player, and not all five people in the room had yet been consumed by Magi.

In fact, this is a much more serious problem.

   It means that these people haven’t yet realized what’s happening to them.

   Or, to put it another way, the play starring the doppelganger is well underway.

   I smiled bitterly and said to them.

“When I told them I was here to see Mr. Gu Min-soo, they moved out of the way.”

“Brother Min-Soo?”

“I made an appointment with him today, so I thought I’d come over here and see him in person and talk to him or something.”

   “Ah, the returnee, the returnee.”

   “That’s me.”

“It took you long enough to say that. Hey, youngest, do you still have the walkie-talkie? Take him to Min-Soo Hyung. Didn’t you hear about him earlier?”

   “Oh, the new participant? Of course, I heard about him.”

   Just like Se-myeong Seol, who I was talking to outside, it seems that they had received some information about me.

   They chatted with each other for a while, and soon, the man they called the youngest turned to me, bowed slightly, and said,

   “I’ll show you around, if you’ll follow me.”

   “Thank you.”

   With that, he gestured for me to follow, and I followed him silently.

   After encountering the first group of survivors, I began to see a fairly small number of others.

   I also noticed a few Mimics mixed in among them.

   One peculiar thing was that none of them seemed to find it strange that the Mimics kept their mouths shut.

   It would be weird if someone you were working with suddenly stopped talking, but none of them questioned it.

   “So…… right! Uh, that’s what I’m saying. Isn’t that what you think?”

   “You can’t wait to go home? Me neither.”

   No, some of the survivors are actually talking to Mimic, who remains silent.

   The one-sided conversation was unpleasantly bizarre, and I soon realized that it was a phenomenon that stemmed from the Magi mixed into the dank air.

   The space had already become a doppelganger’s theater.

   There were still many players who had been consumed by the Magi, but they were already facing the hallucinations as a group.

   To their eyes and ears, it would seem that the mimics, wearing the masks of their peers, were speaking to them.

   For the doppelganger to use this level of collective hallucination, it meant that they had gathered a lot of power.

   Okay, so they’ve gathered enough power, that’s why the Magi is flowing out of the dungeon.

As I looked around, my eyes shone with interest.

   The man leading me through must have misunderstood my expression because he laughed.

   “You shouldn’t be nervous about the dungeon. It’s already under our control, and we’ve already captured the boss.”

   Captured?

   What kind of fresh bullshit was this?

   “Captured?”

   “Oh, that’s how dungeon shooting works. If you kill the boss, the dungeon disappears, but it’s too dangerous to leave it alone, right? So, we purposely leave it incapacitated and capture it. That way, the monsters in the dungeon are also weakened, making each shot easier.”

So you’re saying that you purposely make the boss close to death for the sake of the vlog and then keep him alive until the end of the vlog?

Sometimes, I wonder if Satan should learn a lesson from humans.

   As it turns out, this situation was self-inflicted.

   They’ve been filming dungeon content like this for a long time, but this time, they were unlucky enough to get caught by a doppelganger.

Anyway.

He told me about this and that and led me to the boss’s room, where Gu Min-soo was.

   “Let’s talk inside, and I’ll see you later. I think it would be great if we could shoot together!”

   “Yeah, me too, bye.”

   Having fulfilled his responsibilities, the ‘youngest’ quickly retreated.

   I watched his retreating backside, then slipped into the room.

   And there it was.

   “Don’t you think we should try a different edit point? Yeah, right there. Perfect.”

   Player K, whom we’ve already seen a few times in the video.

   Gu Min-soo was chatting with the staff.

   He was engrossed in his work for a long time, and at one point, he looked at me and asked.

   “I haven’t seen you before…… what brings you here?”

   I don’t know how many times this question has been asked today.

   I smile at his question and answer.

   “I was introduced to you by In Wook; I’m Kim Shi Yu, his older brother.”

   “Oh, Mr. Shi Yu, I heard so much about you from In Wook yesterday; I was waiting for you to come anyway. You’re even cooler than In Wook told me.”

Gu Min-soo was the epitome of the so-called ‘insider’.

   He was even more handsome than he looked in the video, and his deep, low voice was just right.

   He had a confident smile on his face, and soon, he was pulling up a folding chair next to me.

“I know you’ve had a hard time getting here, so why don’t you have a seat here? I’ll give you the edits I told you about. Boys, would you mind stepping outside for a minute so I can talk to our guest?”

   “Sure.”

“Thanks. See you later.”

   He ushered what appeared to be his subordinates outside, then looked at me and said

   “This content is so important to me that I’m bringing all my friends who are editors and can be there.”

   “Oh, so they’re players too?”

   “Yes. I have a lot of friends who are awakened but not good enough to play as hunters. They’re not all players, but I make sure they’re paid well. Haha…… look at my spirit. You’ve come a long way, and the only thing I can offer you is mixed coffee, is that okay?”

   “I like mixed coffee.”

   “That’s good!”

After hearing my answer, Gu Min-Soo skillfully poured coffee into a paper cup that was sitting next to him.

He handed it to me and continued to speak.

   “Is In Wook outside because he’s not a player?”

“In Wook isn’t feeling well today, so I just came by myself.”

“Tsk tsk. I’ll have to send him some medicine again. Was he unwell often when he was younger? Because he used to get sick a lot when he was editing my videos.”

   The most effective way to break the ice is to talk about something you both have in common.

   This is one of the things that gives you an impression of closeness.

Was he always like this, or did it change during the broadcast?

   I took a sip of the mixed coffee he poured for me, then nodded and answered.

   “You’re a funny guy.”

   “What?”

   “Ah, In Wook, he’s been a wimp since he was a kid.”

   “Haha! I thought so. Well, you have such a good personality. Seeing that you’ve entered the dungeon, you’re also a player, so without further ado, let’s talk about your work…….”

   “Before we do that, can I ask you something?”

   It was a fairly abrupt question, but Min-Soo still smiled and nodded.

   “Sure.”

   “I’m a bit of a worrier, so I was wondering…… is the filming process safe?”

   In response to my question, Min-Soo nodded his head in understanding, then walked over to a shield in the corner of the room.

   “I’m sure it’s your first time in a dungeon. Here, let’s take a look.”

   With that, he pulled back the shade, revealing a light blue, translucent membrane.

   Behind it, ‘It’ was trapped, bound by golden ropes.

   Min-Soo pointed his finger at ‘it’ and continued.

   “As you can see, I always prioritize safety, and although there are many dangerous-looking scenes in my YouTube videos, all of them are actually filmed with me and the other combatants safely secured like this.”

   “My brother told me that one of you pulled out because he was sick.”

   “Oh, it was an exacerbation of a pre-existing condition…… If you’re worried about your safety, you can take your time watching the filming and make your own decision. You’ve only just returned home, so I can understand that.”

   “That’s good.”

   “There’s no reason to force you.”

   With that, he left, and I got up from my seat, finishing the rest of the mixed coffee in my paper cup.

Then I walked over to Gu Min-Soo, held out my hand to him, and said.

   “Okay, how about we shake hands?”

   “Sure.”

   Gu Min-Soo graciously complied with my handshake request and shook hands with me.

   The moment his pure white hand finally touched mine.

   Hwahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

   The white flames from my arm instantly engulfed him, and a horrifying scream came out of his mouth.

   “Extinguish!”

   

   [Information from the passive skill <Holy Fire> syncs].

   

   “It’s not really fun if you guys are the only ones fooling us. A play should have some twists. Don’t you think?”

   “Kaaaaaah!”

   I whispered quietly as I brought my mouth to the ear of the suffering Gu Min-Soo, or rather, his doppelganger.

   “How was my acting?”