Translator: Sudowoodo

[Welcome to the Dungeon!]

The next game began.

The Rabbit took off its top hat and politely greeted the 101 participants, who were bewildered and at a loss at suddenly being summoned to an unfamiliar place.

Today’s concept for the Rabbit was a magician.

A pink flower popped out with a cute sound from its top hat.

After taking ahold of that flower and taking a whiff of its fragrance with a refined look on its face, the Rabbit then began to speak the usual words to the gathered people.

[Now then, shall we begin the game? Mm, what game you ask? What you all are going to be playing is none other than a survival game!]

“…!”

A commotion arose at its proclamation.

The Rabbit always found it silly to see the participants lose their heads at every word it spoke.

It was always like this.

The people changed every time, but the situation of the dungeon game would always proceed similarly.

“What prank is all this! I’m asking where the hell this is! You mad beast!”

[Oh? Mad beast? Well isn’t that novel?]

One man fiercely rushed towards the Rabbit.

The sight of him red-faced and huffing hard made it clear he was very angry.

It did not matter to the Rabbit, though.

Fools such as him were bound to appear whenever a game started.

He was merely the first in line before the others.

[Faugh. Nice to meet you anyway, sir idiot.]

The Rabbit heaved a sigh and chopped off his neck.

Splurt!

“…?!”

Blood sprayed out like a fountain.

“Aaaah!”

“Ahh! He’s dead?!”

The moment the man died, screams burst out from among the crowd like firecrackers.

It was a recurring event that always repeated itself.

After brutally killing one person like this at the beginning of the game, the remaining hundred participants would be cowed to obediently following the Helper’s instructions.

It was a right of summary execution for the sake of running the game smoothly.

[I see there are just one hundred now? Now! Shall we then get started for real?]

The Rabbit dusted its paws as it declared the start of the game to the one hundred participants.

‘Whew. How refreshing would it be to kill that son of a glitch so cleanly like this.’

The Rabbit sighed thinking thoughts unknown to the others.

While it was a secret to the participants, the Helper was actually only granted one “right of summary execution” per game.

It was an absolute rule that existed, since if the game itself would not be established if the Helper killed all the participants.

And if was because of that very rule that the Rabbit could not kill Daun Jung even though it wanted to.

Because he belonged to the ‘other one hundred’.

‘I’m sure he must have died this time?’

The rabbit felt discomfort in a corner of its heart.

In truth, from the Helper’s perspective, Daun Jung was no more than a human without any particular ability nor importance.

Whether he be alive or dead for now, he was not worth worrying over because he would die if left alone.

However… it felt uncomfortable the more it thought about it.

The fact that an error of the dungeon which it caused existed somewhere in this world bothered it like a bone in the throat.

[… I should stop by when I have time after all.]

It hoped he would be dead this time…

* * *

Of course, Daun Jung was still well and alive.

He still had food to spare and had found mental stability as well.

Since he no longer needed to worry about the reset, he thought to move under a long-term plan from now on instead of digging blindly.

Thus he took the underground chamber as his home base and used it as the central point to set his bearings.

As he did not know which direction was east, he numbered each side from 1 to 4.

‘I’ll start with direction number 1.’

He proceeded to with systematically.

In truth, it was significantly dangerous to blindly move forward without knowing what could be on the other side.

If he were to meet a water vein underground, he may end up drowning.

And that was not all. He also had to keep in mind the possibility of the ceiling collapsing suddenly due to a weak foundation.

Fortunately, though, the surface of the tunnel became harder due to the effect of Clump Dirt Skill, so a collapse would not occur in most situations.

‘There’s still no harm in being careful, since I only have one life.’

So with such thoughts in mind, every time he progressed a certain distance, he dug a space a little wider than the passageway to create a checkpoint.

He was preparing in case of running into a water vein so that he would be able to divert the flow of water in an emergency.

Whenever he became tired, he would always return to the underground chamber to sleep on the bed.

He thought it would be safer in a wider place instead of a narrow tunnel if something were to happen while he was asleep.

But after a few days passed in such a manner, he could feel himself becoming mentally worn out what with doing nothing but work all day long.

Being in the dark underground made it worse too.

So he began to renovate his home base little by little as a hobby to do in between digging.

For some reason though, the scale of his work was gradually becoming bigger.

At first, he had only intended on making a toilet.

‘It’s only natural that a man draws the line between where you eat and where you go to the loo. I’m a human after all, not a mole.’

Daun Jung opened up a small, round room in a corner of the underground chamber.

And he mused over what a toilet needed to have.

‘A toilet needs a toilet bowl, no doubt?’

He traced his memory as he lumped the earth to somewhat resemble a toilet bowl.

Of course, he only recreated the appearance; he dug a deep pit in the middle.

Although he could not flush it with water, he could cover it up with dirt after doing his business…

The smell would be removed with the ‘Purification’ Skill anyway.

It was capable of purifying air too.

In any case, that was the start of him expanding the underground chamber in earnest.

His motivation burned in a strange direction, what with having so little to do.

‘Should I make just two more chairs for the table?’

He was alone anyway, but it looked too lonely to have one chair.

‘There should be a sofa at least since it’s so spacious, right?’

It would not be comfy, but it was only a matter of mood.

‘Can’t I trim the plate a little more finely?’

He pondered over it before pouring some water on the surface of the plate and gently rubbing it with his thumb.

and it became smooth.

Success!

At this point, Daun Jung had no choice but to admit the facts.

‘I’ve found my calling.’

Who knew he would find where his aptitude lay in a place like this, something which he could not even find in college.

Every person has a hidden talent or aptitude for something.

Even if that may not necessarily be something like singing or dancing, could not chattering or even playing alone be considered a kind of talent?

Even such niche talents are by no means to be ignored.

Who knows if that talent for chattering would later evolve into a great debater or speechmaker?

In any case, in that position and enterprising sense, Daun Jung’s talent was something along the lines of ‘mucking about with dirt by himself’.

And this was truthfully in part thanks to his Skill.

Clumps of dirt using the ‘Clump Dirt’ Skill became hard and sticky.

It would gain viscosity.

As easy it was to bunch up, he was able to shape the dirt however he wished.

Furthermore, it seemed that the effect of the Skill would linger; once made into a certain shape, it would not fall apart easily.

In short, it was great to play around with.

– Ring

[ Skill has been developed to level 5.]

Huh? A level up?”

Somehow his Skill became further developed once more.

This time, however, something was different.

‘Feels kinda different?’

Daun Jung, who had been touching nothing but dirt all day long, caught on to the subtle change in the Skill.

“Skill Window.”

Purification (Elementary Level 7)

– Cleanses the unclean.

Clump Dirt (Level 5)

– Can quickly clump dirt well. The higher the level, the bigger and harder the clumps.

The Skill description had not changed in any way.

But Daun Jung gained a hint from that itself.

‘Bigger and harder? Has the compression level changed?’

Indeed, a certain amount of pressure would be required to clump dirt, unless it were clay or slime, to begin with.

Having leveled up meant that its power had increased.

And what would that mean?

Pressure. Pressure, is it…’

He felt as if he was almost on to something.

He squatted down rolling dirt here and there until a strange thought suddenly floated into mind.

‘Is it possible to clump dirt into a different shape?’

Crrp.

“Huh?”

Daun Jung grew wide-eyed at the abrupt change he felt in the dirt he was touching.

He could see a possibility!

‘Let’s experiment!’

He put down all the work he was doing and began to grasp at the idea he came up with.

“Clump Dirt! Clump Dirt!”

Crrp. Grrrb.

The clumps of dirt made using his Skill basically took the form of a perfect sphere.

In other words, constant pressure was being applied toward the center.

Daun Jung moved his hands back and forth to twist that direction of pressure, little by little.

And then…

Eventually, he was able to make a square earthen brick.

“Oh, it worked!”

He jumped for joy.

He felt as if only now that he had grasped the exact way the Skill worked.

‘Yeah! It’s not like I have to clump it round!’

If so, the Skill name would probably have been ‘Clump Dirt Round’!

He could form the dirt into any other shaped he wished!

In his excitement, he turned all the clumps of dirt before him into earthen bricks.

And he piled them up on the bedsite to make a square table in the blink of an eye.

‘Wouldn’t it be perfect to have a desk lamp on top of this?’

In the absence of a lamp, he made do with a torch instead.

And voilà!

The bedside table and torch stand added in made for a rather fine bedroom.

‘I knew it! There was a reason to lego blocks all being square.’

Indeed, the simpler the shape of the material, the easier it was to create something with it.

This small realization was the beginning.

He took the momentum to dig out another bedroom.

He made the room wide and built walls to create a passage.

That added structure to the formerly empty space and it became cozier like a home.

While he was at it, he felt greedy and tried refining the bed a little more.

He poured in his heart and soul, and for some reason, it turned out like a princess’ bed.

He stuck torches in each corner of the bedroom to add some elegance, and he could not be any more satisfied with it.

In particular, the impression given off by the back wall of the princess bed, made using bricks, was like seeing a happy newlywed couple’s bedroom.

“Oh. Well isn’t that pretty? Heheh.”

Daun Jung chortled to himself.

He had felt so bored and wearied being in a dark place with nothing that he now found humor in the slightest things.

Even he could not help laughing at the ridiculousness of seeing a princess-style bed in the middle of where it did not belong, in this dreary place underground.

In any case, it was perfect for a small change of mood.

But it was about that time that a housewarming guest appeared.

[What is this?! It’s become even wider!]

“Mm?”

Daun Jung turned his head at the sound of a sudden, loud scream.

The Rabbit had come back.

[I mean! Why the heck are you still alive!]

“Ah, you came?”

The Rabbit shrieked, feeling incredulity at the calm figure of Daun Jung, dusting off his hands as he walked out of Tunnel No.1.

[Ah, you came? Ah, You caame? Oh you’re a real laugh, fella! Just how much food were you carrying?!]

“Still enough to get by with.”

[Get quickly, will you!]

But it was at that moment.

C-crack! An ominous sound came from behind Daun Jung.

[Eh? Tha, that…!]

“Huh?”

Seeing the Rabbit’s look of surprise, Daun Jung turned his gaze around as well.

He saw the wall which he had been digging moments ago beginning to crack.

And seconds later… something exploded out.

“…!”

The wall fell apart and water burst out, washing over Daun Jung.

He had ended up touching a water vein.

[Yeah! That’s good! Just die like that!]

The Rabbit cheered, shaking both paws.

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