Run 0
Where the hell am I?
Run 1
What?
Why am I back here?
I could have sworn I got hit earlier, but my head is perfectly fine.
Was it a dream?
Run 2
I think I ended up inside a game.
Fuck, but what game is this?
I got hit and died again the moment I went out, so I do not even have a clue what game it is.
Still, considering I died the instant I stepped outside, either this game has no tutorial, or its tutorial is fucking awful.
Run 3
I finally saw the guy who killed me.
But where have I seen him before?
Run 4
I have some idea what game I ended up in, but I only played it a few times, so I cannot remember the name.
Still, it seems to be some kind of roguelike, since I keep dying and coming back to life…….
I suppose I should be glad it does not simply end when I die, or maybe I should be furious that the god-awful difficulty keeps killing me right at the entrance.
Run 5
Ah, seriously.
I just wish I could make it to another room.
I keep dying in the room right in front of the door.
Run 6
Ah, fuck.
I died again.
That fucking hurts.
Run 7
If I want to avoid getting hurt as much as possible, not fighting would be best, but it looks like I cannot get out without fighting.
Run 8
I found the door, but I have no idea why it is on the floor.
Run 9
This weapon is absolute garbage.
Run 10
I take that back.
Its durability comes back when I die and revive, so it might actually be somewhat useful.
Run 11
Aagh!
Everything I saved up is gone!
This difficulty is fucking bullshit!
Run 12
I finally found an Enhancement Anvil.
The problem is that the item I am carrying right now is cursed.
I will have to come back after I find something better.
Run 13
Does everything reset when I die and come back?
This is fucking awful.
. . . . . .
Run 16
If I leave things here, they seem to stay put even after I die and come back.
I should use this place as storage from now on.
Going up and down is a little annoying, but it is better than losing absolutely everything.
. . . . . .
Run 19
I finally opened the door, but it was not the end.
Do I really have to go all the way down to floor 100?
Still, I managed to descend two floors in a single run, so I did pretty well.
Run 20
I found a shop.
Just like in the game, I could trade using [Maru Stones] and [Mana Stones].
The difference was the variety of items?
It was even selling some strange thing called a [Candle of Life]?
The old man said I absolutely needed it, so I bought one, but I cannot shake the feeling that I got scammed.
Then again, I had not played the game for very long, so maybe it was simply something I did not know about.
Run 21
First time finding an [Alchemy Pot].
Floor 4.
Run 22
Ah, seriously!
I gathered all the materials!
Run 23
This resets too?
If you are going to appear, at least show up on the first floor.
Run 24
Ah, fuck.
How the hell do even all the recipes reset?
Run 25
Ah!
. . . . . .
Run 30
I made it to floor 5, but I died without even meeting the old shopkeeper.
Ah, what a waste.
Run 31
I forgot.
That fucking rip-off old man.
Fuck, how does he buy things for one apiece and then sell them for ten?
Run 32
Crazy old man.
If you are going to mutter to yourself, just talk to me!
It is already creepy enough with everything pitch-black around here.
Why the hell does he do that?
. . . . . .
Run 47
The candles in the room?
How many of those do I have left again?
. . . . . .
Run 68
[Candle of Life]:
Current price - 10 [Maru Stones] (Up to 3 can be purchased at once on a single floor)
Once purchased, it lights itself automatically.
I cannot deliberately extinguish it, and it goes out when I die.
Conversely, I cannot deliberately light it either, and once its flame goes out, it can never be relit.
Having the candle lit does not shorten it.
☆☆☆CAUTION - Do not confuse it with an [Alchemy Candle].☆☆☆
Run 69
According to the old man, it sounds like I need to buy the candles first.
From now on, I should only buy candles from him.
Everything else is a rip-off anyway, so there was nothing worth buying.
Run 70
Does the price go up every time I die?
Dying really does seem to be a bad thing, after all.
Run 71
Since the price is the same as last time, it seems death has nothing to do with the price.
Run 72
Does it go up once every two deaths?
Run 73
The price went up while I was buying candles.
Was it increasing based on how many candles I bought?
Then why does the candle price not reset?
. . . . . .
Run 99
I do not know whether it ends when all the candles go out, or whether it ends if I die again after all the candles have gone out.
I do not want to test which one it is.
Run 100
I can see exactly as many candles as the number I bought.
Whether I keep them with me or leave them in the room, the candles do not seem to disappear.
Thank goodness.
I was worried they might vanish if I died right after buying them.
Run 101
It seems the candle price does not reset.
If everything is going to reset, this should reset too.
In the end, the more I die, the worse off I am.
I had no intention of dying on purpose anyway, if only because it feels horrible and hurts like hell, but thinking that the price rises whenever I die still pisses me off.
It is not as though the amount of [Maru Stones] that drop increases as the number of runs goes up. They just keep getting ridiculously more expensive.
Run 102
The old man told me there is a Gatekeeper guarding the door every ten floors.
Who does not know that?
Run 103
I should stop ignoring what the old man says from now on.
Run 104
There is something strange about the Gatekeeper.
The problem is that I do not mean something as obvious as, "Well, it is a boss, so of course there is something special about it."
Run 105
The Gatekeeper remembers me.
Was everything not supposed to reset?
Run 106
Its pattern changed.
Even if it remembered me, I thought its attack patterns would stay the same.
How the hell can something this insane happen?
. . . . . .
Run 216
Even the changing patterns must have a limit, because by now they are all patterns I recognize.
Run 217
I finally defeated the Gatekeeper on floor 10.
My Health is at rock bottom, so I will probably die the moment I descend to floor 11, but
either way, this is the first time I have won.
Ah, but if this keeps up, when am I ever going to reach floor 100?
. . . . . .
Run 312
I finally memorized every type of material used to craft Healing Items.
The hardest part was having nothing to write them down with and having to rely entirely on my memory, but I am glad the effort paid off.
Run 313
I take that back.
Once I went below floor 20, they changed again.
Goddamn developers and their goddamn difficulty.
Run 314
That old man.
I suspected he was not just an NPC.
Does he know this place is inside a game?
Run 315
The old shopkeeper remembers too.
Judging from the way he talks, though, he does not seem to think this is a game. He just seems to think it is a somewhat strange place.
Then again, I doubt I would think this was a game either.
But why do all the other shop prices reset while only the candles do not?
. . . . . .
Run 512
Could I not just live here?
No matter how long I stay awake, I do not get hungry as long as I do not use Skills, so I hardly need any food, and there is water everywhere.
My family and friends would probably worry a little, though…….
Run 513
Ah.
I want kimchi stew and pork belly.
. . . . . .
Run 614
I want grilled fresh meat.
Fresh vegetables too.
I want fresh seasonal fruit too.
. . . . . .
Run 718
I think the old man is getting suspicious.
Dangerous.
. . . . . .
Run 1025
Is this really a game?
Or have I been here so long that I am losing my mind?
I opened the wooden door and stepped inside, revealing a familiar layout.
I had definitely gone down a floor, and the location had changed, yet this place never did.
“Welcome.”
I merely dipped my head and upended my bag over the counter in front of the old man.
There were all sorts of things inside the bag's Inventory, but only the blue-glowing stones spilled onto the counter.
“One Candle of Life.”
“Tsk.”
The old man muttered under his breath as he counted the [Maru Stones] I had poured out, one by one.
“……Exactly enough.”
Of course. I had come here just to buy that one.
The old man, who had only pretended to be surprised, swept the [Maru Stones] down beneath the counter and headed into the back.
“This is the last one.”
That was the line he used when there were no more candles I could buy during that run.
From now on, as soon as I got my hands on more [Maru Stones], I would have to hurry back to the starting point I privately called the ‘Starting Room.’
I picked up the candle the old man set down with a thump and turned away.
“That is all you need?”
“Yes, yes.”
Ever since he said that last time, I had gotten chills whenever I saw him, so I tried to ignore him as much as possible.
But the old man kept striking up conversations as though he had forgotten everything.
Judging by his words and actions, he was not actually asking because he had forgotten.
He was stopping me because there was something he wanted to say.
“Do you not need a map?”
“A map?”
So the item he wanted to sell this time was a map?
But the map changed every time. What use would buying a map be?
“I do not need one.”
“You do not need one?”
Even though I never bought anything besides candles, he looked at me as though my answer genuinely surprised him.
The look in his eyes was like that of someone staring at a person who had just refused to buy something they absolutely needed, and it left me uneasy.
All the more so because the old man had been the one to give me tips and important information about the game until now.
“Then I suppose it cannot be helped.”
At my refusal, the old man did not ask a second time.
Unlike before, however, he kept glancing back at me as though he was reluctant to let the matter go.
He had never reacted like that before, even when he failed to sell me something.
……This was really getting on my nerves.
“Why are you trying to sell that map?”
At my question, the old man spun around as though he had been waiting for me to ask.
He still did not leave the counter, though.
“Because it is a very special map.”
He whispered as though revealing an enormous secret, then carefully pulled a rolled-up piece of paper from inside his clothes.
“It is a Magic Map. The location of whatever you desire will be marked on it without you ever having to visit the place.”
“Ah…….”
“And if there is anything dangerous near the map, it will even warn you.”
“I see…….”
Whether the map was single-use or not, it did not offer me much benefit.
To gather [Maru Stones], it was more profitable for me to go through every room than to pick and choose which rooms to enter.
And by now, I was skilled enough to avoid and disarm traps with my eyes closed.
The old man seemed to notice that too, because he looked at me as though he truly could not understand.
“You do not seem to like it very much.”
“…….”
Since I could hardly tell him what I was really thinking, I remained silent. The old man shook his head from side to side and muttered.
“Hmm. Very strange. Strange indeed.”
I edged back at the sight of him, which made him look half-mad.
“There is no way you would refuse to buy it. Did I forget to tell you something?”
I had not bought anything else from him in ages.
I had no idea why he was so certain.
“Perhaps I have lived too long. I cannot remember whether I told you or not.”
The old man stared into empty air, then abruptly turned toward me and asked,
“Have I not told you about the ‘Final Door’?”
“You have not.”
“Ah. So I have not.”
“What exactly is that?”
The ‘Final Door.’
The phrase itself felt deeply ominous.
“Even if you reach the final floor of this dungeon, you cannot escape unless you find the door.”
“The door that lets you escape this place is the ‘Final Door’?”
“Yes. That is right.”
“And you can only find that door with the map?”
At that, the old man quickly shook his head.
“No. That is not so. The door on the very last floor is not hidden quite so thoroughly.”
Usually, games were designed exactly that way when they wanted to force some mandatory item on you.
“But the ‘Final Doors’ on the other floors are different.”
Of course they are.
“If I find a ‘Final Door’ before reaching the final floor, can I leave through it?”
“That is right. After all, it is still a ‘Final Door.’”
Was it some kind of cheat code?
If I had merely been playing this as a game, I would have refused to buy it.
It was almost certainly the sort of premium item they would charge real money for.
“How many [Maru Stones] are you selling it for?”
I did not have any [Maru Stones] on me at the moment.
But I could exchange spare items or [Mana Stones] for [Maru Stones], so it did not even occur to me that I might be unable to buy it right away.
No matter how useful it was, how much could it possibly cost?
A hundred at most…….
“Exactly. One thousand.”
“…….”
“If you buy it right now, I will sell it to you for nine hundred and ninety.”
“Hmm……. If you are just barely short and debating over it, I could use my discretion and overlook the difference.”
“……I will buy it later.”
“Or you may borrow it.”
Seeing this old man push so relentlessly to sell me something, completely unlike his usual self, made it seem as though I really did need it.
Then again, maybe it was simply so obscenely expensive that he stood to make a huge profit.
“No, thank you.”
“Very well. Farewell.”
True to the old man's one redeeming trait—he did not pester me—he did not repeat the offer, but he saw me off with an uncharacteristically regretful expression.
It left me deeply uneasy afterward.