Translator: Sudowoodo

* * *

Daun Jung had been on the Rabbit’s mind the entire time it was proceeding with the game.

[He must have died, right? I’m sure he’s died?]

In the end, the Rabbit made time to come to the trap where Daun Jung was.

It had been thinking he surely would have starved to death around about now, but lo and behold: the corpse that should have been there was non-existent, and instead there was a burrow going below the trap.

[Where’d this man go?]

The Rabbit was bewildered at the unexpected situation.

[Could he have escaped? What did he dig the ground with?!]

It looked around then and saw all the iron skewers that should have been in the trap were pulled out.

It did not imagine that Daun Jung could have possibly used those iron skewers to dig, but instead thought he had something to use in place of a shovel in his Inventory.

In any case, it was significant that this place had lost its function as a trap.

[Ugh. I told you to kindly die instead of interfering with the game, yet you break the trap and run? You’ve gone and dug your own grave! What’cha gonna do going further below?]

The Rabbit sneered at the vestiges of Daun Jung’s final struggle.

He must have died without managing to get far, and this burrow must have become his final grave, thought the Rabbit.

But regardless, the Rabbit felt it would only find peace of mind by confirming his corpse personally, so it set foot inside the burrow in the end.

However… the further it went along the burrow, the more it found something strange.

[… Nn?]

It had expected to come across an emaciated corpse in no time, but for some reason, the squiggly burrow was gradually becoming wider.

At this point, it was less of a burrow and more of a tunnel.

It was apparent that too much heart and soul put into the smooth, neatly shaped walls and ceiling for it to have been made by a single individual.

[The heck? Why is it so unnecessarily high quality?]

Unknown anxiety continued to grow inside of it.

After a while, a wide underground chamber came into the Rabbit’s sight.

[Holy.]

Had there been a space like this under the dungeon before?

The walls and ceiling were too straight and artificial for it to be a naturally formed cave.

And then it saw Daun Jung, sitting before a square table and having a meal in the center of it all.

His tranquil figure made it lose all energy.

[Mister. What are you doing here?]

“Ahh! Bloody hell!”

[Grilled fish?]

The Rabbit gazed momentarily at the grilled fish on the plate with incredulity.

There was even a full bottle of water to the side, making it a very well prepared meal.

The Rabbit found it all so absurd.

[Wow, look at this man! I left him to starve to death and here he is having a good time enjoying a meal!]

“Ah, hem-hem. Still got a bit of food left, you see.”

[You still have food leftover? Just how much food were you keeping in your Inventory! Eh? Hang on?]

The Rabbit’s eyes turned round at a sudden thought that crossed its mind.

It was only now that it remembered what role Daun Jung had been entrusted with in Seungwoo Ryu’s group.

The Rabbit tore at the fur of its head with irritation.

[Gosh-darn it! Come to think of it, this guy was in charge of food, wasn’t he?!]

“…”

Daun Jung felt inwardly nervous.

‘It won’t be killing me all of a sudden, will it?’

What a terrible thought.

It would be impossible for him to resist if the Rabbit tried to kill him.

Running away underground was naturally impossible, and since he already knew that the Rabbit would turn transparent like a ghost and become incorporeal upon attempted physical contact, attacking was also out of the question.

The Rabbit, on the other hand, was able to kill the participants at any time it wished.

He could still vividly remember the sight of it sending the neck of a man it didn’t like flying at the start of the game.

Fortunately, however, the Rabbit’s attention turned somewhere else.

[Could this a bed, by the way? And this a pillow? Woow, mister, you’re really something… You even made these things to lie down and have a sleep in this situation?]

The Rabbit expressed admiration.

It took in the bed, table, and chair made of dirt, and the earthen wall surrounding this area, which looked so very smooth and cozy…

[Pshaw. You’ve got a weird talent. Did you get a Skill or something?]

Flinch.

Daun Jung had wanted to quietly evade the matter, but it was impossible to fool the Helper’s eyes after all.

The Rabbit caught on to his state of mind and regarded him with a sharp eye.

[Oh? You really got something? I never expected even a son of a glitch could get a new Skill, despite losing qualification to participate. The law of the Dungeon really is mysterious. So what Skill is it? Did you get a shoveling Skill or the like, by chance?]

Daun Jung rolled his eyes back and forth, briefly thinking about what to do, but he confessed honestly in the end.

It was not exactly a Skill that would worsen the situation even if it was known.

“… Clump Dirt Skill.”

[Clump Dirp-… pft.]

“Yeah-yeah, laugh why don’t you…”

Daun Jung grumbled to himself, sighing, and laughter exploded from the Rabbit’s mouth.

It found it so hilarious for some reason, falling down and thumping the ground with its paws, bursting into laughter.

[Pffhaw-haw-haw. No wonder you made this and that so well! First, you get a dubious main Skill like Purification, and now… You really have a lot of talent in a weird sense, mister!]

“Talent?”

Daun Jung asked back upon hearing a word that caught his ears.

“Could it be that Skills are determined by talent?”

[It differs case by case. Sometimes it’s due to talent, sometimes it’s the result of hard work, and sometimes it’s a reward for achievement. But in your case you seem simply unlucky?]

Daun Jung definitely agreed with that thought.

‘It was filthy unluck to have been summoned to this world, to begin with.’

The Rabbit did not care much for whatever he thought, however.

His fate was already set in stone, after all, regardless of him getting a new Skill at this point or still having plenty of food left.

[Well anyway. Kudos to coming so far. Now you can die.]

“…!”

In the end, he was going to get what was coming to him!

Daun Jung questioned the Rabbit with a nervous expression.

“Are you going to kill me?”

[Nope? Why would I bother killing you myself when you’ll soon be dead even if I just leave you be?]

“…?”

He found the Rabbit’s reply strange, but it was then that the Rabbit suddenly glanced somewhere at the ceiling and spoke again.

[Oh, seems like it’s over just in time?]

“What? What’s over?”

Daun Jung asked the Rabbit quizzically, and it answered with a meaningful smile.

[This round is over. The final boss just went down.]

“…!”

Daun Jung’s face turned stiff in an instant.

[This round? You mean the new game?”

[Yes. See, while you were here fooling about bunching dirt, the next players were newly summoned and were progressing with Stage-1.]

Daun Jung could not help being surprised.

The new game had ended while he had been going about his business without even knowing the passage of time.

[Heave-ho! Then shall I be on my way now?]

The Rabbit took a long stretch, and then it began to gradually grow transparent as it rose into the air, like the last time.

Daun Jung’s existence was already far from the Rabbit’s interest.

As it slowly vanished in midair, it looked down at Daun Jung and bid him a mischievous farewell.

[Anyway, it was nice knowing you. I’ll be going to end the game now. You might as well fight for your life now.]

Daun Jung felt a strange nuance in its words.

[What a pity about your hideout, when you went to such lengths making it]

The Rabbit disappeared after leaving those ominous words.

And moments later, there was a second message that was shown throughout the entire dungeon!

[The Dungeon will be reset.]

Daun Jung jolted to his feet at that moment.

‘I’m in deep shit!’

Reset? The initialization of the dungeon?

Then that meant all the tunnels he had dug would be reset too.

And if the tunnels were filled with earth again?

That spelled being buried alive!

‘I’ve got to get back to the trap!’

That was the only safe place at this moment.

He began to frantically run back through the tunnels he had dug.

* * *

“Kugh! Kaugh-kaugh!”

Daun Jung barely managed to reach the initial area of the trap.

It was hard going in digging, but coming back out took no time at all.

He barely crawled his way out and splayed down on the ground, heavily gasping for breath.

“I, I made it…”

The inside of the trap was in the middle of being reset.

New iron skewers were being created in the bottom of the trap, and the ceiling which he had opened up last time was being gradually closed again as well.

Before long the reset was completed and darkness fell over the trap.

And then there was silence.

“…”

Daun Jung breathed a sigh and tossed a rock to the ceiling to light up the darkness.

C-crack! Crumble!

The trap was activated again, and a dim light illuminated the trap and the cloudy dust inside.

Daun Jung felt utter hollowness at the thought of having to start again from this point.

However… that was not the case.

“Huh?”

His eyes widened upon discovering something.

“It remained as is?!”

The hole of the burrow he had come out of had still remained!

‘Why is only this the same?’

The tension suddenly drained out of him and his mind turned blank.

Everything had gone back to how it was before, yet only the burrow he had dug remained the same…?

‘Why? Just why?’

His head was full of questions.

Daun Jung cautiously stepped back into the burrow, feeling as if possessed by something.

He saw the beginning of the burrow that was squiggly and narrow due to being dug with an iron skewer.

‘It’s the same.’

With every step he took forward, he could see the hole gradually growing wider and more comfortable.

‘It’s the same.’

And finally, what awaited at the end of it was his cozy little nest!

“Haah…”

An involuntary sigh of relief escaped Daun Jung’s lips.

Everything really was the same as before.

The table, chair, and bed he had personally made, and even the warm torch he had put in the center of it all.

‘Everything is intact!’

Everything in the dungeon had returned to how they were originally, but surprisingly, all of his works there were unchanged.

‘Unbelievable! So even if the Dungeon is reset, the things I make aren’t lost! The tunnel! And the bed!’

It was then that Daun Jung finally realized what the ‘error’ in his Status Window meant.

It was literally an error — an error of the dungeon!

From that moment when he was left behind in the game due to the Helper’s mistake, Daun Jung’s existence had been freed from the bridle of the dungeon system!

This phenomenon was a fatal error that even the Helper Rabbit had not anticipated.

Perhaps… it was even possible to shake the very foundation of the dungeon game!

If so, there was hope now. The situation had changed.

‘I can keep on digging tunnels regardless of the reset from now on!’

It was no longer difficult to dig ever since he had obtained his new Skill.

What had been troubling him was the endless digging that showed no end, and the sense of futility that everything he did would return to nothing.

But if he was given enough time?

Then there was nothing to stop his way!

‘Let’s start again, shall we then?’

Daun Jung glared at the solid earthen wall blocking his way, his eyes full of hope, and he reached out.

“Clump Dirt!”

Crrp! A large chunk of dirt was torn out, caught in his hand.

“Clump Dirt! Clump Dirt! Clump Dirt!”

He outright began swinging both hands, unleashing his Skill nonstop and thus a new tunnel began to form in front of him.

Onwards, and onwards.

‘I swear I’m gonna escape!’

Daun Jung began to dig again.