Chapter 6 …

The Outsiders of the Trash Game

The Outsiders of the Trash Game (2)

They had money.

Apparently fate didn’t intend for them to die on the streets, because the leather pants they were wearing contained their initial capital.

Still, it wasn’t money they could casually spend just to rest for one night.

In the end, the two chose to stay not in a room but in the shed attached to the inn.

Even that seemed difficult to bargain down, but the innkeeper allowed them to use it for just two copper coins.

“Son of a bitch.”

Deeply moved by this generosity, Niummer kindly prayed that the innkeeper would live a long life.

If this were the game, he would have accepted the increase in karma points and killed this arrogant NPC on the spot…

But here?

If he did that, the village militia would show up.

Those refugee-looking villagers would probably join the fight too.

If word reached the lord, he’d be put on a wanted list.

Not yet. Not yet…

Payback would come later.

If the future he knew unfolded as expected, this village—no, the entire country—would soon fall into chaos.

Opportunities would come.

They always did.

“With this, the two of us together have 18 copper coins left.”

The American fiddled with the copper coin in his hand.

Even so, his worn face looked far more comfortable than when they had been sleeping outdoors.

Inside the dark shed there was no fire.

The place reeked of animals and manure.

Fleas bounced around in the straw and tormented them, but at least their lives weren’t in danger here.

Then the American spoke.

“Niummer.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve been thinking… maybe we should have aliases.”

“Aliases…”

Niummer considered it.

In this world, names like Kensington, Deodora Seirun, or Adeline were common.

Compared to that, names like Kkanfpapa or Niummer stood out a little.

Their real-world names stood out even more.

He’d felt this since the first time he met this guy.

The man thought deeply.

He didn’t miss small details.

He’s also pretty shrewd.

As Niummer narrowed his eyes, the American spoke again.

“How about Azov?”

“Not bad. Rolls off the tongue.”

“Good. From today on, I’m Azov.”

Azov calmly carved his mark into this world.

“What about you?”

“I’ll just stick with Niummer.”

There was actually a name like Nearmer in this world.

Meaning his name was unique—but not strange enough to seem bizarre.

“Well, if that’s what you want.”

Azov seemed curious why Niummer insisted on keeping his nickname, but he didn’t press further.

He had always been good at maintaining proper boundaries with people.

Except for one time.

“More importantly, look at this.”

Niummer rolled up his sleeve.

In the faint moonlight, something glimmered—not the compass symbol, but the Roman numeral I.

The number one.

Its meaning was clear.

“It looks like when we come to a place where a chapter progresses, the mark changes like this.”

“So we guessed right.”

The predictions of two seasoned veterans were correct.

Having survived a brush with death, they calmly began planning their next move.

“We’re going to clear ‘Savior of the Village,’ right?”

“Let’s try as much as we can. Going somewhere else where Chapter 1 progresses would be risky right now. And more than anything…”

The rewards here were insane.

Niummer grinned, baring his teeth.

Azov nodded and fiddled with his bow.

“Good. I should also get used to this thing as soon as possible and make it pull its weight.”

After saying that, Azov quickly fell asleep.

The barn soon became quiet.

Occasionally there were curses, the sound of clapping hands to kill fleas, and the rustling of straw mixed with snoring.

I’m damn tired.

Niummer leaned against the straw pile and closed his eyes, then suddenly realized something.

Wait… I killed a goblin today, right? Then…

He opened his status window.

Level: 2
Class: Paladin

Strength: 18
Agility: 15
Intelligence: 12

Remaining Points: 1

The stats appeared in a vertical list, and beside them was a red square with a cross symbol.

Just as expected—

He had leveled up.

Leveling in Dunz was usually difficult, but the early levels had a lower barrier.

Up to around level five.

What should I put it into?

To strengthen a paladin’s powers or miracles, you needed Intelligence.

To sharpen the senses, Agility.

To enhance physical movement and strength, Strength.

First, Intelligence is out. The miracles available at low levels are pretty useless.

Next was Agility.

If my agility scaling were a bit higher, I might have noticed the goblin ambush sooner.

Hearing, smell, even eyesight would be enhanced.

But…

Niummer decided agility wasn’t the answer either.

The real problem was that we entered the forest without knowing it was goblin territory.

And that we got distracted by a deer without keeping proper watch.

The defeat had been caused more by lack of experience than lack of stats.

So the answer wasn’t agility.

It was Strength.

Niummer added the point to Strength.

Immediately he felt the power flowing through his hands grow stronger.

Good.

Now he could fight harder and longer.

He clenched his fist tightly to gauge the change.

Then he shifted his gaze.

Miracles

Protection
Holy War Combat

Remaining Skill Points: 1

It was the skill window.

The three skill trees spread downward like a graph.

Reach the appropriate level and learn prerequisite skills, and better abilities would unlock.

“Hm.”

Niummer scanned the first skills available in each tree.

For the early game… this is the one.

He chose Heal.

A soft glow bloomed in the darkness, painting his handsome face in pale yellow light.

When he tested it on himself, the scratches and muscle pain visibly faded.

Damn, that works great.

Niummer thought.

Maybe the Paladin class, in this trash game that had become reality, was far stronger than he’d expected.

Looks like it heals wounds but doesn’t restore stamina though…

Still—

It was good enough.

Niummer was about to cast Heal on Azov too…

But stopped.

“….”

Wouldn’t it be better to use things like this later, where he could see it?

That way Azov would feel gratitude—or at least a sense of obligation.

“Phew.”

After thinking it through, Niummer canceled the skill and lay down.

Even if it felt petty, it couldn’t be helped.

That’s how human relationships worked.

Unless someone was truly your comrade or friend, you had to put yourself first.

In other words—

Niummer didn’t think of Azov as that close yet.

Azov probably felt the same.

We’re a party… but it’s such a thin relationship. It could break anytime.

And in that situation, they had to risk their lives fighting monsters—or even humans.

The excitement of gaining new power faded quickly.

A sense of bleakness crept in.

“Yaaawn.”

Soon, unable to resist sleep, he drifted off.

In his dream, Baek Geon-young and Kang Hyuk appeared.

A naked fairy with torn clothes.

A blood-soaked man with half his head blown off.

They screamed at him desperately.

“WHY! Why didn’t you save us?! Whyyyy?!”

He tried to say something—an excuse, a defense, anything.

But like most dreams, only wordless sounds came out.

What happened to them?

Did they log out?

Did they return home?

Or…

He didn’t want to experiment to find out.

At least not yet.

Later

Cough… hack…

Under the setting sun, a dark silhouette staggered forward.

Large membranous ears.

Snake-like eyes.

Glossy scaled skin and sharp claws.

It was a Gremlin.

A monster sometimes categorized as part of the greenskins.

The gremlin staggered along the dirt road.

Sniff… sniff…

It had caught a scent.

The scent of nourishment that could heal its wounds and restore its strength.

Suddenly its eyes widened.

Ahead of it lay a chunk of bloody meat.

…

The gremlin looked around cautiously.

It inspected the ground and sniffed the air like a dog.

Then finally—

It approached the meat and grabbed it.

But the triumphant expression froze.

Something had suddenly struck its chest.

The gremlin looked down.

A wooden shaft with feathers on the end was lodged there.

An arrow.

“Aaaagh!”

Pain followed recognition.

At the same time, a nearby tree rustled—

And a brilliant golden light shot forward.

“Die!”

A flashing blade.

The gremlin thrashed in panic.

“Die already!”

A female warrior drenched in blood hacked the monster apart with frenzied eyes.

Rustle.

“Niummer.”

“Die!”

“Niummer! Calm down! It’s already dead!”

Azov jumped down from the tree and grabbed him.

“…Huff. Huff.”

Niummer glanced at the dismembered gremlin corpse.

“Damn it. I lost control.”

He looked at his chipped sword and clicked his tongue.

Azov advised him.

“That first stab was enough. It was already dead then.”

Niummer shook the sword and replied,

“I know. But it’s not that easy.”

Fighting monsters at close range with your life on the line—

Death could strike at any moment.

The feeling of cutting flesh and the metallic smell of blood heated the entire body.

The excitement of battle was like a drug that modern people, not yet seasoned warriors, found hard to control.

“You wouldn’t know since you just sit back shooting arrows.”

“What? Why say it like that?”

Azov frowned.

His personality changed a bit…

Maybe it was the influence of battle.

Or maybe the extreme situation was bringing out his true nature.

Just as Azov thought that—

Niummer took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, Azov. I got carried away.”

“….”

Azov shook his head.

“No, I’m sorry. I should’ve tried to understand your position more.”

Azov was an archer.

Niummer was a paladin.

Naturally, when one fought at range and the other in melee, all the danger and burden fell on the frontliner.

Pain from wounds.

Fear of death.

Fortunately, both were adults who could control their emotions.

They reconciled quickly.

Soon they began dismantling the gremlin’s corpse.

“I think its ears are used as magical reagents…”

“Shame we don’t have proper equipment.”

Ever since arriving at Staghorn Village and deciding to clear Chapter 1, the first thing they focused on was getting stronger.

And the fastest way to do that—

Hunting.

It improved combat skill, helped them adapt to the world, earned money, and gave experience.

So for the past few days they had hunted around Staghorn Village.

Not the careless roaming hunts of a game.

Carefully planned hunts.

Sometimes monsters that lost territory battles or had grown old wandered onto the main road.

Ironically, places monsters avoided were the safest from monsters.

Niummer knew this from dialogue from a certain NPC in Dunz.

So he targeted exactly that.

What if they set bait for those outcast monsters?

The strategy worked perfectly.

Over the past few days they hunted monsters easily.

Of course, Azov’s improving archery and the traps he crafted helped.

“Good. Glad it’s intact.”

Azov pulled the arrow from the gremlin’s chest with relief.

Arrows in this era were extremely expensive.

They were war materials and hard to obtain.

Every single shot mattered.

I almost broke it earlier.

Feeling slightly guilty, Niummer changed the subject.

“You’ve improved.”

A bow—not even a crossbow.

A weapon that took enormous time and skill to master.

But Azov was adapting quickly.

Not as quickly as Niummer with the sword, but still.

Niummer thought:

Maybe there’s some kind of body-based bonus.

Like the original owner’s potential.

It doesn’t awaken instantly—but appears gradually through effort.

Otherwise this growth speed wouldn’t make sense.

“I’m still lacking. I was aiming for its head.”

Azov humbly replied, wiping the blood from his hands as he stood up.

“Dissection finished. That should keep us going for today.”

They gathered the gremlin’s ears and extra meat for bait and quickly left.

The smell of blood would attract other monsters.

“One more hunt?”

“The blood smell’s too strong.”

Azov looked at Niummer, who was covered in blood.

Niummer shrugged.

“If we stop by the village and wash in the stream—”

Then—

Their footsteps stopped.

On the road ahead, a mass of light suddenly appeared.

It wriggled and formed a shape.

When the light faded—

A person lay there.

A sword at their waist.

Leather clothing.

And on their wrist—

A compass symbol.

A player.

“…Niummer.”

“I see it.”

So this was how players were summoned.

“Ugh…”

Soon the man woke up.

A sharp-looking man with black hair looked around, then saw them and widened his eyes.

“W-who are you?”

He checked his body.

Then suddenly shrieked.

“What the—?! Why does it feel so empty here?! And why is this so heavy?!”

From that familiar reaction, Niummer thought:

That guy…

“…Good grief.”

He used to be a woman.