Chapter 3 · 8 min
Chapter 3
Signal
“Ah, I’m full.”
Kim Dohyeon rubbed his stomach.
In front of him lay two kimbap wrappers and two empty bottles of water.
Dohyeon had been buying kimbap and bottled water with mana stones to take care of his meals.
‘Choosing kimbap really was the right decision.’
If he had chosen snacks, they might have tasted good, but the nutritional balance would have been poor and eventually ruined his health.
Even though kimbap was a little heavy on carbohydrates, eating it alone still provided most of the nutrients the body needed, so choosing kimbap as a product had been an excellent decision.
But Dohyeon soon furrowed his brows.
‘But hunters hardly ever come by...’
Several days had passed since the previous two groups of hunters had come through.
He had waited for other hunters all that time, but not a single one had shown up.
‘Then I guess I need to find a way to make the hunters come here...’
Dohyeon tilted his head.
‘Is there a way to do that?’
It was nothing to brag about, but while desperately fleeing from the magical beasts, Dohyeon had moved to a fairly remote part of the 10th floor.
On top of that, it was an area thick with undergrowth so he could hide from the magical beasts nearby.
Drawing hunters all the way to a place like this would undoubtedly require considerable effort.
The first method he considered was buying strongly scented food and using the smell to lure them in.
But no matter how strong the scent was, there was no guarantee it could attract hunters from far away, so he gave up on that idea.
The second method he considered was buying fireworks and using the loud noise to draw hunters toward him.
But after thinking about it carefully, he realized that magical beasts would obviously gather wherever there was a loud noise, and there was no way hunters would willingly approach a place that was practically a death trap, so he abandoned that idea as well.
‘Isn’t there anything that might help...?’
Dohyeon looked through the product list, but he could not find anything particularly useful.
“Huh?”
Then suddenly, his gaze fixed on one particular product.
“If it’s this...?”
Dohyeon immediately added the product.
______________
‘Ugh... Damn it. I shouldn’t have gone so far away just to take a piss...’
Kwon Doha was making his way through the dark forest.
Night had fallen while they were returning after completing their expedition, so Doha’s group had made camp outdoors.
Just as they had lit a campfire and were about to go to sleep, Doha felt the urge to urinate, left the group, and ended up getting lost.
Normally, they were supposed to move in groups of at least two no matter what happened.
‘I must’ve been out of my mind. Why did I come out alone without calling anyone just because it seemed bothersome?’
He had never imagined that he could get lost just from stepping away briefly to urinate.
Rustle.
“Eek.”
At the sound of leaves brushing together, Kwon Doha trembled.
Hunters called wandering around a floor at night an act of suicide.
Not only was visibility poor, but magical beasts also became stronger at night.
Remembering the warnings he had heard from the captain and vice-captain, Doha broke out in a cold sweat.
‘A-Am I really going to die like this? This pointlessly? While coming back from taking a piss?’
Feeling faint, Doha desperately pushed through the bushes ahead of him, but there was no sign of the campfire.
Eventually exhausted, Doha stood in the middle of the forest, gasping for breath.
No matter where he looked, all he could see was vegetation.
The fear of death slowly wrapped itself around Doha.
‘N-No. I can’t die here.’
At that moment, a faint light flickered in front of him.
Doha brightened.
‘A-A campfire!’
Doha rushed toward the light in a frenzy.
“I-I’m saved. I’m alive!”
After forcing his way through the bushes toward the light for quite some time, Doha suddenly sensed something strange.
‘But did a campfire look like that?’
The light in front of Doha was far too small to be a campfire.
On top of that, it was swaying through the air as though it were dancing.
That would have been impossible for a campfire fixed to the ground.
At that moment, Doha remembered a story he had once heard.
‘You know, they say the resentful spirits of people killed by magical beasts sometimes appear in the Tower.’
‘Come on. There’s no such thing. You’re just trying to scare me, aren’t you?’
‘I’m telling you, it’s true. They say they use ghost lights to lure hunters who get lost at night, draw them close, then pounce on them in an instant and turn them into beings just like themselves.’
‘Instead of reciting weird rumors, just go to sleep. I’m not scared of stuff like that at all.’
‘...For someone who says that, your legs are shaking quite violently.’
“A-A ghost light!”
Doha’s legs trembled uncontrollably.
He had never imagined that story might actually be true.
‘What do I do? I need to run...’
But his legs had been frozen in place for a while now and would not move at all.
Meanwhile, the light kept getting closer.
‘Damn it, legs. Please move. Move.’
He silently screamed at his unmoving legs again and again, cursing them for refusing to budge.
Then the light came right up in front of him, and Doha finally squeezed his eyes shut.
“U-Uwaaah! S-Someone hel—! Mmph!
“Shh! Be quiet.”
Doha’s eyes flew open when his scream was cut off by someone covering his mouth.
A man was standing in front of him, looking at Doha.
‘A g-ghost? B-But.’
He looked far too much like a living person for that...
Then Doha suddenly furrowed his brows.
The glaring light had been hurting his eyes for a while.
Naturally shifting his gaze toward the light, Doha’s eyes widened.
“A-A flashlight!?”
Electronic devices did not work inside the Tower.
And yet an object that should never have worked there was functioning perfectly.
______________
‘What a relief. If he’d screamed, the magical beasts might have gathered here.’
Fortunately, the hunter had not said anything until Dohyeon got close, allowing him to approach easily.
“Are you all right? Did you perhaps get lost?”
“W-Was that a flashlight?”
Looking at the hunter, who ignored his question and asked something completely unrelated, Dohyeon suddenly remembered.
‘Ah, come to think of it, electronic devices don’t work inside the Tower, right? Is that why he didn’t realize it was a flashlight?’
No wonder he had not moved an inch.
It was not strange for someone’s body to freeze in fear when an unidentified light approached them.
“Yes. That’s right. It’s a flashlight.”
“H-How are you using a flashlight inside the Tower...?”
“That’s... It’s dangerous to stay here, so would you like to come with me to where I live first?”
“What? Ah, all right.”
Dohyeon turned around and led the hunter away.
The flashlight was an item Dohyeon had added in order to attract hunters.
He had thought that if he shone it into the sky, hunters might come looking for him.
But when he stepped outside the convenience store, moonlight revealed someone in the distance pushing through the bushes toward the convenience store.
Seeing that the person was alone, Dohyeon immediately realized he was a hunter who had become separated from his group, so he took the flashlight and approached him.
“You’re lucky. You almost ended up completely lost.”
“Y-Yes. Thank you so much. I don’t know how I could ever repay this kindness...”
“There’s no need to call it a kindness... Do you have companions?”
“What? Yes. I was traveling with my group, but I accidentally got separated from them... That’s how I ended up wandering through the forest like this.”
“Is there no way for you to reunite with them?”
“No... Unfortunately... So if you would please allow me to join your group, I would be truly grateful. I’ll do my utmost to assist you!”
Apparently, the hunter seemed to have mistaken Dohyeon for someone who also had companions.
Dohyeon shook his head and said,
“I don’t have any companions.”
“What? What do you mean...?”
“Well, we’re here.”
After pushing through the bushes, the convenience store appeared before them.
Dohyeon turned around and looked at Doha, who stood there dumbfounded, staring blankly at the convenience store, and said,
“Welcome to the Tower Convenience Store.”
“A conven...ience store...?”
“Yes. This is the convenience store I operate.”
“What!?”
By now accustomed to reactions like this, Dohyeon let it go in one ear and out the other as he stood in front of the convenience store and shone the flashlight into the sky.
“Um... What are you doing...?”
“What do you mean? You said you had companions, didn’t you? We need to make sure they find their way here.”
Flash, flash, flash.
Flaaash, flaaash, flaaash.
Flash, flash, flash.
He covered the flashlight three times briefly, three times for longer intervals, then three times briefly again.
The same rhythm of light appeared and disappeared across the clouds in the sky.
“It’s Morse code. I sent an SOS signal, so your companions should find their way here soon.”
Sure enough, before long, voices began coming from the forest.
“Damn it, Kwon Doha, why the hell did that bastard go this far?”
“Captain. I can see a light over there!”
A short while later, hunters pushed their way through the bushes and stared blankly at the convenience store that had appeared before them.
[Tower Convenience Store - Main Branch]
“A-A convenience store...?”
Doha’s companions looked around in confusion.
Dohyeon bowed politely and said,
“Welcome to the Tower Convenience Store, everyone.”
The hunters followed Dohyeon inside the convenience store and shouted.
“B-Bottled water!? And it’s this cold... No, more importantly, how the hell is this refrigerator even working?”
“What is this, kimbap? It doesn’t even smell bad... How has it not spoiled this entire time?”
Dohyeon watched the hunters making a fuss inside the convenience store with satisfaction.
It was time to start doing business.