————-<Dungeon Entry>————–
[You have entered ‘<DLC04> The End of Waiting’.]
——————————————
‘Hero Name: ZEUS’ This is the start of the Easter egg contained in the 4th expansion pack <Halloween>.
My vision gradually grew darker.
And just like that, I lost consciousness.
When I opened my eyes, I was inside the guard booth at the Academy’s main gate.
A translucent screen appeared.
————<Ga...me?>—————-
[You are the security guard of the Academy.
Refer to the duty manual on the desk for ??]
—————————————
Looking out the window, it was a dark night.
However, strangely enough, students were walking around as if it were daytime.
Actually, they weren’t really students.
The people walking outside all had distorted faces.
They looked like very old 3D game characters – they had eyes, noses, and mouths, but their features were rudimentary and extremely strange.
I read the duty manual on the desk.
———–<Duty Manual>————
Academy Security Guard Duty Manual.
Revised in January 2024 (Guard: Yoo Gi-tae).
Guards must strictly adhere to the schedule and must contact the administrative office whenever leaving the post.
Violation of the duty manual may negatively affect the work attitude evaluation.
1) The Academy start time is 9 PM. After 9 PM, the gate must be closed so that no one can enter or leave.
2) ■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■ ■■■ ■■■■. ■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■.
3) While you should try to accommodate individual student requests, if a girl with white hair and red eyes speaks to you, ignore her. There is no such student at this school.
5) If it rains, lock the doors of the guard booth and put your head down on the desk. Do not look under the desk under any circumstances.
6) If another guard appears besides you, you may open the door as it’s likely shift change time.
7) Monitor the CCTV screens inside the guard booth. If you spot a fight between students, mediate immediately.
8) After 9 PM, no one should leave the Academy. Prevent anyone from leaving by any means necessary.
4) If there is a rule number 6, it is false. There is no rule number 6 in the duty manual.
PS. Some rules keep changing or disappearing. Guards should pay attention to this. Also, the phone is broken, so do not use it.
—————————————
‘The End of Waiting’ dungeon is a puzzle-type dungeon where players face various school urban legends and find the source of the rumors within the school setting.
Once inside the dungeon, the party members scatter in different directions.
They are randomly assigned roles, each with varying difficulty levels.
The guard role has the highest difficulty among these.
The guard manual is a type of Napoli urban legend.
If the death condition is met, the player will be instantly killed regardless of their rank.
Even an SSS-tier user could be instantly killed if they make a mistake.
The positive part is that Park Hayeon wasn’t assigned the guard role.
Role allocation varies depending on luck stats; the lower the luck, the more difficult the role.
Therefore, the guard role was confirmed to be mine, as I have the lowest luck, so Park Hayeon won’t die.
The minimum number of players to enter is two, so I couldn’t leave her behind, but at least it’s fortunate that I, who have clearing experience, am the guard.
If any of the others had become the guard, things would have been more complicated.
Someone unfamiliar with the Napoli urban legend and without clearing experience would have almost no chance of completing the mission successfully.
In that case, my plan was to quickly complete my assigned role and rush to help the guard.
Fortunately, with the exception of the guard role, the other roles aren’t that difficult, so it’s not impossible.
I checked the clock first.
It was 9:01 PM.
I went outside and closed the gate.
Outside, it was foggy, and nothing could be seen.
Clang, clang.
Suddenly, a student in a school uniform appeared in the fog, clinging to the gate.
“Uncle! I’m late. Please open the gate quickly!”
I recalled the first rule of the duty manual.
<The Academy start time is 9 PM. After 9 PM, the gate must be closed so that no one can enter or leave.>
“Uncle? Uncle! Uncle! Uncle. Uncle. Uncle.”
Despite the noise, I ignored them and went back into the guard booth.
Even for me, I haven’t played many Easter egg dungeon expansion packs.
And my guard clearing experience was only once.
So I didn’t know all the possible scenarios.
In these kinds of Napoli urban legends, sticking to the manual is usually a good idea.
Theoretically, clearing the guard role is simple.
Just weed out the fakes until the real girl from the bathroom shows up and strictly follow the true duty manual.
Ding, ding, ding.
When I entered the guard booth, the phone was ringing.
I picked it up to answer but stopped as a strange feeling came over me.
I hung up without answering and checked behind the phone instead.
There was no cord connected.
The hairs on my arms stood up.
“Huff.”
I sat down and focused on the CCTV screen.
“Uncle! Open the gate! Open the gate! <Openopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopen.>”
Odd sounds came from outside, but I ignored them completely.
Tick tock.
Time continued to pass.
It was now 11:30 PM.
Occasionally, the phone rang, but I ignored it.
The CCTV showed a normal school scene.
Students studying in classrooms.
Students playing basketball.
Students standing in the hallway as punishment.
Nothing unusual was happening, which made my tension feel unnecessary.
Outside the gate, a student still tried to force entry.
“Huh.”
The ground trembled.
Clomp, clomp, clomp.
The sound of dozens of footsteps.
Looking out the window, numerous students were running towards the gate.
They ran while making ominous sounds.
“Open the gate quickly!”
“Open the gate!”
“If you don’t, we’ll kill you!”
“Kill!”
The mob of students, reminiscent of a dark ravine, was quite terrifying.
I drew my sword and stood in front of the gate.
“So, you’ve finally come.”
I’ve done this before.
No student should get past the gate. This is a defense game.
If even one gets through, I’ll be instantly killed.
I swung my sword at the student leading the charge.
A single blow.
The student’s upper and lower body separated and fell to the ground.
These oddly shaped students have abilities on the level of D-tier monsters. There’s no way they can withstand my attack — with A-tier strength and B-tier agility.
I next thrust my sword into the back of a student trying to climb over the gate.
I twisted the blade and pulled it out; the student collapsed.
I didn’t have time to use ‘Succession.’
Every second was precious.
I quickly scanned for the next target.
A student climbing the wall next to the gate.
I used telekinesis to grab their leg and pulled them down.
I struck their neck as they fell unconscious on the ground.
My sword blade slightly bent.
It’s a mass-production model, and since it’s been used frequently, it felt unstable.
I thought I should hurry despite the strain.
“Laura, how do I use the magic sigil?”
[Do as I say. Overload.]
“Overload.”
A fierce heat rose from my entire body.
Huge magical power circulated within me, activating the magic sigil.
The geometric patterns engraved on my body began to glow red.
At this moment, I can wield telekinesis at a higher level.
I spread my telekinesis out like a net, gathering the students together.
My head ached as if it would explode.
Being able to do even this much was thanks to the computational assistance of the magic sigil.
“Just a little longer… a little longer!”
I corralled the students into a circular group.
They were squeezed together so tight they couldn’t move.
It was grotesque to see these oddly-shaped humans clumped together.
I maintained my focus and approached slowly.
I sliced off their necks one by one with my sword.
It didn’t take long for dozens of headless corpses to appear.
I took deep breaths and looked around.
I managed to stop all of the charging students.
By the time I finally beheaded the last one, my sword was so dull it was a problem.
I had to hit the neck several times to finally sever it
The reward was three orbs of growth,
which I shoved carelessly into my pocket.
I’ll give them to Park Hayeon later.
Outside the gate, one student was still causing trouble.
“Open the door! Damn it. Don’t you know who our father is? Open the door!”
Now they’re cursing.
It irked me a little, so I said something back.
“Didn’t your mother tell you?”
Back to the guard booth.
Rumble…bang!
Thunder roared and the rain began.
<If it’s raining, lock the doors to the booth and rest your head on the desk. Do not look under the desk.>
Rule #5.
I locked the booth doors and lay my head on the desk.
However, the desk was small, making it hard not to look under it.
I consciously had to hold my head up.
SPLASH!
The rain hit the window glass as if it wanted to break through.
Even though it wasn’t summer, the rain was pouring heavily.
Suddenly, I felt something strange on my leg.
It was slowly climbing up.
“Phew.”
I suppressed the urge to make a sound.
Definitely a hand.
A wet hand.
It was caressing my leg.
At that moment, a male voice came from outside the window.
It was muffled through the glass and the rain.
“Hey! You need to leave! I’m a person who ■■■■! ■■■ doing! I’m Yoo Gi-tae ■■■■, and I follow the duty manual ■■■■!”
I ignored it.
<If it's raining, lock the doors to the booth and rest your head on the desk. Do not look under the desk.>
I must stay like this until the rain stops.
“You ■■■■■ look pretty bad! ■■■ Ghosts getting in your ■■■■■■■ body! You’ll ■■■■■■die!”
Suspicion began to creep in.
Yoo Gi-tae was the person written in the manual.
I recalled my past experience of clearing this dungeon.
‘Did I encounter something like this before?’
No matter how much I thought, there was no such memory.
‘So this must be a random encounter format…’
When I played, there was no such situation.
Apparently, specific events aren’t fixed.
It’s clear now this dungeon uses a random event selection system.
‘What to do…’
Now this has become a true gamble.
I’ve never before been in a situation where I don’t know the answer.
My body trembled.
Until now, I’ve known everything that was going to happen.
Thus, no matter how difficult the conditions, I have never felt fear.
But now?
‘Fuck. What should I do…’
BANG BANG BANG.
The sound of the window being tapped.
I couldn’t help but listen closely.
“Look at the duty manual ■■■■ it keeps ■■■changing! Strange people keep ■■■coming! Trusting that can ■■■make you die! Don’t trust the rulebook! Trust ■■■me!”
The hand that had been caressing my leg was already up to my waist.
Something heavy was on my thigh.
It feels like…probably a head?
I feel moist hair.
I broke out in goosebumps all over.
RUMBLE…BOOM.
Lightning struck.
‘Shit. Should I go out? The duty manual isn’t always right.’
If I choose wrong here, it’s instant death.
I genuinely feel a threat to my life.
