Chapter 5

“Did it turn out well?”

Doyugeon asked with an excited expression.

“No.”

I showed him the photos in the smartphone gallery. All the pictures came out stained with rainbow colors. It seems like cameras don’t work properly in this white space after all. I recall hearing rumors about this on the internet.

“Let me see.”

The guy took my smartphone and started recording video as well.

“Is it working?”

“It’s all colorful. Is it just your phone that’s malfunctioning?”

He returned my phone and pulled out his own smartphone.

I turned my head away from Doyugeon and looked around the white space. I’m not sure if this is inside a building or just an empty space. There are no windows or lights, yet it’s bright.

This level of fantasy makes it seem more likely to be just a space rather than a building.

“It’s not working.”

Doyugeon must have stopped recording since he put the phone back in his pocket. Then he pointed his sword at me and waved it around.

“Come on, choose your weapon.”

“What dangerous antics are you up to?”

The guy lowered his sword.

“Ah, sorry. Anyway, choose quickly.”

Looking at the shelf he pointed at, I saw various weapons. They glinted sharply, looking quite real. Not really appealing though.

For some reason, I felt strange looking at that shelf and noticed there was a book there.

What is that?

“Isn’t that a book?”

“Hey! That’s probably a magic book!”

That’s a reasonable assumption. I picked it up.

It’s a hardcover book with fantastical patterns on the cover, as if saying “Magic books look like this.”

When I touched the cover, it felt soft yet slightly rough and firm. Very nice quality. Even if it’s not a magic book, it would make a good addition to my bookshelf. Though I sense something indicating it’s definitely a magic book.

I became somewhat excited, took a deep breath, and opened the first page. It was blank. The first page is usually blank. I kept flipping through it. It’s all blank pages.

Doyugeon laughed beside me.

“Hey, it really is a magic book but I can’t see anything.”

“It’s more like a notebook, but the design is good.”

I have plenty of such notebooks at home.

“Huh? No, I mean I can’t see any content. I guess it’s just blank pages?”

He’s not joking around. So does this magic book have some kind of magic or futuristic technology applied to it?

Focusing my senses, I can feel something arranged like a magic circle within the entire book. It’s more likely to be magic.

“What is it? What is it?”

The guy asked when he noticed I was concentrating.

“Shh.”

I closed my eyes and focused on the book. The sensation surrounding the book must be magic power. For some reason, it feels like it would move if I willed it to.

“Whoa, now I can see. It’s blank pages as you said.”

It worked. I returned the magic power I moved to its original place. Now he can’t see it again.

Focusing not on the book but the surroundings, I can faintly feel the magic power in the world. I’ve been missing this existence until now. Once I become aware of it, I can clearly feel it.

I opened my eyes.

“Amazing, I can feel the magic power in the world.”

“Really? Want to try it?”

“Close your eyes and try to feel it.”

I examined the magic book again. It’s still blank. I can’t sense any magic power, so it’s definitely just blank pages.

Could it really mean to be used as a notebook? If I started writing the magical knowledge I’m learning now, it could become a magic book.

I closed the book and absentmindedly stroked the cover again. It feels great.

Looking to the side, Doyugeon had his eyes closed.

“Can you feel it?”

“Hmm…”

Before long, he opened his eyes.

“Well? Amazing, right?”

“Is this magic power?”

The guy waved his arms in the air.

“There is magic power, but what you’re waving is just air.”

“Is that so? I can’t feel any magic power.”

“Can’t feel it?”

“Can’t feel it.”

“Why?”

“You sometimes say weird things. This is one of those times.”

I guess this guy lacks talent.

“Rather, can you move magic power?”

“Yeah.”

“Then try shooting it.”

“Huh?”

“Just like in games where people gather magic power and shoot it. It seems like something similar might be possible.”

Shooting it seems simple enough, but before we can determine if physical force can be exerted using magic power, I think it’ll work.

There’s no need to specifically gather magic power for the experiment. I pushed the air with magic power. A soft breeze blew nearby. It worked.

“Was that the breeze just now?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s totally a wizard! Always stuck in a room reading books, you’ve become a wizard.”

“Not really.”

“Nonetheless, it’s your calling. Let’s go. It’s time for adventure.”

The guy turned around and started walking. Toward the door.

As I followed, I checked the time. It’s nearly 7 PM. I did text mom, but I should go home now. Even though it’s May and the sun might not have set yet, it’ll get dark soon.

Doyugeon pointed at the doors with the tip of his sword. There are a total of 5 doors with large numbers written on them: 1, 25, 50, 75, 100.

“I totally get it. This is level restriction.”

“If this is a game then that’s right, but this is the real world.”

Doyugeon looked at me and smiled.

“But it is fantasy.”

The guy approached the door marked with “1.”

“Doyugeon.”

When he turned around, I continued.

“What time is it now?”

“I’m not that curious.”

“It’s nearly 7 PM. We should go home now, right?”

“Is that something only kids who go to bed at 10 PM without fail would say?”

Well, I do go to bed at 10 PM on the dot.

“Yeah, that’s right. So I’m going home, what about you?”

The guy alternated his gaze between me and the door. Then he approached the door marked with “1” and grabbed the doorknob.

“Then let’s just open the door.”

The guy peeked through after slightly opening the door and beckoned me over with his hand.

When I approached and looked through the door crack, it was another room. There was a single door at the far end of the room and a slime in the center. Not a boss slime, just a regular slime you’d usually encounter.

“It’s another slime.”

That’s what Doyugeon said and then looked at me.

“Try killing that with magic.”

“I said I’m going home.”

“Oh come on, just once.”

“Hmm…”

The slime looks ordinary. I can sense that it will probably die with just one hit.

“Alright, fine. Just once.”

I gathered the magic power from the air. Is it enough? Gathering a bit more, I hit the slime, causing a cracking sound. Golden powder flew around.

Doyugeon muttered weakly.

“It’s not even a decoy…”

—

It was Tuesday after the weekend and the substitute holiday for Children’s Day on Monday. When I got on the subway for my way home, Doyugeon was there. He looked dazed. Why is he like that?

“Doyugeon?”

“Huh? Oh, you’re here?”

“What’s the matter? You don’t look good.”

“Does it show? My grades came out today.”

“Oh, grades.”

At my middle school, grades were sent via text over the weekend, but the middle school Doyugeon attends didn’t have them out yet. They must have come out today. And he seems to have failed. How should I console him?

“Don’t worry. Grades now aren’t that important. Third year of middle school and high school are more important.”

“Rather, if my grades are bad, I’ll have to go to cram school as per the agreement…”

Right, he did make that agreement. Why did he make that agreement in the first place? I patted his back.

“It’s okay, it’s fine. Just go to it.”

“Hey, you’re saying it so easily like it’s someone else’s problem?”

I wasn’t trying to tease him.

“Cram school isn’t a big deal.”

“You haven’t even tried it.”

I did try it in my previous life.

“I learned from what people around me said, and I even went to check it out. It’s really nothing special.”

“Ugh…”

The guy remained gloomy until we exited the subway. This is quite worrying.

When I got home, I turned on my laptop. The internet was still filled with unverified rumors. There was also talk about the white space and how opening a level 1 room would reveal a slime, all mixed up. These are absurd rumors but the fact remains that it’s true, how strange.

I searched what’s inside when you open the inner door of the level 1 room. As expected, talk of monsters came up. The stories range from goblins to dragons.

In addition to monsters, there are other mentions about how the inner doors can only be entered from level 2 onwards, so you need to level up first, or that a message saying “Update in preparation” showed up when the doorknob was touched, and so on.

Judging by the consistent claims that the doors won’t open, they likely won’t. Probably.

The next day, when I met Doyugeon on the subway, he had a better expression. When I asked why, he said he talked to his parents and promised to study hard going forward, so he won’t be going to cram school. Moreover, the guy declared he will take a break from adventuring for the sake of studying. What enthusiasm.

By the way, isn’t there a sports festival from tomorrow until Friday and a school trip from next Monday to Wednesday? When I asked him about his school schedule, it turned out to be the same.

I doubt he’ll really study hard, but at least his enthusiasm is commendable, so I encouraged him.

After the sports festival and the weekend passed, the school trip also went by, and a few days later, it was the weekend again. Amazingly, until then, the guy didn’t ask me to play and continued studying. What an respectable result for him.

Recently on the internet, rumors about the inner doors not opening were decreasing, and the discussion on how to deal with goblins was ongoing.

The discussion was happening on the Slime Explorer website. Since people seem to use this site to enter the white space, there is relatively more specific information here. Though those can’t necessarily be trusted.

The discussion has been ongoing since a few days ago. It began with what kind of weapons to use, moved on to talk about acquiring guns, and suddenly claims about resurrection came up. After that, a quarrel broke out between some who really believed in resurrection and the majority who wanted to stop ruining the discussion.

Not long after, the number of people believing in resurrection increased, and some well-known ones even joined in, shifting the discussion topic to how we can confirm resurrection while not dying.

Then the idea of offline meetings became prominent, dates were set, the meeting was successfully arranged. Although I didn’t attend.

Resurrection sounds hard to believe, but the existence of goblins and the fact that fighting a goblin could be fatal seems true.

I received a call from Doyugeon.

“Why? Problems with your studies?”

“Not because of studies, but let’s go on an adventure now. Aren’t you home? Log in.”

“Are you tired of studying?”

“Haha. The time to really study hard is during exam periods. I can do that later, right?”

“You haven’t increased your grades but only your tricks.”

Current Sky picked up her mug, which was emptied of coffee, and headed to the kitchen.

“Anyway, let’s play.”

“Playing is good, but I don’t want to log in.”

“Why?”

“Haven’t you checked out the Explorer?”

“I did.”

The discussion?

“I participated as well.”

Did you go to the offline meeting?

While taking out an espresso capsule and starting the coffee machine,

“It’s not that, I just participated in the discussion.”

“If you’ve seen it, you should know. They say goblins appear and it’s dangerous. So isn’t it better to just stop logging in and only search?”

“They say you can resurrect.”

“Really? If you seriously believe that.”

The coffee was done. Taking out the mug and pouring the foamed milk on top, the cappuccino was complete.

While the espresso was turning into cappuccino, the guy made sounds of deep contemplation but said nothing. Apparently, it might not be to his liking.

Doyugeon said,

“Then, let’s just play today.”

“Alright.”

That day, we played realistically. Then Sunday came.

I’ve recently developed a new hobby, practicing magic. The reason is that I realized a surprising application soon after learning about magic.

The disadvantage of paper books is the weight. Holding or supporting them for a long time makes your arm or wrist hurt. There are bookstands available, but the inconvenience of having to adjust them every time you turn a page leads to situations where you end up reading e-books despite wanting to read paper books.

If we have magic, the story changes.

If we use magic to hold a paper book, it not only solves the problem but also enables new reading methods. It makes it possible to read while lying down or even while eating. I might not be the type to read while eating, but it’s an impressive development nonetheless.

However, when I actually tried it, it turned out to be difficult. Though shooting magic power is simple and easy, trying to lift an object proved challenging. The balance wasn’t right, causing constant shaking. Moreover, I struggled to control the force, leading to crumpled pages. Fortunately, lifting the object itself was easy, but this method would make reading impossible.

So I practiced lifting the magic book I brought from the white space. The magic book is firm and durable, making it easier to lift.

Two weeks of practice were effective. Although the book still wobbles slightly, I can now stabilize it enough to read the text comfortably. However, I still cannot control the force well enough to prevent pages from crumpling, so I’m not using this method for reading yet. But it’s still a good achievement, and a bright future lies ahead.

After finishing today’s practice, I stretched. That’s when a strange event occurred. I felt something in my senses and looked into the air to see golden powder flying out before disappearing.

“What?”

What is this? Why is experience points flying towards me? Feeling uneasy, I called Doyugeon, but he didn’t answer.

The amount of golden powder that flew in was significantly more than the usual amount given by slimes. What is this guy doing right now?

I sent him a text message and KakaoTalk message, then called again several times. He still didn’t pick up. Then the experience points flew in again.

It seems like the guy is hunting right now and hasn’t disbanded the party, so the experience points are being distributed.

Judging by the intervals, he shouldn’t be in a dangerous situation.

I’ll trust that for now.

Current Sky pushed her hair up.

“Log in.”

—

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