Let This Be A Lesson

'Appraisal.'

[Error. You are unable to appraise the item.]

'Ah. I should have known.'

Haneul smiled wryly. Due to his curiosity, he had tried to appraise the crystalline stone that was on his forehead but, his efforts were deemed futile.

'In any case, I already have a gist of what it is anyway.'

[Race: Godling - a god with an immature godhead.]

'Truthfully, it was a design fail on my part. Putting a god's only weakness, the godhead, right in the middle of the forehead... It's as if it's screaming 'I'm here! Come get me!'. It was really a stupid move.'

Really? A godhead on the forehead? No matter how much you want to make a bad pun, there is a line you must'nt cross. Get a grip on yourself, author!

Haneul laid on top of a bed made with fairy shrooms.

It had been two hours since they first departed and now, they were taking a short break because Leo inexplicably got a stomach ache.

Wonder how that happened.

Fortunately, they haven't encountered any monsters... yet.

"Yaa... Who knew that these things actually were that bad. Poor guy." Although he said it that way, it was obvious to everyone that Red didn't feel a tiny bit of pity for Leo who was busy trying to get something out of his stomach. "But, it should be a good lesson for him. One should not put questionable things in one's mouth after all."

As much as Haneul wanted to stay away from this strange boy, he couldn't help but nod in agreement. What Leo did trully was stupid.

If one saw a glowing mushroom, one would normally opt to not touch it but, that guy actually went and ate one! So to say, he got what he deserved.

And besides, it's not as if they were close enough to warn each other about everything.

So...

'Why am I just going along with this?'

"Oh! A strange notification just popped up." Red suddenly exclaimed in wonder. "Heh. Appraisal, huh? So this was what you were doing a while ago."

Appraisal?

Haneul stared at Red incredulously. 'How?'

"Ah, I got bored so I copied what you were doing, jiaro." Red answered despite Haneul not voicing his question aloud.

'Your memory is that powerful?!!'

"No, no! I've been taking notes on everything that was happening since earlier in the hall." Innocently smiling, the strange boy pulled a small notebook out of nowhere. "It's very helpful for keeping track of useful information."

"..."

'Please stop smiling like it's nothing. It's seriously scary.'

"Eh??? But, it's normal though?"

...

"Chii!!!"

Tap! Tap! Tap!

As the time passed slowly to what could be predicted as early morning in the dungeon, unsettling sounds began to drift in, sounding closer by the minute.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for Leo to finish his business; finally managing to rid himself of the fairy shroom... as well as yesterday's lunch and dinner.

"Ah?! I don't remember eating corn?"

Finally, after the long wait, they began to continue along their way.

The dark corridors which only had the fairy shrooms to provide for dim lighting loomed gloomily ahead. Though, despite the seemingly suffocating atmosphere, the trio themselves were walking carefreely.

"Where are we going?" Despite the way he decided to tag along without a second thought, Leo was actually feeling somewhat concerned. "Do you even know where you're heading?"

"Nope." Red answered in a needlessly confident manner. "But he does."

Suddenly being pointed at, Haneul instinctively shuddered.

'North. North... Exit is north.'

"Mm. The general direction, right?" Red nodded in understanding. "But, we've been walking in a curved path for quite a while, you know. I would like to know a detailed way out of this maze, if that is possible."

Somehow, the air felt colder.

Although the boy had asked in a seemingly polite manner, Haneul felt as if he wasn't actually given a choice at all.

'Mom, it's so scary here. I wanna go home.'

"F-flower..." Haneul stuttered, trying to explain clearer but his thoughts somehow didn't want to turn into actual words. Finally, he just gave up and found a piece of rubble then, began to scribble on the floor.

Very soon, a somewhat simplified sketch of a flower with four petals and a relatively long stem came about.

This entire underground maze is shaped like a flower. The space where they first appeared in was the center part of the flower and, the four archways led into the four petals. All the other petals though, were dead ends filled with monsters except for the north petal which led to the stem where the exit to the surface was located.

"Ah, I see." Red rubbed his chin in deep thoughts. "As I thought. It really was a good decision to follow you."

"Eh? Ah? What?" Feeling left out, Leo glanced between his two strange companions in confusion. For some reason, it felt as though the two of them were having some sort of conversation without actually speaking any words. "What's with the flower???"

"If this is the case, traversing through this maze is actually much simpler than it seems. The only problem is the time limit." Red mumbled quietly. "How long do we have exactly?"

'Five days.'

"Ah, it's really cutting it close." Red shook his head. "We've not even passed the first ring around the petal."

'There's monsters too.'

"Heh. We're gonna have to speedrun through it." Red somehow arrived to that conclusion.

But...

In a place where the average person's stats are around 8 points...

'Agility is 9 but Stamina is only 7. If monsters attacked us, with my Strength a measly 6 and Defense being an embarrassing 5, I can only be a paper decoration.'

"..." Silently, Red seemed to be looking at Haneul with a gaze full of pity. "Don't worry. If worst come to worst, you can still use Leo as a meatsheild."

"...Huh?"

'Seriously. It's not something to joke about.'

"Oops. Sorry."