"What in the world... is this? How can an extinct crop have such an effect..."
Lee Eunjae looked back and forth between Baek Eun and the potato with shaking eyes.
Since he was also an awakener, he had probably checked the system window.
"It's a potato buff. The effect only lasts for a week though."
Baek Eun said this while sneakily checking the potato's information.
Item Description
Name: Boiled Potato
Grade: S
Description: Freshly harvested new potatoes boiled to be even more delicious. When consumed, the heart becomes strong and sturdy for one week.
Lee Eunjae's expression became dumbfounded. A face that said he couldn't believe it even after experiencing it directly.
"How can this happen...! Is this your ability?"
"Yes, well. Something like that."
He couldn't continue speaking for a while. Emotions of confusion, gratitude, surprise, and awe passed over his face in turn.
After looking down at the potato with an overwhelmed expression for a long time, Lee Eunjae muttered quietly.
"You've saved me twice now. Could this also be fate?"
Baek Eun ignored Lee Eunjae's talk of fate and rejoiced in her own thoughts.
'So the potato's effect works!'
Crazy. At this level, aren't I really freaking amazing? I'm basically a walking natural pharmacy, totally!
While she was praising herself alone with satisfaction.
"Then we must survive and get out of here. Do you have any protective armor or accessories?"
Lee Eunjae asked with a firmly determined face.
"No. Do you?"
"I have two physical protection rings. I'll give you one."
"Thank you!"
Baek Eun didn't refuse and quickly accepted it. She had no intention of making insincere refusals when her life was on the line.
Lee Eunjae opened his mouth with a slightly shy face.
"Shall we introduce ourselves? It feels a bit awkward to keep calling you 'you' and 'you.'"
"I'm Baek Eun."
Baek Eun extended her hand for a handshake. Then Lee Eunjae looked at that hand for a moment before answering with a small smile.
"I'm Lee Eunjae."
Lee Eunjae's hand, which she grasped, was cool unlike Lee Dojae's. Slowly releasing his hand, Lee Eunjae opened his mouth.
"Now there's 10 minutes left. Shall we buy some potions or protective gear from Hunter Market before we depart?"
"Let's do that."
Agreeing with Lee Eunjae's words, Baek Eun was browsing Hunter Market when she suddenly lifted her head with a flash of realization.
'Baek Dan probably knows about this situation by now?'
The coins she currently had were 6,500. An absurdly insufficient amount to buy weapons or protective gear.
After seeming to think for a moment, Baek Eun registered a potato on Hunter Market.
Item: Potato
Price: 589,191 coins per piece
Would you like to register the item?
Yes│No
Baek Eun touched 'Yes' and checked her wristwatch. The remaining time was 8 minutes.
If it was Baek Dan, he would probably understand her intention.
∞∞∞
At Café Lynn in Sinchon. Baek Dan had met Lee Dojae and heard the whole story.
So, my sibling made a contract with this bastard.
"I'm sorry the situation turned out this way. I didn't know Miss Baek Eun would arrive early and be waiting."
"Forget that, does your sibling have sufficient protective gear?"
"I bought quite a bit, but I'm not sure if he brought it."
"My sibling probably has fucking nothing... Ha."
He regretted immensely not buying protective gear and weapons in advance even after knowing she became an awakener.
He should have gone to get the awakener card and gone to the department store earlier.
Since they could access Hunter Market inside the dungeon, while Baek Dan was making a self-reproachful face, hoping she would buy something with the coins from selling lettuce.
Something suddenly came to mind.
'Right, Hunter Market!'
"If Eunjae has them, she'll probably share, so don't worry too much..."
"Wait. Just a moment."
Baek Dan, who cut off Lee Dojae's words, accessed Hunter Market. After searching through items, Baek Dan found what he wanted and smirked.
"Really ingenious, our Eun-ie."
As Baek Dan expected, Baek Eun had left him a message.
One potato for 589,191 coins.
No matter how extinct the crop was, there was no crazy person who would pay such a large amount. The meaning was roughly, "Oppa, save me."
'She's asking to be saved with money.'
Baek Dan purchased the potato for 589,191 coins without hesitation.
Converted to Korean won, it was an amount close to 600 million won.
"All I can do in this situation is support her wholeheartedly like this."
"What are you talking about?"
Lee Dojae asked with a puzzled expression. Baek Dan didn't answer and stared intently at Hunter Market.
After waiting briefly, another potato appeared.
This time for 1,472,230 coins.
When they were young, Baek Dan and Baek Eun had once talked to each other in numbers out of curiosity about beeper codes.
Instantly interpreting the meaning, Baek Dan let out a sigh of relief.
1472 230. Smoothly and without incident.
"My sibling and your sibling, I think they're okay for now."
Please stay safe until the very end.
Baek Dan glared at the gate with a boiling heart.
∞∞∞
It wasn't until 3 minutes before the safe zone boundary disappeared that the potato registered on Hunter Market sold.
"Whew, that was nerve-wracking."
Thanks to Baek Dan not being late, Baek Eun was able to purchase weapons, protective gear, and potions from Hunter Market.
Since you never knew when monsters would appear after entering a dungeon, it was better to prepare everything while in the safe zone.
'Since you can't leisurely use Hunter Market inside the dungeon.'
After purchasing generously and sharing with Lee Eunjae, the safe zone boundary collapsed at the perfect timing.
Thus, the two took their first step into the dungeon where monsters poured out.
As the opaque safe zone barrier disappeared, the first thing they felt was an indescribably terrible smell.
"Ugh. What is this smell."
Monsters weren't visible yet, but the dungeon was filled with a sour smell strong enough to paralyze the nose. Her brow automatically furrowed.
'It's sweet yet sour. What kind of combination is this.'
Moreover, the floor they were stepping on was sticky and felt very unpleasant.
The dungeon's atmosphere was dark overall, and looking around, there was nothing but emptiness.
"What kind of place is this?"
"The sensation on my feet... feels like being stuck in a swamp."
Looking up at the sky, there was something murky and opaque surrounding them.
It seemed they were trapped in an indoor dungeon, not an outdoor one.
'What is with this texture. I really hate it...'
Frowning and moving forward, a buzzing sound was heard from somewhere.
Startled, Baek Eun stopped walking with Lee Eunjae behind her. She gripped the machete (a blade also called a billhook or jungle knife) purchased from Hunter Market tightly.
"Wait. Don't you hear something from somewhere?"
"...I hear it. It sounds like flying insects."
Lee Eunjae answered with a stiff voice, having paled slightly.
"Damn it. I really hate insects."
Gripping the machete tightly in one hand, Baek Eun looked around with a tense face.
The dungeon the two were in had a somewhat unique structure; looking closely, it was shaped like a cube.
A sticky, dark place emitting a sour smell.
A chilling premonition passed down her spine.
"This wall seems a bit weak? If we're careful, we might be able to break through and move."
Lee Eunjae called out to Baek Eun and said. When he lightly swung the machete in his hand, cracks really began to form on the wall.
"Surely we don't have to make our way out like this."
"I think so. I haven't seen any other exits since earlier..."
Clicking her tongue, Baek Eun swung the machete with all her might.
Damn it. If I'd known this, I should have bought an axe.
She was contemplating whether to buy an axe even now.
Once again, the buzzing sound grew louder as if tearing her eardrums, and shortly after, the place where the two were standing became dark.
The hand swinging the machete stopped. Baek Eun's head automatically lifted to the sky, and she discovered something flying there.
'...Crazy.'
That's a bee. And one twice the size of a person...!
Lee Eunjae also looked up at the sky following Baek Eun and turned deathly pale.
"Excuse me, Mr. Lee Eunjae."
"...Yes?"
"Run!"
From then on, the two madly broke through walls and ran around avoiding the bees.
"No! Fuck! Why are they so fast!"
Perhaps because they were awakeners and stronger than ordinary people, they could break through walls instantly when the moment of crisis came.
But so what.
'That bastard is flying and chasing right behind us.'
It was terrifying enough to die with them sticking right to her ass like a needle in a butt.
"Argh! Where the hell does this end!"
"Be careful, Miss Baek Eun! It seems we're going deeper inside!"
At Lee Eunjae's shout, as they broke through a wall, a bee that had been sucking on something inside turned its head.
It was a queen bee.
"Ah crazy. Of all places to end up, the queen bee's room..."
They couldn't turn around and go another way. Right behind them was a giant king honeybee targeting the two, larger than the one from before.
Caught between a rock and a hard place. Surrounded on all sides. Was there any phrase more appropriate than this?
The hand holding the machete trembled.
"I think we're fucked, haha..."
It was then.
The queen bee, which had been eating royal jelly, emitted a bizarre sound toward where the two were.
Then king honeybees began swarming in from somewhere, buzzing.
"E-Excuse me, Mr. Lee Eunjae. Do you have any other skills besides World Eye?"
"...I do, but it's not a very helpful ability in the current situation."
'Judge oppa! Please do something!'
Baek Eun's mind was completely chaotic from her internal scream.
Soon, as if making a final desperate struggle, she poured out skills randomly.
"Argh! Seed sowing! Ack! No! Cancel seed sowing! Harvest!"
[There is no suitable place around the user to use the skill.]
"Anything is fine! Clean Service!"
[There is no suitable place around the user to use the skill.]
"Purification!"
The moment she shouted with her eyes squeezed shut, a white light burst from Baek Eun's hand and covered the swarm of bee monsters.
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