IN GAMAND
NO. 20
W. Seolha
Taehyung easily dodged the rubble of the collapsing cliff with a loud noise and let out a dry cough. He coughed a few more times, then fanned himself with his large hand to clear away the dust that obscured his vision. The hazy dust made it difficult to see ahead. As the dust that had filled the space where Taehyung had stood began to settle, Taehyung, rubbing his stinging eyes, grabbed Inyoung, who was staggering beside him. Hoseok, who had narrowly avoided a fall thanks to Hoseok, smiled awkwardly and thanked Taehyung.
[Main Quest: Search (2)]
Required Quest
The quest entry conditions have been met.
[Main Quest: Search]This continues.
Crea Empire: Northern RegionThe search continues.
The northern region of the empire
Among the areas where 'abnormal phenomena' occur most frequently
It's one.
Search the deployed area
Destroy the 'source'.
player: Bante La Lumian / Kim Tae-hyung
Deployment area: Dehal Mountains
[condition] Destruction of the Dehal Mountains' 'source'
Success Reward: ???
In case of failure: Player death
By achieving the quest completion conditions
You can receive compensation.
Would you like to receive your reward?Y / N
"It's finished. Good work."
"Taehyung did everything, so what?"
Taehyung chuckled at Hoseok's words, barely able to open his eyes. Taehyung brushed off the dirt and dust clinging to his clothes and suggested they rest a bit before setting off, to which Hoseok nodded immediately. His legs were swollen from wandering around all day in search of the 'source,' and the fact that the Dehal Mountains were extremely steep and rugged likely played a part in his decision. When the dust that obscured his vision began to settle, Taehyung found a rock where he could sit down and rest for a while and gestured to Hoseok.
There was no particular reason they came to the Dehal Mountains. Simply put, with Jungkook's complete interpretation of "Vivian's Records," two main quests emerged, and everyone agreed with Yulia that it didn't seem necessary for the five of them to solve them one by one. Furthermore, unlike the "Search" quest assigned to Taehyung and Hoseok, the "Finding Information" quest location was inaccessible to them, which also contributed to their arrival at the Dehal Mountains.
[Main Quest: Finding Materials (2)]
Required Quest
[data]I confirm that I have acquired some of the .
[Main Quest: Finding Materials]It continues to progress.
One of the players you collaborated with
[Old Map]has been obtained.
Existing on the continent[data]Gather them all together
Complete 'Vivian's Record'.
- Obtained [Data] from Duke Ligiane
- Duke Ligiane, please read my [material]
Success Reward: Some of Vivian's records
"Where did you say you were going?" Taehyung muttered, sitting on a nearby rock. He remembered bursting out laughing at Yulia's answer to Hoseok's question about how they were going in, but he couldn't remember where he was going, except for the words. "Well, whatever it was, they'd do well. Their appearance in Yulia's plan might have seemed a little ridiculous to him, but to others, they'd approach the "data" in a way that seemed perfectly normal. Taehyung rummaged through his inventory and pulled out a nearly new notebook and a fountain pen.
"I hope the rest of you are doing well?"
"At least they won't have to endure as much hardship as we did."
“That… that seems to be the case.”
Taehyung met Hoseok's eyes and burst out laughing. Hoseok burst out laughing, a rare occurrence.
Taehyung opened a blank space in his notebook and scribbled down the dates with a smooth stroke of his hand. Taehyung, who had written only up to the year 117 of the Imperial Calendar, furrowed his brow slightly. The date... , he pondered for a moment. Taehyung jotted down a few numbers on the top line of his notebook and began to write down the dates, scribbling them down. The wind blowing from beyond the mountains blew dusty dust through Taehyung's bangs, slightly fluttering. Taehyung felt a surge of elation.
Strictly speaking, this was a diary, but it wasn't something you could write about lightly like a diary. It was more like a fragmented transcription of someone's daily life than a diary: what did you do today, what did you do, what will you do next? However, the fact that that someone was Taehyung, himself, and that it was Taehyung, himself, writing this record, was enough to unsettle him.
"You're probably losing your memories of yourself as Kim Taehyung."
That was right. Taehyung was losing his memory day by day. That was the very reason this notebook existed. After finishing his rough scribbling, Taehyung opened the pages he'd written down earlier. They were densely packed with memories of his time as "Kim Taehyung." Is this what it feels like for a female protagonist in a drama to suffer from amnesia?
"Shall we go back now?"
Taehyung nodded in response to Hoseok's question and closed his notebook. He put the notebook and fountain pen in his inventory and stood up. His face was covered in dust. With a burning desire to return and wash, Taehyung quickened his pace. Regardless of whether or not they heard an eerie rumble from the cliff beyond the broken valley, they simply quickened their pace as they descended the mountain range.
IN GAME
From the carriage rattling through the streets, I gazed out at the colorful lights. I could hear the lively music of a street band playing in the middle of the road. I also saw a few children strolling down the street, carrying a variety of snacks from the stalls scattered along the street. No matter what anyone said, it was the picture of a festive night. Beyond that scene, I was just fiddling with the hem of my dress, which was incredibly uncomfortable.
“…Did it really have to be this way?”
That too, with a very well-dressed Jeon Jungkook.
I glared at him, his eyes wide as he sat across from me, his legs crossed, his expression displeased. "Do you think someone likes this?" I asked, and Jeon Jungkook's expression grew even more sullen. His perfectly fitted, shiny leather shoes swayed noisily around his toes. Even my warning to him to be quiet, as he was so wild, finally calmed him down.
This absurd outing stemmed from the [Old Key]. It wasn't difficult to realize that this key, obtained as a quest completion reward, would be a crucial clue to obtaining another main quest, "Vivian's Records." However, the problem was,
[Old Key]
Other items
When used, some of 'Vivian's Records'
You can obtain it.
Uses: Duke Liziane's Residence / Annex Library
The key's intended use, of all places, was in one of the Empire's only two ducal houses. No, how much better would it have been if it had been Duke Orte? Because the records were in the house of Duke Ligiane, a place we had no connection to, Jeon Jeong-guk and I had to rack our brains to figure out how to retrieve the "records." With no solution, we tried checking other areas first, but the key was missing, and the quest we were given was the problem.
[Main Quest: Finding Materials (2)]
Required Quest
[data]I confirm that I have acquired some of the .
[Main Quest: Finding Materials]It continues to progress.
One of the players you collaborated with
[Old Map]has been obtained.
Existing on the continent[data]Gather them all
Complete 'Vivian's Record'.
- Obtained [Data] from Duke Ligiane
- Duke Ligiane, please read my [material]
Success Reward: Some of Vivian's records
The point was to specifically ask me to obtain the information from Duke Ligiane. Ultimately, whether to complete the quest or something else, it was clear we had to go to Duke Ligiane's residence. But how? It was impossible to trespass on the residence of someone as high as a duke. So, as soon as I realized this, I sought out the person who could possibly be of the greatest help in this regard. Namely,
"Every May, there's a theater festival held in the Dukedom of Ligiane. There's also a banquet at the Duke's residence. You may not remember, but you've been there once or twice. If your goal is to get into the Duke's residence, it would be a good idea to attend the banquet. ...But, it's not serious, is it, Leah?"
Jin Vian Orte, yes, you are Julia's older brother. And his answer was also the reason why Jeon Jeongguk and I were riding in the same carriage, dressed in these extremely uncomfortable (and also extremely flashy) clothes. To attend the banquet of Duke Ligiane. Regardless of who was in the room, since it was impossible for her to attend the banquet alone as a princess, Jin had no choice but to provide a partner, Crown Prince Kylos, that is, Jeon Jeongguk, and so he also rode in the carriage.
If that were all there was to it, it would have been fine. Unfortunately, in this empire, social life wasn't just about casual bickering. Even the slightest flaw would be talked about in banquets and salons across the empire—that was the very essence of imperial society. So, as soon as Jin heard I would be attending the banquet, he came to my dormitory with a very, very thick stack of papers. Regardless of whether I looked horrified by the massive pile or not, he thrust them into my arms and told me that this much information was essential to remember. He laughed lightly when I said it would easily fill five history books. He didn't forget to add that while it wasn't necessary to memorize everything, it was important to have some knowledge to act as "Julia Vian Orte."
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, your majesty, we have arrived."
I woke up from my reverie when the carriage arrived at the Duke of Ligia's residence. Jeon Jungkook got out first through the carriage door opened by the coachman. He brushed away his wrinkled jacket and reached out to me. He gently placed my lace-gloved hand on his tightly fitting black leather one. Countless eyes flew in and fixed on me. I felt sharp gazes lingering between Jeon Jungkook and me. I saw a few people whispering with their mouths covered. I unconsciously tightened my grip, and Jeon Jungkook gently ran his thumb over the back of my hand, as if to encourage me to relax.
"Thank you for your hard work. Please take care of me when you go back."
"Yes, Miss."
The coachman, who bowed deeply to pay homage to Jeon Jungkook and me, slowly straightened up. Our gazes met briefly with the coachman's dark eyes. His pitch-black eyes closed gently. I held back a laugh, grabbed Jeon Jungkook's hand, and turned my back on him. "Good work," I heard Min Yoongi's familiar voice.
“…I would believe it if you said he was a groom from the beginning.”
"Doesn't that sound plausible?"
Jeon Jungkook had a plausible status as a crown prince, and I was Princess Orte, but Min Yoongi didn't. His real-world name was Sugar, and he lived as a commoner without even a last name. There was no way he could enter a banquet hosted by a family as large as a duke's without an invitation. That's why I came up with this solution. There was no need for everyone to head to the library in the annex. So, rather than Jeon Jungkook and I, who had to attend the banquet, sneaking out of the banquet hall and heading to the annex, wouldn't it be better to sneak Min Yoongi into the duke's residence and have him head there? No one would suspect the coachman who entered the duke's residence with his guests.
I firmly held Jeon Jungkook's hand and walked slowly. The faint sound of a carriage pulling away could be heard behind me. The carriage driven by Min Yoongi would head straight to the carriage shed of the Duke of Ligiane, holding the ring I had given him, bearing the Orte House crest. Then, to rest for a while, the coachman would head to the Duke of Ligiane's estate. Of course, no one would know where the coachman went after that. I glanced at the carriage, confirmed it was heading towards the shed, and gently pulled Jeon Jungkook along. It was now our turn to enter the banquet hall.
The banquet hall, once filled with just the right amount of noise, fell silent the moment Jeon Jungkook and I stepped foot into the entrance, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over us. The silence began when one of the musicians in the lively orchestra sprained his strings, sending a loud, unidentified sound reverberating through the hall. The sharp gazes we received were incomparable to those from when we got off the carriage. The Crown Prince and the Princess—what could possibly be this suspicious pairing? I took a deep breath, suffocating under the countless stares. I could feel my palms clamming with tension.
“…It might have been much better if we had disguised Min Yoongi as a servant and gone to the annex.”
"If I disguise myself as a groom, what are you going to do, imitating a horse?"
"Wouldn't the picture be better if it were the other way around?"
"You seem nervous, seeing as you talk nonsense a lot."
"It's the first time I've received this much attention. My whole body feels tingly."
"These are interests that will soon disappear, so you can relax a little."
As I was frozen in awkwardness and tension, Jeon Jungkook led me to the edge of the banquet hall, cracking silly jokes before thrusting a strawberry into my mouth. I opened my mouth and took the strawberry, which was sweet and sour, delicious. I absentmindedly chewed the strawberry and looked around the banquet hall. Except for the subtle shift in the whispers and gazes directed at us due to Jeon Jungkook's actions just now, it was a perfect banquet hall. At this rate, rumors would spread that Yulia had been chosen as the future crown princess. Judging by the delighted gazes of the noble ladies looking at us, it didn't seem entirely impossible. Damn.
As the orchestra resumed its performance, the number of people dancing in circles in the center of the hall increased. Naturally, the eyes that had been fixed on us gradually drifted away. As the music changed several times, there were hardly any people left to look at us. No one bothered to speak to Jeon Jungkook and I, who were pretending to be the flowers on the wall, conversing with each other. To be precise, a few people had approached us earlier in the banquet, but Jeon Jungkook's particularly indifferent response would be more accurate to say they all fled. The crown prince, whose displeasure was visibly expressed, was hardly a pleasant conversationalist, even for the most shameless of nobles. I was no different. Unlike Jeon Jungkook, who retained some memories of Kylos, I had no memories of Yulia. It wasn't pleasant to have to be cautious and keep a conversation going.
Nevertheless, the banquet atmosphere was ripe. The beautifully dressed people, switching partners repeatedly, walked briskly, and the faces of those who chatted quietly away from the hall were filled with joy. The atmosphere reached its peak when the eldest son of the Ligiane Duke family appeared in the banquet hall. It was only natural that the young duke, the star of the banquet, would receive more attention than the crown prince and princess, who were self-proclaimed wallflowers and did nothing. By now, no one was paying attention to us.
Jeon Jungkook suddenly reached out his hand. I nodded, as if questioning his pitch-black glove-covered hand, and Jeon Jungkook waved my hand urging me on. Unable to resist, I placed my hand on his, and he seemed to be dragging me to the center of the banquet hall, so I flinched back, startled.
"Hey! I can't dance!"
"are you okay."
Because I'm good at dancing. Those words that followed left me speechless, unable to help but stare at Jeon Jungkook. I saw him holding my hand with a rather shameless expression. No, if I looked closely, I could see that his earlobes were bright red. Well, even if the real 'Kylos' wasn't an exception, the 'Jeon Jungkook' I knew wouldn't be the kind of person to say such shameless things. You could tell just by the slightly trembling corners of his lips. That sight was both funny and cute, so I willingly walked to the center of the hall. I felt the gazes that had fallen were once again closing in on us.
"I'll say it again, I really can't dance."
"I told you it's okay."
"Okay, you figure it out." I sighed and placed a hand on Jeon Jungkook's shoulder. The basic posture I'd learned from chatting with him and glancing at him from the corner of my eye was the best I could do. The moment I felt Jeon Jungkook's large hand on my waist, he shifted his foot.
It seemed like the rumors about him being a good dancer weren't true. Even with me, who boasted a stiffness comparable to a log, Jeon Jungkook managed to mimic the dance moves quite convincingly. The sight of him stepping to a monotonous beat seemed familiar, so I stared at Jeon Jungkook with a bleary gaze as he danced, eyes downcast. Until he met my gaze, asking, "Why?"
"What kind of wind is blowing that makes you suddenly start dancing?"
“…You must be bored. It was written all over your face that you were bored to death.”
"Was that so?"
"And, since I came to the banquet, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to dance at least once."
"When will we ever get to dance like this again?" Jeon Jungkook said, the corners of his lips turning up prettily. I let out a small laugh, thinking he was right.
We danced and chatted for quite a while. Even though I stepped on Jeon Jungkook's toes a few times, he didn't even flinch and just continued to lead me on the dance. Since I was wearing high heels, I felt guilty and whispered an "apology" to him in a small voice. He just smiled, seemingly oblivious.
After that hearty dance, we continued to chat, pretending to be wallflowers, just like before. This continued until the tedious banquet reached its midpoint. Finally, when I sensed something in the communications stone I'd smuggled in, I led Jeon Jungkook to the empty balcony and hid. Since both my outfits and Jeon Jungkook's were too flashy and uncomfortable to bring a magical tool like a communications stone into the banquet hall, I had no choice but to tuck the communicator away in a small bag strapped to my thigh. While Jeon Jungkook turned around, his ears red, I quickly pulled the communications stone out of the bag. As expected, it was Min Yoongi's communication.
We'd sneak into Duke Ligia's annex, retrieve Vivian's records via an old key, and then communicate. That was the agreement Min Yoongi and I had made beforehand. Time was running out for two communication stones, allowing real-time conversations like phone calls, so we split the stones, which could only transmit short sentences, like modern text messages. Just in case, we prepared two messages for success and failure. In fact, even as I was creating the message for failure, I was complacently thinking, "Surely it wouldn't happen." After all, who would dare break into Duke Ligia's library and steal someone's useless diary? Not even strangers like us, fallen into another world. Which meant we never once considered the possibility of someone intercepting "Vivian's Records." It wasn't unreasonable to assume, foolishly, that this message from Min Yoongi would mean "success." It was only a few days ago that Jeon Jungkook realized that someone had already tampered with Vivian's records in his "old map," yet he was so complacent.
'X'
So, when we realized that the communication from Min Yoongi meant 'failure', Jeon Jungkook and I couldn't help but panic more than a little. To the point where we had the ridiculous thought that maybe he had sent it to the wrong person. That's what I thought until Jeon Jungkook hurriedly pulled out his 'old map' and I hurriedly opened the quest window. There's no way Min Yoongi could have failed. However, after confirming that the Ligiaine residence annex was marked red with an 'X' on Jeon Jungkook's 'old map' and that the contents of the quest window I opened had changed, I had no choice but to believe that Min Yoongi's communication really did mean he had failed.
[Quest Failed]
Main Quest: Finding Materials (2)
Players who do not cooperate with you
'Duke Ligiane's [material]'
I have acquired it.
The [Main Quest] granted
It will automatically fail.
[data]I confirm that I have acquired some of the .
[Main Quest: Finding Materials]It continues to progress.
[Main Quest: Finding Materials (3)]
Required Quest
One of the players you collaborated with
[Old Map]has been obtained.
Existing on the continent[data]Gather them all
Complete 'Vivian's Record'.
- Obtain [Data] from the Letiant Temple
- Viewing the [Data] of the Letiant Temple
-caution-
[Main Quest: Finding Materials (2)] has not been completed.
[Clue] for smooth progress of linked quests
It is not paid.
Success Reward: Some of Vivian's records
"…this,"
I heard Jeon Jungkook click his tongue. He locked eyes with mine and immediately threw open the balcony, an old map in his pocket. Without a word, we exited through the hallway, feeling countless eyes following us. Without a moment to heed them, we began running along the path leading to the Duke's mansion's main gate.
✨
It's only been a month...
With the determination to somehow finish it
I've been writing it down...lol
Sorry for being late...!