Chapter 25: Chapter 19: Decision (2)

During our stay in the darkness, there was a singular light source hanging above us that stung the eyes when looked at directly, and a buffet-like table.

On such a table held a round tray, and placed daintily inside was a singular fortune cookie, the type that was given out as freebies at M*ndarin, and an iconic snack of theirs.

Just by looking at one of those fortune cookies wrapped in its pink-patterned transparent plastic, I could recall what texture they had on my tongue, once upon a time.

So what was this fortune cookie doing here? It was so incongruent with all the deaths happening outside its reaches that the others looked at the object in a daze.

I was sure they had the same information as I that this was a normal occurrence in this scenario, but seeing it with their own eyes renewed a sensation of puzzlement.

"Alright, I guess I'm up." Sighed Christina, who walked up to the tray and picked up the fortune cookie, unraveling it in one crisp motion which I suspect she must have a rich array of experience with said plastic wraps.

"One carp, two carps, will I be lucky today?" Muttering a strange chant, Christina broke the fortune cookie cleanly in half and plucked out the strip of paper wedged in-between.

[Stigma, Luck lv. 4 has been activated!]

Straightening the bent fortune slip, Christina read out-loud the printed words.

"Eating Challenge: Eat everything on the buffet table in ten minutes. If not, players will be forced to undergo a punishment."

Before our eyes, a myriad of M*ndarin dishes, still piping hot and curling with steam, filled the empty table, the strong aroma of salt, oil, cooked meat, cooked vegetables and sauces assaulting our olfactory.

Ticking above the buffet table was a glowing box of numbers.

[9:59]

A menacing aura rose from Kim Ulguam, even if he kept his gentlemanly features intact. I could feel he was perusing the food like he could swallow it whole. Not that it was an exaggeration.

[Skill, Increased Digestion lv. 3 and Pig Eating lv. 4 is activated!]

...His first impression and the one he carried out when eating made me wonder if I was looking at the same person. It was amazing how the food disappeared with his vivacious actions.

While Kim Ulguam was dishing it out with the food, the other members and I stepped forward to contribute what we could.

"Sunbae, how dare you take that fried fish! It was in my bowl!"

"Just let me have consolation for taking a hit, hoobae,"

Meanwhile, Su Peng was just shoving some rice in his mouth until it puffed up like a chipmunk stuffing nuts and seeds into its pouch.

I popped a green pepper into my mouth with one of the forks provided and crunched it. The spicy kick of pepper smell and natural sweetness mixed well with the sauce.

In fact, eating anything at the moment was a blessing to me.

How long has it been since I last ate any food?

It was an embarrassing moment, but my eyes teared up and I could have cried if not for the presence of others.

Dang it, it tasted so good!

As I continued to savor the food, even if it was unhealthy food, I eventually realized that there was none left on the table.

Christina let out a loud belch that got berated by Jie Kushin, who seemed to bicker with just about anyone, and Kim Ulguam had reinstated his cleanliness by wiping the grease and sauce off his face thoroughly.

[Time limit is up!]

[Congratulations on passing the first challenge!]

A magic trick defying the laws of physics slid the table out of sight into the darkness, and a newer, smaller, table rose in its place.

Upon the table was a tray, and another fortune cookie.

"I'm stuffed...how about we take a break, party leader?" Jie Kushin patted his bloated belly.

Christina acquiesced, sporting a lazy expression.

I really wanted to question if these were the same people who were determined for death before entering the scenario, but I was probably having the same kind of expressions as them.

Even Su Peng, who kept quiet, had a small satisfied smile.

Kim Ulguam nodded his head.

"I see no harm in that. According to the intel, there is no time limit in between the challenges. Please have a good rest everyone. We shall proceed in approximately half an hour."

We all did our food-digesting exercises while having small conversations with each other to get to know each other better, or to discuss the scenario.

"You know, spy friend, I might have ancestry with plants. I can't go without sunlight in a day, or I'll wilt." Jie Kushin told me this random tidbit at one point.

Huh, so that's why he's got this sunny aura. Was the thought trying to make sense of it all, but instead I laughed because it was funny, giving myself a stomach pain.

"Well, we do share roughly 50% of our genes with trees," Su Peng offered.

"No, I think Sunbae may have fish genes, because he has very bad memory." Christina deadpanned.

"Hoobae, you have no respect for your seniors!" Jie Kushin bristled and then chased after Christina who then screamed out,

"Assault! Assault!"

And Kim Ulguam just smiled as he watched, along with that large metal plate on his back.

In this relaxed manner, the agreed time of the second challenge arrived.

Once again, with her Luck stigma that played a large role in this domain, Christina was the one who opened the fortune cookie to get to the hidden trigger for the challenge inside.

"No luck this time, party leader." Christina shook her head.

As she backed away from the table, a cotton-candy maker dropped from the sky and began to spin without the urgings of human hands, weaving a green-gleaming cloud of sugar on a stick, until five were assembled, no doubt filling in the current number of players.

This time, the rules were simple.

Every person would pick one of the apple-flavored cotton candies to eat, and then written on the stick would be a fill-in the blank about the history of M*ndarin.

To pass, the culminated total of correct guesses had to be 4/5, and no one could help the other with the answers, or it was considered an instant failure of the challenge.

The time limit for this was five minutes instead of ten.

So as I retrieved my own sugary cotton candy, I thought to myself, I'm screwed.

After all, why would I spend time to read up on M*ndarin history when I could read my beloved novels instead? ...that sounds self-deprecating.

Anyways, the Cotton Candy stick's fill-in the blank I got was something about when Sushi was introduced to the buffet, when I thought it was there when M*ndarin first was constructed.

Furrowing my brows, I contemplated the possible time periods.

It must be past the 1920s, when restaurant franchising began, right?

Looking up from the fill-in-the-blank, I found they all supported furrowed brows, and Christina was even biting her nails.

Finding my brain turning up in a blank, I slowly ate the melting cotton-candy I peeled away from the stick to look at the sentence, feeling it decompose in my mouth like its volume from before was a lie.

[0:05]

Ahh, I'll just put in a bunch of random numbers. Guessing is better than a blank answer.

So I used the push-to-talk option on the screen and spoke my answer to sentence '4', "1864."

Following that, Kim Ulguam, Christina, Jie Kushin and Su Peng submitted their answers consecutively.

"1979."

"Buffet!"

"...vegetables?"

"Grill section."

[Answers have been submitted. The correct answer percentage is 40%. You have failed the second challenge, but don't give up, there is still the third round!]

"Ah crap, but I was confident in my answer," Christina scratched the back of her head, mussing up her hair.

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Jie Kushin used this chance to strike and get back at his hoobae, "This is why you should study more, ah, airhead."

"And did you get yours right?" Christina snapped back, but was stopped by Kim Ulguam this time.

He firmly said, "Save this for later. This last round is our last chance, and we need to all be mindful and focused. No one wants to suffer the punishment, right?"

Christina and Jie Kushin both paled, reminded of the intel they had gotten. After all, being chased by a bunch of ginormous Koi Fish as food wasn't a pleasant thought, especially being underwater where they would be hard-pressed to outpace its natural inhabitants.

So they had especially serious faces on as they prepared for the third round, as if they were going off into war.

[Stigma, Luck lv. 4 has been strongly activated!]

"Obstacle Course: Reach the coin basket and toss a wish into the fountain in 6 minutes!"

Christina had straightened out the fortune slip so harshly I was worried she might snap it in two with her strength stat instead.

The paper showed its powerful endurance, fortunately.

"Su Peng, Jie Kushin, get ready. You will be the vanguard. Christina, you will be in the middle, and I will bring up the rear." Kim Ulguam gestured, and swiftly, a formation was assembled.

"Um, party leader, what about me?" I raised my hand and gestured to myself, noticing I wasn't called.

Kim Ulguam stilled, and Jie Kushin answered in his stead,

"Truthfully Spy friend, we didn't actually bring you along because we needed your knowledge. We just wanted to find a way to make it up to you, so here we are."

Well, it was true that they were fully prepared by the way things progressed, and I had practically had a free ride so far, but I didn't actually expect that answer.

At first I was a bit stunned as I worked to comprehend the words, and then felt a little soft.

"Well, I don't feel good doing nothing, so I'll help as I can. I'm a little more skilled with the dagger. Giving me something for free is harming me instead." I smiled at them.

So I stepped forward to bring up the rear with Kim Ulguam, to not interfere with the vanguard, and react passively along with Kim Ulguam.

Su Peng and Jie Kushin paved the way, swiftly working together to disable the traps that were set up along the way.

Surprisingly, when Su Peng was serious, he was a loud, confident person not afraid to give orders, contrary to his normally quiet self and gentle drooping eyes.

"Jie Kushin, to your right," Called Su Peng.

Quickly thereafter, Jie Kushin grabbed an indeterminable small amount of seeds that he hurtled to the ground, the rounded shapes scattering across the area Su Peng Pointed out.

Pushing himself a little more, face becoming haggard, Jie Kushin activated his skill to quickly germinate the seeds.

The first tender light-green budding leaves of the seedlings popped out, quickly becoming a swarthy mess of crawling vines.

The floor combusted after the trap had been activated by the clever green tendrils, and the plants strained against the explosion, charring into a black mess that shrunk in dejection.

"Clear!" Jie Kushin hoarsely called out, drinking water in the meantime.

As we dashed down the shortest path to the fountain Su Peng pointed out in the minefield, his arms spread wide, preventing the party from advancing.

"Stop!" His eyes glowing a dull yellow, Su Peng yelled out his orders.

Skidding to a halt, a split second before we made contact with the area, a rain of needles dropped from the air, stabbing into the ground with such ferocity that it worried me that anyone unfortunate enough not to notice would have been pierced into becoming a porcupine.

The others gulped, but according to Su Peng, this was already the least dangerous route for them to traverse.

Unfortunately, the traps in the obstacle course ahead were not the 'consumable' kind of trap, but one that kept resetting over time.

"Leave it to your leader." Kim Ulguam came to the front, placing his hand on Su Peng's shoulder.

Before our very eyes, he swelled to twice his size, towering over us in a protective stance. The crude helmet and large metal plate on his back was finally going to be put to use.

I was alarmed after sensing his intentions through his body language.

"Party Leader, won't this be dangerous?" I said before I could think.

"Don't worry, I take less damage in this form, Spy-ssi." Kim Ulguam smiled, and on a signal, they began to charge through.

Using the last of his strength that he could muster, Jie Kushin's sweaty face bleached white, and the seeds around sprouted into a line of defense. Branches of shrubs twisted their way into a dome, trying their best not to obscure our vision.

But it was not enough to make it down the long needle corridor.

The first to go was the shrubs as they shredded and fell.

Needles made it through the gaps of Kim Ulguam's arms, grazing our arms and legs, but thankfully, the metal plate was holding on, even if the clangs were worrying.

Our stamina waning, the distance between us and the fountain halved every single time, but never quite covering the distance we wanted.

This can't go on. I thought.

So I decisively decided to go through an on-the-spot messily created idea.

"Party leader, throw me." I tucked my arms close to my sides.

A flash of surprise went over the grimacing face of Kim Ulguam, but registering the words, he embraced this crazy idea.

I bunched my legs and drew myself into a human cannonball position, which Kim Ulguam launched with all his remaining strength.

Flying through the shroud needles before they could reach me from above, I reached the ground with my feet. Using all the strength in my lv 6 stat, I pushed off, my high leveled agility carrying me the rest of the way.

a few needles caught up, and even though I dodged to the best of my ability, a few sliced more cuts open, bringing with it a stinging, burning pain so bad I wanted to faint.

Close!

Diving forward and rolling, a few pierced my flesh.

"Ugh...huh..." I groaned, feeling nauseated at seeing the sight of the needles so deep underneath my skin.

Struggling to my feet, a hurried sense of adrenaline swept away part of the pain and weakness, and with a shaky hand with two needles sticking out of it, I picked up a coin from the basket and tossed it in.

[Congratulations! You have reached the fountain. What is your wish?

1. Heal all wounds, including the other players.
2. Triple the coin reward amount.
3. Lucky draw.

*Pick carefully, as you are only able to choose one.]

I released a breath I wasn't aware I was holding. 

Finally, we reached the end. Unfortunately, there was no time to contemplate which reward to choose.

"Option 1."

[All wounds have been healed.]

Next, I watched as magic did its work as the obstacle course disappeared, except for the fountain, as well as the wounds mending themselves on my body.

Soon, the pain disappeared, and curiously, I pinched the flesh that had fresh blood flowing from them moments earlier.

[A wish has been declared. You have won the challenge! Please toss your coin in, and state your desired reward.]

Kim Ulguam and his party approached, each taking an intricate and gold-foiled coin from the basket and watching it sink through the water to the floor of the fountain.

As I watched them contemplate the options, I recalled the ones opened to me.

Obviously, the first option seemed like a waste unless someone was in critical condition, which none of us were.

The two latter options were more profitable, and I knew there was a chance to get a really good item with the third.

But I looked at the people I was in a party with, and felt a sense of satisfaction over my choice.

All healed.

This way, I felt less guilty, even if this was not what they wanted from me.

I wasn't the kind of person who would hold a grudge forever, not when they hadn't crossed my bottom line.

Nah, I just wanted to.

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