H-h-h-hic… H-h-h-hic…
“Are you alright?”
Approaching the woman, who lay sprawled on the ground, sobbing dramatically, I inquired.
‘What a mess she’s in.’
Her robe, undoubtedly a luxury item, was now caked in mud, as she had clutched her head to the ground, effectively transforming her into a creature of dirt.
“Please save me… Just once… J-just once…”
“Yes, I’ll save you just this once. Try to live a good life from now on.”
“Y-yes!!! I will!! I w-will… Huh?”
As I offered some reassurance to the trembling woman, her head finally turned in my direction.
“A person?”
She tentatively took my outstretched hand, then quickly released it.
“A person… Are you real?”
After scrutinizing my face more closely, she seemed to gain conviction that I was indeed human, and took my hand once more.
“Yes, a real human.”
“Th-then… that thing just now…”
“That? Are you talking about the dog? The one with black fur?”
–Nod, nod.
“It got scared and ran off.”
“…What? Scared…?”
“Yes.”
If a woman much larger than me were crying and making such a fuss, I’d probably feel awkward and turn back too.
Given its seemingly harmless appearance, it looked like it was just chasing her, wanting to play.
However, upon hearing my words, the woman became even more terrified.
“H-how…? It ran off? The ‘Black Dog’…?”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible! It never lets go of prey it’s seen even once!”
“What?”
‘It was just a puppy, though?’
‘It looked like it would spill all its kibble if I gave it some.’
‘What went wrong?’
I pondered the discrepancy between my perception of the incident and the woman’s, and soon reached a conclusion.
‘A typical novice traveler, it seems.’
This often happens when people try camping abroad.
‘It’s like the saying, ‘a heart startled by a turtle will be startled by a pot lid.” (TL Note: A Korean proverb, ‘jara bogo nollan gaseum sottukkeong bogo nollanda,’ meaning that someone who has been scared once will be easily scared again, even by something harmless.)
In reality, it might just be a small wild animal or the sound of the wind, but their heightened tension leads them to mistakenly identify it as a ferocious beast.
‘The dense jungle setting must have played a part too.’
It was a situation where sunlight barely penetrated, maximizing the sense of tension.
Perhaps extreme vigilance combined with local rumors had conjured an imaginary beast.
“I think you might be mistaken. It was just a cute little puppy.”
“Th-that can’t be…!”
–Shake, shake–
The woman shook her head, protesting vehemently.
“That was definitely Tintal (TL Note: ‘Tintal’ is referred to as ‘Black Dog’), the ‘Black Dog’! The uninvited guest of purgatory! The hunting hound from hell! The number one cause of death for apprentice explorers!”
“Oh, come on, aren’t you just mistaken?”
“What do you take me for?! I am a first-rate mage and an arcane scholar, and as such…”
“But you’re not a first-rate traveler, are you?”
“What?”
“Judging by your attire and shoes, it looks like it would be incredibly difficult to run in them. Isn’t this your first time traveling?”
The clothes the woman wore were clearly high-end, even I, freshly transmigrated, could tell.
Moreover, the sleeves were long, perfect for tripping over.
Dressed up like a college student primped for an ‘Insta (TL Note: Short for Instagram)’ photoshoot, anyone could see she was a novice.
“Th-that’s true, but… that was… definitely…”
The woman stammered, as if my words had struck a nerve.
“You must have made a mistake. More importantly, if your words were true, both of us should be dead right now, shouldn’t we? But… we don’t seem to be dead, do we?”
“Th-that’s true… but…”
“So, isn’t it more logically sound to conclude that you were mistaken?”
“U-uhm… that’s…”
Though she trailed off, her doubts seemingly unvanquished, she eventually nodded, appearing convinced.
“W-well then, shall we introduce ourselves? Your name is…”
‘Ah, my name.’
‘Right.’
‘This body I’ve transmigrated into must have a name, too.’
“Kim Joo-hyu- no, Thomas…”
I tried to pass it off by giving a suitable alias, but—
“It’s written on your sword. Should I call you Will?”
“Ah, yes.”
Indeed, the name was engraved on the hilt of the sword.
‘To mark every single item…’
‘The original owner of this body must have been quite diligent.’
“…My name is Fay. Fay LeBlanc.”
“I see. Since fate has brought us together, may I accompany you?”
“…Yes. And I owe you a favor.”
‘Excellent!’
A natural party formation.
Let’s proceed, head to a village where I can gather information about this place, and figure out my next moves.
“Ah, then, by any chance, from here to the village…”
–Startled!–
“What?! Ah, th-the village?!”
Though I had merely asked a simple question, Fay seemed quite flustered, even stammering her words.
‘For some reason, she seems a little afraid of me.’
‘What did I do wrong?’
I felt a pang of unfairness.
****
‘He’s definitely suspicious.’
This was Fay LeBlanc’s conclusion regarding the man who walked serenely behind her.
‘Even in a state of panic, there’s no way I could have mistaken that dog for something else!’
Tintal, a ‘Calamity-grade (TL Note: 凶 ‘hyung’ meaning ominous or disastrous)’ magical beast, commonly known as the ‘Black Dog’.
Among magical beasts, each capable of effortlessly destroying an entire city, Tintal held an unparalleled status in this region.
Its monstrous appearance suggested a demon with a dog’s head, born from an unholy union with hellfire.
It possessed a sinister aura capable of making even seasoned adventurers wet themselves.
Its attack power was such that even expert explorers were slaughtered in the blink of an eye.
And it pursued its chosen prey with an unyielding tenacity, never letting go.
This alone should have been enough to explain her terror.
Yet, what was most horrifying about this creature was—
‘In this path, where novice adventurers are the majority, there’s no other being that emanates such a malevolent aura!’
Unlike other monsters that dwelled in the dungeon’s depths, Tintal frequently appeared even in the dungeon’s initial areas.
It was as if the Demon King himself appeared on the first floor of his castle, wiping out the protagonist.
‘But that Tintal got scared and just ran away?’
A notorious entity that often turned even Gold-ranked adventurers into cold corpses?
If that were true, just how powerful was this seemingly ordinary man?
‘Moreover, he even hid his name.’
The man had stated a different name before she pointed it out.
It was as if he had borrowed another’s clothes and identity to conceal his own.
‘The fortunate thing is that he doesn’t seem hostile towards me…’
He was indeed her savior.
She had also confirmed that he had no intention of harming her.
Nevertheless, this only made Fay more uneasy.
–Fay, perhaps the truly terrifying thing here isn’t the dungeon, but people. Among them…
According to her sister’s words, the person one should absolutely not make an enemy of in this dungeon was…
‘One who strolls through the dungeon as if on a leisurely walk.’
The reason was simple.
In a place where people died like blades of grass, a serene person was either a madman or an exceptionally powerful individual.
Just like the man currently humming a tune, following her, completely unguarded.
‘It seems his current goal is simply to accompany me, so there’s no need to needlessly provoke him by prying.’
Until she knew the man’s intentions, her top priority was to return him to the village, as he had suggested.
Thus, Fay guided the enigmatic man, Will, to the base camp where her companions were waiting.
****
And then,
“…”
“Oh, look! The young lady…”
Fay soon came face to face with them.
Her temporary party members were cheerfully pilfering valuables from her luggage.
“What… are you doing right now?”
“H-how did you get back…?! No, Miss Fay. This, you see…”
Their faces paled as if a dead person had returned.
–Gritting teeth.–
Seeing their expressions, Fay understood everything.
“You…! You tricked me… into going to where that dog was!”
Only then did everything that had happened click into place in Fay’s mind, like pieces of a puzzle.
“Knowing each other’s hometowns despite just meeting, going on patrol together, and then subtly returning under the pretext of a stomachache!”
And most of all,
“Even gifting me this pendant, claiming it was a good luck charm from home!”
It was all part of a dirty scheme.
They had intended to feed her to the dog and then make off with her valuables.
“N-no! Miss Fay! Just a moment, this isn’t what you think at all…!”
“Silence! How dare you, to me, the top elite of the Magic Tower…!”
Instead of listening to their excuses, Fay drew the wand from her waist and aimed it at her former party members.
“Shock!”
–Crack!–
“Gah!”
The jaw of the party member who tried to approach her snapped backward as if struck by an uppercut.
“Shock! Shock!”
Fay’s magic spells were unleashed relentlessly.
“Aargh!”
“Please! I’m sorry! We were wrong!”
Despite the men’s apologies, her incantations did not cease.
“F-fine… we did steal! I truly apologize for that! But the Black Dog thing is a genuine misunderstanding!”
The oldest-looking man among them began to explain.
“Don’t lie! Then how could the Black Dog appear at such a precise moment?!”
“That’s just… bad luck, isn’t it?! How many times has that dog slaughtered explorers in the novice area?!”
“That’s…!”
Fay searched for words to refute them but found herself at a loss.
Their words weren’t entirely wrong.
“And you! You came back alive! Was that even the Black Dog to begin with?!”
The fact that she had returned unscathed also lent credence to their claims.
“A relic that summons the Black Dog? How would petty thieves like us even get our hands on something like that!”
“We’re truly sorry for trying to steal! But the Black Dog incident genuinely wasn’t us!”
The men begged desperately, groveling on the ground.
“Ugh…”
As someone who had nearly died encountering that dog, even burning them all would not have been satisfying enough.
However, from the perspective of someone unaware of the full story—
“Uh, I know I’m not really in a position to say this, but shouldn’t you stop there?”
The reaction of the man watching from a distance was closer to common sense.
“Breaking a thief’s wrist might be karma, but actually killing them is a bit much.”
“…Oh.”
–A chill.–
The man’s words chilled her head, which had been burning with rage.
‘Is this… a warning?’
Right, she had forgotten.
This man was hiding his identity.
So, he clearly wouldn’t want a commotion like this.
“Let’s get your belongings back first. For pickpockets like these, even if they get beaten up, if they manage to hide away one valuable item, that’s still a profit for them.”
A sensible response. On the surface, it seemed like a logical decision to resolve the matter without either side incurring further losses.
‘But that’s a disguise.’
His true intention must be to prevent the situation from escalating and revealing his identity.
“…Alright. I’ll… do that.”
He was the one who had scared Tintal away.
She had no desire whatsoever to incur a greater grudge in an attempt to settle a smaller one.
“Then let’s check your belongings first. I’ll help too.”
“…Yes.”
A moment later, the man confirmed Fay’s luggage had been restored.
“Are there any missing items?”
–Nod.–
“Then let’s go. Dealing with them any longer will only make you feel worse.”
“…If I catch you again, you’re really dead. Understood?”
Still seething, Fay delivered a final warning to the men.
“Y-yes! We are truly sorry!”
“We’ll live an honest life from now on!”
After glaring at her awkwardly apologizing former party members, Fay followed Will, who was waiting for her, and headed towards the jungle’s exit.
‘Haa, how did I get involved with such terrifying things right from my first exploration?’
Bandits, the Black Dog, and even a mysterious man whose identity she couldn’t fathom.
‘I just want to laze around in bed…’
Fay already longed for the cozy bed of her home.
****
A short while later, Fay’s former party members, having barely recovered, began to vent their frustrations one by one.
“f*ck. We failed. What was that? Did we get scammed?”
The man who seemed to be the leader of the party angrily threw a pendant to the ground.
The silver pendant, characterized by sharp thorns that seemed to symbolize the sun, embedded itself in the earth.
“No, I definitely borrowed it for a hefty sum from a grave robber I know! It’s supposed to attract Tintal’s attention and kill its prey…”
“Then why did that b*tch come back?! And who’s that man who came with her?!”
“How should I know!”
The men’s shouts, filled with bickering, echoed through the jungle.
“Damn it, I thought we hit the jackpot when a naive young lady came along for once. We really shouldn’t have trusted such a suspicious relic.”
“No, I’m sure it worked during the last hunt…”
Just then,
The eyes of the bald party member, who was picking up the fallen pendant, widened.
“What is it? Why did you stop talking?”
The man who appeared to be the leader asked, but the bald party member merely continued to stare wide-eyed at something.
Jingle-jangle.
The spiky, sun-like pendant swayed in the party member’s hand.
“Ha.”
Suddenly, the bald party member laughed.
“Hehe.”
Then he raised the pendant.
–Crunch.–
And violently slashed his own throat.
–Whoosh!–
He stabbed himself so forcefully that blood gushed from his neck at a terrifying speed.
“Aargh!”
“Wh-what?! Are you crazy?”
The leader and the remaining companions gasped in horror at the gruesome sight.
‘No way.’
A sinister premonition welled up in his mind.
‘No, it can’t be.’
He heard the rustling of grass, though no wind blew.
Something was coming from behind him.
‘It can’t be. There’s no way that thing would come now.’
His companion, who had turned to look behind him, vanished from his sight.
‘Itcan’tbeitcan’tbeitcan’tbeicantbeicantbe’
–Swoosh!–
A warm liquid poured down his back, and then—
–Roll.–
His companion’s head rolled forward.
A blank expression, as if unaware of its own death.
The severed head opened its mouth. Its tongue moved, uttering a single syllable.
“Dog.”
At that moment, the leader understood.
The reason his companion had laughed when he stabbed his throat with the pendant.
He had escaped from terror faster than anyone else.
Darkness descended.
The darkest darkness.
****
[Title] Is this black dog a bug, seriously?
[Content]
Every time I encounter it, regardless of my level, a disgusting image appears, and I have to restart.
This time, I reached level 30, got a silver badge, and was happily returning after acquiring a ridiculously overpowered relic.
Then I met this dog in the newbie area and was one-shotted without even a chance to react.
Did I do something wrong?
[Comments]
– Haha.
– You got ‘Fay’d’.
ㄴ Author) What’s that?
ㄴ The corpse you found that had the tutorial notebook when you started the game. Her name is Fay. She probably died after meeting the dog too. That’s why we call it that.
ㄴ Author) Wait, Fay, is that seriously the character from the game demo? She dies? Without even seeing her face? I started the game because of her!
ㄴ You’ve realized.
– It’s shocking the first time it happens lol. Probably a truckload of people who saw the demo, thought she was the heroine, got baited, and then quit.
ㄴ She’s actually a Grand Archmage, level 50 or something. According to the lore, she’s a super elite of the Magic Tower. But she just had bad luck in the novice area, met the dog, and died lol. Level 30? Not even close!
ㄴ Author) So why the hell is a dog that one-shots people wandering around the newbie area?
ㄴ There are several theories. Some say it’s an intentional gimmick designed to screw you over, others say it’s a bug that makes a deep-dungeon creature spawn in the newbie zone.
ㄴ Author) I’m going crazy;; If I died in the deep dungeon, it wouldn’t be so unfair. What kind of twisted logic makes you get hit in the chest by a Balrog in a low-level zone and die?
ㄴ That’s just the average for this ‘fun-to-watch-others-suffer’ game.
ㄴ Endure it with grit and determination, Explorer!
ㄴ Author) That’s enough. My favorite character died, so I’m just quitting this shitty game. Screw you ㅗㅗ
ㄴ Ah.
ㄴ Don’t go!
