DNSG CH 03

Amid the barrage of rapidly flashing text, Myojin’s information appeared one line after another.

• Name: Myojin

• Class: Apprentice Dungeon Maker

• Dungeon Owned: –

• Taming Proficiency: –

• Unique Skill: (Locked)

The information displayed was completely different from the status window she had grown tired of seeing during her time as a player.

ミ [NPC] Myojin

Myojin froze when she saw the nameplate that had newly appeared above her head.

‘I’m an NPC?’

Cold sweat trickled down her back.

Still frozen in place, Myojin muttered to herself.

“…This is insane.”

A cheerful melody suddenly pulled her dazed mind back to reality.

“Now, everyone. Have you finished introducing yourselves to your first teammates? It’s time to choose the final team member.”

Rune turned around and pointed toward the darkness.

Following his gesture, another spotlight switched on, revealing the previously hidden Section C.

“The final team member will be selected by direct nomination.”

Everyone’s eyes immediately turned toward the same place.

The realization that their survival could depend on whom they chose as their teammate made the participants’ gazes sharp and intense.

“I’ll give you thirty minutes. Discuss it together and decide who will become your final team member.”

Soon, the passage connecting Sections A and B opened.

Myojin firmly believed in Seo Seok-ho, the developer of this game and her only family.

‘Uncle will definitely find a way to rescue me.’

She steeled herself and extended her hand toward the man standing before her.

For now, she decided to put everything else aside and focus on surviving this insane examination.

“Shall we cooperate for the sake of survival for the time being?”

“Fine. Truce.”

The man with the same number as Myojin accepted her handshake.

“My name is Jang Woofdop. You can just call me Uncle Jang.”

“I’m Myojin.”

After the handshake, Myojin quickly examined Jang Woofdop’s appearance.

He had long, slender limbs and wasn’t carrying any particular weapon.

Instead, he carried a backpack almost as large as his body, strapped to his back like a turtle shell.

‘A Merchant NPC?’

The sight of his fingertips, completely free of calluses, convinced her.

‘They gathered only merchants in Section B.’

The NPCs in the world of DunOre were broadly divided into three types.

Village NPCs, Merchant NPCs, and Dungeon NPCs.

Merchant NPCs like Jang Woofdop carried all sorts of goods for trading with players.

They were characterized by the leather pouches filled with coins hanging from their waists and the large packs they carried on their backs.

After quickly identifying the common trait among the people in Section B, she looked toward the people who had been in Section A with her.

‘Then what about the side I was on?’

Myojin recalled what she knew about Rune, the NPC chief examiner of the test.

Rune Spale.

A squirrel beastkin who guarded the World Tree.

A perfectionist who could only feel at ease when everything was under his complete control.

Rune was especially obsessive about organization and tidiness.

If that was the case, then Section A must also have been divided according to some specific characteristic.

There were only two NPC types left.

Ordinary Village NPCs.

Or Dungeon NPCs with combat abilities.

‘The latter would obviously be more useful for survival.’

At a glance, however, all the people in Section A were empty-handed.

They somehow gave off the vibe of ordinary Village NPCs.

The reason Myojin was anxious was because of the changed information in her status window.

Normally, the place where her combat power and damage stats should have appeared now contained completely unrelated information.

• Dungeon Owned: –

• Taming Proficiency: –

Even after checking it again, she still couldn’t make sense of it.

‘I can understand the “Dungeon Owned” part, but what the heck is Taming Proficiency?’

As Myojin became lost in a chain of questions, a finger suddenly pointed toward her.

“How about that big guy for our third teammate?”

Myojin looked in the direction Jang was pointing.

A scar-covered man was sitting in the very center of Section C.

The scars covering his entire body testified to the difficult life he had lived.

‘Judging by his clothes, he looks like a Northern warrior.’

Once again, Myojin quickly made her judgment based on his appearance.

A greatsword far too large to be practical was strapped to the man’s back.

‘So Section C is probably where the NPCs with outstanding combat abilities were gathered?’

The likelihood that Myojin’s group consisted of ordinary Village NPCs increased.

If that was true, their survival difficulty would be even higher.

‘Naturally, the strongest person in a group would have the most influence.’

If the combat-oriented NPC turned out to be uncooperative, things would become troublesome.

Just then, the emblem engraved on the man’s scabbard caught Myojin’s attention.

‘That emblem…’

Her gray eyes narrowed.

The symbol looked familiar.

“No. Absolutely not.”

Myojin rejected the idea firmly.

“What do you mean, no? We need someone like him on our team.”

Jang scratched the back of his head and grumbled.

“Look at you and me. We both look weak and scrawny. We need at least one person who can actually use his strength.”

“That man is a wanted criminal.”

Jang raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“He killed and fled after slaughtering the horse cherished by the Northern Grand Duke. If we end up on the same team as him, we’ll eventually be judged by the Northern Grand Duke for aiding him.”

“Is that really true?”

Jang’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m sure.”

Myojin had seen it in the unofficial guidebook she had borrowed from her developer uncle, so there was no doubt about it.

She subtly avoided Jang’s suspicious gaze.

‘…Did I say that a little too smoothly?’

It couldn’t be helped.

After all, an otaku was the kind of person who memorized even the tiniest pieces of lore that ordinary people had no interest in.

Soon, a notification sound rang out.

[Team 28, third teammate matching complete.]

The message announced that the man Jang had wanted to recruit had been assigned to another team.

“Damn… It was probably a good thing we gave up on him, right?”

“It’s actually a relief.”

Myojin calmly nodded at Jang, who was biting his nails.

“Yeah. We’ve only just started, so there should still be someone useful.”

Jang moved to a position where he could get a better view of Section C.

‘Why was there a wanted criminal in Section C in the first place?’

Feeling uneasy, Myojin followed behind Jang.

The fact that Rune was an incredibly obsessive character when it came to organization continued to bother her.

“How about that person?”

This time, Jang pointed toward a thin, pale woman.

The woman tightly clutched a twisted deadwood staff while muttering something under her breath.

Myojin carefully observed the woman from a distance.

Something strange immediately caught her attention.

A faint green smoke surrounded the woman’s body.

It was a thin, elongated ribbon of smoke.

Having cleared countless dungeons, Myojin recognized it instantly.

‘She’s cursed.’

A mage would certainly be useful in many ways.

However, if the curse could spread to other people, having a cursed mage on the team would be too risky.

“I think we should choose someone else.”

“Is she wanted too?”

Jang tilted his head.

Myojin shook her head and lowered her voice.

“No. She’s cursed. It’s a contagious curse.”

“What? How did you know that? Did you use one of those expensive Observation Potions?”

Jang’s brown eyes widened.

‘Ah, so it really is only visible to me?’

It was exactly as the unofficial guidebook had said.

Unlike players, NPCs could not identify status ailments with their naked eyes.

Furthermore, an Observation Potion was required to inspect an Adventurer’s information for a certain amount of time.

Yet Myojin could see through the other person’s information without using an Observation Potion.

“You… just who exactly are you?”

Jang asked cautiously.

Curiosity and wariness were mixed together in his brown eyes.

‘Who exactly am I?’

Myojin chuckled inwardly.

She was simply a player who had been terribly unlucky enough to get trapped inside a game.

That wasn’t what mattered right now.

‘I noticed it earlier, but everyone gathered here…’

The so-called Apprentices were all NPCs Myojin had either seen in the guidebook she had read or briefly encountered while playing the game.

Everyone except Myojin was an NPC.

A notification window suddenly flashed before her eyes.

[You have become aware of your uniqueness.]

[The Unique Skill of <Apprentice Dungeon Maker> ‘Myojin’ has been unlocked.]