NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7
I never learned how to draw formally.
But still, thanks to my habit of doodling whenever I had a chance, I had decent skills.
The Assistant seemed to have seen my drawings before.
Well, it’s more likely they have than haven’t.
During school and even as an adult, I carried around a notebook and drew regularly.
I didn’t even need to say drawing was my hobby.
Anyone could tell it was my thing.
“Can you zoom in?”
“…I guess I should turn off the broadcast when I need to take care of business.”
I ignored the nonsense coming from the Assistant and closed my notebook.
“Why didn’t you just take a screenshot?”
“Then I’ll show it to you again when I draw another monster.”
I carefully stored the notebook inside the box.
It was the box that contained the art supplies the Assistant had sent me.
Later on.
I took off my outerwear, which had been annoying me.
Undressing felt so refreshing.
“What do you like, a gay or something?”
“Because it’s comfortable to be without a shirt. Back on Earth, I held back because I’d be seen as a pervert if I took off my top, but in another world, I always went without. Not that I went without from the start.”
“No, most people wore clothes except for a few weirdos like me. It wasn’t a civilization so primitive that everyone walked around naked.”
“I did get some stares now and then, but I’m not the type to care about how others see me.”
I ignored that chat too.
The Assistant might be my benefactor, but I wasn’t going to entertain every silly comment.
“Like I’d do that… Even in another world, I’d get caught for walking around without pants.”
“Probably not? I’ll wear it if I get cold.”
I should have ignored that chat too.
Why was the Assistant so interested in a guy’s body?
Could it be that the Assistant was a girl after all?
As those thoughts swirled, another chat came from the Assistant.
It must have been referring to the five-ring pattern marked on my back.
“That pattern isn’t a tattoo; it’s a Sealing Formation.”
“It’s short for Seal Magic Formation.”
“Yeah. I heard that one mark disappears for each seal that’s broken.”
“Exactly. It’s not as easy as erasing a drawing with an eraser.”
The Assistant didn’t send another chat after saying they’d look into support functions.
Honestly, I didn’t expect much.
There’s no way there’d be features related to unsealing.
‘Don’t expect anything from the Assistant regarding the unseal; I’ll handle this myself.’
There was indeed one way out.
Among the monsters inhabiting the Labyrinth, I could look for one that could use the unsealing magic.
Surely there would be at least one out there.
*
The Assistant list showed that 001 had disappeared.
Soon after, a new assistant appeared.
[Assistant List]
◎Pururu(001)
It seemed the previous Assistant had changed their nickname.
It must be the same person since the 001 identifier was there.
Just as I thought, there was probably no support for unsealing.
I didn’t expect it, so I wasn’t disappointed.
“How did you change your nickname?”
That meant they bought a nickname change.
3 coins were equivalent to 30,000 won.
Not a small amount of money.
I wanted to ask why they wasted money on that, but I swallowed those words.
How they spent their money was their business.
‘No coins came my way.’
When I checked, my coin balance was unchanged.
It seemed those coins spent went to the Labyrinth Development Fund along with any fees.
“So, what does Pururu mean?”
“How much is that?”
“Are you sure you can just spend that freely? Aren’t you struggling?”
Assistant…
No, Pururu ended that chat and vanished from the list again.
And about 30 seconds later.
With a weird entrance phrase, they reappeared.
It looked like they had failed at a gacha roll.
Seems like they’re impulsive, but surprisingly self-controlled.
*
I placed the box in the center area.
Next to the box, I leaned an analog clock.
I looked at the clock and asked Pururu.
“What time is it there?”
“Can’t you read a clock… I was just asking to see if this clock’s time matches South Korean time.”
Currently, my body rhythm was adjusted to match South Korean time.
So I planned to maintain a similar sleep pattern aligning with South Korean time. Since my sleep patterns had been off when I crossed over to this world and returned to Earth, I’d been feeling off for a while.
In this situation, I had to take care of my health.
I wasn’t going to let my condition mess up just because my sleep was out of whack.
“What kind of person can’t read the time?”
“Seriously?”
If that were true…
Isn’t that worse than someone who can’t read their own language?
I had that thought for a moment but quickly changed my mindset.
“…Well, I guess some of the younger ones today don’t encounter analog clocks often.”
Yeah, if they haven’t learned, they might not know.
We’re in the digital age now; there aren’t many chances to see an analog clock.
What’s common sense to me might not be for others.
It’s not good to look down on people just because they don’t know what I do.
“Maybe they don’t teach it anymore… No, that can’t be it, right? They must just be goofing off or sleeping during class, then. Let’s not put others down.”
“Thanks! But do you have a digital clock at home? Sorry to say this after you kindly supported me, but this clock is a bit inconvenient since I can’t tell day from night.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
I communicated with Pururu and moved towards Passage 3.
I had rested enough and was planning to resume my exploration.
Passage 3 had a more natural look than Passage 2, which felt artificial.
The walls weren’t smoothed out but were rough and uneven, and the ceiling and floor were irregularly shaped too. It was slightly larger than Passage 2 overall.
“Dog Spider. Climb onto my shoulder.”
[Shshshh!]
I placed the Dog Spider on my shoulder.
I might accidentally step on it while walking.
Just as I was about to enter Passage 3,
As I took a step, the second Assistant appeared.
