The Taste Trial lasted for one day, and Seo Jun-Ho cleared it without a single sip of water.
“What a relief. You should go eat in the break room now.”
He shook his head in response to her thoughtful consideration of him. “No. I have to go right onto the next one.”
“What…? Why must you go so far?”
“The food in the break room will also taste like shit.” He laughed weakly, looking pitiful with his tearful eyes. He turned away from the Frost Queen and started the Stench Trial.
“Urp! Bleegh!”?The moment it began, Seo Jun-Ho covered his mouth. He only breathed, but the cavern became filled with a stench resembling rotting corpses. No matter how disgusting something smelled, one should get used to the stench after some time, but the Cave of Trials didn’t adhere to such common sense. A new revolting smell continuously penetrated his nose.
“Haa, Haa…” Seo Jun-Ho’s complexion paled. He had starved for a day, and now, he couldn’t even breathe properly. His body was quickly starting to deteriorate.
‘But…I have to endure…’
He bit his lips hard.
He had survived the Insomnia Trial, and he had already cleared this Trial once in the past. There was no reason that he couldn’t do it twice.
‘But why is it so hard?’
Growwwlll.
Seo Jun-Ho rolled on the ground in pain, but he passed the Scent Trial. But his body couldn’t handle it. It was a different kind of pain from the Insomnia Trial. In the Insomnia Trial, he could at least eat and drink if he got too hungry.
“…Shouldn’t you eat something?” The Frost Queen asked carefully. She looked at him with pity.
Just like she said, he had to eat something. He had more muscles than the average person, and he had to absorb more calories to maintain them.
‘I haven’t had a single drop of water in two days…I feel like I’m going crazy.’
His nose was still filled with a rotten stench, but his survival came first.
“Just a bit, then…”
Seo Jun-Ho walked into the break room and tore a tiny piece of bread. He pondered for a long time, and then carefully put it into his mouth and swallowed without chewing.
“Bleeghhh!” .
And he threw it all up. Since he didn’t eat anything, it was mostly gastric fluids. He felt like his own insides were coming up. When he finally stopped vomiting, his eyes were stained with tears.
“Huff, huff…This…This is worse than shit.” He didn’t even know how to describe it, nor did he believe that such a revolting taste could exist.
‘But if I don’t eat…’
He would die. He may be a strong Player, but if he didn’t eat and didn’t drink, he would die.
“Hey, Frost…”
“Yes, what do you need?” She asked carefully. She was scared to piss off Seo Jun-Ho in his current sensitive state.
“If you had to eat shit-flavored curry or curry-flavored shit, which would you rather eat?”
“I would rather starve.”
“Starving isn’t an option. You have to choose one.”
“…”
The Frost Queen fell into a dilemma. She didn’t know if she should prioritize the sanctity of her life or her nutrition.
“Then… What would you choose?” The Frost Queen asked him instead.
“The curry-flavored shit. Every time.” He spoke with tears in his eyes. He swallowed the bread, trying to swallow his pain and disgust along with it.
The tear-soaked bread tasted vile.
***
Seo Jun-Ho gulped down a bottle of water. The Frost Queen watched and wrote something down on the memo pad.
[Contractor…A-are you alright…?]
[Yes. I’m great. How was your day?]
There was no energy in Seo Jun-Ho’s response. One might say that he was too far gone.
[The stench is as bad as always…But I’m starting to get used to the food.]
His eyes lit up like a wise old sage.
[As long as I can swallow it down, it’s all the same food as it digests. The taste isn’t really important.]
[Contractor…You seem like you have given up your dignity as a human.]
[It’s alright. Things will return to normal once the Trials are over. I’ve done this before.]
Seo Jun-Ho held the pen weakly and let out a sigh. He was in the middle of the Stillness Trial.
‘The Trials changed.’
In the past, the Sound and Silence Trials had come after the Scent Trial.
‘I became deaf and mute in this trial.’
But this time, they had combined to become the Stillness Trial. Because he couldn’t hear or speak, he was communicating with the Frost Queen on the memo pad.
‘Two Trials combined into one…’
His eyes darkened.
‘Which means that one more Trial will be added at the end.’
It seemed that it was the ‘change’ that Gray had been referring to. Every time Seo Jun-Ho started a new Trial, he felt himself withering bit by bit. Ironically, he would then become more determined after he cleared one of the trials.
‘Since I’ve already come this far, I’m gonna clear these shitty trials no matter what.’
He gritted his teeth. If he gave up, he couldn’t call himself hardworking.
[You have cleared the Stillness Trial.]
[If you wish to continue, please say ‘Go’. If you wish to stop, please say ‘Stop’.]
[The next level is the Darkness Trial.]
The Darkness Trial took away your vision. Seo Jun-Ho quickly scribbled on the memo pad.
[Do you know what Morse Code is?]
***
“…”
He couldn’t see.
He couldn’t hear.
He couldn’t speak.
.
And all the while, a repulsive stench filled his nose.
Tap tap, ta-ta-tap, taptap?
It was smart of him to teach the Frost Queen some morse code. She picked it up quickly. She asked something along the lines of. “Will you eat?”
Taptaptap.
Seo Jun-Ho replied with ‘just a little.’
This Trial would end in a few hours.
‘I’ve already slept a lot, so I’m going right into the next one.’
If he remembered correctly, the next one was the ‘Void’ Trial. He swallowed.
‘There’s a reason why all Players left the Cave of Trials after the ninth level.’
It was fear. The Players would have lost their sense of sight, sound, scent, taste, as well as their speech. Their bodies and minds were weary at that point.
‘Void. A state of empty nothingness.’
If you thought about it, the word didn’t mean much, but his past self was still shaken by the idea.
‘I felt like my entire existence would be erased.’
Truthfully, he still felt that way. Seo Jun-Ho suddenly felt his hand trembling.
‘Void…’
Humans were already powerless without their senses. But if one continued on to the Void Trial in that state…
‘Players with weak minds will probably be truly erased from existence.’
He wasn’t just being paranoid. The System itself warned them of this.
‘It preys on the primal fear that we humans cannot escape. But… it’s only the 9th Trial? ‘
Seo Jun-Ho felt the cavern darken even though he couldn’t see. The Administrator Gray had combined the Sound and Silence Trials into one, which meant that the Void Trial would be the 9th and a new one would appear as the 10th. Seo Jun-Ho started to wonder what the final one would be.
[You have cleared the Darkness Trial.]
[If you wish to continue, please say ‘Go’. If you wish to stop, please say ‘Stop’.]
[The 9th Void Trial and the 10th Time Trial will happen concurrently.]
‘…What?’
Seo Jun-Ho was shocked. He expected the Void Trial, but he hadn’t expected that the 10th would happen concurrently with it.
‘This is the first time this has happened. The Time Trial?’
A shiver went down his spine. The Void Trial was already dangerous, but another Trial on top of that?
‘If…If I mess this up, I’ll be in trouble.’
The System lit up again.
[Warning! The Void Trial is not recommended for those with weak minds and bodies, those who are elderly, and those who are pregnant.]
[Please cancel if you do not think that you can handle the Trial. Your existence may disappear.]
It was a brutal message. Most Players who entered the Cave of Trials were beneath level 30, which meant that they had a lot to lose. The thing that they most feared was death. But the Trial did not simply end with death, it could erase your entire existence.
‘My younger self would have run away at this point.’
Seo Jun-Ho grinned. He thought that his past self, and all the others who gave up after the 9th Trial, were adorably naive.
‘The Cave of Trials rewards you for how much you struggle.’
The Sense Trials were hard, but they didn’t put your life at risk.
‘But that’s not the case for the Void Trial.’
High-risk, high-return. Seo Jun-Ho sensed that there was something that could only be gained if he risked his life.
‘And if it’s concurrent with the Time Trial…’
He had an idea of what would happen.
‘I’ll probably be alone, unable to feel anything at all.’
He didn’t know how long it would take. All he knew was that he would have to see it through to the end.
“…” He pondered for a long while before he tapped his finger on the ground. He sent a message to the Frost Queen.
[I’ll be back.]
She tapped on his shoulder.
[Do not worry. I will keep waiting here.]
For some reason, that encouraged him. Seo Jun-Ho smiled weakly and made his decision.
‘I will continue.’
[9th level and 10th level, The Void and Time Trials will now begin.]
As it began, Seo Jun-Ho started to feel like his consciousness was drifting away.
‘…Huh?’
He couldn’t feel the Frost Queen’s fingers on his shoulder. He tried to reach out his arm to find her, but he started to forget how to do that.
‘Wait.’
It wasn’t just his arms. As he realized that he could think, he was sure that his head was attached to his body but he forgot how to move it. No, actually, he wasn’t sure that his limbs were all attached to his body.
‘…I can’t feel anything.‘
If he could describe it with one phrase, it would be ‘wandering mind.’ He could not see, hear, or feel his magic. In some ways, he was happy because the stench had finally disappeared.
‘I have to get it together.’
He finally understood why the System gave such a warning. He could not feel anything, and his fears started to creep in.
‘…I’m alive, right?’
He pushed away those thoughts. His mind started to drift, floating without any sense or purpose.
‘I am Seo Jun-Ho.’
Seo Jun-Ho repeated this firmly.
He was Seo Jun-Ho.
He was Specter.
He always won.
He would win this Trial too.
“…”
There had been a time when he thought that way.
1. This was written formally and politely, different from how he usually responds to the Frost Queen