Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Bam!

“Huh? What? What was that noise?”

A passerby rushed to the alleyway, surprised by the loud noise. However, he could only see the empty wall with blood splattered on it, and not the cause of the sound.

“Wasn’t there a loud noise? Did I hear wrong…”

***

“Ugh…”

Sylvia rolled on the floor for a long time, struggling with the pain. Although it seemed like she had finally gone through, when she did, her whole body hurt as if she had had a deep kiss with the wall.

She opened her mouth and ran her hand through her teeth, making sure no tooth was shaking. Opening the status window, she had lost another 20 HP.

‘It said you needed over 120 HP because of the impact of bumping into the wall when you’re passing through…’

There was nothing easy about this game.

‘Who the hell is the developer?’

Sylvia, who cursed the developer in her mind for a moment, wiped the blood from her mouth while taking the time to come to her senses.

As she shook her head and her vision became gradually clearer, the alleyway from before reappeared.

It seemed to be the same alleyway, but the atmosphere was distinctly different. Though it was definitely daytime, it had become night, and it had a gloomy atmosphere overall, like the backstreets of the adult entertainment district. She felt like she had crossed over to another world beyond the blocked wall.

Turning her head and looking in the distance, she saw a shop that seemed to be in business at the end of the alley.

‘That looks like a secret shop.’

It was early summer outside, but here, there was a chilly breeze blowing as if it was autumn. Crumpled flyers were flying along the side of the street, and all the other shops had their lights out.

As she reached the end of the gloomy alley, a colorful shop with twinkling neon signs welcomed Sylvia. There was also a banner hanging, reminiscent of the shops in real life.

‘There was nothing like a neon sign in the game world. It’s not something like MapleSto**, but a mix of worldviews.’

Tinkle. As she carefully opened the door and entered, the wind-bell on the door made a sound.

Sylvia turned her head and looked around the interior. Inside the shop, items of unknown use were displayed in a disorderly manner, much like in a grocery store. It was like a stationery store in front of an elementary school.

“Excuse me, is anyone here?”

The items were all over the place, so she barely managed to squeeze inside the maze-like shop. As Sylvia shouted, she heard a startled voice.

“A person?! Is it a person?”

“Yes! I am a person.”

‘Why are you so surprised… What would I be if not a person, a ghost?’

She heard a rustle for a moment, and then, a middle-aged man with disheveled hair wearing a cape appeared inside the shop.

As the man appeared, pulling up the bangs that were so long that covered his vision, and saw Sylvia, he opened his mouth stupidly. He was like the shipwrecked protagonist on an uninhabited island on Castawa*.

‘What’s up with that shabby appearance, his hair is bushy, and his beard is overgrown.’

“I can’t believe it! It really is a person!”

“Yes… I came here after seeing the guide to the secret shop.”

“Finally, a person came here…”

The bushy-head was surprised and took a deep breath as if to come to his senses.

He put arm warmers in both arms and rummaged through the shelves, picked up a bottle that looked like Baccar**, and handed it to Sylvia.

“You must have gotten hurt a lot while coming here, right? Take this.”

“Ah, it’s alright.”

“Oh-oh, don’t refuse it. My hand hurts.”

Although she politely refused, the man urged her once again while opening the bottle cap, and she reluctantly drank it. Unlike Luca, he was the owner of the secret shop in the game, so she didn’t think he would give her anything strange.

Gulp.

‘It’s sweet. It really seems to be an invigorating drink.’

“It’s a health-recovery potion, so drink it all the way through.”

As she poured every single drop into her mouth, the pain she got from hitting the wall that was tormenting her disappeared as if it was washed away.

When she fumbled around her face, all the scratches were gone and her face was clean, and when she opened the status window, her HP was full. It was really a health-recovery potion. It wasn’t a scam. She did come to the secret shop. Sylvia fumbled around her body with a look of emotion.

“Wow! My wounds are all healed. It really was a potion!”

“Can’t you trust me? It works, right?”

Unlike at the beginning, the man shrugged and spoke in a merchant-like tone, as if he had recalled his duties.

He put on reading glasses and looked silently at the crystal ball in front of the counter, then looked up with a glow on his face.

“I checked just in case, and it seems to be right. Finally, someone came to this game. The player is Miss Sylvia, right?”

The crystal ball seemed to have a function to check one’s personal details, like a computer.

Although it was surprising that it got her name right, there was something else even more surprising. The man knew this place was inside the game!

“Did you know that we are inside a game?!”

“Yes, so I’m probably alone in here, right? I’m Secret, the owner of the secret shop. I’ve never had a customer before, so I mistakenly thought Miss Sylvia was a ghost.”

Secret. That was a very intuitive name. Sylvia scratched her head with an awkward expression.

“Haha, what do you mean a ghost? I’m a human.”

“Sometimes things other than humans show up… Oh, now is not the time for chatter. Please follow me. Let me show you some items for the player.”

“What? … Ah, yes!”

Sylvia seemed to have heard a strange noise in front of her, but she quickly forgot it as she busily went after Secret, who was walking.

When Secret carefully opened a side door at the back of the shop, a different world appeared.

Brilliant items were filling the dark shop. Each item had a small light on it, and it looked like a constellation embroidered in the night sky.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Miss Sylvia is the first player to see this item exhibition.”

Secret, who stroked his beard and gave her a proud expression, gestured to Sylvia.

“If you stand still and look at an item, the details will come up.”

“Yes, thank you.”

She held her hands behind her back and looked at the items hanging on the wall one by one, as if she were admiring a masterpiece in a museum. As Secret said, as she looked at the item while squinting her eyes, a message appeared.

———————————————

[Growth Accelerator

– A growth accelerator that embodies one’s desires. It can be used on all beings who wish to grow up. If you want to use it on a living thing, sprinkle it over its head like a powder.]

———————————————

‘T-this! It’s an item for Sevis.’

Sylvia looked at the item with a glow on her face and barely swallowed the shriek that almost came out when she saw the price tag written in small letters on the bottom.

‘A million gold? Is he insane?’

After noticing Sylvia’s silent astonishment, Secret quietly approached her and whispered.

“I already know who you want to use it on. The better the item, the more expensive it is.”

Sylvia smiled awkwardly as she glanced at Secret, and quickly looked through the items on the wall.

There were a number of different items, including the 〈High-Quality Fishing Rod〉, 〈People of the Empire: All Nude Mode〉, 〈Show Me The Money〉, 〈Without Anyone Knowing〉, and 〈Compliance with Game Deliberations〉. She looked closely at items that she could not understand by just the name and read the descriptions.

The 〈High-Quality Fishing Rod〉 was an upgraded version of the 〈Bad Fishing Rod〉, so it needed to be bought.

‘If I buy that, I might be able to catch better items.’

She nodded and looked at the fishing rod, then frowned at the next item. The 〈People of the Empire: All Nude Mode〉 was an item that made all men nude, but she didn’t want to buy it because she thought it would include guys like the hairy tavern owner or the tattooed fat man. Sylvia, who felt like she would lose her soul just by looking at people if she had this equipped, managed to swallow a groan as she thought about who would like this kind of thing.

‘A player with unusual preferences might buy it, but it’s a terrible item for me.’

Disgusted, Sylvia moved to the side and looked at the next item’s description. 〈Show Me The Money〉 was an item that could summon money like a cheat key, but because it had a nonsense price tag of a trillion gold… It was like a pie in the sky. It seemed to be just a display item from the beginning.

‘It’s a pie in the sky because you can’t buy it. Don’t put something like this on display from the start.’

Sylvia, who was grunting inside, turned her head and stopped.

‘What is the 〈Without Anyone Knowing〉?’

———————————————

[Without Anyone Knowing

– You can enjoy secret s*x without being discovered by other target characters. A good item to use on a jealous target character with a tendency to be obsessive.]

———————————————

After looking at the item’s description, Sylvia pushed her head backwards, making a double chin, and then clicked her tongue.

‘What, I can get caught doing it? What happens if I get caught, seeing that there is an item like this? It’s not some kind of love or war… I don’t need this right now. Let alone being caught, I’m in a pitiful situation where I can’t have s*x with anyone…’

Sylvia, who was feeling bitter for a moment, finally looked at the description of the item 〈Compliance with Game Deliberations〉.

———————————————

[Compliance with Game Deliberations

– An item needed for players who will get disoriented from seeing the spinal cord, brain and blood of monsters as they go to higher ranking dungeons.

It also applies to high-intelligence monsters and humanoid monsters. When defeated, cute stars will appear, and the monsters will seem to be deep asleep.

It may look like they’re sleeping well, but don’t shake them. You may realize the truth you don’t want to know.

* Not buying it is harmless if you want to enjoy R-rated things.]

———————————————

‘Oh, I’ll need this.’

In the case of the last coastal cave, the crab died while shedding a blue fluid, so she was able to feel less guilty; but Sylvia, who had played many games, was quite worried.

As she goes to higher-ranking dungeons, high-intelligence monsters like Dark Elves and Goblins will appear, and she wasn’t confident that she would be able to kill them casually.

‘Even if it’s a game possession, I refuse to see blood.’

When Sylvia stayed in front of the item 〈Compliance with Game Deliberations〉 for a long time, Secret rubbed his hands together and came closer.

“This is a must-have item for weak-hearted players. I’ll do it at an affordable price since it’s necessary for your future progress.”

The price of 〈Compliance with Game Deliberations〉 was 100 gold. It was incredibly cheap compared to other items. It was an inexpensive item because the developer probably wanted the player to take it without a doubt.

Actually, she wanted to buy the Growth Accelerator the most, but she couldn’t afford it with the money she had right now. The only things that she could buy were the 1,000 gold High-Quality Fishing Rod and the Compliance with Game Deliberations.

“I’ll buy the High-Quality Fishing Rod and the Compliance with Game Deliberations.”

“An excellent choice. Are you buying anything else?”