Duo

In a long hallway, the sounds of footsteps was all that could be heard, as the two men walked through it. Felix looked around, intrigued – the hallway was really, really long, and didn't seem to have an end, as all he could see ahead was pitch dark. Kim, on the other hand, wasn't as intrigued as Felix. He was wary of their surroundings, as his hand rested on the hilt of his sword. Kim had no clue where a possible foe could arise from, but he wasn't planning on finding out the hard way. After walking for a bit more, suddenly, they heard a creak somewhere behind them – which was unusual, as the floor wasn't made of wood.

Kim's head bolted backwards, as Felix reached for the knife sitting on his belt. Behind them, however, stood a great... nothing. Just another dark hallway, where they just came from, equally dark as what's in front of them. Kim, who was about halfway in unsheathing his sword, relaxed ever so slightly as he put it back in its place with a sigh.

When he turned around, his eyes widened. Felix noticed this, and with a confused expression, also looked behind him, only for his own eyes to widen as well. Blocking the only way forward was a huge, holographic blue wall – similarly looking to their Blanks. Though, they weren't surprised because of the wall itself, they were more surprised at the words written on it.

[Hidden Plot - Survive!

Requirements - Make it through the ambush that will happen right in this very place! Godspeed!

Punishment Upon Failure - Termination.

Reward - ???

Time Until Ambush - 3:00]

Felix took a step backwards, and he let out a "Shit...!" as Kim sighed, unsheathing his sword. Felix frantically looked behind them, into the darkness that expanded until the very end of the hallway, yet – for obvious reasons – he couldn't see anything.

[2:43]

Kim reassured him, "Calm down. We've got three minutes to prepare." but Felix still wasn't feeling quite in his element. He gripped his knife's handle, and took in deep breaths. Soon, he spoke up, "Any... uh, idea about what exactly will attack us...?" but Kim, however, couldn't give him an answer, as he himself had no clue either. He just kept staring into the dark, as he thought for a second, only to reply with a "...No."

[2:21]

Again, panic was setting in slightly. With no knowledge of the enemy, Kim wasn't sure of his abilities. That strange void confirmed it, after all – anything could come out of the dark. Will it be a dragon? No, the hallway's too small... What about wolves? That could be a possibility...

[2:15]

Kim was overthinking about any and all fictional enemies he had ever seen in movies and such. He couldn't be sure of his own knowledge, though... that's why he was gonna be using someone else's.

[2:04]

He held his sword in a way that the blade was very close to his face. Soon, it began glowing a bright blue, as it transferred to his hands, then his whole body. The blue expanded and grew more and more vigorous by the second. This was risky, but necessary.

[1:52]

Kim closed his eyes, and was now taking in deep breaths. Mana started surrounding him, as it was simply appearing from thin air – or, more likely, he was drawing it from the air itself.

[1:39]

As it all swarmed over to him, the uncertainty of it all suddenly dawned upon Kim. He hadn't used this method in years – what if something went wrong? What if the memories he was gonna be seeing weren't going to be true? What if he can't pull it off? What if the enemies are too strong? What if he—

[1:31]

A loud clap echoed through the room.

[1:29]

Kim broke out of his trance as his eyes slowly drifted towards the noise – towards Felix.

[1:26]

"Fe— Felix? Why're you..."

[1:23]

All of the mana that was previously floating around Kim slowly but surely made its way over to Felix, then disappeared into nothingness as it reached him.

[1:20]

Felix's hands lowered, as they fell to his side. His head lifted, as he stared Kim in the eye.

[1:17]

"Goblins."

"Hah...?"

[1:14]

"It's gonna be goblins."

"How do you even—"

"Know?" he cut him off. "I just do."

[1:09]

Kim fell into a state of uncertainty – one graver than before – and silence. How could he possibly know, that out of every single fantasy creature out there... it was gonna be goblins? A wild guess, maybe? Then why was he so sure of himself...?

[1:06]

"...Is that something I can trust?"

"You can have my head if it's untrue."

[0:58]

It's not like Kim had a choice now. He could only trust in Felix's words. It's as his grandpa had taught him, a long time ago – "Believe now, question later."

[{(Two minutes earlier...)}]

Felix took a step back, looking at the text on the wall, as he let out a panicked "Shit...!"

["A survival quest, and right off the bat?! How cliché is that?!"]

Right besides him, Kim unsheathed his sword, while Felix looked around frantically for any doors – or maybe a place to hide, wait it out. Unfortunately for both of them, there was no such thing around. So, Felix's brain started working overtime – a hidden quest, on the very first floor of this Line thing? What were they gonna be fighting... No, it was useless to think about that.

"Calm down." said Kim. Soon, he continued with "We've got three minutes to prepare." and while he certainly wasn't wrong, Felix just couldn't sit still and wait. He gripped his knife tightly, as he was breathing rarely and calmly – or, as calmly as he humanly could given the situation. He spoke up soon enough, "Any... uh, idea about what exactly will attack us...?"

Kim, however, had absolutely no idea either. He was just as scared as – or maybe even more than – Felix, but he wasn't planning on letting it show. He looked in the dark for a bit, trying to figure it out, but... he couldn't reply with anything but a "...No."

Well, they were gonna be fighting regardless if they liked the enemy choice or not, so the best thing to do right now was to prepare themselves mentally. As Felix glanced at Kim, even he could see that he wasn't in the best state. Soon enough, he started holding his sword strangely, and lots of mana particles begun gathering around him.

["A skill, now...? But..."]

Kim was sweating profusely, and the mana particles all seemed to be unnaturally attracted to him as they slowly floated over in his direction. He didn't know why, but Felix had a gut feeling... If Kim used that skill...

He'd be useless in battle!

Felix racked his brain as much as he could – this was extremely similar to manhwas he had worked on before... 'SSS+ Ranked Healer Deity,' 'The Exposed Hunter Revives,' 'Get This Scammer Out Of The SS+ Dungeon'... Wasn't there something he could use, anything...?!

["They all started off with a similar survival quest... didn't they...?!"]

And, finally, as if a line full of information passed right through his frontal lobe, he had... simply gotten it. Felix took a step towards Kim, and as his foot hit the ground, countless mana particles kicked up like dust, soon surrounding him. He raised his hands, and brought them together so heavily and abruptly, a loud "Clap!" echoed through the entire hallway – and maybe more.

Kim suddenly snapped out of his trance-like state, as his eyes wandered slowly in Felix's direction. He spoke up, quite surprised, "Fe— Felix? Why're you..." and all the mana that was drifting towards him changed trajectories – as it was now floating at Felix. The second it reached him, they combined with the other particles that were surrounding him, and they all disappeared soon enough.

Felix's hands lowered, falling to his side, as his gaze started rising towards Kim. He stared him into the eyes as he spoke, "Goblins."

"Hah...?"

Felix continued, sure of himself, "It's gonna be goblins."

"How do you even—"

"Know?" he cut Kim off, before continuing with "I just do."

Felix could read it on Kim's face – he wasn't entirely sure of his statement. He fell silent, as he was counting his options... Either trust Felix, or attempt the risky skill once again. He looked over at the wall, and sure enough, there was barely a minute left until the ambush. He took a deep breath...

"...Is that something I can trust?"

...and decided to trust Felix fully.

Felix nodded, "You can have my head if it's untrue."

Kim fell a bit more at peace as he fixed his stance to one more combat-efficient. Now, all they had to do... was wait for the enemies— No, goblins, to show up. As the timer kept ticking down, slowly but surely, neither of the men could help but grip their weapons as tight as their hands let them. Kim was used to combat, yes... but he wasn't used to fighting monsters.

Felix slowly slipped the knife out of its sheathe, pointing it towards the dark. He placed the empty scabbard back on his belt, and readied himself as much as he could in the remaining thirty seconds. Those, too, ticked down at an alarming rate, and eventually...

The timer showed [0:00].

Silence fell upon the hallway, one sharper than before. Kim and Felix weren't even breathing at this point, their attention now fully towards the dark end of the hallway, where they'd just arrived from not even five minutes ago. Then, without warning, a loud "Clang!" sound could be heard from the dark. Soon enough, more followed, and they were approaching faster than the two would've liked. As the sounds kept coming and coming, they couldn't help but share similar a thought...

["Are those... weapons?"]

{"Weapons hitting each other?"}

Right then, as another "Clang!" sound came through, a spark followed, illuminating the dark for just milliseconds. Yet, it was enough for Kim's sharp eyes to pick up on three hideous, green creatures with sharp teeth, four fingers with overgrown fingernails that were holding some axes, and loose clothing made from scraps. The goblins weren't taller than, maybe, 4'1", but their strength probably lied in their numbers. Kim was ready, but Felix was feeling unsure... That was the whole ambush, three goblins, all wielding crappy hand-crafted axes? After all, in manhwas, don't goblins usually...

["...have an archer?"]

Without warning, a huge "Whoosh!" sound could be heard, as Felix's worries weren't for naught. All the way in the back, standing way behind the other three, was another goblin. It was shorter than the others, and was holding a crossbow. An arrow had literally just left it, yet it was going at such speeds, it had already traveled a good distance. Felix obviously noticed this, but Kim hadn't. The arrow was already flying towards them, and even if he wanted to, Kim couldn't block it...

...as it wasn't heading for him.

Not even a second had passed since the arrow left the crossbow, yet Felix already processed all of this information. He was going to die. The arrow was going straight for his head – his eye, even – and there was no way in hell he could do anything about it. Block it? Yeah, right. The only time he held a knife in his life was to open packages. What chances has he got? And so, the arrow kept rushing towards his eye, ready to end Felix's adventure in this fucked up place early. Or, maybe, it... it wasn't early at all.

He noticed it too. He was already behind everyone. The only reason he got out of that damned room was because of Kim and his strength – he was someone important, ready to defend himself. Felix? No. He was a simple manhwa artist before all this, one that was just about to go out of business anyway. Maybe this was God's way of thinning out the numbers, getting the losers out early on?

["...God... Right..."]

Death was already banging on his door, yet his brain was going as smoothly as ever – maybe even more so. Was this what they called "having your life flash before your eyes"? If so, he'd figured he could see his mom again. Or maybe his dad. Yet, all he could think of was that stupid shadow that brought him here in the first place.

["...That's not... my God..."]

Well, he did a pretty good job in his life, up until now. The arrow was only coming closer and closer, but... he was somehow okay with it. It was simply his time to go. He was at least okay with helping Kim out in the beginning.

["...Hah?"]

Indeed, it was okay. At least Kim could go on and finish this whole Line thing. If Felix was lucky, maybe he'd even remember him by the end of it all? Yet, for some reason, Felix was feeling extremely... dissatisfied... Mad, even?

["...Wait..."]

As his finals moments were closing out with a bang, the same static from before started replaying in his ears again. It was as bad as he remembered it, and it wasn't quiet. It was loud. Too loud. Crazily loud. Annoyingly loud.

["Shut it...!"]

The arrow hadn't changed trajectories, and it was finally truly closing in. Not even a second had passed in reality, but this felt like years for Felix. What, die? Now? Right off the bat?

["Fuck this shit!"]

The arrow was barely a few inches from his face, and was about to hit his right eye, when suddenly, a blue sparkle came out of it as it extended over to the arrow. Right behind it, only for Felix's eyes, appeared a Blank screen.

[Skill Activated - Clear Vision!]

In less than a millisecond, the window vanished as it got replaced with an ever so small fuzzy sound that he could barely hear over the static—

[Duck.]

Felix's head immediately fell down, as the arrow flew right by his hair, almost giving him a haircut. The spark from his eye died down, dissipating into nothingness as the static also disappeared soon enough. When looking back up, he saw a semi-panicked Kim – who had just gotten a message saying {Teammate [Felix Fox] narrowly avoided death! Adrenaline increased by 15%!} – that was yelling "Felix! You okay?!" with him soon steadying his footing, and wasted no time by yelling back, "Archer! Waaay behind the others!"

As if that was his queue, Kim immediately began racing into the dark. The vigorous and explosive blue glow from his sword illuminated his way, as he flawlessly and mercilessly cut down a goblin's head, then he jumped into a roll, using another's head as a stepping stone. In about ten seconds flat, he had reached the archer goblin, ignoring and passing the others, and did what he had to. The remaining two started trembling and stepping backwards as they started stuttering words that made no sense to humans, and the archer's head flew by them.

They backed and backed away from Kim, until one hit something and let out a yelp. When looking back, the two were met with – in their eyes – a demon, overflowing with mana. It was towering over them, and was holding onto a knife, more than ready to tear it into their faces in mere milliseconds. The truth, of course, was that they bumped into a Felix that was equally as scared as them. The goblins ran from him, and stood in-between the two men, each ready to fight one. Kim, who seemingly had no time for these games, simply disposed of them swiftly with a few sword movements.

Felix and Kim started walking back towards the blue holographic wall that blocked their way before, as Kim swung his sword around in the air to rid it of any remaining blood. The monsters' blood was darker than a human's, and even had a purple hint. As they approached the holograph, they did a quick stop so Felix could hold himself up against one of the hallway's walls and throw up. Finally, after that, they reached the blue wall, sheathed their weapons, and touched it gently.

[Hidden Plot "Survive!" - Clear!

MVC - Kim Jaehyun

LVC - Felix Fox

Reward - Goblin's Rusty Broadaxe]

The two looked at the wall and its message over and over again. Felix's mouth hanged open with a shocked expression, as Kim reached over and closed it for him. He cleared his throat and spoke up, "...Not the reward I was expecting."

"Yeah! You're telling me?!" said Felix, as he let out an annoyed sigh. Then, his eyes redirected to the half of the message. Though, Kim got around to asking before he could get the chance.

"Hey, what're those? MVC and LVC?"

"Ugh... Oh! We learned about them in the space white void thingy... when we pressed the Blank, y'know?"

"...Hmm. I don't seem to recall. What do they mean?"

"Well, uh... Most Valuable Creation, and... and, um... Least Valuable Creation..."

Kim kept a straight face as he kept looking upwards at the wall, but he quickly faced away from Felix, and he could hear him chuckle the second he was "hidden."

"Wha— Hey, you little...! Don't laugh, okay?! I did plenty!"

"Was that before or after you almost got shot?"

"After! After! I told you to kill the archer, didn't I?!"

"Like I wouldn't have, with or without your oh-so useful information?"

"Hey, don't you dare mock me and my information!"

As Kim kept laughing at Felix, and he shouted at him for it, the digitalized wall slowly fell after displaying a final message, something among the lines of [Distributing rewards randomly.]

The two then continued walking through this incredibly long corridor, still yelling and laughing at one another. Eventually, they gained some distance from where the holographic wall used to be... only for yet another creature to appear out of the dark, only its hoof visible, carefully watching them from afar.