Episode 30 – Two Dungeons, One Lazy Boss

Episode 30 – Two Dungeons, One Lazy Boss

The world outside the slime dungeon didn't feel like the same one Kim Do-hyun (김도현) had stepped into earlier. It was almost like the light had changed while he was inside, even though the sky looked exactly the same. The sun hovered just a little off center, trapped behind the hazy dome that shimmered faintly above the dungeon's entrance field. The protective barrier flickered gently, reflecting the light like a soap bubble trying to pretend it was glass.

Do-hyun trudged across the boundary line, each bootstep making a wet squelch against the algae-slicked floor. His clothing looked as though he had bathed in the stomach acid of some monster—which, technically, wasn't too far from the truth. The smell was awful. His gloves were no longer black but some mix of green, yellow, and whatever shade "burnt slime" counted as. His breath hitched in the back of his throat as he peeled the gloves off slowly, watching the outer layer crumble in his hand like dried parchment.

Waiting near the field monitor, the dungeon manager—a lean, tired man in a cracked vest with a clipboard too clean for his surroundings—glanced up as the boy approached. His eyes traveled across the soaked figure, the acidic residue trailing from his boots, the bubbling corrosion on the gear, and finally landed on the quietly twitching slime still clinging to Do-hyun's left boot.

"You all right, kid?" the manager asked, squinting as though Do-hyun's very presence offended his retinas. "How was it?"

Do-hyun slowly peeled the slime off with the corner of a broken mana trowel and let it flop onto the gravel.

He exhaled hard. "Honestly? Felt like I got slow-cooked inside a frog's nostril."

The manager snorted, amused but unsurprised. "That's about right. That's why barely anybody picks this place for regular grind work. People see 'low-tier slime field' and think it's easy. They don't read the fine print."

He lifted a finger and pointed lazily toward the acid-pocked trail Do-hyun had left behind. "You see your gloves? Already corroding. Some of those slime variants are packed with digestive spores. Doesn't burn skin straight away, but it lingers. Gets in your lungs, too. Real sticky stuff. You probably felt it, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Do-hyun muttered, rubbing at his chest lightly. "Breathing in there was like trying to inhale through a wet towel. A wet towel made of mold."

"Exactly," the man said, tapping the clipboard now like he was lecturing a group of academy freshmen. "With reinforced gear and high-grade filters, someone like you could last about six hours in there. Assuming you don't pass out from dehydration first."

Do-hyun rolled his shoulder, already regretting the weight of his soaked jacket. "Man... I don't know how anyone could stand it in there that long."

The man gave him a crooked look. "You're saying that like you actually want to go back in."

Do-hyun blinked, tilted his head, then smirked faintly.

"I don't," he replied flatly. "But Number 1 might."

From behind him, just past the safety line of the field's protective runes, his clone—Number 1—stepped forward. The clone's appearance was, as usual, eerily identical to the original. From the soaked hair down to the gunk-covered boots, everything mirrored Kim Do-hyun perfectly. Except for the vibe. Where the original looked like he'd just survived the worst bath of his life, Number 1 looked freshly summoned, sharp-eyed, and far too smug for someone walking voluntarily into the ooze pit.

The dungeon manager raised an eyebrow. "Wait, that's your—"

"Clone," Do-hyun confirmed, cutting him off with a tired wave. "He's used to the pain."

Number 1 adjusted the mask strapped tightly across the lower half of his face. His voice came out muffled, dry, and just slightly irritated.

"You say that like you're not the one who made me."

"Which means you inherited my work ethic," Do-hyun shot back. "So chop-chop."

Number 1 didn't reply. He simply pulled his gloves tighter, rolled his shoulders once, and without further discussion, stepped forward into the dungeon without hesitation. The protective barrier rippled faintly around him as he passed through. A faint humming sound followed, and then silence.

The manager whistled under his breath. "Clones like that, huh? Not just for show."

Do-hyun didn't answer. He was already flicking through the field menu on his device, pulling up another dungeon list. His thumb hovered briefly over a few high-risk sites before settling on one marked in a dim yellow font.

[Scaled Frog Wetlands – Solo Entry Available]

He glanced up again and looked toward the dungeon staffer. "Hey. What's the queue like for the frog field?"

The guy raised his tablet, scrolled through some data, and grunted. "Pretty light. Most hunters avoid it around this time. Swamp's unusually active today. Heat's got the spawn rate up. You still want in?"

Do-hyun nodded casually. "Yeah, sounds like a fun afternoon."

He paused briefly and then chuckled to himself, snapping his fingers in mock realization.

"Wait."

The smile dropped from his face.

"I forgot to go get Number 2."

The words hung in the air for a second, and then Do-hyun let out a tired groan and rubbed his temple slowly with two fingers, as if trying to physically erase the mistake from his brain. "Right... Number 2 is still waiting at the gym. Just standing there. Like a lost dog."

He exhaled again, longer this time, letting it stretch out into the silence.

"Why do I keep doing this to myself?"

The manager tilted his head, visibly confused. "Uh... how many clones do you even have?"

"Enough," Do-hyun said, rubbing his eyes, "to make me feel like a project manager without the salary."

He pulled out his phone, tapped out a message lazily with one hand.

TO: #2

"Change of plans. Sit tight. Be there in twenty."

Then he glanced back at the dungeon field where Number 1 had disappeared.

His clone was already inside, grinding quietly, collecting cores, and doing the dirty work without complaint. Meanwhile, the real Kim Do-hyun was trying to figure out how to delegate another job while barely putting in the minimum effort.

"Alright," he muttered under his breath. "Slime field... covered. Number 2... still idle. Frog field... coming up."

His legs were tired. His gloves were ruined. His lungs felt like someone had filled them with sticky rice and vinegar. But his schedule was set.

Two active dungeons.

Two clones are going to be grinding.

One lazy operator on oversight duty.

And the grind... never ends.

---

Author's Note:

Let's stop and really imagine it for a moment.

What if you had your own clones—real ones—not just some fantasy from a webnovel, but living, breathing versions of yourself, each one able to take a part of your life off your shoulders and carry it like a beast of burden… without complaint, without burnout, without even needing sleep unless you wanted them to.

Clone #1? He's already clocked into work before the sun even rose. Sitting at your desk, answering emails with robotic precision, nodding along in meetings you don't even remember scheduling. Clone #2? He's in the lecture hall right now, jotting down notes, submitting assignments on time, and pretending not to fall asleep mid-slide. Clone #3? He's out there building muscle, dripping sweat, repping weights that would snap your real spine in half, all while keeping a perfect calorie log. Clone #4? Naturally, the most loyal—he's curled up in bed with his phone, refreshing Webnovel every few minutes, voting religiously, smashing that comment section, dropping Golden Tickets like it's a special event raid.

Meanwhile... the real you? You're sipping something cold, scrolling through this story with a grin like you just pulled an S-tier item on your first roll. You haven't lifted a finger, but somehow, everything is getting done.

Isn't that the dream?

Well… until we figure out how to Awaken for real and unlock that Clone skill ourselves, this is the closest thing we've got.

So if you're enjoying the journey—if even a part of you wants this world to keep expanding, to keep breathing, to keep evolving like some vast living dungeon—then every little thing you do here matters more than you think.

Every Vote is a push forward. Every Gift is a healing potion when the writing hours get too long. Every Comment is like your own voice echoing through the gates of the world, reminding me someone out there is watching. And those Golden Tickets? That's how you give the story its power-up moment—like giving Do-hyun an instant stat boost.

You want more clones? More dungeon fields? More chaos, drama, slime, sweat, and strategy? You want to see what happens next before anyone else? Just unlock Privileges. That's like sending your own scout clone ahead of the main team, watching what happens before the rest of the world catches up.

This is Webnovel. And in Webnovel, there's no such thing as too small. Every click, every tap, every word builds the world further. You're not just reading this story. You're helping it grow. You're part of the system now.

So thank you—for showing up, for reading to the end, for being here in this world with me.

Now go be your own kind of clone. Or better yet—send one to go drop a comment while you stretch and prepare for tomorrow's grind.

LittleLYTA (Clone #18 is still scrubbing slime off his boots. He's not happy. Please gift responsibly.)