11 Chapter 10: Chapter 10 (1/2)

It happened then.

Shururururu.....

Suddenly, the sandy ground next to him caved in and a deep pit formed there.

”Huh? Uh, uh!”

Jin-Woo desperately ran away so he could avoid getting sucked in down there. The sandy pit grew wider and wider, and eventually, Jin-Woo had to crawl on all fours just to pull himself out.

”Pant, pant, pant....”

He plopped down on his butt, panted heavily and stared at the bottom of the pit. Quite bizarrely, he could see that the sand at the bottom was 'boiling'.

Realising that just one misstep would have resulted in him falling in there sent shivers down his spine.

”Hang on a minute....”

Jin-Woo's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

”....It's not actually boiling, is it?”

When he took a closer look, he spotted 'something' pretty big wiggling down there.

Jin-Woo instinctively forced himself up. He was getting a really bad premonition right about now.

Sure enough, just as Jin-Woo took a step back, the sand within the pit suddenly exploded upwards.

Phushu-!!

The falling sand emitted the roar of a waterfall.

Jin-Woo's eyes went extra round in the meantime.

”An... an insect?”

The identity of the thing that exploded out from the sand was a giant centipede.

Kiiiieeehhhk!!

When fully revealed, the d*mn thing's head almost reached the height equaling that of a five-story building.

Jin-Woo anxiously swallowed his saliva.

'This is unreal....'

For sure, the b*stard was unrealistically huge. He had never heard of a centipede this big existing in the world before. But the size of the centipede wasn't the only thing that shocked Jin-Woo.

”Why is there a... name floating on top of that monster?”

Was he dreaming again?

Jin-Woo closed and opened his eyes again, yet nothing had changed. Even now, there were five red words floating on top of the monster's head.

….Just like a monster from a video game might have.

'The Poison-Fanged Giant Desert Centipede.'

Just like its horrendous and bizarre appearance, its name too was something he'd like to avoid at all cost. What drew his attention the most was the two letters ”poison” and ”fanged”.

He spotted a pair of fangs as large as a child jutting out just below the b*stard's jaw. It didn't take a genius to figure out what might happen if he got stabbed by those fangs simply from its name alone.

Seeing those large fangs and its jaw constantly opening and closing, it was as if....

”It's busy licking its lips, right?”

It was then, the sound went off in his head again.

Tti-ring.

[Penalty Quest: Survival]

Goal: Please survive until the end of the time limit.

Time limit: 4 hours

Remaining time: 4 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds

'Are you kidding me....?'

However, as soon as the 'remaining time' changed to 3 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds, the centipede parted sand and rushed towards him as if it couldn't wait any longer.

*SFX for sand parting ways*

”Wha-what the hell?!”

Jin-Woo hurriedly spun around and ran for his life.

There was no time to deliberate on things.

If he wanted to live, then he had to run!

That was the only thought racing in his head.

However, even before he had taken several steps, another pillar of sand exploded upwards not too far from his position.

Boom!!

”Euh-ahhck?!”

Jin-Woo fell on his rear from the powerful shockwave. He rolled on the sandy ground before urgently getting back up. He swiped the sand off his face before his eyes shot open even wider.

This time, it wasn't just one or two of them.

Boom!!

Booooom!!

Before he had even noticed it, there were seven sand centipedes jutting out from the sand and they were all glaring at him.

Kiiieeechhk!!

Kiieeek!!

As the centipedes issued shrill cries, Jin-Woo's complexion changed for the worse. A lot worse.

”God d*mn it....”

***

Jin-Woo reappeared in the hospital room exactly four hours later.

Plop.

Jin-Woo keeled over on the floor and painfully wheezed out.

”Cough, cough!! Ptooi, ptooi!!”

His mouth felt full with this coarse, grainy taste. His eyes stung badly too, seemingly like sand particles got in there.

Jin-Woo whimpered and groaned for a long time, before powerlessly falling flat on his back. He didn't have any energy left to lift even a finger.

”Pant.... Pant.... Just.... What was that....?”

Jin-Woo continued to pant heavily when a new message appeared before him.

Tti-ring.

[You've completed the 'Penalty Quest.']

Jin-Woo's expression crumpled into something unsightly.

A 'Penalty Quest'?

Did he do something worthy of being punished?

Jin-Woo carefully retreaded his memories until he recalled the [Daily Quest] he abandoned mid-way yesterday.

'Could it be...?'

Now that he thought about it, it definitely said that if the quest was not completed, he'd be hit with a corresponding penalty.

”Pant, pant, that.... That was not a hallucination?!”

Indeed, it was not a hallucination nor was it a dream.

There was no need to pinch his cheeks to confirm whether this was a dream or reality.

When he was running around, the shortness of breath felt so suffocatingly harsh, and the pain he felt when he got grazed by the centipede's leg still felt fresh in his mind.

Everything happened for real.

He nearly died back there.

”This is way too much.... Pant... pant....”

The so-called penalty turned out to be him being throwing into a d*mn execution ground!

At the same time, another ominous premonition rushed into his mind. If this event was indeed caused by the 'Daily Quest' thing, then without a doubt, this would not be the last time.

Sure enough, he got to hear yet another mechanical beep going off in his head.

Tti-ring.

He flinched in surprise, but thankfully, it was not about another quest or anything like that.

[Rewards for completing the Penalty Quest is now available.]

[Would you like to confirm the rewards?] (Y/N)

'Rewards....?'

The word 'rewards' jumped right out. Too bad, the problem was, he currently didn't have any energy left whatsoever to confirm this and that.

His situation simply didn't allow that.

'Never mind giving me rewards or not.... Let me take a break first....'

His sights gradually blurred.

Soon, Jin-Woo fell into a deep slumber akin to a blackout.

***

”Oh my gosh?! What happened in here?”

Next morning.

A nurse entered Jin-Woo's room, only for her eyes to open up wide in surprise.

The patient was lying sprawled on the floor, while sand was everywhere as far as she could see. Not only that, the patient too was full of sand as well.

She threw the medical chart on the bed and urgently pressed the emergency buzzer.