I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents

I looked around.
It seemed like a waiting area in front of the dungeon entrance. Yellow walls were visible.

The scenery reminded me of the 1st floor stage.

This exchange meeting’s theme was dungeon.
There are three themes for exchange meetings in total.
Dungeon, Mission, and Combat Tournament, they said.

Except for ‘Combat Tournament’, killing between players is possible in Dungeon and Mission.
In other words, the list of things I needed to be cautious about included not just the monsters in the dungeon, but also the six other players excluding myself.

7th floor Chinese player, Sun Haoran.
The next person who approached me and introduced himself was Korean.

“I’m Baek Jin-young.”

The number above his head was 8. Baek Jin-young spoke softly and smiled.
I uttered the name I had decided to use as an alias.

“I’m Jung Woo-hyun.”

Anyway, as we talk, it would be impossible to hide that I’m from South Korea.
Using a complete alias was the best option to prepare for any variables that might occur.
Unlike the modern world I lived in, there are no CCTVs here anyway.

Because only people from the 10th floor and below were gathered, there was no one who could take photos with a terminal.
Even if they saw my face, it didn’t seem like they could spread it clearly.

‘If a variable occurs, I’ll deal with it as thoroughly as possible.’

The next person who approached with a bright smile was a man with brown hair.

“I’m Jake. Nice to meet you!”

Jake immediately offered a handshake and introduced himself as American.
I shook his hand.
The number floating above Jake’s head was 6.

At that moment, Baek Jin-young, who had been standing back, approached while scratching the back of his head.

“It’s really nice to see another Korean. At the last exchange meeting, I was flustered because everyone was Chinese or Japanese.”

Baek Jin-young tried to keep talking to me, mentioning our common point of being Korean.
This didn’t feel strange.
Being happy to see someone from the same hometown was a very natural thing.
This was behavior that one might exhibit even without any ulterior motives.

“This is your first exchange meeting, right?”
“Yes.”
“At first glance, the tower seems to be trying to kill all the players. But that’s not always the case. In exchange meetings, if player cooperation goes well, they often end up being resolved more easily than regular tower floors.”

This was what Pioneer sunbae had told me.
Unless your luck is extremely bad and you end up stuck in underground waterways, the difficulty itself would be easier than Pandemonium.

“May I ask which difficulty tower you’re from?”

It seems he’s going to thoroughly investigate me.
I stated the difficulty I had already decided on along with my alias.

“Normal difficulty.”

Baek Jin-young’s eyes widened.

“Oh, I’m on Normal too. I’m from Normal Tower Numbering 121.”

According to the notification window when I entered the 2nd floor, the Pandemonium tower I’m residing in is Numbering 01.
According to the Transcendent Gallery sunbae-nims, they suspect that the number of towers increases as people fill up and more are needed.

Compared to Normal towers which have grown to 121 due to the oversaturation of summoned people, Pandemonium only needs one tower.

Indeed, how challenging will my path be?
It felt utterly daunting.

I saw Baek Jin-young about to purse his lips as if to say something more.
A window appeared in front of the dungeon waiting room.

[You are given 10 minutes of preparation time.]
[Enter the dungeon after preparation.]
[10 : 00]

Beep.

[09 : 59]

What’s with the time limit for entry?

I fiddled with the handle of the straight sword at my waist.
It wasn’t an action stemming from nervousness.

“Are you alright…?”

But to the Japanese woman’s eyes, I must have looked nervous.

“Yes, I’m fine.”
“I’m Misaki.”

Misaki, 8th floor.

I organized the people in my mind.

Baek Jin-young and me. Two Koreans.
And Jake from the 6th floor who greeted me, one American.
Misaki, one Japanese.

The 8th floor Chinese woman sticking close to Misaki. And Sun Haoran who greeted me first, 7th floor.
That makes two Chinese.

Lastly, a blonde woman yawning in the corner opened her mouth.

“Germany, Laura.”

One German.
That made seven people in total.

Above Laura’s head was the number ‘9’.
Laura stretched and then stood up.

“Is there anything particular to prepare? Someone with a shield should take the front. The rest just need to support well and do their part. It’s not difficult, right?”

I couldn’t tell if that slightly arrogant attitude came from confidence in her strength,
or confidence from being on the 9th floor.

We’ll know soon when the dungeon raid starts. I intended to strictly aim for doing just my part this time.
No more, no less. Just act like a normal person.

And my main goal was to observe the battles of others.

“I have a shield.”

Jake said, lifting his shield.
Laura nodded. Her target was Sun Haoran.

“You take the frontline with Jake. I’ll be in the center. The rest, figure it out yourselves.”
“Alright.”

Sun Haoran accepted without much resistance.
The ones who seem clearly to be in a party are Misaki and the Chinese woman next to her.
I’m not sure about the rest.

Laura, wearing leather armor, grinned at me.

“You have to protect your own life. This is a place where no one can take care of you.”

Ah, yes.
I nodded quietly.
The weak position.
It’s not bad. Rather, it’s a position where I can leisurely observe these people’s movements.

Grrrung-

Jake opened the huge door in front of the notification window.

[You have entered the dungeon – ‘Kobold’s Cradle’.]

…Kobold?

I recalled the gallery browsing I did before going to sleep yesterday.

-ArchMage) Kobolds are stronger than goblins but weaker than orcs.

ArchMage sunbae’s prediction of “what kind of monster dungeon might come up if a dungeon comes up in the exchange meeting” turned out to be correct.

So, does this mean I’ll be fighting enemies that are actually lower level than the ones I fought on the 2nd floor?
Jake’s voice was heard.

“Hmm, kobolds are not to be underestimated…!”

?
Is that so?
Are kobolds not to be underestimated?
I started to lose track of what kind of easy time these confidently advancing friends might have had.

The seniors mentioned some points to be cautious about.

ㄴ DragonKing) Beltu-i, as with all species, the king-types are exceptionally strong even within their own race.
ㄴ ?? Were they strong even by your standards?
ㄴ DragonKing) I’m just giving eye-level education for our climber. Beltu-i has high empathy scores.

It means I just need to be careful of the Kobold King.
A faint light was seeping through the darkness. Torches were hanging on various parts of the walls.

From the moment we stepped into the dungeon, humidity and dampness could be felt.

Chwaaaak!

Chains flew out from between two huge rocks.
I watched Jake’s movements.
Jake raised his round shield with all his might.

Kaang!

The chains lost direction as they were blocked by the shield.

Sreung!

Laura, who was standing at the back, drew her longsword and stepped forward.
Laura’s body flowed like water towards the kobold behind the rock. The longsword was thrust into the kobold’s shoulder joint.

Kraaak!

A scream burst from the kobold’s mouth.
Laura couldn’t kill it with one strike. She precisely delivered three sword strikes and ended its life.

It was just formless slashing and thrusting.
Still, her battle sense itself didn’t look bad.

Tududuk-!

Suddenly, stones fell from the right side. What I thought was just a narrow wall compared to the front turned out to be a trap.
Spears rushed through the gaps between the fallen stones.

The destination of those spear tips was my neck.

Kagagak!

I deflected the trajectory of the spear with my drawn straight sword.

Puk!

And I thrust the sword into the heart of the kobold who owned the spear.
I felt a gaze staring at me intently.

It was the gaze of the Japanese woman, Misaki.
It was a gaze filled with doubt about how someone from just the 3rd floor could show such a reaction.

I nodded and said,

“One’s coming at you too. Be careful.”
“Ha, hai?”

Why doesn’t it auto-translate that?
This time, a mace was flying from the direction the spear had come from.
With momentum to crush Misaki’s head.

I grabbed Misaki’s shoulder and pulled her back. Then I thrust my straight sword under the chin of the kobold who had swung the mace.

And pulled it out.

“I told you to be careful.”
“So-sorry…”

Misaki, who had clung tightly to the Chinese woman she was in a party with, nodded awkwardly.

“…You’re quite adept at combat. 3rd floor.”

The Chinese woman’s voice was heard.
Yeah, that level of recognition is enough. I intend to maintain an observer’s perspective for this exchange meeting.

.
Although Han Yuseong wasn’t there, the topic of conversation was still directed towards him, the gallery’s only climber.

Title: Nothing bad will happen, right?
Author: ArchMage

-The monster level should be even lower than Pandemonium’s 2nd floor. In the end, humans are always the variable.

ㄴ What could happen ㅇㅇ
ㄴ There’s no way there’d be someone over level 20 using sword energy in a 10th floor exchange meeting.

ㄴ GalleryMaster) From what we’ve seen so far, our climber doesn’t seem like the type to easily trust people just because he’s happy to meet someone after a long time.
ㄴ IceQueen) Freeze! I agree!

ㄴ LightSword) We’ve given enough advice, so he’ll listen.
ㄴ DragonKing) Beltu-i, please give late-night snack advice too.
ㄴ LightSword) Die

ㄴ Wouldn’t it be more interesting if a variable does occur?
ㄴ Pioneer) That’s true.
ㄴ ClosedRoomTheory) Life expert ㅇㅇ
ㄴ ArchMage) These dopamine-pickled things….