Surviving as a Trash Bard in a Game

-

You are dark, dark, dark, dark…

-

The status window repeated the same sentence as if it were malfunctioning.

All that filled my vision was blackness. A perfect darkness, without any other hue, an absolute darkness as if all the light in the world had disappeared.

I groped the floor with my palms and slowly crawled forward. At first, I thought it was a small room. But the endless flat surface completely overturned that hypothesis.

A sense of unease crept in that this place was much larger than I had thought, or perhaps... infinite.

‘What on earth happened?’

I tried to recall my memories. Let's review the last moment. I definitely fell asleep lying on my back. And when I opened my eyes... I was already here.

Just before my consciousness faded, the status window showed only the cruel option of "You cannot wake up."

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“Ahㅡ!”

It was a louder sound than I expected, but there was no echo.

No, there was something even stranger. The sound was abruptly cut off in the middle as if it were blocked by something. Even that was without any reverberation, leaving only an absolute silence as if something were devouring the sound.

How much time had passed? Suddenly, the status window changed.

-

Path progression confirmed.

Current status confirmed.

Divine Body: Eye possession confirmed.

Welcome back. Master of ■■■.

-

The glitched status window seemed to have returned to normal.

The reason I used the ambiguous expression "seemed to have returned" instead of confirming that I had returned to normal was that the tone and word choice of the status window were strangely unfamiliar.

It was odd that it called me 'master' to begin with. Moreover, it even performed a status check, which it never did before. It felt as if it had become a different entity.

‘…It confirmed that I have eyes, so it can't be mistaking me for someone else.’

Perhaps the master the status window is talking about is indeed me. The reason for the broken characters could be a lack of level? Unmet requirements?

I attempted a conversation.

“Hello? Status window?”

But there was no response. The unknown characters that had appeared a little while ago did not reappear.

Suddenly appearing, suddenly disappearing, never doing anything helpful, and rather trying to put me in danger, a suspicious system.

To be honest, in order to survive, I needed to be suspicious of the status window as well.

‘No matter how I think about it, the only human who can trap me in such a place is the status window.’

It forced my actions before, and it acted as if I had no choice by displaying strange options, it all smelled very fishy.

No, focus.

First of all, the status window is also my ability, and clearly, when I was challenged at the adventurer's guild, the window popped out as if responding to my will.

Maybe I can make the options pop out.

Well, should I pray earnestly?

‘No, I have my pride, that’s a bit much.’

Alright. Let's explore ways to escape this place without compromising my pride, by any means necessary!

.

.

.

Time passed, and I knelt down, earnestly clasping my hands together.

Have you ever been trapped in darkness without light for hours?

The terror is hard to put into words. If I had to compare it… it would be similar to the despair when you use your last chance in a gacha game, and a different silhouette appears instead of the character you wanted. No, it was far more terrible than that.

In the face of such terror, pride was trivial.

Eventually, I knelt down and clasped my hands together. At first, I thought, 'It will probably let me out on its own after some time.' But as time passed, my mind began to crumble.

The more terrifying thought was this. They said that humans with a Divine Body don't age... so perhaps the fear of being trapped in this space forever.

I didn't even have time to worry about what happened to my body in reality.

‘A method worth trying.’

What action could I take to escape this place?

Assuming that the entrance and exit are the same, I thought in reverse about the cause of entering this place.

I pondered for a long time, but I couldn't recall doing anything particularly strange. I was just dragged into this space while I was sleeping!

‘…Sleep?’

Sleep? Yes, if I fall asleep here, can I wake up in reality?

So I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep for a long time. But… I couldn't sleep at all. As if sleep were not allowed in this space.

In the end, I chose to use my 'eyes'. If you ask me why, I don't really know. It was just a hunch.

I circulated my mana.

As Skyler taught me.

Slowly. Close your eyes, and open them again.

With that simple action, the darkened world regains its light.

The darkness receded, and the light returned. I didn't know my eyes had a night vision function. Perhaps most abilities related to 'seeing' are possible.

‘…When I wake up, I have more things to test.’

Only then did I realize that the place I was trapped in wasn't a black and dark place. It was just that there was no light.

Numerous picture frames were laid out on the floor.

Each frame contained an image of 'me'. There were images of my current self, and also of my self before entering this body. The faces were the same, but the portraits gave off the impression of completely different people.

I've definitely seen this scene somewhere before.

‘…Classic games.’

Very old classic games had a few characteristics.

A characteristic element of old classic games. A space called the 'Ending Room'. A special place where the player can check all the endings they have collected.

This resembled the ending room of a classic game.

In one frame, I was reigning as the queen of the back alleys, collecting protection money.

In another frame, I was enjoying a life of debauchery with several women.

In one frame, I was a prostitute in a brothel, staring blankly out the window.

In the last frame, I was wearing a crown, receiving reports from nobles and soldiers.

‘…What is this.’

No, the fact that this scene is like the ending room of a classic game is merely my speculation.

Is it a dream? I haven't had a dream lately, so maybe I'm having this bizarre dream. Maybe when I wake up, I won't remember anything.

I walked among the countless frames. And finally, I reached the end.

There, an empty frame with nothing drawn on it was placed.

-

1. [ Exit. ]

-

An option popped up.

I pressed the option without hesitation.

***

Meanwhile, Skyler was doing her best to resolve the situation.

He used a scroll to check Selina's condition, who had suddenly fallen asleep. The 'Discern' result showed that there was nothing wrong with her body.

‘…There's no way a human with no abnormalities would be in this state.’

A curse must have been at work. Skyler was certain.

Selina's condition had been steadily deteriorating lately.

She tried to hide it, but it was not something that could be hidden.

Compared to when they first met, her body had become much lighter. Her food intake hadn't changed, yet her body continued to waste away.

Propertius and Nisha were adventurers and clerics.

There were very few illnesses that could not be cured by divine healing. If modern divine healing could not cure an illness or curse, it meant there was a fundamental problem with the body.

‘…Where?’

A curse that could not be found by magic, could not be cured by divine power, and was getting worse over time. It was unprecedented.

He had never heard of or experienced such a thing.

Skyler didn't want any more visitors. Ever since he lost his family because of the Divine Body, he had always been like this. When someone he knew died, they would come to him in his dreams and torment him. Why didn't you do your best? Why couldn't you save them?

Even though he knew they weren't real, Skyler couldn't tell them to disappear.

Being able to meet those who had already left, even if only in dreams, was both a curse and a blessing.

‘I don't want to see someone I know die in front of me.’

Simple yet complex, it was Skyler's principle of life.

A day passed.

All attempts failed.

Recovery potions, antidote potions were useless.

Magic failed.

Scrolls were ineffective.

Even the divine healing of the village priest failed.

A mountain of failures piled up in just one day.

And finally, Selina suddenly opened her eyes as if nothing had happened.

"...What's wrong?"

"You're finally awake."

"What time is it?"

"You should be asking what day it is, not what time."

"Hmm, I slept that long. No wonder I'm hungry."

Seeing Selina make light of her serious condition, Skyler was inwardly angry. But he didn't show it and continued the conversation.

At first, it was just a relationship of using each other. But what about now? They had become a relationship where they felt uneasy when the other wasn't around.

They bickered, joked, and traveled together, having trivial conversations, and when everything was over someday. Was she ready to let her go with a smile?

The coachman started the carriage, and the wheels rolled on to the next city.