My head hurt.
Not the "I didn't sleep well" kind of hurt.
The "I might have hit a rock face-first and bled out" kind of hurt.
Everything felt… smaller. My hands, my legs, even the voice that slipped out of me when I groaned was too soft, too light.
That was my first clue.
The second clue?
> [Status Window: Jin Roderick]
Age: 14
Class: —
Level: 1
Condition: Mild concussion, bruised ribs
Title: "Useless Third Son of House Roderick"
Fate: Dies during Tutorial Dungeon
— View full status? [Y/N]
My hand moved on its own.
Yes.
And just like that, I knew.
I wasn't dreaming.
I wasn't hallucinating.
I had transmigrated into the world of the game I'd sunk over 1,200 hours into.
The brutal, no-holds-barred permadeath hellscape called Dungeons & Doomsday.
And worse—
I was Jin Roderick.
A completely irrelevant NPC who died before even making it out of the tutorial.
"…Perfect."
---
The air was damp and stale. Faint torchlight flickered across mossy stone walls. The ceiling creaked every so often, dust drifting down like it couldn't quite believe the place was still standing.
I knew this dungeon.
The layout. The spawn points. The traps.
It was the Tutorial Instance #03: Abandoned Trial Hall.
And if I didn't do something soon, I'd be dead in fifteen minutes.
There were no miraculous powers. No cheat skill announcements. Just the same rotten starting gear and a body that hadn't even gone through a growth spurt yet.
What I had was this:
Game knowledge.
A calm enough head to use it.
And the ability to see full status windows, including hidden traits, even when others couldn't.
That alone? Already overpowered—if used smartly.
---
I limped to my feet, checking the wound on my side. Bruised, not broken. I could move.
Barely.
The path ahead led to the first fork.
Right meant a dead-end with a collapsing trap. Left led to a bait chest with an ambush.
But if I hugged the right wall and climbed up the broken support, I could reach a hidden ledge above the fight trigger zone. Skip the whole thing.
Nobody in the game ever figured that out. Not even speedrunners.
I made my way there slowly, climbing like a drunk squirrel and nearly slipping twice.
But I made it.
And when I reached the ledge, I froze.
Someone else was already up there.
---
A girl sat hunched in the corner, gripping a broken staff and muttering to herself.
Her clothes were torn, blood drying around her left knee. She looked exhausted, angry, and ready to bite the next person who spoke to her.
I recognized her.
Serin Arvelle.
An early-game support mage from a scrapped questline.
In the original, she died in this dungeon because her group left her behind.
Most players didn't even notice.
> [Serin Arvelle – Magic Trainee – Lv. 2]
Trait: ???
Condition: Internal mana feedback, shallow breathing
Status: Distrustful, on edge
She didn't notice me at first.
Then she did.
Her eyes locked onto mine like daggers.
"…You're not part of that group, are you?" she said.
I raised both hands. "I'm alone. And unarmed. Don't kill me."
Her shoulders relaxed slightly. Only slightly.
"…Good. They ran off hours ago. Left me behind when the orc came."
Orc.
Right. The scripted mini-boss that spawns near the exit once the trap is triggered.
She must've escaped it and crawled up here.
Smart. Too smart to die here.
And I needed to make sure she didn't.
---
"I know the path out," I said, quietly.
Serin narrowed her eyes.
"Sure you do."
"Really. If we go down that slope and take the third left, we'll find a broken wall. On the other side is a drop to the storage room. There's healing herbs and a way to bypass the boss trigger."
She stared at me. "And how do you know that?"
"…I read a lot."
That wasn't a lie.
She didn't trust me. Why would she? I looked like a noble brat, barely older than her, suddenly claiming I had insider knowledge.
But she didn't have other options.
After a moment, she stood up with a grimace and leaned on the staff.
"If you get me killed," she muttered, "I'm haunting you."
---
We moved quietly.
Carefully.
No unnecessary fights. No unnecessary noise. I pointed out pressure plates before she stepped on them. Showed her which corridor had mana residue that signaled a trap. We avoided every scripted fight.
It wasn't flashy.
It was survival.
Half an hour later, we dropped down into the storage room.
> [You have discovered: Hidden Chamber – Trial Bypass Access]
Rewards: Minor Healing Herb (x3), Broken Leather Armor (+2 DEF), Key Fragment A
I exhaled. Serin collapsed against the wall.
For a moment, neither of us said anything.
Then she looked at me sideways.
"…You're not like the others."
I shrugged. "I don't like dying."
A small pause.
Then, surprisingly, a smile.
---
We weren't friends.
We weren't allies.
Not yet.
But we were alive.
And in this game?
That already meant we were doing something right.