Surviving in the Trash Hell Game by Tossing a Coin

Chapter 2 - Dark Dog(1)

What is the essence of a large-scale update promotion?

It's just this one thing.

We've prepared this many rewards, so play our game.

So then, what are those rewards?

There was no notice about the rewards in-game.

It only showed me my scorched memories of 3 years.

Then, what's left is the external site.

I immediately went online and diligently searched the Dargnes Online homepage.

The result of a 5-minute search confirmed that my prediction was correct.

There was an event page targeting returning users.

That event was in the format of spinning a ‘Returning User Exclusive’ roulette just once to receive the prize it landed on.

For a moment, I thought, 'These bastards are messing around with luck here too.'

Feeling that even time for complaining was a waste, I immediately started examining the list of prizes and their probabilities.

As expected, most of the prizes were not at all satisfactory.

Red, blue. The roulette, painted in various colors, was not as valuable as its brilliant colors suggested.

Just useless things like a +5 enhanced weapon that I can't even use now, 2 months' worth of supply cubes, and a golden pickaxe.

‘Most’ of them, that is.

A probability of 1/6,096,454, the same as winning first prize in the lottery, caught my eye.

Moreover, the item written in that slot.

[Limited to 1 time per entire server, executes ‘??’ on the account.]

The developers, unpleasantly, knew all too well the needs that gamers go crazy for.

‘Entire Server Exclusive’.

What sweet words these were.

They were the very words that all gamers longed for.

On top of that, they didn't even reveal the item.

Just two question marks.

That meant the unknown.

The unknown was an intense yet fatal word that stimulated the primal human emotions of curiosity and imagination.

And the developers were using it freely.

As if possessed, my emotions were manipulated, and I immediately pressed the start roulette button.

The colorful roulette spun round and round.

Pickaxes, cubes, weapons, food, all sorts of trash were clamoring to be picked.

The reward I was aiming for was just silently spinning, hidden within that clamor.

Of course, I didn't expect anything.

If I had been lucky enough to get that in the first place, I wouldn't have lost two mercenaries to countless misfortunes and quit the game.

I could tell just by looking at that malicious probability.

A person who could beat those odds would have already won the lottery and be living a lavish life.

It probably wouldn't just be me; no one would be able to get it, and it would just end like that.

That's what I thought.

But.

“…This actually worked?”

It really did.

The pointer of the roulette was pointing at the rainbow-colored slot, so small it was barely visible.

The pointer that had pierced through the 1/6,096,454 probability, the same as winning first prize in the lottery.

That pointer was proudly displaying its majesty on the rainbow-colored slot.

Thinking it might be a system error, I rubbed my eyes and looked at the screen again, but the screen was still the same.

The pointer pointing at the rainbow-colored slot, the stopped roulette reward window.

[ Execute ‘??’ on Account ]

You, who have satisfied luck out of ‘Luck’ and ‘Momentum’.

You are the only one in the entire server to have reached this possibility.

To you, we bestow this honor.

I was dumbfounded that this was reality and not a dream.

Suddenly, the strong light pouring out from the screen made my head spin.

I felt dizzy from the light, staggered, and my vision grew distant….

***

I was possessed into the game world.

The reason I was sure of it was simple.

Because I was currently being chased.

And by a monster that doesn't exist in the real world, at that.

“Hhuk, hhuk, hhuk, sh-shiiibal!!”

The things trying to bite my neck and tear at my flesh.

They were four-legged, pitch-black dogs drooling as they ran. They were ‘Dark Dogs’.

If I were being chased because of my own fault, at least it wouldn't feel so unfair.

But I had already been surrounded by those bastards from the moment I teleported into the game.

In the middle of a beautiful forest where the chirping of birds could be heard around noon….

By four four-legged beasts with bodies that looked like they were burning pitch-black and had red eyes.

Of course, some might focus on the word ‘Dog’ in Dark Dog and disregard their strength.

But here, one had to focus on the ‘Dark’.

The Dark Dog was a monster with a backstory befitting a ‘dark fantasy’ world.

Leg strength that could catch up to a full-grown man running at full speed in just over ten seconds.

Skin that burned black, absorbing physical attacks and the like, leaving only the eyes as a weakness.

A ferocious nature that tried to bite and tear apart all living things with its teeth.

In reality, it was so.

Even though I was running at full speed, the Dark Dogs showed no sign of falling behind.

Rather, they were glaring with red eyes aimed only at me and screeching at the top of their lungs.

The one fortunate thing was that the place I was running was not a flat plain but an uneven forest path.

Fleeing between the trees was very effective for an escapee.

Thanks to that, despite the difference in leg strength, the distance was only closing slowly, and I hadn't been completely caught yet.

However, that was merely ‘fortunate’.

It couldn't be considered luck.

“Kuaaaaaaaah!!”

“Kuoooooooooh!!”

It wasn't that I had avoided a life-threatening crisis, It was nothing more than delaying the result of death by sacrificing my stamina.

No matter how advantageous the forest was for an escapee.

If there's a difference in basic specs, it's hard to shake them off completely.

In fact, it was the same now.

A whopping 4 of those sons of bitches were fiercely chasing me, drooling profusely.

The distance between them and me, who couldn't overcome the physical difference between beast and man, was gradually closing.

“Uwaaaaaaaah!! Somebody help me!!”

To you, we bestow this honor?

How is this an honor?

I'm about to get killed by a mob-level monster with the status of a goblin, how is this an honor?

The person who gave the quest probably didn't know the meaning of ‘honor’ very well.

Please, come back after doing some basic studying.

If I could have my way, I wanted to spit at the sky and lie on the ground throwing a tantrum.

But, I knew that doing so wouldn't solve anything.

This isn't the floor of a supermarket where throwing a tantrum solves all problems.

There's only one thing I can do.

Calmly, I assess the situation, and I make a move to overcome it.

Thinking about it logically, that's how it is.

If they possessed me without any belongings and dropped me in this situation, anyone would die.

If that's what they wanted, there would be no need to use a troublesome method like giving a quest or anything.

So surely, they must have left me a means to resist.

With the feeling of clutching at straws, I fumbled through my pockets even as I ran.

“Huh?”

My guess was not wrong.

After feeling a foreign object in a space I had never touched, I pulled it out.

It was a ‘coin’.

A strange, moderately sized coin with a gold border and a navy blue pattern.

I quickly examined the shape of the coin, which had a skull on the back and a cross on the front.

Then, the status window I hadn't called for appeared on its own, announcing an update to its contents.

[ Coin of Revival ]

A coin has a front and a back.

If there is the dark side of transmigration, there must be the bright side of another reward.

Of course, to obtain that light, you must be backed by ‘Luck’ and ‘Momentum’.

Whether you can truly break through the will of the enraged developers. We will gladly watch.

Heads Reward: The goddess of fortune shows you a smile.

Among your deceased mercenaries, the strongest one is revived.

After a certain amount of time, you can toss the coin again.

Tails Reward: The goddess of fortune turns her back.

Nothing happens, and the coin is destroyed immediately.

I thought they would have at least prepared a way for me to get through, but I didn't know this would also be up to luck.

But of course, there was no time to blame anyone.

The distance, which had been about 30m, had now closed to about 10m.

Even in a forest with no straight paths, it was an obvious result because of the difference in running speed.

Due to acceleration and physical structure, if I hesitated even for a moment, my neck would be torn off.

There is no time to hesitate.

Since I'm running, even if I flip the coin now, I won't be able to check its face.

But the result doesn't change based on whether I observe it or not anyway.

So I just did my best to even out my ragged breath.

I calmed my trembling arm and placed the coin on my thumb.

“Let’s go, Kang Woon! Kang Woon of bad luck! One, two, three!!”

I flicked it hard enough to make a cheerful ting sound.

The coin soared high into the sky.

The coin, floating in the air, flew past me and the Dark Dogs.

In an instant, it was flung back so far it became invisible.

And taking that coin as a signal, one of the Dark Dogs finally lunged at me and knocked me down.

“Kyaaaaaaak!!”

“Kuaak!”

Without a chance to get up, it pressed down on my shoulder with its sharply raised claws.

I couldn't shake off the chilling sensation of the growling beast I felt from my back.

I couldn't wipe away the beast's drool that dripped onto the nape of my neck.

So I just focused all my nerves on my hearing.

The sound of birds fluttering, the sound of my heart beating.

I erased the sound of leaves rustling down and the buzzing of insects from my senses.

I waited for the sentence that the coin I tossed would deliver.

Heads?

Tails?

“Krrrrrrr….”

The Dark Dog's breathing got closer and closer.

The claws that were on top of me, holding down my shoulders, gradually dug into my skin.

Time flowed by helplessly, and the moment approached when the coin would fall to the ground and deliver the verdict on my end.

If it's heads, I'll live, and if it's tails, I'll die.

Indeed.

What will happen.

But nothing happened.

If it was going to be like this, I should have just bought a lottery ticket.

From beginning to end, it was a shitty life.

“Hongyeom-yunmu.”

That's what I thought.

However, that thought was cut short by a sudden bang, an explosive sound.

“Kyaaaaaaak!!”

“Kieeeek!”

Taking the explosion as a signal, the weight pressing down on my shoulders disappeared along with an ear-splitting scream.

At the same time, a heat so intense it felt like my flesh would burn washed over me like a wave.

“Thanks, Kuaah!! Ah-tt-tt!!”

To escape the heat, I struggled and crawled, grabbing a tree to get up and turn my body.

Following the Dark Dogs, I gritted my teeth, wondering what kind of situation this was now.

I was on high alert, thinking a new enemy might have appeared.

“Hello, Captain.”

But there was no need for that.

The person standing in front of me proved it.

I was soon able to figure out what this situation was, and what the word from before meant.

[ Coin of Revival ]

The goddess of fortune shows you a smile.

‘Luck’ was on your side.

You have splendidly escaped this first crisis.

Heads Reward: ‘Maletta’, a member of the old ‘Annyeong-wangnyeong’ mercenary group, is resurrected.

Heads of the coin.

The one who overcame most crises with weapons brought from ‘Plenar Atelier’.

One of the ‘strongest’ mercenary trio that I journeyed with.

“It's the first time I'm seeing her in person.”

With her back to the brilliantly blazing flames.

She was looking down at me with a smiling face.

“Captain?”