Owner of the S-Rank Dungeon Campsite (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 12

After lunch, I planned to set up the newly purchased items. First, the most important one—the tent.

[Medium Tent

– Accommodates 4 people

– Setup Instructions (Collapse▼)

1. Unfold the tent skin and insert each pole into its corresponding sleeve according to the ‘setup order’.

2. Pass the final eave pole through the central ring and attach the pole ends to the tent corner stakes.

3. Pull the skin taut while pushing the poles inward to make the tent self-supporting.

4. Attach the rings to match the pole positions.

5. Drive the steel stakes into the ground.]

Just reading the instructions made it seem more complicated than the small tent. The small tent had a simple pyramid shape, but this medium tent was dome-shaped, requiring multiple poles with many angles.

“Teddy, could you help me a little?”

“Yes!”

I originally intended to set it up alone, but it felt overwhelming. I managed to attach the sleeves and connect the pole ends to the tent corners, but making it self-supporting by pulling the skin proved extremely difficult.

“Isn’t it a bit crooked? Or is something wrong with my eyes?”

“The left side seems slightly lower.”

“Teddy, could you hold it steady by yourself for a moment?”

“Yes.”

Sure enough, when I went over to the left side, that part had sagged. The pole hadn’t been properly secured into the stake.

“It seems good now.”

After adjusting the shape, I inserted the poles into the final rings and hammered in the steel stakes. Thus, a sturdy medium tent was completed.

[‘Yubom (F)’ has succeeded in ‘Tent Setup (F)’.] [Hardship is my strength! Tremendous stamina infuses the ‘Medium Tent ’!]

Tremendous stamina? It seemed another beneficial effect had been added.

[Stamina recovery rate increases by 10% per hour.]

Stamina was an attribute used by Assassin or Martial Artist class types. Though not as universally applicable as health regeneration, a 10% hourly increase was indeed a significant effect.

‘Well, having diverse effects isn’t bad. It’ll surely come in handy someday.’

Feeling satisfied with the tent, I proceeded to install the other items bought from the camping market. I hung a bug-repelling lamp inside the tent to brighten the interior.

I strung blue starlight plant bulbs between the trees. I also cleaned up the campfire’s ash pile, which had accumulated from days of continuous burning.

I lit a new fire in the maintenance-free fire pit.

Though it wasn’t yet dusk and the difference wasn’t obvious, it promised a pleasant atmosphere once darkness fell.

[The campsite’s charm increases.] [The campsite reputation gains ‘Cozy-Lit Campsite’.] [The campsite effect now includes +10% mana regeneration speed.] [The campsite status changes to ‘Clean’.] [The campsite effect now includes +10% movement speed.]

As Teddy had mentioned, landscaping had granted additional effects. Simply clearing the ash had changed the status to ‘Clean’, granting me increased movement speed as well.

“Yes!”

“Master, you’re amazing!”

[The campsite has leveled up. (3 → 4)] [The campsite area expands.] [Congratulations! Conditions met—you’ve acquired the sub-skill ‘Gotcha! (C)’.]

It leveled up again, granting me a new skill.

[Gotcha! (C)

– Dungeons contain many rare and special plants. Just yank them out shamelessly while loudly insisting you’ve found something!

The more desperate you are, the more your clumsy hands turn golden.

– Effect: Foraging

– Shout ‘Gotcha!’ three times loudly to harvest a higher-grade plant.]

“It’s a foraging skill!”

“Yes. But the skill description is a bit…”

Foraging was a common sub-skill among Hunters. Yet, this one required shouting “Gotcha!” out loud after pulling a plant to activate its effect.

Just imagining it made my hands curl inward with embarrassment.

Moreover, I’d long wondered—why were all sub-skill descriptions like this?

Did the system look down on me? Or was it just my imagination?

“Hm… I feel like I’m being mocked.”

“But still, shouting ‘Gotcha!’ three times will let you harvest high-grade plants!”

“That’s true.”

Though momentarily annoyed, I decided to let it go. Judging by its conditions, it was clearly a useful skill.

[Quest

– Harvest a plant inside the dungeon. (0/1)

– Completion Reward: Plant Encyclopedia]

Accordingly, a regular quest—not the usual Spring Campsite quest—appeared after a long time. It was a relatively easy task.

Since it specified “dungeon plants,” I could probably harvest any nearby plant.

Next, I headed toward the vending machine. My level had increased recently, so I wanted to check if new items had been added to its menu.

[Dumplings (50C)

Pink Ham (50C)

Tteok-galbi Patties (50C)

Garaetteok Rice Cakes (50C)

Cheese Sticks (50C)

……]

Many frozen food items had been added. However, these new items cost five times the usual coin price.

A whopping 50 coins.

Scrolling further down to see what else had been added…

[……

Ramen (50C)]

I froze mid-scroll.

“How can this be…”

“Master, is something wrong?”

“A very big problem! The ultimate outdoor food has finally appeared.”

“What is it?”

“Ramen.”

I declared with solemn gravity.

“What’s ramen?”

“Wait, Teddy—you don’t know ramen?”

“No.”

Teddy asked with an innocent expression. Just as she hadn’t known cola, she didn’t know ramen either.

Though understandable for a monster, I suddenly felt pity for Teddy, who’d never tasted ramen before.

“Teddy, follow me right now!”

I immediately bought ramen from the vending machine and took out a pot.

Pouring the seasoning into boiling water released a familiar spicy aroma that tickled my nose.

I finely chopped some green onions, added them in, and poached an egg to soft-boil. My mouth watered so much I had to keep swallowing while cooking.

“It’s spicier and more addictive than cola. There are many ways to cook it—I’ll add cheese next time.”

“But if it’s poisonous, isn’t that dangerous?”

“Oh, that’s just a figure of speech. It means you’ll keep craving it.”

“I see.”

Teddy leaned forward to sniff the aroma first.

“K-Kek! Master, is this really safe to eat? My eyes are watering!”

“That’s just from the freshly chopped green onions. Trust me, Teddy—you enjoyed cola, didn’t you?”

“But still…”

Teddy tentatively extended her tongue to taste the broth first.

“Oh…?”

“Delicious, right?”

Chururup. Teddy picked up a noodle strand with her fork and ate it. The corners of her mouth curled up into a smile.

“Master, this is unbelievable!”

She lifted the entire pot and gulped down the ramen. Her enthusiasm surpassed even when she’d drunk cola.

When she finally set down the empty pot, her eyes looked dazed—as if she’d just taken some kind of drug.

She appeared utterly blissful, her expression completely relaxed, as though she’d just returned from paradise.

“One more bowl!”

‘This feels oddly like déjà vu…’

I shuddered at the thought of spending another 1.5 million won on ramen. Wait—prices were five times higher now, so that’d be 7.5 million won.

‘No way!’

BOOM!

A tremendous crash suddenly echoed. It sounded like someone had slammed their body against a boulder.

Judging by the tremor I felt through the ground, it was coming from nearby.

Kee-geeek!

“T-Teddy! What’s that sound? Sounds like a fight nearby!”

Although monsters couldn’t enter the shelter, the rough, shattering noise instinctively made me flinch.

This area was supposed to host only incorporeal monsters—so what on earth was happening?

“How dare something disturb such an important moment! Don’t worry, Master—I’ll go handle it!”

“I’m coming too!”

I stuck close behind Teddy. The shelter acted as a barrier preventing monster entry and rendered us invisible from the outside.

If it was monsters fighting each other, we’d just watch. But if a Hunter was hunting a monster, I planned to do some business.

“Kyaaaah!”

“Keeeng, kyang.”

As we neared the source of the crash, faint, thin cries mingled with the noise.

“What’s that?”

Passing the Spring Campsite sign and following the path, I spotted something wriggling in the distance.

[‘Blue Starlight Chimera (S)’ is on high alert.]

The loud roar definitely belonged to a monster. Its front resembled a lion, its lower body a snake’s tail, and jutting from its middle was a goat’s head.

It was a chimera like no other—its fur a chaotic mix of colors from its disparate animal parts.

Beneath it lay another creature pinned down.

“Kyang…”

Wait—that wasn’t a monster. It looked familiar…

“A beagle… maybe?”

“Huh? Master, what did you say?”

“A beagle.”

The creature underneath was only as long as my forearm, with brown spots on its head and a completely white belly.

It had short fur and a black nose. While Blue Starlight Valley monsters typically had blue-tinted manes or body parts,

this creature showed not a single trace of blue. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was definitely a beagle.

“The one pinned underneath isn’t a monster—it looks like an animal from our world… A beagle is a type of dog, and it looks exactly like one.”

“Really? Now that you mention it, I’ve never seen such a monster in the Blue Starlight Valley. Why would an animal from your world be here?”

“That’s what I’m wondering.”

Fortunately—or unfortunately—the monster showed no intent to eat the puppy. Occasionally, it stomped the ground threateningly but merely tapped the puppy with its forepaw, like a cat playing with a mouse.

However, the size difference was so extreme that even these light taps took a toll. To the naked eye, the puppy looked utterly exhausted.

One possibility occurred to me.

“Could someone have brought their pet dog into the dungeon and lost it?”

There was no rule forbidding animals in dungeons—it was a space even civilians could enter if they wished.

Yet, no matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t spot anyone nearby who might be the puppy’s owner. At this rate, the puppy would surely fall victim to the monster.

“Is there any way to save that animal without fighting if possible?”

The monster was S-rank, and Teddy was A-rank—but I’d heard Teddy had unusually high durability, so I asked for her opinion.

“I’ll go out first to draw its attention. While I do that, Master, you—huh?”

“What is it?”

Teddy stopped mid-sentence and gestured toward empty air as if conversing with the system.

Then, with a flustered expression, she delivered shocking news.

“Master… I can’t leave the campsite. Apparently, ‘Bring the Basket (A)’ is a skill that kidnaps you into the campsite—you can’t exit once you’re inside!”

“What?!”

“What should we do?”