Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 96

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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One of the intercoms I’d created to exchange words with Surface World life forms buzzed mercilessly. Though exhaustion threatened to drag me under, the prospect of conversing with someone stirred hope in my heart. The Underworld King—still a child at heart—swallowed back tears and warped near the Demi-human Village.
Demi-humans were closer to my brother Gerth than to Humanity, but their appearance resembled humans enough that I held fond memories of our conversations.
“Huh?”
Yet beneath the distant hole connecting the Surface World through warp, a human lay collapsed. Not a demi-human—a genuine human. Not a fake one either, but a real human!
“Oh, oh wow! Wow!”
I raced forward on my short legs before the living human could perish. I stumbled over a stone and tumbled with a grunt, but refused to cry, picking myself up with determination. Seeing blood seep from my knees, tears did prick at my eyes, but wiping them away was enough.
“Barrier! Quick barrier! The outside pressure is 1 atmosphere, oxygen concentration is…!”
If I didn’t erect a protective shield immediately, the human would die. Blood was already streaming from their ears, nose, and eyes. Summoning my strength, I conjured a barrier matching the external atmosphere and wrapped it around them. The human coughed violently, spitting blood, then began breathing steadily. Their recovery was remarkably swift and robust—they sprang to their feet and uttered something strange.
“Damn it, another death sentence!”
What was “damn”? I’d studied Humanity’s languages by region, but I’d never heard that word before. When I asked quietly, the human’s eyes widened in surprise. They wiped blood from their lips and spoke deliberately.
“Children don’t need to know.”
“Oh, it’s fine. I’m not a child.”
“Children usually say things like that.”
“I’m really not a child!”
A 10,000-year-old Underworld King bristled with indignation, yet the human—who moments ago had been coughing blood in agony—grinned and rummaged through their pockets.
“Where am I? Where are my mom and dad?”
“I’m not a child!”
The 10,000-year-old Underworld King flicked a plum-flavored candy away, and the human picked one up, unwrapped it, popped it into their mouth, and rolled it around before speaking nonsensically.
“There’s no poison in it. It’s plum-flavored, so it’s sweet, tart, and delicious.”
“Who asked about the candy’s taste!”
The 10,000-year-old Underworld King bounced in place, utterly exasperated. I’d rarely conversed with Humanity before, but I’d never encountered a human this incomprehensible.
“Let’s find an exit. While we’re at it, we’ll find your mom and dad too.”
“No, that’s for me to—”
The 10,000-year-old Underworld King meant to explain that I could guide the human outside, asking them to wait a moment, but like a child, they quickly grew fascinated by something new and craned their neck forward.
“What’s that?”
“Dumplings wrapped in lotus leaves.”
“What about that?”
“35 liters of water.”
“And that?”
“4 liters of ammonia.”
“Ugh.”
Before pressure could rupture the dented canister, I scraped the earth and buried the ammonia. Watching this, the human began to suspect I might be a mole demi-human.
“Why did you bring something like that?”
“I was substituting for a human.”
“Hmm…, could you explain in more detail?”
Somehow, the human’s manner of speech resembled a child named Gerth whom I’d seen 500 years ago. Their hair was blue and they were a purebred human, so they couldn’t be his descendant, yet there was an oddly familiar quality to them.
“Then I’ll explain at length.”
“Yes. Tell me more.”
The Underworld King, delighted at the prospect of having a lengthy conversation with a human, bounced excitedly, and I felt lukewarm water cascading down my back. The human had only just noticed the child’s injury and was now washing the wound.
“Oh, this will heal quickly.”
“It must hurt, yet you don’t cry. Admirable.”
“I’m not a child!”
The human, patting the child’s head affectionately in praise, rinsed away the blood from the knee wound. He then tore off a portion of the cloth he’d been using—already worn and damaged from repeated washing—and wrapped it snugly around the injured knee. Most of the cloth had become unusable from being crushed and torn, but fortunately, there was still plenty of fresh water to work with. I was grateful I’d thrown thirty-five liters of it.
“The barrier protecting the Demi-human Village Friendly to Humans has been breached. To reactivate it, they say a living sacrifice must be offered.”
“Wh-what?”
The ten-thousand-year-old Underworld King’s mouth fell open at hearing this for the first time. I certainly remembered creating a barrier to keep humans out around the time Gerth was born. I’d asked him to be my conversation partner occasionally as a condition for establishing the barrier, but I’d never demanded that people be sacrificed.
Of course, the sight of people gleefully jumping into the Well to serve as my conversation partner had certainly invited misunderstandings, but over five hundred years, the story had become distorted in a decidedly strange direction.
“So you became the sacrifice?”
“No. I had no intention of that, but Bear Cub pushed me and I fell.”
“Wow….”
Betrayed and cast down here. How pitiful. The ten-thousand-year-old Underworld King found himself overwhelmed with sympathy for the human. I’d heard the distorted story and tried to help resolve the situation without sacrifice, yet here the human was, having been stabbed in the back and fallen into this place. If I hadn’t arrived in time, this human would certainly have perished.
“What kind of wicked bear does such a thing!”
“A wicked bear indeed. I’ll search and destroy it later.”
“What does that mean?”
“Children don’t need to know.”
“I’m not a child!”
The human, amused and charmed by the child who barely reached my waist, patted them affectionately, then made a sound of determination and lifted the child into my arms, beginning to walk. I also remembered to pack some dumplings in case they grew hungry later, tucking them into my bundle. I prided myself on always being well-prepared.
“Wait! I can walk on my own!”
“It’s fine. I’m strong, so you’re light as a feather.”
“That’s not the issue! Ah!”
What is this comfort? The moment the ten-thousand-year-old Underworld King was cradled in the human’s arms, a deadly sense of ease washed over me, and I gasped. What could this human possibly be to hold a child so skillfully? They even patted my bottom occasionally, and I felt myself drifting toward sleep. Is this what it feels like to sleep on clouds? Floating weightlessly in the air while the human’s body was so soft—it was perfect for catching up on my lost sleep.
“I just woke up not long ago, so… zzz…”
I fell asleep while being carried, even with the occasional bottom-patting, faster than I expected. Evan was equally taken aback.
“Hmm….”
Which direction should I go? As I pondered, I wet my finger and checked the wind direction past the doorway. Since the wind was blowing from the left, I decided that heading that way would lead somewhere, and I began walking while cradling the pink-haired child gently.
The fact that a child wearing intact clothes was wandering about suggested I wouldn’t suffer for days like before. More pressingly, staying here for more than a few days meant certain death. The notification window had appeared just moments ago: if I didn’t escape to the Surface World within 24 hours, I would die.

After walking in the same direction for about an hour, I realized the situation had taken a peculiar turn. Something did emerge as I walked. At the end of the path lay an enormous cavern, and wind whistled fiercely through the holes scattered throughout.
Whoooooosh!
And there was a mammoth. Not an elephant—a mammoth. I had never seen a mammoth before. Well, mammoths had gone extinct long ago.
“Mmm….”
The pink-colored child in my arms seemed to be waking from sleep, so I gently bounced them while pointing my finger upward. Look there, look—a mammoth. Wanting to share this wondrous sight with the child, I spoke, but the child who had just awakened thrashed about in alarm.
“What if we’re going the wrong way, you fool!”
“Never mind that—look there, it’s a mammoth, a mammoth.”
“Of course it’s a mammoth!”
Since they went extinct, they’d be stuck here in the Underworld, you idiot! The ten-thousand-year-old Underworld King child wanted to convey this, but at the human’s next action, they cried out in alarm again and grabbed at their hand.
“No! You can’t eat that!”
“The fiddleheads in this neighborhood are quite plump.”
“Haven’t you even read the picture books about how eating Underworld food means you can’t go home?!”
“That’s quite a famous tale.”
I had been about to pluck a fiddlehead and taste it, but from the child’s words, I deduced one conclusion and looked around. So this dinosaur-infested neighborhood was the Underworld?
“Then this is the Underworld?”
“Yes! It’s common knowledge even among humans that the Underworld exists deep beneath the earth!”
Hearing the reference to “humans,” I grew even more convinced this must be a mole demi-human, and I fell deeper into my misunderstanding. I pulled dumplings from my bundle and broke them in half.
“Then let’s eat the dumplings I brought from the Surface World. I’ll share some with you too.”
“If I keep talking to you, I think I’m going to lose my mind.”
“You’re only a few years old. You shouldn’t lose it already.”
“Sob. Sob.”
We can’t communicate. We can’t communicate, and I feel like I’m going to die from frustration. The ten-thousand-year-old Underworld King child, half-sobbing, accepted half of the dumpling.
“Even if you miss your mother, don’t cry. If you cry, Santa won’t give you presents.”
“I don’t miss my mother. I’m not a child.”
In truth, I felt like I would die from missing my mother. I resented that she hadn’t quickly made humans go extinct, and even though I’d created humanity carelessly, I felt sad that she showed them their future through the status window and listened to them, yet our communication had gone silent. I wanted to cry.
If I had known I’d be alone for this long, I wouldn’t have made that wish for a friend. I should have just lived with my mother, just the two of us forever.
The Underworld King, suddenly struck by this thought, shed tears while holding the dumpling in their mouth. Because the human had told them not to cry, the tears only flowed more.
“Waaah, waaaah.”
The Underworld King, their face contorted and their walnut-shaped jaw clenched, finally burst into tears. When I held the child close and stroked their back to comfort them, the Underworld King only grew more sorrowful and cried loudly and openly.
“Santa is petty and won’t give presents if you cry, but I’m not petty, so I’ll give you a present.”
Boasting of my generous heart, I pulled out the plum-flavored candy I had shown earlier. The Underworld King child cried even harder, saying I was treating them like a child again, and they smeared tears, snot, and saliva all over my clothes.
After crying for a long time, the tears finally stopped at the end, but overwhelming embarrassment flooded in. The Underworld King child, not knowing how to face the human, had buried their face against my chest, but when I spoke first, they trembled slightly.
“My name is Evan Laef. You can call me Evan.”
It was a tone that asked, and you? The Underworld King child naturally lifted their face from my arms to answer and hesitated.
“Chahelantropsus Chadensis.”
“That’s a long name. I’ll call you Cha Cha.”
“Hey! Don’t go changing someone else’s name on your own!”
“Cha Cha. May you prosper, hmm.”
I pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away Cha Cha’s tears haphazardly, then held their nose, and the Underworld King child, caught off guard, blew their nose with a sound. They felt three times more embarrassed than before.
“If your nose is blocked, you can’t taste anything. Since we’re eating something sweet and sour and delicious anyway, wouldn’t it be a waste?”
I tossed the soiled handkerchief aside without hesitation, then unwrapped a plum-flavored candy and popped it straight into Cha’s mouth.
Before the young Underworld King could even protest, the candy was already on his tongue. He looked embarrassed, but eagerly rolled it around in his mouth, savoring the taste. It was indeed sweet, tart, and delicious.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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