Just then, a familiar voice reached Lavesh's ears.
"Lavesh? You're here too?"
Lavesh turned around immediately.
"Vansh? You're here too?"
For a moment, both of them simply stared at each other, relieved to see a familiar face in this strange world.
"Did you hunt anything yet?" Lavesh asked.
Vansh shook his head.
"Come meet the others first. Everyone will be happy to see you."
Lavesh frowned slightly.
"Who else from our class is here?"
Vansh smirked.
"Come with me and find out yourself."
---
The two of them walked through the village together.
After a few minutes, they stopped in front of a building.
It looked like a small apartment complex.
Nothing fancy.
Just a simple structure made of stone and wood.
Vansh pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Lavesh followed.
The moment he entered, his eyes widened.
"Ansh?"
"Poornima?"
Both of them were sitting inside.
---
Lavesh laughed.
"Oh, so that's why someone was saying there was nobody here."
Poornima immediately glared at him.
"Shut up. You're still in the mood for jokes?"
She pointed a finger at him.
"Say one more thing and I'll seriously hit you."
Lavesh raised both hands defensively.
"Alright, alright."
Then he smiled.
"Still, it's good that all my friends are here. Anyone else?"
Ansh shook his head.
"No, bro. So far it's just the four of us."
---
Poornima narrowed her eyes while looking at him.
"The hair that was disappearing from your head looks a little better now."
Lavesh instinctively touched his hair.
"Oh, yeah. That's probably because of my diet."
Then he looked around.
"By the way, did any of you go into the forest?"
Poornima shook her head.
"No. We spent the whole day looking for classmates."
Lavesh snorted.
"So you're calling laziness 'searching for classmates' now?"
Poornima's face immediately hardened.
She looked ready to argue.
But in the end, she didn't say anything.
---
Lavesh sat down.
"So what's been going on here?"
Vansh leaned back in his chair.
"I don't know. This world is strange."
He glanced toward the window.
"It's similar to Earth... but also kind of scary."
Lavesh nodded.
"I've read a lot of manhwa where people get teleported to another world like this."
The others immediately looked at him.
"In those stories, they have to fight, level up, get stronger..."
He shrugged.
"And sometimes they even find a way back to Earth."
Poornima raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? So your manhwa addiction was useful for something after all."
Lavesh grinned.
"Exactly."
"That's why I left the village and went straight into the forest."
---
He stretched slightly.
"I killed a few goblins and came back."
Then he rubbed his stomach.
"Honestly, I'm starving."
As he spoke, he opened his inventory and pulled out the Food Box.
---
Vansh stared.
"What's that?"
"A Food Box."
Lavesh placed it on a nearby table.
"It dropped after killing monsters."
His smile faded slightly.
"To be honest, it wasn't easy."
Everyone became quiet.
Lavesh looked down at his hands.
"Experiencing all this for the first time..."
His voice softened.
"Killing something..."
He paused.
"That was a big thing for me."
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Lavesh forced a smile.
"The only reason I managed to do it was because I kept pretending I was playing a game."
---
Vansh nodded slowly.
"Yeah."
"This would be difficult for anyone."
Ansh immediately shook his head.
"I'm not killing monsters."
Lavesh looked at him and sighed.
"I figured you'd say that."
Then he shrugged.
"Fine."
"You don't have to."
"But somebody has to deal with them."
He pointed casually.
"You can do something else."
---
Lavesh opened the Food Box.
A new window appeared.
Inside were several ready-to-eat food items.
---
Thepla ×5 Packets
Water Bottles ×10
Instant Noodle Boxes ×2
---
Everyone's eyes widened.
Compared to bread, this looked like luxury.
Lavesh laughed.
"Alright."
"You guys must be tired of eating bread."
He pushed the food toward them.
"Let's eat the noodles together."
---
Nobody argued.
They immediately started preparing the food.
The room soon filled with the comforting aroma of hot noodles.
For the first time since arriving in Abyss, the atmosphere felt almost normal.
Almost.
---
Poornima took a bite and let out a satisfied sigh.
"I've been eating bread since morning."
She pointed her fork toward Lavesh.
"Good thing you showed up."
Lavesh waved a hand dismissively.
"It's not that big of a deal."
---
Ansh held up a packet of thepla.
"Thanks for this, bro."
Lavesh laughed.
"Why are you thanking me?"
"Just chill."
---
Some time later, all four of them were sitting in the building's hall.
A few old chairs had been gathered together.
The conversation had shifted back to survival.
---
Lavesh leaned forward.
"Listen."
"The forest is full of monsters."
"The kind you'd see in games."
He searched for the right comparison.
"Like the monsters from the Witcher series."
"Or something similar if you've played those kinds of games."
Everyone listened carefully.
---
"There isn't any doubt about it."
"They're strong."
"Smarter than you'd expect."
"They attack in groups."
His expression became serious.
"And they're dangerous enough to kill people."
The room fell silent.
---
Poornima stared at him.
"What are you talking about?"
"What chance do we even have against things like that?"
Lavesh thought for a moment.
"If you're alone, you can win."
"But fighting groups is much harder."
---
Ansh immediately shook his head again.
"I'm not going into that forest."
Vansh crossed his arms.
"If we don't reach Level 10, things might get difficult."
He looked around at everyone.
"What happens if some giant monster attacks the village later?"
Nobody had an answer.
---
Lavesh finally spoke.
"Then maybe you guys can work on something else."
"Like crafting weapons from blueprints."
Poornima immediately nodded.
"Yeah, that could work."
A smile appeared on her face.
"We'd gain experience and do something we'd actually enjoy."