It was a typical Monday morning for Kyara—well, as typical as a Monday could be. Emails flooded in faster than she could reply, her team chat buzzed non-stop, and she had already spilled her coffee in the elevator. Twice.
Still, she managed to keep up her usual routine—smiling at coworkers, waving politely as she slipped past desks on her way to refill her coffee. The motions were automatic by now. It was just another day.
Or so she thought.
Around 2:30 PM, the familiar pull of exhaustion settled in, and Kyara decided to take a short break. Instead of stepping out through the main lobby, she veered toward the back of the building, heading into a narrow alleyway she often used as a shortcut to avoid the crowd.
The alley was quiet—eerily so. A cold breeze whispered between the walls, and Kyara shivered, pulling her cardigan tighter around her. Still, she welcomed the silence.
But then it happened.
One moment, she was walking. The next, the world around her shifted. The ground rumbled. The air shimmered like heat off pavement. Her breath caught in her throat.
"What the hell—?"
A glowing crack tore through the space in front of her like lightning striking in reverse. A rift. Before she could even turn to run, it yawned open and yanked her in.
Kyara screamed.
It was like falling into water—but thicker, stranger. She felt weightless and heavy all at once, her senses warping.
Then, with a solid thud, she hit the ground.
"Ow… what the—?"
Groaning, she pushed herself up. She was no longer in the alley. The walls were jagged, carved from black stone and covered in glowing markings. The air was thick, heavy, and smelled like damp earth and something electric.
"Where… am I?"
From the shadows ahead, something moved.
Kyara froze, breath hitching in her throat.
Out stepped a creature—half-human, half-goat, tall with twisted horns and wild eyes. A satyr, if she remembered her mythology right. The creature looked just as startled as she did.
The satyr's ears twitched. "R'haal dra venai?" it asked, voice rough but not aggressive.
Kyara backed away instinctively, hands raised. "What? What are you saying? Stay back!"
The satyr held up its hands, clearly not trying to attack.
"Vera! Vera no'tak! Va'hesh!" it said again, stepping forward slowly.
"NOPE! Nuh-uh!" Kyara shrieked, bolting behind a nearby rock. "Stay away from me, goat dude!"
The satyr blinked, tilted its head in confusion, then let out a startled yelp of its own—"GRAHHH WOOO!"—and spun on its hooves, sprinting back into the shadows.
Kyara stared after it, panting. "Did… did I just scream at a monster and make it run away?"
Silence.
"…Okay. That's new."
She crouched behind the rock, heart racing. Her logical mind screamed at her to figure out what just happened, but the rest of her just wanted to survive.
"This is bad. This is really bad."
Three hours passed.
She stayed hidden, flinching at every echo, every breeze. Her phone still worked—barely. 20% battery, no signal, no internet.
She stared at the clock. 5:03 PM.
No hunters had come. No glowing exit gate. Nothing.
"Seriously? Where's the dramatic rescue?"
Her stomach growled angrily.
"Of course I get sucked into a nightmare dungeon and I'm starving."
That's when she saw it—a faint glow in the darkness.
Curious—and slightly desperate—Kyara crawled out and crept toward the light.
Glowing blue flowers blanketed the stone floor, pulsing with a soft aura like fireflies caught in petals. She knelt down and picked one up.
"Huh… pretty."
A weird, risky idea crossed her mind.
"Well, I mean… I'm starving."
She sniffed it. No immediate death scent.
"Please don't kill me," she muttered—and took a bite.
It tasted… floral. Sweet. Cold.
Then, her body jolted.
"Whoa!"
Her limbs felt lighter, her mind sharper. She could feel the change.
[Agility increased by 70% for 24 hours.]
Kyara blinked at the notification. "Wait… what? Like… a game stat?"
The flower's glow dimmed slightly in her hand.
"Oh my god. This is enchanted!"
A grin spread across her face. "I just ate a stat-boosting flower. This is nuts! Weren't it very rare?"
"This is definitely the non-awakener booster.. Since it's for non-awakener, it's very expensive."
She switched on her phone flashlight and began collecting every single flower in sight. They shimmered like treasure. She stuffed them into her void bag—a black leather satchel enchanted by her eccentric aunt to hold nearly infinite items.
"I remember her saying this could hold a full closet," Kyara whispered, dropping in flower after flower. "But this? This is next-level."
By the time she gathered all the visible ones, she had over forty in her bag.
"I heard from my aunt that three of these is worth… oh my god. They sell for like car money! I'm carrying a parking lot in here!"
Her phone buzzed—battery at 16%.
She ignored it. There was more to find.
Deeper into the dungeon she wandered, flashlight guiding her steps. No monsters. No traps. Just silence, stone, and glowing plants.
"This is the weirdest dungeon ever. Where's the bloodthirsty beasts? The danger? Did I just stumble into the herbalist's storage room?"
Then she found it—another plant, taller, shimmering silver-blue with crystal-like leaves. It didn't glow like the others—it shimmered.
She gasped. "Is this… a Moonshade Bloom?"
Rare. Powerful. Used in high-tier potions.
With reverent hands, she plucked it and tucked it into her bag. Then another. And another.
"Okay, Kyara, focus. Gather, survive, get out rich."
Hours passed—she couldn't even tell how many. Her flashlight flickered. Her phone buzzed its final death rattle and died. 0%.
Still, her bag was heavy now, sagging with weight.
"Hahaha! I can retire at this point!" she laughed, spinning on her heel in the middle of the corridor. "No more office job! No more Karen from accounting! Just me and my money tree flowers!"
Then she found it.
An exit gate. A shimmering oval of light.
Kyara stood before it, silent for a moment.
She glanced back at the dark corridor behind her. "Should I grab more…?"
Her bag let out a groan. "Okay, okay. No more. Greedy girl limit reached."
With a breath, she stepped through.
The world folded, twisted—
—and she was back. In the alley. Night had fallen. The air was cold. The city noises distant and muffled.
Kyara stood frozen, breath visible in the chill.
No hunters. No rescue team. No crowd.
Just her.
She looked down at the void bag still slung over her shoulder. It was heavy. Real. Still full.
She ran her fingers along the edge of the flap, opened it a crack.
Inside, the glow of the enchanted flowers pulsed faintly.
"…Was it just a dream?" she whispered.
But the weight, the smell, the magic—none of it had vanished.
"No," she said, firmer this time. "It was real."
She straightened up, a wild grin tugging at her lips.
"I just got rich by screaming at a goat-man and picking flowers in a magic dungeon."
She threw her head back and laughed into the empty night.