Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: One Hour in Paradise
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The fridge was packed full of transparent containers. The contents looked like food. He unconsciously reached out, then stopped.
'Is it okay to eat this?'
In the old days, he would have shoved the food in his mouth first and thought about it later, but these days he hadn't skipped a single meal, so he had some leeway. Plus, he had just stuffed himself full of white bread.
That was when Yuseong hesitated.
[Will you not eat?]
A voice came from behind him. In an instant, Yuseong dropped low and reached for a weapon.
'Oh no!'
There was nothing to grab. This wasn't his base. Yuseong pretended not to be flustered and tried to identify the source of the voice.
[There is no need to be on guard. I am the Strategy Guide.]
'Strategy Guide?'
Yuseong slowly stood up. No one was visible. However, the TV was on, even though he was sure he had turned it off. Strange lines crisscrossed across the screen.
'Was that you?'
Yuseong asked, but the Strategy Guide remained silent. Yuseong frowned.
[Is something bothering you?]
'Why aren't you answering?'
[…….]
The Strategy Guide didn't respond this time either. Yuseong's forehead creased deeper.
'Could it be?'
Yuseong realized that, unlike usual, the Strategy Guide was using the TV's speakers to convey its voice.
"Do I have to speak out loud for you to hear me?"
[Yes.]
It seemed mental communication with the Strategy Guide was impossible in this world.
[To ask once more, will you not eat?]
Yuseong turned back to peer into the fridge.
"Is it okay to eat?"
[Everything in this house was made for you, Player. Feel free to eat.]
"Yeah?"
Questions arose, like why food was prepared for him or what this house even was. But even so, Yuseong couldn't tear his eyes away from the food.
His stomach was full, and his obsession with food had lessened somewhat from regular meals lately, but that didn't mean it could change overnight.
'Just... just one container.'
Making excuses, Yuseong pulled out one container and opened the lid. There were bright red mixed vegetables inside.
"What's this?"
[Kimchi.]
"This is...!"
Before the world ended, he had heard that the region where Yuseong lived belonged to a country called Korea. Kimchi was definitely that country's traditional food.
Yuseong popped a piece of kimchi into his mouth.
A spicy storm raged in his mouth. Anyone unaccustomed to spice would have jumped around looking for water right away. But to Yuseong, who had lived off beast meat, this level of stimulation was nothing. It was so delicious it felt like his tongue might melt.
'It's good!'
Of course, to him, there was no such thing as bad food, but this had a completely different flavor from black bread or white bread.
He polished off the entire container of kimchi right there on the spot. He sucked the sauce off his fingers, then stopped himself as he reached for another food.
'I said just one container.'
Right now, he needed to learn more about this world. It was an entirely different world, after all.
'And the kimchi being here is suspicious too.'
With great effort, he closed the fridge and sat on the sofa.
"Alright, Strategy Guide. Where is this place?"
[This is the Other World.]
"I know that. Don't you have more precise info?"
[It is the country of Korea on Earth.]
Earth. And Korea.
"...Even the country name and planet name are the same? Is that possible? Isn't this a different world?"
[Do you know the concept of parallel worlds?]
"No, first time hearing it."
[It refers to a world that has split into two or more due to some reason. Simply put, you can think of this world as a twin to the world you lived in, Player. The only difference is that when it split, the timelines diverged, so your world flowed faster.]
"...So this is like our world before it fell?"
[It goes back a few hundred years before the fall, but yes, you can understand it that way.]
Yuseong rose from the sofa and approached the large window on the living room wall.
Lush green foliage and a clear blue sky came into view. A scene he could never see in his reality.
'This is the world before the fall.'
What was this surging emotion? Gratitude for witnessing a world that hadn't collapsed with his own eyes? Or anger at the powerless people of the past who ultimately failed to change their doomed future?
One thing was clear: this churning feeling was even stronger than when he first accessed Ark.
"...If this is our world's twin, does that mean this place falls in a few hundred years too?"
[I am not certain. No matter how similar, this is definitely a different world.]
"Right."
Yuseong stared straight at the TV—no, the Strategy Guide. Then, cautiously, in a slightly trembling tone, he asked.
"Th-then, could I maybe live here...!"
At that moment, Yuseong's vision drowned in pitch black again. He felt his body being pulled somewhere.
When he came to, the clean house, the refreshing breeze, and the warm sunlight were all gone.
Only the dingy, familiar hovel of his that he had seen a thousand times remained in view.
"...Ah!"
Yuseong dumbly uttered that single word. He couldn't react beyond that.
"...Why?"
A groan-like question, suppressed. Why had he been pulled back from that dreamlike world to this hellish one?
'Time! Right, it said 1 hour!'
How much time had passed? When he was aimlessly inspecting every corner of the room? When he gazed感動 at the outside scenery? When he blankly watched the TV? When he savored the new taste of the food?
Each moment hadn't been long, but adding them up seemed to fit roughly.
This wasn't his fault for getting distracted by the new world environment.
Time itself was the problem.
It was short. Cursedly short. Yuseong summoned the Purchase Window again. He planned to go back to that world once more.
"...Fuck!"
A curse slipped out involuntarily.
The "Other World 1 Hour" entry was heavily grayed out. And next to it, numbers were displayed.
119:59:45
The last number, 45, ticked down steadily. It was unmistakably a countdown.
'Cooldown!'
119 hours, 59 minutes, and the steadily decreasing last number was seconds. It must have started at 120:00:00. And 120 hours was...
'5 days!'
In other words, he couldn't go to that world for 5 days.
Despair's darkness is thickest when hope's light appears.
Yuseong collapsed right there.
* * *
Yuseong had lost his senses for a moment due to his shattered expectations, but as time passed, he gradually pulled himself together.
'Yeah, it's not all bad!'
The aftershock of hope had nearly choked him, but hope's light was shining nonetheless.
Yuseong checked his attention level.
'It appeared when it exceeded 100,000.'
Then raising it further might extend his stay in that world. If he kept boosting it more and more, perhaps...
'Maybe I can move there completely.'
"Strategy Guide, what do you think?"
The memory of speaking aloud in that world lingered, so Yuseong voiced it without thinking.
【No information available.】
The response was disappointing. But it was fine. He just couldn't be certain—hope wasn't gone.
'I need to raise my attention level, attention level!'
The first thing that came to mind was war. From the recent war with Hers Guild, Yuseong had gained nearly 70,000 attention points. Continuing the war would keep boosting those points.
'What do you think, Strategy Guide? It'll go up, right?'
【It will rise.】
The Strategy Guide's words backed his thinking.
'Let's keep going.'
They had signed a ceasefire, but who cared? Raising attention was priority now.
Yuseong logged into Ark.
* * *
He headed to the city gate first. The site of most battles with Hers Guild. But no Hers Guild members were in sight.
'None here.'
He asked the Strategy Guide if any were disguised, but no.
He had half-hoped they might break the ceasefire, but it seemed they had obediently withdrawn.
But that was fine. He knew a place where they definitely would be.
Yuseong arrived at the bandit stronghold.
'They should be here.'
What had started the fight with them in the first place? Hers Guild trying to take the bandit hunting ground Yuseong had found. Naturally, after the war, they would try to reclaim it.
Yuseong's guess was spot on. But it wasn't just a few managers like before.
"Kill them!"
"Make sure the others don't look down on us!"
Hers Guild members were battling other players. Yuseong's face lit up.
'They're here after all. And a lot of them!'
Plenty of Hers Guild members, and plenty of other players.
If he jumped in here, his attention would rise again. As Yuseong moved to intervene—
[Warning. The Hers Guild you are about to attack is one you recently signed a ceasefire treaty with.]
The system's voice rang out. Yuseong ignored it. Who didn't know that? He needed to raise attention somehow now.
But the system's voice continued.
[Per the contract with Hers Guild, ignoring the treaty will cause significant hindrances to future gameplay. Note that your reputation will also drop.]
Yuseong halted.
* * *
Yuseong perched atop a massive tree. Among the dense surrounding trees, this one towered even taller. From its summit, the surrounding view was clear.
Looking up revealed a clear sky; looking down, a sea of green forest; a bit farther, Verhill's walls.
A beautiful landscape that could soothe the soul just by gazing at it—but Yuseong's heart was in turmoil.
[Per the contract with Hers Guild, ignoring the treaty will cause significant hindrances to future gameplay. Note that your reputation will also drop.]
The system's warning had instantly cooled Yuseong's frenzied mind.
'Significant hindrances to gameplay...'
He had an idea. The contract with Hers Guild wasn't just a verbal "let's keep it" promise. It was through Ark's system.
Of course, breaking it wouldn't delete his character or anything extreme. But it wasn't something to blatantly ignore.
'Definitely bans from Verhill and nearby cities and villages.'
Immediate penalties that came to mind: no quest acceptance in cities/villages, shop usage restrictions, loss of safe zones, etc.
Especially painful for a gunner like him, with extreme ammo consumption—more so than other classes. For Yuseong, who needed money to survive in reality, it cut deep.
And warring with Hers Guild in that state would put supply-less Yuseong at a severe disadvantage.
'And reputation.'
A word completely unrelated to him until now. Reputation only exists if there are 'others' besides yourself.
But now it was relevant.
'Ark's players.'
Beings he had thought were just quirky NPCs. Ones that reacted when his actions triggered system events to boost attention.
But no.
'They were real people.'