Floor 6: The Lost World of the Polluted (3)

"Ah, you mean back then? When I climbed to the first floor for a while. I still remember it. How could I forget? Finding this on floor 6 was what made it all click."

"How did I find it? That place was identical to Seoul. No idea why those freakish things were there, but our old house was nearby."

"At first I was just frozen with fear, trying to make my way home. Everyone else was out of their minds too. When I mentioned our house was around there, they all wanted to hole up and hide."

"There were too many of those things above ground between Myeongdong Station and Chungmuro Station, so we decided to go underground. There were some in the station too, but not nearly as many. That's where I found it, walking along the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠subway tunnels."

"I got a hidden mission there and cleared it within the time limit. Raked in a pile of achievement points too. Hm? Others were there too, so why was I the only one who got it?"

"Honestly, this is the first time I've ever told anyone this. It's not the alcohol talking — I'm telling you because I figured you, cold bastard that you are, would actually understand."

"Well, of course. I killed every last one of them. Now hold on a second! ...Hhk—! Wh-what—?"

Carving a path through them wasn't particularly difficult. Every swing of my mace put one of them down.

By the time we reached the entrance crawling with grotesque zombies, Ha Heijeong had already unleashed her magic, and we punched straight through the gap her spells carved open.

It didn't take us long to clear out the creatures outside and slip into an abandoned building, free of any signs of them.

The others, still shaken by the sudden fighting, gathered themselves and started talking things over.

"Students, this is Korea, right? I saw Korean writing on the signs earlier — so why are these twisted things running around?"

"I was wondering the same thing. I saw it too."

It was certain. I'd spotted signage and storefront glass bearing both Chinese and Korean.

The license plates on the cars were Korean as well.

"Surely Earth itself hasn't already been destroyed?"

"I doubt it. This was built by the gods — they probably just copied something that looks like it. There aren't any actual humans here, only those strange creatures."

"I'd like to believe that, but..."

Ha Heijeong answered the man's question herself.

Her words were phrased as speculation, but her tone was flat and certain. She was almost certainly right — the odds were that this was simply a place modeled on Earth's appearance.

"By the way, Suhyeok."

"Oh, yes. Please, just speak casually to me. You're quite a bit older than me, after all."

"Heh heh, is that so?"

The old man played along with an easygoing grin, as if he'd been waiting for exactly that.

Watching him smile — sly, but good-natured — I thought he seemed like a genuinely approachable guy.

"That mace of yours, with all the lightning crackling off it... it was glowing like crazy earlier."

"Ah, this? I got lucky and found a hidden piece on the 4th floor. That's where it came from."

Someone was bound to ask eventually.

Then again, if my weapon was spitting lightning, I suppose I'd be curious too.

I answered exactly as Ha Heijeong and I had agreed beforehand.

The Essence of Lightning, the lightning mace, stats several times higher than everyone else's. I'd gone through a different tutorial entirely, and we obviously couldn't advertise that Ha Heijeong was a regressor — so simply saying I'd found a hidden piece was the least troublesome story.

"So that's why you stayed on the 4th floor so long by yourself. Kee, no wonder you're ranked first. Darting here and there like Hong Gildong, sweeping everything up on your own."

"Haha. Everyone else was impressive too. Come on."

I wasn't just being polite.

While I'd been battering a path forward, the old man had kept pace with me without falling behind, and Cole had cleaned up every straggler that tried to slip past from behind.

Ha Heijeong went without saying, and the two priests kept our bodies invigorated with their buffs.

"Oh, speaking of which — how did everyone's sponsorship contracts turn out?"

In the middle of our scattered conversation, Cole abruptly brought up sponsorship contracts.

Right — quite a few people must have gotten scammed...

"Heh heh, I thought mine was a 4th-Grade Sinjwa, but turns out it was a 2nd-Grade."

"Huh? Then why did you sign with the 4th-Grade one in the first place?"

At the bald man's words, the Black woman shot back, wide-eyed with disbelief. Her expression was sour enough that I could guess what it looked like without even turning ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠around.

She'd been baited on the 1st floor into signing with a 5th-Grade Sinjwa.

"None of the Sinjwa offering contracts had names I liked. How should I put it — their names had no romance to them. Even if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they said they were 1st-Grade, nothing about it appealed to me."

"If it hadn't turned out reversed, that would've been a stupid choice, wouldn't it."

The Black woman put deliberate weight on the word 'stupid.' I'd been noticing it for a while now — she was a thoroughly unpleasant person.

The old man just laughed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it off.

"Heh, fair enough, but I'm a man who values romance. Speaking of which, young Chloe, you were with a 5th-Grade Sinjwa, weren't you?"

"Aigo, right. Harin, who did you contract with?"

The old man smoothly flattened the woman, then casually redirected the topic to Seo Harin.

...So this is what experience looks like?

"I contracted with a 1st-Grade Sinjwa. I figured since a 1st-Grade is a high god, they'd have contracts with lots of people and I'd barely get any support."

"Oh, I made the same exact choice — signed with a 1st-Grade too. I thought a lower-graded Sinjwa would have fewer contractors and pour everything into me instead. What about you two, Suhyeok? Heijeong?"

Remarkably, both Seo Harin and Cole had contracted with 1st-Grade Sinjwa. Did these people just have good instincts too?

It was certainly a plausible line of thinking.

After all, a 1st-Grade Sinjwa might spread their support thin across many contractors.

But could a single Sinjwa even contract with multiple people at once?

I want to ask Ha Heijeong about that.

With the others around, it felt awkward to ask right now. I'd have to probe her later.

While I was mulling it over, the others were staring at me and Ha Heijeong with questioning looks.

Oh, right. I should answer.

"I had the same idea, so I went with a 1st-Grade Sinjwa."

"Same here — 1st-Grade. I liked the name, though."

I glanced back at Ha Heijeong. What about her 1st regression?

Had she contracted with a 1st-Grade Sinjwa back then too?

"Back then, I went with a 1st-Grade too. The same Sinjwa, actually."

She must have caught the question in my eyes, because Ha Heijeong leaned in and whispered it to me.

When I gave a small nod, the old man spoke up in her place.

"Anyway, does anyone actually know why we're even doing these sponsorship contracts? They call it a 'sponsorship' and give us absolutely nothing. Tch."

"Tell me about it. Well, I suppose we'll find out eventually."

"And what's this 'Sponsorship Stake' next to it? Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing is a scam too."

Sponsorship Stake? What was that?

It had come up while they were discussing sponsorship contracts, so it had to be related — but I'd never seen it before.

Oh, come to think of it, I hadn't opened my status window since signing the contract.

Status window.

When I called it up in my mind, a small, translucent panel floated into view.

My stats had crept up slightly — probably from the fight just now.

And next to my sponsoring Sinjwa's name, something new had appeared: Sponsorship Stake.

0.00% / 100.00%.

What could it be? If sponsorship filled it up to a hundred percent, would I become a slave?

Later.

I looked at Ha Heijeong out of curiosity, but she only mouthed her answer at me. Fine, have it your way.

Still, how long were we supposed to sit around like this?

"Are we just going to stay here? Does anyone have a plan?"

The Black woman spoke up, apparently thinking along the same lines as me.

Her tone was bristly — she was clearly still seething about being stuck with a 5th-Grade Sinjwa while everyone else had done better.

Hm. How long would we stay?

Forty-eight hours of survival. Couldn't we just keep clear of these zombie-like things until the timer ran out?

"We've finished the conversation from before, and everyone's had a proper rest. Time to move."

Ha Heijeong nodded and rose to her feet. Her tone was curt and absolute: we were moving, no discussion.

Because I knew she was a regressor, I rose obediently to follow — but Cole, the bald old man, and Seo Harin stayed seated, looking bewildered.

"Wh-shouldn't we at least talk it over and decide whether to move? There's no real danger in this building, and if we wander out without a plan, we could be walking straight into trouble."

"Heijeong, I know staying put carries its own risks, but we should at least decide where we're going before we go anywhere."

Cole and the old man raised their objections one after the other. And honestly, they weren't wrong.

If I didn't know Ha Heijeong was a regressor, I'd have demanded to know why we were suddenly leaving too.

What would she say?

"Actually, I have a precognition skill. That's how I know. If we stay in one place too long, we're in danger."

"A precognition skill?"

Cole and the others sat frozen, unable to say a word, while only the bald man managed a dazed echo of the question.

A precognition skill. That was a clever idea.

Whenever she said 'we need to do this' and someone asked 'why?', she could simply answer 'my precognition skill told me' — and leave no room for argument.

If things went badly she'd never escape the blame, but Ha Heijeong was a regressor, so that was never going to happen.

"Yes. If we stay in one spot too long, those things will swarm us en masse. Stronger ones will show up too. Besides, if you could clear a floor just by hiding somewhere, wouldn't that be too easy?"

"Th-that's true."

"So, Heijeong — where are we headed, then? Did your precognition skill show you something?"

"We're going to Chungmuro Station."

"Chungmuro Station?"

At the old man's question, Ha Heijeong nodded.

"You all saw Suhyeok find a hidden mission, right? A party with the top two ranked climbers should be finding those on floor 6 too."

"W-well, that's fine by us. But Heijeong, do you even know where we are? When would we ever make it to Chungmuro?"

"We're on the side where the Chinese Embassy's consular office is. About ten minutes from Myeongdong Station, and Chungmuro Station is right next to Myeongdong. It won't take long."

Ah — so this was Myeongdong. That explained the mixed Chinese and Korean signage.

There was something about the way Ha Heijeong spoke that made people want to move. Something that gave them steadiness and trust.

Was it because, as a regressor, she'd been through situations like this so many times?

I couldn't tell whether the others actually believed her precognition skill or not — but either way, everyone rose to their feet.

"Let's go."

Only after each of us had checked our gear and weapons one last time did we step out of the building.

Our destination: Chungmuro Station. A good twenty minutes on foot.

How much longer it would take while fighting our way through, I couldn't say.

Either way, it was time to move.

Come on, then. Let's go find a hidden mission.