Chapter 64
Chapter 64
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: To the New World (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bang-! Bang bang!
Rat-a-tat-tat!
“Keeaak!”
Two hours after relocating with Yang Jo-cheol’s group.
The gun barrels trained on the monsters spat fire without respite.
Blue chains conjured by the 700-mana restraint tech stone held two monsters fast.
‘Works great.’
Gun tests were progressing steadily.
‘Thought they might balk because of Han Chang-sik’s mess.’
Fortunately, Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol had permitted me to stick around the firearms.
No clue if it was just the test or a show of trust.
Either way, better than getting secondhand reports later.
My face wasn’t exactly beaming, though.
“Tsk.”
Bullets weren’t penetrating the big one.
‘Small fry are no issue.’
The K-2 rifle punched right through their hides.
The big one was the problem. Modern guns just weren’t fazing this beast pumping out over 90 mana.
『……Looks pointless.』
A tense, rigid voice crackled over the radio.
Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol directed calmly.
“Next.”
They kept swapping guns and ammo, running test after test.
It wasn’t until they reached the sniper rifle that—
『It penetrated.』
The report over the radio finally shifted.
“Full penetration?”
『Just through the hide, looks like. Bullet’s visible to the naked eye—not deep.』
“Keep going till it punches clean through. Flag any that can land effective hits.”
I let out a relieved breath behind Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol’s flat, almost mechanical orders.
“Phew.”
Not a full pass-through, but it breached the skin.
Big difference between no way to kill them and having a way but shitty aim.
Modern firearms working on monsters with that much mana was straight-up good news.
One less worry on my plate.
My tense expression didn’t loosen much, though.
‘Not sure, but…’
Aren’t sniper rifles among the most powerful guns?
If that barely pierced the hide, what about evolved variants?
Grenades? Dump bombs till it’s chunks?
How many would it take? Test it on this one right now?
‘Argh, what a pain.’
How’d my life end up with a war arc crammed in?
I sighed deeply and pressed my fingers into my eye sockets.
That’s when Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol asked in a slightly hoarse voice.
“……Are those things common in the mission zones?”
He was thinking along the same lines.
Hard not to feel daunted imagining hordes of them.
No way to refute his mental image with what I knew.
“Call ’em regular mobs… or field trash, yeah.”
Levels varied by field, sure.
“……Same terminology as in typical games?”
“Yeah, sorta. They scale by mana output… but yeah, those are standard mobs. There’s elites and bosses that are a whole other pain to hunt.”
His face darkened when I explained evolved types.
“Elites and above go to players. Or we endure whole districts turning to firestorms.”
Today’s tests were screaming that much.
Modern firepower wasn’t gonna handle evolved types easily.
‘A 40- or 50-mana evo ain’t the same as a 90-mana one.’
Plus whatever mana they absorbed would amp the difference.
Couldn’t just spam missiles or nukes while protecting civilization.
With evolved around, players’ necessity wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
‘Silver lining, I guess.’
No sooner had I swallowed a sigh of relief than Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol pressed.
“‘Entrust’ meaning….”
I muttered while staring intently at the writhing monster beyond the window, like searing it into my eyes.
“We block ’em if they cross.”
“Pardon?”
Couldn’t let most of a continent go toxic like Bihar, where humans couldn’t even set foot.
Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol muttered in a heavy tone after hearing me out.
“So those monsters can come here from the mission zones. To where we live.”
Didn’t even need answering.
He wasn’t asking for an answer—just confirming.
‘He’s seen the proof with his own eyes.’
No point agonizing over what to tell him. Just roll out the speech I’d prepped.
Truth was, I’d dragged these live ones here partly to make this spiel smoother.
Starting it wasn’t easy, though.
A heavy silence settled between me and Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol.
“Keeak, kiiieeeak…….”
For a while, the only sound was the monsters’ groans through the bulletproof glass.
I forced my mouth open after checking the restraint tech stone’s timer at the top of my vision.
“Over there….”
The moment I started, Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol—who’d been on high alert—stiffened slightly.
I kept my eyes fixed on the monster beyond the glass, not meeting his gaze.
“They’re at war over there.”
Once I got going, the words flowed easy.
Skipped system chats and convos with the Seven Gods. Focused on intel that could hit Earth directly.
‘Holes, war, monsters.’
After laying out those keywords and links, Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol’s face had gone a bit ashen.
“If that world crumbles, we’re next.”
Holes already pocked everywhere. Without the system plugging ’em, monsters could cross anytime.
While we cluelessly enjoyed peaceful days, those bastards had tunneled right under our noses.
Shadows of monsters lurked in that unseen, unheard abyss, jaws gaping toward me and my family.
‘This peace won’t hold forever.’
Bihar was already outnumbered bad.
Even dumping players in, flipping the tide wouldn’t happen overnight.
I clenched my teeth and spat after envisioning another worst-case.
“I’ll block it as best I can.”
I didn’t want to see monsters rampaging next to my family.
I’d throw everything I had at it.
But one guy swaying a world-scale war? A whole dimension’s worth?
“I can’t guarantee it, though. If… the players fail over there, we block here.”
“……Report’s gonna be a long one.”
Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol’s sigh started mirroring mine.
I turned to him, a bit dazed.
Separate from hoping he’d buy it, I knew he wouldn’t—not easily.
Not him, nor the politicians and brass who’d hear his report. They hadn’t seen what I had.
Just two never-before-seen monsters right in front of them.
Impossible to swallow holes and wars in one go.
Hell, I wouldn’t have believed without witnessing the system and gods’ backroom talk.
‘That’s why I had zero confidence in convincing them.’
Dragging live specimens helped grease the wheels.
I probed his hardened gaze.
“You believe me?”
Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol gave a wry smile.
“Don’t figure you’d lie about something like that. Sounded dead serious about holding the line.”
So even if he didn’t wanna, he had to buy it.
I blinked wordlessly.
Came too smooth—made me doubt it.
‘Lucky… I guess.’
I squeezed my eyes shut then open to mask the fluster.
Best-case so far.
No hesitating—push on.
I gripped my fist tight and asked as levelly as I could.
“And your superiors? They buy this wild story?”
“……Hard to say.”
Vague. I tsked inwardly and shoved a hand in my pocket.
‘Figures it was too smooth.’
Him believing didn’t matter if the higher-ups didn’t.
No convincing the government, shit gets messy.
Even if I bled out in Bihar, no Earth prep meant all effort down the drain in a heartbeat.
‘Grind myself to dust, still lose the war.’
To dodge that, needed folks prepping a proper national war effort, by hook or crook.
Fat chance of that on my say-so.
‘Even if more players spout the same, without seeing it, stays fairy tale to them.’
Might keep an open mind, but full trust? Nah.
‘Drag a few more here?’
Or sweet-talk the system into popping a high-level hole, eyes closed.
No guarantee anomalies stay one-offs.
First time’s the hardest—after that, it’s a dam bursting.
Once monster attacks hit for real, politicians have no choice but to believe the “unrealistic” war talk.
‘Way easier, no sweat.’
Hole in a city means deaths, sure. But buys prep time.
Could leak the game’s existence worldwide via SNS.
Couldn’t bring myself to float it, though.
Right to sacrifice 10 to save 100?
If it was my siblings—or even the Seo duo—would I pick that path?
‘No.’
Then it ain’t right.
Just efficient.
Couldn’t even ask Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol.
No heart to nudge the system, either.
Detour despite a surefire way.
‘Pathetic….’
Picking the inefficient route—was this hypocrisy to ease guilt?
Thrashing to cling to my humanity before the apocalypse?
Cowardly dodge to salve my conscience?
As I brooded with a grim face, Team Leader Yang Jo-cheol spoke up.
“Still, thanks to K, it feels feasible.”
I whipped my head around so fast it nearly whistled and bored into him.
“Like you said, if they were dead, it’d scream ‘staged.’”
But they were alive and kicking, right there.
His tone rang oddly solid.
Not sure why, but it eased me—my clenched fist relaxed.
“We’ll make it happen somehow.”
I nodded, drawing a deep breath at his follow-up.
“Then I’m dumping this whole thing on you? Schedule’s packed—can’t babysit one issue.”
Wasn’t my gig to storm Congress or the Blue House with war prep speeches.
Realistic groundwork? His wheelhouse.
Goddamn System