Chapter 5
Chapter 5
1. Status Window and Tutorial -3
Whirr— thud. Thud. Thud.
The first thing that entered my vision when I opened my eyes was a three-meter-tall humanoid robot. With a massive beam rifle mounted on its back, no less.
“What the...?”
I couldn't help but widen my eyes, half in awe and half in shock. Something I'd only ever seen on a movie screen was walking around in real life.
The surprises didn't end there.
Beside it, a winged person walked past, and a wizard who looked like he'd just stepped out of a fantasy world floated in midair, surveying his surroundings.
There was also a human with a bird's head, a hacker who had set up a folding table and computer and was tapping away at the keyboard, and a bearded dwarf who looked to be about eighty centimeters tall.
Stay calm, Noah Won. Right, this is the [Tutorial]... a place where those chosen as hunters from each world have been summoned by the System. So I'd already accounted for the possibility of different cultures and languages.
But seeing it in person still felt different. It was damn fascinating. Especially that robot moving freely on its own—I couldn't take my eyes off it.
I wish Seoul had one of those. With just one of them, the time it takes to restore buildings would... Get a grip. Get a grip. Now's not the time to be mesmerized by a robot.
Once I calmed my startled mind and took a broader look around, only then did I hear the sounds.
[System translator active-]
“I-Is this the place they call the tutorial...?”
“Hmph, it's nothing but common rabble. No banquet hall, no tea prepared. Pathetic!”
“Unit 3 has entered an unknown space... Damn it, communications are down after all. Beginning black box recording. Currently standing by in a forest-surrounded clearing with no plants.”
Hm.
Right. Just as I was surprised, these hunters were also passing the time in curiosity and tension. I wasn't the only one spacing out. It was a relief to see that everyone seemed to be in the same boat.
Some hunters were actually looking at me with curiosity. The dwarf's gaze in particular was quite intense.
I lowered my eyes and examined my own appearance. Dress pants and a dress shirt, with an alloy shield and a machete in my hands. It seemed like perfectly ordinary equipment, so was there any reason to stare that hard?
Or maybe they recognized that this shield was a masterpiece among masterpieces, crafted by Korea's finest scholars over three years—
“Wow, that slightly lanky human is carrying around trash instead of equipment...”
“........”
So that was the kind of fascination it was.
A little irritated, I gave the dwarf's outfit a thorough once-over, and the full plate armor he was wearing had absolutely no seams. I quietly turned my head away and thought.
Is Earth... a bit behind?
The ones projecting holographic windows into the air and controlling robots clearly possessed science and technology centuries ahead of ours. And the ones conjuring fireballs in midair... seemed to have exceptional magic power manipulation abilities.
But Earth was neither. Our science was mediocre compared to theirs, and we had almost no magic power know-how. Because magic power on Earth first appeared when those plant bastards opened gates and invaded. That was about five years ago.
Even so. I wasn't intimidated.
To make the most of my ability, 『Download -2』, the first thing I'd honed above all else was defense, and the second thing I'd invested in was my eye for detail. I needed to judge whether I could afford to take an attack. Whether an enemy was worth provoking.
So I was confident in my ability to size up strength.
The ones summoned alongside me were... by my estimate, mostly around B or C-rank (by Earth standards). I was certain of it. With a few exceptions, they were weaker than me. If Minsik had been here, he could have walked around with his shoulders squared.
They say you don't survive because you're strong—you become strong if you survive. Looks like all that scrambling to fight the plant bastards meant something after all.
So then. What happens now?
The [Tutorial] wasn't going to be a peaceful place for conversation. If they'd simply intended to explain how to use the System, they could have just sent a manual and been done with it.
But they'd deliberately gathered a hundred or so rookie hunters in this wide clearing. And this clearing was completely surrounded by forest. Forests are dangerous.
I didn't see any toxic spores or tentacles, so it didn't seem like a forest fully consumed by Monster Trees, but there was a chance some were scattered about, hiding.
There was definitely something up. I kept my guard up.
In web novels, there's a plot like this, isn't there?
A tutorial fairy appears, blows some smart-ass's head off, then throws out some objective and says: "If you don't make the top forty, you die!"
That's why I'd entered fully armed. Alright, bring it. Fairy or administrator, whatever. Whatever trial you throw at me, I'm ready to overcome it. For myself and my people.
At that moment, as I stood waiting half on guard, a rather old-fashioned notification sound rang in my ears.
Ding!
[Tutorial: Form a team of up to 3 members]
The tutorial's first task was team building.
“You and you, join my team! I'll handle everything for you!”
I needed to filter out guys like that.
A giant standing about two meters thirty was pointing at whoever happened to be nearby and recruiting them. The type who forms a team without any deliberation is a disaster nine times out of ten.
If you voiced an opinion different from his, he'd probably fly into a rage.
I searched for someone who didn't seem overly prideful and could act cooperatively. It was fine if their combat ability was lacking. I'd handle the fighting myself.
And ideally someone who could supplement the utility I lacked. Let's see...
“........”
“........”
Our eyes happened to meet.
Around 160 centimeters tall, shoulder-length bobbed hair, round glasses, timid-looking eyes, modern clothing, a military backpack, and an old junker of a gun at her hip. Female.
We quickly communicated with our eyes and came to a simple agreement: talk first, and if we seemed compatible, team up. She gave me a look that said she understood.
As I walked toward her, I observed a bit more. This woman had what looked like daggers hidden inside her sleeves and socks. There was also a faint smell of jerky. I made my judgment. She was a veteran.
Her actual skill seemed to be around D-rank by Earth standards, but I could glimpse the seasoned experience of someone who had survived extreme environments for a long time. Good. Someone like this was perfect for teaming up with. She'd be quick to communicate and decisive.
But then.
“U-Uh, uhh... Hngh, uhhhngh!”
As she got closer to me, she made strange noises and trembled all over. What the? Did she have some kind of chronic illness?
I stood there bewildered, and before I knew it she'd reached right in front of my nose. Shrinking back, she looked up at me with wavering eyes, mumbled something, then squeezed her eyes shut and spoke in a tiny, barely audible voice.
“Hello...”
“Ah, hello.”
“........”
I knew it right away. This was shyness around strangers.
An introverted type who struggles to talk to others ends up like that when she has to strike up a conversation with someone for work. Her heart was being whittled away in real time by contact with a stranger.
I know how to put that type at ease. How many fan meetings had I survived as an idol? After I got popular, I was called to quite a lot of events.
In times like this, I just had to act awkward too. I put on an awkward expression and said,
“Ah, this is... awkward as hell, isn't it? Right? I don't even know what's going on. My tongue gets all dried out when I talk to strangers.”
“R-Right...? I'm also a bit, yeah. It's awkward and all. Ahaha.”
Build a sense of common ground like this, then slowly help them relax, and you can get friendly with introverts too. It'd go even smoother if we had a common interest—but that probably wasn't necessary.
Should I just exchange names and wrap it up for now? I extended my hand and said.
“I'm Noah Won.”
“I-I'm Kim Sohye.”
Huh.
“...Our name structures are similar, aren't they? So, is your surname Kim and your given name Sohye...?”
“Ah, yes. That's right. Then Noah, your surname seems to be Won. But the System definitely said it picks one person per planet, didn't it...? Um, do you happen to know the Korean Federation?”
“Federation? We're the Republic of Korea. No, we were. It's pretty much collapsed now.”
“Did the zombie virus spread in your world too, Noah...?”
“Huh? No. Zombies? Why?”
I thought she was an ordinary modern person, but it turned out her world was in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.
But the similarities were just as strange as the differences. If the System was right, Sohye and I were from different planets, yet we shared somewhat similar cultures. Wasn't that odd?
I wanted to find out more. Also, how the zombie situation had broken out. And whether they were fighting off zombies and plant bastards at the same time—there was a lot I was curious about. But.
Ding!
Just as I opened my mouth to continue the conversation and gather information, a classic and cheerful notification sound rang out from the System.
Sohye and I stopped talking and went on alert.
[The tutorial will begin shortly. Mentor transmission in progress...]
Then, with a soft shhhh sound, human silhouettes began appearing in the air one by one. They were being summoned, just as I had been.
A jolt.
My senses sharpened to an extreme degree. I felt like I'd been thrown naked in front of a lion before awakening. My instincts warned me that something threatening had appeared.
There were five of them. Far fewer than those receiving the tutorial. They wore all sorts of outfits just like us, but... their quality was clearly different. The caliber of their equipment was on another level entirely.
“It's been a while since I've come to a tutorial.”
“I'm looking forward to seeing some fresh-faced hunters for the first time in ages.”
“No dragonkin or beastkin, as expected. I wonder how many of these will earn their qualifications...”
The summoned figures stood on two feet high in the sky, as if standing on an invisible ceiling, looking down at us. This difference in height seemed to represent the difference in standing between us.
More than anything.
“—This batch has no makings of heroes either. Most of them are trash.”
That man.
A spearman in Greek-style clothing, gripping an ordinary spear, wearing ordinary clothes that gave off no particular magic power. A man looking down at us more arrogantly than anyone else. I knew it instinctively. Among the hunters gathered here, he was the strongest.
The other mentors seemed like opponents I could somehow manage against, but that annoying-looking spearman—I couldn't see any way to beat him.
Then the System spoke.
[Mentor transmission complete. Up to 7 tutorial participants may be assigned to a single mentor. Please take note.]
At this point, I got a hunch.
Five mentors. But only seven people could be assigned to each. That meant only thirty-five people would get a mentor assignment; everyone else would be left without one. In other words, they intended to filter people out.
This tutorial stage consisted of a plain and the forest surrounding it. An odd composition, wasn't it? If they'd intended to just talk and laugh, there would have been a more comfortable space.
But if they'd deliberately chosen a forest—I had to consider that our main enemy was the plant bastards.
Also—while others were staring at their system windows, I observed the mentors in the sky above. And I clearly saw some of them glance toward the forest. Gazes always carry meaning.
With this much evidence, it was worth making a move.
“Sohye—”
“...Should we sneak toward the forest?”
“That's exactly what I was going to say.”
We were on the same wavelength.
While the other participants were distracted by their status windows, Sohye and I muffled our footsteps and began moving toward the edge of the clearing. And soon, the System issued a new mission.
[Tutorial: Hunt the 『Erect Violet』 placed in the forest]
[Teams that complete the mission may designate a mentor first.]
Yes. I knew it!
“Let's run!”
“Okay...!”
Patter patter—!
As I broke into a sprint, I glanced back for a moment. Half the people were still assessing the situation, and the other half were striking awkward poses as they watched us run. There were also some who hadn't formed teams and were just standing there alone. Among them—
We were the fastest.
Out of about a hundred tutorial participants, we were the very first to cross the forest's boundary.