Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: People Matter Most
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We're lucky.
With all these countries locked in fierce competition right here, they don't seem to have any interest in the east—a real treasure trove of resources.
Gilgamesh muttered.
"Aren't there any decent resources here or something?"
"Could be."
Or it might just be a clash point from hunters moving through.
Gilgamesh turned away with a smirk, gazing down at the ruined city that looked almost identical to one from the real world.
Credit watched Gilgamesh heading toward the direction where the guild members had sent coordinates.
"Kwon Hoseong."
"Hm?"
"So, what's the conclusion?"
Gilgamesh paused at Credit's call, his face saying, *Conclusion to what?*
Credit added,
"About life."
Credit was genuinely curious what this guy was thinking. He occasionally spilled some interesting stuff when prodded.
Gilgamesh looked at him like he was asking the weirdest question.
He spoke in a voice laced with amusement.
"You think I overthink stuff? Nah, it's nothing deep. Just that old cliché, you know."
"What's that?"
"The most important thing is people."
Gilgamesh waved his hand dismissively and kept walking as he continued.
"Ultimately, people give value to money, and it's all because of people that these concrete-and-steel buildings fetch such high prices."
Credit fell into step beside Gilgamesh, pondering.
It was a cliché, sure.
But no matter how commonplace, if you haven't realized it yourself, it's just empty words.
"If you truly love money, you can't help but love people."
"......"
"People bring success and failure. Rules for living together, places to pursue desires, all that stuff."
Crunch crunch.
Their footsteps echoed alongside Gilgamesh's voice.
He was just casually spilling his thoughts, yet in the hollow ruins of this dead world, his words rang out like poetry, deeply sentimental.
Gilgamesh stopped at the edge of a building facing another direction.
Traces of civilization everywhere showed this world had advanced a bit further than their modern one.
"So my conclusion? Seeing this mess makes me realize how precious our world is. No guarantee ours won't end up the same."
"So?"
"We gotta live our asses off. Enjoy life to the fullest before our world turns into this. That's my take."
Credit, who had been getting a bit serious, burst out laughing at the straightforward conclusion.
It was a quotable line.
He seemed like he was pondering something profound, but it boiled down to living life to the max.
That was Kwon Hoseong's strength.
Gilgamesh pulled a ridiculously expensive, stylish riding goggle from his inventory and slipped it on, asking Credit,
"Fly adaptation done?"
"Of course."
They leaped off.
With goggles on and prepped, the two soared from the dizzyingly high building toward the rear route to the designated spot.
* * *
["Ooh."]
["Goldbunker's Korean reps from the Korea-China-Japan War have entered the city. The Korea-China-Japan showdown is finally heating up."]
["Can't get more entertaining than this."]
The God Gold casters affiliated with Goldbunker excitedly craned their necks.
["Right now, on the southern city line of the visible map, China, Japan, and Korea are all lined up."]
["Very intriguing situation."]
["Sure, other countries are mixed in the city too, but power-wise, only Korea, China, and Japan matter."]
The screen showed Chinese and Japanese hunters locked in battle.
These two nations, meeting right from the start, had dispatched part of their forces to the center, turning the city into a brutal siege war.
With the ruined southern city sprawling so vast, their clash became urban warfare—bullets swapped for mana blasts and skills flying everywhere.
Boom!
An ancient, massive building crumbled and collapsed on screen, forcing nearby hunters to scatter and throw up shields.
["Every time an AoE goes off, buildings shatter. So satisfying."]
["Fun since it's not us."]
["Ugh. They're blasting each other. Where's that? Japan?"]
["China. Why use AoE there."]
["Explosive power's insane, though."]
["Famous ranker."]
Unsure an old building would snap like rotten wood, the structure—hit by a ranged skill—toppled toward the attacking hunters.
Urban combat like this demanded brains even for AoE usage.
["Japan and China clashing early means their top first-string forces are deep in city fights."]
["For Korea, uh, hate to say it as Goldbunker reps, but we're kinda third-string..."]
["Fullminak and Spaceking are co-first-string, so let's call Goldbunker second."]
One caster jumped in to subtly boost Goldbunker, drawing satisfied smiles from the other two.
["Honestly, power-wise, Goldbunker doesn't lag far behind world class. Fullminak and Spaceking are just monsters."]
["True. Anyway, Goldbunker alone can't quite handle both China's and Japan's full top forces."]
["We see some of their affiliated heroes too."]
["Goldbunker has summonable affiliated heroes as well. Not all betrayed us."]
["Goldbunker members, scattered in the city earlier, are now regrouping."]
["About to make a move?"]
On the map, red dots presumed to be Goldbunker guild members converged as the casters said.
Thinking it'd take time, the casters zoomed out the map.
Red dots clustered in three spots.
["Spaceking's eastern spot is reserved for the Korea-US war. What's the central situation?"]
Fullminak's feed appeared.
["Kaisha linking up with civilians. At first, we thought it was just going smoothly."]
The casters laughed.
["Turns out Fullminak's the only ones not fighting civilians."]
["Yep. Every hunter worldwide who entered the central forest is getting burst down, backstabbed, and wrecked."]
["Heard civilians use mana and neural power too, figured they'd be tough, but not *this* tough..."]
["These ain't civilians."]
["No clue what counts as civilian. But no monster tags, so can't attack—total bind."]
["Right. Quest has 'rescue civilians' anyway."]
Right now, with God Gold touring Babel Tower inside via Nokhyeon's help, third-constellation forces worldwide shared real-time views from multiple angles.
Hearing other nations' news reframed Fullminak with civilians.
["God Kaisha, as expected."]
["Fullminak and Spaceking swapping targets? Divine masterstroke."]
["Fullminak's civilians are cocky, so backstabs worry me, but we believe Carmen will echo in Channel 1004 to the end."]
["Carmen."]
["Carmen."]
The camera zoomed devoutly on Kaisha's face, then massive text filled screen center:
[Carmen]
Live chat exploded with [Carmen] and [lololol] mixed in, madness in the font sizes.
["This channel's religious broadcasting—don't misunderstand."]
["Exactly."]
["Central proselytizing going smoothly, while east shows Korea-US war brewing."]
["Quick look at Spaceking."]
Eastern map enlarged.
Spaceking crushed eastern nations, while US forces descended with civilian massacres, momentum ominous.
["North: Russia vs. US clashing. Northwest: Europe banding for 'go go go.'" ]
["Amazing. Forming EU inside Babel Tower."]
["Feels like WWIII in Babel Tower. Excited how world rankings shake out."]
["Korea was huge in-game. Real rank?" ]
["Curious."]
["Very."]
["Subscribe, like, pin the channel, and keep watching."]
* * *
Guild members took a short break to check gear.
With civilians, only Opheun, Philia, and Ehwen had pale skin, white hair, blue eyes.
Look closely: civilians treated the Ehwen siblings special.
"Ehwen."
Calling him, a nearby youth ran over.
Ehwen, ultra-cautious alone, opened up more after rejoining his group.
Cloaked civilians behind Ehwen eyed me.
"Yes, Kaisha-nim."
Maybe because I saved him, Ehwen was pretty friendly.
His pretty blue eyes looked up cutely—wanted to pat his head, but held back.
"Where's Opheun?"
"Somewhere nearby."
Civilians naturally didn't drop guards easily.
But Opheun, presumed leader, took us to this unknown spot when I said central.
Decent rest area for now.
Guild spread out casually, careful with words and actions per my warning under civilian stares. I'd just wrapped casual chat with officers during break.
"Want to talk to Opheun direct."
Thud.
From a tree—listening?—Opheun jumped down, looming with haughty height and gaze.
Staring silently like, *Spit it out.*
"......"
Rude kid, but honestly, I was eyeing Opheun. Like finding a neural-power NPC.
Hard to imagine him listening, though.
Officers agreed: ideally, get Opheun's help conquering central; minimally, don't make enemies.
I'd devised a way to navigate forest respecting these mystery civilians' wariness max.
Opheun glanced warily behind me.
Hellcannon was there.
Lightly raising hand to stop Hellcannon if he stepped up, I said,
"Those who nabbed Ehwen, and seems this forest crawls with various nasty monsters. Right?"
Opheun narrowed eyes, retorting.
"......So?"
"You live here, so you roughly know where which monsters are."
"And?"
"Guide us to them."
Opheun's gaze sharpened more.
"For what?"
Level up, obviously.
Can't say that to presumed isekai channel natives.
"Kill monsters, loosen up."
"......"
"Stronger the better."
Win-win: level guild still far from max, ease civilian guards, build rapport.
Opheun had zero reason to refuse.
Opheun frowned down inscrutably, shooting Ehwen a suspicious glance.