Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Loading and Unloading (1)
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[Quest completed.]
[Impossible achievement unlocked.]
[Rewards increased.]
"Rewards increased..."
I blankly read the message.
I'd never cleared the tutorial before, so I had no idea how rewards were given.
There was even a message saying rewards increased due to an impossible achievement.
'Impossible achievement?'
That message brought a scene to mind.
The monster in the doctor's gown whose head exploded from the stone I threw.
Without Cheat Mode, it really would have been impossible.
[Rewards granted.]
[Check your Status Window.]
"...Status Window?"
As I spoke, a translucent window appeared in front of me as if responding.
[Name: Kim Minjun]
[Stats: Strength 5, Intelligence 7, Agility 5]
[Skills: Cheat Mode, Weak Point Detection Lv.1]
It was a simpler Status Window than I'd expected.
Was this Weak Point Detection skill the reward?
"..."
I had no intention of fighting, so why give me such an aggressive skill?
I'd ended up with a useless skill.
I stood in front of the hospital's main entrance.
I pushed hard on the rusted glass door that wouldn't open easily.
Kiiiiiik—
The door opened with a loud screech.
If the doctor monster had still been alive, it would've come charging madly from behind at the sound.
A rush of cold, damp night air poured in.
"Damn it..."
Why did it have to be night again?
I hesitated to go out, but it seemed better than inside the hospital at least.
Stepping outside felt like escaping the heavy pressure that had been weighing on my body.
The night street with its sporadically lit streetlights felt like paradise compared to the hospital.
Just in case, I opened the map, but...
"Nothing... Phew..."
This game had some conscience after all—no red dots on the map.
Yeah, if monsters like that roamed around everywhere, it wouldn't even be a game.
That relief was short-lived. I had to stumble blankly along the street ahead.
'No place to go...'
For now, dark areas scared me, so I headed aimlessly toward the brighter streetlights.
Then.
"...I have a home."
The word "home" felt incredibly reassuring somehow.
Even in a conscienceless horror game like this, home had to be a safe zone, right?
I walked along following the streetlights, just like I'd done until now.
I had no certainty, but it felt like the right way.
It wasn't that I absolutely didn't want to go into dark places, or that empty shops and walls scrawled with eerie graffiti scared me.
I just like bright paths.
Still gripping the flashlight tightly, I walked until a villa came into view.
Standing in front of the inviting villa, the quest completed.
[Quest completed.]
[Rewards granted.]
My pocket felt heavier, so I reached in and found a wallet, smartphone, and house key.
The key was labeled "201."
"..."
For now, I clutched the key and headed to room 201 on the second floor, inserting it and turning.
Click.
With a cheerful sound, the door opened.
To my surprise, it was an utterly ordinary home.
A studio with a bed, computer, and a kitchen featuring a shiny stainless steel pot hanging on the wall.
"Phew..."
Only then did I relax.
Who knew normalcy could feel so precious.
The electricity worked, and the water ran fine.
I turned on the hot water and started showering as if entranced.
I washed away the foul disinfectant and blood stench from the hospital, scrubbing off the horrific memories.
"Phew..."
I changed clothes and opened the fridge to grab some food.
Nothing fancy—just some eggs, so I fried them up and made soy sauce egg fried rice.
Warming my body and filling my stomach finally made the pent-up emotions surge up.
"Shit..."
What had I done to deserve this?
I hadn't written negative reviews complaining about the game like some people, nor had I played and killed dozens of monsters.
Why possess me of all people?
I felt wronged.
Sure, I'd applied Cheat Mode, but...
That was the only desperate flailing a scaredy-cat like me could manage.
If they were going to possess someone, why not the guy who made the mod?
"Ugh..."
Stuffing tear-soaked soy sauce egg fried rice into my mouth helped calm me a bit.
Once calmed, I reached one conclusion.
'I need information...'
What kind of world was this? What was that hospital? What are monsters?
I remembered the computer I'd seen earlier.
Turning it on, it booted up fine and connected to the internet, thankfully.
I checked a news site, but it was just articles similar yet different from my original world.
Mysterious disappearances, disasters.
There were those too, but none mentioned anything core.
I tried searching "monster," "Monster Tale Record," and such.
Only one site popped up.
[Monster Gallery]
"Gallery?"
I hesitated but clicked the link.
A crude interface site appeared, like the ones I'd seen often when looking up game guides.
- Shit, adding another part-timer to filter out...
- Why isn't the monster filter working here?
- Monster info update (1.7)
- Sorry, but someone please save me.
- I wanna move too...
Unlike the news, it directly mentioned monsters.
The info I wanted was probably here.
I slowly started reading the Monster Gallery posts.
The info was helpful but also gave me a twinge of despair.
Not just doctor or nurse monsters—this world had all sorts of monsters, some immune to physical attacks.
Some even disguised as humans and mimicked voices.
"...Ugh..."
Just thinking about it gave me chills.
I'd have to suspect everyone I meet now.
There were some intriguing posts too.
---
[I wanna move too...]
They say monsters barely appear around Seoul. I wanna grind hard and buy a studio there at least...
- Seoul housing prices are horror-story level lol
ㄴ Fr, maybe join one of those monster research companies?
ㄴ New suicide method? lol
ㄴ But yeah, that's the only way.
---
"A place with barely any monsters...?"
It piqued my interest.
Of course, the best would be returning to my original world, but that seemed impossible for now.
For the moment, Seoul felt like the most realistic goal.
"Seoul..."
Even in a world crawling with monsters, money was the issue in the end.
I searched the internet about the monster research companies mentioned in the comments.
More companies than I'd imagined popped up.
Some were treated like major conglomerates in this world.
"New hire salary 800k, daily 300k."
I glanced at a job posting with blatantly insane pay and checked the duties.
[Monster & Haunted Area Exploration]
[Monster Management]
[Manual Tester]
[Play with Monsters]
"Play...?"
Anyway, anything with high pay was all sketchy monster-related jobs.
"Hm?"
Then one gig caught my eye.
[Simple Loading and Unloading]
[Requirements: Physically healthy individuals]
"Moving stuff?"
The job was straightforward.
Exploration Teams scouting monster areas secure them, then you move the items inside.
It required strength since you'd handle lots of various goods, but no spec requirements, and encounters with monsters were extremely rare, it said.
Hard to fully trust a job posting, but it looked way better than the others.
"...Should I give it a shot?"
Having a goal of getting my own place in Seoul gave me a bit of motivation.
'...Should I go back?'
"Come on, everyone gather up. Stay here, and when the suits come out, follow behind them."
A man in work clothes, looking like a construction site foreman, shouted.
Interview and immediate start?
Was this really that big company?
Even mid-sized firms wouldn't treat people like this.
They said this was part of the final interview.
Honestly, I had no clue.
"But why in front of this hotel..."
"Monsters here too? Isn't this a famous hotel?"
I was sitting in a yellow hard hat at a hotel entrance with the other interviewees.
Hotel guests entering glanced at us weirdly as they passed.
The other interviewees, including me, exchanged baffled looks.
Now that I looked, the applicants were a diverse bunch.
Terrified-looking college students, desperate types, even rough-looking middle-aged guys.
How long did we wait?
People in crisp suits started emerging through the hotel's revolving door.
Burly men who looked like bodyguards glanced at us and beckoned.
"Come on! Let's go! Follow them!"
The work-clothes guy shouted.
We eyed each other but followed the black-suited men into the hotel basement.
I figured it'd be a parking lot, but the stairs kept going down without stop.
"Isn't it kinda long?"
"Yeah... How many basement floors does this place have...?"
The deeper we went, the dimmer the lights and the thicker the damp air.
Finally, we reached the bottom of the stairs.
There—
"Wow..."
"What is this place...?"
Was another hotel lobby.
Similar to the one above ground, but a more antique, well-maintained one hidden underground.
As we gawked in confusion, a translucent message window appeared before us.
[Fill the required amount to escape.]
[0/20,000]
The moment I saw the message and turned around, the stairs we'd come down had vanished.