Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Sharer III
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102화
──────
공유자 Ⅲ
신노아
5
-Here. Brace yourselves.
Someone from my distant past said it. A fire axe was gripped in their hand.
Party members murmured in the passageway just before the final staircase.
-Here? Why? The fairy said the final stage is just a little further down.
-……
-Jae-hee, don't doubt it. Our leader is the savior guiding us.
Lee Jae-hee, Uehara Shino, Jung So-hee.
Swordsman, alchemist, and fanatic, respectively.
Just looking at the classes screams failed party, right? But these were the founding members, bonded since the 3rd cycle—or perhaps even earlier.
They stared at me in their grimy, unwashed states after days without proper cleaning.
A total mess. But they were the best 'Busan Station Tutorial Dungeon' had to offer.
-……
I met their eyes one by one. The me in my memories was far more gaunt than now.
-Scouts have been secretly watching us since three days ago.
-Scouts...?
-Probably sent by Lee Baek. We're the only survivor group to make it this far besides them.
The party members flinched.
-He deliberately put us in front to clear the monsters blocking the path. But he has to take down the final boss himself for it to count as his achievement. So, he's planning to strike when we're exhausted from fighting it.
-What a total bastard.
-If we kill the boss first, his plan falls apart. He knows that, so he's probably sprinting here at full speed right now. Everyone, hunker down at the bottom of the stairs and hide. We hit them when their group is even a little tired.
-……
-I'll...
6
"I'll take the lead."
The déjà vu vanished in an instant. Like a newborn wave briefly wetting the white-grained, crumbling sands of an aged beach before receding.
Something squirmed beside me then.
"......"
It was O Dok-seo.
The little kid, who could barely reach my collarbone even on tiptoes, had a baseball bat slung over her shoulder. Goblin blood caked the bat.
"What are you doing, Dok-seo? I said fall back."
"No way."
O Dok-seo chewed her gum with a smack.
"This body took down 14 monsters today. How many you got, mister? Eight. Isn't hunting all about skill? I don't take orders from weaklings."
"......"
Her absurdity was so ridiculous it drew a laugh. Before the laughter faded, footsteps rumbled from the far end of the passage.
A group of over a hundred. Unsurprisingly, Lee Baek led them.
"You fucking bastards. Missed me?"
The slightly surprising part was that Lee Baek spoke. How? After I shredded his vocal cords like pizza into eight slices.
"Ugh, ughhh..."
The answer lay with Sim A-ryeon, slumped pathetically beside him like a puddle.
A healer, yet bandaged here and there with strips of cloth clothing. Bruises bloomed on her cheek and shoulder.
Figuring it out was easy.
'Refused to heal, got beaten by Lee Baek, now reduced to a slave who needs permission even to heal herself.'
Truly pitiful. A-ryeon, a potential S-rank, getting smacked around by an E-rank? What nonsense...
His followers, who should've suffered the pizza vocal cord fate, chattered away fine.
"That's him, that guy! That lanky bastard beat us half to death the moment he saw us!"
"They stole every supply in the waiting room!"
"Fuck, look how clean those assholes are. Three of them hogged all the supplies and lived it up... Fucking inhuman scum. We're starving, splitting scraps..."
"A fairy! The fairy's over there!"
As the agitators whipped up the mood, someone screamed and pointed at the fairy.
Lee Baek seized it. He stepped forward five paces with a fleeting smirk of triumph.
"Those bastards teamed up with the fairy!"
Teamed up—with the fairy—yelled out loud—.
Lee Baek's voice echoed through the entire passage. Loud enough for the hundred-plus group to hear clearly.
That was the man's awakening ability.
[Lion's Roar]. Or [Megaphone].
Simply amplifying voice volume, but damn useful in a tutorial where everyone was mediocre.
The adage 'he who yells loudest wins' rang especially true in emergencies.
While other survivors muttered, he blasted commands through a megaphone, stealing control effortlessly.
Not just politics—solid in combat too. In a chaotic melee with dozens of civilians, even simple orders like 'attack!' or 'retreat!' got lost, but Lee Baek's [Lion's Roar] ensured instant transmission.
Truly a tutorial-limited gem.
"Traitors...?"
The tutorial refugees buzzed.
"It's true, the fairy's right there."
"Then Lee Baek was right. Those guys stole all the supplies and sided with the fairies..."
"Evil fucks. Should be pulling together, but they're living large alone..."
I understood them.
People freshly dropped into the apocalypse—starving, cut off from the outside, going mad worrying about family, stressed in unfamiliar groups, battling monsters, witnessing humans die before their eyes—such folks couldn't help but sway to Lee Baek's megaphone winds.
Well. If Seo-gyu were here, would he have countered with 'What bullshit is that, you fuck?!'
'You fuck!'
'What?! You fuuuuck!'
Imagining Lee Baek and Seo-gyu hurling curses, spiking the tutorial dungeon's decibels sky-high, made me chuckle. Hilarious. Gotta test it later.
"Hoeek. Th-this is bad. If they find out we favored certain players, it's purge time! Tactical retreat...!"
Pebble. Fairy No. 264 panicked and vanished midair. Not teleportation—just cloaking invisible.
But to the crowd, it looked gone. To fairy-traumatized survivors, that alone was a signal.
Lee Baek bellowed.
"The fairy's gone too! Everyone! Now's our chance! Take them down! Snatch their supplies, regroup, and clear this shitty dungeon with our own power! Let's go meet our families!"
"Woooo—."
As the crowd roared to psych up, I stepped forward.
Dark blue aura surged from my footprint like a tsunami. The wave grazed their 117-strong group in a flash.
"—!"
"......? ...!"
Mute.
Those charging us froze in confusion, glancing around. No sound escaped their open, screaming mouths.
The underground passage fell utterly silent.
Master aura control enabled such tricks.
"Ooh, protagonist hack..."
O Dok-seo muttered softly beside me. Ignoring her, I said,
"You there, Sim A-ryeon."
"......!"
"Don't hide. Come here. We're stronger. We'll keep you safe, won't beat you for not healing. Three square meals and comfy bed guaranteed. Switch sides."
"......"
"Three seconds."
Sim A-ryeon's greatness shone here—no hesitation. Before Lee Baek could turn, she bolted to me.
Lee Baek and the survivors grimaced.
"Heal yourself."
"Y-yes! Ah. My voice... it's back..."
Fingers pointed at the traitor, mouths shouting silently in the soundless clamor.
Fine rage. Delicious level-up XP for 'aggro-magnet bird' Sim A-ryeon.
I flashed a warm smile and stepped forward again.
"Lee Baek. Sorry."
"......"
"My consideration fell short. Guess knocking you out too quick didn't let them grasp the skill gap between our sides. So, I'll give you a chance."
"......?"
"See that redheaded kid?"
Chin. I placed a hand on O Dok-seo's shoulder.
"Fight her one-on-one. Win, and we hand over all supplies. We'll even yield first boss crack to you."
"......!"
"No traps. No backstabs. But refuse, and I'll strip your voice forever this time. Or... scared to fight a kid, not even me?"
"......"
Voices are magic. Right or wrong, the last speaker's words feel just.
Lee Baek, who'd milked that magic endlessly, couldn't retort. Tempted survivors eyed him.
Silent pressure from 116 pairs of eyes.
"......"
Lee Baek scanned O Dok-seo thoroughly. Deeming her doable? Gripping his nail-studded club, he stepped out.
"Hmm."
O Dok-seo glanced up at me.
"Fine. I've wanted to smash that face a hundred times reading the novel."
She could've asked why make her do this, but instead, she grinned, twirling her bat as she advanced.
One-on-one duel setup. Crowds watched from afar.
I nodded.
"Honor the result. Anyone bitching later, I'll personally sever their ankles. Begin."
As my words ended, O Dok-seo charged.
Flinch. Caught off-guard by the tiny fearless kid lunging, Lee Baek's face twisted viciously.
This fucking bastard—his silent lips mouthed.
Leveraging superior reach, Lee Baek swung his club down. The embedded nail targeted O Dok-seo's head.
Clang—!
All for naught. His club bounced off an invisible barrier imperceptible to human eyes.
"......?"
Absolute defense.
Rejecting not just human attacks but even anomalies' corrosion, she swung her bat.
Faint red aura cloaked the metal bat.
Past days, I'd intensely tutored her in aura control. Unobtainable anywhere now.
I snapped my fingers, retracting aura around Lee Baek. Mute off. Let my protégé savor victory.
"Drop dead, you potato fuck!"
"Pfuk...?"
Sadly, no satisfying scream. The bat snapped his club, then nailed his jaw clean.
Home run.
"Ok, wuook? Uhooook...!"
Lee Baek clutched his jaw, collapsing. White corn kernels scattered around.
O Dok-seo belched long, like expelling a decade's phlegm.
"Wow. Back in the 3rd cycle, when Lee Jae-hee died because of her, I chucked the novel. Fucking bastard. Total scum. Piece of shit."
"Ughhek..."
"Shut your trap, bird."
She kicked the freestyle-swimming Lee Baek on the floor. He went limp, out cold.
His six followers lunged late.
"Uwaaah!"
"Tsk, ganging up on a kid? Not cool."
Rule break. Without pause, I yanked aura, slicing their ankles one by one.
"—!"
"......! ...!"
Six toppled involuntarily. Muted screams burst.
Terror mixed into the survivors' gazes. Some in the rear already fleeing.
Sim A-ryeon eyed the seven wriggling losers on the floor with an odd glint. Like a magpie spotting worms.
"...A-ryeon. No toying with them, threatening heals to salve your pride."
"Ah, y-yes... Eek? W-wait, how'd you know my thoughts? M-mind reading?"
I had Mind Sync, but rarely used. Fun at first, boring fast.
But it had netted new bonds.
I watched the redheaded kid I'd taken as disciple from cycle 555 approach.
"See? Don't worry, mister."
My life's reader and disciple said fearlessly.
"I'll get you to a happy ending for sure."
"......"
"You're the original protagonist, I'm the possessed reader type. Two protags. Together, anything's possible. Image differs from the novel a bit—but you're still my fave!"
I chuckled.
"Yeah. I trust you."
"Okay!"
Come on, chase me, Dok-seo.
I'm always waiting here.
7
Epilogue.
"Hweeeek? M-mister! Save me! Please! Really save me? Used my skill on Lee Baek earlier, no barrier left! Hwoook? Just grazed me! Actually grazed! I'm dying, to the tutorial final boss! Mister! Misteerrr! Save the protagonist—!"
"Well, boss? Should we help Dok-seo-chan?"
"......"
A sigh escaped.
Seemed entrusting my back to this chuunibyou otaku kid needed way more time. End.
- Sharer. End.