Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: The Ghost City
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We crossed through the gate and returned to the original world.
Now, if I took everyone back to the "Ruined Village," the path to the sixth round—the game's midgame—would open up.
A few steps out from the gate, Jo Younggi and Kim Yeonhui were waiting for me.
As if we'd always planned to go together from the start.
"Were you waiting for me?"
Jo Younggi stared off into empty space without answering.
Kim Yeonhui grumbled at me like a sulky child.
"What, were you planning to go alone? We're all headed the same way anyway, so isn't it better to go together?"
"Well... yeah, I guess."
I playfully nudged Kim Yeonhui and Jo Younggi's waists and flashed them a bright smile.
I'd put them through a lot because of me before, so I felt a bit sorry, and since I'd probably need to ask these two for favors down the line, it wouldn't hurt to close the distance.
"Huh? No sentries?"
There were no soldiers guarding the gates.
We'd spent less than a month in the Elf Helm, so there shouldn't have been any anti-war efforts, and if there had been any fighting, it must have been between players.
No way a massive battle had wiped out all the NPCs, so why was the area in front of the castle completely deserted?
I entered the castle and looked around the city. The peaceful-looking village was devoid of a single soul.
Even the market was empty, and the sky wasn't overcast with dark clouds—it was clear, blue, and bright. It looked nothing like the fourth round's concept.
'......What the hell.'
Even Jo Younggi looked around in confusion, clearly not understanding.
Kim Yeonhui climbed a tree to scout the distance, then shouted down to us.
"I don't see anything!"
"......Jo Younggi, Kim Yeonhui. Let's split up and search for people."
A chill suddenly ran down my spine.
This was a bad feeling.
Had Ma Jeongwoo, Yoo Sora, and Michael, who'd arrived first, made it okay?
I turned my head to check the group status window.
It wasn't something I usually paid attention to, so I'd barely thought about it...
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「Player Group of 'Kim Cheonjae'」
-Kim Cheonjae: Good (Blue)
-Ma Jeongwoo: Critical (Red)
-Yoo Sora: Poor (Yellow)
-Michael Beach: Poor (Yellow)
[Good (Blue): Vitality 90%+]
[Normal (Green): Vitality 75%+]
[Poor (Yellow): Vitality 50% or less]
[Critical (Red): Vitality 15% or less]
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Jeongwoo's health bar was scraping the bottom.
I didn't know the exact situation, but it looked like Yoo Sora and Michael had taken heavy damage too.
It seemed like they'd gotten into a fight with someone, but who in this place could take down Ma Jeongwoo in his golden set?
"Damn it."
I started scurrying around inside the "Conqueror's Tomb" like a rat.
Jo Younggi cast a spell to create waves in the ground, surfing forward at high speed. Kim Yeonhui used the assassin's stealth skill to search buildings here and there. The last place we checked was the castle inside the city—the site of the recent big battle. Both the exterior and interior had been fully repaired, with no major damage.
Which meant no other major battles had happened.
What the hell had gone down?
No signs of fighting, people vanished, my group members nowhere in sight.
The NPCs were totally wiped out too. No shopkeepers, no castle guards.
"......No way, under the castle?"
I used the castle's hole to drop quickly into the canyon below.
Even though I'd run auto-hunt for so long, monsters were swarming.
From goblins infected with the X Virus—their skin turned purple—to trolls and ogres, they all blocked my path.
Park Gyuhwan and Gawain had swept the canyon like rats, but still no people. The whole situation was so baffling I let out a hollow laugh.
This place had turned into a ghost town.
"......Where the hell did everyone go?"
My head was spinning, so I pulled out a cigarette and lit up when Jo Younggi came surfing in on a ground wave.
Rumble rumble rumble—!
"Kim Cheonjae!"
I waved my hand to signal him to stop.
"Whoa—whoa. What?"
Jo Younggi's wave slowed to a stop in front of me.
"Did you find the others?"
"No."
"I found someone with a clue. You remember this girl too, right?"
A druid with twin tails and plain clothes.
"......Kim Ria?"
The sweet potato girl who'd stayed here despite my offer to join my group.
"Yeah, Kim Ria."
"What happened?"
"No idea. She was collapsed in front of the south gate, covered in blood. More precisely, she was passed out and hidden behind a tree."
"Hidden?"
I checked her nose for breath, then her neck for a pulse.
Her breathing was rapid, but her pulse was slow.
Irregular, of course.
Her face had turned green, so it looked like Z Virus infection.
Had a player who made it here not had a vaccine? No, that didn't make sense.
Without the vaccine, fighting infectees would be nearly impossible.
Plus, the Z Virus vaccine was cheap at the shop, easy to get...
"Jo Younggi, got a vaccine?"
"Jet? X?"
"Jet. X isn't airborne anyway, so no infection risk."
"Well... you could get infected if drenched in infectee blood."
"That's why I'm saying it won't happen. Shut up—do you have it or not?"
"......Yeah."
"Hand it over. Injecting now should cure her."
Jo Younggi raised an eyebrow.
"How much you paying?"
"What?"
"How much? This is my emergency one."
"You've probably already vaccinated yourself."
"Sure. But you know what emergency vaccines are for, right? If a sudden quest to rescue an NPC pops, you get at least 5,000 Jenny on success—"
"Okay, fine! 5,000 Jenny, just give me the vaccine quick."
"6,000. Deal?"
This damn bastard trying to haggle in a crisis.
Swoosh—
Park Gyuhwan pressed his blade to Jo Younggi's throat.
Jo Younggi gave me an annoyed look.
"What the hell?"
"Jo Younggi, we're short on time. Vaccine, now."
"You gonna have my back?"
"Opposite. Question for you—will you have mine?"
"......She's not even your group member."
Jo Younggi glared at me.
I met his gaze without flinching.
We stared each other down like kids arguing as friends.
His eyes slowly closed.
I gestured, and Park Gyuhwan pulled the blade away.
"No pointless fights. You can buy more vaccines once we're out."
"......Fine. 5,000 Jenny for the vaccine. But take me and her to the seventh round together."
"......Deal. I'll get you to the eighth."
Jo Younggi handed me the vaccine syringe.
* * * * *
Kim Ria came to.
"Uh.... where..."
Her vision blurry, she squinted at me. Didn't recognize me? She tilted her head.
"Kim Ria, know who I am?"
"......Who are you?"
"You don't know me? Kim Cheonjae."
At my name, she bolted upright.
"Cheonjae!"
"Finally coming around, huh."
"No.... you're finally back!"
She hugged me with a joyful expression.
"W-What're you doing."
"You.... took too long."
"Too long for what?"
"Jeongwoo.... Jeongwoo..."
I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her off.
"What's with Jeongwoo?"
"Jeongwoo.... got captured."
"......What?"
"Everyone in this castle.... got captured."
The words were so absurd I couldn't respond right away. Was that why no players or NPCs were visible?
"Captured by who?"
"That.... Hanjo...."
"Hanjo? The Japanese player?"
"Yes...."
"How'd Hanjo capture Jeongwoo? He's weaker than Jeongwoo."
"......No, he wasn't. No idea how that bastard Hanjo got so strong, but he fought Jeongwoo on equal terms."
Impossible.
We'd reached the fifth round first, and thanks to my auto-hunt, the level gap was huge. Hanjo, barely level 30-40, beating Jeongwoo at 60?
I shook my head.
"You're saying Jeongwoo lost to Hanjo?"
"No, not that.... Other players all ganged up on Jeongwoo."
"Other players?"
"Yes. That.... Jeong Hagyun, who betrayed us before you became lord here. Remember?"
How could I forget.
That scum deserved to be monster bait.
"That bastard.... Thought he died in the castle fight. He was alive?"
"Yes. He brought.... some weird necromancer..."
"Weird necromancer?"
"Korean player in skull armor with a reaper's scythe."
My head rang like I'd been hit hard.
Skull armor and reaper's scythe? That was Yi Ryanghun, the one I'd fought before.
But why team up with Japanese player Hanjo?
Made no sense.
Jo Younggi cut in.
"Hey, so where'd they take everyone?"
"......Gyeongseong. Heard they moved everyone there."
"Gyeongseong?"
"Yes. They said they'd clear this place out before the event starts and hand it over to Japan...."
"Hand the castle to Japan?! These guys are totally insane!!"
Jo Younggi punched the ground.
Kim Ria coughed up blood-mixed phlegm and said to me.
"Jeongwoo and the others all got captured."
"To Gyeongseong?"
"Yes.... They're doing a public execution in two days. We need to hurry to Gyeongseong."
"Public execution in two days? Why bother doing it there?"
"Hanjo and that necromancer searched for you forever but couldn't find you.... So they said they'd use your comrades as bait to lure you to Gyeongseong."
"What the fuck. They capture everyone and think that'll lure me? If you hadn't stayed—"
Wait.
How did Kim Ria end up staying in the castle?
Right by the south gate, the only way to Gyeongseong.
I stopped talking and stared at her.
Deep wounds head to toe—she'd definitely fought. No way she'd risk her life for Z Virus just to pass info to me. Only one conclusion.
They knew my arrival time and deliberately left her here.
'......That's why the two-day window.'
Fucking bastards.
Even I couldn't take on two rankers solo.
Trouble.
Kim Ria was a druid, useless in player fights. Park Gyuhwan and Gawain alone couldn't handle the horde of powerhouses there.
'Haa—.'
What to do.
I puffed on my cigarette, deep in thought.
Any strong players who could help?
Step. Step. Step. Step.
A bald wizard sidled up beside me, lost in thought.
"Kim Cheonjae, I'm outta here. Nothing left for me."
"......Hold up."
"Before you ask, no. We're not going to Gyeongseong. That Hanjo guy's too dangerous, and they'll be lying in wait to kill you. Don't wanna die in some pointless fight."
Jo Younggi turned his back without hesitation.
Kim Yeonhui glanced at me and followed.
I tossed at his retreating figure.
"You sure? Gyeongseong's a money fountain for you."
At "money fountain," Jo Younggi's ear twitched, and he stopped.
"......Money fountain?"
"Yeah. Take down all those international players gathered there, sell their gear at the shop.... How much Jenny? 100k? 200k? Nah, at least 300k."
"......"
"That necromancer Kim Ria mentioned? I know him. His gear alone's worth 100k Jenny."
"So total 400k?"
"400k? If the plan works, way more—all yours."
Jo Younggi raised a hand over his shoulder, curling his fingers into an OK sign.
"......Pay?"
"Pay?"
"Yeah. I'm joining your friend-rescue op. Separate reward on success?"
I grinned wide.
Help me, and I'd get him all the money he wanted.
"I'll give you every Jenny I have."