Chapter 164
Chapter 164: Kim Rae-won
Following that.
[Consecutive Slash (Conditional Passive)]
Humans have a tendency to become frenzied the more they see blood. Especially Wanderers—this tendency is more pronounced due to their strong desire for survival.
Duration: 5 minutes
+Upon achieving 5 consecutive slashes, all abilities increase by 5%. (Lv.1 activated)
+Upon achieving 10 consecutive slashes, all abilities increase by 10%. (Lv.2 activated)
※The kill count is only maintained if you slash the next enemy before the effect of Consecutive Slash ends.
[Consecutive Slash has been activated.]
[All abilities increased by 10%.]
[Consecutive Slash].
It was confirmed that even the conditional passive activated properly.
"A-at-attack!"
Plum Blossom Stronghold's leader shouted even while terrified, having witnessed dozens of people die in the blink of an eye.
At that, the remaining bandits rushed at Dong Bong-soo all at once to survive.
However,
Scrape scrape scrape scrape scrape—!
Each time the starving Dong Bong-soo's limbs moved once, the bandits' lifelines were cut.
"Gyaaaaagh!"
Dong Bong-soo's cruel movements only stopped when corpses, blood, and the scent of blood overflowed in the scene, losing places to go and pooling up, reverberating.
Roll roll—, thud.
Like a watermelon falling, the boss's head rolled and fell to the messy stronghold floor.
Swish swish.
Once the situation was settled, Dong Bong-soo roughly wiped the blood on his hands on the fallen boss's clothes. Then he swept his surroundings with a glance.
Dozens of pairs of eyes watching him.
They were the victims who had been on the verge of suffering human trafficking, rape, murder, and more.
Seeing them all with eyes wide as saucers, they seemed quite shocked. Except for just one person.
The woman who had almost directly suffered terrible things from the bandit earlier.
Only she, while flustered, was staring intently at him with searching eyes. It was the kind of look a rabbit chased by a fox might show when witnessing that fox being killed by a tiger that was chasing it.
Of course, he knew what kind of look it was and it wasn't something he needed to care about. Currently, communication wasn't even possible and from now on, it was a problem for them to handle on their own.
To Dong Bong-soo, their existence was outside his interest at the moment.
If they could communicate, he would have asked about various things here, but since that was impossible now, there was no reason to have any more interest.
Nevertheless, he smiled and gestured to convey that everything was okay now. Though it wasn't a word he liked, this too was a connection.
With this one encounter, to them he had become a benefactor who saved their lives. If they ever met again, nine times out of ten they could be at least a small help.
Amusingly, that was also human nature.
Maintaining something called human decency even amid survival of the fittest.
Creating variables that could be beneficial in a completely unknown place—wouldn't that be quite helpful for survival? No matter how small that variable might be, even if just bean-sized.
Smiles are cheap. And easy. If such a simple thing could create a favorable variable, he could do it a million times.
Wasn't it a million times simpler than when he first fell into the Martial World?
Dong Bong-soo showed his teeth once more to create a smile.
With that as the end, he turned his head to erase the smile and found a quiet place within the stronghold.
Right now, the urgent priority wasn't something like communication with them.
「Kim Rae-won」
'Who are you?'
A name tag was already in Dong Bong-soo's hand.
***
A building in the stronghold.
Though built of wood, it was a fairly well-constructed building reaching three stories. Judging by the luxurious furnishings like tiger pelts and rosewood, it must have been the office or residence of the boss who died earlier.
Dong Bong-soo settled in a small room in the deepest part of the third floor there.
It was because it was the only room with just simple bedding and a door.
Click.
He closed the door and took out Kim Rae-won's corpse onto the wooden floor.
Blood-stained and reddish discolored, but a suit-style white dress shirt, navy long-sleeved blazer jacket, school emblem embroidered on the left chest. Though not visible now, there would have been something like a necktie too.
Navy dress pants matching the jacket. Naturally, straight slim fit.
No matter how you looked at it, it was the archetype of a Korean male student uniform.
"How did you come here?"
Dong Bong-soo knelt on one knee and began examining Kim Rae-won's belongings in earnest.
No, he tried to.
[Press any button to start.]
The moment he touched Kim Rae-won's corpse's bare skin, a voice he'd never heard before struck his ear.
Unlike that of New Murim Online, it was feminine, but clear.
'Mechanical sound!?'
The moment he recognized it, shapes like 'XO△□' appeared floating in the right side of his vision, arranged in a diamond pattern.
A pad.
Moreover,
'A game pad.'
After a brief deliberation, he pressed the X button.
Ding—
Unlike New Murim Online, an interactive sound like beating a drum.
[Existing data found.]
[Would you like to continue?]
[Yes / No]
Click, ding—
[Welcome back to the world of What is Hero. Loading will begin.]
— O Hero—.
A woman's voice hazily striking his ear.
At the same time, along with dizzying vertigo, he felt the illusion of someone entering his body.
But he could soon realize it wasn't an illusion.
— Please save this world—.
Kim Rae-won's memory residue, no, his play data was 'loading' into Dong Bong-soo.
***
"Where...... is this?"
With a light groan, I rose from my spot.
A forest.
Forward, backward, sideways, upward—everywhere I looked, there were only trees.
And.
A hologram floating before my eyes.
[Loading of new map complete.]
I didn't know then.
That the new map was another world.
...
..
.
Year 1.
I still don't understand. Why I came to this shitty world. If there's any silver lining, it's that thanks to 'What is Hero's' system, survival was possible in this brutally cruel world.
No, if this was going to happen, they should have just sent me to 'What is Hero's' world. Fuck!
This was a shithole of an Eastern-style world, unclear whether it was martial arts or an immortal realm.
Whatever it takes, I will return to my original world.
...
..
.
Year 5.
Finally found a clue.
In this world, there are strong people called Cultivation Seekers, and if they train sufficiently, they can reach a place called the Upper Realm. That Upper Realm is swarming with immortals—maybe somehow there's a way to get back to Earth.
...
.
Year 9.
While being chased by Fish-People Cultivation Seekers, I learned one thing.
Karma Root Clan.
That's what they called me.
A stranger with Strange Spirit Roots who grows infinitely stronger by accumulating karma despite having no Spirit Roots.
Some like me grow stronger through quests, others through the karma of killing people, sometimes through chores like fishing, and other times...... Heh heh heh by having sex with women.......
Karma Root Clan my ass.
Anyway, I realized.
I'm not the only existence like me.
They're probably struggling to return just like me, right?
I should try to find them. If I share know-how with them, can't I go home faster?
Oh, and I learned one more fact while dealing with those Fish-People.
The passage to the Upper Realm is a Floating Island called the Border Realm.
...
..
.
Year 15.
Despite solving countless quests this year, I didn't get much stronger. I guess I've reached my limit in getting stronger through the system. Damn it.
I miss you...... Mom, Dad.
I never get used to this.
No matter how much I searched, I couldn't find any other Karma Root Clan members besides me.
I heard that Karma Root Clan members can share data and systems with each other.
Can't be helped.
I'll have to break through the Floating Island alone and ascend to the Upper Realm.
Now only the main quests matter, so let's focus only on the main for now!
...
.
Year 21.
Finally! At last!
I climbed the Floating Island. Fuck!
Now I can go home, right?
Mom, Dad. Your son will be there soon.
Just wait a little longer.
...
.
"Fu......cking...... shit."
That bastard.
An eight-tailed fox bastard was chewing on my skull.
I never knew a mere guardian immortal protecting the Border Realm would be this strong.......
I didn't realize.
Crunch—
Being a Karma Root Clan member is really bad at times like this.
Since I don't age well and don't die well, I suffer pain while alive.
If I'd known this would happen, I should have cleared the main quest first. Fu......ck.
I'm sorry...... Mom...... Dad.
Even if I die, I'll return, so let's meet on Earth.
I'm...... sorry.
Crunch crunch—
[You have died.]
[Player not recognized, forced log out.]
Crackle—
***
[Different account, cannot proceed with existing data.]
Though the memories were broken in places, along with the mechanical sound he'd become familiar with over 21 years, Dong Bong-soo regained consciousness.
Because he had partially downloaded Kim Rae-won's play data, that's how it felt.
As if the sensation of having his head chewed was still remaining.
He felt a tingling near the crown of his head.
"Interesting experience."
It certainly was.
Indirectly experiencing another person's life rather than his own was more a matter of interest than like or dislike. Even indirectly experiencing what bone-deep longing was like became great learning in some sense.
He also learned experimentally and precisely that if your skull is chewed, it's nearly impossible to revive.
Of course, the bigger harvest was.
[Would you like to start anew?]
Being able to equip a new system.
He deliberated briefly.
The system of 'New Murim Online' and the system of 'What is Hero'.
Would the two conflict? Or if he chose one, would the other disappear?
Of course, the deliberation wasn't long.
'As long as I can get stronger, anything is fine.'
[Yes]
Simultaneously with the choice, loading began.
[We sincerely welcome you to the world of What is Hero.]
[From now on, you will become a hero and save this world...... crackle......]
And.
[Critical ERROR occurred! Critical ERROR occurred! Critical ERROR occurred! System has no authority...... map and save data are downloading...... if player does not immediately log out...... crackle! Crackle crackle! Forced log out......]
Once again, the New Murim Online system began to go berserk.
The existing system forcibly logs him out.
Then Dong Bong-soo logs back in to Sosam, that is, this current body.
Again, pain like his soul being torn apart assaults him. At the same time, the strange yet refreshing sensation of the new system also permeates his entire body.
Soon the existing system drags his soul back out of Sosam's body. Then tries to send him to the real 'Murim Online' server beyond dimensions.
However, the system doesn't have such, cannot have such authority. It merely continues attempting that work indefinitely.
Extreme pain like crushing and bursting his soul ceaselessly pressed his entire body like before.
Log in, log out, log in again, log out again.......
Log in and log out, and between them, the refreshing sensation of the new system downloading.
However, Dong Bong-soo could endure it.
If he did it once, why couldn't he do it twice?
As long as he could get stronger, he could do it a hundred times, ten million times.
It was just painful and.......
Tedious.
Time passed in that state,
And the genre of Murim Online was changing.
Just as Dong Bong-soo was doing, the system was also achieving yet another evolution.
[New...... crackle...... loading...... crackle...... complete.]
[Becoming a hero.]
1%, 2%, 3%...... 22%.......