Singularity (6)

With the drinking water and ingredients Yoo Sangah, Shin Yooseung, and Lycaon had brought along, we put together a simple breakfast. Once we'd eaten, we set out again.

Only five days remained until the start of the fifth Main Scenario.

While we finished breakfast and rested, Kim Dokja — ever the leader — laid out how we would spend those remaining five days.

The objectives she set for us were essentially two.

First: find Gong Pildu, who had gone missing somewhere along the Han River. Second: hunt the nearby monster species and stockpile coins.

The Sub Scenario currently in progress had a Coin Event active, so we needed to spend whatever time we had left hunting monsters and racking up coins.

And so we began moving west along the Han River.

As we followed Kim Dokja's directions westward, she spoke up beside me.

"Jinwoo."

"Yeah?"

"Use Clairvoyance and find us some monsters nearby."

"Okay."

As requested, I activated Clairvoyance and scanned the area for monsters worth hunting.

…Ten 9th Grade Mole Crickets. Five 8th Grade Grolls. Six mongrels that look like 7th Grade. And finally, three aquatic-dragon-type monsters that look like 6th Grade — the same kind Kim Dokja, Han Sooyoung, and Yoo Sangah took down in the webtoon.

Once I'd roughly mapped out the numbers and species nearby, I turned to Kim Dokja and reported exactly what I'd seen.

"…That's about it. What do you want to do? They're not that far."

"We hunt them all. A Coin Event's already running — we might as well make our investment back."

At her words, every one of us nodded in unison. Stockpiling as many coins as possible was simply the smart play.

Especially for me, with skills that ate coins like a hippo at a buffet. Well — they were convenient, at least.

I walked over to Shin Yooseung, who was sticking close to Yoo Sangah. There was something I needed to say to her before the hunt began.

And since Yoo Sangah was right beside her, our eyes inevitably met.

"…………."

"…………."

Whip.

The moment our gazes locked, Yoo Sangah and I both looked away at the same time. Last night still left us both too embarrassed to hold eye contact. She probably felt the same way I did — she'd looked away the exact same instant I had.

I snuck a sidelong glance at her. Both of her pale cheeks were flushed red. She was the one who'd initiated the cheek kiss, so of course she was the most mortified of the two of us.

Han Sooyoung, watching from the side, narrowed her eyes and looked back and forth between us.

"Did something happen between you two last night? Why do you both look like that?"

"…………?!"

Yoo Sangah's cheeks went even redder. She covered her eyes with one hand, hurried past me, and bolted toward Kim Dokja at the front of the group.

Han Sooyoung came over, punched me lightly in the shoulder, and asked,

"Hey, for real — what happened? Why'd she react like that?"

"…Just assume I screwed something up."

"…Screwed up?"

She tilted her head at my half-assed excuse, looking thoroughly unconvinced, then shrugged it off and walked past me to keep going.

I let out a small sigh and approached Shin Yooseung.

"Yooseung."

"Ah, Oppa."

She looked up at me with a bright, sunny smile. I handed her a dagger I'd crafted from the bones, claws, and hide of the raptors we'd taken down in the Theater Dungeon.

She took it on reflex, then looked up at me with a puzzled tilt of her head.

"Oppa, what's this?"

"Yooseung. From now on, Dokja, Sooyoung, Sangah, and I are going to fight monsters. Watch carefully how we fight. Someday, you're going to have to fight too."

She flinched.

The moment I mentioned that she would eventually have to fight, her expression darkened. Seeing that, my own face hardened a little.

I couldn't keep coddling her forever just because she was a child. I wished Shin Yooseung and Lee Gilyoung never had to fight — but the world had changed.

The rules had changed. The laws and order that once held human society together had collapsed. In this world, there was only one rule left: power.

To protect yourself, your comrades, your friends, your family — you needed power.

I looked down at her and continued.

"Yooseung. This oppa doesn't want you to fight either. But…"

Squeeze.

Mid-sentence, Shin Yooseung tightly gripped my hand with her small fingers — as if to say I didn't need to finish.

I rolled my eyes back down to her. She was looking up at me with a small smile.

"Oppa, I'm okay. I'm all grown up now. I already know what you were about to say."

"…Yeah. Thank you."

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gave her a wry smile and gently ruffled her hair.

"Like I said — for now, just watch carefully how we fight. After that, each of us will teach you how to fight ourselves."

"Yes!"

I straightened up, opened the door to My Room, and called for Lycaon inside.

"Lycaon."

A rustling sound came from within, and then Lycaon emerged through the doorway. Looking down at me, he spoke.

"You called, Hoju."

"While we fight, protect Yooseung here. And I'd like you to give her some instruction on combat."

"Leave it to me, Hoju. At last, work befitting a guide."

He gave a small nod and grinned, fangs bared.

We headed for the monsters I'd located. After slaughtering the Mole Crickets and Grolls, extracting their corpses, we killed all but one of the white-furred mongrels that looked like 7th Grade.

Why leave one alive? Simple. I needed to raise the level of Hard Skin.

I held my left arm out to the mongrel's snout.

"Bite!"

Grrrk! Kwaaaang!!

Chomp!

On command, the thing clamped down hard on my left arm. I smiled in satisfaction and patted its head.

"Good dog! Good dog!"

Grrk! Grrrk?!

As I stroked its head, it started scraping its claws against my body like it was enjoying itself.

What a good mongrel. Thanks to the package I'd bought from the Dokkaebi Bag, the skill level was climbing fast.

Last time, a baby Groll had to chew on me for a full hour just to raise the level by one. Come to think of it — what was that little Groll up to these days?

It had been a real trooper, biting me nonstop for an hour. I should've just tamed it and given it to Shin Yooseung. It was pretty cute, too.

While I was busy getting my left arm chewed on to grind skill levels, Han Sooyoung watched with a thoroughly contorted face and asked Kim Dokja,

"Does he always do this?"

"He always has. Best to get used to it."

"…Get used to that? You people are seriously weird."

"Look who's talking."

I ignored the conversation between the two women behind me, bought a sturdy rope from the general store, and bound the mongrel's legs and mouth while it was still clamped onto my arm.

Whip! Dangle! Whip! Dangle!

Whine! Whiiine! Whine!

"Not coming loose. Perfect."

Even when I shook my arm, the rope held. I smiled in satisfaction and patted the mongrel's head.

"You're staying clamped on my arm until you die, got it? My expectations for you are very high."

Whine! Whine! Whiiiine!

"Yeah, you like that too, huh? Good boy…"

Its slimy tongue and drool were a little gross, but hey — skill levels were skill levels. Smiling at its happy little whimpers, I started walking toward the next monsters.

Or rather — I was about to.

"Ah, right. Extraction."

I activated Extraction on the four mongrel corpses we'd just hunted.

Tsk… No useful skills, and the byproducts aren't anything special either.

I dumped all the White Mad Dog meat and only kept the claws and hide. I'd raised a puppy when I was a kid, so dog meat sat a little wrong with me.

We set out again, and soon found the three 6th Grade-looking monsters I'd spotted with Clairvoyance.

At the sight of the creatures — dragon-like heads, sharp sickle-shaped wings sprouting beside their forelegs — we all drew our weapons.

The monsters seemed to notice us at the same time. Roaring, they charged.

Kwaaaak!!

Kim Dokja watched the charging beasts with calm eyes and started issuing orders.

"Yoo Sangah, right side! Han Sooyoung, rear! Park Jinwoo, ranged support!"

Yoo Sangah sprinted right. Han Sooyoung deployed her Avatar, scrambled the nearest monster's focus, then slipped behind it.

Following Kim Dokja's order, I drew my holy relic — Der Freischütz.

——!

Even though I'd only drawn it yesterday, the relic shuddered in greeting. Gripping it, I began channeling mana.

My exclusive holy relic, Der Freischütz, didn't need bullets.

All it needed was mana.

Ziiing!

A blue aurora swirled around Der Freischütz as sufficient mana poured in. I watched it for a moment, then rolled my eyes forward.

Yoo Sangah had locked down one 6th Grade monster's movement with her mana threads. Han Sooyoung disrupted its vision with her Avatar, then cleaved its body clean in two.

Next, Kim Dokja bisected the one charging at Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah from behind.

The last remaining beast, eyes blood-red after witnessing its kin die, lunged at Kim Dokja. I calmly aimed at its shoulder and fired.

Bang!!

I'd aimed for the shoulder just to test the relic's power. But maybe the mana-to-output efficiency was too high — the bullet punched clean through the shoulder and went straight through its heart.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Thud!!

Pierced through the heart, the creature's movements gradually stiffened, then it slammed face-first into the ground and died.

Click.

Watching it happen right in front of me, I grimaced and lowered Der Freischütz.

The power's way too high… I have zero control over it.

A normal gun just needs the right ammo loaded and fired. But Der Freischütz fed on mana, not bullets — so I had to inject just the right amount before firing.

My holy relic's power scaled with the mana poured into it. This was only my second time using it, and taming the thing was clearly going to take a while.

Whine! Whine! Whine!

The mongrel dangling from my left arm started whimpering, snapping me out of my thoughts. I glared at it hard.

Whiiiine… whine…….

Sploosh.

"Oh, for fuck's sake?! Why are you pissing yourself all of a sudden?!"

The moment I glared at it, the thing started trembling all over and wet itself. Thankfully, my superhuman reflexes let me spin its body around in time so none of it got on my clothes.

Once it finished, I turned back to glare at it again — and then I realized why it had peed.

Gack… gaaack….

The rope I'd tied around its mouth and legs had somehow wound around its neck. Judging by how long it must have been like that, its breathing had already stopped.

"…That's weird. I tied it plenty tight. It came loose?"

Ah. Don't tell me.

I raised Der Freischütz in my right hand, injected mana, and fired a shot into the air.

Bang!!

"Ah. Of course…"

As the bullet streaked into empty air, a powerful wave of mana pulsed outward around my body. That wave must have momentarily loosened the rope — and then, of all the rotten luck, it had wrapped around the mongrel's neck.

I scratched my head and peeled the dead thing off my left arm.

Thud!

"Tsk…"

I stared quietly down at the White Mad Dog's corpse, sprawled haphazardly on the ground.

Thanks to its decent bite force, it had been a perfect opportunity to grind Hard Skin — and now that chance was gone for nothing.

What's done is done. You can't turn back the clock.

I needed to figure out how to control Der Freischütz's power, and fast.

Just then, I heard Kim Dokja call Yoo Sangah's name.

"Yoo Sangah."

Yoo Sangah turned at the call. Once she was looking at her, Kim Dokja spoke again.

"If possible, please use only one stigma at a time."

"…Pardon?"

"Continuously stacking multiple stigmas will put a strain on your body."

"……………."

Yoo Sangah fell silent for a moment at Kim Dokja's words. Then she smiled faintly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and spoke.

"Heh… Thank you for worrying about me."

Kim Dokja's expression shifted as if she'd realized something.

"Did you already know, and do it anyway?"

"Do I still look like the competent office worker Yoo Sangah to you, Dokja?"

Yoo Sangah lowered her eyes a little and continued.

"…I'm not like you and Jinwoo. In this changed world, I'm someone who can't do anything. This is a world where TOEIC scores, certifications, and volunteer hours are all worthless——"

I cut off her self-deprecation mid-sentence, put a hand on her stomach, and pulled her into my arms.

Yoo Sangah, realizing a beat too late, flushed red. She hurriedly looked around at Kim Dokja and the others, then yelled at me.

"J-Jinwoo?!"

"Putting yourself down again?"

"Th-that's…"

She lowered her eyes again, avoiding my gaze. I sighed quietly and said,

"Sangah. Right now, inside the Seoul Dome, there are people far worse off than you. At least ten thousand of them, easily. So here's a question."

Should those people who are worse off than you just die right now?

She flinched. Her body trembled once. I glanced at her again and brought my lips close to her ear.

"They're doing their best to survive, in their own way. Sure, from my perspective they don't amount to much — but that's only because I don't see or feel any big results from them. I'm not dismissing their will or their effort."

As I spoke, I gently traced the countless wounds on the back of her hand. Hands that had been clean just a few days ago were now covered in cuts.

"You're right that TOEIC might be useless now. But the certifications you worked for will come in handy when they need to. Just like how your Grade 1 Korean History certification already helped us."

"…Jinwoo."

"So stop putting yourself down, Sangah. Every wound on the back of your hand is a medal — proof of how hard you've worked to keep up with us. I'm genuinely grateful that a comrade who recognizes her own shortcomings and keeps pushing herself is here beside me, beside all of us. And that goes for—"

I looked over at Kim Dokja, who was staring blankly at the two of us, and finished.

"—our party's leader, Kim Dokja, too. Right, Dokja?"

"Uh, uh? Y-yeah, of course."

For a second her face seemed to twist, but maybe I imagined it. She answered my question with a composed expression. I smiled and released Yoo Sangah from my arms.

Then something started buzzing from inside Kim Dokja's coat. The vibration of the smartphone she carried.

Bzzzt!

She reached into her coat, pulled out the phone, and her eyes went wide with surprise.

Then, phone in hand, she smiled faintly and ran over to Yoo Sangah and me.

"Jinwoo, Sangah. A message from Donghoon… Gilyoung's with him too."

"Oh, really? Gilyoung too?"

"Thank goodness…"

I already knew, of course, but I reacted as if I were hearing it for the first time. Yoo Sangah let out a sigh of relief.

Kim Dokja looked around at us and continued.

"It seems we'll need to cross the river soon."

Han Sooyoung, who had been harvesting byproducts from the 6th Grade monster corpses, looked startled and pointed at the Han River.

"Cross that… ah, right."

She stopped mid-sentence, as if something had clicked, and turned to look at me. Yoo Sangah and Kim Dokja followed her gaze.

"…I'm not a tour guide."

And I'm definitely not a goddamn taxi driver.

Han Sooyoung shrugged at my protest, then jerked her chin toward the aquatic dragons thrashing up wild sprays of water in the Han River.

"If you don't do it, we all become fish food halfway across… no, aquatic-dragon food?"

"Jinwoo…"

"You're the only one who can, Park Jinwoo!"

Han Sooyoung hit me with the cold hard facts. Yoo Sangah clasped her hands together and looked up at me with full aegyo. Kim Dokja put on a crooked grin and piled on the flattery.

"Damn it… Fine. Everyone get inside My Room."

I grimaced and generated the door to My Room. The three women giggled and practically bounced inside.

I turned and raised my voice toward Shin Yooseung, who was still receiving some kind of instruction from Lycaon.

"Lycaon! Yooseung! Drop it and get over here!"

At my shout, both of them came running. They looked at me and tilted their heads.

"You called, Hoju. For what purpose?"

"Oppa?"

I silently pointed at the door to My Room, then at the Han River. Understanding dawned, and they both nodded and disappeared inside.

I glared at the aquatic dragons thrashing madly through the Han River and muttered like a man resigned to his fate.

"Haa… No matter where you go, the people with actual ability always end up doing the hard work."

Rattle!

The window of My Room slid open beside me, and Han Sooyoung stuck her face out to yell at me.

"Hey! Whose fault is it for being so damn capable? Just get across that river already, Park Jinwoo!"

"Yes, ma'am~ Yes, ma'am~"

I activated Flight Maneuver, climbed to an altitude beyond the aquatic dragons' attack range, and started crossing the Han River. Midway through, a thought struck me.

"……………."

If I take those things down right now… isn't that a skill-exp + byproduct party?

And we were over a river. The perfect opportunity to test a new skill combination.

Grin.

"Alright, alright. Let's go wild."

Whoooooosh!

I activated Wind's Path and compressed the wind above my palm into a single sphere. Then I called out the most troublesome of all my Traits.

"It's been a while. Wake up, you masked bastard."

At my call, a red clown's mask materialized above my head. System messages flooded my vision.

"Hey. Let's cause some fun."

Without a word, I rolled my eyes toward the aquatic dragons swimming in the Han River.

Sssssss—!

As my Trait converted the wind sphere in my hand — converted Wind's Path itself — to the Cold attribute, a frigid chill spread around me.

Han Sooyoung, who had been watching the whole thing from My Room's window, shivered violently in the freezing wind and yelled at me.

"Ah, shit! It's cold! Hey! What the hell are you trying to pull now?!"

"Coin Event + byproduct harvesting + skill level grinding."

"You're insane! Can't you just fly across?!"

"How am I supposed to waste an opportunity this good? Close the window — you'll freeze."

"Goddammit!"

Han Sooyoung grumbled something and slammed My Room's window shut. Confirming it was closed, I started stacking skills.

"Enchant — stack Cold on Wind's Path. Blackening, Amplification, Acceleration."

Whooooooooosh——!!

Enchant boosted Wind's Path's attribute damage. Blackening increased overall damage. Amplification ramped the attribute damage again. Acceleration sped up the cold wind sphere spinning above my palm.

The air around me plummeted in temperature under the stacked skills. But I wasn't done. I still hadn't used everything.

The power of my new technique went far beyond this.

I adjusted my posture with Flight Maneuver, looked down at the Han River, and began to fall — straight toward the aquatic dragons.

The power of Naruto's Rasengan — Ice edition. I'll debut it right here.

With the speed-related skills active, my body plummeted toward the Han River even faster than before.

"You water-snake bastards. That grudge from the Hidden Scenario — I'm collecting it right here, right now."

I activated Flame of Destruction in the hand not holding the Rasengan, topping off the remaining speed.

Whoooooosh!

As my body dropped toward the Han River even faster, a more violent wind hammered against me without mercy.

"Speed is mass. That mass, plus the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠force of gravity, plus the power of the Cold Rasengan — all combined."

I'll show you right now.

Countless aquatic dragons stared blankly up at me as I plummeted in a vertical dive toward the Han River. I glanced at them, smiled brightly, and drove the Rasengan into the water.

KRAAAAAAAAAAANG————!!!!

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK————!!!!

An ice storm erupted across the center of the Han River, freezing everything in its path. The aquatic dragons that had been surfacing with their heads and torsos above the water froze solid on the spot. The ones still submerged had their entire bodies locked in ice as the Cold-attribute damage spread through the river.

A stretch of the Han River between Cheonho Bridge and Dongjak Bridge froze over solid as a midwinter ice sheet. The sight was spectacular.

"Ohh. That's fucking awesome."

I grinned at the aquatic dragons that had frozen to death without even managing a scream, and at the ice road that had formed across part of the Han River.

As expected — Absolute Evil Constellations throw sponsorships the second you do anything even slightly cathartic.

I smiled as I watched the sponsorship messages from the Constellations backing me.