Geumho Station (2)

Before they could collect the five-thousand-coin contract fee, Kim Dokja muttered something to Bihyung. Bihyung fiddled with something aimed at her — then sparks suddenly crackled around him and he let out a shriek.

Is that the webtoon scene? The one where Dokja complains her attribute window won't open, Bihyung tries to fix the system error, and ends up getting electrocuted?

Park Jinwoo had no way to help with any of that, so he simply stood at a distance and watched the two of them while killing time.

After thrashing around midair for quite a while, desperately trying to patch Kim Dokja's system error, Bihyung finally seemed to give up. Looking thoroughly deflated, he pressed his index finger to hers — then floated over to Park Jinwoo and did the exact same thing.

The message that popped up the moment their fingers touched Bihyung's made both Kim Dokja and Park Jinwoo break into bright, beaming grins.

Having handed over five thousand coins each as a contract deposit, Bihyung hung limp in midair like a deflated doll — then vanished without a word.

Messages from Constellations urging them to get out of there already.

Well, after four days of nothing but watching them lounge around indoors, the impatience was hardly surprising.

"We should get out of here too, Jinwoo."

"Uh, Dokja — how exactly do we get out of here?"

Park Jinwoo nodded along with her words, but still asked the obvious question.

How were they supposed to escape this place? Smash through with thorns until the outside was visible, the way Kim Dokja had done when she got the ichthyosaur's core?

"…Unfortunately, we don't have any other options this time."

They would have to grind through the walls with thorns until daylight showed.

Even she seemed to have no alternative. With a regretful look, she gripped a Stone Hog thorn and turned to Park Jinwoo.

"…Haah. Then we'd better smash our way out and escape."

In the webtoon, the scene cut straight to them escaping the ichthyosaur's body, so he'd always wondered how they got out. Turns out they'd just brute-forced it with thorns.

I thought there might be some clever method. Guess not.

A flicker of disappointment, but there was nothing for it.

Park Jinwoo picked up a thorn from the floor the same way Kim Dokja had, then met her eyes. She looked back, and they both nodded. Together, they swung their thorns hard at the stomach wall.

Fortunately — whether because enough time had passed since the creature's death, or because of some species trait — the stomach lining had lost its elasticity and crumbled easily under the blows.

They kept breaking through, advancing bit by bit.

A sharp crack rang out, and bright light spilled through the broken section. Kim Dokja and Park Jinwoo hammered their thorns around the glowing gap, widening the hole.

"Hell yeah! We finally broke through."

"Haa… Well, we made it out, at least, Jinwoo."

Looking through the now-sizable opening, they found themselves emerging near the ichthyosaur's chest.

Luckily, the creature had died not far from shore. Peering down through the hole, they saw no other ichthyosaurs nearby.

If there had been more of them, things would have gotten ugly. A small mercy.

Relieved, Kim Dokja and Park Jinwoo leapt into the Han River and began swimming toward the nearest bank.

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

About ten minutes of swimming later, they reached land.

"Pwah! Finally made it."

"Huff… huff! God, I'm dying."

Kim Dokja, with her Stamina at Lv. 10, seemed more or less fine. Park Jinwoo, stuck at a measly Lv. 6, was gasping for air.

"…I'm — out of breath — so please don't talk to me."

After a few minutes of deep breathing to steady himself, Park Jinwoo looked ahead. A blue barrier stood before them.

So this is the start of the second scenario. Ah — and this whole area was filled with fart poison gas, wasn't it.

Recalling the toxic flatulence of the monster waiting behind that blue barrier — the Poisonous Rhinoceros — Park Jinwoo's expression turned complicated. He glanced at Kim Dokja. She turned toward him at the same moment, and their eyes met.

"Once we cross this blue barrier, the second scenario begins."

Are you ready, Jinwoo?

"I was ready ages ago. Let's go — before the Constellations start nagging again."

Together, Park Jinwoo and Kim Dokja walked toward the blue barrier. The moment they stepped through, messages flooded in.

"Oh, shit."

"Hold your breath as long as you can, Jinwoo! This is deadly poison fog!"

Even as the skin that touched the violet mist began darkening, Park Jinwoo couldn't help swearing at the purple fog filling his entire field of vision.

At the exposure warning, Kim Dokja hastily covered her mouth with her sleeve — then stared in alarm at Park Jinwoo, who was just standing there casually cursing at the purple haze.

"Ah, I'm fine."

Before she knew it, a full-face gas mask was already strapped over his face. Kim Dokja stared at him blankly.

Haa… he really is competent.

She had known the Poisonous Rhinoceros's toxic gas would appear in the second main scenario, so she'd bought Ellain Monkey's Lungs from the Dokkaebi Bag before escaping the Sea Commander and stashed them in her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pocket. But the man beside her was no slouch either.

Any ordinary person would have panicked, flailed around, and died of poison. Instead, he'd calmly assessed the fog for a moment — then bought gas masks from the general store. Remarkable.

"You should put this on too, Dokja. Here — two filters for you."

The mask was good, but each filter only lasted ten minutes. They needed to find a safe place within thirty minutes.

"Understood. Let's move."

Ah — and thank you for the mask and filters, Jinwoo.

Kim Dokja smiled warmly at Park Jinwoo as he handed her a gas mask and two filters, thanked him, then hurriedly strapped the mask on and set off in search of a safe zone.

As they walked, the source of the deadly fog came into view ahead — a 7th Grade Monster, the Poisonous Rhinoceros, locked in combat with a mantis-form Insect King species. But this was no time to focus on that.

Knowing the location of the underground station — Geumho Station — Kim Dokja took the lead at a brisk pace. Park Jinwoo followed quietly behind. Being from the countryside, he had no idea where Geumho Station was.

On the way they passed corpses and small monsters, but they avoided them as best they could — until a convenience store right beside them caught their eye.

"Let's stop by that convenience store and grab whatever supplies are left."

"Got it. That'll save us coins, too."

Kim Dokja glanced back as she spoke, and Park Jinwoo readily agreed.

They entered the store together, grabbed a few plastic bags near the entrance, and began loading up.

Kim Dokja focused on dense, compact food items. Park Jinwoo, meanwhile, simply swept everything in sight into his bags without a second thought.

"…Uh, Jinwoo? Are you sure you should just be grabbing everything at random like that?"

I don't think we can carry all of that.

She looked at him with a dubious expression.

"Ah, it's fine. I'll just move it all into My Little Hideout."

"That thing works as an inventory too?!"

"Yeah. My Little Hideout is about ten pyeong right now, so I can keep stuffing things in until it's full. Feel free to take everything in the store."

Kim Dokja blinked in surprise and asked again. Park Jinwoo just nodded and told her to grab it all.

What a broken skill, seriously…

Her own abilities — Bookmark, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Character List — were plenty broken already, but she still grumbled inwardly about his skills as she started sweeping up everything around her the same way he was.

Fifteen minutes to reach the convenience store near Geumho Station, five minutes looting it — twenty minutes total. They'd already burned through two gas mask filters, but still had ten minutes of leeway, so they were leisurely cleaning out the store when a voice came from inside.

"H-help… help me…"

"Huh?"

"There's a survivor in here? I didn't mishear that, right, Dokja?"

"I heard it too. Let's check where the sound came from, Jinwoo."

Following the plea for help, Kim Dokja and Park Jinwoo moved toward the source — and found a young woman collapsed in a corner of the store, curled in on herself.

Looking her over, they could see her skin had begun darkening from partial exposure to the poison fog, but she was wearing a spare mask, so the poisoning wasn't too severe.

She looked like she'd been through something rough — her top was torn in several places, and her pants were ripped as well, though less so.

"Are you all right? Hey — stay with us!"

"Ugh… nngh…"

"She's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been poisoned by the fog. Fortunately, it's not too severe."

The situation in front of them was more urgent, so they ignored the Constellation messages entirely and approached the collapsed woman.

Park Jinwoo shook her shoulders with a startled look, checking her consciousness, while Kim Dokja calmly assessed her condition beside him.

"We've already grabbed most of what we need. Let's get her to Geumho Station right away."

"Got it. Give me all the bags. I'll stash them in My Little Hideout and carry her on my back."

Clearing away the flood of messages, Park Jinwoo asked Kim Dokja for the bags. She handed them over, he stuffed them into empty air, then hoisted the collapsed woman onto his back.

"Ah — wait a second before we go."

Before setting out for Geumho Station, Kim Dokja approached the woman on Park Jinwoo's back.

"Bite down on this. It won't fully cure the poisoning, but it should have a neutralizing effect."

She removed the spare mask from the woman's mouth and placed an Ellain Monkey's Lung from her pants pocket between her teeth.

"Now let's hurry to Geumho Station. It's close from here — we should arrive soon."

"Got it. She's in bad shape, so let's move fast."

The moment the conversation ended, Kim Dokja headed straight out of the convenience store. Park Jinwoo adjusted the woman on his back and followed right after her.

They left the store, rounded the shoulder of the road, and headed straight down the main street until Exit 3 of Geumho Station came into view.

"We made it to Geumho Station, but the fire shutter's closed. Now what?"

They'd finally arrived, only to find the entrance sealed. Park Jinwoo asked Kim Dokja, but she stayed silent, calmly scanning the area for another exit.

"Exit 4… Exit 4…"

Then the woman on Park Jinwoo's back murmured for them to go to Exit 4. Kim Dokja and Park Jinwoo exchanged a look, nodded, and ran toward it.

Racing for Exit 4 of Geumho Station, they spotted a fire shutter that was just about to close.

Kim Dokja sprinted even harder and jammed a thorn into the narrowing gap. When the shutter jammed against the thorn and refused to shut, someone inside started shouting curses.

"Wh-what the hell?! Shit?!"

"Open the door."

"N-no! You can't come in! Get lost right now!"

"There's an injured person here."

"We're already at capacity! No more people!"

"Not my problem."

Just as Park Jinwoo caught up to Exit 4, Kim Dokja used the thorn wedged in the gap as a lever and heaved the shutter upward with all her strength.

"Waaaaagh!"

With a grinding screech the shutter rose, and the people inside screamed in panic.

"R-run!"

Thanks to the thorn-lever, the shutter opened wide enough. They stepped inside — and the sight that greeted them was absurd. The shutter had merely opened, yet terrified men were shrieking and fleeing deeper into the station.

"Yeah, we're pretty dumbfounded too."

Why run just because a shutter opened?