Chapter 152
Chapter 152
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: The Secret Chapter
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The driver, having stopped the bus at a bus stop in front of a small town, spoke to the passengers.
“I’m sure most of you have a rough idea about Chapter 1 since you’ve come this far, but just in case, I’ll give you a brief explanation.”
The moment the bus driver finished speaking, a group of children with schoolbags on their backs ran past the bus stop, their faces bright and cheerful.
-Wanna go to the PC bang?
-Who’s up for soccer!
-Let’s go get burgers!
The passengers gazed down at the peaceful scenery outside the window with expressionless faces.
The bus driver checked his watch and continued.
“At first glance, this town seems peaceful, but every day starting at 2 PM, monsters begin to appear, turning it into a living hell. Of course, even if you know this beforehand, don't think about trying to save the children outside. They’re just NPCs, so even if they die today, they’ll respawn perfectly fine tomorrow.”
As the bus driver droned on about things everyone already knew, a few bored passengers began to gather their luggage, preparing to get off.
However, the bus driver glanced sideways at Lee Si-woo and Looktator.
He cast a particularly pitying look toward Si-woo, as if he felt sorry for him and was trying to offer even the smallest of tips.
“There is one condition to clear Chapter 1. You must defeat the boss monster that appears at the church around 4 PM. The characteristics of the boss monster are…”
Adrian, who had been sitting in the seat behind Si-woo, stood up, cutting the bus driver off.
“Instead of giving us a tedious explanation everyone already knows, just open the door. Don’t you know the chapter starts in an hour? Every second counts.”
“Well… Yes, understood.”
Pressured by Adrian, the driver opened the door as if he had no other choice, and the passengers began to disembark one by one.
As Si-woo, shouldering his backpack, was about to get off, the driver spoke to him.
“If you can, you should definitely join a party.”
“Hmm, join a party? That’s a bit different from what I’ve heard. I was told not to party up unless it’s with someone trustworthy.”
“That’s a false rumor. The more you party up, the higher your chances of survival. In this line of work, it’s the ones who don’t join parties and act recklessly who end up getting killed.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. So if you’re not going to join a party, it’s better to spend the hour looting the town and then hide in a safe place after 2 PM, praying that another party clears the chapter for you. You’ll have a hard time staying alive if you get greedy for the clear reward and go after the boss.”
Realizing the bus driver was offering advice out of genuine concern, Si-woo gave him a slight bow.
“Thank you for the advice.”
The moment Si-woo stepped off the bus, a system message appeared before his eyes.
[User with a Secret Chapter clear record has been confirmed.]
[A Secret Quest will now be opened.]
[Codename: Survivor. Will you accept the quest? Clearing this quest will open the Secret Chapter.]
He was momentarily taken aback by the unexpected message, but since he likely needed to clear the Secret Chapter to see the ending anyway, Si-woo had no other choice.
Si-woo touched the word YES floating before his eyes.
[Secret Quest]
[Find Lee Si-woo.]
That was the entirety of the quest description. Bewildered, Si-woo furrowed his brow.
‘What does that mean? Find me?’
As Si-woo stood there, frowning in confusion, one of the passengers who had gotten off the bus approached him.
“Hey, you there. You don’t have a party, do you?”
At the approach of a man with a scruffy mustache, Si-woo replied in a flat voice.
“Not interested.”
The mustached man ignored Si-woo’s cold response and spoke in a friendly manner.
“Whoa, don’t be so cold. From the looks of it, your companion and you don’t seem like much, just like me. How about it? Want to move together? I may be just a 2-star nobody, but I’m a veteran who’s cleared Chapter 1 a few times, so you won’t lose out by sticking with me.”
Si-woo was about to refuse again, but he held his tongue at a whisper from Looktator beside him.
“If you are not uncomfortable, it may be good to form a party. That fellow. He does not seem to bear any ill will.”
At the advice of Looktator, who possessed a talent for insight, Si-woo scratched his chin and changed his mind.
“Alright. What the hell, let’s form a party. What’s your name?”
“Heh heh, good thinking. You won’t regret it. I’m more capable than I look. Ah, I’m Eric. You know, I’m kinda chummy with that bus driver over there.”
Only then did Si-woo understand why this man named Eric had offered him a party invitation.
The bus driver, worried about the 1-star user who had been forced to tackle a chapter just to find food, was meddling through his friend.
‘No wonder he told me to accept a party offer, so this was why? Hah, what a meddlesome character, a rarity in the Main Dimension.’
Since he had to do some legwork to find clues for the quest anyway, Si-woo decided that accepting one party member wouldn't hurt.
“Eric, you said you’ve cleared Chapter 1 a few times?”
“Well, the difficulty is pretty rough, so not that many times, but I’ve done it about three times.”
“So what’s your strategy? Go for the boss? Or loot and then hunker down?”
“Normally, it’s loot and hunker down, but today’s a bit different. I heard from my driver friend that Adrian, an 8-star user, came to clear Chapter 1. Heh heh, that changes things, doesn’t it? Just by following Adrian, clearing this will be a piece of cake, right?”
Si-woo smirked at Eric’s sound strategy.
“That’s true.”
“So, today’s strategy is loot, then clear. We grab whatever’s useful and then stick to Adrian’s tail. What do you think? Pretty good, huh?”
“Yes. It doesn’t sound bad… but I have something to ask first. Do you happen to know about an NPC named Lee Si-woo?”
“Lee Si-woo? Hmm, I don’t know. Was there an NPC like that? Why do you ask? Did you pick up some useful info?”
“I heard that if you secure that NPC named Lee Si-woo, you can get a lot of supplies.”
“Oh, really? Then I’ll help you look for him. It’s no skin off my back, after all. Alright, that’s enough chit-chat. Let’s go farming.”
“By farming, do you mean searching places like the mart or the community center?”
“Nah, only amateurs search those places. Just follow me. I know a good spot.”
Perhaps it was because he was now in the position of guiding a newbie and taking the lead?
Si-woo and Looktator followed behind Eric, who was visibly excited with a sense of relative superiority.
* * *
The place Eric led them to was an orphanage on the outskirts of town.
Upon entering the white building with a sign that read ‘Sky Orphanage,’ he kicked the director’s office door open without a second thought.
*Bang!*
A woman in her fifties, who had been working at her desk, was startled and adjusted her glasses as she asked.
“Wh-who are you?”
“Who do you think? A robber. Hey, lady. I’m not gonna waste words, so take the kids and get out of this building. Before things get ugly.”
“What? What do you mean…”
Eric drew the machete he wore at his waist.
As the cold chill of the steel blade filled the director’s office, the director, realizing the man wasn’t joking, spoke with a pale face.
“R-robbing in broad daylight? Do you not fear the wrath of the Faceless One?”
Lee Si-woo, who had been listening silently from the side, narrowed his eyes.
‘The Faceless One… As I thought, this trial world, Residuum, is based on the period when the Faceless One was active in human form.’
Regardless of whether Si-woo was watching the director with interest, Eric threatened her in a thuggish tone.
“Faceless One or whatever, I don’t know him. So get lost. Before I chop off your head and the kids’ heads too.”
The director clutched a statue of the Faceless One that was on her desk with both hands and said.
“…The Faceless One will not forgive you.”
Eric scratched the back of his head with an annoyed hand and muttered.
“Jeez, every time I see this lady, she gets on my nerves with all this Faceless One talk. So annoying.”
His patience seemingly at its end, Eric was about to swing the machete at her when Si-woo, who was beside him, lightly grabbed his arm.
“She’s just an NPC, but killing an orphanage director feels a bit wrong. Let’s stop here.”
Eric’s face hardened slightly as Si-woo’s firm grip restrained him.
Annoyed that Si-woo had stopped him, he tried to put more force into his arm, but it wouldn’t budge, as if it were tied by a thick rope.
“I heard you were a 1-star… you’re pretty strong.”
“Not all 1-stars are weak.”
Eric, who couldn’t have imagined that Si-woo possessed superhuman strength due to wearing power gloves, spoke with a much more subdued attitude.
“Tsk, alright. I’ll stop. I wasn’t planning on killing her anyway. I was just trying to scare her a bit. As shameless as I am, I don’t have a hobby of slitting the throat of a lady I see all the time. What if she comes back to haunt my dreams? Right?”
Eric sheathed his machete with a sly remark.
Si-woo said to the director.
“I may have stopped him, but if you don’t want to see things get any uglier, you’d be wise to take the children and leave the building.”
“…I will report you to the Knights.”
The Knights?
It seemed they were the armed organization in charge of security in this era.
Si-woo replied as if it were no big deal.
“Report us or don’t, that’s your business.”
As the director hurried out of the office, presumably to gather the children with the other teachers, Eric picked up a sports bag in the room and said.
“Alright, shall we start farming?”
As if he had already forgotten that Si-woo had interfered, Eric left the director’s office with a cheerful expression, like someone on a picnic.
When the orphanage staff stared at him as if he were a cockroach, Eric flashed a sinister smile and smashed a window with his machete.
*Crash!*
“Don’t piss off the robber and get the hell out of this building! If you don’t want to die!”
The staff screamed and ran in all directions, holding the children.
Watching them, Eric licked his lips and said.
“I do this every time, but the NPCs’ reactions are so realistic that it feels shitty every time. Tsk, so don’t get the wrong idea about me. It’s not like I enjoy doing this. It’s a bit much to say it myself, but I’m actually one of the more decent ones. The ones with rotten personalities use NPCs for slaughter or to satisfy their dirty desires.”
“Because they’ll just respawn the next day, is that it?”
“That’s right. So you should be careful when dealing with other party members. I’m not the type to enjoy this stuff, so I let it slide, but if you get on their bad side by protecting NPCs, there’s no telling what they might do to you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good, then follow me. This place is one of the temporary disaster shelters designated by the community center, so there’s a good amount of preserved food like canned goods stockpiled in the basement. Heh heh, consider yourself lucky. I don’t just share this kind of golden tip with anyone.”
Looktator picked his ear and asked.
“Honestly, you must have been annoyed when he interfered just now, so why share such a golden tip with this fellow?”
At Looktator's reasonable question, Eric answered with a light scoff.
“You know me well. That’s right, normally I’d just raid the kitchen and leave it at that, I wouldn’t reveal the basement. But seeing this guy step up to protect an NPC changed my mind. In my experience, the chances of someone who cares about NPCs being a bad guy are slim.”
Hearing Eric’s words, Si-woo realized that his earlier actions had been a performance to test him.
Eric had intended to share the information about the basement only after confirming how Si-woo treated NPCs.
Looktator spoke, amused.
“Hoh, so this fellow is a good guy?”
“I don’t know about a good guy, but I figured he’s at least not someone who’d stab you in the back. Besides, there’s way too much preserved food for me to carry on my own anyway.”
Looktator subtly nudged Si-woo’s side with his elbow.
“See? Did I not say he bears no ill will?”
Si-woo shrugged and replied.
“Yes. I suppose so.”
“What do you mean, you suppose so? As you have seen, my judgment is this sharp. Therefore, you should respect me even more from now on.”
“Yeah, yeah. I get it…”
Si-woo, who had been answering half-heartedly, suddenly froze in his tracks.
It was because he had seen a child trudging along, guided by an orphanage staff member.
Black hair and black eyes.
Si-woo’s eyes wavered as he looked at the child, who was the spitting image of his younger self.
‘That’s… me, isn’t it?’
*Ting.*
[Lee Si-woo has been found.]
[Secret Quest completed.]
[The trigger has been pulled. Opening Secret Chapter 1.]
*Ting-a-ling.*
[Secret Chapter 1 will now begin.]
[Protect Lee Si-woo for the next three hours.]
‘Protect? From what?’
It appeared so suddenly that Si-woo didn’t even have time to register it.
*Crash!*
A white monster burst through the window into the hallway, using its long arms and legs to cling to the ceiling like a spider.
The monster’s white tongue whipped around like a lash.
It was so fast that it felt less like a tongue and more like a gust of wind blowing toward Si-woo’s head.
“It’s dangerous!”
Looktator, stepping in front of Si-woo who hadn’t even had time to react, kicked the tip of the tongue away.
Kicking the tongue, Looktator frowned at the heavy impact, as if he had kicked a boulder.
‘What kind of tongue is like a lump of iron…!’
But unfortunately, against the white monster’s attack, Looktator could only protect Si-woo.
*Srrk.*
A long line of blood was drawn across the neck of Eric, who had been leading the way with a smile on his face, and his head dropped to the floor with a thud.
The white monster’s tongue had sliced through his neck.
Starting with Eric’s death, the staff and teachers in the hallway…
All their bodies were split in two.
The strange thing was, only the adults were dead.
The orphanage children didn’t have a single scratch on them.
-Kiyaaa….
On the ceiling above the hallway, which was now flooded with blood and organs.
The white monster, with a black spiderweb-shaped tattoo on its forehead, looked down at Si-woo with a curious shriek.
Looktator spoke to Si-woo, his voice tense.
“That suit or whatever it is. Put it on now.”
Blocking the tongue that shot out from the monster’s mouth again, Looktator continued.
“This is not an enemy you can afford to hold back against.”