Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Labyrinthos (1)
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Time continued to flow. The number that had first read 17 ticked down to zero, finally changing the digit in the minutes place.
Time was running out. It was ticking down toward the Arabic numeral zero.
Remaining Possible Survival Time.
The starkly direct words made him dizzy. His mouth felt bone dry.
716 hours.
Calculating at 24 hours a day, that was about thirty days.
What would happen when all that time ran out?
The image of the monster roaring before his eyes resurfaced. He felt the sharpness of the axe that had grazed past his head brushing against his neck.
Kang-seok swallowed dryly. He recalled another number displayed below the remaining possible survival time.
1,000 Kron.
Purchasable time is 240 hours.
He got the gist of it. The structure formed in his mind without anyone needing to explain it.
The dwindling time.
The purchasable time.
The phrase ‘Remaining Possible Survival Time’ explained it all.
Once again, the digit indicating the minute changed. Even in this moment, time was flowing.
Kang-seok turned his gaze. He saw Seong Yu-jin, lips pursed, watching his expression. Her attempt to be patient, like a puppy waiting for a treat after being told to wait, was cute, but he couldn't even register that right now.
“Kang… seok?”
Seong Yu-jin called his name cautiously. There was no way the sharp woman wouldn't notice something was wrong with him. No, Kang-seok was showing enough agitation for even the densest person to notice.
Kang-seok was conflicted.
He wanted to tell Seong Yu-jin right away. He wanted to check if she could also see the remaining possible survival time.
But how would she react? Wouldn't she fall into a state of panic?
Kang-seok gulped.
He grabbed the shoulders of Seong Yu-jin, who was now starting to look as anxious as he felt, and met her eyes.
“Yu-jin, listen to me carefully.”
Kang-seok began to speak.
“You’re lying.”
Seong Yu-jin said curtly. She even let out an incredibly awkward, hollow laugh.
But the laughter didn't last. Seong Yu-jin's blue eyes wavered.
Seong Yu-jin gritted her teeth. She wanted to deny Kang-seok's words, even knowing it was futile.
[Remaining Possible Survival Time: 716 hours 32 minutes 27 seconds]
[Current Kron Held: 500 Kron]
[*Time purchasable with 500 Kron is 120 hours.]
It was visible to Seong Yu-jin’s eyes as well. The mercilessly decreasing time threw her mind into chaos.
But thankfully, she didn't panic. She felt anxious, but it was still bearable.
716 hours. Just under thirty days.
If the number floating before her eyes had been just a few hours, she would have surely been severely shaken. But with thirty days, she could still, just barely, maintain her composure.
Kang-seok took Seong Yu-jin's trembling hand.
“Tell me everything you see.”
From her reaction alone, he could be certain that Seong Yu-jin had seen the remaining possible survival time. The important thing now was specifically *what* she saw.
“S… 716 hours 32 minutes… no, 31 minutes.”
“And?”
So far, it was the same. Though Seong Yu-jin's eyes reddened for a moment as she corrected the decreased time, she soon answered calmly.
“500 Kron. The time purchasable with 500 Kron is 120 hours.”
There was a difference. They had started on the same day, in the same place, but the amount of Kron they possessed was different.
The difference between them.
Because they were playing different games?
No. In a way, there was a more decisive difference between them.
The bull-headed monster that Kang-seok himself had defeated.
The 500 Kron difference must have come from that.
“You can get Kron by killing monsters. With that Kron, you can buy time to increase your remaining possible survival time.”
Kang-seok said quickly.
It was like a game. Had they really entered a game world? Was such a thing even possible?
“Don’t buy time yet.”
“What?”
Buying time with Kron. Of course, it was something to test, but not yet. Kang-seok explained to Seong Yu-jin.
“We still have some leeway. How to earn Kron, whether buying time is the only thing we can do with it… It’s not too late to buy after we learn a little more.”
You get Kron by killing monsters. So, was buying time really the only thing you could do with Kron?
Of course, it didn't seem like there was anything more important than the remaining possible survival time. But still, there was no need to rush.
Seong Yu-jin understood Kang-seok's words. Her heart trembled when she thought of her survival time decreasing even at this very moment, but she wasn't so far gone that she couldn't understand him.
Kron.
Things you can do with Kron.
A system just like a game.
“Ah!”
Suddenly, Seong Yu-jin raised her voice. This time, it was she who pulled on Kang-seok's hand. She asked quickly in an excited tone.
“Kang-seok, you said you could see a command earlier, right? And you used a command when you fought the monster.”
At the last moment, Kang-seok's attack hadn't reached the monster. But a blue sword energy had risen and cut the monster's chest.
Flying Swallow Strike: Low.
As Kang-seok, recalling the technique, nodded, Seong Yu-jin squeezed her eyes shut. After taking a breath, she spoke.
“Wait a moment.”
She had clearly thought of something. Kang-seok waited silently, and Seong Yu-jin moved her fingers in the air. Her blue eyes, staring at a point slightly above, moved busily.
A few seconds passed. Kang-seok's eyes widened at the characters of light that suddenly appeared in his mind.
[Would you like to form a party with ‘Seong Yu-jin (F)’?]
Seong Yu-jin said with a smile.
“Party play… fighting games don’t have that, right?”
MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) Exa Online.
A smile appeared on Kang-seok's face as well.
* * *
When faced with something depressing, people tend to turn their attention to other things.
Kang-seok and Seong Yu-jin were the same. They immersed themselves in something more interesting and helpful for overcoming their current situation.
“Wow! There’s a stat window!”
Seong Yu-jin exclaimed in admiration. She was still tapping the air with her hands; it seemed there was something visible only to her eyes.
Kang-seok also tried to find what could be called a ‘menu window’. Just as he had brought up the survival time display, he could summon the characters of light simply by thinking about it.
[Choi Kang-seok (M)]
[Origin: God of Combat Online]
[Awakening Level: - ]
“Wait.”
He had shouted without realizing it.
“Wait, just a second.”
He said it twice. He was that flustered.
“Kang-seok?”
Seong Yu-jin blinked, looking puzzled. Kang-seok looked at the characters of light again. They were unchanged.
Name and origin.
That was all. Nothing else was written there.
“Yu-jin, what does your stat window show?”
At his urgent question, Seong Yu-jin quickly darted her eyes. Just from the movement of her eyes, he could guess how extensive the text of light must be.
“Um… first, my name, origin, and class. The origin seems to be talking about the game I started with.”
“And?”
“The rest is the same as Exa Online. Strength, agility, stamina, and… um. There are too many, so I’ll skip them for now.”
Unlike early MMORPGs which had at most six stats, recent games had excessively detailed stats. Exa Online was no exception, so there were too many to list one by one.
“What about you, Kang-seok?”
Seong Yu-jin was quick on the uptake. What Kang-seok wanted wasn't her detailed stats, but a comparison of what was different from his own.
Kang-seok smiled bitterly.
“Name and origin game.”
“And?”
“That’s it. There’s an entry called Awakening… Level, but it’s blank.”
“Eh?”
“Really, that’s it.”
Seong Yu-jin's bewilderment was palpable. She clearly felt she had to say something, but fumbled, not knowing what to say.
“A fighting game.”
Kang-seok covered his face with both hands.
A fighting game.
Right, it was a fighting game. It would actually be weirder if it had detailed stats like an MMORPG.
“B-but you were so strong, weren’t you?”
Seong Yu-jin still remembered the movements Kang-seok had shown. He had flown through the air—though it was actually a jump—and defeated that terrifying monster.
Kang-seok was strong. Otherwise, the fight itself couldn't be explained.
“We'll have to figure it out as we go.”
Perhaps because Seong Yu-jin was more flustered than he was, Kang-seok was able to regain his composure.
Just because stats weren't visible didn't mean he had no abilities. He just couldn't confirm them with numbers.
And the entry ‘Awakening Level’ was bothering him. It was blank, but the fact that the entry existed at all was on his mind.
“Yu-jin, do you also have an ‘Awakening Level’ entry?”
“Uh… no. I don’t have anything like that. Is it a system from God of Combat Online?”
“There was something similar. Though it wasn’t the official name.”
Online games without a growth system were almost non-existent.
God of Combat Online, too, had incorporated growth elements—though not a so-called ‘leveling system’—to extend the game's lifespan.
The official term was Transcendence.
The nickname users commonly called it was Awakening.
A character that achieved Transcendence not only had their overall stats increase, but their command skills were also enhanced. Because of this, a Transcended character could only fight against other Transcended characters.
‘It probably refers to Transcendence, right?’
Dark Destiny Lord was a character created during the open beta. Naturally, he had completed his Transcendence.
But was that still the case now?
Seeing the ‘Awakening Level’ entry as blank, it seemed likely that it had been reset.
Having regained some composure, Kang-seok asked Seong Yu-jin.
“Yu-jin, what’s your level? Are your stats the same as the character you were playing?”
It made sense for Kang-seok, who played a fighting game, but Seong Yu-jin came from an MMORPG where levels existed.
If the character before him was the main character she played in Exa Online, it was highly likely that her stats and level would have carried over.
As if having a similar thought, anticipation flickered across Seong Yu-jin's face. But it was fleeting; she soon looked crestfallen and her shoulders slumped.
“I’m level 1.”
It was natural for her to be disappointed.
But Kang-seok thought differently.
‘Still, her physical strength wasn’t that of an ordinary woman. No, in the first place, producing that much power with such slender arms…’
Recalling how Seong Yu-jin had casually accepted Durendal—the Supreme King's Sword—Kang-seok nodded. Even at level 1, her base stats likely surpassed those of an ordinary person.
“What about your class?”
“It's the same as in Exa Online: Gladiator. It's a tank class.”
“A tank?”
Kang-seok asked reflexively. His gaze naturally went to Seong Yu-jin's body—that is, to the pure white bikini covered by her coat.
Even if exposure and defense were proportional in modern games, wasn't calling an outfit like that a tank's a bit of a stretch?
As Kang-seok's gaze traveled toward her chest and waist, Seong Yu-jin hastily pulled her coat closed and answered in a fluster.
“I-it’s a bruiser, you know, a DPS-tank. Elloa… I mean, my main was one of the more damage-focused types. Not a full-fledged tank like a Lancer, I guess? Anyway, that’s why.”
Whether she was naturally shy or Kang-seok's stare was just too much for her, she rambled on quickly.
Kang-seok gave her a moment to compose herself. He watched Seong Yu-jin, her face flushed as she fanned herself with her hand, her head lowered, before letting out a dry cough.
Kang-seok himself was also embarrassed.
“Ahem. Anyway, in a way, it’s a relief. Even if you’re level 1, you’re a tank. You must be sturdy.”
Perhaps her high strength was also because she was a tank class.
He didn't know if this was really a game world or another world, but in a situation like this, being sturdy was an advantage.
At Kang-seok's explanation, Seong Yu-jin nodded as if to agree. Kang-seok continued to ask.
“Do you have any skills?”
“There’s a skill window, but… maybe because I’m level 1, I don’t have any learned skills yet.”
A skill window did exist.
That was quite an encouraging fact. After all, if skills existed, it made sense for a skill window to exist too.
‘Flying Swallow Strike: Low… Since there are commands, it’s natural for skills to exist too.’
The trajectory of blue light he had emitted when fighting the monster could only be described as a ‘technique’. Simply swinging a sword would never produce such a result.
Kang-seok looked again at his own desolate stat window.
“I don’t have an item window. What about you, Yu-jin?”
“I don’t have one either.”
“Exa Online had one, right?”
“Yes, the… kind where you insert items into person-shaped slots.”
In a fighting game, it was natural not to have an item window since there were no items. But Exa Online had an item window. And yet Seong Yu-jin didn't have one either—
Kang-seok smiled bitterly.
He thought he understood.
Items like clothes and swords were literally worn and equipped.
‘This doesn’t feel like a game.’
A power similar to a game system was clearly at work, but he didn't think it was a game. It seemed more plausible that they had been summoned to another world in the form of their game characters.
Of course, both were ridiculous ideas. But wasn't this the reality he himself was experiencing? Useless cognitive dissonance was unnecessary.
The information they had so far.
Remaining possible survival time and the Kron that could be obtained by killing monsters.
“Yu-jin. We have to survive, no matter what. Are you prepared?”
“Kang-seok?”
Kang-seok stood up first. He extended a hand to Seong Yu-jin and said.
“First, let’s get armed.”
Remaining possible survival time.
Time that could only be obtained by defeating monsters.
To survive, they needed the strength to fight.
Kang-seok's gaze turned to the corpses of the monster and the hero lying near the room's entrance.