Chapter 4
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Human's Enemy (1)
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“Haa… haa… Did I survive?”
Having confirmed once again that the larvae were merely pounding on the shutter without breaking through, Min-jun lay flat on the floor, catching his breath.
“Hey! I get that you’re exhausted, but you need to get up now!”
Whether he was panting or not, the short-haired woman who had insisted on saving him forcibly pulled Min-jun to his feet.
“There’s still another exit open. We have to hurry and block that one too!”
“You were just kicking me away to keep me from getting in, and now that I’m inside, this is how you treat me? Isn’t that a bit too shameless?”
“…Th-that was…”
Looking around, the shirt-wearing man who had shoved out not only the larvae but Min-jun himself moments ago, along with a few others, were nowhere to be seen.
They had probably already gone to help with the other exit.
“…Then just lie there and get eaten by the bugs, or do whatever you want!”
“Damn… No easy way out, huh.”
If he wasn’t going to help, then she at least had to hurry and assist, so the short-haired woman started walking away.
For her own sake too, this place had to be made safe. Min-jun had no choice but to follow behind her.
On top of that, he remembered how she had said they needed to save him right up until closing the door…
“Hey! What’s your name?”
“So-hee. Jung So-hee.”
“Then just one more thing. Do you even have a plan?!”
“We’ll keep open only the passage connecting to Golden Apartments and seal off everywhere else! All the way to the passages leading to the station center!”
With that, she pushed through the people trembling in fear inside the station.
Seeing humans still holding back even in this dire situation made Min-jun’s blood boil, but as she said, sealing the doors was the top priority right now.
After closing the four fire shutters at the underground mall passages connected to Jamsil Station center, the two rushed straight to exit 6 without pause.
Just like exit 7 moments ago, people covered in green bodily fluids were struggling to close the shutter there.
‘Except.’
In the midst of the same chaos as before, one person stood out starkly from the others, catching Min-jun’s eye repeatedly.
Dressed in a pristine suit as if living in another world, with neatly combed-back hair without a strand out of place and gold-rimmed glasses.
The National Assembly member badge on his lapel revealed his identity.
The man stood well back from the defensive line, protected by two aides, yet he kept shouting orders at the people nonstop.
“We have to push them back, everyone! Put your strength into it! Secretary Kim! There’s a gap over there!”
At his bellow, the shirt-wearing man who had tried to shove Min-jun out earlier shouted back and used a chair to push away the larvae.
Min-jun frowned at the sight of the loudmouth assemblyman who only talked, but for some reason, the citizens were tolerating his behavior.
‘Because he’s someone high up in society…? Whatever.’
Unlike the repulsive sight of the assemblyman, it was fortunate that people’s efforts to block the bugs had pushed the larvae back near the fire shutter button.
Min-jun dismissed his interest in the assemblyman with a whatever attitude.
‘As long as the result is good. Who cares if a sleazy guy like that is in sight or not.’
Even in university group projects where he scrambled desperately just to get a scholarship, having one or two trolls was practically a constant.
Back then, he’d had to forcibly take the lead from preparing materials to the presentation just to protect his grades, but who would want to waste time on that while juggling a part-time job for a living…?
He’d heard some people actually liked that role, but Min-jun definitely wasn’t one of them.
Moreover, he himself had joined late, so he hadn’t caught many monsters here.
With others standing idle, he couldn’t ruin the good momentum.
‘If nothing else happens like this—’
“B-Block it…!”
“Uwaaack!”
…That was all. Just three seconds ago. If only the screams hadn’t suddenly erupted and one side of the defensive line hadn’t been breached in an instant.
He wouldn’t have needed to step up at all.
‘….’
He’d only thought “no way” for a brief moment. But his ominous premonition turned into reality right away.
“W-What the hell is that?!”
In front of the collapsing crowd appeared a massive larva the size of a bull, shoving its thick body through.
Kieeeek!
“Run!”
“…Do something about that thing!!”
The beast rampaged inside the fire shutter line, slaughtering people, and other larvae followed, squeezing through the broken defense line.
“Everyone, we have to push that thing back out! If we lower the shutter now, we’re all dead!”
Even in the chaos, the assemblyman, who had slipped to the safe rear, never stopped commanding.
Min-jun couldn’t comprehend how the man expected to push out something bull-sized while saying that.
“Just close the shutter!”
“What the hell are you? Can’t you see the assemblyman is controlling the situation?!”
“Then are you going to let all those bug bastards flood in?!”
Whether Secretary Kim—the shirt-wearing man—got angry or not, Min-jun shoved him aside and hit the switch.
“You—”
“If we don’t lower the shutter, those bugs will all swarm in. You gonna catch them all yourself, mister?”
“You little punk… Look at you yapping at an adult. The small ones aren’t the problem? If we let that giant thing in, who’s gonna kill it! You gonna do it? That’s why the assemblyman said to push it out somehow, because you can’t!”
“I get what you’re saying, so I’ll kill it. You back off, mister.”
Earlier, the man had tried to drop the shutter claiming they couldn’t hold anymore, but this time it was different, apparently.
Since he’d already decided not to rely on others anymore, Min-jun ignored the man’s further words and glanced at the quest window that popped up.
「[Sub Quest – Raid]
Difficulty: D
Clear Condition: Kill Giant Larva
Time Limit: None
Reward: Distributed differentially based on contribution
Failure: Death」
‘Difficulty D.’
Considering all previous quests had been F difficulty, that massive bull-like thing was definitely strong.
‘Still… D or F, neither is impossible for me, right?’
From Jamsil intersection to here at Jamsil Station, he’d killed so many larvae he couldn’t even count.
And each time he killed a monster and cleared a quest, his physical abilities had skyrocketed as a reward.
‘It’s just a bit bigger. Still the same bug.’
As he dismissed the message and stared at it.
Bang!
Right on cue, the fire shutter slammed shut, trapping the giant larva like a rat in a trap.
But the beast showed no fear, solely focused on devouring time, sucking dry a corpse that had mummified in seconds before finally turning to Min-jun.
Kirrrk!
It raised its scythe and flapped its short wings with a roar.
‘How many people did it suck dry to get that big?’
Min-jun got chills from its roar, but retreating now was impossible.
Fleeing might avoid immediate danger, but next time it’d devour everyone in Jamsil Station and grow even larger.
This fight was a mutual do-or-die.
All escape routes were effectively sealed.
‘….’
Min-jun scanned the surroundings, checking people’s armaments.
Of the ten maintaining the defense line, only about three—including the short-haired woman called So-hee—had proper weapons.
The rest wielded nothing but chairs from restaurants or mannequin legs from clothing stores.
In other words, most people here hadn’t even grasped what the Space Market was or the true nature of this situation.
‘On top of that.’
Even their few weapons were things like sashimi knives, grill tongs, or monkey wrenches.
Even if they learned about the Space Market now, it wouldn’t differ much from wielding wooden planks.
In the end, like it or not, he—who held actual weapons—had to handle this.
Not because of leadership or responsibility, but because survival left him no choice.
No one else seemed capable, so if he failed, everyone would die here.
“I’ll draw its attention! Look for an opening in the meantime!”
Clang! Clang!
Min-jun struck a sign with his axe to attract it, shouting.
The beast, having identified its most threatening foe, flicked its straw-like mouth and focused on him.
One step. Another step.
Min-jun stared into its glowing compound eyes, slowly backing away.
‘Hurry and attack. The moment you swing that scythe, I’ll snap it in two….’
Their chitin armor was as tough as plate mail, but the joints, soft flesh beneath, and non-chitin parts were extremely vulnerable.
Min-jun aimed for those gaps.
Whoosh!
The scythe flying without warning signaled the battle’s start.
‘Size doesn’t matter—its attacks are the same as the small ones.’
Their main attacks: hurling the scythe or stabbing with the straw-like proboscis. Just those two.
Prepared in advance, Min-jun sidestepped the incoming scythe outward.
As reward for dodging, the beast’s arm joint lay exposed before him.
‘Fail an attack, and you lose an arm.’
Min-jun’s swung tomahawk sliced precisely between the chitin plates.
* * *
Kiruk?
Min-jun’s hand axe had definitely pierced its flesh, and with this method, he’d massacred over dozens of monsters so far.
Only… those had all been newly hatched larvae, and he’d overlooked the power of its size.
“Shit…”
The arm was thicker than expected and didn’t sever in one blow, merely enraging the giant larva.
Kieeeek!
The furious beast roared and swung its opposite scythe.
Having focused all senses on its movements, Min-jun barely blocked with the sign, but…
He couldn’t fully absorb the impact, so he was flung back, rolling across the floor.
“Ugh…”
His arm throbbed madly.
No time to hesitate—he had to regain his stance somehow.
“Watch out!”
By the time he looked up at So-hee’s shout, the larva’s spear-thick proboscis was lunging at his face.
‘What it wants is my time.’
All larvae sucked time via the straw on their mouths.
This giant one wouldn’t want him dead until it had drained him fully, so Min-jun fixated solely on its proboscis.
Thanks to that… he barely ducked, evading the stabbing straw-mouth.
Kieeeek!
The beast thrashed wildly to impale him.
All its attention focused on the one who’d wounded it, and Min-jun desperately dodged its proboscis to buy time.
Unlike the lone beast, others had gathered around him to kill it, unwittingly making him a devoted tank.
No coordination, so it worried him.
Fortunately… he spotted So-hee sneaking behind it while it fixated on him, along with others approaching cautiously.
Thwack! Thwack!
Attacks with monkey wrenches and such didn’t seem to inflict meaningful damage.
But the beast noticed the others too, and Min-jun clearly felt its onslaught on him weaken in real time.
Soon, he could even counterattack, and the tide slowly turned in their favor.
* * *
Kieeeek!
‘Now’s the chance!’
The tipping scale collapsed in an instant.
So-hee’s grill tong thrust perfectly into its blind spot shattered part of its chitin armor, allowing prior futile attacks to rip into its soft flesh and damage its innards.
The beast reared its foreleg with a pained screech, but Min-jun seized the moment too.
Grabbing its missed proboscis with one hand like swatting a branch, he smashed it down with the tomahawk.
‘Eat this.’
The severed straw-mouth was sharp enough to pass as a spear, so he gripped it tight and stabbed into the beast’s soft underbelly.
After slight resistance, the straw pierced through endlessly.
Psssh—
Soon, green fluid sprayed like a fountain from the straw-tip protruding from its back.
He felt the beast’s body shuddering in agony through their contact.
“Die already, damn it!”
If not now, they were done.
The proboscis tip sticking out the other side fixed in place after piercing its carapace.
Drawing the tomahawk, Min-jun poured every ounce of strength into smashing its head.
Fortunately, the beast was weakening too. The tomahawk crossed the space without resistance.
‘Fuck!!’
Clang—
Thud. Roll—
The larva’s head hit the floor and rolled to his feet, as the system message rang in his ears.
[You have completed the Linked Quest.]
[Rewards will be distributed differentially based on contribution.]