The 7th-Life Hero’s Stream (3)
A man had just slaughtered the goblins in the blink of an eye.
A heavy silence fell over the subway car.
“Keep that partition door blocked, everyone.”
The moment he spoke, every ear turned to him.
“Ah… Y-yes, yes.”
The very first thing he asked for was to keep the door sealed.
“If you open it now, more people will die. Half of everyone in this car will be killed.”
Weighing human lives was far too difficult a task for modern people.
And paradoxically, that hesitation caused far more deaths.
In his first and second lives, Junil had already made that mistake too many times.
From the third round onward, he had learned to make the call quickly.
And now, in his seventh life?
“If we hold the line until Dongjak Station, our car survives.”
He had become a god of triage.
In an instant, he had cut off the passengers in the other cars and chosen the lives in this one.
“Yes! We’re blocking it right now!”
“Someone help over here! Doesn’t anyone have a suitcase?!”
Thud. Thump. Bang!
Thump… thump…
Thump…
The desperate pounding on the partition door, accompanied by screams for help, gradually grew quieter.
Junil stood in the middle of the car, scanning both doors, and muttered to himself.
Almost there.
The next station is Dongjak. Please exit through the—
The subway began to slow down.
Every passenger’s eyes were glued to the doors.
They all wanted to escape this hell as fast as possible.
It was exactly like watching a coin chart in freefall.
People panic-sold, desperate to get out of that nightmare even a second sooner.
That was why Junil shouted.
“We are not getting off at this station!”
“…Excuse me?”
“We’re not getting off! If you do, you’ll all die!”
“But didn’t you just say we had to hold out until Dongjak Station?!”
Objections rose immediately.
Even after watching him slaughter the goblins at an impossible speed.
It couldn’t be helped.
Overriding instinct was that difficult.
That’s exactly why I lost all my money.
Junil understood.
“The reason we hold out until Dongjak is so the people in the other cars can get off. They’ll drag the goblins out with them. Our car will be safe. So even if the doors open, do not get off.”
“!”
The command flowed out as naturally as water.
Junil oppa… who are you?
Suyeon had been stunned into silence for a while now, mouth hanging open.
Every decision he made was perfectly rational.
More than that—
How is he so… relaxed?
He looked more at ease now, with monsters popping out, than when he was fighting over a plate of stir-fried pork.
He was so desperate to steal that pork, too.
Right now he looked no different from when he was lying on a campus bench.
On the other hand, the senior next to her, Lee Changhoon, was red in the face and screaming at the top of his lungs.
“What the hell are you talking about?! Who knows what else is going to come out?! I’m getting off!”
He looked frantic. Scared.
Without realizing it, Suyeon quietly shifted away from him.
The Constellations’ roars poured in.
Junil had expected this reaction.
Yeah. There’s always one of these guys.
He spoke as if he had been waiting for it.
“You’re free to leave. I won’t stop you. However, everyone still here?”
“Yes?”
“If anyone gets off and tries to come back in, kick them out with your feet.”
“!”
“Y-you want us to kick them?”
“Yes! You must kick them! If they bring the goblins back, at least a few more of us will die. Do not let them back on under any circumstances.”
The passengers looked bewildered at such a cruel suggestion.
“Everyone, listen to this man! I will do exactly that!”
A man in military uniform shouted.
“M-me too!”
“I think he’s right.”
When several other sturdy-looking men answered enthusiastically, the atmosphere in the car completely changed.
Getting off was free. Coming back was not.
Hiss—!
The subway doors opened.
“Anyone who wants to get off, go ahead!”
Junil shouted, but…
“……”
Lee Changhoon simply stared out the window with a nervous expression.
He didn’t move an inch.
Instead—
Rush rush rush rush!
From the many neighboring cars came screams as people poured out in droves.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
“S-save me! Please save meeee!”
Whoosh!
The goblins that had been in those cars came leaping after them.
Those goblins looked like they were smiling.
“Kiiiiiiiaaaaak!”
“Kikikik~!”
The hunting party had officially begun.
Killing the fleeing humans was simply too easy.
Stab!
Thud!
Goblins leaping onto shoulders and stabbing carotid arteries.
Just as Junil had mastered goblin-slaying, the goblins were learning, from their very first steps, how to hunt humans.
Thud! Thud!
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
“Ugh! Let go! Save me! Save meee!”
The platform became a sea of blood in seconds.
When alighting, please mind the gap between the train and the platform…
Thump…!
People’s corpses got stuck in that wide gap.
The goblins, eyes bloodshot, stepped on the bodies and surged forward to kill even more.
“Changhoon. You’re not getting off?”
When Junil asked, Changhoon simply hung his head.
The Constellations were loving it.
These guys…
Junil analyzed their reactions.
They’re the same.
Their tendencies were clearly similar to the Constellations he had met in the medieval world.
Back then, too, they went wild whenever he put arrogant bastards in their place.
So… this really is Fam’s doing. That son of a bitch…
Junil’s anger toward Fam grew even stronger.
He couldn’t understand what that guy was thinking.
He had said they should live comfortably as professional heroes.
I finally bought an apartment and now you send goblins?
If gates started opening everywhere like in those novels and comics?
Will property values hold?
There was no way.
He could tolerate many things, but he absolutely could not tolerate his brand-new apartment losing value the moment he bought it.
He had already suffered enough with coins.
Hiss—
The subway doors closed again, and the train headed for the next station.
“Haa… haa…”
“W-we survived.”
Thud.
Only then did the passengers finally relax, slumping onto the floor and seats.
They all still looked tense, afraid another goblin might appear.
And every single one of them thanked Junil.
“Um… student. Thank you. If it weren’t for you… so many more would have died.”
“That’s right. Thank you so much!”
“Thank you!”
Junil’s face had been stiff with rage toward Fam.
Now the corners of his mouth faintly lifted.
It reminded him of his days as a hero.
Well… it’s been a while since I got some exercise. Feels pretty good.
* * *
Junil’s group safely disembarked at the station in front of the university.
“Thanks to the goblins, we got to sit the whole way.”
It was just a casual joke from Junil.
Because everyone had gotten off at the station after Dongjak, the subway had been completely empty, so they really had ridden while seated.
The others had been worried another goblin might pop out, but when Junil said it was fine, they relaxed and got off. Only Suyeon and Changhoon followed him all the way to the station in front of the university.
“…What the hell? You little shit. Are you saying it’s a good thing goblins appeared?”
Changhoon started picking a fight.
“Oppa… that’s… that’s a bit much. People died…”
Suyeon chimed in as well.
But emotional appeals or guilt-tripping about dead people had no effect on Junil.
After roughly thirty years of being a hero, he knew.
People die. That’s just how it is.
Everyone who is born eventually dies.
If the person who was supposed to be the hero got hung up on every single death, even more people would die.
That was what happened in his first round.
He had wailed about people dying and nearly gotten everyone killed.
“No. Changhoon, what are you even doing here? Why didn’t you get off at Dongjak Station?”
So Junil simply shot back lightly and brushed it off.
Pfft…!
Suyeon barely held back her laughter.
The Constellations were hyped.
Changhoon’s expression was worth watching too.
But Junil paid more attention to the Constellations’ words than to that guy’s face.
Real game? Subscribe?
The fact that there was a “real game” meant that everything until now had been a tutorial and the actual thing hadn’t started yet.
And “subscribe” probably meant something like YouTube subscriptions.
It’s different from before.
Their personalities were similar to the Constellations he had met in the past, but the system itself seemed slightly different.
He recalled the first message that had appeared.
Story Board 3.0
The latest open-world streaming system has been applied.
Streaming…
It seemed they weren’t reading a story like a book anymore. They were watching it like a broadcast.
What the hell kind of nonsense is this.
Junil was still extremely upset with Fam, so he grumbled and cursed inwardly.
* * *
After parting ways with the group, Junil returned to his small studio officetel.
The moment he got home, messages started pouring in from someone.
Vibrate.
Vibrate.
Oppa, you’re still living alone during break, right?
Thank you so much for today. T_T Next time I’ll buy you a meal.
But what was that earlier? For real goblins? lololol
They were all from Suyeon.
She must be anxious.
The reason she was messaging him was obvious.
He was the only person she could talk to about the shock of what had happened today.
Changhoon had been there too, but he had practically lost his mind toward the end.
It was only natural that she would want to lean on Junil, the only one who had stayed perfectly calm and even saved her.
Considering what she had gone through today, it was a relief she wasn’t asking him to stand guard in front of her house.
Wow. We made the news lol
She sent another message.
Apparently it was on the news.
“News?”
Junil opened a news portal.
He didn’t even have to search.
The main page was filled with stories about today’s incident.
Among them, one article had slightly higher views.
It was probably the one Suyeon had mentioned.
Since it was the subway they had been on.
Junil glanced at the photo and immediately scrolled down to the comments.
Most of the comments were filled with admiration and praise for Junil.
It looks like our school community found out about it too?
(Link)
When he clicked the link, there was indeed a post about him.
Here too, everyone was curious about Junil and praising him.
During his hero days, he had become the hero of countless villages.
He thought he was used to receiving praise.
But this felt different.
Not bad.
Junil smiled faintly and stroked his chin.
Ding.
Congratulations on completing the tutorial!
You have been selected as an Awakened.
Junil blinked.
What is this.
Judging by the tone, it didn’t seem like something only he could see.
Sure enough, similar posts started appearing on the school community.
As if to let them fully enjoy the shock, the window disappeared for a while.
Then, about five minutes later.
Ding.
A random roulette has been provided to all Awakened.
Bang!
A roulette wheel actually appeared before his eyes.
On it were letters like S, A, B, C, and so on.
The roulette will assign a rank to each Awakened’s potential.
Whirrrrrrr!
The roulette began spinning on its own.