This Is What a Mess Looks Like
“Hyunsung-ssi, how many more times can you use that skill from earlier?”
“At most one or two more times, I expect.”
People were already streaming in from the other floors, drawn by the bounty scenario. Gilyoung flinched and started trembling at the sight of them.
“You don’t have to tense up.”
“The ones they have to fight aren’t us.”
All ‘Green Zones’ within the station have been destroyed, causing the main scenario system to go berserk.
Difficulty is automatically adjusted to match the remaining scenario schedule.
Scenario content has been updated!
Emergency Defense
Category: Main
Difficulty: B-
Clear Condition: With every ‘Green Zone’ inside the station destroyed, the monsters scheduled to spawn over the remaining days now appear all at once. Survive the overflowing monsters for the remaining time.
Duration: 8 hours
Reward: 1000 coins
Failure: Death
And then, beyond the tracks, the beasts began to take shape.
“To the stairs!”
“Hyunsung-ssi!”
Our group climbed the stairs and blocked the people trying to come up after us.
“Wh-what the hell! Get out of the way!”
“You wanna die?!”
“Looks like they still haven’t figured out the situation.”
Dokja drew his sword and drove it into the staircase. The steps shattered into rubble.
“Even if you make it up here, none of you will survive.”
“There’s no ‘room’ left anywhere in Chungmuro Station.”
“There’s only one way to live.”
“W-what the hell are we supposed to do, then?!”
“What else? Fight.”
“You’re insane!”
“Find another staircase, hurry! Hurry!”
“You really think we’ll let you through that easily?”
A moment later a thunderous crash echoed from the opposite stairwell.
KWAANG—!
Hyunsung had probably smashed that side as well.
“Wait, ajumma! This isn’t what you told me!”
“If we leave them like that, everyone will—!”
“I know.”
Behind Dokja, the familiar silhouette of that bat bastard flickered into view.
“Hey, Gong Pildu!”
“How long are you planning to stand there like an idiot?”
“If you want to live, move. When you move, everyone else gets to live too.”
“You… you son of a bitch…!”
People immediately latched onto Gong Pildu. Even so, a few still tried to crawl up the broken stairs; I put arrows through them and sent them tumbling back down.
“KRAAAAAH!!!”
“Not so fast. Listen to what Dokja’s saying.”
Dokja continued as if nothing had happened.
“The third scenario isn’t as hard as you think.”
“If everyone gives up their ‘rooms’ and joins the defense, only a manageable number of monsters appear.”
He was right. If they had banded together earlier, their losses would have been far smaller. Seduced by the sweet temptation of the Green Zones, they had turned on one another and walked straight into the trap.
“Goddamn it… everyone gather!”
“Pildu-ssi…!”
“‘Armed Zone’ takes time to set up again! Just hold on a little longer!”
Yeah. That was it. Watching them stand back-to-back and fight for their lives—how satisfying a sight.
Yoo Sangah used her skill to pull the wounded over and give them basic first aid. Then Gong Pildu’s skill unfolded.
Giiiiing—
KWAGWAGWANG—!
The turrets that erupted from the Armed Zone swept the beasts away with terrifying firepower.
“Truly an incredible stigma.”
Lee Hyunsung had somehow drifted over to us and murmured in admiration.
“It looks like it burns a lot of mana. Will he be all right without our help?”
“It’s a high-efficiency stigma. Gong Pildu alone will be enough for a while.”
“Then we can just sit back and freeload for a bit.”
“Already personal maintenance time?”
“Oh, perfect. I was short on sleep anyway.”
“Haaah… I was exhausted, so this works out…”
Honestly, I was dead tired. The mental drain from the E.G.O gear, the lingering fatigue of battle that still hadn’t faded—they were already eating away at both body and mind.
“W-will it really be okay?”
“Just be glad you picked the right side.”
“And them?”
“Uwaaaaaaah!!! Damn it! Daaaaamn it!!!”
“They picked the wrong side.”
Pick the wrong line and you suffer. That’s life.
“All right, time to sleep a little…”
Tap-tap—
Dokja patted his own knee as if telling me to lie down right there.
“…Dokja-ya? Why are you tapping your knee…?”
“You really have to ask?”
That can’t be right, Dokja. Am I really allowed to do this?
Reason and instinct slammed into each other inside my skull. And while they were still fighting—
Thud—
A warm, soft sensation pressed against the back of my head. Dokja’s face looked down at me from above.
“You look exhausted. Get some rest.”
“…Yes, sir.”
It was an offer I simply couldn’t refuse. My eyelids slowly closed. Sweetness washed over me as my consciousness began to sink.
Just… a little while…
“Sunbae-nim!”
“Park Hayeon sunbae-nim!”
A voice full of static yanked my eyelids open. What entered my vision looked like some kind of break room. When I turned my head, a pink-haired woman came into focus.
“Honestly~ what have you been doing this whole time?”
“You’ve just been sitting there with your eyes closed… were you meditating or something?”
“…Who are you?”
“…Excuse me?”
The woman looked startled by my question. Then a strange sensation prickled along my back. I glanced over my shoulder.
A single white wing and a black wing studded with yellow eyes had sprouted from my back.
“S-sunbae-nim? Wh-why are you looking at me like that?”
Shocked, she began backing away.
“D-did you panic? Or maybe an Abnormality got to you…?”
“…What the hell have you been talking about this whole time?”
“Well, of course…”
“Why are you only looking at me now?”
The moment the words left her mouth, her head fell from her shoulders. In an instant the entire space was drowned in crimson blood. Pale hands erupted from the floor and seized my ankles.
“Please save me, sunbae-nim! In this place where there’s nothing…!”
“HelLo?”
Seogeok—
“Sunbae-nim! Right now the White Night’s Qliphoth Counter is…!”
Deeng—
“Hey, Park Hayeon! Extraction Team just reported that [REDACTED] has escaped…!”
Jijijik—
Memories poured into my skull. Memories that were mine and yet not mine. Something rose from deep inside me. The world wavered; I could barely stay on my feet. Pale faces surfaced from the blood-soaked floor—faces I had seen in those memories.
“Sun…bae-nim… please… save…”
“I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die…”
“Why… didn’t you save us…”
My mind was collapsing. I had never met these people. Never spoken with them. Never worked alongside them. And yet their names alone rose unbidden to my lips.
“Evangeline… Aaron… Belia…”
Then a woman appeared before me. Brown hair, red eyes, smiling as she looked straight at me. She opened her mouth.
“What is your wish?”