Chapter 201
Chapter 201
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 201
Chapter Title: ACT.38 Those Who Uphold All Evil (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A few minutes after I contacted her, Kim Ji-hyeon arrived at the eastern residential area.
Lee Tae-hyeon must have teleported her here.
The moment she arrived, Kim Ji-hyeon looked for Lee Seon-yul's grave, her clenched fists trembling slightly.
"Did Lee Seon-yul... remain faithful to his duty until the very end?"
"...Yes."
"...I see."
As she tilted her head back, her hair fell, covering her eyes.
Kim Ji-hyeon stood there as if looking at someone, then quickly returned to her usual expression.
"Then that's enough."
Just as I'd expect from Kim Ji-hyeon.
She wasn't swept away by emotion, even though the situation warranted it.
"But, at the very least, I must avenge my loyal subordinate."
No, I was wrong.
She was just suppressing it.
The killing intent radiating from her was so strong that the twins flinched and hid behind me.
Her eyes, like those of a beast starved for days, made even me flinch for a moment.
'Both Kim Ji-hyeon and Lee Seon-yul have survived longer than in the original story.'
Normally, they would have both died during the battle with the King of Disease.
Occasionally they survived beyond that, but considering they'd last until the Paradise War at the longest, they'd held on for quite some time.
Although Lee Seon-yul... did die this time.
It couldn't be attributed solely to my influence.
It was because a large number of people from the real world, who weren't in the game, had been introduced.
'The real world...'
Just saying it myself felt strange.
Ever since I learned that the game depicted the future of reality, I'd continued to refer to them as NPCs for convenience, but a certain hesitation had crept into how I treated them.
They were real people.
It wasn't that their disappearance wouldn't change the world I knew; they had always existed and had enough significance to appear in the game.
In fact, it was more accurate to say that only those who weren't mere extras you could find anywhere had appeared in the game.
That's why I couldn't help but be more worried about the upcoming 'Disaster of Defiance.'
'And I have too few clues about it.'
The 'Someone's Journal' I acquired was the first one.
There were clearly more, so I needed to find the rest quickly.
What was the "True Ending" they were demanding?
And just who was the creator of that game?
"Actually, I have another reason for coming here. The guilds are on high alert because of this incident."
"Why? Did another Ark Gate appear? Don't tell me things are about to get even more complicated..."
"You're correct."
"Huh? What? Wait a minute. Really?"
"Aish, you and that mouth of yours. I told you to stay quiet."
"Hey, who would've thought it was true! I was just kidding!"
"Min-ah, what does that mean?"
"It's short for 'mouth of destruction.'"
"Hey, Nuna. Why are you looking at me like that? You don't think that about me too, do you?"
Jeong Ha-yeon marveled at how kids these days abbreviate everything.
Still, Jo Min-woo's forced attempt to change the mood seemed to have worked.
Kim Ji-hyeon cleared her throat lightly.
"I'll continue my explanation. A while ago, Seong Woo-hyeon-nim and an elite unit from the Jamryong Guild moved out after receiving a report of something that looked like an Ark Gate. And, just like with the King of Disease, they found things that appeared to be precursors to an Ark Gate."
"Th-then, don't tell me... has another virus spread?"
"No, not that. Instead, something perhaps even more terrible has happened."
The twins gulped.
Jeong Ha-yeon also waited for Kim Ji-hyeon's next words, her face tense.
"...Undead."
"Undead... like zombies?"
"Similar. But different. The dead do rise, but they regenerate even when destroyed. You could literally call them the undying."
Jun Bo-ra lightly jabbed my side with her elbow, and I turned my head.
"If what she's saying is true, hasn't it already started?"
"...The escaped Eida must have interfered to speed things up."
"Weren't Hwang Chan-jin and the Hongryeon Guild assigned to chase them?"
"That's exactly why it would have sped up. When someone is constantly trying to pull at your coattails, it's only natural to rush."
I had checked just in case Hwang Chan-jin didn't know the locations of Tarwi's temples, but he knew them well.
By now, most of the temples should have been destroyed, with only two or three main hubs remaining at most.
Since they prioritized speed in that state, the 'ritual' itself would be less complete.
The problem was, that didn't mean it could be taken lightly.
'The aftereffects haven't reached this far yet, but...'
It's only a matter of time before it spreads.
Given enough time, the aftermath of the 'Disaster of Defiance' could cover the entire planet.
After the Disaster of Defiance appears, it only takes one hour for its influence to spread throughout Seoul.
In other words, in one hour, all of Seoul would transform into a hellscape teeming with undead.
'Still, the bodies here were buried quite deep, so it should be fine.'
I suddenly felt grateful that the Disaster of Solitude had vanished without leaving a corpse.
If that thing had been resurrected and gone on a rampage...
"...There'd be no way to stop it."
Since it would have been resurrected after dying, it wouldn't be judged as having come through a gate and would wield 100% of its power, on top of being an undying being that couldn't even be destroyed.
I can't think of any way to win.
It was also fortunate that there was a dimensional restriction allowing only one Disaster to appear at a time.
"S-so, how far have those zombies... I mean, undead, appeared?"
"It started in Incheon, and the affected area is rapidly expanding. The western residential area has already entered a state of emergency and is preparing for battle, so support troops will probably be sent there soon."
"Can't you burn them with fire?"
"It can make them falter, but there's no clear solution. The surviving guild members said that unless there's a miraculous being like a saint or a holy woman, it seems hopeless. Seong Woo-hyeon-nim also judged that continuing to fight would only strengthen the enemy, so he ordered a retreat."
Kim Ji-hyeon shook her head.
A saint or a holy woman.
I found myself nodding.
Such beings did exist, but it would be a long time before they appeared here.
Besides, they were the type to make outrageous demands in exchange for subjugating the Disaster of Defiance.
'More importantly, if things go according to the original story, I might not be able to activate Disaster Eater.'
If it could be activated even when someone else defeated the Disaster, a trait that let me absorb a Disaster's power to grow stronger wouldn't be a mere S-rank.
I also had to keep an eye on The Order, which hadn't made any overt moves yet.
I had to strike first before those troublesome guys showed up.
The conversation had paused, so I naturally spoke up.
"It's probably related to the people Eida was meeting with last time."
"Eida? If I recall, she was the player from Team L with the mind control ability."
"Lee Min-hwa-nim probably informed you as well. The ones conducting the same experiments as Paradise in that deserted ghost town."
"...I remember. Their name was Tarwi. Are they really involved in this?"
"Hwang Chan-jin and the Hongryeon Guild are pursuing them. According to information Hwang Chan-jin gave me a little while ago, it's safe to say it's certain."
Of course, that was a lie.
I hadn't received any such contact from Hwang Chan-jin yet.
But it would probably come soon.
"I see. So this time, we'll have to split into a defensive side and an offensive side again."
"Jun Bo-ra and I will go after Tarwi. Min-ah, Min-woo, and Ha-yeon-ssi, I'm counting on you to defend the residential area."
"I-If that's the case, we'll go too!"
"No, you can't. You'll see things far more horrific than you could ever imagine."
I recalled the appearance of the Disaster of Defiance.
A form that was hard to describe, the very personification of 'evil.'
Just thinking about it made me feel nauseous.
"The kids have been through enough."
*Bzzz.* Just then, my phone vibrated.
"From now on, it's the adults' turn."
The caller was Hwang Chan-jin.
The guy has impeccable timing.
***
-It took some time, but we've got a solid lead on them.
The message from Hwang Chan-jin was pretty much what I expected.
He said it took a while because the locations of the 'temples' were different from the original game, but they had managed to wipe out all but two of the main hubs in the nick of time.
It was less like having a lead and more like having them by the throat.
As soon as I hung up, I started heading toward Incheon, making full use of Jun Bo-ra's teleportation.
"Hah, hah."
"...If you're tired, should we rest for a bit?"
"Sorry. Let's do that."
Jun Bo-ra smiled apologetically and caught her breath.
It was only natural for her to be tired after teleporting dozens of times without a break to get here.
I expanded the range of my Detection to check for any monsters nearby.
'There are some undead, but they're far enough away to be ignored.'
I could also use a warp scroll from the shop for a hefty price, just like Eida did.
But that option wasn't worth considering.
If I poured a significant amount of resources into being fast and comfortable now, what about later?
You can't last in the long run if you don't allocate your resources properly.
It was like a marathon, in a way.
Watching Jun Bo-ra rest and replenish her mana, a question I'd been curious about came to mind.
"By the way, how do you know about jun0501?"
"Oh, that."
Jun Bo-ra answered nonchalantly while drinking some water.
"I saw there was one viewer for once, so I popped in to see what was up, but that person left the moment I joined, bringing it to zero. So I just left too. I didn't really know who jun0501 was. I never imagined it would be Hwang Chan-jin, or that we'd meet like this. Ahh. This water's good."
...Come to think of it, I think the viewer count did hit two for a moment.
It was literally just for a second, and I was so focused on the game that I wasn't paying attention to the viewer count, so I never checked the details.
It was correct to assume he acted that way because he judged that the last person watching my stream would know the most about EOA.
'So she really has no connection to jun0501...'
My curiosity about who Jun Bo-ra used to be grew.
The fact that she came into my stream out of curiosity because she saw a viewer there bothered me.
It was a dead stream.
A stream that had fallen so far it wasn't even featured on the main page.
For her to come see my stream just because there was a viewer count...
"Were you also a viewer of the Strategy King's stream?"
"A long time ago. Yeah. I admired him. He's the reason I started streaming in the first place."
"You used to stream?"
"Yeah, but I was just a small-time streamer who peaked at around 30 or 40 viewers."
Jun Bo-ra let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Pahaha."
"It's nothing special. Just an ordinary person you could find anywhere and nowhere. Someone who had big dreams of trying to stream once."
"..."
"Just... someone who wanted to be the protagonist, at least in my own life. Yeah."
Jun Bo-ra stared at the empty water bottle, then tossed it away as if she couldn't stand the sight of it.
The empty plastic bottle, now just a piece of trash, rolled across the ground with an irregular clatter.
'I wanted to be the protagonist too, but I guess it was impossible.'
I remembered what Jun Bo-ra had said before.
The protagonist.
I didn't know why, but Jun Bo-ra seemed particularly obsessed with that word.
*Ting.*
A light notification sounded from my pocket.
It was a text from Hwang Chan-jin.
[I've cornered them.]
A short, single sentence.
Concise. I liked that he only wrote the reason for the message.
I let out a small laugh and hurried Jun Bo-ra.
"Time's up. Let's go."
"Alright, alright. A supporting character has to be faithful to their role, at least."
"I'll give you the location as we go. We're going to raid the temple right away. Eida will probably be there, too."
"Perfect. This time, I'll be able to attack as much as I want."
Jun Bo-ra let out a mischievous chuckle.
It was hard to believe she was the same person who'd looked so down just moments ago.
It's better than her being gloomy.
"What's the plan?"
"There is no plan. We just crush them."
"...Excuse me, Mister Strategy King? What about the strategy?"
Jun Bo-ra waved a hand in front of my face, looking dumbfounded.
"That is the strategy."