Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: ACT.6 The Consequence of Choice (5)
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A cool breeze touched my fingertips.
This place, which would have been bustling just a few days ago, was now no different from an abandoned station.
Sinseol-dong Station is a dungeon.
A massive number of monsters are packed in the way to the deepest part, making a swift advance impossible.
Or so it should have been.
‘Just as I thought.’
Instead of monsters, there were monster corpses.
Since it takes some time for the bodies to disappear, this meant someone had entered not too long ago.
[Using the skill, ‘Extreme Eye’.]
After checking the location, I found a single player in the deepest part.
But something was strange.
If he was a 2nd generation player like me, who came knowing the special properties of this place, he was far too strong.
If he was a 1st generation player like Kim Ji-hyeon, there was no one I could think of who would be here at this point in time.
‘What’s going on?’
Frowning, I slowly began to walk.
Assuming he was someone who had played the game, there should have been a stat limit imposed on him.
Even if the stat limit removal was visible to others and not just me, there was no way he could have enough coins to purchase it.
Achievements and quests. The main sources of coins were currently exclusive to me, making it even more impossible.
Then that meant it had to be the latter.
“Hmm.”
I couldn’t think of anyone.
Was it a good thing that he wasn't here for the special property?
Still, I couldn't be sure, so I gradually picked up my pace.
As I moved relatively far from the station entrance, goblins appeared.
It seemed he hadn't cleared them all out.
I drew my Sa-in-geom and, without hesitation, leaped among the goblins.
Kieek!!
The goblins’ gazes fixed on me.
As soon as they realized I was alone, they expertly formed an encirclement.
*Hmph.* This is what's so annoying about goblins.
But it doesn't matter how well ants form a line; it's meaningless against an elephant.
*Swish!*
With no one watching, there was no need to hold back my swings.
The goblins were instantly sliced in two, and their formation crumbled. The ones that had charged in so eagerly now faltered, hesitating to attack.
Now it was my turn to advance.
I increased the speed of my swings.
“Se-hyeon-hyung!!”
“Se-hyeon-nim!”
Right after the battle ended.
The rest of the group, who had been following me, caught up.
“Wow, all these monster corpses…”
“Did you kill all of them by yourself?”
“Not all of them.”
I answered curtly while picking up a dagger in poor condition from where the goblins had fallen.
These guys always coated their daggers with poison.
It would be useful to have one.
‘Did I kill about 20 or 30 of them?’
Not a bad haul.
There was no downside to killing lots of monsters.
It meant more coins from the final settlement, and the stronger I would become.
It really was no different from experience points.
“Whew. Does this mean all the goblins are taken care of?”
“That was easier than I thought. Now we can get into Dongdaemun.”
I had already explained that Sinseol-dong Station was a type of dungeon.
I had warned them that it would be more intense and dangerous, so some of them smiled, surprised by how easily it ended.
It wouldn't take long for them to realize their mistake.
In any case, we were only on the first basement level.
“No. It’s not over yet.”
Kim Ji-hyeon’s brow furrowed slightly.
Lee Seon-yul also nodded.
“I can feel a much larger number of monsters below. We should prepare for battle properly.”
“At this point, it’s better to think of it as a massive gate.”
At the word "gate," the faces of those in the back stiffened.
They must have heard about monsters and gates back at the stadium.
Jeong Ha-yeon, in particular, who had escaped the apartment with me, bit her lip nervously.
An open gate continuously spews out monsters. Indefinitely.
To enter Dongdaemun, we would have to close that gate.
“The closer we get to the gate, the stronger the monsters will be. Stay on high alert.”
“Not only that, there will be more of them. There might even be a boss monster.”
“A boss monster…?”
“It's like their leader. In cases like this, there's always one of them.”
There were still goblins left.
And stronger ones at that.
On top of that, a leader-class monster.
At those words, the expressions of many soured.
“The gate seems to be on the third basement level.”
“Ah, right, you can see mana. It’s a relief that it’s closer than I thought.”
“What? The third basement level?”
“Is there a problem?”
“But Sinseol-dong Station only goes down to the second basement level… Look. Even the signs here only show up to B2.”
Jeong Ha-yeon said with a troubled look.
I glanced around at the others, but they all had the same reaction as her.
This place had been used in various movies and music videos.
I guess if you weren't interested, you wouldn't know.
“No, the third basement level exists.”
“What? Really?”
“I think I’ve heard of it. The ghost platform at Sinseol-dong Station.”
Sinseol-dong Station is, for the most part, an ordinary station.
But that only applies down to the second basement level.
The existence of a third basement level, closed off and not open to the public.
This whole affair was related to that place.
“I know the way, so I’ll take the lead.”
“Hyung, you know about that too…?”
“I was curious a while back and visited once when it was open to the public.”
After I said that, no one questioned me and simply followed.
It was true that I had been there. In the game, that is.
After walking for a few minutes, we arrived at the entrance to the third basement level.
The door that should have been firmly shut was wide open.
From within, an aura incomparably stronger than on the upper floors swirled out.
It was undoubtedly the mana of a boss monster.
That's a relief. It seems the person who entered before me hasn't cleared the gate yet.
Those with relatively weak stats were already pale with fear, unable to move their legs easily.
“C-can’t we just stay here? We won’t be much help anyway…”
As a young man was stammering anxiously, the sound of a goblin chattering came from above.
The goblins that had moved far away were starting to return.
I glanced at him as if to ask what he was going to do now. His eyes and mouth drooped, and he reluctantly followed behind us.
As we descended the damp, leaking stairs, I scanned their information with Extreme Eye.
Still nothing special, with no potential whatsoever.
Most of them were people who had already betrayed us once.
I had no desire for a knife in my back, but their blades were far too dull.
They were more likely to turn them on themselves.
“Wait.”
Kim Ji-hyeon, who was at the very front scouting the area, raised her hand.
“It’s a person.”
Where Kim Ji-hyeon was looking, someone was approaching us.
My gaze naturally turned in that direction.
Then, a feeling like an electric current shot through my entire body.
Why is *he* here?
The plot had changed so much that my eyes narrowed instinctively.
Two swords hung at his waist. I wasn't mistaken.
Nam Sang-jin, the leader of Cheongnyangni Station and the future ruler of the East.
Why was he here, hunting goblins, when he should be busy with other matters?
Having spotted us as well, Nam Sang-jin approached with a sigh of relief.
“To think there are other survivors here. I can breathe a little easier now, I was in a dangerous spot.”
“Stop. Who are you?”
“My name is Nam Sang-jin. And you are… from the Jamryong Guild, aren't you?”
“You know of us?”
“He’s a player who was rumored to be a rising star a while back. I only heard that he went solo without joining any guild, but it seems he was here.”
Lee Seon-yul quickly whispered, and Kim Ji-hyeon nodded.
As her guard lowered, Nam Sang-jin smiled faintly and continued his introduction.
“I came from Cheongnyangni Station.”
“Cheongnyangni Station!?”
Jeong Ha-yeon asked back in surprise.
I, too, had been wondering about that from the start.
There was a considerable distance between Sinseol-dong Station and Cheongnyangni Station.
There should be no reason for him to venture this far.
“Yes. Our leader said it would be troublesome if we left the goblins here, so it would be better to subjugate them quickly. It seems you all had the same idea.”
“No, we…”
Jeong Ha-yeon’s eyes met mine as she looked away.
I gave a slight shake of my head, and understanding my intention, she changed the subject.
“The goblins here were roaming quite widely and threatening the Dongdaemun area, so we decided we couldn’t let it go on any longer and came here.”
“I see. Our leader was right, then.”
Nam Sang-jin smiled affably.
I watched their conversation with my arms crossed, then checked Nam Sang-jin's information.
[Character Information]
Name: Nam Sang-jin
Gender: Male (29)
Strength: 57 Stamina: 38 Agility: 59 Mana: 13
Unique Ability: Twin Moon Sword Dance (B)
Traits: Dual Wielding (A), Rushing Sword Strike (B), Combat Acceleration (C)
Skill: Moonlight Slash (B)
As a 1st generation player like Lee Seon-yul, his stats were not bound by the chapter's limits.
On top of that, he had combat-optimized traits that made him stronger the more he fought.
Even now, that setup was ridiculously overpowered.
…Although his relatively low stamina was a drawback, causing him to collapse on his own if a battle dragged on.
My fingers tapped against my crossed arm.
Nam Sang-jin had just said ‘leader.’
He was implying that someone else was above him, not that he was at the top.
The Nam Sang-jin I knew was the leader of Cheongnyangni Station.
Could it be that the leader of Cheongnyangni Station had changed? Just like at Dongdaemun?
“Nam Sang-jin-ssi. We intend to wipe out the goblins here. Would you be willing to cooperate?”
“I see no reason to refuse. I’ll guide you. This way.”
We moved through the eerie atmosphere unique to an abandoned station.
With the addition of a fighter on the level of Kim Ji-hyeon and Lee Seon-yul, the goblins were no threat at all.
“The one presumed to be their boss was close by, just ahead.”
“So you reached the boss, then.”
“Embarrassingly, I judged it too dangerous to face alone and retreated.”
Nam Sang-jin was a B-rank player, even if just barely.
It might seem strange that he would judge it impossible and retreat, but his assessment was correct.
Because the boss wasn't alone.
“There it is.”
Nam Sang-jin stopped, and the scene beyond him naturally came into view.
A high-ranking D-class monster, the Goblin Shaman, dressed in clothes reminiscent of a shaman.
And surrounding it, a horde of goblins that clearly numbered in the triple digits.
Finally, right next to the Goblin Shaman, was a distortion in space.
It was a gate.
“So a gate was the cause after all.”
Once opened, a gate continuously spits out monsters until it is closed.
If the gate had been open for a long time, it was only natural for monsters to be swarming around it.
Even now, as we faced them from a distance, goblins were still emerging from the gate.
“There will be no end to this unless we close that gate.”
Lee Seon-yul sighed and drew his sword.
The goblins, having noticed us, began to move sluggishly, letting out unsettling cries.
“We start when the gate enters its reactivation cooldown. Don’t move recklessly. When I give the signal, we move at once.”
“Wait a minute! That thing is summoning something!”
Jo Min-woo shouted urgently.
The Goblin Shaman, which had been near the gate, had at some point drawn a magic circle and was summoning something from within it.
Something dark, yet transparent.
“It can increase its numbers even when the gate isn’t active…!”
“I’ll go.”
The situation had changed, leaving no time to wait, so Nam Sang-jin charged in first.
As he cut down the goblins with unstoppable force, the shaman, as if not to be outdone, commanded its summoned monster to attack Nam Sang-jin.
Nam Sang-jin’s sword flashed.
A D-class Goblin Shaman couldn't possibly summon a high-rank monster.
Normally, a single strike from Nam Sang-jin should have been enough to slice it in two, but his sword cut through empty air.
No, to be precise, it passed right through its body.
“Ugh…!?”
Surprised, Nam Sang-jin hastily switched to a defensive stance and retreated backward, dodging the monsters’ attacks.
Specter.
A D-class monster against which physical attacks were completely useless.
Its overall stats were pathetic, but the fact that physical attacks, the main weapon of players, were completely ineffective against it was a major factor that elevated it to D-class.
Mana had to be used, but Nam Sang-jin, whose mana stat was even lower than mine, couldn't kill the Specter.
And the real problem came next.
*Ruuuumble…*
Buying time with the Specter and the massive horde of goblins, the Goblin Shaman began a ‘ritual.’
The gate shimmered.
I could feel the ominous energy that had been making my whole body tingle since we came down to the third basement level amplifying.
My assumption that Nam Sang-jin wasn't here for the special property was just a guess. I wasn't certain.
Now was the time to find out his true intentions.
I took a deep breath and shouted in a desperate voice.
“That thing is doing something to the gate! We have to stop it!!”