Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: DLC (1)
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The future was foretold.
An unstoppable current had once again cast the calamity of despair before Seok-hoon's eyes.
But he couldn't just suffer in agony forever. A proud son of Korea (and a former Marine), Kang Seok-hoon vowed that this time, he would not have his love stolen away.
He swore he would never again watch his stolen gamepad move so smoothly in another's hands, that he would never again feel that humiliation.
“No! I don’t want to! Don’t do it!”
Seok-hoon curled up like a child, clutching the controller and crying out pitifully.
Normally in such a situation, the one trying to take it would have tested him with a confident tone, saying something like, “Hey, hey, why don’t we let the controller decide?” But this was Su-jin.
She was the woman who had forgiven Seok-hoon for feigning illness, for creating and killing off non-existent relatives, and for fabricating conflicts between their parents!
She was a woman who could embrace him with the benevolent smile of a mother caring for her immature son!
Seok-hoon, the true winner in life—the heavens had smiled upon him once again.
“Then you play. I’ll watch.”
Seok-hoon, startled, asked again.
“R-Really?”
“Do I look like I’m lying?”
“Can I really be the one to play?”
“Come to think of it, I feel like I’ve been hogging the games lately and not letting you play.”
It was true.
Once Su-jin got a taste for gaming, she had devoured the entire Hellic series, Identity, and several other steady sellers, taming Seok-hoon’s controller as her own.
He had expected this time to be no different, but… Su-jin was more of an adult than he’d thought (in fact, Seok-hoon was the only childish one)!
Seok-hoon shed tears of emotion and planted a kiss on Su-jin’s cheek.
Like a man thanking a robber for only taking half his belongings, he bowed obsequiously and picked up the gamepad.
The whites of his eyes were bloodshot.
‘I-I’ll be the first! The first one to play the DLC will be me!’
His hands trembled as he held the controller. Seok-hoon updated the DLC and loaded his save data from the saved games.
And so, the game began.
The DLC quest was easy to find.
He encountered a new NPC at the start of a later chapter.
It was the old man from the cinematic trailer.
After meeting him and exchanging a few lines of dialogue, a battle ensued, and Seok-hoon defeated the old man with ease.
The item he obtained was the [Rift Detector].
That was the beginning.
‘Ah! I see it!’
A destination appeared on the Rift Detector.
The first location was the mountain range formed from Anna's corpse.
It was the map most talked about when discussing Hellic 4, thanks to its overwhelming visuals and optical illusions.
Upon entering, instead of the boss room with Werewolf Jedi, there was a purple vortex hanging in mid-air. Stepping into it revealed something else entirely.
—Screeeeeaaam!!!
It was a chaotic space, a mix of agonized screams and sharp, metallic sounds.
Seok-hoon felt a surge of emotion, while Su-jin, who had only recently played through the entire Hellic series, was impressed.
“Oh, it’s Hellic 1.”
The Hell of the Self-Destructors.
The starting point of the Hellic series and the first Hell known to the public was now rendered before them not in 2D pixel art, but in full 3D graphics.
“Sniff…!”
There was a particular reason Seok-hoon was so moved.
Hellic 1 held a special meaning for him.
After all, he was the one who had discovered the game back when no one knew about it.
Seok-hoon still remembered.
On an old online community, the person who was now the Art Director had posted under the username [SeorimSeorim]. He had bought the game hoping to get some upvotes for a recommendation post and ended up writing a review.
That recommendation led to many others playing the game, and from there, word of mouth spread overseas, giving the Hellic series the foundation to create the steady seller, Hellic 2.
To put it in a single phrase:
“Hellic is my child.”
“Huh?”
“It’s our child now. I introduced it to you, didn’t I?”
Su-jin blinked as Seok-hoon spoke, lost in sentiment.
Her response followed shortly.
“So you were a single father. And I ended up helping you raise another person’s kid.”
“Ah.”
“Just kidding.”
It was a chilling joke.
A cold sweat trickled down his back (a married man’s intuition) telling him.
If he dared to laugh here, the mood might turn quite grim.
Seok-hoon looked at Su-jin with the most loving expression he could muster, and she gestured toward the screen with her chin.
Only then, like a dog that had finally been told it could eat, did Seok-hoon turn his eyes to the monitor.
The game had begun.
***
No one questioned the logic of implementing maps from the previous games into Hellic 4.
The players had already analyzed all the related lore.
『PoppyLetsGoForAWalk: I think Hellic's Hells can be compared to bubble tea!
From the earliest lore, it was officially stated that Hell is a place where space-time is distorted, and spatial or temporal coordinates change fluidly.
So, it's easier to understand if you think of it as bubble tea in a cup!
If you consider the liquid as time and the bubbles as space, every time you shake it, the phases of time and space shift.
If that keeps happening, the bubbles… meaning, the spaces, will collide, and you can understand how a passage is created that shares a space at the same point in time!
It seems like Hellic 4's DLC takes advantage of the moment such a passage is formed!
IloveHellic: Don't know what you're saying, but upvoted.
└ Futureisnotbright: What an idiot, lol.
TheBloodLordOfBangbae: Oh… dude, are you a science major?』
Considering the lore built up throughout the series, he wasn’t wrong.
Moreover, it was in line with Yeon-ho’s actual intentions.
It was an analysis from an observer's perspective.
The Hell that Yeon-ho knew was a liquid that churned ceaselessly like a whirlpool, where space and time became entangled, frequently creating and dissolving points of contact.
He had become certain of this after experiencing Hell for a very long time, during his time in the last Hell he had seen, but that was not important now.
In any case, the lack of plot holes made it very easy for Seok-hoon to immerse himself in the DLC.
Seok-hoon fought his way through the Hell of the Self-Destructors.
Of course, Hellic 1 wasn’t recreated exactly as it was.
The map was simplified and made a bit more varied.
The nostalgic bosses only appeared as elite bosses at branching points.
But that was fine.
It was a game he had played over a decade ago.
What Seok-hoon wanted from this game were two specific bosses.
‘The Cancer Giant…! The Jailer…!’
And one weapon.
‘The Cancer Bat has to be in this one too, right?’
In every installment of the Hellic series, the Cancer Bat had been implemented in some form.
It was usually a weapon that appeared in the very late game or the final chapter, something only players on their second playthrough could use.
And Seok-hoon possessed the Cancer Bat in every Hellic game.
An icon of perseverance, his tenacity had not waned this time either.
“Oh, here it is!”
Su-jin shouted at that moment.
It was a space that was clearly a boss room.
Upon entering, a massive giant sat atop a chair that had collapsed under its weight, staring at Seok-hoon.
“The Cancer Brute!”
It was the Cancer Giant's nickname.
The eyes of the bloated giant turned toward Seok-hoon.
As it rose, fluid trickled down from its festering body.
Thud, thud. Just as its massive frame sent tremors through the ground,
—Grwooooooaaar!!!
A thunderous roar signaled the start of the battle phase.
***
The Cancer Giant’s fearsome reputation needs no explanation.
From the very beginning of Hellic 1’s conception, the Cancer Giant was a boss designed to instill fear in the player.
A jump scare.
With its sudden appearances and unstoppable nature, it had become known as a ‘monster you have to run from.’
Of course, fighting and winning was an option, but that was an Easter egg.
As such, this monster frequently made the list of the worst bosses in Hellic history, alongside the Jailer.
Hellic 4 focused on that aspect.
CRASH!
[YOU DIED]
“Argh, again!”
Seok-hoon shrieked in frustration.
‘Why is it so fast!’
The Cancer Giant was far too fast.
Despite its massive frame and seemingly sluggish appearance, its movements were so quick that he had to memorize all its patterns and remain tense just to keep up.
But it wasn’t just fast.
The pressure.
Each of its attacks was powerful, and not knowing when it would come charging with a thundering *thump, thump, thump, thump!!!* created immense psychological pressure.
It wasn't that the difficulty balance was bad.
In fact, since Hellic 4 was aimed at a more casual audience, the boss was actually quite easy to beat if you knew the strategy.
Utilizing executions and optimizing weapon settings.
Those two things were necessary… but with blood rushing to his head, Seok-hoon was oblivious.
He wasn’t his usual self, and there was a reason for it.
Thud!
“Hmph.”
This was one reason why people shouldn’t get worked up.
Rumble!
“Hmm…”
This was another reason why one shouldn’t care about what others think.
Ruuuumble!
“Tsk…”
Su-jin was giving him grief.
Every time he made a mistake, she would make a sound of disapproval!
Seok-hoon was getting distracted by Su-jin!
He was certain that a woman with her inhuman physical prowess would have crushed this enemy head-on without breaking a sweat!
‘If this keeps up, she’s going to take it again!’
That pressure, added to the existing pressure, tightened its grip on Seok-hoon, ultimately leading to a fatal misjudgment.
Thump!
[YOU DIED]
A quiet voice echoed.
“…That’s not how you do it.”
After all this time being married, Seok-hoon knew.
He knew that was her way of telling him to move aside.
Seok-hoon squeezed his eyes shut.
With a trembling hand, he passed the controller to Su-jin.
Su-jin, still in a half-reclined position, took the controller and began to engage the Cancer Giant.
Even so, a leisurely smile played on her lips as they moved.
“Do whatever you want while I play.”
It was the kind of joke only a married couple could make.
Seok-hoon wanted to retort, ‘You don’t say things like that to family!’ but he couldn't.
There was only one thing Seok-hoon could do.
Watch with a miserable heart as the controller, which now moved with a freedom and vitality it never had in his own hands, came back to life.
Click-clack.
‘Ah…’
So this child was capable enough to register even those kinds of inputs.
‘And I never even knew…!’
No, perhaps he knew but chose to ignore it.
Maybe he had hoped the controller would only be able to execute commands at his level, since he couldn't do it himself.
The clicking and clacking that filled the space sounded only like the controller’s ecstatic cries of joy.
The skin under Seok-hoon’s eyes darkened.
Then, at one moment,
Thump!
The Cancer Giant fell.
And the victory was sealed with a clean execution animation.
Kang Seok-hoon, the newlywed, felt a sense of inferiority to Su-jin as a gamer.
***
The boss-clear cinematic began.
The Cancer Giant staggered, then let out a great roar as if in a final act of defiance, and began to tear at its own body.
Blood splattered in all directions.
Thud, thud. The sound of its stomping feet and monstrous cries blared through the speakers.
It was the moment the enraged giant began to prepare its charge.
Shing—!
The sharp sound of steel slid through the din.
And then,
Slice!
A streak of light severed the Cancer Giant’s neck.
Thump!
The giant’s massive body collapsed.
Jade Wilson looked up.
—Creeak…
With a creaking sound, something was climbing up the Cancer Giant’s body as if it were a mountain.
A tall, emaciated figure, black burial shrouds, bluish pale skin, stitched eyes and mouth, a severed nose, and nailed ear canals.
—Creek…
The Jailer ran a hand along the blade of its rusty hacksaw and looked down at Jade Wilson.