Chapter 145: Fireman
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 145: Fireman
“We will begin the briefing. Players are currently estimated to be concentrated around Hollywood and Universal City. The estimated number of civilian casualties is approximately 50,000.”
“That’s fewer than I expected. That’s a relief.”
In a densely populated metropolis where Players had been fighting and hunting for over a month, that casualty count was actually surprisingly low.
“The Players in this round have split into two factions: those hunting civilians and those fighting to stop them. Currently, a massive number of civilians are fleeing toward Beverly Hills. It’s a stroke of luck in an otherwise dire situation that Beverly Hills, located right in the center of the map, was excluded from the force field.”
As the official briefed them on the situation while displaying a map on a tablet, Juriel asked a question.
“You’ve managed to track the enemies’ locations quite precisely, haven't you?”
The map was detailed, marking the hunting Players with red dots, the Players stopping them with blue dots, and allied Players with green dots.
“Yes. It’s only natural, as we are currently concentrating all our power and personnel on LA.”
When the man failed to grasp the point of Juriel’s question, Seo-un stepped in to clarify.
“Juriel, on Earth, tracking this much isn't that difficult using satellites and CCTV networks. You can think of it as having hundreds of thousands of Eyes of Distortion scattered everywhere.”
“Ah, I see.”
Once she understood, Seo-un asked the next question.
“What is the estimated number of surviving Players?”
“We estimate around 7,000 in total. Among them, we believe over 4,000 are Players favorable toward Earth.”
“That is incredibly detailed information.”
“Yes. A massive number of Players are moving systematically, centered around one particular individual. We believe the damage has been mitigated thanks to that Player, who moves as if leading a group of over 2,000. Additionally, there are about 2,000 other Players estimated to be actively stopping those who hunt civilians. The remaining Players are either moving in organized groups to resist this, or they have blended in with the civilians to carry out guerrilla-style terror... No, they are hunting civilians.”
Seo-un finally understood what the man meant by the Players being split into two groups. It wasn't just a simple split; it seemed an influential Player had taken the lead to prevent a total massacre.
As the briefing continued, the vehicle they were traveling in came to a halt about 200 meters away from the force field. Stepping out of the car, the police and officials who had accompanied them stood with stiff expressions, staring into the force field with palpable tension.
“Please take these.”
The man handed out small earpieces to each of them.
“If you press the switch on the side, you will be connected to our control tower at any time. Normally, if you keep them in your subspace, the communication will be cut off. If there is an urgent matter, the earpiece inside your subspace will generate a faint mana pulse that can be felt within a three-meter radius.”
To be honest, it was a common 21st-century item that wasn't particularly impressive, but Seo-un couldn't help but be surprised by the man's final words.
The United States is already commercializing Otherworld technology.
Just by looking at this earpiece, he could tell they had been attempting to merge Otherworld technology with modern tech for a long time, rather than simply accepting and using it.
“You’ll be able to track our location as well, I assume?”
At Seo-un’s question, the man’s expression stiffened.
“That wasn't the intention behind giving you—”
Seo-un cut the flustered man off, speaking to reassure him.
“I know. You need to know our location so that those of you overseeing the entire situation can help steer things in a more favorable direction.”
Relieved, the man nodded. “That is correct. And this.”
The man held out the tablet, showing a map zoomed in on Koreatown. There were star markers at three specific locations.
“These are the three shelters where we expect your aunt’s family to be taking refuge. I wish you the best of luck, Jin Seo-un.”
Hearing a line straight out of a movie, Seo-un gave a small nod and ran toward the force field. The three team members following behind him initiated the team voice chat.
Seo-un responded immediately.
After finishing his orders, Seo-un pulled the earpiece out of his subspace and put it in his ear.
“Can you hear me?”
“Are you tracking my current position?”
“There are about a hundred civilians in the building right in front of me. I’m going to evacuate them outside the force field. Don't have the personnel who escorted us retreat; have them standby for a moment.”
Hearing the voice of the man who was quick on the uptake and fluent in Korean, Seo-un immediately began clearing the cars blocking the civilians' escape route.
Thud! Crash!
As he cleared a path by tossing aside cars that were cluttered all the way to the sidewalk, Juriel and Li Lingwei emerged, leading the civilians out. Seeing the civilians—gaunt like skeletons with dark circles under their eyes—rushing out frantically, Seo-un shouted.
“Hey! Relax! Hey! You!”
Seo-un blocked a man who, driven by survival instinct, was about to shove aside a child in front of him. He calmed the civilians down with his limited English. When he shouted while lifting a car with one hand and hurling it away to open the path, the people had no choice but to calm down, whether they wanted to or not.
Having heard that panic during a mass evacuation could lead to trampling accidents, Seo-un moved deliberately and slowly. He helped a fallen child to his feet, looked into the boy's eyes, and managed to speak.
“It’s okay. You’re safe.”
Leaving behind the child whose eyes filled with tears at those words, he guided the people toward the police officers who had approached the force field with their guns drawn. Once the civilian evacuation was complete, Seo-un dove deeper into the map without looking back.
Just then, a voice came through Seo-un’s earpiece.
“Speak.”
“I expected as much. There is no retreat.”
After finishing his sentence, Seo-un tucked the earpiece back into his subspace and started the team voice chat as he moved.
No sooner had he spoken than Gi-chan gave a briefing.
Before he could even finish, two arrows and a Flame Bird came flying toward them.
Clang!
Seo-un lightly deflected the arrows. Ignoring the approaching Flame Bird, he pulled a bow from his subspace. Hamit, which had already transformed into a tonga, was hooked onto his wrist. As he fired a pyeonjeon, the Flame Bird opened its beak, attempting to swallow Seo-un whole.
Before it could swallow him, the Flame Bird was torn apart by Seo-un’s hand and vanished fruitlessly. In Seo-un’s vision, a mage was falling from the building rooftop. The arrow he had fired was planted squarely between the mage's eyebrows.
Li Lingwei moved habitually to protect Juriel’s side, while Seo-un and Gi-chan lunged toward the direction the arrows had come from. Just as Seo-un’s pyeonjeon buried itself in the back of an enemy’s head as they tried to flee across the rooftops, Gi-chan briefed.
In front of a wall Gi-chan had erected, the corpse of a blackened elf with pointed ears lay dead, struck by lightning. When Gi-chan stepped on and crushed the elf’s head, the corpse vanished. Once they crushed the heads of the mage and the remaining elf, their bodies disappeared as well.
“The rest seem to have fled,” Juriel said.
Gi-chan nodded. “They probably attacked without knowing Hyung was an Epic.”
“Let’s keep moving.”
Seo-un didn't bother wasting his Immortal Demonic Energy on the hidden enemies and continued moving. After traveling for a while, a gruesome sight unfolded before them. Black smoke rose from various places, and among the collapsed and leaning buildings, less than half remained intact.
“Th-this is...”
They had expected it, but the scenery was completely different from the relatively intact area where they had first entered. Gi-chan, who had been relieved by the lower-than-expected casualty count, widened his eyes. Only then did the number 50,000 begin to feel real.
In America, the 9/11 attacks from nearly 18 years ago were still etched into the minds of every citizen. The death toll of 9/11 was 2,996. The game in LA had been going on for 40 days. That was barely one-tenth of the total game duration, and the current estimated death toll was already 50,000.
These thoughts flashed through Gi-chan’s mind, momentarily paralyzing him. The scene before his eyes felt several times more real than the horrific sights he had witnessed in the world of martial artists. An incident in the Otherworld and an incident in his own world could never carry the same weight. Seeing the black, dried bloodstains everywhere and the corpses of people beginning to decompose was a massive shock, even for Gi-chan, who had killed numerous Players to get this far.
“Are you okay?”
At Seo-un’s concerned gaze, Gi-chan finally snapped out of it.
“Yes... It’s just... a bit of a shock.”
“I feel the same. But keep your head straight. The future casualty count depends on what we do now.”
“Yes, sir!”
Strength naturally returned to Gi-chan’s voice. They passed the site that had briefly held them back and picked up their pace, only for another unbelievable sight to stop them once more.
Clang! Clang!
“Hyung... that...”
“Yeah.”
Three men in unique uniforms were digging through the rubble of a collapsed building. They were clearly civilians, swinging pickaxes relentlessly as if things weren't going as planned. Beside them lay another man in the same uniform, appearing to have breathed his last. Yet, they did not stop their actions for a second.
“Hey! What are you doing! You’re going to die if you stay there!”
Gi-chan, with the horrific scenes he had just witnessed still vivid in his mind, approached them with an agitated, raised voice. The men responded with a barrage of English that left Gi-chan speechless without the assistance of Cloyd’s translation.
“I guess you don't have everything after all,” Seo-un remarked. He quickly pulled out his earpiece and put it in. “I’m going to need a translation.”
No sooner had Seo-un spoken than the other party spoke again.
When Seo-un nodded and said "Yes," a smile of relief spread across the man’s face.
“Can you ask him why they’re doing this here?”
As Seo-un followed the instructions, the earpiece switched to speaker mode.
“Cause I’m a fireman.”
That one sentence was understandable even without a translator. Those words flew straight into the hearts of Seo-un and Gi-chan. Even with a dead comrade before them, they continued their rescue efforts. They possessed no special abilities, but because of that, they seemed greater than any ability user.
Following the translation, Seo-un signaled the three firefighters to step back and looked at Gi-chan. As soon as a green light flickered in Gi-chan’s eyes, he spoke.
“Th-there’s more than one!”
With those words, Gi-chan swung his staff. As he moved his staff carefully, the ground split open and the debris began to be cleared away.
Whoosh!
Just then, a fireball came flying toward them. Seo-un pulled a bag from his subspace, slung it over his back, and lunged toward the fireball.
Boom!
As the fireball shattered in mid-air, the firefighters instinctively ducked and cowered from the stones flying in all directions.
At Seo-un’s order, Gi-chan concentrated on clearing the debris, sweat pouring from his forehead. One wrong move and the newly created underground space could collapse, crushing the people trapped beneath. If it were a matter of simply flipping the earth with magic, it would have been simple. But minimizing the impact on the area below while pushing the debris aside to create an entrance was far from easy.
Boom! Crash!
The spells flying toward Seo-un from all directions were all high-circle magic. Seo-un’s expression darkened as he tanked the magic with his body while moving. When his figure staggered upon landing on the ground, even Juriel was startled.
If it hadn't been for Li Lingwei’s tip-off, Juriel would have stopped her casting and rushed out immediately. To draw the enemies' aggro, Seo-un moved as if he were in a precarious state, firing wires from his back and moving like Spider-Man. In this kind of terrain, there was no better item.
Seo-un’s figure, moving as far away from the site as possible, staggered every now and then. Each time, shadows began to move rapidly. Eventually, when Seo-un’s figure came to a halt, the spells flying toward him stopped as if by magic. The mages were already preoccupied with fighting his clones that were threatening them.
Whoosh!
A mage, busy casting while protected by two knights, focused his uneasy gaze on Seo-un’s clone. Somehow, the Epic Monster he had been targeting had suddenly appeared right here, aiming for his life. The team voice chat was in chaos, with mages assigned to other areas reporting the same situation.
At that moment, with the sound of whistling wind, a whip wrapped around his waist. Before the mage could grasp the situation, his body was yanked away. Seo-un, having pulled the mage in with the whip, sliced off his head with the aura extending from his fingertips and began moving again using the wires.
Holding the whip in one hand and extending five strands of aura from the other, Seo-un swung through the air, focusing his attacks on the mages. Normally, Seo-un was extremely reluctant to waste his hair in reality, but this time, he used his Immortal Demonic Energy to create clones without hesitation. He hadn't intended to accelerate his receding hairline until he could obtain the Defective Skin Medicine, but now was not the time for such considerations.
Even after Seo-un, sweeping through the battlefield like a madman, had killed all four mages, the enemy Players showed no intention of retreating. Those who had been attacking Seo-un from a distance while scattered in all directions now gathered together to prepare for his assault.
At Seo-un’s briefing, the team members' expressions turned grim. Even in the urgent situation where explosions occurred and the noise of battle echoed all around, the firefighters' gazes were fixed on the slowly widening gap in the debris. As they moved by hand to clear the rubble, their minds were focused solely on the lives they had to save.
Just then, a new spell flew toward Gi-chan. Juriel immediately blocked it, neutralizing the incoming Magma Strike with a Freeze Storm.
“Aim for that side! If we target them, we can stop his movements!”
At the words of the mage in the center of the thirty or so newly arrived Players, Seo-un’s face contorted in rage. At the same time, instead of aura, Hellfire began to blaze from his hands.