LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 3
"Alright."
The woman who woke me up clapped her hands and said.
"Everyone checked their status windows, right?"
I looked at her face. Unlike the others who looked like they were about to die, her expression wasn't particularly dark.
'...Her lips seem to be slightly raised?'
It must be my imagination.
I'm already in a state of mental turmoil, who would be happy in this situation?
Then, the woman opened her mouth.
"Everyone understands by now, right? This is reality."
Then, the balding man replied with a sighing voice.
"……So, miss. What do you want us to do?"
"First, let's get to know each other, shall we? It seems like we have to move together, after all."
The woman said with a confident posture.
"My name is Hong Su-ah, you guys are lucky."
At the word 'lucky', the four of us, including me, glared at her.
The balding man thought for a moment, then nodded as if he understood.
"Ah, she's a crazy bitch."
"Mister, you're going to regret saying that, you know?"
Hong Su-ah put her hands on her hips and said confidently.
"I know this game very well, you know!"
Hong Su-ah's declaration of being a veteran had quite an effect.
I don't know to what extent she was really a veteran, but at least to the three people who had fallen into this unfamiliar situation, it seemed to be a credible statement.
After the confusion subsided, the first thing we did was to introduce ourselves.
"My name is Jo Seong-cheol, I'm forty-six years old, and I'm a section chief at Hanseong Heavy Industries."
The balding man's name was Jo Seong-cheol.
"My name is Hong Byeong-hyeon, I'm twenty-three years old, and I'm a college student."
The man about my age was Hong Byeong-hyeon.
"My name is Lee Ji-yeong, I'm twenty-seven years old, and… I'm a job seeker."
The short woman's name was Lee Ji-yeong, it was my turn to introduce myself.
"My name is Han Hae-il, I'm twenty-four years old, and I'm a college student."
To be precise, I haven't returned to school yet.
And finally, Hong Su-ah said.
"I'm Hong Su-ah, I'm twenty years old, and I'm a freshman at Korea University. If you all trust me and follow me, there will be no problems!"
"Oh, Korea University?"
Jo Seong-cheol said with a bright face.
"You must be an amazing talent?"
"I did study a bit."
Hong Su-ah smiled brightly as if she liked the compliment. After that, they started to have conversations by asking each other simple questions.
I tried to talk to Hong Byeong-hyeon, who was next to me.
"Have you served in the military?"
"Yes."
"Where did you serve?"
"At the police station."
"Ah, are there still conscripted policemen?"
"No, I'm a public service worker."
"Ah, I see."
The conversation didn't go well. I didn't feel the need to force a conversation, so I decided to look around.
'It's amazing.'
The torches flickering in the dark underground created an atmosphere that felt like something was about to pop out at any moment. And the heat of the torches and the coldness of the floor clearly reached my skin.
'Last Savior' was also a virtual reality game, but it wasn't this vivid. This vivid and realistic sensation was telling me that all of this was real.
'By the way, 'Duelist'…'
I knew the numerous traits that existed in the game, but this was the first trait I had ever obtained. And the description provided in the status window was vague.
[Duelist: You have no blood or tears. You enjoy trampling on opponents who surrender and suppressing those who have lost their will to fight. Your humanity is questionable, but no one can question your ability to subdue opponents one-on-one.
You can declare a 'Duel'.
─You can only declare a duel in one-on-one situations.
─Your stats increase during a duel, and you can acquire special rewards depending on your opponent upon victory.
─Usable count (1/1): The usable count is recharged when the 'Full Moon' rises.]
Duel, a word that makes my heart flutter just by looking at it.
'But this seems to be a good thing…'
Originally, 'Last Savior' is a solo playing game. That is, there are very few cases where you have to do one-on-one. But what about now?
There are five people here, including me.
'Still, it's better than nothing.'
After drawing a conclusion about the trait to that extent, I started to think about what was really necessary.
Why is the system, no, the system, looking for me?
'My account name is a bit impure, but I don't think that's the reason…'
Seeing that it's calling me a helper or hope for this world, there must be some misunderstanding.
And judging from the system's words, "It's not here again," there must be others who have arrived here before me. I don't know what kind of people those forerunners are, but they probably know that the 'system' is looking for me.
Even if I don't know the reason and the details, it's not good to receive unnecessary attention.
'It's best to keep my account name a secret for now.'
Just as I came to that conclusion.
─Clap clap.
Hong Su-ah, who had declared that she was a veteran, clapped her hands and said.
"Alright! Then shall we introduce ourselves?"
"Introduce?"
Lee Ji-yeong frowned.
"We already introduced ourselves earlier, didn't we?"
"I mean, let's share how much we played this game and what blessings we received."
Hong Su-ah's eyes sparkled.
"We may have to fight together, so we need to know how much of a force each other is. That way, we can deal with unexpected situations even if we go over that door, right?"
It was a reasonable statement. The other people didn't object either. Hong Su-ah seemed to feel that atmosphere and raised the corners of her lips slightly and continued.
"Then I'll go first. I have experience surviving for as long as 10 years in-game time. The build I mainly used was dagger rogue, and I actually did more PVP."
"How much is 10 years?"
Jo Seong-cheol asked. Then Hong Su-ah answered confidently.
"There are gates that appear after 10 years, but they're practically set up so that you can't break them… Based on the community, you can say that I'm in the upper ranks."
"Oho!"
Jo Seong-cheol said with a bright face. Hong Su-ah, who became elated by that, added.
"If you've done the 'Last Savior' community, you'll know my account name too, I was quite famous."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Hong Su-ah said with a confident smile.
"I'm RabbitBoneSoup."
Huh?
'What did she say?'
I stared blankly at Hong Su-ah. But she didn't pay any attention to my gaze and added.
"For reference, my PVP record is 19 wins and 1 loss, and the loss was against a bug user, so you can say that I'm practically undefeated."
"A young lady was an amazing player!"
I'm not a bug user.
And you won 19 times with those skills? Really, only newbies are left in the community these days.
If it was the golden age of the community where true veterans gathered, Hong Su-ah, no, RabbitBoneSoup, wouldn't have been able to get even one win.
Regardless of my thoughts, Hong Su-ah continued.
"And the system also recognized my skills, so it gave me an amazing blessing. The blessing I got is the 'Nimble Feet' trait. It's an amazing trait that adds 3 to agility."
"Oho."
Lee Ji-yeong and Hong Byeong-hyeon also seemed a little surprised. Hong Su-ah seemed proud of that and continued.
"Then now, take turns introducing yourselves."
***
Jo Seong-cheol.
"Well, as I said before, I played the game for about an hour that my son installed? So I don't know the game well, and the account name is… probably 'GoldenWarriorSeongcheol'. That's the nickname I've been using since WOW. The blessing I got is… 'Strong Body', it raises strength by one?"
Lee Ji-yeong.
"I didn't play for that long, I played for about a week and quit because it was difficult. My account name would have been 'FlowerBlossom'. The blessing is 'Master of Escape', it increases my speed when escaping from enemies."
Hong Byeong-hyeon.
"I played a bit when I was a public service worker. The build I played was shield warrior, my account name was 'FastPublicServant48', and the blessing I received was 'Stealthy Shadow'… It says it's good for hiding if you stick to the terrain."
When Hong Byeong-hyeon's introduction was over, Hong Su-ah asked Hong Byeong-hyeon.
"But what is 'FastPublicServant'?"
"It's a fast public service worker. I'm an underweight public service worker. 48 is my weight."
"Ah."
Hong Su-ah nodded. And looked at me.
"Then it's Hae-il's turn now."
"Ah, yes."
I hesitated for a moment.
'She memorized all the account names. She should have forgotten some.'
In this case, it's awkward to say that I'm the only one who doesn't remember. In the end, I made a decision.
"I didn't play that much, and I tried mixing and matching builds. My account name was… 'GreatGoddessDeia'."
I finished speaking and looked at the four people's reactions. Fortunately, they didn't seem to be suspicious.
Then, Hong Su-ah said to me.
"Hey."
"Yes?"
"What about the blessing?"
"Ah."
I answered quickly.
"It's the 'Tough Adventurer' trait. It says I don't get tired easily when walking."
I actually said a trait that exists in the game. A common trait that everyone has gotten at least once.
Fortunately, Hong Su-ah also knew the trait, so she nodded without any suspicion.
"Okay. Then let's finish the introduction like this…."
Hong Su-ah pointed to the round blue door and said.
"Now let's go over there. I don't know what's on the next floor, but if we cooperate with each other, we'll be able to overcome it."
The other three people nodded, so I nodded too, but my inner thoughts were different.
'Hong Su-ah… No, RabbitBoneSoup.'
Until a moment ago, I thought she was a kind and good leader who stepped forward in a confusing situation and led the other people, but now she's not.
'She's a toxic rogue.'
A good rogue is a dead rogue.
The fact that she chose the rogue, which has the worst performance in pushing the story, and the worst of them all, the dagger rogue, means that the play is already a secondary concern.
The only reason to ride a rogue build is
To get easy wins in PVP. Even to an opponent who is weaker than you, not a master.
'There's no way that a rogue, especially a toxic dagger rogue, can be a proper person.'
How can I believe in the 'cooperation' that came out of the mouth of a rogue?
My gamer instinct was saying that.
"Alright then."
Hong Su-ah, no, the toxic rogue RabbitBoneSoup, said with a hypocritical smile.
"Let's go over now!"
***
—Whoosh.
When we passed through the door, it was another dark space. The difference was that in the previous space, there were at least torches lit, so we had visibility, but there was nothing like that here.
"What is this place again, it's annoying…."
I heard Lee Ji-yeong complaining.
"First of all, everyone, don't move. We don't know what's going to be there."
The moment Hong Su-ah said that.
—Whoosh.
A bright group of lights floated up and the system appeared.
[Everyone has come over. This is the second stage, a space to get a feel for basic combat.]
Combat.
We swallowed our saliva.
No matter how many enemies we had beaten in the game, this is reality now. The one who gets hurt and injured is not the character, but me, and the one who gets blood on his hands and kills the enemy is also me.
Noticing that tension, the system gave a bright smile.
[You summoners don't need to be nervous at all.]
There was an echo in the warm voice that only sincerity has.
[The goddess does not demand unreasonable things from you. Only things that are possible, and things that you can do and have enough left over, will be given as tasks.]
After a moment of silence, Hong Byeong-hyeon raised his hand. His skinny wrist stood out.
"Um… didn't you say something about limits earlier?"
[That's the story from the third stage onwards. You don't have to worry because it's safe until this stage.]
"……Ah, yes."
I don't know what will be there from the next stage, but I felt relieved right now.
'Well, it says it's safe.'
[Then.]
When the system put its hands together, the torches hanging on the wall began to burn one by one.
─Fire, fire, fire….
And what was seen in the space that was gradually brightening up was
A huge iron fence. And something was seen beyond that. The torches were lit one by one, and the clearer it became was
'Eyes?'
It was a large eyeball. Veins were standing in the square-shaped eyeball, and it was glaring at us with a flash.
And when the torches were lit, the owner of the eyeball was seen.
A huge monster with two curved horns on its head, square pupils, and six wings on its back, half human and half goat.
'……You want us to deal with that?'
I turned my head and looked at the system. And on its mouth was only a bright smile that didn't feel an inch of guilt.