Chapter 141: How to Finish the Game
Those familiar with the other world recommend finishing it at the Sajik River.
This game is wasting everyone's time and has serious negative effects on the world, so those who know right from wrong must cooperate to finish it as quickly as possible.
This sign, visible in every village you pass, soon began appearing all over Gangbuk Palju.
"I want to believe those words, but will it really work?" Seo-woon nodded, agreeing with Dump's lament.
"At least one or two people will come out and just wait." Even players who didn't kill innocent civilians were unlikely to participate in battles that wouldn't benefit their scores.
"Especially in this world, people can secretly plot while living their daily lives."
"The biggest problem was that the magnetic field wasn't weakening. If it weren't for that, we could have finished the game quickly."
Everyone nodded in agreement with Li Lingwei's words. After a moment of intense thought, Seo-woon opened his mouth as if an idea had occurred to him.
"Perhaps…"
The expectant gazes of his teammates focused on him as he spoke.
Bang!
Seo-woon's expression turned serious as he looked at the vending machine that had appeared along with the voice.
"As I expected… Different."
"What?"
Everyone quickly gathered behind him and looked at the vending machine in the city center, their expressions changing moment by moment.
"The items… Different?"
"Still, there are some that are pretty much the same, right?"
Seo-woon quickly checked the most expensive items in the last row.
[Gongseon's Armor. Yogyeong.] [Crimson Dragon Toy. Tail Ring.] [Epic Beast Summon Ticket.] […]
Seo-woon stared at the Epic Beast Summon Ticket for a while before opening his mouth.
"Maybe there's an item in the vending machine that can increase the game speed?"
"Judging by that item, it seems possible." Ki-chan nodded in agreement.
"Huh. But it requires a thousand blue tokens. Even if we combine all the tokens we've collected, we won't be able to get it. The game will be over until we collect a thousand blue tokens."
At Lim's words, an idea flashed through Seowoon's mind.
"Everyone, check your vending machines."
At his words, all the team members summoned their vending machines without a word. After looking at all the vending machines, Seo-woon nodded.
"There's not a single item that's different... In other words, the items in the vending machines change over time. We just have to summon them and check them every time..."
Seeing him organize his thoughts, Dump said, "Even if that's true, we'll probably run out of tokens, just like Lim said. There's no way the game-changing items are cheap. There's no guarantee they'll even appear."
"I understand, but the possibility is high. The developers were desperate to speed up the game and probably hid any rules or items that could increase the speed."
"Even if there were such items, what about the tokens?"
"Look at the map. I marked them."
The spot Seo-woon marked was the location of an epic monster that had been spotted while Cheonma was killing players. It wasn't far from where they were now, and it would take about two days to get there.
"No way..." Ki-chan seemed to grasp the situation and nodded to Seo-woon.
"Simple when you think about it. But maybe we all missed it."
Ki-chan and Juriell's faces lit up at Seo-woon's words. They had missed that part too, until Seo-woon pointed it out. Cheonma's designation as an epic monster meant he wasn't on the list of participants for this game. This meant he couldn't confiscate the items and blue tokens of the players he hunted.
Remembering this, Limmin asked anxiously. "Is there still time?"
"There's still plenty of time."
Everyone nodded hopefully, looking at the map. It was inevitable, because Cheonma, the epic monster designated as the player-slaughtering hero, was still not far from that location. Considering that he had just killed the last player about two hours ago, no player would dare approach that area.
"We just need to make a small detour on the way there so we can continue our journey after foregoing three days of sleep."
Everyone nodded at young Lyle's words. After playing Cloyd without sleep for days, this wasn't new, so it didn't seem like much of a challenge anymore.
With that, Seo-woon's group began to move faster in their blind pursuit of items.
***
"Bing-gong. I can't hear what you're saying."
The woman leading the Bingjeong soldiers nodded at Bing-hoo's words.
"I couldn't hear them either."
Now, the women who had clearly been following Seo-woon's group were only about 50 steps away. When even Byeong-hoo said he couldn't hear their conversation from that distance, the women looked very surprised.
"Apparently, a different energy is blocking their voices, so it must be technology from another world."
"They're moving."
"Follow them. Don't lose sight of them. If we follow them, we'll definitely encounter those vile players!"
With that, Binghu stepped forward, an energetic expression on her face.
***
After two sleepless nights of running, Seo-woon's team members were staring at the map with tense expressions.
"They haven't moved an inch in two days… That's strange."
Everyone nodded in agreement with Jin-ryung's words. The epic beast known as the Cheonma had left the scene shortly after the battle ended and hadn't moved from that spot.
"Could he be seriously injured?"
At Lilingwei's words, everyone except Seo-woon and Nam Sa-gwang smiled faintly.
"Not impossible, but… If you're thinking of hunting him, I think you should give up." Nam Sa-gwang also nodded and added, "Right now, he's not someone we can handle. Even if he is injured."
The team members who hadn't experienced the Cheonma firsthand still held some hope, but the two who had fought it weren't even willing to consider confronting him.
"Unless it's inevitable, there's no need to look for him
. Nothing good will come of encountering him."
Juriell, who was sitting less than thirty paces away, looked at the women closing the distance between them and said, "Even if they joined forces, would it be impossible?"
"We assumed we would attack them with full force. That woman, Byeong-hoo, is about the same strength as Sagwang, or a bit weaker."
"Seo-woon is right. And even though she's in seclusion, as long as she lives in Bingjeongseong, she wouldn't do something like raise her sword against Ilwolshin-gyo unless she's senile in such a peaceful time."
The team members' expressions turned serious again at the two men's words.
"The distance… Precise, right?"
Seo-woon nodded in agreement with Lim's words as he looked at the map.
"A little over a kilometer. They say the view is obstructed, but…" Seo-woon didn't bother to mention that escaping Cheonma's grasp at that distance would be nearly impossible and left his words hanging in the air.
At that moment, Ryle cautiously joined the conversation.
"Um… What should we do?"
When everyone's gaze turned to him as he pulled out a scroll from his spatial pocket, Ryle hurriedly replied.
"Group teleportation scroll."
"Where did you get that!" Ryle scratched his head and answered Dump's question.
"I asked my master to get it for me, just in case."
"This should work, right?" Limmin looked at Seo-woon and asked, and Seowoon nodded in agreement.
"Not bad."
After finishing his words, Seo-woon tossed his hair back. As expected, a few strands of hair were missing from his hand. The moment three clones appeared in the air, the Bingjeong warriors standing behind them jumped up.
Ignoring them as they stared at them with their mouths open and their eyes wide, Seo-woon said to his clones, "Use the tokens first, then get the items when you have time."
After giving them the three subspace rings, the three Seo-woons wearing the rings ran towards the items. Seo-woon sat down to replenish his waning energy, while Ryle clutched the scroll, ready to flee at any moment. The other team members were closely monitoring the map, watching for any movement of the epic beast indicator.
Nam Sa-gwang turned around for the first time and approached Byeongjeongseong's unmanned guards. As he approached, Byeong-hoo, who had been sitting looking away, stood up.
"I think we should go now."
"You have no right to interfere with where I'm going." Nam Sanggwang calmly responded to Byeong-ho's words.
"I'm glad to see you again after all this time, and it's true that it brings back old memories, but that doesn't mean I'll go to my death with you like before. If we're not careful, Cheonma will come. We have a way to escape, but the old woman doesn't. There's no telling what that fickle brat will do, so it's best to stay away."
Binghu's brows furrowed at his serious words.
"Why is Ilwolshin-gyo in Gangbuk?"
"How can I know his true intentions? He's on Mugeok's threshold. There's nowhere in this world he can't go if he chooses."
At the words "Mugeok's threshold," Binghu turned away. He might have considered it if he were alone, but with Bingjeseong warriors standing beside him, he couldn't risk his lives.
"Where will you go after you're finished here?" Namsagwang smiled at her question and turned to his friends.
"Paejuseong."
***
The three clones ran ahead, arriving at an empty lot where boxes and blue tokens were scattered everywhere. They quickly collected the tokens and opened the boxes, taking any items they thought they might need and storing them in their subspaces. The dreaded event didn't happen, and by the time the clones returned to where their friends were waiting and handed over the items, the sun had begun to rise.
The clones, who had collected various consumables and unique items, divided them among themselves. Seo-woon smiled as he swept the last token into his subspace.
"How much is there?"
"1,942."
Everyone's eyes widened at Seo-woon's words.
"That's all?"
"Apparently, the tokens the others didn't use were collected."
"Which means there's a good chance we won't be able to use them after the game ends."
Seo-woon nodded at Juriell's words. He thought so too.
"About time." Seo-woon pursed his lips at Ryle's words. According to his observations, the items in the vending machine changed approximately every eight hours. Sometimes there were major changes, sometimes not, and some items were always there.
-Ding! Do you want to summon the vending machine?
The moment he moved his hand towards the O button, the vending machine appeared. Seo-woon's eyes held a deep dilemma as he looked at the vending machine.
"What happened?"
Although the game-speed-boosting item he wanted hadn't yet appeared, Seo-woon's hesitation had piqued Juriell's curiosity, and he asked her.
"No."
Seo-woon didn't tell Juriell, but his dilemma continued because of a single item: [Epic Monster Summon Ticket.]
When used correctly, this item could create a massive amount of variables. For someone who usually plays by creating large variables and taking advantage of the resulting chaos, it was an item he couldn't take his eyes off.
The problem was, purchasing this item, one of the most expensive, would consume 2,000 blue coins, including the items he was waiting for. There were several items in the vending machine that caught his eye. Giving up so many items and using 1,000 blue coins to create variables in the game seemed like a waste.
After thinking for a while, Seo-woon nodded.
"Let's wait and see."
If the desired item didn't appear by the end, the Epic Monster Summon Ticket would be meaningless. Even if the desired item did appear, there was no guarantee it would still be in the vending machine by then. Deciding to wait to see how events unfolded, he got up from his seat and headed for his next target.
***
"That's weird. How did they know where the leader was and attack him like that?" Hearing Jang Do-cheon's words, the leader scratched his head. He had never acted so clumsily in front of anyone else, but in front of Jang Do-cheon, he couldn't help himself.
"I don't know. The elder and I were moving separately, but these strange people kept appearing. There was no sign that anyone was following us."
Seeing the bodies of about 30 people disappear, Myeong-jo couldn't take his eyes off the spot. Their unique technique was amazing, but even more surprising was how effortlessly Jang Do-cheon defeated them.
"There must truly be immortals in Yugok."
With that thought in mind, he respectfully asked the lost Jang Do-cheon.
"So, will I go to that world too?"
"Probably. I've gained new powers too."
With only the two of them left, the chief looked up at the sky with curiosity at Jang Do-cheon's condescending words.
"I wonder. What kind of world is it?"
"The scenery and people are different. It will be beneficial to you too."
With that, Jang Do-cheon started moving again. Almost ten days had passed since they both traveled to villages where few people went, protecting the people.
Jang Do-cheon had originally planned to go alone, but the martial arts leader decided to follow him on this occasion to observe his martial arts skills closely.
He decided that he couldn't miss this opportunity to observe Jang Do-cheon's martial arts skills up close, as he would never have a chance to see them again outside of Yugokmun.
***
-90 degrees, 300 meters!
Jin-ryong and Li Ling-wei moved quickly under Seowoon's command, who had closed his right eye and concentrated. The men hiding among the people watching the martial artists in the castle realized something was wrong and quickly fled.
"Damn! We've been spotted!"
Seo-woon quickly shouted an order in response to Li Ling-wei's words.
"Sagang! Are you far away? There are four of them here."
"Okay. Hold them!"
Seo-woon, who was searching for the player with Hwa-an-geum-jeong, opened his right eye and moved.
"Everyone, chase them!"
At his command, the team members scattered in all directions and began to move. The players, trying to escape by breaking through the tightly closed city gate, were stopped by new warriors blocking their path.
"Hwaaah!"
Six unmanned soldiers fiercely swung their swords to block the players, and cold air emanated from their swords. The players' barriers froze and shattered, their expressions distorted.
Catching up with the masked warriors, Jin-ryong drew his sword, but the four warriors looked at each other and then committed suicide on the spot.
"What's going on!"
He quickly approached the fallen bodies and tried to search their pockets, but they had already vanished. He searched the boxes left behind by the warriors but found no items that could identify them.
The news of the cult's sealing of the sword gate, killing twenty rebel students and several elders in one fell swoop, had already spread throughout the martial arts world. Following the cult's announcement, all martial arts factions, large and small, were conducting extensive investigations within their own ranks to determine if any of their warriors had any connection to Cloyd.
The martial artists who were affiliated with Cloyd, it became common for them to voluntarily report themselves to the Martial Arts Alliance and claim innocence, claiming they had nothing to do with civilian massacres.
This was perfectly natural, as their sects could be destroyed. The same was true for evil sects. Saryeon had already destroyed five sects involved in civilian massacres.
Compared to the righteous sects, their actions were far more extreme, and the martial arts factions were desperate to control their members related to Cloyd.
It was a terrifying thought that a single mistake could lead to a sect's closure or even extinction.
"It's difficult to verify their identities since we can't see their faces.
Lately, I haven't seen anyone carrying anything that could prove their identity. They're busy committing suicide."
Given the atmosphere in the martial arts world, martial artists who had harmed civilians were often found committing suicide as soon as they were found. They chose to die without even thinking about fighting, leaving no evidence behind. If they made a mistake, their clans would suffer greatly, so this was the best way to deal with the situation.
After estimating the time, Seo-woon summoned the vending machine again. He habitually checked every eight hours.
!!!
His eyes widened as he looked at the items.
[Location Adjustment Right.]
Seeing the five-character item, Seo-woon's eyes quickly searched for other items.
[Epic Monster Summon Right.]
Seeing the two items he wanted together, Seowoon's expression became complex and subtle.