Chapter 145: Firefighter
"Let's begin the briefing. The players are estimated to be concentrated in the Hollywood and Universal City areas. The estimated number of victims is around 50,000."
"Thankfully, the damage is less than expected." For a crowded metropolis where players have been fighting and hunting for over a month, the number wasn't particularly high.
"This round, the players were split into two groups: those hunting civilians and those trying to stop them, fighting each other in fierce combat. A large number of civilians are currently fleeing to Beverly Hills. The fact that Beverly Hills, located in the center of the map, is off-limits is the only consolation in this situation."
Juriel asked the man who was summarizing the situation on his tablet screen, showing the map: "You know the enemy locations quite detailed, don't you?"
The red dots represented the players being hunted, the blue dots represented the players trying to stop them, and the green dots represented allied players; all were clearly marked.
"Yes. All our forces and personnel are currently concentrated in LA, which is to be expected."
Seo-woon answered on behalf of the man who didn't understand Juriel's question.
"On Juriell, gathering so much information via satellites and various CCTV cameras isn't that difficult. You'd think there were hundreds of thousands of twisted eyes everywhere."
"I understand."
After understanding, Seo-woon asked the next question.
"How many players are estimated to be alive?"
"About 7,000 in total. Among them, it's estimated that the number of Earth-friendly players exceeds 4,000."
"That's incredibly detailed information."
"Yes. A large number of players are organized around a single player. It's estimated that the damage is reduced thanks to this player leading over 2,000 people. In addition, there are an estimated 2,000 more players preventing the other players from hunting civilians. The rest are organizing and mobilizing to counter them, while the rest are mixing with civilians and engaging in guerrilla-style terrorism... No, they're hunting civilians."
Seo-woon finally realized that the players were divided into two groups. This wasn't just a simple distinction; on the contrary, powerful players had taken the initiative to prevent civilians from being massacred.
Not long had passed when, listening to the briefing, the vehicle their group was in parked about 200 meters from the station. When he got out of the parked vehicle, the police officers and attendants who had gotten out with him looked at the station with nervous expressions.
"Take these."
A man handed out small earbuds and explained, "You can connect to our control tower at any time by pressing a button on the side. Normally, hold them in the lower area to disconnect. In extreme cases, a weak mana wave will be generated in the lower area of the earbud within a radius of about three meters."
Honestly, this was just a common 21st-century artifact. but Seo-woon couldn't help but be surprised by the man's last words.
*"The United States has already commercialized another world's technology."*
Even through this earpiece alone, it was clear they'd been trying to integrate another world's technology into modern technology for a while.
"You can find our location too, right?"
The man's expression froze at Seo-woon's question.
"That's not what I meant..."
Seo-woon interrupted the surprised man, speaking reassuringly: "I understand. Knowing our location will help you gain an advantage in the situation."
The man nodded, relieved at his words.
"Exactly. And this..." The man held a tablet screen, zoomed in on Koreatown. Three asterisks were dotted across it.
"These are three shelters where your aunt's family might have taken refuge. Best of luck to you, Jin Seo-woon."
Hearing those words he'd only heard in movies, Seo-woon nodded slightly and ran towards the station manager. The three team members following Seo-woon started team voice chat.
- I'm checking with Carmen's eyes. I can't confirm any players near the station manager. However... I can confirm quite a few civilians. They're in the basement of the building in front of the station manager.
Seo-woon responded to Ki-chan's briefing.
- How many?
- Not exactly, but judging by the concentrated life energy, there's more than a hundred.
- Evacuate them and get out. Juriell and Liling will evacuate the civilians outside the station, Kichan, you keep an eye on the surroundings. I'll guard that path.
After he finished speaking, Seo-woon took his headphones from his subarea and put them in his ears.
"Can you hear me?"
- I can hear you clearly. I'm Milo Park, in charge of special communications.
"Are you confirming my location now?"
- Yes, I can. We haven't detected any enemies nearby.
"There are approximately 100 civilians in the building directly in front of you. We will evacuate them outside the station. Please do not withdraw the personnel accompanying us. Have them wait a moment."
- Understood.
Seo-woon, listening intently to the man's voice speaking fluent Korean, quickly began to move the cars blocking the civilians' escape route.
**- Boom!**
As he cleared a path by pushing aside the cars scattered on the sidewalk, Juriell and Lilingwei ushered the civilians out. Seeing the slumped, black-eyed, exhausted civilians rushing out like crazy, Seo-woon shouted, "Hey! Calm down! Hey! You!"
Seo-woon stopped a man who was running in front of him, pushing a child, and calmed the civilians with his broken English.
When he shouted as he lifted a car with one hand and threw it away to clear the way, the people were forced to calm down.
Seo-woon had heard that panic during evacuations could lead to people being crushed to death, so he deliberately moved slowly. He lifted the fallen child to his feet and looked him in the eyes before finally speaking: "It's okay. You're safe."
"..."
With these words, he left the boy, whose eyes were filling with tears, behind and directed the people towards the police officers who had drawn their weapons and were approaching the station headquarters.
After the evacuation of the civilians was completed, Seo-woon concentrated on the map without looking back. At that moment, a voice came from Seo-woon's headphones.
Seo-woon! Can you hear me?
"I'm listening."
- According to the latest information, Jin Seo-woon... has been designated as an epic monster... If you retreat now, our government will not blame you.
"It was as I expected. No retreat."
After finishing his words, Seo-woon put his headphones in his pocket and started the team voice chat.
- We will kill all the enemies we see on our way to Koreatown.
Before he could finish speaking, Ki-chan briefed the team.
- Enemy! On the roof of the building...!
Before he could finish speaking, two arrows flew away along with a Flame Bird.
**- Kakang!**
Seo-woon easily blocked the arrows and, ignoring the approaching Flame Bird, drew a bow from his lower domain. The hamit had transformed into a spear and was now hanging from his wrist. When he fired the spear, the Flame Bird opened its beak and tried to swallow Seo-woon.
"Kiee..."
Before Hwa-ryong could swallow Seo-woon, the flame bird shattered with his hand and disappeared into the air. Then Seo-woon saw a mage falling from the roof of a building. The arrow he shot hit the mage right between the eyebrows.
"The bodies aren't disappearing. The team members, including the two who fired the arrows, must have targeted us. I think there are definitely a lot of enemies!"
While Lilingwei moved habitually to protect Juriell, Seo-woon and Ki-chan dashed in the direction of the arrows. They dodged by jumping over the roofs of buildings and making light movements, Ki-chan informed Seo-woon when his sword pierced the back of an enemy's head.
- The enemy elf has been dealt with. In front of the wall Ki-chan created, the dark elf's corpse lay with its ears pricked up, struck by lightning and killed instantly. When Kichan stomped on the elf's head, the elf's body disappeared. When the wizard destroyed the remaining elf's head, his body disappeared as well.
"It looks like the others escaped."
Ki-chan nodded at Juriell's words.
"They probably didn't know you were an Epic Beast and attacked you."
"Let's go again."
Seo-woon began to move without wasting his magic, leaving the hidden enemies behind. After advancing for a while, a terrifying sight appeared before Seo-woon and his team. Black smoke was rising from various places, and less than half of the buildings remained intact, the rest collapsed and ruined.
"What the...?"
Although he had expected it before, this view was completely different from the relatively stable place they had first entered.
Ki-chan's eyes widened, relieved that the number of victims was lower than expected.
Only then did the number 50,000 begin to dawn on him. The September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States, nearly 18 years ago, were still etched in the minds of all citizens. The number of victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks was 2,996. The game in LA had been running for 40 days. That was only a tenth of the total number of days game had been played. And now, the estimated number of victims was 50,000.
These thoughts raced through Ki-chan's mind, momentarily paralyzing him. The scene unfolding before his eyes was several times more realistic than the horrific scenes he'd seen in the warrior world.
Events in another world couldn't possibly carry the same weight as events in his own. Even for Ki-chan, who had killed countless players to get here, seeing the blackened bloodstains and rotting corpses around him was a major shock.
"Are you okay?"
Ki-chan finally came to his senses when he saw Seo-woon looking at him with concern.
"Yeah... I'm fine... I was just shocked."
"I feel the same. But keep your wits about you. The number of future victims depends on what we do."
"Yes!"
Ki-chan's answer gave him strength. As they passed the scene that had momentarily stopped them and sped away, an incredible sight stopped them once more.
**- Thump! Thump!**
"Brother... He..."
"Yes."
Three men, dressed in distinctive clothing, were digging in the rubble of a collapsed building. It was clear they weren't ordinary men; they were swinging their pickaxes without hesitation, but they weren't making much progress.
Next to them was a man, also dressed identically, lying motionless as if he had stopped breathing. Yet they didn't stop what they were doing.
Still shaken by the horrific scene he had just witnessed, Ki-chan raised his voice and approached them: "Hey! What are you doing? If you keep this up, you'll die!"
"Uhm... Uhm... Uhm..."
Without Cloyd's correction, Ki-chan was speechless at the English bombardment.
"You didn't get everything after all."
After saying that, Seo-woon quickly took off his headphones and put them on his ears.
"I need an interpreter."
The moment Seo-woon finished speaking, the other person opened his mouth again.
- He asks if he really can do it.
Seo-woon nodded yes, and a look of relief appeared on the man's face.
"Can you ask why we're doing this here?"
- Take off his headphones and place them in the palm of your hand.
Seo-woon followed the instruction, and the headphones switched to speaker mode.
- Why are you doing this here? This is a dangerous situation.
"Because I'm a fireman."
This single sentence was understandable even without translation. These words touched Seo-woon and Ki-chan's hearts. Even though their colleague had died in front of them, they didn't have the ability to continue the rescue operation. But that's why they looked bigger than any superhuman.
- Forty minutes ago, we heard a child's cry for help from down here!
Following the translation, Seo-woon pushed the three firefighters back and looked at Ki-chan. When green light flashed in Ki-chan's eyes, he opened his mouth.
"Not just one or two!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ki-chan waved his staff. As he carefully moved the staff, the ground opened up and the debris began to clear.
**- Shu-hwa!**
At that moment, a fireball flew towards them. Seo-woon pulled out a bag from his sub-area behind him, tied it to his back, and ran towards the fireball.
**- Kuk!**
Just as the firefighters instinctively crouched, the fireball broke apart in the air and flew in all directions, hitting the firefighters.
"Don't worry about this place! Just focus on what you're doing! Juriell! Lilingwei!"
Following Seo-woon's command, Ki-chan wiped the sweat from his forehead and focused on clearing the debris. If they made a mistake, the underground space they had just created could collapse, trapping the people below. It would have been easy if it had simply been a matter of using magic to turn the ground and clear the debris, but pushing the debris aside to minimize the impact below and create an entrance was no simple task.
**- Kva-kva-kva!**
The spells flying at Seo-woon from all directions were all high-level spells. Seo-woon's expression was somber as he moved, absorbing the spells into his body. Even Juriell was surprised when his new body swayed as he landed.
"Don't worry. I'm just acting."
If it hadn't been for Liling's hint, Juriell would have stopped casting the spell and jumped immediately. Seo-woon moved dangerously to attract the enemies' attention, moving like Spider-Man with wires coming out of his back. There was no better item than that in this kind of terrain.
Seo-woon's body, which had been moving as far away from the scene as possible, jerked once. Each time, the shadows began to move rapidly. When Seo-woon's new form finally stopped, the magic flying towards him stopped as if by magic. The mages were so busy fighting their threatening clones that they didn't even notice.
**- Hook!**
Guarded by two knights, the mage concentrated on casting a spell, focusing on Seo-woon's clone who was fighting the knights. He didn't know what had happened, but the epic beast he'd been targeting had suddenly appeared and was now targeting him.
Team voice chat was in chaos, with other mages reporting the same situation. At that moment, a gust of wind cut through the air, followed by the sound of a whip being wrapped around his waist. Before the mage could even grasp the situation, his body was dragged away.
Seo-woon grabbed the mage's head with the whip, cut it using his fingertip, and began moving on the wire again. With the whip in one hand and five energy strands in the other, Seo-woon began flying in all directions, attacking the mages.
Seo-woon normally avoided wasting his energy in real life, but this time he didn't hesitate to use his clone. He'd planned to hold off on accelerating the expansion of his forehead until he found a better skin potion, but now wasn't the time to think about such things.
Even after Seo-woon had killed all four mages, the enemy players showed no signs of retreating. They'd been scattered in all directions, attacking Seo-woon from afar, but now they'd gathered together to prepare for his attack.
"This isn't a Quad! It's a Guild!"
Seo-woon's briefing didn't sit well with his teammates. Even in the emergency situation, where explosions and the noise of battle echoed around, the firefighters' eyes were fixated on the gaps in the slowly expanding debris. As they scrambled around to clear the rubble, their minds were focused solely on saving lives.
At that moment, a new spell flew toward Ki-chan. Juriell blocked the incoming Magma Attack with a Freeze Storm.
"Aim that way! If you aim that way, you can hinder their movements!"
Of the thirty or so players who had just appeared, the mage in the middle's expression crumpled in disappointment. At the same time, instead of powerful energy, fire began to burn from his hands.