I followed the path to Chungmuro Station. which was infested with common rats that I easily eliminated with my new knife, which was fantastic—at least for the moment...
When I was at least 1 km away from arriving, it appeared...
[SECONDARY EVENT NOTIFICATION]
Instinctively, I took a step back, waiting for what was coming.
Category: secondary event
Difficulty: D-F
Victory conditions: Escape the illusory prison within the time limit.
Time limit: 1 hour
Reward: 300 coins
Punishment if you fail: ???
[The side event ILLUSORY PRISON has started]
A strong gust of wind swept through my entire body, making me close my eyes, and when I opened them...
Everything around me was white, as white as that place... as the white room.
"Line up," said a familiar voice, and I turned around instinctively.
It was that man...
"A-ayanokouji," said a female voice, "I want to stay with you; don't let them take me away."
The voice was that of a blonde-haired girl... "Yuki..." I whispered to myself.
"Kiyotaka..." the man said—"No matter what, you must always remember this... To have great power and refuse to use it to your advantage is something only a fool would do".
[Advanced Mental Barrier ability has been activated]
Everything around me disappeared... I was back where I started.
[The constellation Secretive Plotter is surprised by your mental fortitude.]
[You've been given 100 coins.]
[Some curious constellations are sad because they can't see your past.]
[The Demon-like Judge of Fire constellation wonders who Yuki is]
[The secondary event condition has been achieved].
[You have received 300 coins]
In front of me appeared a kind of flying tunic, something like specters...
They started attacking me, but their attacks were psychic, so they hardly affected me.
I quickly used my sashimi knife to kill each of them.
It seems that man was right after all... now in this world you have to use power.
Where I had killed the specters, there was some kind of crystal lying around, so I decided to pick it up.
I went a little further until I reached Chungmuro.
[Main Event #2 - the match has ended]
[Rewards will be calculated]
When I entered Chungmuro, I saw that there were many people.
Two men were slowly approaching me, but I decided to keep walking and ignore them.
"Hey, kid!" he shouted. "Where do you come from?"
I decided not to turn around and ignore him for now.
I started climbing some stairs, and more people approached me.
"Hey, you're new, right?" someone said. "Do you want to rent a room?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Oh right, you probably don't know how things are here."
The guy positioned himself next to me and put his hand on my shoulder.
"Do you see that over there?" he said, pointing to a green area. "Those are green spaces, but here we call them 'Rooms.' You could say they're safe zones."
"I see."
"So, will you rent one?"
"Not for now," I replied as I walked away.
I saw some people fighting over that green area.
After a while, I realized there was nothing to do, so I decided to go back the way I had come.
I decided to go kill some monsters to collect more coins. I'd go after the psychic monsters.
As I was walking over there, I saw a girl in a cap following me.
"Hey!" she shouted. "Where are you going?"
I turned to look at her, and she was a girl about my age, and she was pretty—pretty in an adorable way, you could say. Now that I've gotten a good look at her, she's the girl I saw in the train car—a student at an all-girls high school. Lee Jihye
"I'm going to go kill some monsters," I said.
"The area you're going to is our hunting ground."
"Couldn't we share it a bit?"
"No"
...
[Some constellations are laughing at this situation]
[The constellation, spokesman for justice and wisdom, wonders what decision you will make.]
[You have been given 100 coins]
"Just this once"
Jihye sighed and didn't say anything, but she kept walking, so I took it as a yes.
"Just don't hold me back," she said.
When we arrived at the place, I saw Dokja and the others there.
"Who are you?" Jihye shouted as she drew her sword. "Don't you know this territory is our hunting ground?"
Jihye saw that Dokja had some crystals.
"Did you happen to arrive here after killing the specters?"
"how..." Only the master knows how to defeat them.
"Ayanokouji-ssii," Sangah said, "are you okay?"
"Why did you leave without telling us?" Hyunsung said.
Dokja greeted me from afar, but he seemed to be thinking about other things.
"Do you know them?" Jihye said.
"Yes, they're my colleagues. met them in the first scenario."
Jihye turned around when she heard me.
"Follow me, I'll take you to the station."
When we entered Chungmuro, the same guys who had approached me the first time came back.
"Little samurai, you've brought new people," one of them said.
"Yes," Jihye replied. "Have you been drinking again?"
"What else can fall when the wall is in ruins?"
"Your friends come from Dongguk University; they amaze me," someone else said. "They must have picked up a lot of coins along the way."
"Hey, miss, what's your name?" the man asked Sangah. "I know of a cheap room; do you want it?"
"What? Room?" Sangah asked.
"Hahaha," he laughed. "You still don't know how this place works? Here, take this."
"Stop bothering the newbies and come upstairs," Jihye said.
"At some point they'll have to learn," he said. "We do it to survive."
Jihye drew her sword and pointed it at the man's neck.
"If you value your life..." she said with a serious, murderous look.
The guys ran off, scared, hurling insults at Jihye.
"I've done my part, now you're on your own," Jihye said to us. "I don't want to have to take care of you like children."
"If you come any closer, I'm going to kill you," said a man in the middle of a green area, holding a knife.
"Why is he doing that?" Sangah asked.
"I don't know," Dokja said.
"They're part of the third event; they seem too important," I said, answering Sangah's question.
"Why are they so important?" Hyunsung asked, pulling out a small notebook.
I don't know for sure, but I know they're safe areas.
"I see," Sangah and Hyunsung said as they nodded.
"Is Yoo Joonghyuk here?" Dokja asked Jihye.
Jihye, who was about to leave, turned her head when she heard Joonghyuk's name; in her eyes, she looked cautious. "Who are you?"
"I am your companion who returned alive."
"...companion? How is that possible?" Jihye began to look at Dokja with suspicious eyes.
"If you tell him that, he'll know who I am," Dokja said.
"The teacher isn't here right now," Jihye replied.
"What a shame, I had something I wanted to tell you."
Jihye sighed in resignation and said to someone, "Hey, you, keep an eye on them."
"A-ah, yeah, sure."
"They're friends of Mr. Yoo Joonghyuk," said the boy as he approached.
"Very good friends," Dokja said.
After a while, while everyone was taking care of Heewoon, who was unconscious, the boy kept talking about Yoo Joonghyuk.
"Can I ask you a few things?" Hyunsung said, asking politely.
"Yes, just ask," said the boy.
How do they provide the food here?
"It's kind of embarrassing, but here we all depend on Jihye to hunt monsters and on Yoo Joonghyuk to cook them," the boy said, a little embarrassed.
Hyunsung wrote down the things the boy said on a list.
"And the water?"
"We trade with the landlord alliance."
"Landlord's alliance?" Dokja said he seemed interested in that.
Gilyoung, who hadn't spoken in a while, opened his mouth. "Sorry, Hyung."
"Yes?"
"I need to go to the bathroom."
"Is it urgent?"
"yes"
..............................…
When we were near the bathroom, we saw that there were a lot of people around.
Gilyoung started moving forward quickly while we pushed the others aside so we could pass easily.
"Ah," I heard Gilyoung's voice as he had tripped and fallen into an area that had turned red.
"Who is this child?" said a man. "Where are your parents?"
….. "Do you know where you are?"
"Isn't the bathroom over there?" Gilyoung asked.
"The bathroom? Yes, it used to be," the man replied. "Didn't they teach you not to go into other people's places?"
"...huh?"
"I'll teach you a very valuable lesson."
Some turrets appeared on the sides.
The man who was with Gilyoung spoke again, "Give me coins."
Gilyoung, who was somewhat confused, stepped back and stood next to Dokja.
"So you're his tutor, huh? Pay me 500 coins."
While all that was going on, I preferred to step away for a moment while they sorted out their problems.
I started looking for more green spaces and counting how many people were in each one. I started running to every possible place.
[2100 coins have been spent on agility]
[Agility 13→20]
It was good to have killed all the rats along the way; at least I got 3,400 coins, plus the psychics earned me a total of 5,000 coins thanks to the constellations and the monsters I killed. missions too
After checking every part I could and finding a clear green area with only one person, I went back to where everyone was.
There I saw Yoo Joonghyuk draw his sword on a man, so I approached.
"Ayanokouji-ssi, you're back," Dokja said. "Where had you gone?"
"Look for another place to use the bathroom, but it seems like they've already fixed their problems here, right?"
"That 's right."
After everyone had used the bathroom in peace thanks to Yoo Joonghyuk, we all headed to Line 3.
"It's good to see you again, you scoundrel," Dokja said to Yoo Joonghyuk.
"...You're alive," Joonghyuk replied.
"Did you expect me to die?"
"I didn't really care," Joonghyuk replied.
Dokja looked at Joonghyuk somewhat angrily, which Jihye noticed and returned with an angry look of her own. I stepped away from them and joined the others who were surrounding Heewon, who had just recovered.
"I'm fine now," she said.
"That seems to be the case," Sangah said.
"Ayanokouji, you shouldn't wander off so often anymore," Hyunsung told me. "We're safer together."
"Yes, that's right," Sangah said.
"Okay, I'll think about it."
I said as I turned to look at Joonghyuk, who seemed somewhat surprised to see Gilyoung.
Heewon also noticed that Joonghyuk was looking at us. "What the hell are you looking at?"
Joonghyuk didn't seem to care and was still lost in his thoughts when Dokja spoke to him.
After exchanging a few words, Joonghyuk walked away. At which point Dokja decided to come over to us and sit nearby.
There was one hour and thirty minutes left until the start of the third event.
Since I had nothing to do, I went over to Hyunsung to chat for a while.
"Hey, where did you get that shield?" I asked.
"Dokja gave it to me." Hyunsung replied.
My conversation with Hyunsung was interrupted by a scream from Heewon.
"I'll beat him to death!" he shouted as he activated some kind of ability with a scale, but it quickly deactivated.
"Hey, what happened? Did it break?"
Heewon looked a bit disappointed when she saw that her power hadn't worked completely.
"Because it doesn't work, Gong Pildu and his gang are clearly evil."
"They are, from our point of view," Dokja said.
What are you saying?
"Our standards of morality may be different from those of the constellations," Dokja finished, "but there is a way to defeat them."
"Which one?" Heewon asked.
"Get him out of his room," I said. "His ability seems to be defensive."
"Exactly, although first..." Dokja said, "we need to find a room."
The dokkaebi appeared. "Well, well, let's start the third day of the main event, shall we?" he said. "I see some new faces. Are you excited?"
He snapped his fingers and a blue screen appeared in front of me.
[MAIN EVENT #3 Green Areas]
Category: Main
Victory conditions: occupy a green zone at the station and survive the monstrous creatures that appear at midnight. This event will last 7 days.
Duration: 8 hours
Reward: 1000 coins
Punishment if you fail: –
"It's not that complicated, just occupy green spaces—of course, you can also steal them," said the dokkaebi as he disappeared. "Good luck."
Many people began seizing green spaces, and some even killed for them.
Sangah looked at the whole situation with some concern and fear.
"Do we have to fight like this?" she said.
"It won't be necessary," Dokja said, reassuring her a bit. "We'll find a room where we can all fit."
Dokja told us to split up and find a room to stay in; Hyunsung went with Sangah, Heewon with Hyunsung, and I stayed with Dokja.
"Go ahead, Ayanokouji-ssi," Dokja said as he pulled out his phone with a blank screen.
"I don't think it's necessary; you probably already know," I said. "All the rooms must already be occupied."
Dokja looked at me for a moment and then went back to his phone. After a while, we both walked away together. We saw how everyone was killing each other over a zone.
"Don't come any closer, not another step," someone said from inside a green area.
"Don't worry, we won't steal your spot."
"How relaxed you are, even you, old man," said Jihye, who was standing behind Dokja. "Perhaps you're looking to die."
"You're very relaxed too," Dokja replied.
"No one dares to approach my room," Jihye said as she swung her sword—"they know what will happen to them if they do."
I saw Yoo Joonghyuk approaching us while Jihye kept talking, "I don't want you to die; I was surprised by how you stood up to the master."
"Don't worry, I won't die," Dokja replied. "You don't need a room to survive the night."
"Are you really as strong as the master?"
Jihye was interrupted by Joonghyuk.
"You should go back to the room," Joonghyuk said.
"Ah, yes, master."
"Are you going to fight the monsters?" Joonghyuk asked. "You're going to die, and all your companions too."
"We'll see," Dokja replied, shrugging his shoulders.
Yoo Joonghyuk turned around and walked away.
"How ridiculous!" Heewon shouted. "2,000 coins per night? Are you kidding me?"
"Dokja, Ayanokuji..." said Hyunsung, who looked somewhat worried.
"We couldn't find a room," Sangah continued, looking just as flustered as Hyunsung.
"You'll never guess what they told us upstairs!" Heewon said.
"They asked you for a lot of coins, right?" Dokja replied.
"How do you know?"
"Did you find anything?" Hyunsung asked.
"No, we didn't find anything; all the rooms were occupied," I replied. "It looks like we're out of options."
"No, we only have two now," Dokja said.
Everyone opened their eyes in surprise and nervousness; "so many," they said to each other.
"The first one, in which we all survive, which is the easiest and best," Dokja began, raising a finger.
"When it's like that, most people always choose the second option," Heewon said.
"What's the other option?" Sangah asked.
"The second one is the hardest..." Dokja said, "Even in the best-case scenario, probably two will die."
"Let's go with the first one," Heewon said without giving it much thought.
"If there's a chance we'll all survive, then let's go with the first one," Hyunsung agreed.
Gilyoung nodded in agreement with the others; Sangah simply remained silent. Most likely, option one is to steal a room, so we'll end up going with the second option.
"Could you tell us what they're about before you do it?" Sangah said.
"Okay, follow me."
Dokja said as he walked away and climbed up a flight of stairs.
"The first option is over there," I point to a six-person room. "That room can accommodate six people; its stats are very low, so it won't be difficult for..."
"Wait, are you telling us that...!" everyone said except Gilyoung.
"That's right, the first option is..." Dokja said, "kill them and take over their room."
Everyone tensed up when they heard Dokja's words.
"I'm in if you are," Gilyoung said with determined eyes. "I'm not scared; I'll do it."
"No, Gilyoung," Sangah scolded him.
"Don't you think we've already considered that?!" Heewon said to Dokja. "They probably killed others to take that room."
"Are you planning to risk all of our lives for the sake of some strangers?" I said to Heewon, who just stared at me and couldn't answer.
[The constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband is interested in your mindset]
[The constellation Secretive Plotter is very interested in you.]
[You have been given 100 coins]
"Ayanokouji..." Sangah said softly.
"...." Heewon fell silent for a moment. "Just because I killed someone at Geumho Station doesn't mean I enjoyed it; I don't want to become a monster..."
"Ayanokouji..." Hyunsung said, "Let's hear the second option first."
"I understand all of you," Dokja said. "We'll go with the second option."
..............................…
COINS: 5550→10,050→7950…
[Attributes window]
Name: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka
Age: 16
constellation: none
Personal attributes: puppeteer (mythic), absolute master of adaptation (hero), masterpiece (Legend), ■■■
Personal skills: [manipulation lv 4] [lie detection lv 8] [poker face] [ability concealment lv 10] [Absolue adaptation lv 10] [Master of all combat arts lv 5] [master of all weapons lv 6] [master of everything lv 4] [Advanced mental barrier lv 4→5] [Reasoning lv 8]
Stigma: N/A
General statistics: [Stamina level 12], [Strength level 13], [Agility level 13→20], [Magic power level 5→11]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Please forgive me for not uploading a chapter until now :c, I'm really sorry...
These past few weeks of classes have been a bit tough; they gave me a lot of homework.
But before we continue, tell me...
One chapter per week, but at least 10,000 words.
or
2-3 chapters per week, each at least 2,000 to 3,000 words.
If you think Ayanokouji earns too many coins, let me know so I can fix that in the next chapter and give him fewer so he's not so overpowered…
I was planning that in the next chapter Ayanokouji would at least be able to put up a fight against Yoo Joonghyuk, who, if I recall correctly, by this point in the story had all his stats above level 20.
If you can also tell me what skills Ayanokouji could acquire at that stage of the story, I'll take them into account.
In the next chapter, there will be more action.
As always, I wish you all the best and hope everything goes well in your lives. Have a good time :D
This week, if I don't get a lot of work, I'll work on this more.