There were exactly five grooves in the crystal. Yoo Jonghyuk and I were well aware of what to place there.
Yoo Jonghyuk stood next to me and said, "You came."
"Yes. Unfortunately."
"It doesn"t matter if you sit this one out." I turned towards Yoo Jonghyuk at the unexpected words. This guy was still talking without looking at me. "You have a woman you love."
"...What?"
"It"ll be hard."
It felt like I understood something that couldn"t be resolved. Perhaps he didn"t want to take me to the scenario out of care towards me? It was ridiculous. Yoo Jonghyuk?
"It could be the last time."
I shook my head. It wasn"t necessarily impossible when I thought about it. Yoo Jonghyuk had lost Lee Seolhwa in the second regression. It wasn"t an exaggeration to say that Yoo Jonghyuk was arguably the world"s greatest authority when it came to losing a loved one.
I told him, "It"s not like that. Do you think my face is full of love?"
I didn"t mean it but the words sounded like self-deprecation. Let me say this first. I have a decent face.
Yoo Jonghyuk stared at me quietly and said, "Certainly, I don"t care if you die."
s.h.i.+t.
"Your words are too harsh. I"m hurt."
"Don"t forget I still have one hit left."
"...Ah, yes. I had almost forgotten. Thanks for reminding me."
I didn"t know if this b.a.s.t.a.r.d wanted me to live or to die. I communicated directly to my companions through the group chat.
-I will inform you of the precautions now.
Using the group chat meant that things should be kept secret. The party members focused on my story while pretending to be quiet.
-The warp crystal transports two people together. That"s why we will move in pairs, like I mentioned before.
-Yoosung will be with me as team 1, Heewon-ssi and Hyunsung-ssi will be team 2, Yoo Sangah-ssi and No. 406 will be team 3. Gilyoung doesn"t have a partner so he will go with Yoo Jonghyuk"s group. That Yoo Jonghyuk... he can take care of himself.
-You might become dizzy when moving through the crystal. Please don"t panic. The scenario will start as soon as you arrive. Keep in mind that once the scenario contents open...
I was rapidly pouring out words when the dokkaebi appeared on top of the warp crystal.
[Wait a minute. I"m really sorry but I have an emergency announcement.]
Emergency announcement?
[I forgot to mention that the number of people who can partic.i.p.ate from Seoul Dome is 8, not 10.]
"What are you suddenly saying?"
All the partic.i.p.ants were fixed...
Looking closer, this was the dokkaebi who asked me about how to update the scenario in the Underworld. Was he called Youngki?
[This scenario... there are those who have already gone to the sixth scenario due to the dimension warping in the fifth scenario becoming twisted.]
"...There are already people?"
[Yes, Seoul Dome already has two people in the scenario.]
That reminded me, Han Sooyoung and Gong Pildu were already in the scenario. I saw them on the screen in the Underworld but had forgotten for a moment.
By the way, part of the dimension warped. It seemed that the intermediate dokkaebi had intervened quite a bit in the scenario to kill me.
[It might be a scenario error but I am removing two of the existing spots for fairness.]
"What? You can"t do that! Then who the h.e.l.l is going?"
The people who weren"t even going were the most upset. The party members looked at me with troubled expressions. Even Yoo Jonghyuk was watching me. It was an expression that told me to make the decisions. d.a.m.n...
Unexpectedly, the first one to raise her hand was Yoo Sangah. "I"ll stay back."
She noticed my difficulty and decided to be considerate first. I had to take that grandmother, even if I lost Yoo Sangah.
Next it was Jung Heewon who raised her hand. "I will also stay back. Isn"t there a secondary allocation anyway?"
"Is it okay?"
"Dokjssi looks worried today but don"t you know? This time that scary person is on the same side."
Certainly, it was rea.s.suring if Jung Heewon and Yoo Sangah were left behind. They would be able to make it into the second allocation, even if there was a lot of compet.i.tion.
In the end, the two people dropped out and Lee Hyunsung paired up with the grandmother. The grandmother looked somewhat happy.
Just before we left, I whispered to Yoo Sangah. "I forgot to say this but tell the King of Wanderers to be wary of Jeon Ildo. I think you already know why."
Yoo Sangah nodded and hesitated before whispering to me. "Don"t die."
I nodded. Then Jung Heewon asked, "...Aren"t you departing now? I"m not a constellation but they must be impatient."
Yoo Sangah blushed and retreated while my party and I approached the warp crystal. I pulled out everything that I acquired from the disasters.
The Protection Symbol of the Imyuntar.
Protection Symbol of the Parasites.
The Protection Symbol of the Jen.o.bel.
Then Yoo Jonghyuk and No. 406 pulled out one each. They were protection symbols obtained from defeating the Disaster of Ice and Disaster of Water.
[Insert the five protection symbols.]
The message flowed from the Warp Crystal and we placed them in the grooves.
There were five protection symbols. It was proof that this world was protected from the disasters. Only those who survived the disasters were qualified to go to other worlds.
[The qualifications are complete.]
[The Warp Crystal is activated.]
The crystal split into four pieces and a blue coloured door was created. We entered in pairs. s.h.i.+n Yoosung and I held each other firmly and moved through the door.
[The main scenario has been updated.]
***
I opened my eyes and s.h.i.+n Yoosung and I were in a green forest. We stumbled and felt the clay texture of the soil. I was dizzy enough to vomit. I told the party members not to panic but it was funny that I was the only feeling dizzy.
I looked around and saw that s.h.i.+n Yoosung was in the midst of vomiting. "Are you okay?"
"Urgh..."
I patted s.h.i.+n Yoosung"s back and looked around. My mind was confused but I couldn"t stay in this chaotic state. I looked in front of me, behind me and to the side. Only the forest was visible.
We were in the middle of the forest. It was a scenery that was too similar to Earth.
[The main scenario "Abandoned World" has begun.]
The scenario message rose straight away. However, I couldn"t afford to check the details of the main scenario right now. I could already feel killing intent from the nearby bushes.
"Yoosung."
s.h.i.+n Yoosung came to her senses and raised her head. Rustling sounds came from the bushes. This was one of the places where new scenario entrants were warped to. If I a.s.sumed the worst, those in the bushes were the incarnations of other countries that arrived in advance.
I nervously prepared to use the Bookmark skill. Maybe those who warped to this world were the elite among the elites. If I didn"t do my best in the beginning, my head could fly in the blink of an eye.
However, the thing that emerged from the bushes wasn"t what I expected.
[The 7th grade monster "steel wolf" has appeared.]
The same expression appeared on s.h.i.+n Yoosung"s face when I heard she was a 7th grade monster. It was funny. We were probably the only ones who would be relieved by this message.
"I think they are quite small Ajuss.h.i.+."
Given the fact that typical monsters were the size of a house, the current steel wolves were the size of ordinary wolves. There were approximately 10 of them. It wasn"t a difficult number to deal with.
[The character "s.h.i.+n Yoosung" has used "Advanced Diverse Communication Lv. 3."]
s.h.i.+n Yoosung used Advanced Diverse Communication to make the monsters fight each other. Those s.h.i.+n Yoosung failed to tame were killed by the Blade of Faith. The 7th grade monsters were unbelievably fragile. It seemed that their strength was reduced as their size became smaller.
s.h.i.+n Yoosong wondered, "...Uh? There are no coins?"
"The event is over."
"There aren"t even any items. There are no cores."
"There is a lot of difference in stats."
"Are they really 7th grade monsters? They seem more like 9th grade..."
s.h.i.+n Yoosung looked a bit lost. It was probably because the first monsters she met after being so tense were weak.
That reminded me, the condition of the forest was a bit strange. This type of forest would normally have trees that rose far above my head. However, these trees were only a little bit taller than my head.
The contents of the scenario were still a mystery. There was only the t.i.tle "Abandoned World" while everything else were still filled with question marks.
[The scenario activation conditions haven"t been met yet.
I jumped up a bit and looked around. Fortunately, the height of the trees were low so I could see the scenery of the surrounding area just by jumping lightly.
"It isn"t all a forest. Let"s go over there."
In fact, I knew what to expect if I left this zone. We moved along a forest path. Not long afterwards, the forest ended and a plains appeared. On the plains...
"...Ahjussi?"
We faced a group of soldiers.
"They appeared! It really is a scenario!" Someone shouted at us. It sounded like Korean, even if it was an alien language.
The confused s.h.i.+n Yoosung stepped towards me.
Hundreds of troops were filling the vast plains. There were dozens of cavalry and hundreds of archers. In addition, there were hundreds of infantry. There were enough people for a war waiting for us here.
"Everybody prepare their skills!"
"Prepare to advance!"
Numerous people pointed spears and lances at us. We didn"t do anything but were seen as enemies.
"Attack―!"
It would obviously be an overwhelming sight if it was normal. If only it wasn"t for their size.
"Waaaaahhhhh!" The troops running across the plaints were small people the size of my fist.
s.h.i.+n Yoosung cried out, "The people are very small!"
"They are the inhabitants of this place."
"Surely we don"t have to fight them? No?" s.h.i.+n Yoosung stepped away from the small people who were running. "...I feel sorry because they are so small."
[You have met with the people of this world. Check the scenario contents.]
Then a scream came from the distance.
"A disaster has appeared on the other side!"
"Kuaaack!"
"R-Run away! Full retreat!"
The small people rus.h.i.+ng towards us started running away. It was due to the incarnations killing the small people in the distance.
"Hahahahat!"
"What is this? It is a really easy scenario!"
It was probably a foreign language being interpreted. There were two samurai wielding swords. They were j.a.panese. They were playful as they casually cut down the small people like bugs.
s.h.i.+n Yoosung watched the ruthless butchery and cried out in a stricken voice. "...Ahjussi? What is this scenario? What should we do?"
I knew why Yoo Jonghyuk didn"t want to bring s.h.i.+n Yoosung. If I thought about it, he might be more humane than me.
"It isn"t just our planet that runs scenarios in the Star Stream." I pointed to the small people fleeing the plains. "This scenario is a scenario that we share with them."
[Many of the constellations are hungry for violence and blood.]
[A significant number of constellations are urging you to make a bold choice.
[The main scenario is activated.]
+
[Main Scenario # 6 - Abandoned World]
Category: Main
Difficulty: S
Clear Conditions: Wipe out all dominant species on the No. 9871 planetary system, the planet called Peace Land.
Time Limit: 40 days
Compensation: 200,000 coins, ???
Failure: ―
+
In the sixth scenario, we no longer had the role of preventing a disaster.
[You have become a disaster of the planet Peace Land.]
In this place, we must be disasters that destroyed this world.