Someone from the other side answered. “She uses that nickname. Have you guys met our leader?”
“Oh, gosh! We finally found her! Yes, we know her very well!”
“We will see if you guys are telling the truth when our leader comes. Wait here.”
The guy looked exhausted, as if he had just fought a long snowball fight. When he left, Seong-Il shouted at the group surrounding them, “It looks like we are on the same side, so let’s relax, guys.”
However, they didn’t let their guard down, as they had experienced Seon-Hu’s and Seong-Il’s power. Seong-Il shrugged and looked at Seon-Hu, but the latter wasn’t acting like someone who had finally found the person he had been looking for. Seong-Il didn’t think it was a big deal as Seon-Hu had always been emotionless.
After a long while, the guy who had left came back.
“I sent someone to the mainland, so we will wait in the village.”
“How long will it take?” Seon-Hu asked.
“Half a day.”
“Then, I would like to be treated to a feast. You guys still have leftovers from what you brought into this world, right?” Seon-Hu stated.
The man bristled. “I don’t think you understand your current situation, but you are…”
Seon-Hu interrupted brazenly, “You should know that this is an opportunity for you to leave a good impression on your leader. Again, I’m tired of food from the puddle. You better give me something better.”
The guy’s face contorted with anger. He then guided Seon-Hu and Seong-Il to the empty village where the spire that people had failed to conquer was standing. The town had once been the center stage of Act One, Stage Two. The buildings and ground were stained with blood and monsters’ body fluids.
However, Seong-Il didn’t even notice the gruesome scene as his entire attention was fixed on the food. He couldn’t stop himself from smacking his lips when he saw the tuna cans, and he even drank all the oil from them.
“A glass of soju would be perfect,” he sighed.
“Soju,” Seon-Hu said while looking at the entrance of the building behind him.
The man standing beside them replied in an annoyed tone. “Do you really think we have any? Stop talking nonsense!”
Seon-Hu ignored him and continued, “Bring some soup, too. Yeah, I’d like ramen. You guys definitely have ramen and soju.”
Seong-Il added, “Hey, we are your leader’s close friends. If you are going to treat us, then do it well. We won’t forget about this, so bring whatever you have.”
Thud!
The sound of the door slamming was quite loud, and the noise buried the voice of the man muttering a curse. Seong-Il yelled at the door that had already closed, “Four ramen, and lots of water!”
Seong-Il turned back to Seon-Hu as he had noticed something in the younger man’s attitude toward the other group.
“Do you think they are lying?” Seong-Il questioned.
Seon-Hu nodded briefly, because he knew they were trying to keep them occupied and stall for time.
“Just eat lots of good food in the meantime. We even have alcohol too,” Seon-Hu said.
“Really? They really have soju?” Seong-Il’s eyes brightened.
“They do.”
Seong-Il shook his head in amazement. “What the heck? Wow. I guess you really do have a better sense of smell after your Sense increased. I can’t believe that you figured it out. I should upgrade my Sense first, hehe. I love soju. By the way… Are you okay? If they don’t have Mary here, then we will have to fight another unnecessary battle.”
It would soon be determined whether Seon-Hu and Seong-Il’s hunch was right or not, but Seon-Hu was confident that their leader wasn’t Woo Yeon-Hee. The fact that this person was showing off her position in the World Awakened Association wasn’t something that Woo Yeon-Hee would do at all. However, a Korean woman who could unify a dozen districts into one powerful force would be helpful for them. There was a high chance that she belonged to Revolucion or Tomorrow, and recruiting her to his side had been Seon-Hu’s plan from the very beginning.
Soon after, the two satiated themselves with quality food and lay down on the ground. Seong-Il’s snoring filled the space as soon as Seon-Hu told him to take a nap, then he also dozed off immediately and opened his eyes a few hours later.
They are here.
He felt the presence of people coming out of the darkness, and their numbers were higher than he had expected. He stared momentarily at Seong-Il, who was clearly exhausted, then went out of the building alone.
The difference between each combat squad was evident. This was the time when the gap between rich and poor became as obvious as it was in the past. Those who had been prepared during Stage One’s Wave had monopolized the first and second rankings in Stage Two by forming an attack team. The captains and vice-captains who were sitting on their vehicles stood out more than the general combat crew.
The female leader in the frontline readily grabbed Seon-Hu’s attention as she showed up with her people like a triumphant general. Then, a black light flashed from her fingers while he was still a certain distance away from her. The object that had been summoned sped out as quickly as the light flashing from her rings. The summoned object was one of the ‘Twelve Stone Statues with Faces,’ which used to be the escort of the boss monster in Stage Two.
The stone statue took a huge step toward Seon-Hu as it received an order from the woman. However, the statue shattered into pieces as soon as it took a second step.
Thud!
The pieces hit the woman’s face, and she said in a hostile tone as she brushed the dust off her face, “You are strong. You must be from the World Awakened Association, right?”
***
Seon-Hu’s face turned stiff, as he was now certain that she was not from the World Awakened Association, Revolucion, or Tomorrow.
But she is…
Seon-Hu stared at the woman curiously. In addition to her C-class Ruler’s Ring, all her items were tailored to the C-class level. It was natural for a group’s leader to be armed to that extent if they had successfully completed Act One, Stage Two, but her Sense stat was beyond that point. When Seon-Hu had destroyed the monster she summoned, the woman’s gaze had been fixed on him in an attempt to stop him. This meant her Sense was at least at B-class. All the Awakened in the Stage of Advent were growing at a much faster rate than they had in the past as Seon-Hu had modified the compensation system, but her growth was phenomenal even when that was taken into account.
However, he couldn’t remember her from the past. He would have recognized her if she had been a famous Korean Awakened like Kang Woo-Seong. Therefore, there were two options. She was either someone strong who had died in the Stage of Advent in the past, or a newly emerged strong Awakened in this current timeline.
Seeeuk-
When the woman gestured, the rest of the combat squad quickly lined up around Seon-Hu. They were all nervous. Seon-Hu became more curious as he alternately looked at their faces and the woman. The incompetent combat squad he had encountered on the boundary was missing as their only role was to protect the outskirts of their territory. The five attack teams that the woman had accompanied were her real elites. Seon-Hu knew she had animosity toward him because she showed hostility when she mentioned the World Awakened Association and was extremely wary of him when he wasn’t even visibly armed at all.
“You must have fought against the members of the association, haven’t you?” Seon-Hu asked.
“Are you curious about your colleague?” she questioned back.
Seon-Hu shrugged. “He must be dead.”
She sneered. “There was no reason for me to keep him alive. Hohoho!”
***
Kyung-Ah had witnessed his transition as she had been with him from the beginning of Act One, Stage One. At first, she had no choice but to rely on him to survive, so she gave him her body. The guy regarded it as love, and she had once thought the same way.
However, he had gradually changed. It might have been because this hellish environment had turned him evil. Anyway, he hadn’t been like that at first, as he had a strong sense of justice and had difficulty sleeping whenever he killed others as he agonized over it.
Kyung-Ah had been grateful to stay beside such a dictator who had absolute power… until he became a demon. By then, he needed no reason to slaughter, and he began bullying people brutally when they made even the most minor mistake. He considered his actions as leadership.
Looking back, it was ridiculous. The man who had cared so much about leadership had died at the hands of his people and a lover whom he had put lots of effort into training. After comparing how happy people were when he died versus when they had conquered the spire, Kyung-Ah knew that he deserved to die. That was why everyone had strived with one goal in mind: to eliminate him in Stage Two!
However, the problem arose after completing Stage Two. There was something about Tomorrow, which was one of the two major organizations of the World Awakened Association. He had always told Kyung-Ah about these organizations whenever they slept together. He had told her that they had kept secrets for a long time as they had a strong fellowship. Therefore, Kyung-Ah was conscious of them when two hundred districts merged into one after Stage Two.
As she had expected, his bosses had come all the way to her territory. He had once said there were only three Koreans in Tomorrow: the executive guy from Mokpo, a regular member from Seoul, and he, a low-ranked member. The guy who spoke in dialect who was still in the building[1] was probably the one from Mokpo, and the other young guy a regular member.
“Hohoho…”
Kyung-Ah’s laugh faded away, and she asked while keeping a poker face, “What brought you here?”
Those in the association had developed their abilities before entering the stage, but they were still humans. Individual abilities could be outstanding, but they still had to kneel in front of a large number of people, just as their former leader did. In addition, there were more attackers from her side coming to help even at that moment.
Kyung-Ah said while pointing at the building with her chin, “You don’t need to wake up your boss?”
“Who’s the boss?” Seong-Il asked as he walked out.
Kyung-Ah admired Seong-Il’s energy and thought that he was indeed a Tomorrow executive as she looked at his strong breastplate. Even the items she had taken away after killing her lover didn’t emit such a light. It was her first time seeing such a piece of equipment, but it was definitely very high-rank.
“One. Two. Three. Four. Five… One hundred twenty-five people? There are so many of you.”
Kyung-Ah intuitively felt there would be a huge loss as soon as Seong-Il appeared. However, she thought that obtaining his breastplate would be worth a number of casualties. Tension was in the air.
Shoooooook-
The three people soared up at the same time. Seon-Hu rushed at Kyung-Ah, Kyung-Ah tried to avoid him, and Seong-Il threw himself following Seon-Hu. Kyung-Ah’s subordinates reacted a few seconds too late, so they were knocked out by Seong-Il’s blunt weapon. All of them fell from the air like leaves falling in the autumn wind.
Seong-Il landed on the ground and stared at Seon-Hu’s back, who was already far away from him. Seon-Hu eventually disappeared toward the outside of the boundary after he had snatched the leader of this force. Seong-Il looked around and scratched his head with the tip of his weapon.
“Oh gosh!”
People with bloodthirsty eyes were surrounding him.
Seong-Il sighed and muttered, “Boss, what should I do if you leave like that…”
Then, Seong-Il remarked to people around him with a tearful expression, “Sorry, boys, but would it be okay if we continue this when my boss comes back? I’m kinda chickening out.”
However, there was only one answer. One of the people screamed, “We should catch that boar first. Attack!”
Seong-Il cursed and got read, “Fuck you! Have you ever seen a boar who could talk? Do you want to be hit by a wild boar?”
***
“Let me go!”
Seon-Hu’s harsh grip reminded Kyung-Ah of her old lover’s touch. She couldn’t shake off Seon-Hu’s hand, just like how she hadn’t been able to pull off his violent hands. The insignias she had received from her squad had been rendered useless from the very beginning. Those with attack attributes didn’t work on Seon-Hu, although she didn’t know how that was possible… When she tried to leap with Teleportation insignia, it was blocked instantly.
“Why did you kill him?” he asked.
She hissed, “Is the reason important?”
Seon-Hu smirked. “Of course. I don’t accept just any Tom, Dick, or Harry on my team.”
“Fuck you,” she snarled.
“He must have deserved to die, correct?” Seon-Hu continued.
“He must have flattered you, but he was never like that with us!”
Seon-Hu had discovered in Kyung-Ah a quality that the Eight Evils and Eight Virtues had. She would definitely become one of them if he left her alone. She had not only succeeded in revolting against a pre-Awakened leader, but she had also conquered the spire in Stage Two without much difficulty. Her B-class Sense was clear evidence of her talent.
She screamed, “He was the most malicious demon to us! He forced us to do nasty things by saying he was in the World Awakened Association and that he would recruit us to the association later. He even told us that every disgusting thing we do is for humanity’s future!”
Seon-Hu shrugged. “I apologize for that. It’s impossible for me to know details about all my people.”
“All your people? There were only three of you,” she retorted.
Seon-Hu raised an eyebrow. “Three? Oh, he must have been in Tomorrow.”
Kyung-Ah’s eyes narrowed. She had heard that the two major organizations of the association didn’t interact much as their sense of rivalry was strong. Kyung-Ah thought to that extent and rubbed her throbbing wrist.
She hollered, “What are you? Are you in Revolucion? Who the hell are you?!”
He replied, “Guides.”
“Excuse my language, but are you fucking crazy?” she screeched.
Seon-Hu smirked, and his mind began wandering.
Just what is the reason for the existence of the pre-Awakened? If the System hadn’t been twisted by Doom Kaos’ intervention and if the Stage of Advent was actually a place for training the Awakened, the pre-Awakened could have been assigned as educators. Like guides. The Spirit could have acted as the principal and the pre-Awakened could have been teachers who could share their experience with good faith.
However, the new Awakened school had turned into a venue for survival competition after Doom Kaos had intervened. Seon-Hu wondered if the assassination quests and time limits set for each stage had actually existed in the original System.
I have to deal with those two first. If I have to, I’ll start with the assassination quest.
After Act One, Stage Two, a massive number of assassination quests had been sent to people, targeting others in different districts. Therefore, many areas had merged into one naturally after eliminating the war zones.
Seon-Hu stated, “There is a quest that needs to be done. There is no reward box, but it gives lots of points. At least five hundred thousand points.”
Kyung-Ah’s red lips slowly opened and closed.
“If you accumulate those points, you can even open a master box. Aren’t you curious?”
Kyung-Ah would have cursed with a cynical smile on any other occasions, but her opponent’s calm voice didn’t sound fake. Moreover, Seon-Hu had already proved his ability by monopolizing the first rewards in the spire!
“There are divine rewards in master and higher boxes,” Seon-Hu continued.
“…”
“Even if you get the same class of skill, they are totally different depending on the box.”
“I know,” Kyung-Ah’s tone had also calmed down like Seon-Hu’s.
“Then, do you know why I’m called Odin?” he asked.
She muttered, “That annoying name…”
Then, a message popped up in front of Kyung-Ah.
[Odin’s Wrath has been activated in you.]
Zing-
Streaks of lightning bounced off of both of Kyung-Ah’s hands. She realized that Seon-Hu’s buff flowing throughout her body was absolutely incomparable to the similar attack buff she had gotten from her subordinates. As the lightning streaks danced throughout her entire body, her heart pounded faster and her body moved up and down.
I can’t believe this…
The effect of this skill that she felt in her body was an overwhelming power that could rip apart anything. Kyung-Ah was fascinated, but scared at the same time.
How can such a power exist?