Five minutes had already passed since I tempted Darongi with fried chicken and sent him down.
'It's about time for him to come back…'
Five minutes became six minutes. I didn't see Darongi. Seven minutes, eight minutes, nine minutes, ten minutes.
'It's been a while since the escalator has been reactivated.'
[Escalator Going to the 2nd Floor]
An escalator going to the Main Field of D-Tower, the 2nd Floor. Can transport fifteen people at once.
Cooldown: 20 minutes
'Darongi can pull it off.'
If anyone could do it, it was that little squirrel. Even if I didn't go down there myself, Darongi would find it on his own. In this field, Darongi was at a far higher level than me. If he couldn't do it, then it was reasonable to assume I couldn't do it either.
I heard panting coming from somewhere. It was Darongi.
'Under my feet.'
I felt Darongi getting closer. It was faint, but I also sensed the energy of a mana crystal.
'But…'
It wasn't just Darongi. Several monsters I couldn't identify were fiercely pursuing him. According to the outline, they were probably Fanged Moles.
I heard a notice unrelated to what was happening below.
[A new person is entering the 1st Floor.]
[A new person is entering the 1st Floor.]
A group of people entered the D-Tower, exactly at the time when Darongi burst out of the ground.
"Mo-Monsters!"
"An-And there's a person!"
I swung Isabel.
Schwing!
The blade slashed through something.
[Critical hit!]
[Fanged Mole has been killed.]
[EXP acquired.]
They were around level 20 and called Fanged Moles. Besides their ability to move freely in the ground, they weren't very strong monsters. Their physical resilience was especially frail, so they were very easy to kill if you landed a hit on them with a weapon. Of course, that was if you could feel where they were jumping out in advance like I could.
The shocked crowd murmured.
"Whew, guess they weren't all that strong."
"Whoo, that scared me."
Someone came up to thank me.
"Thank you. You saved us."
A total of ten people entered the 1st floor, bringing with them an interesting story of what was happening outside the D-Tower.
* * *
The Gatekeeper Lee Sungcheol prided himself as someone with a pretty strong backbone. He did experience something scary just now, but he didn't give up.
He took his position in front of the door again.
[Using the innate ability Entry Blocking.]
There shouldn't be anyone left who could take down his innate ability, no one like the guy whose face he couldn't remember. Sungcheol was confident.
"If you want to get through, pay the toll!"
Not everyone was thinking the same thing. The crowd was divided into people who wanted to go inside the D-Tower and people who wanted to find a different way to survive outside.
"H-How much do we need to pay?"
"$300 a pop."
A few people who had $300 in cash rummaged around in their wallets and pulled out the money. Another few ran towards the dead, rifling around the bodies. They knew there were wallets somewhere on their bodies.
"I called dibs first!"
"You should fuck off when I'm being nice, yeah?"
People were at their most sensitive when their lives were endangered. Like bombs detonating at the slightest stimulation, two men verbally sparred over a single body, and one man swung his sword at the other.
"Fuck off when I'm being nice."
"You call this being nice?"
The two agitated men began to fight, and their fight spread steadily to their surroundings. Lee Sungcheol watched over it all with satisfaction.
'I've already earned $2000 in a single day.'
This class of his was really awesome. Before he became a Player, he earned $1400 a month. But now, he had just earned $2000 in one day.
He hummed unconsciously to himself. But just then, someone approached him, saying strange words he couldn't understand.
It was a foreigner.
"#^&%$#%!$#%^*#$."
It just sounded like alien speech to Lee Sungcheol. A previously transparent Intermediate Administrator showed themself.
"I will temporarily translate, fatass."
The Intermediate Administrator looked like a tree, a very short walking tree that could talk like a person.
'An Intermediate Administrator?'
That was an existence you had to be careful around. This one might look like a mere stunted tree on the outside, but an Intermediate Administrator taking off a Player's head with a single swipe of their finger was an everyday occurrence.
"Understood."
[The 'Translation System' has temporarily taken effect.]
[Uninhibited conversation is temporarily possible.]
The foreign man grinned.
"You. What's your name?"
Lee Sungcheol scowled. The man was speaking down to him right away. Was it because he was a foreigner? That made sense, some foreign countries apparently didn't have a system of formal and informal speech.
"It's Lee Sungcheol."
"Ah, that so?"
The man grinned again, then raised his fist.
"Wh-What are you—GAH!" Sungcheol screamed. It felt as if the sky were crumbling down on him.
'Ah…'
And then, there was no more pain.
'My finger…'
He couldn't move it. Even his innate ability, Entry Blocking, could not protect him.
'My body won't move…'
He was scared. It was like he was struck by a massive hammer. There was a sensation of passing out for the briefest moment, and it was hard for him to keep his eyes open.
Before he knew it, he was on the ground with no idea of how or when he got there.
He heard a voice.
"Figures, trash like this can't be Kim Hyukjin. Right, Wilson?"
"Killing out of the blue?"
"Am I in the wrong?"
"There's no right or wrong in Playing."
"That's right. What's important is whether it's fun or not."
"Still, it's best to refrain from killing in foreign servers. There are Guardians who dislike that."
The foreigner shrugged. "I just really couldn't help myself looking at this piece of trash."
They weren't an ordinary Player–Intermediate Administrator pair. Because in this beginner period, the vast majority of Players avoided interacting with Intermediate Administrators unless it was absolutely necessary.
"A guy named Kim Hyukjin is in here, yeah?" He snickered. "Can I kill him?"
"If you can. It'll prolly be hard."
"Well yeah, that's true. The [White Hunter] themself gave him a scenario quest. There should be a lot of good content to extract from him in the future. It'd be nice if he could fight well."
The stunted tree Intermediate Administrator named Wilson stared silently at his contracted partner, Vela.
'It'd be a relief if you didn't die.'
Vela probably wouldn't die—he was under the protection of the [White Hunter].
"Are you going in?" asked Wilson.
"Of course."
The Italian Player, Vela, went up to the D-Tower and immediately went inside.
* * *
A few minutes before Vela entered the D-Tower:
I turned away from the Players who had entered the 1st floor. Whether they came in by giving a lot of money to Lee Sungcheol or scrounged up the funds by looting bodies of the Players outside didn't matter to me. I was simply amused by Lee Sungcheol's persistence in committing misdeeds. No more, and no less.
'I've shown them that Fanged Moles show up here.'
I also showed them how to hunt them. Their continued survival was up to them now. I clearly warned them not to come in here, and they made their choice. They were all adults who had to take responsibility for their decisions, even if taking responsibility meant death.
I went up to the escalator, then turned to speak to the crowd.
"There will be more dangerous monsters on the 2nd floor."
There were a whopping four different types of monsters written in the outline.
Orc Warrior: 21 (D-Tower 2nd Floor)
Troll: 5 (D-Tower 2nd Floor)
Troll Soldier: 3 (D-Tower 2nd Floor)
Orc Archer: 5 (D-Tower 2nd Floor)
Monsters so strong that even the Wings guild had been unable to kill them. "The choice is up to you."
I was not their guardian. I wasn't duty-bound to protect them, and I didn't intend on doing that either. More Players would continue to come inside. I warned them, but not everyone was going to heed my warning. That meant I couldn't help every Player or save them.
"You can go to the 2nd floor, or stay on the 1st."
This, too, was their choice. Still, the 1st floor would be safer than the 2nd.
"If you wait on the 1st floor, I will clear the 2nd floor. This scenario will probably end with that."
To be more precise, it would end after I cleared the '3rd floor', the hidden stage that had a Grade 4 Exotic, a Black Troll. I gave them all the explanations and courtesy I could offer. The rest was up to them.
I walked forward.
[Move to the 2nd Floor?]
[Moving to the 2nd Floor.]
* * *
On the 2nd floor of the Gwanghwamun D-Tower Dungeon, I encountered new people. They were fighting with their backs to the escalator just five meters ahead of me.
'Twelve men.'
Men wearing silver armor.
'And one young girl.'
She looked to be in her late teens. I already knew her name—the Steel Mage, Kim Ahyun. A magician specialized in defense who went to war with her twelve 'Wings', her guild members.
'But…'
It was different from what I knew. Those knights… weren't Players.
[Phantom Knight - LVL 31]
A knight created by someone. Due to its lack of a body, it has considerable resilience against physical attacks. Its stats can range from a broad spectrum depending on the creator.
I saw twelve of these Phantom Knights.
'The Wings guild members… weren't human?'
Because they were donning silver helms and armor, you couldn't see their exact appearances. They just looked like people in full armor.
'If they're not human…'
Schwiiiip–!
Sensing that something sharp was flying my way, I tilted my neck to the side.
'An arrow?'
It was an Orc Archer.
'It's slow.'
I didn't know the full story, but the Wings guild made up of Phantom Knights was currently fighting Orc Archers while protecting a girl, Kim Ahyun.
'They're being pushed back a little because of the Troll Soldiers and Orc Archers.'
If I were to take care of the Troll Soldiers, the balance would crumble towards the Wings too much. Just getting rid of the Orc Archers should allow them to hold on well enough, long enough for me to go to the 3rd floor and successfully hunt the Black Troll.
'I'll just get rid of the Orc Archers.'
In front of me was a horde of Orc Archers and Orc Warriors, enemies that had seemed so challenging in the past. But that was in the past. Only a few months had passed, but they felt so easy now.
'I can clearly see the trajectory of the arrows.'
I could see them so precisely that large evasive maneuvers were wholly unnecessary. Just tilting my head a little and slightly turning my body was enough to dodge them.
Chwiik?
An Orc Archer stared at me, dumbfounded.
Chwiiiiik!
Four Orc Archers turned to face me, having decided that I was a priority target. The next moment, four arrows shot toward me. They appeared to be flying in slow motion.
'Like this.'
There was a very small gap between the arrows, their blind spot. I found and occupied that spot in advance.
I didn't dodge after seeing the arrows. I found a spot safe from them well before they were fired. The arrows would go right past.
'Except for this one.'
Whoosh!
I caught it.
My hand was numb, but it didn't hurt.
'Huh, turns out I can do that.'
I tried it because I could afford to do so, and it worked. I caught the arrow in my hand. Even with the shaft in my hand, I couldn't believe I was able to pull it off. As fascinating as it was, everything I tried just worked.
[Using the special skill Flash Step.]
I closed in—
"You should shoot your arrows properly."
—and plunged the arrow in my hand right into an Orc Archer's forehead.
Splurt!
The sharp arrowhead cut straight through the Orc Archer's head.
SQUEAAAL!
It screamed.
Another spate of arrows whizzed towards me. I raised the screaming Orc Archer a little. It was heavy, but I could lift it, and it made the perfect shield.
Splurt!
Arrows shot into the Orc Archer.
They weren't the only ones who could do long ranged attacks. I pulled out a dagger, a weapon I could use quite nimbly despite never having learned how.
'About seven meters away.'
The distance was well within my capacity. I hurled the dagger.
Spluuurt!
It went into an Orc Archer's eye. There were several daggers in my Inventory. I hurled another. After throwing three in quick succession, the Orc Archer slumped to the ground.
Then, it was time for the transcendent item Isabel. After slicing the throat of the hapless Orc Archer I had used as a shield, I immediately closed in and planted Isabel in the head of the one that had collapsed.
[Orc Archer has been killed.]
Both the EXP and items were unremarkable. But this experience made me keenly aware of something.
'I have… really grown.'
It felt so difficult in the past, but it felt like my growth was accelerating. This feeling of experiencing my own growth with my own body, this sense of achievement, the blood boiling up within me… it was nice. This thing called 'Playing' imparted an immense amount of pleasure to me.
'Then… will this work, too?'
Even though the reason boiled down to never having tried it, I had never used a bow before.
I picked up the Orc Archer's bow from the ground, aiming it at my last target. It, too, had its crosshairs set on me.
We were aiming at each other. I pulled the bowstring.
'Will I be able to hit it?'
Somehow… I had the feeling I could.
'This is…'
I had experienced this without really experiencing it. The process of aiming at something and firing was something I indirectly experienced through the Guardian Tower that was mentally linked to me.
'Ah.'
I was on the verge of enlightenment.
'Now.'
The trajectory of the arrow I was drawing appeared precisely in my head.
'My target is its forehead.'
That was my bullseye. I let go of the bowstring, and the arrow shot off, far faster than when it was fired by an Orc Archer.
'I can hit it.'
No, I would hit it.
Splurt!
The arrow plunged exactly through the Orc Archer's forehead.
'It really worked?'
[Critical hit!]
And I even hunted the Orc Archer with a single arrow. I landed a critical hit, dealing amplified damage.
Just then, I heard a notice.
[The 'Night of Shooting Stars' has begun to pay attention to you.]
[The 'Night of Shooting Stars' wishes to sponsor you.]
For a moment, I forgot that this was the 2nd floor, that Wings was fighting the Orc Warriors, and even the fact that I had to quickly move onto the 3rd floor.
'The Night… of Shooting Stars?'
A Guardian whose name I knew all too well had appeared.
It was hard for me to understand why they appeared right now, right here. Originally, he was supposed to make their appearance when the top 40% of the entire server's Players reached the mid-game. Why had a Guardian mankind classified as a 'Stage 2 Guardian' suddenly appeared?
Whether they were a Stage 1 Guardian or Stage 2 Guardian wasn't the important thing right now. The really important thing was the notice that came next.
The Night of Shooting Stars… gave me a quest.
____