Chapter 27

1 We followed Jihye into Chungmuro Station. Sangah glanced at the once-familiar platform that was now littered with pieces of the shattered screen doors. “…This place has seen better days.” As we stepped up to the platform of Line 3, I spotted a group of people sitting by the walls. [You have entered Chungmuro.] [The third main scenario is currently underway.] [Channel #GIR-8761 is on air.] [Channel #BIR-3642 is on air.] Starting from Chungmuro, the scenarios were much bigger in scale, and there would be more goblin channels streaming them. Bihyeong’s got his work cut out for him. A few middle-aged men waved their hands when they spotted Jihye Lee leading our group and walked toward us. “Oi, little samurai. Bringing in some newbies, eh?” “Yeah.” “Samurai”? He wouldn’t be calling her that if he knew who her sponsoring constellation is. “Ugh, you’ve been drinking again?” “Ha-ha-ha! What else is there to do when the whole world’s gone to shit?” They were sporting rounded bellies and friendly smiles like you’d expect to see from old men around your neighborhood. They seemed awfully relaxed, considering they were living through an apocalypse. Moreover, each of them had a weapon casually strapped to their waist like it was the most natural thing in the world. Not at all like the nervous survivors in Geumho Station. This is where the real game starts. “Anyway, you fellas came through Dongguk University tunnel? Impressive… You must have a ton of coins.” One of the men’s eyes fell on Sangah. “Hey, miss. What’s your name? I can give you a good deal on a room. Interested?” “…A room?” “Ha-ha, guess you don’t know how things work around here, huh? Listen—” Jihye cut him off. “Stop harassing the newbies and get back up there…” “Aw, c’mon. They should know, too. It’s all for their own surv—” “…unless you wanna die.” They turned pale when Jihye pulled out her sword. “Kids these days…” “Hey, Mr. Kang, let’s just go.” The men walked away, glancing back at us reluctantly. Jihye waited until they disappeared into the hallway leading to Line 4, then sheathed her sword. “There. I brought you here, so you’re on your own. I’m done being your nanny.” This brat. Where’d she learn to talk like that? I looked around for a bit. Chungmuro was the stage for the third main scenario. This place had different rules than what we’d seen so far. “G-get away! If you come any closer, I’ll kill you all…” The voice came from a man standing near the center of the Line 3 platform. He was holding a knife and glaring at the people nearby threateningly. Beneath his feet was a tile roughly three square meters in size. It was emitting a faint green glow. “What’s wrong with him?” Sangah asked. “I’m not sure.” Actually, I could guess what was going on, but there was no need to make my companions worry at this point. There were a few others like him sitting on the ground throughout the platform. Unlike the middle-aged men from earlier, they looked exhausted and full of despair. I quickly scanned them, then turned to Jihye. “Junghyeok Yu is here, too, isn’t he?” Jihye had begun to walk away, but she whipped around at the sound of Junghyeok Yu’s name. She stared at me warily. “…Who are you?” Looks like Junghyeok’s already turned her to the dark side. I understood why he’d do that, though. God of Naval Warfare was one of the top constellations in all of Korea. If I were Junghyeok, I’d also have sought her out as soon as I’d arrived at Chungmuro. “I’m Junghyeok Yu’s ally who survived.” “His ally? That can’t be true.” She looked like she didn’t believe me at all. I shrugged. “He’ll understand if you tell him I said that. Where is he?” “…Master isn’t here.” “Really? That’s no good. There’s something I really need to tell him.” She frowned and glared at me for a bit. Then she made a face like she was betrayed. Ah, I see how she thinks of Junghyeok. And she’s already referring to him as “Master”…? I didn’t want to lose the general to him like this… Jihye called out to a boy who was dozing off in a corner. “Hey, you!” “Y-yes!” “Keep an eye on these people! I’m gonna go see Master.” The boy looked at us in bewilderment. “Who are they?” “Dunno. Says he’s Master’s friend!” At Jihye’s words, everyone on the platform turned their heads. Half of them looked at us curiously, while the other half stared at us in awe. “…You’re Mr. Yu’s friend?” The boy quickly ran over to gawk at me. He seemed to be around Jihye’s age. “Are you really a friend of Mr. Yu’s?” No one would be able to lie to those sparkling puppy-dog eyes. Well, no normal person anyway. “Yes, I’m his best friend.” Lately, I was realizing more and more that I wasn’t a normal person. Not here, at least. While Sangah was taking care of the unconscious Huiwon, the boy told me about Chungmuro. Along with Jihye, he was one of the few followers of Junghyeok Yu. “…And that’s how we ended up following Mr. Yu. Um, are you listening?” “Yes.” Of course, I was hardly paying attention. I couldn’t care less about that psychopath Junghyeok Yu’s heroics. I summarized: “Junghyeok Yu arrived here three days ago and saved a few people, including Jihye, from a bunch of monsters. Something like that, right?” The boy was shocked by my radically abridged version of what must have been a heart-pounding adventure for him. “Um, I think there’s a bit more to the story than that…” It seemed this boy was already in Junghyeok’s fan club. I guess it would be strange not to revere a figure who appeared out of nowhere to save you with overwhelming strength. But I bet he didn’t know—he wasn’t saved because of Junghyeok Yu’s kindness. He just happened to be with Jihye Lee when the Regressor found them. While I was lost in thought, Hyeonseong spoke up in a polite tone. “Excuse me, but I’m curious about a few things. Can I ask you some questions?” “Yes, go ahead.” “How is the food being supplied around here?” “Well, it’s a bit embarrassing to say ‘supplied,’ but…we’re relying on Jihye for food. She hunts monsters, then asks Mr. Yu to cook the meat…” Hyeonseong took out a notepad and dutifully began to write something down. When did he make a checklist? As they say, you can take the man out of the army, but you can’t take the army out of the man. “What about drinking water?” “We get it from the Landlord Coalition upstairs in exchange for coins or food.” “…The Landlord Coalition?” I immediately sat up straight. It seemed like the story was about to become more interesting. The boy hesitated for a bit before continuing. “Before all this happened, there was a handful of landowners who controlled the real estate in Chungmuro. They’ve occupied the area upstairs, and we call them the Landlord Coalition.” The Chungmuro Landlord Coalition. This group appeared in TWSA as well. “What kind of people are they?” “Um, I don’t know how to say this…” There was no need to ask the boy. If I wasn’t mistaken, their leader, one of the “Ten Evils,” had Chungmuro under his thumb. “They are just landlords.” The boy replied with a sigh. In a sense, he was right. They were landlords. They rented out space for payment. Just then, Gilyeong, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke up. “Uh, Dokja?” “Yeah?” “I need to go to the restroom.” “Now?” “Yes.” The timing seemed weird. Besides, Gilyeong had never talked to me about something like that, so I was a bit taken aback. Sangah was standing next to Gilyeong, a light blush on her face. “…Uh, can I go, too?” I suddenly remembered Sangah and Huiwon going off to look for essential supplies back in Yaksu Station. I figured out what was going on. Gilyeong was awfully sharp for his age. Hearing this exchange, the boy who was gushing about Junghyeok Yu spoke up. “The restrooms are on level B2. But it won’t be easy to access them.” “Why not? Is there a problem?” “Hmm, it’d be better to see for yourselves… I was about to go up there, too. Would you like to come with me?” “Sure. Let’s go.” That was what I told him, but of course, it wasn’t because I had to go to the restroom. I wanted to check a few things upstairs. Junghyeok Yu’s recent actions were a bit different from how he acted in his third loop. I had to find out more about this disparity. I carried the still-unconscious Huiwon on my back as we ventured up to level B3. “Oh? It’s the newbies from earlier. Looking for a ‘room’?” The middle-aged men who were standing near the escalator whistled at us. The boy shook his head. “Sorry, we’re just going to the restrooms upstairs…” “Aw, that’s a shame. Well, take care.” They said that, but didn’t seem disappointed at all. Sangah watched them walk away, then tilted her head. “Um…they keep saying something about a ‘room.’ What does it mean? Something tells me they’re not talking about apartment units available for rent.” “What they mean is…that.” Where the boy pointed was a square tile. It was the same tile I’d seen downstairs, roughly three square meters in size with a green glow. There was something written in the empty air above it. [Green Zone 0/1] “They’re designated as ‘Green Zones’ in the scenario, but the people here call them ‘rooms.’” Nearby, two men were grappling with each other. They seemed to be fighting over the glowing tile. This time, it was Hyeonseong who asked. “What is it? Why are those two fighting?” The boy seemed to hesitate, as if his life would be in danger if he told us. “You’ll see soon enough once we get to level B2.” We saw more similar fights on our way up. Each “room” had a number written on it: from “0/1” for the smallest one up to “0/7” for the largest. I surmised that the second part stood for the maximum occupancy of each room. “Levels B1 through B3 are all under the control of the Landlord Coalition?” I asked the boy as I carefully scanned the area. “Yes. There are a few other small groups, but the Coalition owns the vast majority of the rooms.” Most of Chungmuro’s infrastructure was on levels B1 and B2, so the landlords essentially had all the power. “And Junghyeok Yu hasn’t done anything about it? Didn’t you say he saved everyone?” “Well…” The boy’s expression darkened. His lips twitched a few times before he managed to croak out, “He only said that we should stand on our own feet…” I could picture it. That sounded like something the Junghyeok Yu I knew would say. I was sure he never told these people to follow him. They were mesmerized by his overwhelming power and chose to place their hopes on him, all on their own. Soon, we arrived at level B2. The boy seemed nervous. “We need to be careful from now on.” There were far more rooms here than on the floors below. But there was no one trying to sell them to us like the old men from before, only the people who were jealously guarding their rooms, glaring at us threateningly if we got close. [Green Zone 7/7] We passed them by and headed straight to the restrooms. “Um…why are all these people standing here?” We stopped in the last bit of the hallway leading to the restrooms. A bottleneck had formed due to the dozens of people who were gathered here. “Let’s keep going,” I told my group as I tried to push the crowd aside. “Mr. Pildu! Please let me back in! I’ll never do it again!” “Please, I beg you! Let me stay just one more night! I’ll pay back the coins, even if I have to borrow them from somewhere.” People at the front of the group were quite heated. “Hey, you. Stand back. I said, back.” On the other side, people who looked like they were with the Landlord Coalition were standing in formation, brandishing their weapons. I instinctively knew… One of the Ten Evils must be here. I searched for him based on the description from the novel, but it wasn’t easy because they all looked similar. Do people start looking like that once they own real estate? I felt something squirm near my leg, and then a head poked out. It was Gilyeong. I sensed that things could get dangerous, so I was about to grab his shoulder, but somebody pushed him. “Ack.” Gilyeong lost his balance and fell to the ground on his hands. [Incarnation Gilyeong Lee has trespassed on private property.] The place suddenly got quiet, and a few Landlord Coalition members spotted Gilyeong. “Who the hell are you, brat?” At the same time, the crowd screamed and scrambled to move away. “Shit!” “G-get back! Hurry!” People who had gathered around moved back as if they had seen something horrible. Once the crowd cleared out, I could see a glowing red line on the floor. A man looked back and forth between the line and Gilyeong. “Hmm, are you lost, kid? Do you know where this is?” “Isn’t the restroom this way?” “Restroom? Ha-ha, it used to be. Anyway, you little shit, where are your parents?” “…Pardon?” “Didn’t they teach you not to trespass on other people’s land?” “Other people’s land,” huh? I see what’s going on here. The man made an ominous face and patted Gilyeong’s head. “Guess you don’t know. Then I’ll teach you now.” [Character Pildu Gong’s stigma “Militarized Zone” Lv.3 has been activated.] Suddenly, there was the sound of whirring machinery, and mini turrets that looked like Gatling guns rose up from the ground. [Character Pildu Gong demands 500 coins as a fine for trespassing on his property.] [If you fail to meet his demands, all turrets in the vicinity will fire immediately.] “Pay up,” the man demanded. All the loaded turrets were aimed at Gilyeong. The boy staggered back and clutched my legs in a panic. The man spotted me and grinned. “Ah, you must be his guardian. In that case, you should pay the five hundred coins, right?” I looked at his outstretched hand and smiled. …Very funny, Junghyeok Yu. You’re letting these scum roam free, huh?