Chapter 42

3 …The scenario has just started. Are we already…? I thought back to the original novel, but I couldn’t remember if the invasion happened this early. There must be some unknown variable at work. The headlights turned off soon, and in the dark, we started hearing people’s voices. “Ah, looks like Chungmuro’s finally opened up.” “Ha… Took ’em long enough to clear that joke of a scenario.” “Hey, quiet. They’ll hear you. And don’t you know scenarios vary from station to station?” When I gave my people a signal with my eyes, they grabbed their weapons and got up. What was important in a battle was getting into a good position before the enemy did. I led the way, followed by Hyeonseong and Huiwon. Sangah was at the back of the group. Since Gilyeong was still sleeping, we left him alone. A few seconds passed. We saw four men and women walking toward us. I opened my mouth. “Stop right there.” “Huh? My, my.” The man was surprised and stopped in his tracks after seeing my sword pointing at them. I saw a shiny white motorcycle. I heard people pulling out their weapons in the dark, but the man’s voice cut them off. “Hang on. Let’s calm down.” “Put down your weapons and approach slowly.” The man obediently placed his weapon down on the ground and approached us with his hands in the air. When I saw his face in the light, my first impression of him wasn’t bad. He had a pleasant, easygoing vibe. His eyes narrowed when he smiled. “You can relax. We’re not here to fight you.” “Then…?” “Let me introduce myself first. I’m Ilhun Kang, vice leader of the Dongdaemun group.” Ilhun Kang? Doesn’t ring a bell off the top of my head. And he’s the vice leader of Dongdaemun…? This isn’t how things were supposed to pan out. [Exclusive skill “Character Profile” has been activated!] <Character Profile> Name: Ilhun Kang Age: 31 Sponsoring Constellation: Easygoing Gossiper Exclusive Skills: [Weapons Proficiency Lv.2], [Speech Lv.3], [Spread Rumors Lv.1] Stigma: [Incite Lv.1] Total Stats: [Stamina Lv.12], [Strength Lv.13], [Agility Lv.13], [Magic Power Lv.10] Summary: He could not reach his full potential due to an unfortunate choice of sponsoring constellation. But he should still be useful as a pawn. He spreads both truths and falsehoods indiscriminately, so caution is advised. A rumor expert, huh…? Was it already time for the likes of him to come into play? Ilhun looked at me a bit anxiously. “Then may I ask for a name…?” “I’m Dokja Kim.” “Ah, Dokja Kim, is it…?” Upon hearing my name, a look of confusion flashed across his face. But it was gone in a moment, replaced again by his easygoing smile. “Nice to meet you. You’re holding the flag, so you must be the leader of this station, right?” “That’s right.” Ilhun checked me out and thoroughly scanned all my companions. It looked like he was measuring up our combat power. He seemed to be a keen guy but picked the wrong opponent. “If you’re done sightseeing, why don’t you get to the point?” “Ha-ha. Excuse me. We had to make sure it was safe for us, too. Please understand.” He continued without missing a beat. “I’ll say it again—we’re not here to fight. We just came to make an offer.” I checked out Ilhun’s group. I didn’t see anyone holding a flag. “And why should I believe you?” “You saw the rules, didn’t you? If we wanted to fight you, we’d have to come with our leader. As you know, only the leader is able to plant the flag.” It was true. None of them seemed to have the flag, but… “What’s your offer?” “We propose an alliance.” Hearing the word alliance, the people on my side began to murmur uneasily. Ilhun continued in his signature affable tone. “You may not be aware because Chungmuro just opened up, but the fourth scenario has already been going on for two days.” “…Two days?” Sangah mumbled. Ilhun nodded. “Yes, the third scenario was different for each station, including the duration… Didn’t you know that?” We’d just finished the third scenario, so there was no way we could know. Chungmuro got a late start in the original novel, too. In other words, we were at a disadvantage in terms of intel. Ilhun’s alliance proposal was definitely a tempting offer at this point. We needed information, and they needed our power. The problem was what they were hiding. “I must say, it’s not easy to give you an answer right now. After all, we don’t know what you’re hiding from us.” “Hmm, I understand. You wouldn’t trust us if we suddenly asked you to join us with no preamble. In that case, I’ll reveal what we know first. Here’s the simple truth—Chungmuro Station isn’t our target.” “Why should I believe you?” “It doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not. Think about it. If we were targeting you, we’d have come here with our full force. After all, you would’ve been at your most vulnerable right after the station opened up.” That was quite persuasive. “But how do you know our target isn’t Dongdaemun?” “Ha-ha. We’re not worried about that. We already know which station is targeting us.” “Ah, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so let’s work together.’ Is that the gist of it?” “Yes. Isn’t it beneficial for both of us if we help each other?” Ilhun nodded. It was Sangah who spoke up while I kept quiet. “I have a question.” “Sure, what is it?” “…Why Chungmuro? If you’re from Dongdaemun, you could’ve allied with a number of other stations.” That was a good point. Ilhun looked a bit flustered. “That’s, uh… As I mentioned, Chungmuro just opened up. What I’m saying is…the, uh, other stations have already formed alliances. But we figured you hadn’t yet… Ha-ha. I’m asking this just in case… Did you already form an alliance with another station?” Hmm… “No, we didn’t.” Ilhun looked truly relieved. “Team up with us. You won’t regret it. You see, we’ve come up with a surefire strategy.” “A surefire strategy?” “Actually, our group knows a key secret about this scenario.” Ilhun smiled and concluded his pitch. “I’ll let you know the details if you form an alliance with us.” Shortly after, I exchanged opinions with Sangah, Hyeonseong, and Huiwon. “What should we do? Should we team up with them for now?” asked Sangah. “I’m against it. I don’t trust those people. Something about them rubs me the wrong way.” After Huiwon gave her opinion, Hyeonseong expressed his opposition. “But if they have information about this scenario, it might not be a bad idea to get to know them. Although they look suspicious like Huiwon said…” They all looked at me then. I shrugged. “Then first, let’s…” We called up Ilhun Kang and his group, who were looking over Chungmuro. “We’ll decide after meeting your leader.” “Oh, really? That’s great.” “Where’s your leader?” “He’s in Dongdaemun Station. If you don’t mind, we’ll escort you there…” “Let’s do that.” We hopped on their motorbikes with them. I took Hyeonseong, Sangah, and Huiwon and left Gilyeong with Pildu on purpose because he hadn’t woken up after using too much mental power for “Interspecies Communication.” Of course, I didn’t forget to order Pildu to protect him. “Then, let’s get going.” The engines roared to life and the motorbikes began to move. “By the way, Ilhun,” I said after about twenty seconds of riding. “Yes?” “Weren’t you told anything else about Chungmuro?” “Huh? What do you mean—?” “Say, about a really scary guy name Junghyeok Yu…” “Ha-ha. I don’t know what you’re talking ab—” With my signal, my companions jumped out of each bike’s backseat almost at the same time. “Sangah, now!” Sangah’s “Lashing Thread” stretched out and tied up the wheels of four bikes at once. The bikes lost balance and loudly collided into each other. Crash! “Aaack!” The Dongdaemun group members fell off their bikes screaming. Luckily, my team was safely dangling in midair while holding onto the threads Sangah attached to the ceiling. They were like a safety belt. What a great skill. If someone had told me her sponsoring constellation was Spider-Man, I’d have believed it. Ilhun Kang was covered in dust as he tumbled on the ground. “Wh-what do you think you’re doing?” “I should be asking you that.” I continued while looking down the tunnel. “You’ll need better stealth skills if you’re gonna ambush us.” I didn’t even have “Absolute Senses,” but I was able to catch them… After realizing something had gone wrong, Ilhun barked out a command. “Get ’em!” People who were hiding in the tunnel came out at once. I knew it. Their target was my flag. [Character Huiwon Jeong has activated “Time of Judgment”!] [Constellations of the absolute good alignment have approved the use of this skill.] [“Time of Judgment” has been activated.] “Huh? I was worried it might not work again… Is it just random?” Huiwon smiled as if she hadn’t expected this. “So hard to find certified bad guys.” Huiwon was running all over the tunnel. The only thing I could see were her “Demon Slaying” red eyes glowing. Someone cried out every time her shiny red blade moved. “Wh-what the…?!” “She’s crazy… Aaaack!” There were about ten people on the other side, but she cut them down with ease. It was great to see how much her abilities had leveled up since the hidden dungeon. I easily defeated Ilhun, as well, with my “White Star Weapon Aura.” I had fought Junghyeok a few hours ago so it was no sweat dealing with this small fry. “Dokja! Chungmuro is…!” I whipped around at Hyeonseong’s cry and saw that Chungmuro was in the middle of a battle as well. Some people must’ve attacked the station as soon as we left. I asked Sangah to tie up Ilhun, then ran straight to Chungmuro. A fierce battle was raging on the platform. But I decided to observe the situation first because there was something I needed to check. “Who the hell are they?” Dozens of Myeong-dong group members were using their weapons against my group. But the enemies’ weapons looked familiar when I looked closer. “Th-that’s the weapon Mr. Kim used to have!” It looked like the former Coalition members who had refused to join our group and left Chungmuro had already been killed by them. Drifters who didn’t belong to a group were little more than bags of coins for people like them. Among the enemies coming after us, the most noticeable one was a man who was wearing a red flag like a bandana. “We can deal with them later! Once we plant our flag, it’s over anyway!” There he is. Their leader.