Judgment Time (3)
By the next morning, a few changes had taken place at Geumho Station.
First, Han Myung-oh had disappeared.
He had started to fade from sight around the time the fighting began, and after the battle ended, he vanished without a trace. I had no way of knowing whether he had moved on to the next station or was still hiding somewhere in this one.
"Looks like he doesn't want to stick with us anymore. I never liked him in the first place. And it's not just him that's gone, either."
Jung Hee-won was right. After yesterday's fight, there were hardly any people left at Geumho Station.
Not because there weren't enough survivors—more people made it out alive than in any other episode of the original story.
Still, most of them left the station after last night's events. They must each have their reasons.
"...Do you think the people who stayed behind will be okay?"
Yoo Sang-ah asked as she glanced toward the remaining survivors.
Aside from myself, Yoo Sang-ah, Lee Hyun-sung, Lee Gil-young, and Jung Hee-won, there were only five others still at the station.
Jung Hee-won was the first to speak.
"Hey, you guys. Are you coming with us?"
Her offhand question caused a stir among the people. A young woman holding a child stepped forward as their representative.
"...We'll go separately. We still have some coins left."
Honestly, I was impressed that the mother and daughter had survived such a brutal battle. With that level of courage, they might be able to survive even without joining us.
Jung Hee-won seemed to think the same and nodded.
"Alright. Good luck out there."
As she turned away, relief washed over the faces of the people.
Their reaction wasn't strange. What happened yesterday had been traumatic, after all.
I understood. One of us had refused to show mercy, and another had ruthlessly slaughtered people—even if she had her reasons. To those people, Jung Hee-won and I might not look much different from the Ironbloods.
I nudged Lee Hyun-sung, who was standing blank-faced next to me.
"Hyun-sung?"
"Ah, yes!"
Startled, Lee Hyun-sung snapped out of his daze and turned to me. I had a good guess what he'd been thinking about.
He was probably wondering whether the woman standing here was really the same one who, in a frenzy, slaughtered the Ironbloods yesterday.
"Are you all set?"
"Yes! It's not perfect, but I've done what I could. I packed a plastic bottle for water, cold-weather gear, and a decent substitute for a mess kit..."
Soldiers really do come in handy at times like this.
"...That's everything. If there's anything else you need..."
I was about to say there wasn't, but then something came to mind.
"Oh, if you can find a portable power bank, that'd be great."
"A battery? What for...?"
His confusion was understandable. With no signal, smartphones were basically useless. I made something up.
"I have a use for it."
Hyun-sung said he'd look and began rummaging through the supplies left behind by the Ironbloods. Lee Gil-young and Yoo Sang-ah offered to help. Jung Hee-won turned to me and asked:
"Shall we go now?"
"We should."
There was no question like "Can I come with you?"—as if it was obvious she would. That's just how Jung Hee-won was. I didn't mind. The "Judgment of Annihilation" was someone even Yoo Joong-hyuk would want on his side.
"I've got a lot of questions."
"Not now."
"Wow, such a cold shoulder."
She chuckled and gave me a playful punch.
[You have received 1,500 coins from Character 'Jung Hee-won'.]
"What's this?"
"Just sharing. Felt bad taking it all myself. I gave some to the others too."
I quickly understood what she meant.
Yesterday, Jung Hee-won had taken out most of the Ironbloods on her own. Which meant those coins had belonged to them.
Still... I felt reluctant to accept it.
"I wouldn't have given any away if it were me."
She probably didn't know—I'd actually taken more coins than she had.
"I'm not you, am I?"
She gave my arm a few more playful punches, slung her backpack on, and started walking toward the tunnel.
"Wrap up and catch up. I'll go ahead and get things ready."
"Don't go too far ahead. Some parts are dangerous alone."
Waving dismissively, she walked off without a care.
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' appreciates your camaraderie.]
[The Constellation 'Black Flame Dragon of the Abyss' chuckles wickedly.]
I stared blankly at the messages floating in the air.
'You must've made a lot yesterday. Must be nice.'
No reply. I spoke again.
'Don't pretend you're not watching. I know you are.'
[Ah, hahaha... Busted?]
It was Bihyung's voice.
'How much did you make?'
[Um, well...]
I just stared silently into the air.
[Sigh, fine. You really don't let anything slide. Here.]
[Dokkaebi 'Bihyung' has given you 4,500 coins.]
I knew it.
That damned goblin.
[...The Constellations didn't use the regular sponsor system and sent the coins directly to me. I don't know why, but they asked me to deliver them later. Oh, and these messages too.]
A flood of messages exploded in front of me.
[The Constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Goats' is satisfied with your scenario.]
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' reluctantly accepts your decision.]
[The Constellation 'Shadowy Schemer' is pleased with your strategy.]
...
No wonder I hadn't received any sponsor messages yesterday.
Considering how intense things got, the number of coins I'd received at the time felt suspiciously low.
[Current Coin Balance: 23,050 C]
I'd spent a significant portion of my earnings last time on boosting stats, and yet I'd still accumulated a lot again.
Time to upgrade stats once more.
Since I couldn't open a stat window, I had to remember my levels by heart.
First off... stamina.
[Invested 1,200 coins into Stamina.]
[Stamina Lv.12 → Lv.15]
[Your physical durability has increased!]
Next, strength—especially since I had no passive attack skills.
[Invested 1,600 coins into Strength.]
[Strength Lv.11 → Lv.15]
[Power surges from your muscles!]
Agility—just enough to dodge well.
[Invested 400 coins into Agility.]
[Agility Lv.10 → Lv.11]
[You can now move more swiftly.]
I also needed Magic at 10 or higher to maintain White Purity Blade Art.
[Invested 1,200 coins into Magic.]
[Magic Lv.6 → Lv.10]
[A mystical energy permeates your soul.]
I could have invested even more, but I held back. I'd need a lot of coins once we reached Chungmuro.
Even just what I spent now totaled 4,400 coins...
They say it's hard to earn and easy to spend—it's true. If my base stats had been better, it wouldn't have cost this much.
Starting with a stamina of 1... Even "Extinction Law's" view count—or Lee Gil-young's stamina—was probably higher than that.
[Oh, I almost forgot... Two more scenario recommendations were added. You're amazing. At this rate, the channel might level up soon.]
'That's the plan.'
Since I couldn't receive support from the background forces like the other incarnations, I needed to gather even more coins.
The reason I hadn't seen the full benefit of my contract with Bihyung was because his channel was still small.
A "few" Constellations weren't enough. To gather coins efficiently, I needed a channel that would attract a "significant number" of Constellations.
Once we got to Chungmuro, the right environment would quickly fall into place.
"All set? Let's move. Didn't forget anything?"
The group, now gathered, nodded. From the tense looks on their faces, it seemed they'd all learned something from yesterday's ordeal.
Finally, our journey toward Chungmuro began.
A system message appeared around the time we had crossed about halfway over the railroad tracks leading toward Yaksu.
[The second main scenario has been activated.]
Category: Main
Difficulty: E
Clear Condition: Pass through the tunnel and meet the survivors at the first base area.
Time Limit: None
Reward: 500 coins
Failure: ???
Seeing the message, it finally felt real. Unlike the first main scenario, the second one introduced "major base areas."
Jung Heewon asked,
"Major base area? Where could that be referring to?"
There was no need to answer—another message floated into the air immediately.
[The next 'major base' is 'Chungmuro.']
"Chungmuro? That's not far. Just three more stations…"
Under normal circumstances, yes.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Mole crickets burrowed their way up from underground—over thirty of them. Jung Heewon's face hardened.
"…So we have to go through three stations of this."
Even without being asked, Lee Hyunseong stepped forward.
"I'll take the front."
With Baehuseong's support, Hyunseong's combined stats were now 37. He hadn't earned as many coins as I had, yet he was already catching up… As expected, high base stats give a big advantage.
If I had known it would come to this, I should've done some push-ups back in the day.
"I'll take the rear, hyung."
Lee Gilyoung still had low overall stats, but through consistent skill training, he had learned to use [Multi-species Communication] more flexibly.
"Let me help too."
Yoo Sangah restrained the mole crickets' movement using threads made of magic. Though her offensive power was weak, in terms of overall stats, she was probably on par with Jung Heewon.
Crash!
"There's a lot of them, but they're not much trouble after all."
As for Jung Heewon, there wasn't much need to mention her.
Although her overall stats were lower than Hyunseong's, her exclusive skill alone was overpowered.
The exclusive skill of the "Judge of Evil" — Hour of Judgment.
As long as the enemy in front of her had clearly committed injustice according to the constellations, Jung Heewon could not lose.
Slash— Whimper!
The last mole cricket collapsed to the floor. Hyunseong, who had been holding a shield, wiped his sweat.
"Phew… This is manageable, I think."
To be honest, the difficulty level wasn't something that should have been this easy.
Even if mole crickets had simple patterns, thirty of them were no joke.
Even I wouldn't be confident taking them all on without activating [Bookmark]. That's how strong our group had become.
We pushed forward through the tunnel for a while. Eventually, a new platform appeared in front of us.
"It's Yaksu Station. But… there's no one here? Wait, no. Not no one."
Yaksu Station was filled with corpses—both humans and mole crickets. Judging by the wounds, some hadn't been killed by the mole crickets, but by Yoo Joonghyuk.
"Let's keep going. Just two more stations left."
We continued forward.
Since the distance from Yaksu to Dongguk Univ. Station was less than 1km in a straight line, our plan was to push as far as possible.
Near Dongguk Univ. Station, we encountered another group of mole crickets and repelled them.
Though we had only moved about 2km in total, the constant fighting was exhausting, and our team's stamina was running low.
"Let's rest here for a bit."
"Phew… There's only one station left. Shouldn't we just push through?"
"No one knows if we'll be able to rest once we get there."
At my words, the others fell silent. In this world, monsters aren't the only danger.
I looked around briefly and spoke.
"Looks like the people here evacuated in a hurry. There might still be some supplies left."
"Oh, um…"
At the word supplies, Yoo Sangah hesitantly raised her hand. She and Jung Heewon made eye contact. They didn't exchange a word, but both nodded simultaneously. I stood there puzzled, and Heewon asked:
"Why? You want to know too, Dokja?"
Yoo Sangah turned pale.
"…Heewon?"
"Ahaha, just kidding. Of course we're not telling you."
…A secret between women, huh.
If they go that far to avoid telling me, not understanding would be weirder.
Even in a world like this, human bodily needs don't just stop.
Just then, Lee Hyunseong also spoke up.
"Ah, I'll go to the bathroom too while we rest."
At first, I wondered what he meant—going to the bathroom in a situation like this? But then I realized: with proper toilets still intact, why not use them?
That's why subways are convenient.
"I'll go too!"
Lee Gilyoung joined in. Watching the two walk side-by-side, they looked like affectionate brothers with a wide age gap.
Yoo Sangah turned to me.
"Will you stay here alone, Dokja?"
"I'm going to the surface for a bit."
"Huh? But if you go outside, won't there be poison fog… Are you sure you'll be okay?"
"I'll be quick."
Jung Heewon narrowed her eyes at my response.
"…Sounds suspicious. You're not sneaking off to eat something nice by yourself, are you?"
I looked at Heewon for a moment, then replied:
"It's a secret between men."
A little while later, I was standing in front of Exit 6 of Dongguk Univ. Station.
According to the intel I'd read in advance, this was the place…
[You have been exposed to toxic fog.]
As expected, even here the poison fog from the Toxic-Horn Rhinoceros had reached.
I hadn't bought [Lung of the Elrain Monkey] this time, so I needed to move fast.
Holding my breath, I ran up the escalator leading to Dongguk University.
Before long, I saw a statue shimmering with a bluish-gray light.
[A constellation in tattered robes watches your actions with anticipation.]
The statue depicted a Buddhist monk from the mid-Joseon dynasty. Despite its worn robe and large staff, the expression on the statue's face exuded a mysterious dignity.
I checked the name inscribed vertically on the pedestal.
惟政四溟大師像
Statue of Great Master Yujeong (Samyeong)
Good, this is the place. No sign that anyone else has been here yet…
I stood before the statue and pressed my palms together in prayer.
[The constellation in tattered robes is pleased with your actions.]
[You have received 100 coins in sponsorship.]
Without hesitation, I activated the [Blade of Conviction] using Baekcheong Energy Technique.
[The constellation in tattered robes is confused by your actions.]
And then—I struck the statue of Samyeong the Great Master.
[The constellation in tattered robes is horrified by your actions.]