Chapter 2 : It Was a Relief to Be a Veteran Player

Chapter 2: It Was a Relief to Be a Veteran Player

“Crunch, crunch……!”

A monster shaped like a slug chewed on a human head as if it were a piece of cartilage.

A huge maw and rows of tightly packed teeth inside it.

And a body that looked about twice the size of an adult man’s made it far too massive to be considered a creature of Earth.

Yet Dohyeong found the monster’s appearance strangely familiar.

‘It looks exactly like a Giga Snail.’

He wondered if he had played games so much that he was seeing things.

A monster that appeared in the game he used to play.

The stench of blood spreading together with a decapitated corpse.

For a moment, the disconnect from reality made the world feel as though it were spinning.

Then his eyes met the creature’s two antenna-like eyeballs.

‘……!’

An alarm rang in his head.

At that instant, Dohyeong started running without even looking back.

‘Did I draw aggro?’

The Giga Snail that Dohyeong knew was one of the few aggressive monsters that lived around the beginner village.

If it had marked him as its next target, it was an extremely dangerous situation.

Clatter!

Dohyeong, who had sprinted until his breath reached his throat, rushed into a nearby convenience store.

“Welcome.”

Ignoring the part-timer’s greeting, Dohyeong pressed himself against the glass door and watched outside.

Once a Giga Snail drew aggro, it chased its target until death.

Because of that, it was also known as a newbie killer.

There was no way to shake off its pursuit with something like this.

……Of course, all of this reasoning was based on the assumption that the monster really was a Giga Snail.

And Dohyeong desperately hoped that assumption was wrong.

‘Please, please!’

However, the monster was chasing him while staring straight at him.

“Ah……!”

The path it had come through was smeared with slime, chunks of flesh from the tattooed man, and blood.

Without even a moment to catch his breath, Dohyeong locked the glass door.

First, he had to survive that monster.

Figuring out what the hell was going on would come after that.

“Weapon! I need a knife!”

Running around the store like a madman, Dohyeong found a kitchen knife.

Tug!

He hurriedly tried to tear off the packaging, but—

The plastic packaging meant to protect the sharp blade was sturdier than he expected.

In the end, he put more strength into it and forcibly crushed the plastic packaging.

Startled by his actions, the part-timer shouted.

“E-excuse me! You have to pay first, what are you doing ri—”

He felt sorry for her, but there was no time to explain the situation in detail.

No, there was no need to explain it at all.

Kwaaang!

The glass door shattered in one blow, and a Giga Snail with its maw smeared with blood appeared.

At its shocking appearance, the part-timer let out a scream.

Ignoring her screams, its antenna-like eyes swayed about as it searched for Dohyeong.

‘Stay calm. In Colossus, trash mobs like this go down in one hit. Right?’

He kept hypnotizing himself inwardly.

But the situation Dohyeong was facing was not a ‘game’ but a brutal ‘reality’.

And unlike the characters that flew around in the game, in reality Dohyeong was nothing more than an ordinary person.

“Guruk?”

“…….”

When he actually stood before the monster called the Giga Snail,

Dohyeong’s body stiffened, no different from the tattooed man.

Had it realized that Dohyeong was afraid of it?

The tip of the Giga Snail’s mouth curled upward.

Its maw split wide open.

Inside, blood-soaked chunks of flesh could be seen rapidly corroding.

‘Am I going to end up like that too? Seriously?’

At the moment of absolute crisis.

Dohyeong felt a strange sensation, as if his soul were being sucked out upward.

Is this really reality?

No, isn’t this just a dream?

As he stared blankly into the abyss-like maw—

He cut his palm on the blade he was gripping tightly.

“!”

The searing pain barely snapped Dohyeong back to his senses, and he threw himself forward.

Kwa-jik!

The Giga Snail snapped at empty air.

Crawling along the floor by instinct, Dohyeong toppled a display rack toward it.

Puh-eok!

Various small food items spilled down from the grocery shelf.

With trembling hands, Dohyeong tore off all the remaining plastic packaging from the kitchen knife.

‘Right, this isn’t a dream or a game. This is real reality.’

Thanks to the pain, Dohyeong was able to regain his composure.

But even so…….

Was there any way to break out of this hellish situation?

Wasn’t he the one who, on broadcasts, told newbies to avoid Giga Snails whenever possible and run away?

That was how close to impossible it was for a newbie to kill one.

As he cursed inwardly and staggered backward, a single packet of salt caught Dohyeong’s eye.

‘Salt……?’

In that instant, a conversation with another veteran player he had once partied with flashed through his mind.

[Want me to tell you a novel way to kill those Giga Snail bastards?]

The novel method spoken of by the man clad head to toe in dazzling golden armor was…….

[All you need is a handful of salt.]

[……Salt?]

Dohyeong wondered what kind of nonsense that was.

[Yeah, salt! A few days ago, I ran into them while camping alone, you know? I had a campfire going and was cooking, and those bastards kept hanging around and being a nuisance.]

[And then?]

[Ah, but they were so disgusting-looking that they killed my appetite. I guess I got irritated without realizing it that day, so I just grabbed the salt next to me and threw it, like bam! But the crazy thing was…….]

[…….]

[Kyah……! They melted like they’d been hit with basilisk poison.]

Dohyeong had listened to his story with one ear and let it slip out the other.

Of course, if one approached it scientifically, it wasn’t completely without basis.

Sprinkling salt on a snail causing an osmotic pressure reaction was common knowledge, after all.

However, using salt that was more expensive than gold in Colossus just to catch a single Giga Snail was nothing but wasteful.

And the biggest problem was how one was even supposed to sprinkle salt in a game.

He had thought the veteran was just spouting nonsense as usual.

……But now, when this wasn’t a game?

“…….”

Between life and death, there was always a choice.

And now was the time to make one.

Clenching his teeth tightly, Dohyeong threw the kitchen knife he was holding at the creature.

Thud!

The kitchen knife stabbed in firmly, but as if being absorbed, it slid smoothly into the creature’s body.

Without a moment to spare, Dohyeong picked up a packet of salt that had fallen to the floor and roughly tore open the packaging.

Tuduk!

Would this really work? He didn’t know.

Should he try to find another method even now? ……He didn’t know that either.

Everything was filled with uncertainty, but Dohyeong had to choose.

Angered by Dohyeong’s resistance, the Giga Snail turned its body.

It opened its maw wide once more.

“Kkeeeeeeek!”

The stench of blood and foul odor assaulted Dohyeong’s nose.

Unlike the tattooed man who had been eaten without even being able to resist, Dohyeong wanted to survive.

So he hurled the salt packet in his hand with all his strength.

Whoosh!

The salt packet was sucked straight into the creature’s maw.

Amid the extreme tension, it felt as though time itself had stopped.

What was truly fortunate was…….

“……Ggurung!?”

That the salt really did work, just as that veteran had said.

“Ggueeeel!!”

And that the effect was unbelievably good.

The moment the salt touched the creature, bubbles formed, and steam accompanied by a foul stench burst forth.

Pushiiiii!!

The Giga Snail began writhing in agony, its eyes bulging out.

Thud, thud!

As it thrashed about in pain, the inside of the convenience store turned into a complete mess.

After some time passed, the creature shrank to the point where its original form was unrecognizable.

Then, leaving behind only the kitchen knife Dohyeong had thrown and a single green stone of unknown origin, it vanished.

“Hoo, hoo!”

Just in case, Dohyeong, who had been tightly clutching another packet of salt, collapsed onto the floor.

That was how he survived.

.

.

.

Completely drained after the extreme tension, Dohyeong thought.

‘What just happened?’

Jin Dohyeong, 28 years old.

An ordinary Korean man who had graduated from an unremarkable four-year provincial university.

By sheer luck, he had been given a chance at an interview with a major corporation.

Of course, he hadn’t cared much even after blowing that opportunity spectacularly with a stupid answer.

After all, unlike other job seekers who had jumped into the employment market, he had invested more time into the game he loved.

But then again……?

Those hours he might have thought were wasted didn’t seem to have been entirely meaningless.

If not for that time, he would never have survived the situation just now.

‘Ah, right. The message.’

Dohyeong searched his pocket for his phone and checked the message again.

============================

……Before the real service, the reality patch, is officially implemented.

We would like to express our deep gratitude to Jin Dohyeong for sincerely enjoying and cherishing ‘Colossus’.

It is because of you that ‘Colossus’ was able to come this far.

For someone like you, we have prepared a ‘special gift’, so we hope you will continue to enjoy ‘Colossus’ safely.

p.s The gift I prepared will be granted when the tutorial begins. Until then, please follow the system’s guidance carefully.^^

-BUST DOWN-

============================

A message of thanks from the developer.

Normally, he would have been excited first about what this ‘special gift’ prepared just for him might be…….

But after having just gone through an unbelievable experience, Dohyeong couldn’t help but have many thoughts.

And then, before Dohyeong’s eyes, a hologram window like something he had only seen in games appeared.

Ding!

============================

From now on, Colossus’s real service, the reality patch, will begin.

============================

As if it wasn’t visible only to Dohyeong, the convenience store part-timer, her face drained of color, waved her hands through empty air.

“W-what is this?”

Ding!

============================

Before the tutorial proceeds, the survival zones will be activated first.

Players are requested to move to a nearby survival zone within the given time limit.

Any accidents that occur in other areas will be the responsibility of the player themselves.

Time limit : 2 hours

Currently nearest survival zone : Seogyo-dong Community Center

============================

Survival zone.

In Colossus, it was a term that referred to villages and the like.

In other words, it meant a safe zone.

And conversely, it meant that places like this convenience store and the streets were no longer safe.

Then what exactly did the ‘safety’ mentioned here mean safety from?

Kwaaaang!

As if answering that question, a powerful explosion rang out from somewhere.

“Kyaa! W-what in the world is happening……?”

“…….”

Leaving behind the part-timer’s shocked voice, Dohyeong struggled to his feet.

Beyond the shattered glass door, he could see a sky dyed red by the setting sun.

With a stiff, hardened expression, Dohyeong stepped outside the convenience store.

Outside…… it was utterly miserable, as if the end of the world had arrived.

Kugugugugu

The ground split open, and the sky tore apart.

Screams erupted everywhere.

People drenched in fear ran desperately to escape something.

“Save me!”

“M-monsters!”

Behind them, countless monsters he had only ever seen in games revealed themselves, letting out monstrous roars.

And among them were many individuals far stronger than the ‘Giga Snail’ Dohyeong had barely managed to deal with just moments ago.

The situation outside truly looked as if the apocalypse had come.

The world he had known no longer existed.