Chapter 5 : An Odd One Discovered (2)

Chapter 5: An Odd One Discovered (2)

After the Colossus patch, most people were busy denying reality or running away.

Only a small minority properly faced the situation and moved to survive.

Of course, something like professionally hunting monsters for the sake of the First Hunt achievement, like Dohyeong did, was unprecedented.

……However, there was another person who was doing something unprecedented through eccentric behavior different from Dohyeong’s.

Grrrk……!

A blood-clotted groan rang in Dohyeong’s ears.

Thud, thud…!

The sound of flesh being stabbed with a sharp tool rang out rhythmically.

A man with Jesus-like hair wildly swinging a crude blade.

“Hop Goblin’s machete….”

The First Hunt achievement reward that Dohyeong failed to obtain was in that man’s hands.

He calmly checked the identity of what was pinned beneath him.

“Keek, keugh……!”

Fortunately, it wasn’t a human.

Four level 2 monster goblins, their entire bodies butchered, were rolling around on the ground.

“……”

It seemed the Jesus-haired man and the goblin group had engaged in a blood-splattering battle.

It was the first time he had seen someone like that.

For a moment, he suspected that the man might be a Colossus veteran like himself, but…….

‘No matter what, he can’t be one of the five I know.’

If he were one of them, the moment he coincidentally killed a Hop Goblin and obtained the machete,

he would have noticed that the First Hunt achievement had been reset.

If that were the case, he wouldn’t have risked his life against mere goblins during such a golden window of time.

‘Either way, he’s not a normal person.’

Before the tutorial even started—when there wasn’t even a level, let alone skills—someone killed a level 4 Hop Goblin?

And after that, he fought a bloody battle with a goblin group?

‘He’s a monster.’

From the moment he willingly entered the barrier, he was already far removed from the ordinary.

Swallowing his saliva, Dohyeong repeatedly scanned his surroundings and fell into thought.

‘First…….’

The goblins rolling on the ground were four, but around them there were still five goblins and one Hop Goblin glaring at him, repeatedly slamming against the transparent wall.

The man exhaled excited breaths as he looked at them.

Step, step.

As if the inhuman monsters weren’t scary at all, he slowly walked while dragging the machete that had smashed goblin heads.

While Dohyeong secretly watched, the man crushed two goblins in an instant.

Dohyeong finally turned his body to escape the area.

‘There’s nothing good that’ll come from running into him right now.’

When he first heard the screams, he had come thinking he would help if it was a monster of level 6 or below.

But faced with an unexpected scene, he had no choice but to turn back the way he came.

Tat!

A man radiating such monstrous presence even before the tutorial—there was no telling how strong he would become once the game properly began.

However, there was nothing Dohyeong could do about him right now.

If he stacked himself with First Hunt achievement bonus equipment, he might have been able to deal with that monstrous man.

But turning a spear blade toward a person was something that provoked considerable revulsion.

‘Unless it’s truly unavoidable, that is…….’

Moreover, no one knew whether that man would become an enemy or an ally in the future.

For now, the best course was simply to do what he could, and what he had to do.

‘First, I’ll go to the Seogyo-dong Community Center.’

The level 6 and below monsters in the surrounding area had already been wiped out by Dohyeong’s hands.

With the two-hour time limit also running out, there was only one destination.

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The street Dohyeong quietly left behind.

After butchering even the last goblin, the man, Jegal Geon, looked up at the sky and ran a blood-soaked hand through his hair.

“Whew…….”

His entire body creaked, and his muscles screamed.

His heart pounded as if it might burst at any moment.

Yet contrary to that, his mind felt incredibly refreshed.

‘Yeah, this is it.’

Unlike ordinary people who feared the current situation and only ran away.

He was thoroughly enjoying it.

No, in fact, he had long dreamed that a situation like this would come someday.

Jegal Geon. Thirty-one years old. A man with mountains of pasts he couldn’t tell others about.

If there was a greatest secret, it was that he was extremely special.

Slash. Thud.

Look even now. He was casually chopping up inhuman monsters he had never once encountered in his life.

That’s right. He was someone born far removed from the ordinary.

The problem was this world.

This world, which had protected ordinary people within the fence called society.

To Jegal Geon, it had been a shackle suppressing him and a rigid mold.

But today, that mold finally shattered.

Staring at the machete dripping with blood and entrails, he smiled.

From now on, civilization and order would be neglected, and only instinct and chaos would rule the world.

Thinking about that future, he couldn’t hold back his laughter.

Gazing at the city destroyed as if the apocalypse had descended, he smiled broadly, then turned his head to look at the corner of a building.

‘By the way….’

Jegal Geon had actually known that someone was watching him.

And his survival instincts kept warning him not to touch that person.

He had vaguely sensed that it was someone possessing strength on a completely different level from the goblins lying on the ground.

Indeed, many kinds of people existed in the world.

Only after the world collapsed like this did their true worth reveal itself.

‘Interesting.’

Judging by the direction he disappeared in, he seemed to be heading toward the ‘Seogyo-dong Community Center’.

Given the time, he was just about to move in that direction as well.

「Remaining Time : 07 Minutes 21 Seconds」

Staring quietly at the system window floating in midair, he smiled like a mischievous child who had found an amusing toy.

And then, not toward the Community Center where Dohyeong had gone.

But in the opposite direction, he moved his steps.

How long had he run? In Dohyeong’s field of vision, a single building appeared in the distance.

At the mention of a safe zone, the presence of survivors drawn toward it could be felt.

The problem was that a familiar monster was being generated at the entrance leading into the Community Center.

Kieeeek!

Like a gatekeeper, a Giga Snail that had been cleverly generated at the front of the entrance let out a loud cry.

To enter the Community Center, one inevitably had to pass by it.

Although the survivors vaguely knew that monsters could not invade, they were terrified by its appearance.

“Be careful! A monster showed up!”

“Uh, ugh!”

“Damn it, is this place really safe?!”

An even bigger problem was that, besides Dohyeong, there were two male students sprinting toward the entrance.

Wearing the same school uniform and looking like friends, the two ran as if in a 100-meter dash.

Then, just as they were almost at the entrance.

The sturdily built male student shoved the back of the scrawny, glasses-wearing student, knocking him down.

“……Huh!”

In that instant, the sturdy one bolted like an arrow and entered the Community Center.

It was an action filled with clear intent.

The fallen glasses-wearing boy stared blankly at the back of that bastard.

Soon, a black shadow was cast over his head.

The Giga Snail, having found its prey, opened its huge mouth wide.

A loud scream rang out from inside the Community Center.

“Suho!”

At this rate, the glasses-wearing boy’s life was as good as over.

That would have been the case, if Dohyeong had not appeared right after.

Aiming for the moment when the Giga Snail’s body completely blocked the Community Center people’s view,

Dohyeong threw with all his strength a pack of salt he had grabbed from the convenience store.

Whoosh!

The salt pack failed to enter its maw and instead slammed into its body.

“Keek?!”

Of course, even that alone had a significant effect.

The moment the salt touched its body, the Giga Snail convulsed violently.

Grabbing the nape of the stunned boy who had been staring blankly at the sight and pulling him up, Dohyeong shouted.

“What are you doing, get up and run!”

“……!”

Just like that, Dohyeong and the male student entered the survival zone, the Seogyo-dong Community Center.

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The Seogyo-dong Community Center was crowded with all kinds of people.

People crouched in corners, crying as if their minds and bodies were exhausted.

People offering baseless hope that things would be okay.

People busily making phone calls to somewhere on their phones.

If there was one thing they all had in common, it was that their eyes were filled with fear and anxiety about the situation.

That was where Dohyeong arrived together with the male student.

And the moment they entered, a familiar face came running over.

“Suho, are you okay?!”

She was the convenience store part-timer he had seen earlier.

She clung to the male student Dohyeong had saved and checked him over here and there.

Seeing that her eyes were even brimming with tears, it seemed they were more than just ordinary acquaintances.

“Uh, uh……. Noona. I’m fine.”

Still dazed, the glasses-wearing boy pulled his older sister away and turned his gaze to Dohyeong.

“This person helped me.”

Only then did the convenience store part-timer recognize Dohyeong and widen her eyes.

Not only herself, but also having coincidentally saved her younger brother, she thanked Dohyeong again and again.

Dohyeong, inwardly thinking it was a curious connection, shook his head.

“No, it’s fine.”

Dohyeong replied briefly and sat down haphazardly on the nearby floor.

He had no leeway to pay attention to them right now.

Though it had been only two hours, it had been the most focused and grueling time of Dohyeong’s life.

His entire body screamed for rest after an uninterrupted forced march.

But it was still far too early to let his guard down.

‘This is just the beginning….’

Just as Dohyeong thought, not long after, the system window appeared again.

Ding!

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

The time limit has passed. All monster barriers in regions other than survival zones will be lifted.

Players who have moved to survival zones, please proceed with the tutorial according to the guide fairy’s instructions.

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Despair crossed the faces of those who had thought everything would be over once they reached the Seogyo-dong Community Center.

“W-what, what are they saying?”

“Tutorial? What kind of game is this? Are you kidding me right now?!”

Anger toward the incomprehensible situation spread like a contagion.

Despite their anger, the situation continued to change drastically.

Ding!

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

From now on, the world map will be activated.

※Please beware of severe shock

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Kugugugu……!

A tremendous vibration struck, as if a massive earthquake had occurred.

Outside, the roars of monsters, freed from their shackles and drunk on liberation, grew even fiercer.

Faced with an unprecedented power, people fell silent as if their mouths had been sealed shut.

All they could do was tuck their necks in like turtles and tremble in fear.

How much time had passed?

The intense quake gradually subsided.

And people were finally able to exhale the breath they had been holding.

“Huhk, hk……!”

“What in the world is this…….”

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…….”

Then, from the empty air, an adorable lifeform that was utterly out of place in this situation appeared.

“Pshishish, hello, everyone!”

“Waaah! Wh-what is that?!”

Shaped like a rabbit, the creature was absurdly wearing a comical grin like a human.

“Oh? There are more people than I expected?”

Dohyeong immediately recognized it as the tutorial fairy.

At last, the real game was beginning.

‘To think the tutorial hadn’t even started until now is insane.’

Thinking of the hardships so far made him let out a hollow laugh, but Dohyeong slung his heavy duffel bag over his shoulder and stood up.

After all, thanks to those hardships, his chances of surviving this hellish place had increased.

The rabbit fairy looked around at the surroundings and clapped its cotton-ball-like hands once.

“Alright, alright! You all look like you have lots of questions. I’ll take detailed questions after the tutorial is fully completed. After all, only a few of you will survive anyway, no matter what I explain.”

At the rabbit fairy’s light, joking tone, a man in a suit erupted in anger.

“What? Don’t make me laugh!”

After looking at the bizarre monsters outside and then at the talking rabbit, he must have thought it was manageable.

He grabbed the floating rabbit and shouted loudly.

“You little punk, stop spouting bullshit and hurry up and give me my life back! I was about to get promoted!”

“Khehk…! P-please let go of me…!”

The suffocating rabbit struggled.

Perhaps emboldened by how weak it seemed, people around them rushed in en masse.

“T-that’s right! We didn’t want to do this kind of crap!”

“At least properly explain what the hell is going on!”

And then, at that very moment.

With a cute sound of “Ppyong!”, everyone who had clung to it vanished completely.

“Kehrok, damn it! This is really annoying.”

As the creature cleared its throat, a middle-aged woman asked it.

“Uh, uh? Where did the people just now go…?”

“Ah, I don’t know. Somewhere, I guess.”

Leaving behind the rabbit with its face scrunched in irritation.

From far outside the building, it sounded like multiple people were screaming.

At the sudden supernatural phenomenon, everyone became as silent as if they had swallowed honey.

No matter how dull someone was, they could vaguely understand.

That they must not provoke that rabbit.

As if to cement that thought, the rabbit issued a threat.

“Anyone who interferes again or lays a hand on my body will be thrown outside, so keep that in mind, everyone! Tsk, everything has its own proper procedure and order—honestly, what is this supposed to be!”

Clicking its tongue, the creature continued.

“Now…, anyway, we’ll proceed with the tutorial right away. As I said before, I’ll only take questions from those who survive the tutorial. That’ll be easier for me and for you all. Tsk, then first, I’ll stabilize the system….”

The moment it finished speaking, multiple notification windows appeared in Dohyeong’s vision.

Ding!

「Stabilizing data」

「Loading additional functions that were previously locked」

「You may now view the status window」

Up to this point, these were the messages shown to all nearby players.

And there was an additional notification visible only to Dohyeong.

Ding!

「There is suspended data for this player」

「Loading all suspended data」

‘Suspended data……?’

He tilted his head at the system’s cryptic words.

But he soon understood what it meant.

Ding!

「LV.6 Giga Snail has been defeated」

Ding!

「You are the first on the server to defeat a Giga Snail」

「You obtain the First Hunt achievement bonus」

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.

.

It was simply information about everything Dohyeong had done over the past two hours flooding in all at once.

‘Ah, that’s it?’

Checking the system window with an indifferent expression, Dohyeong suddenly widened his eyes.

‘Huh? What is this, what the……?’

And for good reason…….

Ding!

「LV.6 Giga Snail has been defeated」

「Because you were the first on the server to defeat a Giga Snail, you gain 382 EXP(x5) experience points」

「LV.6 Black Hound has been defeated」

「Because you were the first on the server to defeat a Black Hound, you gain 364 EXP(x5)」

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Ding!

「Level up」

「Level up」

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「Level up」

Because Dohyeong’s level had begun to rise in an instant.