Chapter 16
Ten people traversed through the Dark Forest as they covered all directions. Shin Jun and his party members were returning to the safe zone.
“Are we going back again, Jun? It’s already been five days. We only have twenty-five days left. We might be the last to leave,” Ho-Geun whispered so only Jun could hear him.
Jun answered, “Today will be... the last day. We confirmed which Chaos monster would appear after the Black Dogs. That place was surely the next level. It’s progress.”
“Even so, we don’t know where the Teleport Rocks are. Any more than what we’ve already done for them is too dangerous for us. Even the others... they’re not saying it outright, but I’m sure they all think it.”
“I know. This will be the last time. I will try to persuade the others one last time, and if they refuse... We’ll have no choice but to leave.”
Ho-Geun smacked his lips, skeptical of Jun’s response. “Okay. This is the last time. We don’t have to die because of them. As you know, I must get to the Mirror World, no matter what!”
Jun nodded. He knew about Ho-Geun’s circumstances.
His wife and daughter were Lost before him. I wonder if they’re in the Mirror World? If they were Lost, it means they also had to do the mandatory quest.
However, Jun kept those thoughts to himself. He looked around at his teammates. People brave enough to leave had already left District 8’s safe zone, and ten people, including himself, had joined together to fight.
Park Ho-Geun, fifty-five years old, was the reliable sledgehammer who was the first to join Jun’s team. Kim Seung-Jun, a twenty-five-year-old handsome young man, was second only to Ho-Geun in attack power with his sharp sword. Namgung Min-Jae, a thirty-year-old man, formerly part of a corporate archery team, was the team's trusty bow.
Na Seong-Tae, a twenty-eight-year-old robust man in a suit, had tattoo sleeves on his arms and was covered in premium goods. He did not give off a good first impression due to his hard-to-approach appearance, but he was dependable once it came down to it. His Destiny Weapon was a clutch bag. There was also Nam Do-Hyun, a twelve-year-old boy. Although he would only be a fifth-grader on Earth, he was brave enough to follow them out of the safe zone. His Destiny Weapon was a yo-yo.
There were six men, including Jun, in the team. The remaining four were women. Yoo Hwa-Yeon, twenty-six years old, was a little foul-mouthed but never ran away from danger. She used to be a fit model, and her Destiny Weapon was a compact. The nineteen-year-old Han Ye-Ji was only a senior high school student, but her calm demeanor and analytical skills were outstanding. Her Destiny Weapon was a smartphone.
Ha Rin, fifteen years old, seemed tender-hearted and emotional but instinctively knew she wouldn’t survive in this place unless she risked her life. Her Destiny Weapon was a Yorkshire Terrier named Chocho, who crossed the rainbow bridge when she was little. Lastly, Choi Hee-Gyeong, fifty-six years old, was the oldest in the team and took great care of Do-Hyun and Rin. Her Destiny Weapon was a ball of yarn.
This was all he knew about his team members in the few days they were together.
I have to take responsibility for everyone since I dragged them out with me.
Jun felt an enormous sense of responsibility that he had never felt on Earth. Only he would have been ruined if his diner business failed, since he had no family to support. However, this place was different. Every single choice he made would decide whether his teammates would live or die. It was also why he negotiated with the suspicious man the others called the murderer.
“Jun hyung, are you seriously going to keep your promise with that murderer?” Seung-Jun asked.
Jun nodded. “I am. I feel sorry for the team, but I won’t be able to invest in stats until I collect three hundred Karma.”
Seung-Jun shook his head, unable to understand. “Hyung, this place has no laws or contracts. You don’t need to keep a promise you made only verbally. Collecting Karma is hard enough as it is already.”
“Hah! Are you listening to yourself? A promise should always be kept once made. That’s what makes us people,” Seong-Tae answered in Jun’s place with a frown.
Ho-Geun added, “Sword—I mean, Seung-Jun has a point. Three hundred Karma will be a massive loss for you and the team. Besides, we agreed to exchange items if we pulled anything useful for one another, didn’t we?”
Seong-Tae shouted, “Are you joking, Sledgehammer? I’ve been a secondhand car dealer for a long time, but never engaged in false sales!”
“Stay out of this, Clutch Bag! This isn’t only Jun’s problem to deal with. It has to do with the team’s survival. You know how important even a single stat point is!”
Jun, noticing the conversation was overheating, intervened, “No. Promises are meant to be kept. It’s exactly because there are no laws or contracts here. It has made promises and trust even more important.”
Seung-Jun commented, “But hyung, he’s a murderer. I have no idea what he’s thinking.”
Jun nodded. “I don’t know him well either. All I know is that I promised him and that he helped us. That’s why we should pay the price for his help, especially in a world like this.”
“Haha! I like your attitude, Jun! Trust is everything for a salesman! Yup!” Seong-Tae shouted.
Jun added, “Besides... if he decides to hold a grudge because of that, who can stop him?”
Everyone remained silent. They had all witnessed the murderer’s extraordinarily refined skills.
Could we defeat him together?
He didn’t look like he was giving his all. We’d be at a disadvantage.
How high are his stats? Could he already have opened several skill and item cubes?
Jun was right. The only law in this world was power. It would be wise to keep any promise made to him.
Jun stared at his silent teammates and wondered, Who is he? How has he already become so strong? Is he truly evil?
He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. It was a temple of Min-Su’s glasses.
Kim Min-Su claimed these glasses were his Destiny Weapon, but when Gil-Jun was killed by the Black Dog with bones, his Destiny Weapon vanished as if evaporating.
If Jun compared Min-Su’s claim with what he had seen, he could see that Min-Su was lying.
Did he kill Min-Su because he knew that? Just because of one lie? He also drew a circle that was ten meters narrower at the safe zone on the first night. I’m sure he knows something!
Jun recalled his conversation with the man before he left.
“I’ll come find you in a few days, so open the cube when I’m there. You might give me a shit item that came out from one of your teammates’ item boxes, after all.”
“Don’t worry. I will keep my promise.”
“Very well, Shin Jun. I hope you have good pulling luck.”
“What is your name? How old are you?”
“Hm? You don’t need to know my name. As for my age... how old was I again? Since it just turned 2031 on Earth, I’d be twenty-seven.”
“Oh, we’re the same age. Why aren’t you telling me your name, though?”
“The reason is probably a little different from why you guys call one another by your D Weapons. If you need something to address me, just call me Card.”
𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
“Card?”
The man who introduced himself as Card turned around to head back into the forest, but turned back to Jun and stared at him oddly.
“Hmph, I don’t have to do this, but... Let me give you some advice, Shin Jun. You have a well-balanced team here. Since you’ve reached the second zone, ditch the people in the safe zone.”
“Is that what you think, too? Should they be abandoned? Is that the best option?”
“The best? Hah, I’ll do you a special service. It’s up to you whether to believe me or not. There are only a hundred Teleport Rocks. There are ten districts, totaling a thousand people. Nine hundred people are already destined to die.”
Jun expressed shock.
“Besides, there is no such thing as the best option in the Mirror World; only the worst and the less-worse options. If some succeed, others must fail. You might have been fine averting your eyes from that principle on Earth, but that’s impossible here.”
Was he telling the truth? How does he know? If it is... Jun thought as he looked around.
There were ten, including himself, exactly ten percent. If the man was telling the truth, they needed to hurry.
And if that happens, the rest of the people in our district will... I should try to persuade them first.
Jun shook his head and hastened his steps, but the sight they were met with erased his worries, in the worst way possible.
***
“Urpp! Blegh—!”
“Kurgh! Urghh!”
“Fuck! Fuck! Who the fuck did this?!”
“Hurgh! Waaah!”
Once the group arrived at the safe zone, they were met with a bitter stench filling the air. Some vomited, some cursed, and some cried from shock.
“N-no... it can’t be... No way,” Jun mumbled, trying to maintain his composure, but it was impossible.
The safe zone was covered in red blood, sprawled corpses, and the stench of death. The people remaining in the safe zone had been brutally massacred.
Ho-Geun, face bright red from rage, smashed his sledgehammer on the ground repeatedly and shouted, “ARGHHH! WHO THE FUCK DID THIS?! CRAZY MOTHERFUCKERS!”
“The Chaos can’t enter the safe zone. Only humans can.”
“Could it have been the murderer?”
“Huuu. It’s unlikely. You saw how skilled he was. There’s no way he would have killed so filthily! It’s the act of several people!”
“People from another district!” Jun muttered.
How could humans do this to fellow humans?! Their objective was likely... Karma! Is that worth throwing aside your humanity?!
Blood surged to Jun’s head, but he was astonished by the partial relief he felt.
Why am I both enraged at the culprits and relieved? Is it because... the number of people to take responsibility for decreased? Was I... this kind of person?
Just then, Seung-Jun picked up a half-eaten fruit covered in blood on the ground and remarked, “This... might be for the best. With this, we won’t have to worry about them and move forward.”
“BASTARD!!” Seong-Tae shouted.
Seung-Jun did not look away from Seong-Tae and shouted back, “Hah! What? Was I the only one thinking about it? Am I the only scumbag here? Everyone here knew the people staying in the safe zone would die! It’s not like we didn’t warn them! I never understood why Jun hyung was doing this from the beginning! He’s the cruel one here!”
“What are you talking about?! We all knew what Jun was going through!”
“We did! That’s why I’m calling him cruel! Jun hyung was just keeping rabbits in a cage and feeding them! Would these people have been slaughtered like this if they had strived to get stronger? I don’t think so!”
“SON OF A BITCH!”
Seong-Tae grabbed Seung-Jun by the collar. The light in Seung-Jun’s eyes changed.
“Let go of me, Clutch Bag. I’m done treating you like a hyung. Are you sure a weakling like you can handle the consequences of grabbing me by the collar? Do you think those tattoos make you tough?”
“That’s it!” Seong-Tae yelled as he raised his fist.
Ho-Geun pulled Seung-Jun and Seong-Tae away from each other and shouted, “Stop it, both of you! Na Seong-Tae, were you going to hit a teammate? Lower your fist! And Kim Seung-Jun. Where did you learn to think like that? Huh? Does that mean I can do whatever I want to you since I’m stronger than you?!”
Just then, Jun said lifelessly, “Ho-Geun ahjussi. Please... take the children to the fruit tree.”
“What? Ah...”
Ho-Geun turned around. Do-Hyun, the youngest of the team, was drooling blankly in shock, and Rin held back her tears as she held her dog tightly. Ye-Ji was pretending to be calm, but her lips were quivering.
“Madam Choi. Let’s... take the kids out of here. Kim Seung-Jun and Na Seong-Tae, stop fighting and come with me. Min-Jae and Hwa-Yeon, stay with Jun.”
Ho-Geun and Hee-Gyeong left the atrocious scene with the children. The three who were left in the safe zone remained silent. Jun burned the sight of each corpse into his retina as if vowing never to forget them. Most of them were the elderly, but a few were children, and some young people who hadn’t been brave enough to leave the safe zone. Jun remembered them staring at him apologetically as if sorry that they couldn’t be of help.
Honestly, I don’t know why I wanted to help these people. I’m not some saint. I’m just a powerless owner of a diner. Was I drunk on playing hero?
Seung-Jun might have been correct. If Jun had not provided them with food, although some might have been killed by Black Dogs, some would have killed the Black Dogs and gotten stronger. They would not have had to experience such a cruel death.
Leader, my ass. It’s not even funny. Is that what I thought? Shin Jun! Shin Jun! You idiot!
Jun clenched his teeth so hard that blood trickled from his gums.
Watching him, Min-Jae said hesitantly, “I like archery because I thought it was the only sport in Korea that one could reach the top purely by skill.”
Jun and Hwa-Yeon listened in silence.
Min-Jae continued, “I’m not good at social interaction, so I’ve never been good at saying what people wanted me to say.”
It had come out of nowhere, but they listened anyway to escape this cruel reality.
“But I realized getting good at that stuff didn’t necessarily mean I would be given more opportunities. Despite that, I got used to battling against myself. I waited and kept waiting. After all, I learned that waiting was the most important when firing an arrow.” Min-Jae sorrowfully continued, “But to the very end, the opportunity didn’t arrive. I never resented anyone for it since it only meant my skills were lacking. There were simply more people better than me.”
He placed his hand over Jun’s buzz-cut head and said, “Then does that mean I’m a failure? Is an archery athlete from a minor corporate team who’s never competed in the Olympics useless? Was my life pointless because I’ve never won a medal? Should I doubt whether I’d done my best and blame myself?”
“Not at all. Thanks to you, we overcame dangers time and time again. You’re the greatest archery athlete, hyung,” Jun replied.
“Thanks, I appreciate that. If I’ve realized anything in my archery life, it’s that it’s a battle against oneself. You wait and wait until you’re ready to fire the arrow right in the center of the target. No one can do it for you. That’s when I realized neither the ranking nor winning medals mattered to me. I was into archery for the feeling when I let the arrow loose. It’s when I feel the most alive.”
Min-Jae scratched his cheek and smiled awkwardly.
“Sorry. I’m not good with words, huh? That’s just how I am. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is... their deaths aren’t your fault. You had your target, and they had theirs. You didn’t choose it for them.”
Hwa-Yeon added, “He’s right, oppa. Don’t blame yourself. At that rate... your teeth will go bad.”
Jun touched his chin after Hwa-Yeon’s comment. He could feel blood. He couldn’t help but laugh.
Did you want to be sympathized with by hurting yourself? Pull yourself together, Shin Jun! The world isn’t over!
Min-Jae stared at Jun and said, “You’re amazing. I’m always impressed by you. You’re doing something I could never do. I only focus on the straight line between myself and the target, but you look at everything. We need you—for us all to survive and reach that place called the Mirror World.”
“Didn’t you say you’re bad with words? I can’t see that, Min-Jae oppa. I need you too, Jun oppa. I want a fresh, new start in the new world. I wouldn’t have stayed in this team if you weren’t our leader.”
Jun lowered his head in silence, consoled by Min-Jae and Hwa-Yeon. His eyes had stopped shaking as he stared at the ground.
***
A man stared in silence at the mountain of corpses and the sea of blood—it was Seong-Hwi.
The corpses were brutally dismembered. It was clearly the act of those who killed for pleasure. Humans could earn at least a hundred Karma by killing other humans. Instead of fighting ferocious Black Dogs to earn ten to twenty Karma, killing powerless fellow humans was far easier and more efficient.
Hence, it was prohibited by the Human Union, the Union for short, a giant organization formed by the coalition of many clans. The Union strictly prohibited killing between humans. Humans were already an inferior race—if even their numbers decreased, it might result in the worst possible situation.
Despite that, killings occurred daily. The Union only allowed the killing of a killer. However, this was the mandatory quest field—there were no rules set by the Union to protect anyone. It was the land of endless freedom, a heaven of pleasure. All Black Humans in the Mirror World longed for their lives in the Dark Forest.
Seong-Hwi walked around the safe zone. He was used to seeing corpses. His heart was not pained if he thought they would have died regardless. He was already trained to feel nothing for such sights—no, he was immune to it.
Am I? Can one ever be immune to something like this? I don’t know.
Seong-Hwi froze once he arrived at the center of the safe zone. Five corpses were stacked on top of one another. There were traces of grotesque acts done to the young women’s corpses. It was the sign of savagery—rape-murder. Seong-Hwi’s eyes turned red, and his lips contorted.
“Hah, hahaha!” Seong-Hwi’s crazed laughter filled the safe zone, then stopped. It was as if his laughter had absorbed all the vengeful spirits in the safe zone and returned to him. He mumbled, “You’ve done it now. You’ve chosen the worst out of the less-worse options. I’ll have to pay you all a visit.”
[Karma: 4,167]