Chapter 181. The Wailing Forest (2)
When choosing the office site, Eun-Ho had several criteria.
First, since the team was large, the land had to be spacious. Second, it had to have high growth potential. Third, it had to be a reasonable distance away from the company’s main facilities. The Wailing Forest was the only site that satisfied all three.
Of course, to the team members, he had only explained about the growth potential. In truth, the third reason mattered the most. They had to be far enough from the company’s core facilities that they wouldn’t be monitored every second, yet close enough that they could advance immediately if the situation demanded it.
In that sense, the Wailing Forest was an ideal location. It lay far to the north, requiring a long trek from major facilities such as the Personnel Bureau, Administration Bureau, Audit Bureau, and Investigation Bureau.
What was more, the vast forest spreading around the office grounds would block outside attention. No matter what they did inside, no one outside would see it. On top of that, the fact that they could construct buildings was a positive sign.
[Team Trial, Build a Watchtower, has been activated!]
For now, it was just a watchtower, but such trials were bound to chain into more. As he rapidly sketched out future plans in his mind, Ji-Eun’s voice of amazement broke through his thoughts. “So it’s two hours total, right? Twenty minutes per slot?”
“Yes, that seems to be the case,” he replied.
Everyone seemed fascinated by the translucent window floating above their heads.
[Focused Work Hours in progress.]
“Wow, if it’s this visible, people really can’t disturb you.”
“We can’t even receive messages right now!”
“Messages too?”
During Focused Work Hours, external communication was blocked ,just like setting a phone to Do Not Disturb mode.
Well designed.
He had always felt that the system was strangely meticulous in the oddest places. Persistent, even. It was hard to put into words, but it felt stubbornly intentional.
[Labor-Management Cooperation Team’s total Benefit Points have exceeded five hundred Points!]
[You may declare Focused Work Hours!]
[Once per day, for up to two hours, efficiency for the selected tasks is doubled.]
I should verify exactly what double efficiency really means, Eun-Ho thought.
“Dmitri, could you cut down that tree?” Eun-Ho asked.
Dmitri had selected Logging as his task. Hence, if there was a noticeable effect while cutting trees, the test would be successful.
“Please do it bare-handed at first. We need to compare just the event effect.”
It was an indirect way of telling him not to use potions. Dmitri seemed to understand. He nodded, stepped forward, and yanked an entire massive tree straight out of the ground.
“What the heck is up with that guy?!”
“Is he a bear?!”
“A Russian polar bear?!”
The people who had been waiting for him to pull out an axe gaped in shock. The real problem was that Dmitri himself seemed just as stunned.
“Is the efficiency good?” Eun-Ho asked.
Dmitri nodded.
“Did your strength increase?”
“Double.”
“Only strength?”
“Stamina and Strength increased as well.”
It was exactly double and only for the selected task only.
“In that case, the logging team clears the trees first. Everyone else will shovel snow. Do you all have shovels ready?”
“Yes, Team Leader!”
“Ma’am, please prepare for cleanup as well!” Eun-Ho said to the cleaning lady.
“Alright, alright!”
The forest was dark, clogged with massive trees and piled with snow. If they ran into a group of monsters in this gloom, it would turn into chaos instantly.
We have to secure the ground first.
With that thought, he called out over everyone’s heads, “Everyone, move!”
“Yes sir!”
“We’re squeezing every drop out of these two hours!”
Riiip—
Once Dmitri and the rest of the logging team uprooted trees and cleared space, the others followed up, shoveling away the snow. Having to work while snow continued to fall left them shivering, but the Logging Trial posed no problem.
“The fuck is this? Why is everyone so damn good at this?” Swear-Master said.
“Clearing snow is basic training! Hey, Swear-Master, didn’t you serve in the army?”
As time ticked away, the more the forest opened up and the more steadily the progress increased.
[Trial: Cut Down Trees to Secure Space]
[Progress: 51%]
[Progress: 52%]
[Progress: 53%]
...
[Trial: Clear the Snow]
[Progress: 20%]
[Progress: 19%]
[Progress: 21%]
[Progress: 22%]
[Progress: 21%]
[Progress: 22%]
With the snow falling endlessly, the progress that went up only dropped again as fresh snow piled back on.
Frustrated complaints burst out from the Swear-Master and the foreigners.
“This is insane! Why does it never end no matter how much we clear?!”
“That’s just how it is! Complaining just makes it worse. So just keep moving like this!”
“What the hell?! Is there some ghost that died shoveling attached to this place?!”
In response, Jae-Hyuk insisted on demonstrating and launched into an almost possessed display of shoveling. Of course, even then, the progress bar kept seesawing back and forth at a sluggish pace.
However, there was no reason to worry. This wasn’t like the army, where everything had to be brute-forced with sheer manpower.
Vrrrrrr—
“Woooow! Ma’am, you’re seriously amazing!”
“Ms. Song! Truly impressive, indeed!”
The cleaning lady swung her pole like a vacuum cleaner, sucking up snowflakes as if they were dust.
Whoooosh—
Bo-Ra worked like an excavator, overturning trees and snow together in massive heaps.
“Bo-Ra, that’s incredible!”
“Look at that girl! She’s flipping the ground over like nothing!”
Thanks to those specialists, Min Yeo-Jin, who had been lamenting how they’d never finish all these trials, muttered in disbelief, “Huh? This is actually working!”
***
By the time more than half of the Focused Work Hours had passed, the central area of the site was mostly cleared.
[Team Trial, Clear the Snow, has been completed!]
[You have earned 1 Point and 500 Welfare Points.]
[Labor-Management Cooperation Team has earned 5 Team Benefit Points.]
At last, the snow-clearing was done.
[Congratulations!]
[Through powerful teamwork and a strategic approach, you have defeated the eternal snow.]
[Labor-Management Cooperation Team has achieved the achievement, Conquering the Garbage Falling from the Sky!]
“An achievement?” Eun-Ho muttered.
[Daily Trial, Clear the Snow, progress rate has increased by ten percent!]
Everyone’s expressions twisted into a strange mix of joy and despair.
“This was a daily trial?”
“Wow, this is my first time getting an achievement!”
“A ten percent boost to snow clearing... Is that good or bad?”
Just then, Yul, who was bundled up in a coat and scarf probably prepared by Han-Wool, called out, “Dad! Oppa! Over here!”
“Huh? What is it, Yul?”
She was crouched on the ground, pointing at something. “Floooweeer!”
“Wow, that’s a pretty flower.”
A single blossom had been hiding beneath the thick snow. In other words, they had cleared enough to see flowers in the middle of winter.
“The watchtower construction...”
However, that was the real problem.
[Trial: Construct a Watchtower]
[Required Materials: Wood(100/100), Nails(0/50), Rope(0/100), Cloth(0/1)]
[Total Rewards: Trial Reward 10 Points, Welfare Points 10,000, Team Benefits 10 Points.]
[Progress: 0%]
The tall, tower-like structure would serve as an observation post, allowing them to spot approaching enemies from afar. In modern military terms, it would be a guard post. There was no doubt it would be useful.
But the required materials are nails, rope, and cloth...
As Eun-Ho stood there deep in thought, Jang Han-Il approached, panting heavily from shoveling snow. “So it’s to spot monsters in advance, right?”
“I guess we’ll be able to see monsters too,” Eun-Ho said.
Jang Han-Il was sharper than expected. “Are you saying that there are other enemies as well?”
“There might be. Or there might not be.”
[Total Rewards: Trial Reward 10 Points, Welfare Points 10,000, Team Benefits 10 Points.]
He had already noticed something during the logging and snow-clearing trials.
These are total rewards.
At first, he had assumed they were distributed evenly among the entire team. However, that wasn’t the case. The rewards were only divided among those who contributed to the trial. In other words, the more trials one participated in, the more rewards one gained.
Choosing a place with lots of trials really was the right call, Eun-Ho thought, relieved.
If there had only been one or two trials, people would have ended up competing or even fighting just to participate.
Ji-Eun noticed his relaxed expression and walked over. “Eun-Ho, you look like you’re in a good mood.”
“Just thinking that it’s funny how having more work can actually be a good thing,” Eun-Ho remarked.
“Ah, yes, I get what you mean.”
“And it’s nice having clear guidance, too.”
“By guidance, do you mean—oh, the special objectives over there?” she asked.
He nodded and lifted his gaze toward the Special Orders displayed beside the trial description.
[Special Orders: Construct a Watchtower]
- Collect wood(100/100)
- Prepare nails(0/50)
- Prepare rope(0/100)
- Prepare cloth(0/1)
- Process collected wood into planks(0/100)
...
If ordinary people were told to build a watchtower out of nowhere, there was no way they could do it overnight. That was likely why these step-by-step objectives existed.
“There were curtains in the old log cabin. We could cut those up for the cloth,” Ji-Eun said thoughtfully. “But where do we get nails and rope?”
“Yeah. They weren’t even for sale in the shop.”
Several people, including her, tilted their heads in confusion.
Then, as if she had heard everything, Yul toddled over and held out a single rusted, bent nail in her small, pale hand. “Naiiil! Naaaiiil!”
Han-Wool scolded her in surprise. “Yul! That’s dirty!”
“Hic!”
“Yul, where did you find this?”
“Over theeeere! I picked it up!”
Min Yeo-Jin looked like she was about to organize a full-fledged nail-hunting expedition with Yul in the lead. “Yul, come with unni and—”
“Come here, Min Yeo-Jin.”
However, there was no way the core of this trial was to blindly search a vast forest for fifty nails.
“There’s a hint in the wording,” he said.
“A hint?”
This system was almost too kind.
“Wood is something you collect, but the other materials are things you prepare,” he pointed out.
“Ah, you’re right!”
“That means there’s a way to obtain them without finding them directly.”
The Department Market was one example.
[You can now purchase shared assets.]
[Please check the Department Market!]
“The Department Marketplace.”
[Opening the Department Marketplace!]
Fwoosh—!
In the forest where darkness had only yielded around their immediate vicinity, a curtain-like window appeared beneath a red sky painted by the setting sun. The vast, semi-transparent interface nearly washed out their entire field of view.
[Please select the item you want!]
Shrrrk—
Then, a list of items unfolded.
“Wow!”
“There’s really everything here,” someone murmured.
Indeed, it seemed they had no need to look elsewhere for what they sought. There were flooring sheets, wallpaper, paint, furniture like office desks and chairs, even copiers, and cooking tools. Moreover, there were toilets too.
“They even have instant coffee!”
“Ah, but we can’t buy it! It says we don’t have permission.”
Only the team leader had purchasing authority. Excluding the three minors, everyone else was a full-grown adult.
Figuring he could trust them, Eun-Ho said, “Let’s open up the permissions fir—”
“Whoa! They’ve got alcohol too!”
“Holy shit! Booze!”
Excited exclamations erupted from all around. He promptly shut his mouth again.
Lee Ye-Ji and a few others approached, their eyes sparkling.
“Team Leader!”
“Teaaam Leadeeer—!”
With faces clearly marked by hard labor, they even exaggeratedly said, “Buy it for us.”
He decided to think about allowing purchasing authority later. “I’ll make a purchase.”
Ye-Ji threw both hands up like she’d just won something. “Jackpot! Team Leader, you’re the be—”
“I mean nails.”
“Huh?”
***
About thirty minutes remained.
Bang! Bang!
Whiiish—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang...
The endless pounding of hammers and the sharp sounds of ropes being tied echoed throughout the forest.
They had to get as much done as possible before the buff expired. With that judgment, he moved quickly. “We need to build as much as we can in thirty minutes!”
Swoosh—!
He used Sword Force to cut logs into evenly thick planks. “Jae-Hyuk! Over here!”
“Yes, Hyungnim!”
Jae-Hyuk and Dmitri hammered nails into the boards.
“I’ll tie the ropes! Pull tight!”
“Got it!”
Ji-Eun and the others reinforced everything with rope, while Sol-Ah occasionally cast healing spells. It was an optimal system that made full use of everyone’s abilities—tight, yet doable.
“Keep this pace! We can finish within thirty minutes!”
“Yes, Team Leader!”
“Underst—huh?”
Just then, the grotesque screech had grown noticeably closer.
“Kieeek—!”
A faint vibration shook the half-built watchtower.
Creeeak—
“T-Team Leader!”
“Something’s coming this way!”
There were many of them. As if they had been waiting, monsters surged toward them.
“What do we do?! We have less than twenty minutes left!”
“Shouldn’t we slow the tower construction and block the monsters first?”
They had twenty minutes of Focused Work Hours remaining. It was not long but not short either.
It’s too much of a waste to give one side up, Eun-Ho thought.
Clack—
He set down the hammer in his hand. “Everyone, keep working.”
Swear-Master stared at him wide-eyed. “What? But the monsters are right there!”
“That’s more than manageable,” Eun-Ho said.
“Huh? By yourself?!”
Nah, not alone. There is someone perfectly suited to a winter forest.
“If anyone wants to come along, feel free,” he said calmly.
“I-I’ll go with you, Hyungnim!” Jae-Hyuk replied.
Eun-Ho had talent who could bring everyone to their knees with a single breath.
“Eun-Ho! Be careful!”
Thud!
As he jumped down from the watchtower, Ji-Eun’s urgent voice followed him. “If twenty minutes pass, the buff will end too!”
She looked ready to drop the rope and run after him.
Eun-Ho smiled back at her. “I’ll be back within ten minutes.”
He knew he wouldn’t even need the full twenty.