novelraw Chapter 11 : Chapter 11
Chapter 11 : Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Two People (1)
Guwoong-!
The cruise ship stopped by the riverbank.
A translucent staircase, sparkling in the moonlight, appeared.
I got off the ship carrying the sleeping Kang Yuha on my back.
‘This vicinity has begun to fill with Star Ash.’
It was an invisible poison.
‘A poison that embraces dreams.’
Those who fled outside the scenario area drank this ‘Star Ash’ and fell asleep.
They would dream forever.
In the meantime, all the energy in their bodies was stolen, and they became like shriveled mummies.
Human jerky, so to speak.
It made them into a form that could be easily stored long-term without killing them.
However.
[Scenario (Special)]
[The Castaway]
[Humans are social animals. You cannot live alone. Join another group for a better life.]
[Join another scenario area.]
[Success : Join the scenario]
[Failure : Death]
The ship’s passengers were under the protection of the special scenario.
Until we reached another scenario point, we were protected from this ‘Star Ash’ and the monsters on the roads.
[60 minutes remaining until area entry.]
[Time remaining 59:59]
[Time remaining 59:58]
…….
But the protection was not unlimited.
The decreasing time began to rush me.
‘Well, I’ve already decided where to go.’
Now, I needed to supplement my lacking Magic Power.
I would visit the place with the hidden piece (fortuitous encounter) that would help with Magic Power Operation.
‘A space called a Dimensional Fault.’
However.
‘Ha…….’
I hated myself for trying to take the obvious path again.
Suddenly, everything felt bothersome.
Why is it that difficult and bothersome things are still bothersome even when I do them again.
While things that were enjoyable and happy just get boring the more I repeat them?
‘Right. This is the last regression.’
I steeled my resolve again.
I rebuked myself for seeking meaningless stimulation.
‘Chulwoon! Let’s live diligently! If this life is the last, I have to live it properly. That’s the only way to die properly.’
I knew it was a resolve that wouldn’t last long, but it would be fine for now.
I comforted myself and walked out into the ‘Star Ash’.
While I was walking a bit.
Kang Yuha woke up and said she would walk on her own feet.
***
The dark night road was awkward for Kang Yuha.
It was the first time she had seen a street with even the streetlights turned off.
Strangely, human blood did not fade even as time passed, and was glowing red on its own.
‘Is it something like magic?’
Those massive buildings felt ominous.
Even the occasionally visible lit windows felt inexplicably sinister.
Even though considerable time had passed since the scenario began, she kept flinching her shoulders at the sporadic disturbances and screams.
Without any landmarks, she just walked on, following the back of the man walking ahead.
‘If you are a regressor, what was the relationship between you and me?’
It would be nice if there was at least some small talk…….
‘If we were enemies, why did you save me?’
Right now, it was difficult to even voice the questions she desperately wanted to ask.
‘Are you going to torment me, just to be resented?’
She just hurriedly followed Han Chulwoon, who was striding forward.
‘In my past life……. How did I die.’
Just then.
Udtuk.
The man’s footsteps stopped.
Kang Yuha carefully stopped beside him.
‘What on earth did Mr. Chulwoon see?’
She followed his gaze and turned her head.
There was a building ahead.
There was a building that looked to be about 20 stories tall, but Kang Yuha couldn’t find anything special about it.
It didn’t look any different from the countless buildings they had passed before.
“Let’s go.”
She just followed the man, who had started moving again.
It was frustrating.
***
I saw the building where my company had been.
-Hion Software-
It was a company that developed games.
And now…….
‘Huh, look at this?’
A very small change was present, making a smile form on my face.
An exterior that was no different from the other buildings.
The blood spattered on the windows, and even the person who had dried up like a mummy while trying to escape, were nothing special at this moment, but I saw a difference from my past life.
‘The pattern of lit lights is different.’
Since it was a building I had seen so often, I noticed there was a change even from a trivial difference.
And one more thing.
Kuung!
Even the faint vibration I felt from outside the building was something that hadn’t existed in my past life.
Kuung!
‘Just what kind of change happened?’
I suddenly felt pleased.
It wasn’t because I understood this situation.
It was because I didn’t know, and that alone gave rise to anticipation.
‘Just the Constellation of Regression disappearing was a good enough thing.’
A small change in the past can sometimes spread into a large wave in the future.
Just one word spoken at an important moment can completely change the remaining part of a life.
But that too was a story for the distant future.
The first scenario was obvious.
Among those obvious days, there had never been a day like today.
‘What could be the cause.’
I couldn’t know.
Because I chose an efficient route this life.
It meant I had arrived at an obvious future.
‘Is it because a different constellation, not the Constellation of Regression, influenced me?’
I tried to analyze this situation.
However, I lacked the details to guess the cause of the change.
‘Let’s go in.’
After that.
‘The elevator stopped at the rooftop.’
I checked the elevator’s location.
It should have originally been on the 1st floor.
‘The corpses?’
I checked the locations where people died.
I observed the wounds left on the corpses.
‘The extent of the property damage?’
In my eyes, which seemed to look around indifferently, small changes piled up layer by layer.
I found a great deal of information within them.
I grasped the situation as I climbed the stairs, floor by floor.
‘The first scenario here is a deathmatch that uses the entire building.’
The name is [Ascending Blood Flow].
It’s a method where monsters appear from the lower floors, and you fight while ascending to the upper floors.
Of course, it’s unfair.
This is because the people on the bottom floor have to fight the monsters first.
‘That is the purpose of this scenario.’
From the upper floors, they can watch the bloody battle on the lower floors through the Status Window.
They end up seeing everything, from the people killed by monsters to the people who sided with the monsters.
So, how do the people on the upper floors react?
From below, madmen becoming accustomed to killing and monsters come up, and on the upper floors, people fight to claim the insufficient weapons.
Fights break out even before the scenario begins.
They exercise violence, monopolize items, divide into factions, and in that process, if even one person dies, internal conflict soon breaks out even within the victorious faction.
Control is impossible.
Because even if you kill just one person, you can raise your stats by 3 or more, and you stop being attacked by ‘monsters’.
‘Once you kill a person and set foot on the path of a monster, it’s difficult to return to being human.’
In that tedious and incoherent process, they expose all of their vile, rock-bottom nature.
‘A person like Yeo Gangseok isn’t common, after all.’
They must make a choice.
Live as a monster, or die as a human.
Or perhaps sign an unfair contract with a Constellation.
The scenario designed for that psychological pressure is the scenario that occurs in most high-rise buildings.
But now?
‘This, too, is a variable.’
There were corpses here and there, but their number was too small.
Considering the number of people in this building, it was an absurdly low number.
‘There are few monster corpses, too.’
That’s not to say they defeated all the Goblins and Orcs, either.
‘Besides, this is?’
I checked the condition of the corpse.
Looking at the number and direction of the wounds, and the state of death, I roughly estimated the form of murder that had occurred here.
‘Wounds from something sharp.’
They used a weapon about a handspan long, and thrust cleanly up from the lower part of the body to avoid the ribs.
Sometimes, they slit the throat in one go.
I looked around at the other corpses, counting the number of wounds.
‘All in one strike. Clean workmanship.’
They ravaged the major organs in a single strike.
With this one strike, even someone who had raised their Stamina stat to boost their survivability would certainly die.
‘This is the work of someone who’s killed quite a few people, isn’t it?’
Seeing that most of the dead were killed by the same method, I had a guess.
‘It’s not wounds from a group. Probably one person.’
That’s not all.
The locations of the corpses are all different.
‘This one. I like them.’
The first scenario induces factions to divide into ‘monsters and humans’.
Once a fight breaks out, it usually becomes a group brawl of monsters versus humans.
In the end, all the corpses should be gathered in a specific place.
But, for the corpses to be scattered like this.
‘They know how to coolly analyze the opposing group’s weakness, and aim for that gap to strike.’
It must mean they killed people who strayed from the group.
‘Who is it?’
Naturally, faces I had experienced in my past life came to mind.
People with great talent came to mind, but was there a murderer among them with this level of skill?
No one fit this incident.
The more I gauged the opponent’s skill, the more my heart began to pound pleasantly.
The boredom that had been piling up layer by layer was easing.
‘This is good.’
I savored this anticipation.
If there was someone with no hesitation to kill, what would happen?
It becomes more than just gaining coins and getting stronger.
They would unlock ‘Skills’ faster than others.
It’s also possible to receive a Constellation’s sponsorship.
Depending on what skill it is, I can guess the opponent’s disposition…….
‘The murder pattern changed.’
From a certain point, the condition of the corpses changed.
I could see they had burst apart as if hit by a ‘bomb’.
‘It’s not a trace of an Observer killing them.’
Definitely.
This was the trace of a skill.
‘Hmm.’
A list of various skills obtainable in the early stages surfaced in my mind.
‘It’s only the first scenario.’
What skill was it?
It wasn’t a skill that required a special item.
It wasn’t a skill that required high stats.
It wasn’t a skill learned from a master.
Among them, was there a skill with enough ominous power to make a human body explode?
‘There isn’t.’
As far as I knew, there was no one who could ‘normally’ obtain such a skill starting from the first scenario.
However, if there was one possible way…….
‘No way.’
This was the company I used to work at.
And, the hidden piece that helps with Magic Power Operation was hidden here.
That’s not all.
The suspicious content from the call with my father.
The fact that the Constellation of Regression didn’t respond.
And the revival that was exceptionally late.
‘Is the situation turning out like this?’
I could vaguely predict the opponent.
If that prediction was correct, they should still be in this building.
I even felt like I knew the location.
“Come to the 14th floor. Don’t use the elevator.”
“Eek? Yeesh…….”
Before I knew it, the 11th floor.
Kang Yuha, who had followed me up the stairs panting, watched me stride further away.
“Heok…… Heok…… Don’t worry about me…… Heok…… Go on ahead……. Heok…… I’ll follow.”
She had put points into the Stamina stat, but just raising it by 3 points wouldn’t have fully restored her stamina.
She finally just took off her high heels.
Bloodstains were dried onto her ripped stockings.
And then, she began to continue climbing barefoot.
***
The place I finally reached was Room 1423 on the 14th floor.
It was one of the offices where Hion Soft’s development team worked, and the office where I had worked.
I could smell a terrible stench starting from the front of that door.
‘The smell of blood.’
That wasn’t unusual, but it was ‘so thick’ that it made me frown for a moment.
Just from this, I could vaguely guess how many had died.
‘What a waste.’
There was also a smell like burning flesh.
Life turning into war would become a common thing, but this was a trace of death so intense it felt like too much.
‘An Observer wouldn’t have left a massacre of this extent alone, would they?’
Observers treat humans, who will be offered to the Constellations, as a harvest.
There’s no way those guys would stand by and watch ‘too many deaths’.
If a massacre overheats more than necessary, the Observers step in and mediate directly.
Nevertheless, the fact that so many people had died meant there was something that even the Observers had difficulty controlling.
Room 1423.
Cheolkeok.
I grabbed the doorknob and twisted it.