novelSeoul (26)
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Chapter 342 - Seoul (26)
"Wow... really, Wow..."
She heard a murmuring voice next to her.
He seemed to be admiring something, but in reality he was lamenting.
"Ha... This... Such a dick."
Park Jung-ah had no choice but to lower her head without realizing.
It was a murmur in the air, but it was meant to be heard by Park Jung-ah.
Still, she couldn't say anything.
Because she sympathized with his feelings.
[You have cleared the mission. (Mission Level: 10)]
[You will be moved to the next mission area]
[Remaining break time: 300 seconds]
"... Wow, really crazy... absolutely crazy."
A new message window announced the remaining break time.
Right after the battle was over and she had barely put her butt on the ground.
But the next mission was after only a 300 second break.
This wasn't just harsh, it was cruel.
"Fuck! I want to get out of here! Let me out, motherfucker! You bitch! "
A man's half-sad voice rang.
Maybe it's the feelings of everyone here.
However, few people raised their voices like him.
Most of them were exhausted and tired, so they had no energy to do so.
Park Jung-ah quietly inhaled the potion.
It was a really dirty and tasteless potion, but it seemed that she couldn't bear it if she didn't dampen her throat with it.
There was a person approaching Park Jung-ah, who was drinking her potion as if drinking beer.
She had a familiar face.
She was a female challenger who, not long ago, stayed on the 90th floor.
"Sister."
She was an attractive challenger with cute, elongated limbs.
When she cleared the Tutorial and returned to Earth, she said she wanted to be a celebrity and that she didn't want to be an Awakened.
Listening to her words, Park Jung-ah also thought it was a good dream.
However, at the moment, her appearance was so shabby that it was almost pathetic.
Her sweaty hair was clinging to her cheeks and to the back of her neck.
Her sloppy eyes seemed somehow out of focus.
"Help me."
What she said was a spectacle.
However, Park Jung-ah could relate.
Sadly.
Unlike in the original Tutorial, in Lee Ho-jae's Tutorial, one did not have to worry about losing their life.
However, it was so difficult that they felt that they could die.
The challengers cried out that it would be better to risk their lives.
Missions usually consist of battles.
About a hundred people teamed up to fight in things such as raids, sieges, pursuits, and all-out wars.
It was a repetitive cycle.
An endless one.
After a mission that lasts for a couple of hours if it is short and a few days if it is long, the next mission begins after only 300 seconds of rest.
From the challenger's point of view, it feels as if there is no such thing as a break.
The designer's intention seemed to be stuck in her ear.
'You're going to automatically recover anyway. No fatigue remains. You don't need to rest, Right? You're not hungry and or sleepy here either. Hahaha. '
But, damn it, her mental exhaustion continued to accumulate.
Even the difficulty of the mission was of a heinous level.
Though It wasn't unreasonably difficult.
He maintained the level of difficulty that would be enough to always be struggling, and that if she did her best, she would be able to always achieve breathtaking success.
[Mission Level: Level C-10]
It was Park Jung-ah's level.
She was 10 levels into the C grade.
Like Park Jung-ah, the top challengers of the easy difficulty and medium difficulty, were in this C-grade section.
Level C consists of 20 levels.
At the end of each mission, the system equates each individual's performance.
The mission level changes according to the individual's rank, and the challenger is sent to a mission with a difficulty level suitable for them.
[1st place-Park Jung-ah]
[2nd place- Jang Chae-in]
[3rd place- Carl Bora]
.
.
.
[Mission level changes. ]
[Mission level: 10 -> 12]
[Congratulations! You have been promoted two levels due to your outstanding performance. ]
Seeing that made her sick.
The next mission would be more difficult as the level had risen by two levels.
But she couldn't even complain.
"... Sister, I've been placed into Level 7. Help me..."
She patted the back of a female challenger who was breaking down and was starting to cry.
When they first started getting a feel for the system, several challengers deliberately failed the mission and tried to descend to a lower level.
Of course, low-level missions would be much less difficult.
It was an accurate prediction.
As the mission level fell, so did the difficulty.
However, the missions got messier.
Not only was there a lot of dirt and smelly filth, but devices that triggered horrors were hiding everywhere.
A dark enclosed space that seemed to choke the air out of you, a magic that reminded you of past nightmares.
Grotesque screams rang around, and images of ghosts covered in blood were seen.
From the mission to rescue your companions among hundreds of thousands of doppelgangers, to the mission to escape the endless maze.
The missions below Level 10 were obviously neither difficult nor dangerous.
However, it threatened mental health to a serious level.
Thanks to this, all the challengers who were down there were desperately trying to climb up.
But that wasn't easy.
It wasn't easy to stand out and get a high rank among the other desperate challengers.
In addition, if they did not correctly manage their concentration and mental state from endless battles, they would make mistakes.
Everyone did.
Park Jung-ah had gone up to Level 19 before.
However, she made a big mistake in Level 19. She could have been promoted to B class, but instead fell to Level 15.
After that, her concentration fell and she fell to Level 6.
In the Level 6 mission, after being isolated in a sewer with dung lying around accompanied by giant rats for about two days, her concentration and motivation had returned.
She was crawling back up.
[Personal mission has been assigned. ]
[Miracle-Summon Lesser Guardian]
"Huh?"
A new message appeared in front of Park Jung-ah, who was preparing to move to the next mission location.
[Condition of Dispatch Challenger]
Suitable for suppressing non-Awakened criminals.
High possibility of cooperation in suppressing criminals.
No possibility of escape attempt.
There is a willingness to protect the guardian.
More than 80% confidence in Lee Ho-jae.
[All dispatched challenger requirements are met. ]
[Would you like to accept the dispatch?]
"... Yes."
Park Jung-ah tried to accept the request of the message.
She had no idea what it was.
She thought the situation would never get worse than here.
[GM Benedictus Lericia Piacan Raucones Naupolion Nice Tiamat Carcearin Balakas Shanso Gardandes Nessario III confirms your suitability]
[The challenger dispatch has been approved by GM. ]
[(Special) dispatch mission is granted. ]
Description: On the way home from school and part-time work, there was a girl who was attacked by gangsters.
Crimes such as kidnapping and human trafficking have occurred frequently in the area.
The gangsters who attacked the girl are also believed to be of that kind.
The girl, who is the target of the guardian, is a child of the devout Lee Ho-jae Faith family, and she herself is a faithful believer who consistently produces faith every month.
The girl who encountered the assailants quickly opened a religious window and asked for help from Lee Ho-jae.
Lee Ho-jae decided to dispatch a guardian at the request of the girl.
[You can go right away. ]
[Would you like to go?]
"Yes."
Park Jung-ah replied immediately.
The question that had been there a second ago had disappeared.
She quickly figured out what she had to do.
The surrounding environment changed rapidly.
Her vision rapidly darkened, but thanks to her 15 years of staying in the Tutorial, Park Jung-ah possessed all the stellar miscellaneous skills.
Her vision in dark spaces was ridiculous.
"What."
"Who do you think is there?"
Streetlights stood sparsely around, but the streetlights were broken in this place.
In this dark space, it was difficult to distinguish anything other than the walls blocking both sides of the street.
In the dark, the guys with iron clubs and baseball bats moved busily.
In between them, Park Jung-ah saw a girl being held by them.
"What, is that a girl?"
"Let's catch her too."
The big guys who found Park Jung-ah chatted.
It was a tone that seemed to be collecting garbage, not people.
Park Jung-ah opened her inventory and found a suitable weapon.
The cutlery was not appropriate.
In these situations, she always preferred heavy blunt force.
The big guys approached Park Jung-ah, who didn't run away.
He seemed to be approaching and trying to surprise her.
The big guys moved as if they had one mind without discussing anything.
She could see that those guys had done these things at least once or twice.
"Bring it on!"
The big guys rushed with someone's call.
Park Jung-ah just swung her club and struck the top of his head.
Along with the sound of cracking, a large body slumped on the floor.
The other big guys who tried to rush in, flinched and stopped moving.
Park Jung-ah rotated her club in a big circle.
If it had been a while ago, it would have been really awkward.
But now, she has been fighting for a long time and practiced moving her body.
Perhaps, because she had tangoed with death numerous times in the new Tutorial, the long-time use of her club was very familiar.
"You know what? I really hate people like you."
Park Jung-ah said so.
She flinched and turned back towards the big guys wondering whether or not to run away.
* * *
One thing that worried her was how to deal with those bulky trash.
In the Tutorial, Park Jung-ah sentenced all criminals who committed violent crimes to death.
The situations where the victims were continuously hurt were common, as repeat crimes were very likely, according to the statistics in the Tutorial.
Through unusually harsh punishment, crimes were prevented from happening in the first place.
But what to do outside of the Tutorial.
Park Jung-ah thought of this out of nowhere, and she wondered what kind of judgment she should make.
She wondered if the system would replace the ruling through a message, but that never happened.
In the end, Park Jung-ah decided to end the punishment by giving the men a silent beating until they passed out and were broken in a few places.
Those big guys won't be able to eat nor be able to live by doing physical work in the future.
"... I, I....... Shall I call the po- police?"
Asked the girl, trembling.
Even though it was late at night, she was wearing a school uniform.
The schoolgirl was knocked on the head by the big guys, but she was able to wake up quickly thanks to the potion Park Jung-ah had.
But the shock remained.
Seeing the girl trembling greatly, Park Jung-ah felt a corner of her heart becoming sore.
"No."
If she does that, then things get complicated.
In addition, she did not want this schoolgirl to go to the police station as a victim and suffer stress and mental pain.
After she returned, she may be caught up in a secondary crime of retaliation.
It was also important to find out all the criminals, but she judged that the first thing to do was not to harm this child.
She thought it would be better to just leave those guys unattended.
Park Jung-ah felt uncomfortable with her own judgment.
She said so and moved on.
The days of her crying out for her principles were long gone.
After a long period, the girl looked a little calmer.
She said she was still a student and that she felt dizzy.
She was exhausted.
"Well... When the request has been completed, it asks me to click Done. That's how you'll be called back....... Would you like me to press it?"
"No! Don't press it yet!"
Park Jung-ah shouted reflexively.
As soon as she was summoned back, she could feel the intuition that she would be participating in a new mission.
"I'll take you home. Then press it."
"Yes... thank you so much."
"Thank you."
Park Jung-ah grabbed the girl's hand and walked.
The schoolgirl did not have much strength in her legs, thus she walked slowly.
However, she did not support the girl.
This seemed meaningless, but this trivial act of returning home on one's own feet was a mentally significant act that helped to brush off bad memories.
She simply held the hand of the schoolgirl, grabbing her hand, and supporting her from time to time when she staggered.
It was a rare type of back alley.
You had to climb a steep uphill road.
It was such a neighborhood that is usually called "Sandongne".
(T/N: Sandongne, where the neighborhood is located on an uphill area, google image 산동네 for reference)
The dim streetlights and the stale night air.
The moon, floating alone in the night sky where a single star was not visible.
And the sound of a car that came in clumsily mixed with the sound of the wind.
This felt surreal for Park Jung-ah.
She was now on Earth and back in Seoul.
She was in her hometown, that she had imagined in her mind for so long.
She was in a good mood.
There was one thing that was definitely good.
'I wonder if they're watching?'
She looked up at the night sky where nothing could be seen, thinking so.
* * *
Of course I'm watching.
I thought of going to see Park Jung-ah in person, but I didn't do that.
I thought it was still time to wait.
I prepared a message for her while lying on the sofa armrest.
It was a message to a girl named Choi Yoo-jung, who had just been saved by Park Jung-ah.
[You used 'Miracle-Summon Lesser Guardian'. ]
[There are not enough points for 'Miracle-Summon Lesser Guardian'. ]
[Current total score: 84 points]
[The points for the 'Miracle-Summon Lesser Guardian' are 100 points. ]
[With Lee Ho-jae's authority, a Miracle-Summon Lesser Guardian is forcibly used. ]
[The guardian is being summoned. Be prepared for their arrival. ]
These are the messages that appeared before Choi Yoo-jung's eyes.
With Park Jung-ah's farewell, I sent new messages to her who arrived safely.
[It is a secret that only we know that a miracle was used even though the points were insufficient. You can't tell other people. ]
I was going to send a message in a systematic way, but I just sent it my way.
I thought it would be better.
The stiff tone of the system could be seen as crass.
In fact, the fact that God saved a believer in danger was something to be advertised.
However, Lee Ho-jae Faith was a special case because it was not unusual.
Lee Ho-jae Faith's system should always be fair.
If you could get a miracle regardless of the score, who would be willing to sacrifice anything to earn points in it?
Fortunately, Choi Yoo-jung prayed with her hands together and replied that she would.
[In return for the promise of secrecy, 10, 000 additional points will be paid. ]
Choi Yoo-jung was delighted and informed her family about this.
She said, of course, that she kept a secret, she prayed, and she suddenly scored.
Her family was greatly pleased.
They looked happy, saying that a score of 10, 000 points would be enough to move to a house in the city.
They took out a chunk of pork that had been frozen in the corner of the freezer as I watched them, excitedly eating.
It felt good.
I honestly admitted it.
I started acting as the god of the Earth.
It was more fun than I thought.
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