Chapter 28

We followed Lee Jihye and entered Chungmuro . Yoo Sangah saw the shattered screen door of the platform and said, “…It is a chaotic atmosphere . ”

As we climbed up from the tracks of railway line 3, we saw some people sitting down .

[You have entered Chungmuro . ]

[The third scenario is currently in progress . ]

[#GIR-8761 channel is active . ]

[#BIR-3642 channel is active . ]

From Chungmuro onward, the size of the scenario grew and the dokkaebi channels increased . That naive Bihyung would have a hard time from now on . Some middle-aged people saw us and waved their hands . “Oh, little samurai . You brought new people?”

“Yes . ” ‘A samurai . ‘ I guess Lee Jihye could be called that if the sponsor behind her wasn’t known . Sooner or later, they would be punished . Lee Jihye frowned at the middle-aged people . “Are you drunk again?”

“Hahahat! What is there to do other than drink when the world has become like this?”

The middle-aged people seemed relaxed, unlike those who were experiencing a disaster . It was natural since they were wearing the uniform of soldiers . This was definitely different from Gumho Station . It was truly beginning now .

“But did your friends come through the tunnel? How great… Won’t they have a lot of coins?”

Then one of the middle-aged men turned to Yoo Sangah . “Young lady over there, what is your name? Would you like to rent a room for cheap?”

“…Room?”

“Haha, you don’t know the system here yet? This place―”

Lee Jihye cut off the middle-aged man’s words . “Ajusshis . Don’t try to trick the newcomers . ”

“Uhuh, they must know anyway . This is what everyone is doing to live…”

“If you don’t want to be injured, then get lost . ”

The middle-aged man paled at Lee Jihye’s words . “This… young child has already learned bad things . ”

“Hey, Kang-ssi . Stop it . ”

The middle-aged people turned away . They disappeared into transit line 4, and Lee Jihye put away her sword .

“I brought you here, so take care from now on . I’m not a babysitter,” this child spoke so indifferently .

I looked around . Chungmuro—this was the stage of the third scenario, where completely different rules were in play .

“S-Shit! I’ll kill you if you come close…” A man was in the middle of the platform for subway line 3, waving a knife around and threatening people . At his feet was a tile that was 1 pyeong (3 . 306 m2) in size . It emitted a green light that stretched into the air .

Yoo Sangah asked, “…Why is he doing that?”

“I don’t know . ” I could guess but there was no need to scare her just now . There were many people sitting down with a knife on subway line 3 . Unlike the previous middle-aged men, the faces of the people here were filled with despair . I glanced at them and asked Lee Jihye, “Is Yoo Jonghyuk here?”

Lee Jihye, who was about to leave, turned her head at ‘Yoo Jonghyuk . ‘ There was vigilance in her eyes . “…Who are you?”

Yoo Jonghyuk had already ruined this child . Well, I could understand . It was difficult to find a constellation on the level of Maritime War God, even if he searched through all of South Korea . If I were in Yoo Jonghyuk’s position, I wouldn’t have found her so soon after coming to Chungmuro .

“I am a companion of Yoo Jonghyuk who came back alive . ”

“…Companion? How is that possible?” Lee Jihye stared at me with suspicious eyes .

I shrugged shamelessly . “That guy will understand if you tell him . Where is Yoo Jonghyuk now?”

“…Master isn’t here right now . ”

“Really? This is difficult . I have something I need to say . ”

Lee Jihye’s expression distorted as she stared at me with something like feelings of betrayal . Ah, I knew very well what she thought of Yoo Jonghyuk . Moreover, she was already addressing him as ‘Master’… It will be difficult to get her this way . Lee Jihye called out to a boy squatting in the corner, “Hey, over there!”

“Eh? Yes, yes!”

“Watch over these people right here! I’m going to find Master . ”

The boy looked at us with puzzled eyes . “…Who are they?”

“I don’t know . Master’s friends?”

At Lee Jihye’s words, the eyes of the people on the platform became bigger . They looked at us with amazement and awe .

“…Yoo Jonghyuk-ssi’s friends?!” The boy ran up to us and exclaimed . It was a boy who looked roughly around Lee Jihye’s age . “Are you really Yoo Jonghyuk-ssi’s friends?”

I couldn’t lie when I saw the boy’s clear eyes . At least, that would be the case if I were an ordinary person .

“He is a good friend . ”

Recently, I didn’t seem to be an ‘ordinary’ person . At least, that was the case here .

* * *

While taking care of the unconscious Jung Heewon, I heard about Chungmuro from the boy . Along with Lee Jihye, this boy was one of Yoo Jonghyuk’s followers .

“…Thus, we followed Yoo Jonghyuk-ssi . Are you listening to me?”

“Yes . ”

Of course, I wasn’t listening properly . The story of psychopath Yoo Jonghyuk’s heroism wasn’t interesting . The short summary was something like this .

“Three days ago, Yoo Jonghyuk appeared and saved some of you, including Lee Jihye, from the monsters . Isn’t that the story?”

The boy frowned at his story being summarized so simply . “Uh, the story isn’t that simple…”

He was surely spellbound by Yoo Jonghyuk . A presence with overwhelming force had rescued them suddenly . It would be strange if they didn’t follow him . Yet the boy didn’t know that he had survived not because Yoo Jonghyuk was a good guy but because he had been lucky to be with Lee Jihye .

“Now can I ask you a few things I am curious about?” Lee Hyunsung started asking politely while I was locked in my thoughts .

“Yes . Just ask . ”

“How is the food supply here?”

“That… It is a bit embarrassing to say… Some people, including me, are dependent on Jihye . Jihye hunts and asks Yoo Jonghyuk-ssi to cook…”

It was unknown when he made a checklist but Lee Hyunsung took out his notes and started to write something . He really was a soldier .

“Then how is your drinking water?”

“We give food or coins to the ‘Landlord Alliance’ upstairs in exchange . ”

“…Landlord Alliance?” I sat straight up . Now the story was becoming interesting .

The boy hesitantly opened his mouth, “They are the landlords in charge of the Chungmuro area . They occupy the upper floors, and we call them the Landlord Alliance . ”

Chungmuro’s Landlord Alliance—it was a name that appeared in Ways of Survival .

“What type of people are they?”

“Well, what should I say…” In fact, there was no need for me to ask . Perhaps, according to my expectations, one of the ’10 Evils’ was in Chungmuro right now . “They are just landlords . ”

This answer was the correct answer in a sense . They were landlords, building owners who received fixed taxes . At this moment, the quiet Lee Gilyoung opened his mouth, “Excuse me, Hyung . ”

“Yes?”

“I want to go to the toilet . ”

“Is it urgent?”

“Yes . ”

The timing was a bit unexpected . It was even more puzzling because Lee Gilyoung normally didn’t say something like this . Then I noticed that Lee Gilyoung was standing next to a blushing Yoo Sangah .

“…Excuse me, can I also go with you?”

At the moment, the image of Yoo Sangah and Jung Heewon securing secret necessities at Yaksu Station came to mind . I thought I knew what was going on, but that kid, Lee Gilyoung, quickly noticed it first . The boy overheard the conversation and said, “You need to go up to the second underground floor for the toilet, but it won’t be easy to enter . ”

“…Has something happened?”

“Yes . I think it is better to see directly… I’m going up to, would you like to go with me?’

“Let’s go . ” I was the one who said it . Of course, it wasn’t to go to the bathroom . I had to go up and check a few things . Recently, Yoo Jonghyuk’s movements were different from the ‘third regression’ that I knew . If so, I needed to be clear about the gap . I went up to the third underground level with my friends while carrying Jung Heewon who was still unconscious .

“Oh, I heard that there were new faces . Have you come to see the rooms?” A middle-aged man standing near the escalator for line 4 whistled .

The boy shook his head and replied, “Ah, I’m sorry . We are going upstairs…”

“Eh, too bad . Be careful . ” The middle-aged man waved his hands without hesitation .

Yoo Sangah watched the middle-aged man moving away and asked, “That… By the way… what exactly is the ‘room’? I don’t think it is the same as the room that I know . ”

“It is easy . ” The boy pointed to a square tile . The tiles were also present on the platform of line 3 . They were green tiles that were 1 pyeong in size . Looking at the details, I saw something written in the air above the tile .

[Green Zone 0/1]

“The scenario name is ‘green zone,’ and these tiles are called rooms . ”

Near the tile, two men were fighting each other over the tile . It was Lee Hyunsung who asked this time, “What is that? Why are those people fighting over it?”

The boy looked a bit reluctant to answer, as if talking to us would be a threat to his survival . “You will know once you arrive at the second underground floor . ”

As we climbed up to the higher floors, there were more fights over rooms . The room numbers were different . There were small rooms labelled (0/1) and large rooms labelled (0/7) . The latter number was probably the capacity of the room . I looked around carefully and asked, “The third underground floor to the first underground floor is all the area of the Landlord Association?”

“…Yes . They are small forces, but the Landlord Association has obtained most of it . ”

All the infrastructure of Chungmuro was located on the second and first underground floors, yet a single alliance occupied all of it .

“Yoo Jonghyuk didn’t take any action? Didn’t he save you?”

“That…” The boy’s face became noticeably darker at my question . The boy looked sullen for a while before barely being able to speak . “He told us to stand on our own…”

I knew it . Of course, Yoo Jonghyuk would say something like this . Perhaps Yoo Jonghyuk never told them to follow him . Fascinated by the overwhelming force he displayed, they went on to have hopeful dreams . How pitiful .

Not long after, we arrived at the second underground floor . There was tension on the boy’s face . “We have to be careful from here onward . ”

There were many more rooms on B2 than the lower levels, and there were no groups of people fighting . Instead, there were people guarding the green zones with scary eyes .

[Green Zone 7/7]

We passed by the people and headed toward the bathrooms .

“Uh… Why stop here?”

Our pace came to a stop as we approached the last passage to the bathroom . Like a bottleneck, dozens of people were gathered in the passage .

“Let’s go forward,” I said while pushing people out of the way .

“Pildu-ssi! Please accept it! I won’t do it again! Please, please! Please let me stay one more day . I’ll go into debt to get the coins!” The leader at the head of the line was facing the agitated people .

“Now now, back off . Back off . ” On the opposite side, people who seemed to be from the Landlord Association were gathered there . I could feel it instinctively . One of the 10 Evils was here . I tried to find the ’10 Evils’ member through the novel’s description, but it wasn’t easy since all of them seemed to fit . Did their impressions become similar after becoming landlords?

I was shaking my head when someone grabbed my leg . It was Lee Gilyoung . I sensed some danger and was about to grab his shoulder when someone pushed Lee Gilyoung .

“Ah . ” Lee Gilyoung lost his balance and fell down .

[The character ‘Lee Gilyoung’ has invaded private property!]

Suddenly, the atmosphere became cold, and some of the ‘Landlord Association’ members in the front looked at Lee Gilyoung .

“What is with this child?”

At almost the same time, the crowd of people screamed and withdrew .

“Crazy!”

“B-Back! Quickly!”

As if they were never there, the crowd of people rushed back like a tide . The people disappeared, and red lines shone where they used to be standing . One man looked between the boundary and Lee Gilyoung in turn . “Hrmm . You seem lost . Do you know where this is?”

“The way to the bathroom?”

“The bathroom? Haha, at one time . By the way, that kid… Where are your parents?”

“…Huh?”

“Didn’t you learn that you shouldn’t intrude on other people’s land?”

Other people’s land…

Oh, it must be true . The man stroked Lee Gilyoung’s head with an unknown look .

“Since you don’t know, I will teach you from now on . ”

[The character ‘Gong Pildu’ has activated ‘Armed Zone Lv . 3!]

There was a whirring sound, and mini turrets resembling gatling guns rose from the ground .

[The character ‘Gong Pildu’ demands 500 coins for invading his private land . ]

[If you don’t follow the recommendations, all nearby turrets will fire immediately . ]

The man said, “Give me money . ”

The loaded turrets were all aiming at the same point . The confused Lee Gilyoung stood up and moved to my side . The man saw me and laughed . “Ah, so you are his guardian . Then shouldn’t the guardian pay 500 coins instead?”

I smiled at the hand that the man brazenly stretched out .

…How funny, Yoo Jonghyuk . You let these jerks go?