Chapter 301: Chapter 301 – Seoul (9)

Chapter 301 – Seoul (9)

Editor: Tide

Proofreader: Hydragea

Seoul (9)

Lee Jun-seok felt that at this moment, the person who was most embarrassed on Earth could not be anyone else but him .

A G-class had appeared in Pyongyang . Lee Joon-seok stayed near it to watch over it . He was the only one who could detect the G-class’ moves, escape from it, and quickly inform Seoul of the news . So, Lee Joon-suk roamed near Pyongyang for several days .

He learned that Lee Ho-jae had exited the Tutorial .

The Tutorial had also halted . It was said to be one of the minor problems that occurred when Lee Ho-jae came out .

To Lee Joon-seok, no matter what Lee Ho-jae did, it wasn’t weird . Even though he heard that Lee Ho-jae came out, Lee Jun-seok did not leave Pyongyang .

Lee Ho-jae was Lee Ho-jae, and the G-class was a G-class . And many people still lived near Pyongyang .

It was safe to say that most North Koreans lived in Kaesong’s vicinity, which was close to the border .

In the case Lee Joon-seok wasn’t present and the G-class started to move south, many people would be wiped out instantly .

Lee Joon-seok was just waiting for Lee Ho-jae to be sent here because of Kim Min-hyuk .

After hearing the news of Lee Ho-jae’s appearance, Lee Joon-suk began to consider attacking the G-class .

How could he get rid of it?

The other day, he sincerely told Kim Min-hyuk that it would be hard for Lee Ho-jae to catch the G-class even if he came out . Of course, Lee Joon-seok thought that Lee Ho-jae could kill the G-class .

It would be possible if he focused only on killing the G-class . The problem was the damage that would occur in the process of killing it .

Considering the power that the G-class might have, if one made full-fledged efforts to catch it, it would create a mess, not only in Pyongyang and Seoul, but also in China .

What good would it be if all of them died to save the city’s people in contact with the G-class’ area in Pyongyang?

That was why Lee Jun-seok insisted on giving up Seoul more than anyone else . Just giving up part of Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Gangwon Province would exclude them from the G-class’ area .

The G-class was famous for never going out of its area .

But Lee Ho-jae came out .

With Lee Ho-jae’s personality, he wouldn’t just give up on Pyongyang’s G-class . He’d try to fight, somehow .

The collateral damage that took place had to be reduced as much as possible .

Lee Ho-jae probably didn’t care about the damage, so Lee Joon-suk thought he had to find a way .

While flying over Pyongyang repeatedly, something flew and clung to his back . Lee Jun-seok shook his body, but what was stuck to his back refused to fall off .

“Cute!” exclaimed the being on his back .

He felt a sudden uneasiness at this surprise attack but was also curious about the young voice .

“Yong-yong, you shouldn’t do that . ”

He heard another voice . It was a woman’s voice that brought a sense of coldness with it . As soon as Lee Joon-suk listened to the sound, his body cringed .

“Okay!” the young voice sounded, and whatever was stuck to his back detached .

Then he flew past Lee Joon-suk, towards Pyongyang . Lee Joon-suk’s breath hitched, and he chased after them .

Soon, he saw a body that seemed to have been squeezed out of something in the heart of Pyongyang, a crying child beside it, and a woman soothing the child .

* * *

[Lee Ho-jae]

“Joon-seok buddy, did you say that I wouldn’t be able to catch the G-class?”

“Oh, Hyung, that’s… that’s… yeah, I did . I’m sorry! Forgive me!” Lee Joon-suk replied, squeezing his eyes shut .

When I saw him, I decided to let him go . Since he told the truth, I’d spare him this time .

Before coming in, he didn’t panic much when he saw Kim Min-hyuk and my group, maybe because he’d already experienced so much in Pyongyang .

Anyway, Lee Joon-seok did not make a fuss by saying, “What do you mean?” or “I never said that . ”

It was good that he accepted it quickly .

“Joon-seok . ”

“Yes, Hyung . ”

I scratched my chin, looking at him, who still had an anxious look on his face .

How should I frame this? I don’t know .

I decided to bluntly ask, “Why are you so weak?”

Immediately, I saw Lee Joon-suk’s face shrivel up . Well, what could I do? It was the truth .

“What’s your level?”

“201 . ”

201 was high enough . It was higher than what I had before I got stuck on the 60th floor . But it was still too weak .

“How did you level up?”

“Level up? What do you mean?”

“What level were you at before you reached level 201?”

Lee Jun-seok rolled his eyes and answered, “Of course I was at 200 . ”

Oh, my God . From Level 200 to Level 201?

“Then before 200?”

“That’s… that was 199, of course . ”

I sighed, shaking my head . In my case, my level had been stagnant before level 100 .

Then, I forgot about it, but sometimes I found that my level had gone up by 50 .

Kirikiri explained that the system updated my level only after taking some time to check on my current level . However, in Lee Joon-suk’s case, it seemed that it updated every time he levelled up by one .

I didn’t know if I should call that stupid or great .

Level 201 would have been hard to reach, but he raised his level by repeatedly challenging the Hard Difficulty Level’s 91st floor .

It was a very laborious task .

Lee Jun-seok stared at me with a puzzled look on his face, asking if something was wrong .

If you were going to do this, I wish you had asked me for advice earlier .

He had never asked me anything because he was too competitive . Thinking of his hardships, which could have gone as far as dying without even crossing level 201, I felt very sorry for him .

“Joon-suk, make some time soon . ”

“Yes? Okay, I will . ”

When I trained Hochi later, I’d let him roll around a bit with me . I knew that Lee Joon-suk was quite high-leveled .

Hochi would have an excellent teacher to observe and learn from .

[Who did you say was gonna train me?] asked Hochi, lying on the sofa reading comic books .

I ignored him . I don’t think I should let that guy be alone . He needed to have more self-confidence in this cruel world .

Kim Min-hyuk opened the door and called Lee Joon-suk as he did so . I thought he had something to say .

After telling him to go, I turned my attention to Yong-yong and the mantis-like monster .

Yong-yong was elated . He especially liked the Mantis Ruler and kept touching it here and there and staring at it .

The Ruler was struggling, looking as if it was going to die .

“Yong-yong . ”

“Yes . ”

“Since Yong-yong is going to raise it from now on, you should also build a house for it, right?”

Yong-yong nodded his head, his eyes sparkling at my question . “I’ll make one!” he said and ran up to his room on the second floor .

I watched his back for a moment and turned to the mantis .

“Hey, come closer . ”

“Karak-Kararak!” The mantis let out beast-like noises .

“Use human language, or I’ll tear your wings off . ”

“Yes . ”

I had a lot of questions about this guy . First things first . “Why are you half human and half mantis? Were you originally human?”

“No, it’s not like that . I just imitate the people who live here,” it answered clearly .

It’s a greenling, huh .

“Then why do you roam around with those front legs and wings?”

“This is… my identity…”

“Don’t talk nonsense and switch to a human arm . I don’t want to see it . ”

“Yes . ”

The front legs changed into human arms . That alone was much better to see .

Why would it take the form of a human woman and have the front legs of a mantis?

“Can I leave the wings like this…?”

“Whatever . ” The wings didn’t matter . “I’m going to ask you a few questions from now on . Your future depends on how sincerely you answer them . ”

“Will you… will you let me go?”

“Of course I will . Help me, and I will save your life . I told you before . I’m going to keep you as my son’s pet . ”

A look of despair, as if its world had collapsed, flashed on its face

I felt that, somehow, if Yong-yong kept it as a pet, it would definitely die .

* * *

I coaxed the mantis into saying that if it told me useful information, I would just let it go . Of course, that was a lie .

Filled with a desire for freedom, it began to talk excitedly .

“Ah, so, you’re the one who went nuts in America a few years ago?”

“Yes . ”

There were so many weird things about the G-class that had appeared in the U . S .

It had appeared in the waters of the city area, and there weren’t any traces of monster or human bodies left after the eradication .

Only that the U . S had announced that they had succeeded in the task .

The U . S might have actually compromised with the monster, or secretly brought out nuclear missiles, and the Awakened were actually killed by the atomic effects, and not the monster .

Or there wasn’t any G-class monster there in the first place . Such theories were also heard in the Tutorial .

However, listening to the mantis, the situation at the time was entirely right . It said that it came to its senses when it was on the eastern coast of the U . S .

It was in the middle of the sea, with numerous fleets and Awakened men around it . I remembered the centipede-like monster I had seen on the 80th floor .

The monster had achieved ‘completion’ on the spot after eating the mana thrown by Yong-yong and Hochi .

This one had also devoured a lot, and it seemed to have reached ‘completion’ during the battle, as a result of eating the Awakened and the U . S . Navy .

“Then?”

“I came back . I was just reborn, so I felt dizzy when this all happened . ”

Supposedly, the mantis, which had been near the eastern coast of the U . S, had been living among humans .

It had lived a rather hectic life .

“You didn’t think to go find the other Rulers?”

“Ugh…Ugh…Don’t say that . Why would I go find them? To get eaten?”

Ah, right . The mantis was a newborn Ruler . There were many who wanted more power .

“The gods can’t come here, and the Rulers can’t either . So I was stuck on this planet . I tried to live quietly . ”

And if possible, you’d build up your strength little by little, right?

I understood . For it, the Earth must have been a perfectly safe haven .

“How do you know about gods or Rulers?”

“I remember the time when I was a monster . ”

It said that it had memories of the days when it was a monster . When I asked about the other Rulers that pushed themselves into this planet;

“It’s akin to dropping soldiers all over the enemy camp in a mobile game, just that there are few monsters like me . All contributed in creating chaos . Even before monsters became Rulers, it was hard for them to be killed with the power of the Earthlings . ”

This was helpful . We could figure out how the Rulers managed and spread out their troops, and where their meeting place was .

The mantis’s value had increased in my eyes .

“Ah, that’s right . I used that thing too . The gate-generating item I got last time,” Hochi, who was listening from the side, added in . Hochi had been happily targeting the 89th floor, which was meant for the management of the dungeon as a servant to a Ruler .

The mantis, which suddenly grew still, widened its eyes at Hochi’s words .

“…oho, are you a Ruler too?”

Hochi ignored the mantis’s words . I had a more important question than that . “Do you have a cell phone?”

It had just talked about mobile games .

“Of course . How could I live among humans without a cell phone?”

“Well… Give it to me . ”

The mantis was worried about its cellphone, but after I threatened it a bit, it meekly handed it over to me .

“…Password . ” It unlocked the cell phone and handed it back to me again . As soon as I got the cell phone, I went to the phone book .

There were many names listed in it .

[Kim Jeong-dam]

[Jang Taeggi]

[Hwang Jeong-cheol]

Maybe because it had been in Pyongyang, there were many Korean names . English names and Chinese names were also present .

Among them, I found a familiar name .

[Park Min]

I’d seen this name before . I was retracing my memory to recollect whose name it was, when the doorbell rang .

Ding-Dong!

The people who had been wandering around the place for a while seemed to have finally hit the doorbell . They hadn’t come in and had just walked around, so I thought they were sent to monitor my movements .

But that wasn’t so .

Kim Min-hyuk, who was talking to Lee Joon-suk in the kitchen, approached the intercom . He grabbed the receiver, spoke for a moment, and then pressed a button to open the gate .

“Who is it?”

“Uh, it’s those kids from the Association’s side . I think they came here because of the Seoul Station incident . ”

Seoul (9) Finished

Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters .