Chapter 159
There were always two sides to every coin. If there was sunshine and light, there was shadow and darkness.
[Fire Giant has recognized the traces of a 'strong wish'.]
[Fire Giant has begun to seek the traces of a 'strong wish'.]
This situation could be seen as a bit of a side effect. I could understand what was happening.
'One of the Fire Giants that appear during the Gwanghwamun Dungeon break will come to me.'
I didn't know how long that would take. It might make a beeline for me, or it might take a roundabout way. One of them picked up my scent.
[The Gwanghwamun Dungeon Break Scenario – 'Attack of the Fire Giants' has begun.]
[The 'traces of a strong wish' condition has been fulfilled.]
[A sub-scenario is being generated.]
[The Gwanghwamun Dungeon Break Sub-Scenario – 'Hunt of the Fire Giant' has begun.]
The scenario I knew from the past was Attack of the Fire Giants. It was synonymous with the Gwanghwamun Dungeon break, and three Fire Giants emerged from the rift, laying waste to an entire district of Korea. After creating countless casualties over approximately three days of chaos, the Fire Giants automatically disappeared.
The Gwanghwamun Dungeon break scenario, Attack of the Fire Giants, was not one we could clear to begin with. Those three monsters were ones we couldn't yet hunt. And one of them was 'hunting' me.
"Fuck. Are you serious, Hyukjin…?!"
It was meaningless to lie here.
"Yeah. You heard the notice that a sub-scenario has been generated, right?"
Everyone nodded. Yoohyun said, "Did you know about the strong wish, Hyungnim?"
"I did."
The feelings my sister devoted for my sake, her love for me, manifested into a 'strong wish'. Thanks to that strong wish, I was able to clear the Yellow Charm Gate. But a side effect was that the very same wish was calling a Fire Giant to me.
'It's not Noona's fault.'
No one could say it was her fault—this was just bad luck. If there was light, there was shadow, and when it came to medicines, there were side effects. You could kinda call this a side effect of me changing the past.
'A side effect can be treated with another medicine.'
But what medicine? To frame it as a disease, the Fire Giant was an incurable illness. What kind of medicine was I supposed to use to treat an incurable illness?
"So? Fuck. What are you gonna do?"
This wasn't a part of the future I was drawing. But I couldn't just do nothing. I now had people to protect, and a future I wanted to see. I couldn't just helplessly give up because a monster that could not be defeated showed up.
'There definitely… is a way.'
After seeing Ham Sohyun's precognitive note, I made preparations nonstop. The worst-case scenario unfolded, but I wasn't giving up.
'Definitely.'
I would be able to pull through this scenario.
Song Kiyeol made a sound of dismay.
"Ah…"
After receiving all the reports, his face became very dark.
"Shall we call back the Players who have been dispatched to Boracay?"
"No."
It was meaningless even if they came back. Those were monsters even Kim Hyukjin could not kill. Hyukjin had gone so far as to call them a 'calamity'. A natural disaster that human strength could not block.
"Then what should we do?"
There was nothing they could do.
"Watch over the situation."
Time would resolve the calamity.
"Does that mean we can only sit here and hide?"
"It means we need to wait and see."
Unlike him, his sister Junghye appeared to be going for a more active approach, so Kiyeol called her to his office.
"Junghye."
"What?"
"Don't… fight the Fire Giants."
Even now, the Fire Giants were being broadcasted on TV, like usual.
–Currently, one Fire Giant is moving in the direction of Seoul Station…
The reporters were unable to get close, either. They filmed the Fire Giants from high up in the sky, far away.
–The Fire Giant's palm has been confirmed as a powerful fire attack…
The four to five meter tall flaming humanoid monsters had '?' for levels. The Gwanghwamun downtown region was in flames. Every car that came into contact with palms as massive as their bodies were thoroughly crushed and reduced to burning heaps of wreckage.
"Why? Worried I'll kill them?"
"..."
He was worried. About his little sister. They might be competing for the succession of the company, but to Kiyeol, Junghye was his little sister. He still remembered how she looked when she was young. She was such a gentle and kind child.
Junghye sneered. "You're too weak, oppa. And far too clumsy to have a big treasure like Taeguk Shield in your grimy hands."
"..."
He caught their grandfather's eye by a stroke of luck and was getting full support, but from what Song Junghye saw, her brother's actions were so-so.
"Let me tell you what the weakness of these Fire Giants is." Junghye continued, looking like she was having fun. "Each giant has to hunt a certain number of people. In other words, after they've hunted their quota, they'll disappear."
"How do you know that?"
"That's not what's important right now, is it?" She looked at her brother as if looking at something pathetic. "So once they're offered a set number of sacrifices, they can be hunted. To be precise, they can be made to look like they were hunted."
Junghye rose from her seat. She opened her palms, drawing a rainbow in the air, her face full of satisfaction.
"How beautiful. A tower of blood built on the noble sacrifices of many Players."
"Junghye."
"If they are buried in the National Cemetery and conferred badges of honor, how magnificent do you think such a picture would be?"
"Junghye."
"Oppa, you're too weak. Why do you think I told you the weakness of the Fire Giants?"
It wasn't really a weakness, but the condition to extinguish them.
"Want me to tell you in more concrete terms? Each giant needs to hunt 10,000 people. A Fire Giant that has killed 10,000 people will sputter out of existence."
The amusement on Junghye's face vanished.
"Even if I tell you, you won't be able to do it."
Her brother was incapable of the coldheartedness it would take to sacrifice Players and earn the honor of 'risking his life to hunt Fire Giants'.
Junghye eyes were full of disappointment. "I wanted you to make the call, Oppa."
If he wanted to become the next leader of Sungshin, she wanted him to at least shoulder that onus. If her brother, by some very small chance, had any thoughts of sacrificing Players or people to turn Taeguk Shield into heroes, her opinion about him might have changed a little.
"But you're still as weak as ever, and as much of a dreamer as ever. You're just an idealist."
"..."
"You have to use every method and means at your disposal. That's how you win. Be it in a fight or a war."
"..."
"They're not disappearing anyway, right? This scenario will only end after 30,000 die. Then someone needs to feed the 30,000 and profit. That is what's right."
Kiyeol could not bring himself to speak. These were his sister's true thoughts. He was scared. No, he was sad. What made his sister this way?
"If you have nothing to say, I'm leaving, good brother of mine."
"..."
Junghye turned around. Kiyeol felt as though his little sister's back was a wall made of cold steel.
After she left, Kiyeol sat alone and murmured to himself.
"It may be correct that 30,000 people have to die anyway."
That was an established fact. Humans could not stop a disaster.
"But you arbitrarily deciding who those 30,000 people are is another matter entirely."
Just then, his phone vibrated. He looked over to find that it was Kim Hyukjin.
"Yes, I've picked up," he answered his phone.
Kim Hyukjin's next words were shocking.
"Are you serious?"
Kim Hyukjin had called to tell him he would be hunting a Fire Giant.
* * *
I was a Fire Giant's 'prey'. It would chase me. I couldn't run. In the end, we would collide head-on. It was just a matter of whether that was very soon, or a little less soon.
"That's all I have to say. I'm going to fight the Fire Giant. Anyone who wants to leave, can."
For a very short moment, there was silence. No one got up. No one left. Everyone was saying they would fight the Fire Giant with me.
"You might die."
And it was highly likely. But Sunhwa said this in response.
"If not for Oppa, I would have been left to die in the Tutorial Field anyway." She clutched the hem of my clothes. "Do you remember what I said to you back then?"
The Sunhwa back then was desperate.
–Don't throw me away.
Saying that, she clung to me.
"I begged you not to throw me away. And you didn't. Now, I can't throw you away."
A bright smile bloomed on Yeonseo's face again. Her famous smiling eyes were truly radiant today as well.
"I still haven't forgotten that you saved my mom."
Summary: Swordsman who Hasn't Forgotten their Debt
Today, her summary showed up as 'swordsman'. It meant she had a swordsman's mindset.
"You've got to give me a chance to repay that debt."
Yoohyun raised his arms. "Exactly, Hyungnim. One little Fire Giant, can't we just smash it to pieces?"
Sunghyun didn't say anything, but he also didn't leave his spot.
State: Firm Determination / Rage Toward Evil / Righteous / Fighting Spirit
Summary: Wind Spellcaster with the Heart of a Devoted Hero
'Evil' was probably referring to the Fire Giant. As one would expect from someone who was contracted with the just-minded Lady of the Scales, Sunghyun was very enraged by the Fire Giants that were wreaking havoc on our society and killing swathes of people.
In stark comparison, Sung-gu's state was a sight to see.
State: Strong Desire to Run / Desire to Survive / Fear
Summary: Flaming Mouse who Wants to Run Away, but Can't (Isn't)
His summary was the weirdest one I'd seen yet.
'It says he can't run away… but also that he isn't.'
The 'isn't' was in parentheses, reflecting the indecisiveness in Sung-gu's own heart.
"Fuck. You're insane. You're all crazy bastards. We should just bounce at a time like this. Ah…"
He said everyone was crazy and that we should run, but in the end, he stayed put.
"Fuuuck. Whatever. It's not bad to just all die together." He suddenly broke into maniacal laughter. "That's right! We're all going together! Let's go! Into the ligh—ow!"
Yeonseo had pulled out a wooden sword from her Inventory and whacked him in the head.
"What do you mean, go? I haven't even gotten married yet."
"Owww, that hurts. Why'd you hit me so hard?"
Sunghyun scolded, "Yeonseo noona. Hit him harder, please."
In any case, the entire team chose to come with me. I truly, sincerely thought that it was fine if they ran. We had only been a team for half a year. I never intended on forcing them to risk their lives for a comrade they'd only had for half a year, and I thought a few would leave.
'This feeling… is pretty okay.'
In the past, I had no one. But now, everyone was choosing to stay by my side. Back then, all I came home to were insects that scattered when I turned on the light, but things had really changed.
In the meantime, I heard a notice.
[Fire Giant has recognized the traces of a 'strong wish' more precisely than before.]
And with that notice, I felt it, too. If I had to put it into words…
'The smell of fire.'
It felt like something I was sensing with Eye of Perception, but I recognized it as a 'smell'. A smell… that I perceived with my eyes. That sounded weird, but that's how it felt to me.
'The smell of fire is getting closer.'
I could feel the smell with my eyes, and it became an energy and flow I was familiar with.
[The title 'Person of Fire' recognizes flames of a higher grade.]
The 'smell of fire' started becoming more potent. It was a smell only I could perceive.
I was struck with the sensation that some kind of energy was radiating from me without my conscious doing, like the fire ki that took root in my body when I got the Person of Fire title was boiling up.
I felt instinctive fear come alight within me. Fear that a stronger flame was drawing near. But one corner of my heart began to tremble with another emotion, an emotion that defeated the fear and was starting to grow.
'Fighting… spirit?'
It was like the flame within me was impatient to swallow the flame outside of me. It couldn't quite be called fighting spirit. It was hard to put words to the sensation.
'This kind of feeling is a first.'
I was scared that the Fire Giant was coming closer, but I also wanted it to come. Two contrasting emotions were in me at the same time.
"Each of us must do what we can to prepare."
We couldn't fight the Fire Giant without any preparations.
"The Fire Giant will soon draw near."
From the moment I decided to fight a Fire Giant, this scenario began. Everyone had things to prepare in their assigned positions. They went off to do them.
One hour later, I got a call from Song Kiyeol.
–A Fire Giant has passed the Sinchon area and is heading towards the DMC Riverview Xi. The other two are committing slaughter in the Gwanghwamun vicinity. I will send a video to your phone.
I examined the video. I could see the rough gist of what traits Fire Giants had and how they moved.
There were two Fire Giants in the video, and a man was screaming. He was captured by the Fire Giants. One had his head, and the other grabbed his legs and pulled.
–A-AHHHHH!
Sadly, the man died. When another thirty minutes passed, I got another message.
–It has gotten very close to the DMC Riverview Xi.
In the vicinity of the DMC Riverview Xi, I waited for the Fire Giant, keenly feeling the 'flames of a higher grade'.
Another five minutes passed. The 'smell of fire' drew ever closer.
'It's coming.'
There, in the distance, I began to see the Fire Giant coming up the road.
'Come.'
My preparations were done.
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