Choice of Two Alternatives (1)
Near the quarantine zone where 100,000 people were isolated, two players were on the lookout.
“It suddenly got quiet. They kept on attacking for a while.”
“That’s why it’s more unsettling.”
The players recalled one particular player.
A man who handled a variety of weapons.
He hadn’t stood out much before, but this quest had made him a topic of interest.
“Where did such a person suddenly come from?”
“You know, they say he appeared during the Seoul Catastrophe, too.”
The Seoul Catastrophe.
The event that completely devastated Seoul, which had already lost over a third of its area to a scorpion attack.
If it hadn’t been for a player sacrificing their life to stop it, the damage wouldn’t have ended with Seoul.
“If the Zodiac of Hwangdo appears again, what will we do?”
“If they do, it’s death for us all, isn’t it?”
“When this quest ends, one side will be annihilated, right? Either a thousand players or 100,000 civilians.”
“Yeah, all the players who chose that side will die, too.”
They realized that the gods had truly forsaken them.
Among the remaining avatars, very few players still had contact with a god.
“If Yi Ah-young were still alive, the quest would have ended quickly.”
“What’s the point in talking about someone who’s already dead? Still, if she were alive, she would have led the situation.”
The ex-guild leader of Pianhwa, once called one of the three major guilds in Seoul.
If Yi Ah-young were alive, things wouldn’t have come to this standoff.
Given her skill that exhibited absolute power in dealings with the opposite sex, the situation would have unfolded in a totally different way.
“With her personality, she would have likely sided with the 1000 players over the civilians. Lucky she’s dead.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Most players shared such conversations to alleviate their anxiety.
Most of them likely knew.
This quest would determine the fate of this game going forward.
***
In a building near the quarantine zone, significant players were in a meeting.
Among the many conversations, Minsuho thought about a recent skirmish.
Specifically, his concerns about Sehan lingered in his mind.
The fact that Sehan had backed off so readily troubled him.
‘It’s strange that he disappeared after retreating like that, especially since he used to attack us relentlessly.’
He couldn’t understand why Sehan had vanished amidst these desperate times.
Even from his moderate faction, words were spreading about the urgency to advance offensively.
“Minsuho, what are you thinking about?”
“Ah, sorry.”
“We’re in the middle of a meeting. Save your other thoughts for later.”
The player who spoke to Minsuho had a rough demeanor.
He had bleached brown hair and two piercings in his ear, giving him a delinquent vibe.
His name was Kim Taehoon.
Despite his appearance, he was nothing of the sort.
In fact, he was more noble than Minsuho himself.
Unlike Minsuho, who wouldn’t spare any follower of demons, Taehoon rarely took lives, believing in the goodness of people and acting accordingly.
Because of this, his god still reached out to him.
‘But still, everyone’s so gloomy.’
Twelve players were attending the meeting.
Seven from Minsuho’s guild, and five representative players from other factions.
Although it seemed like one guild had a disproportionately high presence, it was only natural because Minsuho’s guild was currently the strongest in Korea.
Their guild leader was one of the top three strongest players in the world, with each of the other six members also possessing skills surpassing any other players who had survived worldwide.
Their guild was named Agateram, a name taken from the god who had chosen their leader, Cheonsanghwan.
The seven attending the meeting were the top brass of Agateram.
“The quest has only about a week left. I think it’s time we wrapped this up,” said Cheonsanghwan, the guild leader of Agateram, sitting at the head of the table, in a voice laced with a clear sense of command.
“Why don’t you just tidy up the situation? One use of your skill should do the trick, right?”
“Don’t underestimate THEM, Gang Junsik. Agateram might be strong, but the other side has their own powerful players. If we attack hastily, we might suffer.”
“Being too cautious, aren’t you? Genesis has lost its fangs, hasn’t it?”
“The Saintess Shin Yuhwa is there, too.”
“The one who abandoned 100,000 civilians is called a saintess?”
Gang Junsik smirked, tapping the table dismissively.
The player referred to as the saintess had chosen a thousand players over 100,000 civilians. Freedom of choice, but a decision contrary to her image; only she knew her reasons.
“Oh, and there was that dark fellow.”
“The dark fellow?”
“The unpleasant one. The weird guy using all sorts of weapons.”
“Ah, you mean Kim Sehan.”
“Right, he’s a real nuisance. Probably one of the strongest players they have.”
At the mention of ‘Kim Sehan,’ a young woman in the room flinched—a teenager with blond hair and blue eyes, a foreigner who stood out.
“Our youngest seems very eager to kill him, no?”
“Don’t start irrelevant conversations, Gang Junsik,” Cheonsanghwan’s voice lowered, warning not to provoke further.
Gang Junsik quieted down; even he wouldn’t dare go too far with Cheonsanghwan.
‘I don’t understand why we’re dragging this out.’
If they were serious, they could resolve such a quest with a snap of their fingers.
Genesis? They might have played a major role in Seoul earlier, but times have changed. The strongest in Korea was now ‘Agateram,’ their very own.
Considering the number of players and those from the player’s factions, at least three thousand players would die.
Given the current player population in Korea was just shy of seven thousand, this was a substantial blow.
‘But it doesn’t matter. As long as Agateram remains unharmed, Korea will survive somehow.’
That was what Gang Junsik thought, and coincidentally, all members of Agateram would agree.
They had that confidence and the abilities to back it.
Thud!
“Excuse the interruption during the meeting!”
A player burst into the conference room.
Flustered by the focused gaze of the room, he sweated nervously.
Cheonsanghwan asked him calmly, “What is it?”
“Sir, we’ve spotted a considerable number of players roaming the outskirts of the quarantine zone.”
“Have they finally prepared to make a move after being quiet all this while?”
Gang Junsik grinned, rising to his feet as if to handle it himself by stretching casually.
Before Gang Junsik could act, Kim Taehoon spoke up.
“I’ll go.”
“Don’t cut in line. I’ll handle this.”
“If you go, not only the other side but also ours might suffer. Let me take care of it.”
Bang!
Kim Taehoon slammed his palm down hard on the table and stood up.
His willingness to let Gang Junsik strike if he wished clearly irked Gang Junsik, who narrowed his eyes with annoyance.
“…Really? You want to take this outside?”
“You’d lose anyway.”
With an attitude that simply did not care, Kim Taehoon walked slowly towards the exit.
Gang Junsik’s forehead throbbed at the dismissive posture.
He might be a brawler, but he knew he couldn’t win against Kim Taehoon, primarily due to his infuriatingly powerful inherited skill.
Though the two of them, one bellicose and the other surprisingly moderate despite his looks, often exchanged words, the loser was always Gang Junsik.
“If I suffer, I’d rather die.”
Sighing and sitting back down, Gang Junsik scratched his head.
Cheonsanghwan resumed the meeting with a light laugh as Kim Taehoon left and the door closed fully.
“It seems they’re just as impatient as us.”
The time has come to end it.
Though they had tried to find a way to avoid complete annihilation, it seemed unlikely now.
***
Minah graciously accepted my request.
I was worried she might ignore me, but it seemed she was just bored because she made several tools for me, including elixirs, in just two days.
True to her status as a top-tier player, Minah had been an exceptional player in the past, but the future Minah was on another level.
It was a bit strange how readily she had helped, but she simply replied, ‘It’s just a whim.’
Typical of Lim Minah.
No matter how readily the ingredients were prepared, to think that one could make elixirs out of boredom.
If other players saw this, they’d probably beg her for assistance.
‘Maybe I should have just asked for help?’
The thought crossed my mind, but I shook it off.
Certainly, having Lim Minah’s help would make things easier, but it wasn’t necessary.
She had done more than enough by providing the elixirs and ‘that.’
‘Now, the question is whether I can handle what remains.’
It’s a tactic I wouldn’t have considered in the first run, as it’s nothing short of a wild gamble.
But now, I felt assured.
I am Kim Sehan, who cleared the entire first run.
I wanted to clear this quest ‘properly,’ like the ones in the second run.
If I wanted to completely conquer the Dungeon of Dreams and obtain Laplace’s Hourglass, this felt like the right approach.
Knowing all the strategies from the past, it would be easy to let the currents of time carry me along.
But simple actions didn’t seem likely to yield rewards, especially not an S-rank one.
“Now then…”
I had felt it since returning to base, an uneasy atmosphere.
Wasn’t it about a week before the quest ended?
What happened around this time again?
Right, a week before, when the real confrontation began.
Up until then, battles were mere preludes, and it was the period when numerous players would begin to perish.
‘I remember now.’
It was that day when we suffered a critical defeat.
The reason it didn’t come to mind was that I hadn’t participated in that battle since I was busy healing from the wounds from fighting with Minsuho at the time.
After healing, I immediately engaged in back-to-back battles to barely achieve victory.
Most fights involved ambushes, as we had no chance in direct combat.
‘Now that I think about it, ambush has always been my specialty.’
It was true in the first run and the second run as well, though the latter involved more head-on confrontations.
Since I had mainly fought from the shadows in my previous life, my name hadn’t been widely known until this point.
Chances are, many players from both sides, mine included, would not recognize me.
Those who encountered me in this quest and fought alongside me would know, but their numbers were not many.
The one who knew me best was probably Song Siwoo.
‘Let’s see, time-wise…’
Thankfully, there was a bit of leeway.
Only a bit, though.
Kim Taehoon was set to handle this fight, and unlike his appearance suggested, he wasn’t one to jump straight into a massacre.
If I recall correctly, after sending three warnings and getting no response, he eventually engaged in battle.
“I’ll drop by Song Siwoo and then move out.”
This battle had been a painful defeat in my past life, but now it presented an opportunity.
Every high-ranking member of the Agateram guild was an exceptional player.
If there were two of them or more, an ambush by me wouldn’t stand a chance.
I had to strike when one was isolated to succeed.
‘Of course, that applied to the old me.’
In the case of Minsuho, a direct confrontation nearly killed me.
Honestly, it was pure luck that I defeated him back then.
‘Now is the chance to tackle Kim Taehoon since he’s acting independently.’
A decision I would never have made in my past life.
But things were different now.
Back then, I couldn’t win a head-on fight, but now I felt confident I could.
It’s like with any game.
The first playthrough may be tough, but the second is always easier.
Choice of Two Alternatives (1)
Near the quarantine zone where 100,000 people were isolated, two players were on the lookout.
“It suddenly got quiet. They kept on attacking for a while.”
“That’s why it’s more unsettling.”
The players recalled one particular player.
A man who handled a variety of weapons.
He hadn’t stood out much before, but this quest had made him a topic of interest.
“Where did such a person suddenly come from?”
“You know, they say he appeared during the Seoul Catastrophe, too.”
The Seoul Catastrophe.
The event that completely devastated Seoul, which had already lost over a third of its area to a scorpion attack.
If it hadn’t been for a player sacrificing their life to stop it, the damage wouldn’t have ended with Seoul.
“If the Zodiac of Hwangdo appears again, what will we do?”
“If they do, it’s death for us all, isn’t it?”
“When this quest ends, one side will be annihilated, right? Either a thousand players or 100,000 civilians.”
“Yeah, all the players who chose that side will die, too.”
They realized that the gods had truly forsaken them.
Among the remaining avatars, very few players still had contact with a god.
“If Yi Ah-young were still alive, the quest would have ended quickly.”
“What’s the point in talking about someone who’s already dead? Still, if she were alive, she would have led the situation.”
The ex-guild leader of Pianhwa, once called one of the three major guilds in Seoul.
If Yi Ah-young were alive, things wouldn’t have come to this standoff.
Given her skill that exhibited absolute power in dealings with the opposite sex, the situation would have unfolded in a totally different way.
“With her personality, she would have likely sided with the 1000 players over the civilians. Lucky she’s dead.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Most players shared such conversations to alleviate their anxiety.
Most of them likely knew.
This quest would determine the fate of this game going forward.
***
In a building near the quarantine zone, significant players were in a meeting.
Among the many conversations, Minsuho thought about a recent skirmish.
Specifically, his concerns about Sehan lingered in his mind.
The fact that Sehan had backed off so readily troubled him.
‘It’s strange that he disappeared after retreating like that, especially since he used to attack us relentlessly.’
He couldn’t understand why Sehan had vanished amidst these desperate times.
Even from his moderate faction, words were spreading about the urgency to advance offensively.
“Minsuho, what are you thinking about?”
“Ah, sorry.”
“We’re in the middle of a meeting. Save your other thoughts for later.”
The player who spoke to Minsuho had a rough demeanor.
He had bleached brown hair and two piercings in his ear, giving him a delinquent vibe.
His name was Kim Taehoon.
Despite his appearance, he was nothing of the sort.
In fact, he was more noble than Minsuho himself.
Unlike Minsuho, who wouldn’t spare any follower of demons, Taehoon rarely took lives, believing in the goodness of people and acting accordingly.
Because of this, his god still reached out to him.
‘But still, everyone’s so gloomy.’
Twelve players were attending the meeting.
Seven from Minsuho’s guild, and five representative players from other factions.
Although it seemed like one guild had a disproportionately high presence, it was only natural because Minsuho’s guild was currently the strongest in Korea.
Their guild leader was one of the top three strongest players in the world, with each of the other six members also possessing skills surpassing any other players who had survived worldwide.
Their guild was named Agateram, a name taken from the god who had chosen their leader, Cheonsanghwan.
The seven attending the meeting were the top brass of Agateram.
“The quest has only about a week left. I think it’s time we wrapped this up,” said Cheonsanghwan, the guild leader of Agateram, sitting at the head of the table, in a voice laced with a clear sense of command.
“Why don’t you just tidy up the situation? One use of your skill should do the trick, right?”
“Don’t underestimate THEM, Gang Junsik. Agateram might be strong, but the other side has their own powerful players. If we attack hastily, we might suffer.”
“Being too cautious, aren’t you? Genesis has lost its fangs, hasn’t it?”
“The Saintess Shin Yuhwa is there, too.”
“The one who abandoned 100,000 civilians is called a saintess?”
Gang Junsik smirked, tapping the table dismissively.
The player referred to as the saintess had chosen a thousand players over 100,000 civilians. Freedom of choice, but a decision contrary to her image; only she knew her reasons.
“Oh, and there was that dark fellow.”
“The dark fellow?”
“The unpleasant one. The weird guy using all sorts of weapons.”
“Ah, you mean Kim Sehan.”
“Right, he’s a real nuisance. Probably one of the strongest players they have.”
At the mention of ‘Kim Sehan,’ a young woman in the room flinched—a teenager with blond hair and blue eyes, a foreigner who stood out.
“Our youngest seems very eager to kill him, no?”
“Don’t start irrelevant conversations, Gang Junsik,” Cheonsanghwan’s voice lowered, warning not to provoke further.
Gang Junsik quieted down; even he wouldn’t dare go too far with Cheonsanghwan.
‘I don’t understand why we’re dragging this out.’
If they were serious, they could resolve such a quest with a snap of their fingers.
Genesis? They might have played a major role in Seoul earlier, but times have changed. The strongest in Korea was now ‘Agateram,’ their very own.
Considering the number of players and those from the player’s factions, at least three thousand players would die.
Given the current player population in Korea was just shy of seven thousand, this was a substantial blow.
‘But it doesn’t matter. As long as Agateram remains unharmed, Korea will survive somehow.’
That was what Gang Junsik thought, and coincidentally, all members of Agateram would agree.
They had that confidence and the abilities to back it.
Thud!
“Excuse the interruption during the meeting!”
A player burst into the conference room.
Flustered by the focused gaze of the room, he sweated nervously.
Cheonsanghwan asked him calmly, “What is it?”
“Sir, we’ve spotted a considerable number of players roaming the outskirts of the quarantine zone.”
“Have they finally prepared to make a move after being quiet all this while?”
Gang Junsik grinned, rising to his feet as if to handle it himself by stretching casually.
Before Gang Junsik could act, Kim Taehoon spoke up.
“I’ll go.”
“Don’t cut in line. I’ll handle this.”
“If you go, not only the other side but also ours might suffer. Let me take care of it.”
Bang!
Kim Taehoon slammed his palm down hard on the table and stood up.
His willingness to let Gang Junsik strike if he wished clearly irked Gang Junsik, who narrowed his eyes with annoyance.
“…Really? You want to take this outside?”
“You’d lose anyway.”
With an attitude that simply did not care, Kim Taehoon walked slowly towards the exit.
Gang Junsik’s forehead throbbed at the dismissive posture.
He might be a brawler, but he knew he couldn’t win against Kim Taehoon, primarily due to his infuriatingly powerful inherited skill.
Though the two of them, one bellicose and the other surprisingly moderate despite his looks, often exchanged words, the loser was always Gang Junsik.
“If I suffer, I’d rather die.”
Sighing and sitting back down, Gang Junsik scratched his head.
Cheonsanghwan resumed the meeting with a light laugh as Kim Taehoon left and the door closed fully.
“It seems they’re just as impatient as us.”
The time has come to end it.
Though they had tried to find a way to avoid complete annihilation, it seemed unlikely now.
***
Minah graciously accepted my request.
I was worried she might ignore me, but it seemed she was just bored because she made several tools for me, including elixirs, in just two days.
True to her status as a top-tier player, Minah had been an exceptional player in the past, but the future Minah was on another level.
It was a bit strange how readily she had helped, but she simply replied, ‘It’s just a whim.’
Typical of Lim Minah.
No matter how readily the ingredients were prepared, to think that one could make elixirs out of boredom.
If other players saw this, they’d probably beg her for assistance.
‘Maybe I should have just asked for help?’
The thought crossed my mind, but I shook it off.
Certainly, having Lim Minah’s help would make things easier, but it wasn’t necessary.
She had done more than enough by providing the elixirs and ‘that.’
‘Now, the question is whether I can handle what remains.’
It’s a tactic I wouldn’t have considered in the first run, as it’s nothing short of a wild gamble.
But now, I felt assured.
I am Kim Sehan, who cleared the entire first run.
I wanted to clear this quest ‘properly,’ like the ones in the second run.
If I wanted to completely conquer the Dungeon of Dreams and obtain Laplace’s Hourglass, this felt like the right approach.
Knowing all the strategies from the past, it would be easy to let the currents of time carry me along.
But simple actions didn’t seem likely to yield rewards, especially not an S-rank one.
“Now then…”
I had felt it since returning to base, an uneasy atmosphere.
Wasn’t it about a week before the quest ended?
What happened around this time again?
Right, a week before, when the real confrontation began.
Up until then, battles were mere preludes, and it was the period when numerous players would begin to perish.
‘I remember now.’
It was that day when we suffered a critical defeat.
The reason it didn’t come to mind was that I hadn’t participated in that battle since I was busy healing from the wounds from fighting with Minsuho at the time.
After healing, I immediately engaged in back-to-back battles to barely achieve victory.
Most fights involved ambushes, as we had no chance in direct combat.
‘Now that I think about it, ambush has always been my specialty.’
It was true in the first run and the second run as well, though the latter involved more head-on confrontations.
Since I had mainly fought from the shadows in my previous life, my name hadn’t been widely known until this point.
Chances are, many players from both sides, mine included, would not recognize me.
Those who encountered me in this quest and fought alongside me would know, but their numbers were not many.
The one who knew me best was probably Song Siwoo.
‘Let’s see, time-wise…’
Thankfully, there was a bit of leeway.
Only a bit, though.
Kim Taehoon was set to handle this fight, and unlike his appearance suggested, he wasn’t one to jump straight into a massacre.
If I recall correctly, after sending three warnings and getting no response, he eventually engaged in battle.
“I’ll drop by Song Siwoo and then move out.”
This battle had been a painful defeat in my past life, but now it presented an opportunity.
Every high-ranking member of the Agateram guild was an exceptional player.
If there were two of them or more, an ambush by me wouldn’t stand a chance.
I had to strike when one was isolated to succeed.
‘Of course, that applied to the old me.’
In the case of Minsuho, a direct confrontation nearly killed me.
Honestly, it was pure luck that I defeated him back then.
‘Now is the chance to tackle Kim Taehoon since he’s acting independently.’
A decision I would never have made in my past life.
But things were different now.
Back then, I couldn’t win a head-on fight, but now I felt confident I could.
It’s like with any game.
The first playthrough may be tough, but the second is always easier.
