Chapter 3: A Nameless Supporting Role’s Tutorial (2) |
2. Tutorial of the unnamed supporting character (2)
In Player Maister Highschool, Enemies and items were categorized into ‘rarity’ ranks based on their attributes and uniqueness.
It meant that rarity rank reflected possessed attributes and uniqueness according to the general norm.
They were sorted out into: UR(Ultra Rare), SSR (Super Super Rare), SR(Super Rare), R(Rare) and N(Normal), with + or – added if needed.
Only when the rarity was beyond known standards and impossible to measure it was expressed as EX(Extra).
And the item I pulled out in this morbid situation was the lowest possible rank.
⟨Obtained ‘Assassin’s apprentice’s pocket knife’. You can read the weapon’s data.⟩
‘It’s junk!’
My vision went dark with the system notification.
‘It may not be the junk I know!’
I spun a thinking circuit to escape into happy delusions.
I embraced the vain hope and then selected ‘read item data’.
⟨Reading item data.⟩
[Item name] Assassin’s apprentice’s pocket knife
[Type] Weapon
[Rarity] N-
[Proficiency] 0%
[Effect] Proficiency experience bonus 20%, agility +2, strength +0,5
[Description]
A cheap weapon you can buy even at the ordinary market.
It contains the deep grudges of its previous user, an assassin’s apprentice, and an avenger.
To cut the archenemy’s throat, the avenger honed his skills without rest.
Hopes and happiness circuits collapsed.
It was the junk I knew.
If it was the game, I would immediately press a home button to forcibly quit the game and then erase it. It was junk among junks to start a reset marathon.
While I was left stupefied, the time continued to flow.
In the place where the gym’s dim light couldn’t quite illuminate, something seemed to wriggle.
“Run…now…”
The voice sounded like it was dying.
No one said a word to me about an item box, as the kids stared in that direction.
“Ugh? Isn’t it the supervisor over there? Hey, blood, he is covered in blood…”
“It’s the hat which the supervisor was wearing over there…”
“Jo Uisin, you said the Enemy is coming just now…”
The Jang Namuk words towards me were buried in the sound of the siren.
Neeeee naaaaww!
Crrriiick!
The squick as if something tore up the speakers echoed with the siren.
The noise calmed down and then I heard a voice with a bizarre intonation.
— One, one, mic test. Hear me students?!
Is this voice for real?
Because the PMH didn’t have a voiceover and such, it was my first time hearing that voice.
I hoped for dubbing someday, but I didn’t want to hear this kind of voice.
— I dropped my pet at one of the examination grounds! I commanded it to ‘Play and then kill’…No, wait, I gave a blessing!
The Player Maister Highschool’s opening was as follows.
The faceless and unnamed supporting characters come to take a practical exam at the Eungwang Highschool.
After entering the examination ground.
The examinees sign the agreement that the school is absolutely not responsible for the possible injuries suffered during a practical exam.
And examinees are assigned to the exam group 13.
— Eungwang School’s communication is completely blocked right now! I used a special power on the ‘Exam’s boundary’ barrier in the venue where I dropped my pet, to make it impossible to lift for 15 minutes.
Then the bloodied supervisor reaches the gym.
— The supermancers of the top school in Korea, the buds of elite players, life is always such an unjust thing!
I’m teaching you that, because… I don’t do that and,
I’m doing everything for personal and still extremely private reasons!
After the end of the chaotic and crazy broadcast…
— I picked a few people among you to die. Put your hearts into searching, if you want to save them! Over!
The legendary event which vanquished half of 3 million pre registered users of Player Maister Highschool in a day.
The ‘Tutorial of the unnamed supporting character’ had started.
⟨Warning, the Enemy is approaching.⟩
Uwoooo!
The Enemy of grotesque shape as if a rhinoceros’ head and a lion’s torso were merged together, stomped at the bloodied supervisor with one foot and howled.
From the speakers’ squick to the horrible shriek, they threaten to rip the eardrums.
The suffocating tension.
The bloodthirst pressing my whole body.
The scent of blood pricking the nose.
The odor which probably was a rotting animal corpse.
I was sure. This situation is definitely real for me.
My survival instinct said it’s an otherworldly reality now. If I don’t cope with it, I’ll die crying.
There was no other choice but to acknowledge it.
“That, that, what is that..?!”
“Demonic beast? Wa–Wait, it also has a bounty. Ah… Aaah… It’s Ung’s tribe[1] family!”
Jang Namuk screamed. It seemed he had insight skill.
‘Let’s first check the Enemy’s data again.’
I already read and learned the setting book, but I needed to move a bit more carefully from now on.
⟨Reading data of the Enemy ‘Rinoseron’.⟩
[Enemy name] Rinoseron no. 13
[Rarity] R+
[Titles] Demonic monster-pet, Ung’s family
[Blessing] Your master commanded you this: ‘Play and then kill’
[Status] Complete obedience(impossible to disable), cognitive abilities degeneration, perception degeneration, instinct strengthening
[Overall statistics] Lv. 38
[Skills]
Heavy rush Lv. 5
[Description]
A living product of one of the Ung tribesmen’s hobbies.
It took 13 synthesis and remodelings to complete.
It became a demonic beast, that’s neither a rhinoceros monster, nor a lion monster.
What remained were instincts and complete devotion towards its master.
While accompanying its master on the walk once, it alone wiped out a town.
Currently has a bounty on its head.
During the ‘Clash of different worlds’ invisible beings became visible. The fiction turned into reality.
What existed as myths, legends, natural phenomena, religions and stories, became real.
Among the beings which appeared anew at that time were Jin people[2].
The Jin people were neither humans nor Enemies, they were so called demi-humans.
They who existed in this world for a long time, but their interference was limited, descended into the present world with the opportunity of the Clash of different worlds, in their complete forms.
Things which were believed to exist only in fiction: demons, angels, dragons etc. were real.
The Jin people had their own various inclinations, either allying with mankind or oppressing them.
‘The Ung tribe who sent this guy is an oppressor.’
The Ung tribe were warmongers which stood out with their hedonistic tendencies.
That Ung’s R+ demonic pet-monster Rinoseron was an altered and trained Enemy.
‘We were massacred by this bastard.’
Almost 10 years have passed, but I still remember.
The tutorial where you were slaughtered by the overpowered Enemy for absurd reasons was this game’s foundations of the downfall into the sincere national hypewreck.
‘I still wanted to clear it.’
In the end, I couldn’t do it.
Whatever the unnamed supporting character I operated or NPC’s did, they broke into pieces and died every single time.
After the barrier was released, the school’s staff and top ranking players who were at school rushed inside the gym.
However the only flesh and blood stains they found were too pitiful to even call it a corpse.
The faces full of despair expressed by delicate graphics were still vivid.
‘At that time, my longest survival streak was 9 minutes.’
5 minutes using Rinoseron’s traits.
4 minutes endured with usage of items.
It barely summed up to 9 minutes.
But the barrier was released after 15 minutes.
“Don’t move!”
My words stopped Son Mingi, who wanted to flee.
“Rinoseron is sensitive to big movements, but its eyes and ears are poor! We’ll be okay for a moment if we don’t move!”
In that case there is no other way, but to search for another strategy.
To survive for 15 minutes.
It didn’t look like a long time.
However, the goal is to survive for 15 minutes against the demonic beast with a clear level difference.
‘It’s a similar level of difficulty to enduring under a collapsed few-story building for 15 minutes.’
At the moment, the things I could use were three middle school kids and lowest rank junk I pulled out.
I needed to increase the amount of usable pieces.
“Open the item boxes.”
The guys who stood absolutely frozen hurriedly took out palm-sized boxes from their pockets.
I summoned it from the exclusive menu inventory, but it seemed to be different for other people.
Soon Jang Namuk, Son Mingi and Yu Sang-hun opened the exam’s random item box and received an item card.
But none of the three looked relieved.
Jang Namuk pulled out 4 [Oat flower recovery extracts].
Son Mingi pulled out 3 [Spiderweb net-traps].
Yu Sang-hun pulled out 4 [Cotton scarecrows’ devotion]
Completely ruined.
None of us should ever buy a lottery ticket.
‘No, isn’t Jang Namuk’s pull still on the good side? At least among the four of us…’
The rank was still the worst, but all three pulled out the consumables.
I was the only one who drew a weapon.
‘I have to come up with something.’
The overall abilities of the four of us.
Items.
The demonic beast Rinoseron.
15 minutes.
I figured out the next move.
“I checked with the skill. That is the pet demon beast R+ Rinoseron. It’s a Ung’s family member and also has their blessing.”
I explained as calmly as possible a part of the data I confirmed with the status window.
Son Mingi staggered as if he lost strength in his legs, but Jang Namuk caught him reflexively before he fell down.
They were guys who applied to the Eungwang School with the highest difficulty entrance exam in Korea.
They had to perfectly learn theory. Even with this information only, they would guess Rinoseron’s destructive power.
“Even without eyes and ears, it’s on the level to turn this room into powder within 2 minutes.”
I gave a finishing blow.
“Currently it’ll follow the command to ‘Play and then kill’, so we’ll be okay. But we don’t know if it won’t change to ‘Destroy everything’ as the time passes.”
To be exact, it’s not ‘we don’t know if it won’t change’ but ‘it’ll change’.
Because even after trying out several different patterns when I endured for 5 minutes, the movements clearly changed.
“From now on, I’m going to tell you what I think. Tell me straight if you have a different opinion. Let’s decide within 4 minutes.”
The remaining time until release of the barrier: 14 minutes.
The guy who was spacing out until now, interfering had to look unreliable, but there was no other way.
They nodded.
***
“I’ll do it.”
As soon as my words ended, Yu Sang-hun handed me items.
Yu Sang-hun’s ownership over 4 [Cotton scarecrows’ devotion] was changed to me.
⟨Transferred ownership of the ‘Cotton scarecrow’s devotion’ from Yu Sang-hun.⟩
To hand over the only items you possess in such a dire situation, what a bold guy.
⟨Reading item data.⟩
[Item name] Cotton scarecrow’s devotion
[Type] Consumable
[Rarity] N-
[Effect] Reduces 30% of the damage for 15 seconds, after which it’s destroyed.
[Description]
A scarecrow entirely filled with worn out cotton.
Around a century ago, its role was to chase away flocks of birds at the corn fields.
Now its place was snatched by automatic laser beams.
It seems you can hide yourself behind its bulky body.
“Yeah, me too.”
Son Mingi nodded while still shaking.
Now only Jang Namuk was left to agree.
He kept opening and closing his mouth. Maybe he had a lot of thoughts as a guy with the best physique.
“As a guy who can’t even rise to action, I shouldn’t say that but… Even in the best case scenario, it seems someone will end up injured.”
Jang Namuk held up item cards while speaking.
“Be careful, Jo Uisin…!”
It seemed Jang Namuk hesitated because he was worried about me.
***
Leaving the motionless supervisor alone, the Rinoseron slowly wandered around the gym, searching for its next prey.
The Rinoseron was almost deaf, but even knowing that we held our breaths and moved very slowly.
‘It would be great if it was like this until the time limit to the release of a barrier, so we could escape.’
That hope crumbled immediately.
The Rinoseron howled.
Uwaaaaaaaa!
Its movements turned noticeably aggressive.
I checked the Rinoseron’s status window again and the [Blessing] section was updated.
[Blessing] Your master commanded you this: ‘Destroy everything’.
I expected it, but it looks like they really think about turning everything into powder, including this place.
⟨Warning. The Enemy ‘Rinoseron’ is about to use the skill ‘Heavy rush’.⟩
~*~*~
[1] Ung’s tribe – ‘Ung’ from the Chinese character meaning ‘bear’.
[2] Jin people – ‘Jin’ from the Chinese character meaning ‘true’, so you could also call them the ‘True race’. Not gonna do that though because Jin people are a diverse group of different ‘species’. Also I’ll call smaller groups of Jin people unifying the similar beings or ‘species’ a tribe. Jin will be used as singular. Similar will be done with singular for ‘tribes’ members’.
Translator’s note: Fun fact, all items pulled out by kids (Jo Uisin not included, I can’t call him a kid), have three word names! Does that mean anything…? … … … Gods, I hope not. It’s just coindance right? ….
(Jo Uisin’s item has a name with 4 words by the way).
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