Chapter 4: A Nameless Supporting Role’s Tutorial (3) |
2. Tutorial of the unnamed supporting character (4)
The living organisms have roots by which they are supported and formed. That origin is called the ‘category’ [1].
And Enemy types are represented as ‘species’.
The Rinoseron status of ‘perfectly trained pet’ put it into ‘pet category’ and as an animal tinted by demonic energy, it belonged to ‘demonic beast species’.
That is the demonic pet-monster Enemy.
The Rinoseron’s overall statistics were level 38.
The average overall statistics of the four of us were about level 10.
With just a few of the Rinoseron’s skills this gym and us four inside would turn into blended pasta.
We couldn’t delay any further.
“Goes!”
At my signal, Jang Namuk threw the ‘Oat flower recovery extract’ towards the barrier with a shout.
Clank!
We heard the sound of the bottle breaking and the faint scent of grass spread in the air.
The room, which previously reeked from the demonic beast’s disgusting smell, turned refreshing in an instant.
Uweeeo…Uweooooo!
The Rinoseron stopped charging the skill and staggered towards the broken bottle.
And then it started to smash its head against the spot where the contents of the broken bottle splattered everywhere.
Bang! Bang-bang-bang! Bang-bang!
Because the bottle broke on the barrier, it headbutted into it and produced a loud bang and sparks with each hit.
The monster didn’t pay attention to it and kept repeating similar actions.
I heard Jang Namuk’s sigh.
“Done…!”
At the early stage of the Player Maister Highschool opening service.
Users suspected a bug with the ‘Oat flower recovery extract’ received from ‘Exam random item box’ and reported it at the community forum.
The content was as follows.
They sustained damage, but didn’t die, so they used the item to recover their health.
However, as they recovered, they were suddenly insta-killed by berserk Rinoseron, their corpse mutilated as if they were condemned to the post-mortem capital punishment[2].
Of course, it was treated as one of the countless bugs and was buried.
After the end of the college exams, I was an idle 3-year highschool student, sunk deep into PMH. I immediately dug out a new account and tested it.
Then exactly the same situation happened.
I judged the item was the cause and tried the throw action.
Immediately, the Rinoseron ran towards the thrown item.
Fixed time passed and it aimed for the character again, but some sort of effect was certain.
‘At the time I didn’t know the reason, but I understood it after reading the setting book.’
A Rinoseron was the result of the fusion of a demonic rhino and a demonic lion.
This demonic beast had a carnivorous’s torso and a herbivore’s head.
Even if it was completely brainwashed, the strengthening of the instinct led to a reaction to the concentrated smell of grass.
Due to the oat flowers’ recovery extract’s high volatility, it would soon return to its normal state, but if you caught the right timing, you could buy time.
I thought that if you could manipulate NPC and with the high degree of freedom offered by the game, you could buy even more time.
I tried to consider it, but it was a mobile game famous as a hypewreck. It was impossible to even attempt it in the tutorial event that didn’t have to be cleared.
‘I can do it now. Me, the game character, Jang Namuk, Son Mingi and Yu Song-hun can communicate.’
I made a suggestion to the three of them.
First, move to the designated spot and wait until the Rinoseron goes berserk.
Second, when the Rinoseron goes berserk Jang Namuk, Yu Sang-hun, Son Mingi and me, in this order, would each throw the ‘oat flower’s extract’ towards the set point at the barrier.
Third, when all oat flower’s extracts are consumed, Son Mingi’s ‘Spiderweb net-trap (can tie the target for 5 seconds)’ will be used on its legs.
Fourth, with Rinoseron legs tied up, I …
“Ah…Ouch!”
I was contemplating over my part when Son Mingi screamed.
He was right next to the spilled bottle.
He wasn’t covered in its content, but if he doesn’t get up right now and run, he will be smashed to pieces together with the floor without questions.
“Son Mingi!”
I ran towards the Son Mingi who lost strength in his legs and couldn’t get up, but he was already before the Rinoseron’s nose.
Its horns were about to crush into Son Mingi.
Clank, bang!
“Aghr!”
The blood splattered wide on the shattered floor.
I don’t know if Yu Sang-hun covered Son Mingi when dashing to the side, but the Rinoseron’s horn pierced his back.
A large, bright red line was engraved deeply into Yu Sang-hun’s back.
“Yu Sang-hun!”
“You mad demon jerk, that hurts…”
“I…I’m sorry!”
“It’s ok. Run quickly.”
Yu Sang-hun tried to speak calmly, but even standing seemed to be too hard.
Son Mingi was still frightened, but he wasn’t injured anywhere.
“What a scare. Ah, we were lucky…”
Jang Namuk, who already came running straight to their side, made a relieved expression.
There was an injured, and the frequency of the Rinoseron’s contact with the barrier decreased compared to the plan.
But it was still progressing accordingly.
‘No way…’
Something bothered me.
I recalled the worst case scenario, the worst blunder[3] in my head.
But I saw the still bleeding back of Yu Sang-hun and shut my mouth.
***
The confrontation continued for several minutes.
I returned to my spot again and succeeded in getting the Rinoseron attention just before it unleashed a skill.
The Rinoseron’s nose slammed into the barrier.
Bang, bang. Jing, bang!
The barrier and Rinoseron’s horn created sparks.
“…The barrier is fine. Even that thing with R+ rarity cannot break it?”
Yu Sang-hun, whose face turned pure white because of severe bleeding, became overly chatty.
In my eyes, it was nothing but a bluff to reassure the other kids.
He was a ridiculously kind guy.
“The barrier won’t break. It was breached.”
I also had a similar idea to Yu Sang-hun in the past, but because the barrier was under the influence of the Jin for 15 minutes, the family member of this Jin won’t be able to break the barrier during that time.
“Son Mingi, it’s your turn. Prepare!”
Jang Namuk shouted.
He moved most precisely according to what I said.
Now, he was accurately judging the timing of the Rinoseron’s skill activation.
“…”
Son Mingi quietly took out ‘Spiderweb net-trap’.
In his hand were a total of 3 item cards.
Each item could potentially stiffen the target for 5 seconds.
So you could stop Rinoseron’s skill for up to 15 seconds.
If the conditions are achieved, we have a chance of winning.
It was again the time to stop Rinoseron’s skill just before activation, when…
“Son Mingi?”
Son Mingi’s card wasn’t pointed towards the Rinoseron, but in the direction of Yu Sang-hun.
“What, what type of joke are you playing now…?”
“Son Mingi?”
Jang Namuk was confused, while Yu Sang-hun staggered, staring at Son Mingi with an expression of incomprehension.
Son Mingi didn’t even pay attention to his gaze.
Like before, he was trembling because of the nervousness, but the hand aiming with an item card didn’t budge.
“I- I- I like being safe.”
“What?”
“You know we have to survive only a little over 4 minutes until the barrier is lifted.”
There was a villain who never saw the light of the day, because he was slaughtered in the tutorial.
Jang Namuk shouted with a dumbfounded face.
“Are you insane?! With an R+ demonic beast, the ground within 50m radius will turn to ashes in 1 or 2 minutes. There is no time left!”
Jang Namuk still likely couldn’t accurately judge Son Mingi’s inner thoughts.
The flashing sparks on the barrier were fading.
The Rinoseron will soon use a skill.
“It’s different if there is a living, moving bait.”
Son Mingi lifted a bottle which had about a half of the content remaining.
He pretended to pour out all the content and kept some.
Seeing the two harden, Son Mingi smirked.
“Wouldn’t that Jin and their family member be satisfied if three people died?”
Son Mingi wanted to use items to tie us up and spray oat flower extract, leaving the demonic beast a bait. He thought about using us as meatshields.
It seems he really will do it seeing the remaining content of a bottle.
I still thought he would stop when he saw Yu Sang-hun get injured while defending him, but I was mistaken.
“Ugh…!”
Yu Sang-hun tried to push Son Mingi away to move, but…
He groaned as if his injuries sprang up and he staggered, collapsing with a thumb.
The shock of Son Mingi betrayal must also be part of the reason.
“Yu Sang-hun!”
Jang Namuk tried to run towards Yu Sang-hun, but Son Mingi raised a bottle of the oat flower recovery extract as if planning to take him hostage.
“Come if you want to die first!”
“Do you plan to use Yu Sang-hun as bait? Yu Sang-hun got injured while saving you. Do you even not know what grateful means, you bastard!?”
“Grateful? Get real. Are we playing middle school? You also get here by trampling on other guys’ grades. Besides they say ‘grades aren’t worth betting your life’!”
“What are you talking about? How is backstabbing comparable to fair competition?!”
Son Mingi screamed with glossy eyes.
When Jang Namuk couldn’t give a proper retort, he adjusted his grip on the item card and the bottle, then only snorted, closing his mouth.
The original character was exposed, he no longer trembled or stammered with words, it was disgusting.
“Son Mingi, stop here. It’s still not too late.” [4]
I, who only kept observing the situation, spoke for the first time.
“Why are you talking like a geezer? What position am I in now for you to talk like that?”
As expected, it’s not even worth trying to talk him out of it.
Son Mingi came back to smiling alone.
With a bottle in one hand, he waved the other hand, holding an item card as if saying ‘look at this’.
I felt a sense of deja vu.
In PMH a similar scene also happened several times.
There was a Jang Namuk like character, who was stern, but sincere and caring about others.
The Yu Sang-hun like character, who you couldn’t normally say what he was thinking, but if needed, he was ready to sacrifice his body.
Anyhow, they weren’t bad guys. They represented nice guy trope characters who are left to die in the vicious scenario.
‘They had been stabbed in the back and killed by the guy like you too many times.’
Having my playable character being left to die, I became fond of the NPCs whose faces appeared and crumbled before my eyes hundreds of times.
The tense situation could no longer be maintained.
The effect’s duration of the last thrown item ended. The Rinoseron let out a roar.
Uweeee!
⟨Warning. The Enemy ‘Rinoseron’ is about to use the skill ‘Heavy rush’⟩
Son Mingi, who was aiming an item card at me, finally used it on Yu Sang-hun, who was the easiest and injured.
Whoosh!
The spiderweb net-trap emerged from the item card and tied Yu Sang-hun in place.
“Son Mingi!”
Son Mingi ignored Jang Namuk’s cry and sprayed the bottle’s content on the Yu Sang-hun.
Sizzle…
It was a small amount, but the oat flower recovery extract’s effect appeared.
“Damn it..!”
The moment Yu Sang-hun recovered a bit, he struggled to free himself, but it was too late. The trap didn’t break.
The demonic beast canceled the charging of the skill and turned its head towards Yu Sang-hun.
Son Mingi didn’t care about Yu Sang-hun who couldn’t move, and started running as far away as possible, leaving him alone.
5 seconds passed. Yu Sang-hun regained his mobility, but Rinoseron was approaching him accurately.
“Yu Sang-hun, run!”
Jang Namuk shouted towards Yu Sang-hun even though he knew it was futile.
Son Mingi grinned while running.
‘I’ve been waiting for it.’
I took out an item card I was hiding in my hand and materialized it, then I kept my eyes precisely on Son Mingi.
Pang! Shatter!
“Aghr!”
I heard the sound of glass breaking and Son Mingi’s scream.
Son Mingi raised his right hand to block the item out of reflex, and the content of the shattered item soaked his hand.
The item I had thrown was a bottle of the ‘oat flower recovery extract’.
***
It was after everyone understood my strategy, and Jang Namuk’s item cards were distributed.
Each person was handed one item card, and we were moving towards the designated locations when the system notification ping rang.
⟨Skill ‘Power of Fate’ activated.⟩
Power of Fate?
I recalled the skill’s details.
[Skill name] Power of Fate
[Rarity] EX (impossible to measure)
[Skill level] 3
[Effect] Creates surrealistic interference.
[Description]
Guide skill user’s fate based on experiences, expectations, ideas, goals and convictions.
The life path skill user has walked and will walk decreases and increases Power of Fate value.
Activates randomly.
To summarize, it randomly creates surrealistic interference to guide fate.
‘What, what happened?’
I couldn’t find anything slightly different.
The Rinoseron was unaware of us like before and the other three were tense, but I didn’t see any particular abnormalities .
However…
The instant I saw Son Mingi, a tingling sensation of electricity raised at my fingertips.
I reflexively looked at my hand and then saw what was clearly one item card before unfolding into one more card underneath.
***
Because of the broken bottle, Son Mingi’s arm was torn here and there, but the injury soon healed thanks to the recovery effect.
However, Son Mingi’s face turned dark when he realized what he was soaked in.
I gave him one more piece of advice.
“You better continue running if you hate dying. Bait.”
The Rinoseron pounced towards Son Mingi, who in comparison to Yu Sang-hun had a stronger scent of grass.
~*~*~
[1] Category – it is called a ‘system’ in raws (I think… there could be a lot of meanings), but ‘pet system’ looks a bit… awkward to say the least.
[2] post-mortis capital punishment – Bugwanchamsi – A capital punishment during the Joson Dynasty performed on those whose crimes were discovered after their death. The corpse was dug out of the grave, the head was cut off and the rest of the body was dismembered and hung. Meaning: It was a mess.
[3] blunder – as a very bad move in chess or go, usually made by the player’s inexperience or distraction.
[4] “Son Mingi, stop here. It’s still not too late.” – It’s impossible to convey in English, but Jo Uisin used a tone usually reserved to much older people talking to kids.
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