The Player Who Eats Steel - Episode 23
23. Seoul Station, F grade and S grade - 2
=========================
Seoul Station Disaster, Lee Hyun-wook remembered the incident called that..
Part of Seoul Station was forcibly closed due to an 'unlucky event', stranding hundreds of people for 6 hours and eventually leading to 745 deaths. It was the most devastating monster disaster that occurred during the same period..
Perhaps it deserved to be recorded as an incident that revealed the blind spots in Korea's 'gate response system'.······.
‘Immediately after that, the fourth wave occurred and hundreds of thousands of people died and were buried..’
Therefore, in the future, unfortunately, the lives of the 745 people who disappeared here are not considered that important. They are just a few sacrificed as a warning before a bigger disaster occurs.······.
But now, every single one of them was alive..
“Ugh, mom, I'm scared.······.”
“Shhh, son, it's okay, the players over there will save us..”
“Dad is coming to get us?”
“Well then, let's wait a little bit..”
People who would have been prey to spiders were gathered in one place like this..
But it was still a situation that could not be reassured..
“······Really, can they stop monsters for 5 hours??”
The fears and questions that the weak cannot help but have.······.
It was natural to trust them since there were at most 40 'low level' players..
The helpless civilians could only stare at their backs and swallow dry saliva..
Gulp- Gulp-
As time passed, the surface of the gate began to shake violently..
40100 players, all of them holding their breath and staring at that place..
'Tanks', including warriors and knights, stood blocking the stairs and escalators, while archers and wizards lined up on the terrace, raising their weapons..
still-
Faint but heavy breathing could be heard everywhere..
Shhh-
And before I knew it, they were all wearing gas masks..
This is because Lee Hyun-wook maintained that the poisonous armored spider emits some kind of poison..
How long did that pass? Suddenly, the gate stopped shaking.······
flash-blink-
The gate spewed out light in all directions and at the same time spit out two terrifyingly large spiders..
flash-blink-
A total of 4 animals appeared like that twice..
1The number was twice as large as when the car was split..
‘······came out.’
Everyone thought so in their hearts, but out of their mouths they could only let out heavy breaths..
Kik-rit! Ki-rit!
Disgusting cries and heavy movements... As they started to raise their bodies and move, the reception room on the second floor of Seoul Station seemed narrow..
“atmosphere······.”
In the silence, only Lee Hyun-wook's voice rang softly..
Thump-thump-thump-thump-
The sound of eight earth-shaking footsteps shook my heart..
“atmosphere······.”
Lee Hyun-wook raised his right hand above his head and extended his left hand toward the guy..
‘Only one shell bursts. On the back, where it is easy to be attacked by other players.······.’
If Lee Hyun-wook used his abilities in earnest, he could easily subdue a few poisonous armored spiders, but he wasn't planning on tearing off all the spiders' skin like he did in the first battle..
‘You must save your mana as much as possible.’
- mana (159/159)
* 1Regenerates 5 per minute.
1There will be several times more monsters than when the tea erupted, so it was necessary to conserve mana..
‘To deal with him next time, you'll need a lot of mana.······.’
After thinking that far, Lee Hyun-wook clenched his left hand tightly..
- mana (151/159)
8of mana evaporates,
Ugh-uh!
With a loud noise, the back shell of the nearest poisonous armored spider exploded..
The guy got scared and shook his body, and at that moment, Lee Hyun-wook's right hand fell to the floor..
“······Fires a magic attack through the broken part.!”
The wizards who were crouching got up and used the magic they had prepared in advance..
Pu-uong!
Flame magic explodes,
T-huh!
Lightning magic exploded.
The fired magic hit the area around the hole on Lee Hyun-wook's back that had already been opened..
Then, with a cracking sound, a crack appeared in the area, and a fairly large area of the skin began to crumble..
Over the considerable area of ‘bare skin’ that was exposed like that.······.
“Now! shoot!”
Ta-da-da-da-da-dang!
As soon as the security team leader gave the order, physical attacks such as guns and arrows were fired all at once..
Aimed shots poured into the hole of the broken shell like a monsoon rain, green blood burst out, and soon sticky flesh fell out in clumps..
“good! It works!”
Meanwhile, even among such physical attacks, Lee Hyun-wook's 'Iron Ball' was special..
A one-sided shooting attack penetrates the surface of the object and causes only one internal injury..
However, in the case of the iron ball controlled by Lee Hyun-wook, it continues to move even after penetrating the surface..
‘Cut out all the intestines.’
Lee Hyun-wook felt a circular metal writhing inside the guy's body..
Of course, I still lacked control, so my movements slowed down every time I got hit here and there, but if the iron ball was moving around inside my body independently of that force, the pain would have been beyond imagination..
Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!
Inside the poisonous armored spider's body, Lee Hyun-wook's iron ball bounced like a 'pinball', tearing the fascia, pounding the internal organs, and cutting blood vessels..
If it somehow penetrates, it can cause lasting internal injuries..
and,
‘shredding!’
Suddenly-
Lee Hyun-wook felt the iron ball explode inside the guy's body and scatter into dozens of pieces..
The guy was struggling in the unbearable pain of his internal organs being split apart..
And soon······.
iron-puck-
The heavy body sank to the floor..
“······Got it!”
short cheers-
But now it was just one goose, and Lee Hyun-wook straightened out his hand toward the next target, and the others followed Lee Hyun-wook's actions and pointed their weapons in that direction..
Ugh-uh!
Once the shell on the back of one of the animals was exploded again, magic and physical attacks continued in order, causing effective damage without any commands..
“Damn, they look this way!”
The poisonous armored spiders also began to counterattack..
3It approached the terrace on the first floor, pointed its tail in this direction, and spewed out something..
Pu-shh-i-i!
“Ugh! It's gas!”
However, since I was already wearing a gas mask, I was able to avoid inhaling the unidentified gas..
however······.
“Ugh······.”
“My body... seems to have stiffened.······.”
“Hey, it’s a paralyzing gas.!”
Players are starting to complain of paralysis.
‘After all, that paralyzing gas penetrates and acts not only on the respiratory tract but also on the skin..’
This was the reason why Hyunwook Lee swallowed 'poisonous' metal over the course of 36 hours last night..
A poisonous gas that is not life-threatening, but instantly paralyzes the body. This is the poisonous armored spider's weapon..
As a result, only he was able to move very well..
“Well, it's not completely hardened yet, so everyone, focus.!”
The security team leader turned his stiff neck and shouted like that..
“uh! A skeleton was spotted near the right!”
Before I knew it, a group of skeleton soldiers were running out of a franchise hamburger restaurant..
But they couldn't be embarrassed.
This was thanks to Lee Hyun-wook confirming the ‘double gate’ phenomenon in advance..
“5Everyone in the squad, aim and fire at those things.!”
When Ahn Min-tae gave the order, the guns of the 5th squad members moved..
Ta-dang! Other party!
“I'm guarding the stairs, so don't worry, shoot slowly.!”
The shooters' fingers were slowly hardening due to the paralyzing gas, but they took each shot as calmly as possible, believing that Ahn Min-tae and other tanks were watching their backs..
Poop-buck-boop-buck-
Each time a bullet hit, the skeleton's fragile body was crushed one by one..
“They just look like regular skeletons! Very weak!”
“Okay, keep sweeping! everyone is doing well!”
And since the gate was originally opened for contact with the villain, it wasn't that threatening..
Meanwhile, the members of the 5th squad felt a strange excitement at this moment..
I felt like I could do it... Following the last Kobold Gate battle, they were realizing once again that they were not completely useless..
‘How could we fight like this?······.’
As I continued to experience success, my confidence grew..
‘Corporal Lee Hyun-wook was right when he said that grades are nothing.!’
Then some quality hidden in the tension began to function properly..
They were immersed in their respective roles..
So about 15 minutes later······.
Hoo-woo-woo-
The gunfire finally stopped..
As the thick smoke cleared, the shabby second floor reception room was revealed..
Pieces of corpses scattered everywhere, no movement..
“······finished.”
The secondary eruption from two gates was prevented without a single casualty..
One by one, they took off the gas masks they were wearing..
“Really... I didn't know you could do it so perfectly..”
The security team leader laughed and said, and one of the citizen players agreed with him and came forward..
“I also agree. As a C-rank warrior, I've also worked on the guild strategy team and closed down dungeons several times, haha... I've never experienced such an efficient and stable battle..”
Their gaze shifted to Lee Hyun-wook..
“Honestly, this is all thanks to Corporal Lee..”
“I totally agree.”
It was an undeniable fact..
It wasn't just his metal shredding ability..
Even though it was the worst moment, when it was natural to choose to hide rather than fight, it was thanks to Lee Hyun-wook's cool-headedness that he did not lose his will to fight in the face of those monsters..
Lieutenant Lee Hee-min watched this from a distance..
‘That bastard······.’
Now I can't find any fault with the interest around Lee Hyun-wook..
Even the dissatisfied expression that had appeared on my face without my knowledge disappeared..
‘······It's really amazing?’
Because I had no choice but to admit it..
Before this battle began, Lee Hyun-wook revealed that he had achieved an achievement and received an increase in his abilities. But... I didn't know it would be this bad.
For a moment, Lee Hee-min felt a sense of self-destruction..
‘What have I done so far??’
But his emotions were soon replaced by something else: embarrassment..
This was because a system message in red letters appeared before my eyes..
- caution! Players are given a because of their amazing achievements..
“What is this?!”
“······Additional events? what is that!”
The message was printed in front of not only Lee Hee-min, but also everyone in this dome..
Unlucky event, this unfortunate ordeal handed down to mankind is by no means kind or benevolent..
It literally pushes the player to the end, making the worst case move..
‘Of course, after overcoming all that, you will be blessed with great luck.······.’
Lee Hyun-wook took up the iron ball and waited for the next message..
- Boss monsters are scheduled to appear. (00:15:00)
‘I knew it······.’
Lee Hyun-wook expected this..
This is because it was already announced once before..
- An ‘unlucky event’ will occur in the area.!
* You can enter the area, but you cannot leave it..
* Entry level restrictions are imposed on the area. (LV. 15)
* To escape, survive for 6 hours or kill the 'boss monster'!
Among the explanations above, the 'first condition' of survival for 6 hours in the 3rd escape method was developed as if it could be easily met, so the system intentionally forced the 'second condition'..
‘It's no longer fun, is it??’
No one can understand the intention of the system.
There was only one thing I could do.
All you have to do is put aside your doubts and survive..
“ah······.”
“See, the boss... It's not an elite monster, but the boss monster appears directly.?”
Everyone looked shocked..
Then, without anyone saying anything, they started looking at Lee Hyun-wook one by one..
“What should I do now??”
But the moment they looked at his face, they were able to regain their sense of stability for unknown reasons..
“Everyone, I guess I'll have to prepare for battle again without any time to rest..”
This was because Lee Hyun-wook’s expression as he said that was as calm as before..
***
Goo-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-
In Seoul Station Square, a loud noise and vibration erupted from somewhere, shaking the entire area..
“Ugh, go, what is this all of a sudden?!”
People lowered their posture and turned their heads.
“uh? Look over there!”
Someone pointed to the dome..
Dom was crying..
- 05:01:12
* A boss monster has appeared!
And those letters were added to the surface of the dome, below the numbers..
What a boss monster······.
The situation inside the dome was being vaguely relayed..
“A boss monster... has appeared? There are cases like this?”
Boss monsters usually do not come out of the ‘gate’.
Therefore, it was the strongest monster that could be encountered during the ‘dungeon raid’..
But, what on earth is going on in there??
A little while later, regarding this matter, Kim Kang-seok was standing in front of the microphone..
And as commander, I briefly briefed on the current situation.······.
“Commander, I have a question.!”
“I also have questions here and here!”
Soon questions from reporters began pouring in..
“Is it true that countless civilians are being sacrificed inside the dome and there is nothing that can be done??”
“And what do we mean by the appearance of a boss monster??”
“yes? Please tell me!”
It was an undeniable fact that civilians were dying there..
That too a lot······.
However, it was too sensitive a statement to make publicly..
“As I mentioned earlier, 30 minutes ago, our rescue team entered the dome. A civilian rescue operation is currently underway. I cannot provide further details regarding the operation..”
That's why Kim Kang-seok only planned to give a formal answer like this..
“However, I heard that the level to enter the dome is 15 or lower. So, isn't that a combat power that makes it difficult to carry out a rescue operation properly??”
“······These are soldiers who have received professional training. I will risk my life to carry out my mission.”
“If so, how many civilian casualties do you think there will be??”
“······We can't guess at this time.”
He did not give a single specific answer regarding civilian casualties..
However, the news was already reporting that many victims had occurred..
There were even places that published groundless news such as that more than 800 people had already been killed, and an expert even appeared and said that there was a possibility that the rescue team could be wiped out..
Of course, they weren't out of line..
I just couldn't confirm it right away,
Everyone thought it was bound to happen that way..
“I heard that the dome will disappear in the next 5 hours! So, is it true that we should just continue to wait like this without any further action until then??”
“Oh, that's not it. We plan to dispatch additional rescue teams..”
Additional rescue teams, the reporters tilted their heads..
“yes? This time it will be a rescue team made up of level 15 people, but it is still useless.······”
Kim Kang-seok raised his hand and interrupted the reporter..
And then I exchanged glances with someone and nodded..
“Well, this is something that hasn't been decided yet, so I couldn't tell you about it during the briefing, but I'm telling you because I just received a report that it has been decided..”
Kim Kang-seok paused for a moment and then opened his mouth again..
“······We plan to dispatch a rescue team with no level soon..”
The reporters' clamor had to stop for a moment..
“uh? Le, if there is no level······.”
At that moment, a gust of wind blew from somewhere..
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-
A large transport plane with two propellers flew in from beyond the building in front of Seoul Station..
The blue flame shape of the Cheonghwa Guild was engraved on a white painted background..
“······Just in time, you arrived..”
When Kim Kang-seok said that and raised his head, all cameras moved in that direction..
Before the transport plane even landed, the door opened and someone jumped to the ground about 10 meters below..
And very lightly, I landed on the floor..
“······uh!”
It was a large man with long hair tied up in a string..
He was wearing a green sweatshirt from a famous sports brand, with a glimpse of black scale armor underneath, and was carrying a sports duffel bag on one shoulder..
“uh! Look over there! Ha, it’s Hantaesan Mountain.!”
As reporters flocked there, Kim Kang-seok let out a long sigh..
‘Taesan Han, I'm glad he came..’
Taesan Han, the man the world calls ‘King of Kwon’.
He was an S-rank player ranked 2nd in Korea and 9th in the world, and as evidenced by the black scale armor under his sportswear, he was also a ‘Drake Slayer’..
“okay! If you are S rank, you can enter the dome because there are no levels.!”
“nice! No matter how precious the S rank is, you step up in times like this.!”
However, contrary to its great reputation, it was rarely seen in official images, because it did not come out in person unless a gate of some size was opened..
“hello? Yes, team leader! Breaking news! Tahoe is out of his hole! Yes, it’s been 6 months.!”
That's why he is called 'Taho (惰虎)' the lazy tiger..
Of course, being so lazy didn't mean his growth stopped..
As he was an S grade, which is an 'out-of-level growth characteristic', he was able to continue to grow using 'a special method' that only he knew, even without having to participate in actual battles..
That's why every time he showed up after a long time, he got stronger by one level..
How strong will it be this time?······
Player reporters couldn't help but be excited..
“Ha, Taesan Han! Are you entering the dome right now??”
Taesan Han frowned at a reporter’s question..
“Well, it's just me right now. It's annoying, but I can't help it..”
It's annoying, no one could say something like that in the face of such a disaster..
But Tahoe was different..
Since he had long been associated with the image of a geek or a bad boy, his eccentricities were seen as a unique charm rather than an object of criticism..
“ah! Mr. Taesan Han! Are you using this opportunity to work with the Cheonghwa Guild again??”
“Well, then, what is the remuneration for this activity?······.”
At that question, Taesan Han frowned and let out a scolding voice..
“Fuck, get out of my way..”
The reporters who were following him stopped at one word..
“People are dying in there, so I should be holding the mic right now.?”
As soon as I said that, the reporters started to back away..
“It's not like a swarm of flies, it's really annoying, yammering next to you.······.”
Han Tae-san reached the stairs leading up to Seoul Station and took out a brass-colored gauntlet from his bag..
And then I turned my head and looked for someone..
What caught his eye was Yoo Hae-na, a woman wearing sunglasses with purple lenses..
“hey! Harmful! We decided to have dinner once this work was over.!”
“······.”
He shouted and ran into the dome..
Yoo Hae-na was wearing sunglasses, but was frowning..
***
King Kwon and Han Taesan didn't really care whether civilians died or not..
‘There are more people starving to death than being hunted by monsters anyway, so what?······.’
However, he was not a villain or a cynic lacking morality..
I just thought that the future of humanity was more important than the humanity that was immediately in front of me..
‘It's obvious that at some point something bad will happen that will destroy even the S-class, so it's a foolish waste of emotions to think of it as a joy just because a few people die now. Even if we prepare for the future, it’s not enough······.’
When that moment comes, Han Taesan, he himself will not be safe..
With that thought in mind, he was strengthening himself every moment every day..
“At times like this, I need to keep improving my abilities.!”
But what can I do? They say there is no other way than Hantaesan that can solve this problem.······.
6I had no choice but to break away from the closed training after months of training..
But honestly, on the other hand······.
‘The reward here is at least a rare level, and if a boss monster appears, a hero level will also be available.?’
This kind of unlock event was appealing because the rewards were quite generous..
No matter how high the level is, it is useless without good items..
Taesan Han entered the dome, relaxing his neck and shoulders..
however······.
“······what is this?”
The moment he entered the reception room on the second floor of Seoul Station, he couldn't help but frown..
“Ah, shit... If this is going to be like this, why did you call me??”
When I thought that I had made a mistake, I became irritated..
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