Players

Chapter 5

—–CROW—– 

Kang-seok blinked. He asked without thinking, “What do you see?”

“W-Weapon attack power.”

Sung Yoo-jin answered with a frightened expression.  Her voice trailed off, as if she thought he was going to get angry.

Not a special move command.

Weapon attack power.

Kang-seok’s jaw dropped.

“More details, please.”

“Huh?”

“What you saw. You said weapon attack power, right?”

His voice sounded rather forceful, but he couldn’t help it.  Sung Yoo-jin instinctively flinched and quickly said, “Durandal. Two-handed sword. Attack power 193. Holy attribute. Attack speed -5%. Infinite durability.”

After reciting the information as if reciting a poem, her gaze fixed on the air, she looked at Kang-seok’s expression.

The weapon’s name and attack power.  Even its detailed stats.

Kang-seok was taken aback.

Firstly, because Sung Yoo-jin was seeing something completely different from him. Secondly, because she looked incredibly beautiful in this situation.

The latter was definitely not something to be dwelling on right now.

Shaking his head to clear his distracting thoughts, he took back the sword he had given her—Durandal.

He was confused by the series of events, but now was the time to move.  Other monsters might appear, attracted by the sounds of the fight.

Setting his priorities helped him calm down. After taking a deep breath, he extended his hand to Sung Yoo-jin, who was still cowering and looking at him cautiously.

“Can you stand? I think we need to move from here.”

“J-Just a moment.”

Sung Yoo-jin awkwardly got to her feet. She nearly stumbled a few times, but it didn’t seem like she had injured her legs. It appeared her legs had simply given way from the shock.

“I think we should rest for a bit…let’s go inside.”

Supporting Sung Yoo-jin, he said this and started walking.  He wondered if he should carry her on his back or in his arms, but fortunately, she managed to walk reasonably well with his arm around her shoulders.

‘Since Dark Destiny Lord is around 170cm…she must be around 160cm, right?’

Glancing at Sung Yoo-jin, he turned his gaze forward again. Thanks to the line of torches, the path ahead wasn’t too dark.

They reached the end of the corridor.  He spoke calmly, “There’s a monster’s corpse there, but it’s already dead. So don’t worry.”

At the mention of a monster, Sung Yoo-jin flinched and stiffened again, but only for a moment.  She nodded, closed her eyes tightly, and followed his lead.

He passed the monster and moved towards the corner.  He sat Sung Yoo-jin down behind a large sarcophagus that seemed to be integrated into the floor, and then he sat down heavily himself.

He was exhausted.

The reality of the fight with the monster sunk in.

What was that monster, anyway?  Had he really entered a game world?

He felt dizzy and thirsty.  Mental fatigue made him drowsy.

But he couldn’t sleep. He glanced sideways.  Sung Yoo-jin was still sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest, her eyes closed, a frightened expression on her face.

How many minutes passed like that?

He was the one to break the silence again.

“I woke up in the corridor.  I looked around, and then while I was going upstairs, I heard you scream. What about you?”

Sung Yoo-jin covered her head with her hands.  He was worried she might start crying, but fortunately, she spoke in a relatively calm voice.

“I woke up in a small room. I saw my clothes and thought it was a dream, so I laughed to myself and went out…and then there was that monster.”

Sung Yoo-jin didn’t seem to know anything about their current situation either.

Stretching out his legs, he asked again, “Um, sorry to bring this up again, but could you tell me more about what you saw earlier?”

“Huh?”

“The weapon’s attack power. You said stats or something popped up in your head?”

He had seen a special move command when he held Durandal. But Sung Yoo-jin said she saw the weapon’s stats. This was quite a significant difference.

“Uh…and a description too.”

“A description?”

Sung Yoo-jin hesitated, her lips moving several times. It seemed she wasn’t struggling to answer, but rather trying to figure out what to say.

“You know…when you look at game items, there’s text about the weapon’s origins and stuff.  The kind of thing developers make for lore nerds.”

Her speech quickened slightly towards the end.  He chuckled involuntarily at the term “lore nerds” and drew the Supreme King’s Backsword—the sword Sung Yoo-jin had called Durandal—once more.

“Try reading this.”

Sung Yoo-jin took Durandal without hesitation.  Judging by the fact that she didn’t seem to find the two-handed sword heavy, despite its considerable weight, she seemed to possess more strength than her appearance suggested.

Looking upwards as if searching her memory, she spoke in a low voice.

“The sword of Roland, a knight born and raised in the Duchy of Avalon.  It’s said that the ‘God of Swords, Knut,’ personally forged this divine blade, but the truth remains unknown.  It’s one of the ‘Thirty-Seven Holy Swords’ recognized by the ‘Holy Church of the White God,’ possessing the power to vanquish evil and destroy demons.  It’s also said to possess a hardness comparable to ‘Stormcaller,’ the divine blade of the ‘Legendary King Thunderstorm,’ the leader of the Thirty-Seven Holy Swords.  After the death of Knight Roland, its whereabouts became unknown.”

Knight Roland.

God of Swords, Knut.

Holy Church of the White God.

Thirty-Seven Holy Swords.

Stormcaller, the divine blade of Legendary King Thunderstorm.

After going over the proper nouns in his head, he asked, “It appeared in your mind, right?  Similar to recalling a memory.”

“Uh…yes.  It just came to mind the moment I held the sword. Since there’s a lot of information, I don’t think I can recall the specific details unless I concentrate…”

Sung Yoo-jin suddenly trailed off. Her eyes, which had been darting around, fixed on Kang-seok. Leaning forward slightly, she said, “You…Kang-seok, you saw something *different,* didn’t you?”

If he had simply wanted to confirm what she saw, he wouldn’t have acted like he did. No, even asking again was strange.  Moreover, he had initially mentioned arrows or something.

It wasn’t the fact that she saw something that surprised him. It was that she saw something *different.*

At her sharp observation, Kang-seok’s lips curved upwards slightly.

‘She’s smart.’

This wasn’t a normal situation.  Even in this situation, where it was difficult to think straight due to confusion, anxiety, and tension, she had picked up on the small clue and asked him that question. It meant she was fundamentally intelligent—or at least, her mind worked well.

He nodded.

“I saw commands.”

“Commands?”

“Special move commands.”

Sung Yoo-jin blinked, a look of incomprehension on her face.

Shrugging, he explained again, “In my case, I didn’t see weapon stats or lore like you did.  Um…this might also sound crazy, but let me ask you one thing.”

At the word “crazy,” Sung Yoo-jin’s ears turned slightly red. She probably remembered what she had said earlier.  Her embarrassed expression was so cute that he felt a sudden urge to tease her, but unfortunately, this wasn’t the time.

With a serious expression, he asked, “What game were you playing right before you came here?”

“Huh? Ah, that…”

Sung Yoo-jin looked momentarily dazed at his question, then swallowed hard and answered, “Exa. Exa Online.”

It sounded familiar.  No, he had definitely heard of it.

“Uh, um…that is, definitely…”

But he couldn’t quite recall what kind of game it was. After the collapse of the PC package game market, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Korea was drowning in a flood of MMORPGs.  So many games were released every year.

‘Exa. Exa Online.’

He vaguely remembered something.  A commercial with a young, cute girl in revealing clothing, that was it.  And it was popular with a certain demographic…

Seeing him trail off without answering, Sung Yoo-jin pouted slightly.  She muttered in a somewhat timid voice, “It’s not a dead game. It still has a decent number of players.  The spineless perverts have mostly quit by now. Well, it’s true that it’s a little lacking in content right now, though.”

Lacking in content.

He thought he understood. Clapping his hands together lightly, he nodded.

“Ah, that one. Exa. Right, Exa Online. I remember now.”

“Um, yes.”

Sung Yoo-jin pursed her lips again.  She looked slightly offended. But this wasn’t the time to worry about such subtleties.

“Anyway, it’s that game’s character, right? Your current appearance.”

This was a more important question than what they saw when holding a weapon.

Sung Yoo-jin looked down at herself and blushed.  Hugging her knees tighter to cover her upper body, she replied, “The outfit is. I didn’t realize it when I was looking at the monitor, but these clothes are really…really…”

Since the thick officer’s coat covered her shoulders and arms, the white bikini underneath only emphasized her figure.  She was trying to cover herself with her knees, but that only served to highlight her smooth, white thighs and over-the-knee socks.

Feeling awkward, he averted his gaze.

He had transformed into Dark Destiny Lord.

Sung Yoo-jin had transformed into a character from Exa Online.

Had they entered the world of a game, like in fantasy novels or manga?

But there were too many inconsistencies for that to be the case.

No, it was impossible to accept such a ridiculous notion right away.

‘Even though I just fought a monster.’

He had fought a monster and defeated it using a “skill.”  The monster’s roar, its blood, the feeling of stabbing it with his sword.

“Excuse me.”

He looked up abruptly.  Perhaps because he had been thinking about the monster, his eyes looked different than before.

Sung Yoo-jin flinched momentarily, but then she gathered her courage and asked, “What game were you playing?”

It was a natural question given the flow of the conversation. He answered immediately, “Fighter Online.”

“Huh?”

“You know…that game advertised by Boys’ Generation a while back.”

The commercial they had poured a huge amount of money into for Fighter Online’s 5th anniversary, betting the game’s survival on it.

Since rumors had circulated that they were using Boys’ Generation, the most popular idol group at the time, all the Fighter Online users, starved for new players, had been incredibly excited.

But the resulting commercial was the epitome of cringe.  It was the official black history designated by the Boys’ Generation fan club, a commercial of epic failure.

Even now, the video would occasionally be linked on humor forums, a deep wound that brought bitterness to veteran Fighter Online players.

But it was still the most well-known advertisement for the game.

Sung Yoo-jin also blinked as if she didn’t understand, then suddenly clapped her hands together.

“Ah! That dead g—I mean…”

She quickly trailed off, but it was too late.

Flustered, she quickly lowered her head.  Since she herself was sensitive to the term “dead game,” she probably thought he would be too.

“I’m sorry.”

As she unclasped her hands from her knees and bowed her head, he gave an awkward laugh.

‘Yeah, it’s a dead game.’

Since the servers had just shut down, he couldn’t deny it.

“Uh…um…you’re not mad, are you?”

She asked timidly.  Her cautious, awkward smile was so charming that he blushed slightly without realizing it.

‘So there’s a reason MMO players go on and on about voice buffs and stuff.’

He had scoffed at people who said voice chat was more fun when the raid leader was a woman, calling them crazy, but he now understood their feelings, at least a little.

“I’m not mad.  Well, it actually is dead, so…”

“Huh?”

Sung Yoo-jin asked back in surprise. He shrugged.

“The last day I played was the day the service ended…when was that again?”

He suddenly raised his voice and leaned towards Sung Yoo-jin, asking.  Startled by his sudden movement and question, she gasped and recoiled, but he didn’t stop.  Grabbing her shoulders, he spoke rapidly, “I mean, the last day you played the game. For me, it was December 31st, 2017. Between 11 PM and midnight.”

“Uh…me too. I think I heard the New Year’s bell while playing.”

Sung Yoo-jin answered quickly, despite her confusion.  His eyes narrowed. He instinctively licked his lower lip slightly.

“So we started at the same time.”

They had crossed over on the same day. December 31st, the last moment of the year, while logged into their games.

He had been playing Fighter Online.

Sung Yoo-jin had been playing Exa Online.

Then what happened to the people who were logged into other games at that time?  Had they also transformed into their player characters and ended up somewhere in this place?

“Um…”

“Hmm?”

He suddenly came to his senses and saw Sung Yoo-jin blushing and flustered.  Moreover, his face was too close to hers.

He almost moved even closer involuntarily, but he managed to pull himself back at the last moment.  Removing his hands from her shoulders, he said somewhat awkwardly, “Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“No, um…”

Sung Yoo-jin lowered her gaze slightly.  She bit her lip as if embarrassed, then bowed her head and said, “Thank you for saving me.”

It was a somewhat belated expression of gratitude, but that made it all the more meaningful.  It meant she hadn’t forgotten to thank him.

His heart warmed, and he smiled.

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Yes.”

Sung Yoo-jin raised her head and met his eyes.

She was beautiful. Honestly, incredibly so.

He had woken up transformed into his game character.  He was trapped in an unknown dungeon and had just fought a monster.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t flirt a little.

Sung Yoo-jin naturally averted her gaze.  Leaning her head and back against the sarcophagus again, she murmured softly, “I wish this was all a dream. Or a real game.”

“If it were a game, we would have gotten experience points for killing that mob.”

He said jokingly, and Sung Yoo-jin giggled.

They couldn’t just mope around because they had been thrown into an unknown place. They had to find a way to overcome this situation.

‘But experience points?’

Now that he mentioned it, there was something to that.  Since he could see special move commands and she could see weapon stats, it wouldn’t be strange if experience points existed.

Experience points.

Resources needed to level up in games with growth elements.

Could such a thing exist here?

[Would you like to check your remaining Kron?]

“Huh?”

Kang-seok blinked at the text that appeared in his mind.  It felt similar to when he saw the commands.

“Kang-seok?”

“Just a moment.”

He held up a hand to stop Sung Yoo-jin and focused on the message in his mind.  Wondering how to respond, he said aloud, “Check.”

His thought became a command.  The message in his mind changed.

[Remaining Survival Time: 716 hours 39 minutes 17 seconds]

[Current Kron: 1,000 Kron]

[* You can purchase 240 hours with 1,000 Kron.]

17 seconds became 16 seconds. The displayed time decreased, like grains of sand falling in an hourglass.

Remaining Survival Time.

The smile disappeared from Kang-seok’s face.

—–CROW—– 

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