Chapter 27
Chapter 27: Realization (3)
‘The two past setbacks were for leaping even higher.’
Erik had entered the Labyrinth with his master at age 5 and 6.
His body was weak, and the intimidation of monsters was frightening.
Moreover, the remnants of Park Ji-hun from before his possession remained strong, preventing him from understanding life-or-death battles with monsters.
“Must I risk my life to kill monsters?”
Thus, he defied his master.
He couldn’t accept the ‘education’ of fighting a 2-meter-tall goblin.
Erik at that time overlooked the fact that Riferoze was a native who lived with a barbaric way of thinking.
“You find it easier to kill people?”
His master arbitrarily twisted Erik’s words in that manner.
Without even giving him a chance to explain, Erik was thrown into a conflict zone outside the Empire’s borders.
“I can’t understand the sensibilities of a possessor at all. Preferring to kill people over monsters…”
And so Erik was placed in a battlefield filled with flesh and blood.
In a child’s body, no less.
‘And then she really abandoned me.’
No matter how much of a possessor he was, throwing a five-year-old child into a war zone?
Erik had to use his power.
That was the only way to survive.
Perhaps because he’d lived in a world where people waged wars against each other, he adapted more easily than to the Labyrinth.
Or perhaps he’d simply steeled his resolve against the cruelty of humans and the devastation created by fellow possessors.
‘Actually…’
Young Erik was less afraid of people than of 2-meter-tall goblins.
It definitely used to be that way.
“Well, well, even a Floor Master is small fry.”
But now it was different.
Fighting not only regular monsters but also Floor Masters, he didn’t feel even a trace of fear.
Feeling that he’d matured even further, Erik looked outside the Floor master’s Room door.
He saw Jang Du-sik admiring him and three sprawled possessors.
‘Right, this is my home.’
His thoughts cleared away as if washed clean.
“Du-sik.”
Erik walked toward the door with large strides.
With a bright smile and confident gait.
He didn’t even glance at the fallen possessors.
“What on earth did you obtain…? No, more than that, what’s wrong with your arm? And what is… What’s that box?”
Jang Du-sik blurted out all his questions at once, not knowing what to say first.
Erik’s appearance was that strange.
“By what principle did you get injured?”
In Erik’s hand was a jet-black box, and cracks filled the arm holding the box.
Like looking at parched earth.
It was such a strange phenomenon that the word ‘principle’ came out of Jang Du-sik’s mouth.
To which Erik answered:
“This is the price of coveting excessive divinity with an unqualified body.”
His voice was as cracked as his arm.
However, his face clearly looked happy.
“Are you in pain? Or happy?”
“Both, I suppose. It’s just a bit stinging.”
“What? You’re feeling stinging”
Crack!
“Ugh!”
Erik landed a flick on his head, and Jang Du-sik’s chestnut-like buzzed head gleamed.
Erik handed the jet-black box to Jang Du-sik and asked:
“Du-sik, you still have the Consecration effect left, right?”
“Y-yes, I do.”
Jang Du-sik blinked and received the box.
‘What on earth is going on…?’
Erik was clearly injured.
His arm had cracked.
A person’s body cracking?
Moreover, when he handed over the box, hadn’t pieces of skin fallen off with a patter?
His voice was cracked too, clearly seeming strained.
‘But his face…’
It was like the face he had when they moved the church to District 3.
Such a joyful smile.
Shiver! The hair on Jang Du-sik’s buzzed head stood on end.
‘What could this box be?’
As Jang Du-sik carefully looked at the box:
“Let’s do some box-gacha.”
Strange words were heard.
“Box-gacha? What kind of nonsense is that?”
“…Huh. I’m in a good mood, so I’ll let it slide.”
When a Floor Master is cleared, a box is given as a reward.
The grade of the reward is divided based on the time taken to kill the Floor Master, the party’s coordination, the scale of damage, etc.
[Normal – Brown Box]
[Rare – Red Box]
[Legend – Black Box]
A number is written at the box’s entrance, meaning the number of times the box can be opened repeatedly.
Thus, if treasure chests were the flower of the Labyrinth, the essence of the Labyrinth was called box-gacha.
This was gaming terminology, but:
“Now even adventurers call opening Floor Master rewards box-gacha.”
When the explanation continued to this point, Jang Du-sik nodded in understanding.
“So you’re saying I should open this black box five times?”
“Exactly!”
Erik exclaimed with admiration, tapping the Sword of Creation.
It felt like Jang Du-sik’s comprehension had risen sharply since revealing he was a possessor.
‘Unnecessary questions have decreased too.’
It became quite convenient.
Just as Erik was about to cast a blessing on the consecrated Jang Du-sik:
“Boss, can we just leave those guys like that?”
Jang Du-sik asked, looking at the possessors.
“Box-gacha first.”
Erik’s priorities were clear.
***
[The Late Park Chang-ho]
“My son…! You said you’d win a gold medal and let me live well! What do you mean by leaving first!”
A mother clutching her son’s photo and crying her heart out appeared.
Teardrops gently fell onto the photo of a handsome man smiling brightly while biting a gold medal.
[The Late Kang Pung-ho]
“Oh my… Pung-ho! You sang about wanting to live as a woman, saying you’d at least live as a woman online and became a gaming addict!”
The sound of wailing echoed through the Continental Online death incident joint mourning site.
“Ending up dying while playing a game, what on earth!! Oh, Pung-ho!”
Not just Korea, but an unprecedented disaster that swept the entire world.
A joint mourning site opened in Japan as well.
“Nishida Ryo… You shut yourself in your room and ended up leaving like that in your room. Tsk.”
Hundreds of thousands of users who enjoyed Continental Online suddenly died.
It started with a few missing people, and at that time, the game wasn’t pinpointed as the anomaly.
No one speculated that people were dying while playing the game.
However, as the numbers increased, a common factor was discovered.
[The Game of Death – Continental Online]
Since it was a game with over 100 million users worldwide, it caused an enormous ripple.
[Remaining 120 million users, governments of each country step in with protective measures.]
Fortunately, when the number of victims approached 660,000, no additional deaths occurred.
However:
[Continental Online incident unrelated to infectious disease. No anomalies in deaths.]
Cause of death: unknown.
Not cardiac arrest, not brain death, they had died naturally without any signs.
[Continental Online headquarters an empty ghost building?]
A huge question remained in the world.
And…
Numerous victims were left behind.
In another world, no less.
“Ah. Mother!”
Park Chang-ho looked at his mother wailing at the joint mourning site.
Hazy smoke like heat waves rose in the white void, and the deaths of possessors were revealed through the fog.
“Brother… No, brother…”
Beside Park Chang-ho, the short-haired beauty Kang Pung-ho teared up looking at a middle-aged man’s photo.
And beside Kang Pung-ho…
“Damn bastards. Embezzling all the inheritance and turning me into a shut-in. Ptui!”
There was Nishida Ryo muttering curses.
After a long while.
When they’d accepted their deaths:
“We’re dead in our original world, right?”
Kang Pung-ho spoke first.
Unlike the balding middle-aged man in the portrait, Kang Pung-ho’s appearance was that of a beautiful woman.
No tears could be heard in her voice.
“T-that would be right, wouldn’t it?”
Nishida Ryo nodded.
He too had a different appearance from his photo, a slightly less obese figure.
And his face looked quite relieved.
“Brother Chang-ho is… Ah.”
However, Park Chang-ho was different.
“Don’t fucking mess with me! I died without even letting my mother, who supported me my whole life while I trained, live well? Me? Fuck, why did I play this damn game? I just thought I’d rest a bit after winning the medal…”
Silence fell again.
How many hours had passed?
Perhaps time had flowed in units of years.
The place they were in was something beyond time and space, beyond human cognition.
‘The me in Korea…’
In that incomprehensible phenomenon, Park Chang-ho accepted his death.
When Park Chang-ho turned his head, he saw two people quietly watching him.
‘They waited for me.’
As his intense emotions subsided, he somehow became sentimental.
A sense of kinship or camaraderie.
Whatever it was, they’d lost their place to return to.
“Thank you for waiting.”
When Park Chang-ho bowed politely, Kang Pung-ho and Nishida Ryo smiled awkwardly.
“Hehe, it’s nothing.”
“This much between comrades.”
Everyone accepted their deaths and faced reality.
Fssssss!
At that moment, the surrounding scenery scattered and disappeared.
The fog-filled space gradually turned bright yellow.
Kuwoong!
Heavy divine power descended.
Golden waves rippling like heat waves slowly took form.
“D-divine power…”
“A building on clouds?”
“Huh? More than that, doesn’t this look like a temple from Greek-Roman mythology?”
A temple made of divine power.
They were standing in the center of a massive temple.
Eight golden pillars supported a huge triangular roof, and a platform was visible at the end of the temple.
“Where is this?”
Lights, more brilliant than anything else.
Yet the design was plain.
“Feels like it’s missing details”
“Ugh!”
“Gah!”
The three possessors who’d been looking at the temple suddenly clutched their heads in sudden pain.
Right after:
—You’re not ready yet.
The heavy voice of the Labyrinth shook the possessors’ heads.
When they opened their eyes:
“Du-sik, are you crazy?”
“Boss, you told me to do as I pleased!”
“No… Even so, opening the box four times in a row? What kind of insane act is that!”
Erik was intimidating Jang Du-sik with a completely distorted expression.
“I-I didn’t know empty boxes would come out consecutively either.”
“Du-sik, I gave you so much divine blessing, so what on earth… Huh.”
“B-boss, there’s one left, but what happens if something good doesn’t come out?”
Erik’s trapezius muscle twitched.
And the three possessors squeezed their eyes shut and pretended to be unconscious.
***
He’d bestowed a divine blessing on the consecrated Jang Du-sik.
Yet four consecutive blanks.
‘One left.’
Erik felt a bit of regret.
His complacency in instructing Jang Du-sik to open the box as usual.
‘It was the first Floor Master reward to begin with.’
The box had been opened four times in a row, and the inside was consecutively empty.
‘I didn’t know Du-sik would have an unlucky day.’
The number 5 written on the box had somehow decreased to 1.
“B-boss. I’ll try again with fighting spirit!”
Erik deliberately ignored the possessors sneakily opening their eyes and placed his hand on Jang Du-sik’s head.
“Blessing.”
At the crude, irritated prayer, a mighty blessing descended.
Once again, brilliant light descended upon Jang Du-sik’s head.
His gleaming buzzed head shone even more, displaying holiness.
Creeeak.
Jang Du-sik slowly opened the black box.
As the lid opened, the inside gradually revealed itself.
“Four blanks were for one jackpot.”
Erik exclaimed at the item name tag visible through the box’s gap.
Thud.
The box lid was lifted.
“Boss, what are you gaping at over another tiny scrap of paper?”
Erik couldn’t answer.
Because the item that appeared was something he couldn’t even imagine…
[1st Tier Item Enhancement Ticket – 10 Sheets]
‘No way, this comes out in reality?’
As possessors increased, it became certain that changes were occurring in the Labyrinth.
Originally, until last year, the Labyrinth’s rewards were in physical forms like ‘items,’ ‘elixirs,’ and ‘minerals.’
“Boss? You’re drooling.”
“Du-sik.”
“W-why?”
“This is called an Item Enhancement Ticket.”
“What does that mean?”
The effect of an [Enhancement Ticket] is to increase an item’s overall performance by 10%.
The probability is 100% at first, but gradually decreases as the number of enhancements increases.
’10 enhancements was a 1% probability, I think?’
Anyway.
When Erik roughly recited the effect of the [Item Enhancement Ticket]
“W-what? The performance of an already finished product goes up for real?”
Jang Du-sik tilted his head.
He understood with words, but…
It felt like he couldn’t accept that items could become more powerful through a game system.
Erik fully understood Jang Du-sik.
‘I didn’t expect things that only I or possessors would use to come out as rewards.’
Erik felt like it wasn’t reality at all.
Item Enhancement Tickets, what do you mean?
‘Last time, a Possessor Appearance Change Ticket came out.’
It’s already the second time to dismiss it as mere coincidence.
In other words, this must be seen as the world’s will.
“Du-sik, it seems we need to climb the Labyrinth quickly.”
Unlike the 1st floor of the Labyrinth, which is assigned per party, from the 2nd floor onward, an open field appears.
Erik planned to meet adventurers and check what they’d obtained one by one.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
Game elements keep appearing in a world that was a game background.
“You mean right now?”
“No.”
Before that:
“Sword of Creation, I’m thinking of using an Enhancement Ticket on the sacred relic before we go.”
The impulse as a gamer, of one who was once Park Ji-hun, must be satisfied.
‘Enhancement.’
How can I resist this?
[Sword of Creation +1]
I have to at least see this.
Erik took out the Sword of Creation and placed the [Item Enhancement Ticket] on it.
And said:
“Park Chang-ho, Kang Pung-ho, Nishida Ryo. Stop pretending to sleep.”
After all, for item enhancement, spectators are necessary.
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