653 Episode 19 People of the Past (5)

Finally got a new attribute.

It was even a legendary attribute.

I muttered 'attribute window' in my mind, and almost simultaneously.

It reminded me of the fact that I, like Kim Dokja, have limited access to my system window.

But fortunately, this time the name of the acquired attribute immediately came to mind.

'Record repaired'.

It was a feature I had never seen before.

Mend my missing records?

I don't know what it means, but after an hour and thirty minutes, something will change.

Then came a suspicious message.

As far as I know, a 'Recorder of Fear' is a writer who left a record of the divinity of the other world.

It was their common name.

But did they recognize me?

Could it be that the 'Recorders of Fear' can also see incarnations like the constellations?

Am I a threat?

I don't know.

The information available at this time was too limited.

All I can know now is that the people of Geumho Station who died in the third round survived here.

"Inho-ssi! Were you alive?"

"Keuheuk! Brother!"

Shin Yoosoung, whose golden eyes disappeared before I knew it, asked me.

"Are these people you know?"

I nodded lightly

By the way, Bang Cheolsoo, this bastard, has been grossly attached to me for too long.

I lightly smacked the back of the head of the water-proof man who had buried his head in my arm.

It's still there.

Have there been many things accumulated in the past? Bang Cheolsoo grabbed me and talked about what had been going on all along.

"So suddenly the tunnel collapsed and my brother couldn't go to Chungmuro, Gaesin. Ugh, I thought I was really dying at that time-"

From tunnel collapse accidents to sudden scenario changes.

Even if I listened roughly, it sounded painful.

Because it's a round with so many variables. It was only a matter of luck that they survived.

I listened to Bang Cheolsoo's story and observed the people of Geumho Station looking this way from a distance.

The first thing that caught my eye was Dayoung and her daughter, who were called Moojung mother-daughter.

Dayoung's mother. In the third round, she struggles to save her daughter, but in the end she is the one who became the nutrient of Paradise.

"What is your overall ability level?"

"Don't tell me."

"You look lower than me."

Dayoung and Shin Yoosoung were talking about their skills.

I looked back at Bang Cheolsoo, who was still talking.

"Brother, that’s why I sent them to-"

I said, looking at the flag affixed to his waist.

"Bang Cheolsoo."

"Yes?"

"You've become a king."

"Ah."

Bang Cheolsoo, who opened his mouth slightly, scratched the back of his head and laughed shyly.

"Whoa, I'll give you the flag if you want. I had it for you anyway."

I looked down at the flag Bang Cheolsoo had outstretched.

It was lighter in color than mine, but it was a purple flag.

If I have that flag, I will achieve 'Black Flag' right away, then I can complete the 'King's Road' scenario and formally receive the 'King''s traits.

Of course, that was the easy way.

But.

"It's yours."

I didn't like it.

I don't know why, but I didn't want to take that flag.

It might be because Dayoung, who is looking at Bang Cheolsoo from a distance with her mother, and other people's eyes.

I don't know.

Maybe it's a selfish wish as a writer.

The desire to see Bang Cheolsoo and the people's stories a little longer.

"Bro."

Bang Cheolsoo's eyes widened.

I said with a quick wave of my hand before the atmosphere got more serious.

"Rather than that, I'd like to hear something about the dungeon."

Thirty minutes after that, I stood at the entrance to the dungeon.

Do you want to enter the [Labyrinth]?

It was different from the dungeon in the main story, starting with the entry notification sound.

"If we go in here, there must be a star jewel, right?"

Bang Cheolsoo nodded his head at my question.

"Yes, sure. I also saw those who collected star jewels."

"They must be the 7 kings of Seoul."

"Oh, how did you know?"

It was obvious.

Even in the main story, only the 7 kings of Seoul were able to obtain the 'star jewels' here.

"No matter how strong my bro is, if you run into the 7 kings, you should avoid them. They really aren't normal guys."

"I guess so. Anyway, because they’re kings."

This turn is the 41st, not the 3rd. It was seldom possible to know how high the level of the 7 kings would have been.

Still, I can't back down from here.

Whether it's the 7 kings or the Misreading association, if I can collect 'star jewels', then I should go in.

This is because the star jewel is an essential material for summoning the 'Sword of Death'.

"Brother, can’t you really wait? In three hours, we can go back in."

"Three hours is too long. See you later."

Apparently, in this dungeon, once you exit, there is a waiting time for re-entry.

It would be nice to wait for the group at Geumho Station and enter together, but now was not the time to do that.

According to my thoughts, it is because the readers and Dansu ahjussi are definitely in that dungeon.

"I'm ready, ahjussi."

And fortunately. I wasn't even going alone.

"Are you really okay?"

"Yes. I'll go too."

Shin Yoosoung said that and looked back at Dayoung, who was about ten steps away.

I saw Dayoung, who had opened her eyes, slashing her hand menacingly towards me.

"Dayoung, you can’t do that."

When Dayoung's mother opened her mouth in a tone of admonition, Dayoung licked her lips. Shin Yoosoung looked at Dayoung and continued.

"You have to become stronger, so you won’t be afraid even if you meet scary adults."

I wonder if she was stimulated by seeing a child her age. There was a certain determination in Shin Yoosoung's voice.

It was a determination that somehow made me a little sad.

"There are also ways to meet good adults."

"Good adults die quickly."

As I was listening to those words that gave me a strange sense of déjà vu, a headache arose again deep inside my head.

I advised, rubbing my temples lightly.

"If it seems dangerous, we will escape immediately. You know?"

"Yes!"

It hurts my heart, but it was also true that Shin Yoosoung's help was essential to clear the final chapter of the scenario.

Was Kim Dokja always with Shin Yoosoung in this mood?

"Please be careful, brother!"

Leaving behind the group of Geumho Station, who bowed their heads in unison, I entered the labyrinth with Shin Yoosoung.

As soon as I opened the door and entered, what I saw was a dark hallway reminiscent of a dungeon.

Fortunately, there seemed to be no 'new hunter' like before.

Just in case, I continued to be vigilant and looked around, but a series of system messages flew in.

It's a star labyrinth.

I checked the 'Special Rules' that followed.

Keeper?

Are there even minotaurs?

Then, a timer appeared in front of my eyes.

Although this was tricky, the pattern itself wasn't difficult.

You can survive if you somehow find a 'safe area' within the time limit.

The question is, how many more of these rules are there?

Then a small lump of dust appeared in the air above my head.

The lump of dust with small eyes looked around, then opened its small mouth and made a sound.

ㅡByeolbyeol

As it was, it circled over my head and started to devour the shiny pieces of gold that were scattered on the floor.

Only then did I feel like I was getting a little bit of a sense of what the rules of this dungeon were.

"Wow, ahjussi! Look at this!"

Before I knew it, a small dust man had been created beside Shin Yoosoung.

The dustman, who was circling around us with a 'byeolbyeol' sound, greedily opened his mouth whenever he saw gold dust glittering on the floor.

Seeing the scene, Shin Yoosoung opened her mouth.

"I know what this is."

Rules revealed as if they had been waiting.

As expected, the goal of this dungeon was to raise the 'Dust Man' and obtain the Star Jewels.

Shin Yoosoung asked.

"Shall we put it together?"

"Great."

After all, we're in the same group.

There was no need to waste efficiency by raising several Dustmen.

When I selected [Fusion], my dust man opened his mouth wide and ate up Shin Yoosoung's dust man.

Is it because they are combined? The speed at which he collected star dust was much faster than before.

"It keeps moving."

We continued to explore the labyrinth, calmly maintaining the boundaries of the sandbar.

Traces of a gruesome battle remained at every corner of the road.

The corpses stabbed and cut each other without hesitation, clinging to each other like stains.

Near the corpses, the star dust they had acquired during their lifetimes fell sparsely.

We picked up the star dust silently, as if we were collecting remains.

Why did these people have to come to this place and die?

Most of these people probably don't even know what the 'death sword' is.

No, maybe I know why they died. They died to be a story.

"As expected, good adults die quickly."

When I looked around, Shin Yoosoung was staring down at the dead woman's face.

I also stopped beside Shin Yoosoung and looked down at the dead woman.

An unfamiliar face.

I don't know who this person is.

I probably won't know in the future.

But Shin Yoosoung seemed to know.

"Do you know this person?"

"She's the one who stopped me when I tried to enter the single-person dungeon."

I put my hand on the shoulder of Shin Yoosoung, who was standing blankly.

"Shin Yoosoung."

"Yes."

"Are you okay?"

After hesitating for a while, Shin Yoosoung nodded her head.

I couldn't read the child's expression, so I couldn't tell if she was okay or not. But at that moment, Shin Yoosoung's retina looked strangely deep.

"People always died even before the scenario."

"That's true."

"It just didn't happen right in front of me."

I didn't expect to hear such a story, so I was a little surprised.

Shin Yoosoung quickly shook her head.

"Sorry. I said something too cheeky. Sometimes I say strange things without even realizing it."

"No. I also agree with you. Death has always existed. It's just that it wasn't so explicit."

People died even before the scenarios started.

Men killed men.

They killed each other and talked about each other's death. It's a world where it's okay to talk like that.

"Are you all right?"

"I’m fine."

Since it was a world where all gods could exist as 'constellations', there was nothing strange about killing people.

However, in a world like that, I rather didn't want to believe in anything.

"Do people have souls?"

"They do."

Was it because I answered too confidently? Shin Yoosoung asked with her eyes wide open.

"Then where will the dead Younghoon go?"

"She will go to the underworld."

"Are there scenarios there?"

"There might be."

"Then, even if I die, it won't be any different from here."

"In a sense."

Then Shin Yoosoung looked up at me.

"Still, ahjussi, don't die."

I nodded.

"Shin Yoosoung as well."

We prayed for the woman's rest in silence. The ashes scattered on the floor looked like the scattered soul of a woman.

Even in the midst of that, we were getting stronger at the cost of surviving.

I ran into other incarnations several times, but as soon as they saw my 'Blade of Faith', they got scared and ran away.

Somehow, it was a day when I didn't want to kill anyone, so I thought it was fortunate in my heart.

Shin Yoosoung said while looking at the star dust that had already exceeded 300.

"Ahjussi, if it's like this-"

"Don't say it will go smoothly."

"Yes?"

It was then that the empty Dustman stopped.

-Star?

Damn, then it is.

There's no way the 'scenario I knew' would go so smoothly.

After all, this labyrinth is a stage created to induce the incarnations to fight.

How many incarnations must I hunt to collect seven star jewels?

I didn't want to guess.

It was then that the additional rules came to mind.

…Madness?

ㅡStar!

Suddenly, the Dust Man above my head started shaking like crazy.

The reason was immediately clear.

"Ahjussi."

I nodded.

A slight vibration was felt on the floor.

Something was coming this way.

"There is one of the 'Seven Kings of Seoul' around here."