Chapter 79

Players Association Korea Branch, Other-world Attack Support Room Satellite Management Team, Player SAT-K control room.

Members of the satellite management team were monitoring dozens of holograms.

The center of the control room.

Ji-hwa Lim, head of the satellite management team, was standing in the center of the control room with her arms crossed and listened to the report.

“The head of the Tiger Clan opened his power.”

“As soon as Golden Tiger stops moving, record the change in the functional wave of the coordinates by 0.1 seconds, and open it as a hologram.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

A video of Seokchon Lake, currently being observed by player SAT-K, was shown on a hologram.

A young man was standing among a swarm of golden light.

Each time he moved his hand, the shape of the lake changed.

It was such a surreal sight that one might even suspect video manipulation.

“Did the head of the Tiger clan have the power to bend water?”

“No, it didn’t look like that in the video. I guess he did it purely with magical powers. The efficiency will be worse than what the EverLake Team Master does.”

“So you mean, it’s like he did not shoot a bullet with a gun, he shot it with his fingers……”

The Head of the Tiger clan stopped his movements.

The bottom of the lake, the coordinate point specified in advance, was fully exposed.

Something could be seen between the wet ground.

‘What’s that……’

Ji-hwa Lim, who was staring at the screen, gave instructions to her team.

“Zoom in.”

“Sure thing.”

The screen was full of the enlarged surface.

The gap of the Other-world was clearly visible above the ground.

“The satellite photo observed a gap in the Other-world!”

“……Am I seeing things right? Are we going to have to do our satellite checks again?”

“Nope, that’s definitely a gap of a labyrinth type Other-world……!”

“Wait. What’s that, ice? Frost? Looks like it’s frosted.”

Ji-hwa continued to give instructions to the agitated team members.

“From now on, observe the gap of the Other-world. The head of the Tiger Clan will go and clear that Other-world. It’ll be hard to see the inside, but keep a close eye on the outside. Check all accessible recording devices in Seokchon Lake.”

Ji-hwa seemingly pretended composure, but an eerie imagination crept into her head.

‘What if there are more gaps of Other-worlds, other than this one?’

*    *    *

Unless the Other-world is cleared or controlled by domination, the gap grows and brings Enemies to this world.

That was the common sense of this world.

The first exception to this common-sense was when Suhyuk Joo and Dain An cleared this ‘frozen Other-world’ in the second semester of their first year.

‘This Frozen Other-world is the essence of the study of Demon power.’

Someone successfully in control of an Other-world could stop their domination and attempt to “freeze the world.”

If the Other-world freezes successfully, it turns into deactivation mode, froze with numbing coldness and poison inside.

The Frozen Other-world could be reactivated at any time, whenever the person who used the freeze skill wanted to.

‘A Frozen Other-world is like ticking a time bomb.’

This time bomb was planted in what is now called the “Age of Darkness,” or “Dark Age.”

At that time, there were not enough players, or information, or items.

It was a time when players were hiding their abilities because they were afraid to attack and confront Enemies.

When the Age of Darkness continued, the Korean branch of the Players Association could not afford to attack Other-worlds.

Whenever an Other-world with a high level of difficulty appeared, casualties and property damage increased.

As the destruction of the Korean Peninsula was seriously coming to mind, an Original clan came to the president of the Korean branch with a proposal.

[We’ll take care of any SR+ + + Level or higher Other-worlds. However, all coordinate records of the Other-worlds we controlled must be expunged.]

It was a suspicious offer, but if he refused, no one could guarantee the future of the Korean Peninsula.

The president of the Korean branch responded to the deal by drawing up a contract binding the soul.

‘The Great Hero, Iron-arm Man-seok song appears and ends the Age of Darkness, and the contract ends, but……’

During the Dark Ages, under the guidance of Player SAT-K, all coordinate records of the world ruled by Original Clans were all deleted.

‘The Frozen Other-world must have been created then. But now no one knows the exact coordinates or locations.’

In the game, every Frozen Other-world is activated at the decisive moment, leading to the worst situation.

‘Still, there’s gotta be some clues somewhere.’

The former president of the Korean branch of the Players Association was helpless amidst the flow of time, but he was not foolish.

That was why the unidentified Original clan assassinated the president of the Korean branch by disguising it as an accident.

‘The former president isn’t the one to just die without leaving a clue. He would’ve found a loophole in the contract before he died and leave a hint somewhere.’

Numerous characters who died in the game.

Unsolved cases.

Background settings that got by unnoticed.

I was sure there was a clue somewhere.

‘I need to make the most of what I already have and know.’

First of all, I decided to use something that can be applied immediately.

“Ms. To-yeon Ok.”

To-yeon Ok was rolling her eyes to and fro in an unsightly manner and gazing at the gap of the Frozen Other-world.

She was startled at my voice.

“Huh? What? You, why do you know me? Uh…… are you a benefactor?”

I thought she would recognize me, but she was clueless.

Just then, the thirties version Golden Tiger came to us after he had raised the ground around the gap to prevent the lake water from entering.

Golden Tiger looked at To-yeon pathetically.

“Idiot.”

“Ugh, Golden Tiger! Don’t you make that face! It sucks! I’m so sick of you! ……Oh, I realized it’s impossible for me to get more sick of you. You already hit rock bottom.”

I stopped the two head-of-clans before they got into an endless squabble.

“So, what does this gap of the Other-world look like with the Map of the Moon Palace?”

“Well…… when I checked it before I came here, there was nothing out of the ordinary.”

When she discovered the gap in the Frozen Other-world, she was openly surprised, so I expected something, but nope, nothing.

Golden Tiger looked at her as if she was some insect, disapprovingly and with disgust.

“Useless. You’re useless. Now stop being annoying and fuck off.”

To-yeon Ok shot him a red, deathly glare and shook in rage.

“I haven’t even done my best yet, ya hear? You think I can’t find this properly? I, among the moon rabbits in the Moon Palace, the rabbit of Sasin(Buddhism term for moon)!”

“Yeah. Don’t think you can find it.”

“Hey! I can totally do it!”

Whoosh!

To-yeon, who fell for Golden Tiger’s goading, opened up her power.

Golden Tiger gave a wicked smile behind her back.

‘To-yeon Ok…… In a sense, you’re kind of a pushover.’

Particles with moonlight-like hues spread around To-yeon Ok.

My body felt heavy with all her psychic waves flowing around.

‘The Rabbit clan is one of the weaker clans among the Originals, but she seems much stronger than any human players.’

A map of the Korean Peninsula appeared at To-yeon’s fingertips.

It was a map of the Korean Peninsula filled with the flow of chi and light.

There it was, the Moon Palace Map.

“Ugh……I think there’s still a lack of output.”

Pshaw!

The red aura of her eyes deepened.

Maybe it was because she couldn’t find anything strange, but To-yeon looked nervous.

Gradually, she opened up her power even more, and the pressure of the psychic wave increased.

It was when Golden Tiger frowned at To-yeon ok and formed a shield for me and Jae-in Kwon.

“What is this, I see stains on the Moon Palace Map. Poison? Curse?”

“Poison?”

“It’s a kind of substance that pollutes bodies with psychic abilities. What is this, I’ve never seen anything like this!”

She can even see things like that on her map.

It was reassuring, encouraging even, for an ally to be able to detect psychic poison through long-distance observation technology.

‘It seems that she can’t detect the gaps of Frozen Other-worlds, but it’s possible to detect the poison by opening her powers to full level.’

Tragedy of Seokchon Lake.

The cause of it was that psychic poison.

The world created at the time was in the West Lake.

SR-class labyrinth that occurred at knee-high water level.

Both the attacker and the defense fought in the water of the lake.

The water of Seokchon Lake was contaminated with poison that flowed from the frozen Other-world that was locked away in the East Lake.

‘That labyrinth was an experiment unit of psychic poison.’

The Frozen Other-world required powerful coldness and poison to deactivate it.

Plus, the one who froze the Other-world was able to control the poison to some extent.

‘At the time of the incident, when the back-up players came, they took the poison out and finished the experiment.’

Whoosh……

To-yeon Ok withdrew her powers and collapsed on the spot.

“Ugh, my head hurts.”

There were tears in To-yeon’s red eyes.

‘The Moon Palace Map can observe poison, but the efficiency is low. You can’t use it for long.’

I should think of it as a last resort.

“Thank you, Ms. To-yeon Ok. Get some rest.”

“……Uh, Okay.”

To-yeon Ok barely answered, busy massaging her head.

Golden Tiger withdrew the shield he activated.

“So, poison…… If I focus my powers and concentrate, I feel an ominous aura, too. I don’t think it works on Original clans, but for humans……”

That’s no problem at all.

“It’s okay.”

The title heroine of this world, Dain An.

Dain had a ‘special body system’ that repressed poisons and curses around her.

‘So Dain delayed the progression of the curse made by Pyun-deuk Choi’s followers during the midterms, and made an outstanding performance in the second semester of the 1st grade when attacking the Frozen Other-world.’

〈Gwanglim, use ‘player’s trajectory’.〉

The character I selected was the fully-developed version of Dain An.

My appearance did not change, but I felt a rapid improvement in my physical abilities.

“Wait! You……!”

Before Golden Tiger could catch me, I jumped, without hesitation, toward the gap in the frozen Other-world.

I stood fine in the air full of poison.

“Don’t go more than 10m away from me just in case.”

Everybody’s chins dropped to the ground as they all looked at me in astonishment.

*    *    *

When Golden Tiger smashed open the frozen entrance, the Other-world reactivated.

I asked the association’s satellite management team to not let devices ring due to the alarm sent by the satellite through Gyubin Hong in advance, so smart devices around us did not ring.

Golden Tiger’s juniors and To-yeon Ok stayed as the defense line.

Golden Tiger, Jae-in Kwon, me, and two EverLake team members came in as the attacking lead.

“As long as we’re careful with the poison, we’ll be okay.”

SR+ + + class labyrinth.

Compared to the difficulty of it, our team was more than ready to take this on.

Jae-in Kwon regained her composure at the sight of the Other-world.

We had two members of a world-class player’s team.

We also had Golden Tiger, standing in the center.

By their attacks, Enemies were killed as soon as they were spotted.

“How in the world are you handling this poison?”

Said Golden Tiger, who stayed away from me for a few seconds to test my ability. He looked as if he could not understand.

“Jae-in Kwon, and you two. Stay close to him. Even if he won’t die from poison, he’ll suffer.”

The path to the boss area of the labyrinth-type Other-world was long and complex compared to other types of Other-worlds.

While the attack was going on at high speed with me in the middle, Jae-in Kwon spoke to me out of the blue.

“You’re that student who was working as part-time staff at my concert.”

She was a top-class player, so I reckoned she’d figure it out.

“The face I saw behind the mask was similar to yourself, too, but it was your sound that gave you away. Way of talking, or the sound of your footsteps. There were a lot of overlaps.”

The world’s best violinist identifies people with sound.

As a world-class violinist should, she had excellent sense of sound.

“Your friends that came with you that day. How are they doing?”

I was caught off guard because I expected her to ask me something else.

Usually, if a school junior is doing a dangerous job with the head of the Tiger clan, you’d be curious about other stuff.

I was bewildered but answered anyway.

“Yeah, they’re doing fine. Everyone is busy preparing for Teacher’s Day these days.”

“Yeah, cool. Who’s your homeroom teacher?”

“Mr. Geun-hyung Ham.

“I see…… I heard that he looks scary, but is a great teacher.”

Geun-hyung Ham’s sinister face must be famous even outside school.

Kwon Je-in smiled faintly and asked about our class.

As I talked with Jae-in Kwon and kept moving, the air around us suddenly changed.

‘Did we enter the boss area?’

Before we could tense up against the boss, there was a golden light shining in front of our eyes.

“I don’t intend to take long.”

Bang-!

The boss Enemy was destroyed by Golden Tiger’s merciless strike before he could make his appearance.

Jae-in Kwon seemed nonchalant, but two members of the EverLake team hung their mouths wide open at the scene.

“It’s not over. It is faint, but I feel the aura of an Original Clan.”

Original clans recognize each other.

At Golden Tiger’s warning, we got ready for battle.

There was a shadow dressed in a long dress behind the fallen boss Enemy.

It was blurry, so it couldn’t be her real body.

“This is……!”

“Butterfly’s shards.”

Scales of butterfly wings scattered around us.

What I saw beyond the scales was a silhouette that I saw a few times in the game.

‘Biryung Na!’

One of the main NPCs in the game, Butterfly clan, Biryung Na.

The silhouette of the butterfly Jae-in Kwon had been searching for was just beyond our reach.