CH 59

A monitoring team whose sole task was to monitor the players who inherited the ‘double-o’ codename existed within Hive Games Entertainment. The team was referred to as the Section within the company. The team was further divided into smaller teams named based on the double-o player they were tasked to monitor. For example, the team tasked with monitoring Player 000 was called ‘Section 0,’ the team tasked with monitoring Player 001 was called ‘Section 1,’ the team tasked with monitoring Player 002 was called ‘Section 2,’ and so on.

As such, the team in charge of monitoring Tae-Sung was called ‘Section 7,’ and their team’s office was located in South Korea.

“Code name 007… has died,” one of the operators of Section 7 reported with a trembling voice.

The team leader of Section 7 asked, “Died where?”

“That’s…” the operator hesitated.

“Don’t tell me he died at the dungeon where Herbert’s final work is tucked away? That place doesn’t have any monsters, right?” asked the team leader while recalling Tae-Sung’s last destination.

“No…” the operator replied while shaking her head.

“Then where?”

“That’s… team leader-nim…”

“Hmm?”

“I think our team will be disbanded as of today…”

“What are you talking about? We have a team dinner tonight. Weren’t you the one who chose the pork rib place at Nonhyeon-dong?” the team leader asked while furrowing his brow at the operator.

“That’s… team leader-nim…”

“…?”

“Code name 007… I mean… Han Tae-Sung died in Erengel…”

“Huh? Where did you say he died?”

“Erengel.”

“C’mon, there’s no way…” The team leader waved his hand and dismissed the operator’s words before continuing. “Why would 007 go to Erengel? That place is currently in hardcore mode, right? Why would a gamer with a hidden class go there? Well, he would if he were insane, but I doubt it. Why don’t you check again? I’m sure you made a mistake.”

“I did, but it is correct.”

“C’mon~”

“Look,” the operator uploaded her screen when the team leader refused to believe her words, and then she explained, “He did not go out of his own volition. He was on the way to look for the weapon Herbert had left behind when the airship he was in crashed. The problem is that he… he crashed into Erengel of all places… He has quite a crappy luck crashing there, but the way he died is even more absurd. He was not killed by someone else, but he died after getting hit by a mortar shell... Hmm? Team Leader-nim, what are you doing right now?”

The operator tilted her head in confusion.

“What else?” the team leader weakly muttered in response while putting everything on his desk into a box before he looked at the operator and said, “I’m packing up…”

“…”

“You should pack up, too. It was fun working with you. I thought I was finally going to take it easy after getting promoted to this team, but… ah… what is this misfortune…” the team leader lamented. He was certain that their team would be disbanded sooner or later.

He stopped for a second and looked at the monitor before grumbling, “But… that Han Tae-Sung guy’s fortune is quite shitty… did he sell out his own country in his previous life or what…?”

***

Glug… glug… glug…

A paper cup was filled with soju[1], and Tae-Sung downed the entire cup in one go.

He had neither appetizers nor chasers, and he was drinking soju on an empty stomach. This was already the fifth bottle he had drunk, but he continued drinking. His mind refused to work as he could not think of anything, and he could not utter a single word.

This was a normal reaction.

People would think that someone who lost everything overnight would be infuriated and cause a scene, but those only applied to those who had never truly experienced a total loss.

Most people who lost their entire fortune because their company went bankrupt, the stock they invested in went bust, or they gambled away everything would usually just stare into the void without being able to do anything—just like Tae-Sung right now.

Tae-Sung quietly drank soju ever since he was forcefully logged out after being killed by a mortal shell.

It was after he drank the soju in his cup that his brain finally functioned. Worry and anxiety over his future slowly started to creep in.

‘What am I gonna do…? I thought I could finally live a normal life once again…’ he despaired.

It was often said that someone unlucky was going to break their nose even when they fell backward, and this was exactly what had happened to Tae-Sung.

Who could have known that he would end up crashing into the island where the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament would be while on the way to find Herbest’s final work?

Thanks to his shitty fortune, he was as good as broke once again. His debt wasn’t that big of an issue anymore, as he had already paid off most of it, but the main problem right now was the tax bill looming over his head. He was going to be slapped with a massive tax bill worth hundreds of millions of won this upcoming May, but he could no longer play the game, which was his only source of income.

It turned out that he would have to be indebted to not only a loan shark and the bank but to the government as well.

However, he still had his immediate living expenses to worry about from now on before he could even worry about the upcoming tax bill.

“Haaa…” Tae-Sung let out a sigh of defeat.

***

The imperial city, also known as the ‘Blood Palace,’ was located in the capital of the Marchioni Empire, Motorwagen. The Emperor of the Marchioni Empire resided here.

Baron Neighdelberg requested an audience with the emperor, and he was currently waiting at the emperor’s office. The reason Baron Neighdelberg was able to request an audience with the emperor—a private audience at that—despite being only a baron was that the emperor greatly trusted and favored the baron. Otherwise, there was no way that a baron could ever be granted an audience with the emperor himself.

“Your loyal subject, Neighdelberg, greets Your Majesty the Emperor,” Baron Neighdelberg greeted while lowering his head.

The emperor looked out the window and said, “Sir Neighdelberg.”

It was only after the emperor called his name that the baron finally lifted his head.

The emperor had pearly white skin, flowing golden hair that put gold itself to shame, and a beauty that would even the most beautiful women to shame while exuding a sense of charisma and authority.

The current emperor, Emperor Stuttgart von Posteriore possessed an appearance that would make one wonder how it was possible for a person to be so perfect. On top of that, he was just thirty-two years old despite being the emperor.

“Your Majesty, there is something I must report,” Baron Neighdelberg said.

“Is there something to even report about?” Emperor Stuttgart asked in response. However, he paused for a moment and asked, “Did something happen?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Something must have happened since it’s not every day that you report something personally. Alright, what happened?”

“That’s…” Baron Neighdelberg muttered before he carefully continued, “A third party has interfered.”

“A third party… Hmm…”

“I received a report that an Adventurer crashed into Erengel a few hours before the tournament started, and I have confirmed the details just now.”

The tournament that Baron Neighdelberg was referring to was the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament, and the reason he was reporting to the emperor about the issue that arose from the tournament was that the emperor was the mastermind of this tournament.

“A few hours ago…” Emperor Stuttgart muttered before he commanded, “Just proceed as planned.”

“But, Your Majesty…”

“Survival of the fittest is the theme of the tournament. Just leave that Adventurer alone and let them do what they want. I’m only interested in fulfilling our objective behind this tournament.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Baron Neighdelberg replied with a bow.

He didn’t dare to speak any further regarding the matter since the emperor had already decided.

***

Thirty-six hours after his death…

“No…” Tae-Sung muttered before putting down the paper cup filled with soju, “It can’t end like this…”

It had only been a few hours since he made a decision to give up and look for a job at a nearby factory, but he soon realized that such a decision wouldn’t solve his problems. Of course, there was nothing wrong with diligently working and making a living from one’s own sweat, but that was only possible for him if he had no debts to repay. He could have toiled away at a factory and saved up bit by bit to purchase a house on the outskirts of Gyeonggi-do and live a frugal life.

But in addition to his debts, he also had to take care of his mother and sister, who were living a difficult life back in his hometown. His circumstances didn’t allow him to have the luxury of living a frugal life.

Moreover, he would need to have some sort of expertise to be able to make a living out of manual labor, but the only license he had aside from his high school diploma was his driving license. This meant that the only manual labor work Tae-Sung would be eligible to do was to work as a brick carrier. He couldn’t even be a bricklayer at a construction site.

“Master… I have to go find my master…” Tae-Sung decided to look for Deus—his only remaining hope.

Yes, his master was a Level 999 Hidden NPC, so he would surely have a solution to his predicament. It was unfortunate that his level had decreased, but he had to unseal his Rune of Transcendence no matter what, as he wouldn’t be able to level up without it.

He knew that it was shameless of him to ask Deus for help, but he couldn’t think of any other option aside from asking his master for help.

“How many hours do I have left before I can log back in…?” Tae-Sung looked at the clock.

The death penalty was forty-nine hours of login restrictions, and it had only been thirty-six hours. He would be able to reconnect to the BNW client after thirteen more hours.

“It’s my last hope…” Tae-Sung muttered before putting away the paper cup and soju.

Yes, it was too early for him to despair. He still had his final hope—his master—Deus.

***

Finally, it had been forty-nine hours since the death of Tae-Sung’s game character, Siegfried.

Tae-Sung sat in his VR capsule, the Ogre, as he waited for the clock to strike, which would allow him to reconnect to the BNW client.

[Alert: User verification… completed!]

[Alert: You are now connecting to the BNW Client!]

[Alert: Loading… Please wait…]

[Alert: Welcome to the Nürburg Continent!]

The message Tae-Sung had been longing for had finally appeared.

Flash!

However, Tae-Sung didn’t return to the Nürburg Continent as the unfortunate Adventurer Siegfried, who died after being struck in the head by a mortar shell.

Search tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w for the original.

[Erengel: Area 9]

A message notifying Siegfried of his current location appeared.

“Why am I still here…? Wasn’t I supposed to be forcefully expelled from this island?” He looked at the message notification before taking a look around him.

“What the hell…” he furrowed his brows after looking at his surroundings. He looked further around and muttered, “I think it’s a town, but… why is it in such a state…?”

The state of the town rendered him speechless. The town was in ruins, and not even a single building was standing, as they had been completely razed to the ground. On top of that, there were mortar shells everywhere, and the ground had many ditches the bombardment had created. In fact, there was even a marionette lying in pieces on the ground.

In addition, there were a bunch of items that seemed to have been dropped by the Adventurers who died here.

“Did the bombardment wreak havoc in the town as well…?” Siegfried wondered. He decided to log into New World to check what was going on.

“Obliterated…? Area 9 has been closed off?”

Based on the information posted in the Community forum, it seemed that Area 9 wasn’t in such a state because of the bombardment but because of the Obliteration Effect. The Obliteration Effect would literally obliterate anything, anyone, and everything within the area an hour after it was activated, and it would close the area off afterward.

“Who the hell decided to close it off? I’m still here…” Siegfried grumbled. He was having a hard time making sense of what was going on.

He died and respawned in a closed-off area. He should have been expelled from the island based on the information he had gathered from the Community forum.

“Ha… there’s no gateway here, so how am I supposed to leave this place? Don’t tell me that I’ll be trapped here for the rest of my life…?” he groaned while preparing to go to the Hive Games Entertainment’s Korea Head Office and stage a one-man protest in front of it. He had nothing to lose at this point, and he was prepared to get locked up over his character—which was now as good as ruined—as long as his actions could give them negative press.

“I need to go find Master as soon as possible…” Siegfried muttered before opening ‘My Information.’

He already knew that he would find his level reset and his Rune of Transcendence sealed, just like what he had read on the Community forum. He simply checked just in case his class was also changed to ‘No Class.’

“Hmm…?!” His eyes shot wide open at what he saw.

[Siegfried]

[Type: Adventurer]

[Level: 50]

[Class: Debuff Master]

[Titles: Goblin Slayer, Protector of the Biermann Territory.]

There was something strange about the whole situation.

1. Soju is the go-to alcohol for all Koreans. More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soju ☜