Chapter 35 (1/2)

SoJ Episode 3 Chapter 35

Episode 3: Age of Ghosts / Chapter 35: Break Time (3)

TL: emptycube

Editor: Obelisk

The president treated the kings as VIPs and even provided them with accommodations. He thought that even if he wasn’t able to control the survivors, he could at least cooperate with them. This was because many of the survivors had lost their way of life and he had the power to grant them that.

Of course, he was currently caught up in a chaotic situation where he couldn’t predict what would happen next.

After all, there was a chance that all of humanity would have to play the survival game after the break. Why worry about the possibility that their way of life might be ripped apart like paper? The president was a realist who focused on what he could do right at that moment. He aided the survivors as much as he could and even treated the kings especially kindly.

Choi Hyuk showered for the first time in a long while.

The warm water, which endlessly wrapped over his body, felt luxurious.

The smell of clean water, the ivory tiles, the steam-filled room, a faint scent, lighting and even a soft towel. These sensations that he hadn’t felt for a long time felt even sweeter and more unfamiliar, making him all the more sensitive.

After donning a robe, he went out and drank an ice cold drink from the fridge. He looked out the window. It was peaceful.

As he became more relaxed, he recalled death.

Shadows danced between the soft and fancy lights.

Screams, pleading voices. The sensation of slicing into flesh. The warmth of blood. And the faces of the dead.

Choi Hyuk repeatedly recalled the deaths of Jung Minji and his mother.

He didn’t personally witness their deaths. Perhaps it was because of this that his mother and Jung Minji’s faces were overlaid on top of the faces of the dead.

His heart felt chilly. He even felt that it was unfair.

When he thought of Jung Minji, he imagined fireworks. A dangerous but brilliantly burning flame. She was fiercer than anyone. Her decisions were never on impulse. She troubled over it, suffered over it and once she decided, she was filled with determination. It didn’t matter if she did good or bad, she lived dazzlingly.

His mother was the same. Choi Hyuk remembered the bundles of design drafts that his mother would bring home. Occasionally, when she was stuck on a certain part, she would explain the sketches to him, flipping through each sketch one at a time. Then, if she suddenly thought of a good idea, she would tie her hair up and draw throughout the night. When Choi Hyuk asked, “What is ‘design’?” his mother would reply without hesitation, “Design is something that brings more compa.s.sion to the world.” He would then fall asleep watching his mother work. That was peace. He didn’t feel the same happiness that came from a rush of adrenaline but it was a comforting peace. The one his mother always wanted to give him. To be calm rather than angry and to be carefree rather than impatient. “Stay still and just breathe. Slowly. Breathe in. And slowly breathe out… That’s good. Listen carefully. What do you hear?” This was something his mother would often say.

“Hoooo….”

Like in the past, Choi Hyuk took a big breath and slowly breathed out. He silently listened.

The world was noisier than one would think. The sound of the water from the shower. The vibrations of the fridge. Sounds from an unknown machine. As he calmly listened to the sounds of the bustling and lively world, his heart became peaceful.

This was his mother’s world. However, since his mother had died, this world had died and disappeared along with her.

He felt this was unfair.

Every living individual had their own unique personality. Jung Minji’s world, his mother’s world, Choi Hyuk’s world and Baek Seoin’s world, none were the same. They were all so different when they lived… they were so different but… when they died, if they died, they all become the same. A mushy lump of flesh.

Jung Minji became just a lump of flesh? It was hard to believe.

And when he thought about how his mother had become like that as well…

Grit.

An uncontrollable rage surged out.

He had killed 8 people in the meeting but that was only for an instant, his anger basically didn’t settle in the slightest. He was angry. His veins bulged.

The calm night had suddenly turned into a large phantom that haunted him. His blood burned. A world where his mother was dead. The animosity from living in such a world made it seem as though each breath he exhaled was poisonous. Every time he breathed the way his mother taught him, the poison just seemed to spread thicker.

So… the reason for his unceasing anger was obvious.

Choi Hyuk hadn’t caught the main culprits.

The b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who created this game. He hadn’t even seen their shadows, let alone the names of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds he needed to kill.

There was only a single hint.

Thump!

His dantian formed from karma was beating. The karma in his body continuously flowed into his dantian before spreading out again. Each and every cell seemed to be burned by the karma and revitalized. This was a new discipline.

‘The Flaming Wing Tribe’s Karma Heart Discipline.’

This was the reward he had received after killing the Wyvern of Death. That time it said, [As a reward for the corpse of the Wyvern of Destruction, the [Flaming Wing Tribe’s Karma Heart Discipline’ has been pa.s.sed down.] The reward for that gigantic corpse. He didn’t receive any items other than this one discipline.

Choi Hyuk focused on the ‘Flaming Wing Tribe’ name more than the discipline itself. That tribe… in the very least, wasn’t human. What sort of connection did the Flaming Wing Tribe have with the creators of this game? Were they the ones in question?

Those thoughts were enough to drive him crazy.

His rage was burning but the amount of information he had was the size of a chick’s tear. He was powerless. He had no way of satisfying his thirst. Choi Hyuk stayed up all night before finally falling asleep late in the early morning.

The next day. On the last day of their break, Choi Hyuk met with someone connected to ‘them’.

Biiiiii-

It started with a buzz in his ears. Soon after, a message appeared.

[10 minutes before transfer. Arm yourself.]

Choi Hyuk wordlessly armed himself.

The Blue House provided him with casual clothes but he wore the clothes he obtained from the supplies in Kangdong District instead. Brown pants and a thick ivory s.h.i.+rt. These clothes had a high resistance to monster blood. Regular clothes would melt at the contact of monster blood so he wasn’t able to wear them for a long time.

When he put on the ‘Warrior Boots’, he heard the clanking of leather and steel, and when he wore the ‘Mountain Orc’s Leather Armor’, he felt the tightness of the leather. The three swords he used to carry around had all shattered and now he only had the Predator’s Blade sheathed on his waist. Though he didn’t get a lot of sleep, his condition wasn’t bad due to his sharp and keen senses.

He finished his preparations. His heart seemed to chill over.

A question crossed his mind. What would it be this time? Just what was happening before the end of the break?

‘Whatever it is…’

Choi Hyuk tightly gripped his blade.

It was time.

[Transfer start.]

The moment he saw the message, it felt like he was being turned inside out.

Instead of the world turning inside out, it felt more like his body was turning inside out. It felt like his insides were coming out of his mouth and becoming his skin and his skin was receding inside him.

Extreme dizziness and nausea overcame him. He couldn’t see anything. He felt that something was moving but he didn’t have the mind to discern it.

The karma in his body became wasted. They stuck together like melted plastic and scattered like boiling oil.

“Keuu..”

Choi Hyuk flopped down and retched. He forcefully swallowed down the acid reflux again and again. Only afterwards did he see his surroundings.

Steel. Steel and scales were everywhere. It might not even be steel. However, it was a metal that was as strong and cold as steel. Black and white scales that were the size of a human covered his surroundings and wriggled as if they were alive.

The place was a scale-covered cavern. When he looked at the cavern, he once again started to retch.

“Euu…”

It wasn’t only Choi Hyuk. 39 people, including himself, were staggering and retching. There were even some who actually vomited.

After feeling like his whole body was turned inside out, he was in an unfamiliar place. Distance teleportation? No… Would the earth have a place like this? Then dimensional teleportation? Either way, it was hard to endure this place even with his karma reinforced body.

Still, once he had gradually adjusted his body, he heard the noises around him.

Thud! Thud!

“Kyahhhh!”

He could hear cras.h.i.+ng sounds as if a mountain was being shattered and a pitiful scream off in the distance.

‘It’s a battlefield.’

Choi Hyuk knew it instinctively.

Clank.