Chapter 19: The Lost World of the Corrupted (3)

During Ha Hee-Jeong’s previous life, on the seventy-third floor.

“Ah, are you referring to the time when I briefly held first place? I still remember it clearly. How could I forget? It was all thanks to the remarkable discovery I made on the sixth floor."

“How did I find it? Well, that place resembled Seoul. I don’t know why those weird creatures were there, but it happened to be near my house."

“I was just terrified and tried to get to my house at first. Everyone else was out of their minds too. When I mentioned my house was nearby, they suggested we hide there."

“Since there were too many of those creatures occupying the streets from Myeongdong[1] Station to Chungmuro[2] Station, we decided to enter the subway. Of course, there were some creatures inside the station too, but not as many. That’s where I found it, walking along the subway tracks."

“I managed to find and complete a hidden mission within the time limit and got a huge boost in my achievement score. Huh? Why was I the only one from my team to get an award for completing the hidden mission?

“Well, I've never told anyone this before. Not because I’ve been drinking, but because I think you'd understand since you are the coldest person I’ve ever met.

“I ended up killing them all. Wait, just a minute!

Kkuk

... What, why?"

***

[Contaminated ■■■]

- Used to be a sentient being.

- The size of the horns correlates to strength.

- The hardness of the scales correlates to strength.

Clearing the path wasn’t too difficult. With each swing of my mace, a creature fell. When we reached the construction site entrance swarming with disgusting zombies, Ha Hee-Jeong cast a spell, and we rushed through the gap created by her magic.

[Survive for forty-eight hours. Time remaining: 46 hours 32 minutes.]

We quickly dealt with the creatures outside and entered an unoccupied building. Settling down from the sudden fight, we gathered around and started talking.

“Guys, this is Korea, right? I saw signs in Korean earlier, but why are there zombies here?"

“I know right? I noticed that too."

He was right. I had seen signs and glass marked with Chinese and Korean writing. Even the car license plates were Korean.

“It can't be that the Earth has already been destroyed, right?"

Ha Hee-Jeong responded to the man's question. Although her tone was speculative, she spoke with certainty.

“Probably not. The gods likely just made the floor look similar, since there weren’t any humans, only these monsters."

“I hope that's the case..."

It seemed highly likely that this place was simply modeled after Earth.

“By the way, Su-Hyeok."

“Ah, yes. Please, feel free to speak casually. You’re much older than me, so there’s no need for formality."

“Heh, should I then?"

Seo Ho-Su responded to my words with a smile, as if he had been anticipating the conversation. His playful demeanor belied a genuinely affable nature, evident from the gentle smile he wore.

“Your mace was surrounded by streaks of lightning... And I couldn’t help but notice that it shone even more intensely during the fight earlier.”

“Ah yeah well, I found a hidden piece on the fourth floor by sheer luck, so that’s how I got the mace.”

Ha Hee-Jeong and I had expected this question, so we had discussed how I should answer this question.

Karaksh’s Thunder Mace combined with the Lightning Essence I had consumed, not to mention my extremely high stats, allowed me to display outstanding capabilities. Since I was the only one to have completed the Challenger’s tutorial and could not publicize that Ha Hee-Jeong was a regressor, it was better to simply say a hidden piece gave me my strength.

The conversation shifted as Seo Ho-Su remarked with a chuckle, “So the hidden piece on the fourth floor must be why you took so long to clear the tutorial. I’m not surprised you are ranked first with the capabilities you just displayed. You moved swiftly, defeating everything in sight like the Flash.”

“Haha, nah. I honestly think that everyone performed impressively.”

It was true. As we arduously cleared a path, Seo Ho-Su adjusted his pace to match mine seamlessly, and Cole adeptly handled any stragglers. Obviously, Ha Hee-Jeong supported me skillfully, and the two priests also performed well by casting a vitality-boosting buff on Seo Ho-Su and me.

Amid our scattered conversations, Cole suddenly brought up the sponsorship contracts. Come to think of it, there must have been a lot of people who got scammed...

“Oh, by the way, how did everyone’s sponsorship contract turn out?”

“Heh, I thought I was signing with a fourth-class god, but it turned out they were actually a second-class god!”

Seo Ho-Su’s words had caught Chloe off guard, and she responded to him surprisedly, “What? Why did you even sign a contract with a fourth-class in the first place?”

From her expression, it was clear she regretted her decision. She probably got tricked on the first floor into signing with a first-class god, which would later turn into a fifth-class god.

“I just didn’t like the names of the gods that offered me contracts. I mean, how do I explain this... None of the names had that romantic flair, so even if they were supposedly a first-class god, they didn’t appeal to me.”

“If things hadn’t turned out differently, that would’ve been a really dumb choice.”

Chloe emphasized the word “dumb,” reinforcing my negative opinion of her.

Seo Ho-Su just laughed it off.

“Haha, true. But I’m someone who values having a bit of romance in my life. By the way, Chloe. It looks like you ended up with a fifth-class god, right?”

“...”

“Oh, right. Ha-Rin, who did you end up signing with?”

After slyly shutting down Chloe, Seo Ho-Su smoothly turned the conversation to Seo Ha-Rin.

... Is this what experience does?

“The god I signed a contract with turned out to be a first-class god. I didn’t want to choose a first-class god since I figured more people would want to sign contracts with them and then they wouldn’t be able to support me as much. Looking back on it now I am glad I made that decision.”

“Oh, I had the same thought and signed with a fifth-class god too, which later turned out to be a first-class god. I assumed that fewer people would contract with lower-class gods, so they’d give me more attention. How about you, Su-Hyeok and Hee-Jeong?”

To my surprise, both Seo Ha-Rin and Cole had signed with a true first-class god.

Do these people have some kind of good intuition?

It was definitely a reasonable idea. After all, if everyone signed with the same high-class god, there would be less support for each individual person.

Can a single god have contracts with multiple people? I’ll have to ask Hee-Jeong about this.

But with everyone else around, it didn’t feel like the right time to bring it up. I’d have to ask her later.

While I was lost in thought, the others were looking curiously at Hee-Jeong and me.

Oh, right, it’s our turn to share.

“My reasoning was similar to yours, so I also signed with what ended up being a first-class god.”

“I just waited to choose a god with a title that resonated with me, and it just happened to be a first-class god.”

I glanced over at Ha Hee-Jeong and wondered what her experience was like in her previous life. Did she also sign with a first-class god back then?

“Yeah, I signed with the same god I chose last time, so a true first-class god.”

Ha Hee-Jeong had noticed my curiosity, and so she whispered to me. I nodded slightly, and Seo Ho-Su spoke up again.

“Does anyone actually know why we’re required to sign these sponsorship contracts? It’s called a sponsorship, but I haven’t been sponsored anything yet,

hmph

.”

“Yeah, who knows? Maybe we’ll figure it out eventually.”

“And what’s with this ‘share percentage’ thing next to it? Feels like another scam.”

Share percentage? What’s that supposed to be?

It must be related to the contracts since it came up during the conversation, but I hadn’t seen it before.

Oh, right. I haven’t checked my status window since signing the contract. Status window.

In response to calling out “status window” in my mind, a small, semi-transparent notification popped up.

[Kwon Su-Hyeok (Earthling, C-66432)]

Title: Seeker of the Crossroads

Affiliation: None

Patron Deity: First Class, Omniscient Thunder Axe (Share percentage: 0.00% / 100.00%)

Strength: 78.8

Agility: 75.5

Stamina: 71.9

Mana: 41.5

My stats had gone up a bit, probably thanks to the recent fight. And now, a new stat called "share percentage" had appeared next to my sponsor’s name.

0.00% / 100.00%... What does that even mean? If it hits a hundred percent, do I become some kind of slave?

I need to figure this out later.

I glanced at Ha Hee-Jeong to signal my curiosity, but she just mouthed that we’d talk about it afterward. Well, there wasn’t much I could do right now anyway.

But seriously, how long are we going to sit here doing nothing?

As if answering my question, Chloe interrupted the silence with a sharp tone. She was probably still annoyed that she got stuck with a fifth-class god. I couldn’t blame her.

“So, are we just going to stay here forever? Do we even have a plan?”

We had to survive for forty-eight hours. Maybe we could just avoid those zombie-like things until then.

“We’ve rested and talked enough. It’s time to move.”

Ha Hee-Jeong nodded firmly and stood up, her voice leaving no room for argument. Knowing she was a regressor, I followed her lead without question. However, Cole, Seo Ho-Su, and Seo Ha-Rin stayed seated, looking puzzled.

“Wait, shouldn’t we at least discuss where we’re going before we rush out? This building isn’t exactly dangerous, and if we rush out thoughtlessly, we could end up in trouble.”

“Yeah, Hee-Jeong. I get that staying here might not be safe, but we should at least figure out where we’re heading before we start moving.”

Cole and Seo Ho-Su took turns expressing their concerns, and honestly, they had a point. If I hadn’t known Hee-Jeong was a regressor, I’d probably be asking a similar question—why the sudden urge to leave? I was curious how she’d respond.

“Well, I have a foresight skill, so I know it’ll get dangerous if we stay in one place for too long.”

“...”

“Foresight skill?”

Cole and the others were stunned, barely able to process what she’d just said. Only Seo Ho-Su had managed to say anything in response, looking dumbfounded.

A foresight skill, huh? That’s such a smart excuse.

If anyone questioned her decisions, she could simply say, “I’ve got a foresight skill,” and it would shut down any arguments. Of course, if things went south, she would get blamed. But with Hee-Jeong’s knowledge from her past, that seemed unlikely.

“Yeah, if we stay put for too long, the monsters will swarm us, and there are stronger ones that could appear. I mean, if we could just hide somewhere and wait it out, that’d be way too easy, don’t you think?”

“Well, you’ve got a point there.”

“Hee-Jeong, so where exactly are we going? Did your foresight show you something?”

“We’re heading to Chungmuro Station.”

“Chungmuro Station?”

Ha Hee-Jeong nodded in response to Seo Ho-Su’s question.

“You know how Su-Hyeok discovered a hidden mission, right? Our party has the first and second-place climbers, so we should aim to find another one on the sixth floor.”

“Well, that’d definitely be good for us. But Hee-Jeong, do you even know where we are? How are we supposed to get to Chungmuro?”

“We’re near the Chinese Embassy’s Consular Office, which is about a ten-minute walk from Myeongdong Station. Chungmuro Station is right next to it, so it won’t take us long to get there.”

Ah, so this was Myeongdong.

That explained all the Chinese and Korean signs[3].

There was something about the way Ha Hee-Jeong spoke that motivated people. Maybe it was because she was a regressor and had a lot of experience dealing with situations like this. I wasn’t sure if the others fully believed in her foresight skill, but regardless of what doubts they could have had, everyone got up.

“Let’s go.”

After we checked our gear and weapons one last time, we headed out of the building. Our destination was Chungmuro Station, which was about a twenty-minute walk away if all went well.

But who knows how long it’d take if we ran into any trouble along the way. Either way, it was time to move.

Alright, let’s do this. Time to find that hidden mission.

1. Myeongdong is a bustling shopping district in Seoul, known for its vibrant streets lined with fashion boutiques, beauty shops, and a wide array of street food vendors. ☜

2. Chungmuro is renowned as the cultural and historical heart of Seoul's film industry, dotted with classic theaters and specialized film equipment shops. Myeongdong and Chungmuro are very close to each other in Seoul, typically about a 5-minute drive apart. ☜

3. Myeongdong is a popular shopping district that attracts a large number of Chinese tourists, leading businesses to cater to them with signage in Chinese. ☜