204 – Surviving in the Wild #5
Morning.
The event headquarters overseeing the A Rank Survival was unusually busy.
It was due to the incident that occurred last night.
While it was somewhat expected that three to four individuals would be eliminated within a day, the outcome far surpassed expectations, with twelve people being eliminated overnight.
This was an unforeseen event.
“What on earth happened? I don’t care about the procedures or ceremonies; someone explain quickly…!”
The Prime Minister, having received an urgent call early in the morning, entered the situation room, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
The command control room of the “Ghost Brigade,” which oversees the ghost town.
Receiving a report on the situation, the unit commander, Lieutenant Lim, saluted and decided to skip various formalities to directly discuss the main points.
“They report that the area’s masters launched a surprise attack on three A Rank teams. It seems that the occurring events on the first night caught even A Rankers off guard, leading to these eliminations.”
The first night of the survival game usually passed without incident. This A Rank Survival was expected to proceed in the same manner.
However, an anomaly had occurred.
Upon hearing this, the Prime Minister pushed his glasses up to his forehead and rubbed his eyes with a handkerchief, asking,
“Even if the area’s masters were powerful S Rank demons, didn’t we agree that A Rankers would not recklessly charge in as long as they formed teams? What happened?”
“Well….”
# # #
“Teams formed?”
I received astonishing news from Kim Yumi, who had gone out for reconnaissance last night.
It seemed that S Rank demons, appearing as the area’s masters, had teamed up and attacked the A Rank Awakened.
Kim Yumi said.
“I saw it with my own eyes…! Teams stationed at the ‘Riverside’ and ‘Port’ areas experienced massive eliminations…! Who would have thought those demons would collaborate…!”
The master demons ruling each area.
According to information Do Jun-Hwan received from the Ghost Brigade informants, the ‘masters’ were known to be independent and had strong personalities, often not mingling with others.
However, last night, Kim Yumi witnessed the master-level demons at the ‘Riverside’ and ‘Port’ joining forces to hunt down and defeat the Awakened.
“It was absolute chaos! Everyone was low on batteries, hungry, and not in optimal condition! They couldn’t respond to the demons’ coordinated attacks and were eliminated en masse!”
On the first night, it was highly likely that the Awakened could not even operate half of their gear effectively.
I, too, lacked batteries and couldn’t even power up Mi-Yong.
Even if we had received supplies, I was honestly a bit careless given the thirst, hunger, and fatigue of the first night.
Who would have thought something would happen on the first day—was the thought in my mind.
Yet, in that moment of negligence, many Awakened faced elimination.
“Was it intentional?”
The S Rank demon was as strong as the ancient Squirrel Beast I had encountered last time.
Did they truly drive out the Awakened by collaborating?
I tried to determine whether this variable was intentional on the part of the organizers. Of course, I didn’t arrive at an answer at that moment.
“Perhaps they felt threatened by the encroachment on their territory.”
The relationship between the top entities, Kkungkkungi and Bang Bang, wasn’t particularly good. They were too independent to bow down to anyone.
But when a common ‘enemy’ appeared, they fought well together.
Could it not be similar for the area’s master demons?
While they usually fought over territory, when A Rank Awakened entered their abandoned city, they began to unite and drive out the enemies.
That was about the extent of the conclusions I could draw.
Anyway.
“So, the Riverside and Port areas became the demons’ territory? Shifting to those places seems more challenging than expected…”
What remained were the shopping district, residential areas, power plant, city center, and this park.
Staying holed up in this park and eating wild raspberries sounded nice, but I doubted the game could proceed so simply.
Soon.
Do Jun-Hwan unfolded a map from his belongings and spoke.
“I recommend heading to the ‘City Center.’ Simply surviving isn’t advantageous in this game. We need to acquire valuable resources and increase our points.”
Points?
That was an unfamiliar concept.
At that moment, Do Jun-Hwan pulled out a gem from his belongings.
It was a necklace with a clear red gem.
“This necklace is one of the reasons I chose the ‘Park Forest’ as the starting location. It belonged to the Osa Group’s lady who lost it in this park during the incident. I gained a thousand points for finding it.”
I realized that collecting various items could yield points. The points gathered could be converted into ‘money’ or used to ‘purchase’ items at the end of the game.
“Places like the ‘City Center’ or ‘Shopping District’ have vending machines set up by the Ghost Brigade. We can use points to get batteries or food.”
Did they even prepare such things?
It struck me that the information Do Jun-Hwan had gathered through the Ghost Brigade was turning out to be quite useful.
In essence, it became a choice between “staying put and surviving slowly” versus “moving around to gather items and enhance points to increase survival chances.”
Swish.
Do Jun-Hwan took out what seemed like a catalog and showed it to us.
“These are the items available in this city. The Ghost Brigade has been searching for years, but these valuable items are hard to obtain. They include treasures from the wealthy and top-secret documents from corporations.”
Oh.
Just as I was slightly impressed, archer Kim Yumi frowned.
“Do Jun-Hwan, you never told me about these? You were planning to keep it a secret and gain an advantage for yourself? Well, I didn’t fully trust you…! This is just too much…!”
So what now?
I pondered for a moment.
As silence enveloped us, Kim Yumi spoke up.
“I noticed last night that the top-ranking team is stationed at the shopping district. The Elemental team, including Han Ju-Ryeon, is at the city center. How about heading towards the ‘Power Plant’?”
The power plant.
A relic of the 21st century that had been thoroughly dismantled after a certain event and left only its grand foundation.
I wasn’t too keen on going there, but I couldn’t expect much in terms of valuable item farming in the park forest right now.
In comparison, the item list that could be obtained from the power plant was quite extensive.
# # #
“Kkungkkungi, body tackle!”
—Kruuung…!
The Squirrel Beast, Kkungkkungi, was incredibly powerful.
After all, Kkungkkungi was strong enough to contend with a near S Rank demon.
With the support of snipers, Kkungkkungi easily dealt with most A Rankers who tried to challenge him.
“Uaaagh!”
We defeated Kim Pan-Seok, who was ranked 21st among the A Rankers.
He had been guarding the power plant alone and possessed the ability to harden his body like a rock.
After subduing him, I first inquired about the situation.
“Why are you here alone? Weren’t you teamed up with the other three?”
“My team was at the ‘Riverside’ last night and got wiped out by those damned demons! I barely managed to escape!”
I see.
It seemed that there were no teams left at the power plant, as we successfully occupied it after a few minor skirmishes.
Nuclear power plant.
For me, it was a place filled with many memories.
When the crack opened here, chaos ensued, almost putting the entire Korean Peninsula in danger.
The incident accelerated the dismantling of all nuclear power plants in Korea.
It was only natural that nuclear plants wouldn’t survive in an era of cracks opening.
—Zzzz….
At that moment, Ahn Ahn asked me something.
It was a file folder marked ‘1st class.’
It was classified paperwork worth 500 points, and I had accumulated around three thousand points in this manner. Since a meal that could be ordered from a vending machine costs about 500 points, that meant I could purchase six meals.
Farming was going smoothly, and survival was progressing well.
Was this how the second day would end?
Just as I was thinking that.
“Haildo, people are approaching from the city center.”
Chik-.
I heard Do Jun-Hwan’s voice over the walkie-talkie we had taken from Kim Pan-Seok.
I operated the walkie-talkie and asked Do Jun-Hwan.
“Who is it?”
“There are three of them. One seems to be Kang Jeong-Yeol, and one is Oh Deok-Soo… and one looks like Han Ju-Ryeon? Some big players are here. What should we do? They don’t seem to have noticed my side yet—.”
Boom-!
A loud sound echoed, followed by a blast overhead.
Lightning struck from a clear sky.
“Hey, Do Jun-Hwan. Are you alive?”
I called out to Do Jun-Hwan through the walkie-talkie.
But only an unpleasant dissonance could be heard in response.
He must have been hit by the lightning just now.
I suspected that Do Jun-Hwan was exposed after using the walkie-talkie running on electricity, revealing his position to Han Ju-Ryeon and getting struck by lightning.
That jerk…!!!!
Although he was originally an enemy, we had been cooperating well, and I couldn’t believe he was about to retire like this. At least he avoided being last, so perhaps that was fortunate for him!
“Haildo! We know you’re here! Let’s make a deal!”
At that moment, someone shouted from the entrance of the power plant.
It was Kang Jeong-Yeol’s voice, a fire ability user.
To openly announce their position like that meant they were confident.
“The terms of the deal are your team’s complete surrender! Surrender, and when we fight the ranking number one team at the ‘Shopping District,’ lend us your strength! In return, we guarantee your rank will be at least upper-tier! Though it will be below ours! But it’s a good deal, right? You guys were originally ranked last…”
I see.
They wanted us to join their team.
More than that, I recalled that Team Elemental was said to consist of at least four members.
Since the ice ability user Kim Si-Hyun wasn’t visible, it seemed likely that he had been eliminated last night.
They had three members.
We had three, including me, Lee Jin-A, and Kim Yumi.
Including Kkungkkungi, Bang Bang, and Ahn Ahn, we had six.
So, by simple calculations, we had a significant advantage.
“Hey, Haildo, what are you going to do?”
Lee Jin-A cautiously peered out the window and asked, her voice tense. Kang Jeong-Yeol was still shouting outside.
“Come out before I count to three! If you don’t, we’ll take it as a refusal and push into this power plant! One…! Twooo…!”
The countdown was loud.
After contemplating for a while, I finally made my decision.
“We were going to clash with them sooner or later. Since it’s advantageous for us now, it’s better to confront them now. Everyone prepare for battle…!”
Team Han Ju-Ryeon, A Rank.
We’ll bring them down in this fight!
