SSG 238
by CristaeBut more than anything else, the very fact that this was an abnormal situation filled Yuseong with anxiety.
‘What if Ark, or the purchase window, or crossing to the other world, start shutting down one by one?’
He knew he would go insane if that actually happened. He would fall back into that hellish life, holed up in his shelter, starving for supplies, just dragging out his days until he died.
‘First, I’ll recall the robots.’
He called the robots closer to his shelter back to base, and those that were too far away he ordered to stand by at nearby outposts.
Yuseong left Ark and issued commands to the robots.
‘Is there no quest window?’
Back when he lost access to Ark, the quest window had given him a quest in exchange for cutting off his Ark connection. To be precise, it seemed as if the system had purposely cut him off to get him to act.
But there was nothing now.
‘That time was actually better.’
At least there was a solution then.
Right now, he had no idea how to resolve this.
‘Let’s go to the other world.’
If there are no answers in reality or Ark, perhaps there are in the other world. The cooldown was just about up, too.
Yuseong waited impatiently for the cooldown to finish.
As soon as the cooldown was up, Yuseong shifted worlds.
Every time he woke up in the other world, the scenery of the room always put him at ease, but today, he barely registered it.
He hurriedly ran downstairs and turned on the TV.
“Strategy guide!”
[Welcome.]
There it was. As letters appeared on the TV screen along with a voice, Yuseong let out a sigh of relief. But, perhaps because he’d experienced something similar before, his legs didn’t give out this time.
‘I really don’t want to get used to things like this.’
But he couldn’t just sit around relieved.
“Why wasn’t there any contact over there…!”
[Quest – Save the Laboratory]
Yuseong fell silent.
[The filthy hands of monsters and beasts have stretched beyond the other world and reached this world, too. If left unchecked, even this world might be taken over by monsters and beasts. Eliminate them.]
Yuseong’s mind went blank.
“T-This…”
He tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out.
Thud!
He tried to rise, only to collapse back onto the spot—a truly unsightly scene, less than a minute after he’d told himself his legs wouldn’t give out this time, but that wasn’t the issue.
He dragged himself to the TV.
The message on the screen was unchanged. He didn’t even register the quest rewards.
“W-what kind of bullshit is this!”
Yuseong shouted. The text on the TV shifted, and a voice came out.
[It’s exactly as I say.]
“What do you mean, exactly! You…!”
Yuseong cut himself off, realizing he’d gotten too agitated. He stood up. His legs still trembled, but he managed to get upright.
He went to the kitchen for a drink of water. The tiny trickle from the purifier annoyed him.
Gulp! Gulp!
Half the water in the cup spilled out as he drank, but it helped calm him. He tossed the cup into the sink and returned to the TV.
“Explain.”
Yuseong’s voice was cold and threatening.
[There’s a laboratory that researches information and technology from the other world.]
“So?”
[They also conducted research on the monsters and beasts you brought.]
“…Don’t tell me they made the monsters and beasts?”
[They didn’t do anything so foolish. But yes, their research is the cause.]
“What kind of insane thing did they do!”
Bang!
He hurled the sofa. The wall next to the TV dented deeply. Though furious, some lingering sense of rationality about needing more information spared the TV.
But perhaps because it was an emotionless A.I., the strategy guide continued its explanation without pause.
[We can talk more as we go. I’ve arranged a helicopter outside your house.]
Yuseong glared at the TV. The strategy guide didn’t display any more words, as if it had nothing else to say for now.
Soon, Yuseong strode over and fitted the earphones that always sat in the same spot.
“You’d better explain everything clearly.”
[Of course.]
The guide’s voice came from both the TV and the earphones at once.
The laboratory wasn’t in Korea. The strategy guide led Yuseong to the airport, explaining that they had purchased an island in the Pacific to build the lab.
After he boarded a waiting private jet, they headed for the destination. Given the distance, the flight time was quite long.
As his time in this world was limited, Yuseong understood why the guide had hurried him.
The jet’s interior was luxurious. All his favorite foods were there, but Yuseong didn’t even glance at them.
It showed how seriously he was taking the situation.
“…Alright, start explaining.”
Yuseong finally spoke.
Since he boarded the helicopter, he hadn’t asked any questions. He judged that he couldn’t ask properly while upset.
Of course, he wasn’t completely calmed yet. But it seemed his agitation wouldn’t go away, so he figured there was no point delaying questions any further.
“How many enemies are there?”
[Impressive. I didn’t expect that to be your first question.]
“Cut the nonsense, just answer me.”
Of course, Yuseong wanted to know the origin first—what on earth the lab had done to cause monsters and beasts to appear here, why the guide had been unreachable in the other world and the game, and so on.
But the urgent thing was to deal with the monsters and beasts now present in this world.
[Identified enemies are four monsters and seventy-eight beasts.]
“How big are the monsters?”
[They’re small type.]
“Then it’s nothing.”
After facing various monsters, Yuseong had developed his own classification system. Small types were the smallest. If you only had conventional weapons, they were a nightmare, but armed with weapons made from Ark materials, they weren’t a threat to Yuseong anymore.
[You’ll have no trouble handling them. But I don’t believe that’s all. The numbers are still increasing.]
“Did some portal between worlds open?”
[Something similar.]
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Yuseong scratched his head.
[To be precise, ether is pouring in, making the environment here more like the other world.]
“Damn, that’s even worse!”
All the effort he spent calming down was for nothing as Yuseong suddenly yelled.
“You’re trying to destroy this world, aren’t you!”
[That’s offensive. I’m working for the sake of humanity.]
“For humanity, my ass. Does this look like it’s helping humanity?”
[It was necessary. And it’s something that can definitely be resolved.]
“You’re asking for my help, aren’t you?”
[That too is one method of resolution.]
“What a brilliant strategist you are.”
He leaned back in his seat, annoyed. The plush seat was far more comfortable than an ordinary airplane, but he was in no mood to enjoy it.
While Yuseong was once again working to calm down, the guide spoke.
[You’ve grown much more natural in your speech. More vocabulary, you’re even good at swearing now.]
“It’s not like I’ve been here just a day or two. You’ve changed a lot too, you know. Even your manner of addressing me.”
[If it bothers you, I’ll go back to calling you ‘player.’]
“What’s the point of that now? Just do whatever you like.”
There was no sincerity in that form of address anyway. Besides, “player” wasn’t such a grand honorific.
“So is that your true self?”
[You can think of it that way.]
He suddenly felt curious about the guide’s true nature. But he wasn’t surprised; he’d long suspected the guide was hiding something.
“I’ll ask about your real identity later. For now, tell me how to fix this.”
[I don’t know precisely. We’ll have to get to the deepest part of the lab and find out.]
“Can’t you use robots?”
The strategy guide operated robots in this world, too. Wasn’t it a robot piloting the plane the very moment?
“If I just buy a railgun and arm a robot with it, isn’t that the end? Four small monsters and a few dozen beasts, that’s instant wipe-out level firepower. Even if there are unknown enemies, few would stand a chance against robots with railguns.”
[I’d prefer the lab remained as intact as possible.]
“And this is the time to worry about that?”
[That’s where all the tech and modified goods I’ve given you have been developed. If it’s destroyed, your odds of survival drop.]
“Tch.”
He clicked his tongue in irritation, but didn’t argue, suggesting he agreed the lab was worth saving.
[And that’s not the only reason for your presence. If all I needed were small-caliber weapons, I could just send them to the lab. The real issue is that since ether started leaking, the deeper into the lab, the more communication is disrupted.]
“So you can’t directly control robots.”
[The surveillance cameras are down too. I tried abandoning direct control and sent them with A.I., but none came back.]
“Were they attacked?”
[It’s more likely they broke down, just like the cameras lost function.]
“Do you know why?”
[I believe it’s the ether.]
“That stuff exists in our world too, doesn’t it? But robots and cameras worked fine over there.”
Yuseong recalled data he’d seen at another lab.
“They said ether was everywhere in our world already.”
[There may be differences in ether density, flow, or other causes.]
“So basically, you don’t really know.”
[That’s fair to say.]
“In the end, I have to go myself.”
[I’ll support you as much as possible.]
“You’re saying communication is impossible, so how are you going to support me?”
Yuseong snorted.
“Tell me everything about the lab. I need to plan my basic operation.”
[No other questions?]
“Who needs answers after I’m dead? First, let’s deal with this crisis.”
[Understood.]
With that, the man and A.I. exchanged ideas until they reached their destination.
The jet carrying Yuseong arrived. Once it stopped on the runway and the door opened, Yuseong stepped onto the island.
It was of some size, and it looked exactly like what you’d imagine when you hear “South Pacific island”—blue sea in the distance, white sandy beaches, palm trees scattered here and there.
But what caught Yuseong’s eye was the building at the island’s center—or more accurately, the land around it.
Tropical vegetation grew thick as you moved inland, but around the building, it was different.
It hadn’t been cleared artificially. Yuseong moved in that direction.
As he approached, the rustle of grass underfoot stopped abruptly near the building. Instead, he was greeted by blackened, dead trees and thickets, and the land had turned desolate.
Yuseong ground the earth under his foot in irritation.
‘This pisses me off.’
The sensation under his toes was sickeningly familiar—the touch of earth he’d trampled every day in his own world. The filth of his world was creeping into this beautiful place.
Absolutely unforgivable.
‘The cause must be in there.’
Whatever it was, Yuseong would have to deal with it, even without the guide’s request.