Chapter 281
Day 3.
[No.]
In Cardinal Ian’s office, Kael said.
His tone was rebellious, like a delinquent teenager, but who could interfere?
The one silently accepting it was the Cardinal of Asius, and the other was the Inquisitor of the Order, called the Agent of God.
Of course, that was the setting; the person inside Kael was someone known as the worst villain in history, but to the NPCs, he was a hero regardless.
[Please reconsider just one more time. This mission will surely be to your liking.]
Ian rose from his seat and approached Seojun.
“Ah! What is this! The AI is begging!”
At this point, it really was begging.
Was the AI crazy?
- lol lol lol lol lol lol what’s this?
- He’s pulling weird shit right from the start
- Even the official broadcast turns Kael on immediately
- I can’t stand not having Kael on for this
[I said no. Sit your ass down there, quickly.]
- Rude bastard lol lol lol lol
- To the elderly Cardinal ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
- But his actual age is younger than the streamer, right?
This time, the streamer commented while also thinking about why the AI was acting this way.
“Seojun-nim seems to be heading somewhere else! Does the reward not please him?”
What did the AI want?
The mission Seojun received on Day 3 had very good conditions.
This time, there was no point deduction condition, nor was it a zero-sum situation like Atura, where opposing heroes were enemies.
The direction the AI was trying to push Seojun was clear.
“It’s to keep Kael in Asius! I wonder if the reward would have been like this even if Seojun-nim hadn’t talked with Christina yesterday.”
Was it trying to stop him from going to Train?
“It might be better to stay and earn more points, but there must be a reason to block him! Of course, surely it’s not because they’d rather hold him back by offering more rewards than let him go somewhere new and cause trouble... or is it?”
- That seems right lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol
- fr lol
- Don’t cause trouble, just take what they give you and stay quiet ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ you damn human!
“Meanwhile, he’s not even looking at the prophecy book, ah! Seojun-nim is leaving! No, Kael is leaving Asius! Where is he trying to go!”
People easily predicted his destination.
It was the area where many participants were currently gathered.
Train.
Seojun boarded the train heading for the city of engineering.
***
Boarding the underground train that could go to Train was nothing special.
It was because he was an Inquisitor.
Out of the belief that he wouldn’t do anything reckless.
Of course, everyone needed a guarantee that the Inquisitor of Asius was not going to Train on a mission, and the price of that guarantee was 5 Achievement Points.
For reference, other heroes were charged a fare, and that fare was 5 Achievement Points; the system thus adjusted to each person’s circumstances.
“I don’t see any other participants.”
Seojun walked the length of the train, looked around, then sat down.
As long as there were no participants, nothing special would happen.
Shortly after leaving Asius, the train entered a tunnel.
For ordinary people, and for a train, wandering over the mountain range above ground was suicidal.
After 15 minutes, the train stopped.
In game time, 1 hour and 30 minutes had passed.
Seojun got off the train and entered the city of Train within the mountain range.
“Oh.”
It was exactly as he had seen in the pre-launch video.
After getting off, Seojun crossed a street reminiscent of Europe and headed toward the plaza.
‘Participants are most likely in the plaza.’
Figuring out what was going on was the priority.
If he had received a mission related to this place, he could’ve simply followed it, but he hadn’t.
He came here without any plan, so he had to search.
If he searched well, he would get a mission.
Train’s Central Plaza.
On this street, as wide as a sports field, various inventions and stalls were set up.
Train’s Executors were also visible.
‘Was ‘Magic Bullet Executor’ the alias he earned from vigilante activities in Train?’
The Magic Bullet Executor, Gray.
That was the hero Seojun had played before, back in Leos.
His skills included magi-tech teleportation, lasers, acceleration, and so on.
‘He couldn’t not be from Train.’
There was no hero whose actual job title was Executor.
Executors were essentially only in charge of maintaining public order, like police, while the heroes who protected the city from the outside possessed power beyond ordinary people.
No participants were seen in the Central Plaza.
And there was nothing unusual.
It was just an ordinary city itself.
‘I can’t just sit around doing nothing.’
Train was governed by the Council.
The Council was a place only those who contributed to Train could enter, by majority vote of all the city’s residents.
Seojun decided to go there.
‘The chances of something cropping up like Daran’s council are low, but.’
For now, he had no choice but to go and see.
As Seojun was walking toward the Council, he spotted a participant.
It was a female participant.
He recognized her features, but couldn’t quite remember her name. Actually, it was just bothersome to remember.
The hero was Ide. She was unaffiliated but a hero deeply connected to Train, so it wasn’t strange for her to be here.
He also recalled that she had been the pro player ranked 1st when he first took the ordeal.
‘Hmm... Should I call her a heretic again? Ah. That’s going too far. I should remember her name.’
Luckily, the name immediately surfaced in his memory. It was Rachel.
If any viewer could have peered into Seojun’s mind, they’d have scolded him for pretending not to remember and just brushing it off—things like that passed in an instant.
As Seojun approached, the female participant turned her head and their eyes met.
Seojun, thinking it was fortunate, greeted her, and she responded with a slightly reluctant expression.
Then, as if wondering why on earth he was here, she looked at him briefly, let out a deep sigh, and started walking toward Seojun.
“Hello, Ide-nim.”
“Hello, Kael... I mean, Seojun-nim. What brings you to Train?”
It would be strange.
Since Kael had appeared out of nowhere.
Seojun explained that he had heard something from Christina, and since it seemed related to cooperation, he had simply rushed over.
“That’s right. At least, everyone who came to Train expects it’s something like that. Cooperation... cooperation. Alright!”
“What do you mean, ‘alright’?”
“I’ll help you, Seojun-nim!”
At this unexpected turn, Seojun glared at Rachel.
Was she a heretic trying to betray him?
But for Rachel, this was a golden opportunity.
Because of what Seojun had said when he first took the Ide ordeal, Bernard kept forcing her to follow Seojun around throughout the history book and act as his attendant.
But anyway, this history book seemed to require cooperation, and helping a powerhouse like Kael and quickly bringing him into the group was naturally something she had to do.
In other words, the best situation had emerged for her.
Even though she was unaffiliated and free, if she helped Seojun without reason, she’d have to worry about public opinion.
[lol lol lol lol lol lol The streamer knew that Christina’s talk of cooperation was code for ‘don’t kill him’ lol lol lol lol lol]
==
So he knew that but still killed her? lol lol lol
Crazy bastard.
==
- He killed her because she’s a heretic
└ fr lol
- Foreigners are also gradually stamping Sin as a heretic now
└ Sign it! Sin is a heretic!
Meanwhile, in the outside world, posts kept popping up nonstop because of Seojun, who paid absolutely no mind to such things.
“Then I’ll accept your goodwill.”
“Yes!”
Rachel began explaining what happened in Train.
“There’s only one mission you can do in Train.”
“Only one?”
“Yes. Whether affiliated, unaffiliated, or from Train, they all have the same one.”
“Oh, what is it?”
“Do you know the greatest person in Train?”
“Yes.”
A Train Councilor and the continent’s greatest scientist and wizard NPC.
The name of the figure who invented the perfect magi-tech train and made Train what it was today was Cresit.
“That NPC gave us the mission.”
“What’s the content?”
“Cresit discovered a passage to another world and found special materials inside. He brought some back and experimented, opening up new possibilities, but it was difficult to secure many materials because of the monsters from the other world. So he called for heroes.”
“Another world?”
“Yes. The mission is to find materials inside. Fighting among ourselves is possible, but since there are monsters and Cresit set up the system to tell us not to, we’re refraining.”
“Aha.”
“And you get Achievement Points based on the materials you bring. That part is a bit stingy.”
“I see.”
“And they say to bring as much as possible, continuously. More than ten participants have been collecting materials nonstop from the other world throughout Day 1 and Day 2, but nothing has changed.”
“Then why are you out here, Rachel-nim?”
“Because my inventory is full. I have to keep going back and forth. Are you going to do the mission, Seojun-nim?”
“……”
Cresit’s other alias was the Inventor of Runes.
It became clear why Christina had said this quest was related to new consumable items.
It was an obvious story.
‘And are they encouraging competition?’
From the information that Achievement Points were stingy, Seojun could make further deductions.
That there was another hidden reward.
‘They wouldn’t keep so many people stuck grinding a reward-starved mission without a reason. Either you get something from the other world, or the top contributors who donate lots of materials get something.’
This quest had to be done.
That intuition struck him.
“Please guide me.”
***
China’s Godly Sword, a pro player with the nickname Taesan, was going back and forth between the other world and Train while performing Train’s mission together with him.
The monsters in the other world had the characteristic of swarming if not dealt with quickly, so going as a pair provided stability.
Above all, they had even devised a strategy to funnel everything to one person if necessary.
It was already an established fact that participants who brought back the most materials would receive high rewards.
So Godly Sword filled his inventory with materials, came to Train, and deposited them in a bank-like storage.
Since it was possible for the storage to be looted, Godly Sword moved quickly when no one was watching.
It was a strategy to funnel to one of the two, and it had already been decided who that one would be.
Normally, with Godly Sword’s pride, he would never have yielded, but after being defeated by Yon, he had lost much of his confidence.
‘It’s not because I’m afraid of that bastard…’
It was entirely because of Yon.
Godly Sword met Taesan again, who had returned through the portal after delivering the materials.
And as they were about to go in again—
“Huh? Isn’t that him? Hey, Godly Sword.”
“Ah.”
The enemy had appeared.
“Did he come yesterday?”
Godly Sword muttered.
“No.”
So on Day 3?
He was joining the mission now?
Godly Sword laughed inwardly.
Because it served that Korean right for wasting time.
“Brother Taesan. Let’s quickly go in…”
Even as he relished it, thinking of Yon, he tried to avoid him and just do the mission, since this wasn’t a decisive moment.
Taesan moved.
Toward where the enemy was.
“Hey, Korean. Is it okay for a latecomer to be this leisurely?”