Chapter 5: Tana
The deafening roar jolted me to my feet.
âWhat the hell.â
What just happened?
It wasnât just the sound.
The moment I fell, a blinding flash lit up the bridge.
A bomb?
In the middle of a city like this?
âKyaaaâ!!â
âArghhh!â
Screams tore through the air.
That confirmed itâsomething big had gone down.
I quickly leaped back onto the bridge.
What I saw made me doubt my eyes.
ââŚWhat is this?â
It wasnât a bomb.
Scattered red stone fragments glimmered everywhere, but the buildings and stalls were untouched.
âŚExcept.
âThis⌠this canât beâŚ!â
âWhere did everyone go?!â
âWaaahâ!â
Every person in the area had vanished.
The bustling crowd, the merchant who tried to scam me with the milk, and even the mysterious woman from earlierâall gone without a trace.
âAn⌠accidentâŚ!â
âHey! What the hell happened here?!â
âW-Well⌠we were transporting an anti-magic stone, and the rope broke, so it fell⌠and then it exploded, and, uh, thisâŚ!â
âWhat?! Speak clearly, you idiot! What about the anti-magic stone?!â
âI-I donât know! They said it was just a normal anti-magic stone!â
I overheard soldiers and a researcher frantically talking.
An anti-magic stone?
Then.
âLook! Over there! That womanâŚ!â
Someone pointed in a direction.
I instinctively turned my head.
ââ!â
My breath caught.
I wasnât the only one.
Everyone was too shocked to speak.
Where we all stared, transfixed, ominous black smoke billowed.
And at its centerâ
She stood, somehow revived.
ââŚOh.â
Thatâs when I remembered.
Who she was.
ââŚTana.â
Tana.
Grandisâs Transcendent of Light.
âPork and a beer.â
âComing right up!â
After a short wait, the pork and beer were placed on my table.
I grabbed the beer first and chugged it.
âKrrâ.â
Setting down the empty glass, I glanced around.
âSo, I was right there, and thenâBOOMâsomething exploded, and everyone just vanished!â
âMars said it suddenly reappeared, likeâŚ!â
âUgh, creepy! Definitely a grim reaper!â
The tavern was noisy, but the topic was the same.
The anti-magic stone explosion at Trueffe Plaza was still the talk of the town, weeks later.
It was that shocking.
Even I was stunned.
âAnother beer.â
âComing up!â
It had been a few months since the incident.
Tana, revived moments after vanishing, was quickly taken away by soldiers.
A memorial was erected in Trueffe Plaza for those caught in the blast.
It was exactly like the game.
Except for one thing.
âWhy me?â
I chewed on the pork, lost in thought.
It was supposed to be Jang, not me, in that spot.
Jang was supposed to be pushed by Tana, survive, and drive the story forward with her.
But that day, there was no Jang or anyone like him near Tana.
Sure, itâs based on the game, but everything else matched perfectly, so why this discrepancy?
Itâs probably tied to the status windowâs quest to go to Trueffe PlazaâŚ
ââŚHaa.â
What do I know? Iâm not a god.
Besides, that wasnât the issue now.
I opened my status window.
Lv.108
372246 / 494000 (75.3%)
Name: Juhyuk Seo
Job: Crusader
STR: 1184
DEX: 246
INT: 239
LUK: 172
AP: 0
[Unable to proceed with the quest.]
[(Please complete the previous objective first.)]
[(Please complete the previous objective first.)]
[(Please complete the previousâŚ)]
[(âŚ)]
âUgh⌠seriously.â
Unable to proceed with the quest.
Itâs been like this since the incident.
I racked my brain for a reason, but nothing made sense.
Was there a quest I failed without realizing?
How would I even know?
Either way, I couldnât progress, so despite passing level 100, I was still stuck as a Crusader.
Thudâ.
I slumped onto the table.
Eyes turned to me, but I didnât care.
F*ck.
I canât advance.
Then.
Dingâ!
ââ!!â
I snapped my head up.
That familiar, refreshing sound.
No way.
[Quest updated.]
â!!
âHell yeahâ!!â
I couldnât hold back my excitement.
The status window didnât let me down.
I let out a relieved sigh.
For a moment, I thought Iâd be stuck as a Crusader forever.
Heh heh heh.
I opened the status window to check the updated quest.
Whatever it was, nothing could wipe this smile off my face.
[Meet Tana in the underground prison of the Trueffe Research Lab]
ââŚWhat the f*ck.â
My smile vanished.
Outside the Trueffe Research Lab in Critias.
Around 1 a.m.
âUgh⌠damn itâŚâ
I scratched the back of my head in frustration.
[Meet Tana in the underground prison of the Trueffe Research Lab]
The quest was blatantly demanding something from me.
I could guess what.
It wanted me to play Jangâs role.
Never mind that I was Jangâs stand-inâthe real issue was what came next.
Jang dies in the end.
Couldnât that mean Iâd die like him?
Sure, in the original story, Jangâs death was tied to Akairum, who hasnât shown up here yet.
But I couldnât rule out the possibility.
Plus, Jang was able to reach Tana undetected thanks to Dark Sight.
I didnât have Dark Sight.
Iâd likely get caught before even reaching her.
Sighâ.
I took a deep breath, the night air cold.
ââŚIâll deal with it later.â
After thinking it over, I decided to hold off.
The current year was Hekaton Year 52, and Akairum wouldnât arrive in Critias for about two years.
I had plenty of time.
Better to wait for the right moment than rush in, get caught by soldiers, and mess things up.
With that, I turned to head back to the innâ
Dingâ!
Another notification.
[Meet Tana within 1 hour.]
[If you fail this quest, you will not pass the 4th Job Advancement TrialâŚ]
[Time remaining: 0:59:55]
ââŚâ
F*ck.
Tana stared blankly ahead.
Her limbs were tightly bound by chains.
Sheâd tried to break free, but they werenât ordinary chains.
The people who brought her here subjected her to all sorts of experiments.
She didnât know why or what for.
She just endured the torture.
She felt pain but no emotions.
She had no memories.
The only thing she recalled was wanting something.
And her name.
Tana.
That was it.
No one remembered her, and she remembered no one.
Who was she?
She wished someone would tell her.
Then.
Thudâ!
âOw.â
Someone fell from the ceiling in front of her.
She looked up.
The man, sprawled on the floor, slowly got up and spoke.
ââŚHey. Weâve met before, havenât we?â
ââŚâ
It was their first meeting.