Chapter 4: The Calm Before the Storm
“Ugh…”
A week had passed since the fight with Gigantopia.
Because of his attack, my house was gone, and now I was, inevitably, at my parents’ house next door, who were on a trip abroad.
The city’s system was paralyzed, so I couldn’t call a repairman to fix my house, but as Oxian, it was an awkward situation to call someone and face them, even if the city was fine.
“…”
I wrapped my body tightly in a warm blanket and stared at the phone screen with an uncomfortable expression.
It was because the communities I usually visited were filled with talk about Oxian, that is, about me.
Posted:
Gigantopia appeared, and suddenly came out and destroyed it in 3 seconds lol. It was so cute though, the catch.
[Why did you come out so late]
[What, Oxian appeared in Korea? I can’t miss this]
[Oh man, Oxian was here]
[3-second cut is too much, though..]
[I’m getting an autograph on the poster, just you wait]
[So where are you now?]
ㄴ[I don’t know, suddenly disappeared]
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[View more comments]
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“…”
I stared at the pictures of myself and the comments on the posts for a long time with a stiff expression.
An unintended sigh escaped my mouth one after another.
“…”
I thought most people had been scared and run away, but someone must have hidden and taken pictures of me.
If I had known in advance, I would have smashed my phone before coming.
“…I’m going crazy.”
I was forced to attack because Gigantopia destroyed my house and a quest appeared, but the regret of being too hasty came over me painfully.
Oxian was a tremendous being with enough power to save a nation by measurement.
I should have gone out wearing a hoodie to hide my appearance instead of going out without thinking.
Now that the existence of Oxian, the strongest of the 20 season bosses, had been revealed, it was certain that the posts requesting support would pour in soon.
If that happened, I would receive an enormous amount of trouble and spotlight that I had never experienced before, so it seemed that it would be best to stay quiet until the news about me subsided.
“Ugh…”
As I let out a sigh, which I didn’t know how many times, I looked at the phone screen with gloomy eyes.
On the small screen, the contents of a short message that had been sent and received appeared, a message from my parents saying they were safe.
My parents, who were in England for a trip, said they were safe from the monsters under the protection of ‘Festival of Black Cats’, a large guild.
The Festival of Black Cats was a British guild and the second largest guild in Arising.
If such a guild was protecting them, their safety would be surely protected, so I could feel relieved a little.
“Oh my…”
…I tossed the phone to the side and picked up the remote to turn on the news.
[Current Status of Each City]
The news anchor reported the damage caused by the Arising monsters in a serious tone.
Since no mention of Oxian came up, it seemed that the broadcasting station hadn’t yet reliably judged my existence.
“Hmm.”
With a relieved smile, which was fortunate, I crawled into the blanket and began watching the news in a comfortable position.
“It’s serious.”
According to the news, the damage caused by the monsters was enormous, and they were still fighting without easily being suppressed.
The main reason was that there were many changes within the military and the police.
The situation was somewhat better in Busan, which was protected by the large guild ‘Aria Guild’, and Incheon, where Kim Young-joon, a solo player ranked 11th, appeared, and the residents’ confusion was also less.
Accordingly, the government presented them with national medals and requested their active cooperation.
“…”
In the lower right corner of the TV, the current status of damage, such as the number of monsters in each country and the number of season bosses that appeared, was being displayed.
Currently, the only season boss that appeared in our country was a Recatcha that appeared in the military unit, and the number of monsters was, well, beyond imagination.
Especially in the case of China, the number of monsters was exploding in proportion to its enormous population of 1.4 billion, and as many as three season bosses appeared, causing the greatest damage.
Although the guild ‘Hwayangyeonhwa’, which was ranked among the top five in the world, was working hard, they were also unable to stop all the monsters.
In Japan, the only maritime season boss and the SS-ranked ‘Leviathan’ appeared, destroying the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s forces. And the desperate battle was still going on.
The United States had two season bosses appear, and New York and San Francisco were taken, but the military managed to destroy one of them, the A-ranked Giant Toad.
It wasn’t for nothing that they were called a military power…
In Europe, there were more than five large guilds located compared to the two season bosses that appeared, so more monsters were suppressed than in other regions.
Currently, the guild ‘Abelia’ and the season boss ‘Qualena’ were in a battle in Romania.
“Qualena…”
Qualena was the boss of my next season, a sexy vampire type.
The difficulty of the conquest was also S, which was quite high, so it didn’t seem that she would be easily suppressed.
“But why?”
…Suddenly, a question came to my mind.
Qualena was a vampire, and if so, she was a human-type monster like me, so she must have intellectual thinking and reason.
But why did she bother to provoke humans?
Moreover, if the opponent was a huge guild like Abelia, she must know that there was a high possibility that she would be conquered?
Was there a compelling reason?
Or did Abelia launch a pre-emptive attack without thinking?
[…We will conclude the news, and we will move on to a special guest interview in a moment.]
But unfortunately, the news ended without explaining even those reasons.
Advertising music played instead of the anchor’s voice on TV.
“Uung…”
I fell into serious thought.
Looking at the current state of the world, the decisive blow to the destruction of cities was all the season bosses.
Of course, there seemed to be human-type season bosses who were kind and didn’t cause harm, at least, like me, but they weren’t very prominent, buried by other destructive bosses.
If this state was maintained, it was natural that the world governments and large guilds’ vigilance towards the season bosses would increase.
Besides, it was Oxian, who had been beaten to death in the game, so it wasn’t a strange thing if they preemptively attacked, making a fuss.
Moreover, if it was the ‘Oxian’ subjugation, at least tens of thousands of troops, dozens of large guilds, and the modern army would be mobilized in total, so I couldn’t guarantee 100% victory in the current situation, with a lack of combat experience.
“…I don’t know.”
Shaking my head at the various thoughts that were rising, I laid down on the bed with a big “大” shape.
Since it didn’t seem that any problem would occur today, I decided to leave this worry to myself tomorrow.
[…Yes, today we have invited Ms. Lee Si-yeon, the guild leader of ‘Aria Guild’. Nice to meet you.]
[Yes! Nice to meet you.]
After the boring advertisements, the interview with Lee Si-yeon, the guild leader of Aria Guild, began on TV.
Since the only things to do in my free time were playing with my phone or watching TV, or learning Oxian’s skills, I began to watch the special broadcast with a curious expression to get some information.
The interview started with the anchor’s question about the cause of this situation.
Lee Si-yeon, who was also one of the world’s strongest, shook her head at the first question.
Then the anchor asked back with a surprised expression.
[…You don’t know the cause of the situation?]
[Unfortunately, that’s right. As a result of the investigation into the Arising headquarters that went to the United States, all the developers were missing, and two top executives were found dead.]
[Oh dear, then at least this situation will continue for a while, right?]
[Yes, that’s why we desperately need the help of users who have turned into their original characters.]
[Hmm, then what kind of help can users give?]
[Even if they only properly deal with the monsters that are roaming around, matching their levels, it will be a great force.]
[If you were to pick out points that you should pay attention to?]
[……Of course, quests.]
[Yes? Quests? Not monsters?]
[Yes, although the frequency of the quests that are appearing seems to be low, so many people don’t know, this is a very important issue.]
[Could you explain in detail?]
[As you know, in Arising, quests befitting the situation suddenly appeared. It’s the same in reality now.]
[Yes,]
[In Arising, only a small penalty was given even if you failed, but now when you fail the quest,]
[When you fail?]
[……You die.]
[Yes? You die?]
[As a result of the investigation, the penalty for all users’ quests is ‘player data deletion’. At first, I didn’t know what it meant, but I realized.]
[What did you realize?]
[One of my guild members missed the time limit of the quest, and at that moment, they disappeared like some strange particles. After that, we couldn’t find them anywhere.]
[That means…]
[Yes, we have judged that they are dead. This was a phenomenon that was caught not only in our guild but also in other guilds, so it is probably certain.]
[That’s very important information.]
[Yes, in addition, if you die in any way, you just die. I’m saying this because there seem to be many people who are forgetting, but this is not a game. It’s reality, it’s Earth, it’s South Korea. There is no concept of resurrection, respawn, or HP, so please cherish your life.]
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“Wow.”
…I was impressed by the information that I had never expected.
In particular, the information that you die if you don’t clear the quests on time was enough to make me shake my head.
“Then, didn’t I almost die too?”
If I hadn’t killed Gigantopia the other day or if I had run away…
“It’s terrible.”
When I imagined my disappearing form, goosebumps rose on my body.
“…In the end, if I don’t want to die, I have to do it by duty.”
No matter the contents or the time limit, if you don’t want to die, you must clear the quest. As I realized the meaning of its compulsion, I frowned.
…Then, as I was pondering the new information I had gained,
[Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!]
“……Ing?”
A sound from outside.
This time, the ground was shaking severely, and it felt similar to when Gigantopia had appeared.
“What is it.”
I threw the phone I was holding and went to the window to look down.
But this time, what I saw were about 300 Orc troops, not Gigantopia.
“…”
I could feel my expression hardening as I looked at them.
Yes, I had forgotten, lost in the peace for a while. Seoul was still a mess, and that meant that monsters could appear everywhere, without exception.