Episode 101. Same starting point, different destiny (1)
mate.
Amid formal applause of congratulations echoing through the field, my feeling of not being chosen was surprisingly calm even to myself.
‘It’s not like I wasn’t expecting it.’
More than anything.
This Meteor Shower selection match was a stage that required a dealer who could put strong force to drive the enemy, so-called aggressive pressure.
In that sense, Kwon Young-tae, who is capable of ultra-long range attacks, and Byeon Jin-soo, a melee fighter, would have been the most ideal offensive options.
“The final selected students are on the podium. Based on my standards, the groups in the right column should come out in order.”
At the call of the instructor, selected students began to come out one by one. I looked at it calmly and was lost in thought.
‘I didn’t have to attend the Meteor Shower as a player anyway.’
This was also something I had in mind before the selection process started.
I was just worried that the flow would be different from the original. My purpose is to thwart Septagram’s purpose, not to win the Meteor Shower.
Septagram invades the Meteor shower stage by mobilizing almost all executives. Their purpose was twofold.
‘To show off their strength and recruit talented people who have their eyes on the Meteor Shower. The other is to cause mass slaughter in the Meteor Shower and collect the aura of the saints.’
The Septagram’s ultimate goal is to resurrect Rogers, who is said to have created Monstrum, the king they serve.
Yes. When discussing the cliches of RPG games, it can be said that it is a royal road story that would be disappointing if left out.
Reiki is, simply put, condensed mana. To put it more simply, it can be called ‘life force’, and the stronger the adult, the stronger the spirit.
‘According to the setting book, there was a story that the aura of adults who are growing up is of better quality.’
The Meteor Shower was literally the best place to collect aura.
“Pyoyurim. why are you standing there? Didn’t you hear me come to the podium?”
anyway.
The plan to stop Septagram’s purpose was to be developed more in-depth later, and it was decided to face the problem that was unfolding right in front of the eyes.
“I will give up.”
The instructor suddenly opened her eyes at her declaration of abstention.
“Give up. Do you mean that you will not go to the Meteor Shower?”
“yes.”
“Pyo Yu-rim student. Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
“It is my heart.”
The surrounding atmosphere is cheap and subdued.
“student. The Meteor Shower Trial is not a place to come with such a light mindset. To suddenly give up qualifications for such trivial reasons… … .”
“I said no. I have nothing more to say or hear. If you keep asking me, I’ll go first since the schedule for the preliminary round is over.”
“You better think about it. If you continue to insult the test like that, you will be penalized at the signal level.”
“follow your heart.”
After those words, Pyo Yu-rim displayed his natural instinct and disappeared by teleportation.
I tried to swallow the awkward smile that was about to come out.
‘Would he be able to make such a threat? In the first place, the conglomerates and the government came together to reject the offer of exemption from admission to Signal.’
At the time, it was a choice she made to escape from her mother, who interfered a lot.
While the examiners standing in a row at the back of the podium started whispering to each other with serious expressions, Shin So-ra looked at me and asked what I meant.
I kind of knew what kind of eyes it was. Like Pyo Yu-rim, she was also a child who decided to participate in the selection according to my wishes.
I looked at her and shook my head quietly.
‘It’ll be difficult if you’re stubborn.’
Pyo Yu-rim firmly stated that he would not leave if I fell. I respected that will.
Even if you ask for it, don’t force it.
It was a belief that I had to keep even more because I had the power of mental interference, not anyone else. The moment you break this belief once. I am unable to have a genuine interpersonal relationship with anyone.
‘It’s a shame Pyo Yu-rim didn’t participate, but it’s okay anyway. What you really have to worry about is that you can’t win even once in the Meteor shower and you can go mad.’
In the original story, Yooseong’s one-man show made Korea advance to the semifinals. No matter how many variables were taken into account, I wanted to keep this flow somehow.
Snowball or butterfly effect. Either way, it was a specification that made it difficult to predict the future.
Departure of the stray forest. absence of a protagonist.
‘Is there a way to advance the Meteor Shower national team members to the semifinals while carrying the two factors?’
It was not an easy homework.
***
A room where no light leaks in.
A boy was sitting on a chair that looked like a throne. pure white hair. Dark circles that make you feel haggard. The impressive boy was the long wires connected around the crown he wore on his head.
“I met him.”
When the boy spoke Spanish, the respondent also responded in the same language.
“Who are you talking about?”
“Doyoon Kim. He was in C-12, an unrecovered area in South Korea. This is the area where you ordered the artifact to be retrieved the other day.”
“Ahh. Doyoon Kim. that’s the guy You probably know who you are too. You can’t say there’s no connection at all.”
The person leaning against the wall and talking to the boy is a Septagram executive. It was ‘Cas’, called the fifth star of Dark Stella.
“Muerte. Did you encounter them in the process of retrieving the artifact?”
“I’m not sure, but I think he might have intercepted it first.”
“It’s strange. Rumors about artifacts being lost in Sector A-12 must have been very uncertain. I was contemplating whether to send additional exploration forces because the cave was the only area that had not been searched.”
Not even Septagram knew what artifacts were there. They only know vague information that valuable artifacts have been lost there.
Unfortunately, neither the being who lost the artifact nor the family of that being had left the present world, so there was no way to know more detailed information than this.
Cass let out a light snort.
“I can’t help it. The search for the A-12 area in the Republic of Korea is abandoned. If there are troops left over there, cut all links. We only send weak individuals anyway, so there is no regret.”
“All right.”
“and… … .”
“Ugh.”
At that time, blood dripped from Muerte’s nose.
Cass’ brow narrowed.
“The chair you are sitting on is a super-expensive artifact. Do not defile it with that filthy blood.”
He took a handkerchief out of his inner pocket and flung it into Muerte’s face.
“sorry. You are a great star.”
“Throw away the handkerchief after using it. And, what were you trying to say… … . ah. yes. Sooner or later, there will come a day when a large-scale undead army is needed.”
“Is this the war you were talking about last time?”
“no. It’s not ready yet. For now, think of it roughly as troops for a declaration of war. So until then, call the undead army as much as possible.”
“You are a great star. that… .”
The moment Cass turned around and was about to leave. Muerte hesitated and called him to stand.
“How dare you hold on to the feet of this body. If it’s not an important business, I’ll punish you.”
“ah… no. I forgot to greet you to enter carefully… … .”
“I don’t need greetings from a vulgar guy like you. Let tools behave like tools.”
Finally he left, leaving Muerte alone in the containment cell.
I was alone, but there was no space to feel comfortable. Inside the containment room, there were CCTVs installed considering all kinds of blind spots.
Even though Muerte could not be seen, there were even those who took turns monitoring him 24 hours a day beyond the wall that was only visible from the outside.
Compared to the other test subjects, the treatment was relatively good, but it could never be better than the freedom that was taken away.
‘Will the child be okay? I miss you.’
Muerte had previously seen a girl Glein was carrying with him through the eyes of an undead being manipulated during his celestial training.
The kid he called ‘No.45’. A really pretty girl with dazzling golden hair and jewel-like blue eyes.
He met only once, but because of that, he remained deeply in Muerte’s desolate heart.
‘Kim Do-yoon. I said he’d have No.45 with him.’
Their starting points may have been similar, but their subsequent destinies are walking different paths. Some were saved, others were not.
Will such a hero ever come to him? Muerte sighed after a moment of thought. Because of the education I had received, I was well aware of the futility of clinging to false hopes.
instead.
‘If I follow Kim Do-yoon’s footsteps, I might be able to see that child’s face at least once more.’
In that time, let’s do something more beneficial to ourselves. The boy closed his eyes again, suppressing his fleeting emotions.
***
The Meteor Shower Qualifying Tournament is over.
After a long time back to my dormitory, I woke up after a good night’s sleep. There was a call from Seol Chae-hwa, so when I called, I was able to hear various stories.
The first was a story related to Pyo Yu-rim’s withdrawal from the selection match. It was the contents of a fairly intense argument between the examiners.
“Well, do you know what was said? Mr. Kim Do-yoon encouraged Pyo Yu-rim in retaliation because he was not selected. Did you say something like this?”
It was a really ridiculous joke. Rather, I asked him to participate in the tournament even if I was eliminated.
Fortunately, Seol Chae-hwa, who heard the news, sided with me, so it was a shame. If it wasn’t for that, I would have gone to Signal to explain before I had time to enjoy the long-awaited holiday.
“so? Who decided to fill the vacancy left by Pyoyu-rim?”
“There was a lot of talk about that too… . I would recommend not listening to this. Even if you listen to it, it won’t help much, and you’ll just get tired from the long-awaited holiday.”
She only told me the point that the remaining vacancy was filled by Byung-Min Woo.
‘Is it that he was pushed out of the dealer competition? Apart from the other two, I thought Woo Byeong-min was worthy enough to compete as a dealer.’
Although ultra-long-range attacks and melee combat are areas that I dare not imitate, if it is an assassination battle, I can somehow challenge myself with sense control and delusion practice.
When I raised some doubts about him, Seol Chae-hwa said.
“I will only say that adult circumstances were involved in the selection process.”
“Tsk. Then there is nothing you can do.”
“Do you want to retaliate? If Kim Do-yoon has a will, I can use my strength.”
“it’s okay. I don’t want to mess with Signal any more than necessary. Besides, my goal, our real goal is not to win the Meteor Shower. Do you remember?”
She replied in a more stern voice.
“Glaine. An executive from Septagram had announced that he would invade Meteor Shower. I know. I would like to meet and discuss the details in person. When would you like it?」
“tomorrow. let’s meet on sunday I have something else to do today.”
“all right. Then I will arrange a schedule so that we can meet on that day.”
I felt reassured as I ended the call. After all, it was nice not to have to worry about trivial matters because Seol Chae-hwa arranged the arrangements.
‘Even in the original work, there were many players who preferred the Seolchaehwa route because of this merit.’
In my mind, I wanted to continue to roll around in the blanket for today. I overcame the temptation and struggled to get up under the blanket.
If you can’t perform a powerless performance like Yuseong, you should work hard in other ways. That said, I had no intention of going to the training ground recklessly to become stronger than I am now.
‘The more I hurry, the more I have to go back.’
When you are buried in one thing, you usually make mistakes in trivial parts.
I quickly got ready to go out and called somewhere right away.
“hello.”
“it’s me. Are you busy today?”
The person I was talking to this time was Pyo Yoo-rim.
“I’m not busy at all.”
“Today Dorim is going to see you. He seemed to like you quite a bit, would you like to go with him?”
“I will definitely go. I should go… … .”
“Is there any other problem?”
Pyo Yu-rim paused a little before speaking.
“Yesterday, I was talking about passing the final round of selections. Did Kim Do-yoon want me to go there?”
“If I don’t pass, you won’t go either.”
“yes. I didn’t want to fight for people who didn’t appreciate Kim Do-yoon.”
Unlike usual, I felt a strong will in the way I spoke.
“I see. Then what can I do?”
“… … but”
“huh?”
“If Kim Do-yoon comes out saying that he has to participate somehow, I don’t know.”
I wondered why she bothered to say this.
“You say you don’t like it?”
“Even if you don’t like it, I’ll do it. It’s Kim Do-yoon’s request.”
“From there, it becomes a compulsion rather than a request.”
“Isn’t it okay to force it?”
what is this again
“I don’t want to force people I don’t like”
“okay. It means that you care about me.”
“Yes… ji?”
“all right. Then I’ll be waiting for you in front of the men’s dormitory.”
The phone just hung up like that.
From nob le mt l. com
Just before it cut off, I thought I heard a little laugh.
‘I wonder what it was.’
I’ll see you soon, so I’ll have to ask him in person.
I finally checked my clothes and left the dormitory. When I took the elevator and crossed the entrance on the first floor of the men’s dormitory, I was able to find a stray forest standing in the distance.
It was only for a moment that our gazes crossed each other. As I approached, I immediately asked what the conversation was about.
“I just wanted to know.”
“what?”
“What does this person think of me? There are times when I want to hear words rather than actions. That’s all.”
“why. Do you think I will use you?”
When I trembled, Pyo Yu-rim smiled as if reciprocating.
“It’s okay to use it.”
“uh?”
“Because I also have a reason to pamper myself.”
“That, um… .”
I’ve felt it for a long time, but I felt like I was weak in front of honest emotions.
even.
“just joke. Shall we go soon?”
It was getting more and more difficult because she seemed to know my weakness for some reason.
in a strange atmosphere. We headed to Dorim’s house without saying a word to each other.
‘It’s already here.’
As I walked aimlessly, I was in front of my destination before I knew it.
I approached the front door and rang the doorbell. There was no reaction.
‘Mmm. Are you sleeping?’
I did come out pretty early in the morning. Above all, I heard that the housekeeper always keeps the house and takes care of Dorim. You might be able to sleep well on weekend mornings.
I decided to go inside myself rather than keep calling so as not to wake him up.
After opening the door by pressing the lock password on the gate. I was about to cross the yard and enter the front door.
dodo dodo.
The sound of dainty footsteps came through the front door. I guessed who it belonged to, and I laughed without even realizing it.
“dad! And mother!”
Soon the door opens.
Pyo Yu-rim and I looked at the person in front of us for a moment and then exchanged glances.
It was hard to say anything.
Because it was such an embarrassing sight.