Chapter 21: Sselepoh

Chapter 21

One day, a massive continent suddenly emerged in the Pacific Ocean. Monsters and underground dungeons, as well as towers so tall their tops couldn’t be seen, populated this New Continent, which seemed like something out of a fantasy world. The emergence of this New Continent had a significant impact on other continents as well.

At the same time, numerous dungeon portals appeared around the Earth, and powerful monsters poured out of them. People called the day when hundreds of millions died in just one day the ‘Hopeless Day.’

However, the gods did not only bring despair to humanity. They also granted them the ability to ‘Awaken,’ which allowed people to fight against the monsters. With the efforts of the Awakened, especially those with exceptional combat abilities known as ‘Hunters,’ the world quickly regained stability.

Subsequently, Hunters began to gather one by one, heading towards the New Continent in the Pacific, the source of all these calamities. But the monsters of the New Continent were strong. Even with the world’s best Hunters assembled, they had not been able to completely conquer all the lands, even after several hundred years.

It was a land where S-rank Hunters and above were guaranteed to die every day—a land of death that had sown the seeds of despair across the world. People called this continent Sselepoh, which is ‘Hopeless’ spelled backward.

“Surely they’re not talking about the Sselepoh continent…?” Kim Jinsung said, though he already knew. Nowadays, when people mention the New Continent, they naturally think of Sselepoh. It’s just basic knowledge.

“Sigh… Why do they have to go to the New Continent just as I’m about to appear…”

Kim Jinsung, with a face full of worry, let out a deep sigh and flopped down onto the bed behind him. This place was a secret accommodation for the participants of the Colosseum program. Kim Jinsung was using a clean, one-room living space of about 10 pyeong (approximately 33 square meters) all to himself.

‘When will it start? Probably within a week, right?’ Kim Jinsung used to watch the Colosseum occasionally when he was in school. So he knew that the preliminary rounds usually started within a week after the season began.

Since today’s broadcast announced the start of the season, he would be deployed within the next six days at the latest.

‘What should I do for six days? Maybe I should exercise…’ He looked at his forearm.

His forearm was now thick with muscle, incomparable to the days when he was bullied by Yang Dong-ju. In fact, he had grown at least 10 cm taller and his weight had nearly doubled.

With his current body made up entirely of muscle, his body mass index would probably not even be 10.

‘Well, it seems like I don’t need to do it.’ In fact, it didn’t seem like doing bodyweight exercises alone here would make much of a difference. It wasn’t an environment where he could find a sparring partner, either.

‘Maybe I should sleep? Or watch more TV? Oh, I wish I could go online for a while…’ The problem with this accommodation was the lack of internet. Naturally, there were no smartphones either.

This was a measure to prevent the leakage of participant information before the program started, a so-called ‘spoiler prevention’ measure.

Ding-dong. Just then, the doorbell rang.

Kim Jinsung, after checking the visitor through the intercom, immediately opened the door.

“Hello?”

“Yes. Everything alright?”

The person who entered with a friendly greeting was one of the Colosseum staff members.

“It’s time for the night walk, would you like to go out?”

“Sure.”

Kim Jinsung cheerfully agreed, put on his coat, and went out with the staff member. The staff member did not forget to put a mana-restricting bracelet on his wrist.

Once outside, Kim Jinsung walked down a long corridor lined with numerous doors on both sides, accompanied by the staff member. These doors all led to the accommodations of other participants.

However, Kim Jinsung had never met any other participants here. The staff strictly controlled the outings to prevent the participants from encountering each other.

“Did you watch TV today?”

“Yes. But is it true we’re going to the New Continent?”

“I just found out by watching TV too. The staff is all in a frenzy right now.”

“Sigh… It must be true then…”

Kim Jinsung and the staff member conversed comfortably as they walked. Unlike the Fight Club, the staff here were extremely kind to the participants. This was due to Representative Baek Jun’s directive to treat the participants as comfortably as possible while they stayed at the accommodation.

“So, will you also be moving to an island in Sselepoh?”

Crack!

While conversing in a relaxed manner, Kim Jinsung suddenly felt a huge shock to his neck, as if he had been hit by a stun gun. Caught completely off guard, he collapsed without a chance to react.

When he regained consciousness and opened his eyes, the world was pitch black. At first, he thought he was in a dark room, but he soon realized it was because he was blindfolded. He also became aware that he was inside a moving vehicle.

The loud noise coming from above was unmistakably…

‘The sound of propellers… Am I inside a helicopter?’

“Arrival at the target location in 1 minute!”

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice was heard, and simultaneously, the blindfold was removed. The interior of the helicopter came into view. Two staff members wearing vests with the Colosseum logo were sitting on either side of him, arms crossed.

With hunter restraints on his wrists and ankles, he could only turn his head.

‘Where is this…?’

Kim Jinsung looked out at the dark forest landscape unfolding outside the helicopter at dawn. The towering mountains in the distance and the dense deciduous forest filled with trees and not a single light resembled a scene from Southeast Asia or an island in Oceania. It definitely didn’t look like Korea.

Then, could it be…

“The New World island mentioned earlier…?”

“Arrival at the target location!”

The helicopter pilot shouted once again. Simultaneously, the two staff members pushed Kim Jinsung out of the helicopter.

“What?!”

Screaming, Kim Jinsung began to fall vertically. However, just before crashing, he managed to react. Activating his magic, he twisted his body to land on his two feet.

“Ugh…!”

Unfortunately, the landing wasn’t perfect. He rolled on the ground for a while before managing to stand up, but it seemed he hadn’t sustained any major injuries.

‘Wow, they really do throw you out without saying anything, just like on TV?’

Only then did Kim Jinsung realize that the content he had seen on TV about the Colosseum wasn’t fabricated.

‘Now what?’

Kim Jinsung quickly surveyed his surroundings. It was still dark early morning. He was alone in a dim forest.

Moreover, with both hands and feet shackled, encountering a monster in this state would be hopeless.

‘I need to find somewhere to hide, right? A house!’

Spotting a faintly visible two-story house in the distance, Kim Jinsung hurried towards it as fast as he could. Due to the short chain connecting the shackles on his feet, taking small, quick steps was the fastest way to move, so it took longer than expected to reach the house.

Fortunately, he was able to enter the house without any incidents.

“Is there nobody inside…?”

Kim Jinsung began to quietly explore the inside of the house.

“In the program, there’s always another participant hiding, waiting to ambush when you let your guard down…”

– Can all participants hear me?

“Whoa!!”

Suddenly startled by an unfamiliar voice coming from his chest, Kim Jinsung jumped. It turned out to be a voice coming from a walkie-talkie inside his chest pocket.

‘Oh man, my heart. Really…’

– Welcome to the first preliminary round of Colosseum Survival Season 12. We will now inform you of the rules for the first preliminary round.

Kim Jinsung focused intently on the continuing voice from the walkie-talkie.

The condition for passing the first preliminary round is to reach a designated location within a week. Please look towards the top of the mountain to the south. Do you see the red light flashing?

Kim Jinsung looked out the window at the mountain. He could see the red lights flashing at regular intervals near the summit.

“Within the next week, you need to reach that location. Exactly on the seventh day, a helicopter will arrive at the mountain summit to pick you up. Anyone who fails to board the helicopter will be eliminated.”

‘Elimination means death.’

In the Colosseum Survival, elimination equals death, and passing means survival. It’s the most basic rule that has never changed since the start of the program.

“The distance is manageable within a week. Of course, there will be numerous obstacles along the way.”

‘Obviously.’

There would undoubtedly be a variety of monsters and traps waiting for him.

‘And if it’s an island near the Sselepoh continent, the strength of those monsters will be on a whole different level.’

“A piece of good news for you, this is not one of the islands of the Sselepoh continent as mentioned on TV a few hours ago.”

‘Oh!’

Kim Jinsung let out a sigh of relief. The Sselepoh continent was a place where even S-rank hunters struggled to survive.

The fact that it wasn’t near there alone made Kim Jinsung feel like his chances of survival had skyrocketed.

“You will have the opportunity to experience the islands of the Sselepoh continent after passing all the preliminaries and participating in the main competition.”

‘The main competition is far off.’

“Good luck to you all. Oh, and as a hint, somewhere near where you’ve been dropped, there is at least one key prepared to unlock your shackles. Please look around.”

The voice from the walkie-talkie ended there.

Kim Jinsung put the device back in his chest pocket and resumed his search inside the house.

‘Considering I only heard my walkie-talkie, it seems there’s no one else in this house.’

If someone else had been there, they would have heard the same walkie-talkie voice somewhere.

‘And usually, in the first round of the preliminaries, participants are dropped at a certain distance from each other.’

Remembering what he had seen on TV, Kim Jinsung began to move around the house without worrying about making noise.

‘There’s a knife, a backpack… Oh! And a water bottle! I definitely need to take this.’

He quickly gathered the essential items that caught his eye. Based on his experience from watching the show, gathering necessities was crucial to survive the week. Surely other participants were doing the same.

‘Why is there a gas mask? I’ll take it just in case.’

After packing his backpack to the brim, Kim Jinsung wondered,

‘But where is the key?’

The most important key was nowhere to be seen.

Eventually, he went upstairs to search every room.

‘Is that it?’

His eyes widened as he peered into a small study room at the end of the hallway. Through the glass door, he could see a large key that clearly looked like it was for unlocking shackles, lying on the desk inside.

But there was a problem.

‘Ah, shoot. It’s locked.’

The door was locked, and he hadn’t found anything resembling a key that could open it while searching the house.

There was only one thing to do in such a situation.

‘I’ll have to break it open.’

With no owner in the house, it didn’t matter if he broke something. Thinking this, Kim Jinsung kicked the door with all his might.

With a loud crash, the door shattered.

At the same time,

Kuwooooaah!!

A loud roar came from outside the house!

Looking out the window, he saw a giant monster tearing through the trees in front of it with its arms, rushing towards Kim Jinsung.

It seemed the monster had heard the noise of the door being smashed from afar.

‘I’m in trouble!’

Kim Jinsung’s face paled as he recognized the monster.

‘That’s a Twin-Headed Ogre!’

A large monster, the Twin-Headed Ogre, which usually only appeared in dungeons of rank C+ or higher, was now charging at him from outside the window, eyes locked on him.