Chapter 382

Chapter 382

Chapter 68: Growth and Accumulation (2)

In front of the headquarters of the Korea Player Association.

“Dissolve the Player Association!”

“Dissolve it, dissolve it!”

“Ensure the safety of the citizens!”

“Ensure it, ensure it!”

The location was cluttered with demonstrators demanding the disbandment of the Player Association and the isolation of players, leaving no space to tread.

Because the protest size was quite significant, everyone passing through the area could take note of them.

Yang Hyewon, who had finished her work at the association in the morning and was leaving the building to participate in the apostles’ training, noticed them too.

As fate would have it, she sat in the driver’s seat, observing the protestors gathered on the opposite side of the intersection where she was stopped at a signal.

Despite the car windows and doors being tightly shut, the voices of the protestors seeped through, disturbing her.

“Citizens! The Player Association is deceiving us by maintaining the lie of an ongoing war to protect their interests!”

A man at the front of the protest shouted through a loudspeaker.

His goal was simple.

To criticize the association for not declaring the end of the war, even though all the Holes had disappeared, and for maintaining a state of alert.

And to use that as a justification to incite people.

“They are not heroes sacrificing for peace! If left unchecked, they will use their power to overthrow the government and rule over innocent citizens!”

As soon as the threat of monsters vanished, they labeled the players as the new threat.

“That’s right!”

“Go away, go away!”

“Dissolve the Player Association!”

“Isolate the players!”

“Monsters! Murderers!”

In the eyes of the public, players were essentially new “monsters” wielding superhuman power not allowed to civilians.

Hence, the crowd demanded the removal of players.

This was a scene I witnessed every time I passed by the association for several days.

And yet, it brought an involuntary frown to my face each time.

As if crawling underneath my skin.

The feelings that had subtly grown in the abyss swelled significantly.

Yang Hyewon took in the sight of the protesters with narrowed eyes.

At that moment, some in the protest spotted a person exiting the association and cried out.

“There, a player!”

It was a player with a fairly high profile in Korea.

Perhaps owing to the recognition of his face, he became a target for the protesters as soon as he was spotted.

“A monster!”

“Die! Get lost!”

“Tell the truth! Declare the end of war!”

“Don’t use us for your profit, you bastards!”

Their cries were not to resolve the situation.

They were merely means to vent their emotions.

They indulged in their own biases, believing that their view of the world was everything, and screamed with all their might.

In a world without justice, those who considered themselves as justice were merely grotesque.

Yang Hyewon finally faced the contempt that grew from deep within the abyss and surfaced.

‘It’s ridiculous.’

Just a few days ago, the public was the one forcing sacrifices upon us and urging deployments.

They hadn’t known the reality, yet they clamorously called the wind-type players who remained at home, focusing on closing the Holes, cowards.

And when the frontlines were not sorted quickly and situations dragged on, they blamed the deployed players’ incompetence, pouring out curses.

They were the same ones who shouted for us to go to the frontlines, kill the monsters, and prove that we were safe.

But now, as if they had forgotten the past, they screamed that players were unnecessary.

“Ha.”

I was disenchanted with the fickle public.

‘I risked my life for those bastards.’

There was once a time I believed it noble to protect the nation and its citizens.

But now, thoughts and days of the past seemed pathetic.

Swallowing that bitter sense of betrayal, I let go of the dwindling pity and sympathy when the signal at the intersection changed.

Yang Hyewon withdrew her gaze from the protestors and pressed the accelerator again.

Simultaneously, she thought alone.

‘The day might come when Holes open again.’

She wished that everyone in that protest would become a monster’s meal.

“Then it might be quieter.”

Mumbling plainly, Yang Hyewon’s car silently left Seoul.

* * *

『… For that reason, players are on the verge of exploding with discontent.』

Although monitoring is in place to prevent direct clashes with the protestors.

『Individual conflicts are already occurring outside the association.』

Lily’s voice from the other side of the phone was stiff.

Just four days. Only four days had passed since the numbers of Holes in the sky turned to zero.

And already, things were like this.

‘Not surprising.’

I had expected how the weak would react.

Contrary to Lily’s firm voice, I spoke in a laid-back tone.

“They’ll quiet down and disappear like dead men once Holes open again. Don’t waste time and budget trying to respond; focus on running the elite forces. Make sure they don’t lose their combat senses.”

When the body is exhausted, there won’t be leisure for unnecessary thoughts.

Palao Guild members are being put through such a regime already.

They are even advised to refrain from going out when not engaged in training.

Naturally, I am dedicating most of my time to training as well.

I found it tedious to commute to the training ground, so I even arranged camping equipment around the area.

As a result, I hadn’t entered my house in the past four days.

With a relentless schedule, I also managed Karlos’s status, which kept me occupied.

Perhaps that’s why I didn’t pay any attention to the disturbances outside.

‘If there’s a lot to be done, one won’t hear what people outside are barking about.’

It’s when the body is unnecessarily comfortable that the eyes turn outward and needless attention is spent.

“If it’s too noisy, just announce a possible quarantine and shove the players up the mountains.”

A few weeks, and they’ll plead for us to help again. They can’t even endure a few weeks without causing conflicts?

I couldn’t just watch. I knew how this would end.

I didn’t wish to waste time on pointless matters.

Instructing to maintain a consistent stance of ignoring all the noise from the start, I hung up with Lily.

But the situation hadn’t ended there.

“Oh, this is annoying!”

Immediately after the call, Kim Yul shouted.

I turned to where the sound came from and sighed.

Kim Yul was glaring at his phone, eyes blazing.

My apostles were engaged in sparring-focused training with me in shifts throughout the day.

While evading, they create openings for the opponent or land effective hits on my behalf.

They are steadily preparing to face Omby.

‘Everyone has also raised the intensity of their individual training.’

Kim Yul was one of the morning shift members training with me, and as soon as the training ended, he was fiddling with his smartphone.

Then, out of nowhere, he began yelling.

‘Must’ve seen something supporting the protests.’

Kim Yul seemed unable to let go of his irritation, and he began blurting harsh words into the air.

Quite annoyed by it, I glared at him and spoke.

“Quiet.”

“Are you not angry, brother?!”

Lily and Kim Yul, both were pestering me over something that would soon end.

I replied with a deep sigh.

“Aren’t you tired of reacting to every single thing?”

It wasn’t as if I was unaware of the public’s changing attitude.

And I know that not everyone is like them.

Further, dealing with such extreme protestors yields no benefit and is a downright waste of time.

Thus, I concluded that ignoring their act was the best course of action.

While I may have felt distaste, annoyance, and anger, I worked to shake it off.

‘Figuring out a way to deal with the system is a better use of my focus than reacting to protesters.’

The words left behind by Karlos haunted my mind deeply.

When my body was at ease, I ended up thinking more about the system than the protests.

Contemplating what needed to be done to prevent the system from following Karlos’ path made my head ache.

“Bark!”

Thanks to Rice Cake pressing against my thigh and peering at me, my thoughts were interrupted.

I had paused when Lily called, but originally I was taking a break to teach Rice Cake magic.

“Alright, I’ll show you again.”

Gradually, just like this.

After several attempts at experimenting, I found out Rice Cake could use magic too.

Of course, not in the conventional understanding of mana arrangement like official mages.

‘It’s simply mimicking me.’

Perhaps because they could perceive what I think and feel directly?

When I repeated and repeated to perform a specific magic, Rice Cake simply followed the process.

Almost as if imitating me.

‘I guess they didn’t think to mimic before because they didn’t have mana.’

But now it had mana.

Thanks to that, Rice Cake managed to mimic two electric-type magics.

Currently, I was demonstrating the third magic, lightning Prison.

Wrapped around the spot where Rice Cake and I sat was the manifestation of the Lightning Prison.

A magic where the rising bolts overturned the earth, constrained, and scorched all life standing on the ground.

It was incredibly useful when confronting multiple adversaries.

“Now, give it a try.”

Slowly, just like this and that.

I demonstrated the magic several more times.

“Whimper…!”

What a hard time Rice Cake must have had sitting on the grass!

Crackle-!

The rising lightning overturned the earth became slightly visible.

The success came halfway through the day, marking Rice Cake’s fastest achievement.

“Well done!”

I vigorously patted Rice Cake’s head.

It was rewarding to teach when they learned everything I showed them.

“Let’s try increasing the range.”

“Bark! Bark bark!”

Emboldened by the praise, Rice Cake readily agreed to further training, attempting the Lightning Prison once more.

Soon after, a disgruntled Kim Yul left the training ground.

Yang Hyewon arrived by car for the afternoon shift, and Gilenios brought Ethan precisely on time.

Lastly, the afternoon instructor, Shamel, arrived.

As soon as she arrived, she grinned at me and lightly swung what she held in her hand.

Crack-!

A rather loud sound followed as it hit. It was undoubtedly…

“A whip…?”

Yang Hyewon murmured, and indeed, Shamel held a whip.

“What on earth is that?”

Shamel was a martial artist who, like me, primarily used spears.

Specially brought as my spear instructor by Rashar.

Why then did her hand hold a whip instead of a spear?

Swallowing the question, I asked, and Shamel answered nonchalantly.

“I saw footage of you scampering about. That puppet thing you mentioned wielded this kind of power, didn’t it?”

So she decided to train me with lashes, mimicking that puppet?

My face sullenly regarded Shamel.

Her enjoyment in driving people hard was evident for some time already.

Now, she openly devises ways to torment people.

‘You have really taken a liking to it.’

I scowled at Shamel.

Of course, I didn’t criticize her for using a whip.

Omby did, in fact, wield a distorted divinity like a whip.

Getting accustomed to such a form of weaponry was necessary.

Thus, I could not say anything to Shamel, who smirked while holding a whip of uncertain origin.

“I will train you so you won’t roll around like a grub in the next battle!”

I don’t know when I rolled around like a grub in front of that puppet.

But before I could argue, Shamel suddenly lunged at me.

‘This old hag!’

Leaving Rice Cake behind, I hurriedly rolled across the ground.

Damned System

New Elements and Characters:

– 양혜원, Yang Hyewon (she)

– 김율, Kim Yul (he)

– 릴리, Lily (she)

– 백설기, Rice Cake (it)

– 샤멜, Shamel (her)