episode_0083

City (1) ― Gohyeon High School, Guro-gu, Seoul

Straight lines and curves floated on the walls of the dark classroom.

Lines of each color were connected to create a single picture.

The picture drawn by light was abstract, like an ancient mural, but its meaning could be clearly seen just by looking at it.

The records showed me the war.

no. The number of people was too small for it to be a war.

The message of the mural was bloody struggle.

The person holding the sword and the person holding the spear were entangled.

The one who breathed fire in his hands and the one who vomited wind clashed.

Two men were clashing in the center of those who were lying on the floor covered in blood.

A man staring upward with a blazing black energy and another man looking down at the man from above.

A very familiar confrontation and composition.

“… … Seo Joo-won?”

In the mural, Seo Joo-won and I were continuing our confrontation as if we were alive and breathing.

Although it was just a picture, the dagger that Seo Joo-won was holding continued to shimmer in the black mana.

I carefully stroked the priest’s uniform in the mural fluttering in the wind.

The mural projected the picture without any problems even with my touch.

I took a step back from the picture, crossed my arms, and smoothed my chin.

I tried to dig into the meaning contained in the painting as if I were appreciating a work of art… …

Honestly, I don’t know.

It wasn’t even predicting the future.

Seo Joo-won has already died horribly at my hands.

Even though I waited a little longer, hoping to see if there would be a next scene, the picture was still depicting the same scene.

City diary?

The fighting awakeners, Seo Joo-won and me?

What, is it like a city diary?

So isn’t it just a simple record of who fought with whom?

Why is this a hidden piece reward?

Moreover, let alone many awakened people like in that mural, I only saw Seo Joo-won.

Questions continued one after another.

“Yes. ‘Record 1’ doesn’t make sense.”

I lightly scratched my head and left Gohyeon High School, which was full of corpses.

“Kkisss—!”

At that moment, a colony of zombies burst through the front door, glowing brightly.

I would have been running with sweaty feet in pursuit of the noise I made, but I was too busy with my way.

pop-!

It soared into the air and restricted the frogs’ gliding with both hands.

Krraaa!

Steroid, who saw the Frogs falling to the ground, let out a long howl and started throwing zombies in anger.

I continued to glide, avoiding the zombies that were flying at me like rocks from a catapult.

“Kkisss—!”

The roar of a colony that had lost its prey shook the city.

pop-!

I quickly accelerated my telekinesis before the howling full of resentment reached me.

I quickly looked up from the sky above Seoul, where strong winds were hitting my entire body.

The next hidden piece was needed.

If you don’t know what ‘Record 1’ is, just look for ‘Record 2’.

***

thud-!

Steroids collapsed on the penthouse floor.

The shards of glass embedded in the guy’s face flashed in the flashlight.

Rustling-

The location of the second hidden piece was a luxury apartment in the eastern part of Guro-gu.

Among them, Steroid, crouched in the penthouse, the top floor, was guarding the red jewel.

A lump of muscle roared as it saw me come in through the window using telekinetic flight.

If it were an ordinary awakened person, it would have been scared and urinated, but it wasn’t that big of a threat to me.

[Awakened Guro-gu dominance rate: 64%]

I quickly absorbed the gem and calmly looked at the living room wall.

Paaah!

The second mural was drawn as the light fluctuated with familiar omens.

[City log ‘Record 2’ discovered.]

There weren’t many people at this mural.

There is only one person depicted in the mural.

A person was reaching out and looking at something.

Gold and dolls were placed in front of him.

“… … This also looks familiar.”

Am I the one solving the special base?

I frowned and focused on the picture.

As I was staring at the man in the mural whose expression was frowning exactly like mine, I suddenly felt a sense of discomfort.

‘Wait a minute, the size of the picture is too small this time?’

Compared to the grand composition of the first, this painting was too simple.

I slowly took a step back and looked a little higher.

“… … .”

The real thing was here.

A black curtain spread over a human reaching out for gold and dolls.

Although it is a familiar shape, what the mural expresses is a little different.

Numerous eyes glued together on a black membrane.

The pupils of the eyes were shaking wildly, as if they were alive.

All eyes turned to one person without exception.

“… … eye. What, are you looking at something like this?”

I patted my temple and walked back to the veranda where I came in.

Even ‘Record 2’ won’t work.

[Awakened Guro-gu dominance rate: 66%]

Boom! Boom!

The sound stalkers who clung to the Guro Station platform like a flock of bats kissed the floor.

I caught a glimpse of the corpses piling up on the floor like a swarm of white ants, and then looked at the train stopped on the platform.

Paaah!

As expected, light emitted from the wide walls of the train.

[City log ‘Record 3’ discovered.]

It wasn’t until I got the third log that a scene I didn’t know was projected for the first time.

A pillar of light came down beneath the black curtain.

A bloody man fighting against monsters pouring out of a pillar.

Even though it was just a painting, the desperate roar of a man with his mouth wide open seemed to ring in my ears.

A jewel shines brightly on such a pillar.

It was a blue gem, completely different from the red color of special missions and hidden pieces.

“… … Is it a wave?”

To call it a wave, the colonies move around just fine without the light coming down.

Well, ‘the black membrane created the wave.’ Is this what it means?

I shook my head and lifted myself up again.

Even if you sit in one place and think hard, you won’t find an answer.

Now I was a blind man facing an elephant.

Just because you know the long nose and thick legs, you should not say that you know the elephant.

You should also look for long white tusks and wide fluttering ears.

Another mural was needed.

Tuk!

He landed on the floor with his radiant body and stretched out his right hand.

[Awakened Guro-gu dominance rate: 68%]

Absorbed the fourth hidden piece on the slide at Kurori Children’s Park.

“Huuu―”

I took a deep breath as I stared at the corpses of the ‘Combine Zombies’ lying on the floor.

Tonight was the most mana-consuming day since I entered Guro-gu.

I had consumed about 40% of my mana in the war of attrition with Seo Joo-won, but my remaining mana was only about 40%.

This meant that for the first time since maximizing [Imitation Adult Body], more than half of 60% of mana was used in one day.

“I was planning to take over all the special bases starting tomorrow morning.”

Embarrassment came.

Fortunately, the day after killing Seo Joo-won, he returned to full condition.

The problem is that the collection of hidden pieces is not over yet.

I still need to use more mana, but no one knows whether I will be in full condition tomorrow or not.

We have not yet figured out how quickly mana recovers outside of the sanctuary.

Even though I used a lot of mana, I always had to sleep in the sanctuary, so this was a problem.

[City log ‘Record 4’ discovered.]

When the message I was waiting for was printed, I lightly shook my head and let go of my worries.

Let’s not think too hastily.

If I wasn’t in full condition, I wasn’t in a hurry to take another day off and move.

Advance team.

Let’s not forget that I am the advance guard.

“Huuu―”

I took a deep breath and looked at the next mural projected by the light.

This mural was too simple.

I tried to step back to see if it would look different from a distance like the second mural, but it was no use.

The mural depicts a man lying on the floor in a cold sweat.

There was only a coiled snake lying in front of the man.

The jewel floating on top of the snake was unusual.

Still, jewels have appeared too often in murals so far, so I wasn’t impressed.

Even though I continued to search through the journal, I could not find a clear answer.

I collect murals to solve the mystery.

The more murals I collected, the more mysterious the mystery became.

I opened my eyes wide again, looked at the mural, and used telekinesis to levitate my body.

I’ve just started and my curiosity hasn’t been resolved.

I wanted to continue my search as long as my mana allowed.

***

Heo-heo- Heo-eok-

“Ha… I thought it would be like this.”

I quickly gasped and looked at the fifth hidden piece.

After obtaining the fourth hidden piece, I could no longer see the red light even though I was searching in the air.

If you turn around several times in case you pass by and still don’t see it, it means it’s hidden deep down.

It was only after going through schools and hospitals, starting from the inside of a rather large building, that I was finally able to discover the red light.

The fifth hidden piece was sleeping on the underground platform of Sindorim Station, adjacent to Yeongdeungpo-gu.

“Ha- I guess that’s all for today.”

He straightened his lower back with both hands and raised his head after briefly bending down to catch his breath.

Zombie gift sets filled the platform.

The sentinels in the basement of Sindorim Station were waiting for me in a composition that seemed to be a collection of all the variants I had encountered so far.

Sound stalker above, prog and steroids below.

All those who looked like regular zombies were ‘cargo zombies’.

We provided true telekinesis training to the mutants who were particularly concentrated in this Hidden Piece, but that’s it.

I also had no choice but to make a show of my soul by chopping up as much mana as I could, as I could clearly feel myself running out towards the end.

Haak- Haak-

To conserve mana, I slowly walked to the red gem and stretched out my right hand.

[Awakened Guro-gu domination rate: 70%]

As soon as the fifth hidden piece was absorbed, light appeared on the screen door.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand and kept my eyes on the screen door.

[City log ‘Record 5’ discovered.]

Even at a glance, this painting was very huge.

It was expressing something on the largest scale among the murals I have ever seen.

Countless people were lying on the ground.

Those lying on the ground holding their respective weapons were looking up and extending their hands.

A mountain where the bodies of those who fell were piled up.

There was a man at the top of the mountain.

The man was holding something up and smiling brightly.

“… … Is that a heart?”

The man’s heart was at the place where everyone’s hand gestures were screaming with anxious expressions.

The heart beating in the man’s hand was emitting light all over the world.

The light split into rainbow colors and reached the edge of the city and the black curtain.

[Amazing achievement! The Awakened obtained all the journals in one day! (Acquire ‘Record 5’ within 24 hours after obtaining ‘Record 1’.)]

[You have achieved the special achievement ‘Premature Ejaculation in a Day’!]

[Dominance rate is obtained as an achievement reward.]

[70% -> 72.5%]

“It feels like it is strangely gently scratching.”

I looked into space and mumbled something to hear.

Premature ejaculation man?

One special achievement name is annoyingly well chosen.

I put the message aside and looked at the mural again.

First of all, when looking at special achievements, the record ends at 5.

So let’s summarize.

The first mural is of people in a bloody fight and Seo Joo-won and I?

The second mural shows eyes watching a human choosing between gold and a doll.

The third mural is a man fighting against monsters pouring out of a pillar with light coming down from it.

The fourth mural is a snake coiled next to a lying man.

“And… … .”

I prolonged my speech and looked closely at the last mural.

The heart of a man standing at the top.

And the light that radiates from that heart.

“… … What do you want to say?”

I looked at the fifth mural for a long time.

My heart is beating so powerfully that it feels like it will ring in my ears at any moment.