Chapter Text
People naturally gravitate toward things that are entertaining to them. It's like if you know a train is going to crash right in front of your eyes— you can tell it's going to be devastating, terrible, and yet, you won't be able to look away.
That's because it's fascinating.
Entertainment is an essential aspect of a human's quality of life. That's why people are always on their phones, reading novels, comics, watching dramas...
But well, this guy is just a little different. When he first found himself reincarnated in this new world, he thought it was painfully boring. And that was a good thing.
He could finally be normal in this life!
"I'm really sorry to tell you that as of the moment, we do not have any treatment options for your eyes," the doctor's words feel like a cold wave, against the even colder air conditioning in the room. "We're really sorry. We'll keep you updated if any news comes in the future, but for now... we have some courses recommended for people who are going blind like you. I will recommend you sign up for them as soon as possible."
In a way, these problems were rather refreshing.
In his past life, he would never have the chance to experience despair like this. He would never know how it felt to be helpless about an illness he could do nothing about.
"Oh-Seong!"
"Hyunsung-hyung," he lifts his head when the older man hollers at him from the car. "Sorry to bother you on your day off."
"It's nothing," Hyunsung assures, patting him on the shoulder.
Last year they were assigned to the same place and platoon in military service. And even though Hyunsung was a year older and thus finished already, he didn't mind spending a day off driving an old friend out of camp to a doctor's appointment.
"So... how was it?"
Oh-Seong smiles in response. The brochures in his hands and the medication tucked in his pocket probably says it all already.
"Turns out I'm really going blind. Guess I'm a normal human after all!"
"Huh?! That's not a good thing!"
"Oh... right, that means I can't join you in the army after all. I definitely can't finish my military service like this. Sorry, hyung..."
"Can you worry about yourself?!"
To say that Sang Oh-Seong has had an unfortunate life would be an understatement. When he was young, he walked himself to a police station because his parents just left one day and never came back.
There was an investigation launched for his parents, but apparently, they committed a lover's suicide overseas. They left nothing behind, and so, the police gave up and closed the case. This sent the kid to an orphanage.
He was adopted a few times, but after two families died in a tragic drunk driver incident and an arson attack, everyone believed he was cursed. He moved out to a dormitory which was... not a good place to make ends meet. He lived alone until military service...
...except then, he couldn't even finish military service because he was diagnosed with an inherited eye disease, and he would most likely go completely blind in a few years.
"Dude, did you kill a hundred puppies in your past life or something?" one of his military friends cried for him when they went out to drink for his farewell party, "some god up there seriously has it out for you!"
Oh-Seong chuckled at that, but no one noticed that he neither confirmed nor denied it.
"This is a normal life," he would always say, like his personal mantra no matter how much things got ridiculously bad for him, "I guess I just gotta keep living!"
"No dude this is not normal at all! Dude!!"
Oh-Seong would just laugh fondly, because as long as they'd known him, they've never seen him get angry about anything.
Now he's living alone again. He's too old to go back to the orphanage, and all his friends are either still in military service or starting their work life so they don't have the means to financially support him. Life just wasn't doing him any favours.
True to his own motto, he continued living despite everything.
He didn't have a degree, so he mostly did low-paying physical jobs, and even that got harder once his eyes really started deteriorating. He had to sign on to get a guide dog, learn how to use a walking stick, and get used to not being able to read labels, find buttons, and needing to use a screen reader on his appliances.
Eventually, Hyunsung told him to quit his job and live with him.
He bought an apartment insisting that Oh-Seong could room with him, but since he's always out for deployment, Oh-Seong was basically being an unofficial military spouse to a man that never came home.
(The whispers of the neighbourhood aunties were really funny when they thought he couldn't hear them.)
At least Hyunsung was sending him an allowance, but he felt so bad about taking advantage of his hyung like that.
Last he heard, the guy was doing well in the army, though.
He wasn't complaining. Not having to worry about money and shelter now was his greatest blessing in this life. He found a way to work from the house, and since he was the neighbourhood eccentric, it was fine that he rarely went out.
He's living an ideal, peaceful and financially comfortable, normal human life. It's a great privilege, if he had to say so himself.
"Yes, Arrow?" he had to pause when his guide dog, a big German Shepherd, nudged at him in the middle of his work. He takes his paintbrush off the clay mask he was painting, accidentally smudging some paint on his cheek as he brushes his bangs out of his face "oh, is it lunchtime?"
A soft whine. Arrow nudges the damp cloth into his hands again, and Oh-Seong takes it, wiping his hands as clean as he can get.
"Okay, I'm sorry, I lost track," he says, setting it all down just as Arrow brings him his guiding cane. "Let's go get something to eat."
Now, he's twenty-seven, and he's living a much better life than he'd ever imagined for himself. He's content, honestly. He has zero complaints about his life now.
"Sounds like Hyung's coming home this week," Oh-Seong talks to Arrow, as he sits over his simple meal of some rice and marinated eggs. "Are you excited to see him back?"
Arrow grunts softly, voice low and grousy, but very careful not to be too loud. He sits by the floor beside Oh-Seong's high chair, waiting patiently for him to be done eating.
Oh-Seong couldn't help but sigh fondly.
Arrow was a military dog that had to retire because his previous trainer died in an accident. He was then retrained as a guide dog, and ended up here as a favour to Hyunsung. He was an old dog now, and thus, a little too serious at his job. But his low-energy, quiet nature was very compatible with Oh-Seong, so everything worked out.
"Yes, yes, thank you," he takes the pillbox from Arrow and dutifully downs his dosage for the day. He then gives it back to Arrow, who takes it away and trots off.
He has to laugh when Arrow comes back with a giant rabbit plush.
"I can't take a nap yet," he says, "I need to finish a bit more work first."
Arrow crashes his head along with the toy into Oh-Seong's knee a little harder, earning a louder laugh as they wash the cutlery and head back down to the workshop. Arrow makes a whine of protest as Oh-Seong opens the door.
The workshop was probably the most colourful place in their apartment. He had picked up the hobby in high school club, and continued it into college. At first he insisted he didn't need one built here and he could walk to a workshop nearby, but Hyunsung must have noticed that he didn't like walking around outside on his own.
Oh-Seong had lost about 85% of his vision so far, and he was still quite lucky, because that meant he could still see just a little— just enough to paint and do some precision work, even if it took time.
If he had anything now, it was a lot of time.
So this resulted in a lot of clay and ceramic artwork on display all over the place. The really nice ones were upstairs on display in glass cabinets because Hyunsung is a doting brother, but most of them were sold to make money.
This week, however, he had been working on masks.
Something just compelled him to make them.
He was done painting four out of five of them so far. He had been working on the last one, which he sculpted to look like a fox, painting stripes of red around the cheeks, gold across the brows... looking at it again after resting his eyes a little, he knew he had to go over the imperfections again. He had coloured out of line for a few parts.
He sits on his work bench as Arrow brings him his paintbrush again.
"Just this last one, and then we'll go take a nap," he promises, and Arrow makes a content whine.
Another day in his blissfully normal life.
HYUNSUNG: [Seong, I'm on the train now. I should be back soon, should I get takeout for you?]
The text-to-speech on his phone read out the message for him.
"Yes please, thank you hyung," he spoke into his phone, knowing the speech-to-text would translate that down for him. "And send."
Arrow turns on the light in the living room, earning a wince from Oh-Seong. By the time he'd woken up from that nap— the bunny toy was really comfortable, could you blame him— it was already sunset.
He stumbles to the windows, heading out to the balcony and leaning on the ledge.
His field of vision was getting smaller each day, so while he still could, he spent every day soaking in the sunset and sunrise, just so he couldn't forget how they looked even when the inevitable darkness encroached.
"What is it, Arrow?" he turns around when the dog noses at him in the knee again. He crouches down and finds a brush, and he laughs, "you want to be brushed?"
He supposed there was nothing else to do.
Stepping back inside, they cuddled up on the carpet, happily deciding on the rest of their plans for the night— lazing about, waiting for dinner to come, and nothing else.
"Sheesh, you're such a big boy and you still want to be babied," he teases as the dog rolls about, belly up into Oh-Seong's lap, whining and pawing at him to tell him to hurry up, "patience, puppy."
(He treasures every moment of this mundane, lazy life. Because it's the normal life he wished for in his past one.)
(As long as his life remains normal, he can endure anything.)
The entire building shakes just then, turbulent as it wrenches all the furniture out of place.
Arrow jumps up with a bark of frightened alarm, furious as he pushes Oh-Seong flat on the ground before standing over him, growling warily and holding him in place until the shaking eases.
"Wha—" he curls up under Arrow for purchase, but the lights broke, all electricity including the low buzz of the air conditioning and occasional hum of the fridge left him in a deathly silent house.
He couldn't see anything in this darkness, not even colours anymore.
Something loud and heavy slams into the ground on the other side of the living room, and from the piercing shatter he knows it's the glass cabinet.
There's a scream from outside.
"Someone—" he freezes.
Arrow doesn't let him get up. He growls lowly, in a warning tone.
"Arrow, I have to— oh," he quickly realizes the problem— the glass cabinet isn't too far from here, and it was huge. If that thing fell, then many other of the house's ceramics and decorations must have fallen, too.
The house has become a walking hazard of glass and shards. Arrow knows that Oh-Seong's going to panic, and even if he has to be threatening about it he's not going to allow his human to recklessly walk anywhere around that.
"I'm sorry. Let's get up slowly, okay? Then you can help lead me around where you think is safe."
Arrow nods, after a long while.
Sometimes, Oh-Seong really wonders if Arrow can truly understand even such detailed conversations. He always speaks to him like he does, but in times like these, it's like he's interacting with another human being.
But then again, Arrow's a veteran and military dog. He's much more terrified of disasters like these than Oh-Seong. He must be thinking they're under attack.
It's going to be difficult, because the entryway has potted plants, but they'll have to get out of the building quickly. If this is an earthquake...
【 The Free Service of the 8612th Planetary System has come to an end. 】
There aren't a lot of things that are capable of surprising Oh-Seong anymore. He really didn't like surprises, because they were usually bad news.
Take this moment for instance— where everything is a dark, murky blur— and yet, this bright menu screen floating in front of him held words so crisp and clear, he could actually read full lines of writing for the first time in years.
It doesn't make sense. Clearly, this is something otherworldly. This thing surpasses the standards and logic of light refraction and human sight, just to make sure he understood what it was trying to tell him.
【 The Main Scenario will begin now. 】
The screaming that erupts through the building is terrifying. He hears dull, watery thuds. People scampering, heels and boots thundering across the stairs. There's a gunshot.
Silence.
He knows, even before Arrow tugs him behind the couch, what he's hearing. Arrow knows it just as well— it's the sound of a warzone. They hide behind the arm of the couch, Arrow on his lap keeping him perfectly still.
Oh-Seong keeps his attention affixed in front of him—
◤━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◥
MAIN SCENARIO #1
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【 PROVE YOUR VALUE 】
KILL ONE OR MORE
LIVING ORGANISMS
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● Category: Main
● Difficulty: F
● Time Limit: 30 minutes
● Reward: 300 coins
● Penalty for Failure: Death
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He sure hopes only he can see this glowy menace in front of him, because it kind of defeats the point of hiding. And why can he see everything except a button to make it go away? Ah, found it. Finally it's gone. What was the point of the minimize and fullscreen buttons beside the X?
"Ah, there was another one."
Oh-Seong jumps in surprise. He jerks back and looks up, holding on as Arrow leaps up, just as surprised, a threatening growl immediately blooming in his throat.
As expected, Oh-Seong sees nothing beyond the weird glow in front of him— the figure is small and afloat, seemingly black aside from its shimmering white, otherworldly glow. There's a sharp, electrifying gold and bronze around its head like horns, and its lower section like clothing— and Arrow really hates it, whatever it is .
"Oh, cool it, mutt," the creature sighs. "You've seen the scenario's rules, human. And I think you don't need any further explanation. Hey, you even have an easy way out! Good for you."
What is this thing talking about? The creature's voice is floaty, and doesn't seem real. And yet, he understands every single word.
Prove your value. Kill one or more living organisms.
Arrows's entire body rumbles with protest, and Oh-Seong knows that if he lets go now, he'll luge for the creature and bite it. And he knows— that's not going to be a good idea. It already seems irritable.
"If you need any encouragement, you're free to step outside. The rest of this building has already understood their position here."
The rest of the building— oh.
This entire building's become a death game? It's not just him. But no one's going to help him, of course— they're not crazy down there. Something must have driven them to the point of killing each other. Something Oh-Seong hasn't experienced yet because he had been hidden up here.
"OH SHUT UP!" the creature yells at Arrow, who barks back louder like it's arguing, "this is your last warning! You better hope you don't test me!"
What did it say? You have an easy way out?
...oh, I see.
"I get it now," Oh-Seong pats Arrow on the head gently, trying to soothe him, "if I don't kill anyone in thirty minutes, I will die. So if I kill Arrow, I will live."
Arrow lets out a confused whine.
"Let's see... Arrow, let me get up," Oh-Seong rises, even as his dog gives him a concerned whine. He dusts himself off, turning in the creature's general direction. "I apologize if I've missed it, but how may I address you?"
The creature seems to consider Oh-Seong for a moment.
With a noise of interest, "I do not give my name out to humans. But just as I've allowed the ones in the main hall, I am what you beings refer to as a dokkaebi. So I will allow that."
The main hall? The building lobby, perhaps. Makes sense that there are quite a few people there at this time.
"Then, Dokkaebi, it's nice to meet you," he says. Turning to the ground, "Arrow, dear, can you get me that thing from the candy drawer?"
Arrow deflates, reluctant, but heads over obediently, leaving Oh-Seong alone in the hall with the dokkaebi.
"Ah, now I understand your composure. You, human, are blind," the dokkaebi says, "it is a shame you were not in the initial panic downstairs, it would've been quite a sight, considering how they treated the elderly and disabled below. I suppose there is no loss in letting you wait out the time like this."
Oh-Seong hums. "For reference, you sound as if you're doing this for entertainment... am I to gather that there is an audience?"
The Dokkaebi makes a rather annoyed sound, "yes, but it's not any of your concern right now. Do you not fear? Or has that blindness stunted your rationale as well? You're a rather boring human."
Oh-Seong doesn't react, even though he feels the Dokkaebi float closer toward him. He does feel Arrow come back into the room, and he nudges at his knee just as he reaches down to retrieve the item in his jaws—
—a gun.
"Thank you, good boy Arrow," Oh-Seong checks the clip immediately in a motion much too practiced, especially for a blind man. He thumbs off the safety. "Stay, boy."
Arrow sits, despite his clear skepticism toward the Dokkaebi. He's such a good boy.
"Surprising, I've heard it's hard to get those in this specific country," the Dokkaebi says, its voice lilting into a jeering note of sarcasm. "A blind man, wielding a gun! What a riot. Careful you don't take your own head off with that!"
"I thank you for your concern," Oh-Seong smiles. "I'll be sure to give your audience a great show in just a moment."
He raises the loaded gun to his temple.
"Stay right there, okay? I'll be right back."
BANG!
The Dokkaebi doesn't know what's more surprising— the way the human unhesitatingly shot themself in the head, or the fact that the human remained standing upright. He actually catches himself against the couch with his other hand, stabilising against the dog, and then groaning with the gun-holding hand reaching up to his temple like he was just hit with a baseball rather than a bullet.
Wait. There's no blood.
It's a blank shot. There was no bullet—?
"What the... why's everything so dark?" he groans, and when his hands find the dog, he immediately balls up to give it scritches, "oh!" his voice lightens into babytalk, "ohhh, it's a puppy! Big puppy boy. You're so cute! Come here you..."
He hugs the dog, gun still in hand, a light chuckle escaping his throat contrasting the dog's panicked, terrified whines as he checks over his owner frantically.
"Hmmm, I guess it's you, right?"
The Dokkaebi flinches, when the human suddenly turns and faces him. His eyes still don't meet, but the Dokkaebi could've sworn just a second ago that this man's eyes were gray. So why were they red now?
Oh-Seong's smile pulls at his cheeks, but it doesn't look soft and naive like before. Now, it pulls wide, teeth showing, and his eyes squeeze with the motion. He lets go of the dog, and raises the gun.
"Alright. You have to die."
The Dokkaebi realizes, right before it dodges with all its instincts— that the second round was not a blank shot.
The loud gunshot misses and shatters the window to the balcony.
It'll admit begrudgingly, that it definitely scurried off too far. He's not afraid of a human or their weapon, so this isn't a sign of fear or anything, obviously— he was just startled by this human's audacity! That's all!
"YOU—!!"
"Oh, I missed it?"
The Dokkaebi gasps as the human lunges over the couch, and grabs at it. Rough hands close over his horns, and that's when the mercy comes right off. With a flick of its fingers, a shot spears through the human's chest, a gaping hole where organs should be.
But there's no blood.
That can't be. That would defy all the probabilities. Something like this can't exist in the scenarios, it would be a great oversight to the balance—
"There," the hands closed over his horns, shove him against a wall, and the gun is held right against his face. "Now I won't miss."
【 You have killed a living organism. 】
【 You obtained 100 bonus coins. 】
"I can see this," Oh-Seong observes, reading the notification. He crouches down to pet the dog again, swooning as it licks his face, "oh, you're such a good boy! Staying so calm for me. Shh, okay? We don't want anyone coming in."
Arrow nuzzles into Oh-Seong's side, into his uninjured chest without a single wound, and remains compliant.
"I wonder if this mission applies to you too, boy," he considers, "probably not. They were clearly setting us up to kill you..."
Looking around and squinting as he can't see a thing, he sighs.
"Oh, why does this have to happen? It's been so long since the kit has asked for my help. I thought this new life was so much better for him now..." he looks around, but doesn't get any closer to figuring out the situation around him. "As expected. We should've checked in earlier."
【 Constellation [The Lord of the Kiln] is confused about the blurred view. 】
【 Constellation [Leader of Fire and Lightning] is concerned about stream quality and voices their complaints. 】
【 Constellation [Prisoner of the Golden Headband] is frustrated and declares that he is leaving. 】
【 Constellation [The Mother of Mud and Rope] is intrigued. 】
He wonders, briefly, what that is. But he dismisses it, turning his head toward what must be the entranceway. There's people running about, frantic footsteps and hushed whispering.
"This is it. I know the young man in here... he's not very sociable, but he's blind. That's an easy one. We have to get him. Just one more, and our family can all live..."
"He has a dog, too. We can beat it half to death, and then, bring it downstairs. We can make someone owe us for this!"
"We haven't heard anything from here. He must be asleep!"
As expected. There is nothing redeemable about humanity. Looks like he'll have to pass control back a little later, because he's just found himself quite a few things to add to the agenda.
"What is it, boy?" he turns to the dog when Arrow nudges at his knee. He feels around the dog's face in confusion and— "oh, is this a walking stick? Thank you, but I'm sorry. I don't know how to use it."
He feels Arrow's head tilt in confusion.
"You just wait here, good boy," he nods. "And then once I'm done, I'll bring you a treat... once I figure out where it's kept. Is that okay?"
Arrow nods. That's fine, he supposes. His human is very independent sometimes, and he's always been taught not to push boundaries.
At the Administrative Bureau, there's a mild problem that's caught the attention of the Advanced-grade Dokkaebi.
"Now that's odd... it must be a bug."
"What's going on there?"
"It's just this stream here. The visuals are pretty much all static, and the Dokkaebi in charge doesn't seem to be answering any messages from the constellations. There's pretty much no one in there anymore, but the rewards and all are still getting automated, so there are still humans alive."
"Weird. Is their connection just really bad?"
"Woah! Suddenly there's a lot of kills," the sudden influx of notifications draws the attention of a few more Dokkaebi around them. "I guess things are kicking off in there."
"What a shame. It's not getting on stream, so whoever booked that location for streaming just doesn't get to show it."
"But really, who's in charge? What a sloppy stream setup."
"I guess if it's in such a low priority area, it can't be anything important."
"Who's the constellation still in there?"
"I sure hope the quality doesn't anger them too much. But if they're staying in, they must be interested in it. Let's keep it up until the first scenario ends. Then we'll take it down with a ban if it's still there."
"Seriously, when we find out what Dokkaebi is in charge of this garbage, they're in for some disciplinary action!"
【 Your time has run out. Proceeding with checkout. 】
【 You slaughtered 64 Living Organisms. You have received 6,400 coins. 】
【 You have unlocked achievement Decimator due to excessive slaughtering. 】
【 You have obtained 300 coins as a basic clear reward. 】
【 You have obtained coins. Would you like a tutorial on coin usage? 】
It's a little tricky, navigating past the bodies and the unfamiliar hallways to find his way back to the correct apartment unit. But when he whistles, Arrow would bark, so he could follow the noise at least.
"There we go... ouch!" He immediately steps on glass. Which is ironic, considering he's covered in blood and splinters everywhere else, and he's complaining about stepping on glass with his bare feet. "Agh, I knew I should've looked for shoes."
Arrow whines, coming around to his side.
"Yes, yes, who's the goodest boy on this earth? It's you!" he swoons, giving him pats all over, "I'm done, so say hi to the kit for me, alright?"
He rests his head on the dog's, sighing in relief. When he lifts his head again it's in confusion, looking about everywhere, wincing at the pain all over. He holds Arrow firmly in his embrace as he lets the situation sink in around him.
【 Constellation [The Archer that Spared a Single Sun] squints his eyes through the view, trying to make out the aftermath. 】
【 Several Constellations waiting for the stream to clear up in vain dejectedly reminds him that his effort is futile. 】
"My gun is gone..." he realizes, "Arrow, boy, do you know where it is?"
Arrow nuzzles into his side and shakes his head. Instead, he offers his white guiding cane, which Oh-Seong gratefully takes. He gets up, wincing as he realizes anew the cut on the bottom of his foot. It'll be annoying, but he supposes there are priorities right now.
"Okay, I guess we'll have to apologize to Hyung about the lost gun later," he says. "Let's go to the workshop, I have a few things I want to take."
【 You have received an exclusive attribute. A skill slot has been unlocked. 】
┊ ┊ ┊ ˚✧
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ATTRIBUTES WINDOW
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Name: Sang Oh-Seong
Age: 27 years old
Constellation Support: None
Personal Attribute: Sculptor (Ordinary)
Personal Skill: [Spatial Awareness Lv. 1],
[Facade Lv. 2],
[Minion Maker Lv. 1]
Overall Stats: [Constitution Lv. 1],
[Strength Lv. 1], [Agility Lv. 1],
[Magic Power Lv. 1]
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════ ⋆★⋆ ════
┊ ┊ ┊ ˚✧
Now, all this is... a bit of a surprise.
He's very much overwhelmed, of course, but good thing Arrow is just very interested in getting his human out of there.
So while Oh-Seong focuses on all the notifications, (and whatever this... tutorial for the coins thing is...) he's led down to the workshop, where he finds out everything's fallen from the shelves.
He doesn't have to step in to know. His stick hits everything along the way, but at the entrance to the workshop he can't even find the door. And a runthrough with his stick tells him the entire ground is just... well, covered with debris. He could start climbing over things a little, but Arrow tugged him back with an annoyed grunt.
All the shelves that Hyung installed for him are flat on the ground. That hurts his heart.
He remembers there's a small ceramic statue of a tanuki somewhere in there. He made it together with a hollow teapot filled with marbles. That was a set that was auctioned for a million won the other day, he's devastated it's probably in pieces now.
"Noo... everything's broken," he mourns, knowing already that Arrow's not going to let him take anything. "Can I at least check the kiln?"
Arrow acquiesced to that.
The five masks he'd made in the daytime were all intact, thankfully. He tucks them into his emergency bag that contains a change of clothes and some food supply— the good thing about living with a military man is that he has to-go bags that they can just grab in situations like these. He even keeps dog treats inside.
"I don't think I can find your harness right now, we kept it at the entranceway..." he pats Arrow on the back, and earns an impatient bark. It was a little uncomfortable without the harness, but Arrow was doing his best to lead him forward and prevent any falls. "Okay, okay. Sorry, I'm taking too long. Let's go."
Arrow takes a step forward— but they both jerk back simultaneously as a new menu pops up before them. From the light blue glow coming from the side, Oh-Seong realizes there's one in front of Arrow too. But he can't read Arrow's.
So, he focuses on his own.
◤━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◥
SPONSOR SELECTION
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【 Select a Constellation 】
The Selected Constellation will be your reliable sponsor.
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● Mother of Mud and Rope
● The Archer that Spared a Single Sun
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Oh-Seong doesn't understand any of this... and unfortunately for him, that's most likely because the Dokkaebi in charge is no longer around to exposit these things for him. He'll find time to regret that later.
He has been seeing the word 'constellation' pop up on occasion, complaining about some stream not being clear or something. In other words, this is his audience, and he's choosing his backers. Clearly, the world has turned into a survival colosseum, and he needs someone on his side of the field that actually wants to watch him survive until the end.
He really doesn't like that.
He sighs deeply, looking upward. "And all I ever wanted was to live a normal life..."
No matter how much karma he's apparently stacked up in his past life, this is too much. He didn't like anything about this situation, but he also knew that he didn't want to die yet. At this point, he's endured far too much to go down without a fight.
He was content being nice and peaceful and normal this time. He wasn't going to become the horrible, horrible monster he was in his past life, that's something he promised the gods as a favour to the universe.
Well, they took his peace away from him first. So they can't possibly complain.
"I guess I'll choose one of you... huh? Arrow, did you get something too?"
Arrow barks in affirmation.
Oh-Seong gets on his knees to look closer, but it seems as if Arrow's looks completely blank to him. He can't see any white where words should be— this must be a censor thing. He can see his own attribute menu, but he's not meant to see anyone else's.
"Which is odd. You didn't need to clear the first mission, right?" he wonders. Patting Arrow on the head, "well then, choose whichever one you like... who knows, maybe they have a dog language pact in there that you can read."
He chuckles fondly to himself about it, but Arrow actually does seem to raise a paw and pat at the screen, which blinks before disappearing
Well, Oh-Seong is kind of terrified of his dog's intelligence now.
He chooses from his options on a whim. It was clear that these people knew exactly what they were, and while he didn't know how much influence these sponsors would have, only one of them seemed useful to him.
His thoughts lingered on Archer that Spared a Single Sun for a long time. What inane bow-wielding deity in their right mind would sponsor a blind man? Maybe that one could help with vision and self-defense, but he knew better. If it seems too good to be true, there's probably an ulterior motive.
There's no guarantee that these sponsors are fully on his side. Their aid may only depend on how much their interest in him holds— He can choose one, but he cannot select them thinking he will be able to depend on them for everything.
So, he went for Mother of Mud and Rope.
【 The sponsor selection has ended. 】
【 You have received a new Stigma. 】
He wasn't naive enough to think that this would be the end of the craziness today, but he absolutely didn't expect the building to shake once more. He collapses onto Arrow, holding on— and when the shaking didn't stop after twenty seconds, he realized it wasn't going to anytime soon.
"A- Arrow!" he calls, "out! We have to get out!"
Arrow had dragged them under the most solid table, but the second Oh-Seong calls, he switches plans. With Oh-Seong clinging firmly around his neck he bolts out of the table, through the doorway— and toward the emergency exit.
It's when Oh-Seong fumbles around the walls for the key to the emergency exit that the new game menu shows up.
◤━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◥
【 SUB SCENARIO 】
ESCAPE
━━━━━━━
● Category: Sub
● Difficulty: E
● Clear Conditions: Get out of the collapsing building and enter Geumho Station
● Time Limit: 20 minutes
● Reward: 200 coins
● Penalty for Failure: ???
◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢
Now that's just sadistic. One blind man and his dog are trapped on the seventh floor of a collapsing apartment building. There are only dead bodies anywhere else in this entire building— now, they have twenty minutes to get out.
Cursing loudly as the shaking makes him drop the key, he fumbles around the ground for it. He can't force the door open on his own. He leans hard on Arrow, eyes squeezed shut as the dust rises. The vertigo makes him lose control of his bearings, and the nausea that rises evokes a migraine.
He can't do this. (Should he ask for help again?)
【 Sang Oh-Seong's Stigma, [Breath of Life] has been activated. 】
My what now?
Arrow lunges up and drags him down by the collar just in time for him to feel something soar over his head and crack loud and clear against the wall.
【 Arrow's Stigma, [Nine out of Ten] has been activated. 】
WHO'S Stigma now??
Something cracks and drops in front of him, splitting apart once it hits the ground in front of him, startling him with the sound of metal breaking. He reaches around in confusion and finds... half of a... something. He hears the emergency door creak in front of him and he realizes, oh, it's a padlock!
...did the emergency door lock just explode?
He feels Arrow leave his side for a moment, and come back with something cold and heavy.
"Meep!" he squeaks when it moves, but when it clings to his sleeve, he realizes what it is— it's a ceramic statue. Precisely, his tanuki statue. It's clutching a marble— that's not the shape he remembers making it. Now it's even hugging him tightly. "Uh... okay?"
Arrow barks at him, and Oh-Seong shrieks in surprise.
"Right! Out!" he shoves the ceramic status into his bag with everything else and clambers up, collapsing his walking stick and pushing the door the rest of the way before scrambling for the railings and stumbling as quickly as he can down.
Arrow stays close to him the whole time, and he tries not to think about any of the notifications, focusing on not breaking his legs and praying nothing comes from above.
Note to self, never get an apartment on the seventh floor ever again.
The emergency stairs are broken on the fifth floor, which forces Arrow to bring Oh-Seong into someone's apartment. Luckily the structures are identical on every floor, so Arrow just had to navigate past debris and furniture to find the front door, which are all unlocked anyways.
It would be simple, if not for the fact that the ceilings are coming down, the floors are rupturing, and every decoration from vases to painting seem to become lethal weapons that are aiming specifically at him. This sucks.
He yells in pain when something plunges into his head, causing him to lose his balance and fall. The— piece of the ceiling, he assumes? Had split a bloody wound above his forehead, dripping down his face.
Arrow whines in concern, but tugs him forward.
Oh-Seong knows this isn't the time to slow down. Anytime now, another bigger piece may fall, and he wouldn't know. He just had to get out of here as quickly as he could, but that's easier than it sounds.
Arrow is clearly frantic too, and Oh-Seong, clumsy and stupid and blind, is tripping over everything. He clutches hard on some kind of railing as his foot hooks over brick and brings him almost facedown on the ground. He has to rip his sneakers out of whatever metal it's been caught on to get back on his feet.
Arrow is trying his best to lead him, but Oh-Seong has long lost sight of where he is in the building. Is he in the corridor? Staircase? Hall? In someone's room, or is he outside? He doesn't know, and the blurry view has become so nauseating he's squeezed his eyes shut trying to breathe.
This scenario is just sadistic for a blind man.
【 Constellation [The Mother of Mud and Rope] expresses relief that the stream has finally cleared up. 】
【 The Constellations are enraged about the delay and demand the streamer in charge for an explanation. 】
【 The Constellations are curious about the singular survivor. 】
【 Constellation [The Archer that Spared a Single Sun] is cheering. 】
For some reason, the peanut gallery was really getting annoying all of a sudden. He doesn't have time to read or entertain the messages— Arrow leads him to turn, and he realizes he's back outside at the emergency stairwell. The rest of the steps must be clear.
"Okay! Good boy," he calls, when Arrows takes his guiding cane so he can lean his weight on the railings and slide down as quickly as possibly. Almost there—
—the violent crack above head makes the entire metal stairwell lurch, and when he feels a drop in his stomach and a floaty feeling in his head, he realizes what's going on.
The emergency staircase has unlatched from the building and is now in a freefall with him on it.
It's all he can do to hold on tight, Arrow close to him, and brace himself with arms as tightly over themselves as possible. The impact comes, and everything goes black.
"Ugh. I did agree to check more often, but I didn't think it'd be this soon."
Coming out of the rubble, he dusts off his shoulders which were covered in ash and rocks. Still in the debris, still laden with wounds and covered in now dust-stuck blood, he rests on his knees. He's hugging an unconscious Arrow, who had put his body over them both, and inspects him with careful hands.
The entire building is now flat on the ground. He doesn't see the dead bodies, but he knows better than to check what exactly is under the rubble beneath him.
"You protected us, huh? Good boy," he checks for a pulse and deems the dog isn't dead, but the lack of injury is curious. "I don't think dogs are usually supposed to have such sturdy bodies... Come to think of it, there were notes about skills and things. Did you get a physical augmenting skill?"
When he opens his now blue eyes, he looks up into the sky, finding only murky darkness overhead.
"...How odd," he deems. The world is still a complete haze, and the only thing he can see clearly are the attribute windows and notifications.
【 Constellation [Prisoner of the Golden Headband] is impressed that you have survived after that fall. 】
【 Constellation [The Mother of Mud and Rope] is happy to see you. 】
【 Constellation [Demonic Judge of Fire] is touched by Arrow's selfless sacrifice to protect his human. 】
【 Arrow has been gifted 100 bonus coins. 】
"Coins?" he questions them. "Do I have them as well, and what can I use it for?"
【 You have obtained coins. Would you like a tutorial on coin usage? 】
Looking around mildly, before realizing it's pointless, Oh-Seong brushes the dust off Arrow's back and lifts him up into a more comfortable position.
"Yes."
He skims through the tutorial manual quickly, and then shuts it off before it gets too far, putting it aside.
"I'll invest 1500 coins into Constitution, and 500 into Agility," he says, standing up and lifting the dog on his shoulder despite its large size.
【 Investing 1500 coins Constitution. 】
【 Constitution Lv. 1 🡺 Lv. 5 】
【 Investing 500 coins into Agility. 】
【 Agility Lv. 1 🡺 Lv. 3 】
【 Constellation [Prisoner of the Golden Headband] is impressed at your unexpected strength. 】
【 Constellation [The Archer that Spared a Single Sun] is excited. 】
【 A Constellation with a sparse donation is bewildered by your reckless spending. 】
Oh-Seong breathes out in relief as his body doesn't shiver under the weight— he should probably invest a little more into Strength, but for now, he needs stamina and physique to get through this. There's pain blooming from his head, ankle, and elbow— he can't ignore them, but they're a secondary concern now.
"If this scenario is to get out of the building, then I'm out now," he says, "I assume Geumho Station, wherever this is, is nearby enough for the clear condition to actually be reasonable, yes?"
【 The Constellations are bewildered that the survivor is boldly addressing them. They are concerned if the streamer has hosted anything before. 】
【 The Constellations are asking after the streamer-in-charge. 】
Oh-Seong ignores that part. He's mostly talking to himself, anyways. He didn't expect much of a response about those kind of hints. This is a mission for a reason, it would be too easy if they told him the solution right away.
"How do I use skills?"
【 Constellation [The Mother of Mud and Rope] just tells you to do your best. 】
"That's the least helpful advice I've ever received. Could you not make yourself a little more worth my time?"
【 Constellation [The Mother of Mud and Rope] is appalled at how ungrateful you are. 】
【 Constellation [The Archer that Spared a Single Sun] laughs. 】
He hears a soft clink, clink, clink, and he searches for the source of the sound, recognizing it as the noise of ceramic cricketing against stone. Its rhythmic motion reminds him of footsteps, and it's so small, he spends some time looking around before finally finding a splotch of odd colours between the gray and greens of concrete.
At this point, the little ceramic creature has jumped and waved its little arms around, jingling frantically slamming its marble against the stone in frustration.
Oh Seong carefully crawls over the stone, dog still in his arms, until his blindly waving arms finally hit ceramic.
And immediately knock the poor thing over the cliff of debris, earning a shattering noise.
He's baffled.
"...did I kill you?" he asks.
A series of clink clank clonk tells him he hadn't.
So he follows the noise further, and this time, when his fingers crawl closer to the ceramic creature, he finds it— and recognizes it.
"You are something we made," he says, holding out a palm near it as it lays a ceramic tanuki paw on top in assent. The creature nods gently into the palm. "I see. Will you lead the way, then?"
Another, more eager nod.
"Then let's go. And let's go quickly."
On more stable feet, he powers on forward, following the trail of ceramic clinks. Clutching Arrow to his shoulder, he doesn't mind the blood seeping through his shoulder and the pain biting at his ankle.
His priority is getting to safety.
【 Time Remaining: [00:04:01] 】