NOVEL NEXT chapter 2
2 – Stage 1
Snap-!
“Ugh! Damn it! Almost fell asleep.”
Seriously, Eun Gyeon-se, how can you sleep at a time like this?
Startled by the sudden awakening, I yawned for no reason and, feeling a bit dazed, glanced around at the other shelters. First of all, there was something I didn’t like.
“Why is every direction filled with guys?”
Shouldn’t there be some joy or taste in enduring this much?
“Oh! Hello?”
Wandering around, my eyes inadvertently met a man in sportswear from the left shelter. In response to his greeting, I instinctively nodded my head. The man was pointing towards my direction and saying something, but I couldn’t quite catch it as I concentrated on observing his lip movements.
“I have no idea, hehehehe.”
Since I didn’t have much experience talking to people, it was challenging to deduce from just looking at their lip movements. Anyway, he seemed to be pointing towards my shelter, making a thumbs-up gesture, spreading all five fingers, and shrugging his shoulders.
“How did you manage to implant all five attack orbs from the beginning? Something like that.”
Looking at the left shelter, he still had two orbs.
Probably spent the received 5P directly on purchasing orbs.
“Come to think of it, the difference is quite significant…”
He seemed excited enough to mime a pantomime.
However, not wanting to imitate that unamusing gesture, I simply extended my index and thumb forward, sending a teasing sign.
“Huh? Why suddenly cover your face with an X over your chest?”
Did he think I sent a finger heart or something? I bought this with money, okay! Hey, did you get that?
I tried to appeal to him with all my might, but he didn’t even turn around to look at me.
“Hmm… feels like losing a neighbor for now.”
Thankfully, there were people showing interest in me besides the person on the left shelter. Except for the man with anxiety disorder in the front, the male student in a school uniform at the back and the man in a suit on the right were both staring at me.
To avoid making the same mistake again, I casually raised my hand and coolly turned towards the concrete. I cautiously touched the matte white concrete, worried that if I touched it wrong, a bullet might come out.
Swoosh-
“Huh? I can’t touch this?”
Not only my hand, but my body also passed through it. Is it only inactive outside the stage?
“If that’s the case, why not just get rid of this form altogether?”
Then a message popped into my head.
White Concrete (Basic Form)
ON/OFF
“Oh, it was there? Sorry.”
Once I turned it off, the concrete form disappeared, leaving only empty space.
“Minimal Life achieved!”
Might as well live a decent life if I’m going to live at all.
I need to quickly unlock the shop list and decorate my own space!
＜04:59＞
“Oh! Countdown.”
The real stage is about to begin in 5 minutes.
– Phew
Activating the concrete and gazing at the gray portal outside the shelter that began to ripple. There didn’t seem to be any difference between this portal and the one during the tutorial.
5 minutes later, gradually revealing themselves with a strange noise… What were their names again, those creeps? Well, let’s just call them zombies.
The zombies crawling out one by one showed no apparent change in appearance.
“Sis, did you eat your makeup well today?”
– Uweeek!
“Well, I told you to drink less.”
Anyway, these guys walked slowly like a drunken man in their 50s, but there was nothing different…
– Bang! Bang bang kwa kwa kwa kwa bang deng deng!
“Ugh, damn it, scared me!”
As they walked, these guys suddenly started pounding on the shelter.
Shelter Durability: 492/500
“Shelter durability? Hey, isn’t it supposed to be intact? Did it get damaged from the attack?”
– Bang bang bang bang koo koo koo koo koo bang!
Shelter Durability: 484/500
hahahaha, this is messed up, huh?
“Concrete folks, please give me strength, or we’ll all die, sob…”
With a sincere heart, stroke the cleanly shaved bald head resembling a ball.
White Sphere (Basic Form)
– Would you like to synchronize? Y/N
“···Yes, yes! Do whatever it takes!”
Lv. 1 Vision (0)
Health: 27 (Synchronized)
Mana: 147 (Synchronized)
Strength: 18
Agility: 16
– Synchronization complete.
“Huh?!”
As if my hands were melting into the sphere, there was an instant fusion, and a sensation of something leaving my body.
– Grrriiinnng ㅡ Thud!
– Grrriiinnng ㅡ Thud!
Suddenly, unlike the previous pea-sized bullets, fists shot out at regular intervals. Surprisingly, the zombies hit by the fists burst into pieces in one blow and turned into ashes.
“Whoa! That’s incredible!”
The destructive power was jaw-dropping. Previously, it took dozens of shots to kill those guys…
Fired up, I shot about twenty rounds, and my whole body trembled uncontrollably. Blue veins protruded, threatening to burst.
“Hex- Turn this off, turn it off, please!”
– Disabling synchronization.
As I hastily disabled synchronization, my body finally calmed down from the intense abnormal reaction.
“Phew, that was close to death… Hah-heck- something was seriously leaving my body. What was that? Show me my status.”
Lv. 1 Vision (0)
Health: 6 (-21)
Magic: 147
Strength: 18
Agility: 16
“Hemi Tenhill… You were sipping the elixir eagerly. Is it game over when your health reaches 0? Heading to the celestial path?”
A shiver ran down my entire body, and my fur stood on end.
“Well, if you manage it well from now on… But does depleted health recover? I’ll be mad if it doesn’t.”
Watching the zombies bursting out with rhythmic breaths.
– Kuweeek! Break!
“No, let’s stop.”
I lay down and stared at the ceiling.
It’s not because I suddenly wanted to see the sky; it’s just that it’s exhausting.
– Hoo~
So, every time we synchronize and shoot, the health decreases, right?
I glanced at the well-dressed shelter man on the right.
“You knew it after all.”
The well-dressed man synchronized and fired at the zombies, exploding them at once.
“It turns out the zombies were weak, not that I’m strong.”
After lying down for a while to recover health, when I got up, the surroundings had become quiet. There were only a few zombies left.
– Toodoodoodoodoo!
“You’re doing great, our leader! This is the last one, so hang in there!”
– Keyaak!
＜You have cleared Stage 1 for the first time. You have gained 200P.＞
＜You have cleared Stage 1. You have gained 10P.＞
＜Random unlocking of shop items.＞
＜Sphere upgrade activated.＞
Points held: 784,268
“Oh, the thrilling time to unbox the unlocking list~”
Study room chair, Soju (mint chocolate flavor), Tissue (roll type), Chicken leg (bulgogi flavor), Broom
“Wow! A study room chair, that’s really essential, isn’t it? Darn it, Soju, what’s the deal with… mint chocolate flavor! Where’s the traditional flavor? Ah, I’m craving Soju now.”
Is it… talking about chicken leg bulgogi flavor? Chicken leg-shaped snack? Not bad.
“Tissues… Ah, there was no tissue in the bathroom! This was the most necessary thing? Those who don’t have it must handle it with their hands? Ugh, that’s a bit much.”
The broom doesn’t seem necessary, but will dust accumulate here?
“Well, this unlocking is about average. Tissue was a big one, really. What should I buy? How can I increase the sphere count?”
Whoosh!
I rolled my body over and reached out to the sphere.
White sphere (basic type)
– Would you like to upgrade? Y/N (Cost: 10P)
“Oh? An upgrade! Still, it’s good that a message pops up when I touch it. Of course, I should upgrade, teacher.”
– Weeiiing- Trickle-
Let’s upgrade, and the sphere turned leisurely before its surface began to flow like liquid.
“Wow! Cool! It looks like some alien technology.”
The flowing liquid disappeared, revealing a gray sphere.
“Even after the upgrade, it’s still bald…”
Seeing the unchanged appearance of the bald sphere, I felt a sense of disappointment.
“Keep calling it ‘bald,’ so your name is now Wilson.”
As I stroked it, information came to mind.
Gray Sphere
– Slower attack speed than the basic form, but can cause damage to shields.
“Hmm? The attack speed has slowed down? Wilson, you should tell me how much it has slowed down, shouldn’t you?”
But Wilson remained silent.
“Let’s upgrade only three for now.”
– Wheeing
After upgrading the three spheres, I felt something watching me as I looked around, and the expressions of the people staring at me among the monsters were unsettling.
“Um… What did I do wrong? Their stares are not exactly friendly.”
Feeling flustered, I sat beside Wilson, resting my head on my knees. After a few minutes, all the monsters in the nearby shelter were defeated. I felt the intense stares, but pretended not to notice and engaged in a deep conversation with Wilson.
“Phew, there’s nothing to eat but chicken legs.”
Chicken Legs (Bulgogi Flavor)
– Price: 1P
Wait, 0.2 Wilson for chicken legs? Isn’t that too expensive, sir?
-1P
– Crunchy and crispy.
“Well, the taste is the same, even more crunchy and delicious.”
＜00:59＞
“Eating while watching the countdown makes it even more enjoyable.”
＜00:00＞
＜BamBam~ Stage 1 is all finished! Still not seeing any interesting developments? Well, that’s expected. But the host is really bored, huh? Aren’t you all feeling the same? So, especially for those entering the 2nd round, we’re opening the messenger function a whopping 4 stages ahead! There are 2 hours left until the next stage, so have a fun and informative conversation~ Plop~ ^ㅠ^＞
“Oooh! The messenger function!! Can finally chat with people?!”
＜Stage 1 casualties: 392＞
Huh? The death toll has drastically decreased. But what about those who died this time? If they cleared the previous stage, they should’ve been able to clear this one too. Hmm, not sure.
More importantly,
“Messenger!”