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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Massacre
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Massacre
No way I was imagining it. My mind wasn't so far gone that I'd confuse dreams with reality.
It was real. A monster from Pangeniar had truly appeared in the real world.
Bang! Bang!
Cops burst out of the police station right in front of me and opened fire with their pistols, but the bullets didn't even scratch it. They just became prey for the Giant Mantis without leaving a mark on its tough hide.
"Help... Ack!"
"Emergency! Emergency!"
The police were facing it down while calling it in over the radio. Most civilians were fleeing, but plenty weren't.
Some were stuck inside buildings, stomping around helplessly as they watched the chaos. Others were snapping photos or videos, oblivious to how serious this was.
Wheeeeeen!
The air raid siren kicked in, blaring at full volume.
Phones were the same.
Just like a disaster alert, they blared loudly while messages popped up on the screens.
〔14:32 Unknown attack reported. Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gyeonggi Province-wide.
*Evacuate to the nearest underground shelter and monitor broadcasts〕
...So it wasn't just here. Attacks were hitting all across Korea simultaneously. From unidentified lifeforms.
But I knew what they were.
Field boss monsters you inevitably encounter when playing Pangeniar.
Level 4 Giant Mantis!
No mistaking it with those signature antennae attacks and the vivid red flower on its back.
'What do I do?'
My heart felt like it would explode. In the game, I was a versatile, capable player, but in reality, I was just an ordinary citizen.
My head throbbed. My heartbeat raced endlessly.
"Waaah! Mommy! Mommyyy!"
Hearing the child's cry snapped me back to reality.
I whipped my head around.
I'd brought all the rewards from Pangeniar into the real world.
If game monsters were rampaging in reality, couldn't I use the stuff I'd earned in the game here too?
'Hydragon's Soul!'
I gripped the rune-etched stone.
Hydragon. A monster that made a mere field boss like the Giant Mantis look like nothing.
I'd taken it down easily because I knew the strategy, but it was meant for a 12-man raid.
Rub rub rub!
"Why isn't this working?"
I frowned.
In the game, a double-click did it. My character would pull out the stone, rub it like polishing it, and the summon completed.
I rubbed it hard, but nothing happened.
I looked back.
'Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule.'
The thing that synced reality and the game.
I snatched it up like grabbing a golden coin.
"On."
A goddess appeared before my eyes in an instant.
Pangeniar's twin goddesses. The ones I always saw at login. She kissed my cheek.
<<<[Synchronization with 'Randolph' commencing.]>>>
<<<[Complete.]>>>
<<<[Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule remaining time: 24 hours.]>>>
...The pounding in my chest calmed.
The shaking in my body stopped, and my cluttered mind cleared up neatly.
I opened my hand. Thick fingers. I had become Randolph.
I drew Michella's Sword. The hefty two-handed greatsword fit perfectly.
I gripped Hydragon's Soul. Then headed straight to the window.
Thud!
I stepped on the windowsill and leaped to the ground.
An old five-story apartment building. High enough to kill a normal person outright, but I didn't care.
Hovering midair, feeling the air resistance, I rubbed Hydragon's Soul.
Grooooar!
A fully grown Hydragon materialized on the main street.
I mounted its back and charged at the Mantis.
*
'Scoop!'
Intern reporter Kim Hana thought of the exclusive the moment the monster attacked.
A giant mantis assaulting the city streets.
Nail this moment, and the Pulitzer for the year was as good as hers.
Click! Click!
She got as close as possible and raised her phone to snap photos.
"Jackpot."
Not some movie prop or CG—this was a hyper-real monster.
Exclusive. Her grueling intern days were finally over. Right as that thought hit her.
"Waaah! Mommy! Mommyyy!"
Not far off, a kid who looked about five was sobbing pitifully.
A shopping basket. A woman pinned under building debris.
The giant mantis turned its eyes.
Every emotion surged through her.
Did she have to capture this ruthless monster shattering a family? Was that what her seniors meant by true journalistic spirit?
Damn it. Kim Hana kicked off her shoes and gritted her teeth, sprinting forward.
She'd been heading home from a blind date her friend begged her to go on—what a disaster—but no time to dwell.
Kim Hana dove in almost like a body slam, wrapping the child in her arms.
"You okay? Are you hurt?"
"M-Mommy..."
"Ah, miss. My child, please..."
The woman under the debris regained consciousness and barely spoke.
A mother's plea to save her kid.
Those who could live had to live.
But Kim Hana had overlooked one thing.
The monster's antennae were faster than she'd thought.
She turned, spotted the incoming feeler, and shoved the child aside.
'Ah.'
Her body suddenly flew.
Moments later, the giant mantis's face loomed in front of her.
Her life flashed before her eyes.
So this is how I die. Never even had a proper romance in my prime.
—Our hospital's young director. He begged me to set you up. Please, just once, Hana?
—He's a real catch. College kingka, super handsome, tall, killer looks. You'll regret passing this up.
Should she have gone on that blind date?
He was decent, like her friend said, but she'd had no interest in dating—just planned to kill time and bail.
'Why'd it end up like this?'
Kim Hana squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't have the courage to face the mantis's maw and its protruding teeth.
Slash!
That instant.
Her body lifted again, and she felt someone's warmth.
She cracked her eyes open.
"Who—"
"..."
A man radiating wild intensity.
He tossed her aside like discarding trash.
With a thud, Kim Hana found herself astride some unknown monster's back.
'W-What?'
There was more than one monster?
A dragon? But dragons didn't have nine heads. A monster among monsters, dwarfing the giant mantis.
"Thud!"
"Hold on tight."
Korean. Kim Hana gripped the monster's back fiercely.
A man wielding a massive greatsword leaped forward.
Kaaack!
The nine-headed dragon tore into the mantis like mad.
The giant mantis shrieked and wailed.
The scene was straight out of legend or myth.
Kim Hana watched, entranced.
Each swing of the man's greatsword, like a toy in his hands, unleashed torrents of green blood. The mantis, latched by nine heads, couldn't twitch.
Violence. Kim Hana had never witnessed such brutal, raw carnage in her life. The intensity dwarfed anything in movies or dramas—child's play by comparison.
Was this what a mythic hero looked like?
Pure, untamed ferocity she'd never felt before.
Overwhelmed by the spectacle, Kim Hana.
"Ah..."
Shuddered. Her body trembled. Not from fear, but from an encounter with something indescribable, beyond words.
Boom!
In the end, the giant mantis collapsed without a proper fight, its scythes and neck severed, eyes losing focus.
Then the mantis's corpse turned to dust and vanished. Graying out before disappearing.
The nine-headed dragon did the same.
Kim Hana started plummeting.
"S-Save...!"
Flailing arms and legs, until someone caught her again.
The man who'd slain the monster.
He scooped her up mid-fall and landed safely.
"Th-Thank you."
"..."
Their eyes met.
The man turned and walked away without a word.
Staring at his retreating back, Kim Hana raised her phone.
Click.
"Ah."
She whipped around, realizing something.
People had gathered, working together to free the child's mother from the debris.
Kim Hana rushed over and joined in lifting the rubble.
*
The world was in chaos.
Monsters bursting out simultaneously not just in Korea, but worldwide.
They slaughtered people and wrecked human civilization on sight.
But it wasn't just monsters that appeared.
Warriors slicing through gun-immune monsters like butter. Clad in medieval armor, swords, spears, bows, mercilessly butchering them.
"Don't worry! I'll protect everyone!"
"The monsters' era is upon us. We must unite!"
Some spoke in their native tongues, reassuring the crowds.
Even more shocking was their 'transformation.'
Those warriors reverting to ordinary people, spouting such words.
Not everyone, though.
"An hour or so of sync time at best. Everyone wants to conserve it."
A man muttered, scrolling through news articles and videos.
These warriors were all rankers who could 'log out.'
Main quest rankings let you log out.
'Got to save the Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule time.'
But the 'Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule' that synced reality and character was consumable. Shortest was a minute, longest barely an hour.
So almost no one used it in reality.
This man was no different. Korea had eight known logout-capable players right now.
Among them, he was a powerhouse owning the ranker character 'Massacre.'
To scout the situation, Massacre had held back this time.
Stepping out carelessly could expose his Pangeniar character, threatening both game and reality.
Especially since Massacre was the universally acknowledged toxic player.
'Still.'
Massacre stroked his chin.
'Thought Phantom would show. No sign of anyone Ghost-like.'
Phantom. Or Ghost.
Pangeniar's undisputed number one player.
No one knew the name, so that's what they called him.
Rumor had it he owned hundreds of characters, and he was behind the recent 'Demon Realm Expedition.'
But sabotage doomed the expedition to failure, and Phantom died, his character deleted.
'Is Phantom really an admin? Still playing the game?'
Massacre was a pure gamer too.
But two years ago, his Massacre character died, summoning him to Pangeniar.
Same for others.
Only Phantom—or the suspected one—kept owning the game.
Everyone hunted Phantom to uncover why.
If it looked like Phantom, they'd sabotage or betray to kill and delete the character.
Since normal players got summoned to Pangeniar on deletion.
'No. He must've been summoned on that character. You get pulled when your strongest dies.'
Eight unique items equipped, armed with treasures and talents—a 5-star character.
Past level 10 with five stars consumed. An insurmountable wall.
It had to be Phantom's strongest.
Not an admin, he'd surely been summoned.
Summoned to Pangeniar meant reset, but you inherited your top character's talents intact.
Appearance changed, became NPC-like, lost all contacts, but main quests offered paths to power up.
'...Randolph. Is this guy Phantom?'
Since his summon two years ago, Massacre topped countless main quest rankings.
Massacre was level 10. A ranker with hidden traits, like the others.
But stagnant rankings recently shifted.
In the first main quest, 'Survival,' no less.
'220 points?'
Possible?
Even restarting from two years ago, he doubted he could hit 220.
If anyone could, it was Phantom.
Other rankers must've noticed too—target acquired, just a matter of time.
Eliminate rivals. Killing Phantom would yield massive 'Fragments of the Broken Golden Rule.'
Reality and Pangeniar were confirmed 'infiltrating.' Competition for fragments would intensify.
Eventually, Pangeniar and reality might fully merge.
Pangeniar NPCs in reality... or the Demon King descending.
He had to stake his claim first. The strongest, those with most fragments, would rule the era.
"...Hydragon? Who's this?"
Mid-thought, Massacre frowned at a video.
Hydragon.
A monster never officially released—except one instance—appearing with a warrior.
Definitely a new face.
Massacre memorized the warrior's appearance.
He noted other Korean warrior characters too.
All rivals.
In the chaotic era ahead, he had to be the protagonist.
*
"Let me into the sanctuary? Are you insane?"
...Snake Princess Isabella gasped.
My request, no less.
The desert sanctuary. Let me in.
'If the first main quest is survival.'
But I had to enter the sanctuary.
'The second is acquiring a class.'
Class. Main quests led to power, and that was the way.
Not just that.
"There's a star there."
"What...?"
Isabella's eyes twitched.
A star. The way to receive the Star Blessing was there. No wonder she was shocked.
I'd given up before, but recent playthroughs revealed it.
A star in the desert sanctuary. The key to lifting the queen's curse.
Hidden, though.
'The lowest star, yet able to shine brighter than any.'
And the class I wanted could come from that star too.