Episode 16 [Awakened Center (2)]
Kukuku Palace.
Most of the basement floor collapsed downward.
The ground wasn’t okay either. The 3rd floor exhibition hall was also destroyed, and the 2nd and 1st floors were also ruined. All the stairs were collapsed, and the elevator passages were all blocked.
The Awakened Center was reduced to a pile of collapsed buildings.
2nd basement floor.
The underground parking lot, where the entire ceiling collapsed, was a mess with broken cars and piles of collapsed cement.
Fortunately, the ground floor did not collapse, making the space larger, but it was so full of dust that it was difficult to breathe.
Coughing was heard from a pile of stones in the center of the parking lot .
Soon, a large stone slab was pushed aside, and Kyung-hoon stood up from its spot. “Tsk, did I fall victim to the method I used?”
Kyung-hoon spat out blood from his mouth and distorted his face.
I may not have known it, but I was very upset to be treated the same way as the rat monster.
Kyung-hoon checked his body. Fortunately, the injuries were not serious. It was thanks to his awakening that he became stronger and was promoted to Class E.
After ascending to Class E, a monster-like translucent film began to form on Kyunghoon’s body.
This time too, thanks to that membrane, I was able to survive even after being crushed by a pile of stones.
Kyung-hoon stood up and clicked his tongue at the sight of his surroundings.
‘Could it be that this whole vine was one?’
There were vines growing all over the parking lot. Not only the pillars, but also the walls, the floor, and the piles of collapsed rubble were full of vines.
Kyunghoon narrowed his eyes. Although it was full of dust, the snow, which did its job despite the darkness, clearly showed where the vines were gathering.
‘And is that the main body?’
corner of the parking lot. A place where there is a large machine blocked by a wire mesh. There were vines leading there.
The wire mesh was all torn up by vines, but strangely enough, the machine covered in vines was still moving.
Chin chin chin.
Although the motor was not running properly due to the vines blocking it, it was amazing that the machine was still alive.
A name was proudly written on top of the rattling machine.
[Korea’s first mana stone generator for a single building]
The vine monster’s nest was a generator made of mana stones. It seemed that the vine monster had grown so large thanks to the generator that was still alive.
The vines began to wiggle and move towards Kyung-hoon.
Most of the vines here were the size of a human body, not just an arm. I felt like I had fallen into a cave full of snakes.
“What kind of plant is that?”
Kyung-hoon clicked his tongue when he saw the approaching vine.
There was nowhere to escape and he fell into the arms of a scary plant-type monster, but Kyung-hoon wasn’t too worried.
He took out the items from the backpack he was carrying and bought a new one. He stuffed it into his leather backpack. Emergency food, toothbrush first aid kit, etc. After
carrying all the necessary items, he threw the backpack he brought with him on the floor and put a new backpack on his back.
Gyeonghoon, who was carrying the backpack, tilted his head. Even though he only put half the stuff in, the backpack was still there. It was too light.
Well, it might have felt light since the rest of the items were quite heavy. After turning on the timer, Kyung-hoon threw it on the backpack he had put down. The vines came right in front of him. The vines were also different from before. The area that the vines had swept
was The cement melted, creating a dent.
Kyung-hoon raised his middle finger toward the approaching vine.
“Fuck you.”
He ran away this time too, but one day he would no longer run away.
Fortunately, he was able to leave a gift this time.
Kyung-hoon spread his hands toward the floor. A black hole appeared.
Once the hole was created, vines rushed in like whips. Kyung-hoon’s The surrounding area was full of vines.
Sigh!
Gyeong-hoon jumped into the black hole just in the nick of time.
Peep!
The vines dug up the spot where Gyeong-hoon was. They knocked on the hole as well, but the black hole did not accept the vines.
One of the vines I picked up the backpack that Kyung-hoon left behind.
The time device was broken by another vine, and the backpack melted little by little. The
vine took the backpack to where the generator was instead of Kyung-hoon.
A thin vine that looked like a tentacle appeared above the generator.
Phew. Phew.
The thin vine that came to the backpack touched the backpack here and there, opened the zipper, and took out the items left in the backpack. They
looked like bricks or lumps of clay wrapped in paper. The items had iron cores with wires attached to them.
The vine monster didn’t know, but the iron core was a detonator with wires connected to it.
And in the center of it was an electronic clock.
20 19 18…
The clock’s timer ran toward 0.
I wondered for a moment what the homemade bomb was in front of me . The vines soon wrapped around the bomb and gave it strength.
Kwasik.
The clock broke, the timer stopped,
and the bomb exploded.
Bang!
White light filled the underground parking lot. The explosion touched the already weakened pillars and walls, and soon destroyed the remaining foundation. It collapsed.
Crumbling.
The floors of the first and second floors collapsed. The Awakened Center, which already looked like a pile of buildings, sank completely. The
monster let out a silent scream, and the rubble crushed the vines.
But even at that moment , The vine monster was alive. Strong vines surrounded its body and blocked the shower of stones. However, the explosion shocked other places than the building. It shocked the generator that the vine monster was carrying. The impact was already at its limit
. It overloaded the generator and caused the mana stones inside the generator to explode.
Flash!
A light that could not be compared to the explosion a moment ago erupted.
The monster exploded into pieces.
Kwaaaaaaaa!
The remains of the collapsed Awakening Center rose into the sky. The wreckage included a lot of cut vine stems.
The flames rose high.
Debris rose high into the sky and fell over the entire city, and the smoke could be seen beyond the city and far into the horizon.
A vibration that had not been felt for a long time shook the city.
Some of the sleeping rulers of the city opened their eyes. The city that had been stationary for a long time began to move.
Kyung-hoon jumped into the hole and looked back.
The door he came through got further and further away. And at some point, the shining door suddenly disappeared.
The dimension door he entered through was closed.
Kyung-hoon also thought that if the bomb exploded, the dimension door might close.
If a bomb explodes, the ceiling may collapse and you may be buried, the rubble may deform and you may be buried, or you may not be able to get out for various reasons.
I wondered if the door would still remain, but it ended up disappearing.
It felt a little disappointing, but there were still three places left to go.
Kyunghoon turned his head. Now it was time to check the route home.
A faint energy followed Kyung-Hoon as he ran through the space. It was the energy that came from the disappeared door.
Unfortunately, Kyung-hoon didn’t notice that the energy was following him. Kyung-hoon’s ability was not enough to even recognize that kind of energy in this space.
After a while, the energy seeped into Kyunghoon’s body, and the cell phone in Kyunghoon’s pocket began to ring.
***
Phew.
Back in his room, Kyung-hoon sat leaning against the wall and took a deep breath. Things almost got difficult because a strange monster appeared.
Fortunately, I was able to take pictures with my phone and bring a strange backpack.
However, because of his temper, he threw away all the explosives, causing great damage.
Kyunghoon rubbed his head.
Weeing. Weeing.
I continued to feel vibrations in Kyunghoon’s chest. It was a vibration coming from the Mana Stone cell phone.
‘There’s no reason to cry?’
I took out my cell phone with a puzzled look on my face. An unexpected message appeared on the phone screen.
[A large amount of mana has been absorbed. [There is not much left until D grade.]
Kyung-hoon could not understand. The last time I checked my phone, all I had left was to kill the moth monster.
After that, before leaving, he left a bomb in front of the vine monster with the mindset of saying ‘fuck you’…
‘Surely that vine monster is dead? No, you just died from a bomb like that? Besides, I was already crossing the dimension. How did I absorb the mana?’
Numerous questions appeared in Kyung-hoon’s mind. But Kyung-hoon had no way to solve that question.
Good things were good things. After thinking for a while, he finally gave up and decided to accept it.
After making the decision, Kyung-hoon immediately took care of the next task.
He transferred the photos he took with his cell phone to his computer. There was quite a bit of content to read.
[The discovery of monsters was first reported in the United States in 1990]
[The discovery of the Awakened was reported in 1991.] [
The Awakening and the monsters were announced to the general public in 1992]
[The Seoul branch of the Awakening Center was completed in 1994]
[1995 Establishment of the Awakened Association]
This is the history of the Awakening Center. Or the [Awakened Contamination] that we saw in advance.
It was too much to read all of. Kyung-hoon saved the photos in various places and then turned off the computer.
Next it was the backpack’s turn.
He turned his backpack over and took it out. The items I had put away earlier spilled out onto the floor.
“Is it just a backpack that makes it feel a little lighter?”
There were no other items other than the spilled items. And, the perceived weight difference was not as big as expected.
‘There is definitely a pattern drawn on the inside…’
It’s an old-fashioned leather backpack with a rough exterior. However, there was a pattern engraved on the inside like a pistol.
However, it was no different from a regular backpack. The item seemed to be a dud. The
moment Kyung-hoon was about to close the backpack with a disappointed face, he saw a jewel embedded in the center of the pattern. The
jewel in the pistol and A similar gem. It was a mana stone.
It wasn’t that strange to have a mana stone on an item with a pattern. However, the mana stone on the backpack was very different from the mana stone he had. Unlike the
other mana stones, the mana stone on the backpack looked very cloudy. . It was as if milk had been poured into a gem.
“Wait a minute, where did I see this before…”
Kyung-hoon turned on the computer again and started looking for photos.
“we are here.”
Gyeonghoon was quickly able to find the information he was looking for.
[Life of Mana Stone]
[Mana Stone, which is known to be semi-permanent, also has a lifespan. Of course, it takes a long time for its lifespan to decrease in the normal way, but if you extract more mana than necessary, it will not take that long. The life of the mana stone ends.]
[A mana stone that has reached the end of its life turns gray, and a mana stone that has once turned gray does not return to its original state. For items equipped with a mana stone that has reached the end of its life, the magic circle can be activated again by exchanging the mana stone. You can do it.]
After checking the contents, Kyung-hoon replaced the largest mana stone he had with the mana stone in his backpack. Even
after changing the mana stone, it didn’t look much different on the outside.
Kyung-hoon looked inside the backpack. The backpack was empty. There was. Still, I put my hand in. Suddenly
.
Something caught in my hand. It was clearly an empty backpack. Kyung-hoon carefully pulled the item out. A
sparkling gold bar was revealed. It was absurd.
After taking out the gold bar, Kyung-hoon He looked inside the backpack again. The backpack was empty again.
Kyung-hoon put his hand into the backpack again. Once again, he found something in his hand. He was
happy and took it out immediately. This time it was a drink. Kyung-hoon, who was looking at the label with a disappointed face, opened his eyes wide.
[Apple-flavored stamina potion]
[Apple-flavored stamina potion relieves fatigue and heals weak wounds.]
Kyung-hoon, who was looking at the drink bottle with a surprised face, lifted his backpack again.
It felt like I had found an unexpected treasure.
It was time to put my hand back into my backpack, feeling my heart pounding.
Gong, gong.
The phone vibrated again. This time it was a sound coming from a cell phone bought in this world.
It was a call from an unknown number. He was conflicted when he saw the phone and backpack, but eventually answered the phone.
“Hello, is this Kang Kyeong-hoon’s cell phone? My name is Yoon Hye-rin, and I helped you last time.”
Kyung-hoon heard her voice and knew who she was. It was a female researcher who was there when I saw the Mad Awakening.
“Can I meet you for a moment?”
It was only then that Kyung-hoon was able to see several missed calls on his phone. They were all from the same number as the number he had just received.
