Episode 15 [Awakened Center (1)]
After giving statements about the mutant elk and Park Hunter, Kyung-hoon headed to the destroyed city.
Originally, I wanted to take my time and move. However, after seeing the crazy awakened person, I couldn’t rest comfortably.
I didn’t know what would happen to me either. I had to find out how the Awakened became crazy.
Fortunately, we were able to arrive at the Awakened Center before the sun set. It was thanks to being able to feel mana.
After cutting off the mutant’s attack with his sword, Kyung-Hoon was able to feel mana.
Although it wasn’t as certain as seeing it with radar, I was able to get a rough idea of whether there was a creature with mana nearby.
Thanks to this, contact with monsters can be greatly reduced, making movement speed much faster.
The Awakened Center was half destroyed, with only the third floor remaining.
The first and second floors were in good condition, and the third floor looked somewhat okay as well. But everything above it had disappeared except for a little structure.
“The vines are so overgrown that it has a strange elegance.”
The entire wall of the remaining building was covered in vines. Thanks to this, the Awakened Center looked like an old mansion or castle.
On the street in front of the building, there was a sign that read “Awakened Center Seoul Branch.” It had fallen. Kyung-hoon climbed over the sign and carefully approached the building.
Looking at it from up close, he could see the thickness of the vines climbing the wall. From vines the size of a finger to vines the size of an forearm. Not only animals but also plants here are huge. It looked like it had been destroyed.
Gyeong-hoon took out his sword and cut off the vines hanging down at the entrance and entered the building. Other than that, the vines were cut off well.
‘There are not many vines inside the building.’
The pillars were covered with vines, but the walls, ceiling, and floor were surprisingly clean.
Inside the main entrance was a large lobby like other buildings.
There was an information desk made of marble in the lobby, and to the left and right were large offices with doors wide open. Fortunately ,
there was a floor map left on the wall above the information desk.
[4th to 6th floors: Office]
[3rd floor: Exhibition hall]
[2nd floor: Conference room, meeting room]
1st floor: General awakened customer service center ，Lobby］
［B1 floor: General shopping district. Awakened shopping district］
［B2 floor: Own power plant parking lot］
［Base 3~4 floors: Parking lot］
Kyung-hoon checked both offices in turn. Both places as written on the guide map. It appeared to be some kind of civil service office.
The room on the left had signs rolling around like [Awakened Prosecutor], [Report Awakened Crime], and [Report Monster], and the room on the right had signs like [Monster Disposal Compensation], and [Promotion Confirmation].
” “The room on the left is the general complaint room and the room on the right is the awakened person complaint room?”
It was possible to infer the main floor from the rolling signs, but unfortunately, there was nothing left in both offices other than the signs.
It seemed like someone had taken it all.
Kyung-hoon, who left the room with a disappointed expression, looked at the guide map and composed himself. There were still many floors remaining.
Although there was nothing left above the 4th floor, there were still the 3rd floor where the exhibition hall was located and the basement level where the Awakened Shopping Mall was located.
‘Should I go from the top or from the bottom?’
After thinking for a moment, Kyung-hoon decided to go upstairs first. Thanks to my experience with the previous building, I was a little reluctant to go to the basement.
Since there was no electricity, the elevator did not move.
Just in case, I tried to force open the elevator door, but the elevator shaft was only empty.
Kyung-hoon went up through the emergency stairs.
The conference room and meeting room on the second floor were empty.
If it weren’t for the vines wrapped around the pillars, you would have thought you had entered an empty, uninhabited building.
‘It’s true that I left with everything.’
Gyeonghoon put his regrets aside and went up to the third floor.
“oh!”
Fortunately, there was a lot left in the third floor exhibition hall.
Weapons and armor. A mannequin wearing all the equipment. And strange-looking stuffed monsters.
Those who organized the downstairs seemed to think there was no reason to take away the exhibits.
As expected, the weapons and armor were models and the monster was just a stuffed animal.
Kyunghoon took out his smartphone from his bag and started taking pictures. They may have been discarded items because they were not needed, but to Kyung-hoon, they were all information.
And, the panels on the wall really helped Kyung-hoon.
［About the mana stone generator first applied to the Awakened Center.］
［Confusion and Settlement of the Early Awakened］
［Types of Monsters – Insect Monsters and Plant Monsters]
Various stories and histories about monsters and Awakened were hanging on the walls.
It’s unfortunate, but time passed and I couldn’t read much of it, but I was able to learn a lot just from what was left.
Kyunghoon quickly took pictures. There isn’t much left until the sun sets. It was okay to go back and check the contents.
However, among the panels, there was a panel with information that needed to be read immediately.
[Awakened Contamination]
[A phenomenon in which an ordinary person experiences mental and physical deformation due to false awakening after eating a mana stone.]
This panel showed why the hunter went crazy.
[This is a social phenomenon that caused many people to lose their lives in the beginning, and it is an incident that made us realize how great the damage caused by incorrect information and stubbornness is.] [When the Awakened officially appeared, attracted attention, and
became a huge success, many people came to the Mana Stone to awaken. I ate it. However, the probability of correct awakening with a mana stone is less than 20%. Many people were quarantined or dealt with due to false awareness.]
[The government is still doing its best to reduce the damage through guidance and publicity.]
“Phew.”
There was no need to worry anymore.
‘If I ate it, I would have been in big trouble.’
Kyung-hoon broke into a cold sweat as he remembered drooling when he saw the mana stone.
It wasn’t written what would happen if someone who was already awakened ate it, but there was no way there wouldn’t be a problem.
Gyeonghoon breathed a sigh of relief and continued taking pictures.
There was also a panel with various locations written on it. It was a panel explaining various facilities. The locations of the mana item production complex, awakened training center, etc. were written down.
I thought this would help me decide where to move next.
While taking pictures and looking around the exhibition hall, I came across a special exhibition hall.
‘Is it like a diorama?’
It was not a separate monster, but an exhibition hall where trees, vines, nature, and monsters came together.
The stuffed monster was like a flying lizard that I had seen a while ago. The exhibition hall was not large, so it seemed that the exhibition mainly featured small monsters.
‘But monsters and moths on tree vines are a bit unexpected.’
Kyung-hoon looked at the moth sitting on the vine and shook his head.
It was a palm-sized moth, and it didn’t really fit in with the other exhibits.
“Could it have been a living monster?”
Kyung-hoon glared at the moth and clicked his tongue. I thought it didn’t fit in with the other exhibits, but when I looked closely, it wasn’t an exhibit. It was a living monster, not a taxidermy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy to detect mana in this
building. That’s why I finally realized that the moth was alive.
Gyeong-hoon pulled out his long sword and swung it at the moth.
Whoosh!
The moth flew up, sprinkling powder. The powder was scattered in the air, and a gun came out of the moth’s head.
But Gyeong-hoon’s sword was first. .
Suddenly.
Gyeonghoon cut down the moth and quickly retreated back. This was to avoid the moth powder. The
moth was easy to kill, so it was unclear what power the moth powder contained.
Gyeonghoon saw the moth cut in half. ，I gave up on dissection. I wasn’t confident enough to do the dissection while my body was covered
in powder. However, I wiped the powder off the sword with a cloth and put it in an empty bottle. I was thinking of taking it and experimenting. I took pictures of it
all, and Gyeong-hoon took pictures. I decided to go down to the basement. I planned to do a detailed investigation the next time I came.
Kyung-hoon’s heart pounded. An awakened person’s store. There might be better weapons than the weapons he was holding now. ‘
Please, I hope there are some left. ‘
After Kyung-hoon left the exhibition hall, a long shadow was cast over the moth that had been cut in half.
It was a vine that had been hanging over a tree.
Slurping.
The vine moved on the ground like a snake crawling and wrapped around the moth.
And then, it was wrapped around the moth. Force was applied. It felt as if a muscle was writhing.
Suddenly.
The moth surrounded by the vine was crushed, and the crushed flesh and powder were absorbed into the vine.
After a while, the vine that had finished absorbing returned to its original position and started to grow the tree. It was wrapped around me.
Gyeonghoon went down to the basement and looked around with a disappointed expression.
Just as he had worried when he checked the 1st and 2nd floors, the underground shopping mall was also very empty. Unlike the ground level, this place was moved in a hurry, so the remaining items were scattered in all directions.
Shoes, bags, clothes, and various accessories. Unfortunately, the scattered items were ordinary items with no patterns engraved on them.
Kyung-hoon sighed as he passed by an abandoned shopping center.
Vines wrapped around pillars and items scattered in all directions. Broken and leftover items. Wall. Unlike the ground level, the basement clearly showed the appearance of ruins.
Kyung-hoon, who had been searching the shopping mall for a while, saw a place and tilted his head.
Vines that were not visible other than the pillars were filling the inner wall of a shopping mall.
Gyeong-hoon said I looked at the sign of the empty store.
［Daerim Store. Specializing in awakened equipment］
It was the name written on the remaining sign.
Kyung-hoon climbed over the broken store door and approached the vines.
A safe door was visible between the vines.
“Bingo!”
Only here. Seeing the vines, it was clear that there must be something inside the safe.
Kyung-hoon cut off all the vines covering the safe with his sword and took out a pistol.
There weren’t many bullets left, but they were bullets meant to be used in situations like this.
Kyung-hoon aimed at the handle of the safe . He aimed the pistol. It was a safe that didn’t seem to budge with an ordinary pistol, but this pistol was no ordinary one either.
Kyung-hoon pulled the trigger. A small gunshot sound came out through the
silencer
, and the handle was half broken.
Kyung-hoon once again. The gun was fired.
Bang!
The sound of the gunshot echoed through the basement of the building.
Kyung-hoon frowned. The silencer was broken. After all, since an ordinary homemade silencer was attached to such an incredible pistol, there was no way it would last long.
Gunshots rang out not only on the first basement floor, but also on the ground level and in the underground parking lot.
Fortunately, it wasn’t heard outside the building, but unfortunately, there was a monster that responded to the sound of the gunshot.
A monster opened its eyes on the second basement floor, one floor below Gyeonghoon.
The monster brought back old memories. And then, I remembered the sound of guns used by humans. The monster began to control the limbs that had previously reacted automatically.
Quad deuk.
Kyung-hoon, who was delighted to see the safe door open, frowned.
The vines were shaking. It was as if he was waking up from sleep.
“Could it be that vines were monsters too?’’
It was unexpected, but if animals and insects could turn into monsters, plants could also turn.
Kyung-hoon took an item out of the safe and quickly stepped back.
Kyung-hoon stepped back and checked the items he had taken out of the safe.
“Backpack?”
It was an antique backpack.
It was made of rough leather. Whoever made it was a pretty ugly backpack.
I didn’t understand why they put a bag like this in the safe, but now wasn’t the time to question it. It
just didn’t feel right. The cut vines were getting longer and longer.
“Let’s get out.”
Fortunately, the vine was cut well with the knife, but I didn’t know what would happen again.
Fortunately, the only places with vines were that wall and pillar…
“There are vines only on the pillars?”
Kyung-hoon quickly checked the pillar.
And then he cursed.
“Bad. This is against the rules.”
The vines surrounding the pillar were breaking it,
and when it broke, the wall cracked and the floor cracked.
