Steel-Eating Player Chapter 19

19. Seoul Station, Unlucky Event – 1

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“Seongsu Manufacturing Sacred Weapon Workshop Magic Engineering Construction Portal Transportation Industry… .··.”

Park Cheol-soo was taking notes while reciting that.

Lee Hyun-wook just told Park Cheol-soo about a company that would grow significantly after the 4th wave, a specific ‘stock stock’, and asked him to hand over his bank account containing all his assets and invest in that stock.

Of course, he did not directly mention the 4th wave to Park Cheol-soo, but simply said that companies and guilds were planning to invest a lot of money in that industry in the future.

“But Hyunwook… is this information true?”

Park Cheol-soo still looked suspicious.

To be honest, it was such a sudden and unbelievable story.

“They are all real and they are companies that will soon become big.”

However, it did not take long to convince Park Chul-soo.

Lee Hyun-wook took something out of his arms. I planned to use

the three business cards

I happened to get this time without hesitation.

“So, now… you really received a business card from these big names? you?”

Park Chul-soo widened his eyes.

Holding three business cards of people who are hard to meet even by chance…

‘How on earth did Hyunwook… Wait a minute, isn’t this Catherine Yu even the second daughter of the Cheonghwa Guild? Of course, there will be solid information about this project, and since he is the head of the Seoul Strategy Department, it is not surprising that he has a collusive relationship with the upper levels of the AMT…’

Park Cheol-soo was interpreting it in his own way, giving credibility to Lee Hyun-wook’s words.

“These people gave you that secret information…”

“Okay, otherwise, where would I have gotten this information? And bro, don’t ask me the details yet. As you know, this is quite sensitive information. If it leaks out, it could cause serious trouble.”

“······Oh, I understand.”

Anyone can spit out anything.

However, a certain amount of ‘proof’ was needed to make people believe that.

With the overwhelming power, confident attitude, and bold investment that he showed when dealing with Lee Won-cheol just before, and even such a big business card, Lee Hyun-wook’s words took on ‘weight’.

‘Yes, Hyunwook, this guy has definitely changed. ‘What on earth have you been through in the past two years?’

But at the same time, one question arose.

He raised his head and looked at Hyunwook Lee.

“But Hyunwook, what happened? You definitely got an F grade in player training camp. But no matter how I look at the power I just showed, I don’t think it’s F grade…”

Yes, everyone around him knew that Lee Hyun-wook was in grade F.

‘You can’t help but wonder how grade F, a non-growth trait, can become stronger.’

Hyunwook Lee expected to be asked that question countless times and prepared a very appropriate answer.

“You know it’s an achievement system, right?”

“huh? “Hey, I’m still a guild master in name.”

The world has turned into a game.

This meant that there were countless game elements.

The ‘achievement system’ was one of them.

‘It is the only system that can raise individual ability besides growth.’

‘Achievements’ are granted when special conditions are met in relation to the game.

For example, if you hunt a dragon, a very powerful monster, you will receive the achievement [Dragon Slayer].

And depending on the value of the achievement, a considerable increase in ability level is given as a ‘reward’.

“Ah, did you achieve an achievement and your abilities increased?”

“that’s right.”

“Wow…that’s great too. “What kind of achievement is F grade an achievement?”

“It’s an F grade achievement, so it’s possible. “The condition is F grade, you must be an elite monster, and the name of the achievement is [Dunjae’s Rebellion]. Well, you’re right.”

Lee Hyun-wook made up and sold achievements he had never earned.

This was to hide the secret that F-grade could grow very easily.

‘I can’t hide that I’ve become stronger, but I have to hide that I’m not an F grade.’

So far, it was something only he should know.

Lee Hyun-wook finally took something out of his bag.

“Here’s your gift.”

“huh?”

It was a small box.

“what’s this?”

“I heard your brother’s daughter was born? It’s a shoe. I couldn’t even celebrate because I was in the unit.”

“Ah, thank you… really…”

“Your brother will definitely be a good father. “He was a good senior to us, but what must he be like to his family?”

Park Cheol-soo was not good at managing his facial expressions, so the moment he saw the baby’s shoes, he burst into tears.

“Brother, I think I should go now.”

“Oh, okay, let’s eat next time we come out.”

“Be sure to cut down Lee Won-cheol’s gang and make sure to invest in that information, too.”

“Okay, thank you…”

Park Cheol-soo nodded with red eyes.

‘He may be this weak now, but he will become the master of a huge guild in the future.’

Got him early.

Hyunwook Lee prepared for his return.

No, I prepared for the next battle.

***

As of now, a total of 3 ‘waves’ have occurred. Without exception, cities that experienced the

first wave in California, the second

wave in Shanghai,

and the third wave in Berlin

were destroyed beyond repair. Some areas even become the territory of monsters.

No one would have imagined that California would be turned into a meadow of red drakes and an orc kingdom would be established in Shanghai.

‘And the 4th wave is Seoul.’

And what can be seen as a precursor to that begins today, at Seoul Station.

It is the heart of Korea’s transportation and has a daily floating population of up to 1 million people.

Hyunwook Lee stood in what was soon to become hell and checked his watch.

– 15:34

Next, I checked a text message.

– Staff Sergeant Choi Seon-ah: Corporal Lee Hyeon-wook! I arrived at Seoul Station first. Contact me when you come!

I received a text message from Choi Seon-ah about an hour ago, but I haven’t responded yet.

“hmm······.”

As Lee Hyun-wook, he had no intention of returning with Sergeant Choi Seon-ah.

In the first place, I was preparing for what happened today, so it didn’t make sense to accompany her.

‘We were supposed to meet at 17:00, but why did you come so early?’

Two days ago, Lee Hyun-wook contacted Choi Seon-ah and promised to meet at 17:00.

If she had arrived on time, she would not have been caught up in the events here.

‘Clearly, from my memory, Choi Seon-ah is not involved in this incident…’

In other words, it meant that she arrived at Seoul Station early due to the fact that Lee Hyun-wook was on vacation with her, so he had no choice but to be with her.

“But since Choi Seon-ah is a support type, it will actually be helpful.”

Thinking positively, I left a text message asking Choi Seon-ah to come here.

At the same time, I ran through the metal in the bag.

1 dagger purchased from craftsman Kang Jeong-du, 20 iron beads made of magic metal, 2.23mm thick steel wire, 20m long, up to 3 rolls in total…

He had prepared quite a few weapons for this moment.

Then I turned my eyes and looked all over the place in history.

A large number of people were coming and going through the station.

It was a world where one did not know when and where the gate would open, but people went about their daily lives without much worry. This was because player guards were stationed everywhere just in case.

‘In particular, the security guards at Seoul Station are quite skilled, but…’

Lee Hyun-wook knew that even those people would be incapacitated.

‘That’s how most of the countless people here die.’

Even though I knew that, I couldn’t save them all.

No one knows what will happen in the future.

That was normal.

That’s why I warned you in advance, and it made no sense, and even if you did that…

‘······No one will believe it.’

In the end, they were people who could not be saved.

‘But there are many things to be gained.’

There were thousands of civilian casualties and many player troops deployed to suppress the situation were sacrificed, but the world would no longer consider their sacrifices worthless.

This was because of an ‘item’ obtained by conquering the dungeon here.

‘This is an item that will be worn by King Taesan Han, who is ranked second in Korea in the future.’

It is currently a ‘Hero’ grade item of which there are only about 3,000 in the world, and was even a ‘potential item’ that could continue to grow.

‘But it wasn’t the only valuable item. What the villains stole…’

At this moment today, a villain would be waiting here at Seoul Station to target that item. Villains could communicate with some monster races according to the rules of the game.

At that time, I saw someone in a black combat uniform waving in the distance.

“Corporal Lee Hyun-wook!”

Choi Seon-ah was a short female soldier.

She approached me with a bright smile, but somehow her makeup seemed to be darker than when she left for vacation.

“Did you have a good first vacation?”

“huh! Corporal Lee Hyun-wook, how was your vacation?”

“Yes, I had a good time too.”

“Did you eat a lot of delicious food? I ate a lot!”

Even while greeting her like this, his senses were scanning the periphery.

‘I have to go to the firefighting supply locker first.’

Perhaps a gas mask might be needed in the future.

It was the ‘poison’ that he was so prepared for.

‘Not for me, but for Choi Seon-ah…’

Lee Hyun-wook has some resistance to poison, but Choi Seon-ah may not.

‘If it goes according to plan, it will start at 15:24.’

Lee Hyun-wook checked his watch again.

– 15:14

There are about 10 minutes left.

He uses metal control to unzip the bag half way.

It was designed so that the dagger’s steel bead could pop out at any time.

“······Corporal Lee Hyun-wook, where does it hurt?”

“yes?”

“Should I say that I was scared of something that just made me look…?”

“It’s no big deal. “Vice-platoon leader, there are too many people here and it’s hectic. Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Oh yeah!”

Lee Hyeon-wook quietly moved his seat and approached the firefighting supply locker containing the gas mask.

‘I never thought that these facilities placed at each station would be useful…’

But this alone wouldn’t be perfect.

Unlike the black smoke created by the kobold warlock, the poison that would sweep through this place today could not be prevented by blocking the respiratory tract. It will even seep into your skin.

It was then.

Whoo-ooh-ooh!

A sudden gust of wind swept through the interior of Seoul Station.

“Ugh! what!”

“-Kyaa!”

People in the station had no choice but to stop and adjust their collars.

“Wow, what was that wind just now?”

“Iknow, right······.”

It was an unnatural wind.

It was as if one side of the building collapsed and a strong wind burst through the gap.

“······uh?”

The eyes of the countless people filling Seoul Station all gathered to one side.

Woo-woo-woo-ung-

“Crab gate?” The space

, not the wall of the building,

exploded.

The wind of the other world was pouring from there.

***

Seoul Station Integrated Control Center.

This was a place where all CCTV inside Seoul Station could be controlled, and it was a kind of control tower-like place where no matter what happened inside the station, it could be checked and responded immediately.

however······.

“······huh?”

Chijijiji-

Hundreds of CCTV images filling the huge screen went blank all at once.

“what? “What happened all of a sudden?”

When something that shouldn’t have happened, an emergency was put on the idle integrated control center.

“The CCTVs in the reception rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors were simultaneously paralyzed!”

“what? “If it happens simultaneously…”

“It looks like it’s mana spawning…!”

The center director swallowed his saliva and stared at the employee’s face.

If CCTV was paralyzed by mana, there were several causes.

“no way······.”

Then the employee nodded heavily.

“Center Director, this means the gate inside the station has been opened.”

Disaster has begun.

***

The purple shimmering gate created in the air in the middle of Seoul Station was clear.

The first to move were the guards waiting around the station.

A total of 7 people.

They were players trained for just such a time.

“It’s the gate! Equip everyone with weapons and surround the gate!”

While people were panicking and rushing towards the entrance, they advanced backwards.

“No matter what comes out during the first eruption, never back down! Citizens will die if we hesitate!”

The team leader shouted and raised his main weapon, the ‘Cross Bow’.

“after······.”

I lowered my stance, held my breath, and aimed at the gate.

A giant gate 10 meters in diameter was bubbling and boiling.

It looked like it was going to explode any moment.

“······Coming out!”

At that moment, the gate stretched stickily and spewed out something very large.

puck!

It was like a monster giving birth, jumping out and falling to the floor…

Ki-Rit!

It was an eight-legged insect…a spider.

“How the fuck is a spider that big!”

It was a spider the size of an elephant, probably about 5 meters long.

Its appearance was also unusual.

Spiders would usually be smooth or hairy, but this huge spider was covered in something that looked like hard armor.

“Bar fire! Kill me at once!”

As soon as

the team leader gave the order, the guards surrounding the gate launched all kinds of attacks and exploded on its body one after another…

Ki-Rit! Ki-Rit!

The guy didn’t appear to have suffered any damage.

It crouched for a moment and then leapt forward and lunged forward.

The security guards were scared and scattered in all directions, and benches, flower pots, and signboards where the spider had passed fell and were smashed.

“My shit, what the hell is that?”

“Team leader, where should we attack that?”

“That… I don’t know. I am seeing it for the first time too.”

They couldn’t help but be perplexed.

Dealing with monsters was always a ‘strategy’ and one of the player’s qualities was to know the strategy, but that spider was a monster they had never seen before.

“Then it’s probably a recently updated monster.”

As if the game contents were being updated, new monsters would appear every day.

As this happened quite often, it was not surprising that a new species would emerge from the gate opened here, but there were too many things that could cause problems.

“For now, keep shooting! Don’t let them get close to the citizens!”

Empty! Empty! Empty! Empty!

“No matter how hard it is, my bolts aren’t working…”

The security team leader was still a C-grade, tier 1 gunner type player, and with one arrow of his, if he hit it right, he could even dispatch an orc with one shot.

“At least it responds to magic attacks!”

Every time the flame magic and cold magic exploded, he flinched.

“Okay then, let’s focus our time on magic first! Until the citizens evacuate…”

However, the team leader could not continue his next words.

It was because several lines of messages popped up in front of my eyes.

– An ‘unlucky event’ will occur in the area!

* You can enter the area, but you cannot leave it.

* Entry level restrictions are imposed on the area. (LV. 15)

* To escape, survive for 6 hours or defeat the ‘boss monster’!

“······ah?”

But the message wasn’t just visible to his eyes.

Such a message popped up in the eyes of the players as well as the general public.

“what? “I can’t go out?”

“······Oh, no!”

Unlucky Event

It is literally an unlucky event.

To put it simply, it was a phenomenon that was no different from a natural disaster for players, such as ‘de-buffs’ that were harmful to players in certain areas or ‘rules’ that made the game difficult.

It would have been a disaster, especially if something like that happened in a place with so many people.

“······Ugh! “I can’t get out!”

“Please save me!”

Hundreds of people were entangled at the doorway that could not be opened, shouting mixed with screams.

“manager! There’s one more spider! And we’re heading towards the doorway!”

The team leader instinctively turned his head at that terrible report.

To-the-the-the-the-

Like a great white shark swimming towards a school of sardines, a huge spider was crawling towards hundreds of people, waving its eight legs.

‘no!’

A terrible scene was pictured in his mind that would unfold in just a few tens of seconds.

A pile of corpses of civilians crushed by spiders…

“······crazy! We have to stop that! Shoot fast!”

The team leader drew his crossbow and ran towards him.

Empty! Empty! Empty! Empty!

But the bolts he shot didn’t even scratch its armor-like skin.

“What kind of steel armor is the spider wearing? “Avoid everyone!”

He couldn’t stop it, so all he could do was scream for him to run away.

It was then.

Among the citizens swimming around like a school of sardines, someone separated himself and began to walk forward.

“huh?”

A man dressed in black, more specifically a combat uniform, stood in front of the spider.

“…isn’t that AMT?”

However, given that they were unarmed, they were not reinforcements.

He probably seemed to be on vacation, but his rank was only a corporal… a mere soldier.

“Fuck back! It’s not your place!”

AMT If you were a soldier, you were the lowest among combat players.

The team leader thought that this was not the time to dare to step forward.

Sure enough, just before the spider raised its front paw and crushed the soldier –

puh-uh!

Fortunately, someone’s fire magic hit the spider’s head and made him take a step back, albeit temporarily.

The team leader ran out to save that beautiful AMT soldier.

“hey! you! If you don’t want to die, get out of the way right away!”

But he never backed down.

Rather, it walked towards the spider.

“No, you guys just step back.”

“······what?”

It was a strangely cold voice that did not fit the current situation.

He raised his left hand.

“Cover your head. “There will be a little bit of splintering.”

The team leader couldn’t understand what that meant.

But I couldn’t ask back.

Moreover, an incomprehensible situation unfolded.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

The spider the size of a house, which had been immune to any attacks until now, began to complain of pain and twist its body.

thud!

The guy twisted his whole body as if he was having a heart attack and started banging his head against the wall.

thud!

“What is it…”

And in the next moment, an unbelievable scene unfolded.

Ooh-oh-oh!

With a loud noise, the spider’s armor-like skin began to explode one after another.

Ooh-oh-oh!

The team leader turned his head and looked at the mysterious man.

His left hand clasped towards the spider.