Beyond the Eternity

"From now on, we will proceed with the scenario in seperate groups. Find anyone among yourselves and form a party."

The people looked at Minhyuk strangely. From their expression, they were probably wondering why they needed to seperate. It was very simple yet they could not see it.

"Why do we need to seperate? Won\'t sticking together be ideal in this situation?"

Finally, someone among the survivors opened his mouth and asked. In response, Minhyuk released a sigh.

"Use your head a little. Wouldn\'t it be easier to move in a smaller group than a large one?"

"T-That..."

"Save your questions for later. We have to move quickly. There\'s not alot of time left. All of you form groups one by one."

Three days was not small amount of time. But considering we had to gather 50 cores from monsters, it was somewhat lacking. Indeed, it was not alot of time.

Looking at the back of Minhyuk, I wondered when he became the leader-type. No, he has always been like this. He used the world\'s destruction as a chance to spread his authority.

In the apocalyptic world, the standard that the alleyway thug was the strongest in a fight did not hold. The real dangers were the cunning people that used the people\'s despair to fuel their power.

Whatever Minhyuk did with this people was none of my concern at the moment. Even though he was a threat, I had already planned how to get rid of him in the future. My main goal was something else.

In no time, the people started moving and multiple groups were formed. Each group had five to six party members holding weapons.

When I looked at my party, there was only four people including me, Lee Jongho, Jung Yunhee and Angelica. One person was missing.

Lee Jong-ho was nervous and asked. "Kim Jakga, what should we do?"

"Let\'s go over there."

Even if we were short one member, it shouldn\'t hinder the party\'s movement too much.

"What? Jakga, where are you going?"

I didn\'t answer and headed towards a dark road. It was difficult to see without a touch light and there was this disturbing smell too. From my memory, that place should be over there.

"Don\'t."

Jung Yunhee uttered a single word and I turned my head.

"Everybody who went down that road died without exception. Members from the mainframe group or anyone else. It doesn\'t matter. They all died."

"Really now? I don\'t think that\'s the case."

Even if that place was a dangerous zone, at least one person should have survived and moved to the next location.

If I wanted to pass the scenario quickly, I need to head to the Hongdae Station. Of course, there was an obvious problem with that plan.

The road towards the station was filled with nothing but man-eating monsters. In the novel, that road was called the \'Dark Valley Path\' and now I could see why.

"Jakga."

Once again, my name was called. Jung Yunhee, Lee Jongho, Angelica. It wasn\'t any of them.

I turned my head and spoke.

"What do you want, Minhyuk?"

"Now, now, is that anyway to address your senior?"

"Do you still think this is high-school? Tell me what you want and leave quickly."

"Tck, Tck, so aggressive. For what?"

Minhyuk made an irritated sound and looked at the dark road.

"You want to go down that road? Isn\'t it dangerous?"

"Are you saying we shouldn\'t go?"

He shook his head. "No, if you want to go then so be it. I\'m not your parent."

Strange. I thought he would come to make trouble but I guess I was wrong. Rather, he seems he was happy that we were leaving the group.

"Can two of my group members join? I need to get information about the situation in Hongdae. You don\'t mind, right?"

To think he would tell a lie with a straight face. Truly, he has never changed. I looked behind him and saw two people. A man and a woman.

Who are they? Let\'s have a look.

[Exclusive skill, Black Box has activated.]

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[ « Soul Status » ]

Name: Lee Gyeong

Age: 23

Contracted Constellation: None

Primary Attributes: Blogger (Common)

Skills: Charm Lv. 3, Quick steps Lv. 1.

Overall Stats: Strength Lv. 3, Agility Lv. 5, Physique Lv. 3, Magic Power Lv. 10.

Description: A famous blogger with a pretty face. But has been forgotten after the Nightmare arrived. She was sent by Minhyuk to eliminate Jakga Kim and Co. But her fate has already been sealed, she has been marked.

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[ « Soul Status » ]

Name: Kang Manshik

Age: 27

Main Attributes: None

Skills: Creating a Commotion Lv. 4, Sprint Lv. 2

Overall Stats: Strength Lv. 5, Agility Lv. 4, Physique Lv. 5, Magic Power Lv. 4.

Description: A character who wasn\'t lucky enough to receive a guardian constellation or a unique class. He has been given orders to follow Lee Gyeong. He has also been marked.

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Lee Gyeong and Kang Manshik.

They were nameless extras. But what caught my attention was the word \'Marked\'. What did that mean?

I have a few ideas about what it could mean but I shouldn\'t be concerned about that right now.

"Sure, I will take them."

"That\'s great. I will be on my way now. Come back safely."

Minhyuk waved his hand as he retracted back to his group. Cunning bastard. Now is not the time to deal with him.

Anyways, let get back to business, shall we? I gathered everyone and carried with the introductions.

"Everyone, these two will be joining us on the attack. Why not introduce yourselves?"

"Oh, sorry. I\'m Lee Gyeong. It\'s a pleasure to be working with you all."

"I\'m Kang Manshik."

With the woman with the pink sweater was the first to introduce herself. Then the man opened his mouth as well.

How did the rest of the group react? They looked at each other nervously. As expected, they were wary.

Lee Jongho pulled me towards the rest of the group and asked in a low tone.

"Are you sure about this? Those two are suspicious."

"I know. In fact, they\'re assassins sent by the mainframe group."

"If you know then why.."

"Shhh! Lower your voice, Lee Jong-ho."

"Sorry."

I looked behind me and released a sigh of relief. Luckily, those two did not hear what we were saying.

"It\'s not a big deal. Since we already know they don\'t have good intentions, the surprise attack factor is out of the equation."

"I see. I think I understand what you\'re trying to say. Since we already know their intentions, we can easily plan against them, right?"

"Exactly. Besides..." I looked at the new addition to the team and smiled. "I\'m sure they have their uses."

In my mind, I was already picturing the situation where I could use them to the fullest.

***

[You have entered a dangerous zone! Caution is advised!]

As soon as we entered the dark road, a warning window popped up. Not only that, the darkness seemed to have thickened as we entered.

It was proof that something dangerous was lingering around. We should be careful from here onwards.

"It\'s too dark, I can\'t see anything."

"Everyone, turn on your flash lights."

Everyone pulled the flashlights which they bought with coins and turned it on one by one. We started surveying our surroundings using the flash lights.

There were several ruined cars lingering around. Plants and vegetation has already started growing out of the roads and buildings. It felt like we were walking through an abandoned town.

"What is this?"

"Hongdae has changed this much in just a few days?"

"Tck! To think I was just messing around my buddies a few days ago."

Everyone looked surprised. Their reactions were expected. All they did was sit inside the safe zone. Of course, they will not know. Well, at least almost everyone looked surprised.

"Well, this much was expected. Let\'s keep moving. We don\'t have all day."

Jung Yeonhee spoke with a disinterested tone. She was the first person in the group to adapt to the new world. Maybe it was because she was already insane.

The group started to move with Jung Yeonhee at the rear and Lee Jongho and Angelica being in the front. I was at the back with Lee Gyeong and Kang Manshik.

Lee Gyeong and Kang Manshik. I was monitoring those two movements.

Even though they were assassins from the mainframe group, they couldn\'t afford to make any reckless moves. Since they were outnumbered, they will try to strike us when our guard is dropped.

But if they try to make any suspicious movements, I will cut them down without hesitation.

"What\'s that?"

My attention was drawn to Angelica. She was pointing her flashlight towards something. When we got closer, we were able to identify it.

"That\'s..."

"Oh god."

It was dead bodies. The bodies of those who tried to move through here. Their bodies were torn here and there as if something has eaten them.

Everyone reacted differently. It was hard to make track of their reactions but I didn\'t need to do so. This scene was seriously unpleasant.

"Look, there\'s something over there as well."

Jung Yeonhee flashed her touch forward. It wasn\'t only the dead bodies of humans that were laying on the ground. There were multiple dead of creatures scattered all over the floor.

Man-eating rats. They were Intermediate grade 9 monsters that were strong enough to tear a grown man apart yet they were scattered around as if they have received a bombardment.

"What the hell happened here?"

Everyone was confused. Only one person could have done this.

Yoo Jinyoung. She must have crossed this place and went to the next region. Considering her strength, she must have already gathered enough cores to pass the scenario.

"Everyone, things are going to become dangerous from now on. If you still have coins, use it to raise your stats."

"Wait, coins can be used like that?!"

"You didn\'t know? You can raise your overall stats by investing coins into them."

"So all this time we could have down that."

"Damnit, those bastards! No wonder they were hoarding coins from the survivors."

Lee Jong-ho ground his teeth. He was talking about the mainframe group. If the survivors knew they could use their coins to raise their stats then many of them could have survived.

Lee Gyeong and Kang Manshik showed no reaction to the news. It seems they already knew.

Once the preparations were made, the group continued to move forward. One, two, three. I was counting the amount of steps we took.

Once we took a hundred steps...

Rumble— Crack—

Multiple man-eating rats started to appear from the buildings and the ground. There was alot of them. To be precise, they were around 20 or more.

Grrr—

Grrr—

The man-eating rats glared at us and started to move forward. It seems they were hungry and we just happened to appear before them.

"Fuck! They are too many. Coming here was a bad idea."

The nervous Kang Manshik was shaking at the sight of the man-eating rats. I nonchalantly shrugged my shoulders.

"Man-eating rats are known for their speed. If we decide to run away, they will catch up to us and everyone will die."

"Then... What should we do?"

"Hm. Isn\'t that obvious?"

I summoned the revolvor from the dimensional storage ring and took aim at the enemy.

"We\'ll fight."