Surviving Restructuring

It had been a simple request. They wanted someone to deal with the monsters rampaging in the forest behind a building.

[Trial: Exterminate the Monster in the Fir Forest and Satisfy the Client]

A fir forest?

There was a dense stretch of fir trees behind the Future Research Center. That was the very place where Eun-Ho had first met Guk during his OJT with the Audit Bureau, and where they had conducted a trial together.

Back then, the monsters went berserk because of an abnormal phenomenon too.

At the time, Swear-Master, Dmitri, Guk, and Eun-Ho were sent out to investigate an explosion incident. In the end, they faced monsters raining down from the sky, the king of the Snowfield, and all sorts of other abominations.

At least that’s how I got the Ice Golem Summon skill.

Anyway, the one who had first accepted this trial was the Swear-Master.

“This is it! One run of this is better than doing ten other reports!”

“Uh... Mister, that sounded kind of like a death flag just now.”

“Wanna die?!”

His reasoning was simple: the reward was far better than anything else on the list. He argued they’d survived the last rampage and were stronger and better prepared now, so this one wouldn’t be as hard.

The moment they entered the forest, Swear-Master’s face turned pale with regret. “Damn... I should’ve fucking listened to that kid.”

[You are being engulfed by powerful demonic energy.]

[Your mind grows clouded.]

[Your limbs do not move as intended.]

[The durability of your equipped gear is rapidly decreasing.]

“You never said it’d be this bad!”

[Your high defense reduces the effects of demonic energy.]

[Due to additional options, the rate of durability loss is reduced.]

Thanks to the equipment Soeju had upgraded for them, they at least avoided being completely frozen in place. However, the real problem came after that.

“So this is the abandoned ward where the incident happened?” Eun-Ho asked.

“Y-yes... yes. It was n-near a big tree!” said the female client.

“A big tree?”

“Um, o-over there, by the twin trees... Did they d-did they disappear after being struck by lightning?” she stuttered nonstop, pausing for three full seconds at the end of nearly every sentence as her words trailed off.

It turned out that relying solely on her—the client and a researcher at the Future Research Center—was risky in a forest this dangerous.

“O-over here, something’s—kyaaah!”

“That’s just an earthworm.”

“Ah, a-an earthworm?”

Even something as minor as stepping on a twig or a bird taking flight made her scream.

“We’re going the right way, right?” someone asked uneasily.

“I’ve got a damn bad feeling about this,” Swear-Master muttered.

After the battle with Iro, Eun-Ho heard that research staff often lacked combat skills. They had spent decades or centuries solely on research, after all.

That’s probably why this request came to us.

“Kyaaah! There’s something here!”

“That’s just a shadow!”

“O-oh, is it?”

Isn’t this a bit much? Eun-Ho thought.

The forest was dim, with no sign of sunlight. A chill, oppressive air permeated every corner. Obviously, this wasn’t a place where they could afford to babysit a panicking client.

“I hear monster cries from that direction. Let’s find them quickly and get out,” Eun-Ho said.

“Understood!”

“P-please do!”

Having made that decision, they charged toward the area where the monsters were supposedly rampaging.

Beeeeeeep!

A sudden warning siren rang out.

[Warning!]

[An abnormal approach has been detected.]

A glaring red system window flashed into view. The last time he had seen a similar window was when he had illegally trespassed into the Operations Bureau.

Scritch, scritch, scra-ka-kak, scra-ka-ka-kak...

Then, those same horrific centipedes swarmed toward them. As if looking horrid weren’t enough, they also had fifty legs.

“Activate Defense Mechanism! Kim Ji-Eun, Choi Jae-Hyuk, Myung Tae-Pyeong fuck!” Eun-Ho roared with every ounce of strength he had left.

“Why are you swearing at me specifically?!” Swear-Master yelled back.

Then, finally, a cheerful message chimed in.

[Team Skill Defense Mechanism has been activated!]

[Targets: Lee Eun-Ho, Kim Ji-Eun, Choi Jae-Hyuk, Myung Tae-Pyeong]

Fwoosh—!

Eun-Ho’s eyes were shut tight. With bugs burrowing into his corneas, he couldn’t open them even if he wanted to.

Yet in the next instant, the cactus-like legs covering his eyelids vanished completely. In their place came cool, large droplets, enveloping his head from crown to neck like a transparent helmet.

[Status effect Mental Confusion has been cleared.]

[Status effect Hallucination has been cleared.]

“Puhah!”

“I-it worked! They’re gone!”

The swarm of bugs disappeared the moment the green system messages appeared.

“I almost fucking died!” Dark, sooty smoke puffed out of Swear-Master’s mouth. His curses exploded straight from his core, fueled by unrestrained agitation. “Those shitty ass bugs were fucking around like gah! If something like this existed, you should’ve warned us in advance!”

It seemed his Insult skill had activated as a result. Honestly, it was understandable, since Eun-Ho had almost died too.

“So where’s the client?” Eun-Ho asked, wiping sweat from his brow.

Ji-Eun pointed into the distance. “She’s hiding back there.”

At the end of her fingertip was a woman trembling violently. She was slumped atop a tree stump, still foaming at the mouth. “Kyaaaah! G-get away from me!”

“Ah.”

Her mental confusion hadn’t been lifted.

“Why didn’t it clear for her? She didn’t look as bad as we were...” Ji-Eun asked.

“She’s not part of the team. That’s why,” Eun-Ho answered.

“Huh?”

Defense Mechanism was a team-exclusive ability, after all.

“Wait. Don’t tell me you’re getting revenge because she didn’t explain things properly?” Swear-Master said.

“I’m not that petty,” Eun-Ho replied flatly, shutting down the nonsense and turning away. “Let’s find the main body first.”

“The main body?” Ji-Eun asked.

“There has to be a source causing this mental confusion.”

That was what they could and had to do.

“Let’s find it and kill it.”

“Yes sir!”

They were more motivated than ever.

***

Swoosh—

Eun-Ho cut down the tall grass, which had grown so high it towered over his line of sight.

“Is this really grass?” Swear-Master muttered. “It looks more like trees.”

“Yeah... The vegetation here is strange,” Ji-Eun said uneasily. “I wish we could ask someone, but there’s no one to ask.”

She supported the client, who was deathly pale. It was obvious at a glance that she was in no state to answer questions.

“This isn’t a three-leaf clover,” Eun-Ho said slowly. “What are you even supposed to call this?”

“A seven-leaf clover?”

There were weeds taller than a person, and gigantic flowers writhing as multiple colors blended together. Yet the most unsettling of all were the clovers that were larger than hand fans, split into six or seven leaves.

“They look like genetically modified plants,” Ji-Eun said. “Like something you’d see in a radiation-contaminated zone.”

Her eerie remark sent chills down their spines, and Eun-Ho quickened his pace. “Let’s get out of here quickly.”

If we keep rummaging around like this, it will never end.

With that thought, Eun-Ho turned to Ji-Eun. “Ji-Eun, can’t you find it with your Detection skill?”

“I’m sorry,” she replied. “That only works on uh, loved—I mean, familiar targets.”

“Familiar targets...”

Something as vague as “the cause of mental confusion,” whose appearance they didn’t even know, was completely out of the question.

[Defense Mechanism is currently active.]

[Remaining Duration: 79 minutes, 56 seconds...]

Even so, they couldn’t afford to waste the remaining duration like this. One skill shared by four people meant four times the utility. Of course, it also meant the timer drained four times faster, which was painful to watch.

“This won’t work,” Eun-Ho said. “We need another plan.”

Moreover, the trial reward was time-based, with bonuses for finishing under the twenty-four-hour limit. In other words, time was money.

“We need a fast and efficient way to find it.”

“Should we split up and search?” Ji-Eun suggested.

That wasn’t a bad idea, but in the worst case, they would even have to consider deactivating the skill entirely. Just then, he thought of the fastest, most efficient solution: make the source come to them.

“I’m going to drop Defense Mechanism,” Eun-Ho said calmly.

Ji-Eun’s eyes widened. “Just like that? Maybe we should search a little more first—”

“I’ll drop it and find it,” he corrected. “No, I’ll make it come to us.”

“What?!” she exclaimed, slightly furrowing her brow, as if asking what on earth he meant.

“Summon.”

[Foam Mirage Energy Tonic]

- An energy tonic made by blending Sperm Whale Oil with Mermaid Foam.

- Upon consumption, physical stamina stats are doubled for thirty minutes, and the skill Taunt(Lv. 1) is activated, drawing enemies’ attention.

- Caution: It may attract unwanted attention as well.

He took exactly one sip, just enough to taste it. To be precise, he drank about one-thirtieth of the total amount.

[You have consumed the Foam Mirage Energy Tonic.]

[Consumption amount is low. Duration has been reduced.]

[Remaining Duration: 1 minute]

Because for him, one minute was more than enough.

“Deactivate skill.”

At the same time, the defensive barrier enveloping them vanished. The water-drop-like film dissolved into nothing.

Dooong—

Then, a foghorn-like sound echoed out, and an icy sensation washed over the back of his head.

Scritch, scritch, scra—...

That now-familiar, horrific noise followed immediately.

“Acceleration.”

Think. The place where the centipedes first emerged!

They were creatures that had surged forward like waves, moving dozens of legs at near light speed. Even when time had slowed down twentyfold, their legs were still grotesque, fast, and nauseating. They had always been horrifying enough on their own.

But this is where they grow stronger.

Centipedes that had been barely larger than fingers swelled to the size of palms, then to the size of forearms. Then, finally, they grew as tall as Eun-Ho himself. His skin crawled at the sight of those thick, forearm-sized legs skittering across the ground like water striders.

As long as I find their point of origin, we’re good. There!

[You have discovered Refined Hallucinatory Grima!]

[Defeat the Refined Hallucinatory Grima and purify the forest!]

This is the end.

Tick—

Time snapped back into place.

Scritch, scritch, scra-ka-kak, scra-ka-ka-kak...

A centipede at least twice Eun-Ho’s height spotted the prey that had willingly come to it.

[Illusion Barrier has been activated!]

Scra-ka-ka-ka-ka-kak...

Like barnacles clinging to the surface of a massive rock, thousands of juvenile centipedes scurried back toward the main body, becoming one. Meanwhile, its numerous legs moved as if they had minds of their own. They flew in from every direction, as though the first one to tear into the prey would claim it.

Crustacean-like limbs lunged for his neck, abdomen, arms, and legs. It seemed ready to rip him apart like a rat and leisurely chew him up with its red mandibles.

Still, rather than having them crawl into his orifices, he much preferred this. “But bigger is actually easier.”

Thud—

Stepping on the thin yet deceptively sturdy leg, Eun-Ho leaped upward. He went from this one to that one, then from that one to the next. At last, he landed right at the center of its back.

Craaaack—

Following that, he drove the Flame Sky-Shattering Blade straight in and set it ablaze.

Fwoosh—

“Bugs are supposed to be burned to death.”

Nice to meet you. That was horrible. Let’s never meet again.

He repeated it to himself as flames spread across the hardened shell.

Fwoooooosh—

Smoke billowed, sparks erupted, and pillars of fire roared skyward.

Scra-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-kak!

All fifty legs trembled violently, and the stench of burning chitin filled the air. Still, he endured until the fire wrapped around every single leg.

Thud!

[The King of the Swarm, Refined Hallucinatory Grima, has been defeated!]

[Illusion Barrier has been removed.]

The moment the creature finally collapsed, a piercing ringing filled Eun-Ho’s ears. His skull reverberated as if struck by a hammer.

Craaaack—

Between the rotting stumps of what had once been a massive tree, a wall that had been invisible until now split open.

[Congratulations!]

[You have discovered the Sealed Ward.]

[Would you like to enter?]

Just when they thought it was over, a dungeon appeared.

“It’s a dungeon,” Eun-Ho said.

“Yeah. Definitely a dungeon.”

“So, do we go in, or not?” Ji-Eun asked.

To enter, or not to enter, that was the question.

“One vote in favor, two against so far,” Eun-Ho said.

Swear-Master was in favor. Ji-Eun and Jae-Hyuk weren’t.

“We came all this way, so we might as well check it out, right?” Swear-Master argued. “If it’s really dangerous, we can always go in and then bail.”

“But going in with just us is too risky!” Jae-Hyuk protested. “Wouldn’t it be better to call in other team members first?”

Neither argument was without merit.

“What do you think, Eun-Ho?” Ji-Eun asked.

However, before deciding, there was something Eun-Ho had to ask first, “There’s something I’m curious about.”

As he said that, his gaze turned to the client, whose eyes were still slightly unfocused. She seemed utterly exhausted after enduring hallucinations for so long. “Uh... M-me?”

“I’d like you to increase the reward,” he said. “Add hazard pay.”

“Pardon?” the woman asked in a voice that made her sound half-dead.

It would’ve been a lie to say he didn’t feel a little sorry for her, but they weren’t a charity program.

“We’re doing this for employee welfare, sure,” Eun-Ho continued evenly, “but our employees still need to make a living.”

“Ah, y-yes, of course...”

She was at least five centimeters shorter than Ji-Eun, with silver wavy hair cascading down to her waist. Her large, round eyes looked up at him, silently asking what he wanted.

“I want life-risk compensation added, plus hourly hazard pay,” Eun-Ho said.

She trembled like a frightened rabbit, but something about her was off. “S-so adding more Welfare Points will be enough?”

“Your Stamina hasn’t dropped.”

Ji-Eun is at 74.2 percent, the Swear-Master is at 78.1 percent, and Jae-Hyuk is at 99.9 percent. Plus I’m at 88 percent, Eun-Ho thought.

[You’ve developed the status effect, Mental Confusion.]

[You are hallucinating!]

The manifested hallucinations had steadily drained their Stamina, all but hers.

“So what’s the trick?” Eun-Ho asked calmly.

Why are you the only one who’s perfectly fine?