Darkness lay thick over Tulavia’s nighttime streets. The bulbs in the streetlamps had all been smashed or already taken by someone.
He did wonder how anyone had removed those, but what could people not do when they were desperate? The electricity did not work anyway, but there were plenty of ways to use them.
In a way, vagrants were quite eco-friendly. They gave off a grimy smell from their own bodies, yet still recycled diligently.
‘Good thing I borrowed a flashlight, at least.’
Amber light shone over the overturned, broken tiles. Kim Yi-hyeon walked with a flashlight in one hand, his other hand loosely clenched into a fist.
So he could craft [Mubyeong Spear] and swing it at any time. It would be safer to prepare it in advance, but... he had to conserve as much stamina as possible.
“It is scary, though. Should I have asked someone to come with me?”
Naturally, he had heard all kinds of things. Pavl had even openly called him a lunatic. Though he immediately got scolded by Leila and backed down with a whimper.
Kim Yi-hyeon had forced the issue somewhat and come out.
He asked why they were making such a fuss over a mere nighttime walk. He said it was daily life for a vagrant, and that he did not need help from outsiders.
‘They couldn’t split their numbers anyway.’
Three people. That was the minimum number they had planned before coming to Tulavia.
If even one of them followed Kim Yi-hyeon out? Then protecting the Professor would become awkward.
When Kim Yi-hyeon acted confident, Leila had no choice but to nod in the end. After all, she could not force the actions of someone who was not her subordinate.
Instead, he heard this.
— Please be careful, and please make sure you come back.
— If we have no news by morning, we will assume you have fallen into danger, and we will absolutely go help you, Mr. Hyeon.
— So... for our sake as well. Please do not disappear without saying anything. Understood?
When he recalled it, a small laugh came out for no reason.
“She really is a pushover.”
An idealist who never doubted the good she believed in. There were also plenty of comments calling her a “frustration peddler,” and Kim Yi-hyeon himself had sometimes found her frustrating.
Still, being worried about did not feel bad.
It was not only words, either. She had also given him a precious flashlight and wristwatch. The watch had been taken from Pavl, who had been spouting nonsense about him being a lunatic.
“Right. I came this far, so I need to do this properly.”
0-5. The stage that decorated the finale of the tutorial.
Even if it did not particularly teach anything about the game system, it fit well as the story’s prologue. It was the part that drove the worldview of Polaris into the users’ minds.
A so-called “forced-loss event.”
‘If it progresses normally, it’s designed so you can’t clear it.’
The general development was like this.
Shadower, who had finished scouting during 0-4 Stage, personally blocked Leila’s group.
The group was helplessly pushed back before his overwhelming power. Once Ghost judged there was no chance of victory, he decided to remain behind alone.
Leila and Pavl had no choice but to take the Professor and flee. Ghost held Shadower back and bought time for his comrades to escape.
He succeeded in dealing meaningful damage to Shadower, but ultimately died. Not only was the illustration beautiful, but there was even dedicated BGM for it.
‘I don’t know why they like sacrifices so much.’
That was the reason Ghost could no longer be used afterward. It had not even been determined how many stars his Grade was. It was not displayed in the tutorial either.
With Ghost’s death, 0-5 Stage ended. And when the battle ended, the same text as the previous stages was displayed.
[Operation Complete]
[Congratulations!]
‘That part feels disturbing too.’
Because regardless of who died, the player survived. There was also no obstacle to progression.
But here was the important point.
Every stage could be retried at any time.
‘Should I call the developers twisted too?’
There were several forced-loss events in Polaris. As users followed the story, they were required to watch the operatives die.
Only once.
The developers had inserted a strange function. During the first attempt at every “impossible stage,” the operatives that could be deployed were predetermined.
Levels and equipment were also fixed. Users could not interfere.
However, when retrying, the conditions changed. Users could use the operatives they had raised.
‘They’re basically saying, “If you’d had characters this fucking strong, that character wouldn’t have died,” aren’t they?’
A diabolical prank.
They even added a separate reward because it was a retry, but instead of paid currency, they gave a unique item.
To put it simply, a keepsake.
In 0-5?
It gave [Ghost’s Worn-Out Notebook].
‘Isn’t that too much, you motherfuckers......?’
While users cursed the developers, they also enjoyed it as a form of content. In particular, they would match the minimum possible strength needed to clear it and squeeze out what-if stories.
If they had brought just one particular operative. If only they had a certain piece of equipment, then Ghost, or whoever else, could have survived.
Kim Yi-hyeon had cleared them all too.
‘I remember 0-5 inside and out.’
The minimum clear conditions were as follows.
A well-built 4-star or higher damage dealer.
Ten specific 1-star Special Armaments.
Ten random characters to use as equipment launchers.
Since that equipment could also be equipped on the damage dealer, the total number of operatives needed was ten. Even if Leila’s group and the Professor were included, that barely made half.
It was doable.
‘I just need to handle the launchers by myself.’
The gaps between the game and reality that he had confirmed so far. The skill [Special Armament Crafting], which had not existed in the game.
After combining all sorts of factors.
The chance of success was high.
‘The problem is that I might look a little like a lunatic.’
That was why he had insisted on coming out alone. They might understand if he explained his skill, but he thought it was still too early.
To begin with, he did not know whether the day would ever come when he revealed everything to someone. No matter how he thought about it, this was not an ordinary skill.
‘Especially things like limited-use abilities.’
Equipment with a fixed number of special ability uses. It would be hard to explain how he knew about those and crafted them.
He could not exactly say it was game knowledge. He could easily imagine what kind of misunderstanding that would cause.
What if he said he had simply thought of them and crafted them? What if they misunderstood and thought he was an almighty blacksmith who could make anything?
It was better to use exploits quietly.
‘Where would be good to set this up?’
The stage’s setting was quite a bit farther ahead than here. Leila’s group moved from early morning and encountered Shadower in broad daylight.
‘The problem is, I don’t know where that is.’
He might recognize it if he saw it. He remembered the background, after all.
But by what means would he find it and then return? Especially when the roads were so complicated.
‘I feel bad for Leila, but... I’ll have to hole up until noon.’
What would happen if he prepared everything only to fail because he could not find the route? Ghost would be too wronged to die.
‘The stage should start at a similar time.’
He could infer it from Shadower’s nature. Why would Shadower choose broad daylight after finding Leila’s group’s location in advance?
Because that was when Shadower’s Spell became strongest.
‘PM 02:17.’
He remembered it exactly.
In Polaris, whenever a serious situation occurred, the introduction often displayed the time down to the minute. Common narration, if one wanted to call it common.
Thanks to that, every condition had been met.
How long had he wandered the streets?
“......Oh. Perfect.”
He saw a garage attached to a house. The space was not wide. There was an entrance door on the side, and other than that, only the shutter at the front. Its condition was decent enough too.
He was lucky. When he checked, the inside had already been cleaned out, but that did not matter.
He had finished scouting the location.
Now all that remained was suffering.
“Hooo.”
He had to steel himself. The resolve not to collapse even if he ended up vomiting three times or so.
Kim Yi-hyeon activated [Special Armament Crafting]. A paint can and a flat brush appeared in his hands. The two items formed a set.
“The game really is disgusting.”
Among Special Armaments, there was one other category besides “weapons.” Items classified as “support equipment.”
Polaris was a triple-gacha game.
“Then let’s see if I can draw this damn well.”
***
The next day. Around 1:30 PM.
“......”
“......”
The atmosphere was bleak.
All four of them, including the Professor, were silent, yet he felt self-conscious. In particular, he felt a gaze from behind that seemed to stab him in the back.
“......Haa.”
The sigh sounded as loud as thunder. The strength drained from Leila’s face, which had contained all sorts of emotions.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I nagged too much. We are not even close.”
“No, well, um.”
Tap, tap.
Ghost touched Kim Yi-hyeon’s shoulder. When he looked that way, Ghost made a gesture beyond his mask as if zipping his mouth shut.
It meant he should keep his mouth closed.
‘She was a little scary earlier.’
When he returned after noon, only the Professor and Pavl had been in the abandoned house. Leila and Ghost had apparently been searching the surroundings.
After they regrouped, he heard all kinds of things.
“Still, I will say it again. I’m glad you are safe. If something had happened to you, Mr. Hyeon... I would have regretted my decision.”
It was not only about sending Kim Yi-hyeon out alone. If a person who had been living just fine in Tulavia had become unfortunate because he had gotten tangled up with them, she would have blamed herself.
Pavl would have said it was self-inflicted. At least, Leila could not accept it that way.
“Got it. I was wrong. I lacked awareness that I was acting with all of you.”
As he spoke his apology aloud, Kim Yi-hyeon inwardly thought of something else.
‘If I enter Selvlogics Lab, situations like this will happen often.’
Kim Yi-hyeon planned to actively use his game knowledge in the future as well. He would end up repeatedly doing things others could not understand through common sense.
If he became a member of the Lab, he would become safer, but his feet would be tied. He had only thought of it as a good thing, yet there was a drawback like this.
‘I need to think about it.’
He could handle being treated like a lunatic by shamelessly brazening it out. But other realistic problems would arise.
‘I’ll probably enter as a reserve operative.’
There was a high chance he would be assigned to the reserve operations team. Normally, he would train indoors. Even if he sometimes received outside missions, it would be hard to move freely.
What if HR marked him as unfit to be an operative? Would he be thrown into the mines then?
‘Fuck. Anything but that.’
He would have to think very deeply about it.
***
2:11 PM.
“......Hyeon!”
The instant Kim Yi-hyeon heard Ghost’s shout, he rolled to the side.
There was not a moment of hesitation. He had been sharpening his five senses since ten minutes ago.
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!
The shadows of the building debris rose up and struck down where Kim Yi-hyeon had been. With the sound of impact, holes large and small were punched into the ground.
‘Is he here...?!’
Kim Yi-hyeon quickly regained his posture. While preparing to dodge at any time, he lifted only his head and looked straight ahead.
A shopping district. The middle of a broad road.
Creeeep.
The surrounding shadows gathered in one place. They clumped and clumped, forming a human shape. Soon, the shadow peeled away from about half of it.
A man with a gaunt frame like a patient fighting illness. Pitch-black hair and red eyes like pooled blood.
It was his appearance exactly as it had been in the game.
‘How are you, Shaeboong?’
The “impossible stage” had begun.