Max Talent Player - Chapter 158

Chapter 158

[Observing with Observer’s Eye.]
As if I were transfixed, I unconsciously continued to stare down at the notes.

–Three fire demons shall descend.

I could almost see something like a hazy video. It was a similar feeling to when I experienced Precognitive Eye. A feeling I couldn’t concretely describe, but could just barely capture.

‘This sensation.’

My knowledge of the past and this subtle sensation came together.

‘This is definitely…’

The three ‘fire demons’ were definitely referring to the Gwanghwamun Dungeon break. From it, three calamity-class monsters would emerge, incredibly strong monsters our current selves couldn’t do anything about. These monsters, which we could only evade and hope would disappear on their own, were described as ‘fire demons’ in Ham Sohyun’s precognitive dream.

“Guildmaster Song Kiyeol. Please listen to me very carefully.”

I couldn’t save everyone. I had neither the obligation to do so, nor the means. However, I would do the best I could from my current position.

“The Gwanghwamun Dungeon will break.”

“…”

We couldn’t clear the Gwanghwamun Dungeon with our current skills yet. All we could do was clear the Gyeonghoeru field. Just clearing the Gyeonghoeru field didn’t mean we cleared the dungeon.

‘The problem is…’

I was getting an extremely ominous feeling from these notes penned by Ham Sohyun. I knew that a Precognitive Dreamer’s ‘precognitive notes’ possessed a special aura, but I didn’t think it would be this ominous.

‘The Gwanghwamun Dungeon break I know was indeed a calamity.’

No one could resist the Gwanghwamun Dungeon break. The Korean Players just layed low at that time. The opponents were far, far stronger than the monsters that came out of the Seoul Station and U-Plex Dungeon breaks that were supposed to have happened. They were called ‘Fire Giants’.

‘I did know they would come out.’

I, of course, didn’t intend on fighting them. It was too dangerous. If I clashed 1v1 with one, I would die with almost 100% certainty. I fully recognized that.

‘I know and recognize that. But I still have a bad feeling.’

It felt like foreboding was embodied in snake form, slithering up my leg. The snake wrapped itself around my neck, its tongue flickering at my jugular.

“The Gwanghwamun Dungeon will break?”

“I think the three fire demons are referring to the monsters that will emerge from the break.”

Big dungeons like the Seoul Station and U-Plex hadn’t broken yet, but small dungeon and gate breaks were happening all the time. Guildmaster Song was well aware of what I was saying.

He seemed to have picked up on the severity of the situation.

“A dungeon even you cannot clear will break…”

I continued to stare intensely at the precognitive note. My eyes itched, like a worm was wriggling around in my eye.

One fire demon and—.

What was it?

[Cannot comprehend because the proficiency of Observer’s Eye is too low.]
I attempted to comprehend it multiple times, but the result was the same.

[Cannot comprehend because the proficiency of Observer’s Eye is too low.]
After a long time, I was able to get a very tiny clue.

[Can only ‘partially’ comprehend because the proficiency of Observer’s Eye is too low.]
I could read a little more of the — parts.

One fire demon and another fire demon—.

One fire demon and another—.

One fire demon and a—.

At the crossroads of incantation and incantation and incantation—.

It was said that you could only see as much as you knew, and you could only know as much as you saw. That applied to me right now.

‘I have a bad feeling.’

Even when clearing the Tutorial, a field that normally had a terrible survival rate, or when I encountered and fought monsters stronger than me, I never had as ominous a feeling as I did now. It wasn’t just dangerous; it was ominous. After comprehending more of the precognitive note, that feeling of impending doom only grew.

Thanks to Ham Sohyun’s note, I realized something.

‘My preparations so far aren’t enough.’

I didn’t make any big plans in preparation for the Gwanghwamun Dungeon break. First of all, the DMC Riverview Xi was a relatively safe place. And in the past, the Namgajwadong area was mostly unharmed by the Gwanghwamun Dungeon break. That was why I planned on waiting it out, laying low and recovering my stamina until the Fire Giants disappeared.

The moment I comprehended Ham Sohyun’s precognitive note, I changed my mind.

‘That alone won’t be enough.’

There was a high chance this calamity would be a little different from the break I knew. I had to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

By doing my best, starting right now.

So Yoohyun jabbed his phone screen with his finger.

“Darn it.”

With his formidable build, even his finger seemed to be made of strong muscles. Next to him, Sunhwa looked like a tiny cicada sticking to an old tree. Holding a cup of cola with both hands, she slurped from the straw as she asked, “What’s wrong, mister?”

“I’ve got a ton of DMs.”

“DMs?”

Yoohyun showed her his screen. DM: direct message. It was a messaging function from the social media Yoohyun was diligently partaking in these days.

“Whoa. Are these all demands that you pay compensation?”

“Looks like it.”

Sunhwa shook her head. “Idiots. The Guardian Tower is a good thing; they don’t even know.”

“It hasn’t been proven yet that it’s a good thing, after all.”

“Even so, why are they asking you to pay up? Sungshin is doing all the reconstruction.”

“Mm.” Yoohyun scratched his head. “No idea.”

Ahn Seohye, who was quietly eating a hamburger next to them, volunteered the answer. “You’re an easy target.”

Yoohyun frowned, but nodded shortly afterwards. “Yeah, you’re right. I must be an easy target. In any case, they’re all screaming at me to pay up, saying they’ll sue me or whatever…”

His gaze suddenly moved to Sunhwa and Seohye, alternating between the two.

“Hey, you two.”

Sunhwa and Seohye looked up at Yoohyun at the same time.

“Yes?”

“…”

The two of them were still chewing. They were on their third hamburger. Yoohyun pointed a very meaty finger at Sunhwa.

“Would you sit on your thumbs if something like this happened to Hyungnim?”

These two girls were just chomping on hamburgers while remarking on his hapless situation like idle spectators. They didn’t seem to have an inkling of interest in his sorry plight.

“Answer me, would you?”

Sunhwa scowled. You could feel intense rage from her expression alone. “I would beat them all up to a pulp.”

“…”

Yoohyun was dumbfounded into speechlessness. Girl, wipe the ketchup and mayonnaise off your lips before you get all worked up.

“What about you, Seohye?”

After thinking for a moment, Seohye said quietly, “…That oppa wouldn’t get into such a situation in the first place.”

And then, she returned to the task of eating her burger. At that moment, Yoohyun realized that to these two girls, the hamburgers before them were much more important than his trivial predicament. He realized that they were just giving him absentminded answers, and that he wasn’t Kim Hyukjin. That he could never elicit as much interest from these girls as his hyungnim.

And he realized another thing.

“Come to think of it, you’re right.”

Seohye’s words were right. Something like this wouldn’t have happened to his hyungnim to begin with. That was why Hyukjin put up Taeguk Shield as a media barrier, wasn’t it?

“As expected of Hyungnim.” He nodded with a sage look. But then, he suddenly picked up on another oddity.

“Hey, Seohye.”

“…Yes?”

Didn’t this girl call Hyungnim ‘oppa’ just now? She said it so naturally that it almost flew under his radar, but she really did say it.

“Nothing.”

No, but… how come he was mister all the time and Hyungnim was oppa?

“Seohye. I wasn’t gonna bring it up, but…”

“…”

“How come you called Hyukjin ‘oppa’?”

“When did I do that?”

“You called him oppa earlier.”

“I never said that.”

Seohye’s face went hard, to the point that if Hyukjin had seen, he would have said that was the face of the ‘Red Demon’. Yoohyun wiped the sweat trickling down his forehead.

“Fine, fine, don’t glare at me so coldly. I’m about to piss myself.”

“…”

Yoohyun didn’t notice that the tips of Seohye’s ears were red, and that the hamburger she was clutching had a finger-sized hole in it. Feeling embarrassed by Seohye’s silence, Yoohyun averted his gaze, rubbing his stomach.

“Somehow I feel a bit bloated today.”

He might as well eat some hamburgers. Today, he would take it easy and only eat nine.

* * *

Taeguk Shield issued a warning.

–The Gwanghwamun Dungeon will break.

However, they didn’t know when.

–Please be sure to look up the shelters in the Gwanghwamun area and prepare for the dungeon break.

The current number one guild in Korea, Taeguk Shield, was working hard to publicize and warn the people. Half a year after the Tutorial, people knew that the world was no longer a safe place.

“I mean, I do know it’s dangerous, but…”

“We still have to go to work.”

And yet, they couldn’t completely block off the Gwanghwamun area. That wasn’t what Kim Hyukjin wanted, either. If the Gwanghwamun area was evacuated and blocked off, loss of life could be avoided in that area. But that would only open the doors for even greater damage elsewhere.

Some people accepted Taeguk Shield’s warning.

“I heard Sooyoung asked for time off after hearing what Taeguk Shield said?”

They made preparations just in case. But many others knowingly ignored the warning. They disparaged and cursed the people who heeded the warning.

“What kind of nonsense is that? And tell me, how do they know when a dungeon will break? What, would you start hiding now from a typhoon that’s coming next year?”

“Exactly. Argh, they’re just being selfish. They only think about themselves.”

A few days passed after Taeguk Shield gave the warning about the Gwanghwamun Dungeon break. It was the middle of November, and the weather had suddenly turned cold. There were many companies clustered around the Gwanghwamun, and countless people would pour out of the buildings at noon for lunch.

“Brr, it’s cold.”

“Yeah, seriously. Why’s it so cold all of a sudden?”

People closed their jackets, walking in groups of two and three to go eat their lunch.

“Hm? What’s that?”

Someone pointed past the statue of Yi Sun-sin.

“Has there been a fire?”

“Huh? Fire?”

People recalled Taeguk Shield’s warning.

–As a sign of the Gwanghwamun Dungeon break, flames will start to burn on the three doors.

The burning doors had appeared in the precognitive dream of a Precognitive Dreamer.

“Taeguk Shield’s warning was real?”

“Y-Yeah, guess so…?”

–If you see flames, run. You must find out where the nearby shelters are in advance.

–Please be sure to run away.

The people who had looked up where the shelters were started running towards them, heading for the underground subway. Commotion broke out in the Gwanghwamun area.

Some people were very out of the loop. Even though Taeguk Shield publicized their warning very extensively via social media and mass media, they still didn’t know what kind of situation was occuring. More people were disinterested in the world than one might have expected.

“Excuse me, why are you running all of a sudden… HEY! If you bump into someone, you should apologize—!”

Some people just started running along with the others, while some stood about in a bewildered daze. Everyone reacted differently to the portent of the break.

[The Gwanghwamun Dungeon has not been cleared.]
The flames surged up even more fiercely. Black smoke filled the Gwanghwamun area. The Players in the area heard notices.

[The Gwanghwamun Dungeon’s break is beginning.]
The Gwanghwamun. It was the southern main gate, one of the four gates of the wall enclosing the Gyeongbokgung Palace. The gate with three doors blazed with three flames.

At the same time, the Precognitive Dreamer Ham Sohyun had a nightmare.

“AHHHHH!”

She woke up with a scream. Her back was completely drenched in sweat. Her hand began to write down a ‘precognitive note’ like it was possessed, shaking terribly.

“It… has changed.”

Sohyun knew why. It was because she wrote the precognitive note, and that note went into someone’s hands. In other words, because she divulged the future.

In the first future she saw, the ‘three fire demons’ disappeared automatically after a set time. But in the dream she just had, it was different. It was a future where they didn’t disappear on their own. Where… someone had to extinguish them.

A little time passed.

The world came to know that three monsters emerged due to the Gwanghwamun Dungeon break.

A constant stream of shocking news that the Gwanghwamun area had become a sea of blood was relayed. Even a helicopter was shot down. Neither the military nor the police could do anything. Taeguk Shield, of course, did not make an appearance. The casualties hadn’t yet been totaled, but the bodies on the streets indicated that there were at least hundreds of dead.

Hyukjin heard of the tragedy through the news, and he realized. He realized what had changed and how, as well as what he had to do now. He didn’t see anything with Future Sight or Precognitive Eye, nor did he have a precognitive dream. He simply instinctively knew what was happening.

He gathered his party members. They were all living in the same building, so it didn’t take long to get everyone together. He began talking right away.

Sung-gu’s eyes widened, and he trembled from head to toe. Cold sweat ran down his back.

“Fuck. Are you serious, Hyukjin…?!”