Memorize - Episode 20
20 A Brief Parting
Thanks for this. My throat was dry, and you even bought me a beer. I don't know how to thank you. What's your name...? Huh? Kim Su-hyun? Could it be the one from the small city of Muel? I've heard of you! The story from the Cave of Screams is famous... Hehe. Meeting such a celebrity and being treated to beer, I can't just sit quietly. Right. I'll tell you a story. Want to hear it?
Huh? You don't need it? Wait. Just listen for a bit, even if it's short. You'll surely find it interesting. There are widespread rumors that even the Soul Commander, who's currently at the height of his power in the big city, obtained his abilities during the Trial of Passage. Yeah, that Soul Commander. Everyone in the Hollow Plane has gone through the Trial of Passage anyway. Come on, sit down. The angels have meddled a lot in various places, and one of those places is the Trial of Passage.
There's quite a backstory to it, you know. Think about it. Back then, everyone was just struggling to survive, so who would wander around monster-infested areas for 7 days? But there were some crazy folks. They excitedly searched every nook and cranny of the map for all 7 days. This inevitably increases the chances of encountering the boss monster of the Trial of Passage. Huh? What am I talking about? You haven't encountered one? Looks like Kim Su-hyun was quite diligent. What I mean is... Before that, could I get another beer? Hehe... Thanks!
Remember. You surely remember the yellow-roofed and blue-roofed buildings, right? Yeah. Yellow is for Rest Rooms, blue is for Save Points. When you enter, the first thing you see is a warning sign, right? You can't stay in a Rest Room for more than a day, and you can't stay in a Save Point for more than two days. If you stay longer, there's a 100% chance a boss monster will appear. Ah~ It still gives me chills. Looking like an alien, chewing on people like they're delicious...
Yeah. I've encountered one. What else could I do? I ran for my life. The funny thing is, if you simply count the points, there's one more besides the Starting, Rest, and Save Points. First time hearing this? No wonder. Where is it, you ask?
If you cross through the forest on the outskirts of the map, you'll come across a big road. I still remember that bumpy path. But you can't go down from there. It's crawling with Wraiths. So you end up going up, and you'll find a city. But honestly, who would go that far? People don't even want to enter the forest. And even if you did enter the city, few have come out alive. That place is called the Trap Point. Literally, a trap point.
The Trap Point city has all modern facilities and plenty of food. It's a place that makes you nostalgic for Earth. It cleverly manipulates people's psychology to the point where you really don't want to leave.
Warning sign? There is one. But it's different from the warning signs at other points. It's written so simply that you might think it's nothing important. Anyway, that city is extremely clever in manipulating human psychology. It makes you not want to leave, you see. In the end, many users who discover that place end up settling down. They think they can survive the 7 days there easily. The moment you settle, it's over.
Eventually, after 2 days, on the third day... You can guess what happens, right? Hehe. Huh? How do I know all this? Haha... Well. Let's just drink more.
As afternoon came, I could see the day gradually darkening. It was a bit too early to call it early evening. I had thought it was darker than usual in the forest, but now even the clouds were emitting a dark color, making me wonder what would happen if it started raining.
Walking along the bumpy road, I was getting impatient, wondering when I would see a village. It seemed necessary to increase my walking speed a bit. By simply circulating magic through my legs, my speed increased significantly. As I moved my feet quickly, I recalled the moment when I had contemplated the past phenomenon with my Third Eye.
It was very brief, just 1 second, but from the scene I saw, I could somewhat guess what had happened to my companions. The scene I saw was this: Ahn Hyun was running with Ahn Sol on his back, having abandoned his long sword and shield. His face looked very urgent, as if something was desperately pressing.
And Lee Yoo-jung, visible behind them, had a rather ambiguous expression. She was chasing after Ahn Hyun with a face that was hard to tell whether she was worried or angry. Only Kim Han-byeol maintained a calm face, picking up the sword and shield Ahn Hyun had discarded and following them from the very back.
In the end, whether it was an attack or something else, it was clear that some harm had come to my companions, and something had happened to Ahn Sol in the process. So I was also heading in the direction they had run. Since it was a path made by human hands, I thought I would surely come across a village if I kept going. And there was a high possibility of reuniting with Ahn Hyun's group at that point.
What on earth had attacked them like that? What had happened to make them run with such urgent faces? My curiosity kept growing. However, racking my brains now wouldn't yield any answers. I decided to listen to their story later and increased my walking speed again.
In the midst of walking, something cold dropped on me, gently wetting my cheek. I stopped for a moment and looked up at the sky to see raindrops rushing towards my face.
Plop. Plop. Plop. Plop.
Seeing the intermittent raindrops, I reflexively wiped my wet cheek. I hoped a village would appear as soon as possible before it started pouring. And fortunately, as if my prayer had reached the heavens, I could see in the distance a cluster of buildings visible to my enhanced eyesight.
My companions had surely entered that village. However, since some villages naturally had monsters distributed in them, I was worried about whether they had entered safely. If I had known this would happen, I should have just dealt with everything at once instead of wasting time.
Meanwhile, the raindrops dotting the road were increasing. I didn't want to walk through the mud made slushy by rain. Reducing my speed and trudging along, closing the distance to the village, I reflexively spread out my magic detection. As I slowly sensed the village, I felt something strange and stopped in my tracks.
"What, what is this?"
I found myself stuttering without realizing it. I gathered myself and sensed more precisely, but the result was the same. Surprised, I quickly raised my magic and instantly entered the village. And when I arrived at the entrance, I gaped at the modern buildings I saw.
'Modern buildings like those on Earth in the Trial of Passage? And so many of them?'
First of all, this village, or rather this city that was hard to call a village, had my companions in it as I had expected. I could feel the presence of four people, and fortunately, it seemed they were all together. That wasn't a problem, but I was feeling confused for two reasons. First, I couldn't sense any monsters in the city. Second, what I saw were modern buildings in a city.
The cities in the Hollow Plane don't have modern building forms. They have building forms that you might see in medieval times. In fact, adapting to this was a task even during my first run through the Trial of Passage. However, what I saw before my eyes now were buildings commonly seen on Earth, standing there plain as day.
My mind became complicated by this unfamiliar experience, but I immediately calmed myself down and decided to observe the situation coolly. The first task for humans entering the Hollow Plane is to adapt to the lifestyle.
Compared to Earth where science was extremely advanced, life in the Hollow Plane couldn't be said to be entirely convenient. To help users adapt to this, even in the Trial of Passage, buildings identical to those in the Hollow Plane were deliberately constructed to make it easier for users to adapt, but this was something I had never heard of or seen before.
Unless the angels had collectively gone mad, there was no way they would place such buildings in the Trial of Passage. However, even after rubbing my eyes and looking again, the cityscape remained unchanged. This meant the angels must be aiming for something. And at that moment, I suddenly remembered a story I had heard from a swordsman in a tavern long ago.
'The Trap Point city has all modern facilities and plenty of food. It's a place that makes you nostalgic for Earth. It cleverly manipulates people's psychology to the point where you really don't want to leave.'
Recalling the Trap Point, I finally felt like I could explain the city before my eyes. Before explaining the Trap Point, I should talk about boss monsters. Simply put, you can't defeat boss monsters in the Hollow Plane. Quite a few people have seen them, and when you listen to them, they all say the same thing unanimously. That you absolutely can't defeat them. That you must run away no matter what.
Boss monsters require conditions to appear. The condition is that they will definitely appear if you stay in a Rest Room for more than a day, or in a Save Point for more than two days. In other words, it was nothing less than a warning from the angels not to settle down thinking you've found a safe place, but to keep moving.
I felt goosebumps rising. And I understood why there was no one around and why it was so quiet when I first saw this city. And if I thought about why, despite the high level of my companions at the start, except for Ahn Sol, none of them could be seen in the Hollow Plane, connecting it with the city before my eyes, I could infer one possibility. No matter how excellent their abilities were, they couldn't face a boss monster.
I let out a deep sigh and fully entered the city. While there was some nostalgia for the buildings I was seeing after 10 years, I needed to find my companions first.
As I entered the city, gray buildings greeted me everywhere. The buildings emitting a gloomy light all around, as if welcoming me to a dark city, really irritated me.
The thick scent of death that only someone with seasoned experience could sense. How many people had died in these buildings?
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