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Hao Yun, with a stern face, was sitting on a bench in a park, looking at his profile panel.
▇▆▅▄▃▂▂▃▄▅▆▇▇ SYSTEM ▇▆▅▄▃▂▂▃▄▅▆▇▇
█▓▒░ PROFILE░▒▓█
Name: Hao Yun
Age: 20/77
Race: Human
Job: None
Task Completed: 1
Penalty Taken: 0
Next Task Update: 18:11:22
█▓▒░ STATS░▒▓█
Strength: 5
Speed: 6
Vitality: 5
Endurance: 4
Intelligence: 6
Willpower: 4
Charisma: 6
System Affinity: 3
Luck: 4
█▓▒░ SKILLS░▒▓█
Cloak Identity( Passive Skill )
"Explain Cloak Identity."
[Skill Cloak Identity: allows the user to hide their true strength, achievements, and Identity from others. Because it's a passive skill, it will be activated all the time.]
"Ability to hide my true strength, doesn't that mean I can be a wolf hiding in a sheep's skin.... wait! that sounds evil, I can be a god pretending to be a human, wait! that sounds too arrogant."
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While Hao Yun kept wondering what he would be, the rest of the world followed; some completed their task, some ignored it, and some simply procrastinated it since they are too hard.
Here, in the government office, the officials were reaching their limits. They have naturally divided themselves into three factions. The first faction wanted to prioritize the Civilization Advancing System above anything else.
The second faction is opposing the idea since they think it could lead to disruption in the country. The third faction is a neutral one since they think both have valid points.
"Do you think this is something you could handle? Not completing these tasks could mean risking tens of thousands of lives, or do you think it's not plausible enough?" Said Director Lee from the National Intelligence Service.
Minister Jang of Internal Affairs refuted, "But, changing our country's whole energy infrastructure in mere 7 days would mean using every single worker available on this task. It would be chaos."
"What do you think, Mr. Jun? " Both asked the President.
"I think both of you have valid points, but we can't delay this matter. If only we had a bit of a hint of this blue screen..."
"It looks like the president himself is in the neutral faction."
Their argument lasted the night.
Director Lee: " Don't everyone think we should make a decision by now?"
(National Police Agency) Director Choi: "Oh! Speaking of decisions, I assume every one of us has access to our individual panel, right?"
"Yeah, but what of it?"
Choi: "How dense can you be? Have you already forgotten we all received our personal tasks with a limit of 24 hours, the time limit should be over, and nothing happened to us?"
"I knew it! The blue panel is some kind of new trick to create panic in this world."
"Me too."
"Me too."
Choi: "Now that I think, it looks like this must be done by some enemy country or mad scientist."
The meeting room, filled with senior officials, began to feel that they were just being tricked.
At that time, many small blue screens appeared, all containing the same message.
▂▃▄▅▆▇█▓▒░ S Y S T E M ░▒▓█▇▆▅▄▃▂
[Reminder: Only 10 seconds remain until the deadline.]
[9...]
[8...]
[7...]
[6...]
[5...]
[4...]
[3...]
[2...]
[1...]
[System expresses its condolences to the Host.]
[Due to failing to complete the system task, Host will receive a penalty...]
[System observation has declared the host either intentionally or didn't even try to complete the task...]
[Undestimating system is not a good thing...]
[Initiating Neutralizing Process]
███████▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
"What?"
"Everyone, did you see it?"
"What will happen to us?"
"Don't worry, it's just trying to scare us. How in the world will this blue screen neutralize us?"
"Will it grow limbs and come to kill us in this room, HaHaHa..."
BOOM!
SPLAT!
"What??"
SPLORCH! SPLORCH! SPLORCH!
"Whaaaaaaa...."
"No, it can't be!! THWACK!"
"Ahaaaaaaa..."
[Neutralization Process Complete]
Just in a brief moment, the meeting room filled with over a hundred senior officials was reduced to just 9.
4 of these 9, including President Jun, were from the neutral faction, while 5 of them were from the system-prioritizing faction.
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Meanwhile, Hao Yun was walking aimlessly on the streets. He didn't have any reason to continue his part-time job, nor did he want to return to his old apartment.
It was like something was eating him from inside, continuously. One side urged him to take revenge, while the other side wanted him to die... in the hope that maybe... he would be able to meet his family in the afterlife.
Just at that moment, Hao Yun coincidentally looked at the electronics shop. A TV screen facing outside.
" LIVE BROADCAST: KOREA INTERNATIONAL NEWS NETWORK"
[Breaking News: Is the world about to end? It is estimated that more than 1 billion people across the world have died because of ignoring the system's individual tasks. ]
[Those who made some progress but still couldn't complete their task received a lower penalty; many are hospitalized because of this.]
[Korea has lost around 3 million people, and almost all ministers of all departments. Luckily, President Jun is still alive and has issued an order to halt all projects for the time being and put every single engineer and worker of the country to build a working green energy infrastructure to power the whole country within 6 days and 12 hours.]
[Exactly what is this blue screen? This Civilization Advancing System? Who is behind it? And what's their motive to do this?]
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Hao Yun made a bizarre expression. He was feeling a blend of surprise, confusion, and rage.
He was numb to the word 'death' by now; it didn't matter to him if the world ended or not; his world had already ended.
While walking, he took a glance at the large system screen floating in the sky. It had something written on it.
█▓▒░ TASK ASSIGNED░▒▓█
[ Nation: South Korea ]
[ Objective: Construct a fully functional, renewable energy infrastructure capable of powering the entire nation without relying on fossil fuels or nuclear sources. ]
[ Deadline: 7 days. ]
[ Conditions: All major cities must be connected to the green grid. Backup systems must auto-activate during peak hours. Energy loss tolerance: 0.5% ]
[ Penalty: For every 5 minutes of system downtime after the deadline, 100 citizens will be selected randomly and will be permanently neutralized. ]
The task had nothing to do with him. But it still hinted to Hao Yun about the upcoming disaster.
Suddenly, he thought, "Speaking of which, how's that guy doing?"
"Can't call him since he's overseas, but at least let's leave a message for him."
Hao Yun:
Dude, are you still alive?
Hao Yun:
Reply to me... if you are.
Sending Mob...
Now, let's see what today's task is...
█▓▒░ TASK ░▒▓█
[Objective (Rare): Obtain 3 Etheral Cores]
[Time Limit: 72 hours]
[Rewards: Random increase in all stats(Maximum 7), Job Change Crystal]
[Penalty: Host will be tortured by Demons for 10 Years]
[Reach Sinseol-dong station]
"T-This... is going on whole another level! But wasn't Sinseol-dong station abandoned a long time ago? Anyways, let's go and see."
With that in mind, Hao Yun rushed to the long-abandoned Sinseol-dong station, though he ended up running into another obstacle.
"Oh god! Why didn't I think of it before?"
"Of course, this station would be sealed."
"What should I do now?"
"Ahhh... Is this the end for me?"
"Should I break the entrance and enter it?"
"No... I can't do that. Authorities will come. Everyone has access to the individual panels. I'm not the only strong one here."
█▓▒░ TASK UPDATED!░▒▓█
[Reached Sinseol-dong station]
[Opening entrance to Earth of the second dimension]
[Giving Host temporary skill "Super Vision"]
[Super Vision: provides the ability to see things that can't be seen by normal human eyes]
"Hmm... second world, huh!"
"See you after three days, Earth."