A few hours later, Van visited the Landlord Alliance.
Screams erupted. The reader was too far away to hear was they were saying but could easily guess the content.
[The green zone has been destroyed.]
[The character Gong Pildu's private land has been destroyed.]
Soon after, Kim Dokja saw the man come back.
"It's done."
"…Nobody tried to stop you?"
Actually, they were probably too scared to dare oppose Van. Especially since most people here knew his strength.
"You didn't kill Gong Pildu, did you?"
Van threw him a strange gaze.
"Of course not."
What kind of person did he think he was?
Meanwhile, the people in the station were panicking.
Kim Dokja and his companions broke the smaller green zones remaining.
[The constellation, 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband', likes your recklessness.]
[The constellation, 'Bald General of Justice', likes your revolution.]
[The constellation, 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon', likes the destruction and chaos.]
[300 coins have been sponsored.]
"Y-You bastard!"
"Kill them!"
Unlike when they faced Van, the incarnations redirected their anger towards Kim Dokja's group.
Not long after, the expected message appeared.
[A bounty scenario has occurred!]
+
[Bounty Scenario – Assassination Commission]
Category: Sub
Difficulty: C
Clear Conditions: The constellations of Channel #BIR-3642 have requested to kill a certain person. Please kill 'Kim Dokja' of Chungmuro Station.
Time Limit: 10 minutes.
Compensation: 2,000 coins.
Failure: None
+
Kim Dokja glanced at Van with concern.
Understanding his gaze, Van resolved his doubts, "Don't worry, I have no intention of participating."
Kim Dokja was reassured.
On the side, Gehrman Sparrow was really considering whether to participate.
'2000 coins…'
Kim Dokja suddenly got chills.
"…?"
Lee Hyunsung stepped out ahead of Kim Dokja and Jung Heewon stayed beside the reader while Yoo Sangah and Lee Gilyoung moved to block any access. It was a defense formed around Kim Dokja. Jung Heewon smiled.
"Now I can pay back my debt."
"Dokja-ssi, we'll try to block it somehow."
Then, Kim Dokja met the gaze of Gehrman Sparrow, who was still considering the bounty scenario.
"…"
"…"
Gehrman chose to make a divination.
Openly, he flipped a coin and recited the divination sentence.
Then, he looked at the results.
Kim Dokja watched the scene in silence. Somehow, fighting Gehrman Sparrow seemed scarier than all of the incarnations in this station combined—excluding Yoo Joonghyuk and Van.
The divination's result was that he shouldn't kill Kim Dokja. Klein put back the coin in his pocket with regret.
Next to him, Shin Yoosoung tilted her head.
…Maybe it was a good thing. He shouldn't create a bloodbath in front of children.
Right. Even if it was for 2000 coins, it was still murder…
Gehrman remembered all the pirates' bounties he had cashed out in the past. If only every pirate could have earned him as much.
Thankfully for Kim Dokja, Gehrman did not seem to take any action.
However, the reader did not relax his vigilance and decided to keep an eye on the madman.
Meanwhile, when people saw that Van did not try to protect Kim Dokja, they started to attack the reader with more confidence.
People showed hostility all around them. The angry landowners and the tenants were blinded by the bounty quest. Kim Dokja watched Lee Gilyoung holding the weapon and opened his mouth.
"Don't be nervous."
He lightly stroked Lee Gilyoung's shoulder and moved towards the railway tracks.
"We don't have to fight them."
[The constellation, 'Secretive Plotter', observes the scene with interest.]
System messages appeared to everyone present.
[All green zones in this region have been destroyed and the main scenario has collapsed.]
[The difficulty is automatically adjusted according to the remaining schedule of the scenario.]
[The scenario content is updated!]
+
[Main Scenario #3 – Emergency Defense]
Category: Main
Difficulty: B-
Clear Conditions: All the green zones in the region are destroyed and the monsters that were going to be created in the remaining days have suddenly run wild. Survive against the flood of monsters for the remaining time.
Duration: 8 hours.
Compensation: 1,000 coins.
Failure: ―
+
[The emergency defense has begun!]
"W-What?"
The people approaching Kim Dokja started screaming. The cries of monsters were heard. The feast of monsters moved like an angry wave.
"Crazy! What the hell is this?"
The platform of line 3 quickly became a mess. The faces of the people became speculative as they watched the monsters coming from all sides. The bounty scenario was completely forgotten about.
Grrrr!
"Go to the transfer route!"
Kim Dokja started jumping up the transit stairs with his party (Van flew over them). By the time they reached the upper level, people were blocking the path.
"What? Get out of the way!"
"Do you want to fall?"
Kim Dokja kicked some of the followers and pulled out a blade. The people were surprised by the White Pure Star Energy blade and backed away.
"You haven't grasped the situation yet."
"W-What?"
"Even if you come up, you won't be able to survive."
There was a sense of despair in the expressions of the people. There were no more rooms. Now there were no more safe zones from the monsters in Chungmuro.
"What should we do?"
"What else? Fight."
"Don't speak crazy words! This is all because of you! If you hadn't broken our rooms…!"
Kim Dokja triggered the Blade of Faith and used it on the transfer stairs.
Kwarurung!
"Uwaaaaack!"
Gehrman watched the situation unfolding.
The centre of the staircase fell with a large sound, along with the people. It was cruel.
"Crazy! Quickly find another staircase! Quickly!"
Lee Hyunsung was already smashing the other staircases.
Gehrman saw the people struggle as they were stuck with the monsters.
Lee Jihye approached Kim Dokja and asked.
"Ahjussi, this isn't what you told me. If you leave it like this…"
The lower floor was becoming pandemonium. At this rate, everybody would all be killed. Whether it was from the monsters or using each other's bodies as a stepping stone to come upstairs.
A scene orchestrated by one person.
Keeping a cold mask on, Gehrman's gaze turned to the one in question.
Kim Dokja.
"Hey Gong Pildu. How long are you going to stand there?"
With a satisfied face, he addressed the people below, relishing in his position of superiority.
As if he enjoyed this situation where people suffered and everyone's lives were at his mercy.
Gehrman was thoughtful.
Should he stop following his divinations?
Unfortunately, when he had tried divining the reason why he should stay near the man, his divinations failed. Kim Dokja seemed connected to a higher existence. If only he could access Sefirah Castle, Klein should be able to pry deeper.
Gehrman tried releasing Shin Yoosoung's hand, but her hold only became tighter.
Turning his attention to the child, Gehrman looked at her. He covered the bloody scene below with illusions and put his hand on her head reassuringly.
Then, Shin Yoosoung finally released her hold on him.
Leaving her behind, Gehrman approached Kim Dokja.
The 10 minutes weren't over yet. The bounty scenario was still in action.
Kim Dokja was currently focused on the situation below.
At that moment, Gehrman Sparrow saw Van smiling while looking at the chaos. He briefly frowned.
There was another crazy person here.
Why was he surrounded by so many dangerous people?
Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk, and also Van…
'Was an apocalypse the ideal environment to make people's character development go wrong?' Klein lampooned.
Lee Jihye looked at Van with a judging gaze, taking a step back.
"Why are you smiling?"
Noticing his expression, Van's expression went back to being emotionless.
He explained, "I like that the staircases were destroyed."
Lee Jihye frowned even more. Due to the destroyed staircases, a lot of people were now in trouble and on the brink of dying.
Van felt like there was a big misunderstanding.
"I just really dislike staircases," he clarified.
Lee Jihye narrowed her eyes even more. She clearly didn't believe him.
"…"
Van ignored Lee Jihye and refocused on the situation.
Thanks to Kim Dokja—despite the fact that everything had been caused by Kim Dokja in the first place—things were settling down as Gong Pildu had taken the lead in fighting monsters. Yoo Sangah was using her Binding Thread to rescue the ones who didn't have the strength to fight anymore as well.
At that moment, an accident that nobody could have expected occurred.
Colliding with someone, Kim Dokja started to lose his balance.
Van saw the reader's body lean toward him. At this rate, he would fall on him and they would both collapse to the ground. Lenoch certainly didn't want to end up in such an embarrassing position.
Reflexively, he used magic and redirected Kim Dokja's body to the side.
"…"
Lee Jihye's eyes widened.
Unexpectedly, there was also someone on the side.
As Kim Dokja suddenly fell toward him, Klein didn't have enough time to avoid it.
Then, the inevitable happened.
Kim Dokja fell on top of Gehrman Sparrow.
Due to bad luck, with this angle, their lips touched each other.
Van's expression became strange.
[The 'Fourth Wall' is violently shaking.]
Kim Dokja's mind was blank, completely shocked.
Lee Jihye covered her mouth and Yoo Sangah immediately put her hand in front of Lee Gilyoung's eyes. (But Shin Yoosoung was standing at a distance, so she saw everything.)
[The constellation, 'Demon-like Judge of Fire', blushes.]
[The constellation, 'Demon-like Judge of Fire', found a new ship.]
[The constellation, 'Demon-like Judge of Fire', is squealing.]
[A constellation who likes to change genders' eyes sparkle.]
[The constellation, 'Demon-like Judge of Fire', questions what your skill that lets you know people's thoughts tells you right now.]
[1000 coins have been sponsored.]
Messages from the constellations started to flood their ears.
Jung Heewon was dumbfounded but also looked amused. She tried hard to control her laughter.
Kim Dokja finally came back to his senses as Gehrman pushed him away.
'I'm really going to die this time.'
The reader hurriedly distanced himself.
At the same time, Gehrman was frozen in place, his expression unreadable. (His mind had short-circuited.)
Then, slowly, Gehrman's eyes widened as he realized the situation.
'…Did my first kiss just get stolen by a guy?'
Jung Heewon was unable to hold back her laughter any longer.