Logging out is too Hard
Episode 5
"Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!"
Woojin started running as fast as he could through the bushes like a madman.
"......What the hell is that!"
His heart felt like it was going to explode at any moment.
But if he stopped, he'd die right then and there.
"Fucking......!!!"
Not knowing if he's cursing at the monster that's following him, or at the fact that he's about to die for the sake of playing a game, but whatever it is, it's coming out of his mouth in a steady stream.
"Leave me...... alone."
Raul's voice sounded strained as he was being supported.
"If you have the strength to say that, walk a little harder."
Woojin gritted his teeth and pulled Raoul a little closer to him.
'So light.'
Maybe it's because there's nothing to hold on to.
Snap.
Woojin looked at Raoul's right arm.
There was no longer a hand left to hold the sword.
"Ugh......!!!"
The potion he had on him had barely managed to staunch the bleeding, but it was impossible to reattach the severed arm.
With each step he took, the blood gushing from his side soaked his clothes.
It was only a moment.
The creature emerged from the darkness and swung his sword in a clumsy fashion.
But to Raoul's surprise, the blade cut off his hand on the spot, and furthermore, it lodged in his lower back.
It was a crude swing, devoid of any swordsmanship, but it was so fast that the already senile man could not react.
'You'll die at this rate.'
I knew I couldn't hold Raoul's fading strength for much longer.
As if playing a joke on them, the monster was stalking around, inching closer and closer to them.
"What should we do?"
"......what?"
"What do we do to catch that monster!"
Woojin's shout was ragged and breathy.
"Did you forget what I said earlier? He's a monster, and he's not one we can catch!"
"So, we're just going to die?"
Woojin asked firmly.
"You said you wanted to live! Didn't you say you'd go to the Lion King's Bastion? I said the same thing, I don't want to die!"
He shouted.
"If I stab you in the heart, will you die, or do I have to break your limbs?"
Woojin's shout snapped Raoul out of his reverie.
Raoul looked at him.
His eyes.
The will to fight.
Raoul nodded wordlessly.
As if he now realised what he had to do.
"Now, wait! What are you doing?"
He unsheathed the sword at his waist and thrust it into Woojin's chest.
"A man who lives must live."
"Raoul!!!"
He shoved Woojin roughly.
The path was steep on both sides, and Woojin, off-centre, fell straight down.
"......kuck!!!"
After rolling a few metres, Woojin slammed into a tree and came to a stop.
"Raoul!!!!"
He called his name over and over, but there was no answer.
"Shit......!!! Shit......!!!"
Just a few hours ago, in this horrible world, he had had a glimmer of hope.
But.......
"Damn it!!!"
Who to blame?
God? Yourself? The game? Or...... that monster?
Kwak-
Woojin bit his lip as he hugged Raoul's sword.
"We have to get back up there somehow......."
It was then.
Crackle-.
An alien sound in the silence.
At that moment, he looked up with trembling eyes.
"......!!!"
A red glare looking down at him from the hill.
Thud- thud- thud- thud-!
Koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo---!!!!
Woojin doubted his eyes.
A monster was sliding down the slope, frantically running towards him.
"Holy shit!!!!"
* * *
'Where do we go?'
Woojin shook his head, searching for a forest path.
'We have to get past him.'
Head-on, no chance.
We have to take advantage of the gap.
'There must have been a goblin nest around here.......'
A field dungeon in the form of a maze.
It seemed like the best place to try and outrun that monster.
"Ugh!"
Woojin's body jerked forward as he ran like a madman.
He tripped over a tree root and rolled on the ground.
"Ugh......!!!"
He gasped and choked, but he couldn't stop.
Sprawled on the ground, he managed to get to his feet and look up.
[Krrrr.......]
He could hear the monster's cries.
'......there it is.'
Woojin's eyes widened as he saw the collapsed cave.
The cave was just as ruined as the village, but fortunately, the entrance was still open.
Without a second thought, he ducked inside.
"Whoooo...... whoooo......."
I wondered if the goblins were all dead.
The old cave seemed to be almost completely devoid of any traces of demons.
Only the relatively low ceilings and the ant-hole-like passageways here and there gave away the fact that the goblins still lived here.
"Stench......."
Does it belong to goblins?
The smell of rotting flesh made him want to leave at once, but Woojin tore off the sleeve of his robe and covered his mouth, ducking back into the cave.
"Huh?"
As he walked through the cave, he scratched his head as if something was strange.
"...... What is this?"
The rotting, broken wooden table looked too tall for a goblin to use.
And an assortment of experimental tools stacked on one side.
The boss room, where the Goblin Lord was supposed to be, had things that didn't belong.
Traces of human life.
Thump, thump.
I dusted off a book lying on the floor.
Unfortunately, the book's cover was scrawled with unrecognisable characters and symbols.
In a game, I would have had no problem communicating between races for convenience'.......
'There can't be an automatic translation system here.'
But as soon as he saw the five-pointed star on the cover above the obscuring dust, and the picture of a goat imprinted on it, he knew what this book was.
"Black magic?"
A memory flashed through Woojin's mind.
"......No way."
'Is this where the warlock who created the headless monster lived?'
Gulp-.
At that moment, Woojin swallowed dryly.
He wondered if they had entered a more dangerous place.
'......But maybe there's something that can give us a clue.'
Fortunately, once inside the cave, he could no longer hear the creature.
He began to cautiously search the room.
Sigh.
He moved a pile of books off the floor,
'Magic circle?'
A faintly drawn figure appeared on the floor inside.
Of course, he didn't know what the magic circle on the floor meant, but he could tell that something was happening here.
'A headless monster...... wearing armour.'
Maybe it was human in life.
'I wonder if it was the warlock Raoul was talking about.'
Woojin stood up from his seat, leaving the magic circle on the floor, breathless.
[◆◀......!! ▲■▶●!!!]
At that moment, there was an eardrum-splitting roar.
'Damn it! Did they find it?'
It was an unpleasant sound, like scratching on rough metal.
I couldn't understand what it was saying, but I knew it was looking for me.
There was nowhere to hide.
And there was only one way out.
'We have to get out of here fast.'
Kwaaaaaaang---!!!
But just as he was about to step into the exit, a worn blade shot out at him.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
As if searching for him, the blade wielded by the monster repeatedly struck the sides of the exit.
'Damn it!'
Woojin took a stance.
He was pointing Raoul's sword at the creature, but the tip was trembling uncontrollably.
That's to be expected.
This isn't a game, this is real life.
The image of that old blade digging into his throat repeatedly pounded in his head.
The image of his own sticky blood spurting out.......
It was horrible to think about.
He appeared.
Woojin barely dodged the sword as it swung wildly.
"Damn it......!!!"
Boo-boo-!!!
The monster's sword fell down on his head.
Kwajik-!!!
The wind pressure created by the sword that narrowly missed his shoulder made Woojin's legs give out and he tried to fall.
'.....?'
But at that moment, he felt a strange strength in his legs as he stepped out to steady himself.
Kagang-!!!
He shot forward like a bullet and swung the sword in his hand.
Kwagagagagang---!!!
With a loud roar, the monster's body shook under his attack.
Kung-!!!
The monster's legs were pushed back a few steps.
'What, what?'
Quickly closing the distance, Woojin looked at the creature with a bewildered expression.
'Did you just use that.......'
It was a sloppy form, but the power of the slashing sword was completely different from before.
'It was a warrior skill, a 'strike'.
'It worked.....'
It was the first time.
Woojin looked at his hand in surprise for a moment.
"Whoops......."
He couldn't afford to be surprised.
He looked at the monster coming towards him.
Clunk-clunk-clunk.
One step closer, and Woojin took a step back.
The tension was tense.
Woojin focused all his attention on the monster's old sword.
Boom-!!!
The creature's sword moved,
Tadadadadad-!
Without missing the moment, Woojin plunged into the creature's arms with all his strength.
'If I could use my warrior skill......!'
Kwaang-!!!
He didn't even need to figure out how.
His body and head moved instinctively, as if he remembered it from the beginning.
'Dash', the second skill of the warrior.
With explosive speed, Woojin turned to the monster's side and swung his sword with all his might.
"Hhhhhh!!!"
Kwaang-!!!
Another 'bang' and he continued to swing his sword without stopping as the monster's body shook.
"Hmph...... hmph......."
I wonder how many times he swung the sword.
I was out of breath and my head hurt.
"Damn......."
I attacked with everything I had, but it didn't even cut him.
Woojin grimaced as he looked at the creature, still steadfastly blocking the exit.
This was the monster that had killed Raoul.
There was no way he could defeat it.
Only,
'I can't die like this.'
If he could just create a gap for the exit.......
It was time.
Kwiang-!!!!
For the first time, the monster that had been still moved.
"......?!!"
Juruk.......
The blade of the creature's sword grazed his cheek.
Red blood flowed from the wound.
Woojin stared at him, dumbfounded.
'What, what was that?'
He couldn't even react, let alone block the attack.
This was different.
'...... Have you been playing with me all this time?'
Damn it.
Woojin bit his lip in rising anger, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Only crushing fear.
The last rampage had ended in vain, and now all he could do was step back a little further each time it approached.
Tsk-.
Just like that, his back hit the wall,
[Crunch, crunch].
Somehow, the moment he realised there was nowhere to run, his shoulders lifted.
As if he was laughing at himself.
'I'm ...... going to die.'
As hard as I tried, I couldn't think of a way to get away from him.
Bam!
Don't be ridiculous.
If I don't have a way out, I'm going to struggle until I find one.
"Aaaaahhhh!!!!"
Fear became anger, and it moved him.
In that moment,
Wooooooooo.......
To his surprise, the magic circle at his feet began to glow.
"......?!!"
He looked down in surprise.
He continued to move backwards, until he was in the centre of the magic circle drawn on the floor.
"What, what?!"
He couldn't hide his unease at the suddenly activated magic circle.
Shaaaahhhhhhhh!!!
A sharp gust of wind accompanied by a pure white light instantly enveloped him.
'That's.......'
As the dust on the ground disappeared with the gust of wind, Woojin noticed something lying on the wall inside the area where the magic circle was drawn.
A black robe.
And the gnarled bones still inside.
The corpse of a warlock.
"Whoops...... whoops."
I couldn't breathe, as if I were underwater.
My consciousness was fuzzy.
Zing-.
And then the sound of a broken radio pierced his head.
His consciousness was fuzzy, as if he had fallen into the depths of the ocean.
His vision was blurry, and his limbs floated effortlessly, like he was floating.
'......What is this?'
The feeling of falling endlessly, but at the same time rising infinitely.
It was a state of being that was indescribable and unexplained by common sense.
My vision was blurry.
Something, like a curdled pudding, broke through the darkness that was crushing him.
Parrr-.
It was a tiny light, and it flickered rapidly.
"......Whoops?!"
In an instant, the light was thrust into his mouth.
Gulp-.
In an instant, the light travelled down his oesophagus and into his stomach.
* * *
"......Kuluk!!! Kuluk!!!"
His eyes fluttered open.
Woojin gagged, clutching at his throat.
"Woo, woo, woo!"
But all that came out was thick saliva.
"What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know, he's just going through the motions now."
"Tsk tsk......."
I heard people's voices.
I looked up in alarm.
The ruined town was as densely built as ever, and the red sky was as clear as ever.
"This is......."
Woojin looked at them with a blank expression.
[You're logged in].
The notification window that remained in front of his eyes slowly disappeared.
He was in a game.
"Damn......."
He leaned wearily against the fountain in the plaza and closed his eyes.
"Ha...... ha ha."
Still no logout window appeared.
Nothing had changed.
But it was funny.
I was in a game I wanted to get out of so badly.......
Ironically, the realisation that I was in a game actually made me feel better.
"...... Was it a dream?"
He opened his eyes slowly.
Was he tired?
Maybe he was.
He'd been standing in this position for dozens of days.
Creepy-.
At that moment, his body trembled.
Clang-.
The sword he was holding fell to the ground.
Name: Raoul's Dragonfighter Sword
Grade: D
Description: A favourite sword of the dragon hunter Raoul, found in the Dark Forest. The sword has no special abilities, but it is said to be very hard and unbreakable.
▶Attack Power +50
▶Indestructible.
▶Contains Raoul's essence.
Gulp-.
Woojin swallowed dryly.
"......It can't be."
Everything was real.
[Do you want to acquire Raoul's essence].
The moment,
a notification appeared in front of his eyes.