Solo Clear – Chapter 20: Internet. Envoy. Trial.

Posted on August 18, 2017 by kuhaku — 3 Comments ↓

After reading the information that was displayed on the phone, it seemed like people in the real world were aware of the stages in this place.
After that, there were posts written by survivors that managed to return safely after completing the third stage.
There was one survivor that wrote their entire saga online.
As expected, the reactions weren’t that great.

[Lee Sung Joon: What a load of crap. You should dream in your sleep.]
[Lee Hyun Wook: Just from seeing your profile picture, you look pretty old, so you should grow up. I’m embarrassed for you.]
[Choi  Ji Na: If what you say is true, then prove it. If not, then please delete your post before the entire country bashes on you for it.]

The people that read their post posted comments that were verbally abusive.
In the end, the original poster couldn’t stand by any longer and declared war on the people that doubted him.

[Kim Woo Joo: Come out to the Seoul Han River Park at 3 P.M. tomorrow. I’ll show that what I’m saying is not a lie.]

The reader’s’ goal was to embarrass this guy, so they spread his post on other sites.
When it was 3 P.M.
There were 500 people at the location that he stated in his post.

Since there were a lot of people, many of them believed that Kim Woo Joo ran away.

However, he appeared.
It was obvious that people were surprised by his appearance.

“A place called a Stage really exists. I’ll show all of you the power that I received from there.”

A staff suddenly appeared in his empty hand and he created electricity when he grabbed it.

“That’s just a magic trick. It’s obviously a trick.”

Zap!!

Kim Woo Joo purposely released it next to the person that made the comment.
A small hole was formed and the grass around it had turned black.

“You can’t do this with magic.”
“Woah!!!”

The people started clapping and cheering as if they were watching some fun show.
Thanks to their reaction, Kim Woo Joo decided to show the skills that he had.
Even the people that kept on saying that there was some kind of trick ended up staying quiet.

Through this event, people in the real world were aware of this world.
Other than Kim Woo Joo, there were other survivors that started appearing one by one.

The government found out that the reason why a lot of people were disappearing was because of the Stage.
They started asking for information about it and there were even trades happening with the items they found here.

Also, large corporations thought of this undeveloped stage as the Blue Ocean. (T/N: Look up Blue Ocean Strategy)
There was a good amount of people that would gather the survivors and offer them a huge compensation in exchange for using them as soldiers.
Through the survivor’s’ actions, many have started using their imaginations.

They expect an item that can cure all diseases or a potion that provides eternal youth.
They believe that the things that usually occur in movies can happen in real life as well.

An 80-year-old CEO must’ve had the time of his life when he was young.
There was an article about him and how he spent all of the company’s money so that he could become young again.
In the article, the CEO’s pleased expression made it look like he touched a lot of women back in the day.

If something like that really existed, the person that obtained it would keep it.
There’s no way they would sell it to someone.

“Does it exist?”

Since I was so busy trying to survive, I was never given the time to reflect on myself.
It’s not like I participated in this with some sort of goal in mind.
I somehow got caught up in all of this and ended up here after trying to do some volunteer work.

They’re just talking nonsense since they don’t know anything.

Despite reading the article, I didn’t have the urge to find an item like that.
But, the items that those people mentioned might actually exist in this world.
However, I might just lose my life if I tried to find it.

[Oh Jin Tae (13-years-old): I’m going to drop out of school and prepare to enter the stage.]
[Sung Soo Gil (19-years-old): I think I failed my SATs. Good thing too. Survivors that experienced the Stage, please tell me how to enter!!]

Instead of taking the easy path, these young kids were trying to enter here, thinking that this was the easiest road to success.
They’ll only understand the hardship of this place once they realize that their life is on the line.
And when they start crying about how they want to go home, it’ll already be too late.
Unless they survive through the third stage.

I’m 21-years-old and pretty young, so what kind of nonsense are they spitting out?

My phone became useless after I read up to that part.
It was short, but it felt like I got a lot out of it, so I smiled.

“There’s 23 hours and 17 minutes left until the second attack.”

If I defend the second attack, the second stage will end.
It didn’t seem that difficult after trying to defend the first attack.

“Then, I’ll just take a nap first.”

I dragged my exhausted body and plopped on top of the bed.
It didn’t take a long time for me to fall asleep. As I closed my eyes, I instantly fell asleep.

***
After preparing to enter the ruin, I headed towards the graveyard, but as I was about to pass through.
There were holes within the graveyard and it was as if grave robbers dug up the bodies. This made me let out a deep sigh.
The Undead that I took down during the first attack were buried in this location.
They were called Undead, but in the end, they were humans and that made me feel a bit guilty.
I looked at the remaining coffins and silently prayed for them.

They were killed unfairly and were being used in the stage. It was the worst ending for them.

Even after they died, they couldn’t rest in peace because they were being used like puppets to bring down the other survivors.
I felt sorry for them.
In that sense, I was relieved that I was still alive.

It was here.

The skeletons that I took down haven’t disappeared and still remained in front of the door.
It was like they were trying to protect it even after they had died.
Or it could be that they were created that way by the system.

“I’m here.”

The door that was in front of the ruin was a grand castle gate that looked like it was used during the Middle Ages.
From the watchtower, I noticed that there was a small village behind it.
So I wondered whether a large gate like this was really necessary.
Honestly, it wasn’t that big of a deal, so I quickly forgot about it.

I took out the key from my inventory.
Even though I didn’t do anything, the key and the door connected together like magnets and a small light emitted from it.

“Will you enter the ruin?”

I answered without any hesitation.

“Yes.”

No one was behind it to open it, so it seemed like the gate had a mind of its own when it opened.

I was able to see the inside of the ruin.
It was safe to say that the word, ruin, was enough to describe the situation of this entire place.

The buildings would turn to dust with just one kick and the sound of the wind that blew between them made an eerie sound.
That was all that was in here.

My expectations of finding a treasure here had dropped and I was slowly starting to feel frustrated.
After searching through a couple of houses.
A frown appeared on my face as I was at a loss for words.
The more stressed I was getting, the more painful my left arm felt. It felt like someone was poking it with a needle.
If I don’t find anything here, that would mean that I lost my left arm for nothing.

After feeling that I should search the remaining houses, I thoroughly inspected them.
I reached a broken fountain that was located in the middle of the village.

Swoosh!!

The wind that was blowing suddenly gathered in front of me and started tangling against each other.
It was slowly starting to take form.

Boom!!

A black wave suddenly exploded and an envoy in the shape of a skeleton was seen wearing tattered clothes.
Out of all the opponents that I’ve faced, this one was so intimidating that it made the others look weak.

Do I need to take this guy down?

Taking out my weapon so that I can counterattack was what I needed to do first.
My body froze in place after seeing them, but I managed to pull out the sword moments later.

“Where are your teammates?”
“…..”
“Gather them here. I’ll then give you the quest.”

If this guy planned on killing me, this match would be over in a second.
However, the envoy looked at me with interest and didn’t seem hostile.

“I’m sorry, but I came here by myself.”
“Ha! Ha! Ha! You will be killed if you lie.”

I could react when the envoy’s scythe was near my throat.
I managed to stand up straight despite of my legs shaking due to the loss of energy.

“I don’t lie if my life is on the line.”

In order to see whether I was lying or not, they used their sense skill on the entire ruin.
They were surprised when they realized that the only living being that entered this place was the one standing before them.

“Where are my henchmen?”
“If you’re talking about the guards at the front, I took them down.”

Took them down? It didn’t sound very logical.
In order to take those two down, at least 10 survivors need to team up and they just might have a chance of bringing them down.
It would be understandable if they didn’t acknowledge the fact that the soldiers were taken down by just one man.

“It doesn’t look like you’re lying…to think that the first one to enter this place was a human that survived by themselves. Ha! Ha! Ha!”
“It wasn’t easy and I lost my left arm because of that fight.”
“If it’s your arm that you’re worried about, don’t worry. If you pass my trial, I’ll make that left arm for you. Not only that, but I’ll give you my powers too.”

After the envoy spoke, they were thinking about how they should torment this human.
The trial they prepared was suitable for groups.
But since this one was by himself, they needed to come up with something.

“Okay, this should do.”

The envoy called out a soul that was asleep during the second stage and summoned them in front of him.
Green smoke gathered and when the smoke disappeared, a woman appeared.
It was Oh Hana. She died during the first stage and through the envoy’s power, she was temporarily alive.

“Fight this woman and kill her!! This is your trial.”

After reading the human’s mind.
The person that he felt bad for the most was this woman.
A nasty smile appeared on the envoy’s face and became excited at the thought of watching this man be in pain.

However, even though the man was looking at the woman, they didn’t show any reaction.
They took their stance with an expressionless face.

“This is…the trial? Got it.”

<Internet. Envoy. Trial> End.

Staff :
Jen (TL)
Kuhaku (PR)