Chapter 6. Gangnam Station (2)

---

Hansoo thought of the words that Minchul had told him. Minchul was one of the people in the final brigade.

— Whenever there is a group of people getting going, there is a subway station.

— They are all different, and have different structures, but they all go to the third floor.

— You have to go down to the third floor, and there is a subway that hasn’t left yet… you can take it.

He was so curious that he asked.

— How did you know about it?

And then Minchul grinded his teeth.

— At that time, a strong guy wanted to hunt and tried to capture me and my girlfriend… so we ran like crazy downstairs and discovered it by chance. Thanks to that I was able to kill him.

It seemed like a simple suggestion but there was a problem.

This train leaves after one day.

And that’s why it was a hidden piece that needed to be solved by today.

Just falling into a weird place was enough to shock somebody but there will not likely be someone who will crawl into the third floor of a monster-filled cave.

But just getting to the Final Brigade meant that you were an abnormal person and there were about four people who knew about this and they all got something different.

But they all received artifacts.

And they were all very useful during the beginning.

‘Let’s see what comes out’

Eventually Hansoo’s group had their eyes on the entrance that led further down.

Mihee mumbled inwardly.

‘This isn’t… this isn’t Gangnam Station.’

Never had she heard of this entrance while travelling back and forth through Gangnam Station tens of times.

“Are you really going in?”

When Mihee asked with an anxious look as she looked at the entrance which permeated a creepier aura, Hansoo merely shrugged.

“I don’t know either. I’m just going by how I feel. By the way anybody can leave or stop following whenever they want to.”

If one thought about it there was not really a reason to follow him down.

And there was plenty of game around here too.

Since there were many green worms left.

“I’m going in.”

Taesoon said confidently first.

And Mihee, who was contemplating what to do, said while biting down hard.

“I’m going in too.”

‘… She must be feeling pressured.’

Hansoo nodded his head.

She probably understood the situation before.

Someone like her is in a more dangerous situation than others.

Right now, her face was not a blessing but a curse.

If she wasn’t going to slash her face she needed get stronger.

‘Would it be enough even if she slashed her face?’

Hansoo shook his head after seeing Mihee’s body which was almost about to burst.

Jisun and Gangtae, who were a couple, spoke after staring at each other.

“We will stay here. We can just hunt here.”

Hansoo nodded his head.

That was not a bad plan at all.

It’s a good choice to raise your stats while the people higher up are bickering back and forth.

And one of the three people who were fighting on a small scale, Sangjin who was following from behind with a scared expression, opened his mouth as well.

“I will go down too”

Everyone made a surprised face at those words but Sangjin just bit his lips and didn’t say anything.

And with that it was decided that four will stay and three will go down.

Hansoo ruthlessly moved his body downwards.

……

‘He said… it’ll be here when I come down.’

Hansoo, who had come down to the second floor, looked around.

Before coming here he had heard everyone’s individual tutorial area stories.

They were old stories but due to it being their first impactful experience, everyone remembered it to an extent.

‘The results… were all different’

The mobs and landscape in the tutorial area comprise of thousands of different kinds and what was in here was going to be random.

But they all had something in common.

‘As I thought, it exists.’

On the second floor of the train station, a convenience store was always placed there.

As if they were rewarding you.

“Wahhh!”

Mihee shouted as she approached the store.

The lights were off but there were plenty of goods including fresh water inside.

Mihee, Taesoon and Sangjin went in and started to collect some necessities.

“There’s even cigarettes”

What each took were different.

Taesoon took a few kitchen knives that looked like they could be used as a weapon then found a belt like object to hold them. Mihee blushed as she gathered a few goods like sanitation pads cautiously in the corner.

Hansoo, who was looking at that, went into one of the corners of the store.

‘It’s closer to a market than a convenience store…’

Hansoo nodded as he saw pots to bunsen burners and even portable burners.

As Mihee saw Hansoo who was getting ready to boil something in the corner, she asked with a strange look.

“Anyways, why did you bring those?”

Mihee looked at a pouch in Hansoo’s hands with a puckery face.

Hansoo had cut the goblin leather into a suitable size then brought the blood of the green worm within it.

Hansoo didn’t reply to those words and started to weigh the items on the scale meant for mail.

‘It’s been innovated with extreme detail. Anyways it was 800g of green worm blood and 225g of goblin leather.’

Hansoo who had weighed everything with extreme detail, poured the blood in one pot and then ripped up the goblin leather, put it in the same pot and proceeded to boil it.

Soon, when the blood started to boil, something fascinating happened.

The goblin leather started to melt.

‘Good.’

Green worms, when goblins invaded, bit off the goblins and then sprayed blood from an injury in its mouth to melt down the leather.

And goblins, to retaliate, evolved to counter this.

If the blood of the green worm was to touch their leather, it would become poisonous.

‘The two species probably lived in the same area for a long time.’

Whatever happened, the poison made this way showed a powerful might in the beginning.

Hansoo started to carefully smear the dark red liquid onto the blade.

And Taesoon, Sangjin and Mihee who had gathered around watched as if it was fascinating.

“What is he making?”

Taesoon made a slightly suspicious face as he spoke.

And Hansoo replied very simply:

“It’s poison.”

“How do you know the method…”

“Psychic powers, the knowledge is springing up in my head.”

“…”

‘Seriously, I thought my head was going to explode while memorizing these.’

Hansoo shook his head as he thought of Keldian and the alchemist, Rahiman, who had grilled him.

Hansoo’s magic stat was very high but just because the magic stat rose did not mean intellect rose.

Only that the power of the skill increased.

The information Hansoo had painstakingly learned was called ‘combination’ by the adventurers.

Since even though getting items was important, creating and enhancing them was also of great importance.

In the earlier years, there were clans or magi who researched these professionally.

Normally a magi like Keldian learned and produced these but the other three in the group of the last four surviving people, those other than Keldian, went through tons of stress in order to memorize these.

‘Though only I survived in the end…’

Hansoo, who was reminiscing the old days, remembered Keldian’s words.

Keldian was convinced and passed the combination to him.

— Do not share this combination with anyone else. As knowledge of the future spreads, the erosion of the Abyss accelerates. Always keep it in mind. Don’t become Prometheus. This knowledge must be disclosed as intended and only when absolutely necessary.

Hansoo, who had thought up to this point, stole a glance at the three who were watching fervently but shook his head.

They won’t know even if they see.

Since if the correct ratio wasn’t known and the heating time was not done perfectly then it would be useless.

Hansoo emptied a nearby shampoo container, filled it with the liquid he created, then applied it to his sword by squeezing the container.

“Is there a possibility that we can use that too?”

Hansoo nodded as Mihee carefully asked.

“Of course.”

And then everyone’s faces brightened up.

If Hansoo didn’t follow up with some more words.

“One application costs either a ½ strength or stamina rune.”

“…Isn’t that a bit too petty?”

Taesoon made an annoyed expression.

Hansoo shrugged his shoulders.

“I could just give it to you if I wanted.”

“…”

“But if you look at it on the long term, it doesn’t seem like a good choice.”

Mihee nodded after thinking about it for a moment.

A one-way relationship will eventually get ruined.

And Hansoo seemed like a good person to know for long term, or at least he did so far.

“I will give the rune to you later. Let me put it on first.”

Hansoo nodded at those words0

“What about you guys?”

Sangjin and Taesoon nodded eventually without a choice.

‘Since we don’t have to give him anything if it isn’t that good. Or just not use it.’

The two thought as they presented their swords.

“Careful when you put it on, since there will be severe pain if it gets on your fingers.”

And at those words the people who were squeezing the shampoo bottles applied the poison carefully.

Hansoo added something whilst staring into the giant bag latched onto their backs.

“If you walk around outside with such a big bag then you will realise why a lure is effective in fishing.”

“…”

“If you want to complete it safely then do it like this. You can’t fight with that on anyways.”

Hansoo gathered a bunch of things then went into a corner where light didn’t reach, digged a hole then buried it.

Since they had enhanced bodies and swords, digging in the ground was very swift.

Taesoon and Sangjin, who had seen this, started to gather every food item and started to put them into a large bag.

Then Hansoo shook his head as he saw this.

“If those all disappear, the guys who come here later will chase us with their lives. Leave some.”

“…”

The two who looked at Hansoo with a dissatisfied face, started to gather necessities first.

Mihee was checking out Hansoo thoroughly from afar.

‘…I thought he was only quiet.’

He wasn’t only good at fighting.

Every single action was extremely reliable.

Like a professional survivalist.

‘….Won’t a psychic power like that appear for me as well?’

It was weird that he had used the excuse of psychic powers since the beginning but in a world where monsters and creatures exist something like psychic powers seemed possible.

Mihee shook her head after looking at Hansoo in a strange way.

She was quick to catch on ever since she was small.

There were countless millions of people who had gone missing but not one had come back.

Which meant it was likely that they were going to spend eternity in this place.

And for that she had to adapt to this place fast.

‘I… definitely don’t want to die’

No, maybe dying was a better alternative in some situations.

‘If nothing works…’

This wasn’t the time to look for a man to protect her but a final method was always important.

Mihee looked at Hansoo with a strange look then followed Hansoo, who had gotten out of his seat and proceeded to go deeper into the station, while clenching her teeth.

……

Taesoon kept on asking Hansoo as he saw him walk through the darkness:

“Is there a way for us to get that psychic power too?”

At those words Mihee, who had been staring at Hansoo, and even Sangjin, who had been following quietly, listened in.

Hansoo nodded at Taesoon’s words.

“Maybe.”

“Really?”

Hansoo’s knowledge of his own future was not due to psychic powers but a few people who come in the otherworld show special skills that they didn’t have in the real world.

This was called .

Keldian gave an explanation about traits in this way:

People who had a very good personal trait showed a faster rate of growth than others if they survived the start.

His case was a trait called Seven Stars.

A large variety of traits existed and very dangerous traits existed among those as well.

‘I need to find those guys though.’

Taesoon asked with a weird face at Hansoo:

“Why did you get quieter all of a sudden?”

He didn’t really talk about but he talked even less now.

Hansoo replied very simply:

“There aren’t many things to talk about.”

Hansoo thought of the annihilation of mankind as he answered.

Everyone was at a dried up state without a moment to talk for the last 5 years.

As there were opponents such as the tribes of abyss who seemed to flood them like water, hope had started to slowly disappear.

And thanks to that a person to talk to rapidly decreased.

“How could he…”

Taesoon clicked his tongue.

‘Was he a loner during high school? Is that why he learned martial arts?’

Well whatever happens as long as there’s possibility for him.

Taesoon, who had always been in the center of the crowd, and who was now in a the second man’s position wasn’t really used to it.

And it wasn’t pleasing either.

‘A guy like him developed psychic abilities and can do that much, if it appeared on me I’d shine even more.’

And when that happens he will become the center of the crowd again.

‘Since that guy Hansoo is useful, I should keep him by my side.’

Taesoon walked forward with hopeful thoughts.