WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Protagonist Doesn't Want to Leave the First Floor ◈
Chapter 73
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Three days later, the number of users fell by one.
[Users Remaining in the Area: 3]
Seo Hajin checked the number before him and swung his club sideways.
Crack!
The Wolf charging at him had its head snapped to the side.
Its dead body flew in that direction, crashing into two Feral Dogs behind it. Other mobs rushed over the fallen monsters.
There were more than usual.
Part of the monster flow stretching far to the west had changed direction.
He did not know who they had been chasing, but with their target gone, they appeared to be moving toward the north, which had the next-highest aggro.
‘Maybe they had done some hunting.’
It would not have been a Named user on an additional mission.
Most of them had returned two months ago, and the last two had even come all the way to the north to say goodbye.
The users who remained after that were presumed to be those who had not filled their required stay time.
Time spent waiting to restart was excluded, so those who had died often from the beginning could be much further behind than others.
Even after the Wave began, their Aggro Levels did not disappear completely. They would revive, get chased again, die, and wait to restart. The cycle repeated.
They had probably struggled through all of that to fill their required time.
A real escape, in every sense.
When people left, they usually posted at least one line on social media or the bulletin board. Since there had been nothing this time, it seemed they had not even had that brief moment to spare.
‘Open the right side more.’
Based on the battle situation he had observed from above, he directed his forces through the hive mind.
The Bear Beastkin at the front shifted one of the log barricades sideways. The passage receiving the monsters widened, and the newly arriving horde poured through it.
Mobs tangled together and fell.
Those pushed from behind trampled over them. Mana Rifle rounds and heavy clubs poured through the narrowed gaps in rapid succession.
Flesh and broken bones swept into the mobs behind them.
Dozens of mobs disappeared in an instant. Then just as many entered and disappeared again.
The collection teams moved busily.
Meat, hides, bones, and other byproducts went into Subspace one after another. The boxes scattered everywhere were handled the same way.
He used to gather the boxes and open them all at once, but now they only seemed to take up space. So he had them opened as they came in.
Pets could open boxes too, so the workers immediately opened them, sorted the contents, and stored them.
This went here. That went there.
Recyclable junk sometimes went into the Arc Recycler.
The problem was the items that fit neither category.
Even low-value items had once sold if he put them on the marketplace. Now, there were only two possible buyers left in the Area.
He kept necessities like water, salt, food, and medicinal herbs listed at low prices in case they were needed. But there was no reason to keep piling up worn-out equipment and common materials.
Anything that could not be recycled, had no use, and contained an awkwardly middling amount of mana had to be sorted separately and discarded far away.
‘There’s no need to keep it.’
Subspace continued to expand, but he had no intention of turning part of it into a garbage dump.
‘Time to rotate out.’
The defensive line had opened its entrance wider.
Their monster-processing speed rose accordingly.
Thousands of pets participated in the battle.
Some were injured and recovering in Subspace. Others had died and were waiting to restart.
Even while recovering, they did not simply lie around. They could not be attacked in Subspace, so if they could still move reasonably well, they helped the Companion Series organize Subspace.
Others withdrew from the front lines to collect loot or repair damaged sections of the defenses.
You do this. You only do that.
Some roles were assigned that rigidly. But some pets were left in a kind of free role, and those pets filled gaps on their own.
‘Not bad.’
At first, they had needed to slow the battle even to replace a single log.
Now, one Bear Beastkin pulled out the broken log while another brought a new one. Hunting continued beside them even as they filled collapsed dirt with rocks, stomped them down, and packed the ground firm.
‘It really has become a factory.’
Monsters entered and died.
Items were collected, and damaged parts were repaired.
The flow never stalled at any point.
Pets that had recently been tamed and joined them soon blended into that flow as well.
Then, five days later, the number dropped again.
[Users Remaining in the Area: 2]
“Another one left.”
This time, there was no noticeable change in the monsters’ movements.
Even after waiting, he saw no new horde turning toward the north.
That user had probably had almost no hunting record. Very little aggro had been drawn in that direction, which was why there had been so little change.
Seo Hajin glanced at the remaining-user count, then focused on the battle again.
Other than him, only one user remained.
He did not know who it was.
The public bulletin board had gone still without a single new post after the Named users on additional missions left.
He did not particularly feel like looking into it.
That person had a reason to remain. Leaving or staying was their choice.
But that night, while resting and eating in the Subspace Rest Area after a rotation as usual, he received an SNS message.
Quite a few people still contacted him after returning home, so he initially thought it would be something similar.
It was not.
-I’ll be returning now too.
It was a familiar account.
He did not post often.
Occasionally, he posted fish items obtained from Giant Lake or records of his fishing. Seo Hajin had also bought fish that Easygoing listed on the marketplace.
They were SNS friends too.
Seo Hajin had more than one or two people registered there, but Easygoing was one of those he exchanged messages with from time to time.
“I never expected you to be the last one.”
-Am I the last? I didn’t know the system showed the number of users.
“I don’t know why only I can see it.”
-Maybe it’s because you’re doing additional missions. I’m not.
“That could be it.”
The fisherman, Easygoing.
What was unusual about him was that he had never used the public bulletin board even once.
They had talked about it before. Easygoing seemed to dislike that anonymity was not guaranteed there.
Some people did not want anything about themselves exposed, starting with their Avatar name. Easygoing was one of them.
Unlike the public bulletin board, which had no anonymous function, SNS allowed people to decorate even their names however they wanted. Not many people knew Easygoing’s actual Avatar name.
And Seo Hajin had somehow become one of that small number.
“Have you been at Giant Lake the entire time?”
-Yes. The whole time.
Easygoing had once said he was lucky.
He had started in the Giant Lake field from the beginning and had never left it after that.
“Hmm.”
Seo Hajin continued Juggernaut’s meal and moved the message window to the side.
In one viewpoint, Juggernaut chewed meat. In another, Avatars and pets were still holding back the monster tide.
His conversation with Easygoing continued.
Some topics had come up between them before, but sometimes talking with someone was simply enjoyable. Today was one of those times.
-I’m rather old. I’m over seventy.
“I figured you were older, but not that old.”
-Haha. That’s why I was happy and excited from the moment I made my Avatar. It felt like I had been given a chance to return to a young body. I could even decide my appearance however I wanted.
They spoke about age, then about why Easygoing had been able to keep fishing safely all this time.
“How did you get the Assimilation skill?”
-Ah... There was a time when Clans were fighting around the lake. You remember, don’t you?
“It was pretty loud back then.”
-I was fishing as usual when something floated down by the shore. It was a bag of Personal Effects.
“That floats?”
-Exactly. I was a little stunned too, but I fished it out. The skill was inside.
Why had its original owner not used it?
Perhaps they had lacked an available slot. In any case, Easygoing became the owner of the skill that way and enjoyed its effects to the fullest afterward.
Assimilation.
According to Easygoing, it made monsters recognize him as one of their own. Even Aggressive Mobs would not attack him.
The effect broke if he attacked first or behaved threateningly, but Easygoing had never intended to hunt monsters, so that never happened.
Maybe the skill had finally found its proper owner.
Easygoing was a user who had never hunted even once, from beginning to end.
What was surprising, though, was that the skill remained effective even after the Wave began.
-There were times when they seemed to react a little, but after I moved my home to the rocky island in the middle of the lake, that stopped too.
“Ah. There was something like that there.”
There was something slightly strange about it.
As users occasionally wondered, why was fishing not considered hunting?
If it had counted as hunting, Easygoing would have built up an Aggro Level and suffered for it.
-It was quite enjoyable. It felt like watching an animal documentary from inside it.
Perhaps because he had never hunted, even after filling his required time, Easygoing had only been given the option of whether to return.
He had not received the additional-mission offer that the Named users did.
“Then why did you stay?”
After a moment, Easygoing replied.
-I didn’t want to go back.
Then he spoke about his younger days.
It was the first time Seo Hajin had heard about his past, and the fact that Easygoing had founded a small company was quite interesting.
‘He was a CEO.’
But as the story continued, his interest gradually turned to surprise.
“Then that company...”
-I was fortunate in several ways. Perhaps I was lucky with people too. The company grew without any major mistakes.
It was a name he knew.
A mid-sized company that almost anyone would recognize.
It was not large enough to be called a major corporation, but apparently it had been large enough for people to fight over inherited shares.
-There were no major problems while my wife was alive. I transferred the shares to my children early on too.
“Had you retired?”
-That was the plan. I wanted to travel with my wife and go fishing. But... she left first.
Then the ugly fighting began.
Who would own the company.
Whose people would enter the board of directors.
Who would claim to have carried on their father’s will.
-They seemed to think it was some kind of war of princes. It was not even a major corporation, just one company. It was ridiculous.
“Did you try to stop them?”
-I did. But rather than listen to me, they tried to pull me onto their side.
All the shares had already been transferred.
All Easygoing had left was the symbol of being the founder and the position of being their father. And his children tried to use even that as justification in their favor.
Whose side would he take?
Who had carried on their father’s will?
At some point, he said, everything became meaningless.
-I didn’t want to sit there as an old man in the back room, watching that spectacle. So I left.
“What about the company?”
-I gave them all the shares. Why should I worry about it? If it fails, it’ll be those brats’ fault. If it does well, that’ll be their achievement too.
Easygoing moved to a quiet place and rented a small house. Every morning, he packed his gear and went fishing.
He did not know how his children’s fight ended. Since none of them properly contacted him, that was only natural.
-Then... I saw it.
“The forced-transfer countdown?”
-That’s right. That.
At first, Easygoing thought old age had made him see things. Once he realized that was not the case, he hurriedly packed his fishing gear first.
He had not known where he would be sent, but he hoped that with that gear, he could at least catch fish by the water.
“You must have left it all behind.”
-It was unfair. I had several rather expensive fishing rods.
Then the time came, and Easygoing created an Avatar.
After that came this strange world.
There were many different feelings, but the strongest of them was joy.
-My knees didn’t hurt. Even after sitting all day, I could stand up with my back straight. My wrists didn’t ache either.
Everything that had always made him frown vanished in an instant.
-It was always like that. Every day was a gift.
Each day was much the same.
Easygoing did not care what others fought over.
He cast a crudely carved fishing rod and filled his stomach with fish he struggled to catch. He bought what he needed from the marketplace and slept when he was tired.
When things around him grew noisy, he went somewhere quiet. After gaining Assimilation, even monsters no longer harmed him.
-So I stayed.
Returning to reality meant giving up this young body and returning to an old, tired one.
Maybe those unpleasant children would come looking for Easygoing and say bothersome things. Easygoing said there was a nine-in-ten chance they would.
“But you’re returning now.”
-After living in this body for so long, my thoughts changed a little.
At first, it had simply been comfortable.
But when his body became comfortable, Easygoing wanted to go somewhere new. He wanted to try things he had never done and catch larger fish.
-I’ve already caught every fish there is. The moment I pull the rod, I can roughly tell what I’ve hooked.
There was no more fishing to do here.
Nothing new remained.
That was when he realized that perhaps the joy of life began with newness.
-When I return, I plan to try ocean fishing.
“Will the sea even be all right?”
-I’ll have to check that first.
“There could be sea monsters.”
-Then I’ll have to catch those too.
Easygoing said that although he would return to an old body, he could probably use his current Avatar through Avatar Manifestation for about two hours a day.
-I wanted to thank you before I leave.
“Me?”
-Because of you, I used as much water, lumber, and leather as I wanted. I enjoyed the ramen too, though it was closer to kalguksu than ramen.
“Haha.”
-I was happy to see the vegetables you listed sometimes too.
“I was only selling what I had left over.”
-Seeing the prices you listed them for, I doubt you intended to make money.
“I wanted to clear space too. It would spoil if I left it alone.”
-Whatever the reason, for the people you helped, it was simply something to be grateful for.
Easygoing said he did not think Juggernaut had remained for other users.
There were probably Points and experience gained from hunting, items from boxes, and some goal he had yet to achieve.
-But regardless of your personal goals, countless users were able to endure difficult times because of you, Juggernaut. I was one of them.
“You think too highly of me. It’s embarrassing.”
-Then I should be leaving soon.
“Are you fully prepared?”
-I packed all my fishing rods and materials. There’s nothing to leave by the lake.
“You should be able to use SNS back home.”
-Yes. That’s what I heard. Please post from time to time too, Juggernaut.
“News from here?”
-Anything is fine. Once you return later, news from there would be good too.
“I’ll think about it.”
-That’s enough for me.
The messages paused for a moment.
Easygoing was probably checking the return option.
Then another line arrived.
-Don’t stay behind for too long.
“I’ll leave once I have what I need.”
-Once you fill one thing, you find yourself needing something else. It can keep growing like that.
“Hmm...”
It was difficult to deny.
He had been thinking about it already.
-I’ll see you outside.
“Yes. You’ve worked hard.”
-I’ll leave word once I’m back.
“I’ll wait for it.”
The conversation ended with that message.
A few seconds later, the number in the notification window at the edge of his vision changed.
[Users Remaining in the Area: 1]
“Hmm. He left.”
There was no change in the monster flow.
Easygoing had fished at the lake for a long time, and thanks to the skill, no mobs had gathered in that direction.
“So I’m really alone now.”
The noise created by thousands of monsters, mixed with screams and howls between it all.
Yet at that moment, Seo Hajin suddenly felt a little empty.
Not enough to call it loneliness, but “a little lonely” felt about right.
Then a new message appeared.
[A change in the number of users within the Area has been confirmed.]
[Currently Registered Users: 1]
“I know that too.”
There was no answer, naturally.
Instead, another sentence followed.
[Test operation for multiple users has ended.]
[Reviewing the operational results of the current Area.]
At that moment, a monster broke through the passage.
Juggernaut struck the charging Wild Boar’s head from the front with his club.
Crunch!
Its forehead and pointed tusks shattered together.
Its body was thrown back onto the Feral Dogs behind it, and pets rushed over them.
The collection teams moved again.
It was a familiar sight now.
Only after another wave had been dealt with did new text appear.
[The External Variable bypass intake function remains active. If the function is disabled, the projected burden on linked zones will exceed the permitted range.]
“What does that mean?”
He had some idea what an External Variable might be, but nothing certain.
And what was a linked zone?
‘If I had to guess...’
The Tower land added to reality.
The monsters that should have overflowed there.
And the Wave pouring into this place.
The hypothesis he had built until now could not have been completely wrong. Seo Hajin waited for the next notification.
[Immediate closure of the Area is not recommended.]
[Review of an alternative operation method is proposed.]
‘Proposed?’
It was a strange word.
He did not have any authority.
‘More importantly, it seems that if I leave too, the Area will close.’
This vast land would no longer be used.
The Gold Mine, the enormous lake, and the forest full of giant trees. It felt too wasteful.
‘Will they simply block entry?’
Would nobody be able to enter anymore?
If the Area remained, could he leave an Avatar here?
‘A trick like that probably won’t work.’
Every Avatar was connected to Seo Hajin himself. If he chose to return, they would certainly cross over together.
Leaving one behind and opening Subspace to return later would probably be impossible.
‘Then what about pets?’
The thought continued.
If he left pets behind, especially intelligent Beastkin types, could they open Subspace from this side?
‘I don’t know whether the connection would remain.’
If it did not, he could end up abandoning subordinates who had been working perfectly well.
‘More importantly, what is a linked zone? Looking at the context, it feels like it means our hometown.’
If that was right, the system message above could be interpreted like this.
[The External Variable bypass intake function remains active. If the function is disabled, the projected burden on linked zones will exceed the permitted range.]
->
[The current test Area is taking in the Tower’s monsters instead. If this place closes, they’ll pour into our homeland.]
‘Did I interpret that correctly?’
He hoped it was a misunderstanding or mistake.
It was that serious.
‘Just the monsters I kill every day are no joke. If all of that is released into Korea...’
Even as he thought that, the monster waves continued to surge forward.
He managed the front lines and repaired sections of the damaged defenses.
Then, after some time, a new notification appeared.
[Reviewing the possibility of long-term independent operation by the remaining user.]
[Review Target: User Seo Hajin]
“Me?”
He wondered what this was about, and then messages began listing themselves one after another.
[Cumulative contribution to External Variable elimination: Exceeds standard.]
[Long-term combat sustainability: Suitable.]
[Rotating force operation capability: Suitable.]
‘Is this some kind of report card?’
[Independent supply system: Suitable.]
[Resource collection and storage capability: Exceeds standard.]
[Resource reprocessing and production system: Suitable.]
It appeared to be checking even the facilities inside Subspace.
The Arc Recycler and the Sustainer.
The warehouses full of food and materials.
The workshops and Rest Area.
Maybe the Mine and logging site outside were also included in the calculation.
[Command capability over multiple subordinate entities: Exceeds standard.]
[Infrastructure development level within the managed Area: Exceeds standard.]
“I did build a lot.”
The northern base and open-pit mine.
The logging site and breeding zone.
The fields and fences along the tributary left behind after Hogu and Miyu-chan departed, and the road extending all the way to the area around the collapsed D-Day Clan camp.
Now that everyone had left, most of it was nearly falling apart. But before then, it had certainly been maintained.
[Record of voluntary remaining after acquiring Return Eligibility: Confirmed.]
[Record of continuously carrying out additional missions: Confirmed.]
[Average External Variable elimination rate: Exceeds standard.]
The messages stopped again.
‘There must be a lot to review.’
Seo Hajin dismissed the window.
Whatever the system said, there was nothing he could do about it himself.
Kill mobs and earn Points.
Open boxes and gather the items he needed.
Nothing would change.
Several more hours passed.
When Juggernaut entered the Subspace Rest Area for a rotation, the system messages that had stopped began moving again.
[A comparison is proposed.]
[1. Projected efficiency of solo operation by the remaining user.]
[2. Efficiency of External Variable redistribution after Area closure.]
......
[Continued solo operation is more efficient.]
‘So what does that mean?’
[Even after test operation ends, the Area may be used as a temporary reception zone for External Variables.]
[An independent managing entity is required for continued use. Awakener Seo Hajin meets the criteria for a temporary management candidate.]
A new window opened.
It differed from the existing mission windows and return options. In the center floated a faint, scaled-down image of the test Area’s terrain.
The northern and eastern forests.
The southern Swamp.
Thorn Wasteland and the rocky mountain.
The enormous lake and the plains beneath it.
Every land he had traveled through lay before him at a glance.
[Delegation of Conditional Area Management Authority is proposed. If accepted, you will be designated the temporary owner and managing entity of the Area.]
[Would you like to review the details and obligations?]
“Delegation... ownership?”
Management, he could understand.
The role of receiving monsters here and dealing with them. In a way, it was not strange for the system to seek someone to take that role.
‘Something had felt strange since the Wave began.’
He had thought there was something beyond monsters merely becoming stronger. The shape of it had become clearer after hearing about the Tower Overflow that occurred in reality.
But the word ownership felt different.
Of course, it was conditional.
It also said temporary.
He needed to review the details separately.
There was no reason to refuse without even seeing them.
Seo Hajin looked at the scaled-down terrain.
“I can see this?”
The shape and size of the Gold Vein beneath the Mine.
The positions of trees cut down in Northern Forest, and the current reserve resources required to regenerate them.
The fact that what lay beneath Giant Lake was not fish, but probability. That it had never truly been fishing in the first place.
And across the entire Area, the current status, scale, and direction of every monster on the move.
‘This goes far beyond what I can see from above. It’s practically a map hack.’
But it could not be all good.
Seo Hajin opened the details to see what would change if he accepted the proposal.
Footnotes:
Kalguksu is a Korean noodle soup made with knife-cut noodles.
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