WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The World Is Not a Game ◈
Chapter 18
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Colm nodded grimly in answer to a Closer's question.
At that answer, the Closer wearing silver gauntlets raised a hand with a frown.
“But do we really have to single out three people? Sixteen monsters in seventeen seconds. No, if we start attacking before the monsters are complete, we should be able to delay their formation even longer. It'll be tough, but couldn't we hold off the monsters together, then all jump toward the core?”
“No. All this operation might give us is a tiny opening. The dungeon is unlikely to reveal that opening in the first place. Even if it somehow does, a delay of just a few seconds will probably be enough for it to disappear. If we're all fighting the monsters and something unexpected holds us up, we're finished. Rather than take that risk, it's safer to assign people to the task. Even reducing the number to three was only possible thanks to the piles of high-explosive bombs and all the equipment Hyeokjin made. Originally, we needed five.”
Everyone around the table grimaced at Colm's firm words.
In the end, they absolutely needed three sacrificial lambs.
Someone had to step forward, but no one could easily bring themselves to speak.
They had come to the final dungeon half prepared to die, but they still didn't want to.
No matter how many comrades they had watched die, and no matter how constantly death hovered at their side, their own deaths would always frighten them.
While everyone frowned in silence, Hyeokjin, who had gone out to look after Nikki, returned to the room and raised a hand.
“I heard what needs to be done from outside. I'll take that role.”
“Hyeokjin? Sorry, but you're too weak. Since we have no volunteers, we'll have to draw lots...”
“No, I'm not weak.”
It sounded dismissive, but it was plainly true. Normally, Hyeokjin would have readily accepted that assessment. This time, however, Hyeokjin shook his head and struck the table once with a palm to press the point.
It was nothing like Hyeokjin's usual behavior: staying quiet and rarely offering an opinion.
Everyone immediately stepped back from Hyeokjin and went on guard. Looking slightly suspicious, Colm spoke.
“Hyeokjin, don't tell me you've gone mad...”
“No, I'm still perfectly sane. I have no intention of suddenly pointing a weapon at you and opening fire, so you can stop being so pointlessly wary.”
Hyeokjin sighed softly at the lethal wariness directed his way.
Just as soldiers sometimes snapped under the stress of the battlefield and suddenly fired on their own side, similar incidents happened among Closers.
At some unexpected moment, they would lose their minds and attack their comrades.
But that was something almost exclusively done by rookies who hadn't been Closers for long.
The chance of it happening to any of the veterans here, all with decades of experience, was close to zero.
Still, they could never be certain.
Looking at the comrades who remained on guard despite being told to relax, Hyeokjin slowly spoke.
“It's true that I'm weak compared to you. But under the right conditions, I can wield more power than you. Almost my entire body is prosthetic. That means I can equip weapons that you can't.”
“...You don't mean Raven Wing?”
Hyeokjin quietly nodded at Chuck's slightly doubtful question. Surprise spread across Chuck's face, followed by a somewhat brighter expression.
The others turned toward Chuck as if to ask what on earth he was talking about. Sounding scarcely able to believe it either, Chuck began to explain.
“Raven Wing is a powered exoskeleton wingsuit shaped like a bird's wings, equipped with an antigravity device and a jetpack. The project had been under development for fifteen years with the government's full support, but when they built a prototype, it had so many drawbacks that the project was eventually scrapped. However, because Hyeokjin's body is almost entirely prosthetic, those drawbacks don't apply. Two years ago, when the internal decision was made to promote Hyeokjin to S-rank, it was selected as a weapon that would give the public a clear image of Hyeokjin, and development resumed.”
After giving the team that rough explanation, Chuck turned back to Hyeokjin.
“But Hyeokjin, can you really build it here?”
“Yes. I remember the blueprints, and we have enough materials. Allowing some extra time, I can finish it in about five days. And if I also use the ‘power-up equipment’ we brought from outside... According to the researchers' simulations, I'll be able to put out as much firepower as three S-rank Closers, though only for about two minutes. With support from Colm's piles of ‘time-delay bombs,’ I think I can hold off the monsters alone for seventeen seconds.”
“...Right, the power-up equipment. There was that, too. To think we'd use it here.”
The unfamiliar term “power-up equipment” drew everyone's curiosity again. When Chuck explained that it could temporarily amplify Hyeokjin's power, Colm spoke in disbelief.
“I don't believe it! It can boost a Closer's power for a short time? If you have something like that, why not give it to us...”
“That, too, is something only Hyeokjin can use, with an entirely prosthetic body. Besides, we can't make it even with the materials available here.”
“But honestly, expecting Hyeokjin to hold out when he's little more than a strong A-rank...”
“No matter how powerful a Closer is, they can't surpass modern weapons built without compromise.”
Chuck cut off Colm's objection. The strong confidence in that voice silenced Colm, and Chuck continued with a broad grin.
“What Hyeokjin makes are weapons. No, Hyeokjin is a weapon. With an unlimited supply of materials, this place is literally the ideal setting for Hyeokjin to run wild, equipped with that terrifying arsenal. Trust me. I've staked my life on this expedition, too. If Hyeokjin alone isn't enough, I'll be next. Decide who the third person will be.”
Chuck skillfully put Colm's objections to rest and continued the discussion. Once they had finished working out the details of the operation, Chuck clapped lightly and spoke.
“All right. We'll carry out the operation in six days. Everyone else, get as much rest as possible. Hyeokjin, start making the equipment immediately.”
At Chuck's slightly brighter tone, Hyeokjin quietly nodded without a word.
Episode 0. The Final Battle
* * *
Once the discussion was over and everyone had been assigned a task, Hyeokjin could shut himself away in the maintenance room and focus entirely on building his weapons.
It was already the fourth day since work on Raven Wing had begun. As Hyeokjin moved on to the finishing touches, a visitor arrived at the workshop.
“Yaaawn... Long time no see. Has it been four days? It feels like we met just a few hours ago.”
A woman yawned lazily, rubbed at her eyes, and opened the makeshift maintenance room's door, stepping inside as naturally as if she belonged there.
It was Nikki, who had collapsed from exhaustion during the operation briefing four days earlier.
Squatting on the floor, Hyeokjin briefly turned to glance at her in response to her greeting, then nodded and returned his attention to the work.
“Yes, it's been a while. I heard you woke up. How are you feeling? I was supposed to stay by your side, but as you can see, I had work to do, so I left you in someone else's care.”
“Well, a good sleep and a shower helped me feel a little better... But honestly, I'm not at my best. Ugh, this place really doesn't let you rest for a moment. That whispering, like a ringing in my ears. It's seriously driving me crazy.”
Nikki casually flopped down on a nearby table, frowning as she rubbed one temple with her index finger as though she had a headache.
After rubbing her temple irritably for a while, she let out a deep sigh and addressed Hyeokjin.
“I got a rough explanation of the situation when I woke up. I heard you volunteered for the holding team.”
“That's right.”
“Well, I never thought you'd be picked. Can you really do it? Actually, looking at that, I suppose you can. That's practically an ultimate weapon, not Closer equipment.”
Looking down at Hyeokjin's work, she picked up a drink bottle from the table and tilted it to her lips.
A huge, wing-shaped metal framework lay spread across the floor, measuring six meters across.
Four servo-arms, which Hyeokjin had built first to improve work efficiency, were attached to his back. Following Hyeokjin's commands, they precisely transformed and shaped materials without the slightest error, then attached them to the wing-shaped metal frame.
The weapon Hyeokjin was building was certainly far removed from ordinary Closer equipment, which was made extremely small and light to meet the “dungeon entry capacity limit.”
“True, it's a little hard to call this Closer equipment. But its firepower is guaranteed. Come to think of it, I had a favor to ask you. Good timing. Could you take out something I left in your spatial storage when we came on this expedition? It's two steel cylinders joined together, about a foot long.”
“Oh, that?”
At Hyeokjin's request, Nikki waved a hand. A small cloud of black mist formed in front of her, and a moment later, a metal cylinder emerged from it.
The cylindrical object looked somewhat like scuba diving air tanks.
As soon as Nikki took it out of subspace, she tossed it to Hyeokjin. Without even turning around, Hyeokjin controlled one of the servo-arms attached to his back and caught it.
“What is that, anyway?”
“Why? Curious?”
“Yeah. You've wrapped it up tight, but I can feel it. Warp energy that isn't fixed in place, but moving as though it's alive and breathing. I heard you mentioned power-up equipment during the last discussion. I wondered if you'd finally found a way to use warp energy without going through a human mind.”
At the hint of hope in Nikki's reply, Hyeokjin briefly stopped working and smiled bitterly.
Warp energy, a nearly all-purpose power, could only be controlled through human mental power.
This was both an enormous advantage and a disadvantage.
Once fuel had been added and the engine started, an ordinary internal combustion engine running on fossil fuel could operate without a person present. Equipment based on warp energy, however, would only run if a human supplied and controlled that energy.
Countless attempts had been made to get equipment to run on warp energy without a human present, but none had succeeded yet.
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