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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 321
"So... while I was doing my 5th advancement, an event took place, and because of that event, this whole mess happened?"
"Yes."
"My goodness..."
His mother slumped onto the sofa, looking incredulous.
Considering the entire world was devastated because of a single event, her shock was understandable.
"Probably half of South Korea has been wiped out."
Although Jeong-hoon's house was intact, that was merely luck.
Most of Seoul had been swept away, resulting in countless casualties.
It was likely the same for other regions as well.
"What on earth is happening...?"
His mother leaned back and closed her eyes, seemingly overwhelmed.
Realizing she needed some time to process things, Jeong-hoon quietly returned to his room.
* * *
"Hey... what are we supposed to do now?"
Jang Dae-hwi sighed deeply, looking devastated.
Having avoided penalties during the event, Jang Dae-hwi had taken refuge at Jeong-hoon's house.
His own home had been wiped out without a trace due to the penalties.
On top of that, Ha-jin's house was also destroyed, leaving them no place to go. With no other options, they turned to Jeong-hoon's home in desperation.
"Why?"
"It's... because of HoneyTube."
HoneyTube, which boasted 140 million subscribers.
This massive platform had been utterly dismantled after consecutive penalties.
The amount of revenue that hadn’t even been claimed yet was easily in the hundreds of millions.
And considering the potential future earnings, it was an astronomical sum — all gone in an instant.
Jang Dae-hwi was beside himself with frustration.
Meanwhile, Jeong-hoon seemed unaffected.
He had always considered HoneyTube a temporary venture.
Although it was disappointing to see it disappear earlier than expected, he accepted it calmly, knowing there was no way to turn back time.
"Hyung, from now on, points are going to be extremely important."
"Points?"
"Yes. If my guess is correct... things are only going to get worse."
The designer, Escanon, had intervened.
That meant the pace of destruction would accelerate.
He had to consider the possibility that the future he knew might no longer be reliable.
Seeing the grim look on Jeong-hoon's face, Jang Dae-hwi fidgeted anxiously with his smartphone.
"But what about the money...?" he muttered. "It's all in the bank, so how are we supposed to get it in this situation?"
Jeong-hoon was in charge of the account.
After all, the channel belonged to him.
And the amount in that account easily exceeded 5 billion won.
But how could they access that money in the current state of chaos?
"Don't worry. I exchanged some just in case."
"W-Wait, seriously?!"
"Yes. Not the full amount, though."
In truth, he hadn't exchanged everything.
There were roughly 2 billion won remaining in the account, which he had set aside for tax calculations later.
But now that things had turned out this way, that money was as good as worthless.
"Wow... You always manage to stay one step ahead."
"I don't know. If I'd really seen ahead properly, wouldn't I have stopped this from happening somehow?"
Jeong-hoon spoke in a bitter tone as he looked at the ruined world.
"Hey, don't say that. It's only thanks to you that things are even this manageable. If you hadn’t stepped in, Earth would’ve been completely doomed."
Jang Dae-hwi knew the truth.
If Jeong-hoon hadn't intervened in that event, Earth would have been finished that very day.
"I only managed to put out the immediate fire."
"Only the immediate fire? Are you saying this kind of situation is going to keep happening?"
"Yes."
Survival.
It’s a content genre that's been milked dry to the point where there's nothing fresh about it anymore.
So when survival was announced as the theme for this event, players felt more concerned than excited.
Unlike when they played in capsules, they only had one life in reality.
That was why the participation rate among regular players was extremely low.
On the other hand, Avatars swarmed in, which caused the revised event to take considerable time to finish.
As a result, the world's destruction had been accelerated by several years.
[Durability has exceeded 30%.]
At that moment, a message appeared before Jeong-hoon's eyes.
'It's already hit 30%...?'
It was a number that made him scowl.
Durability 30%.
This was a comprehensive measure based on humanity.
Everything humanity had built was quantified as 100%, and as things were destroyed, that percentage would decrease.
In the past, the durability could still be restored through recovery efforts.
However, once the damage exceeded 30%, that point became the new baseline.
'The penalties are way too severe.'
Before the regression, reaching 30% durability had taken eight more years from this point in time.
Throughout that period, numerous penalties had accumulated, eventually pushing the damage to 30%.
There had never been a case where the durability spiked this drastically in such a short time.
'This must be because Escanon interfered...'
Realizing that even completing the episode wouldn’t be enough to end things, Jeong-hoon had absorbed every opportunity he could find.
That was the only way he’d be able to face off against the Designer.
He had planned to continue gathering opportunities after this event.
But with Escanon’s interference, all of those plans were now in shambles.
And the reason why?
[The dungeon will be renewed.]
It was because of the renewal.
The condition for the renewal was surpassing 30% durability.
The higher the damage rose, the weaker the world's stability became, accelerating its destruction.
I never imagined that the acceleration would begin at the point when only Darvis had managed to break through.
Once the renewal is complete, the difficulty of all dungeons will drastically increase, while humanity's survival rate will plummet.
“Hey, Hun! Outside! Outside!”
Jang Dae-Hwi pointed out the window.
Countless portals were forming there, while the portals that had previously been in place were disappearing.
“Yes. The dungeons are being renewed.”
“Dungeon renewal?”
“Yes. It’s because the damage level has surpassed 30%.”
“That’s really serious, isn’t it?”
Jeong-Hoon nodded.
“Yes. The ones playing this game right now are trying to destroy Earth. The overall difficulty is probably going to spike.”
“Ha... This is seriously driving me crazy.”
Seeing Jang Dae-Hwi's devastated expression, Jeong-Hoon let out a bitter smile as well.
If he hadn’t rushed to gather fortuitous encounters, would the future have unfolded as planned?
A heavy feeling settled in his chest, possibly from guilt.
‘Master, are you okay?’
‘It’s not your fault, Master. So don’t blame yourself.’
Mukho and Anima tried to console Jeong-Hoon.
‘No, this is my fault.’
He had been too reckless.
If Escanon hadn’t moved, Earth would still be fine.
“Hyung... Please, open the door…”
It was then.
While anxiously watching the dungeon renewal, he suddenly heard a knock on the front door along with Bong-Goo's faint voice.
But unlike usual, his voice sounded shaky, as if he might collapse at any moment.
“Kim Bong-Goo?”
Had he finished his fifth attempt?
Jeong-Hoon quickly went to the living room and opened the front door.
Outside, Bong-Goo stood there, his face streaked with tears, swaying unsteadily.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Hyung... My family... My family…”
Seeing Bong-Goo struggle to speak through his sobs, Jeong-Hoon’s expression turned grim.
“Calm down and tell me. What about your family?”
“It’s...”
Bong-Goo struggled to calm himself.
Halting between words, he slowly began to explain, and Jeong-Hoon quietly listened.
By the time Bong-Goo finished his story, Jeong-Hoon’s expression had turned from grim to utterly stone-faced.
“…Your house was completely wiped out?”
“Yes… And I haven’t been able to reach my family…”
Damn it...
Jeong-Hoon clenched his fist so tightly that his hand bled.
More than anyone, he knew just how cruel the pain of losing family could be, and he understood Bong-Goo’s grief.
At the same time, a wave of guilt surged in like an unforgivable sense of responsibility.
It was because he had recklessly absorbed fortuitous encounters in his desperation to confront Escanon, which accelerated the path to destruction.
“Ugh… sob…”
Jeong-Hoon silently embraced Bong-Goo.
No words of comfort would be of any use to him right now.
* * *
In the end, Bong-Goo's family was safe.
When the penalty from the event occurred, they had been out of the house and away from danger.
As the penalties continued, they managed to find refuge in a nearby shelter and stay safe.
Advising them to head to a shelter just in case had been the right decision.
“Did you get to see your family?”
“Yes. They’re all safe!”
After confirming his family’s safety, Bong-Goo regained his usual energy.
“What about your fifth attempt?”
“I completed it successfully!”
“Good job.”
With that, those who completed the fifth attempt were his mother, Ha-Jin, and Bong-Goo.
That left Yeo Sunwoo and Yeo Min-Ji.
He was curious about their situation, but there was still no word from either of them.
“Hyung, more importantly… what’s this dungeon renewal about?”
Only after confirming his family’s safety did Bong-Goo finally notice the changes in the dungeon.
The renewal process was still underway.
[There’s not much time left until the renewal is complete... (92%)]
Since this was a process that involved restructuring all the dungeons worldwide, it was taking longer than expected.
All the original portals had vanished, and new ones were rapidly appearing in their place.
Jeong-Hoon pointed to a newly formed massive portal and spoke.
“Bong-Goo, what do you think the difficulty of a dungeon that size would be?”
“Hmm... At least around Level 400 to 500, I’d guess.”
“Exactly. And that’s not the only one in the middle of the city.”
A bit further away, there were countless portals radiating even stronger magical energy.
“Simply put, it means the dungeon’s difficulty has increased.”
“Wait… Hyung, are you saying this means destruction is accelerating?”
“Yeah.”
“…….”
Still, it wasn’t completely hopeless.
Even if the dungeons were renewed, as long as they could prevent penalties from being imposed, things could still be managed.
Recalling memories from before his regression, Jeong-Hoon began devising a plan.
[Emergency Notice]
At that moment, a message appeared in front of Jeong-Hoon.
‘Emergency notice?’
What is it this time?
“Bong-Goo, you should’ve received a message too. Check it.”
Hearing this, Bong-Goo tilted his head in confusion.
“A message? I didn’t get one.”
Hearing that, Jeong-Hoon furrowed his brows.
“It didn’t come?”
“Yes.”
Could it have only come to me?
Just in case, he asked his mother and Jang Dae-Hwi to check their messages as well.
As expected, they didn’t seem to know anything about it either.
‘So it only came to me.’
Jeong-Hoon quietly checked the message.
[You must achieve 99% episode completion.]
[The time limit is 7 days.]
[If you fail to complete it, the damage level will reach 100%.]
Ha, Escanon.
‘So he’s trying to force a meeting with me as soon as possible.’
If he refused, the damage level would jump from 30% straight to 100%.
It meant there would be no more chances, and Earth would be completely erased.
‘That bastard’s insane.’
‘100%… That’s basically saying he’ll destroy Earth.’
There were no options left.
“I have to do it.”
Reaching 99% episode completion.
Jeong-Hoon pulled out one of the plans he had prepared.
The newly renovated United Hall from the dungeon renewal.
Here, he could gather additional marks and push the episode’s completion to 99%.
‘In the end, that means I’ll have to face Escanon in this state.’
No matter how he looked at it, it was a battle he couldn’t win.
[Your fate will not change. Accept the destiny that has been given to you.]
The words he had seen in the Temple of Fate.
Back then, he had scoffed at it, but in truth, those words had lingered like a thorn in his heart, tormenting him.
That’s why he had desperately absorbed every fortuitous encounter he could remember, struggling like a madman.
‘Fine. I’ll see this through to the end.’
The struggle wasn’t over yet.
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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