"We decided to give up on Seoul, and the Legion faction withdrew from the eastern side of the city.
However, there were people who refused to leave. Seoul, being such a large city, and with so many refugees pouring in from surrounding areas, still had a considerable population. So, there were quite a few people left behind."
The unfamiliar faces that appeared in front of us, as they had already stated, were from the National Crisis Managent Committee’s search team. To explain their purpose, let's hear it from Song Yoo-jin.
"There were probably at least hundreds of thousands left. Even though they were abandoned, the population was still quite significant, almost at a provincial level.
Well, after that, the cold wave hit, monsters descended, and mutated beings like the Four Heavenly Kings started roaming around, so the population rapidly decreased. But at so point, they all just vanished.
It was probably around last sumr."
Song Yoo-jin looked at with eyes shadowed by twilight.
"They sent out the search team to find out the cause. About once a month."
The man next to her, wearing glasses, added:
"Besides that, we’ve been investigating the rate of erosion around Seoul, changes in the vegetation, the number of mutations, and monster density.
In fact, if Seoul, which is practically one with Incheon, falls, Incheon will likely face the sa fate."
The man’s na was Lee Ho-yeon.
Like Song Yoo-jin, he was an Awakened, at level 4.
He was the leader of the search team.
The search team consisted of seven mbers: four Awakened and three soldiers.
Although they were Awakened, except for one, all of them were below level 4, low-tier Awakened, which ant their basic combat abilities were insufficient, and the soldiers helped make up for this.
The soldiers didn’t wear any insignia, indicating they weren’t part of the Ministry of National Defense but the National Crisis Managent Committee. They looked like seasoned veterans based on their solid builds and fierce gazes.
They found us not by their Awakened abilities, but by the campfire.
They saw the black smoke rising from the fire in broad daylight and ca straight here, using their Awakened senses to pinpoint our exact location.
It was a eting that seed to be an unexpected yet fateful coincidence.
The atmosphere wasn’t bad.
While the soldiers were keeping their distance, the Awakened were generally friendly, probably thanks to Song Yoo-jin.
"So why did you suddenly co to Seoul?"
"Well... that’s..."
I paused for a mont, thinking about how to speak in a way that would allow to clearly separate my identity as SKELTON from my role as a professor.
It’s true that Song Yoo-jin’s mouth is heavy.
Had she revealed to Woo Min-hee that I actually had satellite equipnt, I might have disappeared long before I could dream of wearing an armband. After organizing my thoughts, I looked at her seriously and said:
"Do you know Failnet?"
"Yes, I know."
The Awakened behind us exchanged glances.
"It just exploded, didn’t it?"
"Yeah."
They were the ones who hadn’t told their nas yet.
It wasn’t that they disliked , but being young, they seed reluctant to connect with others.
"I’m on my way to fix Failnet."
"Fix Failnet?"
I introduced Valentine, who had been silent until then.
"He’s the current admin of Failnet. We’ve known each other for a while."
"Valentine."
"Ah, I see..."
Unlike , Song Yoo-jin didn’t seem too pleased with Valentine, but the two friends who hadn’t told their nas were now intrigued and started asking him all sorts of questions.
While they were talking, I turned to Song Yoo-jin.
"Can I talk to the team leader for a mont?"
"The team leader? Sure, no problem. Ho-yeon team leader! Looks like Sam has sothing to say!"
As Song Yoo-jin called out, Lee Ho-yeon slowly approached. Then, suddenly, Song Yoo-jin leaned in close to and whispered in my ear.
"Our team leader is suffering from depression, by the way. Just so you know."
"Depression, huh?"
Lee Ho-yeon, wearing a wry smile, stepped closer.
This guy’s pretty tall.
Maybe 187 or 188 cm?
He had a slender fra and was hunched over slightly, so I hadn’t noticed from afar, but standing close, he certainly had a commanding presence.
His attitude toward was neutral.
He neither liked nor disliked .
He knew I was a professor, but it seed his impression of wasn’t as deep as Song Yoo-jin’s.
Honestly, this is the new norm in schools.
No matter how great I was in the past or the achievents I had, my style was already considered outdated.
It was like how painters who made incredibly detailed portraits ended up out of work after the invention of the cara.
I didn’t particularly care about earning respect or being acknowledged for my past, so I simply stated my purpose.
My purpose was none other than to deal with the new monster.
Valentine showed the photo of the pale, wriggling creature, which looked like a giant maggot, to Lee Ho-yeon.
The mont he saw the photo, Lee Ho-yeon adjusted his glasses.
His expression didn’t change, but it was clear he was surprised.
"This is..."
He asked for my phone.
Once I handed it over, he zood in on the image of the new monster until it filled the screen and spoke.
"It’s an extinction-type."
"Extinction-type?"
The term "extinction-type" was unfamiliar to , but I had heard it before in a live broadcast from Dongtanmom, where an anonymous user nad Anonymous68 ntioned it.
Since the broadcast was automatically translated according to the board’s language, I couldn’t tell whether Anonymous68 was Korean or foreign.
I tried sending a ssage in English, but it was simply ignored, and the aning of "extinction-type" remained a mystery.
But now, hearing the sa term from a level 4 Awakened, I started to get an idea.
Awakened below level 5 were considered "low-tier," but level 4 was different from the others below it.
The Awakened levels were strange when you looked at them through the lens of the past, and there were so inconsistencies with their original design.
A simple breakdown of psychic ability levels might look like this:
Ordinary person
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