Fallen Lightbringers' Return

Though the blessing hid their names, it wasn't hard to tell who they were. The Inciter, his mother, and the last one, if he had to guess, God? What a line-up. The random assortment of deities almost gave him whiplash. If anyone knowledgeable of the second advent were to see this, they may just faint from shock. To gain even one of the blessings of any of these beings was akin to winning the lottery every time they played. It was an immeasurable amount of luck.

But for Lee Dojin, it currently did not do much. They were all greyed out. He could not even click on them, so there was little point in thinking about these things.

A little in the distance, a bright fire broke out, scaring anyone nearby away. However, the fire quickly contained itself, flowing freely, then diminishing in the hand of a young man. He stood there, his jaw loose, as if unable to believe what he himself did.

The guide continued talking. "I suppose you all have chosen your Affinity and skill now?" She rubbed her head. A fireball suddenly appeared in front of her, thrown out by that man. 

".. .What an idiot," Kim Jyejin voiced out from the side. She closed her eyes.

For anyone who was on the top floor and knew of the woman's prowess, already knew what would happen. It wasn't even worth a sigh, seeing that man waste his life so pointlessly. 

Latania rubbed her brows, turning slightly irate. "That's the problem with you single-celled monkeys, you don't think. Don't be too excited, you do not even have a class yet. Your abilities are just the bare needed necessities for you to survive." She waved her hand, and the fire immediately dissipated, leaving only a wide-eyed young man. "You ungrateful bastard, even though I granted you powers to survive, you use it against me. What should I do with you?"

She twirled her finger. The man's body started to twist, as he screamed in incredible agony, and his flesh and skin ripped apart, with his bones crunched. He twisted and twisted until he looked like nothing more than a red rope. As for his life, who knew when it had perished.

An older lady knelt on the ground. She couldn't hold it anymore and started weeping loudly. She had her clasped her hands together and prayed, "Please, God, I beg thee, save us from our sins." Her clouded eyes stared at the ceiling.

"As long as you are in my dungeon, I am your God." The guide laughed loudly. Her grating voice echoed in the room, reverberating into everyone's ears. "God? There is no God anymore. He hath already perished when the Shadows arrived."

"Tsk." Lee Dojin scoffed. "What a joke. God will never die."

".. .There seems to be someone else who does not know his place," Latania stared right at him. For the first time, the two of them held direct eye contact.

"She is the concept of existence. Her breath alone births and destroys innumerable galaxies. There is no power that can touch Her. If She so willed, then it shall be so," he continued speaking, even when Kim Jyejin was pulling at his sleeve. "I hold no faith in Her, but for a Being beyond creation, reality, logic, infinity, and eternity, death is simply an impossibility."

The guide appeared amused. "You talk as if you have met Him personally."

"Maybe I did."

".. .What an interesting lad. So there are some crazy people here who made it out too. I wonder, will you make this dungeon more exciting?" She was so close to killing him but changed her mind. Some things were so absurd, they weren't even worth being irritated above. "Cling to your non-existent deity then. I do not care. For the rest, let us start the Main Quest, shall we?"

[◄The Dolls That Remain Abandoned►

Humans are no different from dolls. The strings are just harder to see. Money, Love, Happiness are what moves people, and ultimately are where one finds purpose. And just like a doll inevitably loses its owner, a human too will one day be abandoned. For those who have no future, they find themselves lost in the World of Dolls.

Quest type: Main.

Difficulty: D.

Size: The whole district of MyeongDong.

Clear Conditions: Defeat the Boss who controls these puppets. 

Time Limit: 7 days]

"Well, if you have any questions, don't ask me," the guide spoke and clapped her hands. "What? Why are you guys looking at me like that? Oh wait, it's a misunderstanding. I am not the boss. You will have to find that person yourself." She shook her finger. Out of the blue, a portal appeared next to her. "Anyway, MyeongDong has a total population of 30.000. As you can tell, I have a lot more people to terrorize. I can't wait, will you guys survive or all turn into lifeless dolls before that~"

She then disappeared into the portal leaving the remaining humans standing stunned and in a daze. Within the next few hours, the guide would terrify countless more hotspots, until everyone in MyeongDong realized what had befallen them. For people outside, nobody knew what exactly was happening.

[6 more hours until all safe zones disappear. We urge the player to take a rest until then.]

"Take a rest? Then what?" The people here were still in a state of shock. There had been too much info at once, thus it was hard to comprehend what exactly was going on.

"I, I don't get it? Can someone explain? Please?" A middle-aged lady looked around the room. "In the first place, what's a boss? What is an Affinity? How do I use this? I never played these types of games."

"Madam, calm down first, I am sure we will figure something out," a younger boy—he was a barista here—tried reassuring her. "I'm sure the police is on its way."

"Police, don't joke around. You have seen these dolls. That's not something those government puppies could handle. We need a real threat, like the defense force." A tattooed guy scoffed as he lit a cigarette. "In the first place, how are we supposed to get out of here?"

His question stumped the other people. The guy was right. Going by what they saw, every person who died would have by now turned into a doll. Their numbers are now a lot higher than before.

"B, but we have these weird powers now! Yes, you guys heard that guide too. She called them Affinities." The barista nodded, reassuring himself. "If we could use these abilities, I am sure this will be a piece of cake!"

"Brother stop joking around. This isn't a fantasy game," the other guy shouted. "You are dealing with human lives here. Who the hell knows what devil's magic has been brought to us? You want to rush into a horde of monsters with crystal stones brought by the enemy?"

"That.. . I'm sorry."

A woman walked forward. She had long black hair, tied together with a red ribbon. "I think we should relax, guys. If we go by the strange message, there are still some hours to go before we are in true danger." She placated the rowdy people. "Let us work together, not apart. I think that will be the best for us. Shall we start with an introduction? My name is Hwa Endo."

The barista agreed with her notion. "I am Ji In-Su, I am supposed to be here part-time. Well, was.. ." His voice trailed off as he realized his manager had been eaten and turned into a doll.

"My name is Kang Soomin," the older lady said and nervously tugged at her pearl necklace. "I am a district manager at Silwa Industries."

The strangers all looked at each other and slowly began to introduce themselves. This was still a civilized world after all. They did not know what was happening outside the cafe, thus, they held hope that life would still return to normal. And even though there was some wariness, this game did not seem to be a solitary game.

"What a gullible group," the tattooed man said and shook his head. "But fine, let us work together. I am Zheng Yunhe, hailing from the Chinese province HuNan. I was supposed to be here for vacation with my wife. Nice to meet you." On his left stood a woman, he bowed meekly. Nobody had noticed her until he said so.

The woman with a red ribbon, Hwa Endo, nodded. "So, I suppose we agree that it would be best to find a way outside?" She stretched her hand out. The people wondered what she was doing, until a few icicles formed above her palm, lightly floating. "Even if you are against whatever this freakish ability is, no one can deny that this is our only key to survive."

Hwa Endos' words strangely resonated with the other people. Maybe this wasn't impossible after all. But there was one thing these guys did not know. No, maybe only Lee Dojin's group understood.

"What will you guys do about the knight," Kim Jyejin asked the survivors, straight to the point.

The young child next to Wonho shivered, seeing all these clueless adults. The girl looked at Lee Dojin, realizing he did not engage with them at all. She asked him meekly, "Oppa, what are you doing?"

"All those old people and that big knight." Dojin knelt down and patted her head. "Do they scare you?"

She nodded without a thought. The girl felt completely helpless and lost. There was no terror greater than that.

"Then I shall kill that knight for you," he said just for her to hear. "You do not have to worry about anything."