NOVEL WEB Chapter 9 - The Vanguard (1)
Chapter 9. The Vanguard (1)
A voting result window floated in mid-air.
[The Player chosen as the king of the Red Team is ‘Kang Sion’.]
As soon as the king was selected, a red seal appeared above the heads of everyone present here.
All the people belonging to the 7th floor were now designated as ‘citizens’ of the Red Team kingdom that I would be leading.
K, who was looking at the results, smiled.
“As expected, Mr. Sion has been chosen. Who else could it be here besides you?”
K was speaking about me, but I wasn’t paying attention to her.
What I was focused on were the kings of the Blue Team and the Black Team.
In other words, the targets I needed to kill.
From the moment I was chosen as king, I steeled my resolve.
I turned to look at the other two notification windows.
[The Player chosen as the king of the Blue Team is ‘???’.]
[The Player chosen as the king of the Black Team is ‘???’.]
The identities of the kings were marked as ‘???’ and kept confidential.
“The kings, at least on the surface, are treated as regular ‘citizens’. So, it won’t be easy for the opposing team to figure out who is a ‘king’ and who is a ‘citizen’.”
K’s voice continued to ring out.
Ultimately, the quickest ways to eliminate a king would be through large-scale battles or assassination.
Since identifying the opposing kings wouldn’t be easy, this game wasn’t going to progress so simply.
Internal unity.
Strong internal unity was directly tied to the group’s combat strength.
That had to be my primary objective for now.
‘The Blue Team had an overwhelming number.’
That meant more survivors belonged to the Blue Team.
In contrast, this side only had a few dozen people at best.
Just based on a rough calculation, it seemed like their numbers were more than twice ours.
If a battle started, our side would sustain heavier casualties.
No, it was even possible that we wouldn’t stand a chance to win at all.
“The round will officially start exactly 60 minutes from now. The current time is… 11:00 PM, so it’ll start at midnight. Oh, and from 11:00 PM to midnight, neither the Red Team nor the Blue Team can attack each other. During this time, well… you can rest or prepare for combat. Do as you wish.”
The people resolved themselves.
They had experienced both the tutorial and K’s game.
By now, there shouldn’t be anyone here still in denial about the reality in front of them.
K observed everyone’s expressions and smiled with satisfaction.
Then, drawing attention once more, she clapped her hands.
“Alright! Let’s begin, shall we?”
With those words, K opened a dimensional gate in mid-air again.
The cherubs entered in an orderly line first, and K, who lingered until the very end, spoke one final remark to us.
“Enjoy yourselves, everyone. After all, they say those who enjoy themselves are the ones who win, right? Good luck.”
Swooosh—.
With those words, K disappeared into the void.
And silence returned to the hall once more.
Simultaneously, a status window signaling the start of Round 1 appeared before my eyes.
[Temporary Status Window]
[Building A112305: Red Team]
[King: Kang Sion]
[Resources
Citizens: 32 (Minor injuries: 3, Moderate injuries: 3, Severe injuries: 0)
Subordinates: 0, -grade
Occupied Area: 7th Floor
Current Living Rank: 2nd Place
Food: 0
Water: 0
Power: Military Strength (0), Weapons {13, F-grade (12), A-grade (1)}]
After K disappeared, silence fell over the area.
Some people sighed in relief, while others stood silently, staring into the void where K had vanished.
Sion was examining the status window.
Jae-hee took out a cigarette from her pocket and placed it in her mouth.
‘Thankfully, the future hasn’t changed.’
Flick, flick—.
Lighting her cigarette, she turned to look at him.
He appeared to be deep in thought, reviewing the status window and contemplating something.
As expected, Kang Sion had been chosen as the king of the first round.
In this situation, there wasn’t much she could do.
Now that he had been chosen as king, he was figuring out how to survive in this world.
If she recklessly told him everything, the future would change exponentially.
What she had to do was give him just enough information to understand, and no more.
And to verify for herself whether he could truly seize victory in this League.
Jin Jae-hee slowly approached Kang Sion.
Sion was examining a mop handle that had fallen nearby.
As he held it, he thought to himself.
‘Internal unity, huh.’
The moment he grabbed the mop handle, a weapon information window naturally appeared before his eyes.
[Temporary]
[Mop Handle (F-grade), Attack Power (5), Durability (10)]
Even a mop handle was treated as a weapon.
Its grade was F, and its durability was a measly 10.
If he struck the wall once with all his strength, its durability would probably be halved.
He opened his inventory again and checked the revolver.
A new information window, which hadn’t appeared before, now popped up.
It was a window bordered with a faint violet hue.
[Temporary]
[Smith & Wesson .38 Caliber (A-grade), Attack Power (70), Durability (100), Bullets (10)]
Its attack power and durability were on a completely different level compared to the mop handle.
Once again, he realized just how advantageous it was to have the weapon K had handed him.
Sion needed to objectively assess the Red Team’s current power.
He knew nothing about what the Blue Team was doing or how they were armed.
As Sion continued examining the weapon window, Jin Jae-hee quietly approached and spoke.
“Weapons can be upgraded by using citizens with special professions. Their durability or even their attack power can be improved.”
At her words, Sion hesitated for a moment before asking again.
“How do you find citizens with special professions?”
“Special citizens, or Players, are like flecks of gold in the sand. They’re hard to obtain and even harder to find. That’s why, once we move past the early stages, special citizens are often traded for exorbitant prices.”
Special abilities? People being traded at high prices?
With questions swirling in his mind, Sion glanced around.
Above everyone’s heads, there were seals representing the Red Team.
The seals resembled medals but were mostly simple red patterns.
It seemed like these seals were visible only to the king.
After all, no one here was looking at the seals above others’ heads.
“At the start, you won’t get any information about special citizens. Most of that gets unlocked after the early and mid-stages.”
“What does the ‘Temporary’ label in the status window mean?”
At my question, Jin Jae-hee exhaled cigarette smoke as she replied.
“Exactly what it says. All the status windows and abilities that appear during the tutorial are temporary. Don’t worry about them too much. The tutorial is just the process of selecting Players, and there’s no need to overthink it. For now, focus on the immediate game. Oh, and one more thing.”
After saying that, Jin Jae-hee pointed with the hand holding her cigarette to a location on the other side of the room.
I followed her finger with my gaze.
There, I saw two people who appeared to be siblings.
Their voices reached me.
“Do you think we can eat this?”
“…A monster? Are you insane?”
“Well, I’m starving to death here. What else can we do?”
“Swallow your spit.”
“I’m already swallowing it.”
The two people, who seemed to be siblings, were talking while looking at a fallen goblin corpse.
Jin Jae-hee glanced at the siblings and said.
“I noticed them on the way here. Those two will be a big help to you.”
“They came up from the lower floors?”
“Yes.”
I looked around the area.
Most people seemed to be waiting for my next words.
No matter what, to survive, we had to kill the kings of the Blue Team and the Black Team, and I had a duty to lead these people.
“What about food?”
Sion asked Jae-hee.
“Food refers to the number of days your group can hold out. If the number is 1, it means the entire group can last for one day.”
“If it’s at 0 right now…”
“It means we can’t last even a single day in this state.”
Tap, tap.
Jin Jae-hee flicked the ashes off her cigarette as she spoke.
Sion looked around and thought.
In that case, we had to secure water immediately.
Humans can survive a few days without food, but without water, they won’t last more than three days.
Sion spoke directly to three people nearby.
“Go to the restroom and fetch some water. Use a bucket or anything you can to store as much as possible.”
“Ah… yes!”
“Yes…!”
The people responded immediately to his command and headed to the restroom.
Sion thought there might be some resistance, but surprisingly, the people followed his words obediently.
Perhaps they were aware of the dire situation they were in.
And then there was food.
Honestly, if this place were a large supermarket, food wouldn’t have been an issue.
In large supermarkets, an entire floor or two is usually filled with groceries.
But this place was a shopping mall outlet.
It wasn’t a shopping mall focused on groceries, but one that primarily offered fashion goods and entertainment like movie theaters.
The floors where food might be available were the 9th and 10th floors, where the food court and restaurants were located.
Otherwise, there might be something on the 11th floor, in the movie theater.
Sion turned his head and looked at the goblin lying dead nearby.
He asked Jae-hee about it.
“Can goblins be eaten?”
“Yeah, though they taste absolutely disgusting.”
“And nutrition?”
“The worst. Still, it can keep you alive for a few days. But as the king, you’ll need to resolve your citizens’ food problem properly.”
“That’s enough. Kyung-soo.”
“Ah, yes! Sion.”
At Sion’s call, Kwon Kyung-soo, who had been tending to the exhausted survivors, came running over in a hurry.
Sion instructed Kwon Kyung-soo to collect usable meat from the goblin.
“A monster…?”
“Yes, if possible, discard the internal organs and prepare only the meat. You can throw the remaining carcass onto the 6th floor.”
“Ah… okay! I’ll try.”
Kwon Kyung-soo looked around and picked up a pair of scissors lying in the store.
After grabbing a few more tools, he headed toward the goblin with some of the others.
Next, there were weapons.
Sion reviewed his status window and asked.
“Will every round proceed in a similar way?”
“Yes, depending on the location.”
“Location…?”
Sion looked at Jae-hee.
Jae-hee calmly explained.
“Yeah. It starts in a building, then moves to a city, small regions, larger regions, and eventually nationwide. Right now, it’s just small-scale battles, but as the rounds progress, the scale will grow exponentially.”
In the end, it wasn’t just about securing immediate victories, but also about investing in what was necessary for the long term.
Defeating the Blue Team was the first priority, though.
From the restroom, four or five people came out, struggling as they carried buckets full of water.
“We… we brought water, Sion.”
“We brought some over here, too. Huff… huff…”
[Water: 0 -> 3]
The update was very fast.
As the buckets were brought into the barricaded area, which was designated as the current living zone, the resource count increased.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the goblin was being processed.
With scissors split open into two halves, the sharp edges were used to remove the bones and organs from the carcass.
The people working on it all had miserable expressions, and a few even vomited, but they didn’t stop the task.
‘Haa…’
Sion let out a deep sigh.
The next step was to figure out who the Blue Team was.
Sion looked up at the ceiling and thought.
The dark ceiling seemed farther away than ever.
He needed to form a scouting team to observe their movements.
There were three kings in this shopping mall.
If survival required their deaths, Sion resolved that he wouldn’t hesitate.
No matter who they were, no matter how kind or evil, it didn’t matter.
He would kill them.
He would do everything in his power to kill them.
“Huh… huh…?”
“W-wait, people?!”
At that moment.
Sounds of commotion could be heard, and Sion turned toward the source of the noise.
It was the escalator.
And a group of burly men was descending the escalator together.
In one hand, they carried baskets filled to the brim with appetizing food.
“…”
Sion slowly stepped out of the barricade.
Step, step, step.
They descended in a line and placed their baskets in front of us.
The sight of food immediately caused a stir among the group.
And then, a deep and low voice was heard.
“Ah-. Ladies and gentlemen.”
A man walked out from among the group of men.
He wore horn-rimmed glasses and had his hair slicked back neatly.
His square jaw stood out, and he was dressed sharply in a suit.
The man walked alone among the Red Team, smiled, and introduced himself.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Dong-gil, branch manager of the Vinics Shopping Mall.”
Before the Red Team could make a move, they had approached us first.
They were the vanguard of the Blue Team stationed on the 11th floor.