Chapter 6 – LV.One Priest Seo Yun – [One]

In Happy Village of Mansu District 3, Incheon, Contribution Points are used instead of money. For example, participating in a day of farming earns 6 Contribution Points, giving someone a haircut earns 0.5 points, and standing two hours of Night Patrol Duty earns 2 points.

The villagers use these Contribution Points to buy clothes, potatoes, and manage their livelihoods.

The village’s Provisions situation isn’t so bad that you’d starve if you didn’t overwork. Working just four days a week earns enough Contribution Points to get by, so no one works too strenuously.

Amidst this, Seo Yun worked day and night, drawing puzzled looks from the villagers.

This ‘day and night’ literally meant she scurried around looking for something to do without even sleeping.

When staying in the village, Seo Yun stood Night Patrol Duty all night. Night Patrol Duty, standing atop the village wall on cold nights, was a task everyone avoided. Especially during cold seasons, standing patrol duty could earn a lot of Contribution Points.

And normally, she would walk outside the village for days at a time, searching abandoned buildings for usable items; there was no better way to earn a lot of Contribution Points.

It’s a world where factories and such aren’t operating, after all. If you brought back items that were now unavailable, like chocolate or Western cigarettes, you could obtain bizarrely high Contribution Points.

Today, too, Seo Yun presented items she brought from outside to the village. A bundle of toilet paper, two cartons of Marlboro Reds, and a cosmetics set. There were other miscellaneous items, but those three items were what immediately drew the villagers.

Looking at the items Seo Yun brought, people were either incredulous or amazed.

“Since the nearby areas have already been thoroughly scavenged, there shouldn’t be items like this no matter how much you search… Did you walk for days again to get them?”

In response to a middle-aged woman’s question, Seo Yun nodded. The middle-aged woman gave a dry cough and then asked Oh Haengbok.

“The kid is incredibly tough, but I wonder if this is okay. Didn’t the Chief forbid her from going out alone far away to get items?”

Oh Haengbok answered with a tired expression.

“She usually listens well, but she absolutely refuses to listen when told not to go out alone. I’ve given up now.”

Soon after, the auction began. A man picked up a cigarette carton and declared,

“I’ll buy this for sixty points!”

He was referring to Contribution Points. And there were many others who had also accumulated a lot of Contribution Points.

“I’ll give seventy.”

In the end, the Marlboros were sold for one hundred points, and the other items also sold for absurdly high points. Considering that a day’s farming earns 6 Contribution Points, she had earned in just a week what a farmer would have to work for years to earn.

It was a situation reminiscent of hyperinflation, but it wasn’t much of a problem within the village. In the first place, there weren’t many items worth buying and selling. No one placed that much importance on the value of Contribution Points.

In fact, Seo Yun also just hoarded a lot of Contribution Points without using them anywhere.

That seemed to be puzzling. Oh Haengbok asked.

“What on earth are you planning to use all those Contribution Points for? Are you trying to buy up all the village potatoes and cause a Provisions crisis?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“Just… isn’t it good to have a lot?”

Oh Haengbok laughed with a ‘heh’ and sent Seo Yun off.

“Anyway, you worked hard. Go on and get to your lesson. Your swordsmanship teacher said he’s waiting for you.”

Seo Yun bowed politely and left the spot. Walking slowly, she thought. A lesson.

Come to think of it, she had been missing too many lessons lately. To prevent her skills from rusting, it would be good to participate today.

Seo Yun had an unexpected talent she didn’t even know she had during her time as a firefighter: a talent for swordsmanship. It was a skill with little use in modern society, but in this current world, it had become something of a basic requirement for gentlemen and ladies.

“Seo Yun, you’re participating this time?”

In response to the middle-aged swordsmanship teacher’s words, Seo Yun replied.

“I’m sorry for being absent so often.”

“Sorry, my foot. Anyway, Seo Yun, our star student? Come forward.”

Seo Yun stepped forward holding a Longsword. The swordsmanship teacher asked Seo Yun.

“Who do you want to Spar with today?”

Seo Yun looked over the gathered students. Seeing three tense boys, she thought. It seems they didn’t expect me to participate today?

Seo Yun pointed at the large-framed boy among them.

“Lee Jongho.”

Lee Jongho shook his head desperately.

“I’m hurt. This time, could you please…”

However, that swordsmanship teacher wasn’t someone you could reason with.

“You improve when you’re hurt. Stop pretending to be sick and get out here and stand in front!”

Lee Jongho stood before Seo Yun with a thoroughly crumpled face. While Seo Yun showed no change in expression, the swordsmanship teacher laughed.

“Good, bow to each other… Begin!”

Simultaneous with the start, Seo Yun stepped forward. Perhaps frightened by that advance, Lee Jongho raised his sword up to his face and stepped backward.

Meanwhile, Seo Yun was brimming with confidence. Dancing forward, swinging the longsword in her hands left and right, she made a large sweeping motion.

Since Lee Jongho was stepping backward in succession, Seo Yun’s sword cut through empty air.

In Lee Jongho’s eyes, that seemed to be perceived as a failed attack. Seeing him approach, as if to seize the chance for a counterattack.

Seo Yun laughed inwardly. Idiot.

“Hup!”

As soon as the distance closed, Lee Jongho swung his sword. Seo Yun immediately pulled her own sword toward her body.

The two swords collided. The upper part of Lee Jongho’s blade met the very bottom part of Seo Yun’s blade.

It’s difficult to put Strength into an object far from oneself. The stronger side was Lee Jongho, who was larger and male, but in this state, Seo Yun could put much more Strength into her sword.

Sure enough, as Seo Yun pressed her sword downward, Lee Jongho’s sword was pressed down along with it.

In the moment Lee Jongho went “Uh-,” Seo Yun extended her thumb and changed her grip on the sword. It was a thumb grip to change the direction of the sword swing.

Swinging the sword just like that, she struck Lee Jongho’s now exposed neck.

“Argh!”

True to its purpose as a training sword, the edge wasn’t sharp, but it was still made of iron and had the weight of a real Longsword. Getting hit properly by it would be terribly painful.

Seo Yun could easily guess how painful it was. Because she herself had been hit dozens of times by such a sword in the past. And one of the guys who hit her like that was that very guy.

While thinking it would be good if a bruise formed, the swordsmanship teacher shouted.”Look! How many times must I say it, but structural strength overwhelms physical strength! To explain the recent clash, you blocked the weak part of the sword with the strong part and then immediately…”

The swordsmanship teacher rambled on about how wonderful it was that this tiny girl could defeat this hulking boy, then told Seo Yun to call out her next opponent.

Seo Yun answered as if she had been waiting.

“Park Taeyang.”

“Good, Park Taeyang, step forward!”

Dragged out, Park Taeyang glared at Seo Yun.

Seo Yun looked back at Park Taeyang without any change in expression.

Park Taeyang was straining his eyes as if determined not to lose, but his nervousness was evident. Looking at his hunched shoulders, Seo Yun thought. He’s totally scared shitless, that bastard.

Then she thought about how she would beat him up. Should she strike his face? Stab his chest hard enough to break his ribs? She wanted to make him suffer as much as possible.

Seo Yun didn’t like most of the orphans living in this village, but she particularly despised that bastard Park Taeyang. Because Park Taeyang hated her for utterly irrational reasons.

So much did he despise Seo Yun that for the past two years, Park Taeyang had constantly picked fights with her.

As a method to torment Seo Yun, he used this swordsmanship class.

At the time, Seo Yun was holding a sword for the first time in her life, and she couldn’t possibly compete with the village boys who had already been training in swordsmanship for about half a year.

Meanwhile, the village swordsmanship teacher was a madman who believed pain during training was natural. He would just watch with satisfaction as Park Taeyang and his gang stabbed and beat her under the guise of sparring.

Perhaps it was because she hated getting beaten so much that Seo Yun’s swordsmanship skills improved rapidly. Or perhaps she was just exceptionally talented. Either way, just half a year after picking up a sword, Seo Yun’s skills had become the best among this village’s orphan group.

Since then, it had long been Seo Yun’s pleasure to call Park Taeyang out during sparring and thoroughly beat him in return.

“Begin!”

There was no need to explain in detail how the spar with Park Taeyang proceeded. The difference in skill was far too great.

Seo Yun ended the spar in just five moves by smashing the pommel into Park Taeyang’s face.

Clutching his nose and collapsing, Park Taeyang whined.

“My nose bone, my nose bone is broken…”

And the swordsmanship teacher didn’t care at all about an injury of that level. Interpreting his indifferent expression now, it probably meant something like: ‘Why the fuss when you can just get Healed?’

In the end, Park Taeyang didn’t receive a single word of comfort. He just had to leave, clutching his nose, to get treatment.

“You fucking bitch…”

As Seo Yun was appreciating the curse he left behind with satisfaction, she made eye contact with Kim Jihyeok, who had come to take the class.

The next moment, Seo Yun frowned. Wasn’t Kim Jihyeok raising his thumb towards her as if praising the outcome of the match?

‘Is he crazy?’

It was a careless action. What if someone saw him doing that?

Seo Yun had to pretend not to see and ignore it. She retreated to a corner of the training ground and began her own swordsmanship practice.

Two hours later, the swordsmanship class ended. From Seo Yun’s perspective, it meant her enjoyable time was over.

That is, it was lunchtime.

“Everyone, eat!”

As the smell of food vibrated in the air, Seo Yun immediately got up from her seat. She had no intention of eating, nor of spending time with the brats who were eating.

She left her seat as if fleeing. Staring at the Gray Sky, she thought gloomily. What should I do to pass the time until night?

In the end, she went to the library and picked up a book.

It was a TRPG Rulebook.

On the cover was written Immortal Kingdom. Version 6.

In the old days, it would have been a book read by so-called nerds, but not anymore. Seo Yun read it intently and carefully, as if it were a professional textbook.

It was a book she had already read cover to cover multiple times, but she needed to memorize it even more perfectly. To survive in this damn world that had turned into a fantasy game…

Night fell. As always, Seo Yun climbed onto the village Fortress Wall (originally the wall of an apartment complex, but now everyone called it that) and stood guard duty. She planned to stand like this for about ten hours to earn 20 Contribution Points.

She had no intention of chatting with anyone for ten hours. She planned to just stare alone into the darkness the whole time.

But after standing for about an hour, footsteps were heard on the fortress wall. And then, wasn’t that a familiar voice?

“Brooding alone again? Angel.”

Turning her head, sure enough, Kim Jihyeok was standing there. Seo Yun was annoyed by the title he used for her.

“I told you not to call me that, it’s cringey.”