209 – The Returner Endures (6)

I decided to save the mysterious girl, ‘Arumi’… but… There are more than one part that bothers me right now.

First of all, the identity of the girl. What is it about her that the government is looking for her? What’s wrong with her that she wants to get it back by destroying her legs with a sniper rifle? Even if you ask yourself, you probably won’t get a satisfactory answer, and this is something I need to investigate separately.

Also, the second thing to consider is did they really try to kill me?

At first, I thought they were definitely aiming for life, but when I thought about it, if they had really aimed to kill, they would have aimed for the head. In the first place, if it pierces between the eyebrows, a person cannot move.

When I think about how I turned and got shot in the shoulder… Perhaps the first area targeted was the collarbone. It is an essential part for using the arm, and it is a fatal part if hit… It is not a very suitable part for killing. The previous assumption that they wanted to kill me but save Areum was wrong.

“This is just as strange as it is.”

I didn’t think the sniper was trying to kill me for nothing. This is because, based on common sense, there is no reason to keep me alive. If you are determined to shoot in Korea, killing someone will be easier than saving someone’s life. There is no reason to keep me alive.

“Something… “I must have touched it wrongly.”

Taking all of this into consideration, I’m pretty sure I’ve accidentally hit the wrong trigger. The appearance of a sniper is not a normal progression, and it is probably not the direction the tower wants.

Reason? The reason is simple. This is because the moment such heavy weapons appear, the difficulty of the 21st floor becomes too difficult.

Again, let’s bring in Mr. A, the ordinary player mentioned earlier. Mr. A is moderately strong, has a moderate level, knows martial arts, and has a moderate amount of magical power.

Can this man survive the sniper? Is it possible to save Areum from the battle just a moment ago?

It is impossible. It is absolutely impossible. There are very few players at the moment who can avoid or withstand the gun in the first place. Don’t you think you can just look at the muzzle of the gun and avoid it? That is out of the question. If a bold player runs with his magic power up and there’s only one enemy with a gun, he might be able to avoid it. What I am talking about is ‘bullet’.

The speed of the bullet is approximately 400 meters per second. The speed of sound is approximately 340 meters per second. The time the bullet arrives is faster than the time the sound arrives. This means that it is impossible to hear and react to sounds. For reference, 400 meters per second is 1440 kilometers per hour. You can roughly imagine the speed.

The fact that bullets travel faster than sound means that you have to see the bullets flying with your own eyes, but not only is this virtually impossible, but the moment I was shot was dark night. You can delete the option to watch or avoid.

This means that even if they brought in any player other than me, they would have failed… I thought that unless I did something wrong, there was no way such an extreme level of difficulty would appear. And that too before a full day had passed.

Therefore, it is clear that either running away to the mountains itself is a problem, or something was done that should not have been done in the process.

“First of all, I want to know some standard strategies… “

How did other players conquer the 21st floor? I feel like I want to grab someone and ask them a question.

The best way is… First, you have to endure 7 days to escape the 21st floor, then return to reality and refer to other people’s strategies. There may be people who gave up and just waited helplessly for 7 days, but there are also many people like me who tried to find a solution. Among them, there may be successful people.

However, in order to clear, you must first give up one innocent girl. We have to send her back to the lab she hates so much.

“That can’t happen.”

There are some areas where compromise is possible and some areas where compromise is impossible. This is the impossible part. First, let’s think about how to save Areum, whether it be porridge or rice.

“Okay.”

I have roughly finished organizing my thoughts. Now is the time to take action.

“Ugh… “

I immediately took off the armor that was getting in my way and roughly threw it into the nearby grass. Since going to the mountains in the last episode seemed to be a problem, I plan to stay in the city this time.

“First of all… “

You have to make money first.

**

The method I chose to make money was none other than ‘hard work.’ To be more precise, we should call them day laborers in the construction industry.

This is what I learned while trying to make money. Not everyone wants to work as a day laborer. Usually, there is a separate company that arranges for you, you have to go out early in the morning and wait, and your identity has to be guaranteed.

“What is this guy? What? You want to work? Stop f*cking with me and get the f*ck out. What kind of playground does this look like? “I’m calling the police.”

Therefore, my act of recklessly visiting the construction site without any identification was a nuisance itself. It was around 10 a.M. When I visited, so work was in full swing, and they said they couldn’t accept people whose identities they didn’t know because they had written up a list when they were working in the first place.

“Can I move this?”

“Hey! Don’t touch that… “Uh, huh?”

However, when he saw me moving four 40 kilogram bags of cement, the foreman wearing a hard hat slowly opened his mouth.

“Captain, call the police…” Uh… “

“… Hey. “What is your name?”

“This is Kim Jun-ho.”

“Ha, f*ck… It shouldn’t be like this… Wait. “Shobu is coming.”

The foreman returned after disappearing somewhere for a while, told me I could work, gave me a hard hat and an old vest, and instructed me to do the work. Construction work can generally be said to be quite arduous, but for me, who possesses the body of a superhuman, it was not that difficult.

So, the five adult men finished their work alone, and the work ended much earlier than expected. In my hand was a thick envelope containing a whopping 300,000 won.

“That… “Are you coming tomorrow too?”

“No. But I will contact you when it comes out.”

“Um, okay. Okay. “I’ll give you my contact information, so if you want to work, you can call me here.”

“Oh, I don’t have a phone… “

“Hey, if you’re going to work, you have to do it with me? If I go somewhere else, will I really die? “You brought me plenty of money today.”

“I know, I know… “

After calming down the situation, I headed to the clothing store first. I didn’t need fancy clothes, so I bought a set of sweats that were reasonably comfortable and unobtrusive. With this, people around you won’t look at you strangely. You might think that this is just an unemployed person who stays at home and goes out.

“Do you have a room?”

“Yes~”

I headed to the cheapest looking motel nearby and luckily there was a room available and I was able to sleep on a soft bed that night. Now that I have a small amount of cash, my life has become easier.

So the next morning. I realized one scary truth.

“… “There was a big problem.”

It was too far away from the place where I first met ‘Areum’. The time is now 8:30. The remaining time is 30 minutes. If you run with all your might, you may be able to keep the time, but if you run at a speed that exceeds human limits, you will attract excessive attention.

“… Taxi.”

In the end, I decided to take a taxi and headed to the river. The time is just 9 o’clock. If you run for about 10 minutes from here, you will be near the bridge where you met Areum. I tried to move without delay.

“Help… Please help me brother… “

I stopped when I saw Areum approaching limping from a distance.

“… “The location has changed?”

There is still a distance from where we met. In terms of time, it is not even possible to jump this far. But how can it be here, now?

In the last episode, I happened to meet Areum at the right time, not because I was lucky.

There may be some kind of cause.

**

“Why did you come here?”

“Just… I feel like I have to… This is my first time seeing you, so there’s something… “It seems familiar.”

“… Okay.”

After quickly finishing my speech, I was walking down the street with Areum on my back. There are a lot of things she wants to ask her, but she doesn’t seem to have settled down yet, so she decides to hold back. We weren’t close right away, so I didn’t think I would fully reveal my true feelings. This means that an ice breaker is needed.

“Now, write this.”

“Oh, it’s hard to breathe…” “

“Hold on for now.”

I roughly put on the mask I bought at the convenience store and walked down the street with Areum on my back. If you do this, you will have the justification to keep your head down, and even if you check CCTV, your face will not be visible.

Wouldn’t the police focus on monitoring the movements of young children in the first place? That would be the case if you don’t go to a ‘place a child would go’.

What if Areum is being followed by some kind of biological chip radar? Then running away is all in vain. However, if a human is investigating and narrowing the matter down, there are enough elements for psychological warfare to work.

There is a saying that if you want to hide a tree, hide in the forest. I prioritized ‘places I would never, ever care about if I were a police officer,’ and as a result, only one space came to mind.

A place where it is not strange to have children and grown adults.

Although it is located in the center of Seoul, it is a place that is one step away from the eyes of the police and other people.

A place where a wanted girl cannot possibly be found.

“It’s an amusement park.”

“Wow… !!”

We arrived at the amusement park in Jamsil.