Chapter 15. Critical Error
Dong Bong-su tried to grab the skills with his hands and place them into the skill shortcut slots, but it did not work. All three of these techniques were passive skills, ones that were automatically applied without needing to be actively used. It was not that he did not know this; he was simply checking to be sure.
Bang, whoosh, thud.
He immediately lifted his sword and tried slashing, thrusting, throwing, and blocking.
Then he checked the proficiency right away. Each had increased by 0.1%. In other words, if he repeated these actions a thousand times each, the proficiency level would become Lv.2. After that, it would obviously become progressively harder to level up.
He had discovered yet another way to grow stronger. How effective it would be was something he would only know once the levels went up, but this clearly had its own advantages. Being able to grow stronger without having to hunt would bring a huge advantage in carrying out the game.
After swinging the sword around a few more times, he closed the skill window.
Now there was only one blinking window left.
"Quest"
This was the part Dong Bong-su had paid the least attention to since starting New Murim Online. Not only had the quest window never been activated until now, but it also did not seem like any quests would appear in the first place.
Click.
Hoping this time would be different, he pressed the quest window, the last one remaining.
At that moment.
Beep -.
[Critical ERROR occurred! Critical ERROR occurred! Critical ERROR occurred! The NPC required to proceed with the quest does not exist! Because there is no NPC, the quest cannot be progressed!]
A red flashing warning light appeared, and a loud alarm blared as the error message violently churned through his mind.
'There is no NPC.'
Now it was clear.
Various errors were occurring due to the discrepancy between reality and the system. Strictly speaking, only the system of Murim Online and the character Dong Bong-su were implemented under the physical laws of reality or the unique Murim-like rules of this place.
Interpreting it that way,
The reason such extremely critical error messages appeared in the quest window was obvious. Unlike skills or stats, the original source that could transform the system—NPCs—did not exist in this 'Murim' in the first place, and that was why this happened.
Dong Bong-su did not know much about games, but he did know that quests were the core thread running through the entire game. Since something that important had a problem, it was only natural for the system to make such a fuss. Most likely, unless NPCs naturally came into existence in this Murim, this problem would never be resolved.
To block out the increasingly noisy mechanical voice, he immediately closed the quest window. He had briefly seen several activated quests, but since all of them were marked with an X, it was clear that none of them could be progressed. They were only activated in name; without NPCs, they had no practical effect.
No matter how loudly the warning alarm sounded, it was all happening inside his interface, so no one in the Danri Family could hear it, but the noise itself was still unpleasant.
When hearing is overly activated, other senses naturally weaken.
The five senses and instinct must always manifest in balance. That is far more advantageous for survival.
With that, he abandoned any lingering attachment to quests without a second thought.
Only then did the world become quiet again.
That silence was his own world—New Murim Online. In reality, calling it online did not fit at all, since it was a real world, but considering that a system was implemented, one could say it was partially true.
"Hoo."
Even that brief disturbance from moments ago made his head throb. Dong Bong-su took a deep breath and steadied his mind.
He had more or less finished checking what he gained from his first level-up. Now it was time to organize everything in his head.
Ding-ding -.
Just as he was about to organise today's gains.
A strange bell sound rang inside his mind.
[The activation conditions for piercing vision have been met. Piercing vision is automatically cast.]
[An enemy with a level difference of 10 or more compared to you has approached within 20 meters. 19, 18, 17 ....]
Ding-ding-ding, dingriririring...….
As the numbers decreased, the ringing became increasingly urgent.
'This is...? Like an early warning system?'
From the holographic message and the urgent ringing, Dong Bong-su was able to infer the effect of piercing vision.
Murim Online enhanced realism by making all monsters and enemies as close to reality as possible, giving them a strong sense of physical presence. Unlike conventional 3D online games, it was programmed so that you could not simply see NPC levels or health at a glance. Naturally, all information about NPCs was also strictly controlled. Through this, it attempted to differentiate itself from existing 3D online games.
Experience it, try it, collide, break, and figure it out. Find fun in that process.
That was the motto of Murim Online.
By now, much about Murim Online had been uncovered, and information was being shared through the internet, but because of this 'differentiation policy,' many people who first connected to Murim Online would recklessly charge at enemies without any information and end up dying.
This policy had always been maintained and remained the same even now.
It applied equally to testers. Like regular players, they too struggled and were exposed defenselessly when facing monsters or enemies for the first time. That was why tester-exclusive skills were necessary—skills that dramatically reduced testing time while making testing efficient and realistic.
Among them, the one that maintained a balance between realism and efficiency in testing was the skill piercing vision.
Instead of providing testers with complete information about opponents, piercing vision only gave minimal danger warnings, encouraging more realistic testing. With this skill, testers could approach and observe unknown enemies more cautiously and carefully. It also reduced meaningless character deaths, thereby shortening the time required for testing. That was the role of piercing vision.
Seven senses.
The moment he understood the effect of piercing vision, that term came to mind.
The sixth sense was a perception based on vague premonitions or signs, but piercing vision went beyond that by scanning all enemies within 20 meters and issuing warnings. It was truly incredible.
He already possessed an unrivaled sixth sense, and now he had gained a seventh sense as well.
Five senses, sixth sense, and seventh sense.
He—Dong Bong-su—was gradually becoming a monster.
[14, 13, 12, 11 ....]
Meanwhile, time continued to flow, and the 'enemy' detected by piercing vision was steadily approaching the stable.
However, Dong Bong-su was not particularly worried.
Piercing vision was programmed to scan anyone approaching. Moreover, its original scan targets were NPCs of Murim Online, not users.
Monsters, bosses, and the like.
But here, he was the only user, and actual Murim Online NPCs did not exist. Or perhaps there were some implemented, but if so, the system would notify him through a system method such as quest alarms.
If that was the case,
That was an 'NPC of this place.'
The people here.
And if they were accompanied by a danger warning, then nine times out of ten, they were martial artists.
And if the martial artist approaching now was—
'They can't be an enemy.'
Dong Bong-su judged the approaching 'enemy' to not be an enemy.
[10 ....]
The count had passed 10. That meant they had approached within 10 meters.
Dong Bong-su remained calm. He simply rose slowly from his seat.
The reason he judged the approaching 'enemy' as not hostile lay in their movement speed.
Even setting aside the fact that there were few people bold enough to infiltrate the Danri Family, an intruder sneaking in would not move that slowly.
Which meant the person approaching now was a master within the Danri Family. And likely someone stronger and higher-ranked than expected.
He did not yet know exactly what a level difference of 10 meant, but considering the effort and the value of lives required just to reach level 2, he could infer that it was enormous.
How many people would one have to kill if only killing ordinary people to reach level 10? Thousands? Tens of thousands?
Perhaps...
'Hundreds of thousands?'
He could not even calculate it, nor imagine it.
Someone who had grown stronger through training equivalent to that difference in lives was approaching.
His mind rapidly narrowed down the list of candidates.
At the same time, Dong Bong-su immediately stored all the basic equipment he was wearing into the inventory and took out his original clothes to put on. It might have been possible to directly eject items from the inventory and overlay them onto his body, but he could not yet control the inventory with that level of precision.
[5, 4, 3 ....]
Before he knew it, Dong Bong-su had returned to his original Ma-a-sam appearance.
Dull eyes, an ordinary face, a slightly open mouth, and shabby clothes. Even if Sosam were to return alive, he would not be able to tell which of them was the real Sosam between himself and Dong Bong-su.
Creeeak -.
The old door swung open, moonlight seeped in, and two long shadows were cast inside the stable.
A middle-aged man with his hands clasped behind his back and a solidly built man in his twenties entered the stable one after the other.
They were Gi Dae-hyo and Gi Man-ji. The two had spent the entire day investigating the Suicide Plague and had only now returned to the Danri Family.
They had come all the way to this shabby stable for a final check.
The moment Gi Dae-hyo entered the stable, he did not waste words and went straight to the point.
"Are you Sosam?"
"...."
Because Dong Bong-su faithfully played the role of a mute, he did not answer and only blinked his eyes with a startled expression. In truth, he was not very surprised, but outwardly, he looked thoroughly shocked.
Dong Bong-su knew Gi Dae-hyo and Gi Man-ji well. Over the past few months, he had not only prepared for leveling up but had also thoroughly researched the Danri Family. The core of that research was investigating its people.
The moment he saw Gi Dae-hyo, he realized that he had come because of the Suicide Plague. His current face was just one of several prepared fake faces.
The candidates he had briefly narrowed down as 'enemies' were three people.
The head of the Danri Family, the leader of the Black Five Group, and the leader of the Cross Heavenly Sword Group.
He had prepared to act according to any of the three and had simultaneously thought through their possible reasons for coming.
In the end, the one who entered the stable was Gi Dae-hyo, leader of the Black Five Group, and he adjusted his expression accordingly.
And
The reason Gi Dae-hyo, the leader of the Black Five Group, had come here now was only one.
"Did you kill Machil?"
Machil's death.
That was the only reason.