ReLife Player

«Darn it. What am I even doing right now?»

Hyun-chul grumbled as he leaned the seat backrest as far as it would go.

«Haha, that’s right.»

The rookie in the driver’s seat held onto the steering wheel and responded with the same mechanical tone he had been using for the countless previous questions.

«Ugh.»

What a sight to see during the Golden Week holidays. Hyun-chul was secretly looking forward to the vacation, wishing he could rest too.

However, he was working inside the car.

The Golden Week holidays, during which everyone else rested, had completely passed him by.

«Ugh, I shouldn’t have done this for nothing. I should have just lived as a player. Why do I have so much work to do?»

All of this was because of the Twelve Thrones.

He had once been enticed by the title of being the best player in Korea and had supported them. He had also thought that being selected for the Twelve Thrones would allow him to fight strong people to his heart’s content.

In reality, it was days filled with excessive work.

To the point where he was itching to fight.

This work was no different. With the deployment of Cocoon in Seoul, the appearance of monsters had noticeably decreased.

However, Cocoon was only surrounding the Gangbuk area. In areas unaffected by Cocoon, monsters were still rampant.

That’s why Im Ga-eul was working hard, traveling around the country to install Cocoon since the beginning of the year.

The Twelve Thrones had to accompany her on the schedule to ensure her safety.

However, since «End of Century Destruction,» monsters had been lurking all over the country. Although Seoul had regained its function as the capital and the number of monsters had decreased, monsters were still commonly found outside of Seoul.

This made it difficult to install the cocoon. Before installing the cocoon, the monsters occupying the roads were prioritized.

In the meantime, people were starting to migrate under the name of Golden Week holidays.

<After the End of the Century Destruction, people who normally wouldn’t go out of Seoul were moving in droves.

No matter what happens, everyone believes that the Cocoon, the Twelve, and the Fairy will take care of it.

Of course, the Fairy government was unable to stop public opinion from declaring a national migration. There was even some internal talk that they should use the opportunity to boost their approval ratings.

In the end, the government authorized the ethnic cleansing. They hired a bunch of players to protect them.

«Why is the road so blocked? It seems like we haven’t been moving for a while.»

«It’s a national migration. All the roads around Seoul are like this.»

«I’m really annoyed. I just want to go home and rest my feet.»

«I’m more worried about September. If May is like this, what about Chuseok*?» (it’s a festival) (E/N: Pic below!)

«I’ll quit being a Twelve Throne guard if I have to work on that day. Damn, what am I doing now?»

«Haha, that’s right.»

Mana is present in all living creatures.

When people start moving in masses, mana moves with them.

This makes mana ubiquitous.

And monsters are born out of ubiquity.

Even if they weren’t, people traveling on monster-infested roads would increase the number of monsters.

There were always players on the main roads.

And the Korea Mana Management Agency increased the number of players to help people move safely during peak periods, and this year, due to the announcement of the Fairy Goddess Government’s policy, they even hired a lot of players.

As the scale grew, we needed a role to control the players.

The only person on the government side who could control them was the Twelve. Eventually, Hyun-chul was forced to return his golden vacation and was assigned to manage the Han River Bridge.

If I were older, I wouldn’t be doing this. Damn it.

What was unfair was that the older Twelve sat at the headquarters sucking honey, while the younger Twelve were put to work in the field.

«It’s really going to be a mess by Chuseok, though it might be better if we can get all the cocoon installations done by then.»

«I’ll die if it’s Chuseok, seriously.»

«Damn it, I became a Twelve to fight with strong guys, not to guard civilians.»

«Haha….»

This time, the newcomer could only laugh soullessly.

He had joined the Blaze clan because of Hyun-chul’s public image, and now he was going to spend the entire holiday listening to him.

«These old guys. I mean, how many years older are they than me….»

There are five of them who manage the site throughout the Golden Holidays.

All five were among the youngest members of the Twelve.

Moreover, he and the other two were in their early twenties and had been selected for the position because of their skill as players.

The more he thought about it, the more he resented the selection process.

The world of players was a world of ability and skill.

The Twelve were no different.

Though the selection process wasn’t fair, it was true that he was weaker than them.

After all, it wasn’t just his age that made him grumble as he looked out over the Han River, it was also the fact that they were stronger than him.

«Ha, boring as hell. Nothing happens. I’ve been living in the car since morning and I’m so tired.»

«Haha….»

‘It’s a good thing that things don’t blow up’

The rookie held back the words that were about to come out.

It wasn’t that he didn’t fully understand why Hyun-chul was grumbling.

Everywhere he went, there was traffic, which made traveling slower, and the time spent in traffic was stressful.

Still, the skill is real.

The signal changed. The rookie released their foot from the brake and kept a distance from the car in front while briefly glancing at the back seat through the rearview mirror.

His hair was pulled back to reveal his forehead.

His hair was dyed red to match the name he was given, .

His fierce eyes and crude piercings in his ears added to his overall image of being a bad guy.

However, despite his appearance, he was the real deal, one of the twelve players representing South Korea.

Of course, skill and character are not proportional.

Rather, character and image seem to be proportional.

«No way. I have to listen to the radio, I’m going to go crazy if I don’t listen to something.»

He couldn’t sleep because he had slept too much at lunch.

After tossing and turning in the car, Hyun-chul finally decided to listen to the radio to relieve his boredom.

That’s when he heard it.

«─Eh?»

The hand that reached out to turn on the radio stopped right in front of him.

Mana, which was undetectable just a moment ago.

It was just a tiny dot, but it started to grow, until it was large enough to be detected without the need to spread out the sensors.

«What the fuck?»

He swore out loud.

Frowning, he quickly cast his gaze out over the Han River.

The algae-covered waters were churning wildly.

«What’s wrong?»

The rookie who was driving asked, scratching his head. Hyun-chul, who had been grumbling nonstop, seemed to be getting a little nervous as he scrunched up his forehead with a serious expression.

Hyun-chul scolded the newcomer in a harsh tone.

«Don’t you feel this? How did you join Blaze? From whose backdoor are you?»

«Does Blaze even have a backdoor? I thought we just beat up all our opponents?»

«Ha, yeah. The strong one is the winner.»

He wanted to kick him, but Hyun-chul was the one who created the clan with the vision of the strongest being the best, so he couldn’t.

«What the hell….»

Puzzled, the newcomer spread his sensors around the vehicle, then turned his gaze to the Han River, just as Hyun-chul did.

«This is….»

How had he not noticed?

Such an intense aura was right there.

The newcomer’s expression grew serious. He, too, had realized that it was a serious situation when he realized the rapid increase in the amount of mana caught in his sensors.

«At least he’s not an idiot.»

Hyun-chul clicked his tongue at the newcomer who had finally realized the situation.

«This is no joke.»

«I know, man.»

The point where the omnipresent mana expanded was far away from their current location.

Nevertheless, the aura spread by the omnipresent mana was not unusual, and the player’s intuition that he had honed over the years was ringing strongly.

«Huh….»

The iron bridge shook, and the Han River trembled as the omnipresent mana fully manifested.

The water that had risen up to the railroad bridge hit the vehicles.

With such a blatant reaction from the other side, it was impossible for anyone not to feel it.

The phone rang.

He answered it without even checking to see who it was.

«You felt it, didn’t you?»

[Yes].

There was no way he could not have known who was calling in this situation.

Like himself, he could hear the serious tone of Park Hye-rim, one of the Twelve, even over the phone.

«Hierarchy?»

[…According to the information, it’s a third level Kraken, a monster that collapsed the Seongsu Bridge in the past.].

«Third level….»

On the other hand, Hyun-chul’s voice couldn’t hide his amusement. The childlike whimpering of boredom had already disappeared.

Only his fierce eyes were burning like a lion on the hunt.

«Which bridge did it come from? Can they handle it? What’s the damage?»

[It appeared on the Seongsan Bridge. As you can see, the players on the ground are unable to respond.

We don’t know the exact scale of the damage, but it’s said to be a disaster area.]

«Hooo….»

Seongsan Bridge is probably in chaos.

Even if you don’t look, hell is being played out on that bridge.

Nevertheless, Hyun-chul couldn’t hide his pleasure.

He really is a fight freak.

Squinting at Hyun-chul’s face with the corners of his mouth pulled up in the rearview mirror, the rookie stuck out his tongue.

‘That’s who he is, isn’t it?’

He himself had joined the clan because of him.

The newcomer couldn’t help but laugh.

If people saw this, they would be very angry.

A member of the Twelve, who is supposed to represent the Republic of Korea, doesn’t care about the safety of the people and is only excited about beating monsters.

But that’s your destiny.

The reason for a player’s existence is to destroy monsters.

The Twelve were no different.

No, it wasn’t. Because he was a Twelve, he had intense feelings about killing monsters.

«Seongsan Bridge…. How far is it from here?»

«This is near Wonhyo Bridge, so… at the earliest, it will take ten minutes… ah, it will take more than that.»

The newcomer corrected himself while looking at the congested road. There was no way to get off the road, and it would take quite a while for the line of cars to clear.

«Ha, never mind. I’ll just go by myself.»

There was no time to waste.

Hyun-chul sighed and got out of the car without hesitation.

«Clan Lord! What do you think you’re doing….»

«What the hell, I’m trying to run. It’s faster this way. It’ll only take me half an hour.»

«You’re running! It’s a two-hour walk!»

«Oh, I don’t know. It’s noisy. If I can do it, I can do it. You just drive the car, and send the players who still have hands to spare to the field.»

[Wait, you’re saying you’re going to run!? Are you crazy? You don’t have to….]

«Ah, I don’t know, I don’t know!»

Hyun-chul had given up rolling his head since he was born.

Not wanting to hear any more nagging, Hyun-chul threw his cell phone into the car.

He then stretched lightly and pulled out his favorite Bastard Sword from the trunk.

«Strength.»

Mana flowed out of his body with the incantation, enveloping him.

«Oh, Clan Lord…?»

By the time the newcomer tried to catch up, the mana-encased Hyun-chul was long gone.

«Haha, haaa what are you doing on the holidays?»

The newcomer sighed in the motionless vehicle.

Notes!

(1) Chuseok: are one of Korea’s biggest and most important holidays and an essential aspect of Korean culture. It’s a three-day holiday that is celebrated every fall. It is a traditional holiday where people go back to their hometowns to show appreciation for the fall food harvest.