Above Your Head

"Heok...!" Jae-seok, who was sitting in front of me, suddenly groaned deeply. His whole body, which was clean just a second ago, was now covered in blood. However, this sight was nothing special, so I didn’t make a fuss about it.

"How many times did you clear?"

Jae-seok answered while in the midst of panting, "Huff... Huff... 37 times!"

"How long did you take?"

"I don't know, about…40 hours? No, I took two naps, so maybe around 50 hours or so. Damn it. I slept standing up and I couldn't get rid of any fatigue."

"That's pretty good."

As he smiled, Jae-seok took off his armor and trembled. He then pressed the button on one side of the sheet. 

"Young Master-nim!"        

"Are you all right?"

As if it had been waiting, the door of the large van we were riding in opened and suited men came in. Of course, the interior of the vehicle could be expanded, so Jae-seok was able to lay on the bed that was prepared on one side. Then, the men applied disinfectant and bandaged his wounds.

"Sustained Compact Heal!"

As a white light radiated and permeated through the bandage covering his wound, Jae-seok made a request, "I have a wish. Bring down the Jewel of Vitality here."

Along with the chant of the suited, bald man, a green bead was formed in the air. Only then did Jae-seok, who was gasping for air, gradually regain his breathing. "Whooo… Thank you. Even though everyone's so busy."

"Don't mention it, Young Master-nim. We were able to bring about a much better result thanks to you, Young Master-nim." The bodyguard bowed with a steel club hanging from his waist and a long battle hammer resting on his back. These were the stage-specific equipment that Jae-seok had bought from me. 

"There's no particular problem, right, guys?"

"Everyone has raised their levels to Level 3, and we've also gotten used to using spiritual ability. We've been taking notes as there were plenty of changes on the stage this time."

"Yeah, that's only natural.”

The team created by Jae-seok consisted of ordinary people, or those who 'used to be ordinary people' to be exact. They had outstanding intelligence and great enough bodies to be selected as bodyguards of Ilsung, a leading conglomerate. However, it was unfortunate that they couldn’t even stand up against the ability users of the parallel world due to a lack of spiritual talent. To them, Project End, a catastrophe that might exterminate the entire human race, was also a ladder that allowed them to break past their limits. 

"How is it going with the mapping?"

"We're going to acquire the information that the team has collected, and we also plan to negotiate with the information that the Lee Family's ability user has collected. And..."

"The map has been completed," I casually commented

"And, huh?" The man who was reporting to Jae-seok stopped talking. He wore a stupefied expression on his face as I took out a USB from the Unique World and threw it at Jae-seok. It was an item that contained the videos and various data that Genie had edited. 

"What's this?" Jae-seok was confused by the item that I had just thrown at him.

I replied, "It's the gameplay video, map, and strategy pattern. Take it and refer to it, and... You have a MyTube[1] account, right?" 

"Of course I do."

"Upload it there."

"What are you talking about? We just finished the stage, and you're saying that the map and the strategy pattern are completed? And you want me to upload it on MyTube?"

"For starters, just keep it in mind that this is like a trial version. I'm going to do it more seriously from the next test onwards."

"...?" Although Jae-seok was still confused, I left him behind and got down from the vehicle, which was parked at the parking lot of the Seoul Government Complex. Despite the current state of affairs, the Korean Government was ruled by the Lee Family, so I could always access it whenever I wanted to.

"…It's not a normal commotion." As I crossed over the parking lot and came out to the main road, I could see the crowded appearance of Gwanghwamun Square. The time was 7:05 in the evening, but I could see a scale that was no less than when the Zhu Family army had attacked the Lee Family. However, I knew the people did not gather for reasons such as sightseeing or a demonstration.

"Is everyone all right?!"

"Hahaha! I'm alive! I'm really alive!"

"Ji-yeon?! Wake up! Are you okay?" 

"Please help! There's an injured patient here!"

The wind spread the bloody odor. The lawn, where lovers and families usually sat to enjoy the radiating sun-bath, was filled with people crying out of joy or sadness. Dozens of emergency medical centers were set up on the road, where the flow of vehicles were controlled, while medical personnel or ability users with healing abilities were treating people inside. 

Fortunately, due to the nature of the stage, not many people were seriously injured. It was common to suffer from only minor injuries unless they overdid it like Jae-seok. Also, in a situation where they received injuries more severe than usual, the majority of them would die and come back without any wounds on them.

"I thought it was a really ambiguous time." I blinked. I always thought that 7 p.m., and 7 a.m., were ambiguous times. However, from the looks of it now, I began to think that perhaps they were pretty appropriate times… Wasn’t it now time for daily tasks?

Korean office workers finish the stage at 7 a.m. to go to work and go about their daily tasks. Then, they leave the office to proceed with the stage at 7 p.m.

"I can't believe they're commuting to work in the midst of all this... Adults are amazing," I commented. I didn't know if this was the sense of responsibility of a breadwinner, but I found it a terrific manner anyway. Perhaps the reason modern society could be maintained was because there were such terrific members of society. Then, upon that thought, I asked, "Wasn't it originally supposed to be midnight and noon?"

Yes, Captain-nim. The stage is open based on the time of Kiritimati Island[2].

The Republic of Korea was in the Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) timezone. In other words, it was a country that operated nine hours faster than the UTC time, which was based on the United Kingdom. Since it was farther east, it naturally greeted the day earlier. However, the stage started five hours faster than Korea’s original time. This was because the stage was based on Kiritimati Island (UTC+14:00), the place where the sun rose the fastest in the world.

"I can't believe the standard for the whole world is a place that I've never heard or seen before, huh," I muttered. In other words, the world was taking the first-round test at midnight on Kiritimati Island and the second-round test at noon. We were five hours behind Kiritimati Island, so we started at 7 p.m. on the day before.

'Anyway, let's hurry up. I need to make preparations and also raise my levels.' Of course, I could buy experience points on the stage, but it would be better to hunt demons in my spare time rather than to buy experience points with the limited points available. 

"Are you going to the palace?" Upon hearing that voice, I turned around only to see Seon-ae wearing a school uniform even though she didn't go to school. 

"Did you do well on the test?"

"Well, just so-so." Once I heard her answer, I momentarily stared at Seon-ae, whose level had gone up from Level 3 to Level 4. Perhaps she had grown after experiencing Project End, or she had strengthened herself by using the gacha machine.

'In addition, if she transforms, she can become some kind of Synthetic Magical Beast and move even more boldly,’ I wondered. Perhaps she was one of the thousands of people ranking above me.

"Come to think of it, I heard Jae-seok left the matter regarding the livestocks for you to handle."

"Ah, about that. I rented a space from the Lee Family and received it. I'll guide you there." Seon-ae didn't bother to ask many questions, such as why I received so much livestock, why there was only chicken feed amongst them, how I planned to store them, and many other things. While proceeding with the Project End, she seemed to have lost interest in trivial things. She now had an attitude that suggested she carried out menial tasks only because she was paid to do so. 

Shiiiiingg! After we passed through the crosswalk and entered Gyeongbokgung Palace, we immediately entered the parallel world. Originally, we had to go through all sorts of procedures, but we could now freely enter at any time by the orders of the Imperial Princess Min-kyung, who was basically no different from the Empress and wielded unrivalled power. 

"It's here," Seon-ae announced upon reaching the region opposite of the National Palace Museum. She and I moved to a place that corresponded to a parking lot, which had no cars, in reality. It simply had dozens of flags planted on the ground. Before I knew it, Seon-ae, who had changed into a court lady's uniform literally in the blink of an eye, approached one of the flags and pulled it out. 

Shiiiiingg! The background instantly changed into a huge meadow. 

"Moooooo~"

"Cockadoodledoo--!"

"Squeeeeeal!"

As the cows, chickens, and the pigs cried out, Seon-ae explained, "There are 50 cows, 300 pigs, 700 chickens. For your information, the chickens are mostly hens, as requested."

"Let's see... Can everything go in?" I didn't hesitate one bit and approached them. The animals couldn’t possibly run away, since they were tied to their respective spots.

Poof! A cow disappeared. I could feel his 'mass' in my head and thought, 'About 600 kilograms... No, this is almost 700 kilograms.' Then, a pig disappeared. 'It weighs just over 100 kilograms.' A chicken soon disappeared as well. 'This is about a kilogram.' I heard that chickens varied in size depending on their numbers, but these guys were about the same size in general. 

"Great, this'll do." I finished the calculations, which seemed possible enough. Poof poof poof poof!! I then passed the livestock as I touched them. Those that received my touch immediately vanished. Needless to say, they did not perish, but were moved to the Unique World instead. 

As the Unique World developed, the mass I could move over increased tremendously. Unlike in the past, when I could only carry a couple kilograms of mass over a day, and even had to split Genie's Metal Body by parts before reassembling it, I now had the leisure of bringing in heavier things that were incomparably of more value compared to soil and water over to the Unique World. 

"Kkokk kkokk!"

"..." I looked down at the last chicken with vague eyes. I didn't know its species, but it was a somewhat white chicken. I wasn’t looking at it because it was special, but because it failed to go over into the Unique World. I thought I could put everything in, but I guess I failed to calculate it properly. 'Genie, what's the total weight that I've just accepted?' 

62,954 kilograms, so it's about 63 tons.

'That means the mass of living things that a C-rank Unique World can accept is about that much, then,' I commented. Also, considering that the mass of living things that could enter the Unique World was 20 to 30 times that of non-living things, the mass of non-living things that could be brought into the Unique World was about 2 to 3 tons.

It's still difficult to bring in Iron Heart.

'Yeah, even the lightest Iron Heart weighs over 5 tons.'

Even the weight of a small-sized Gigas' Iron Heart, dressed like armor, was that heavy. Gigas that were larger than that had Iron Hearts that weighed over hundreds of tons, so assembling a Gigas in the Unique World was something that could only be done in a far off future. 

"You keep this."

"Huh?" Seon-ae's eyes opened wide as I put the chicken in her arms. 

"Kkokk kkokk!" The chicken looked up at Seon-ae with round eyes, as if unaware that it was standing on the boundary between life and death. I didn't know what species it was because I was not interested in it, but it had snow-white feathers. 

"Ehhhhhh?"

"I'll leave it to you." I handed the chicken over in a rough manner and got out of the realm that was made up of flags. 'Genie, butcher it.'

I'll carry it out immediately. 

I discovered a bug in the Level 3 Intermediate-difficulty test. Of course, this was not really a game, so it was ridiculous to say that it was a bug. However, at the very least, I discovered a blind spot that the system did not intend for in the stage that was created by the system.  

That blind spot was the skill, Mouth that Eats Twice. Its effect was 'Double the effect when eating food. Gets tired easily and needs frequent sleep’ and its effect increased when I ate food that I chanced upon when progressing through the stage. By then, because I ate, there was a penalty where I had to sleep often, which prolonged my playtime or led me to fall into a crisis. However, after I equipped that skill, I was almost completely free from hunger unlike during previous stages. 

'I didn't expect the Unique World to create such a variable.' Skills invoked in the Unique World were reflected on the stage. In a way, it might have been expected, since the stat restriction actually applied not only to the stage but also to the Unique World.

When my body in the Unique World ate, the doubled effect of the Mouth that Eats Twice was also applied to my body in the stage, which did not eat any food. To put it in layman's terms, if I ate food in the Unique World, my body in the stage also enjoyed the effect produced from eating food. And as a Life Energy practitioner, as long as I had enough food, I could continue fighting a long war. 

"Of course, the source of food that I can stockpile in the Unique World wasn't infinite, so there’s a limit." Even so, it was a considerable merit. If this was a regular online game, I wouldn't be able to refute even if I was subjected to a permanent ban. However...

-Death Procession has all been cancelled. 

-Congratulations! The stage has been cleared perfectly! Rewards are given based on contribution.

- Your ranking is 8,891. 

I noticed that there was no significant change in the ranking. "Speedrunning is still the trend, so oh well," I grumbled and suddenly thought of something. What exactly did the thousands of people above me do for a living?  

1. This is just a play on the word YouTube. It basically means the same thing

2. Kiritimati Island is a Pacific Ocean coral atoll in the northern Line Islands