Deep Web (End)
Seowoon now had one more reason to survive no matter what in the Cloyd Survival.
Besides that, there were numerous posts on the request board seeking specific items.
There were also quite a few guard requests.
Looking for a main guard over Round 20. Duration: 30 days. Reward: 200 million won. –
Typically, players over Round 10 received around 100 million won per month in compensation, while those above Round 20 were offered around 200 million. For those beyond Round 30, most posts just said "negotiable," without specifying an amount.
"If this doesn't work out, I could always do bodyguard work and still live comfortably."
Saying 100 or 200 million a month might make it sound like a modest salary, but it was by no means a small amount.
Of course, considering the abilities of those players, the price was justified—but from Seowoon's perspective, he could make enough money in just two years to never worry about his livelihood again.
After skimming the general vibe and market prices for various items, Seowoon closed the window and returned to the players' community forum.
A specific type of post was popular on the general board—first-hand stories written like diaries, where players recounted their experiences and revealed their round numbers.
Round 13, main class: hybrid mage. Got wrecked by a Round 2. –
One recently uploaded post caught Seowoon's eye.
The username was "Highschool Mage", and for some reason, it piqued his interest. Despite being freshly posted, it already had a ton of comments.
Yo Mage, long time no see. You're already at Round 13?
Wait, for real? That guy wasn't really Round 2, right?
Mage got jumped 2-on-1?
Stealing kills like that? That guy Korean for real?
Just dox him already lol
Bet Mage still managed to stack his basic coins.
Lucky you didn't get force-retired. That's what you get for messing with bosses, man.
Seowoon started reading the comments, and the story sounded oddly familiar.
He quickly scrolled up and began reading the actual post.
…barely shook one team off and thought I could finish them, when this guy popped up, sniped the loot with a silent arrow, and then showed himself… In the end, both of us got wiped. Just before getting force-logged, I asked him, and he said he was Round 2—totally messed me up even in real life.
I figured it'd be easy pickings since it was the lowest-tier tutorial round… Most players are newbies, so I thought I'd rake in coins… But yeah. Ended up bringing home only 5 basic coins.
After reading that far, Seowoon was sure he knew exactly who had written the post.
After a moment's hesitation, Seowoon left a comment.
Sorry about that. Was in survival mode, couldn't really pick and choose.
As he stood to turn off his PC tower, Ding!—a 1:1 chat request popped up.
"…"
It was a direct message from "Highschool Mage." Seowoon hesitated, then sat back down.
…
Wait, are you really that guy from then?
Yeah.
Seriously??
Yep.
Whoa! You're really Round 2??
Usually, if someone claimed to be someone online, people would doubt it—but maybe because of the community's reputation, the other person seemed to believe him without question.
Yeah. Just sort of ended up at Round 2.
No, but seriously—why are you so strong if you're only Round 2? I thought I ran into a fixed player or something—it felt like a bug!
A fixed player joining is a bug now?
Oh man, you really are Round 2! Fixed players can't join tutorials. That lowest-tier tutorial only shows up once, and only for floating players. Usually you get it before stabilizing into a fixed status—or just on your very first round. I got it this time around.
Watching the subtly excited way the other guy typed, Seowoon felt a bit awkward.
That so? Didn't know that.
Maybe because he'd personally killed the guy and caused his game over, but the guy weirdly didn't seem hostile.
You totally looked like an older dude. Can I call you "hyung"?
Uh… sure, I guess.
Hyung, can I get your contact info? Let's meet up!
That's… a bit much.
Aww, don't be like that! You're still a rookie, right? I've got a lot I could teach you.
"Is he trying to get revenge in real life?"
I'm not up for that kind of risk.
Risk? You're stronger than me—what's the danger, lol.
Still. I'd rather not do something that leaves a bad aftertaste.
Oh come on, just once! It might actually help you, hyung! You're gonna hit fixed rank soon, right? Then you'll need a fixed team too!
Fixed team?
Oh, wait—do you solo everything?
Huh?
Seowoon tilted his head, confused.
Wow… you really are a total rookie, huh.
Uh… yeah.
Just meet me once! I swear, it's nothing shady!
After a moment of thought, Seowoon typed back.
Incheon Bupyeong Rodeo. When works for you?
I can go right now. If it's Incheon… I'll be there in an hour.
I'll decide about giving you my contact info after we meet. We've already seen each other's faces, anyway. Deal?
Yes!! Deal, deal! See you at Rodeo in an hour. Is it a small place?
Hmm… there's a Baskin Robbins at Rodeo. Let's meet in front of that.
Yup!!!
Seowoon closed the chat window and shut off his computer.
"I don't even know if this is a smart idea."
Talk of fixed teammates had swayed him a little, enough to agree to meet—but he couldn't entirely ignore the risks.
That's why he'd chosen a public, crowded area. Still, now that it was time to head there, he hesitated.
"Worst case, I can at least protect myself."
With energy pulsing through his core, Seowoon clenched his fist.
Don't worry, master. I've got your back.
…
Did you just call me 'master'?
Ignoring Hamit's comment, Seowoon left the PC café and flagged down a taxi.
"To Bupyeong Rodeo, please."
"Alright. There's a bit of traffic—should we take the tunnel by Manwolsan, or go the usual way?"
"I'm not in a rush. Just take the route you prefer."
"Alright, I'll stick to the regular one, even if it's a bit jammed."
As the taxi driver with a kindly face started the car, Seowoon pulled out his phone to check the time.
11:39 PM
"A high schooler just sneaking out at this hour, huh."
The midnight streets simmered with the heat and energy of young couples intoxicated by drinks and youth.
Music echoed from all around, and it felt like the fiery energy of youth was bursting out into the streets.
VROOOOM! VROOOM!
Amidst the noisy street, a so-called shongka (flashy sports bike) roared in with a loud exhaust.
The vibrations from the engine seemed to reverberate in the chest.
'Hayabusa!'
The pinnacle of Suzuki's ultra-high-speed machines. The glorious name—Hayabusa.
For Seowoon, who had been obsessed with motorcycles since he was young, it was the ultimate dream machine.
Back in high school, he had even sold all the characters and items he had raised over the years to buy a motorcycle, but that dream was crushed by fierce opposition from his parents.
As Seowoon gazed at the latest Hayabusa with longing eyes, a man dismounted from the bike and walked up to him.
The sharp exhaust, the slim physique, and the designer biker-fit pants that matched the Hayabusa perfectly—all eyes naturally turned to the man.
Regardless of the attention, the man approached Seowoon, who was busy admiring the stunning body of the Hayabusa. Taking off his helmet, he spoke up.
"It's you, right?! It's me—Gobeop."
"Huh?"
A pale face with a subtly confident smile.
"Ah. You're already here."
"I came as fast as I could. But first… shall we go somewhere inside?"
Now that he thought about it, the guy—tall, wearing biker jeans instead of a school uniform, a leather jacket, and a face resembling Gang Dong-won—was attracting quite a bit of attention.
'Now that I see him again… he really is good-looking.'
He was, in a word, handsome. Even with his hair messy from the helmet, it looked styled. His face was absurdly well-crafted.
"There's a 24-hour café over there."
Seowoon took the lead and walked quickly, with the guy following behind.
"Hyung! Wait up!"
Seowoon could feel women's eyes following them wherever they went.
Some girls, scantily dressed to enjoy the summer, even started trailing behind.
'Annoying.'
Ever since he first saw him in the game's waiting room, he had felt something irritating about him.
When they met during gameplay, he thought: I can't let this guy live.
And now, meeting in real life, he still felt the same irritation.
And finally, he knew exactly why.
'That face. That damn face is the problem.'
Not that Seowoon was ugly himself.
He had a decent face—civilian level.
The type often called "good-looking guy next door." Not unattractive, and occasionally he'd hear he was handsome, though only once in a blue moon.
But in front of a true visual like this guy, his own looks simply shriveled.
When they entered the café, the busy barista froze mid-action as soon as she saw the guy.
"W-Would you like to order?"
"Hyung, what do you want? I called you out, so I'll pay."
"Caramel macchiato."
"Two large macchiatos, please."
"Y-You're drinking in, right?"
Anyone could see the barista's eyes were filled with hope as she asked.
"Yes."
The guy responded with a charming smile, and the barista's hand trembled as she took his card.
'Should've beaten him up a few more times back then.'
That thought flashed through Seowoon's mind before he realized it.
After picking up their drinks, Seowoon gestured for them to go upstairs, deliberately avoiding the crowd.
"It's quieter on the second floor."
He could feel the barista's regretful gaze following the disappearing figure of Kang Kichan, but Seowoon smirked and took his seat, raising his mug.
"Let's keep this short. It's already late."
"Ah, yes!"
The guy, seemingly nervous, watched as Seowoon took a sip and asked:
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Hmm… I'm not sure where to start, but I want to be on your team, hyung."
"Now that you mention it, you said something like that earlier. What do you mean by 'team'?"
"You and I are both free players right now, right?"
At the mention of "player," Seowoon glanced around cautiously.
Noticing this, Kichan smiled and lifted a small pendant around his neck.
"Don't worry. Even if someone's eavesdropping right next to us, they can't hear our conversation. It also blocks surveillance."
"There's an item like that?"
"There are endless types of items. And recently, more and more former players have become alchemists."
"Alchemists?"
"Yeah. People specializing in alchemy eventually start crafting and selling cool items after several runs. Of course, all the materials come from Cloyd."
"Now that you mention it, your post also mentioned something about specialization…"
As Seowoon trailed off and took another sip, Kichan answered with a dreamy smile that drew more attention from the surrounding people.
"As you know, to survive in Cloyd, you have to develop some skill. What you focus on is what we call your 'specialization.' For me, it's magic. For you…"
"Warrior-type, right?"
"Exactly."
After a brief pause, Kichan asked Seowoon directly:
"Hyung, you really are in your second run, right?"
"I told you, yeah."
"I know it's not polite, but… can I ask your stats?"
"First run: 2nd place. Second run: 1st place."
"Wow! The real deal! Damn… I've only heard about people getting top rewards in consecutive runs on the community boards."
"I just got lucky."
"I mean, I'm lucky too, but I only hit top 5 once. Even getting into the top 10 is brutal…"
"If you just camp it out, it's not that hard."
"Even camping requires luck. One wrong move and you get stuck in no man's land and end up eliminated."
"Eliminated?"
Seeing he was throwing around terminology again, Kichan quickly explained.
"We call it 'eliminated' or 'dropped' when you don't make the cut and can't go back to CloYd anymore."
"Ah…"
Seowoon had more or less figured that from the context.
"Anyway, that's why I'm saying this. If I survive this round, I'll definitely get promoted to a fixed status. You too, probably. So what do you say? Will you make me part of your team?"
"When you get 'fixed' status, can you choose your teammates?"
"Yeah! You can make a fixed squad of up to eight people—no matter which world they're from. With a set team, you can skip the games you don't like and only play the ones you want."
"They've got up to eight-man squads now?"
(In survival FPS games, an 8-person team is sometimes called a 'palquad' in Konglish.)
"I've heard it goes up to 20-man squads even."
"20 squads?!"
"Yes. It's a massive game with 2,000 players in total. I read a review from someone who participated, and it seemed intense. The politics between teammates were no joke."
"I can imagine."
"Yeah. When it's still flexible at the beginning and you get thrown into a full squad game, it's a headache. You have to form squads, and once you're in, it's all about reading the room. Especially Earthlings have it rough since they don't have a base to start with."
"Maybe that's why? I haven't seen any Earthlings besides you."
"That's probably because it's still early on. Earthlings tend to drop out early. But I've heard that those who survive tend to adapt faster. According to the fixed players, they say they run into them quite often. I've met a lot of Earthlings from Asia, actually. But you're the first Korean."
"I see. So your main point is that you want to be on my team, right?"
"Yes."
Seowoon furrowed his brow and lifted his mug.
Kichan, naturally focused on Seowoon's mouth, showed a nervous expression.
"Even if forming a team is possible, this is a matter of trust. And you and I have none."
Kichan nodded, as if he expected that reaction.
"That's true. Aside from being from the same country, you and I don't know anything about each other… But both of us still have games left if we want to go fixed! So how about this? Until we survive the remaining games, we just… interact."
"Interact?"
"Yeah. As you know, the techniques of this world aren't just something you learn once and you're done. You can keep improving through training. But with all these civilians around, you can't exactly go up into the mountains and train in secret."
Seowoon's chest tensed at those words.
"I've heard stories of people getting caught. I'm not exactly a Resistance guy myself, but honestly, the way the government does things—human rights and all that? It's basically a dictatorship."
Seowoon gave a subtle nod at those words.
"That's why there are sometimes people who team up to train. It's better to train together somewhere away from civilians' eyes than doing it alone."
That made sense.
Having a partner was always more helpful than training solo.
"Through that interaction, you build familiarity and trust. I know it's weird for me to say it, especially after you overpowered me, but I'm actually a decent player."
Admittedly, it was awkward for him to say that himself, but even without the bragging, Kichan's skills were hard to ignore. His abilities aside, his cleverness and sharp tongue were exceptional.
"Not bad. But first, tell me about yourself."
"Huh?"
"I get your intention, and your proposal isn't bad. So now tell me about you."
Kichan was clearly smart.
Just from those words, he seemed to understand that he had passed the first stage, and he smiled.
Not many would connect a request to share personal details during a farewell chat as a sign of clearing the first step.
Watching his smile, Seowoon smiled back.
'He's definitely quick on the uptake.'
"About me, huh…"
As he stared into the air for a moment, Kichan began a long story that gradually made Seowoon's expression stiffen.
An untroubled demeanor and a sociable nature.
A motorcycle too flashy for a student and designer clothes.
At a glance, it would be easy to assume he came from a wealthy, privileged background.
It was a bias, but a natural one when seeing someone like Kichan.
But when he said that his parents died when he was in middle school, and that he was raising his little sister in a rental apartment they'd inherited—it hit Seowoon like a shock.
He also mentioned he was severely bullied, barely attending school and spending more time stuck at home on the computer. That too was hard to imagine given his current appearance.
"You know how rental contracts have terms, right? I was too young to understand any of it. A relative came and said they'd take care of everything… After moving, we ended up in a tiny two-room apartment completely different from the old place. They said the market price went up and it couldn't be helped. I found out later that they had embezzled the leftover deposit."
Watching Kichan chuckle as he finished, Seowoon was at a loss for words. He could never laugh about something like that.
"I needed money… but I was just a student with no skills. Maybe that's why I got so into the deep web. I was confident in hacking. To me, the deep web was a whole new world. That's where I first heard about Cloyd. I even worked part-time managing security on related sites."
He said he managed to get by, sending his sister to school with that money.
"Then one day, I accessed Cloyd Survival. Wow… That feeling. Since I already had some exposure to that world indirectly, I barely made it into the top ten in my first game. And I've been playing ever since."
Listening to the long story, Seowoon tried hard to keep a neutral expression.
"You did a good job hiding. If I were you, I'd have hunted down those bullies and torn them apart."
"Haha. I can always get revenge on them anytime. If I wanted, I could screw them over without even using my abilities. I was a pretty big-deal hacker, you know. I just didn't want to get tangled up with other social outcasts. If I disappear, my sister would be in serious trouble."
Seeing the maturity of a brother who just sent his sister off to middle school made Seowoon nod unconsciously.
"After I got into Cloyd, things got better financially. And once I started high school, the bullying stopped. Some of the guys who bullied me in middle school ended up going to the same high school…"
Kichan paused with a bitter smile, then continued as if it were no big deal.
"There's always a bigger fish. The school I go to is full of delinquents. And the guys who bullied me couldn't even lift their heads there. I'm not really shy or anything, so I get along with people here and there, and no one really messes with me."
'No, it's probably because your looks are maxed out.'
Seowoon didn't say it out loud.
Though Kichan's personality probably helped, with a face like his, a guy had only two options:
'Punch him or keep him close.'
And the latter usually improved your luck with romance.
"Anyway, that's it. The story of a struggling young head-of-household."
He ended brightly, still showing no signs of bitterness.
"Thanks for sharing. I'll tell you my story later. Now, your sister's probably worried, so head home. Here."
He handed over his unlocked phone.
"Hurry and enter your number. I'm tired."
"Yes!"
Kichan typed in his number and saved it, then stood up.
'Hmm… He's a bit taller than me.'
They looked similar in height, but he seemed about 2 cm taller.
As Kichan waved and rode off on his bike, Seowoon watched.
"Hyung! Call me!"
As he left on his Hayabusa, Seowoon felt a strange twinge of envy.
'A Hayabusa, huh…'
That bike easily cost around 20 million won brand-new.
'Maybe I can afford it in the next round.'
Thinking that, Seowoon caught a taxi back to his neighborhood and began walking home, when he suddenly sensed something odd.
—You feel an unpleasant gaze. Three people. Behind. Above. Left side. It's best to turn into a weapon.—
'Not yet.'
Stopping Hamit, Seowoon halted in a dark alley.
"Come out."
—…—
"Behind. Above. Left alley. Come out."
As he spoke again, three bulky men in matching black suits with cropped hair slowly stepped into view.
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