Chapter 28
I carefully recovered the Constellation's relic glowing softly from the coffin, and swept the mana stones and dropped items left by the bosses into my inventory.
...
Then I just quietly looked down at the two bodies sprawled on the floor.
I should take what I could, but it felt a little wrong to touch them.
Then the reconnaissance drone flew over as if it had sensed my discomfort.
It extended its mechanical arms and rummaged through their pockets for me, even picking up the usable gear and items.
...Thanks.
Whoosh.
The drone swayed in the air as if nodding.
My expression stayed stiff the whole way back to the train after leaving the dungeon.
Phew...
I didn't feel any regret or guilt about having just taken a person's life.
All I'd done was kill, with my own hands, a person no different from a monster—someone who killed people far too easily.
What complicated my feelings was the premonition that I'd keep running into people like that in the future.
I let out a heavy sigh and got back on the train.
And the moment I opened the door and stepped into Car 2's living area, where the children were taking shelter.
...Huh?
The complicated thoughts weighing on my head disappeared a little.
In front of the small tank set in one corner of Car 2.
Sua and Jiwoo were huddled together on the floor around it, intently focused on something.
Look at this.
No, let's do it like this—
As I crept closer, I saw the children giggling as they drew crooked facial expressions on the tank's transparent glass with water-based markers.
Inside the tank was Donggeul, the marimo, who in a way could be called my first passenger.
The kids were drawing the expressions so they'd line up with Donggeul's motionless position.
Oppa, look at this!
This time I'll draw a smiling face!
Inside the train, with the internet cut off and no proper toys to play with.
Donggeul had become the peaceful little pastime the kids came up with on their own.
Watching the siblings quietly as they played by drawing faces to match the marimo, my old self—when I used to kill time alone in front of Donggeul during the early days after I possessed this body—naturally overlapped with what I was seeing.
I let the corners of my stiff mouth relax and walked up behind them.
What are you doing?
Ah! Unnie!
Look at this!
The two of them proudly showed off the drawings on the tank.
The sight warmed my heart, so I took a photo with my camera.
When I opened the gallery to check the photo I'd taken, it struck me that I'd really only been taking bleak pictures.
Monsters, a city shrouded in poisonous fog, the train.
Most of the photos in the gallery were ones I'd taken to gather information or share it.
After thinking it over, I told the siblings to stand by the tank, then had the drones fly beside them too.
Hmm...
Not bad.
After I took a few shots so everyone would be in the frame, the siblings said they'd take pictures of me this time, so we switched places.
The siblings diligently took pictures of me, the drones, and Donggeul, and I took the phone back to look over the photos.
'So this is what I look like.'
I hadn't consciously looked at my own appearance since I turned into a woman.
In fact, I'd deliberately avoided looking.
Even when I washed up, I'd still only look at the mirror out of the corner of my eye.
But seeing it in a photo like this.
I was finally able to accept my appearance.
...Too late, though.
Sua, your big sister's going to go take care of something for a bit with Jiwoo. Keep playing with Donggeul.
Yes!
After patting Sua on the head once, I went back to the driver's cab with Jiwoo and leaned back in the seat.
Then I opened a trade post in the gallery and sent a message saying I'd obtained the relic—the bead I'd picked up earlier.
Soon enough, a response came back.
[The trade has been completed successfully!]
[Reward: 1 Skill Enhancement Voucher.]
[The blindfolded prophet expresses gratitude to you.]
Along with the message, the bead vanished in a flash of light, and a sheet of gold-shimmering parchment dropped from the air.
It didn't land on my lap and make me pick it up again.
So this was a Skill Enhancement Voucher.
I'd strengthened my skills with stones before, but I had no idea what the difference was between that and this parchment.
Jiwoo, could you come here for a sec?
At my call, Jiwoo trotted over.
Without hesitation, I unfolded the Skill Enhancement Voucher and held it out lightly toward Jiwoo.
[Would you like to use the enhancement voucher on the target, Lee Jiwoo?]
[Y/N]
[Using the Skill Enhancement Voucher on Luck (Lv.1).]
[Skill level increases.]
[Luck (Lv.1) -> Luck (Lv.3)]
A warm golden light wrapped gently around Jiwoo once before fading away.
There were no obvious outward changes, but the message showed that the skill level had gone up by two full levels.
Noona, my body feels kind of warm!
Really?
I smiled and started the train up.
Next, I decided to head to the spot in Daejeon where the vending machine was, after checking its location in the gallery beforehand.
There, I was going to buy a Skill Random Box and, with Jiwoo's Luck, start rolling the gacha for real.
While the train raced toward our destination, I took out my smartphone and logged back into the gallery.
I wanted to confirm the vending machine's exact location again.
As I scrolled down, my eyes stopped on two information posts.
The first was about the situation overseas.
[New York, Tokyo, London, and other major overseas cities were also attacked by monsters, apparently. The situation is basically the same worldwide.]
Korea wasn't the only place in this situation.
Other countries across the sea had also been attacked by monsters just like us, and the word was that they were frantic to create safe zones too.
I didn't know how they got that information, but most of the comments basically said, figured as much.
---
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ : At least in a situation like this, if North Korea still hasn't come at us, they must be in the same situation too.
ㄴ 생존왕 : I just hope they don't launch any nukes.
ㅇㅇ : China is in the same situation too.
ㅇㅇ : I thought the U.S. would hold out, since it's a gun-owning country...
---
The second piece of information was relevant to me as well.
---
[Title: Looks like it's true that monsters burst out of dungeons if you leave them alone?]
Wasn't there a post from someone who escaped the department store last time, saying that monsters burst out at the same time the dungeon disappeared?
I happened to remember there was a dungeon a bit far from our safe zone, so I went to check it out.
The dungeon was gone, but instead there were tons of monsters gathered there.
I looked up a few gallery posts, and since there were lots of similar ones, it seems like it's true?
---
The author had also linked posts describing similar situations.
My bad feeling had been exactly right.
The fact that the orc appeared in front of the department store a little while ago, leading a ridiculous number of trash mobs, hadn't been a coincidence.
If a high-rank dungeon burst, human safe zones could be swept away by that wave.
So they're saying we should clear dungeons before that happens.
I had a feeling there'd be a lot more trade posts asking people to clear dungeons for a while.
I clicked my tongue and put the smartphone away.
Just then, the train slowed down and the parking lot of a ruined big-box mart came into view.
They said it was somewhere around here.
Before I could finish, I heard a hissing sound from the direction of Car 2, and the reconnaissance drone was already waiting by the entrance door.
It was reassuring to see it waiting there on its own without being told.
Take those things and carry them for me.
Smiling, I told it to take the items and weapons I'd just picked up from the two men in the dungeon.
The reconnaissance drone took the items and flew outside as I told it to.
Then I felt a strange gaze at the edge of my vision.
The combat drone that was in the hangar was staring at the sight of the reconnaissance drone heading out on errands, clearly envious.
Even though it should have been an emotionless machine, that pitiful look made me feel guilty.
...I'll upgrade you too later, once I have enough mana stones.
At my words, the combat drone bobbed its camera lens up and down.
So that was what it was jealous of after all.
I let out a dry chuckle at how the drones seemed to be turning more and more like pets.
The trade goods the reconnaissance drone carried were the two men's belongings.
The two men had quite a lot of useful items.
Especially their weapons—appraisal showed they had some pretty decent options—but I still felt gross about them.
So I decided to dispose of them quickly.
"Found the vending machine right away."
Had its scouting range widened a little too?
The reconnaissance drone quickly located the vending machine.
A little later, the reconnaissance drone returned after completing the transaction at the vending machine.
That sketchy gear and those items were converted into a whopping 800 points, and I immediately had the drone use those points to buy two Random Skill Boxes from the vending machine and bring them back.
Jiwoo, could you come here?
On top of the two boxes the reconnaissance drone delivered, I added one more I'd saved from a previous Constellation sponsorship.
Altogether, I set three Random Skill Boxes in a row in front of Jiwoo.
Wow... Noona, am I opening all of these?
Of course. Take it easy and go ahead.
Jiwoo swallowed hard and nodded, then carefully opened the lid of the first box.
Fwoosh—!
A soft blue light burst out, and inside the box was a book.
[Counterattack: Right after dodging or blocking an enemy attack, your power temporarily increases.]
'Not bad.'
It was a skill that suited my combat style quite well.
Jiwoo immediately opened the second box.
Once again, a deep blue light swirled as a new skill appeared.
[Weapon Proficiency: The more you use a weapon, the faster your proficiency with that weapon type increases.]
'Hmm...'
This one was a little vague.
I'd have to feel it out for myself later to know what it really meant for a weapon's proficiency to increase.
Now for the last box.
Jiwoo reached for the third box with an excited face.
The moment the lid opened, a fierce, deep red light unlike the two blue flashes before it blazed out as if it would swallow the entire driver's cab.
[A special skill has been discovered.]
As the red glare faded, I read the message window that appeared before my eyes and clenched my fist.
'Did I hit the jackpot?'
[Artisan's Touch: Permanently enhances the performance of items you craft yourself, or grants special additional options.]
I was so excited that it was a special skill I grabbed both of Jiwoo's hands, and Jiwoo just stood there blankly.
Is it good?
I... think so?
I was happy for now, but I thought I'd need to check just how good it was.
It did seem like a special skill, though...
...Yeah! Of course it's good!
That's a relief...
I wasn't really sure, but I decided to just be happy about it to keep Jiwoo's spirits up.