Just as Seol took a step forward while pointing the sharp, broken edge of the chair leg at the monster…

Kiiiiik!

It flinched and cowered. The monster quickly retracted its head and pressed its crawling body flat to the ground. And when his airborne first step finally came down to the floor, it retreated in a flash, its reaction speed as quick as a boar that got stung by a scorching skewer.

The sneakily retreating monster looked very confused as if it couldn't quite figure out why it was running away like this.

Grrrr….

When the monster accepted the fact that it was getting suppressed by Seol's aura, its phlegm gurgled loudly in its throat. Its instincts were screaming out danger warnings.

This human in front of its eyes was incomparable to everyone else. If it attacked this man, then it would die.

The monster had already filled its belly to some extent. Also, there were lots of other prey running loose outside. There was no reason for the monster to brave this danger in here.

As soon as the monster made this decision, it rapidly escaped through the open door. Truly, it possessed quick wits and just as quick reflexes.

Tk.

The broken leg of the chair slipped out of Seol's hand and fell. Seol looked around the assembly hall's empty interior with a somewhat dazed face. He looked totally deflated right now.

Not a long time had passed, yet he could spot well over ten corpses lying in a pool of blood. Eventually, the hole that the monster crawled out from caught his attention.

'It's the hole from the diary.'

So, that was it then. The hole from the diary was that one.

Seol took another glance at the hall's exit. There was some hesitation, but he still chose to cross the floor and cautiously peered over the edge, now dripping wet with blood. Then, he carefully lowered himself inside.

[The Diary of an Unknown Student has been updated.]

Seol arrived at the basement floor. He decided to walk forward, at least for the time being. He must have overused his powers a bit as his mind and body felt quite fatigued.

The corridor bent 90 degrees up front, and he eventually arrived at the part where it was lined with doors set at a regular interval on either side. It seemed that the school had used this underground floor as the space for club meetings and activities. Seol pushed open the door with a colorful banner proclaiming “Go, anywhere!”

The room beyond was small and intimate, only about ten or fifteen square meters wide. Checking the posters hanging on the walls, it seemed that this room belonged to a travel club.

Seol lowered the golden bag from his shoulder and sat down against the wall.

As he sat there like a man in a trance, his once-hazy consciousness seemed to return to him bit by bit. It was as if he was waking up from a long dream.

And, soon enough….

'What was I even thinking…?'

The previously forgotten terror and disgust came crashing in one after the other. The smell of blood that he had blocked out of his mind with the help from the adrenaline rush caused him to gag out reflexively. When he recalled the appearance of the so-called weakling monster, his entire body began to shiver in fear.

However, all of this only lasted for a short moment. When he slowly gathered his breath, the shivering and the shaking came to a stop. Feeling his heart settle down, Seol couldn't help but form a wry smile.

Was the demonic destroyer Seol of the dream the real him? Or was the man shivering in fear right now the real him?

It all felt like he was experiencing Zhuangzi's ‘Butterfly Dream’. [1]

Seol gritted his teeth and focused his mind, trying to organize what had happened so far.

The first thing to figure out was the question regarding his eyes.

The evolved ability called 'Nine Eyes'…. This managed to give Seol quite a bit of mental shock. After all, he had been living under the assumption that seeing the green color was all his eyes were capable of.

'No, it wasn't that there were no other colors, I just couldn't see them.'

The newly-unlocked colors were yellow, orange, and red. Just as important, there were other colors yet to be unlocked.

Kang Seok was shown in yellow color, the so-called 'Attention Required'; yet there was no color for Yi Seol-Ah. That meant he couldn't see her color yet.

Thinking about that girl, his thoughts became rather complicated. Her pleading shouts for help still rang around in his head. If he hadn’t taken his time making up his mind, could that good-hearted girl still be alive by now?

[Mister Kang Seok, Mister Yi Hyungsik, and Mister Jeong Minwoo have arrived at the second-floor waiting area.]

'They got there already?'

The sudden announcement helped clear out Seol's mind somewhat.

[#Basement first floor, the club room (excerpt from the Diary of an Unknown Student, page 5)]

I've somehow managed to hide in the basement, but tears keep pouring out of my eyes. I can't stop crying.

I can't forget the screams of my friends dying right in front of me.

What kind of a monster was that? And why…. Oh, God. Please, help me….

I cried for so long. Eventually, my stomach grumbled in hunger.

I knew this wasn't the right time nor the place, but still, I'm so hungry….

Seol read the diary carefully before discovering that there was a file attached to it as well. He must have missed it before as things had been quite hectic. When he clicked on the file and opened it, Seol's eyes widened in surprise.

'A map?'

The attached file was actually the blueprint-like map of the entire school grounds. When he clicked on the 'main building', that portion of the map expanded in size and Seol could easily check out the building's interior layout.

His gaze fell on a spot by the second floor. This particular room was in a rectangular shape, and there were six blue blinking icons located on, or near the edges and lines demarcating the walls. However, he saw one of them change to red color, before ceasing to blink altogether.

Knock. Knock.

Seol was trying to figure out what those blue blinking icons could mean when he heard the sounds of knocking on the door. Surprised, Seol turned around to look and found the door briefly being bathed in a green hue before the color vanished completely.

—…He's not in here either?

“Who's there?”

Seol's sharp voice stopped the noise on the outside from moving away.

—Whew, I finally found you. Hey man, can I come inside? Oh, right. I'm not trying to threaten you or anything, so please, relax.

“….”

—If you don't feel comfortable with me joining you, just say so. I will leave you alone in peace.

“….Come in.”

The door slowly creaked open.

“Thanks! I was actually worried that you'd tell me to scram or something.”

The man entering the club room while speaking in a jovial tone was one of the eight Invited people— the one who wore a green baseball cap over his slightly long hair; his softly tanned complexion was slightly covered by a pair of sunglasses.

“Man, I had to work hard just to find you. I mean, the bloody footsteps were getting faint, and there were so many of these rooms here too…. Oh, right. You also want a smoke?”

The man put his bag down on the floor and raised a small fuss, before suddenly presenting Seol with a packet of cigarettes. Wordlessly, Seol fished out his own packet. He still had one cigarette left.

“You smoke a hybrid? I don't like them. I hate those weird flavors, man.”

He then proceeded to light Seol's cigarette. Soon enough, the two men were staring at each other while blue smoke lazily drifted in between them.

The man slowly opened his mouth.

“Should we introduce each other? I’m Hyun Sangmin.”

“…Seol.”

“Seol? Kind of a girly name, don't you think? Is it a single-syllable name?”

“How did you find me?”

Seol changed the topic. Hyun Sangmin didn't seem to mind. He simply flicked the fingers holding the cigarette.

“I saw you at the assembly hall, entering the hole in the floor.”

“You remained in the hall, too?”

“No, no. I also ran for the exit, you see. But I came back…. Huh, you were in there the whole time?”

Seol nodded his head silently. Seeing this reply, Hyun Sangmin simply scratched his head. He then quickly continued on with his explanation.

At the critical juncture between life and death, the crowd was able to remove the pulpit and the piled-up chairs to yank open the exit door. The escaping people then scattered everywhere. Some headed off towards the front gate of the school, but the majority followed Kang Seok and ran to the front entrance of the main school building.

However, they encountered a new problem: the entrance was locked.

“It wasn't like we didn't have any time on our hands, though. You see, that monster looked like it would chase us down right away, but for some reason, it didn't.”

Hyun Sangmin took a look at Seol for a short while and then carried on.

“But, no matter what we did, kicking, pushing, shoving…. Whatever the fuck we did, the door didn't budge. And we were getting all damn anxious and everything. And to make matters worse, the monster showed up as well. I'm telling you, it was no damn joke back then.”

“So, what happened?”

“Dunno. I was trying to pick up a rock or something in the nearby flower garden to crack the windows open, but when I saw the monster, I took off, man. I took the long way around and came back to the assembly hall.”

Hyun Sangmin lowered his sunglasses and smirked slightly.

“Since it attacked there once already, I figured it wouldn't show up there again.”

“And you happened to see me, and then decided to follow me?”

“Yep. Never in my wildest imagination did I think you'd enter the hole. I was understandably hesitating on what to do. But, when I got down there, you were long gone. So, I've been looking for you until now.”

“Why?”

“What? You really don’t know?”

Hyun Sangmin prattled on. Of course, Seol too could more or less figure out the reason.

“It's simple, really. I want to join you. That's why I searched for you…. So? What do you think? You want to ride alone or with me in tow?”

“….”

“If you are willing to let others tag along, well, how about me? But, I'm telling you this right now, I'm not planning to leech off you or anything like that.”

When Seol remained silent, Hyun Sangmin became more anxious than before.

“Alright, let me say this out loud. I can endure unfairness, but I can’t stand losing out.”

Seol stared back somewhat confused by this statement. Hyun Sangmin killed off his cigarette and sat up straight.

“Listen, man. What I'm proposing here isn't an equal partnership. No, it's more like a vertical relationship.”

“A vertical relationship?”

“That's right. You let me tag along, then I'm gonna carry out your orders. And yeah, I'm willing to take on some amount of danger for you if you ask me to.”

Hyun Sangmin's proposal was simple and easy enough to understand.

'It's fine to use me.'

'I'm a pretty useful guy, so believe me and utilize me.'

Seol could just about understand why this man was willing to go this far, in this manner.

It was all because of Seol's Gold Mark. There was also the possibility that Hyun Sangmin had figured something out back in the assembly hall.

However, Hyun Sangmin wasn't a selfless good samaritan. Obviously, he would want something in return.

“What do you want in return?”

“Well, lots of things, but…. For now, surviving and making my way to Paradise. That should suffice.”

Seol studied Hyun Sangmin for a while.

“If you're a lone wolf, I will respect that. I also don't want to force the issue. I told you this before, didn't I? You don't want me, then I'll quietly go away.”

He spoke up to here and slowly offered his hand.

[Hyun Sangmin's Status]

[1. General Information]

Summoned date: March 16th, 2017 Marking grade: Bronze Sex/Age: Male/26 Height/Weight: 176.2 cm/65.8 kg Current condition: Healthy Class: LV. 0 (Invited) Nationality: Republic of Korea (Area 1) Affiliation: N/A Alias: N/A

[2. Traits] 1. Temperament:—Self-centered (Only seeks out benefits for himself)

2. Aptitude: —Extraordinary (Far more excellent than average) —Discerning eye (Possesses great instincts at determining the value of objects and people)

To be perfectly honest, Seol wasn't feeling “it”. If it was someone like Yi Seol-Ah, then he wouldn't even hesitate and say yes in a heartbeat, but for Hyun Sangmin… well, nothing really seemed to pull Seol's attention.

However, there was one point about Hyun Sangmin that was rather similar to that now-deceased girl.

'I can't see his color.'

If his color was yellow— ‘Attention Required’— then Seol would have refused right away. But the fact that he was not able to see Hyun Sangmin's color really played on Seol's mind.

Thinking to himself that it wouldn't be so bad to wait and see, Seol grasped Hyun Sangmin’s offered hand and shook it.

“Nice!”

Hyun Sangmin smiled brightly as if he was genuinely happy.

“Nice, very nice! Now, I'm also a member of the best team in the world!”

If left alone for any longer, he might have broken out in a song and a dance. Hyun Sangmin eventually stopped making a fuss and got closer to Seol.

“So, what are you going to do now? Mind telling me what your plans are?”

Seol fell into deep contemplation. Since he possessed a map, going to the second floor waiting area would be a walk in the park if he decided to head there right away. Although that monster was still roaming around, as long as he used his ability, they would be able to avoid any danger.

Out of the blue, Seol recalled Kim Hannah’s words and nearly burst out in a fit of laughter. She was right. She indeed made it so much easier for him already, so he'd better survive this event or else.

Seol grabbed his bag as he stood up. Hyun Sangmin stared at him without saying anything.

“For now, let's get out of here.”

*

The two of them left the club room and continued down the long corridor. The door at the end of the corridor led to the underground parking lot. Of course, they couldn't spot a single parked car there.

While they crossed the parking lot, Hyun Sangmin continued to yap on and on. He asked about what Seol got from his box, he got 500 survival points or something, he had no idea where to even spend that so it must have been garbage, etc, etc.

Meanwhile, Seol walked forward while checking the map every now and then.

When Seol didn't even reply once, Hyun Sangmin became somewhat embarrassed and hurriedly cleared his throat.

“So, where are we going? Are you looking for a staircase?”

“No.”

“Eh? Aren't we supposed to go to the second floor?”

“Sure, we are.”

Seol shook his head while looking at his phone's screen.

“However, there's no need for us to go there right away.”

“How come? Isn't it better to get there as soon as possible?”

“As soon as possible? Were we told anything regarding the order of arrival dictating things?”

“That is…..”

That was a no. The message simply stated that they had to arrive at the destination before the time ran out. And they had over three hours and thirty minutes remaining.

Seeing Hyun Sangmin continuously blink his eyes in confusion, Seol felt a need to explain himself a bit more.

“Think about it. How long do you think you will need to get to the second floor waiting area from the assembly hall?”

“Dunno. If you ran with everything you had…. less than a minute, maybe?”

“That's correct. This school's assembly hall is constructed pretty close to the main building.”

The objective of the mission was far too easy. Even a normal, unprepared person would be able to clear it.

“Don't you think that's a little strange? Even if you were delayed, the whole trip wouldn't have taken more than five minutes.”

“Isn't it because the door was locked?”

“A locked door could be broken into, and that would be it. And you heard that announcement from before, right? Those three must've succeeded somehow. In other words, clearing this mission wouldn't take that long of a time.”

“Then what about the monster?”

“Even if you consider that variable, you wouldn't need more than one hour. Two hours, tops. Four hours for a minute's worth of distance is just too much.”

Didn't the Guide Han say something similar before, too?

….It's not like it’s hard to get here….

He did say that. Truthfully, ten minutes were more than enough for Seol to find and arrive at the assembly hall. In the end, Seol only needed around four minutes to make his entrance, so it was as if he was given twice the amount of time he might need in order to accomplish his task.

So, what Seol found odd was that the distance he needed to cover got shortened, yet the time limit grew by several folds. There had to be a reason for that— a reason for a four-hour-long time limit.

Hyun Sangmin wasn't a fool, either. As if he too had realized something, he stopped talking and began rubbing his chin.

“So, what you're saying is, although the mission itself is simple and easy, we have been given way too much time…. Is that right?”

“Also, we've been told that this is just the first mission. Which means, there will be a second mission, a third mission, so on and so forth. And….”

Also, the fact that they were told to gather on the second floor and not anywhere higher…. As they walked, Seol added more of his thoughts.

“In any case, the main point is, there isn't a real need to get there as soon as possible. It'll be fine for us to get there after procuring what we might need later on. There are multiple ways to get to the second floor, as well.”

“And how do you know that?”

Seol showed him the phone's screen. Hyun Sangmin came closer to take a look and spat out a loud snort.

“What the… isn't this a map? But, I didn't receive one, though?”

“I got it as my bonus. Okay, this is where we are going.”

Seol tapped on the screen, and the map of the basement floor expanded.

“This underground level is connected to the entire school premise. Below the assembly hall, there are the clubrooms. After we cross this parking lot, we will arrive at the main building's basement.”

Seol soon stopped his steps. He then proceeded to open a glass door, which led the two to see what lay beyond. Hyun Sangmin couldn't help but shout out in glee.

They saw a long and straight corridor. To the left, there was a staircase going up, while on the right, three doors labeled 'Library', 'Convenience Store', and 'Stationery'.

Hyun Sangmin's entire attention was devoted to the convenience store. Only now could he fully understand the point Seol had been making, the one that was teasingly within his reach but eluded him until now.

There were three things that a human couldn't do without if one wanted to continue living. One, three minutes without air. Two, three days without water. And three, three weeks without sustenance.

In other words, Seol came here with the purpose of solving the most basic need for one's survival.

'Well, I guess he's not a Gold Mark for nothing, huh.'

Hyun Sangmin's gaping mouth didn't want to close. He couldn't hide his shock at all since he was only thinking of quickly getting to his destination ever since the details of the mission had been announced.

'I gotta stay with this guy. Doesn't matter what happens, I gotta, definitely. Kang Seok can't even lick this guy's boots, for crying out loud!'

It wasn't as if Hyun Sangmin carried any ill feelings towards Kang Seok and his crew. But there was an undeniable difference between Seol and those guys who simply ran to the main building. Should he say that the thought process was on another level altogether? It was to the point where Hyun Sangmin had to question whether Seol was the same human being as the rest of them.

“I thought it would be a tuck shop, but it turns out it's a convenience store. The students of this school must have had it real good.”

“Hold up!”

Seol was about to enter the convenience store when his shoulders were grabbed by the visibly excited Hyun Sangmin, who then proceeded to lightly pound on his chest like a proud gorilla.

“Good. Great! Freaking amazing! I get it now. Let me handle this from now on.”

“?”

“You were planning to go upstairs after sweeping this place clean, right?”

“Something like that. So?”

“What if there's something inside? It's times like this you're supposed to use me.”

Declaring so, Hyun Sangmin sneaked inside the convenience store. However, most of the corridor's right side wall was made up of glass, so one could literally look inside the stores from the outside.

Shortly thereafter, Hyun Sangmin raised his hand and sent an okay signal, as if he had finally ascertained that everything was perfectly in order. Seol had already checked the place out with his ability, so he could only chuckle softly as he entered.

The first place they checked out was, of course, the convenience store. The place was smaller than they expected, but still, each of the shelves was stocked to the brim with various food items.

“Keh. This is so good. So damn good!”

Hyun Sangmin popped open the lid of a can of Cola and gulped it down.

“Hey, let's hurry up. It'll get very awkward for us if we take too long and the monster shows up.”

“Roger that!”

Hyun Sangmin seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself while robbing the store. Seol too began stuffing his bag with things like canned foods, sealed instant kimbap[2], and others that were small but packed with energy.

And while they were busy sweeping everything away…

“Mm? What's going on?”

“What? What happened?”

Seol realized that something was off when he was about to stuff the bag with a bottle of water.

Although he was carefully arranging things as he shoved them inside the bag, there seemed to be a lot of space left over still. It was a similar story with the weight too. Since he had stuffed the bag with lots of things, it should weigh a ton by now, yet all he could sense was only a slight increase in the overall weight.

“….I guess even our bags got discriminated, huh.”

Hyun Sangmin was envious, seeing that his bag was already bursting at the seams.

In the end, Seol even had to sweep the daily necessities away into the bag just to make it seem near full. After they ransacked the convenience store clean, they began going through the library and the stationery store separately.

Unfortunately, the results weren't as encouraging. A map of the basement was discovered in the library, but they already had one, so it was of no use. It was the same story for the stationery shop; well, they certainly didn't need a notebook or a pen right now. They did pick up a few cutting knives just in case, and soon, they left the underground corridor for good.

Hyun Sangmin was whistling a tune as they climbed up the staircase, but when Seol gave him the signal, he quietened down right away.

When they got to the first floor, they ran into a huge ivory-colored metal door. The acrid odor of blood assaulted their noses when the door was creaked open ever so slightly.

[The Diary of an Unknown Student has been updated.]

“I think that's the place.”

“What place?”

“You know, the locked entrance I told you about. The door was locked, but I could look inside just fine, you see. I'm pretty sure of it now, seeing that staircase right over there. However….”

Hyun Sangmin deeply frowned.

“God damn it. A lot of people must've died here. They did gain the entry somehow, though, by the look of things.”

It was as he said; through the open gap, Seol could see bits of broken glass and splashes of blood lining the floor. The steps of the staircase going up were painted in such a thick amount of blood that it was hard to tell what their original color might have been.

[#Main Building, first floor, main entrance (an excerpt from the Diary of an Unknown Student, page 7)]

The friend who stepped out first screamed. Another friend following out right after tried to stop in a hurry but slipped like someone being swept away.

Only after we lost two more of our friends did we realize the trick to the staircase….

“You know, those stairs gives me the creeps. How about we forget about those, and carry on with our staircase, instead?”

Seol agreed with Hyun Sangmin's suggestion. Besides, they already had a staircase behind them that led up anyways, so no real need to utilize that one over there.

Most importantly, though— those steps were shining in a deep orange glow within Seol's vision— do not approach, in other words.

Seol carefully closed the door and turned around. They quietly but quickly mounted the stairs and soon, their destination came into view.

However, what greeted them by the entrance to the second floor wasn't another ivory-colored metal door. No, for some reason, several thick metal spikes stood there, blocking their progress.

'It shouldn't be like this.'

Seol checked the map one more time, but they were on the right path. This was the most direct route when considering the convenience store's location.

“Do we need to press something?”

Hyun Sangmin looked around but couldn't find anything resembling a button nearby.

Seol stared at the metal spikes for a bit, before his brows furrowed slightly.

'They don't have any colors to them?'

If they were not in green color, then it meant they were not 'normal'.

Seol tilted his head a bit, before reaching out with his hand.

And at the exact moment his hand touched the metal spike….

[1] This talks about a chapter from an ancient Chinese text called 'Zhuangzi'. If interested, you can find the Wiki link here

[2] Korean sushi roll.