“……”
“You told me to do the count…, Dowoon-ssi. Are you alright?”
Yeo Dowoon almost burst out cursing in front of the innocent researcher. Somehow, even though there seemed to be free time, he kept hesitating, so he’d been wondering if some misfortune had occurred.
Since it was clear that throwing a fit would only terrify the researcher, Yeo Dowoon immediately assumed a handstand position without resistance. When his long legs came up right in front of the researcher’s nose, he went “Ueot” and stepped back again.
“I’ll time it with a timer!”
When the researcher shouted, Yeo Dowoon answered “Yes” while in a handstand position. It was a movement as precise as if measured with a ruler. Since he was standing upside down against the original direction, his top kept coming down to cover his face.
Yeo Dowoon cursed Kwon Jeonghoo while biting down on the annoying fabric with his teeth.
‘Crazy bastard.’
He absolutely couldn’t understand him obsessing over handstands for ten years. Yeo Dowoon endured a humiliating thirty minutes while fully exposing his abs. It wasn’t hard, but the sense of shame was worse than ever.
‘I have to fucking do handstands just to receive simulation training.’
He felt fatigue rush in thinking that even at thirty or forty years old, he would still be doing handstands because of Kwon Jeonghoo. However, even in the strangely sharp-edged silence, time flowed mercilessly.
The researcher, who had been anxiously watching the timer as if sitting on a bed of thorns, shouted joyfully.
“Dowoon-ssi, thirty minutes are up…!”
Perhaps because an Esper whose berserk possibility had soared to 50% was doing a handstand with a face that looked like he was about to go berserk, his complexion had turned like a lump of lead from anxiety.
Yeo Dowoon swiftly lowered his long legs and asked.
“…Where should I go in?”
The person behind this ridiculous idea, the axis of evil Kwon Jeonghoo, still hadn’t shown his face. He must be smoking cigarettes to his heart’s content. Yeo Dowoon sent condolences to his lungs that must have turned pitch black.
“Follow me. I’ll guide you.”
The brightly smiling researcher took the lead and walked out. Perhaps because he no longer had to deal with him, Yeo Dowoon, who was following the researcher whose shoulders were particularly buoyant, massaged his bundled limbs firmly.
“Um, there are a few things you need to be careful about before entering training.”
The stairs connecting to the basement were curved spirals. The researcher, who was going down step by step holding the stair railing, suddenly continued speaking in a worried tone.
“If you receive training without knowing, I think you might be surprised.”
“Thank you for your concern. Please tell me.”
Even while answering that way, Yeo Dowoon actually wasn’t listening very attentively to the researcher’s voice. His head was full of only the determination to find out the casualties and leave this place.
Arriving at the entrance of the underground training ground that Espers called the ant hole, the researcher resolutely stopped.
“The Team Delta Esper members… are very exhausted. Their wavelengths have also become very sensitive.”
“Is that so?”
“It seems to be more so because the simulation difficulty is adjusted to the maximum, haha. Anyway, since everyone’s morale has dropped a lot, even if you’re deployed, it won’t be easy to clear.”
Those bastards were a ragtag bunch so it would be a predicted failure, but not him. Thinking inwardly, Yeo Dowoon showed no interest as before, but the researcher looked endlessly worried.
The researcher, who fastened the training control devices to his wrists and ankles respectively, handed him specially coated glasses and said.
“The system is already running.”
“This still looks crappy. You have no plans to change it?”
Why were they obstinately sticking to these glasses that would only appear in third-rate SF comics? At the straightforward advice, the researcher coughed awkwardly as if embarrassed.
Yeo Dowoon entered the training ground without tormenting him further.
“Dowoon-ssi!”
Before the door closed, the researcher hastily called Yeo Dowoon’s name loudly. He quickly encouraged him.
“Don’t be too shocked! Simulation failure doesn’t mean operation failure. You understand, right?”
However, it was still too early for consolation.
At this point, Yeo Dowoon was curious about what on earth had happened inside. Even out of curiosity, he wanted to sincerely carry out the training rather than half-heartedly.
‘No matter how much we run the simulation… we can only complete the operation if two people die.’
Yeo Dowoon, who stepped into the hole where the simulation system was prepared, first recalled Kwon Jeonghoo’s regretful voice. A simulation where casualties necessarily occurred with each trial.
Ko Ijae, Baek Seonwoo, Cha Uihyeon, Yoon Minoh, and Gu Seohyun.
Yeo Dowoon, who chewed over the names of the five people one by one, thought as he put on the uncool special glasses. If it was an operation where about half the team members had to lose their lives, it would be proper to give it the name suicide rather than operation.
-Player entry. <Atlantis> Project, stage 15 is being configured.
“…What? How badly did they play to already reach number 15?”
The moment he muttered, the fifteenth simulation training began in earnest.
***
Espers participating in simulation training wear control devices to prevent them from actually releasing their abilities. It was because the limited space and limited environment couldn’t handle the manifestation of each individual’s abilities.
-Players, please prepare for stage conquest.
However, if they moved their limbs as if using their abilities normally, the system converted this into graphics and showed it on the screen. Not as virtual reality, but as if it were truly real, truly actual.
Yeo Dowoon looked at the Yeongjongdo coast rising widely before him and briefly praised it.
“It really looks like Yeongjongdo.”
The motion of the waves moving splash-splash, and the texture of the sandy beach felt underfoot had excellent realism. Various sizes of footprints were stamped here and there as if expressing traces of tourists walking around, making it look even more vibrant.
Seagulls with yellow beaks and white faces flew around here and there. They were noticeably smaller than the seagulls he’d seen in Busan when he’d visited for whale hunting.
“Even the sound of their wings flapping can be heard…”
It was truly a color scheme and scenery that made him think they’d dug into every single detail.
Yeo Dowoon firmly stepped on the ground beneath his feet. The scratchy texture transmitted through his skin felt creepy and strange. Could this really be virtual reality?
The fortunate thing was that the simulation training program didn’t support pain sensation.
<Kkeusseut, kkeuseuseut…!>
Look at the siren group revealing their subtly colored hair floating on the surface of the water.
If even pain sensation had been perfectly reproduced, the moment they made one mistake and got torn apart by those things, they would have to vividly feel that pain too.
“By the way, where are the others?”
Yeo Dowoon, who was standing alone, turned his gaze to look for his team members. They had certainly been in simulation training before him, yet when not a single one showed their face, his bewilderment grew.
-A new player is entering stage 15.
-A new player is entering stage 15.
-A new player is entering stage 15…
-A new player is entering stage 15…
-A new player is…
At the same time as the system’s notification window appeared smoothly five times, the sirens began floating up like buoys. Jet-black eyes emitting a glint glared at the intruders from above the water surface.
The system, which displayed a square countdown window, clearly explained before entering combat.
-The final goal of the <Atlantis> Project is the suppression of the coastal Gate that occurred in Yeongjongdo.
-Player Yeo Dowoon is in charge of the front, Player Yoon Minoh is in charge of front backup, Player Cha Uihyeon is in charge of the right side, Player Baek Seonwoo is in charge of the left side, Player Gu Seohyun is in charge of the rear.
-Player Ko Ijae is in charge of backup for all personnel.
-The first goal for reaching the final goal, the Siren Elimination Stage, will open soon.
Probably by now, each person’s mission would be displayed in red letters signifying a warning.
“…Trap the sirens in glaciers, then clear a path for the team members’ movement.”
Yeo Dowoon carefully read his assigned mission and took an attack stance.
“It’s similar to last time.”
Last time too, he had a track record of successfully carrying out the same mission as today. So Yeo Dowoon was more than confident he could clear this level of gateway without difficulty. The important thing was how to respond afterward.
If there existed a siren he couldn’t trap below the surface, it was a predetermined sequence that it would target and pour attacks on Ko Ijae again. He couldn’t let the one who could protect them from the sirens’ cries lose his sanity.
3, 2, 1.
Yeo Dowoon, who had been waiting for all the numbers in the notification window to count down, suddenly shouted as if he couldn’t believe it.
“…Why are the sirens outside the sea!”
It was because the sirens that crawled out smoothly as soon as the countdown ended rushed onto the sandy beach at an astonishing speed. Their torsos, which had originally been jade-colored, were changing to a dark bluish-green.
