Chapter 3

As Si-Woo stumbles towards the alley's exit, another textbox appears before his face. It was colored purple, with white text across it saying,

"All players were granted two hundred silver coins. Spend them wisely, or gain more. However, you see fit."

It was tantalizing, yet it evoked an eerie chill in Si-Woo's spine. Almost like it was hinting at something malicious. Si-Woo finally meets the city's streets to find a group of people surrounding something or... someone.

"What's going on over there?"

Si-Woo wondered, causing him to walk towards the crowd. However, as he took a step into the street, a car horn suddenly filled his ears, causing him to jump back instantly. A car sped past him; his quick reflexes had saved him. The car didn't stop after almost hitting him; instead, it barreled toward the crowd.

Thoughts started filling his mind, and words he wanted to shout stuck in his throat like something was gripping at it. Keeping him from saying a thing, his eyes widened as he saw the crowd of people turn and attempt to run. But before they could move, the car began slaughtering victim after victim, blood and bones spattering across the ground. People fall in shock, and others attempt to move even after getting hit. It was gruesome and tense; as Si-Woo watched, he felt his legs give out, and his body collapses against one of the nearest parked cars.

Only allowing him to watch, as people's final breaths gave out, notification after notification appeared before Si-Woo's eyes.

"Player killed, two hundred silver gained."

Over and over, it appeared before his eyes till every last victim became nothing... but a corpse.

Survivors began standing, some fearful, and others were pissed. As the angry survivors charged towards the crashed car, others waited behind to see what would happen. With brute force, they pulled the door off the car to find a dead driver; the blunt force trauma of the impact had caused his head to burst; for such a thing to happen, he would've had to be going at least over a hundred miles an hour.

But with anger still inside their hearts, the survivors look for a victim and a victim they find.

As one survivor spots Si-Woo, everyone else notices him, and suddenly attention is set, along with hostile intent.

"He watched and didn't say a thing!"

Said one of the fearing female survivors.

"He's the reason they're dead! He killed them! He killed them all!"

Another survivor shouted, and suddenly the entire group started charging toward Si-Woo, instantly surrounding him.

"Scum!"

"Worthless trash!"

"You bastard! You could've saved those people!"

The survivors started grabbing hold of Si-Woo and tossing him around to each other. Each delivering a blow of their own. As a fist crosses Si-Woo's face, blood spews from his mouth, and he falls into another's arms. He's held in place, allowing others to deliver their own dose of punishment. He gets kicked, punched, and kneed repeatedly by the crowd. Blood and spit spewing from his mouth and nose. His eyes can barely stay open as tears fill his eyes, and his vision blurs.

"W-Why are you..."

Si-Woo coughs up blood as he tries to speak but gets interrupted by another blow to his stomach.

"Shut it, scum of the earth. You don't get to speak for what you've done! It's time to pay for your sins!"

Suddenly the stranger begins emitting blue and black energy like smoke from his left shoulder blade. Then suddenly, as he reaches towards it, a sword with blade-like teeth and an aspect of fire is pulled from his shoulder blade. He revs back the sword in his left hand and holds his right hand under the edge.

"Ignite!"

The survivor shouts, suddenly engulfing the blade in flame.

Suddenly the survivor holding Si-Woo in place begins to worry about himself.

"H-Hey! If you hit him with that, you'll kill me too!"

The survivor with the flame engulfed blade smirks.

"So be it..."

Then without hesitation, the flame sword user lunges in with the blade lifted back in the air, prepared for a diagonal slash.

"N-No... I don't want to... die."

Si-Woo's eyes shut as tears try to leave them. Allowing him to think of his sister one last time... Until.

"I don't want to die!!"

The survivor holding Si-Woo screamed, immediately throwing Si-Woo to the ground and attempting to run away. However, as Si-Woo lays on the ground, the flame sword user is already in motion. A slash of flame releases from the blade catching up to the running survivor and instantly engulfing him in flames. Turning him into nothing but an oversized piece of charcoal.

The others were in shock at this development, yet the flame sword user didn't react as he had received the purple textbox.

"So that's what it meant."

A malicious grin appeared on his face. As he began turning and slashing in different directions around him. He wasn't swinging randomly; he scored to kill the others around him. An evil laugh began filling the air around him as he continued to slash.

The screams and cries for help were mixed with the laugh until they vanished within seconds, just like the remaining survivors. All of them turned to nothing but charcoaled corpses.

Si-Woo looks up and begins crawling backward as the flame sword user stares him down.

"You knew about this, didn't you? You knew killing each other would award us with even more silver!"

"I-I, no, I didn't-."

The flame sword user reared back again, ready to kill Si-Woo once and for all.

"Die!!"

The flame sword user screamed as he began to swing downwards.

"N-No, I can't. Not yet... I have to save my sister!!"

Si-Woo's reflexes kicked in, and he raised his right hand at the incoming flame sword, hoping it'd do something. Despite this, his results were different from what he had thought. As he felt a sudden item grip in his right hand, his eyes opened wide, and he found himself holding his dagger once again.

"W-What did you just do?!"

The flame sword user endured a struggle against Si-Woo's dagger, its black pointed blade holding against a sword was impressive, and Si-Woo thought it was too. Si-Woo began pushing back, although he wouldn't be able to keep it up for much longer due to his opponent's strength.

"Even with that weapon, you're still going to…."

A whistling noise cut through the air, and suddenly the struggle between Si-Woo and the flame sword user was over. Before Si-Woo could comprehend it, the flame sword user was dead, and a bit of his blood had splattered onto his face.

In shock, Si-Woo continued holding up his dagger, slightly trembling. As he creakingly turned his head to the dead body, he caught a glimpse of a golden spear impaled into the flame sword user's head. But before he could get a better impression of it, it vanished, and Si-Woo blacked out.

*** Hours Later ***

Si-Woo awoke on a couch; it was his couch that was in his apartment. The apartment he had saved up for.

"H-How did I get here?"

As Si-Woo looked around carefully, he saw nothing out of the ordinary until a flush from a toilet instantly fired his attention to the bathroom. A man dressed in a red suit walked out of there. His face was familiar, along with that brown hair color of his. It was unforgettable, especially for him.

"Hwan-U! H-How did you... How did I?!"

Hwan-U put up his hand to calm Si-Woo and put a stop to his barrage of preliminary questions.

"Take a breath; I'll explain everything to you in a moment. But for now, you should rest. Because that's twice now I've saved you from a near-death experience."

That's right, Hwan-U had saved Si-Woo when his mother attempted to murder him, and now he had saved him from the flame sword user.

"That guy... He just killed them without a care."

"That is typically how murderers act... Seo-Sang was wanted for the third mass genocide of an entire elementary school. We have no clue why he wanted to kill an entire building of children. However, due to your collaboration, if you wish to call it that..."

Si-Woo finds himself annoyed at that last comment.

"I was able to end him before he could truly do any more damage. Even if I couldn't save that school, I was able to end such a monster thanks to you and that ability of yours. Speaking of which, how'd you do that?"

"Do what... Exactly?"

"Pull your weapon to you, like some sort of force ability. Do you have the force?!"

Hwan-U is a big Star Wars nerd, though he never admits it to anyone other than Si-Woo.

"I'm not entirely sure, I know I had thrown it somewhere in the alley, and then when I needed something to protect myself It just flew to my hand and placed itself there... I just got my powers and still, I feel useless, if you hadn't shown up I would've..."

"Yes, you would've died if I hadn't been aiming my spear. Which is why I'm going to say this once and only once. Si-Woo, you aren't strong enough to be fighting other people. Try to avoid situations like today and just continue living your beyond bizarre life."

"But Hwan-U... I need to save Mina, she's all I've got left."