Possessor #2 Just Wants to Fangirl Chapter 5

“Don’t get distracted and follow properly!”

After exiting the waiting room, we crossed the first-floor village following Ham Sobong.

Our next destination is the weapon rental.

To survive, I need to choose my weapon well.

Choose… yeah, right. I need to choose. I should, but…

It’s really not easy to concentrate.

For good reason—look at this village’s visuals!

We’re currently at the Tower’s first-floor village.

In the <On the Brink of Destruction> setting, each floor of the Tower has one village, and all those villages are medieval European style.

It looks quite similar to the neighborhood where you go to buy textbooks at a certain wizard school.

Visuals that toy with a fantasy nerd’s heart!

Moreover,

‘There’s <Hideout Cafe>! My babies’ regular hangout! <Chinko’s Toy Shop> is there too! I really wanted to try that store’s gacha machine!!’

Every time I turn my head, holy sites pop out, so my eyes are spinning.

I should name this place <On the Brink of Destruction> Theme Park from now on… no, wait!

To go on a fan pilgrimage, I have to survive first, right?

‘Concentrate, concentrate!’

I hurriedly canceled tourist mode and perked up my ears to the conversation happening right next to me.

“…My youngest sister said the awakening test isn’t that dangerous.”

“Youngest sister?”

“Ah, my youngest noona.”

“Your noona is an awakened one?”

“Yeah, in our family all four sons and four daughters are awakened ones.”

The blue-haired boy chattering away right now is Lee Hyojun.

From what I hear, he’s the youngest of a whopping seven siblings.

Three older brothers, three older sisters, and even both parents are all awakened ones—an uncommon family composition in a world where only 10% of the population awakens.

“Then you must have heard about the test procedures too?”

“Well, obviously.”

“What’d they say?”

“They tie monsters with chains. As long as you figure out the safe distance it’s not dangerous, and if anything seems like it’ll happen, rankers immediately subdue them.”

Lee Hyojun enthusiastically spilled awakening test TMI, and I gratefully picked up that information.

Actually, I don’t know what format the awakening test follows.

Because <On the Brink of Destruction> is a first-person novel that proceeds from the protagonist’s perspective.

Gyeon Junhwi encountered the outbreak before arriving at the test site and awakened on the spot.

Therefore, the protagonist didn’t take the awakening test.

Therefore, there’s no description of the awakening test in the novel.

Anyway.

According to Lee Hyojun, the test procedure is very simple:

① Drag seventeen-year-old kids in front of monsters.

② Leave them until just before death.

③ It’d be troublesome if they died, so save them.

④ Approach and ask, ‘Did you awaken?’

The progression is a bit rough and ready, but there’s a reason for this.

Because you need ‘strong will’ to awaken.

The majority of humans don’t possess strong will, so they get help from monsters.

Even the laziest and most lethargic person will develop the will to live when monsters attack.

“What weapon did they choose?”

My train of thought was cut off.

Because Yeom Juwan’s eyes are too sparkling.

“Everyone except my youngest sister chose swords. My youngest sister chose a bow and became an archer, but she was crying tears of blood saying it costs too much money.”

“Bows are more expensive?”

“Because you have to keep buying arrows.”

“That makes sense too. What kind of swords do the other siblings use? Longsword? Broadsword? Rapier? Saber?”

“Whoa! Yeom Juwan, you know your stuff? Eldest brother uses a longsword, eldest sister uses a saber and kukri…”

Yeom Juwan was showing a lot of interest in swords.

Would it be awkward if I said ‘Juwan, magic suits you better than swords’ here?

Anyway, why is he so bright?

Isn’t this character collapse?

In the work, Yeom Juwan is a prickly character.

Should I say he’s like a stray cat that bristles its fur and tries to scratch when people approach?

Such Yeom Juwan’s charm points are compressed into three main things.

One, his face is insanely pretty.

Two, he seems to hate hanging out with people, but when the protagonist drags him around by force, he secretly likes it.

(Like a stray cat that hisses at passing pedestrians but eagerly eats the food I give.)

Three, he transforms.

Doesn’t he suddenly shoot up to 185cm and become a beast, and when you raise him doesn’t he turn out to be one of the top three flame mages in this worldview?

(feat. I picked up a cute kitten, but when I raised it, well what do you know, it’s a tiger!)

Anyway.

To bring out these charm points, he should be doing prickly stray cat hissing in the early stages, but the current Yeom Juwan is a dog-cat no matter how you look at it.

Why on earth?

“Sora, what weapon are you going to use?”

Before finding an answer to my question, Yeom Juwan asked me.

“I’m using a gun.”

“Okay.”

“Gasp! Hey, don’t do that!”

The one silently accepting is Yeom Juwan, the one horrified is Lee Hyojun.

“If you choose something like a gun, you’ll never awaken! People who awakened with ranged weapons are countable on one hand!”

Well, of course?

It’s a system where you awaken by feeling strong will (life crisis), so if you go bang bang from far away, you can’t feel the crisis.

“Still, I’m going with a gun. My body’s not well, so I won’t even be able to lift a sword.”

“Still, awakening is… a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity…”

Lee Hyojun thinks I’ve given up on awakening and is genuinely disappointed, but there’s no need to worry.

Am I crazy? To give up on awakening?

Today I’m scheduled to surf with thousands of goblins anyway.

I’ll definitely feel a life crisis.

Then it’s better to have an easy-to-use weapon.

* * *

The weapon rental operated by Phoenix Guild is quite spacious.

About the size of a warehouse-style supermarket?

The moment we entered, Ham Sobong looked down at his wrist and shouted.

“I’m giving you fifteen minutes. Hurry!”

“Whaaaat?”

“How can we do this place in fifteen minutes…”

“Fourteen minutes fifty seconds!”

He really shows no mercy.

At Ham Sobong’s attitude, the team members started running as if a starting gun had fired for a race.

“See you later!”

I was about to take a step too when something caught my clothes and I couldn’t move forward.

Looking back, Yeom Juwan was grabbing my sleeve.

“You’re going alone?”

“You’re using a sword, right? I’m using a gun.”

“That’s true, but…”

“This place is too big to have time to look at both. Let’s scatter and regroup.”

“……”

Yeom Juwan’s cheeks puffed up round like morning buns.

That’s a sulky expression, right?

Is my baby tiger sulking?

It’s cute, but this noona doesn’t have much time.

“Then I’ll use a gun too.”

“Lee Hyojun just said earlier, right? That if you choose a gun, there’s a high chance you won’t awaken.”

“Then you use a sword too.”

Why is he trying so hard to coordinate?

Is this what childhood friends are like?

I’d planned to be Yeom Juwan’s gum for the day, but right now is inconvenient.

Because I’m about to do things I can’t show others.

“Fourteen minutes! What are you guys doing!”

Nice timing!

At Ham Sobong’s voice, Yeom Juwan reluctantly let me go. Gaining freedom, I hurried toward the [Firearms] section.

The weapon I chose is an Ether Airsoft Gun.

It’s a name that sounds like something, but it’s just a BB gun.

In the work, it’s called a weapon literally anyone can use.

After grabbing the gun and magazine, I headed to my next destination.

[Consumables]

Various interesting-looking items are on display, but I don’t have time to browse right now.

‘Let’s see, I definitely need…’

Persephone’s Orb, Demeter’s Hair, and Vesuvius Lava Stone.

Slightly unusual supplies, but there’s a reason for gathering these.

Because Gyeon Junhwi chose them.

Gyeon Junhwi awakened item crafting ability early in the novel and escaped the first catastrophic incident by crafting ‘Persephone’s Curse,’ an item optimized for goblins.

The principle of awakening is ‘strong will.’

In theory, if you burn with the strong will ‘I want item crafting ability!’ you can awaken that ability.

Gyeon Junhwi actually did that, and I plan to follow the correct answer from the novel exactly.

As I was busily gathering supplies,

“Three minutes left! If you don’t come within time, I’m confiscating all weapons!”

Ham Sobong’s shout was heard, and I ran full speed toward the exit.

* * *

One jeep was waiting in front of the weapon rental.

The car departed as soon as it loaded us and soon raced across a field that looked like the Serengeti plains.

“Sora, are you okay?”

“Huff huff!”

“I knew it, you got excited about the awakening test, right?”

“Huff huff!”

“How can you not even take care of your own body? Don’t you know I’ll get in trouble with auntie too? She told me to supervise you well so you wouldn’t do this.”

“Huff huff!”

I’m in the middle of high-intensity breathing exercises.

Yeom Juwan is in the middle of high-intensity nagging.

What the hell is with this body!

I just ran a little distance and I’m out of breath like I’m dying.

Yeon Sora… were you a sickly beauty?

No, this is subtly different from being sickly.

Should I say the synchronization rate is bad?

It’s like a moving marionette doll.

When moving slowly it’s fine, but when I increase speed, all the joints in my body bounce in different directions and the strings feel tangled.

Judging from Yeom Juwan’s nagging, Yeon Sora’s body was originally in this state.

‘Can I fight goblins for hours with a body like this?’

Absolutely impossible.

The original Yeon Sora probably died in the outbreak.

If that happens, Yeom Juwan will be shocked.

So that’s why the dog-cat turns dark into a stray cat?

Somehow the pieces are starting to fit together.

“Everyone get out!”

While I was playing puzzles in my head, the vehicle arrived at its destination.

This is the cave.

Which might become my grave.

“It’s slippery so watch your step and walk slowly!”

The cave was dark, but there were glow stones embedded so I could see ahead.

Drip! Drip!

The sound of water droplets falling from somewhere was heard, and unpleasant humidity clung stickily to my body.

A foul smell like fishy seafood also wafted through the air.

How long did we walk?

Kieeeek!

At the sudden screech, all the fine hairs on my body stood on end.

In countless novels, monster cries are expressed as ‘Kieee!’, but hearing it in reality is different.

The ‘Screeech’ of nails scratching a chalkboard.

The ‘Grrrrr’ of phlegm bubbling up.

Those two sounds combine to become ‘Kieee.’

My shoulders involuntarily hunched at the hair-raising high pitch, but Ham Sobong nonchalantly dragged us toward the source of the sound.

“Here.”

The test site.

But the test site’s design is extraordinary.

Isn’t this an underground dungeon?

Ham Sobong opened the door and shoved us into the dim underground dungeon.

Clang!

When the door closed, lights turned on inside the dungeon.

The first thing I saw was a strange device that looked like a carousel.

Similar to the carousels commonly seen at amusement parks, but instead of white horses and carriages, dozens of goblins are tied up.

Kieeeeeek!

Only one goblin is moving.

The rest of the goblins had no movement, as if frozen.

“Ten per person, fifty total prepared. If you can’t awaken within ten, there’s no more chances.”

Ham Sobong explained something after that, but it didn’t reach my ears.

Goblins.

Dark goblins at that.

Generally when you think of goblins, you imagine green monsters the size of children, but the goblins before my eyes are tall and black.

“Anyone know about dark goblins?”

“Me.”

“Tell us.”

“They’re hybrids of green goblins and orcs. They look like goblins but have the strength of orcs.”

“Correct. So don’t try to get into a contest of strength. And these guys have steel claws, you know? If you get torn once, it’ll rip off bone and all, so be careful. Now then, let’s start.”

After finishing her brief explanation, Ham Sobong quickly scanned our side.

Our eyes met.

No way?

No, don’t do that.

Sir, do not call that name…

“Yeon Sora, you go first.”