Ark the Legend 1-12

by Yoo Seong

  “Eh? Wait? Perhaps this is……?”

  Ark quickly took it out.

  -Carrier MR-II (Galactic Federation Army’s Common Specifications)

  Item Type: General Communication Messenger

  A common equipment used for communication by the galactic federation. There are two major types of communication used by the federation. Messages can be sent through radio waves or received directly. The Carrier MR-II is a messenger device that belongs to the latter category

  When it is difficult to transmit radio waves thanks to terrain or hostile forces, an encrypted message can be entered into the Carrier MR-II and sent directly to the destination. The Carrier MR-II is designed to work in almost all types of environments.

 

  Carrier MR-II! It was a basic equipment of the scouting unit. An ‘!’ appeared in Ark’s head as he confirmed the information.

  “This is great! I can send a request for help to the federation base!”

  The federation base was 290 km away. He didn’t know how long it would take to detour around the cliff. Despite being able to eat the bugs, there was no guarantee he could return alive. But what if he could ask for help from the federation base? If they used the bikes then travelling 290 km would just take 1~2 hours. If the Carrier MR-II arrived safely at the base and a scouting unit sent then he could be back at the base within 3~4 hours. And he could register with the Fairy! He didn’t need to worry about his experience and skills disappearing.

  “Then I don’t need to take the difficult path.”

  However, the Carrier MR-II wasn’t just a normal item. It was a military equipment. The Carrier MR-II had a security code so no one other than soldiers could use it. However…..

  -This equipment is protected by a security device.

  Enter the security code or use Invaders to hack and release the lock.

  Attempt to hack? Y/N

  Ark had the Invaders hacking program. The mini game this time was Brick breaker. It was a game that required delicate manipulation in order to break bricks with a small ball. He was trembling from the cold so thankfully the degree of difficulty wasn’t that high. Therefore he managed to clear the bricks after 5 minutes! The security device was turned off and Ark immediately entered a message into the Carrier MR-II.

  + Urgent Rescue Request (Requester: Ark) +

  I was stranded after the last battle and was wandering around in the snow storm when I came across the Rama base. I managed to escape from the Rama pursuers but I’m stranded on top of the snowy mountain 290 km from the federation base. I will enter the GPS information of the Rama main base and my present location.

  * Rama’s Main Base: X-@$!#! Y-!#$!#!

  * Current Stranded Location: X-#@### Y-#!#$

  -The professional encryption has been completed.

  There was a reason he entered the location of the Rama’s main base. Discovering the location of hostiles forces was a tremendous achievement. If he informed the base about the information registered on his GPS then he would still receive that achievement even if he died.

  “Now go!”

  He inputted the GPS location of the federation’s base and started the Carrier MR-II. The sides of the Carrier MR-II opened up, emitted flames and flew off. But thanks to the snow storm, it flew at an incredibly slow pace. Of course, it was still faster than the speed that Ark could walk. In addition, it could fly over the cliff and crevasses without being blocked like Ark would’ve been.

  “……At that speed it should take half a day to reach the base.”

  Now the problem was waiting until then. His present location was registered so he just had to wait for the rescue party. There weren’t that many bugs on the snowy mountain but it wasn’t a problem.

  “I haven’t been able to rest for 2 days. Because the game really catches people.”

  Ark sighed and operated his Nymphe. He clicked the ‘exit’ button among the many icons on the screen and a message popped up.

  -You have chosen to end the connection.

  There were two ways to end the connection to Galaxian. One termination method caused the character to completely disappear from the game. However, this method was only possible in non-combat areas. If the connection was ended in the conflict zone then the character would remain in the game. If so the character could choose the ‘Hibernation’ state’ where the satiety, health and mental power wouldn’t be consumed. The character also wouldn’t be affected by certain environmental conditions as well as being immune to poison. If subjected to attacks from the enemy, the damage would be decreased but the character would still receive damage. In ‘Hibernation state,’ the unit would sound an alarm to let the user know their character was being attacked.

  The system could be shut down using Hibernation State! In fact, this was one of the difficult things about combat inside Galaxian. Other online games didn’t have such a system and the character would disappear when exiting the game. Therefore some clever users would terminate the connection when surrounded by the enemy and not connect again for a few days. It was also possible to do guerrilla warfare using this method. It was pointed out that this was the main cause behind a breakdown of the balance in a ‘prolonged battle.’ However, Galaxian had a system where the character wouldn’t disappear in a disputed area. It was a penalty but Ark was currently rather thankful for that system. If he entered the Hibernation state then he wouldn’t need to worry about satiety decreasing. On the other hand, his character would remain in the game so he would be there when the rescue squad arrived. Ark moved to a proper position and pressed the end button.

  “Hibernation state!”

  Ark’s eyes closed as he entered hibernation state.

  “That’s it. When I connect again then I’ll be at the federation base.”

  And he was finally able to rest comfortably after 2 days.

  Space 3

  His and Her Circumstances

  -What am I……I really……

  A tearful voice was heard through the telephone. Hyun-woo frowned and looked at the clock on the wall. He had stolen a bike from the Rama’s base and then defeated his pursuers! The bike was broken in the process and he marched through the storm for two whole days. Not only did he receive physical damage, he was also mentally damaged from eating bugs and was very fatigued. Therefore Ark entered a Hibernation state after sending the Carrier MR-II and slept soundly. And ZZZZZ! ZZZZZ! He had fallen asleep around 11 p.m. And now the wall clock was pointing towards 3 a.m.

  ‘What on earth is going on……?’

  Hyun-woo had only slept for 4 hours so he couldn’t understand what was happening. The person calling was his mother. His mother had miraculously recovered after a long struggle. It opened her eyes to a love for humanity and decided to go overseas to assist refugees. He couldn’t understand why his mother was calling at 3 a.m. from South Africa. And she said something while crying the whole time.

  ‘It is clear that something happened.’

  That was the only thing he understood despite his sleepiness. Hyun-woo suddenly raised his head as he recalled an old, painful memory and asked.

  “Perhaps something happened to Father?”

  -No, your Father is okay. But…..

  “Then what is it? Please tell me slowly.”

  -That….I’m sorry. It became like this……

  His mother sobbed as she stuttered. Hyun-woo became frustrated and sighed.

  –Hyun-woo, it’s me.

  Then he heard the voice of his stepfather, Gwon Hwa-rang.

  “Yes. What’s going on? Why is Mother acting like that?”

  –That, something difficult has happened.

  “Something difficult?”

  –It is about that land in the mountains that we previously bought.

  “The land in the mountains? The piece of land that the An-gook hyung introduced to me?”

  –Yes, I received a notification that the pr
ice of the land has suddenly fallen.

  Hyun-woo’s face tensed after hearing Gwon Hwa-rang’s words.

  “The land value has dropped? Is that why Mother has been crying on the phone? I, tell Mother……it is normal for the land value to rise and fall. It is a lump sum so a small fall won’t cause much difference. An-gook hyung also said that at the time. The price suddenly ascended so there is the possibility that it would fall slightly. You don’t need to worry because it will rise gradually.”

  Hyun-woo laughed and answered.

  In order to explain, Hyun-woo had to go back 4 years. Hyun-woo’s father died in a traffic accident and he had to borrow a lot of money to pay for his mother’s hospital bills. He couldn’t rest and had to run away trying to pay off the interest on the loan as well as the hospital bills. It became a habit to tremble over spending even 1,000 won. The situation changed 1 year after he started New World. Hyun-woo clung to money more fiercely than any other user and managed to settle his debt 2 years after starting New World. He spent 1 year as a consultant and 1 year as Global Exo’s director. During those 2 years, he was able to steadily gather quite a bit of money.

  “Now if you only get married then I don’t need to worry any more……”

  At that time his mother started nagging.

  “A man only becomes an adult once he makes his own home.”

  “Mother, I’m now 26 years old. It isn’t that urgent at this age.”

  “Not urgent? It’s not like you haven’t met any women. There is both Kang Mi-su and Hye-sun……shouldn’t you definitely clear up your heart? While your heart is important, a woman will also decide to leave if you take too long.”

  His mother said to him. At the time Hyun-woo had two females close to him. There was Kang Mi-su who was known as Lariette in New World and Park Hye-sun also known as Roco. Like his mother said, both of them were interested in Hyun-woo and he had a good impression of them. But a good impression didn’t mean a love affair. He had also never thought about marriage. At the time, marriage was just a distant thought in Hyun-woo’s future. And there was another part that weighed on his mind.

  ‘Alan…..’

  Alan had been Ark’s biggest rival in New World! After the event triggered by Lucifer was put in order, Hyun-woo heard that Alan was in a coma. He would plunge a sword into him without hesitation in the game but this was reality. Hyun-woo and Alan didn’t have a good relationship but Hyun-woo felt somewhat responsible.

  ‘Alan has liked Kang Mi-su for a long time.’

  That thought popped into his head every time he saw Kang Mi-su. His heart felt heavy and he became increasingly gloomy so he decreased their meetings. And she left to study abroad several months after he joined Global Exos so they lost contact. His budding relationship with Kang Mi-su had been stopped because she kept on reminding him of Alan. He belatedly though he made some mistakes but he still didn’t contact her. His relationship with Park Hye-sun lasted a little longer than that. But Hyun-woo couldn’t stop thinking of Park Hye-sun as his little sister. So there wasn’t any real progress between them. She also became known as a minstrel in New World and was contacted by a scout for an entertainment agency. Her schedule became busy after that and they barely had any contact now.

  ‘……Well love is like that.’

  Hyun-woo had to clean it up. Anyway, Hyun-woo’s marriage was still far in the future. Therefore Hyun-woo entrusted most of his income to his mother after she left the hospital. At that time, his stepfather Gwon Hwa-rang and the members of his rehabilitation program Yoo An-gook made a proposal to him. That was the land in the mountains that Gwon Hwa-rang spoke about. Yoo An-gook was a real estate specialist nicknamed Bu Dong-san. Yoo An-gook heard that the price of the land in the Taek Mountains was going to climb soon so they purchased it. The government then announced that it was going to relocated their main government office there so there was a huge speculative frenzy over the land. But that speculative frenzy would eventually calm and it would fall to a more reasonable price. He couldn’t think of a reason why is mother would be anxious. Of course, almost all of his fortune had been invested into the property so it was natural to worry.

  “It was very high for a while so even a little fall wouldn’t give that much damage. Father shouldn’t worry so much. We’re not selling it immediately anyway. It will go up again soon.”

  –It’s not like that.

  “Huh?”

  -The real estate price of the land in the Taek Mountains has fallen to 1/10 of the price over the last few days.

  Hyun-woo was bemused by Gwon Hwa-rang’s words. He was still tired and thought he was hearing nonsense.

  “1/10th of the price? Is that a joke?”

  –I want to believe that. But that isn’t the case.

  “T-then why?” How did it fall so much?”

  –I don’t know. At first I thought the relocation that the government announced was cancelled. An-gook was also baffled. The price didn’t fall gradually but it was a sudden drop over two days. An-gook is trying to check with his contact but we don’t know what happened at the moment.

  “T-that……”

  Hyun-woo quickly got over his sleep. Like he said, Hyun-woo had left his money to his mother and she invested it into real estate. Hyun-woo had sworn to make sure his mother could live properly without crying. Therefore he sent 30~40% of his income to pay for his mother’s expenses while she was overseas helping the refugees. Other than the money used to help the refugees, his mother invested the rest of Hyun-woo’s earnings into real estate. Now that real estate had fallen to 1/10th of the price. That was 1/10th of the money had earned during the 4 years.

  “Such a thing…..!”

  Hyun-woo was about to exclaim angrily when he closed his mouth. He took a deep breath before talking in a calmer voice.

  “I understand what you’re saying. But you don’t need to worry too much. I’ll talk to An-gook hyung and we’ll deal with the problem. I’m also a director in a large corporation. It doesn’t matter if the money falls a little bit. Do you understand? Mother’s health is the most important thing of all. I’ll contact you if I learn more so please tell Mother not to worry. I believe in Father.”

  –I know. And……I’m sorry.

  “We don’t know yet. Father doesn’t need to be sorry.”

  He said and hung up. His mother’s health was more important than a few pieces of money. This was true. However, even Hyun-woo couldn’t be fine after hearing such words. He disconnected the phone at 3.30 a.m. and by the time he finished his shower it was 4 a.m. It was still early but Hyun-woo got dressed and left his house. He took a taxi and arrived at Yoo An-gook’s real estate office at 5. There were lights on in the office despite the early hour.

  “Hyun-woo!”

  There was a man smoking the cigarette inside the office. He was Yoo An-gook, also known as ‘Bu Dong-San.’

  There were also 9 other people inside the office. The men clearly didn’t look ordinary. If those men went out together as a group then their looks would cause the police to be called. The nine men were the ex-rehabilitation members. Hyun-woo had a good relationship with them but he didn’t feel like smiling in this atmosphere. They had also bought land in the Taek Mountains like Hyun-woo.

  “What on earth is going on?”

  “Hwa-rang hyung-nim contacted you.”

  “Yes.”

  “Then sit down.”

  Yoo An-gook asked as he looked at him with a haggard face.

  “What have you heard?”

  “The real estate has dropped to 1/10th of the price. It was fine a few days ago so why has it dropped so suddenly?”

  “I also don’t understand it either.”

  Yoo An-gook muttered and sighed while sucking a cigarette.

  “After hearing the news, I checked it and thousands of the land near the real estate we bought we sold at almost the same time. It was sold at 70% of the market price. A lot of land was sold within a short period. The people who bought t
he surrounding real estate belatedly found out and hurriedly sold their land. They could only think that there is a problem with the land. That’s why the value of the land suddenly dropped so much.”

  “That’s why the price dropped to 1/10th?”

  “The market price is 1/10th but……”

  “There will be no deal at that price.”

  The ex-con artist named Kang Yoo-jin with the nickname Jjak-tung interrupted.

  “There are rumours about the LTE class. They seemed to already know everything about the real estate. Those experts bought several pieces of land after the price fell to 1/10th. Therefore the actual sale was less than that number. In some cases it might become a dead land deal.”

  “Then……”

  “It is tied up. Your money and my money.”

  “Our money.”

  Ma Chorung who was nicknamed Hae Gyeol-sa said towards Yoo An-gook. Then Kang Yoo-jin frowned and muttered.

  “We listened to An-gook. An-gook said the value of the land is high so can we blame him for this situation?”

  “He’s not to blame.”

  Ma Chorung pouted with a dissatisfied look. Yoo An-gook could only sigh. Yoo An-gook stared at Hyun-woo for a while before saying.

  “The situation has already happened. The fundamental cause is the sale of the surrounding real estate…..what is the reason? Why did the first person sell the land for 70% of the price?”

  “I honestly don’t know why.”

  Yoo An-gook scratched his head and took out a new cigarette.

  “I ran around everywhere after getting the news. But the owners of the land are just there in name. Do you understand? The actual owners are separate.”

  “Who?”

  “You know, the price of the Taek Mountain land rose after the announcement from the government. Isn’t it obvious if they bought the property before the announcement?”

  “They’re politicians.”

  Kang Yoo-jin spat out in a rough voice. Yoo An-gook nodded and continued.

  “That’s right. I also knew that the price of the land in the Taek Mountain would rise due to a contact. So I checked there when I knew there was a problem but I was blown off. I also think it is strange that the government office transfer was cancelled. Even if it was cancelled, there should be an announcement from the government. If they had broadcasted it for a few days then the price wouldn’t have dropped all at once.”