Chapter 6: Cave

The place I arrived at with the “kind” men in black shoes was an isolated cave far removed from the city.

Inside, it was pitch black, with an entrance barely big enough for one or two people to squeeze through.

“Will the air even circulate properly here?”

It wasn’t just a semi-basement but a full underground cave. 

This was going to be rough.

While I was regretting my decision to follow them, the kidnapper, no longer bothering to hide his intentions, lightly pushed my back.

“Come on, get in. If you don’t, who knows what might happen to you?”

I stepped into the cave, thinking I might as well take a look around.

Inside, the cave was completely dark, without even a single light bulb. 

Not a speck of light penetrated the space.

The damp air, characteristic of caves, combined with the surrounding darkness to create an eerie atmosphere, and the musty smell of a rainy day filled the air.

Yet, in that darkness, I felt something closer to comfort rather than discomfort.

“Thinking like this really makes me feel like a true nocturnal creature…”

The shapes reflected in my amber-colored eyes appeared clearer than they did in sunlight.

It was as if I had entered my own living room—every movement in the cave was vividly perceived by my senses.

As I briefly froze at the peculiar sensation tickling my entire body, one of the men who brought me here smiled and said,

“There’s no need to be scared already. Just quietly follow along.”

Soon, the largest man in the group shone a flashlight and began guiding me.

He seemed oddly cheerful, making a throat-slitting gesture with his hand as he spoke.

“By the way, I forgot to mention—don’t even think about asking for help. We’re monitoring you constantly, so if you don’t want something bad to happen, you’d better behave.”

He smirked as he added, “You know what happens if you die, right? Your posts get deleted too.”

My eyes instinctively followed his gaze, landing on a screen.

[Breaking News: The 7th Boss, Aria Eclipse, Appears in South Korea.]

(Late-night snack suggestions needed)

“For f***’s sake.”

“You bastard.”

“Shut up, all of you.”

“Stop swearing…”

“Shut up and eat chicken, lol.”

Judging by the posts, if I requested anything, I’d probably just get cursed at.

Still, without much complaint, I quietly followed them into a dark room.

There, the man cuffed my ankle and spoke in a meaningful tone.

“Three meals a day, and more if you want. All you need to do is eat well and rest.”

He threw a simple chocolate bar onto the floor before leaving the room.

I tilted my head in confusion.

“What…?”

I mean, I don’t mind this, but…

Were they not actual kidnappers but just overly kind strangers?

The man’s cryptic words and actions left me baffled, but only for a moment.

From the cuff around my ankle, I felt an eerie movement.

“Black magic…?”

The cuff seemed to wriggle as if alive, digging into my skin.

It clamped around my ankle greedily, as if trying to devour my flesh.

The unpleasant sensation made me focus my control over the surrounding darkness and apply slight pressure.

Snap.

“Huh?”

A cracking sound came from near my ankle. 

The cuff shattered into pieces and scattered across the floor.

“…I have no idea what just happened.”

Maybe it was an old cuff.

I decided to explore the cave.

The structure was like an anthill, with numerous passageways and rooms.

How could anyone have built such a massive cave?

* * *

Considering that a medium-sized ant colony requires at least 1,000 to 5,000 ants to construct, this cave was far beyond what a simple group of kidnappers could have made.

Unless…

“There’s no way a high-level ranker is involved.”

Creating a cave of this scale would require someone ranked globally or a person awakened with powers specialized in digging.

But why would someone like that bother with kidnapping?

On top of that, the transformation of reality into a VR game happened only a week ago, far too short a time to build a structure like this.

And then…

The events happening inside the interconnected rooms of the cave.

Only then did I understand the man’s words about simply eating and resting.

“Slurp, slurp… More! I’m hungry!”

“Hey, wait! The food’s not ready yet! My stomach’s going to cave in!”

Each room contained figures trapped behind iron bars, endlessly demanding food.

Their bodies were emaciated despite frantically shoving food into their mouths. 

They appeared to be withering away as though their life force was being drained.

The sight of these rooms filled with insatiable beings reminded me of the hungry ghosts of hell.

Once missing persons, they now resembled livestock, sticking out their heads and screaming for food.

A piece of chocolate fell from my pocket onto the floor.

I had no desire to eat something given to me in a place like this.

But at that moment, the eyes of those trapped behind the bars moved simultaneously.

“Food! It’s food! Give it to me!”

“Get out of the way. It’s mine! It’s mine!”

They pressed against the bars, their flesh squeezing through as they desperately reached out to grab the chocolate.

Eventually, one of them snatched it and put it in their mouth.

“Ahaha, I finally feel alive. I finally feel… full… Aaagh!”

The shackles on his ankle restrained him as he put the chocolate in his mouth.

A strange light emanated from the shackles and began to absorb something from him.

“I’m hungry, so hungry!”

Once again, he was plagued by hunger.

As he frowned at the sight, the light within the shackles began to move somewhere.

‘Where is it going?’

The light traveled deeper into the cave, heading toward its depths.

Making sure no one noticed, he wrapped himself in the surrounding darkness like a blanket and followed the light.

The deeper he went, the more numerous the groups he encountered.

Occasionally, there were those who blocked his path.

“Hey, you guys, isn’t there supposed to be a flashlight here?”

“Maybe it’s broken? Either way, keep a better watch—ugh!”

He knocked out the approaching kidnappers one by one, gradually advancing underground.

‘I guess I don’t need to cover my face anymore.’

After all, the light wouldn’t reach him.

Removing the black cloth covering his face felt as refreshing as taking off a mask after wearing it all day.

Finally, the light’s destination came into view.

There, a massive lump of earth loomed.

No, it wasn’t just a lump of earth.

As he manipulated the darkness to examine it, he saw that the mass resembled the face of a colossal golem.

‘Gigantes…? Why on earth is that here?’

One of the seven bosses.

The earth-elemental boss, the giant weapon, Gigantes.

And beneath it, there was a faintly glowing room.

Drawn as if mesmerized, he stepped toward that space.

* * *

“Selfish bastards, as always.”

In the center, a single violet brazier glowed faintly.

The man clicked his tongue and muttered in front of the only real light source in the cave, apart from the overhead lamps.

“What did they say? If we hand over Gigantes’ head first, then they’ll hand over their arms? Like hell they will. Damn Mexican gangs.”

Still brimming with anger, the man continued his string of curses.

“And those Chinese bastards are the same. They only care about themselves.”

The memory of a meeting from just days prior, or more accurately, a list of demands, came to his mind.

The kidnappers’ leader, Choi Geonwoo, bit his lip.

“Only when all six pieces of Gigantes are gathered can its true power be unleashed.”

Our World, once a game called Another World, had now become reality.

One of the seven bosses, Gigantes.

Among them, Gigantes was known as both the easiest and the trickiest boss.

‘The raid required destroying all six parts within the time limit. If not, it was a guaranteed failure.’

The parts consisted of two legs, two arms, a torso, and a head.

If too much time passed, the apostles of Gigantes would reassemble the pieces, forcing players to destroy them beforehand.

Failure to do so within the time limit would result in the manifestation of Gigantes.

Players would then face the overpowered stats of the fully formed Gigantes.

‘In the game, the apostles controlled it…

Gigantes wasn’t an independent entity but a weapon.’

In the VR game, players couldn’t control Gigantes due to balance concerns, but now that the game had become reality,

‘It means we can control it in this world.’

Choi Geonwoo estimated that Gigantes’ power could easily place all the country’s rankers underfoot.

Moreover, each piece alone was comparable to a strategic weapon.

Even with just the head of Gigantes in his possession, he had already used its power to create this massive underground cave.

However—

“Those fools. With the power to crush the Association beneath their feet if they gathered all the pieces, they want to use it as a mere strategic weapon?”

A Mexican gang holding an arm.

A Chinese Triad holding a leg.

Despite Choi Geonwoo’s best efforts to persuade them, their attitudes showed no trace of cooperation.

Though he didn’t trust them either, their lack of even minimal foresight was enough to deepen the furrow in his brow.

“In that case…”

Choi Geonwoo turned his gaze toward the brazier in the center of his room.

The purple flame of life burned fiercely.

A product of his top-tier dark magic skills combined with the power of Gigantes.

And bolstered by the life force of the people he had secretly kidnapped, away from the Association’s eyes.

Originally, he had planned to use it after gathering all of Gigantes’ pieces and betraying his collaborators.

But now, his plans have changed.

“First, I’ll sow chaos in the city. Just unleashing Gigantes-made earth soldiers in the urban areas should suffice.”

Taking advantage of the Association’s confusion, he would begin abducting people on a larger scale to gather life force.

Until now, he had been extracting life force while keeping his captives alive for efficiency. But in this phase, it wouldn’t matter if they died.

The priority was rapidly growing the flame of life.

Using Gigantes’ power and the flame of life, he would crush the Association and steal the Gigantes pieces from those insolent Chinese and Mexican gangs.

And the remaining pieces as well.

By then, the whereabouts of all the pieces would be clear.

“If it comes to that, targeting the other seven bosses wouldn’t be a bad idea either.”

It was a distant future, but not impossible.

Choi Geonwoo contemplated his next course of action while lighting a cigar.

The violet flame, sparked by the fire of life, consumed the cigar.

A pungent smoke filled the room.

And at that moment—

Cough, cough.

In a room where no one else should be, the sound of someone coughing echoed.

“…Who’s there?”

With eyes sharp and piercing, Choi Geonwoo slowly turned his head with a hardened expression.

A presence.

His subordinates didn’t even know the location of this place, so this had to be an intruder.

At the unusually shadowed entrance of the room, a solitary silhouette stood still.

“Spying on someone in secret? How shameless.”

Choi Geonwoo conjured black magic in his hand.

The light birthed from the fire of life flared up at his command, gradually illuminating the surroundings.

The black silhouette came into view, little by little.

But the moment it’s figure became clear to his eyes, his mind went completely blank.

Standing there was a girl with a familiar appearance.

Amber eyes and jet-black hair.

Her youthful, adorable, and fair features were exactly as they had been in the final chapter of the story.

A monster he had never defeated in countless attempts in Another World.

The ultimate boss who had crushed the hopes of thousands of heroes trying to see the end of the tale.

Amidst the same pitch-black darkness as back then.

And with the same glowing amber eyes as before, staring directly at him.

Thud.

His legs gave out, and he collapsed to the floor.

The girl tilted her head slightly at his reaction, touched her chin as if realizing something, and made a sheepish expression.

“Hmm…”

She muttered to herself, then smiled playfully.

And that innocent smile—

It was the same one she always showed right before his character died in the final chapter of the story.

“…Peekaboo?”

Choi Geonwoo’s face turned ashen.