My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 23
[Evern Online Suddenly Shuts Down!]
[Players Worldwide Flooding Customer Service!]
[Evern Official: The shutdown was systemically scheduled. The timing was simply faster than anticipated.]
[Players Worldwide: We’d like to give the developers a scheduled death. Just a bit sooner than expected.]
―Click… click-click.
Jae-beom scrolled through the flood of articles pouring across the internet.
“Is this real?”
―Tap.
He clicked on an article containing footage from one player—a famous streamer in Evern Online known as Apple Curry.
“Perfect!”
The female player, renowned for both skill and appearance, moved with fluid grace, her long blonde hair streaming behind her.
“Everyone focus! We’re almost there!”
The boss monster her party was challenging was known as the Four-Headed, Eight-Armed—the Eternal Commander, Asura.
It was one of only five bosses cleared thus far in Evern Online.
Since late-game bosses granted special rewards on their first ten clears, Apple Curry’s raid team had devoted nearly two weeks to this monster alone.
And then.
Evern Online advances to the next phase!]
[Game will forcibly shut down in 5 minutes.]
[Please move to a safe location and log out.]
“…What?”
“What was that just now?”
The message that appeared left the entire team’s minds blank.
Apple Curry was the first to snap back to reality.
“No, we can still do this! Five minutes is enough!”
She shouted urgently, rallying her teammates.
“Healer Jin! Stack buffs and damage skills only! Stop healing! Tank Jin, just assume you’re dead and push!”
She barked out several rapid commands and reorganized her own skill rotation.
Though the boss was nearly defeated, the reckless burst damage melted her teammates in seconds.
[You all….]
“Skip the cutscene!”
The team collectively skipped the cutscene in 0.2 seconds and charged forward.
“Go go go!”
“Clear it!”
Apple Curry loaded her ultimate damage skill, which had just come off cooldown.
“Darker than darkness… bring ruin!”
“Chanting skip?!”
Magic circles erupted around Apple Curry, and in the next instant, crimson flames materialized before her hands.
Typically, mage-class skills require incantations, and higher-tier spells automatically flow from the caster’s lips during use.
Chanting skip was the technique of perfectly simulating every aspect of the incantation—its words, rhythm, pitch, and speed—entirely within one’s mind.
What a gambit—to deploy a skill that, if it fails, cancels the ability and inflicts several times the damage in return, essentially guaranteeing death, in a situation like this!
“Uahahaha!”
“Here it comes!”
A blood-red sphere of flame erupted forth, devouring all the air around it.
―Kwaaaaaarrrrgh!
The sight of Asura before us was devastating. Two of his four heads had vanished, and only a single arm remained.
[Yes, show me! Do you have the right to claim my life?]
Asura spoke thus, gripping his shattered blade with his last remaining arm with all his might.
[This is my final….]
[Five minutes have elapsed.]
[The game is ending. We shall meet again next season.]
The next instant, the screen went black.
And roughly three seconds later.
The game shut down, and Apple Curry’s face appeared on screen as she turned on her camera.
Unable to comprehend what had just transpired, she sat in stunned silence for a moment.
“No, this can’t be right! No… damn it! Even the boss monster acknowledged it!”
Soon after, she began screaming like a madwoman.
[No, this can’t be right.]
hahaha
[The timing lolololol]
[Even Asura’s mad about this.]
Her chat flooded with viewers who shared her outrage and those who simply found the spectacle hilarious.
[The broadcast has ended due to server deactivation.]
As Evern Online’s servers went down, her broadcast was forcibly terminated.
“It’s not my fault, but I apologize….”
Jae-beom offered her a moment of silent condolence before examining the other posts.
While no one else had experienced such dramatically timed server termination, most posts were flooded with furious users.
Moreover.
―Hey! What is that light!
―A red pillar?
―Is this a new event?
―What is this? All conditions met? Next phase? …The server’s shutting down?
A pillar of crimson light surged upward from Osirius Castle.
A message announcing that all conditions had been fulfilled appeared.
And the server terminated.
Unless the players of Evern Online were fools, connecting the light pillar to the server shutdown was inevitable.
Of course, there had been other events before the message appeared in Evern Online.
However, both in timing and scale, it was already consensus among players that the light pillar was the ‘final condition fulfilled event’.
“If you get caught, you’re dead, right?”
Jae-beom murmured as he watched the footage he had recorded.
If I upload this video, YouTube will probably experience massive growth.
Not just in views, but subscribers too, and it would likely be registered as a trending video in real-time.
‘A death warrant would probably be issued for me as well.’
The server crashing suddenly wasn’t Jae-beom’s fault.
However, some users would ignore such considerations and instead wonder, ‘How do we kill Jae-beom?’
Setting fire to Synapse Realm, which was shamelessly flaunting itself as if telling everyone to rip it open, was difficult, but making it hard for a still-newbie Jae-beom to even play the game through PVP was easy enough.
“There’s no need to become prey.”
Jae-beom had no intention of revealing his identity until he broke into the top 100 rankings.
“I’ll hold off on uploading the recording.”
If his only goal had truly been to grow YouTube, he would have continued operating on his original channel.
This was far more dangerous than uploading videos to his original channel.
―Ding ding!
Just then, an alarm sounded from the smartphone on his desk.
[Ji-min: Server’s down so I got nothing to do. Wanna grab dinner?]
It was a text from Kim Ji-min, who had told him to quit Warlord Online and switch over to Evern.
―Ding… ding ding.
[Me: You buying?]
Though the sudden invitation was unexpected, Jae-beom wasn’t flustered. Kim Ji-min had always been the type to call him whenever she had free time like this.
[Ji-min: Huh? What’s with you? You coming out if I’m buying?]
Was it an unexpected response? Ji-min’s next message came across clearly flustered.
[Me: Yeah]
[Ji-min: Come to Cheongdam Station by 7 PM. Your noona will treat you to something delicious lol]
As if she’d suddenly come to her senses, Ji-min unilaterally set the time and place, then notified him.
“Her personality really hasn’t changed.”
Jae-beom hesitated for a moment, thinking he’d ignore it.
[Tonight’s dinner is beef.]
But on second thought, meeting an old friend didn’t seem like a bad idea.
* * *
Cheongdam-dong, as always, was filled with people and shops flaunting their wealth.
Foreign cars could be easily spotted on the streets, and vehicles priced around 100 million won almost seemed to look wilted somehow.
However, a different landscape from a year ago had also seeped into the streets.
[Mirazur Evern Branch, Now Open at Lumiere Harbor. Experience the wonder of three Michelin stars.]
[Berserk Evern Branch, Now Open at Radiance Spire. Sensibility you can experience in Evern too.]
Advertisements for Evern Online were noticeable throughout Cheongdam-dong.
And they weren’t advertisements urging access like ‘Log in right now!’
Evern Online assumed you were ‘obviously’ already playing, so most advertisements were collaborations with luxury brands or restaurants.
Occasionally, at bus stops or on passing buses, there were phrases like ‘Log in now!’ but those were all second-generation virtual reality games.
It was a landscape where the difference from Evern Online was visible at a glance.
Then.
“Hey, did you hear? They actually forcibly shut down the server this time?”
―A flinch.
Jae-beom’s body tensed at the prickly comment, but he quietly tilted his ear toward the conversation.
“I couldn’t believe it. All the kids went crazy just now?”
“Star Reels is talking about nothing else either. Someone smashed their access device with a baseball bat because of the forced shutdown.”
“They have plenty of money anyway. It’s obvious they’ll just buy another one.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Conversations about Evern Online drifted from every corner of the café.
And then.
A woman approached Jae-beom, who was quietly sipping his Americano. She wore black sunglasses and an impressive white blouse.
“Did you just see that?”
“What? Is she a celebrity?”
The woman who had captured everyone’s attention enough to shift the entire café’s conversation was.
“Jae-beom! Your sister’s here!”
It was Kim Ji-min, Jae-beom’s longtime friend and fellow Evern Online player.
* * *
“Your reservation has been confirmed, Kim Ji-min. We’ll show you to your table.”
Jae-beom realized something the moment he stepped into the restaurant Kim Ji-min had booked.
‘What exactly does she want from me?’
Soft, muted classical music; interiors adorned with solid wood and marble that would never see plywood.
Waiters and waitresses who guided them with refined movements and impeccable attire.
One couple, judging by their formal dress and the atmosphere, seemed to be planning a proposal at this very table.
Moreover, the place the waiter led them to wasn’t an ordinary table but rather a fairly spacious private room.
“We’ll prepare the course menu you’ve reserved.”
“Ah, just a moment.”
Kim Ji-min said this and handed the menu to Jae-beom.
“Is there anything else you’d like to eat?”
“TARTARE” OF SPRING BRASSICAS
Pearl Onion Petals, Italian Capers,
and Burgundy Mustard
Spring brassica tartare.
Pearl-shaped onion petals, Italian capers, and Burgundy mustard.
‘Hmm.’
Looking at the first item on the menu, Jae-beom realized two things.
First, it was written in Korean, but he couldn’t decipher the menu at all.
And second… there were no prices listed on the menu.
“I’m fine as is.”
“Then we’ll proceed with the course as planned.”
“Yes, understood.”
The waiter left the table with those words.
The moment the waiter departed, Jae-beom lowered his voice and asked.
“Hey, how much is this place?”
I smiled wryly.
“Well, let’s see… 200,000 won?”
I offered an absurd answer.
It wasn’t because it was too expensive.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
Even at a glance, Jae-beom could tell this wasn’t a place that could be handled for 200,000 won.
“Then 300,000 won?”
It seemed I had no intention of being honest.
“You want something from me.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Why? Is it normal to come to a place like this just to buy a friend dinner?”
“We haven’t seen each other in a while, so it’s possible.”
“Last time all you did was pork belly and a shot of soju. Don’t you think the difference is too stark?”
It wasn’t just last time. Whenever Jae-beom and I met, we always ordered pork belly, pork cutlet, or at best sushi.
But suddenly bringing me to a course dinner… and at one of the most prestigious places in Cheongdam-dong at that?
There was no way to miss this.
“Just tell me. I can’t even digest this meal properly with all this weight on my mind. You said between friends, we can only treat each other to pork without any ulterior motive.”
“…Do you know what that means?”
“From beef onwards, it’s a business relationship, right?”
“Yeah… if that’s how you see it, then that’s how it is.”
I shook my head for a moment, then sighed before speaking.
“You… don’t you want to play Evern Online together?”
“Huh?”
“Are you really not going to switch over?”
I continued in a serious tone.
“Among the first-generation rankers, you’re the only one not playing Evern Online. Everyone else is either streaming or making a fortune inside the game and raking in money.”
Since I couldn’t convince Jae-beom through texts or messages, I brought him to this place to persuade him in person.
And at a venue where I could maximize the pressure.
“You’re not too late yet. I’ll help you get started.”
“…”
“Everyone who knows your skills already knows about them. If you just reveal your identity to a guild, you’ll be able to start with plenty of support.”
“Mm.”
Jae-beom nodded.
If he leveraged his career as I suggested, he could receive support anywhere and grow rapidly.
‘It’s a good offer, though.’
It was true that I was grateful just for making such a proposal.
Moreover, since this was a good offer for Jae-beom and I had even arranged this fine restaurant, he felt inclined to accept.
But.
“I’ll have to pass.”
For Jae-beom, who had already begun Evern Online, and for Jae-beom, who had no intention of revealing his identity for the foreseeable future, it was a proposal he could not accept.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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