The Chicken Legend's Game Becomes Reality - Chapter 46
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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 46
I finally understood the source of that mysterious pain and heaviness I’d felt while playing the Game.
It seemed that while I was immersed in the Game, the Villa I’d moved into today—or rather, the entire Villa—had been caught up in a Gate.
Gulp.
‘No wonder the pain stats were so high and the realism was off the charts.’
Those screams I’d heard echoing strangely in layers might not have been from NPCs at all—they could have been real people screaming.
The fact that I’d survived this long without dying was nothing short of a miracle.
The monster, which had been smacking its jaws like it was savoring a mouthful the size of an excavator, suddenly opened its mouth wide and lunged at me in an instant.
I stumbled backward and immediately summoned the Coin Market window, opening it.
“Coin Market!”
My hands moved instinctively, driven by the thought that even a moment’s delay meant death.
Short-Range Spatial Transfer (100C)
Crash—bang!
The moment the Centipede-type Monster’s head burst through the ceiling and into the room, my vision shifted and I saw the ground.
Thud.
Landing somewhat off-balance on the ground, I dragged my stumbling legs and pressed my back firmly against the Villa’s wall.
‘Damn, that was close.’
My entire body was drenched in sweat, and my heart pounded wildly.
Screech? Screeeech—
The monster, raising its head again, searched for me, wondering where I’d gone.
Holding my breath as I looked around inside the Gate, I spotted a place to hide among the magic stones embedded throughout the Gate, each one glowing with light.
I kept the Coin Market window close and moved immediately.
Moving cautiously, I searched the search bar for short-term flight to prepare for falls, or a few items I could use in emergencies, and added them to my favorites.
Having barely escaped the crisis of death, I suddenly found myself worried about money.
‘Damn. My deposit.’
I’d moved in today, and now the Villa had suddenly been caught up in a Gate—I couldn’t believe something like this could actually happen.
I searched for my phone to use as a flashlight, but it wasn’t in my pocket.
I hadn’t been able to grab it while fleeing.
‘But how was I able to play an online game inside the Gate? It’s strange that the internet didn’t cut off. Could the phone signal work too?’
Usually, neither signal nor internet works inside a Gate, but given that I’d been playing the Game until the very end, I had to wonder.
Anyway, I needed to find a place to hide inside the Gate.
The survival rate of a civilian caught in a Gate depended entirely on whether they could hold out until the Hunters arrived.
“I-is anyone… outside…?”
I stopped mid-crawl.
“Is anyone out there? Please… please save us.”
It was a voice mixed with sobs.
The Villa First Floor, which had been pulled into the Gate, was half-crushed, and looking closer, I could see what appeared to be two sisters trapped behind warped iron bars.
It seemed they couldn’t escape because of the security bars that had been installed.
‘Why would they try to escape from a safe place? Wouldn’t it be better to just wait for the Hunters to arrive?’
As if answering my thoughts, the woman behind the bars spoke urgently in a trembling voice.
“The building is tilting more and more. Everyone else evacuated, but we can’t get out because of the security bars. If we can’t escape right now, we’ll be crushed to death. Please get us out of here. Please!”
“…Stop, Older Sister. How is a person supposed to tear through metal bars? Don’t waste time—run before the monster arrives.”
“Don’t go. Don’t go.”
“If Hunters enter the Gate, please tell them we’re here. I’m begging you.”
Unlike the Older Sister who was losing her composure, the Younger Sister remained remarkably rational.
The Older Sister wept, her voice breaking.
“….”
I hesitated for a moment, then glanced toward the direction where the Giant Centipede Monster had been.
Screeeech—
The building had been trembling weakly ever since, as if the creature was tearing through my room searching for me.
“Hic! Sob. Hic—”
The woman standing directly in front of the white security bars, her face drained of all color, covered her mouth and wept silently.
The building was genuinely tilting bit by bit under the weight of that centipede abomination.
‘What do I do?’
If I touched those bars here, it would definitely make a loud noise and attract the attention of that grotesque oversized centipede.
Unlike these two with their healthy legs, my injured leg meant I couldn’t run fast if the centipede started chasing me.
Did I really need to put myself in danger just to save them?
‘…No, this won’t work. Let me save myself first. Surely it won’t actually collapse—’
Rumble.
In that instant, a scene that looked like it belonged in an earthquake disaster unfolded vividly before my eyes.
The entire villa tilted, and my mind went blank.
My body moved first.
Strength Enhancement Level 3 (900C)
I activated the item and gripped the white security bars with all my might, pulling hard. The bars ripped free from the wall along with chunks of broken brick.
“?!”
The Older Sister who had been crying in front of the bars widened her eyes and sprang out as if launched.
The Younger Sister behind her dropped her jaw.
“That’s… impossible!”
“Hurry!”
I shouted urgently.
The Younger Sister, who had been huddled under a blanket, tried to get out on her own but was grabbed by my arm and dragged out like a sack of rice.
The three of us began running, fleeing from the collapsing villa.
Crash! Boom! Crackle—
Screeeech?!
As I ran with an awkward gait and glanced back, the house-sized centipede was trapped under part of the collapsed villa, writhing and thrashing.
It soon spotted us and turned its eyes in our direction, struggling desperately.
Screeeech—!!
‘Damn.’
We’d been spotted after all.
The moment the security bars were torn free, the Older Sister, who had already sprinted far ahead in desperation, cried out loudly.
“Here it is!”
Ahead, there was a cave just large enough for a person to slip through.
The problem was my legs.
No matter how much easier movement had become with Enhanced Strength, my damned crippled legs inevitably betrayed me.
Crash!
I was practically dragging myself as I ran desperately, but I couldn’t avoid a jagged stone on the ground and tumbled forward.
The two women ahead stopped and turned to look at me.
They hesitated for a moment, but then they saw something behind me and their faces went pale. They bolted frantically into the cave ahead without another thought.
They went deep inside and never showed their faces again.
An intense sense of déjà vu washed over me.
“….”
No matter how I looked at it, this was simply an inevitable outcome.
My legs weren’t normal, after all.
I had fully anticipated this would happen, which is why I’d planned to abandon those two and escape alone.
It was my fault for failing to overcome that momentary instinct to save them.
‘Damn it.’
My stomach churned.
The dark emotions I’d suppressed for five years crept upward, burning through my organs like acid.
An accident that happened during my College Student days when the entire Physical Education department went on a retreat.
Back then, just like now, I frantically evacuated people in the midst of crisis, saving many lives—but I couldn’t save myself.
I lost my future to pointless heroism, and regret consumed me.
I couldn’t return to school.
I didn’t want to see people.
Seeing those I’d saved would make me resent them to death, and I feared being abandoned by them just as I’d been abandoned by my parents after losing my healthy legs.
I curled up in an Underground Single Room and hid like a dead rat.
There, I regretted. Again and again.
After spending those hellish years, and now repeating the same mistake here.
I mocked myself, then stopped.
‘…Wait, why is that a mistake?’
Sssssss—
The ground trembled as it drew near.
I turned my head to see a Giant Centipede Monster the size of a house looming above me, drool dripping from its maw.
I pushed myself up.
The creature, its massive jaws clicking and snapping in anticipation, lunged at me in an instant.
Solid Fist 15 seconds (300C)
Boom—!
I met its snout head-on, dodged with precision, and drove my fist hard into its face.
Kyieeeek?!
The creature reared its head back.
I felt the chitinous shell crack under my knuckles.
‘So this is Strength Level 3.’
With Strength Level 3 combined with my hardened fists, I might actually be able to pierce through the Centipede-type Monster’s tough carapace.
I threw myself at the Centipede-type Monster with fire in my eyes.
As it thrashed about, I nearly flew off, but the muscles granted by Strength Level 3 kept my body perfectly anchored to the monster’s form.
Then I unleashed a relentless barrage of punches at the creature.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crunch! Crunch!
Shrieeeeek—!!
The monster’s piercing shriek echoed throughout the entire Cave.
At some point, each punch began producing the sound of chitinous shell tearing, and my hands grew slick with fluid.
‘Die! Die! Die! Die!’
As the monster convulsed, my back occasionally scraped against the ground and my body collided with stone, but I felt no pain—only an electric rush of exhilaration and complete absorption that consumed me.
There was no longer any abyss I could fall into from a few injuries.
That realization was strangely intoxicating.
“Kekek. Kekekek.”
An unsettling laugh kept spilling from my lips, even by my own ears.
Crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch!
When I finally came to my senses amid the electrifying catharsis, the Centipede-type Monster’s head had been reduced to pulp, hanging limp.
“Huff, huff….”
It had been dead for a while now.
The effect of the hardened fists item had worn off during the fight, leaving my knuckles scraped, bleeding, and utterly shredded.
Both hands were covered in a foul-smelling viscous fluid, but instead of revulsion, I felt relief.
“Ha! Haha.”
As always, there was nothing quite like the cathartic release of mercilessly beating a corpse after winning a one-on-one duel.
My body ached in various places, but this was nothing.
‘The centipede wasn’t that strong after all. The Gate’s rank must not be very high.’
Just as I was about to get up.
“?”
The cross-section of the pulped centipede’s head caught my eye.
‘What is that?’
I thought it was black smoke.
Looking closer, where there should have been only blood and tissue, digital noise crackled like a shattered monitor screen, flowing outward.
‘A mark?’
A brand, as if burned by fire.
Etched into the thick carapace of the mangled dead centipede was something—whether a new barcode or geometric pattern, I couldn’t tell.
‘Am I seeing things? The mark is one thing, but what’s with the pixelated smoke?’
Something strange, as if the biological and the system were intertwined….
Crackle-crackle.
‘Ugh.’
I grimaced but boldly plunged my hand into the centipede’s corpse.
There was something there.
A solid object that emitted black pixels came loose in my grasp.
The moment I pulled it out.
Crackle.
“?”
[【Artifact…damage… fragment…】
Unknown… type… contamination… shard… current… function…]
Snap.
Something flashed and vanished in an instant.
“…What was that?”
I could have sworn I glimpsed Korean characters, but with my head bowed, I’d barely caught any of the content.
A black fragment.
Tap tap.
“?”
Touching it produced no particular reaction.
‘Looks like junk to me. Maybe a monster’s mana stone shard or something like that?’
I shoved it carelessly into my pocket and placed my hand on the Coin Market.
Fatigue vanished entirely (50C)
Minor wounds sealed shut in moments, and my mind cleared.
“Phew.”
I rose to my feet, feeling reinvigorated.
‘I saved those people because I wanted to save them—how is that my fault? I brought two people back alive. Why am I blaming myself for that?’
I have the Coin Market.
Just as it had been before, I would never again be helpless in the face of disaster.
‘I just need to grow stronger.’
I wiped away the slime and walked toward the Cave as steadily as I could manage.
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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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