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D.I.O - Chapter 208

Published at 18th of March 2023 06:47:38 AM


Chapter 208

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‘It’s just a minimal line of defense, but still…’

Since his available internal energy capacity was severely limited, Yongno wouldn’t be able to withstand a large-caliber sniper rifle bullet if it hit a sensitive place, like his temple; otherwise, his basic internal energy barrier could probably withstand any lesser attack. In the worst case, he’d be able to maintain a physical condition enough to manifest.

‘The problem is how the manifestation is done.’

If his in-game avatar’s power was directly given to his real-life body, it was possible to recover from even the slightest injury. On the other hand, if the manifestation only brought the appearance of his in-game avatar for an hour before returning Yongno to his original physical state, he wouldn’t be able to recover from any injury.

‘I’ll have to try an experiment sometime and collect some information.’

Yongno followed the NIS employee’s guidance and got into a black sedan. The car left immediately and moved to a safe house in Namsan, a southern region of Seoul.

“I’ll have to cover your eyes for a moment.”

Search tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w for the original.

“You really are pushing your luck. You initially told me that I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Seeing Yongno smile while speaking, the NIS employee nervously laughed.

“The place you’re entering is confidential. These precautions aren’t meant to harm you or allude to any wrongdoing.”

It was obvious that the NIS employee was lying. They were heading to a remodeled underground bunker surrounded by numerous troops. The government, aware of the fact that the US was recruiting Korean Masters, hastily decided to bring in all the Korean Masters.

“This is your lodging accommodations. The Minister is currently busy with another schedule, so please wait here for a moment.”

“Oho. So, are you telling me you’re going to keep me here for a while?”

“The government is currently in a state of chaos due to the substantial loss of life from the recent alien attack. Please wait a moment.”

Yongno nodded his head in a polite manner as if he understood. Soon, the man slightly lowered his head and left the room.

‘If they’re going to keep me waiting because they’re busy, couldn’t they have just brought me in later? They’re sure easy to read.’

Of course, the NIS’s actions were to prevent the Masters from being coaxed over to the US’s side. Since the conditions, responsibilities, and generally what to do with the Masters had yet to be finalized, the Korean government’s higher-ups were blindly rounding up the Masters, setting them aside, and buying some time.

“My cell phone… doesn’t have any signal. Of course. Based on how things are going, they probably won’t even let me access and play DIO.”

This was something Yongno couldn’t let happen. Of course, if someone else knew what he was thinking, they might say something along the lines of, ‘Will you die if you can’t play a game?’, but the reality was that 12 hours in real life was 6 days in DIO, so even if Yongno missed just one day, the loss was substantial. Not to mention, Yongno had a pile of research that he needed to get to in DIO.

“I’ll wait twelve hours. In the meantime, I need to get ready.”

Yongno went into his personal lodging area and took out the jewels he had put in his pocket. The jewels were filled with mana, which was generated in Pathway to Hell.

‘I’ll make a spiritual pathway system!’

Though he was given the option to utilize manifestation, Yongno couldn’t maintain manifestation 24 hours a day, so there were bound to be swaths of time where he’d be open and vulnerable. Once he manifested as a Master in real-life, he’d become a superhero who couldn’t be defeated by any modern weapon, but once his manifestation was released, he could be killed by an ordinary rifle, so Yongno was determined to narrow that gap.

‘Come to think of it, if they can’t control me, they might mess with my family… well, let’s take care of my situation first. It’s not like my father is going to come and rescue me.’

Gulp.

Yongno, who swallowed the jewels he had brought with him, sat cross legged on the bed. Soon, his body was full of mana and his consciousness began to sink deep into his mind.

*** Personal & Group ***

The alien’s attacks, which everyone thought had ended after one wave, were consistently being carried out. In South Korea, the Legion and Grotesque appeared and attacked about twice a week, and globally, there were dozens of attacks occurring every day. The loss of life had reached such a tremendous figure that it was meaningless to quantify it, and the world was busy coming up with theories and controversies over the existence of these alien attacks and their relations to DIO.

And in such a situation, the Korean government’s move was so novel and bewildering that even other countries felt befuddled.

“They’re asking Noblesse for reparations?”

Yongno, who came out of his lodging accommodation to eat, met Hanma, a Master who had been rounded up as well. While chatting with Hanma, Yongno couldn’t help but frown. Yongno had assumed various scenarios playing out, but the Korean government’s chosen action was something that even he had never imagined.

“Right. The government, the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Gender Equality, and other government departments are accusing the Noblesse of being partially responsible for the alien’s attack. In addition, the media outlets are shaping and misleading public opinion by showing images of people who have suffered damage from alien attacks and users who have been judged insane after playing DIO. Well, anyway, the bottom line is that the government is demanding that the Noblesse pay reparations for damages.”

“What idiots… no, at this point, it’s probably more appropriate to say that they’ve gone insane. The situation has come to this dire point, and yet, they’re still acting like children.”

“Originally, politicians in this country have blinders on when money is involved.”

Hanma picked up a few meatballs that were spread across the table and ate them.

“Whether it makes sense or not, the important thing is the scale. They’re demanding 1% of the income Noblesse make.”

It was difficult for the public to know the exact amount because the government had requested a percentage rather than a specific currency amount. If one vaguely stated 1%, at first glance, one might think, ‘That isn’t asking for much, right?’

“But that 1% is 4 trillion won.”

“Phew. That figure is large enough for anyone to throw away their pride and face. Moreover, I’m sure that 1% figure and currency amount only refer to the money the Noblesse earn in Korea.”

The Noblesse provided its virtual reality service, DIO, at an unbelievably low price, but it was still making an astronomical amount of money.

DIO, which boasted 4 billion subscribers worldwide, an unprecedented number, was essentially free to play; however, in-game, gold was required to buy buildings or use various services.

Of course, gold could be obtained through hunting, but DIO was a game that constantly collected gold through the Exchange Center, so there wasn’t much gold available and cash-flowing in the market. In the end, users used real-life cash to obtain in-game gold.

In addition, the amount of people spending gold to buy a building and advertise in DIO or to run an office or store was enormous, and even though most transactions were microtransactions, a fee was tagged on when exchanging real world money for in-game gold, so the Noblesse instantly transformed into the foremost multinational company in the world.

“In other words, making too much money is the main problem.”

“Right, and on top of that, the Noblesse have no intention of paying off people through bribes. They, who look down upon humans, aren’t willing to please humans, no?”

Because of this exact scenario, the Korean government was pressuring Noblesse by creating public opinion and stirring up public fervor over DIO’s harmfulness. However, the question was whether this approach would work on the Noblesse, as it had for many other companies.

“They’re trying to tame a company… unless one was brainless and blind, one can’t help but notice that the Noblesse are the ones who are taming humans.”

There were several other people in the cafeteria besides Yongno and Hanma, who were muttering in disbelief regarding current events. The number of Masters in Korea was twelve. However, as one of them, Scorpion, had died, the number became eleven. Moreover, one person died during the recent alien attack, ultimately making the final Korean Master count ten individuals.

“But how come I only see five?”

“Arthur has already signed a contract to cooperate. And the other four were said to have already gone abroad, so the government has found it difficult to locate them.”

The four others that weren’t present were Eunhye, who was Arc in DIO but whose face was yet to be identified because her in-game figure and face was covered in armor, those who had already accepted the terms of negotiations with the United States, and those who applied for asylum in other foreign countries. In any case, since these individuals didn’t commit any crime, the Korean government found it difficult to track or stop them.

“Well, that’s why they kidnapped us like this. Don’t the higher-ups know that their actions are illegal?”

When Hanma annoyingly grumbled, Ohje, who had been listening intently without eating, spoke up in a thin, low voice while glancing at the NIS agents around them.

“It’s not even funny. Scorpion’s funeral wasn’t properly finished when they dragged me in here. I thought I had committed some sort of murder or capital crime.”

Hanma and Ohje, as well as the other gathered Masters, did not seem to have good feelings about being forcibly taken and rounded up. However, Yongno realized that none of them resisted.

“You don’t have enough gem points to manifest?”

“I don’t. It’s not like I was told beforehand that I needed to carry around 10,000 gem points. I’ve always been lacking gold and experience points, so gathering gem points was the least of my priorities.”

Ohje groaned before leaning back in his chair. Ohje was 192 cm tall and had a solid body, but if he couldn’t manifest, he was just another normal human being. He could be killed with a single pistol shot, so it was virtually impossible and unthinkable to break through the perimeter set up by the special NIS agents.

‘Well, unless they have a death wish, it doesn’t seem like those agents will be attacking us anytime soon.’

Muttering this under his breath, Yongno looked back at Dongsoo.

“Mr. Lancelot, do you have enough gem points?”

“Unfortunately, no. I haven’t been participating in many missions.”

Dongsoo was also brought in after being essentially dragged away from his home. Lea, who possessed enough gem points, wanted to step in and protect Dongsoo from being taken away, but eventually, Dongsoo was able to convince Lea not to interfere or resort to violence. Although Dongsoo didn’t know what was exactly going on, he thought it was a bad choice to confront the government.

Ting!

While talking, Yongno smiled after feeling the energy inside his body. It was a sign his spiritual pathways were growing. Once he succeeded in laying the spiritual pathway system in his body, Yongno wouldn’t need to go through an arduous and complicated process to utilize magic power or perform martial arts. Although he’d still be lacking in mana capacity, it would still be possible to use any of his abilities with no delay.

“The Minister has arrived. Masters, please stand up.”

Then, with the words of an NIS agent, a door opened. It was a solemn atmosphere, but a new Master, who had recently reached Level 10, momentarily hesitated before standing up. Yongno, Hanma, Dongsoo, and Ohje did not move from their seats.

“Please stand up.”

One of the burly men in a suit approached and verbally pressed the four with a gruff voice. The atmosphere the burly man exuded would frighten anyone with a weak spirit, but the four Masters were beings who lived on the battlefield, where blood splattered every day.

“I’m sorry… but why? Am I a soldier? Am I a civil servant? Who are you to force me?”

“The fact that kidnappers expect courtesy from their hostages means that you’ll eventually subdue us by force, if necessary, right?”

Since Hanma and Yongno did not approve of how they were being treated, they came out aggressively against the NIS agent. Dongsoo didn’t say anything, but he still had an unhappy expression.

“Hahaha. You guys must be angry. I apologize for employing such a coercive method. But don’t you all understand that the current situation is urgent? It is wartime after all.”

A middle-aged man with an entourage spoke aloud as he entered the cafeteria. The man was fat and wore a business suit.

“Who are you?”

The fat man sat at the topmost seat of the table and answered Yongno’s question.

“I’m the Minister of Defense. I am here on behalf of His Excellency the President.”

Defense Minister Oh Hyeon-Jo drank a cup of tea that was placed on the table by an attendant. He had a relaxed attitude despite the not-so-welcoming response from the four Masters.

“The country is currently in a state of emergency due to the attacks initiated by the extraterrestrial beings. Military units have been stationed near the capital city, and police forces have been armed with rifles. However, we need your strength, as our efforts won’t be able to stop the alien forces, as they’ll only delay the inevitable.”




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