NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 172 - Lock Destroyer
Chapter 172 Lock Destroyer
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“And the next one is… this.”
Click.
A giant box, the size of a refrigerator, buried under a mountain of packages. The familiar word “Dark Zone” was written on it in its characteristic neat yet ruinous font. In short, it was an unboxing filled with promotional items.
I ripped off the tape stuck all over it. The box, covered in bubble wrap, shook several times as the rattling sound came from inside. The sound was so peculiar that I wondered if there was something like a maraca inside, and I quickly started to unwrap it.
The contents of the box were quite unexpected.
“I wondered what was rattling inside, and it turned out to be a lock….”
Wow, this is crazy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
It looks like a gun cabinet?????????????
It even has chains wrapped around itㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
This is madness, pure madness
Wow, the lock is really fancy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
It really looked like a gun cabinet.
And on top of it was a lone letter. The electronic lock seemed to require pressing a keypad to open, and it was thicker than expected. It didn’t seem like it could be opened by force.
I opened the letter to check.
[ISO: Nice to meet you, Yoo Jin. Congratulations on achieving 100% progress in hardcore mode. We’ve included some useful items in the ICARUS Gear Box to help you with the numerous operations you have ahead. Since it’s securely locked with a combination lock, there should be no risk of losing any items. The password is 2038.]
“2038, how considerate of them to tell me everything.”
Beep!
The electronic lock opened with a unique sound. It seemed to be of decent quality, so I put it away carefully. With a bit of effort, the cabinet opened with a clunk. The drone cam adjusted its position with a small noise, hovering in place.
Inside, there were several more boxes, each with one or two locks of various sizes attached. I didn’t quite understand the fondness for locks, but there was nothing I could do.
As the viewers made a fuss with exclamations of surprise, I took out the first box. It was surprisingly heavy. But without much effort, I placed it on top of the cabinet and checked the enclosed letter.
[ISO: Thanks to the efforts of excellent operators, we have taken a step closer to a normal society. However, people who have learned to fight find it difficult to adapt to the previous world. This is to help shorten that process. The password is 6371, so please check.]
Click.
The box, reminiscent of a small weapon case, opened. But contrary to what I expected, there were no gun parts inside—just items for everyday use.
The first thing that caught my eye was a knock-off ICARUS watch. As soon as I touched it, a circular light turned on. It looked exactly like my genuine one.
Thinking the viewers would be most curious about this item, I carefully took it out and turned it on. While I fiddled with it to test its performance, the floating cam broadcasted the scene clearly.
“…According to the enclosed manual, its performance is not much different from the latest smartwatches. It’s a product developed by ICARUS Corporation in collaboration with other companies, and it’s quite impressive.”
Oh
Wow, this is the only item I really want todayㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
It looks super expensive. If it has a premium, it might cost hundreds of thousands of won.
So, you’re going to wear it and send it to us, right? Right? ㅜㅑ
It’s hard to give this awayㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
If someone else gets this, I won’t be able to sleep out of envy.
When did they even make something like this?
Moreover, the internal software seemed to be adjusted to fit me. Usually, when you first buy a smartwatch, you have to enter your details, but this one didn’t. It outright said, ‘Welcome, Yoo Jin.’
So, it might be hard to give this to someone else…but having a legitimate reason to carry the genuine ICARUS Gear around later wasn’t bad. Hence, I didn’t say anything about giving this away.
The next thing I saw was a ring. It had my nickname engraved on it. When I put it on my ring finger, it fit perfectly. They must have calculated the size based on my avatar’s measurements.
Still, I probably won’t use it….
“I should give this away.”
Wow, she put it on her finger and then gave it awayㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ
I even thought of a name for my grandsonㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Ugh, Yoo Jin noona, please take my offer…!
Hah…huff…ugh…
Aren’t these guys afraid even with an axe in front of them???????
I, of course, ignored it lightly.
The next items I took out were a Zippo lighter and a poster. These were practically useless, so I decided to send them all in one box. I originally planned to send only those, but also included a handwritten letter.
I didn’t know why they wanted a handwritten letter so much, but they were happy when I said I’d write one, so it didn’t feel bad.
There were many other types of items inside. T-shirts, tumblers, dog tags. The T-shirt didn’t fit my size, and I already had a well-used tumbler, so I decided to pack these too.
And the dog tags….
Will you send the dog tags after wearing them once?
“Get out!”
Bang!
After activating the VR’s interview function, I kicked with all my might. As the avatar flew through the air and disappeared into the distance, they were banned from the chat room. It was a 15-minute ban.
The chat room was cursing the person who got kicked out as if they had never shown any inappropriate desires, but the chat logs were all saved. I banned a few more as examples and then froze the chat room, adding,
“That’s it. I’m going to unlock the chat now, but anyone who mentions what just happened will also get a 15-minute ban. Keep that in mind.”
Huh? What happened?
Sir, I went to get water and know nothing~~~
I have been blind for three days and have seen nor heard nothing!!!!!
Hah…hah…(dead）
I knew it ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
I felt much better.
Now for the second box. Judging by the sound, there didn’t seem to be any metal items inside like before. The rustling sound suggested it might contain paper or clothes.
This time, there were two locks, so I looked for and opened the letter again. The passwords were 2642 and 8056, respectively.
But,
───Click, click!
“…Why isn’t this opening?”
Did you press the wrong numbers?
Try again ㄱ
Oh, don’t worry ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ If it doesn’t open, just open it by force.
Yoo Jin, ranked first among streamers who aren’t worried even with a lock on ㅋㅋ
Just use the lockpick in your hand to open it.
I entered the passwords correctly.
Even moving the drone cam to show the exact passwords being entered, but it was the same. I thought I might have mixed up the passwords for the two locks, so I tried the opposite, but it still didn’t work.
Either the lock was broken, or the password had been reset—one of the two. But the problem was that this lock couldn’t be opened by ICARUS Gear. It was an analog lock. The kind you had to turn with your fingers to open.
The lock was thicker than expected. If I tried to force it open, either the lock or the box would break.
Hmm.
I just had to open it somehow.
“…Phew.”
I identified the striking point.
The axe in my hand felt unusually light.
Activating the ICARUS Gear’s noise-cancelling feature, I got into position.
Oh, Yoo Jin, that’s dangerous—
───Whoosh!
At that moment, the axe blade cut through the air.
The matte tomahawk, drawing a beautiful curved trajectory, struck the U-shaped lock shackle coated in silver. With a loud noise, fragments scattered in all directions.
As everything passed in slow motion, the second strike of the axe followed. The lock was shattered to pieces in no time. The fact that the box remained intact thanks to my precision was almost humorous.
While everyone was left speechless, the lock was reduced to a dozen crushed pieces in less than five seconds. Grabbing it and twisting it, I heard a crunch as it fell to the floor.
The second lock met the same fate in the next five seconds.
A belated donation came through.
<(ICARUS) MIZU donated 10,000 won to the project>.
Yoo Jin streamer, both passwords are 2038! We sent the wrong ones!!
“…It would’ve been nice if you had told me a bit sooner. Too bad. Anyway, since it’s open, let’s go ahead with the unboxing.”
Who smashed through both locks before even talking?
The ICARUS staff could only be dumbfounded.
[MKVS: Idiots, I’m here // in VK］
[MKVS: tricky.tv/Yoo Jin // in VK］
[MKVS: This person also streams
individually // in VK］
[Звезда: ???? // in VK］
[Звезда: If it’s Yoo Jin, that’s the person. High alert. Didn’t know they also streamed? // in VK］
[MKVS: I don’t understand how you didn’t know this person streams at this point // in VK］
[MKVS: Anyway, I thought they’d be gaming, but they’re doing something crazier than I thought // in VK］
[Звезда: What the hell are they doing? // in VK］
[Спутник: I’m watching this too, and I’m losing my mind // in VK］
[Спутник: Even without vodka, I didn’t think there’d be someone crazier than Strela in the world // in VK］
[Стрелка: Damn it, what did I do! // in VK］
[Спутник: Did you forget posting naked pictures of your female avatar here when drunk? // in VK］
[Стрелка: Damn. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. // in VK］
“Crazy bastards.”
The night in Russia was bright.
Not because of the midnight sun or anything like that, but because of the tall buildings rebuilt after the collapse of the Soviet Union due to the arms race, Chernobyl, and multiple earthquakes.
With the blinds drawn, the blanket covering me, the air conditioner on, and only my head sticking out to enjoy the cold and warmth simultaneously, I looked at the chat app on my phone—VK. The harmony of the soft pillow and blanket was fantastic.
This is СЕКС.
Whether in Korea or Russia, people felt happiness in similar ways.
“Streaming, huh.”
I usually don’t watch other people’s streams. Sometimes, I watch my fellow pro gamers’ streams to learn something, but I don’t pay attention to foreign streamers. At least, I wouldn’t normally.
But today was different.
It’s that Yoo Jin. The private stream of a user who shocked the team as soon as their gameplay was revealed. Known for being excellent at AP, yet no other information was known about them, making curiosity double automatically.
Just in case, I added,
[Звезда: Is this person interesting? // in VK］
[MKVS: No joke, they’re really crazy // in VK］
[Спутник: I guarantee you, watch for five minutes. You’ll subscribe immediately // in VK］
What could be so interesting that these guys were making such a fuss?
Unable to help it, I raised my finger and clicked the link. It had been a long time since I’d been on Tricky. Logging in was naturally a struggle. It took quite a while.
After logging in, the link reset, so instead of clicking the link again, I tried to search—but there was no need. Just scrolling down a bit showed the list of the most popular streamers worldwide.
Streamer Yoo Jin’s current viewers: 68,674. An enormous number. But looking at the viewer trend, it was clear that today was especially high. On average, it seemed to be around 20,000. That was still impressive.
I’d never seen this many viewers even when fellow pro gamers streamed.
“Content…unboxing?”
What were they unboxing?
With that curiosity, I became viewer number 68,675.
And what I saw was:
───Bang!
“Сука!”
Sparks flying.
Fragments scattering.
She smashed what looked like a lock with an axe as if possessed and spoke calmly. It took me longer to calm my startled heart.
One down, moving on to the next.
Simultaneously, an unconscious comment spilled from my mouth in disbelief.
“…More Russian than a Russian, this person is completely crazy.”
It seemed that the title of ‘stupid but macho’ commonly given to Russians should be passed on to this person.
It was an ordinary day.
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