Terrestrial Savior Archetype - T.S.A Chapter 8 (part 1): Early Departure (2)

Current time: 8:32 AM.

The area around Gasan Digital Complex was eerily deserted, like a ghost town. Abandoned vehicles with knocked-down trees here and there were visible, but not a single driver remained inside them. Even the roads that should have been filled with commuters were sparsely populated. Occasionally, one could spot someone rushing by at irregular intervals.

“……”

Jeong-woo remained cautious of the cleaner who might appear at any moment but also kept an eye on the “chat window” in the bottom left corner of his field of vision. It was a translucent rectangle, and the number of participants was not displayed.

No one seemed to be talking, and not a single line of text had appeared so far. However, he hesitated to speak first because he had no idea how the usernames were displayed. If it showed their current location, for instance, chatting first might make him vulnerable to attacks from someone who had seen the chat. After all, this was a competition where having a high quantity of Essence mattered, which meant one had to eliminate many people or beings to close a gate.

Indeed, this was a competition of good intentions. Closing the gate was not a bad thing since it meant fewer threats.

‘However… in this competition, the amount of Essence one possesses is crucial. If I want to close a gate myself, it means I’ll have to kill a lot of people or beings.’

In other words, a truly righteous person couldn’t become a top-ranking Savior. There is, however, a simple solution to this problem: give up on the ranking competition. In other words, let the other Saviors close the gates on their own.

‘Should I give up…? If I can gather enough Essence to survive and find a safe place to hide quietly…’

Then, cunningly, a message appeared at the top of his field of vision.

“|Park Jeong-woo’s rank in the region is ‘2’.”

Second place in the country, and that too among the “Saviors” who are tasked with saving the Earth and humanity. While he didn’t think he could maintain this rank indefinitely, he only needed to stay in the top 5 to have access to that power.

Moreover, giving up on the Savior competition didn’t guarantee safety. On the contrary, being a Savior might be the safest position in this world since they had the ability to directly eliminate the source of threats – the gates.

‘It’s just like an online game, isn’t it? The ones who strike first usually hold the upper hand there.’

As Jeong-woo was contemplating these thoughts, the chat window trembled as a whole.

“……!”

It was an alert indicating a new participant had joined.

|[3] Unknown: Hello. Can everyone see this?

“……”

Jeong-woo couldn’t help but chuckle at the unexpected turn of events. Not only were there nicknames in the Savior chat, but the first message that appeared was a simple “Hello.” Honestly, all of this still felt like a dream, or rather, he wished it were just a dream. He had never imagined that the world would collapse in such detail.

With a slightly determined heart, he typed a message into the chat, wondering if this worked just by thinking.

‘This structure seems to accept thought input.’

Then another small notification appeared.

|Please choose a nickname to use on Channel I. Already used nicknames are not allowed.

What should he use? Earth?

|The word “Earth” is prohibited as a nickname.

Space?

|The word “Space” is prohibited as a nickname.

He had to come up with a nickname that matched the setting. Jeong-woo looked around and noticed that both he and Team Leader Jo’s car were slowly moving through the middle of the road. The traffic jam had already begun, and the roads were filled with cars heading home.

“What are you looking at so intently?”

Team Leader Jo held the steering wheel and glanced at Jeong-woo through the rearview mirror.

“I have a lot on my mind. I’m sorry; I should be driving.”

“It’s my car. Don’t worry about it… Didn’t I owe you a favor in the parking lot?”

Still awkward, Team Leader Jo was making an effort to appear amiable.

Jeong-woo smiled and focused on the chat again. He decided on a nickname and typed it in.

“Human.”

Surprisingly, it was accepted.

|Are you sure? Nickname changes will not be allowed after this.

……

|Your nickname has been confirmed.

Now, all that was left was to send the first line in the chat. Jeong-woo entered the message with a pounding heart.

[2] Human: Hello.

Almost immediately, he received a response.

[3] Unknown: Wow… I didn’t know such a nickname was possible. It suits someone in second place, claiming their territory.

Jeong-woo felt a little puzzled and burst into laughter. As expected, the reply was unexpected, and this whole situation still felt surreal.

[2] Human: Excuse me, may I ask where you are right now? Just roughly, like at home, at the office, etc…

He asked out of sheer curiosity, but the following answer startled him.

[3] Unknown: I’m on the road. The traffic is terrible.

“……!”

Reflexively, Jeong-woo glanced around. The answer was eerie; it meant that there were only one or two roads in the entire country. Yet, someone had managed to provide such a specific location. In the midst of this, Unknown was sending messages to the person in first place.

[3] Unknown: First place, you’re silent. Are you busy?

[3] Unknown: First place? Are you there?

As expected, there was no response from the person in “First place”. He seemed too busy or unwilling to participate in this chat. Instead, new participant alerts started flooding in.

|Participant #4 has joined the channel.

And this continued in rapid succession, with participants flooding in every 3 to 4 seconds.

This constant influx made it clear that many people had died. While Jeong-woo hadn’t killed anyone directly, he achieved his second place by virtue of the cleaner eliminating dozens of people.

|Participant #50 has joined the channel.

Finally, the fiftieth participant arrived, and that’s when Jeong-woo noticed something crucial.

|Channel 2 has been opened.

After this message, there were no more new participant alerts in the chat window. It seemed evident that participants from the fifty-first onward were being directed to Channel 2.

“Could it be… if I drop to fifty-first place, I won’t be able to remain in this chatroom? Or is it merely a matter of rank-based seating?”

Jeong-woo pondered the question, and just then, the evaluation officer provided some advice.

-If your rank changes, your seating in the channel will also change.

‘My goodness.’

Now, Jung-woo finally seemed to understand how this competition system worked.

If he wanted to live longer, he had to maintain at least a rank of 50, no matter how hard it was.

This initial channel wasn’t just a simple chat room for saviors.

It was the only way to communicate with those ranked within the top 5.

Why was communication with them so important?

There was only one reason: they were the ones who could close off the gates.

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