Chapter 1 – Summoning (1)

Another team had been completely wiped out.

Due to continuous casualties, the dimensions were becoming increasingly contaminated. They continued to recruit new combat personnel, but it was far from enough to stem the growing contamination.

They decided to look for a different approach.

[A-rank team eliminated. Starting from the next new team, we will add a different type of combatant.]

The monotonous voice echoed in the ears of those who were already dead.

***

“A fairy?”

Sun-woo looked at the woman before him with a dazed mind. She was a beautiful woman dressed in elegant traditional Chinese clothing.

Unfortunately, the woman was not smiling. She was looking around with a serious expression.

While Sun-woo was staring at her face with a blank expression, it happened.

“Where is this place?”

“Who are you people?”

“Stand back!”

Sharp voices erupted from all directions. Around Sun-woo, there were other people besides her.

Next to the woman Sun-woo had thought was a fairy stood a man wearing gleaming plate armor. The man looked like a medieval knight.

On the opposite side of the knight was a black man who looked like a heavyweight fighter, wearing khaki military uniform and scowling.

Finally, some distance away from them, a Slavic-looking teenage boy in a crisp uniform was coldly observing the other people with a stern expression.

This place where completely mismatched people had gathered was a half-collapsed old shrine. However, it was different from the shrines he had seen in Korea. It looked like an ancient Chinese shrine.

Sun-woo couldn’t understand the current situation. Yesterday, he had finished work and fallen asleep in his studio apartment. But when he woke up, he found himself in a strange place with strange people.

Sun-woo was very curious about the current situation, but he didn’t need to ask questions of other people.

“Does anyone know what’s going on here?”

“I was definitely sleeping in the military barracks!”

The other people there were in the same situation as Sun-woo.

“Were we kidnapped or something?”

But for everyone to have been kidnapped, there wasn’t a single person who looked ordinary. Unless they had been kidnapped from a cosplay event or movie set, it was an incomprehensible composition.

Moreover, no matter how he looked, there wasn’t a single Korean person. The woman in traditional clothing also appeared to be Chinese, and the other men were either white or black.

“Huh? I’m sure what they just said wasn’t Korean…”

He could at least recognize that the black man and woman had spoken in English and Chinese, but the words of the other people were not only from unknown countries but languages he had never heard in his life.

Sun-woo was dumbfounded. He had understood every word of languages he had never heard before.

Now the other people seemed to have the same thoughts as Sun-woo. People closed their mouths and gradually stepped back.

As everyone was looking at each other with tense faces, a voice sounded in their heads.

[This is your first mission. Level 1 contamination has occurred 100 meters north of the summoning point. Please eliminate the contamination source quickly. Additional information will be provided once you eliminate the contaminated creature that is now approaching. The method for summoning your unique weapons is being transmitted now.]

As the voice ended, strange knowledge entered people’s minds.

It was about personal weapons that had been set for them and the method to summon those weapons.

Although they didn’t know what principle it worked on, they could immediately understand how to summon them.

“Five Star Sword!”

“Claymore!”

“M16!”

The people who had gained the knowledge looked at their hands and muttered softly, and weapons appeared from their hands along with light.

A sleek straight sword appeared in the hand of the woman who had called out “Five Star Sword,” an enormously large greatsword appeared in the hand of the man in plate armor, and an M16 rifle popped out in the black man’s hand.

The items they had summoned were weapons they had possessed before coming to this place.

The people who were examining their weapons with amazed expressions turned to look at Sun-woo and the boy in uniform. The two had not summoned weapons.

Under people’s gazes, the boy raised both hands.

“I don’t need a separate weapon.”

At the boy’s words, people looked at Sun-woo. Unlike the boy, Sun-woo had been assigned a weapon. He muttered softly with an embarrassed expression.

“Smartphone.”

A state-of-the-art smartphone appeared in Sun-woo’s hand, and at the same time, explosive laughter burst from the black man’s mouth.

“Hahahaha, this is a masterpiece! A masterpiece.”

The other people looked bewildered at the black man’s words.

“What kind of weapon is it that you’re laughing?”

“It’s a cell phone. A cell phone.”

“What does a cell phone do?”

The woman couldn’t understand the black man’s words. The other people had the same expression as the woman, and the black man’s expression soon hardened.

But there was no time to resolve the mismatched conversation. The woman raised her hand in warning.

“Someone is approaching. It’s an enemy. Full of killing intent.”

At her words, people’s eyes turned sharp.

“Which direction?”

At the sharp black man’s words, the woman pointed her finger toward the inner altar.

Everyone raised their weapons toward the altar. Even the uniformed boy slightly raised both hands and took a stance. Only Sun-woo was bewildered by the sudden change in situation.

At that moment, something eerie brushed past Sun-woo. At the same time, the white man with the greatsword shouted.

“It’s coming!”

Crash!

The mural of a bold-looking figure behind the altar burst out along with the wall. At the same time, a bipedal beast over 2 meters tall leaped into the room from behind the wall. The beast looked like a gorilla with blackened fur.

Bang!

At the same time, a gunshot rang out and blood spurted from the beast’s chest. However, the black gorilla didn’t stop and charged at the group.

“Damn, it’s not human?”

The black man quickly stepped back while grumbling. While he was switching his gun to automatic fire, two men and women were already rushing at the beast.

It was the woman with the straight sword and the man with the huge greatsword.

The man blocked the beast’s path, raised his greatsword in front of him, and lowered his stance. The gorilla charged toward the man who had taken his stance.

Boom!

When the two collided, an explosive sound echoed through the shrine.

The man gritted his teeth and held his ground. He was the top defensive warrior of the knight order. His pride wouldn’t allow him to be pushed back by such a charge.

While he held his position, the woman soared up from behind the man. The woman who had leaped up by stepping on air jumped over the man and even over the beast.

The moment she landed behind the beast, streams of blood shot up in all directions from the beast’s body. It seemed she had slashed several times while jumping over the beast.

Roar!

The beast screamed and flailed its arms in all directions. Meanwhile, the knight’s greatsword, seizing the opportunity, cut off one arm, but the knight who had been blocking the front was knocked aside.

When the man disappeared, the gorilla charged forward. Sun-woo and the uniformed boy were standing there. Sun-woo stepped back with a pale face, but the uniformed boy raised one hand with a cold expression.

“Lock Down!”

At the boy’s low shout, the charging beast suddenly stopped moving.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

And toward the stopped beast, the M16 set to automatic fire spewed flames. It was a target standing right in front. Every bullet poured into the beast’s face without missing a single shot, and eventually the beast’s head exploded. The gorilla with half its head gone collapsed on the spot when the boy lowered his hand.

“This is a contaminated creature?”

The black man looked down at the beast with a puzzled expression. Except for its dark skin, it looked like a gorilla or a gorilla-like beast. But looking at its elongated claws, it didn’t seem to be an ordinary gorilla.

“Am I still dreaming?”

The situation had exceeded the range of what could be understood and was breaking through the atmosphere. Sun-woo looked around at the people with an absurd expression. Their skills were real. This wasn’t cosplay.

The beautiful woman wiping her sword with a cloth seemed more skilled than the swordsmen he had often seen in martial arts movies, and the man in armor seemed more like a knight than the knights he had seen in movies.

The boy in uniform seemed like someone with supernatural powers. Only the black man was within Sun-woo’s range of understanding. He was definitely a soldier or mercenary.

“No, when a cell phone pops out of my hand, what’s the point of trying to understand?”

Sun-woo gave up trying to understand, and the people who had been examining the fallen beast looked at each other with troubled expressions. It seemed like it was time for them to talk to each other.

“Well, I think we should introduce ourselves first.”

The white man who appeared to be a knight spoke first. The moment everyone agreed with his words, the voice was heard once again.

[You have been summoned from various worlds to eliminate contamination sources. You just need to eliminate the contamination sources as mentioned earlier. Once the contamination sources are eliminated, everyone can return to their original worlds. Rewards will be announced after the contamination sources are eliminated.]

“Contamination? Biohazard? Where are you hiding and talking? Can’t you come out?”

The black man raised his gun and shouted loudly. He seemed annoyed by the continuously heard voice. But his voice was just an echo without response.

When there was no reaction, the black man calmed his temper and the group began introducing themselves to the others.

The white man in armor spoke first.

“I am Knight Daniel of the 2nd Knight Order of the Kudas Kingdom’s main camp.”

It seemed Sun-woo’s imagination was about to become reality.

“I am Nan-seol, third-generation disciple of the Mount Hua Sect.”

“Michael from PMC Sandline.”

“From the Imperial Academy. Um, I’m Hayden.”

People looked at the boy named Hayden strangely. It was clear that the boy was telling them a false name.

Anyway, everyone finished their introductions, and it became Sun-woo’s turn. Sun-woo had no choice but to sigh once again.

“I’m a ci-vi-lian. My name is Min Sun-woo.”

Everyone’s gaze turned to the cell phone in Sun-woo’s hand, and Michael burst into loud laughter again.

People gradually exchanged information. If everyone wasn’t lying, it seemed the story the voice had told them wasn’t false.

Nan-seol seemed to come from a martial arts world where martial arts actually existed, and Daniel seemed to live in a world where magic existed.

Hayden (?) said he attended a school that trained people with supernatural powers. At least Michael was a mercenary from Earth, the same as Sun-woo.

“But I’m just an ordinary civilian?”

“But don’t you have something? Everyone else is a warrior.”

At Nan-seol’s question, Sun-woo made a troubled expression. He turned on the cell phone in his hand.

There were only basic apps and mobile games there.

According to the knowledge the voice had given him, he seemed to have been summoned because of games. But he couldn’t tell what use being good at games would be in this situation.

Sun-woo carefully pressed a game icon.

The game logo screen turned on and soon a message appeared saying connection had failed. It was natural. If this was a different world, there would be no internet connection, and then mobile games couldn’t run either.

Sun-woo was about to turn off the screen when he stopped his hand. Additional text had appeared behind the connection interruption notice.

<Game ability activation failed. Information has been reset.>

<Currently available list>

<Inventory>

<Skill List Window>

<Please press the desired button.>

Sun-woo pressed the button labeled ‘Inventory’ with a tense expression.

The inventory screen was empty. Only 3 basic healing potion icons and 3 water bottle icons were there. It seemed all the data he had built up had been reset when the connection was lost.

“Well, even if it hadn’t been reset, it wouldn’t have meant anything anyway.”

Sun-woo shook his head and mindlessly tapped the water icon with his finger.

Thud.

A water bottle fell to the floor.

Surprised Sun-woo looked at the fallen water bottle, and the other people also turned their gaze to the water bottle on the floor.

Sun-woo picked up the water bottle and, feeling the pouring gazes, opened his mouth.

“Anyone thirsty?”

People found it interesting that Sun-woo had taken a water bottle out of his cell phone, but their interest soon faded. In a situation where weapons could be summoned with just a word, a water bottle wasn’t that amazing.

However, everything was amazingly fascinating to Sun-woo. The water bottle before his eyes was not a real-world object but a game object. The water he tasted was very refreshing.

The water bottle he had taken out could be put back into the cell phone.

Sun-woo tried taking the water bottle out of and putting it back into the cell phone, then this time opened the skill window. Unfortunately, the skill window was empty. The skill window had also been reset.

But below the three empty skill windows, there was a glittering phrase.

<Please point to a target with skills.>

“Could it be?”

Sun-woo pointed the cell phone camera at Nan-seol just in case. Text immediately appeared on the screen.

Mount Hua Sect 3rd generation disciple Nan-seol.

<Light Movement Techniques: Seven Star Steps, Dark Fragrance Dash, Five Elements Plum Blossom Steps>

<Sword Techniques: Three Talents Sword Method, Jade Lady Sword Method, Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Method>

<Internal Energy: Three Talents Mind Method, Jade Lady Mind Technique>

“My goodness.”

It seemed that by pointing the cell phone at someone, he could see the skills they possessed.

However, except for Seven Star Steps, Three Talents Sword Method, and Three Talents Mind Method, the rest of the list was grayed out and couldn’t be selected.

Sun-woo tried pressing the ‘Seven Star Steps’ button.

<Required points: 40p, insufficient points.>

<Warning 1: Target’s consent is required when learning skills.>

<Warning 2: Skills are reset when learned.>

It seemed he wouldn’t end up as just an ordinary civilian after all. Although he was quite famous for gaming, he hadn’t thought games would be helpful in this situation.

But if combat proceeded in the same way as games, this would be the most advantageous method for Sun-woo.

Sun-woo was about to check other people’s information as well, but had to stop what he was doing due to another voice being heard.