Level Up Machine

Chapter 1: Tutorial (1)

—Click. A memory loss has been detected.

—Attempting to recover damaged memory.

—Warning. Memory recovery has failed. Please release the security code.

A mechanical voice was heard. A terrible headache assaulted him.

A painful groan escaped from the lips of the young man lying on the floor.

A middle-aged man standing next to him approached with a worried look.

“Are you alright?”

“Where is this…?”

Slowly opening his eyes, he clenched his head and looked around, scanning the surroundings.

He was in a dense forest full of closely packed trees.

Around the area where he had woken up, there was a clearing of about 50 meters, where more than a hundred people seemed to have gathered like refugees, sitting huddled together.

They had expressions mixed with anxiety and bewilderment, vigilantly watching their surroundings.

“I don’t know where this is either. On my way home, a black space appeared suddenly and I got sucked into it, and when I woke up, I was here.”

The middle-aged man who had spoken to him said this with a look of distress.

He sighed deeply before speaking.

“My name is Kim Gil-soo. What’s your name?”

“My name?”

At his question, the young man trailed off.

Crackling.

It sounded like a discordant noise coming from a broken radio in his ears.

The young man suddenly clutched his head due to a headache.
“My, name.”

He tried to recall his name, but nothing came to mind.

Not his name, who he was, or why he had come here.

The young man turned his head towards the middle-aged man who had introduced himself as Kim Gil-soo.

“I can’t remember my name.”

“Ah…”

Hearing his words, Gil-soo let out a short exclamation.

He placed his hand on the young man’s shoulder with a concerned look.

“The shock of suddenly arriving here seems to have confused your memory. Don’t worry too much.”

He said in a caring voice.

The young man nodded, his expression confused.

“Do you have a wallet or a phone? You might be able to find out more with those.”

Gil-soo examined the young man’s body up and down as he spoke.

In the year 2017, it was rare for someone not to carry a wallet and a phone.

“…I don’t have anything.”

The young man stood up and felt around his body, searching for something that might identify him.

However, there was no wallet or cellphone inside.

“Eh?”

That’s when he noticed something written on the back of his left hand.

It looked somewhat like a barcode and had the word ‘Yeong-sik’ written on it.

“Why so?”

Kim Gil-soo cocked his head and stared at the young man who was looking intently at his hand.

“There’s a tattoo on the back of your hand.”

“Hmm… What does it say?”

Gil-soo squinted, as if he couldn’t read the word written on his hand.

The young man quietly opened his mouth.

“It says ‘Yeong-sik.'”

“Oh, can you read this?”

“Yes.”

“How curious. I’ve never seen such characters before.”

Gil-soo looked at the unfamiliar characters and was visibly astonished.

After a moment of staring at his hand, he smiled gently and said,

“How about we call you Yeong-sik until your memory returns? It’s a bit odd to keep calling you ‘young man.'”

“Yeong-sik…”

The young man nodded at his words.

Yeong-sik.

It was a word that somehow felt familiar.

The young man smiled lightly and nodded again.

“Then let’s go with Yeong-sik.”

“Ha ha ha. Understood.”

Gil-soo smiled in relief as he saw him regain composure faster than expected.

Yeong-sik looked around at the people nearby, his head turning this way and that.

“Who are these other people? Do you know them, Mr. Kim Gil-soo?”

“No. I’m seeing them for the first time too. Ah… there is someone you might know over there though.”

Saying this, Gil-soo pointed towards one side.

There sat a woman with long black hair that reached her waist, sitting on a cracked tree stump.

With a cold expression, she was breathtakingly beautiful and had an impressive physique.

Around her were quite a few people gathered, speaking to her.

“Is that… model Seo Ara, right?”

“Wow. It’s my first time seeing her in person, she’s really pretty. Could you give me an autograph?”

The men gathered around her were staring at her as if she were a fascinating creature in a zoo, trying to speak to her.

She kept a cold expression and firmly ignored their words.

“As you see, there’s indeed a famous model.”

Gil-soo said while looking at Ara.

She was a model so famous in Korea that hardly anyone didn’t know her.

“Ah, definitely Seo Ara.”

Yeong-sik also had a memory of her face.

Hearing his words, Gil-soo let out a friendly laugh.

“Ha ha. Even though you’ve lost your memory, it seems you still remember her.”

Yeong-sik clamped his mouth shut at his words.

As Kim Gil-soo had said, memories about her were there, but he remembered nothing about himself.

It wasn’t just memories of her that were present.

In his mind were also memories about Earth, and about the culture and history of Korea.

However, among these, there was not a single memory left about himself.

It felt as if the piece labeled ‘self’ had simply fallen away from the numerous shards of information.

“Ah, then do you remember that young man? He’s quite a famous youth.”

He said this while pointing towards a youth who was standing apart from the crowd, lost in thought.

The youth had the appearance of a handsomely carved sculpture.

Yeong-sik nodded and relayed the information that came to mind about him.

“Yes, Cheon Tae-hwang. A genius kendo athlete who began to stand out from the age of eight. A super elite who swept international competitions before even turning 20. He is 187 cm tall and weighs 85 kg, born on August 1, 1993.”

“…Were you interested in kendo then?”

“Well, I just remembered.”

Yeong-sik shrugged, indicating that he himself wasn’t sure.

“Ha ha. With that spirit, your memory will surely return soon.”

Kim Gil-soo tapped his shoulder with a friendly smile, when suddenly—

-Ding.

[A tutorial quest will begin shortly.]

[The tutorial will last for 3 weeks, and all summoners who survive during this period will undergo an adaptation process before entering the mainland.]

[However, if the Orc chieftain Krol is defeated within these 3 weeks, the tutorial will end at that point.]

“What is this about…?”

Murmurs started to grow among the people.

They looked at the suddenly appearing blue message window with curiosity.

-Click.

[Unauthorized information interference detected. Interference cannot be blocked at this stage.]

A stern mechanical voice flowed into Yeong-sik’s ears. He furrowed his brows and spoke.

“Information interference…?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you not hear a voice talking about information interference just now?”

“Hm. No, I didn’t hear any voice.”

Kim Gil-soo shook his head as he replied. Yeong-sik’s expression grew more distorted.

He could not understand what this sound, audible only to him, meant.

“And what’s this tutorial thing? It’s not even a game.”

Kim Gil-soo looked at the message window with a bland expression. Then, it happened again.

“Aaaaah!”

A piercing scream echoed throughout the area.

People’s gazes quickly turned toward the source of the scream.

Through the thick underbrush, dozens of creatures with appearances reminiscent of pigs charged towards them at high speed.

“What, what are those?”

“Orcs? Are those really orcs?”

Confusion deepened among the people.

They stared, bewildered, at the approaching orcs.

The idea of fleeing had not yet occurred to them.

“This some kind of game…

Swoosh!
“Aaaaah!”

As a young man watched the approaching orcs with fascination, his head was abruptly severed from his body by a sharp axe.

A crimson fountain of blood spurted from the severed neck.

“Squeal! Squeal!”

“Kill the humans!”

The orcs bellowed such commands as they breathed heavily.

Thus, the massacre began.

Swoosh!
“Argh!”

“Ugh!”

With each swing of their axes, an orc claimed another human life.

The people didn’t even think to resist, losing their lives to the orcs’ brutal attacks.

“Help!”

“Aaaah! Get out of the way, damn it!”

In a frenzy, people ran towards the forest opposite where the orcs had appeared.

Seeing this, Yeong-sik and Kim Gil-soo hardened their expressions.

The people around Ara also began screaming and running.

Ara was swept up by the fleeing crowd and fell to the ground.

However, none of the many people around her paid any attention to her fallen form.

The people were desperately fleeing from the monsters that had suddenly attacked them.

“We should run too.”

Yeong-sik said sharply, his eyes lighting up.

Though the full extent of the situation was unclear, he felt that staying put would lead to certain death.

“Ah, understood.”

Kim Gil-soo, trembling as he watched the orcs, hastily nodded in agreement.

Before turning to run, Yeong-sik glanced once more at Ara, who had fallen to the ground.

She looked pale and terrified as she stared at the orcs.

“There’s no time to care.”

Yeong-sik’s mind began to race quickly.

This blood-soaked scenario felt strangely familiar to him.

Yeong-sik and Kim Gil-soo turned and ran into the forest.

“Hah, hah.”

After some time, Kim Gil-soo’s breathing became labored.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m, I’m fine. But aren’t you tired at all?”

Kim Gil-soo looked at Yeong-sik, who hadn’t sweated a drop, in disbelief.

Despite the distance they had run, Yeong-sik showed no signs of fatigue.

“Yes. I don’t really feel tired.”

“Heh.”

Kim Gil-soo looked exasperated. He looked around, scanning their surroundings.

The forest, densely packed with trees, had a sinister atmosphere, the sky barely visible.

“It seems we’ve gotten away from those monsters.”

The monsters that had attacked them were no longer in sight.

Breathing heavily, Kim Gil-soo collapsed on the spot.

“Hah, hah. I don’t remember the last time I had to run like this.”

Kim Gil-soo gasped heavily as he spoke.

Yeong-sik scanned the surroundings, waiting for Kim Gil-soo to catch his breath.

“Kyaaak!”

-Crack!

Just then, a short scream accompanied by the sound of breaking branches echoed through the air.

Yeong-sik and Kim Gil-soo turned their heads toward the direction of the noise.

The woman screaming on the ground was Seo Ara, whom they had seen earlier.

She was clutching her ankle on the ground, apparently having injured it when she fell.

“Are you okay?”

Kim Gil-soo slowly approached Ara, who was on the ground.

With a wary expression, she looked at him and responded in a cold voice.

“Yes, I’m fine. Please don’t worry about me.”

“How can I not worry when you are hurt like this?”

Kim Gil-soo approached her with a concerned look.

Yeong-sik watched his back intently.

At that moment, Yeong-sik heard rustling sounds near his ear.

“Hmm…?”

Yeong-sik furrowed his brows and turned his head toward the direction of the sound.

Out of the dense bushes, the monster that had attacked them earlier appeared.

“Squeal! Human! Found!”

The orc, raising its axe high, charged toward Kim Gil-soo.

Yeong-sik’s expression became urgent.

“Danger!”

Yeong-sik shouted as he ran toward Kim Gil-soo.

However, the distance between them was quite far. Even running at full speed, he couldn’t reach him in time.

Seeing the orc approaching, Kim Gil-soo’s expression hardened.

He waved his arms trying to fend off the orc.

But there was no way he could block the sharp axe of the orc with his bare hands.

The axe aimed at Kim Gil-soo’s head swung down.

Yeong-sik stretched out his right arm towards Kim Gil-soo.

That was when—

-Click.

-Danger detected. Releasing the maximum available security level now.

A familiar mechanical voice flowed into Yeong-sik’s ears.

Before Yeong-sik could even understand what that meant, a loud noise erupted, and from his right elbow, jets of flame blasted out like a rocket.

And then.

His right arm, emitting intense flames, launched from the elbow.

“Kurk?”

The orc, startled by the sudden noise, stopped its axe mid-swing and turned its head toward Yeong-sik.

-Thump!

“Grrrr!”

Yeong-sik’s swiftly launched right arm struck the orc’s head.

The forceful impact completely tore off the orc’s head.

The orc’s body, now headless, fell to the ground.

Thud.

A dark red fountain of blood gushed from the orc’s neck, drenching the bushes.

Staring at the surreal scene, Yeong-sik couldn’t open his mouth.

Then, a crackling mechanical sound reached his ears.

-Security level 1 released. Weapon level 1, ‘Rocket Punch,’ has been deployed.

Yeong-sik stared down at his right arm with a stunned expression.

What?

Rocket Punch?