Surviving Among the Entities

A few weeks passed since Baal’s disappearance. Fortunately, he did not visit again.

[Please feel free to seek us out whenever you need our assistance. We will aid you in any way we can.]

I looked at the business card he had left behind before departing.

“666”

Three digits drawn in red.

‘The number of the Beast.’

He had said to use it by tearing up the card. Since I had no intention of using it, I placed it at the very bottom of my business card case.

‘You never know when I might need it.’

Wait, but in what way would they provide assistance?

‘Would they deal with entities on my behalf? Provide necessary knowledge? Or give me items?’

I don’t know, I suppose I’ll find out if a need arises.

‘Besides, it doesn’t look like anyone else is coming today.’

I had sent a large batch of other world transfers not too long ago, so things had been quiet lately. I could have left for the day, but I opened my laptop to do a bit more work.

‘I should gather information.’

The “Surviving the Entities” event was basically random, but it was possible to predict locations and times through information gathering.

‘Getting help from entities like DialTV was an option based on luck, but more often information obtained from news and the internet proved more useful.’

Discerning entity-related information hidden amidst useless, satirical, and false information was the standard for measuring one’s entity surviving skills.

“Hmm.”

Thus postponing my departure, I immersed myself in the sea of the internet.

[Miracle Diabetes Cure ‘Paranoma’, Spate of Cured Diabetes Patients.]
[Paranoma Developer Olden & Sweets Pharmaceuticals’ Stock Skyrocketing.]
[150x Increase in Just 2 Weeks Since Launch, Fastest-Rising Stock in Guinness Records, Expected to Rise Further.]

‘Diabetes, huh.’

I searched for diabetes patients in various countries.

[China Diabetes Patients (Estimated): 141 million]
[India Diabetes Patients (Estimated): 101 million]
[USA Diabetes Patients (Estimated): 30.3 million]
[Japan Diabetes Patients (Estimated): 10 million]
[Korea Diabetes Patients (Estimated): 6 million]

‘I won’t have to worry about money from now on.’

It was a good move to purchase additional stocks midway. From now on, instead of exchanging gold bars for cash, I’ll only use them when trading with Omnipotent Gold Corporation.

[CSAT Exam Day Terror Alarm, Who is the Culprit?]
[BJ Ddwaidde, Super Rookie Surpassing 5,000 Average Viewers in Just 1 Month of Broadcasting.]
[French Chef Georges Guichon Captivating Customers’ Palates with New Seasoning Blend, Let’s Experience His Cuisine Through a Gourmet Trip.]

There was no particularly interesting information.

‘Let’s look further.’

I checked YouTube news channels.

[First Abnormal CSAT in 10 Years, Unprecedented Abnormal CSAT Controversy Escalates to Legal Battles]
[‘Is This Even English?’ Even Native English Speakers Confused by Excessively Difficult 2024 CSAT English Section]
[Only One Student Achieved a Perfect Score on All Subjects Despite Unprecedented Abnormal CSAT]

Since it was right after the CSAT exam season, most news was about the CSAT.

‘Found it.’

As I continued scrolling, I finally came across a noteworthy headline.

[Reserve Forces Members Missing Again? Already the 8th Disappearance.]

I clicked on the video. It was a short 1-minute clip.

[On the 7th, Kim _____, after completing reserve forces training and being discharged, was walking down the street. Then the moment he turned into an alley, Kim _____’s figure vanished from sight.]

Beyond the screen, a man wearing a military uniform with a slovenly demeanor suddenly disappeared upon turning into an alley.

[This marks the 8th disappearance of a reserve forces member this year, a string of incidents that began 3 months ago with the initial disappearance of Lee _____.]

3 months ago, that was around when the game world became reality.

‘Was this the work of an entity?’

Indeed, what entity could be behind this? The keywords were soldier and disappearance.

‘I think I know, but I’ll need a bit more information to be certain.’

At that moment, someone knocked on the office door.

“Excuse me, is this Resolver Seung-hoon Lee’s office?”
“Yes, it is.”

The one who had come to see me was a police officer.

“I’ve come to request your cooperation with an investigation.”

My reputation as the Resolver spread rapidly through the internet. For about a month, there were occasionally people arguing about me in communities, but such occurrences had become rare lately.

‘Doubling the advertising seems to have been effective.’

I never expected the police to directly approach me like this.

“Officer Lee, may I see the CCTV footage?”
“Ah, yes!”

Our current location was the Icheon police box, the area where the latest reserve forces member had gone missing.

“Here it is. It’s a rural bus stop so the quality isn’t great.”
“No, this will be enough to make out what’s happening.”

As I focused on the low-quality, intermittently choppy CCTV footage, Officer Lee addressed me.

“Um, Mr. Seung-hoon Lee?”
“Yes.”
“But can you really resolve this? It’s just, there’s been talk internally……”

My unfathomable status as the Resolver seemed to command faith akin to the clergy, as he divulged the investigation progress and meeting contents to me.

“The police in areas where reserve forces members went missing have been gathering to share information. But the more we shared, the less believable the information became.”
“Specifically what kind of information?”
“Well, while the CCTV didn’t capture it, there were some eyewitness accounts.”

Officer Lee kept rubbing the back of his neck.

“They all consistently reported seeing someone conducting a survey.”
“A survey?”
“Yes, someone suddenly appearing to approach the missing persons.”
“Was it the same person?”
“No, eight different men have been witnessed so far, but none were the same individual in a composite.”

I was gradually becoming certain.

“And they suddenly vanished from sight, both the man and the missing person.”
“Abrupt disappearances.”
“Actually, internally we’ve been suspecting this might be a serial killing case. Command ordered increased patrols on days with reserve forces and stakeouts in high-risk areas. And on the day this latest person went missing, I was on stakeout duty.”
“You couldn’t have witnessed the missing person?”
“Yes. And what I saw was exactly the same.”

As if struggling to believe what he had seen, he rubbed his eye sockets.

“They vanished in the blink of an eye. Right before my very eyes, in the time it took to blink once.”
“I see.”
“I thought maybe they were possessed by ghosts or something. This is beyond what the police can handle, so I came to seek you out, Mr. Seung-hoon Lee.”
“Thank you for requesting my cooperation.”

A man in military uniform conducting a survey. With all the information gathered, I could now be certain.

“There’s no need to review the CCTV footage any further.”
“Can you resolve this?”

This was a case of disappearances caused by an entity.

“Yes, please wait and have faith.”

While many entities in Entity Surviving were created by developers, there were even more user-created original entities.

Such user-participatory games had clear pros and cons.

The advantage was an abundance of creative elements that could not emerge from a single person’s mind.
The disadvantage was an overall decline in quality.

The disadvantage was somewhat mitigated by the recommend/unrecommend function. However, not every user was an artist, and they tended to rely on a few patterns when creating entities.

Entities based on myths and legends.
Entities based on real-life mysterious events.
Entities created by slightly twisting other works, straddling the line between homage, cliche, and plagiarism.

“And entities created based on personal experiences.”

This entity was one I knew well, and I even remembered the creator directly speaking about its creation.

[Spilling the tea on getting delayed discharge from reserves due to dumbasses]

There were so many dumbasses in my unit who didn’t know shit like how to properly don gas masks or clear firing stoppages, so I ended up being one of the last to get discharged.

‘It was something along those lines.’

He had even directly recorded on the wiki that he used it as inspiration to create the entity.

“Entity Name: ‘Reserve Forces Survey’.”

Danger rating, an entity that kidnaps reserve forces members finishing their training and being discharged to an unknown space depending on their survey responses.

‘If you answer the survey well, you avoid being kidnapped and can move on. But if kidnapped, you must perfectly execute the actions it desires internally to be released again.’

The important part is that when you satisfy it internally, it’s not just one person who gets released.

“In the military, good or bad, it’s collective responsibility.”

With this message, if one person clears it, everyone gets released. Of course, since Entity Surviving is a single-player game, no one can be released unless the user clears it, but this allowed clearing the “You are the Messiah of Dumbasses” achievement.

“Hmm.”

‘Reserve Forces Survey’ is an entity that only threatens specific individuals. Moreover, unlike other entities, it doesn’t kill the missing persons.

‘It merely subjects them to constant mental anguish.’

As such, it posed no threat to me. Unless I purposefully sought it out, it was an entity I would never encounter in my lifetime.

“But I have been requested to deal with it.”

If so, then I must act.

“Knowing yet not acting is not true knowledge, and having the ability yet not seeking is the pinnacle of bestiality.”

However, there was an issue. I took out the military uniform and boots enshrined in a corner of my closet.

The private first class insignia pinned above my name tag.
My discharge certificate placed beside it.

[Seung-hoon Lee]
[Rank: Private]
[Specialty: 1111]
[Discharge (Enlistment) Date: 19.05.16. (19.03.16)]

“Unfortunately, I did not serve in the reserves.”

And there was one more problem.

“It won’t kidnap you unless you experienced military service, right?”

Having arrived in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province where reserve forces training was taking place today, I surveyed my surroundings.

‘Cold.’

Perhaps due to being in the northern region, the weather was quite chilly.

‘They hold reserve forces training in this kind of weather?’

From what I heard, this was the period when those who had not responded to the reserve forces summons were receiving additional training.

‘I really would like to experience the reserves, but……’

Unfortunately, I could not disturb those busy people, so I decided to kill time near the reserve forces training grounds and wait for them to finish.

“Excuse me, senior? Are you late for admission?”

At that moment, a guard stationed at the reserve forces training center entrance approached me.

“If you’re late, you can still enter now.”
“Isn’t it absolutely forbidden to enter even one minute late?”

While I had never attended the reserves myself, I had researched it separately just in case, so I had a rough knowledge of it.

“Originally yes, but if you miss this summons too you’ll have to come in December. Then we’d have to do additional work as well……”
“Ah, I see.”

I should refuse.

“I’ll go in now.”

But I couldn’t resist the urge to experience something I never had before.

“Um, senior? Why did you come in here?”
“I wanted to experience the reserves.”
“Wh, what the… Uh, I mean, please don’t do this again. You know this is illegal trespassing, right?”
“My apologies.”

Unfortunately, my illegal admission was caught after just 3 hours.

“If I had a bit more time, I could have even fired guns.”

Having only had good experiences from my military days, it seemed others disliked the reserves that I found quite enjoyable.

‘Why do people hate the reserves so much?’

Even though I only experienced it for 3 hours, I had such a great time.

“Excuse me.”

Just as I was about to hide and wait for the entity again, a man addressed me.

“May I trouble you for a survey?”

The unfamiliar man in an old military uniform handed me a survey, which I readily accepted.

“Of course.”