How to Survive Restructuring

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

w

Chapter 63: Personality Test (3)

"Eunho! Are you sure you’ll be okay alone? It looks way too dangerous!"

"Ah, can’t you not go, hyung? I wish I could go in with you…"

"Don’t worry. If it looks dangerous, I’ll come back right away."

How to deal with a snake like an Imugi.

It won’t be easy, but it won’t be impossible either.

It must have a weakness, though I don’t know what it is yet.

Step, step.

I sharply observed the pale creature and took a step forward.

At that moment.

[The player cooperating with 'Lee Eunho' is...]

'What?'

The broadcast I thought had ended continued.

[The selected player is 'Cha Jinsol.']

"What? Huh?!"

"Cha, Cha Jinsol! It’s you!"

"Ah, damn it..."

Assigning us to partners neither of us wanted.

[First player selection is complete.]

[Please enter the arena!]

That’s how the third-ranking observer mission competitor, a blonde-haired individual, was pushed next to me in haste.

The sight of them limping, their legs covered in tattoos of black butterflies and dense writing, caught my eye.

"What do we do?! You’re still far from fully recovered…!"

"Damn, of all times…"

The lens revealed their health barely exceeding 70%.

The gunshot wound they’d sustained from being deflected by the guard’s shield hadn’t fully healed.

【The 'Prince of the Investigation Bureau' asks who the limping person is.】

【The ‘Raven of the Administration Bureau' clicks their tongue, saying the individual isn’t fit to be taken in as a new subordinate.】

It wasn’t just the observers who were baffled by this sudden team event.

Though their reasons were entirely different.

[The time limit is 10 minutes.]

[Defeat the White Snake and survive!]

['Cooperation' mission begins!]

Following the next announcement, the blonde-haired individual grumbled and approached me.

"Fuck, what are we supposed to cooperate on?"

I was wondering the same thing.

How were we supposed to cooperate?

Especially when one of us wasn’t even in good shape.

Step, step.

Even so, I followed the system's guidance.

And so did they.

Together, we approached the transparent funnel where a White Snake—both cloud-like and sky-like—rested its coiled body.

Standing before the pillar holding it aloft.

"Are we supposed to go in there?"

"Probably."

A square entrance replaced what would have been a door.

As we passed through and entered the pillar, we saw it.

Ssssshhh...

The slowly writhing White Snake loomed above, almost covering the sky.

My heart pounded as if it might come crashing down at any moment, but now wasn’t the time to fight.

First, I need to assess the situation.

I needed to find the snake’s weakness and any advantages I could use here.

Determined, I forced myself to look down.

Then, I noticed a table and two chairs that had been there all along, along with various patterns decorating the glass-like walls of the pillar.

Sparkle!

The sunlight pouring in from outside made the walls glimmer.

From a distance, I thought they were smooth, transparent glass walls.

But now…

‘Are these carvings?’

Various patterns were embossed from eye level to the floor.

The head of a snake sticking out its split tongue menacingly.

Endless, overlapping snakeine bodies.

And in between them, brick-like blocks protruding like markers.

‘It’s cold.’

Was it the chill of the countless, cold snake tongues surrounding me?

Or was it the massive snake coiled above that gave me goosebumps?

The eerie and surreal atmosphere overwhelmed me.

Only after noticing the sweat in my palm and wiping it on my pants did I manage to regain my composure.

—Fwoooosh!

The air changed.

"Uh… isn’t it kind of hot?"

The blonde was right.

The suddenly humid air wrapping around my skin was noticeable.

No one had taken any action, yet.

Caught between confusion and unease, I quickly looked up.

Splash!

Water pooled at our feet.

"Huh? Where did this water suddenly come from?"

"Wait a minute."

Then came a faint sense of unease.

"There were definitely carvings here earlier..."

"Huh? Seriously! They were here just now, right? Am I seeing things?"

No, I wasn’t.

The sudden heat in the cold room.

The missing carvings.

The water pooling at our feet.

This was…

"It melted."

"Melted? What did?"

"Ice carvings!"

The ice carvings embedded in the pillar had melted and disappeared.

And—

"Look. It’s coming down…"

"...?!"

The block adorned with intricate patterns was slowly descending, unable to bear its own weight.

A space below deep enough to fit two people.

Creak!

The heavy stone scraped against itself as it moved.

The sensation of a monstrous presence writhing above made my hair stand on end.

No way.

It couldn’t be.

It shouldn’t be.

Even as I told myself that, I quietly summoned my blade.

Clack!

The sound of something shutting echoed.

And moments later.

"!!"

Drip! Drip!

A drop of black liquid fell from above.

"Ugh!"

"Move!!"

I shoved the limping blonde aside.

The black droplet splashed onto the asphalt below.

At the same time, the ground where the creature had been standing just moments ago melted away instantly—exactly in the shape of the newly fallen droplet.

“What, what the hell is this? Where did that suddenly fall from...?”

“The ceiling’s been breached!”

The blonde-haired man’s eyes widened as if they would pop out of his head.

He instinctively tilted his head back, looking toward the sky—or rather, the white ceiling above.

“!!”

But it was already too late.

Because—

“The exit is blocked! Are we trapped in here now?!”

The exit had already been sealed.

The rectangular opening that had been there moments ago had instead turned into an opening in the ceiling before closing shut.

This... something’s not right.

It seemed the bricks earlier were part of some mechanism controlling the ceiling and the door.

Those patterned bricks sticking out vertically between the cracks.

In that case—

Sssssss—

Before that pale snake marked us as its prey—

“Get over here and help me lift this!”

“What? All of a sudden? What is this thing?”

“It looks like a device to open the door. Just hurry!”

Thud!

Even as the words spilled from his lips, he strained to lift the block on his own.

But the door neither opened further nor closed; it simply froze in place.

The block, too, was immovable, an alarming situation in itself.

Still, the mission’s title was “Cooperation.”

“Quickly!”

“Oh, uh, alright!”

Creak!

The blonde-haired man, face full of doubt, moved closer and placed the opposite end of the block on his shoulder.

Then—

“It’s working! It’s moving!”

The opening in the ceiling began to close, filling the empty space above.

A gentle breeze slipped through the slowly opening gap in the door.

As expected—

When the ceiling opens, the exit closes.

When the ceiling closes, the exit opens.

That left three choices.

First option:

The two of us could hold the block together until the timer ran out, safely escaping.

This would result in mission failure but ensure our survival.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

w

Second option:

Forget the block, let the ceiling open, and fight the descending snake.

If we succeeded, we’d complete the mission and potentially gain valuable loot, like venom pouch.

But failure would mean grave injury—or worse, death.

Third option:

One person holds the block while the other escapes.

The ceiling wouldn’t open as long as someone stayed behind to hold it.

This is the worst option.

The mission would fail, and we wouldn’t even attempt to fight the snake.

Now was the time to decide.

What’s the safest way to fight?

Close combat?

Too dangerous.

Just touching the venom would kill them within a minute.

Judging by how the ground had melted earlier, the situation could be even worse.

If only I could encase myself in stone armor.

Or perhaps attack from a distance?

It would be safer, but the chances of doing significant damage seemed slim.

In any case, rushing in recklessly wasn’t an option.

I need to find its weak point.

As he studied the pale snake slithering closer through the rectangular opening—

“Hah... It’s open!”

“Wait.”

“No! I think I can get out!”

The blonde-haired man, still struggling with the block on his shoulder, gestured toward the exit.

Clearly, fighting the snake had never crossed his mind.

【"The Raven of the Administration Bureau" suggests feeding cowards who only think of running to the snake.】

Ignoring the message, I focused on the snake flicking its forked tongue in the air.

“I’m thinking—just hold on a little longer.”

“Hold on, my ass! You’re not seriously thinking about fighting that thing, are you?”

“If it’s worth fighting, we should fight.”

“Look at me! I can barely stand with this leg! We’d die instantly. Just give up and let the next team handle it!”

“Why should we?”

The blonde-haired man snapped, his face a mixture of fear and anger.

“My leg’s barely holding me up! What do you know about this?!”

Oh, I knew.

How could I not?

The same injury this guy had gotten 30 minutes ago, I had endured for 10 years straight.

But more importantly—

“What about the reward you got earlier? Where did you spend it?”

“Why do you care?”

“Oh, I’m just wondering if you’re struggling to decide how to use it.”

I implied that the reward could have been used to heal the injury.

The blonde-haired man scoffed at the obvious question.

“Of course I upgraded my skills. What else would I do?”

“Really?”

“You used your skills earlier too, didn’t you? Skills come first—what’s there to think about?”

So naive.

He must have spent every reward up until now on visible stats and skills.

That kind of injury would’ve healed completely with the mission reward.

Just like mine had.

Still, there was no need to share that information.

“I don’t care anymore. Fight or die—do what you want!”

With that, the blonde-haired man yelled, “Summon!”

He pulled out a palm-sized needle, the kind a tattoo artist might use.

And then—

“...?!”

He stabbed it into the invisible wall, carving out lines.

Jab!

The needle pierced.

Screech!

He etched a large circle bigger than his head, followed by two straight lines resembling legs.

From there, he extended curved lines outward to the left and right.

【'Prince of the Investigation Bureau' nodded, acknowledging that the 13th District indeed had many artists, as rumored.】

【'The Raven of the Administration Bureau' suggested that if a man were to accomplish great feats, he'd need artists to glorify those achievements, proposing to keep them alive.】

【'Night Owl of the Audit Bureau' quipped, asking if he was painting a self-portrait.】

"No, this is…."

Creak! Creak!

Sweat trickled down the figure's forehead.

It resembled the ice that had melted earlier, dissolving under the heat emitted by its own body.

After some time had passed—

"Manifestation!"

With those words, spoken confidently by the man that had drained all its energy—

Boom!

"!!"

A sculpture emerged.

Swinging its arm, which extended down to its ankles.

"A gorilla…?"

It was alive.

No, it had been brought to life.

By the man’s drawing and skill.

【'Night Owl of the Audit Bureau' gasped, exclaiming that the self-portrait had come alive!】

"Make it lift this! Quickly!"

Following the blonde man's instructions, the gorilla raised its arms and placed the block onto its hands.

It was a plan to have the gorilla hold the block and escape in the meantime.

A clever strategy, except—

"…It doesn't look like it'll hold up."

—Swish, tap! Swish, tap!

From here to the exit, it was about 20 steps at the figure's stride.

At least 30 seconds.

But the gorilla created by the figure was already trembling in its arms.

Indeed, it was an impressive skill, but….

"I'm out of here!"

Not quite there yet.

"Fight or die, do whatever y—huh…?!"

The blonde man's sentence trailed off mid-word.

Creak! Crackle!

The glass gorilla started to crack from its arm and collapsed into shards.

"Fuck!!"

And he immediately turned back and ran, his steps uneven.

However—

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The exit had already shut.

Shhhhhh—

And the ceiling opened wide.

Three seconds.

That's how long it took for a pure white snake to notice the opened space, slither down the wall, and stop in front of the blonde man, raising its head.

"S-Summon! Aaaargh!!"

The blonde man quickly drew a spear as tall as himself and thrust it at the snake.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Then—

Fsst!

A thin line was drawn across the snake's white skin.

A faintly murky white line.

It meant the attack connected but didn’t draw blood.

'Its defense is too high.'

「99.9%」

'Its health barely decreased... Wait, huh?'

「100%」

It hadn't just barely decreased—

'It regenerated?'

"What the hell is this thing?! The wound just healed instantly!"

Sigh.

It made sense now how a mission with so many people could revolve around a single monster.

"They put something unkillable in here."

"Then what do we do?! We can't run, and…!"

If its regeneration made regular attacks useless, there were only two options:

'Stop its regeneration or overpower it so much that regeneration doesn’t matter.'

Think, think, think.

There had to be a good method…

As I looked around—

'Aha!'

There was.

A way that could only work on this creature.

More specifically—

'Winning without fighting.'

"Aaaaaaah! Save me!"

The blonde man tried to use his skill again, holding a needle, but tripped and fell on his rear as the snake lunged at his wrist, jaws wide open.

It was impossible.

How could one think of drawing a picture while an enemy flicked its tongue right in front of them?

"Jinsol! Aaaaah!"

The shriek from the girl pierced the ears, louder than the blonde man's screams.

The friend, who had been watching from outside, was now panicking more than anyone.

The woman clad in a leather skirt, her body covered in tattoos like the rest, had rushed up to the transparent wall.

"Eunho! Be careful!"

The worry-stricken Jieun also cried out from behind her.

So—

"Save me! Aaaaaah!"

Watching the flailing blonde man, he turned to the two women.

"Well, I’ll just go save him quickly."

"Jinsol! Jinsol… huh?"

"…Alright! Eunho!"

Leaving the frantic woman and Jieun, who was still looking at me with a mix of faith and anxiety—

Shhhhhh—!

I charged.

Straight toward the snake, which had opened its jaws wide as if inviting me to try.

"Sword Wind!"

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

w