"I was looking for you high and low, I guess it was our destiny to walk this path together!"
After hearing what chubby Toraman said, I couldn't hold myself back. I was talking joyfully while patting him on the back.
"Brother, I'm telling you I'm here because I was cornered by thinner and glue sniffers in the park on the night of the apocalypse and beat one of them up, and look at what you're telling me!"
Yes, that was exactly the sluggish bastard's story. From what he remembered, while heading back home in Istanbul where he was visiting, his path was blocked by substance abusers. While they were saying "give me your wallet, give me your phone," he somehow found an opening, threw a punch, and managed to run away from them.
However he hit him, once the village ox made the other guy kick the bucket, our Toraman—whose entire life was spent lying around—won a one-way ticket to The First Layer of Hell.
"Look now, since you fell here because of your last sin, these types have no chance of leaving an effect on you. So come on, let's pick one of them, you kill it immediately, and save yourself from the torment too!"
The large kid was glaring at me with one eyebrow raised. From what I understood, what I said hadn't made any sense to him.
"No way, man, do you think I'm a sucker?"
Well, this was bound to happen. If I hastily urged him to attack without considering the man's character, it was perfectly natural for it to backfire. Even though he fell to Hell, how could you tell someone who was still slacking off to step outside the shield and kill a Fallen?
"Alright, your highness, knock yourself out!"
After giving Toraman a side-eye, I decided to leave him in the Hardware Store Zone and go to the girl I had run into earlier.
Since she was able to run around inside the Social Media Zone, she had immunity to a specific type too. Maybe I could convince her to kill a Fallen instead of dealing with a lazy pig.
What did the shapeless light say?
"Go back and keep fighting, do good deeds, and reach the day you will attain your salvation!"
This meant we needed to kill these mobs and keep moving forward constantly. The massive First Layer of Hell couldn't be limited to this pint-sized village.
When I returned, the young girl was still on the ground, but now her eyes were open, watching what was happening outside the shield. I quietly approached her and sat down too.
"Hello, are you not scared anymore?"
No answer.
"You're better now, aren't you?"
Still no answer. I was just about to ask another question when the girl, whose long hair covered her face, mumbled.
"I'm scared, I'm so scared!"
The poor thing was right next to me. As soon as her words finished, tears streamed from her eyes and she started crying on my shoulder. I'm not a sentimental person, and I have absolutely no idea what to do in situations like this. That's why I waited silently for her crying to end.
The poor girl shed tears with hiccups for probably about ten minutes. When I saw her slowly starting to gather herself, I knew I had to say a few words.
"I can't tell you not to be scared, I'm very scared too, but just know that it's completely normal for you to feel this way."
Her crying ended when she took off her horn-rimmed glasses and wiped her reddened eyes with the sides of her index fingers. After the emotional breakdown she experienced, her face was all puffed up.
Despite this, she really had a beautiful face. The glasses gave her a bit of a Bookworm vibe, but even that failed to overshadow the care put into her creation.
"If you're feeling a bit better, could you tell me what you went through on your last night?"
The girl's story was important. It was certain she had gained immunity against the Social Media mobs, but I needed to know how.
"Like always, I was solving practice tests for the university entrance exams, and I stayed up late that night. I said 'just a few more questions,' and it was almost morning. Right then, a voice inside me said, 'Why don't you check out that YouTube video your friends at school keep talking about?'"
"I had studied all day. Thinking 'a few minutes won't hurt before going to sleep,' I watched a video titled 'How to do Prom Makeup'. I wanted to get up and go to my bed, but before I even took a step, I suddenly passed out. Then they told me that if I hadn't watched it, I would have gone to Heaven, mannnn!"
The torrential rain of tears I thought had stopped came back, and this time accompanied by sighs that occasionally resembled thunder. For another ten minutes, while my shoulder served as a pillow, crazy questions were spinning in my head.
I was untouchable in the Alcohol Zone. It was obvious this girl was the chosen one of the Social Media Zone, and sluggish Toraman of the Hardware Store Zone.
I had to move forward. Let's say I cleared my zone all by myself, then what? Was I just going to kill mobs so I wouldn't suffer torment here forever? No way. Whatever it took, I needed to whip them into shape. First, I needed to get this girl to kill a Fallen, otherwise, if she got hit with the eight-hour torment, she'd never recover.
"Little sis, look, let me tell you something. I'm just like you; I fell here because of a glass of alcohol I drank on my last night. If you listen to me, we have a chance to escape from here. If you haven't noticed, the attacks of the types here don't affect you. You need to destroy one of them as soon as possible!"
When I said "you need to destroy," the girl's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets, and at the same time, she backed away from me by about a meter.
"Look, don't say I didn't warn you later. If you don't kill one of them, you will suffer Hell's Torment for eight hours, it'll be a pity for you!"
She needed to overcome her fear, but it was obvious I couldn't make that happen by offering hope or courage. Only a stronger fear could suppress her current feelings.
"I don't believe you, you're lying!"
"Believe it or not, do you see that big stone over there? Go take a look at what's written on it!"
Feigning anger, I jumped up from my spot. Maybe the duo who didn't believe me needed to experience the torment just once. There had to be one more person in the village; perhaps the chosen one of the Hood Zone might believe me.
When I arrived at the zone, the massive group was still popping off. Oh, how the Fallen were enjoying themselves. While grinding up the people who couldn't keep up with their pace like the gears of a meat grinder, it was obvious from their every move that they were on a completely different trip.
Since they were just outside the beginner village, even though they took up quite a bit of space, all the mobs could be seen at a glance. There he was, I had found him. In the midst of all this chaos, he stood completely still and motionless all by himself.
It absolutely had to be him. I shouted toward the only person who had kept his wits about him in an environment where everyone else had gone crazy.
"Heyyy, hey you, come here right now!"
My first attempt wasn't going to be successful. Even though there wasn't a loud music broadcast, a few mobs were making up for it by beatboxing.
"Don't ignore me, I'm talking to you, come here!"
Man, am I the only normal one among these people? It was clear this guy had some issues too. After I yelled at least ten times, his highness finally did me the favor of turning to look. After giving me a hard time for another ten rounds, he finally managed to come over to me.
"What is it, what do you want from me!"
Oh man, turned out he was a tough guy too. He had raised his eyebrows and was looking at me as if demanding an explanation.
"You're standing there very nicely. I was going to find out how you managed to pull off such a difficult move!"
Enough is enough. Just because I needed something, I wasn't about to put up with the attitude of every stray dog. I was perhaps the only person in the beginner village who had killed a mob. Instead of manning up and asking for advice, they were demanding explanations.
"Are you messing with me!"
In front of me stood a medium-height man in his late thirties with an athletic build, despite having a slight belly. The gray hairs on the sides of his closely cropped hair, which were now impossible to hide, certified his age.
"Brother, I've been yelling at you for an hour. Why don't you even turn and look?"
"Whether I look or not is my business. Besides, what do you want with me!"
The guy was getting more aggressive the more he spoke. It was obvious this conversation wasn't going to end well, so I cut it short and got straight to the point.
"What did you do on your last night to fall here?"