Duo Leveling LITRPG | Post Apocalyptic | SYSTEM-Chapter 44 - The Debt Collectors Arrive

Chapter 44 - The Debt Collectors Arrive

There wasn’t any special reason.

If he chose Easy difficulty, his abilities would have been practically useless.

If he dared to choose Hard difficulty, it would have been something he couldn’t possibly endure.

The only path that seemed remotely doable was Normal difficulty.

To be honest, even in Normal difficulty, Hans had almost died.

He had thought to himself countless times — that if he could go back, he would choose Easy without hesitation.

’Anyway... it’s enough that I survived and came back, right?’

After that, Hans became one of the core members at Eastport Station, continuing to survive day after day.

Because he had passed Normal difficulty, people relied on him even more heavily.

’The problem was that Eastport Station didn’t have a single high-level player.’

The real issue was that someone who had barely survived Normal difficulty was now the mainstay of the group.

The grim reality was that there were no high-level players.

Among the survivors at Eastport Station, there wasn’t even one who had received shutdown rewards from Exodia.

Naturally, the entire group was steadily shrinking, growing weaker by the day.

Several dungeons had devoured the once-bustling commercial districts.

The more dungeon breaks occurred, the more the safe zones shrank, and the narrower the players’ range of activity became.

The situation only worsened as food supplies dwindled.

Eventually, people began to starve.

«Kee-ee-... Back then... we shouldn’t... have accepted... those guys...»

That was when they appeared —

the mysterious merchants.

Pack-carrying traders who suddenly began appearing all around Eastport Station.

They were armed with food, mysterious items, and unusually friendly attitudes.

They moved like volunteers, offering hope to the survivor group at Eastport Station.

They provided food that could fill starving stomachs.

They handed out weapons that could fight monsters.

At first, everyone was grateful.

Because thanks to them, they hadn’t died immediately.

«It was... a scam! It was a scam!!»

When they accepted goods from the merchants, Eastport’s survivors actually had nothing to offer in return.

In that brutal environment, hunting monsters was almost impossible, and collecting items was out of the question.

So they ended up offering something else —

their very status as players.

The merchants spoke grandly about "investing for the future,"

and under those honeyed words, the survivors signed contracts without suspicion.

In the end, they had mortgaged their lives — and futures.

Grinding his sharp teeth, Hans recalled those days bitterly.

«It was... Kee-ee-! A hidden contract!!»

At the time, they hadn’t realized it — but the food that the merchants had given out had been laced with drugs.

After eating it once, they would crave it endlessly — even if they were already full.

It took no time at all for Eastport Station to collapse.

And that wasn’t all.

On the back of the contracts — written in tiny, almost invisible letters —

was a clause stating that if they failed to repay their debt, they would "offer their bodies" instead.

«Kee-eee!!»

The cries of the kobolds, filled with rage and sorrow, shook the waiting room.

In their desperate wails was the unbearable humiliation and helplessness they had suffered.

«They... they stole our bodies! Keee-eee !!»

When the merchants disappeared, what showed up next were the "debt collectors."

Debt collectors came leading groups, carrying weapons.

And according to the contracts, they seized what was owed —

without mercy.

By the time the survivors realized what was happening, it was far too late.

«We... we became kobolds... Kee-ee-!!»

The players of Eastport Station had their souls forcibly trapped in kobold bodies.

Their real bodies — were taken away by the debt collectors, to some unknown place.

And that — was only the beginning of the nightmare.

«The debt collectors... Kee-ee-! Were ruthless!»

The debt collectors, who had taken their original bodies, started visiting once a week.

Each time —they demanded "interest," exactly as specified in the hidden contracts.

They came to take repayment for the goods the survivors had once received.

But what could survivors — now reduced to weak kobolds — possibly do?

The dungeons around Eastport were savage.

There was no way players trapped in such weak forms could hunt and gather anything.

Thus, week after week, they had nothing to offer.

And the debt collectors started taking something else.

Their memories.

«M-Memories!»

They began stealing the survivors’ memories.

No one knew what they were doing with them.

No one knew why.

But the debt collectors demanded memories as payment.

Perhaps that was why —

most of the kobolds could no longer even speak.

«We... can’t... let them take anything more... Kee-ee-!»

That was the tragedy that had befallen the survivors of Eastport Station.

And that — was the real reason they had attacked Jhin’s group.

After hearing everything,

Jhin slowly swept his gaze across the group of kobolds.

And then — he spoke, voice low and sharp:

«I see.»

There was no admiration. No sympathy. No emotion.

Only a cold, cutting tone.

«Has anyone else passed through here?»

«Other... people?»

«Yes. From Stoneveil city Station. Did anyone come through this way? You didn’t harm them, did you?»

Hans hurriedly shook his head.

Maybe it was the frozen sharpness in Jhin’s every word —

The kobolds all looked tense and frightened.

«N-No... Kee-ee-! You are... the first ones we’ve met...!»

The other kobolds surrounding them also shook their heads frantically.

Jhin looked around at them, forcing himself to calm down.

Of course, his anger wasn’t directed at the kobolds.

He exhaled a long breath and focused his gaze on Hans.

There was still something left to ask.

«Were the debts... different for everyone?»

«N-No.»

«What about interest?»

Again, Hans shook his head firmly.

Biting down on his lip, Jhin asked the last question — almost spitting the words out:

«When... are those bastards — the debt collectors — coming again?»

It was then.

Tatatat!

The sound of small, hurried footsteps echoed through the hallway beyond.

A kobold came rushing in, running desperately.

The little kobold ran straight to Hans and cried out:

«D-Debt collectors!!»

And then—

Following behind — heavy, deliberate footsteps began to fill the space.