The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 26

"Hmm? You're out much earlier than I thought, brother."

Eun Yeon-woo, who was sitting in the car in a comfortable posture, eating a sandwich, widened his eyes as he saw Lee Shin coming out of the dungeon.

Then, as if belatedly realizing his current state, he hurriedly moved to hide the sandwich, but Lee Shin ignored him and trudged to the seat next to him, then slumped down.

Eun Yeon-woo, seeing his completely different appearance from when he was in the dungeon, asked carefully.

"Was the boss room really that tough?"

"Huh? No, it lacked a bit of stimulation, but I had fun and came out. But why do you ask all of a sudden?"

At his unexpected words, Eun Yeon-woo was momentarily flustered.

"Uh... it's just that you're slumped over as if you're tired..."

"Ah, my tension gets a little high from excitement when I go into a dungeon. On the other hand, outside the dungeon, I'm like this."

It would be annoying to explain in detail, so he decided to just let it go.

Saying so, he tossed a fur coat, a blend of red and white, to him.

"Ugh! The fur is going to get in my sandwich. Hmm? By the way, where did you suddenly get such a flashy fur coat?"

At his startled question, Lee Shin, who had already taken out his phone and was reading a novel, said with an annoyed tone.

"That? It's an item that dropped from catching the boss monster. I don't need it, so I'm giving it to you to sell along with the byproducts."

"...Items drop when you clear a boss room?"

"Huh? You didn't know? An item drops every time you clear a boss room. Ah, right. I have other items at home, so come by later and take those too."

At his words, he slyly turned his eyes and checked the fur coat with the system.

[Fox's Tail]

-Normal

-A coat made using the fur and hide of a red fox. The fox's energy permeates it, making the wearer's body lighter.

-[Fox's Step] always active, the fox's energy makes the wearer's steps a little lighter.

"...It's really an item?"

Although it was a normal grade, his face turned bewildered upon realizing that an item was in his hands.

Right now, items, especially armor, were something many people were desperate to get.

Of course, an item was more reliable than something like a bulletproof vest.

'And he said he has a few more items like this.'

Wondering what kind of person he was, he looked at Lee Shin.

"Did you buy my share too?"

Lee Shin asked, looking at his sandwich with a bored gaze.

At his words, he handed him the sandwich he had bought just in case.

Satisfied with his sense, Lee Shin put them in his mouth, mumbled, and started reading his novel, while he looked around at the dungeon item he had brought.

Knock, knock-

As the two were spending their own time, an employee from [Wonderland], whom he had called after coming out of the dungeon, came to them and knocked on the window.

Eun Yeon-woo, who had been looking at the item in the car, got out and faced the person from the guild.

"Hello, I'm from the guild's collection team. Are you Mr. Eun Yeon-woo?"

"Yes, I'm Eun Yeon-woo from the supporter team."

The two briefly introduced themselves, then, following the guild's procedure, confirmed each other and began their work in earnest.

"By the way, you've caught a lot, haven't you? I know it's a bag that can hold about 30, but to think it's that full... There was a reason the guild even made a freelance contract to catch them."

"I know, right? I was very surprised watching today too."

The honest collection team employee smiled at his words.

"Haha! I'm envious that you're with such a capable player."

The collection team employee said, shouldered the bag, and was about to return to the truck.

Then, seeing him following, he smiled again and said.

"Ah! I'll take care of the rest. You can act according to the player's wishes. Well, you're probably off work, though."

The last line of the collection team person's words had changed to an envious tone.

Getting off work early was every office worker's dream.

But he shook his head as if that wasn't the case.

"It's because there's one more full bag besides the one you're holding. Seeing you carrying the bag without using your inventory, I thought you weren't a player, so I was going to go with you to the truck."

"......Excuse me?"

At his words, the collection team employee asked back with a dumbfounded expression.

According to the data he had received, it had only been about two hours since they entered the dungeon.

Considering that a party catches about 5 monsters in that time, the amount in the bag he was holding now was already an unbelievably large amount for one person to have caught.

But there was one more full bag?

'Th... then how many did he catch?'

The collection team employee felt his mind go blank for a moment and looked at him, and he, noticing his approximate thoughts through his gaze, chuckled in sympathy.

Honestly, thinking about it again, it was an unbelievably large amount even for him, who had gone through the dungeon with him.

'Probably, if that person hadn't blown the whistle to draw aggro and then dealt with several at once, we wouldn't have been able to gather this much.'

"Uh... then I'd be grateful if you could accompany me to the truck for now."

"Yes, I understand."

Fortunately, the truck was not far.

"Should I put it on top of this?"

"Ah, yes."

At the collection team employee's words, he took out the bag from his inventory and placed it on the truck's cargo bed.

Kkiiik-

The truck momentarily sank under the weight of the bag, and the collection team employee's gaze, who had confirmed that his words were true, was colored with astonishment.

"I... is all of this monster carcasses?"

"Uh, yes."

Thinking that he was a person with a consistent reaction, he nodded vaguely and got off the truck.

"Then please take care of the collection."

Finishing his words and about to turn back, he stopped his steps and looked at the collection team employee.

"Ah, and since the boss room has been cleared, please arrange for additional personnel."

"......"

Seeing that he couldn't even answer now, he simply repeated what he had said and, on his way back, was lost in thought.

"Did I meet a good player?"

He seemed like a person with a slightly strange personality, but thinking about it calmly, that was right.

He had moved while ensuring his safety in his own way, and after that, he had shown a message of wanting to be friendly in his own way.

'And he has skills too.'

The reason he had joined the guild and the reason he entered dungeons were all for money.

And Lee Shin was a player who could earn him a lot of money.

"You're here? Then let's go to the next dungeon."

As he got into the car, Lee Shin, who had finished his sandwich, tapped his smartphone and spoke to him in a languid, calm voice.

Chuckle-

"Yes, then since there's another dungeon nearby, let's go there."

He decided to think lightly.

He wanted to enter dungeons anyway, and he also wanted to enter dungeons.

Their desires seemed a little different, but what they had to do was the same, so thinking that this was enough, he drove the car and moved toward the next dungeon.

And so, time passed.

***

"Hey, it seems the market price for monsters has stopped rising."

"Really? For a while, just looking at them go up made me full without eating, but is that over now?"

At that, the man with glasses thought for a moment and said.

"Hmm~ Well, it seems the market price will be maintained for a while, but we don't know when it will fall again."

"Sigh, should we just hunt a little harder before the price drops?"

"Don't. If you don't want to earn money for your passage to the underworld."

At that, the man sitting on the opposite side sighed and said.

"Haa, should our party just join a guild at this point?"

"You foolish friend, guilds are picky about who they accept these days. If you wanted to join a guild, you should have joined in the early days of its establishment."

At the man with glasses' words, the man without glasses muttered in protest.

"But a lot of guilds have been created recently."

"Right, a lot of scammers have been created. It would be 100 times more comfortable to just hunt on our own than to get entangled with them and get a headache."

Since it wasn't wrong, the man sighed quietly.

"Sigh, if I were a production-class player, it would have been easier to get into a guild."

"Did you change your goal to getting into a guild instead of hunting safely by getting into a guild?"

He said, as if dumbfounded, and drank a cup of coffee.

"Hmm, but as the number of production-class players increases, the price of monster carcasses is being maintained without falling, and items are also being slowly released into the market."

"Hey, I saw the price of a real item, and it's insane. How can the price of an item be 2 or 3 times the cost of the materials?"

"Well, it's a natural thing if you think about it with common sense. Since items are a must to challenge a boss room, there's no way they'd call a cheap price."

At those words, the man sighed.

"Sigh~ I wonder when we'll be able to challenge a boss room..."

"I don't know? Maybe if we register with the Player Association? I heard they provide a lot of support for items there."

"I heard that too... but it feels like going back to the military, it's disgusting..."

"Well, that's true..."

The two spent their time talking about a few things like that.

"Ah! Come to think of it, did you hear that story?"

"Hmm? Ah! Uriel appeared and announced a guild, right? Was the guild name [Judgment]?"

"Yeah, that's right. Ah~ I want to join a guild like that too."

"Me too. But how come there isn't a single [King] in Korea?"

"I know, right? Considering our people, there should be at least one. How many have appeared so far?"

At those words, the man thought for a moment.

"Hmm, Hercules created a guild called [Lion] in America."

"Merlin and Oz each created organizations called [Magic Tower] and [Sabbath] in England."

"Ah, Crowley also established a guild called [Meister] in Italy, saying he would accept all production-class players."

"And now Uriel has been added, so exactly half have appeared."

They drank a cup of coffee and soothed their throats, which were tired from the slightly long conversation.

"Come to think of it, I'm curious, what are the other five doing now?"

'That's right, what are the other [Kings] doing? If I get the chance, I'd like to meet them at least once.'

Lee Shin also thought to himself while drinking coffee behind them.

As he was having such thoughts, someone approached with dissatisfied footsteps and sat in the seat in front of him.

At that, he asked in a calm, languid voice without being surprised.

"You're here? Did you fill it up with meat?"

"Tsk, yes. While you were playing here, I bought groceries at the supermarket and put the food in the refrigerator in the car."

"Right, right. Good job."

He ignored Eun Yeon-woo's dissatisfied voice, laughed vaguely, and stood up.

"Then let's get going."

"Haa~"

Eun Yeon-woo sighed, looking at him.

When he entered a dungeon, he would run around like a little kid, and when he came out of a dungeon, he would become endlessly lazy.

But in any situation, this my-pace personality did not change.

The two left the cafe and got into the camping truck they had received from the guild.

A week had already passed since dungeons appeared in the world.

During that time, the players who had struggled with a single monster in a dungeon had also gained some experience through repeated battles and their stats had risen, and they had begun to hunt properly, and the rankers had challenged boss rooms one after another and collected items.

As a result, the dungeons naturally began to be a little crowded with hunting players.

For him, it was a regrettable thing.

Even if he tried to hunt, it was difficult to do the mob hunting like before, and even if he tried to challenge a boss room, it was sometimes blocked by people challenging it.

Of course, dungeons continued to appear, raising their level as if it were a daily occurrence, but it wasn't easy to just find such places and go there.

As a result, he and Eun Yeon-woo decided to drive around in a camper and go around dungeons for several days and nights, as if camping.

In addition, thanks to that, Eun Yeon-woo's meat cooking skills were gradually improving to match his taste.

"Where to today?"

"I don't really know the name either. Just that it's in the countryside. Well, we just have to follow the path on the navigation, so it doesn't matter, right?"

"How long does it take to get there?"

"I think it'll take about an hour more."

"Hmm~ Well, I can just read a novel on the way. Let me know when we arrive."

Saying so, he went into the back compartment where the bed was and threw himself on it.

He was thinking of lying down and reading a novel on his tablet.

Thinking of his appearance, Eun Yeon-woo's stomach ached, and he clicked his tongue and continued his rough driving.

In their relationship that had settled over time, the pretense had disappeared.

(End of Chapter)