novelraw Chapter 29
Chapter 29
A day had passed since the Dungeon Break occurred simultaneously around the world.
Many countries were still struggling to deal with the monsters that had spread to various regions, but some countries had succeeded in clearing the monsters to some extent thanks to the players.
And Korea was one of those countries.
Korea, led by the Player Association and the excellent players of various guilds, dealt with the monsters at a tremendous speed, and in areas where they could not be completely dealt with, the monsters were driven out of the city.
However, even if the monsters were dealt with, the problem was not over.
'Rather, the real beginning will be after defeating the monsters.'
The city destroyed by the rampaging monsters had to be restored, the property damage suffered by individuals had to be dealt with, and above all, the loss of life... there were a series of secondary problems that had to be dealt with.
"Well, it has nothing to do with me, though."
"Hwaa~ Can you really say that so definitively?"
Eun Yeon-woo, who was a little tired from wandering around various places without sleeping, yawned and, as always, snapped at Lee Shin's words.
The relationship between the two had settled at some point.
Eun Yeon-woo thought that this time too, Lee Shin would answer like a slippery snake and smile broadly.
But this time, his answer was completely different from what he had expected.
"Yeah, my parents passed away a long time ago. Well, I have other relatives, but they're more distant than strangers, so I don't care what happens to them. Ah, it would be a little annoying if the things in my house were broken."
"...I see."
Eun Yeon-woo, thinking he had stepped on a landmine, carefully shut his mouth, and at his reaction, Lee Shin chuckled and waved his hand.
"It's fine, it's an old story, so I don't really think about it anymore, and it's my fault for not telling you that you're from an orphanage... well, let's just say it is."
Saying so, he smiled broadly as always and pointed to the back compartment with his finger.
"Just cheer up and think about what to buy with the money you earned this time. The price will go down as a huge amount of supplies are released due to the monster attack, but the price of magic stones probably won't drop that much."
At his words, Eun Yeon-woo looked at the huge bag loaded in the back of the camping truck through the rearview mirror.
Last night, he had moved like crazy to catch monsters, and his role, which was to dismantle the monsters he caught, had also moved like crazy, stuffing things that would make money into the bag.
Normally, he would have been so happy that he would have hummed a little tune.
"...Right."
But now, he couldn't be honestly happy because of a slight sense of guilt.
Because he had grown up as an orphan, he had a longing and a dream for a family.
'Haa, but if I keep being like this, I'll suffocate and die.'
Thinking so, he hesitated for a moment and then opened his mouth.
"By the way, hearing the news of people being attacked by monsters here and there really makes me feel like the era has changed. Honestly, until now, it felt a bit like an extension of Pantheon."
In fact, this was not just his own impression, but what most of the people who had experienced this incident were thinking.
At that, he raised one corner of his mouth as if in a sneer and said.
"They didn't want to believe that Pantheon had disappeared, so they thought of reality as a substitute and had a brief happy dream. And this time, seeing the monsters run rampant, they woke up from that dream."
He thought people were stupid, but at the same time, he thought it was understandable.
For those who had suffered a huge mental and economic blow when Pantheon disappeared, the existence of dungeons that spewed out monsters would have seemed like nothing but a dream gold mine.
He smiled broadly at Eun Yeon-woo playfully.
"It's a relief that you can see reality properly now. You foolish little brother."
"...You really have a knack for annoying people, brother."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
He shrugged his shoulders in response to his words.
"Still, thanks to this incident, many things will change again, so it won't be boring."
He smiled broadly with anticipation, hoping for a future full of fun and perilous things.
"Ah, come to think of it, did you see that video I was talking about?"
"Yeah, I saw it."
Saying so, he took out his phone, played a video, and looked at it.
A video that showed the players fighting in sequence with simple editing.
Although he couldn't feel the sincerity and enthusiasm that an editor should have, he actually liked that part better.
If they had added various effects or actions, it would have been harder to see the players' movements.
"It was a very interesting video."
He put a piece of snack in his mouth as he watched the video.
Some parts were hard to see because the image quality was poor, but he didn't care much.
After all, most of what came out in front were small fry outside his interest.
The video he had been watching with a slightly pounding heart soon moved on to the second half.
And the faces of the people appearing in the video became incredibly flashy.
Hercules, Uriel, Crowley, Merlin, Oz, and Cheon Yuhwa.
The fights of the [Kings] who had risen to the pinnacle of all players were flowing from the video.
'Ah, it really looks fun. By the way, I thought that Cheon Yuhwa would be strong, but this is beyond what I imagined.'
Watching their fights, he smiled with anticipation.
Since it was just a video of them beating up monsters, it was impossible for him to gauge their exact skills, but he could feel one thing.
"Fighting these guys looks more fun than fighting monsters."
A strong enemy.
The appearance of a strong enemy who was on a higher level than himself.
He was so happy and joyful about that that he smiled.
It was hard to hold back his laughter.
'How fun would it be to fight these guys.'
With a joyful heart, he calmly racked his brain and organized what he had to do in the future.
Eun Yeon-woo was talking to him from the side, but he just ignored him.
'First, I need to get the basics right.'
He brought up his status for the first time in a long time.
Name: Lee Shin
Level: 1
Path: Madness
Strength I: 12
Agility I: 13
Sense I: 23
Intelligence I: 22
Internal Energy: 25
"Hmm..."
Looking at his status, he let out a slightly disappointed groan.
'I'm five stats short. If I just fill that up, I can get the quest to level up to LV.2 and then stand on the same footing as those guys.'
In his eyes, he could see the level where the [Kings] in the video were standing.
LV.2.
A place one step higher than where he was now.
To get there, he decided to first raise his lacking stats.
'But even if I focus on filling up the lower ones, it will definitely take a long time for the stats to go up. What should I do?'
When his body was in bad shape, it had improved at a rapid pace just by eating and sleeping well, but now that it had taken some shape, it was hard to expect such rapid growth.
"Hmm, there must be some way."
But it was just difficult, not impossible.
Since the clear evidence was flowing from the video, there was not a shred of hesitation in his thoughts.
"Hmm..."
He first smiled at the new goal of becoming strong enough to catch up with the [Kings] and then twisted the direction of his thoughts.
'For now, should I just get the equipment I was lacking.'
"We've arrived."
By the time his thoughts had reached the equipment, the car driven by Eun Yeon-woo had arrived at the [Wonderland] guild.
***
"Hoo, we finally got in."
Eun Yeon-woo shuddered, recalling the sight of the reporters who had rushed at them like hyenas.
"It seems your guild has become famous thanks to Cheon Yuhwa. Seeing how enthusiastic the reporters were."
"I heard about it, but I didn't know it would be this much..."
Eun Yeon-woo, who had barely managed to shake off the reporters with the help of the bodyguards and enter the guild's parking lot, scratched his head.
But in fact, they had gotten in easily because they had come at a time when there were few reporters by chance.
Cheon Yuhwa had moved people's hearts by showing herself fighting on broadcast, and after that, she had raised her popularity by revealing that she was one of the [Kings].
In Korea now, she was no different from a hero.
Thump-
Anyway, after safely entering [Wonderland], Lee Shin patted Eun Yeon-woo's shoulder and offered his congratulations.
"Wow, congratulations. You ended up getting a job at a big company. From now on, only a rosy future awaits you."
"Th... that's right."
Eun Yeon-woo answered a little bewildered, finding it hard to accept the current situation.
"Anyway, you worked hard driving all the way here, so go in and rest now."
With a calm word of congratulations, he gave freedom to Eun Yeon-woo, whose business was now over, and turned his back to walk to another place.
Swoosh-
But he was soon blocked by the bodyguards.
"I'm sorry, but from here on, only authorized personnel are allowed."
"Here."
He handed the all-purpose card he had received from Cheon Yuhwa at the same time as the contract to the guard.
The guard was momentarily flustered by the new type of card he had never seen before, but at his confident appearance, he checked the card once.
Beep-
And at the same time as confirming the message that appeared on the machine that had passed the card.
Thump-
Thump-
The two guards immediately bent their waists in half and spoke in a more polite voice.
"Confirmed. Thank you for your cooperation."
"Yes, thank you."
He, who had received the card back without any particular emotion, answered appropriately and walked into the guild.
His steps were heading toward a building that had a similar shape to a steel mill.
Hwoook-
"This place is still the same."
Feeling the hot air that rushed out as soon as he opened the door, he calmly walked inside, opened a door, and entered the room with 'Team Leader's Office' written on it.
"Hmm? A face I haven't seen in a while."
There, Geum Hyun-moo, a muscular middle-aged man with fiery red hair, the head of the blacksmith-class players of [Wonderland] and the team leader of the 6th team, was sitting.
Looking at him, he waved his hand and greeted him lightly.
"That's right, Mr. Hyun-moo. It's been a while."
"Tsk, from the looks of it, you were unfortunately unharmed."
"That's right, unfortunately, the monsters were a bit weak."
Geum Hyun-moo clicked his tongue as if genuinely disappointed, and he agreed and just laughed.
Even though it looked like this, the relationship between the two was not that bad.
He was the team leader in charge of managing the blacksmiths and a blacksmith himself, and he was a player who spent most of his day focusing on dungeon raids and sending a huge amount of byproducts.
As a result, they naturally came to know of each other's existence, and after a few light conversations, their current relationship was formed.
For him, he was a memorable player.
Skills aside, there was no player other than him who even sold the items obtained from dungeon raids.
Ting, ting-
He lightly tapped the sword he was examining with his finger and then placed it on the table.
On his table, besides the sword, there were various types of weapons and the hides of various monsters, and each and every one of them was a high-end item.
Having finished his work, he finally faced him and opened the conversation in earnest.
"So what brings you here? You wouldn't have come all this way just to chat with me."
"Ahaha. You're sharp."
"Did you come to have an item made?"
"Wow~ You're really quick-witted. I haven't even said anything yet."
He said, laughing, but he just snorted.
"Hmph! Quick-witted. If you came to a blacksmith at a forge, it's obviously a request to have an item made."
"That's true."
At his words, he straightened his posture.
"By the way, what's up? You're the guy who used to sell all the items you got to us, saying you didn't need them."
At his words, he answered simply.
"I just thought it was about time to start moving properly."
"Hmm..."
He looked at him for a moment as if trying to guess what he was thinking, then nodded.
"Well, good. If you get stronger, the quantity and quality of the materials sent this way will increase. You won't have to worry about money either."
He faced him with eyes in which the flame of a craftsman had begun to burn faintly and opened his mouth.
"So, have you thought about what items you want to have made?"
He chuckled, thinking he was a very interesting old man.
"I have something in mind that I thought of on the way here."
(End of Chapter)