The Exchange
While Baengnae ran her information-gathering shop, I was stuck in the basement. The space was damp and cramped, but I could endure that much. The real problem was that there was no proper way to train down here.
‘What should I do…’
With nothing else to occupy me, I spent the day staring at my phone. I caught up on the community posts I had missed. As expected, most of the hot clips were mad movies of the tournament participants.
‘There really are some strange people out there.’
I also read through various humor posts and information threads. While I was busy killing time, I happened to open my messages. After posting about the returnees, I had turned off notifications because of the flood of incoming messages. The intense interest had died down quickly, though. Without further proof, people dismissed it as some kind of bug.
‘Well, it was a bug…’
That was why my inbox had gone quiet. Today, however, ten new messages had arrived.
‘People are still sending me stuff?’
Since I had nothing better to do, I read them. Seven of the ten were similar—guild recruitment offers or messages with that kind of tone.
‘Did they send these out to everyone in the top 200?’
The top 200 did not have their IDs publicly listed. The ones who were known had revealed themselves by authenticating on the community. The fact that someone had sent out mass messages anyway suggested a sponsor was involved. The remaining three messages, excluding the seven proposals, all came from the same user: a woman named Han Yua.
The high-ranker who introduced herself as the guild leader of Climber had a slightly different message. Her first message was no different from the others—a proposal to come to the Gray Castle server, where she would support my growth. The only difference was that she offered joint support even if I only chose the server and not the guild.
‘Do they need users that badly?’
From the second message onward, the tone changed. It was a warning. If I carelessly pressed [Combat Start], I could be transferred to the Dwarves’ City. She begged me not to attempt the climb so recklessly.
‘Did she send this to people who did not receive the proposal as well?’
The final message contained the information she had gathered about the Dwarves’ City, analyzed and organized in as much detail as possible. If I had already pressed the challenge, she asked me to hide for now and use the information she was sending to survive.
“Hmm…”
It was a message that gave me a lot to think about—not because of the information itself, but because of the person who sent it. Browsing the community, you met all kinds of people. Especially now that the environment had become so extreme, users had grown more violent and ruthless. After seeing nothing but trash, the sight of someone stepping forward to help others was quite striking.
Of course, there was an underlying intention to bring me to the Gray Castle. Still, for a high-ranker to pour their time and effort into Stage 3 for an uncertain gain was not an easy choice.
‘And someone this altruistic made it to Stage 7?’
Suddenly, the horrifying advertisement I had seen on the electronic board when I first arrived in the city came to mind. Human-flesh hamburgers. The dwarves were monsters that ate humans. In that case, rather than competing with each other, should we not be fighting the dwarves for the fate of our species?
I did not know. This high-ranker’s kindness was poking at my own selfishness.
‘I was happy when I saw mad movies of competitors dropping out… Now I feel a bit ashamed.’
Maybe I, too, was gradually losing my humanity like the demons of the community. Even so, I had not the slightest desire to become a pushover who gave everything away. Proper give-and-take was essential.
I read Han Yua’s messages carefully. There was information I did not know—things that could only be obtained by risking one’s life, not from the dwarves themselves.
‘If I received it, I should pay the price.’
Even the dwarves knew this rule. Although the shop was essentially unmanned, there had not been a single case of theft by dwarves. To avoid becoming a human worse than a dwarf, I sent a reply to Han Yua. I would pay her back in equal measure for what I had received.
***
Having reached beyond Stage 6, Han Yua was living busy days. She began each morning with light yoga. Afterward, she checked on the growth of her summons, supplemented any deficiencies, and dispatched them to various locations. She met with guild members for the morning meeting, then reviewed relations with the local nobles under her management. Normally, it would be lunchtime by now, but the recent annihilation of promising talents had erased mealtimes. Han Yua chewed on lightly toasted bread while reading through various messages from Stage 3. She needed to compile their information before the afternoon meeting began.
Munch, munch. Thud—
While reading the messages one by one, she dropped her toast onto the plate. There was a reply she had not expected at all.
“What…?”
She read one message over and over. It was a mysterious document that recorded extremely detailed information about the Dwarves’ City: the location of the market, the general layout of the city, potential threats, the dwarves’ ecosystem and hierarchy, and so on. The contents were beyond anything she could have guessed how they were obtained. The sender was ‘Melancholy Madman’—the returnee she had been searching for so desperately.
‘How on earth…? No, that is not important right now. Spreading this information comes first.’
Han Yua immediately copied the message and sent it to the guild’s think tank department. She added instructions not to ask about the source, to verify it thoroughly, and then to deliver it to the promising talents.
“Huu…”
She set down her food and rubbed her eyes with her palms. It felt as though a great weight had been lifted.
“Thank you… Thank you…”
Han Yua had been having nightmares lately. She had been tormented by guilt, believing her choices had driven countless people into danger. That knot had just loosened a little.
While she was blankly chewing her toast, she soon regained her senses.
‘But how did he know this information was needed…? Does he have an acquaintance in our guild? That cannot be…’
Han Yua looked over the messages the returnee had sent and noticed something strange. There was a record of her having sent him the proposal for the tournament’s top 200. Tilting her head, she soon understood. While managing so many users, she must have accidentally sent the message to the returnee. And after checking it, he had replied.
Han Yua was genuinely surprised. When she had tried so hard to obtain information about the return, he had rejected everyone. He had ignored both massive rewards and glory. Yet when he heard that someone was in danger, he had readily extended a helping hand. Come to think of it, it had been the same during the ‘Expert’ period. He had said he loved the expert who shared valuable information with users for free.
Han Yua had reached an enlightenment. The returnee was a benevolent person unlike any other in the world.
“Just what kind of person are you… Ah…”
In Han Yua’s mind, her fantasy of the returnee grew larger and larger. She sent a reply filled with gratitude and respect. She thanked him for his effort and dedication, and wrote that the allies of the Gray Castle server would support him.
However, contrary to Han Yua’s expectations, a reply came immediately.
[By the way, what is Gray Castle?]
‘Ah…? He does not know because it is a different server?’
[It is the name of the server to which I and Climber belong. I do not know which server you cleared to ascend, but this place is home to various vampires and nobles of the night, and we are struggling.]
[If it is vampires, do you mean things like blood-sucking giants?]
[Ah, so you know about the blood-sucking giants. They are high-ranking forces here and have been quite troublesome.]
[Hmm… Those bald ones are strong, after all.]
[Bald… ones? They have a lot of hair. Perhaps you are referring to a different entity?]
[You do not know? Blood-sucking giants are bald. They wear wigs on their heads. If you look underneath, there is a third eye, and shining sunlight on it weakens them. So that guy was from there. He really was too good to feed to the dogs.]
‘D-dog food? The blood-sucking giant…?’
Han Yua was confused about how to reply. Now that she thought about it, she remembered receiving reports of a third eye being discovered in the corpse of a blood-sucking giant.
‘How does he know this kind of information?’
At that moment, another reply arrived from the returnee.
[Ah, this is… I have to go. It looks like she finally caused an accident. I knew she was taking too long… Well then.]
And the returnee disappeared.
Han Yua stared blankly at the messages before hurriedly clearing away her food and beginning to reorganize her operations. If the returnee’s information was true, they could push back the front lines and seize more of the vampires’ castles. They might even be able to reclaim the first-place progress that had been taken by the Dream Island server not long ago. No—they had to reclaim it.
The true master of Dream Island was Kim Seolhwa, the president of the Returnee Anti-Club. Using the information the returnee had given to flatten her nose was something that absolutely had to happen.
***
A commotion broke out at the wine shop. Baengnae shouted.
“It’s Baengnae’s! That’s Baengnae’s!”
The cause of the uproar was white snake jerky. The dwarves who had come to trade information told Baengnae what she asked and took their goods. But troublemakers existed everywhere. One dwarf had snatched the jerky Baengnae had been snacking on.
The troublemaking dwarf threatened that if she did not hand over the jerky, he would never give her any information. Baengnae, having nothing to lose, told him to leave. There was no need to get information specifically from him. But this dwarf was no ordinary troublemaker. He threatened that if she did not give him the jerky, he would spread bad rumors about her to the surrounding dwarves. He even added that he was the youth association president of the area.
But what did Baengnae care? She refused again. The troublemaking dwarf was furious inside. In truth, he had another purpose. He had taken a liking to Baengnae. Her height, which was very tall for a dwarf, and her wealth, owning numerous shops, made her a perfect match for him, the youth association president, in his mind. That was why he had deliberately acted more maliciously, looking for a chance to get closer to her.
Three visits, but rejected every time. And with each failure, he had become an increasingly extreme troublemaker. Now all that remained was a vicious stubbornness to conquer this female no matter what.
Then he had snatched the jerky Baengnae had been eating. And finally! The previously indifferent girl began to show a reaction. The dwarf youth association president mistakenly believed that the wealthy female had almost completely fallen for him.
And this was the moment I heard the commotion and came running up the warehouse stairs. I pressed myself against the basement door, holding my breath and listening to figure out what was happening. At that moment, the dwarf shouted in a mischievous voice.
“Keke! If you kiss me, I’ll give it back!”
‘Crazy…!’
Startled beyond belief, my body lost strength and I pitched forward slightly. The impact pushed the basement door open.
Creaaak—
The dwarf’s eyes widened when he saw me. He pointed a finger at me.
“Huh… Huh? Human! It’s a human!”
I rushed out and slammed my gauntlet down on his head with all my strength.
Crunch—
The dwarf’s skull split and he died instantly. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Only after the incident occurred did I hear the full story.
“Hmm…”
With that, our information gathering came to an end. It would be best to head to the market before rumors spread that the youth association president had gone missing. Baengnae glanced at me. Then she grinned and spoke like a mischievous child.
“You caused an accident.”
In truth, we had already obtained more information than we needed, so there was no real need to gather more.
“Ahem…”
It was unfair. I had only rushed upstairs because I was worried about Baengnae. It was absolutely not because I thought, ‘Finally, an accident!’ and came running up in a hurry. It was definitely not because I came looking for a dose of dopamine during my boring basement warehouse life.
“You caused an accident.”
And so I became the sinner.