Who is Choi Junseok? (2)
As usual, he cleared the 21st and 22nd floors.
"The protection talisman's performance is solid. Good work."
Song Hana now looked disappointed if her head wasn't patted. She was openly pushing her head forward, practically begging for it.
Pat pat.
When he patted her head, she smiled happily with a "hehe."
The clear records for both floors were, of course, the shortest. The 21st and 22nd floors felt even lighter to clear than the 20th. By summoning the Holy Sword and blowing up entire rooms before even seeing the monsters' faces, he smashed the Magic Tower into the ground.
"Summon!"
Clear Record: 3 seconds
He immediately collected the rewards and summoned the Holy Sword again on the 22nd floor.
KABOOOOOM-!
The ground itself shattered, creating a massive crater, and the monsters literally evaporated in mid-air. Yet all rewards except experience points came in properly. The magic stones fixed from the 20th floor onward. About a handful each, 210 grams and 220 grams respectively. As the floor increased, the weight increased by 10 grams each time, but it was only about half a magic stone difference.
"Quality is about low-grade."
The crystals were strangely cloudy and lacked luster. Consequently, they didn't contain strong magic power. Since the highest-grade magic stone of 100 grams is purchased for around 20 million won, these low-grade ones wouldn't even reach a quarter of that. 200-gram low-grade magic stones. Selling them at the government exchange wouldn't bring in much money. Even if magic stone prices surged due to recent player terror incidents, the purchase price from the government wouldn't change much.
'Maybe around 3 to 5 million won at best?'
Today's fixed income was a total of 430 grams. Roughly 8 million won in revenue. But suddenly a chuckle escaped. Because he felt something was lacking. 8 million won potential profit. Plus clearing the 20th floor, about 1.2 kg to sell would earn over 10 million won. Yet strangely, it didn't feel that big. People are so fickle.
"If it were before, it would have felt like real big money."
Now that he could make tens of millions from selling just one item, clearing Magic Towers alone felt somewhat boring and disappointing. 'Back then, I desperately wanted to be a porter on the 20th floor.' He couldn't even dream of such VVIP service from the Player Management Agency. What was 10 million won? He used to think it would be good to earn a stable 100,000 won a day as daily wage.
If 10 people were attacking the 20th floor, just from fixed rewards, daily wage would be around 30 million. If porter profits were allocated lower, definitely over 30 million daily. That's why players were desperate to join 20th floor repeat raid parties.
"Come out, Kkamdori."
Then Kkamdori appeared smoothly from the air. At that presence, Song Hana, who had gone into her room, jumped out.
"Kkamdori!"
Kyarek?
Kkamdori looked back and forth between Choi Junseok and Song Hana, then was caught in Song Hana's arms. Lee Nayeon calmly went to the giant TV and sat on the sofa, saying,
"It seems we're receiving excessive attention in the Player Residential Village."
Choi Junseok nodded at Lee Nayeon's words from the room.
"Looks like it. I went to the gym this morning too, but the stares were so intense I came right back."
"Is it okay?"
For now, they were requesting food via room service as well. Just one day after moving in. Because they had drawn all sorts of aggro from people. Song Hana, who was playing by stretching Kkamdori's cheeks, asked anxiously,
"Come to think of it… a lot came today."
"Hmm?"
"When I woke up from oversleeping, the hotelier moved them for me, over there."
Since the room was so spacious, he hadn't paid much attention to the piles of items. They were various shopping bags or packaging bags, some wrapped in shiny paper that looked like children's Christmas presents.
"What are all those…?"
"Gift piles, apparently."
"Gifts?"
Suddenly, what gifts? Song Hana pointed to the gift pile stacked by the window in the room and said,
"I excitedly opened them, but mine was just one rabbit doll…… Ah! I did all the safety checks too! I only opened mine… Is that okay?"
If Song Hana checked for dangerous items, it was probably reliable. But Choi Junseok felt reluctant. The reason they requested room service for the hotel lounge's high-end course meals that had gone cold was also because of other players' jealous and envious stares. Even inside here, within the Player Management Agency's surveillance network, he couldn't be sure what tricks might be pulled.
"There are no items among them that particularly catch my senses."
'Wait a minute.'
If Song Hana had opened all the gifts meant for her, then the items stacked as high as the massage chair next to the massage chair—who were they addressed to?
"Doesn't seem like gifts sent to me."
Song Hana nodded.
"All of them are addressed to Lee Nayeon unni!"
"……Oh."
The massage chair by the window. All the gifts stacked as high as that massage chair were Lee Nayeon's?
"Mine?"
"There was one!"
"If there is, there is, what's with 'there was one'…?"
Song Hana smiled and ran to the gift pile. On one side, there were small postcard-sized mails. The contents were simple.
"Duel arena, and sparring requests…, and battle arena, guild invitation letters, team invitation letters… curse doll… and……"
"Enough. So the rest are all Lee Nayeon's?"
"Looks like it?"
There were dozens of shopping bags with logos of famous luxury brands. But Lee Nayeon showed no interest at all.
"They're addressed to you? Not going to check?"
"Gifts for me? Why?"
She tilted her head, then turned her gaze to the TV and said in an uninterested tone,
"I'll proceed with TV training instead of opening them."
"……Right."
TV training didn't seem bad. She was learning a lot about this world, the cultures, and Korea's culture as well.
"Lee Nayeon unni seems completely hot among players! Ehehe."
Of course, any male player would glance at her at least once. Even aside from that, they would show goodwill just to build friendships. How common were SS-grade players? Moreover, if it was a player receiving special treatment from the nation. Since her rank upgrade to SS-grade was probably achieved with national support.
'The player in the shadows receiving full national support = the nation's top-tier player' formula would be established. They would approach either to line up or to invite her to their team or guild once she came out into the open.
"Most seem to have impure intentions though."
Choi Junseok, who was examining Lee Nayeon's gifts, shook his head while looking at the love letters. Someday, she would eventually reveal herself in player society. But he wondered if this was the right way. According to Team Leader Kang Jinsu, rather than gaining attention among ordinary people first, it was said that being recognized as a mysterious powerhouse in player society through this opportunity would cause less backlash.
'Rather than becoming famous among the general public, it's better to be recognized first in player society.'
That way, when the situation arises where existing players say 'Is Choi Junseok getting special treatment because he's Function?', the backlash could be minimized. Rather than deliberately acting to make his name known among the public first, gradually revealing himself in player society was better.
Choi Junseok sat in the hotel lobby cafe lounge, eavesdropping on people's conversations. He was with Song Hana and Lee Nayeon. Although they were wearing hats, some people recognized the three and started whispering. They were people with pride as top-tier players themselves. Even while talking about the diamond-grade player Choi Junseok, they would suddenly switch topics to something else. They were casually sitting and drinking high-end desserts and coffee. But subtle gazes were directed toward Choi Junseok's group.
"So delicious!"
Song Hana's bright reaction. Along with the indifferent Lee Nayeon. And Choi Junseok calmly conversing.
"What? Living like normal people, huh?"
"They look young too. Aren't they all in their early 20s?"
"But… since the country took them underground and worked them hard… it's pitiful."
"How much did the country exploit them?"
Rather, seeing them breathing and eating in the same space, some people seemed to feel goodwill. Because if they themselves were diamond grade, they would have acted differently toward other grades, treating them as inferior. Player society was clearly divided into a class society. Just as royalty didn't consider nobles as equals. Nobles didn't consider commoners as fellow humans. Commoners didn't consider the lowest class as humans. It was revealed that there was royalty above those who reigned as royalty. But when they actually saw that royalty, they weren't much different and didn't seem to keep a particular distance. Thus, subtle goodwill began to arise.
Of course, Choi Junseok's intention wasn't just that. It was to eavesdrop on people's conversations. Lee Nayeon concentrated her senses to listen to people's conversations. She conveyed what she heard to Choi Junseok through an inner voice. There was no better place than this to gauge how elite players thought of Function.
'The rumor that he cleared the 21st and 22nd floors spread right after clearing… It seems they're tracking and hearing about it very sensitively.'
Even the top-tier players seemed to be closely watching Function.
"Apparently Function cleared the 20th floor alone."
"…Is that floor at a level where it can be cleared alone?"
"I couldn't do it if told to enter alone from that mine. Have you seen the swarm of ghouls climbing the ceiling?"
The undead floors starting from the 20th floor. In the undead floors continuing roughly to the 25th floor, what people suffered most from wasn't the enemies' strength, but psychological resistance. It was because the monsters' appearances were bizarre and terrifying. To the point where the boss monster's attacks would look like a fairy. Just facing a swarm of ghouls crawling on the walls was enough to break one's will to fight.
"Entering there alone from the start means his mental strength is no ordinary person's."
"Come to think of it, there's been a lot of talk about the Function Church lately. Heard of it?"
'Function Church…?'
The name sounded ominous from the start.
"A religion that says Function is the god who will save the world's Magic Towers, and the ruler of the system has descended in Korea?"
"Crazy…. It's a cult, right?"
The sound that made even Choi Junseok, who was listening, wet his dry lips immediately followed.
"So the leader of that Function Church… came forward saying he's Function?"
……?
What kind of nonsense was this now.