Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Guardian
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“Guardian...”
He had never even seen one in the community forums.
'A summon one step above a golem.'
Perhaps he was the first.
'No, not perhaps—definitely.'
“Ha... haha.”
In truth, dungeons practically required party hunting.
For him, who wanted to hunt dungeons while maintaining the [Solitude] trait, a summon was an essential alternative besides mercenaries.
'The perfect reward for me.'
Woojin burst into laughter without realizing it.
“To think I could get something better than Labyrinth Tower drops in the Dark Forest... The Red Tower would lose their minds if they knew.”
The Red Tower was the largest magic alliance on the central continent.
“No, not just them. Groups like the alchemy association [Plaz] or the druid union [Wooden Cloud] would be lighting fires under their eyes too.”
For rear-line players like mages or druids, a golem contractible via the Philosopher's Stone offered tremendous value.
'You can contract one after hitting level 50 and switching to alchemist on the central continent...'
A golem summoned with the Philosopher's Stone was far larger and stronger than those made by regular alchemy.
Plus, golems required no conditions to summon, lacked life force like spirits, and could be resummoned after a day even if shattered.
'But setting that aside, the biggest merit is something else.'
It allowed anyone, regardless of class, to contract a golem using the Philosopher's Stone.
'Even alchemists who can summon golems could have two with this.'
The Philosopher's Stone was truly an item everyone coveted.
'And now I have one...'
One that allowed a contract with a higher-grade golem, no less.
Gulp.
Woojin stared at the Philosopher's Stone with a tense face for the first time in ages.
The moment he reached for the confirmation button on the alert above the stone—
Boom—!!!
“...?!!”
He jumped in shock at the sudden explosion from Luen Pirbas's arrow and turned around.
“Sorry, Master! Intruders!”
At her unexpected words, Woojin stepped back.
“Intruders...?”
The Blanc Clan guys?
Did they tail him?
No, that was impossible.
Instance dungeons separated space upon entry, preventing outsiders from intruding.
'Who the hell...'
“Cough, cough...”
At that moment, coughing came from outside the door.
“W-Wait a second!!”
From behind the crumbled wall, a man stumbled out in an awkward stance, waving his hands in surrender toward Woojin, who grimaced slightly.
A flowing pure white robe.
Not typical player garb.
“...An administrator?”
As Woojin aimed his weapon in the baffling situation, the man widened his eyes and shouted.
“Stop the attack!”
He somehow looked clumsy.
“What are you doing here? I didn't call for an admin.”
“Ah... haha. Did I startle you?”
“Do admins nowadays stalk players too?”
“No!! Of course not!!”
Woojin kept his guard up toward the awkwardly bowing administrator.
“I'm GM Han. The reason I came here is... well...”
“Well?”
“Uh... to say hi?”
The man who introduced himself as Han smiled awkwardly at Woojin.
'...What the hell is this idiot?'
But all he got back was Woojin's cold glare.
'He's different from that Dane guy I met in the plaza.'
Woojin recalled the one who had coldly refused his plea for help, feeling a bitter pang.
'Well... I would've done the same.'
With mismatched resident registration and no family records, it wasn't odd to dismiss his claims as lies.
'But...'
Regardless, logout was a game system issue, wasn't it?
'Even if all my info was wrong, the signup details from character creation should still be there.'
That was info for the warrior Khan still existing in the game, not the vanished Kim Woojin.
'And yet they kept saying they couldn't help with just my personal info.'
Squeeze—.
Unknowingly, strength entered Woojin's fist.
“Master...?”
Luen called out to him worriedly.
“Hoo...”
Exhaling lowly to suppress his anger, Woojin eyed the awkwardly standing admin.
“An admin came all this way just to say hi to a scrub like me? Sounds fishy no matter how you slice it.”
“Ah! Well... Didn't you request help in the plaza before about not being able to log out?”
“Yeah.”
“We saw a logout record recently, so I stopped by to check if the issue's resolved.”
“I... logged out?”
“Yes.”
Woojin furrowed his brow slightly at his words.
'So when I went to the other world, the system logged it as a logout.'
Now it was certain.
He truly couldn't rely on the admins.
'With a logout record in the system, they'd just dismiss my words as even bigger lies.'
He hadn't expected help anyway, but this closure felt liberating.
“Whoa... Clear time of 9 minutes 40 seconds? Solo with just a mercenary, no party... Weird. We thought simulation after design could never clear under 10 minutes...”
Meanwhile, GM Han's eyes sparkled at Woojin's record on the dungeon board.
“How'd you do it?”
“...You're asking me that now?”
“Oops... Sorry. That was a pointless question. Admins mustn't interfere with player actions except for illegal conduct.”
At Woojin's wary attitude, GM Han hurriedly stepped back and bowed.
“I'm new to the admin team. I was on dev before, so I got curious about the record. Sorry.”
'Dev team, huh...'
He was definitely different from the admins he'd met so far.
Less robotic, more human?
'But he'll turn the same soon enough.'
Woojin eyed him coldly.
“I have no interest in chit-chatting or hi's with you. How about you leave?”
“Yes. But there's one thing I should tell you. At the last admin meeting, there was an agenda about you, Khan.”
“Agenda?”
“We've failed to assist multiple admin requests due to insufficient info, so the team decided to prioritize your calls with immediate response.”
“Ha...”
Now?
Ridiculous, but GM Han pressed on despite his demeanor.
“So I'll be your dedicated admin handling requests from now on. Really sorry for peeking!! Your combat was just... too cool.”
Han bowed 90 degrees once more.
“I mean it.”
With that, he opened the dungeon exit.
'They must be really short on admins to hire someone this green.'
Woojin stared at him in disbelief.
Better than schemers, but not enough to view him favorably.
'Dedicated admin? No way that's goodwill. It's surveillance.'
Didn't matter.
It was what he wanted anyway.
“Then...”
As GM Han bowed once more and turned—
“Let's head back.”
Woojin said to Luen.
Meeting an admin here was odd, but he had no time to dwell.
The next dungeon, [Blood Cave], still awaited conquest.
Viiiing...!!
“...?!!”
Then it hit.
A stabbing pain in his temples made Woojin stagger unwittingly.
“Master?”
Luen from behind hurriedly supported him.
'W-What?'
Right before entering the exit, the system window popped up.
“W-Wait...!!”
But this was different from before.
No [YES/NO] options below the alert.
Like the glitched system text, Woojin's eyes shook.
'Forced logout?'
Impossible.
If possible, admins wouldn't have left him rioting in the plaza for over a month.
Yet that impossible scenario was unfolding now.
“Damn it...!!”
Woojin whipped his head around.
But GM Han was already gone, as if he'd entered the exit.
[5...... 6......]
The countdown continued amid the chaos.
'What do I do?'
Despite the throbbing headache, Woojin's mind raced.
For others, a brief logout would be no issue.
But not him.
What if reality wasn't that reality?
“Luen!! Give me the ring and belt!!”
“Pardon? Oh, yes!!”
At his shout, she hurriedly handed over her equipped gear.
Woojin hurriedly equipped them.
[......10.]
The moment he buckled the belt, the count reached its end.
“......#$^@#$!!”
Shwaaaaa—!!!
Luen seemed to shout something at him, but a piercing roar filled his ears as pure white light flooded his vision.
* * *
Boom—!! Boom crash—!!!
'...Where am I?'
As his vision cleared, deafening explosions rang out.
Woojin instinctively ducked and scanned around.
A dilapidated building stood before him.
Seeing the large clock precariously hanging before the shattered roof, he instantly knew the place.
'Alchemist's Lab.'
Where he'd been moments ago.
But completely different from what he knew.
A ruined dungeon.
'As expected...'
Woojin fiddled with the ring on his finger.
Fortunately, the gear from her before logout hadn't vanished.
Gulp.
Woojin regripped his sword and lowered his stance.
'Alchemist's Lab means... the Dark Forest.'
The thing was still here.
The faceless monster.
Thinking of it made Woojin shudder involuntarily.
Had the fear rooted too deep?
He'd grown stronger, but facing that monster was still beyond him.
'Come to think of it, my first logout was in Moretti too.'
Logouts apparently returned him to his last in-game location.
'Good. Learned one thing.'
Woojin peeked over the building ruins.
His eyes shook.
'But...'
Clang—! Clang—!! Crash—!!!
Combat sounds.
'Who are they?'
A dozen or so people ahead.
Humans he was meeting here besides Raoul.
The benefactor who had shown him kindness.
“Kyaaah—!!!”
“Catch them!! Hurry!! Kill the men and rip out their hearts—capture the women alive and gouge their eyes!!”
Screams like bursting eardrums and men's savage shouts pierced Woojin's ears after the blasts.
Not everyone was like Raoul.
“...”
Squeeze—.
Woojin gripped his sword tighter.