Chapter 6
Chapter 6: First, Registration.
[Using 'Low-grade Summoning Scroll'!]
[Player 'Baek Jin-woo' has obtained Summoner Beast 'Slime Ball' (F-rank)!]
[Using 'Low-grade Summoning Scroll'!]
[Player 'Baek Jin-woo' has obtained Summoner Beast 'Horned Butterfly' (F-rank)!]
2 F-ranks came out first.
[Using 'Low-grade Summoning Scroll'!]
[Player 'Baek Jin-woo' has obtained Summoner Beast 'Poison Lizard' (E-rank)!]
Oh, E-rank!
Baek Jin-woo clenched his fist and cheered inwardly.
Off to a good start.
Even counting Lamba as E-rank, he'd beaten 5% odds twice in just 5 tries.
Not bad.
And a Poison Lizard, at that?
Quite a useful one for its rank.
A Summoner Beast with great value for the cost.
Got lucky.
Heh.
Together with the Shaggy Gorilla, it would come in handy for getting through the early stretch.
"Come here."
Baek Jin-woo stretched out his hand.
Whoosh!
The Horned Butterfly flew over and landed on his left forearm, while the Slime Ball crawled its way under his legs.
This one……
Smells a bit ripe.
He'd have to use it for a while and then let it go.
And then—
Ssslp, ssslurp!
The Poison Lizard also flicked its tongue and came crawling over.
For now, the team's formed with these guys. Let's start with the lowest-tier Dungeon.
There was only 1 thing left to do.
Level up the Summoner Beasts while continuously tearing through Summoning Scrolls, and once the roster was in decent shape?
That's when he'd start farming Runes in earnest.
'Runes'—the equipment equivalent for Summoner Beasts—the more variety you had, the better.
Because you could swap them in and out depending on the situation!
Farm Runes, hunt, tear Scrolls.
Repeat those 3 on an endless loop, and you'd keep growing.
Gradually, he'd be able to raise better Runes and better Summoner Beasts.
Back to the grind again, huh?
There's no RPG in the world without grinding.
Even if it became reality, that hadn't changed.
Actually, come to think of it, reality's the same way, isn't it?
Whether you're studying or running a business—
You have to repeat the right actions to succeed.
Baek Jin-woo set a short-term goal.
The remaining EX-ranks……Finding all of them.
What would happen if he gathered all 10 EX-ranks and put together a dream team?
"Insane."
He'd imagined it for just a moment, and a curse flew straight out of his mouth.
Broken.
Absolutely, completely broken.
Having pictured his very own Avengers in his head, Baek Jin-woo was now certain.
If just those guys came together, whether it was 5 S-ranks or whatever else—
He'd sweep through all of it.
He'd probably just punch straight through to the 100th floor of the Tower of Trials too.
Aah……
He was excited.
So excited he felt like he had to move fast.
Where were the Dungeons, anyway?
Back when it was a phone game, it was simple.
Dungeons were divided by stage, and you just clicked to enter.
But in reality?
This wasn't a phone game.
It looked like he'd have to physically find Dungeons himself.
Swipe.
Baek Jin-woo pulled out the phone he'd activated that day and searched for relevant information.
And then—
"What?!"
He cried out without thinking.
"For real?"
Dungeon gates appeared randomly all over the neighborhood.
Fortunately, you could tell the difficulty from the amount of energy extracted from the gate, but……
Even with Summoner Beasts, ordinary people can't enter the Dungeon?
Oh, for—!
So it wasn't something he could just jump into right away?
Looking into it more carefully, it turned out he had to register at the Player Headquarters first.
Originally it had been open to anyone, but as the death rate climbed and things got worse, the government decided to manage it.
Every Dungeon had a staff member stationed out front, and you had to receive entry clearance from that staff member before going in.
"Hah."
And of course, it had to be a law that was newly established this very year.
Rotten luck, as always.
The registration process looks like a hassle too.
There seemed to be quite a bit of mandatory training, along with Dungeon practical tests and Battle practical tests.
They even added a competition?
It was probably to control the number of Players.
Society needs a variety of occupations to run smoothly, after all.
If everyone chased the money and became a Player, friction was inevitable.
"Well, registration's whatever. I'll just do it."
Brrr—
Grumbling, he called his younger sister.
—Oh, Oppa.
Oh, she picked up right away.
So it was true that she'd told him to call whenever he needed help.
"If you want to enter a Dungeon, apparently you have to do some kind of registration? Why didn't you say anything?"
—Ah! Right, that!
Baek A-jin laughed, sounding a little embarrassed, and continued,
—A few days ago, something about a Player License or whatever came in the mail, so I figured that must be what it was. I guess the law changed? Apparently Players who did Dungeon activities 10 or more times last year get automatically registered. I vaguely remember seeing it and moving on, but I didn't think of you, Oppa. Probably everyone who sat it out last year had their qualifications revoked? I heard quite a few people are piling in because of that. What are you going to do……You're going to end up competing with people who've been at it for 3 years?
"Is there anything you can pull strings on?"
—Oppa……What kind of pull do I have?
"What do you mean? Shadow Elf this, Shadow Elf that. You were bragging not long ago."
—Ugh! Headquarters is a bit strict. You'd need to be at least in the rankings to have any influence there.
"Rankings?"
—Oh, you don't know about those? The system evaluates influence each year and assigns rankings. Up to 100th nationally, and 100th globally.
"Ah."
—Of course, our country's rank 1 isn't even good enough to crack the rankings of other countries, so the level is pretty embarrassing. Hah, that God of Jinu, God of Jinu! If that legendary God of Jinu would just appear, our country would shoot up overnight.
"Mm, yeah……Got it. Thanks."
The moment his sister brought up ‘God of Jinu’, a pang of guilt hit Baek Jin-woo and he hurriedly ended the call.
Anyway,
To be active properly, he needed to earn his qualification.
And apparently there were rankings too.
Okay.
The setup was done for now, so today he'd head in and sleep.
***
The next day.
6 in the morning.
He'd woken up early intending to head straight out, but—
"Ah."
Mom and Dad were already up, in the middle of preparing breakfast.
Our family.
Truly hardworking people.
"Hmm? Where are you off to so early in the morning?"
His dad, who'd been getting breakfast ready, asked,
"Jamsil."
"What?"
"Didn't A-jin tell you? You said to try being a Player or something. It's for that."
"Ah, so when A-jin said she was busy moving things along, she meant she was prepping for the Player thing."
"Yes. I'm 3 years behind, so I have to move even faster to catch up."
"Ahem."
His dad let out a small cough and looked at him steadily.
His eyes held something like pride.
"Son."
"Yes?"
"I was still worried, but it's a relief to see you get a grip on things first thing in the morning."
"I have to get a grip. Registration, they said things have gotten strict."
"That's right. Still, it's definitely a career with a future. Look at your old man. Aren't I impressive?"
Wooong!
His dad shook out his hand, about to proudly summon his 'Pebble Golem' (E-rank), when—
"Honey!"
Mom furrowed her brow and scolded him.
"How many times have I told you not to summon that thing in the house! It's a nuisance!"
"Haha, sorry."
The hand he'd flung out moved straight to the back of his head for a sheepish scratch.
Strictly speaking, his dad wasn't a Player.
Not because he ran Dungeons with the Pebble Golem, but because he did loading and unloading work.
"Anyway. I was worried, but it's a relief to see you clear-headed first thing in the morning. Always keep at it."
"Yes, Father."
Baek Jin-woo smiled back.
Then he bowed his head.
"Mom, Dad. Thank you."
"Hmm? What's this all of a sudden?"
"For spending money on hospital bills, and for cheering me on."
"Why are you suddenly saying something so touching? Enough. Put it away. More importantly, you're eating breakfast before you head out, right?"
"Yes, don't worry. After starving for 3 whole years, my internal clock is telling me to always eat my meals."
"Are you sleeping alright?"
"I slept more than enough for 3 years. I'm sick of sleeping by now."
That was the truth.
Just wait until he finished his registration.
From now on—morning 6 AM start, 2 AM end.
He had to run himself ragged.
He didn't even have time to stand around like this right now.
"Anyway, enjoy your breakfast~! I'll be off!"
He said his goodbyes and headed out.
Baek Jin-woo's mom, Hwang Myeong-hui, tapped Baek Jin-cheol on the shoulder.
"Honey."
"Yeah?"
"Is it really alright, letting him go like this?"
"It's better than him waking up and rotting away in a stupor. The government's been putting in proper safety education these days, so it'll be fine."
"……Even so."
"Who knows? Maybe our Jin-woo will become the world's greatest Player."
"I'm not even hoping for that. I just want him to stay healthy."
All those years of nursing him through his illness—how worried she'd been.
She'd prayed every single day, grateful to heaven that he still had breath in him.
To be honest, she'd opposed her son becoming a Player.
It was a more dangerous occupation than people realized.
He'd finally come back to life—what if he died again?
But—
Baek Jin-cheol had argued strongly.
Apparently, the look in his eyes when he stared at the Golem in the hospital room was similar to the one he used to have when he was glued to that phone game.
It was the first time his son had been absorbed in something constructive.
Even if it was dangerous—
Cheering him on from behind was the right call. That had been Baek Jin-cheol's argument.
Stay safe, son.
Hwang Myeong-hui gazed tenderly at the door her son had just walked out of.
***
Were there many Players?
Not really, when you thought about it.
Even though all of humanity had been granted the qualification to become Players, those who were actually active were fewer than expected.
That was unavoidable.
Statistically, more people prefer safety over danger.
The biggest factor was simply that you had to put your life on the line.
The 'Shield' disappeared the moment all your Summoner Beasts were Reverse Summoned.
Enter a Dungeon, make a mistake, lose all your Summoner Beasts to Reverse Summon—
And you died right then and there.
Bitten apart, sliced to pieces, in all manner of horrific ways.
No matter how great the rewards, no matter how much glory it brought—there were good reasons people couldn't easily take the plunge.
In South Korea especially, the early days saw a staggering Dungeon death rate.
The reason for it was somewhat darkly comic.
It came down to a kind of greed.
Call it Main Character Syndrome—
Influenced by fantasy and martial arts fiction, people fell into the delusion that they had become the actual protagonist, pushed recklessly ahead in Dungeons, and died on the spot.
There was even a theory that the reason South Korea consistently ranked at the bottom in Battle standings was because so many talented gaming-generation players in their 20s and 30s had been lost back then.
"Hello there. Are you here to register?"
When he arrived at the registration desk of the Player Headquarters, a neatly dressed staff member greeted him warmly.
"Good timing. Today was the deadline for this month. You can submit your application right here."
The required documents were as follows:
Once submitted—
Teams would receive training for a set period and sit a written exam.
After that, completing a Dungeon practical—
Then competing in a Player Battle.
The result?
Only exactly 50 people per month could earn the 'Player' title.
50 people……?
Tough.
Quite a lot tougher than expected.
Why?
Because right at this moment, just the number of people registering at the desk numbered in the hundreds.
The funny thing was, most of them weren't even beginners.
They were probably former Players who'd had their registration revoked and were back to earn it again.
But then again.
Baek Jin-woo was confident.
If it was a competition, they'd evaluate it with some degree of fairness—and if they did, he could get past those people without much trouble.
If he couldn't even clear this one thing……
Wouldn't the name One Heaven's God of Jinu be weeping?
"Here you go."
After submitting his documents, Baek Jin-woo moved to a nearby café and waited at ease.
Browsing through this and that.