Chapter 34: How a Veteran Grows (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 34: How a Veteran Grows (1)
[All A-rank and above players, please stop what you are doing and gather at the top-floor penthouse immediately.]
Bzzzzt!
The phone vibrated.
A brief summons, stripped of any context, had been issued.
"Damn it, I'm busy. Why the sudden emergency summons?"
"Tell me about it. I was right in the middle of a raid."
"Ptooey! I know we have to do whatever they tell us, but isn't this getting a bit too frequent lately?"
The players belonging to the Black Crow Guild grumbled as they gathered at the building.
The interior was quiet.
Tiny shards of glass littered the floor.
It was different from usual.
Everyone tilted their heads in confusion.
"What's going on today?"
"This is our building... right?"
A heavy sense of unease washed over them.
Instinctively, they felt something was wrong.
Click!
The moment they opened the door and stepped inside, their ominous foreboding turned into certainty.
"W-what happened here?"
"Geon-su hyung!"
"Healer... heal him now! Hurry!"
The man collapsed on the floor, covered in blood, was none other than the guild master, Shin Geon-su.
"It's already too late. He stopped breathing at least a few hours ago..."
The healer examining Shin Geon-su's condition shook their head.
While they could treat injuries, bringing the dead back to life was beyond a healer's capabilities.
The guild master was dead.
If so, who had issued the emergency summons?
Everyone's gaze turned to the other person in the room.
It was Kim Hee-woong, Shin Geon-su's secretary.
Seeing him nervously adjust his glasses, anger flared within them.
"Kim Hee-woong!"
One of the players drew his weapon.
Whirrr...!
A spear over two meters long emerged from his subspace inventory.
The sharp weapon was thrust toward Kim Hee-woong's throat.
"Tell us exactly what happened, without leaving out a single detail! Right now!"
"Haha... W-well, you see..."
Kim Hee-woong glanced to the side awkwardly.
Specifically, toward the underside of the table.
Is there someone else? Just as everyone thought that, step.
A very young-looking, white-haired girl emerged from beneath the table.
She had striking long silver hair and crimson eyes, exuding a mysterious aura.
"Sigh."
The girl scratched her head in annoyance. Although deadly intent was radiating from the various weapons pointed at her, she acted as if they didn't even exist.
Dumbfounded by her carefree attitude, the spearman clicked his tongue.
"Unbelievable. Did you pull this stunt relying on a mere brat like this?"
At that exact moment, a vein popped on Alice's forehead.
"B... brat? Did you just call me a brat?"
Ruuumble!
It was then that crimson mana began to overflow.
[Lv.?? 'Blood Domain' has been activated!]
The tense, murderous intent that filled the room vanished in an instant, replaced by a chill so intense it felt as if it would freeze the blood in their veins.
Some of the players here had even participated in the 1st-floor boss raid, but...
This was incomparable.
They were on completely different levels.
"My god..."
"W-what is this mana?"
"S-she's a monster."
Shiver!
The players froze in place, their bodies trembling violently. Not a single one of them dared to even think of running away.
"Aaaah! Y-you must restrain yourself! The... the Boss told us not to kill them if possible!"
Kim Hee-woong was equally panicked.
To run the guild, they would need its core resources. Jinhyuk had instructed them to preserve the rankers as much as possible.
But.
"Who cares? Didn't you hear what those bastards just said to me?"
Alice's reason had snapped long ago.
As if venting all her accumulated stress, a massive wave of mana exploded.
Craaaash!
Every single window in the building shattered into pieces.
* * *
The Awakened Association in Seocho-dong.
Jinhyuk had headed here first to prove he had passed the second test.
1:00 PM.
It was the exact time they had agreed to meet.
Checking his smartphone, Jinhyuk looked around.
They should be arriving soon...
Just as the thought crossed his mind, "Hyung!"
"Oppa! Over here! Over here!"
Two people waved and approached him from near the entrance. It was Lee Tae-min and Yu Yeon-hwa.
In terms of actual time, it hadn't been that long since they last met.
Yet, for some reason, Jinhyuk was genuinely glad to see them.
"You're right on time. How have you guys been?"
"We've been great. We even successfully cleared a B-rank labyrinth on the 2nd floor!"
Lee Tae-min puffed out his chest proudly.
"Our levels went up quite a bit too. We practically hunted without sleeping."
Yu Yeon-hwa also wore an expression that practically begged for praise.
Indeed, the mana radiating from the two of them had changed.
Not only had the overall quantity increased, but the density of their mana had also grown thicker.
"Sounds like you guys had quite an eventful time."
"Oh, please. Not as eventful as you, Oppa."
"Huh?"
"Don't play dumb. The video uploaded to the 'Hall of Fame' yesterday. That was you, wasn't it?"
Yu Yeon-hwa nudged Jinhyuk's ribs with her elbow.
Lee Tae-min chimed in.
"Hyung, but why did you wear a mask? Don't tell me your eighth-grader syndrome is acting up again like in the old days... right?"
"I had my personal reasons. More importantly... was it really that obvious?"
Deducing it just from a mask.
No, more than that, wasn't it a bit too much to pinpoint his identity by linking it to eighth-grader syndrome?
Though he couldn't deny he once had those tastes...
For some reason, it felt a bit depressing.
"Because you're the only veteran player capable of clearing a ruin like that, Oppa. I figured it out instantly."
"To be honest, the moment I saw the news, I knew it was you, Hyung."
"Ah...! Is that so?"
Jinhyuk's sullen expression brightened instantly.
What a relief.
In more ways than one...
"By the way, Hyung, did you really quit the [Tower of Trials] around the same time we did?"
"Watching the video, it didn't look like you just memorized the patterns. It looked like you were about to slap the creators of the [Tower of Trials] in the face..."
The two stared at Jinhyuk with eyes mixed with suspicion and awe.
It was an almost overwhelming gaze.
But they couldn't help it.
Right now, the [Tower of Trials] community was beyond hot—it was on the verge of exploding because of the video uploaded yesterday.
The failure to clear the 3rd-floor boss and the successful raid of the supposedly impregnable ruins.
As these two major events collided, the attention of countless people focused on the masked player.
Who was he?
How high had he climbed the tower in the past?
Which guild did he belong to?
His favorite foods, his hobbies, and even the color of the underwear he was wearing today were subjects of intense curiosity.
The reaction is certainly intense.
Jinhyuk chuckled.
He had expected something like this, but this exceeded his expectations.
Good.
With these conditions set, his future moves would be much easier.
Living two separate lives—one with the mask, and one without.
I'll take both of them to the absolute top.
World Rank 1 and Rank 2.
At first glance, they would seem like completely different people, but in reality, they were the exact same person.
I'll use both identities to reap every single benefit possible.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
As he thought of the countless plans he had mapped out, Jinhyuk felt his heart begin to beat faster.
Just then, "Hyung? Answer me. Seriously, what floor did you actually reach?"
"Hey, that's not how you ask. Be honest, Oppa. You're one of the game developers, aren't you?"
"Noona, isn't that going a bit too far?"
"Is it? Otherwise, how do you explain moves that are so ridiculously veteran they're practically rotten?"
"...Now that you mention it, that actually makes some sense."
He had no idea how the conversation had drifted this far.
While it would be fun to watch the two of them let their imaginations run wild...
"Sorry."
Jinhyuk smiled warmly.
At the same time, he showed them his smartphone screen.
[Please report your 2nd test results by 1:15 PM.]
* * *
Perhaps because there were no Awakening tests scheduled today, the interior of the Association was quite empty.
Arriving at the information desk, Jinhyuk pulled out his ID.
"I'm here to collect my certificate for passing the second test."
"Yes, just a moment, please."
The female employee took Jinhyuk's ID.
But then...
"Oh...? Mr. Kang Jin...hyuk?"
Her eyes widened like a startled rabbit.
Alternating her gaze between the ID and Jinhyuk, she suddenly bolted upright from her seat.
"Could you... could you please wait here for just a moment?"
"Excuse me?"
"Just a moment. Please don't go anywhere and make sure to wait."
Leaving only those words, the employee hurriedly ran off somewhere.
It happened so quickly that Jinhyuk couldn't even get a word in.
A moment later, she returned accompanied by a middle-aged man with a sharp impression.
Well, this is quite unexpected.
Jinhyuk's eyes narrowed.
How could he not recognize him?
Han Sang-jin, the president of the Awakened Association.
The very man who oversaw all players in South Korea.
[Lv.2 'Eye of Truth' has been activated!]
The Eye of Truth pierced through the opponent's status window.
Tring!
----------------------------------
Name: Han Sang-jin
Gender: Male
Age: 45
Level: 15
Strength 19, Agility 17, Stamina 15, Mana 15
Stat Points: 0
Coins: 0
Class: Administrator
Unique Ability: Batch Command
Skills: Lv.4 'Bureaucracy', Lv.4 'Solid Unity', Lv.3 'Arbitration', Lv.3 'Ideological Verification'
----------------------------------
[Copy Condition: The copy conditions have not been updated due to an error.]
Just as Jinhyuk finished reading the status window and copy conditions, "I have been waiting for your arrival, Player Kang Jinhyuk."
Han Sang-jin, who had closed the distance before Jinhyuk realized it, offered a handshake.
Damn it.
He had a feeling that shaking this hand would lead to a massive headache...
There was no mistake. The look in Han Sang-jin's eyes was like that of a beast eyeing its prey.
But if I just stand here staring, I'll be branded as the most ill-mannered punk in the Land of Eastern Decorum.
Whew.
Nothing he could do about it.
But just as Jinhyuk was about to reach out, he froze.
He chewed over Han Sang-jin's words.
Something was off.
There was a profound sense of dissonance in this interaction.
Wait, hold on.
He was waiting for me to arrive?
Only the examiner knew his true measurements from the first test.
To everyone else, he was just another dime-a-dozen F-rank player.
For a bottom-tier player... the Association President himself is making a move?
It made absolutely no sense.
And there was no way the examiner had opened his mouth.
Since he had been branded with the 'Brand of the Flame Soul', the moment he spoke the truth, he would have turned to ash.
...Interesting.
This meant they had prepared well enough to deceive even his 'eyes'.
Jinhyuk smirked.
"Hey."
"Pardon? Why... why are you suddenly speaking to me like that?"
Han Sang-jin's face contorted in bewilderment. It was only natural, given the sudden drop to informal speech.
Yet, Jinhyuk's expression remained ice-cold.
"Cut the clumsy acting and drop the barrier. Right now."
"A barrier? What on earth do you mean..."
"Player Kang Jinhyuk! What do you think you're doing to the President?"
"So you're going to keep playing dumb even after I've spelled it out?"
The corners of Jinhyuk's mouth curled up even further.
If they preferred the embarrassing route over the easy one, so be it.
Whipping out a dagger in a flash, Jinhyuk pulled his shoulder far back.
Then, he hurled it toward the ceiling.
Whoosh!
Slicing through the air, the dagger embedded itself in the ceiling.
Or rather, in what appeared to be the ceiling.
At that moment, crackle!
The space distorted, and ripples spread across an invisible barrier.