Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Eleventh Trial Briefing
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"Uh......"
The members of the Villain Rehabilitation Corps all put on expressions of surprise.
They had no choice but to react that way.
Up until now, Hae-jin had never once used polite speech with them.
Except for Park Jong-pal, he always spoke to them in a commanding tone.
Yet now, Hae-jin was using polite speech for the first time.
He had even bowed his head to them.
It was unprecedented.
In any case, as the Villain Rehabilitation Corps members stood there flustered, Hae-jin spoke up.
"What, you've all worked hard, so let's fill our stomachs first. Then I'll explain why I gathered you all this time."
In the early days, most of the Villain Rehabilitation Corps consisted of villains—criminals—who had been captured and rehabilitated, so Hae-jin hadn't felt the need to use polite speech.
If he hadn't caught them, most of them would still be committing crimes, so they felt like society's trash.
But.
Now that the Trials' Arena had progressed to a certain point, only those worth surviving had made it this far. And as members of the Villain Rehabilitation Corps, they had actually contributed to lowering the overall player crime rate in South Korea, so Hae-jin decided to acknowledge that.
That's why, while helping Park Bo-young and Ji Su-jeong, he figured he'd share some useful information with the hardworking Villain Rehabilitation Corps members as well.
Of course, filling their stomachs came first.
Once Hae-jin saw that the Villain Rehabilitation Corps members had eaten their fill, he spoke.
"I've gathered you all here to share information about the upcoming Trials' Arena."
"Yes? Information about the Trials' Arena?!"
The Villain Rehabilitation Corps members were utterly shocked by Hae-jin's words.
They had every reason to be.
Everyone present was a player.
What was most important to players?
Survival in the Trials' Arena.
In reality, the trials were called a "Survival Game," making survival more crucial than anything else.
And now, Park Hae-jin—their leader and arguably the world's strongest player—was offering them information.
From the perspective of the player members of the Villain Rehabilitation Corps, there was no greater boon.
Ears perked up all around as soon as Hae-jin mentioned sharing Trials' Arena info.
At that moment, Hae-jin fell into thought.
'Should I tell them about the hidden trial too?'
Hidden trial.
One that, if cleared in each Trials' Arena, granted rewards helpful for the next one.
And the hidden trial in the eleventh Trials' Arena was...
'Clearing the dungeon hidden in the desert.'
Dungeon hidden in the desert.
The eleventh Trials' Arena was set in a desert.
Story-wise, players returned to land above the sea with the help of mermaids.
But the shore they arrived at had turned into a desert after a tsunami swept through.
Surviving there was the goal of this eleventh Trials' Arena.
While surviving, players could discover the hidden dungeon, and upon finding it, they faced two choices.
First: Don't enter the dungeon and focus on survival.
If you couldn't fight properly, this was the right choice.
Players who had survived up to the tenth trial were strong to a certain degree, but the hidden desert dungeon was set to an even higher level.
So, if you entered it half-heartedly aiming to clear it, you had to account for the risk of not surviving.
That's why Hae-jin advised that if dungeon hunting seemed impossible, don't enter at all.
Second: Enter the dungeon and grow stronger.
Exactly as it sounds.
The desert dungeon for the hidden trial was set stronger than the average surviving players so far.
Meaning, if you could survive there, you'd gain experience to become even stronger.
But to do that, as Hae-jin had advised, you had to accept the risk of not surviving.
He left that decision up to them.
He had no choice.
The desert dungeon for the hidden trial?
'You can enter with multiple people, but...'
In fact, it was possible to enter and clear the desert dungeon as a group.
But there was one condition.
'The maximum number is ten people.'
Of course, you could enter with more than ten.
But then, achieving the hidden trial would be impossible.
Why?
As Hae-jin had just explained, exceeding ten party members meant it didn't meet the hidden trial conditions.
Hae-jin didn't hide this either.
If they wanted to clear the hidden trial, they should form parties of ten on their own.
Truthfully, Hae-jin himself found it tricky to slot anyone else in.
Looking at the group he had.
Park Hae-jin himself, plus Kwon Na-ye, Lee Sang, Anna, Raffaello, and Manager Kim—six people—and planning to add Park Bo-young for seven.
Of course, Anna and Raffaello had to do the eleventh trial in different zones, so strictly speaking, in Hae-jin's zone, the party for the eleventh trial would only be five...
'But taking just five out of these feels a bit off.'
The Villain Rehabilitation Corps members should just handle it among themselves.
Dragging some but not others might lead to complaints.
With that, Hae-jin shared only the necessary info for the eleventh Trials' Arena and said,
"For those of you who survive going forward, I'll share Trials' Arena information like this every month on the 20th."
Hae-jin promising to share the next Trials' Arena info with the Villain Rehabilitation Corps members every 20th of the month from now on.
And that wasn't all.
"After this meeting ends, there's a box in front of the room. Everyone, take one each. They're itemized goods, so put them in your inventory ahead of time and use them in the next Trials' Arena."
"Ooh!"
The Villain Rehabilitation Corps members marveled, not only at the info but also at the items for the next trial.
Afterward, Hae-jin distributed items for the next Trials' Arena and parted ways.
Time passed after they separated.
Finally, the day arrived.
The day to move to the eleventh Trials' Arena.
[Eleventh Trial]
Content: Survive in the desert!
-166 Zone Participants: 9,989
"Couldn't hold out that one month, and 11 are gone."
Hae-jin commented after entering the eleventh Trials' Arena and checking the survivor count.
In the previous trial, even with thousands dying, it wouldn't have been strange—but Hae-jin had achieved full survival of all 10,000.
Yet upon entering this trial, 11 of those 10,000 survivors from before were down.
No idea how they died.
But whatever, the reasons were probably all the same.
'Tired of the Trials' Arena and suicided, got killed by a villain... Ah, or the reverse.'
The current zone was a merger of South Korea's previous zones.
And South Korea was now a villain-free clean zone, so dying to villains here didn't make sense.
Which meant the reverse case was more likely.
'Some probably got done in while acting like villains.'
That seemed the most plausible reason for the drop in survivors.
Why?
Because of Hae-jin, South Korea had become a place where villains couldn't run rampant.
In any case, after seeing the reduced survivor count, Hae-jin said,
"Well, first things first—let's link up with the others?"
To clear the hidden trial, Hae-jin thought gathering his party members came first.
Before entering the trial, he'd already told them to meet up with whoever was closest if possible.
He'd had Raffaello make artifacts that reacted the closer you were and distributed them, so linking up with nearby people wasn't hard.
In that situation, Hae-jin closed his eyes.
He didn't really need Raffaello's artifact.
Why?
Because of the skill inherited from Joo-hyuk?
He could use that, sure.
But even without it, Hae-jin could find his party members more simply.
With eyes closed, Hae-jin spread his energy widely across the entire desert.
His energy sensed the whole desert like radar, distinguishing everything.
Then, Hae-jin opened his eyes.
"Alright, got them all memorized."
What he'd memorized were the positions of the party members he needed to bring.
Saying that, Hae-jin immediately used Shadow Blink.
Whoooosh-!
The first place Shadow Blink took Hae-jin was where Kwon Na-ye was.
"Eek!"
Kwon Na-ye jumped in slight surprise as Hae-jin burst out from her shadow.
It was understandable.
A black figure suddenly popping up in front of you would startle anyone.
As the startled Kwon Na-ye started to fall backward, Hae-jin caught her.
He scooped her up in his arms to steady her and asked,
"Are you okay?"
"Y-Yes!"
Answering Hae-jin's question hurriedly, Kwon Na-ye tried to stand.
Her condition was already good, and having awakened as a player, getting up from an awkward position wasn't hard.
Even without Hae-jin catching her, she probably could've sprung up like a bowstring.
Anyway, meeting her like that, Hae-jin noticed another party member she'd linked up with.
"You linked up with Manager Kim first, huh?"
"Yeah, somehow he was the closest."
"I see. Then shall we link up with the next closest?"
"Yes."
Hae-jin extended his hand to Kwon Na-ye and Manager Kim as they answered.
"Come on, let's go."
"Yes."
They knew about Hae-jin's Shadow Blink, so they grabbed his hand right away.
With Kwon Na-ye and Manager Kim in tow, Hae-jin Shadow Blinked again.
Whoooosh-!
This time, the one Hae-jin linked up with was the new party member, the "Grand Monk," Park Bo-young.
Park Bo-young greeted Hae-jin upon seeing him.
"Ah! You came?"
"Yes."
He'd already introduced Park Bo-young to the existing party members before entering this eleventh trial, so there was no awkwardness.
They just followed Hae-jin's lead.
The last one Hae-jin needed to pick up in this trial was Lee Sang.
In this zone 166 of Korean players, Lee Sang was the final party member to enter the dungeon with.
And so, Hae-jin picked up Park Bo-young last and headed to Lee Sang.
Whoooosh-!
Hae-jin Shadow Blinked to Lee Sang's location.
In that moment, Hae-jin saw it.
"Oh, you found it?"
"Yes."
The place where Hae-jin arrived to link up with Lee Sang.
There, Hae-jin saw the massive door leading underground next to Lee Sang.
Without waiting for the party to gather, Lee Sang had found the entrance to the desert's hidden dungeon.
'I mentioned it before entering the trial, but I didn't expect him to find it this quick.'
Hae-jin then said,
"Thanks to Lee Sang finding it, we don't need to hunt for the desert dungeon. Let's proceed right away."
With that, Hae-jin opened the dungeon entrance Lee Sang had found and entered with his party members.
It was then.
Someone who had been watching Hae-jin's group enter the dungeon spoke up.
"Definitely less than ten, right? Then I should join that dungeon too!"