Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Party Dinner and Fourth Trial
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"No, it's fine."
Kwon Na-ye replied that it was nothing.
She had no choice but to say that.
Hae-jin's hands were already gone because of her and Lee Sang, so there was nothing to grab onto anyway.
Still, did she really have to cling to his back like that while hugging him?
Just from the words, it seemed like placing a hand on his shoulder would have been enough.
But she couldn't say anything about it.
'What right do I have?'
To Hae-jin, she seemed like nothing more than a party member—nothing more, nothing less.
So she had no qualification to comment on Anna's behavior.
She wasn't Hae-jin's girlfriend, after all.
She felt a subtle mix of emotions but pretended as if nothing was wrong.
Anyway.
Once Hae-jin confirmed that everyone was clinging to him, he spoke.
"Then, let's go."
Whoooosh-!
The shadows of the four people enveloped them, and soon after, the four arrived at Hae-jin's house.
No sooner had they arrived than the three who had come with Hae-jin let out exclamations.
"Wow."
It was because Hae-jin's house looked far better than expected.
It wasn't just a little nice.
Hae-jin had bought one of the best apartments in Seoul after raking in a ton of money, after all.
It would have been weirder if the place was shabby.
Anyway, Hae-jin, who had brought the group there, said,
"We've arrived."
No sooner had he spoken than Raffaello da Vinci burst out from the kitchen.
"Ah! Bro, you're here?!"
"Yeah, I am."
Hae-jin nodded at Raffaello's question.
Raffaello looked somewhat embarrassed as he spoke to him.
"Dinner still needs a bit more time to finish preparing."
That made sense.
Hae-jin had brought the three here in an instant using Shadow Blink.
At Raffaello's words that dinner still needed prep, Hae-jin first introduced the three casually.
"Then let me know when it's done. We'll do introductions first. This is Kwon Na-ye, Lee Sang, and Anna."
As Hae-jin pointed to each one, Kwon Na-ye, Lee Sang, and Anna greeted Raffaello lightly in that order.
Raffaello, receiving their greetings, said,
"Nice to meet you all! I'm Raffaello da Vinci, living with Hae-jin bro! Anyway, I'll go finish preparing dinner for everyone!"
With that, Raffaello cheerfully went off to prepare the party dinner.
Once the brief greetings with Raffaello ended, Anna said,
"Raffaello seems like a really bright guy."
"Yeah, he is. Anyway, while Raffaello preps dinner, shall we do proper introductions again?"
"Sure."
And so the four introduced themselves.
Truth be told, only Anna really needed to explain who she was in detail.
Excluding Anna and Raffaello from the party, everyone else was Korean, and Kwon Na-ye and Lee Sang were national team players to begin with, so there was no need for detailed introductions among them.
They all knew each other's faces.
"......"
Once the introductions ended, the mood grew quiet.
It couldn't be helped.
There wasn't much to say.
They weren't close to begin with, and they didn't even know why Hae-jin had chosen them specifically.
Of course, Hae-jin did have things to tell them.
The third Trials' Arena had just ended, leaving a month until the next, but it was about the fourth Trials' Arena they had to go to anyway.
But Hae-jin didn't want to explain it right then.
'Raffaello needs to hear it too, so better to do it once everyone's gathered after dinner.'
So what should they do?
He already had all the info on them anyway...
"Ah!"
Hae-jin suddenly reacted as if something had come to mind.
He belatedly realized that only he had info on them.
That's why, thinking of something to talk about while Raffaello prepared dinner, he said,
"Then, shall we share your job changes, skills, and items you got?"
Only Hae-jin remembered the life-and-death struggles of the party members, or had those memories.
So he was the only one with info on the party members.
The other party members didn't know much about each other.
They could chat about that until Raffaello finished dinner prep.
Afterward, the three excluding Hae-jin shared their info.
No one was stupid enough not to know that sharing your info with other players in the Trials' Arena was a bad idea.
But that was only for strangers.
The people gathered here were party members who would tackle challenges together with Hae-jin at the center from now on.
So they shared their info in quite some detail, as Hae-jin asked.
After chatting for a while, Raffaello came out from the kitchen.
"Everyone, time to eat! Setting's done!"
"Got it."
At Raffaello's announcement that dinner was set, the four headed to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, they saw a large table where Raffaello had prepared Western food.
Seeing that, Hae-jin asked Raffaello,
"Western food, huh?"
"Well, I can do Korean too, but since it's our first party dinner, I figured I'd go with what I'm best at."
"Good call."
"Hehe, then dig in!"
"Alright, everyone take a seat."
""Yes.""
And so Hae-jin and the group enjoyed the meal Raffaello had prepared.
Thankfully, because Hae-jin had emphasized it strongly, Raffaello didn't pull any weird stunts like he did before the regression.
It was a satisfying dinner for all.
After dinner, they each grabbed an ice cream for dessert and gathered.
At the gathering, Hae-jin spoke up.
"Did everyone enjoy the meal?"
"Yes, it was delicious."
"Me too."
"Yes, me as well."
"Good to hear."
Hae-jin sighed in relief at their words that the food was good.
He had eaten it himself, so he knew Raffaello hadn't done anything weird like before the regression, but he had worried if he might've pranked the other members' portions.
The members, unaware why Hae-jin was relieved, tilted their heads.
"Huh?"
"Yes?"
"Hm?"
Hae-jin waved off the three looking at him.
"Ah, it's nothing. So, shall we talk about the fourth Trials' Arena now?"
""Yes!""
Afterward, Hae-jin explained the fourth Trials' Arena to the group.
The setting was a dwarf village.
The mission was to kill the lich that periodically sent undead to occupy the dwarf village.
At that, Lee Sang raised his hand.
"Yes, go ahead."
"So it's a defense again this time?"
From the explanation so far, it might sound like defense mode like the third Trials' Arena.
Since there was a lich's undead army invading the dwarf village.
Hae-jin shook his head at Lee Sang's question.
"No, this one's offense."
He added one more thing to Lee Sang.
"Ah, and I'll explain everything first. Then ask questions if you're curious after."
"Ah, yep!"
Lee Sang felt awkward for interrupting before Hae-jin finished.
Hae-jin smiled at the sheepish Lee Sang.
"No need to feel bad. It's right to ask when curious. I'll explain everything I know first, so if you still have questions after, go ahead."
"Yep!"
"Like I just said, the fourth Trials' Arena mission is offense. Kill the lich that periodically sends undead to invade the dwarf village."
"Aha!"
Lee Sang reacted since it resolved his question.
Kwon Na-ye looked at him with a fairly surprised expression.
It couldn't be helped.
Lee Sang, the speller.
He was a legend in the pro gaming scene, famous for his lack of reactions.
Seeing him react like that was bound to be surprising.
Anyway, ignoring their reactions, Hae-jin continued explaining the fourth Trials' Arena.
The setting and mission were done; next was survival criteria.
It was the same as the third Trials' Arena, which was defense.
Points were awarded based on the number of monsters killed.
Revival was possible again, and each time, the monster count deducted the same way.
However, unlike the third, the fourth had extra points.
The system measured contribution to killing the boss monster lich, and added those points.
So even if you didn't kill a single undead in prior fights, high contribution to the lich alone could put you in survival ranks.
And Hae-jin shared one more key piece of info.
"Finally, I'll tell you about the hidden trial in this Trials' Arena. Unlike the previous three, this one you all can probably handle."
At Hae-jin's words, the group perked up their ears.
It couldn't be helped.
Hidden trials.
They were all things close to impossible in general.
Yet Hae-jin said the fourth's hidden trial was doable for them too.
Of course they'd be interested.
Clearing a hidden trial gave extra rewards, meaning an edge over others.
It would make survival even more favorable.
So they all had to be interested in the hidden trial.
"This hidden trial is......"
Ten days had passed since the third Trials' Arena ended.
In that time, Hae-jin kept in touch with his future teammates, and though Damian said there was nothing more to teach, he continued sparring with him to keep his combat senses sharp.
While doing that, Hae-jin had been waiting for one thing.
What he waited for was none other than.
"Today's the day."
Earlier, while picking up the criminal organization's hidden slush funds, Hae-jin had made a good amount of money.
But he didn't stop there.
Why?
Because he could make more.
Hae-jin had invested his remaining assets in stocks.
Before the second Trials' Arena, he invested in defense stocks.
But not just any investment in defense stocks.
On the contrary, Hae-jin knew defense stocks would drop due to players' emergence.
So he bet the opposite.
On defense stocks falling.
And after the second Trials' Arena ended, defense stocks plummeted.
Naturally, Hae-jin, who bet on that, made a massive amount instead.
And before the third Trials' Arena began this time, Hae-jin planned to invest all the funds from that defense stock gamble into entertainment stocks.
Especially Chocolate Enter.
The reason was simple.
Many celebrities had become players upon soul rank awakening.
Naturally, he knew which famous celebrities survived long and which died.
He also knew well which surviving celebrities benefited after the famous ones died.
Thus, stocks of entertainment companies holding surviving celebrities were bound to surge.
Thanks to that, in the future, Joo-hyuk made Chocolate Enter Korea's top entertainment company and gained huge investment returns.
Of course, that was after even more celebrities died later.
For now, with many celebrities still alive, it was the phase where fans of lost idols sold stocks bought out of fandom rather than investment.
In other words, today—what Hae-jin mentioned—was the day Chocolate Enter's stock hit its lowest point.
'Buy it all.'