Do You Sleep at That Level? (1)
The academy, which had been rocked by a major incident on the very day of the entrance ceremony, decided to close for a week. Although the event had ended with almost no casualties, the people involved were still being dragged from one place to another for questioning. Even low-ranking staff members received angry calls from some of the new students’ parents, their mental fortitude slowly chipped away.
In the game, classes had resumed after just one day. But here, since the world was relatively safe from Gate threats, it seemed like every little thing drew complaints and nitpicking.
The day after the entrance ceremony incident, the protagonist, Peony, and I stepped out of the hotel. Both of them were wearing their school uniforms, but I had changed into casual clothes. Flying around in a uniform was too cumbersome.
The protagonist hadn’t brought any casual clothes, and Peony had brought some but said she couldn’t wear them. Apparently, an elf’s everyday attire drew far too much attention on Earth. What a shame. That was truly disappointing.
So with this unexpected week-long break ahead of us, what were we going to do?
Obviously, we were going to level up.
“So, how exactly are we getting to that Gate you mentioned earlier? Train? Bus? You’re not seriously planning to fly again, are you?”
“We will be flying, but it’ll be different this time. I’ve learned my lesson.”
First, I sat the two of them down at a nearby café, then headed to a used car dealership to buy a suitable vehicle. Since we wouldn’t be using the engine anyway and only needed the exterior, I chose a compact car.
The used car dealer asked why someone without a license would buy a car, but he fell silent the moment the little vehicle rose into the air.
The used compact car that landed in front of the café was a yellow one. The kind that looked like it might blow away in a strong wind.
I parked the car in a nearby lot and walked back into the café.
Inside, the two of them were sitting at a table, happily chatting while drinking coffee.
“...And that’s how I accidentally set the World Tree on fire!”
“Really? I’m honestly shocked you’re still in one piece.”
While someone was out here suffering for the future of this party, the other was busy scoring points with Peony?
Since I’d stopped by the store while buying the car, I had also picked up some packed lunches. I secretly added a drop of Divine Ichor into the protagonist’s iced Americano.
“Gaaahhhk!”
“It’s good for you, so drink it all down, okay?”
“Ughhh…”
Surprisingly, the protagonist obediently finished the entire drink. Maybe he was getting used to it since this was his second time?
Once the protagonist’s pain had subsided again, I brought both him and Peony back to the parked car. He squeezed his body into the passenger seat, complaining that the car was too small.
“Just so you know, the Divine Ichor you drank a moment ago costs way more than this car.”
“Then give me the money instead!”
“Hmm? In this world, there are some things that money simply cannot solve, you know?”
“You’re not feeding me that stuff on purpose to make me suffer, are you?”
“What? Of course not~”
Still, since I had a soft spot for the guy despite his annoying attitude, I made sure to record the changes in the protagonist’s stats as well.
Peony was simply watching us with a straw in her mouth, happily sipping her matcha soy milk latte.
Just as we were about to depart, a problem arose. Because I had bought such a cheap car, even after adjusting the driver’s seat to its highest setting, I couldn’t see out the front windshield.
As I struggled and grunted to fix it somehow, the protagonist smirked from the side.
“Can’t money solve that either? Want me to lend you my lap?”
“Ugh…! Be quiet!”
“Weird. I can see outside just fine from here?”
Since I had struck first this time, I couldn’t really complain without losing face. It wasn’t stylish at all, but what choice did I have? I turned on the map app on my smartphone and decided to fly while only looking at the screen.
The car shot vertically into the air, gained altitude, then flew straight toward our destination at a sharp right angle.
In less than thirty minutes, we arrived at a parking lot near Seoraksan.
Looking at the parking area prepared on the grounds, it almost resembled an amusement park. However, most of the vehicles lined up weren’t regular passenger cars. Instead, there were vans, trucks, and even camping vehicles—mostly large ones.
Clearly, not everyone was here for leisure.
Peony hadn’t been sitting for long, but her body must have gotten stiff. The moment she stepped out of the car, she began doing an impressively flashy stretch. I knew elves were flexible, but watching her easily pull off an I-shaped balance was still fascinating.
Although she was wearing safety shorts under her school uniform skirt, it was still a skirt, so I gathered some fallen leaves to create a makeshift screen for her.
“Peony, no matter how much you’re wearing safety shorts, it’s not good to show what’s under your skirt in a public place where strangers are around!”
“Why not? I heard that showing your panties is embarrassing, but I’m wearing safety shorts?”
“No, you can’t let your guard down just because you’re wearing them. There are perverts out there who won’t be satisfied even if you are.”
The elf looked skeptical. Given how revealing elf clothing usually was, she probably thought something like that was no big deal.
I turned to the protagonist, who was getting out of the car while browsing Gate information on his smartphone.
“Right? Even if she’s wearing safety shorts under her skirt, she shouldn’t just show it off like that, correct?”
“Uh…? Huh? Safety shorts? Well… yeah, that’s right…?”
“See? If a guy says so, it must be trustworthy!”
Of course, deep down I was a real man. But I also knew exactly how I appeared in other people’s eyes, so I borrowed the protagonist’s authority as a male.
Perverts could appear anywhere, so it was important to always be cautious around strangers. No, even people you knew could suddenly develop strange fetishes one day, so you could never easily erase the stain of suspicion.
“Then since no one’s watching right now, isn’t it okay? Haneul, you should try it too! It really loosens up your body!”
“I’ll pass. Whether anyone’s watching or not, I’m fine even if my body doesn’t loosen up.”
“Hiiiing…”
When the dejected Peony stepped out from behind the leaf screen, I secretly tried copying the motion. With physical enhancement, it would have been easy… but without it, I couldn’t even get past ninety degrees.
…Maybe I should ask Peony to teach me some elf-style training methods later?
After following the crowd for a short while, we arrived in front of the Gate. There was a minor issue with entry, but I resolved it roughly through connections. Probably because there were two students in uniform. It had to be that.
“Peony, you experienced a Gate yesterday, right? And Si-woo, you seem to have raided Gates a bit on a regular basis.”
“Yeah, it felt really strange and eerie.”
“I’ve done quite a few, even if they were low-rank Gates.”
“If it’s low-rank, would that be around E-rank? Just so you know, yesterday’s Gate erosion was about D-minus rank. The boss was around C-plus.”
I explained as we walked toward the Gate’s entrance. The arch-shaped Gate had unknown patterns carved into its gray stone border. Through the space enclosed by the arch, the scenery of another world was visible. It was filled with human structures and outposts just like here, but unlike the cloudy sky on this side, bright sunlight poured out from within.
It was truly a gateway to another world—a Gate.
“Whoa! Those people are jumping before entering the Gate!”
“It’s a way for party members to build camaraderie. Some parties also have their own unique rituals. Jumping before entry is pretty well-known.”
“Kim Si-woo, Lee Haneul. Then shall we—”
“No, we have a busy schedule today, so we’ll skip it.”
Peony looked disappointed. I answered while entering the Gate without jumping.
“Today’s Gate is a composite type. It contains everything from a maximum of B-rank down to F-rank.”
“Composite…!”
“Ooh!”
Perhaps because of the tingling sensation from the Gate energy as we passed through, everyone’s reactions were intense.
“First, the area we’re heading to is the north.”
“The north…!”
“Ooh!”
“It’s the F-rank zone.”
Upon reaching the F-rank zone in the north, the party immediately began to complain.
“Wait, why F-rank?! We took down D-rank monsters yesterday!”
“I agree with Si-woo!”
“Yes, I think we could clear a C-rank dungeon right now. If necessary, I can help too.”
“Then…”
“Just because you go to a C-rank Gate doesn’t mean you’ll get stronger overnight. If that were possible, there wouldn’t be so few high-ranking hunters.”
The ranks of ability users started from F-rank—those who had powers but were no different from ordinary people—and climbed all the way to the transcendent S-rank. The majority of people remained stuck in the lower tiers below D-rank.
Ability users could grow stronger by fighting in Gates, mastering their abilities, and adorning themselves with treasures from the other world. In the game, this process was expressed as leveling up and farming.
But most people couldn’t grow quickly. The reason was simple.
“First, you need to know your own level. And once you know your level, the best thing is to hunt safely. If you overestimate your abilities and die, that’s it. Game over.”
Because in this world, once you died, it was truly the end. There was no retry button like in a game.
“That’s why I’ll watch you fight using various methods from F-rank all the way to D-rank and evaluate you.”
And this was the core point.
In my previous life, I had run party hunting loops until I was sick of it. By watching the speed and damage with which the protagonist and Peony took down monsters, I could roughly gauge their current level and abilities!
And once I knew their level and abilities, I could feed them experience in zones where their lives wouldn’t be in danger.
The very fact that I was still alive was proof that I was a veteran of no-death play.
“So, shall we do our best for this week?”
I set down the duffel bag packed full of equipment and said so.