Chapter 19
TL: Uncle Choi
Editor: Bait
Players conducted a lot of research on monsters.
The information on the characteristics of monsters, their habits, and their behaviors could be traded for money.
Of course, a lot of research performed didn’t mean a lot of players performed it.
When a small group of players develops a method through extensive research and experimentation, most players just copy it.
There were no patent rights for how to handle and hunt monsters. Even if there was such right, it was impossible to enter the dungeon and watch over all the players..
Kim Woo-jin naturally belonged to the researcher type.
In a way, he was forced to study.
The Messiah Guild had to walk on a noble path, bearing a noble yet heavy responsibility that no one else had to bear. All in order to achieve more than what their one life could currently offer, they fanatically researched.
Urk! Arrg!
The current scene where a troll was being severely abused by his five goblin skeletons was a fruit of Kim Woo-jin’s research.
Tteolgeuleogtteolgeuleog!
Four skeleton soldiers were ruthlessly cutting up the troll’s legs without a hint of mercy.
This was only possible because Kim Woo-jin was their owner.
Ting!
One of the goblin skeletons joyously and frantically shot arrows like crazy, this was also possible because it was Kim Woo-jin’s skeleton soldier.
Tteolgeuleogtteolgeuleog!
After running out of arrows to shoot, it casually approached Kim Woo-jin and blatantly asked for more arrows.
Kim Woo-jin gave a wry smile at the gesture.
‘To think I would be rewarded this way for all my suffering so far.’
Kim Woo thought with a bitter smile.
‘But if I’m satisfied here, that will be it.’
Of course, Kim Woo-jin wasn’t satisfied just because his skeleton soldiers fought well.
He certainly didn’t intend to leave his fate to his skeleton soldiers..
Above all, Kim Woo-jin still hasn’t forgotten.
‘No matter how strong the skeleton soldier becomes, it can’t reach Lee Se-joon by itself.’
He hasn’t forgotten who his last prey was.
[You Have Leveled Up] [All 4 Trolls Have Been Successfully Hunted] [You Have Cleared the Dungeon]
In his ears, Kim Woo-jin heard his level-up notification followed by a notification of the dungeon clearance.
As soon as Kim Woo-jin heard the sound, he remembered a plan he had imagined in his head.
‘It will be April 5th when I go out, It looks like I will be right on time for the big event.’
On April 5, there will be a huge event, big enough to shake the entire Korean Peninsula.
Kim Woo-jin, who left the dungeon gate, was greeted by a warm temperature as well the strong scent of spring, completely differently from the early spring cold which made his skin shrink before he entered the dungeon.
A Damas, which now didn’t look much different from a scrapped car, was waiting together for Kim Woo-jin with the spring tide.
Kim Woo-jin approached the Damas.
Dururuc!
Then he opened the car door.
This time, a shovel welcomed Kim Woo-jin.
With the shovel, Kim Woo-jin began digging up the ground that was a few steps away from the car.
Cang!
Soon there was the sound of a metallic crash.
A small safe emerged from the pit.
It was a safe that contained the players’ main belongings, their smartphones, their car keys, and their wallets.
Ttalkkag!
Kim Woo-jin skillfully unlocked the safe with a password.
Soon after, he turned on a black smartphone.
He saw several text messages.
Kim Woo-jin then looked at one of the texts.
[Dungeon Condition Report] [Dungeon Condition Report]
There were texts received from a particular number in a twelve hours interval.
There were no caller id.
Kim Woo-jin sent a text message directly to the number.
50403202.
It was a code.
‘Cautious bastard.’
Hayashi Konsuke. It was the code needed to talk to him.
It was only logical.
A man who is involved in illegal activities in another country can not work in a straightforward manner. Despite this, however, Hayashi Konsuke created a fence between himself and his customers.
It was a fence to protect himself if the customer’s smartphone was turned over or stolen by someone, the code existed to identify the person on the other side.
‘The date in reverse.’
In addition, the password was the date backwards.
It meant that the password changed every day, it was simple yet effective.
Uung!
Immediately, he got a call from a new number.
Kim Woo-jin answered the phone.
“I got the call.”
“Who is this?”
“This is Kim Woo-jin.”
“What about Park Je-soon?”
“He died in the dungeon.”
Rapid answers.
- Your relationship?
“I was his partner.”
The conversation paused for a while at the unexpected reply.
- What about the troll’s blood?
The question came after a minute or so.
“I have secured about 15 liters or so.”
- Do you know how to trade them?
“I have heard everything from Mr. Park Je Soon.”
- Please accept my sympathies.
That was the end of the call.
Ttuk!
The other party went off the phone cold.
Kim Woo-jin frowned.
‘It’s more annoying when you hear his voice after a long time.’
In fact, Kim Woo-jin pondered about it until the end.
Whether to use Hayashi Konsuke or kill him.
Now that Kim Woo-jin has secured the plus ring, the relationship between Hayashi Konsuke and Johann Georg virtually disappeared, and the value Hayashi Konsuke had also dropped significantly.
With such decrease in his value, it would not be bad for him to remove Konsuke Hayashi, who does more harm than good to the world, and to eat the items and funds he has acquired so far. But in the end, Kim Woo-jin chose to use him.
‘If it were not for this event, I would have removed him without hesitation.’
The decisive factor that shifted his decision was none other than the big event that was about to begin.
To check out the big event, Kim Woo-jin searched the portal site after taking out his smartphone. Immediately, an article came up.
[A+ Rank Dungeon Discovered in Busan!]
This was the big event Kim Woo-jin was waiting for.
[A+ Rank 1 Floor Dungeon Discovered!] [Must Be Below Level 20 to Enter!] [Entry Limit 150 People!]
A+ Rank Dungeon Appears!
Such news shook the entire population of Korea.
They couldn’t help but be shaken.
“A+ Rank… Isn’t this the second time for Korea?”
“It has only happened twenty times in the entire continent of Asia. Also, If you think about the size of Korea, it’s same as Korea hitting the lottery back to back.’
“Anyway if it’s an A + rank dungeon…”
“A+ rank dungeons have dropped a legendary item seven out of twenty times. Furthermore, unique items just poured out like crazy.”
A+ rank dungeons had a high chance of producing items of a high grade, including legendary items.
People call it a dungeon, but it was more like a treasure island than a dungeon.
“Moreover the entry limit is 150 people? Isn’t that a lot?”
“I think it’s the first time since the Tokyo dungeon that appeared in Japan a year ago. Isn’t it too much?”
“Not enough. It’s impossible for a guild to bid exclusively for A rank or higher dungeons. And since it’s a A+ rank dungeon… I’m sure that even all the Tom, Dick, and Harry guilds are going to go for it.”
“At least ten of the guilds will bid, and each guild will probably be given about 15 seats.”
“Hopefully, that will be the case. There could be 150 guild bidding.”
Naturally, they had to be extremely restrictive in their access to the island.
“The bidding is going to be very competitive.”
“Money alone probably can’t solve it.”
“I mean, isn’t this the only time when the government can take advantage of the players? Maybe they will bind the players with a contract.”
Plus, in order to secure the seats, they had to pay more than anyone else.
There was only one guild that could gain the seats without any bribes.
“However, the Messiah Guild will surely be given at least 10 seats even without any bribe.”
“Of course, if they don’t give seats to the Messiah guild, won’t they will begin protesting right in front of the blue house?”
“The protestors are already on the move. They are demanding the government to just give the Messiah Guild full rights.”
“If you consider what the Messiah Guild has done, they should at least be awarded this way.” Messiah Guild, only their place was guaranteed.
“In any case, the competition within any guild for the spots is going to be insane.”
“The competition won’t just be insane. The factions within the guild will do anything to put their people in.”
“Guild officials are going to go crazy.”
The rest of the guilds started a silent battle to get the seats and then fought again internally to fill it.
‘Damn it.’
That’s how the war that dungeon support team leader Jeong Woo-seok was carrying out looked like.
‘I thought 20 seats would be more than enough, but nobody is willing to compromise and let someone else take the seat. Damn, we’re the ones who fucking got the seats in the first place!’
Just a moment ago when the Phoenix Guild secured as many as twenty seats, Jeong Woo-seok thought to himself that his job would be a lot easier.
Since there would be only 2 seats left in the Phoenix Guild after dividing among the 3 factions.
He thought that the three major factions should easily be able to reach a conclusion through their own agreement.
‘To think that they would rather have only one team…’
It would still be alright even if not all three factions were allowed to participate in the expedition, but they were currently refusing to let multiple teams in.
This meant that there would be more competitors fighting for the seats.
It was understandable when one thought about it.
If the players were from different guilds, they may engage in a bloody fight for many possible reasons.
In contrast, it was difficult for the same guild members to have a bloody fight for any reason at all.
In other words, no one intended to cooperate.
Because everyone was overflowing with confidence.
‘Well, they have basically piled and piled countless level 10 items since the beginning.’
And rightly so.
‘Once they choose their members, it isn’t hard to lure them with unique items.’
It has been around four years since the world turned into a game. And like most games, there were now plenty of good items for the lower levels.
Jeong Woo-seok thought that it truly wasn’t difficult for them to equip their recruited members with all unique or higher items and turn them into a walking fortress.
No matter how much you invest, one legendary item will make everything worth it.
Also, this dungeon had more than enough merits to justify investing in.
‘Their pride is on the line as well.’
At the same time, there were things more important than merit on the line.
Under these circumstances, the story of selecting members for the 20 seats that the Phoenix Guild has secured would not end easily.
‘What a pain.’
Nobody could foresee how the story would unfold.
‘There will be leftovers in the end…’
The only thing that Jeong Woo-seok could say with confidence was that it was virtually impossible to organize all 20 positions, leaving one or two seats vacant.
And once that situation arrived, those one or two seats had to be somehow filled by someone. Who wouldn’t fill all 20 seats that they barely won?
‘Whoever that’s going to fill the spot will have a pretty strong line backing them. Or it could be someone with absolutely nothing.’
At that moment, the thought of a man popped up in his head.
‘Players like Kim Woo-jin.’
Kim Woo-jin.
The team leader Jeong Woo-seok, who thought of him, nodded.
‘Yeah, a person like Kim Woo-jin who’s sincere, hard-working, and talented. At least there won’t be more trouble if he comes in. It would be better than putting someone with some money in there and then causing a ruckus.’
However, Jeong Woo-seok had a wry smile.
It was virtually impossible for Kim Woo-jin to get the spot.
‘But there’s no way a player like Kim Woo-jin who has nothing will get the spot. Unless someone with a voice equivalent to Park Yong-wan mentions his name.’
Unless a miracle happens.