Chapter 438: Welcome to Crack Land (1)
‘Ha, these bastards’ dispositions and characteristics are extremely average.’
In the end, I had decided to choose the most ordinary group of all. This was because I knew they were the ones who would be the least affected by my special characteristic.
The same went for the female members.
They didn’t have a perfect personality like Kim Hyunsung or Elena of the past, but at least they weren’t people who sported a distorted disposition. Still, they were the types who refused to let me engage in serious conversation with them.
The rest, however, seemed to do their best to talk to me every chance they got. They even seemed to be trying to gain my favor as well.
I understood their motives quite well because I was also a man. Not only did they act as if they would give me everything they had, but it also seemed to me like they were willing to even lick the spaces between my toes.
They were completely far from my type, but I couldn’t help but realize that Lee Kiyeon was far more attractive than I thought. Due to that, the four female members of the Friendship Clan were glaring even harder at me. I wanted to push them away too, but nothing ever worked.
I was receiving kindness beyond what a party member actually deserved.
They hadn’t done anything nonsensical, as if they didn’t have the guts, but I couldn’t help but feel like they were becoming more and more annoying.
‘At least we arrived.’
I had a hard time enduring the men’s desperate actions and the women’s contemptuous gazes, but in the end, I succeeded in coming there without any further troubles.
‘I guess I will do a massage with a potion later. Fuck… My legs are hurting like hell.’
Although I didn’t achieve anything great, I considered the march itself to be a challenge. I couldn’t remember walking that much, except during the tutorial dungeon.
At the time, I didn’t notice it because I was moving desperately, but now that I always had a full belly and a roof over my head, it already felt ridiculous having to traverse such a distance manually.
However, I wasn’t annoyed when I finally arrived.
‘She did better than I thought.’
Contrary to Lee Jihye’s statement about the subpar quality due to lack of time, the quality seemed really high. The roads had been properly paved, and while there were many places under construction, some places already resembled what looked like a proper shopping mall.
The size of the construction was almost certainly as big as a major city.
That wasn’t enough, considering humans from all over the continent would be visiting.
‘It’ll definitely be better after a week or so.’
This proved to be my first impression of Crack Land.
“We’re here.”
“I think there are more people than I thought. Haha.”
“It’s definitely more than we expected.”
“Absolutely. I don’t know if we’ll be able to get in today.”
“We probably will. I heard that it could support a large number of people in the first place. I think it would be better to register first. Even if it’s a little later than intended, won’t we be able to go in tomorrow?”
‘We’re a little late.’
Overall, however, I didn’t think it was all that bad.
Anyway, the party had to recover from the march, and I had to look around the place a little more. I needed to know exactly how things were going.
‘It’s quite good so far.’
“It would be better to find accommodation first. We can’t just keep moving around in this state.”
“Yes.”
Naturally, the Clan Master nodded and moved on.
While we walked, I saw many kinds of adventurers. High-ranking ones stood out, as if they had known about it before others.
The races were also diverse. Since there were also black and white people, it seemed that some of them had come to the place while flying on a griffon.
The place where the party had gone to was a big bar. It was also a lodging business.
As soon as I went inside, I heard people greeting us from all over the place.
“Welcome to the Crack Inn, Adventurers! By any chance, are you new to our inn?”
‘The service here is pretty good.’
“Yes. We just arrived. Do you have any room left?”
“Yes. Of course, dear adventurers! Currently, there are only 20 rooms left for each room type! There are four types of rooms serviced by our inn, consisting of Common, Rare, Heroic, and Legendary grades. If you look at the catalog, you’ll find a detailed explanation about each type, so please refer to it. The Common-grade is one gold per day, the Rare-grade is five gold, the Heroic-grade is twenty gold, and the Legendary-grade is fifty gold. This is per person and does not include service charges.”
‘Wow…’
The rooms here cost 100,000 won, 500,000 won, 2 million won, 5 million won a day, and the service cost wasn’t even included!
‘Jihye, fuck, you call yourself human? What’s up with these prices, fuck… are you serious? If you’re going to exploit them, do it moderately.’
However, I couldn’t help but smile all the same.
The price was like a kid’s joke for me, but it was definitely a burden for adventurers who had just begun to grow.
As expected, the expressions of the Friendship Clan members turned sour in no time. I could see them thinking that they might end up spending more money than they would be making.
The Clan Master began to think about it, and the Vice Clan Master turned over the catalog.
“Clan Master, isn’t it too expensive?”
“But we have no choice…”
Naturally, I also opened the catalog silently. When I saw the legendary-grade room, I nodded.
‘Phew. It looks better than my room.’
It was no different from being a grand palace.
The things that came as free items were no joke, either. A priest who could chant the fatigue recovery spell was on standby for 24 hours.
Not only was the ‘Made by Lee Kiyoung’ potion provided as a standard, but the meals that were served were of the same high quality as a high-end restaurant’s dishes.
In addition to providing conveniences for long-term customers, there was also a training hall that could only be used by customers who availed the Legendary-grade room.
It was definitely possible to live here without suffering through any problems.
‘I want to live here…’
The Heroic-grade room wasn’t that bad, either. It felt like looking at my room from the past.
Overall, it looked luxurious, and the quality of free stuff was lower than that of a Legendary-grade room, but it could be fully accounted for.
Of course, the story was a little different from the rare-grade. It felt more like a studio.
Everything a person needed was there, but honestly, I wouldn’t be able to sleep comfortably if I slept in such a place.
The Common grade for me was…
‘It’s like a pigpen.’
“We should get the Common-grade, right?”
“Yes. Here… For the Common-grade…”
It was enough to make me, unknowingly, talk to myself.
“Nonsense. How do you sleep in such a place…? Ugh.”
Their gazes focused on me instantly. Everyone was now glaring at me.
I could feel the women members looking at me in contempt. I realized I made a mistake, but there was no shame in making that statement.
‘Stop looking. It came out without my knowledge. And honestly, you don’t like sleeping here too. Fuck… The bathroom is also shared. Can you imagine how dirty it will be?’
Being honest was not a sin.
I didn’t know if my face wasn’t looking good, but they went silent at my sudden word. In the end, it was the big guy who opened his mouth first.
“I think we can afford a better room for at least a day. Cheol-woo, we have enough budget. It’s not that we don’t have the money.”
“We don’t have much left since we got new equipment. We do have the money we’ve saved for the clan house, but… That’s money we really shouldn’t touch, so maybe…”
“I don’t think it would be bad to take a comfortable rest for a day.”
“But…”
“Tomorrow, we will enter the dungeon, but until then, I think it is important to take a good rest. I think that a Common-grade room would rather ruin our condition. Wasn’t it you who said we should always be at our peak before an expedition? Let’s spend it with no worries at least once. In the end, it doesn’t matter for you and me, but our female clan members…”
“I’m fine.”
“Me too.”
“We slept a lot in the streets, anyway.”
‘I’m not okay, bitches. Don’t pretend to be nice.’
“…”
My expression had become gloomy at once.
“Isn’t Kiyeon not feeling well too?”
“No. It’s not that. Just my legs… don’t mind me. I’ll be fine after I get enough sleep.”
“Look, Cheol-woo. We won’t get a decent sleep in that room. I’ll really feel that I rested if we stay at least at the Rare-grade…”
‘Good job, big guy.’
“After we complete the dungeon attack, we’ll be getting a lot of profits anyway. Just let it slip this time. Let’s spend a little more just this once with the thought of regaining it back. It’s embarrassing to keep this scuffle going like this.”
“The possibility of failure…”
“I’ll work hard. Please, Cheol-woo.”
“If you say it like that… it would be better to do that.”
‘Right. That’s right.’
We availed the Rare-grade room. I wasn’t entirely satisfied, but I smiled pleasantly.
“We will take a Rare-grade room.”
“It’s an excellent choice, adventurer. For those of you who have visited a Rare-grade room to attack the dungeon, we are offering a rare-grade health potion made by the Blue Guild as an opening promotion.”
“I-I see. Thank you.”
‘It’s the bottom line of garbage. I won’t have it even if it’s for free.’
However, I could see the faces of the Friendship Clan people brightening up. Getting 500,000 won per night and giving a low-grade garbage potion. It was a typical Seller-People’s description.
The staff were just giving these in order to please the people.
I wasn’t sure if she knew what I was thinking or not, but the receptionist once again started preparing to exploit the adventurers with a friendly expression. Every single one of them would be a merit system. What was going to happen next would be important.
“You’re adventurers who will attack the museum, right?”
“Yes.”
“Which one…”
“We have just arrived and haven’t applied yet. If an application is needed, we will do it right now and come back.”
“No, adventurers! You don’t have to. Our Crack Inn can help with that part. What grade would you like the dungeon to be?”
‘It’s adventurer-friendly. I like this.’
“A heroic-grade.”
“A heroic-grade dungeon will be a total of 500 gold. But you can use it for 300 gold as an opening promotion!”
“Okay.”
“I have registered a total of six people. Departure seems to be possible only tomorrow afternoon. Just follow our guide immediately after checking out. And if you need expedition insurance…”
“What is expedition insurance?”
“It’s a failsafe plan in case your expedition fails. Our precious adventurers only have one life. Skilled people belonging to Crack Land are prepared for special situations such as expedition failures 24 hours a day. The insurance also includes a high priest to increase the survival rate. High-ranking people can help with hunting sometimes. The price is the same as the accommodation. They are divided into Common, Rare, Heroic, and Legendary.”
“…”
“…”
“For those with insufficient funds…”
“…”
“We also provide loan services.”
‘Wow… Lee Jihye, aren’t you being too trashy?! That doesn’t mean I don’t love this!’
In the last line, even I had to reply.
“Loan services?”
At this, a demonic explanation ensued.