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‘They seem energetic,’ Cha Jin-Hyeok thought.

Everyone was diligently hunting, and their prey were monsters called Frush. Frushes were Level 30 monsters that took the form of a brush and measured about fifty centimeters tall. It was probably called Frush because it could fly. Being a flying-type monster, it was tricky hunting them down due to their swift movement speed.

‘If I remember correctly, those monsters dropped quite a lot of Dias…’

Among the Level 30 monsters, Frushes were known for dropping the most Dias. That was why they were popular monsters to hunt among the Players.

In other words, the Hongik University Dungeon was a popular hunting ground.

“This Dungeon is tightly controlled by Hongdae[1] Alliance, which is led by students from Hongik University,” Han Sae-Rin said.

“Oh really?”

It was something Jin-Hyeok did not know about. However, it was not surprising that he didn’t know, as academic, personal, and family connections would become utterly useless in the coming future. If the Players gathered as a specific group, such as Hongik University students, then it was impossible for that group to have excellent Players. The fact that Jin-Hyeok had no idea about this meant that it would become irrelevant pretty soon.

“So, you need permission from the Hongdae Alliance to Play in the Dungeon.”

“What happens if we don’t get permission? Are they going to kill us?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“Well… I don’t think they would go that far.”

Seeing her flustered was somewhat amusing.

Before his regression, it was Han Sae-Rin herself who told Jin-Hyeok that it was common for an Alliance that monopolized Play in a Dungeon to kill intruders because it was the most efficient way to do so.

“They probably just harass the Players who didn’t get permission in a sneaky way, like taking their last hit on the monsters and taking the Dias from the dead monsters,” Sae-Rin said.

The Players currently hunting seemed to either belong to the Hongdae Alliance or have obtained permission from the Alliance.

“I should have a conversation with their leader to make things go smoothly,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“I know who the leader is.”

Sae-Rin looked around and spotted a woman fighting a Frush in a corner.

“That person over there. Her Player name is Anellan. She is skilled and influential, so the members of the Alliance follow her well.”

“Got it.”

It had been a while since Jin-Hyeok had seen Anellan. She belonged to one of the Alliances of Jin-Hyeok’s party before his regression.

Back then, she was not a top-ranked Player, but Jin-Hyeok had a favorable impression of her. Jin-Hyeok remembered her as having earned the respect of the members and having adequate leadership qualities.

‘I guess she started as the leader of this Hongdae Alliance.’

Jin-Hyeok approached Anellan.

‘She is Level 48.’

She couldn’t be considered a top-tier Player, but she still had a relatively high Level. She was in her early twenties, and her appearance was more striking than Jin-Hyeok remembered.

“You’re Anellan, right?”

“If you want to buy the Permission Ticket to Play here, the line is over there.”

Anellan seemed indifferent toward him. She subtly pointed to the aforementioned direction with her chin. There was a considerably long line over there.

“I didn’t come to buy that. I have a good proposal to make.”

“...Didn’t we just meet? Why are you speaking informally?”

From way back then, since long before his regression, and up to now in the present, this kind of situation happened to Jin-Hyeok innumerable times. They spoke to him in an informal manner, but when he talked back to them in a similar manner, they got angry at him. Jin-Hyeok still couldn\'t understand why.

“Well, you spoke to me like that first,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. So, what’s the good proposal? My time is valuable, you know.”

She suddenly acted all serious.

‘Well, my time is precious, too.’

She seemed to have a bit of a hero complex. But to Jin-Hyeok, she was just radiating chuuni[2]energy.

“If the proposal is not good, you are not going to get away easily,” Anellan said.

Anellan’s personality was a bit different from the Anellan Jin-Hyeok knew before regression.. He didn’t know what she meant when she told him that he was not going to get away easily, but he didn’t want to pick a fight unnecessarily. Opening the Hidden Stage here was more important than causing trouble.

“You know the items dropped by the Frushes, like Sky Paint, Earth Canvas, and Wind Brush? I want to buy them all from you.”

The Hongdae Alliance had a tight grip on this place. They had to have most of the items from the Frushes.

“You want to buy those?”

Anellan raised an eyebrow. Jin-Hyeok tried to avoid using Broadcaster’s Clairvoyance as much as possible, but he needed to use it now.

[...#Why does he want to buy those trash items? #Is there any use for them?]

“Ah, don’t get me wrong. I am not buying them because they are good items.”

“Then why?”

“It’s for my Quest. You said it yourself, time is precious. I feel the same way. It’s not something important, but I am willing to spend money to save some time. It would take a long time for me to acquire them myself.”

“...”

“I’ll pay generously. I have a lot of money.”

“Just wait for a moment.”

Anellan called another Player. The hierarchy seemed to be well-established as a Player wearing glasses came rushing over.

‘A Level 40 Demagogue?’

His Player name was Backstabber.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Hongik University’s fourth-year student, Gu Ja-Yeol, was Awakened as a Demagogue. Through eloquent speech and persuasion, he successfully established the Hongdae Alliance and appointed the charismatic junior, Anellan, as the leader. In reality, the leader of the Alliance was Ja-Yeol himself.

His Player name was Backstabber.

‘So he has a lot of money?’ Ja-Yeol thought.

First, he decided to figure out this newcomer’s identity. As a Demagogue, his Job was all about manipulating and controlling others, while possessing the exceptional Skill called Demagogue’s Eye.

[Backstabber used the Skill 「Demagogue’s Eye」.]

Unfortunately, Demagogue’s Eye was of a much lower grade than Jin-Hyeok’s Broadcaster\'s Clairvoyance. As such, Jin-Hyeok could clearly see how the Skill worked. It was similar to when he read the Skills of Angel Girl. Several green lines seemed to scan Jin-Hyeok’s body.

[Broadcaster\'s Clairvoyance can block 「Demagogue’s Eye」.]

However, Jin-Hyeok decided not to block it.

Ja-Yeol’s Skill displayed the manipulated identity created by the Mystery, Multiple Lives.

‘Level 31? His Job is Swordsman?’ Ja-Yeol thought as he smiled.

The newcomer didn’t seem all that impressive. The woman beside him seemed to be a Navigator, but it was difficult to read her information. She was probably using a Skill or item to block Ja-Yeol’s Skill.

‘If she is accompanying a Level 30 Swordsman, she can’t be that impressive of a Navigator.’

Although Level 31 couldn’t be considered a very low Level, there were over ten Players around Level 30 in the Hongdae Alliance.

“If it’s a good condition, it might not hurt to listen to him, Leader,” Ja-Yeol said to Anellan.

“Then you do the talking.”

“Understood.”

Watching their conversation, Jin-Hyeok smirked.

‘Ha! Look at these two.’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

While it was quite common to appoint a figurehead as a leader of an Alliance, looking at this situation while knowing their relationship was a bit amusing to Jin-Hyeok.

‘Anellan isn’t the type to take the lead. Hm… Weird.’

But Jin-Hyeok did not really dwell on it. After all, everyone had their own reasons.

“How much have you collected so far?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“130 Sky Paints, 181 Earth Canvases, and 111 Wind Brushes. How much are you willing to pay?”

“What about ten times the buy-in price at the shop?”

“Hm…”

[...#That’s pretty good. #Maybe he is hiding something. #Am I making a mistake?]

Jin-Hyeok was frustrated. Ja-Yeol was overthinking something that could simply be a win-win situation for both parties, especially when Ja-Yeol himself did not even know how to properly use the items.

“Think about it carefully. How long would it take to gather that many items with the participation of all Hondae Alliance members?”

“Probably about a week.”

“That means the items are not that rare. As I mentioned earlier, I proposed the trade to save time, not because there is some ulterior motive.”

[...#He is right. #How much would I get if I sold everything?]

It was ten times the shop’s buy-in price. Since each item was worth about eight hundred Dias, the shop’s buy-in price for all the items would be around 330,000 Dias.

‘Wait, so, 3.3 million Dias in total?’ Ja-Yeol thought.

[...#Is he really going to buy all these? #These useless items? #Aka Rich af?]

This newcomer was willing to spend a whopping 3.3 million Dias to buy items that could be obtained in a week.

“Alliance Leader, it seems like this could benefit us as well,” Ja-Yeol said to Anellan.

He was politely bowing and speaking, but his eyes were directed toward Jin-Hyeok, not the leader.

[...#He is definitely rich. #I think I can make more money out of him. #This idiot. #He should’ve kept himself hidden.]

Jin-Hyeok didn’t pay much attention to it.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The trade with the Hongdae Alliance ended successfully. Backstabber was looking at Jin-Hyeok weirdly, but Jin-Hyeok didn’t really care.

“I heard there are NPCs in this Dungeon,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“That’s right. There is an NPC that buys Sky Paints, Earth Canvases, and Wind Brushes. If you go straight down that path, you will be able to find the NPC. Why? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing. It’s just that you’re like a vending machine.”

“What?”

“Every time I ask you a question, you always seem to have an answer.”

“...This is pretty common sense for Navigators.”

“I know, right?”

Jin-Hyeok had been feeling slightly pleased lately. As he met friends who had similar standards, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of camaraderie. He tried his best to lower his standards, yet still struggled in this world. However, after meeting people like Song Ha-Young and Han Sae-Rin, he understood something.

‘My standards are not completely wrong.’

“So, every Navigator knows about this?”

“Of course.”

Guided by Sae-Rin, they entered a room. In the corner, there was a female NPC wearing a beret. Just like the Angel he saw in the Room of Awakening, she was an AI. According to the settings of the System, her name was Nameless Painter. Just like every AI, she spoke lines that were programmed into her.

“Not everyone can fly into the sky. You need an invitation from an Angel. Adventurer, have you received an invitation from an Angel?”

A selection window popped up.

[Yes. I have received the invitation.]

[No, I have not received the invitation.]

“A lot of Players have chosen YES here and ended up in a bad situation. If you claim to have received an invitation, you need proof,” Sae-Rin said.

However, if the Player did not have any proof, Nameless Painter brutally assaulted them with the brush she held in her hand.

The door to this room remained firmly locked until the assault was over. That was why most Players did not dare to come here.

Click.

The door locked.

Nameless Painter asked again, “Not everyone can fly into the sky. You need an invitation from an Angel. Adventurer, have you received an invitation from an Angel?”

“You need to choose NO, for now. I don’t really know what the Angel’s invitation is. We might come across it while exploring this Dunge—”

“I have received the invitation.”

“Hey!” Sae-Rin shouted. “What are you doi—huh?”

Jin-Hyeok handed something to Nameless Painter.

“Oh! It has been a while since I have met an adventurer who has the right qualifications,” Nameless Painter said.

It was the Feather of Luluka that Jin-Hyeok had obtained in the Seoul Station Dungeon a long time ago. This Feather helped Jin-Hyeok to create the Blessed Perfume Oil to defeat the demonized human.

The bookshelf on one side of the wall slowly started rotating. Beyond the bookshelf, stairs became visible.

“Move along. Troublemaker Luluka is waiting for the adventurer.”

Jin-Hyeok was about to take the lead but glanced back for a moment.

“What are you doing? You need to take the lead.”

“Oh… Yeah, sorry. Let’s go.”

Sae-Rin was baffled. She didn’t understand how Jin-Hyeok met the condition for the Angel’s invitation. However, that was a part she did not need to understand.

‘He was able to do it, but I couldn’t?’ Sae-Rin thought.

It left a big scratch on her pride.

‘He knew what the invitation was, but I didn’t?’

Recently, Sae-Rin had risen back to the top of the rankings, albeit by a small margin. She felt a slight sense of complacency, but quickly regained her determination.

[You are moving to the Hidden Stage 「Cloud Garden」.]

As they climbed a few steps, the Field changed. Sae-Rin looked around.

‘Are we… in the sky?’

The place seemed to be set in the sky. The floor was made of clouds, incredibly soft and fluffy.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

They heard the sound of a barking dog. In an instant, Sae-Rin tensed up and surveyed her surroundings once again.

“Hey, be careful,” she said.

She could sense just from the sound that what she was hearing that it was something to be reckoned with. It was an entity she could not possibly fight against.

“It’s definitely a being that we cannot fight. We need to find a place to hide,” she said.

She needed to buy some time. This Field was not created for fighting. If they fought, they would definitely die.

Now, this was the realm of the Navigator. She had to blaze the trail to find a good hiding spot.

Woof! Woof!

The barking sound grew louder, which meant that the entity was approaching. The place was an expansive, wide-open space, yet she couldn’t pinpoint where the sound was coming from. Perhaps it was rushing toward them from somewhere beneath the clouds.

Her heart started to pound.

“I need to find a solution.”

Suddenly, something in the form of a bulldog burst through the clouds.

At that moment, she had an intuition. It was a monster that they could never hope to defeat together.

‘We’re done for,’

In the end, she couldn’t find the way.

‘I guess I’m not fit to be a Navigator.’

She felt a bit sorry for Jin-Hyeok.

She left him with a parting remark.

“Hey, Jin-Hyeok. It was fun while it lasted. And also, you’re handsome as hell.”

Since it was the end anyway, she decided to say everything she wanted to say.

“I almost fell for you at first sight. If we happen to meet again alive, I’ll properly confess my love to you.”

1. Hongdae, or 홍대, is shortened term for Hongik University. ☜

2. Chuuni is a shortened term of the wor dChuunibyou, which is a Japanese slang term for the embarrasing behavior of 13-to-14-year-olds. The term literally means middle school 2nd year syndrome. ☜