Seoul(13)

Unfortunately, we never encountered a Ruler in the Antarctic dungeon. Had the ruler run away, or was it just too stupid?

Nothing significant happened.

Two more agents of the Ruler, called Dungeon Road, were caught, but agents were seen in the other dungeons. There was even a dungeon that withdrew its monsters and other things.

It was comforting to know that I could recover all the extractors.

If I knew it would end up like this, I would have wiped them all out the day I returned to Earth. Of course, doing so may not have changed the results by much, but I still would have liked to have done it.

“I’m home.”

“I’m sure he came back earlier. When did he leave again?” Kim Min-hyuk hurriedly hung up his phone when we entered. He had a miserable look on his face.

Either way, we all dispersed as soon as we returned to the accommodations.

Hochi went up to the living room couch, Seregia to the kitchen, and Yong-yong to the second-floor room with the mantis.

“Africa.” The last dungeon I visited was in Rwenzori, Africa. Unfortunately, it didn’t produce anything worthwhile, but Hochi loved experiencing the scenery.

“Oh, for your information, I’ve cleared everything.”

“What?”

“G-class. None of them are on Earth anymore. Isn’t that good?”

“Good work… Huh?”

Kim Min-hyuk put down his cell phone on the table and blankly looked ahead. The vibrations continued, checking to see if he was still on call. There was a loud noise as the vibrating cell phone hit the table.

Kim Min-hyuk reached out and hung up the phone. Then, without a moment’s delay, another call came in.

No matter how many times he hung up, the calls kept coming in.

Kim Min-hyuk, who had been pondering for a while now, decided to turn off his phone altogether.

“Something wrong?”

“No,” Kim Min-hyuk answered, seemingly having given up. “I don’t know anymore. Let’s just get it done tomorrow. The important thing right now is that the G-class Monsters are gone. If there’s anything wrong with the article, we’ll just correct it late,” Kim Min-hyuk replied.

“Did you do any damage?”

“None. Just a bit in Antarctica.”

Although I tried to cover up the situation, damage to neighbouring countries was unavoidable. However, I minimized the effects. There was no damage elsewhere.

There couldn’t be anything because I took care of things properly this time.

“That’s enough. I don’t care about the little things. If we look closely, what’s left is property rights issues and unauthorized entry. It’s a violation of international raid regulations.”

Kim Min-hyuk thought about it for a while before saying, “I don’t know. It’s what you did, so take care of it yourself.”

That’s a lot of work for me.

Even though Kim Min-hyuk ordered me to do it, he would still be the one to take care of it in the end

“Joon-suk?”

“Sleeping upstairs. I just laid him down because I heard there’s nothing wrong with his health. Is he okay? Or should I send him to the hospital now?”

“He’ll be alright.”

Yong-yong examined him, so of course, there would be no problem. Yong-yong was as good as me in this. Unlike me, however, Yong-yong was better because he would take more care of the other person. I decided to take care of Joon-suk when he came to his senses later.

There was a bit of a mystery. Lee Joon-suk, who stayed on the 90th floor for years, was very competitive.

He desired strength—maybe to come after me. Either way, he was ambitious back then. However, Lee Joon-suk, who I met again on Earth, showed little enthusiasm.

Even when he ran into me, he didn’t show much interest. Of course, I was glad to see him after a long time, but I wanted to check his strength. However, he couldn’t prove his strength.

He did not regret his lack of power. It didn’t seem like he had a new desire for challenge, so I wondered if this was the Lee Joon-suk I knew. He was one of the few I talked to when I was trapped on the 60th floor.

I thought of solving his problems to repay the gratitude from that time. If I could motivate him again, Lee Joon-suk would be a useful guy. Such talent was hard to find.

I couldn’t believe he worked on a floor for nearly ten years on his own volition.

I couldn’t do such a stupid thing. It was foolish, but I had to find a way to make him grow.

My experience made me quite adept at helping others grow. The only case that failed was Hochi’s.

All the other guys who went through my hands were doing their part.

“Park Min was supposed to come later. Now the Association is going crazy.”

“The Association? Why?”

“Why not? It’s because someone wiped out the G-class in Pyongyang.”

I shrugged. If I came after the association’s head now, the association’s work would be poured on Kim Min-hyuk.

Let’s fix that later.

“The gate you wanted, is it urgent?”

“Yes, no.”

“…Is it urgent or not?”

“Not really, but I want you to take care of it quickly.”

While watching Kim Min-hyuk’s angry face, I briefly organized my thoughts.

Was there anything else I had to do? I couldn’t think of anything.

“I will also go to my room and rest.”

Kim Min-hyuk sprang to his feet. “Yes! Go and lie down! Get out of here! And please don’t get up until tomorrow!”

That’s too much.

Some people thought I was causing trouble even though it was all for the good of humans.

“Yes, it would have been good if you had handled it over a week. Finishing it one day is too much.”

How unfair.

* * *

It was quiet when I entered the room, and I laid down on the bed. I could feel cozy while lying on thorns, but it was still comfortable to lie in bed.

Was it a habit?

I opened the subspace and took out the purple crystal, an item I got after clearing the 100th floor of the Tutorial.

It was one of the reasons why Kirikiri said that I needed to clear it. As I looked at the purple crystal for a moment, a message appeared in front of my eyes.

[Summoning Stone]

It was a simple item. The compensation for clearing the Tutorial varied depending on the level of difficulty.

But the name of the rewards were all the same: a summoning stone.

After clearing the Easy difficulty level, the summoner can call up one of the Tutorial potions.

After clearing the Normal difficulty level, one can summon one item they purchased in the store window.

After clearing the Hard difficulty level, one can summon one item received as an additional reward during Hard difficulty.

I wondered what it would be like in the case of Hell Difficulty, but this was it.

[Summon Stone]

Description: A reward for the challenger who has endured all the trials of the Tutorial. You can bring back a relationship you made in the Tutorial.

It was an interesting item. I could summon someone who was not an item. After clearing the 100th floor, I put it off.

First of all, I needed to solve the problems on Earth. But now it was time to think about the summoning stone.

Who should I summon? Multiple faces and names came to mind.

There were plenty of people who I wanted to meet and talk with again. Just thinking about it made my heart throb. Although they were short relationships, they were profound.

The first person that came to mind was Idy.

When I had a lot of concerns about my identity, she gave me direction, and we were together for the longest time.

For the first time, I found someone to rely on. But I promised Idy that I wouldn’t do it. Summoning her now would break my promise to her.

Also, I couldn’t be sure it was my ‘Idy’ who would be summoned from this summon stone.

I thought about friends who would be happy to see me again, like Myong-myong and Cheonsa-Cheonsabaeg. [1]

However, I decided against using the stone to fulfill a momentary longing. If I achieved my goal, we could meet again later. They would even have memories of meeting me. That was how one more option was crossed out.

The next thing I thought of was Godmother. I met her on the 19th floor while training to become an apostle for the God of Devotion.

But on the 61st floor, I met her again, in the guise of the God of Sacrifice.

If the Godmother from back then was the clone of the God of Sacrifice, she was worth summoning and nurturing. Since she seemed to be a faithful believer in the God of Devotion, it wouldn’t be easy to persuade her, but I thought I could do something about it.

Or I could just dissect her.

It was a really attractive option, but I decided to move on.

Kirikiri had said I needed this summon stone, but she probably didn’t say it with Grandmother in mind.

Lee Hyung-jin came to mind next. I couldn’t help but think about it. Lee Hyung-jin was probably not who or what Kirikiri had in mind.

It was an old regret of mine and an unsolved question. What the hell happened on that 17th floor? I’d thought about it for a long time.

In my opinion, Lee Hyung-jin could quickly clear the 17th floor. It just required the ability to beat the illusion.

The illusion wasn’t aware of the items Lee Hyung-Jin had, and there were many things the me from back then didn’t know.

(T/N: Me from back then refers to his 17th-floor illusion self.)

I gave him a few tips, but I wasn’t very involved. The concern at the time was not that he could not pass through the 17th floor, but that he could find out the information on the 61st floor and no longer climb up.

However, he died shortly after entering the 17th floor. I couldn’t easily digest the fact.

In the end, it raised my expectations of the 17th-floor’s illusion ever since.

It was not because of my memories of the 17th floor, but its power to kill Lee Hyung-jin.

So before Lee Yeon-hee challenged the 17th floor, I checked everything in a paranoid manner and made her enter with overwhelming power. Of course, Lee Yeon-hee faced a major crisis on the 17th floor, but she was careless. It was not because of her lack of power.

Lee Hyung-jin was different from Lee Yeon-hee. It was not about their bodies, magic, or techniques.

Qualitatively, the two were different challengers. Lee Hyung-jin was an early challenger. He was a challenger from when information was scarce.

He was informed of the stage but not given careful advice. What I gave Lee Hyung-jin was just a list of what happened on the stage.

Even that information was limited to what I went through, and was told by my standards. It was something that could never be considered perfect.

I didn’t put much effort in developing him. Lee Hyung-jin’s ability to grow was entirely his own.

However, even with the lack of information, Lee Hyung-jin survived to the end and climbed the floors with quick movements and a determination to survive.

Of course, Lee Yeon-hee was also a great challenger, and she had excellent stats from the start since she was a former national archer.

However, in terms of mental abilities such as mental strength and concentration, Lee Hyung-jin would not be far behind me.

On the contrary, many aspects of him were better than me. His only downfall was his fear of pain and death.

Comparing Lee Yeon-hee and Lee Hyung-jin confirmed that the scale leaned toward Lee Hyung-jin.

“Should I save Hyung-jin?”

It was questionable whether I could revive the challenger and summon him. But whether it was possible or not, it was worth a try.

The idea still lingered that the dead one might not be the one to come out through the summons.

Nevertheless, I had no choice but to worry. That was how much regret I had.

I couldn’t decide quickly, so I’d been putting it off until now, but it was still not easy.

After a long time of lying on the bed, I could give up my lingering regret for a moment. There must be a good reason why Kirikiri had repeatedly stressed that this was absolutely necessary.

And given the effect of this summon stone, it was easy to notice what Kirikiri wanted from me.

[Do you want to use the summon stone?]

“Yes.”

At my answer, the purple crystal began to shine brightly.

I didn’t say anything else, but the summon began, as if it could read my thoughts, bringing forth the one in my mind. Smoke rose on the floor. It was a conventional form of summoning.

Out of all the people who I could’ve called, I summoned the Hell difficulty manager, Kirikiri.

It was Kirikiri.

“Hi!”

Through the smoke, fluffy rabbit ears popped up and greeted me.

Notes from Imagine:

[1]: Angel White, White Angel? We aren’t sure who or what this is supposed to be.

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