Chapter 205: Unexpected Meeting 1
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Junhyuk sighed deeply after he finished processing the monster attack. He felt like it would"ve been easier if he had worked alone. He could quickly grasp what Zaira was doing even as it worked at great speed, but ordinary people were different. They did not and could not use Zaira"s power properly. However, with five people divided in groups things had worked out, and they had gone smoothly.
Junhyuk had divided the workload among five people, but Soyeon and Tsubasa didn"t have anything to do that day, so he taught them things related to the other jobs. He wasn"t sure when he would finish the transfer of responsibilities.
After he was done, Junhyuk went to Eunseo to make his report. She was inside the shelter, working with Elise. Eunseo saw him come in and make his report, to which she listened intently, then she looked at her watch.
"It"s 5:00 p.m. You may leave."
"What about the other employees?"
"They may also leave," she said and turned to look at him. "Since you"ve acted with courage, I don"t think anyone will quit."
When he heard that, he smiled bitterly. He had his armor and extended health, but Soyeon was different. She was the one with true courage.
"Soyeon helped, and that"s why the others helped. You should tell that to her."
"I"m aware of it."
Junhyuk felt that Soyeon had gotten on Eunseo"s good side and smiled.
"Then, I"ll be going."
He walked outside and all of the Administrative Department workers looked at him.
"Let"s go home." Everyone gets up from their seats, and Junhyuk smiled and added, "Today, let"s go get some beer. It"s on me."
The employees cheered, and Junhyuk took them all to a nearby sports bar.
While everyone was sat down, drinking beer, Junhyuk looked at Soyeon.
"You mustered up a lot of courage there."
"The truth is you acted first. I just followed you."
He shook his head. The other employees complimented her. From the male employees point of view, they wanted to compliment their attractive female coworkers. They all applauded her. Meanwhile, Junhyuk moved to sit next to Tsubasa. He hadn"t expected her to tag along to the sports bar.
He sat down in front of her and raised a gla.s.s of beer. She also raised hers and clinked it against his.
"You must be stunned because of all that"s happened," he said to her.
"I wasn"t the only one at work."
Junhyuk laughed.
"You are right, but it is a relief."
Junhyuk looked at the other employees and Tsubasa did the same. The others must be feeling relieved and alive, and they were all enjoying their drinks.
"Don"t get too drunk," Junhyuk told them.
"You are worried we might drink too much?"
Junhyuk shrugged and said, "You are feeling euphoric, so that might happen. Drink moderately."
Soyeon"s face was little red.
"I will," she said, and a male coworker agreed with her.
Junhyuk smiled bitterly and said, "Your opinion carried more weight than mine."
She smiled and drank her beer, and Junhyuk raised his gla.s.s and did the same.
Lately, he was always training alone, so he hadn"t been out drinking with others. He could be open with Sarang, but she was only in high school, so she couldn"t drink with him.
Junhyuk observed Tsubasa. She seemed comfortable enough and was enjoying her beer. She was actually quite the beautiful woman. Anyone could easily approach Soyeon, but Tsubasa looked proud and unapproachable.
However, she took the initiative to speak to the men, and they felt better about her, so she seemed to be making friends. Junhyuk leaned back and watched them. They were easily becoming friends, and he wanted to befriend her too.
Sora and Tsubasa, with the two of them protecting Guardians, the HQ wouldn"t fall so easily. Junhyuk didn"t need to worry so much and emptied his gla.s.s. The beer felt extra cold that day.
---
He finished the beer with his coworkers and headed to Guro before heading home. Once he got home, he wouldn"t leave until the Dimensional Battlefield the next day.
He goes to the ninth floor and saw Sungtae unconsciously tapping on the computer. There was no sign that he had eaten anything, so Junhyuk went out and bought him a hamburger combo meal.
Sungtae didn"t know Junhyuk had come back and just kept working hard. Once Junhyuk tapped on his shoulder, he was surprised to see him there and sighed, relieved.
"You scared me."
Junhyuk"s mask could scare people. He handed Sungtae the food, and Sungtae cheered loudly and quickly downed it all. Junhyuk pulled a chair and sat next to him.
"So what have you been doing?"
"Hm. Everything is working fine, but we have to wait until tomorrow night to see how it really works."
"Tomorrow is Friday."
"I will remain here, then you can come Sat.u.r.day and see it work."
"Does it take long?"
"It takes a while to adjust the program to the supercomputer, but it will work fine on Sat.u.r.day."
"Then, I can see the supercomputer working on Sat.u.r.day?"
"Yes."
Junhyuk looked calmly at the supercomputer. He had spent half of his a.s.sets on it, but it would be a source of power for him on Earth. If he was to gain information faster than other people, he needed that supercomputer operational.
Junhyuk got up and looked back. With a mouthful of the hamburger in his mouth, Sungtae cracked his knuckles and walked over to him.
"When it"s working, I will let you know."
"I"ll look forward to it."
He lost himself in the computer again, and Junhyuk smiled bitterly. Geniuses were different. He had crazy focus, and Junhyuk had to get him food.
Junhyuk stopped by the convenience store and bought some ramen noodles and a coffee maker and took them back to Sungtae. He left it all there along with a note. That way Junhyuk was sure Sungtae would feed himself until he came back on Sat.u.r.day. Then, he headed home. The next day he would go to the DImensional Battlefield, so he had to prepare everything he could.
---
Last time, he had purchased the Ring of the G.o.d of Wind, but he hadn"t had time to look for anything this time. Junhyuk was at home, training. He had become a champion in the Dimensional Battlefield and had five lives, so he felt he was getting too complacent. He wanted to train extra hard.
Everywhere he went, he worked on his muscles bit by bit. However, practicing swordsmans.h.i.+p was a different story. He appreciated when the sword slashed through the thick air, generating a gust of wind. Nothing else existed except for him and his sword.
The sound of his heartbeat travelled forward with his sword, chasing after an imaginary enemy. He imagine himself to be alone on the road, looking for the strongest enemy. His muscles were shaped after his movements, so the better he moved, the stronger his muscles became.
Junhyuk was inventing himself. He didn"t know when it would all end, but he swung his sword. He forgot time and swung his sword.
How long has it been? Junhyuk thought, stopping the swing and teleporting.
"Whew!"
The day was already bright outside, so he had to have been practicing for at least six hours.
He smiled, poured some milk into his cereal bowl and turned on the TV. The news was about the monster attack the previous day.
Seoul Station had been damaged, and the windows at Namdaemun"s market were shattered by the iron soldier"s supersonic speed. And Guardians would pay for all collateral damage.
"They"ll have to spend a lot of money."
For now, things were fine, but the damages would increase in the future. Can they pay for it all?
Junhyuk got up from his seat. The money issue was Guardians" problem, and there was nothing he could do about it.
He felt like the Dimensional Battlefield managers were acting with purpose, but they didn"t threw things at them that they couldn"t handle. The iron soldiers had been defenseless, but people with powers had stopped it all. Also, they had only come after Guardians in South Korea.
"Are they attacking the leader? Or experimenting?"
Junhyuk knew he couldn"t interfere. When he interfered, stronger monsters appeared. He finished his cereal, did the dishes and teleported. There was still some time to practice, but when he swung his sword, he thought of someone, the little Chinese girl.
She had released a wind blade with a range of about thirty meters, but everyone within that range had been affected by it.
"She was calm."
She had to have activated her power at the Dimensional Battlefield. Junhyuk reminded himself of her face and pretended he had to fight her.
He thought of her and about the enemies he would face in the Dimensional Battlefield. Time pa.s.sed without him noticing while he swung his sword, and his burner phone rang. He picked it up to hear Sarang"s voice on the other end.
"Big brother, are you ready?"
Junhyuk checked the time on his smartphone and was surprised.
"It"s time already!"
"What? You didn"t know?"
"No, I was training."
"Did you eat?"
"Just breakfast."
"You don"t have time to eat now!"
"It"s fine. When I get there, I won"t be hungry."
JUnhyuk laughed, returned his equipment and teleported to his room. He lay on his bed and told Sarang, "See you soon."
"See you."
After speaking, he closed his eyes.
---
The world turned white, and Junhyuk opened his eyes slowly. He was in the same room as always, so he checked his earnings: 58,260G.
After checking on how much he had made in the Champion"s Battlefield, he took his helmet off and summoned everything he owned.
[Welcome. You"ve been summoned to the Valley of Death.]
He inspected his equipment. He had done it before, so it didn"t take long to look over everything.
[You may exit through the main doors.]
Junhyuk walked toward the exit, and the voice added something else.
[You"ve activated three powers to become a champion. As a champion, you have five revives.]
Five, that was a lot of lives, but he couldn"t let his guard down. He could die anytime, anywhere.
Junhyuk stood in front of the exit and heard a soft voice.
[Champion Junhyuk Lee deployed.]
After walking outside, he saw a lot of people. They probably knew about the Dimension Battlefield as they were holding their s.h.i.+elds and swords tightly. Only 30 percent of the population knew about the Dimensional Battlefield, but that was a big change from before. Some of them might even become novices.
Junhyuk was thinking about spreading the news of the Dimensional Battlefield when Sarang showed up from far away. She was much taller than the others and she ran toward him.
Then, he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him, "Dark Knight?"
Junhyuk turned to look and saw a completely unexpected face.