Chapter 347. 17 Years (1)
After destroying Erebo’s sp.a.w.ning ground, the expedition team returned to the city two days later in the morning. Only ten minutes after the reports of their actions were sent, Seo Jun-Ho was summoned.
Shin Sung-Hyun seemed very apologetic, and his voice reflected his feelings. “You must be tired. I’m very sorry, but I think some of the numbers on the report are incorrect.”
“Really?” Seo Jun-Ho muttered. Seo Jun-Ho looked at the Player he had brought with him just in case. The party had been able to count the number of eggs they destroyed thanks to the Player’s unique sub-skill called Recordkeeping (B).
“Please tell Mr. David over here which parts you think are incorrect. He has all the records from the beginning up until the end of the expedition,” he said.
“Alright. Mr. David?”
“Y-yes, sir!” David was nervous in the presence of two Heavens, and his voice sounded tense.
“I think the number of insect eggs destroyed is incorrect in this report. How many were there exactly?”
“385,291, sir!”
“What was that?”
“3. 8. 5. 2. 9. 1. Sir!”
Unsurprisingly, Shin Sung-Hyun’s face grew shocked, and so did Jang Kyun-Hoon, who was standing next to the former. Their eyes then landed on Seo Jun-Ho.
“Oh, that wasn’t an error. That’s the correct number.”
“...Hah?”
“The c.o.c.kroaches’ sp.a.w.ning ground had been a base camp for their war against Players.”
“Hah...” Countless thoughts and feelings popped into his head, but all Shin Sung-Hyun could do was let out a forced laugh. “You never fail to surprise me.”
“I’m flattered.”
“So this wasn’t an error, you say. It’s such an absurd number that it’s hard to believe…” Shin Sung-Hyun stood up with a look of excitement. “You’ve done us a great honor. To think that you killed nearly 400,000 c.o.c.kroaches… You’ve brought us an unbelievable and great victory.”
“That is not all, Master,” Jang Kyung-Hoon said, sounding impressed. He read the report closely. “Within the sp.a.w.ning grounds, there was a laboratory where special ent.i.ties were created. Specter rescued twelve Players those heathens had taken as prisoners. If 400,000 c.o.c.kroaches, including those special ent.i.ties, invaded this city…”
“It would have been chaos...”
Countless Players would have died. Thankfully, they avoided such a ma.s.sacre.
Sung-Hyun let out a sigh of relief. “If I may be frank, I only expected you to minimize the number of casualties…” However, the Hero had achieved something even greater, something that Shin Sung-Hyun didn’t even dare try to quantify. The c.o.c.kroaches already had more resources than the Players, but even the monsters knew how big of a difference 400,000 more soldiers would make. “No wonder the c.o.c.kroaches did not attack the city for the first time last night.”
It was definitive proof that the Floor Master had been thrown into confusion after losing his troops.
Shin Sung-Hyun thought for a moment and spoke, “Vice Master.”
“Yes?”
“Release an article on Community right at this moment.”
“What should it be about?”
“In detail, write about the expedition team’s achievements.”
The 4th floor’s Community was separated from the other Floors. In other words, the only ones who would be able to see the report were Players on the 4th floor.
There was a simple reason Shin Sung-Hyun was giving such an order out of the blue. “This will be the best news to raise the Players’ morale. They have become tired without realizing it. In addition, inform them that the rations our Guild has been saving will be shared for today’s lunch.”
Food and drinks on top of the exciting news of their great victory. Shin Sung-Hyun truly was the leader of a large Guild.
“Give the expedition members the highest seat of honor possible. We will serve them with the city’s finest food.”
“Now that you say that, I’m starting to get excited. I promise I’ll be there,” Seo Jun-Ho said. Now that he thought about it, it had already been a few years since he ate any gourmet food made by someone else. As such, he drooled at the thought of it.
While he was drooling, the Goblin Guild released a post on the Community forums.
***
“Hey, hey, did you guys see what they posted on Community?”
“Why, was there something interesting?”
“Of course. Listen, they said the expedition team destroyed 400,000 c.o.c.kroach eggs, led by Specter.”
“Come on, even if it’s him, 400,000 is a little… I guess he likes to bluff a bit.”
“I thought the same thing, but I’m telling you, it’s true. You didn’t check the video forums either? I swear, it took off ten years of my life.”
With nothing better to do, the Players chattered about the expedition team’s achievements. The expedition team had destroyed 400,000 c.o.c.kroach eggs and saved twelve prisoners, and throughout that, no one was critically injured, let alone killed. Honestly, it was hard to believe that such an overwhelming victory had occurred if one could only read it.
So, a video was uploaded, and it proved the expedition team’s achievements.
[Break them! Break them all!]
[Once they’re all destroyed, set them on fire! Jenbu Shatsu[1]!]
[Ahahaha! I’m the 4th Floor’s Cesco[2]!]
The video showed dozens of Players destroying eggs like mad. The videos were full of visuals and noises enough to make a man’s knees weak.
The uploader was someone named Sonny. Most people already knew that it was Seo Jun-Ho’s ID.
“Wow. How did you think this up in that situation?” Seo Jun-Ho asked, sounding impressed. The one who had come up with the idea was the Frost Queen rather than Keen Intuition.
The Frost Queen crossed her arms and shrugged. “Heh. This is but a trivial matter. It is now clear who is more helpful to you, Contractor.”
- How foolish. Even if you achieve something small like this a hundred times, it pales in comparison to saving his life even once.
“I am not a fool.”
These days, the Frost Queen and Keen Intuition’s signature move was to appeal for Seo Jun-Ho’s approval whenever they did something good, no matter what it was. Internally, Seo Jun-Ho wanted to let them bicker on their own, but Keen Intuition was living in his head, so he couldn’t afford to do that.
“Contractor, have you earned a lot of PP?”
“Yeah. But I don’t know when the 2nd Floor Administrator’s Store will open again,” he replied. Fortunately, most of the items sold in the Administrator’s Store were excellent items, so the more money he had, the better it would be for him.
[Egg Breaker]
Views: 26,438
Likes: 8,973
PP earned: 2,643
Donated PP: 152,800
“I’ve earned more than 150,000 PP already,” he remarked. Compared to the number of views the video had, the number of donated PP he earned was much higher. Since their lives had been at stake, it seemed they were expressing their grat.i.tude to him this way.
‘It’s not like there are much better things to do on the 4th floor either.’
Seo Jun-Ho smiled with a pleased look as he watched his PP steadily increase. “Anyway, good job. I’ll give you a cake coupon—oh, wait, I guess you wouldn’t need that because you already have a lot.” He suddenly remembered that he had given her a 10x cake coupon. On top of that, it wasn’t like he could buy her a decent cake here anyway.
“Huh?! That is absolutely absurd!” The Frost Queen jumped up and down in excitement. “The more cake there is, the better! Don’t you know that phrase?”[3]
“I don’t, actually. And I already gave you a 10x cake coupon.”
“Oh, I gave that to some—huh?” The Frost Queen tilted her head. “Who did I give it to?”
“You gave the cake coupon to someone else? Don’t make me laugh.”
“...Hm.” Indeed, if she had given her most treasured possession to someone else, she would have clearly remembered the ident.i.ty of the one whom she bestowed it upon.
As such, the Frost Queen nodded slowly. “It must have been a dream. Anyway, give me the cake coupon. Give me lots.”
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho wrote a 10x cake coupon on the spot and thought that on the day she used them all up, he should take her to the dentist again.
***
“And then Elder Phantom Sword said this: ‘He will come.’ Man~ I actually believed that as well.”
“Bulls.h.i.t. You said he would never come unless he were dragged there.”
“W-when did I ever…”
Everyone at the Goblin Guild’s banquet was merry, and their stomachs were full. Additionally, the expedition team came together again. Two days was a short period of time, but they fought while having each other’s backs.
Seo Jun-Ho quietly ate his food and enjoyed the atmosphere.
‘This is nice…’
Things were so relaxed it was hard to believe that this place would soon become a battlefield again.
‘We may not see those disgusting c.o.c.kroaches for a while.’
He held back a bitter smile. It was because he knew why Erebo had unexpectedly tried to win him over at the sp.a.w.ning ground.
‘Even that b.a.s.t.a.r.d knows that I’ll destroy all the eggs if I remain his enemy.’
Erebo probably couldn’t digest the World Tree at the moment because he felt so nauseous by his losses.
Enjoying the banquet, Seo Jun-Ho turned his back to the laughing, chattering expedition members and went up to the roof of the skysc.r.a.per. From there, there was a clear view that went beyond the city walls.
‘I can feel it.’
He hadn’t felt it before, but he could now feel a strong killing intent coming from one direction, and it was being directed at a certain someone. He knew that he was the target, so he chuckled and raised his middle finger in that direction.
“What’s with you? Why are you laughing all by yourself? If there’s something funny, share it with me,” a friendly voice said as a girl made her way onto the roof.
“Miss Ju-Ha.”
“Hehe.” She laughed easily like a puppy and held out a canned beverage to him. “It’s been a very long time since this happened.”
“Since what?”
“Just. Since everyone has come together and shared the same feelings as one.” She watched the Players on the streets. They were gathered in twos and threes and were talking to one another. “...You truly are amazing, Specter. I didn’t know that you’ll completely change the vibe here, even though it had only been a few days since you arrived.”
“I don’t recall the mood being particularly bad,” he said. He arrived here on his fifth week of being on the 4th floor. The c.o.c.kroach’s a.s.sault hadn’t begun just yet, so the atmosphere had been very peaceful and bright.
“That’s different. Everyone was smiling, but they were all faking it.”
It made sense. The advance party had already been here for more than five months, close to half a year.
Just when would they clear the 4th floor? Those who felt the uncertainty of that question couldn’t smile so naively.
“Talking like this during a campaign makes me think of the old days when we were at Blackfield,” Gong Ju-Ha said.
“You gave me a drink back then, too.”
“Oh G.o.d, thinking about that time still makes me…” A small shudder ran through her. “In the past, I used to think your actions and your sacrificial mindset was really cool. Every day, I thought to myself that I wanted to become that kind of Player.”
“Is that not the case anymore?”
“Just... Even just by watching from the sidelines, I realized just how painful and sad that path is.” She peeked at him from the corner of her eye before speaking carefully, “I hope that you’ll also start to live a little more selfishly, Specter—no, Jun-Ho. For your own sake.”
“Selfishly, you say…”
It was a complicated matter. To be honest, Seo Jun-Ho knew that he wasn’t a saint. He had been shoved into certain situations and then into the limelight before he eventually started wearing the mask of a Hero.
Seo Jun-Ho smiled dryly and nodded. “Well, since this advice is coming from Miss ‘my precious fan Ju-Ha ♡’, so I’ll try to do that.”
“Ugh…!” At the reminder of her embarra.s.sing past, Gong Ju-Ha quickly changed the subject. “W-wow. This feels great. I feel like it won’t be long until the 4th Floor is cleared, actually.”
“Hm, well, hearing you say that makes me feel very nervous.” Seo Jun-Ho grinned. He had seen how terrible her instinct was at the Vegas casino.
“Hey. my intuition’s great. Are you looking down on a woman’s instinct?”
“If it’s that good, why didn’t you have a single clue about my secret?”
“T-that’s… that’s different…” Gong Ju-Ha’s head stooped like a turtle’s.
‘Now that I think about it, I have one more secret I’m keeping from her.’
He still hadn’t revealed that he was the rising star Newbie 76 in the 2nd floor’s Matching system. He was the one who crushed her in battle. According to Moonlight’s information, most Players and Guilds were investing a lot of resources to dig up Newbie 76’s ident.i.ty.
‘I’ll save it whenever I want to tease her.’
He smiled quietly. Both the Frost Queen and Gong Ju-Ha’s reactions were funny to behold, so it was fun to tease—
“...!”
Seo Jun-Ho’s face suddenly fell.
“What is it?”
“...Your instinct was correct, Miss Ju-Ha.”
Thump. Thump.
His heart started to beat faster, and the blood flowing through his veins automatically flowed faster as well. His body was starting to warm up in preparation for the battle that was soon to come.
“T-this is…”
Gong Ju-Ha sensed the energy a beat later, and her face grew pale in response.
As the sun slowly fell, a giant tree at the end of the horizon was growing bigger.
‘No.’
It wasn’t growing. It only looked like that because the ‘tree’ was attached to someone’s back, and he was coming closer.
[You have discovered the boss monster of the Another World area, Erebo.]
[Once defeated, safe zones will appear on Another World.]
The simple act of peeping at the silhouette in the far distance made Seo Jun-Ho’s hairs stand on end.
‘He’s definitely really mad about the destruction of his sp.a.w.ning grounds.’
Seo Jun-Ho’s hands squeezed into fists at the sight of Erebo.
‘He has finally… He has finally appeared before me.’
Seo Jun-Ho died 154 times by Erebo’s hand. And even though he couldn’t remember those regressions, combined with the 105th and 106th regressions, he had died a total of 156 times to Erebo. Therefore, there were only 209 pages left in his diary.
‘I’ll kill that b.a.s.t.a.r.d by then.’
If he couldn’t do it in one try, he would do it by the tenth try.
If he couldn’t do it in ten tries, he would do it by the hundredth try.
If he couldn’t do it in a hundred tries, he would do it by the two hundredth try.
‘I’ll kill him no matter what, and I’ll escape the chains of this d.a.m.ned h.e.l.l.’
Seo Jun-Ho’s true feelings were as such.
1. From the Chinese phrase 全部杀死 (Quánbù Shāsǐ), which means “kill them all”. It’s now a gaming phrase and was popularized by professional League of Legends player CloudTemplar. ☜
2. The biggest extermination/pest control company in Korea. ☜
3. This is a riff on the phrase “the more the better/merrier”. In Korean, the phrase is deo-deo-ik-seon, but she says keh-keh-ik-seon, and keh-ik means ‘cake’. ☜