Kim Ho’s special Bullet Time lecture continued, but at the same time, I needed to prepare for the following week.
Next week was a strategy battle week.
As usual, we were set to head for the underground floors.
So I sent a message to Shin Byeong-cheol.
[Kim Ho: Errand]
It took quite a while for Shin Byeong-cheol to reply.
It was strange considering that he usually answers sharply in seconds.
[Shin Byeong-cheol: Store]
Even his tone wasn’t the usual cheerful “Where are you, customer-nim~” but instead felt strangely stiff.
I brushed it off, thinking maybe he was having a rough day.
Who knows, maybe he got another wooden cup from a random box.
When I arrived at the convenience store, Shin Byeong-cheol didn’t show up yet.
Instead, a familiar face caught my eye.
Dang Gyu-young smiled broadly and waved her hand.
I gave a polite bow.
“Hello, senior-nim.”
“Noona.”
“Hello, noona.”
“Hehe.”
After exchanging light greetings, I stood in front of the store and gazed off into the distance.
Dang Gyu-young came up beside me and asked,
“Waiting for someone?”
“I was supposed to meet Shin Byeong-cheol here.”
“Byeong-cheol’s not coming.”
“?”
When I gave her a puzzled look, Dang Gyu-young smiled and repeated,
“Byeong-cheol’s not coming.”
“…Did he get purged?”
“Purge? Why would I purge him? I’m here in his place. You were going to ask him to run an errand, right?”
“It’s not the kind of request that requires someone of your rank to show up in person.”
“Of course I know that.”
It seemed like she had a pretty good idea of what kind of errand I had in mind.
Actually, I have never asked for any other requests besides asking for a guide for the underground floors of the dungeon.
Dang Gyu-young grabbed my hand and pulled me along.
“Let’s sit and talk. What do you want to drink?”
“I’m good with anything.”
I wasn’t the type to refuse anything offered to me for free.
So I ordered a coffee as usual, while Dang Gyu-young went for a latte loaded with syrup and cream.
I noticed before that she seemed to have a preference for sweet and creamy drinks.
With our drinks in hand, we headed to the terrace on the second floor and took a seat.
After exchanging a few trivial remarks, Dang Gyu-young brought up the main topic.
“You’re heading down next week, right?”
“I have to.”
Currently, the map fragments in my possession were A and C. The map was still incomplete.
I needed to find the final piece to complete the map and resolve the conflict with the swordsmanship club.
“Where are you going?”
“Dungeon 410.”
Dang Gyu-young flipped through her notebook for a moment to check the dungeon information.
“[Sealing Demon Chests], D-rank. How long will it take? Last time, it took you all night.”
“This one’s short.”
Story-wise, it was connected to the previously cleared Great Eagle Escort Agency or Great Eagle Escort Mission, but the major difference was that the rule wasn’t [Escort].
So, as long as I get in and clear it quickly, I can get out without any issues.
Dang Gyu-young nodded her head coolly and took a sip of her latte.
“Then I’ll assign Byeong-cheol as your guide for that one. Anything else? Is that all?”
“I’ll probably enter one more.”
“With that handsome guy again?”
“That’s how it’ll go.”
I always explored the underground floors with Go Hyeon-woo, and this time was no different.
However, Dang Gyu-young seemed to have a question pop into her mind as she tilted her head slightly to the side.
“Kim Ho, I’ve been wondering about something.”
“Yes, noona?”
“Why do you always go with that handsome guy and not bring the pretty one with the gray hair? You’re always hanging out with her otherwise.”
Why did I keep tackling the underground floors with Go Hyeon-woo and leave Seo Ye-in behind?
To be honest, there was no downside to bringing Seo Ye-in along from my perspective.
Among the many dungeons in the underground floors, not only were there story dungeons we’d already cleared, but there were also plenty that heavily relied on luck.
Bringing someone like her, who was practically a lucky charm, would make clearing those dungeons easier and bring better rewards.
But the reason I couldn’t do that was simple.
“Her family is strongly opposed to it.”
“Ah.”
When Seo Ye-in asked about joining, Ahn Jeong-mi had not only been firmly against it but had also repeatedly emphasized her concerns.
– Can’t I go too?
– Absolutely not. You must only challenge dungeons that match your qualifications.
– ….
– Young miss, you can’t. If anything were to happen to you in the underground floors, many people, myself included, would be heartbroken.
“So it’s not an option. At least until she gets permission.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Dang Gyu-young rested her chin on her hand and went into deep thought for a moment.
Then, as if something had come to her mind, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly and she cast a subtle glance in my direction.
“Kim Ho, even that handsome guy would get tired if he kept going after dungeons back-to-back, right?”
“I’m worried about that too.”
With the [Sealing Demon] scheduled for next week, it would already be two consecutive dungeon raids in one week.
Adding another one would make it three in a row, and even though Go Hyeon-woo might say it doesn’t bother him, he would be quite tired.
When I agreed with her words, Dang Gyu-young casually asked.
“Then instead of a swordsman, how about a skilled rogue?”
“Are you saying we should go together?”
“Mhmm, I’ve had some free time lately.”
Dang Gyu-young had been incredibly busy over the past month.
Between the standard third-year academic schedule, activities related to the thieves’ club, preparations for the black market, and even her mentoring duties.
Even ten bodies wouldn’t have been enough for all of that.
But now that she had successfully wrapped up the black market and mentoring program, along with a significant decrease in club-related tasks, she had more time on her hands.
So she was saying she wanted to go down to the underground floors with me during that free time.
Dang Gyu-young and I looked at each other for a while.
“……”
“……”
As the silence stretched on, Dang Gyu-young narrowed his eyes and grabbed my cheek before she started pulling on it.
“Hey, don’t just stare, answer me.”
“Zank yew f’ tha— I mean, thank you for the offer, but I don’t think there’s enough to even cover your pay.”
The rewards from the dungeon I was targeting probably wouldn’t be appealing to someone of Dang Gyu-young’s level as a third-year club president.
But I didn’t want to push myself to raise the dungeon’s difficulty either.
However, Dang Gyu-young seemed indifferent.
“So what? I’m going because I want to.”
“Then that works for me.”
“Where are we going?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“That’s unusual for you.”
She looked surprised. It wasn’t like me to still not have decided on a dungeon even after requesting help.
“I know what I want, but I just can’t find where it is.”
“What are you looking for?”
“A dungeon crow.”
Dungeon crows, also called dimensional crows. They were intelligent monsters as well as NPCs.
They came in various types—crow craftsmen, merchants, sages, and the like. Among them, the one I was searching for was the “crow tailor”.
It’s about time I started paying attention to my equipment again.
However, dungeon crows didn’t appear just because you entered a specific dungeon.
They wandered from one dungeon to another without any set pattern and only showed up in one place at a time.
For example, if a crow craftsman appeared in the Black Death dungeon, then you wouldn’t find one in any of the other 999 dungeons.
And if you missed the timing, the crow would move on to the next dungeon.
Dang Gyu-young asked,
“How are you going to find them? Even I’ve only seen them a few times.”
“I’ll have to analyze it.”
Though I didn’t know exactly where the crows were right now, if I put my mind to it, I could definitely track them down.
Back when I played <Dragon Slayer Academy>, all the players in the community gathered big data and analyzed it. We eventually discovered that there was a specific pattern to the dungeons where those crows appeared.
For example, the “crow sage” wandered in ascending order through dungeons with the [Magic] theme and appeared in multiples of six.
Like No. 36, No. 72, No. 84, and so on.
And all those patterns were stored right in my head.
In other words,
“We just need to find out where they appeared last.”
“That’s right.”
I nodded.
Finding their previous location wasn’t difficult either.
If I sifted through the replays of recently cleared dungeons, there would be a recording of them somewhere.
It would cost quite a few points, but this was exactly why I had been saving them up.
“Let me know as soon as you find them. I’ll get ready right away.”
“Yes, senior-nim.”
“Call me noona.”
“Yes, noona.”
Dang Gyu-young smiled happily, but then another question seemed to pop into her head.
“But Kim Ho, how did you even figure all that out?”
“Well, after graduating more than 200 times, you kind of pick up on things.”
“Flawless logic.”
Dang Gyu-young pouted her lips.
It seemed she thought I was using the “200 graduations” excuse whenever I didn’t feel like explaining.
But it’s true.
***
“Rock, paper—”
“—scissors.”
Flash!
Seo Ye-in’s gray eyes gleamed sharply.
She narrowly blocked the toy hammer I swung at her.
A dull sound echoed from the dented pan.
In the next round of rock-paper-scissors, Seo Ye-in won.
Just as I lifted the dented pan,
Flash!
Seo Ye-in entered bullet time once again.
The toy hammer swung slightly off course and brushed past the side of my head as it veered beside the pan.
Seo Ye-in stared at me intently.
“……?”
“Alright, I’ll count that as a win.”
Though it only grazed me and wasn’t a direct hit, I gave her credit for using bullet time at such a precise moment.
After playing the toy hammer game for days on end,
Seo Ye-in’s bullet time skill had improved significantly compared to before.
My 100% hit rate had dropped to nearly half, and Seo Ye-in’s attacks occasionally landed.
And so, her accumulated win count was now eight.
But after a few more rounds of rock-paper-scissors,
“……?”
Seo Ye-in turned her gaze to the side and just stared into empty space.
It seemed a notification message had appeared.
I asked to confirm.
“Did your rank go up?”
“Mhmm.”
“Good work. Use the Rank Up right away.”
As soon as Seo Ye-in pulled out and used Rank-Up (E), a bright light filled the special training room.
Fwoooosh!
Bullet Time, Rank D achieved.
Thanks to using Enchantment here and there, I also managed to raise my rank.
I recalled the notification message that had popped up a while ago.
[The rank of ‘Enchantment’ has increased. (F -> E)]
[Used ‘Rank-Up (E)’.]
[The rank of ‘Enchantment’ has increased. (E -> D)]
We didn’t even reach the halfway point of the week, yet both Seo Ye-in and I had already met our goals.
That meant the next step was,
“Let’s go do a duel match now.”
We needed to test out her upgraded Bullet Time in real combat.
But Seo Ye-in slowly shook her head before pointing at the toy hammer and pot on the table.
“……Still only eight wins.”
The wish ticket required ten wins, so she meant to get the last two wins before heading out.
Now that Bullet Time had reached Rank D, this kind of repetitive training no longer served much purpose.
I had already honed her proficiency to the level I intended.
Still, I couldn’t just declare, “No wish ticket for you!” and leave it at that.
If it were just 2 or 3 wins, maybe, but to let all her hard work getting to 8 wins go to waste would likely crush her motivation completely.
Maintaining trust was important too.
After some thought, I proposed a compromise.
“Then, since the next match is a three-way battle, how about we count each first-place finish as a win?”
“……!”
Click,
Seo Ye-in loaded her magic gun.
The fire in her eyes already showed her burning determination.
“I’ll take them down.”
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