Chapter 149 – City of Melancholic Rain

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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In the early days of the Cataclysm, rifts were a disaster.

A great disaster that could not be resolved unless the world gathered its strength and rushed at it.

It was basic that the number of awakened players was relatively small.

Because a systematic system like now hadn’t been established.

Thanks to that, the world ceased meaningless competitions between nations and cooperated to respond to the rifts. The international cooperation agency AAU was founded based on that.

“Back in my days. There was no such messed up situation like this.”

Clatter

AAU South Korea Branch Director, Park Min-jae.

He picked a canned coffee from the break room.

Two men who likewise held canned coffees in their hands, Sung Hyun-jun and Yoon Su-gyeom.

Sung Hyun-jun whispered softly.

“……No, senior. In this day and age, who offers a 300 won canned coffee after saying they’ll treat you to a cup of tea? Branch Director, I didn’t see him that way but he’s a total cheapskate.”

Sip.

Yoon Su-gyeom replaced his words with smacking his lips.

How long has it been since I last pulled a vending machine canned coffee?

However, the atmosphere was too unusual to be discussing the type of coffee.

Pssh

“Did you all see the news pouring out?”

“Yes, I saw it.”

“I’m still looking at it now, and it really pisses me off.”

Sung Hyun-jun’s brow furrowed mercilessly.

“They’re doing that while knowing everything, aren’t they? In the first place, if it was for money or power, would he have openly popped up a quest like this! It’s not like Mr. Ho-yeol is a fool!”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Let’s see, how many years has it been since I rolled around in this dirty society?

If there was one fact he learned as he naturally became acquainted with government officials while bearing the title of AAU Branch Director. It was that such feigned ignorance is what truly drives a person crazy.

“You’re telling me those smart folks who all graduated from prestigious universities don’t know what even petty citizens like us clearly know? They’re simply pretending not to know. Because taking criticism isn’t a matter of a day or two anyway. It means they’ll feign ignorance until the very end.”

It’s something he always felt, but humans are truly cunning.

“Perhaps humans and those demon bastards aren’t that different.”

“Come on, Branch Director, even if you say that……”

“It’s not a joke. I mean it sincerely.”

Now that the number of players has increased and the system is established.

Ordinary Recommended Level rifts did not pose a major problem to humanity.

However, if you ask if the damage caused by rifts is nonexistent.

Naturally, it was not.

“Even if it’s not as much as the early days of the Cataclysm, people, innocent citizens are dying every day. However, those folks called high-ranking people have now become somewhat comfortable to live. And yet they’re racking their brains in a completely fucked up direction?”

Last night, meaning the golden Sunday evening.

Park Min-jae received a call from a government official.

“These folks have no formality as person to person. No formality.”

Making a call on a weekend?

To summarize the phone call that still makes my temper flare just thinking about it again, it was simple.

Park Min-jae sneered.

“They say they want to control Lee Ho-yeol in earnest.”

“……Yes?!”

“Why? Because seeing the way things are going now, it’s unusual.”

Lee Ho-yeol, how has the path he has shown all this time been?

Even while possessing an ability that could be called the pinnacle, he does not pursue wealth and honor.

He merely clears rifts silently like the players who were called heroes in the early days of the Cataclysm.

Who benefited the most from such a Lee Ho-yeol?

Naturally, it was the South Korean government.

“From the VIP down to the lower lines. They must have been going around behind the scenes spouting all kinds of bluffs, real or fake. That even though Lee Ho-yeol seems act however he pleases, he has connections with us. Well, I can understand other nations falling for it too. Why? Because they themselves have a cooperative relationship of mutual help.”

……I expected it, but was it real?

High-level information pouring out from the mouth of the AAU Branch Director.

In case someone might be eavesdropping.

Yoon Su-gyeom, who was carefully checking the surroundings, whispered.

“Well, Inazuma was like that from the start, wasn’t it?”

Inazuma’s Guild Master, Hisagi Kazuma.

Right after the Hokkaido Frost incident.

He had officially declared in front of reporters that he would sever relations with the Japanese government.

Not to mention violating the AAU international agreement, the voices of criticism toward the Japanese government, which had been doing shady acts behind the scenes, were no joke.

Park Min-jae snorted.

“Think carefully. If you recall back then too.”

“……?”

“The only ones cursing the Japanese government were ordinary citizens and netizens. The nations that should have been the most sensitive never stepped forward to criticize. What do you think that means? It just wasn’t exposed. Their own circumstances are exactly the same.”

On top of that, another connecting link, AAU.

“So the high-ranking people want to change that connecting link into a dog collar and put it on him. Aren’t their nerves truly huge? Putting it bluntly, they are the folks who would die by the truckloads even if a player just twitched a finger.”

……At this point, wouldn’t this be hydrochloric acid instead of cider?

From the listener’s perspective, it was refreshing but.

To the point where he kept looking around constantly, afraid someone might be listening.

The level of the remarks was quite steep.

Ping

However, as if he didn’t care at all.

Park Min-jae threw the cleanly emptied can into the trash bin.

Then he continued speaking.

“So they’re saying they received a proposal.”

“A proposal?”

“They told me to set up a good meeting with Lee Ho-yeol. To me.”

Yoon Su-gyeom and Sung Hyun-jun observed Park Min-jae’s mood.

‘……It’s certain they hung a massive proposal on it.’

There must be a reason why the Branch Directors of other nations cooperated with their governments even while violating the AAU agreement. Surely, Branch Director Park must have received a massive proposal too.

He could be certain.

So it was a question.

Sung Hyun-jun swallowed his dry saliva and asked.

“But, is it okay for you to even tell us something like this?”

Park Min-jae chuckled.

“Right, if you’re going to do bad things, doing it secretly is the basics.”

He swung the break room door wide open.

“As for me, I’m obviously going to reject it so I told you.”

“?!”

Sung Hyun-jun couldn’t help but be surprised.

It must be a proposal that would make any person feel pressured. Though he didn’t say it explicitly, it’s obvious there would be threats mixed in that weren’t really threats. Moreover, even material temptations.

As Park Min-jae exited the break room, Sung Hyun-jun opened his mouth.

“Senior, you aren’t surprised?”

“I was surprised. Even after taking the Branch Director position, he’s exactly the same as before.”

“……Exactly the same as before?”

“Ah, your career is short so you wouldn’t know?”

Recalling the days working at Cosmo popping up fresh in his mind.

“Our Branch Director Park, he was famous since he was a regular employee.”

“He was famous? For what? Being a cheapskate?”

“Well, that’s an irrefutable fact too, but.”

Yoon Su-gyeom let out a laugh even thinking about it again.

“Out of hundreds of thousands of Cosmo employees worldwide, he’s the only one. Who officially defied the great Raymond Sean. Our Branch Director Park.”

“……Y, yes?!”

.

.

.

Park Min-jae pulled at his stuffy tie.

Damn it, since when did developers walk around wearing suits.

I’ll have to dress comfortably from now on.

“Because I never know when or where shit water will splatter on my clothes.”

Park Min-jae recalled his resolution from last time.

Lee Ho-yeol, if I cannot walk together with him.

I will strike away at least the obstructers interfering in his path ahead.

AAU?

High-ranking people?

It’s rather good.

The corners of Park Min-jae’s mouth rose to the fullest.

“Because it’s my specialty. Ramming into the higher-ups.”

In the past when I had nothing compared to now, I was the one who rammed into CEO Raymond Sean, who was like the sky.

Park Min-jae lightly stretched his body. Right, good. Where should I start.

Park Min-jae sat down in front of his desk in the Branch Director’s office.

“Because I’ll gladly deal with them in Lee Ho-yeol’s place.”

Click

“……What’s this?”

However, there was nothing for Park Min-jae to step up to right away.

No, perhaps there might be nothing forever in the future.

Park Min-jae, who was looking at the monitor, muttered.

“W, what kind of bullshit is this?!”

What was playing on the screen was a real-time news report.

The angle was capturing fog where not even an inch ahead could be seen.

Soon, subtitles popped up on the screen.

[Eyewitness: London vanishes simultaneously with generation of a rift……!]

Literally.

Exactly as seen.

London, into the rain fog.

Disappeared without a trace.

*

State of emergency.

The trivial power struggles up until just moments ago returned to nothing.

It returned to the early days of the Cataclysm.

Because it was on a different dimension from the rifts until now.

Yes, it felt like looking at the beginning of the apocalypse the AAU had predicted.

Rank 7 in the Guild Rankings, the UK’s Second Sun.

Guild Master, Shureig, was silent.

Drip drip

While getting hit by the pouring rain, he looked at London.

……No, could this place be called London anymore?

Even if it’s London where clear days are rare, this was on a different level. It truly was a rain fog where not even an inch ahead could be seen. The entirety of the widely spread fog was the domain of the rift.

Vibrate vibrate

The vibrations had not ceased since a while ago.

It must be calls from the higher-ups demanding a solution.

However, Shureig’s brain had stopped rotating since a while ago.

“……Just what the hell do you want me to do?”

London, the entirety of it had turned into a rift.

The meaning behind those words was simple.

Together with London.

The citizens of London had disappeared into the rift.

Second Sun’s executive, Zachary, held onto the string of reason.

“……There aren’t only citizens inside the rift. There are players, and among them, guild members of our Second Sun too. You don’t have to worry too much. They’ll be coping well.”

Shureig let out an empty laugh.

“……Haha, do you really think so?”

“What?”

“This has surpassed the level we can cope with. You know it too, don’t you?”

The message that popped up before his eyes.

The rift’s information.

[Dungeon: City of Melancholic Rain]

[Recommended Level: Lv.600~Lv.900]

[Collapse Progress: 0.1%]

He could understand the erratic recommended level.

From the [Rift of the Broken Dimension] rifts to the [Labyrinth of Tepheran].

Because there were rifts that boasted recommended levels one step further than this.

Yes, the problem was the [Dungeon].

Those two words attached in front of the rift’s name.

Shureig grabbed his throbbing head.

“It’s a dungeon. It means it’s not something we can clear by simply hunting monsters. Damn it. To find the clear conditions, we have to bump into things one by one and figure it out!!”

Dungeons from the days when Arcana was merely a game.

Dungeons were notorious for their extreme difficulty.

To explain it easily, it’s a place overflowing with powerful monsters on the level of [Predator’s Domain], and filled with threatening traps on the level of [Labyrinth]. Because that was exactly what a [Dungeon] was.

Shureig’s voice became even more intense.

“If this was a game, I would have rejoiced. Even if taking an experience point penalty. Considering the rewards of the dungeon, dying a few times is still playing it profitable. But, it’s not, right? Our lives are on the line, everyone’s.”

To clear the dungeon.

They absolutely had to find the [Deep Part of the Dungeon].

However, it’s a dungeon filled with powerful monsters and traps.

As if that wasn’t enough, what about its scale?

It was at least London.

“……I’m sorry, Zachary. I don’t have the confidence.”

Shureig stared at his trembling hands.

Fear.

A rift swallowing up not even players but ordinary people?

It was something that couldn’t happen until now.

In the first place, ordinary people couldn’t enter or witness rifts. However, could it be because it’s a dungeon. Swallowing up citizens, let alone London, wasn’t enough.

“Inside there, inside there is my wife!!”

Even ordinary people could clearly see this heterogeneous rain fog where not even an inch ahead could be seen.

Unceasing shouts.

Shureig gritted his teeth.

“……Damn it.”

In his heart, he jumped into the rift countless times.

However, he was not alone.

Because there were guild members who would follow behind him.

Jumping into a dungeon without a proper plan?

That it’s nothing more than throwing away experience points, no, lives. I am fully aware of it through the experience from the days when Arcana was merely a game.

What is someone like me a hero and hope of the nation?

A sense of helplessness felt.

The pouring rain made his body sink down heavily.

It wasn’t just Shureig.

Whooooosh

It heavily weighed upon the shoulders of everyone looking at the rain fog-engulfed London.

It made them melancholic.

It made them lethargic.

To a bizarre extent.

Shureig, no, everyone getting hit by the rain muttered.

“I can’t do anything……”

Whooooosh

It was around the time their bodies were growing coldly chilled.

In the midst of the mercilessly pouring rain.

A sound of shoes was heard.

Click

Amidst the numerous crowd.

A single black umbrella spread out.

As if it wouldn’t tolerate even a single raindrop splattering onto his clothes.

The one holding the umbrella with an upright and proper posture was a single man.

Soon, he opened his mouth.

“Can you hear me, Shureig.”

“……?”

Simultaneously, Shureig’s vision flashed.

[Status Abnormality, ‘Lethargy’ is dispelled.]

Only then did Shureig realize it.

‘……Me, at what point did I get caught in a status abnormality?’

Soon, reflexively.

He looked at the man who awakened him from the status abnormality.

A black long umbrella, and silver hair contrasting with it.

He faced Ho-yeol.

Before Shureig could even open his mouth to say anything, Ho-yeol continued his words.

“I would like to ask you to guide me through London, is that possible?”

.

.

.

To have a status abnormality of this extent.

Looking at the recommended level alone, it means it’s at least Demon King-rank.

Right, it has to be at least this much to be called the master of the dungeon.

Naturally, it was my first time witnessing a dungeon.

However, if you ask how I could be so calm.

I shall answer confidently that this time it is thanks to my preparedness rather than Granfel’s thick skin. To be exact, my desperation to get my money’s worth must have shined.

That is correct.

I am talking about the [Map that Connects to All Things] that I utilized calculatingly.

The brooch radiating its presence on my jacket lapel.

[Hexagram Brooch 1/6]

[Rank: Unique]

[Restriction: Lv.100]

[Effect: Upon using magic, restores 10 percent of consumed magic power.]

[Description: It is a part of the brooch where six gather to become one. As it is merely an extremely small fraction, its effect is considerably lost.]

Yes, [City of Melancholic Rain].

Beyond that rain fog, there is the second [Hexagram Brooch].