Chapter 16

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Identity?”

Powerful aggro that couldn’t not be clicked.

Moving his finger, Han-bit tapped the title.

Watching Loafer’s broadcast continuously yesterday, I realized something.

It’s unconditionally one of the guesses below.

1. RP Developer (Team Zero)

Predicted to be a former employee. Looking at the volume of info and his gameplay, seems entirely possible?

2. Ex-Special Forces Player beneath a Major Corporation

As you know, corporations rarely disclose info. So they’re trying to raise the ultimate vanguard using the info gathered so far.

3. Author of the Original Web Novel

This is the most plausible. Black Dragon mentioned during broadcast that he read a web novel called Erport. From the title to the circumstantial context, it’s almost certain.

(But the author of this post couldn’t find it.)

– You wrote out a long load of bullshit;

– If he was an ex-developer, the management would’ve already penalized him, you ritard.

– Special Forces lmaooo f*ck

– He’s not Special Forces, he’s a contract killer.

└ For real lol.

– Is that web novel real? Not a lie?

‘A commendable effort, but…’

Han-bit, the person in question, scratched his head.

If he abruptly said he experienced regression, possession, and reincarnation, it was obvious they’d call it crazy talk.

In the end, letting them guess however they want is more comfortable.

The web novel that doesn’t exist in this world would unlikely ever be discovered for the rest of his life.

Bzzzt.

Right then, a vibration rang from his mobile phone.

It was a call from Yeon-woo.

(Han-bit hyung!)

A loud voice as soon as he accepted the call.

Slightly pulling the phone away from his ear, Han-bit lowered his voice and spoke.

“That hyung is dead.”

(I get it, just hurry up and go into the RPG community! The whole place is upside down talking about you, hyung!)

Lightly brushing past the familiar joke, Yeon-woo was in a state of sheer excitement.

“I already saw. Doesn’t this mean even more viewers will come in today?”

(Obviously! Breaking ten thousand is basically guaranteed!)

“My ears are going to fall off.”

A chuckle escaped at the terribly excited voice.

It was true that his broadcast was growing, so it was well worth rejoicing over.

(Ah, hyung. Want to meet up real quick after work? I have something to talk to you about too.)

“Talk?”

(I’ll tell you about that when we meet. How about we grab dinner together?)

It was an abrupt suggestion, but Yeon-woo wasn’t one to bring up unneeded words.

“Where are we meeting?”

***

“Hello.”

Having commuted to the company, Han-bit left a single greeting and stuck himself in his seat.

His senior, Lee Min-ho, left an internal message saying he would be at the Research and Development department.

In other words, there wasn’t a single person to talk to.

Flap.

Han-bit secretly pulled out the materials Lee Min-ho gave him and kept reading.

It was difficult content, but thanks to being organized so meticulously, he could understand it sufficiently.

“Hey.”

Right then, a voice rang out from quite a distance away.

It was the Team Leader, with his brow deeply furrowed.

“Intern, you punk. Aren’t you quickly bouncing over here?”

He seemed to be in a bad mood in some way.

Standing up from his seat, Han-bit hid the materials and moved his steps.

“Yes, Team Leader.”

“Aren’t you moving quickly? Is the company a school?”

“I apologize.”

It was difficult to expect reason from a Team Leader who was simply pouring out annoyance.

Waiting a bit along with his apology, the man tossed his card and spoke.

“Go down and buy some coffee.”

An acceptable task for an errand.

Picking up the card, Han-bit met his eyes and asked.

“What kind of coffee should I buy?”

“Here, it’s uniformly iced Americanos. Didn’t Lee Min-ho tell you?”

“… I apologize. I forgot. I will go buy it immediately.”

With an intuition that his senior might be in danger, Han-bit hastily added an apology and turned around.

“Tsk.”

The stinging gaze felt along with the sound of the Team Leader clicking his tongue.

The childish yet blatant displeasure was rather easy to deal with.

Because a type hard to read the inner thoughts of is the trickier kind.

Ding.

Han-bit, who had purchased coffee from the 1st-floor cafe, rode the elevator and returned to the office.

However.

“Do whatever it takes to do it, you bastard!”

For some reason, the Team Leader was yelling at Lee Min-ho.

“Team Leader, with my current workload, there’s absolutely no time…”

“Hey, back in my day, I worked many times busier. I couldn’t even sleep a proper hour in a week. Your grit is lacking, what are you blaming workload for?”

“…”

At the unilateral browbeating, Lee Min-ho shut his mouth.

Looking down on him pathetically, the Team Leader threw a stack of documents onto the desk.

However, perhaps the force had been too strong, as the documents scattered individually and dropped to the floor.

“Enough. Organize this and submit a report by the day after tomorrow. Got it?”

“… Understood.”

Lowering his head, Lee Min-ho bent at the waist and gathered the documents scattered on the floor.

Quickly running over, Han-bit set down the card and coffee and started helping him.

“It’s okay. I’ll do it.”

“It’s faster if we do it together.”

Despite Lee Min-ho’s dissuasion, Han-bit quickly moved his hands.

Looking down at the two of them, the Team Leader snorted and spoke.

“You birds of a feather are doing all sorts of bullshit together, seriously.”

Taking out his coffee from the holder, he stood up from his seat and left the office.

Perhaps because the other employees were used to the sight, they didn’t show even a sliver of interest.

“It’s all done.”

“Thank you.”

The two, having finished organizing the documents, returned to their seats.

“…”

Sitting next to him, Lee Min-ho was blankly staring at a monitor that wasn’t even turned on.

It was a face where thoughts couldn’t be properly organized.

Observing his appearance, Han-bit stealthily turned his gaze to the stack of documents.

‘It clearly said Record Project on them.’

RP, which he had seen several times on the papers scattered on the floor.

Looking solely at the fragmentary information, it seemed the company was conducting development related to Record Project.

Tick tock.

Time, which had flowed along with the silence, had unbeknownst to them reached lunchtime.

The personnel, excluding Han-bit and Lee Min-ho, had already stepped out of the office.

Confirming that only the two of them remained, Han-bit spoke first.

“Senior, the task the Team Leader instructed, is it perhaps work related to RP?”

“Pardon? How did you…”

Lee Min-ho, who had been engrossed in his work, reacted looking slightly surprised.

“I apologize. I think I caught a glimpse of it earlier when I was helping organize the documents. Wasn’t this company unrelated to RP?”

“… It originally was, but the situation changed a bit. A decision came down to try development on the RP Gear side.”

“The Gear side?”

Enk Technology, which manufactures semiconductor components, has no direct connection to games.

However, taking an interest in a massive cash cow like RP was a natural story.

Rather, it would be correct to say they were quite late compared to other companies.

‘Clearing the game is difficult to jump into right now.’

If you clear RP, you can possess game ownership rights, but they would be 2 years behind other competitors.

If so, looking ahead to the future and investing in the gear side could be the wiser choice.

“But isn’t it too early to assign the task to the design department? The research and development side would have to finish first.”

“It was an instruction handed down to every department, including ours. We’re told to play RP ourselves, and find technical improvement points and solutions fitting our department’s characteristics.”

“… Find improvement points?”

A narrative so absurd it lacked any sense of reality.

Modern science still hasn’t properly deciphered the principles and technology of RP Gear.

Yet, asking every department to find improvement points.

It was a truly nonsensical directive.

“I really don’t have time these days because I’m so busy… Things have gotten difficult. I’m sorry, but it seems it’ll be harder to look after you from now on.”

Letting out a deep sigh, Lee Min-ho genuinely looked apologetic.

Watching that despairing appearance, a question suddenly struck Han-bit.

‘I wonder if there’s something in the Gear too?’

The secrets of RP couldn’t possibly be limited to just one or two things.

If there was something hidden within the mysterious device called a gear as well, wouldn’t now be an opportunity.

Since it was unlikely that an ordinary person could tinker with the technical parts anyway.

Finishing his thoughts, Han-bit looked at his gloomy senior and said.

“That, shall I help you with it?”

***

Leaving the company, Han-bit took a bus and returned to his neighborhood.

The destination was the pork cutlet restaurant in front of his house.

“Hyung!”

Yeon-woo, who had already arrived, had taken a seat in a room with a door.

Sitting on the opposite chair, Han-bit finished ordering first.

“What’s with you, couldn’t you sleep?”

“I slept 4 hours. Rather than that, look at this.”

A tired-looking Yeon-woo placed his smartphone on the dining table.

The call log shown on the screen was filled with names he didn’t recognize.

“Is this what you meant by streamers and corporations?”

“Right. There are top-tier players operating individually, and anyway, inquiry calls came endlessly.”

Yeon-woo continuing his explanation while scrolling all the way down.

His eyes were sparkling.

Taking his eyes off the unfamiliar names, Han-bit took a sip of water.

“Is it something to go this far for?”

“Obviously. If they have even a bit of a discerning eye, they’ll mostly try to buy the dip, right? Because you are cheapest right now, hyung.”

“What do you mean cheapest?”

Even against the absurd expression, the meaning was exactly understood.

The people who contacted him have a different nature from the community.

Because they are a type that solely moves for profit, not out of primarily interest.

“For your information, there’s even a contact from a major corporation’s scouter.”

“A major corporation?”

His eyes naturally widened at the word ‘major corporation’.

Seeing that, Yeon-woo smirked and continued speaking.

“It’s a company called Yeonhwa Gaming, and it’s a place that possesses two whole Vanguard teams. Even if you’re a rookie, the starting salary would probably be 100 million won?”

“… They certainly pay a lot.”

An annual salary of 100 million won.

In some ways, it’s a number that can be described as symbolic.

To pay such a salary to a rookie; should one say it goes beyond an ordinary major corporation.

“Are they just scouting me? Or both of us?”

“Ay, of course just you alone, hyung. I don’t even hope for something like that. More importantly, let me inform you a bit about Yeonhwa Group first. Yeonhwa Electronics is the most famous, but they’re investing tremendously into the RP side too so…”

Han-bit looked at Yeon-woo, who was fervently continuing his explanation.

A strangely awkward tone and atmosphere.

It was true that it was a sincere recommendation, but he was hiding something.

Screech.

Standing up from his seat, Han-bit approached Yeon-woo.

“Huh? Hyung, what’s wrong. Wait a minute.”

Feeling the somewhat bizarre atmosphere, he backed away in a panic.

However, being grabbed came first.

Grab!

“Urp!”

A scream that immediately rang out as Han-bit hugged his torso with both arms.

It looked like wrestling, but it was a technique learned from an expert in the other world.

Should one call it an incredibly painful stretch?

“Joo Yeon-woo.”

“Hyung! Let go and talk, let go!”

“Do you think I’ve only known you for a day or two? Won’t you talk properly about what it is?”

“Got it! I got it, so this bit…”

Click.

Right then as the interrogation was taking place, the door abruptly opened.

The employee who had dragged the trolley over stared at the two men, stiffened up.

“Uhm… I will come back a little later.”

Rumble.

The employee, who had witnessed wrestling, stealthily closed the door.

“Wait a minute!”

Quickly letting go of his arms, Han-bit chased after him.

Only after resolving the misunderstanding and the food getting set down did the conversation resume once again.

“The buildup is completely done now. Get to the main point.”