Chapter 208

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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“I’m sorry.”

“We’re really sorry.”

The twins sitting in the living room delivered a heartfelt apology.

Looking at the grandmother, who was like a symbol of spontaneity, Han-bit felt he could understand how the two had grown up to be so sensible.

“It’s okay. I’m not sure if it’s okay to receive permission like this, though. Would it be better to show the documents again?”

“Ah, you don’t have to worry about that. She worked at the court for a long time, so she’s familiar with documents. Especially contracts…”

No-eul added an explanation regarding the grandmother’s career.

A public official who had worked at the court for over thirty years—thinking of her outfit from earlier, it was a significant discrepancy.

“So, what’s this about your father being an employee of Record Project? I thought you said you didn’t have parents.”

“It’s true that we don’t. That person abandoned us.”

“…What?”

Han-bit’s body froze for a moment at the flustering story.

Seeing that expression, Haneul looked around and spoke.

“When I was seven, when my mom passed away from an illness, we came here to our grandmother’s house. And then Dad disappeared. While he kept sending living expenses, there wasn’t a single contact.”

She wore a dry expression, as if reciting a boring story.

Doing the role of a parent wasn’t just about giving living expenses.

Furthermore, it was difficult to understand abandoning and leaving behind children who had fallen into shock after losing their mother.

After a moment of silence, No-eul took over the words.

“We’ve lived on thinking that our father just left. Grandmother also didn’t tell us anything else. Then, a letter arrived five years ago.”

“A letter?”

“I’ve come to work at Record Project. It was just that one line. We didn’t know what it was then, but after RP was released, we learned it was a game company.”

“…”

It was clear that he was an exceptionally irresponsible person.

The problem was Record Project.

If he had mentioned this word five years ago, he must have participated in the project from the development stage.

‘…The goddess must have been involved.’

The image of the twins from the other world vaguely overlapped with No-eul and Haneul.

They couldn’t be the same individuals as those there, but Han-bit harbored the speculation that there was a relationship between them.

However, if even a father who had been involved in Record Project from early on existed, it was clear that something orchestrated by a god had occurred.

“Have you tried contacting him? Would your grandmother know?”

“No. She just passed it over after reading the letter. In the first place, she’s not one to contact first.”

“Hmm.”

Han-bit pondered for a moment.

Would it be helpful to deliver the story of the twins from the other world now?

Wouldn’t their minds just become complicated at such a young age?

In the first place, it was difficult for Han-bit to explain clearly as well.

However, even with such concerns, he had no intention of hiding it.

“Listen well. I’ve met twins similar to you in another world.”

“Twins?”

“Being similar to us means…”

The siblings reacted with the exact same expression.

Han-bit delivered the story of the other world to the two.

As he had gone through numerous turns, there were many representative episodes to share.

“Uh, so…”

“Did we undergo something like reincarnation?”

The twins were flustered.

The protagonist who experienced regression, possession, and reincarnation was right in front of them, but it was different when it was their own story.

“No, it won’t be reincarnation. Except for the ability-wise parts, those twins and you are completely different. Just know the possibility that your father would also be a person related to the goddess.”

“…I understand.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. Well, the fact that he abandoned us doesn’t change, though.”

Haneul’s anger was still clearly present.

Whether it be gods or another world, it was natural that what their father did to them was more important.

This wasn’t something time could resolve, but a homework that the twins’ father himself had to solve.

“I should go soon.”

“Eh? Already?”

“Ah, the time…”

When Han-bit stood up from his seat, the twins made regretful sounds.

Looking at them again, he saw they were truly just young children.

Han-bit, who was looking at the two, spoke while checking his watch.

“Shall we have a meal nearby?”

“Yes!”

“I’d love that!”

The twins wore joyful expressions.

After quickly finishing preparations, Han-bit moved to a nearby restaurant with the two.

Dinner with the children, who were excited by the rare outing, took place in an upbeat atmosphere.

***

“It’s 5:40.”

Han-bit, who arrived home, changed his clothes and organized his gear.

Even though only about a day had passed, a strange awkwardness was felt.

Sitting on the bed, he opened the Astra app.

“Ah.”

A familiar name was seen while checking messages.

Han-bit immediately checked the contents.

「Luna」

「Congratulations on coming to Astra. I’m sure you’ll do well, Black Dragon-ssi, but be sure to filter out those kids who only want to leech off you.」

It was a short message containing congratulations and advice.

It was very like her that there wasn’t a single question about the update or in-game information.

“It would be better to gather allies.”

It was true that everyone was a competitor, but a public enemy was bound to exist.

It would be right to check the atmosphere inside and coordinate as much as possible with people he had a connection with.

「Thank you. Please be careful inside the game as well, Luna-ssi. I’ll contact you again soon.」

Han-bit, who sent a thank-you message, wore his gear and lay on the bed.

Exactly when it became 6 PM.

Wooo—

Along with the sound of the device operating, light circulated in his field of vision.

It was only a short time before a familiar landscape appeared before his eyes.

“Momo!”

Kenji’s voice was heard first.

Standing in a space like a living room in the guild headquarters, he was hurriedly looking around.

“Eh?”

A girl with black hair slightly poked her head out from the kitchen.

As if she had been cooking, she was wearing gloves on her hands.

“Sigh.”

As soon as he saw her face, a sigh of relief was exhaled from Kenji’s mouth.

Han-bit, who approached closely, went to Momo, who was wearing a questionable expression, and asked.

“Was there anything strange?”

“Anything strange? Hmm…”

At that question, the girl fell into thought as if retracing her memory.

Then she spoke as if something had come to mind.

“Ah, the door going outside didn’t open.”

“The door?”

“I was going to go buy something for a moment, but it didn’t open no matter how much force I used. The spirits and the tiger didn’t even help and only interfered.”

Momo expressed her dissatisfaction while pouting.

Chirp—!

At that moment, Sylph flew into Han-bit.

The other spirits and the phantom beast were together as well.

Grrr—

The Heavenly Fox, who climbed onto his shoulder, rubbed its face against his collar.

Han-bit, who was lightly stroking its head, noticed the situation that had unfolded.

‘Did they take some measures?’

The entry and exit of the guild site was managed systematically.

The ones who could directly involve themselves in that were developers or operators like Team Zero.

He didn’t know the exact details, but it seemed they had paid attention to Momo’s situation for now.

“Eh? Is Momo okay?”

“We’ve arrived.”

When he turned his head, all the members of DD Studio had finished connecting.

While Haneul was sharing a conversation while holding Momo’s hand, Han-bit looked at Kenji, who still hadn’t found peace.

“It’s a relief that there’s no problem.”

“…I’ve truly been relieved of a burden. It’s all thanks to Black Dragon-nim.”

“Well, I didn’t do anything. Let’s try to prepare so that there are as few variables as possible in the future.”

“Yes. Of course.”

While sharing such a conversation, Han-bit was scanning the community in real-time.

As expected, it was in a state of almost total chaos.

[Help with the forest east of Edlen, please.]

[Look at the end-of-the-world atmosphere;]

[The Royal Capital guards are freaking strong. lol]

[Upvote if PK is fun.]

[The death penalty is too much… lol]

[Stop killing among the same faction, you sons of bitXhes.]

[I dropped an item, was it really taken?]

In a situation where the shackles of PK were released, the tendencies of some players were being highlighted.

Basterds like Nesto were likely moving like fish in water.

Distinction of factions had no meaning to them.

And one story he didn’t know caught his eye.

[What are faction points?]

Since I caught another faction, it’s giving faction points?

Is there something good if I stack this?

It was an element that wasn’t seen even in the update notice.

It seemed it would probably be used for the ‘content’ mentioned by the game company.

Taking his gaze off, Han-bit moved his gaze to the stories of the Advance Party.

[Why are there so many of these Sacred Body Faction bastards?]

People trying to come to restricted area 5-2, stop for a moment.

Bastards openly promoting themselves as the Sacred Body Faction have swarmed in, you can’t win this.

Whether Hardliners or Moderates, we’ll have to push them out by joining up.

– For real, it’s truly bitXhy.

– How do we proceed with Episode 7 if it’s like this?

– Episode 8 is the same.

– lol the path to Feria Island is blocked.

– Episode or whatever, hunting is also impossible.

– There are freaking many Advance Party members in the Sacred Body Faction too;

– Leaving aside the faction, it’s just madness now.

– I can’t take it. I’ll kill everyone and find light.

The Advance Party members expressed dissatisfaction at the situation where progress became difficult.

But even if they brought up such an opinion now, there was no operator who would listen.

It was right to respond by quickly forming an alliance or something.

Because if the timing was late, their position as losers would truly become solidified.

‘Astra has already started.’

The members of Astra, who grasped the situation, set out to cope while sharing the information necessary for each.

It was truly an appearance worthy of the Advance Party chosen by Grace.

“The ranking is not out yet.”

At that moment, Avant-garde, who was checking information together, spoke.

Han-bit moved to the RP homepage.

[Player Ranking]

The player ranking will be disclosed at midnight.

As it was said that it was updated every midnight, only one line of explanation was written on the ranking page.

Han-bit brought up his character information window.

[Black Dragon – Lv. 246]

[Title: None]

[Faction: Hardliners]

[Ranking: -]

Strength: 480 (+96)

Agility: 480 (+96)

Intelligence: 480 (+96)

Stamina: 470 (+94)

Remaining Stat Points: 0

The faction and ranking items were newly created.

Although he remembered hearing that the ranking was something that considered all kinds of elements comprehensively, it was quite ambiguous for Han-bit.

Even though he came while digging into the truth of the episodes, it was because his absolute progress was lacking.

He couldn’t even guess what rank would come out.

“Then I’ll set out soon. I want to proceed as quickly as possible until midnight.”

“I should stay here and see the situation. Ah, the guild site and function upgrades you mentioned have been finished immediately, and I’ll finish the rest quickly.”

What he asked of Kenji was the change of the guild site.

The priorities were a workshop for Kim Jae-ha and turning the guild headquarters return function, which was one-way, into two-way.

A massive amount of gold was needed, but Kenji readily agreed as if it were no big deal.

“Thank you. Jae-ha Hyung, please work here, and Avant-garde-ssi, you said you’d move separately, right?”

“Yes. It’s faster for me to go from this side.”

Kim Jae-ha would proceed with work after receiving the items whose preparation he had entrusted to Yeon-woo.

Avant-garde said he planned to move to the player black market.

In other words, it was the timing to disperse here.

“Then we’ll go first. We’ll share it immediately if we learn something.”

“Yes. Please be careful by all means.”

“I’ll also try to prepare as well as possible.”

“I will also do my best.”

Immediately after each answer was heard, Han-bit looked at the twins.

“Let’s go.”

Whish—

The original position return item appeared below the guild return function.

Upon using that, the appearance of the Royal Capital square appeared along with the sensation of transition.

“Eh?”

“It’s Black Dragon!”

Voices were heard from the surroundings simultaneously with the appearance.

The eyes of the players whose gaze gathered were shining with greed.

It felt as though he were looking at a real Golden Goblin.

Thud—

Han-bit, who ignored them, headed for the gate of the Royal Capital.

A crowd followed in a swarm as if they had no intention of hiding it.

Arriving at the city wall, he stepped outside nonchalantly with the twins.

“The one who catches him first takes it, right?”

“You’re going to win against that? Just think about doing an N-split, you idiots.”

“Right, there’s no business against a dog-pile.”

The majority of those many people were forming their own parties.

Shring—

Han-bit, who drew his sword, leisurely looked around.

Roughly estimating, the number was over 500.

Which faction they were didn’t matter now.

“Are you going to kill them all?”

Haneul, who held a dagger, asked quietly.

Han-bit gathered wind on the blade and spoke while taking a posture.

“Kill them all. There’s no need to go easy.”