Chapter 34

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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A tavern in the Edlen market district, Morning Dew.

All sorts of stories were going back and forth in that crowded place.

“What do you mean city development fund, city development fund!”

“What else? The noble bastards are just trying to line their pockets. Don’t you feel it’s gotten worse since Brooke became the mayor?”

“There was even a rumor that he’s a human scarecrow. Things were good when Mayor William was around…”

“Can’t we run away to the Holy State? We can live comfortably with our heads held high in a powerful country like that.”

Words spat out without hesitation while downing drinks.

These were quite dangerous topics for commoners to be discussing.

“Was there a place like this? It feels hazy.”

“That’s probably because it’s not a particularly meaningful space. It’s my first time coming here since 2 years ago too.”

Yeon-woo and Kim Jae-ha, sitting in a corner seat, let out short impressions.

After pouring out compensation and apologies to Atsbel, the three had moved here to talk.

It was the closest tavern to the store, so they could arrive quickly.

“Come to think of it, what should I call you? Isn’t Kim Jae-ha your real name?”

“I’m used to it since I’m from a company. You don’t have to mind it.”

– T. T

– A salaryman’s name is indeed public property.

– Fortunately his face is at least different.

– Who plays games with their real face. Lol.

– Ranger: ?

– Avant-garde: ??

– There’s more crazy bastards than I thought.

“…”

Suddenly becoming a crazy bastard, Han-bit shut his mouth.

Is it fortunate that at least some streamers use their actual appearance?

“Then Kim Jae-ha-ssi, let’s continue the story about the hidden skill.”

“Ah, yes!”

Kim Jae-ha’s body stiffened at the mention of the Dwarf’s Metallurgy.

It was fortunate that a person named Black Dragon showed interest, but the information he had was meager.

“I heard the first thing you discovered was an achievement, could I hear it in detail?”

“To be exact, it wasn’t an achievement but a small iron plate that looked like dog tags. The exact same words as the achievement details were written there.”

“Dog tags? Do you happen to have it right now?”

“Of course.”

Nodding, Kim Jae-ha took out something from his inventory.

A thin iron plate about the size of two fingers placed on the table.

Strung on a thin cord, it looked similar to dog tags.

Holding it, the corners of Han-bit’s mouth curled up.

[I heard the cry of iron in the snow.]

A clear sentence on a familiar texture and memory.

There was no need to have any doubts.

Certainly, this iron plate was the key to learning the Dwarf’s Metallurgy.

“The place you discovered it?”

“It was midway up a snowy mountain in northern Ifrit.”

“That snowy mountain, it was a place with many ore veins, right? With a lot of mine entrances too.”

“… How did you know that?”

Kim Jae-ha widened his eyes at the natural question.

The one who answered instead was Yeon-woo.

“Black Dragon hyung is an expert in this world. It’s at the level of memorizing a whole web novel.”

“I did see it on the broadcast… Is that really possible?”

“I find it fascinating too.”

– For real lol

– Basic qualifications of an Otaku.

– The cutline just went up;

– Isn’t an Otaku actually a normie.

– You normie bastards, don’t touch this.

He was now used to the perception accumulating as they pleased.

Anyway, what was important was the fact that Kim Jae-ha was the first discoverer.

“Dwarf’s Metallurgy. You said you ultimately failed to find it, right? Was there anything you missed?”

“… I think we did our best. Not only me and my company colleagues, but countless other competitors were also deployed.”

“If it was at a company level, you must have divided the areas and conducted the search? Did that achievement pop up for everyone?”

“Yes. We achieved the exact same achievement but… there was no harvest whatsoever. However, this item didn’t drop for other people.”

Kim Jae-ha made a gloomy expression while caressing the iron plate on the table.

It looked like a lot had happened.

‘It makes sense they couldn’t find it.’

The process of obtaining the Dwarf’s Metallurgy was not easy.

However, the reason why the past players, including Kim Jae-ha, failed was simple.

Because it was only possible if he, the first discoverer, moved on the correct path.

“Shall we travel together for the time being?”

“Yes?”

“You came looking for us because there’s something you want. I need to have an advantage too, so let’s take some time to judge it.”

“Uh…”

– Surprise scout *shiver*

– Taeyul Company 1 win.

– Hit like if Avant-garde is crying right now.

– Will get kicked out like a dog if he’s not helpful.

– For real lol

Kim Jae-ha stiffened at the sudden proposal.

However, his complexion soon brightened, and he raised his voice.

“Sounds good! Since I’m somewhat an early user, I’ll be able to give even a small amount of help!”

“Yes, please take care of me. Loafer, are you okay with it?”

“I’m fine. We just need to confirm with our own eyes what kind of person he is.”

Yeon-woo also nodded and agreed.

Moving his fingers, Han-bit invited Kim Jae-ha to the party.

“Ah, you’ve already cleared the Edlen episode, right?”

“Unfortunately, I only hit the clear on the Edlen main quest. However, I can still do things like spectating, so if I have any information to share, I’ll contact you via party chat or messages.”

Kim Jae-ha clearly added the explanation.

Since the situation was roughly sorted out, Han-bit stood up and said.

“Then let’s see each other tomorrow. I’ll contact you before logging in.”

***

The morning of the next day.

Leaving his house, Han-bit took a bus heading near the company.

Because the meeting place was his senior Lee Min-ho’s house.

‘Feels like coming to work on a weekend.’

The scenery passing by outside the window was exactly the same as yesterday.

To think he would hate the company this much after merely a few days as an intern.

Once again, office workers felt amazing.

“Hey, did you see this?”

Just when he briefly fell deep in thought in a daze.

He slightly overheard a conversation between people sitting next to him.

Two men who looked like college students were talking while looking at their smartphones.

“Challenge Dungeon? I watched it live.”

“It took me over an hour even after watching the strategy guide. Reality hit me hard.”

“Reality hitting you needs to be realistic. He’s just a crazy bastard.”

The words coming from their conversation caught his ears.

That it was a story about RP was clearly evident in the continued conversation.

“But to think an S-rank nickname like this was still available. Did nobody think of Black Dragon?”

“There are also rumors that it’s a developer super account. They must have put a lock on the nickname so it couldn’t be made.”

“If it was a super account, there would be an uproar already. Would the vanguards stay still?”

“Then how do you explain this? There’s no way a talent freak worse than Odin could appear.”

Let alone RP, he didn’t expect to hear the nickname Black Dragon in reality again.

Suddenly curious about the reaction, Han-bit turned on his smartphone and connected to the RPG community.

The top of the home screen was filled with popular posts about the Challenge Dungeon.

1st place got swapped as Black Dragon, who found the hidden route, pierced through in 1-try.

What makes him a true crazy bastard is that he broke the record even while doing the Plona quest.

I organized it with the link to Black Dragon’s channel video and posted it.

– F*ck lmaoooo

– Black Dragon, is it you again…

– Kim Han-seop is wailing.

– The unprecedented talent freak Odin was just ordinary. Lol.

– I’m really reporting this bastard for a bug.

└ I inquired too, but the operator said it’s not a bug or a hack?

└ Okay, since it’s come to this, we compete with instigation and fabrication.

– I watched and followed it but the traps alone took over 20 minutes.

– Isn’t passing the maze in 1-try an AI?

– If you go to the broadcast and donate, does he answer?

└ He does if he’s in a good mood.

└ If the challenge mission and donation amount gets bigger, he does one big thing at a time.

The various reactions pouring from the players were fierce.

And a comment registered towards the end drew Han-bit’s attention.

– The number of challengers has passed 20,000 right now. Lol.

└ Won’t it hit 40,000 when the weekend comes?

└ I think it’ll surpass 50,000.

└ The entrance fee is 500 Gold, so every Tom, Dick, and Harry are retrying.

└ I’m f*cking jealous of Black Dragon;

└ Kim Han-seop is genuinely wailing.

‘…50,000 people?’

His eyes widened at the player’s predicted figure.

The 1st place record holder receives the accumulated entrance fees for 1 week.

If really more than 50,000 people attempt it, the minimum amount is 25 million Gold.

If the record is continuously maintained, wouldn’t it be a vault that endlessly generates Gold?

“Is there no reaction from Kim Han-seop? He must be in shock after his 1st place got taken.”

“His honey pot got broken, so he’s plummeted. He spent Gold like crazy wanting to be a vanguard, but now he can’t even do that.”

The people beside him were still chatting about the Challenge Dungeon.

Kim Han-seop, who had monopolized the rewards for 1 year.

It wouldn’t be very strange even if he harbored hostility towards him who took his spot.

Seeing how he was striving to become a vanguard, there might be a chance their paths would cross someday.

Beep-

Getting off at the destination stop, Han-bit walked up the slope he immediately saw.

A neighborhood lined with studio apartments.

Walking a little further, an old building caught his eye.

Passing through the open entrance, Han-bit went up to the 4th floor.

Brrrrk-

When he pressed the doorbell of Room 402, a bizarre vibration rang.

It seemed to be broken.

Click-

Creeaak-

Then, Lee Min-ho revealed himself along with the sound of the door opening.

His face showed clear signs of fatigue.

“Hello. You’re early.”

“Hello. Did you perhaps not sleep?”

“I found something giving me a headache. Come in first.”

Leaving a meaningful remark, he guided Han-bit inside.

Passing through the narrow entryway, a space of about 7 pyeong came into view.

All sorts of blueprints, tools, and device parts were crammed together, but they were placed in a clearly categorized state.

“I’m sorry the house is small. It’s difficult to take the equipment outside…”

“Not at all. More importantly, you mentioned finding something that gives you a headache, what is it?”

“It would be better to see it yourself. Wait a moment.”

Lee Min-ho grabbed a part looking like a semiconductor chip and a blueprint.

Then, pointing at them one by one with his finger, he continued.

“This is one of the parts that came out by disassembling the level 1 gear, and this here is its blueprint. As a technology that’s ahead of its time, completely understanding all of it was quite difficult.”

He casually mixed in professional jargon to explain how amazing the device’s structure was.

Seeing him slightly excited, he seemed to be a person with strong curiosity even though it was an extension of work forced upon him.

Of course, Han-bit’s expertise fell far short of engaging in a debate on this problem.

“I don’t really know even if I look at it. Was there something peculiar?”

“That’s what gave me a headache. To be exact, it was because of the thing inside this chip.”

Lee Min-ho held up the small chip with his fingers.

Then he brought over a household microscope next to him.

“Take a look. There’s a core with a peculiar pattern engraved inside.”

“A peculiar pattern?”

“It’s a part that’s already known, but strangely, it looks like a locking mechanism. I couldn’t physical separate it even using equipment.”

“Hmm, I’ll take a look.”

Han-bit brought his eyes to the microscope’s eyepiece.

The internal structure of the chip instantly coming into view.

Examining the complex circuit lines, a small sphere was visible in the center.

It looked like a fruit wrapped in a shell.

‘Is this it?’

Scrutinizing the surface, Han-bit discovered the pattern Lee Min-ho spoke of.

A linearity sparsely visible, obscured by the external structure.

It somewhat felt like ancient text.

‘Don’t tell me this is…’

Memories surfaced along with the fleeting thought.

Han-bit asked Lee Min-ho, who was gathering materials next to him.

“Did you perhaps discover anything else?”

“Rather than discovering, there was an anomaly. Remember the program the R&D department gave you?”

“Yes. Was it the one where I gathered data and handed it over?”

“That’s right. But upon hearing about it, the backbone of that program was provided by the RP game company. As if they wished for someone to dig into the company’s secrets.”

“That’s… fascinating.”

The RP game company’s hard-to-understand actions weren’t just one or two things.

In Han-bit’s view, it felt like the shadow of the Goddess.

And that feeling he sensed this time too turned into certainty with Lee Min-ho’s ensuing words.

“The important thing is this. Using the data Han-bit-ssi gathered, a strange pattern was discovered in the code. It was a part that didn’t appear in the data of other departments.”

“A pattern?”

“Take a look at this.”

Lee Min-ho laid out materials filled with complex programming languages on the floor.

Pointing at one section with his finger, he said.

“Other codes weren’t at a level impossible to understand. However, for patterns similar to this constantly popping up, it’s hard to understand the meaning behind them. They’re codes that don’t even need to be there.”

“… Wait a moment.”

Han-bit focused his gaze on the spot he pointed at.

A code difficult to discern merely with an undergraduate’s knowledge.

While he was frowning his eyebrows, Lee Min-ho handed him another piece of paper.

“Look at this side too. It’s a collection of patterns spread across the entire code.”

Moving his gaze, Han-bit examined the new materials.

That moment, something flashed through his mind.

‘… Don’t tell me this is.’

Han-bit, having discovered something, gradually moved his gaze further away.

Then, the complex code started looking like a different shape.

Rustle-

Han-bit busily moved his gaze and scrutinized the patterns with a wider view.

Up close, it was complex programming language, but to his eyes, a different outline blurred into shape.

It felt like solving a puzzle with lines and patterns hidden everywhere.

‘… They really did all sorts of crazy things.’

Reaching a conclusion, Han-bit let out a sigh.

The identity of the strange pattern Lee Min-ho discovered was the language of the other world.

A single word was hidden within this complex and vast pattern.

Averting his gaze from the materials, Han-bit looked at Lee Min-ho and said.

“A single word is hidden in this pattern.”

“A word?”

“Yes. It’s characters used in the world inside the game. It was in the appendix of the original web novel I read… Although it’s disappeared from the internet now, so we can’t see it.”

“…?”

Lee Min-ho put on a bewildered face, but soon shifted his gaze to the pattern.

Concentrating with slightly frowning eyebrows for a moment, he raised his head.

“If it was in an appendix, it would be hard to remember… Do you happen to know what word it is?”

A question slightly mixed with expectation.

It was a natural worry, but Han-bit had spent a much longer time using the language of the other world than Korean.

“Fortunately, I remember.”

Recalling past memories, he nodded his head.

Then checking the pattern one more time, he continued.

“The written word is Edlen. The city of the Raven Kingdom.”