A lonely room without a single thing.
Shown on the TV was a video that showed the 5th-floor attack, as well as a story about Kang Jin-hyuk.
"Him again?"
Chun Yuseong, who was on the bed, mumbled to himself. His words contained complex emotions and many different meanings.
One was frustration that he couldn't narrow the gap with his opponent. The other was a sense of shame at the fact that his rival was able to mimic his sword technique.
'In order to fight the opponent I want to overcome the most, I need to learn the skills of the opponent…'
A type of contradiction.
He didn't want to win that way, but no matter how much he thought,
he would never be able to close that gap without acting like his rival.
And he reached a conclusion.
In order to win, he had to throw away his pride.
Shh.
He moved the dishes on the table.
Chicken, pizza, cream prawns, and sheep skin, with two bottles of soju.
All the things Jin-hyuk prepared for mukbangs in the past.
And on the tablet, Jin-hyuk's old videos were playing.
[Hello! Hyungs! Today's content is Legend of Legend! I will show you the 1.5 pentakill shooting in the proper manner. Uh? Insane? If you are confident, just shoot anywhere. Maybe even pull poison mushrooms from the nose.]
His lifestyle, habits, and behavior.
He needed to imitate everything he showed, from games to content.
It wasn't too difficult for Chun Yuseong, a medical student, to design an efficient learning process.
'Is Teemo the key to this?'
[Hahahahah! Don't ignore the scouts' discipline! Captain Teemo!]
Teemo.
Teemo…
Chun Yuseong grabbed his pen and scribbled something in a notebook. He then underlined it with a yellow highlighter and added a star.
'Certainly… I will win.'
Chun Yuseong took a bite of the chicken and fell back to watch the video.
How many hours had passed?
Ding! Dong!
The doorbell rang.
Ding dong! Ding dong!
Chun Yuseong tried to ignore it, as a visitor wasn't important to him.
But…
When the entire door was cut down, he couldn't help but turn.
Clack!
It was a sword attack with high speed that left an iron piece glowing red-hot where it had been cut.
And between them—
"Haha. Excuse me."
A blonde foreigner with a smirk on his face.
"Who are you?"
"I actually have a different name, but you can call me Gawain."
"Ga… wain?"
"Yes. We usually call ourselves that way."
Gawain shrugged his shoulders and scanned the place where Chun Yuseong lived.
"Hmm. This is a bit surprising. Isn't this too small and narrow for a player like Unknown? I wasn't expecting a five-star hotel, but I thought at least the place would be classy."
Unknown?
'He suddenly pops into my place and calls me Unknown?'
At Gawain's words, Chun Yuseong tilted his head.
'No way…!'
He realized there was only one person who could play such a prank.
"Kang Jin-hyuk, I will kill you…!"
Chun Yuseong couldn't finish his words.
"Hm. This isn't the time for you to be looking for someone else, though?"
This was because the opponent had already pulled out a sharp sword and was approaching him.
At the same time—
Jin-hyuk was in front of a department store, scratching his ear.
"Weird. Why are my ears so itchy?"
It felt like a tiny worm was moving inside.
"Isn't that because someone is cursing you?"
Elise, who was next to him, said those words as if it was obvious.
"Who? Who would swear at me, who is known to be kind and sincere?"
"Tch. I have never seen someone as poisonous as you, even among vampires."
Look at this?
He thought they were a good pair.
"Shall I just put you back? Do you think the long-awaited break would be more appropriate to be cut down into a dungeon stay?"
At Jin-hyuk's threat, Elise spoke back sharply.
"Ah! Why do you act so sensitive!"
"Me? These are two of my favorite idioms. One is to think about the changing situation before speaking. It means to think about the feelings and conditions of others."
"Y-you should be the one doing that! You're the one who never thinks about others!"
Hm!
That did make a bit of sense. It wasn't as if she had lived alone for tens of thousands of years.
But it didn't matter.
"The next one is, 'Romance is when I do it, and an affair is when others do it.' It means all the right rules apply to me alone."
"That isn't even an idiom!"
"Then maybe you're mature enough to make your own."
Was it slang, then?
If the majority admired and empathized with it, it was a good phrase.
One hundred years from now, people would confidently put this term into the civil service exam.
"But this is the prize I got. You shouldn't be threatening me with this…"
In return for Elise's occasional sharing of information with Andrea, Jin-hyuk promised Elise a cultural life in Seoul.
How the boss lived.
The boss's daily routine.
And voice modulation.
Elise was teaching her a type of Introduction to Boss Studies.
"I'll take special care of you, so stop it. It's a headache because the number of employees I have to manage keeps increasing."
He should also contact Kim Hee-wong, whom he entrusted with the Black Crow Guild.
He had left the task to the guy as he had to climb the tower and level up, but he should also check how it was being run.
"Didn't you say we can shop as we please?"
"Yes. We, Elise—let's get what we want."
Jin-hyuk didn't think he would regret it too much… right?
After a bit of time—
Elise, who had entered the store, began running around to relieve her accumulated stress.
"Give them all."
"All…?"
The staff was shocked.
"I mean, buy everything in this store."
"Ugh…"
Jin-hyuk was about to yell at her but barely managed to hold back.
Seriously, what did this bat girl think about money?
It felt like she thought money was as abundant as air.
"Customer, I'm sorry, but—"
"I always get what I want. Whatever or whoever it is."
Elise waved her hand lightly, and a golden haze appeared behind her as she opened her subspace inventory.
Crik!
Diamonds poured down onto the glass shelf, drawing everyone's attention.
"Ugh?"
The employees all looked shocked. They couldn't help it.
The rise of the Tower of Trials and the economic crisis had caused their sales to plummet.
It was painful to spend millions of won to settle small bills and placate customers who shouted at them.
And sometimes, people with a VVIP attitude came around just to trample them further.
Promotion? Bonus?
They weren't a problem.
'We need to catch this customer.'
And just like that—
A new god, who would be talked about for years at this store, descended.
"W-wait a minute! Ma… ma… manager! I'll call them right now!"
And the employee quickly ran off somewhere.
On the other hand, Jin-hyuk touched his forehead.
"If Korea goes bankrupt, it will probably be because they can't afford the inflation caused by you."
When he saw Zimbabwe or Venezuela, he thought it was pitiful.
His eyes reddened as he watched money being pulled out like water.
Well.
Now that he'd seen it, he felt he should monitor her.
She was a catastrophe that could cause national inflation.
"Don't worry. I don't know what inflation is, but if that's a problem, I'll buy that too."
Sigh.
"Don't speak."
Talking to her reduced his common sense.
After the all-out war at the store—
The two of them went to a famous bar.
Jin-hyuk ordered the most popular food on the menu and checked what he needed to do as the food arrived.
The most important thing was handling the stat points he had obtained.
Tring!
Status window activated.
—
Name: Kang Jin-hyuk
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Level: 30
Strength 19
Agility 19
Stamina 10
Magic 74
Rift 100
Luck 10
Adaptive 78
Stat Points: 9
Coins: 1,283,288
Occupation: None
Unique Abilities: Fusion, Sword Grave, Blessing of the Stars, Anubis's Judgment, Blood Demon Qi, Mandala
Skills: Lv6 'Element of Fire', Lv5 'Eye of Gluttony', Lv4 'Communion', Lv4 'Stigma of the Soul', Lv4 'Shallow Breath', Lv4 'Monopolize'…
—
The adaptive stat he had obtained after dealing with the professor and his followers was around 68.
Then his level had also gone up by three.
'Looking back, it was an absurd speed.'
This was even faster despite having spent a month collecting the Rift stat.
Even rankers who used exclusive dungeons managed by their guilds and were raised by being fed hunted sheep were only around level 30.
'If stats are included, there is virtually no player with better stats than me.'
His knowledge and experience as a veteran widened the gap between him and other players.
Nice.
Jin-hyuk smiled.
It felt like all his hard work was being rewarded now.
'I can set my stats to 20 and invest the rest in magic.'
[Strength from 19 to 20]
[Agility from 19 to 20]
[Stamina from 19 to 20]
[Magic from 74 to 80]
He didn't know if it was some kind of obsession, but it felt good to have rounded numbers.
Additionally, the video he had uploaded this time seemed to have reached 100 million views, so he thought using the coin exchange coupon now would be perfect.
It was then—
[Customer at table 127. The food is prepared.]
A staff member arrived with a tray full of food.
Two main dishes, side dishes, salads, and two glasses of ice water.
"These are giblets and salmon. This is how you eat them—look carefully."
Jin-hyuk moved his chopsticks.
The giblets were properly coated in spicy sauce. On top of that, when the thickly sliced raw salmon met the tartar sauce and onions, he couldn't help but exclaim.
This combination made you want to drink even if you didn't want to.
Elise, who had taken a bite, spoke with sparkling eyes.
"This… this is meat? How can it taste like this…?!"
Um.
What should this be called?
"Shit?"
"What?"
"It's a dish made from cow intestines."
"No… I'm in a good mood and eating food. Why would you say such words?"
"Did you think I would joke about that?"
It didn't take long for Elise to realize he was telling the truth.
And soon, she fell into despair.
"This… no. How could a noble— but this taste is… no. Be patient. Be patient! Ack!"
Elise stared at the intestines for a long time, torn between pride and appetite.
And while she struggled—
'The Mirror that breaks down boundaries.'
Jin-hyuk took out the special item he had obtained on the 5th floor.
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