Chapter 46: Seoul (1)
TL: Hanguk
It had already been five days since an American achieved the first achievement reward for successfully enhancing a weapon.
By now, it wouldn’t have been strange if others had succeeded in enhancements one after another.
However, I hadn’t expected to find a clue to enhancement in Seongnam, which I would have passed by without caring if I hadn’t been caught up in the incident.
I handed the shield to Choi Do-gyeom and asked.
“This shield has been enhanced, hasn’t it?”
At my question, he flinched.
It seemed that this was information he had been keeping secret.
Well, I would have done the same.
The system that allows equipment enhancement is valuable enough for that.
“Pardon me, but could I obtain that information? I’ll offer an appropriate reward.”
If I set my mind to it, I could easily take the information by force.
But I had already troubled them once under the pretext of assessing their capabilities.
Since I had no intention of being needlessly hostile to them, I had no choice but to mention a reward.
“Are you by any chance affiliated with the government or the military?”
The way he brought up the government and the military revealed his distrust of both organizations.
I wasn’t much different, so I shook my head and answered honestly.
“No, I operate independently. Our party consists of just the two of us and one pet.”
“Ha, that’s impressive. To have grown so strong with just the two of you.”
The government and the military were cultivating elite units, but private hunting teams like Choi Do-gyeom and Kim Hyun-soo were ahead of them.
The reason is simple.
A flower grown roughly in the wild is stronger than one raised in a greenhouse.
In that sense, it meant I was someone who had overcome even more hardships than they had.
“What kind of reward can you offer?”
Was it because he was the head of a group?
Choi Do-gyeom proposed a deal even though he knew the situation was unfavorable to him.
I thought for a moment, then took out a secondary sword from the ones hanging on my waist and showed it to him.
“How about this?”
It was a Special grade weapon obtained by defeating the Named Dullahan, Cruder’s Sword.
[Cruder’s Sword / One-handed Longsword / Grade: Special]
-Increases the power of Sword Aura by 30%.
-Strength +2, Agility +2
-Built-in Skill: Splitting Sword
It was an excellent weapon, and I had enjoyed using Splitting Sword quite a bit, but in the end, it was a secondary weapon.
Even without it, my combat performance wouldn’t be significantly affected.
Coincidentally, Choi Do-gyeom was also a one-handed sword user, so I showed him the equipment. Upon seeing the item information, his pupils shook greatly.
For me, most of my equipment had already been replaced with Special grade items, and I even wore Rare grade equipment, but from their perspective, a Special grade item would be a treasure among treasures.
His teammates, who came up beside Choi Do-gyeom, also checked the item’s information and swallowed dryly.
“To offer up equipment like this so casually…”
“Wouldn’t that be enough of a reward?”
At my question, he hesitated.
But soon he shook his head.
I thought the negotiation had fallen through at that point, but he made an unexpected proposal.
“I’ll pass on the equipment. Instead, please give me your time.”
“Time?”
“Once every three or four days, even if it's just for an hour or two, I’d like you to join our party hunts.”
“You want to learn combat know-how from me?”
“And build rapport as a bonus.”
“Ha ha!”
An unexpected proposal.
I let out an admiring sigh inwardly.
Rather than pursuing personal gain, he chose to act as the leader of his group.
I asked if that was really enough for him, and whether he wouldn’t regret it.
“If you pressured us with force, we wouldn’t be able to resist anyway. Even if you didn’t, you could investigate us in secret and extract the information without paying.”
He was right.
As he said, even if the deal fell through, I had many ways to obtain what I wanted.
To be honest, from my perspective, it would’ve been easier to just hand over Cruder’s Sword. But I liked him.
So I decided to accept his counteroffer.
“Alright. Let’s do it that way.”
“Looking forward to working with you.”
“Likewise.”
If Kim Hyun-soo in Suwon had heard this, he would have bristled, but the truth was that Kim Hyun-soo was already in a semi-cooperative relationship with the government.
From that perspective, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to build a slightly closer relationship with Choi Do-gyeom, who operated independently.
“As you know, I’m Choi Do-gyeom.”
“I’m Baek-ho.”
“That’s a cool name.”
“Ha ha.”
For reference, I had recently developed the habit of omitting my family name when introducing myself to outsiders.
Because of that, quite a few people believed my name was a single-character name “Ho” with the family name “Baek”.
*
Shortly after, I marked the Seongnam Waypoint with Choi Do-gyeom’s group and headed somewhere.
And the place we arrived at was none other than the entrance of a cleared dungeon.
[Abandoned Mine]
Recommended Level: 15
A dungeon not included in the information my father had given me.
In other words, it meant the government hadn’t discovered it yet.
‘Well, that makes sense.’
It would be impossible for the government to keep track of all the dungeons, and this one was located beside a lake in a park.
The entrance was precariously placed at the edge of the land beyond the lake.
Simply put, there was virtually no chance of falling into the dungeon through normal means.
So it was understandable that the government didn’t know about it.
Besides, as time passed, they had completely stopped paying attention to Seongnam.
“What’s that?”
“It’s the key to access a Hidden Field.”
Then, Choi Do-gyeom took a key out of his inventory and inserted it into the entrance of the cleared dungeon.
At that moment, the dungeon entrance, which had looked like a gloomy tunnel, transformed into a well-crafted doorway.
-Creak.
Choi Do-gyeom opened the door, and in front of us appeared an underground chamber with a single house sitting in the middle.
I followed behind Choi Do-gyeom’s group, who looked familiar with the place, glancing around like some country bumpkin.
“You’ve arrived?”
Then, a man greeted us.
[Maxim / Favorability 0%]
A presence that confirmed my suspicions related to enhancement.
It was the appearance of a blacksmith NPC.
“So, a first-time visitor today.”
“Hello.”
The blacksmith NPC named Maxim had the typical appearance of a dwarf from fantasy.
He began rubbing his roughly grown beard as he scanned me, and soon, a glint appeared in his eyes.
“You’re way better than that tall guy.”
“Ha ha, I suppose so.”
The one the blacksmith NPC Maxim referred to as the “tall guy” was Choi Do-gyeom.
The fact that he used a nickname suggested that their favorability was quite high.
“To think someone already has gear like this, I’m surprised.”
Choi Do-gyeom’s group looked astonished at Maxim’s genuine words of admiration.
It seemed they had never seen him react this way before.
Then, Maxim’s gaze shifted to Willia, who stood behind me, and he flinched in surprise.
Willia looked back at him with a soft smile, and Maxim quickly averted his eyes.
‘What’s this? Is it because they’re both NPCs?’
I tilted my head in confusion and looked at Willia, who shrugged as if she didn’t know either.
“You here to enhance something?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“What about the enhancement materials?”
Not knowing what the enhancement materials were, I turned my gaze to Choi Do-gyeom, and he explained in my stead.
“For +1 enhancement, you need Black Iron Ingots, and for +2, you need Mithril Ingots.”
“Is +2 the maximum?”
“He only tells you what’s needed beyond that if your favorability is over 50%. We’re only at 20% right now.”
I was able to get a rough idea of how the system worked.
Since Mithril was hard to obtain, that’s why Choi Do-gyeom’s shield was only at +1.
Black Iron Ingots could be made from 10 Black Iron Fragments dropped by defeating Orc Warriors.
But I knew a place where I could steadily obtain not only Black Iron but Mithril too.
It was the dungeon I had postponed clearing in Hongseong, the “Forgotten Mine”.
“If I just bring the materials, you’ll upgrade up to +2, right?”
“Yeah.”
At Maxim’s response, I nodded.
Then, I pulled out the artifact I had received from Mr. Kim and handed it to Maxim.
“Th-this is...”
A rod-shaped item of not very long length.
Seeing the artifact, Maxim reacted with visible shock.
"I thought you was no ordinary one, but you even had something like this?”
“Can you appraise it?”
However, I had to furrow my brow at Maxim’s next words.
“I’d like to help, but unfortunately, we’re not close enough yet.”
It meant the favorability level was too low.
Still, judging by his reaction alone, I could tell the artifact wasn’t anything ordinary.
Unfortunately, he said appraisals were only available once favorability reached 30%.
“Is there anything you particularly like?”
So I asked about Maxim’s preferences to begin working on increasing favorability.
“There is. Something I like.”
“What is it?”
“Alcohol!”
Ah, right, now that I thought about it, dwarves had that kind of setting.
I had used up all the alcohol I had during yesterday’s party, but if I traveled around a bit, I’d have more opportunities to find some.
‘Still, I was lucky enough to find a blacksmith NPC. As long as I gather the materials, he’ll do the enhancement. Once this trip to Seoul is over, I’ll probably have to hole up in Hongseong for a while.’
With that, we exited the Hidden Field.
Naturally, I had to ask how he obtained the key, and Choi Do-gyeom’s answer was simple.
“It dropped when I defeated the boss of this dungeon.”
So defeating the boss of the Abandoned Mine Dungeon leads to access to the blacksmith NPC’s Hidden Field.
It struck me as a fairly natural connection.
As we walked.
‘Wait, Abandoned Mine and a blacksmith?’
Suddenly, the thought crossed my mind that maybe the mine-type dungeon itself had some relation to blacksmiths.
Of course, it was nothing more than an assumption, pure speculation.
Still, it was impossible not to think of the “Forgotten Mine” in Hongseong in relation to that.
‘No way, could the Forgotten Mine also...? Nah, probably not.’
***
“Did you really have to go that far?”
After Seo baek-ho and Willia left riding Woof-woof, Kang Eun-ji, the female member of Choi Do-gyeom’s party, asked.
Choi Do-gyeom, who had been smiling kindly, rubbed his temple and replied.
“There’s no helping it. We have no way to stand against him.”
“What if we tried sniping him with a gun...”
“And what if he has a way to counter sniping?”
Kang Eun-ji disliked seeing Choi Do-gyeom acting so submissively.
That’s why she made such a bold remark, but even she knew their situation wasn’t favorable.
“Until now, I thought we weren’t the best, but we were close.”
“...”
“But today, we were crushed by a single person. And worse, he was clearly holding back, like he was testing us.”
At Choi Do-gyeom’s words, the shoulders of the party members drooped.
He tried to console his comrades and said,
“At least we’re lucky. We get to be around that overwhelming force. We just need to watch closely and get stronger. Got it?”
Everyone nodded.
But then, out of nowhere, Choi Do-gyeom cleared his throat and asked Kang Eun-ji an odd question.
“By the way, earlier it looked like you were talking to the woman in his party? What did you two talk about?”
“What are you talking about?”
But as not only Choi Do-gyeom but the other male members showed interest in the topic, Kang Eun-ji scowled and said,
“That woman’s personality is fucking nasty. I’m telling you, don’t bother getting interested.”
“No way.”
“She looked really gentle to me though?”
“She had her face covered with a veil! What the hell looked gentle about her, you morons?!”
“Yikes! Eun-ji’s going off again!”
Fuming, Kang Eun-ji recalled what had happened earlier.
To her, Choi Do-gyeom was a lifesaver and someone she deeply respected.
And yet, he had been thoroughly defeated by some wild bastard who had popped up out of nowhere.
Naturally, from her perspective, Seo baek-ho couldn’t possibly look like a good person, so she had been shooting him dirty looks and frowning constantly.
That was when it happened.
Willia had approached her and spoken.
‘You keep glaring at Baek-ho ssi, and it’s unpleasant. Could you stop?’
‘What?’
‘I mean, know your place. Before I put a hole in your head…’
Someone completely unexpected had smiled coldly and delivered a threat.
Kang Eun-ji froze on the spot.
Afterward, Willia returned to Seo baek-ho’s side, smiling sweetly as usual, and Kang Eun-ji couldn’t help but be afraid of her.
***
‘Arrived!’
Although we were slightly delayed in Seongnam, it wasn’t long before we reached Dongjak-gu National Cemetery, one of the major survivor zones representing Seoul.
Dongjak-gu National Cemetery housed a number of refugees similar to the Gwanggyo Survivor Zone in Suwon that we had passed earlier.
Perhaps because of that, the interior was bustling and vibrant, filled with countless people interacting.
Since Woof-woof drew far too much attention, we temporarily took him to Wolgwang Island via Waypoint. Willia and I explored the survivor zone alone, almost like we were on a date.
“It feels a bit different from Suwon, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it does?”
But how should I put it?
It was indeed lively, but unlike Suwon, it didn’t feel entirely cheerful or hopeful, which was ironic.
So I grabbed a random passerby to ask.
“Excuse me. Can I ask you something?”
“Are you from outside?”
“Yes.”
“Information fee is 5 copper.”
The man looked like an ordinary guy in his twenties.
Yet, he immediately demanded coins at my question.
So I thought, “Is this just how Seoul folks are?” and handed him the 5 copper.
“Alright, ask me anything.”
The guy, who had been wearing a sullen expression, suddenly became overly friendly.
I let out a dry chuckle and asked,
“Did something happen? Everyone looks so gloomy.”
At my question, the man replied with a bitter expression.
“About an hour ago, Dongjak Bridge collapsed due to an underwater monster in the Han River.”
“What?”
“As you probably know, Dongjak Bridge directly connects this survivor zone here at the National Cemetery with the Yongsan Park Survivor Zone. Seems quite a few people unexpectedly became separated from their families because the bridge went down.”
“So there was a lot of interaction over the bridge?”
“More than just a lot. Thanks to it, the two survivor zones were practically one. There was even a lot of exchange between hunting teams.”
I sent him on his way after he indicated I’d need to pay another 5 copper for further conversation.
Then, together with Willia, I let out a sigh. The reason: our destination, and where Mr. Kim’s family was staying, was the Yongsan Park Survivor Zone.
If we made up our minds, we could cross the Han River even without a bridge.
The problem was, the place was crawling with soldiers, and we’d draw more attention than necessary.
“Let’s check out the bridge first.”
“Alright.”
So we headed toward the collapsed Dongjak Bridge.
Before long, we saw that it wasn’t just partially damaged, the entire bridge had caved in completely.
“Let’s just use a different bridge.”
“Yeah, that might be better.”
Honestly, I wanted to just run through the air and go straight across, but with soldiers glaring all around and artillery and anti-air guns pointed toward the river like coastal defenses, I had no choice.
It seemed wiser to use either Banpo Bridge or Hangang Bridge.
“Banpo Bridge is a bit closer, so let’s head there.”
I pointed toward Banpo Bridge, which was faintly visible from Dongjak Bridge.
And then.
“Huh?”
-Ku-ku-ku-kung!
Just as I pointed my finger, Banpo Bridge collapsed.
Thanks to that, the many soldiers, hunters, and civilians who had gathered at Dongjak Bridge and witnessed the collapse of Banpo Bridge all turned to look at me.
I had to wave my hand frantically, trying to signal that it was a misunderstanding.
The timing had just been too perfect.
Fortunately, everyone soon looked away.
It seemed they hadn’t actually suspected me of doing anything.
‘Phew, crazy...’
With Dongjak Bridge gone, now Banpo Bridge had collapsed too.
Don’t tell me all of Seoul’s bridges are going to fall at this rate?
“What kind of monster could possibly be doing all this?”
I handed over 5 copper like a habit to a nearby soldier and asked.
“They say it’s a monster with the form of a giant serpent. Anything it coils around gets destroyed without exception.”
“Any idea what level the monster is?”
“Unfortunately, there was no one around with a skill that can check its level, so it hasn’t been confirmed yet.”
At this rate, every single bridge might get taken out.
In the end, Willia and I hurried over to Hangang Bridge.
It didn’t take long before we arrived at the front of Hangang Bridge.
"Wow! It’s Kang Yi-sol!”
“Huh? Where!?”
In front of Hangang Bridge as well, many hunting teams and soldiers had already gathered.
The difference from the previous site was that the people here seemed to have assembled specifically to confront the monster destroying the bridges.
Among them, one team stood out with particularly flashy gear, naturally drawing the eye.
[Kang Yi-sol / Level: 26]
[Choi Yi-na / Level: 25]
[Seo In-pyo / Level: 25]
‘Huh? Kang Yi-sol.’
It was the elite team affiliated with the government.
Surprisingly, I was seeing Kang Yi-sol, the one I had exchanged messages with via the scenario fragment, and the Division Chief of the First Strategy Division at the Nation Revival Agency.
They were a group composed of thirty people in total.
They had taken up positions as if preparing for a raid, and soldiers stood beside them.
-Fwoosh!
“It’s here.”
Then, almost in response to their challenging posture, a giant serpent emerged from the waters of the Han River.
[Creature Boa / Level: 55]
The moment I checked the monster’s information, I thought that with this many people, it might actually be doable.
“Come at me, monster!”
At that moment, Kang Yi-sol, the Division Chief who had entered full protagonist mode, leapt into the air and launched himself toward Creature Boa, just like I would.
He clearly possessed both the Stepping Stone and Leap skills.
Though he didn’t have my level of speed or jumping ability, his agile movements made it easy to understand why they were called a “government elite unit”.
It seemed reckless to charge at a monster with more than double their level, but I figured they must have something up their sleeve and watched the upcoming battle.
-Thunk!
Then, Kang Yi-sol was sucked right into the mouth of Creature Boa like dust into a vacuum cleaner.
‘Oh, is he attacking from inside its mouth? Bold move?’
An unexpected tactic.
I was genuinely impressed by his courage to take such a risk himself.
“Kyaaah! Division Chief!”
“N-no!”
But the reactions from his teammates felt off.
‘...Wait. Don’t tell me that wasn’t a tactic, he actually got eaten?’
*****
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