Chapter 15 – Gamer (1)

While the uniformed man was changing Alda’s memory, Sun-woo checked the reward window.

Caroline seemed to want to talk to him from the side, but checking rewards was too overdue to deal with Caroline.

[Congratulations. Your grade has increased.]

[Point items have been added.]

[Additional inventory has been awarded.]

[Min Sun-woo: 3 Star. Achievement Rate 12%]

[Additional Inventory 500p]

[Additional Skill Slot 700p]

[Additional Basic Recovery Potion 100p]

[Additional Basic Water 1p]

[Additional Basic Hard Bread 2p] – New

[Item Enhancement Stone 100p]

[100,000 won per point]

[Types increase as character level rises.]

“Bread… It’s really just completing the set?”

Sun-woo shook his head at the added item. Fortunately, additional inventory was provided, so the inventory would now expand to 4 slots.

And,

[Current Points: 960p]

With the original 100p plus boss finishing blow, contamination source elimination points, and additional bonus, points had accumulated to nearly 1,000.

Sun-woo immediately added a skill slot and bought two recovery potions. He had used his last potion in this mission. The importance of potions went without saying.

The remaining points were 60. Just in case, he bought a bunch of bread with 10 points, stuffed them into the newly created inventory, and saved the rest.

“Sun-woo, are you alright? Who are these people?”

The moment Sun-woo finished checking, Nan-seol landed in front of him.

When Nan-seol looked around with a tense expression, Caroline had no choice but to explain herself again with a business smile.

But her explanation didn’t seem very helpful.

“You change other people’s memories?”

“Ah, once you become a summoner, you’re locked and can’t be changed. You don’t need to worry.”

Nan-seol seemed to dislike the act itself rather than worrying about it happening to her.

But Caroline seemed unbothered by Nan-seol’s wariness.

“We could talk about dimensional stabilization or preventing civilian unrest, but for us it’s just a mission too, so we can only ask for understanding.”

At Caroline’s words about being in the same position, Nan-seol’s expression softened slightly.

“I’m fine. Are all the others safe?”

Sun-woo interjected meanwhile.

“Oh, yes, everyone’s safe. The cave suddenly exploded so I came back first.”

‘Not first, but alone.’

Sun-woo muttered internally at her words.

Shortly after, Caroline, who had been talking with her subordinate in front of Alda, spoke.

“Our side seems to be finished too. We’ve roughly aligned the story so that the elementalists dealt with the rampaging spirits. Fortunately there’s no additional exposure so there’s nothing more to do. It was an easy mission. I hope we’ll see each other often in the future.”

While Sun-woo was checking his phone, both Nan-seol and Sun-woo heard a voice.

[All contamination that occurred on the island in Dimension Gamma’s Southern Ocean has been purified. Everyone will return in 30 seconds.]

Nan-seol sighed quietly and waved at Sun-woo.

“It’s farewell right away. Take care until we meet next time.”

A little later, the visitors to the island disappeared, and as time passed, the islanders who had evacuated to sea by boat returned to the village.

In the village the people had left, Alda was waiting for the villagers with her silver hair hanging down.

“Master passed away while calming the spirits, and the volcanic eruption will stop soon without damage to the island.”

The villagers became gloomy at the news that the elementalist had died. But Alda’s words didn’t end there.

“Anyway, since the volcano erupted, this volcano won’t erupt again for a long time now.”

At her words, people looked relieved. However,

“So I’m also thinking of leaving the village now. Farewell.”

The villagers became noisy and some tried to stop her, but no one could restrain her, who now harbored the volcano’s avatar.

With her master dead and no longer needing to guard the volcano due to the eruption, Alda decided to leave the island as her master had wished.

A few days later, Alda looked back at the island from a small boat. White smoke was still rising from one side of the island.

Looking at the island, she spoke to the spirits wandering around her.

“My memory is different from what you saw, isn’t it?”

At her words, the surrounding air violently fluctuated. Alda was an elementalist. She was a human who could hear spirit stories.

The stories the spirits told were different from what she remembered. She couldn’t understand what had happened.

“I’ll be able to find out what happened if I meet another elementalist. You should also let me know right away if you see those travelers you saw then.”

After taking one last look at the island, Alda called the spirits and filled the sail with hot wind.

The small ferry she rode headed north at high speed.

***

[Crazy! Stop that guy!]

[His game style has changed! He’s not the same guy who used to solo! All defense lines are collapsing right now! Pull all lines back!]

Sun-woo ignored the screams that seemed to come from behind the monitor and picked off enemy characters one by one with his teammates.

Shortly after, a victory screen appeared on the monitor and passionate praise from teammates poured into the chat window.

[Wow! Let’s play together next time too! They said you were a lone wolf style but your teamwork is amazing!]

[Would you consider joining our team? I’ll send you an email. Please check it.]

It was praise he had never heard before. He always played solo-focused, just collecting points, so even when the team won, he was lucky if he didn’t get cursed at.

But a team invitation. Just changing his play style was a tremendous change.

“Definitely better to use all available resources.”

Sun-woo was also satisfied with his play. He had been using games not just for stress relief but as a kind of training recently.

Most future missions would likely be team missions, so if he didn’t utilize his teammates, it would definitely be difficult to solve missions.

Messages saying to play one more round kept appearing in the chat, but after checking his ranking, he mercilessly left the game.

Although he had stayed up all night, his stamina was no problem at all. After doing missions, his various skills had been helpful in many ways. Sun-woo liked his strong stamina that was fine even after all-nighters the most.

“Then shall I go eat?”

He roughly washed his face and was about to go outside when the phone rang.

“Hey, what are you doing this weekend? Come out. I’ll buy you food.”

It was a call from his friend Min-seok.

“What food?”

“It’s payback for the item you gave me last time. I’m treating you.”

“Don’t lie. We both know you’re not that kind of person.”

“Damn, just come out. You quit your job too, right? Come out when I say I’ll buy you food.”

Sun-woo chuckled at Min-seok’s words. He was definitely calling because he needed something. But since he was going out anyway, it didn’t matter.

“I’m going out now.”

“Yeah, man Sun-woo. You’ve definitely changed. I’ll come to your house right away.”

***

Riding in Min-seok’s rattling car, Sun-woo couldn’t help but laugh helplessly.

“You’re so predictable.”

“Just fill the spot. Your sword isn’t just ordinarily famous. Even when I say I can’t sell it because I got it from a friend, he just won’t believe it. He’s coming to today’s guild meeting too, so if I show him your face, he’ll quiet down.”

“So I’m basically a sign to refuse purchases.”

“I’m buying you food. It’s also annoying how he can’t believe you’re my friend.”

It wouldn’t have mattered much to just sell it, but he seemed to want to maintain courtesy between friends.

“I’m just getting the hang of it and someone’s getting greedy… If it wasn’t Bugil-ma, I was going to make a deal.”

No, he just didn’t want to give away the item.

“Why are you in a guild with people you don’t like?”

“Obviously because of the beautiful guild member. Duh.”

The conversation inevitably had to head that way.

“Think of it as getting some fresh air. You’ve always holed up for a while whenever you quit a job. You seem a bit different as a person, but quitting your job is no different from before.”

Sun-woo couldn’t help but chuckle at Min-seok’s words. He couldn’t tell his friend, but he was definitely different from before.

“It’s already been 10 years since the accident. It’s about time to shake it off.”

“10 years. That’s been quite a while.”

It seemed 10 years had already passed since Sun-woo was left alone.

Min-seok looked a bit surprised seeing Sun-woo talk calmly.

“Well, looking at times like this, it does seem like you’ve changed. I just can’t figure it out.”

Seeing himself respond calmly even when the accident topic came up, Sun-woo could feel that he had changed.

***

The guild offline meeting that Bugil-ma had arranged was held at a very flashy restaurant befitting Bugil-ma’s successful wallet.

The restaurant staff invisibly frowned at the two men who appeared in old car and tracksuit-like attire, but the two didn’t care at all.

The meeting seemed to have rented a room on the restaurant’s second floor, and most people were already there.

“Which is the cute one?”

Arriving at the meeting place, Sun-woo looked at the waiting people and asked Min-seok.

Among about ten people, only two were women. It was natural for a game guild meeting to be swarming with men.

“Obviously.”

One cute girl with short hair and one ordinary girl. He was obviously targeting the cute one, but at a glance, she didn’t seem interested in Min-seok.

“Tsk tsk, hang in there.”

“Hehehe, now that I even have a sword, all that’s left is to make her fall for me at first sight.”

Upon entering the room, people’s gazes immediately turned to Sun-woo. They seemed curious about the unfamiliar person’s appearance.

“Ah, the friend I mentioned who gave me the sword. This is Red Marker.”

“Huh? He was really your friend?”

Everyone seemed surprised at Min-seok’s words. Apparently it wasn’t just Bugil-ma who didn’t believe it.

“Welcome!”

“Welcome!”

“Wow, this is my first time seeing him in person!”

People enthusiastically welcomed Sun-woo.

Although he had quit this game over a year ago, his stories were still being talked about in the game due to his pvp rank 1 status and tales of fighting various bosses and guilds single-handedly.

At the group’s welcome, the cute girl also began looking at Sun-woo with sparkling eyes. It seemed Min-seok’s plan was creating its own reef.

Sun-woo, who had taken a seat, was immediately bombarded with questions.

Min-seok looked at Sun-woo tensely at the sudden questions, but unlike before, Sun-woo began answering the questions one by one.

“Ha, as expected of Bugil-ma. What a flashy entrance.”

In the middle of their conversation, a male guild member sitting by the window spoke with an envious voice.

“Where, where?”

At that voice, other guild members all looked out the window and admired in unison.

“Coming in an open sports car with a blonde beauty beside him. This is a scene you’d only see in movies.”

“Ah, that must be the American he’s supposedly hitting on? That agent he’s working with.”

“Anyway, he does seem to be quite the character.”

The men looked out the window with half admiration, half envy, and the women looked at the incoming car with expressions mixed with regret.

Sun-woo just wanted to thank Bugil-ma. Thanks to him, he could escape the barrage of questions.

And shortly after, Bugil-ma and the blonde beauty came up to the second floor where the group was.

Sun-woo’s eyes widened greatly seeing the two people coming up the stairs, and the blonde beauty following Bugil-ma smiled brightly when she saw Sun-woo.

“Caroline?”

“Wow! We met quickly.”

“Huh?”

Everyone looked back and forth between Sun-woo and Caroline with surprised expressions.