Chapter 128: Star, The First Mission (3)

“Aaaaa! The plane arrived some time ago already, so why hasn’t he come out?” Seok-Tae gave out a long yawn. Together with Cha Ye-Eun, they were standing near the Incheon Airport terminal two’s arrival area.

Ye-Eun kept her eyes on the door. “Hold it up properly. We might lose him.”

Seok-Tae was holding a piece of paper with big letters written on it.

It basically meant ‘Welcome to Korea, Joachim Wolff.’

“Come on, how can we miss that kind of guy? He’ll be one or two heads taller than other people.” Seok-Tae didn’t become dispirited by Ye-Eun’s cold response. “By the way, seonbae, did you hear seonbae Kim from the Security Department…”

Ye-Eun looked at Seok-Tae, feeling tired since he had been talking about various topics nonstop. During their drive from Seoul to Incheon, he rambled so much that it was a wonder how he still had topics to talk about now. Now that Ye-Eun had thought about it, he always chattered as much as most female employees of the Council. She seemed to have forgotten about it since Seok-Tae had taken the days off—no, it seemed he talked more than before. What in the world happened while he was hospitalized?

‘… I shouldn’t have saved him.’?

Ye-Eun shook her head in disbelief.

After clearing ‘Yeti Hill,’ she thought Seok-Tae had died, but it turned out he managed to survive, although with difficulty. Ye-Eun urgently took Seok-Tae, who was on the verge of dying, to the intensive care unit, but the damage to his organs was massive, and he had bled too much. In fact, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to die any minute back then. Seok-Tae had to go through several big surgeries, some of which Ye-Eun herself even participated in. She was a world-renowned expert in magic, the Saintess, and the Iron Witch, so she proved to be a big help in many ways.

‘Well, although I diluted it to a thousandth, I did use an elixir, so it's no wonder he got better.’?

Ye-Eun sighed, recalling the potion that her inhumane family members gave her to use in case of emergency.

She suddenly thought that she should have felt it was a waste to use the elixir and left it in her inventory or that, at the very least, perhaps it could have been better if she had locked Seok-Tae in the hospital. Although she wasn’t sure if it was a blessing in disguise, Seok-Tae had recovered unusually quickly and could move around without difficulty. Since his recovery, he had filed a reinstatement paper.

The hospital personnel had dissuaded Seok-Tae from returning to work, saying it was better to rest for several months, but Seok-Tae had insisted he wanted to assist Ye-Eun, his savior, by her side. At the time, Seok-Tae’s sincerity touched him, so she allowed him to return under the condition of not overworking himself… It seemed she shouldn’t have let her guard down.

“So the couple got married! Gosh! That kind of love can only be found in soap operas…” Seok-Tae went on.

Wondering why she should hear about other people’s romance stories, Ye-Eun seriously considered the option of breaking one of Seok-Tae’s legs and hospitalizing him. However, she instead raised her head because Seok-Tae suddenly shouted, “Huh? He’s coming out!”

“Where?” Ye-Eun asked, seeing the door of the arrival hall open and a bunch of foreigners come out. It wasn’t difficult to find Joachim among them since, just as Seok-Tae said, Joachim was a head taller than others and had a robust physique. He also didn’t really look any different from his photos.

No, it seemed it wouldn’t be difficult to find him even without his physique or appearance because the air around him was different. Wearing a neat suit, Joachim, the first son of the noble family that ruled over a region in Southern Germany for generations, walked with elegance. His eyes shone sharply, living up to his surname ‘Wolff.’ Civilians could brush past him without noticing anything, but Players wouldn’t be able to pass by him once they had seen his eyes. After all, Joachim was a natural-born hunter.

Ernst Mach, his secretary, was quietly walking behind him.

Joachim came up to Ye-Eun. “Yae…Un, Chwa?”

“Welcome to Korea, Illuminati’s ‘Blue Wolf,’” Ye-Eun replied in fluent German with a slight nod. She held out her hand.

When Joachim heard the nickname ‘Blue Wolf,’ his expression slightly changed because people normally called him the ‘Illuminati’s spokesperson,’ not the Blue Wolf. He personally considered that nickname as one of his embarrassing pasts.

The press mischievously gave Joachim that nickname for often giving speeches about the obligations that Players should uphold. The press joked about how his blood would be ‘blue’ since he always acted with a sense of noblesse oblige. ‘Wolf’ came from his Lycanthrope-type of ability, hence his nickname Blue Wolf. Koreans also called him ‘Duke Blue Wolf’ because he was a ‘Duke-Class’ high ranker.

“… It has been a long time since I heard that nickname. I really feel like I’m in a foreign country now. Well, I’m in your hands, Saintess.” Joachim quickly regained his composure and shook Ye-Eun’s hand.

Ye-Eun frowned upon hearing her title as well. Among the deities who blessed her was the ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl,’ the Illuminati’s Guardian. As a result, the Illuminati members tried to recruit her before and gave her the nickname ‘Saintess.’ Ye-Eun hated it and made her cringe really hard.

‘Thank god Seok-Tae can’t understand this conversation.’

Ye-Eun let out a brief sigh as she looked at Seok-Tae, who was just blinking in confusion. She then began to guide Joachim and Ernst.

“I’ve been ordered to be your guide during your entire stay in Korea. Please follow me.” Ye-Eun gestured at Joachim.

“So I’m going to be guided by the Iron Saintess… Haha! I already feel very lucky even though my stay in Korea has just begun.” Joachim gently laughed.

On the other hand, Ye-Eun had to hold back her urge to shove her revolver into Joachim’s mouth for still calling her saintess. As Ye-Eun and Joachim talked for a while, the group exited the airport and got in a four-passenger sports car that Ye-Eun had parked outside.

“… Oh, my god.” Seok-Tae’s facial expression became weird for some reason.

“Why?” Ye-Eun looked at Seok-Tae.

“Seonbae-nim, you can speak German?” Seok-Tae asked.

“I can ‘also’ speak German.” Ye-Eun corrected.

“You mean you can fluently speak other languages…?”

Ye-Eun nonchalantly counted the number of languages she could speak with her fingers. “About six or seven.”

“… Monster. You should have become a translator, not live annoyingly and dangerously as a Player—no, why are you even still working as an agent of the Council?” Seok-Tae asked genuinely.

It could be considered a rude question, but he technically wasn’t wrong. Her salary was really low considering the workload, and no matter what she did, everyone criticized her. On top of that, most of the higher-ups were randomly hired by other higher-ups despite their lack of expertise since they were content with their current state. Hence, they never understood any of the work other agents did… In fact, there was no reason for a woman of talent like Ye-Eun to stay in the Council as an agent, and just as Seok-Tae said, she didn’t even really need to work as a Player.

“You’re right.” Ye-Eun smiled enigmatically and slammed the car door shut.

Thump!

* * *

Team L arrived at Hwacheon, Gangwon-do, which was quite a distance from Seoul.

“Huh? Ah! They’re here!”

The faces of the miners desperately waiting for a rescue team lit up when they saw the White Tiger Clan vehicle approaching them, thinking they could finally save their colleagues. The miners couldn’t even tell if the trapped miners survived the collapse, so their faces hardened when Chang-Sun’s team got out of the car. They had been expecting Players from a Raid Team, but the ones who arrived obviously looked like rookies. On top of that, there were only four of them.

Thump!

Chang-Sun was the last one to get off the car. He closed the door and headed to the Gate. The miners, who had been watching Team L, started to talk among themselves, recognizing Chang-Sun.

“That man…”

“Isn’t he called the Tyrant or something?”

“I heard he’s almost a ranker.”

“Do you really believe that? The press probably exaggerated it. It hadn’t been long since the Jamsil Gate took place, so how could he be a ranker already?”

“Well, that’s true…”

“What’s he trying to do with them? They’re obviously rookies…”

“They might just cause more casualties.”

While the miners' worries deepened, Kim Jae-Gyeong, the supervisor, came forward and blatantly frowned as he scanned Chang-Sun. “Are you the White Tiger Clan rescue team?”

“Yes,” Chang-Sun confirmed.

“Executive Director Oh has to be kidding me! What am I supposed to do with—!” Jae-Gyeong unwittingly stopped yelling, having been rendered speechless by Chang-Sun’s coldly shining eyes. They made him think he would end up in trouble if he continued to blabber.

The miners looked at Jae-Gyeong with curiosity since he was acting unusually submissive for a person who never became timid before Players. However, they soon became as quiet as Jae-Gyeong, suddenly thinking they shouldn’t be rude to Chang-Sun for some reason. Not caring what the miners thought, Chang-Sun nonchalantly asked, “How many miners are trapped inside?”

“T-twenty-four…” Jae-Gyeong answered.

“Can you tell me the possible cause of the collapse?” Chang-Sun continued.

“We were too busy running…” Jae-Gyeong trailed off.

“Did anyone from the Council come?” Chang-Sun questioned.

“Three arrived ahead of you…” Jae-Gyeong held up three fingers.

Chang-Sun nodded and thought the Council rescue team had to have gone inside already, which meant they had put out the biggest fire.

“Alright, please tell the other miners to move as far away from the Gate as possible. We should expect every possible abnormal phenomenon,” Chang-Sun instructed.

As instructed, the miners moved away from the Gate. Considering their job was to mine [Mana Ores] from Dungeons and they also had Player licenses, they certainly had guts. Hence, they ignored the Council rescue team members’ warning to step away… Even so, they weirdly thought they had to follow Chang-Sun’s instructions.

“Let’s go in.” After opening his inventory to arm himself in the same way he did in the training facility, Chang-Sun slowly headed to the Gate.

Chang-Sun was carrying his shield and zanmandao, which he had named ‘Nameless Round Shield’ and ‘Nameless Saber’ respectively, just as he did with the Nameless Spear. When he entered the Gate without hesitation, the other team members followed him, disappearing as if they had never arrived. Only then could Jae-Gyeong finally breathe normally again.

“Hey, Mr. Kim. Are you alright?”

“You were sweating hard just now… Did the Tyrant something guy harm you in a way we couldn’t notice?”

“Hey, can you hear me?”

Other miners worriedly checked on Jae-Gyeong, but he couldn’t do anything except vacantly watch the Gate that Chang-Sun disappeared into.

‘Wh-who in the world is he?’?

Jae-Gyeong asked.

* * *

[You have entered the Dungeon ‘Blue Jewel Island.’]

When Team L first entered the Dungeon, the first things they noticed were the cool sea breeze and the gentle sea waves crashing against their ankles.

“Woah…! The sea is really pretty!” Eun-Seo unwittingly exclaimed upon seeing the wide blue ocean. The sea was so beautiful that the ‘Blue Jewel’ in the Dungeon name appeared to be pertaining to the ocean. The sandy beach was made up of very fine white sand, and the clear water sparkled along the horizon, almost as if someone sprinkled emerald powder on it. On top of that, the forest on the island was so dense that it felt as if the team members had come to a vacation spot.

“Stay on guard. Anything can come out from anywhere,” Chang-Sun ordered, and the other team members nervously nodded with heavy hearts. Since the cause of the collapse was still unknown, anything could happen.

“Geum-Gyu,” Chang-Sun said.

“Yes, hyung!” Geum-Gyu shouted.

[The Player ‘Shin Geum-Gyu’ has activated the Skill ‘Serpent Structural Formula,’ sending a light sphere flying high into the sky!]

When Geum-Gyu, the supporter and marksman of the team, quietly incanted and opened his hand, a ball of light floated up in the air. It was the Magical Core, which was the basis of Jormungandr’s [Ouroboros Structural Formula]. Not only could it illuminate the place, but it also cast light-type magic spells in case of emergencies.

“Eun-Seo,” Chang-Sun said.

Thud!

“Yeah! I have to stand like this, right?” Shin Eun-Seo stood in front of the group and held up her tower shield high, just as Chang-Sun had taught her. The damage of the mace in her right hand had been increased by Geum-Gyu’s buff spell. As the team’s tank, her task was to block the approaching enemies in the front.

On the other hand, Baek Gye-Ul covered himself with shadows as if it was his armor. He then seeped into Chang-Sun’s shadow. As the close-range damage dealer, he had to deal with the attacks that other team members didn’t detect and attract boss monsters’ attention in case they appeared.

Finally, Chang-Sun moved slightly away from the formation. Since he was an all-rounder-type Player, he was going to lead the team and switch positions to assist other team members when necessary.

“Go forth,” Chang-Sun ordered, and Team L began to move.

Splash, splash.

After crossing the sandy beach, which the sea kept damp, they entered the dense forest. At that moment, an arrow suddenly cut through the wind…

Ping―!

Smack!

… and hit Geum-Gyu’s head.