Chapter 69.

The next task on the Guild Experience Program was deployment .

A deployment referred to Heroes intercepting monsters that invaded civilian territory .

However, such occurrences were rare in Seoul, so we took a Portal to Essence of the Strait’s Gangwondo branch, where several deployments happened every day .

Park Sangho let the branch know that we arrived, then turned towards us . With a big smile, he spoke .

“While we wait for the deployment order to come, let’s eat . I know a good restaurant nearby . ”

Park Sangho then led us to a fancy, traditional Korean restaurant .

“Four people, please . ”

We were led inside by an employee . While we were waiting for our food to come, Park Sangho glanced at me and asked .

“Hajin-ssi, how tall are you?”

“Me? I’m 174 . ”

Chae Nayun then cut in .

“So not that different from me . ”

“What? I’m a lot taller than you . You’re 166 . ”

According to my setting, Chae Nayun was 166 . 3 exactly . The reason I needlessly attached a decimal unit was because I was 174 . 3 . Most main characters had 0 . 3 attached to their heights .

“…What . ”

It was something I said thoughtlessly, but Chae Nayun made a strange expression in response . She narrowed her eyes, then asked .

“How do you know how tall I am?”

Hearing that, I froze . There really was no explainable reason for me to have her height memorized, not unless I was a stalker . I only blurted out thoughtlessly because Chae Nayun poked at my pride .

“Ca, cadet profiles are public . ”

“Yeah, but still… . ”

Drrrk—

Then, the door opened and thankfully interrupted this awkward conversation .

The server began to put down a tableful of dishes . Korean-style braised short ribs, grilled fish, steamed egg, octopus sashimi… my jaws dropped at the sight of this kingly lunch table . On the other hand, everyone else seemed used to such a sight as they looked completely indifferent .

“Now, let’s eat . ”

With Park Sangho words, I picked up my chopsticks .

I was focused on savoring the taste of each dish, while the other three leisurely ate as they talked to each other .

“Do you have a girlfriend, Sangho Hero-nim?”

“I don’t . What’s your ideal type, Nayun-ssi?”

“I… like tall guys, so he would have to be at least 185 . ”

Chae Nayun’s words struck me particularly hard . I didn’t think it was bad or anything since it really was no different than how guys liked beautiful women .

But there was one problem… .

“Yeah, my ideal type is someone who’s tall . ”

She kept staring at me as she said it .

“He would have to be at least 15cm taller than me . Mm… yeah, 15 cm . 20cm would be too much . ”

What did she want me to do about it?

When I furrowed my brows, Chae Nayun stealthily looked away .

In any case, while we were continuing with our meal… a voice rang out from Park Sangho’s smartwatch .

—Deployment order for high-intermediate rank Hero, Park Sangho . The coordinate is…

“Let’s go . ”

Park Sangho got up in the middle of eating . Yoo Yeonha, Chae Nayun, and I quickly followed after him .

After running out of the restaurant without even paying, Park Sangho kicked off the ground and stormed forth . Yoo Yeonha and Chae Nayun chased after him similarly .

However, I was the only one lagging behind . I was running as fast as I could, but I quickly fell behind from the rest .

“Jesus, is this a wuxia novel? They’re inhuman… . ”

They were practically flying . I realized just how lacking my stats were .

I pondered as I raced forward .

It was impossible to catch up to their physical power, which they built with 10 years of hard work, in just six months .

“Huu… huu…”

I continued to run without stopping to rest . Thankfully, my Thousand-Mile Eyes kept an eye on them, so I didn’t have to worry about getting lost .

After about three minutes, a fight broke out . Five limestone golems shot up from the middle of the street . Limestone golems were at least low-intermediate rank grade 5, meaning they posed a great threat to civilians .

They were trying to break buildings with their huge arms . However, a whip flew in, restraining their arms .

It was Yoo Yeonha .

The golems’ gazes fell on her . Enraged, they tried to cut Yoo Yeonha’s whip, but to no avail . Meanwhile, Park Sangho charged in with his spear, thrusting out at a golem’s core .

“Huk… huaa… . ”

…I was still running to the scene of the fight .

After running at my top speed for over 10 minutes, I finally became close enough to see them with my naked eyes . A new golem was approaching Chae Nayun .

The golem was short, being about 2 . 2 meters tall, making it look somewhat humanlike .

Chae Nayun put her bow down and pulled her sword out . She seemed to be thinking that she could take it on with her sword since it was short for a golem .

However, limestone golems had a special ability that differentiated them from other golems – self-compression .

The smaller they were, the studier and stronger they got .

Koong—!

Chae Nayun’s sword clashed with the limestone golem’s fist, limestone dust scattering into the air .

Chae Nayun fought normally . After parrying the golem’s fist to the side, she aimed for the limestone golem’s weak point, its ankle .

However, the limestone golem responded to her attack smartly, kicking Chae Nayun with its foot, an uncommon attack for a golem to make .

“Uk!”

Chae Nayun was covered in a qi reinforcement, but it was a golem’s attack . Chae Nayun fell back, grabbing her stomach with her hand .

The limestone golem didn’t give her any time to rest . It bolted towards her in a flash, then slammed its fist down on her head . Chae Nayun froze, struck by her fear of close-ranged combat and taken aback by her lack of combat experience .

When the golem’s fist was about to make contact with Chae Nayun… something grabbed her by the waist .

It took me a moment to realize that it was… Aether .

Aether coiled around her waist, then pulled her towards me . It must have read my mind, which was screaming, ‘I need to help her—‘ .

“… . ”

Before I could fully comprehend what happened, I found Chae Nayun in my embrace . I stared down at her silently .

To be completely honest, I had a brain lag .

Aether… did the right thing . If Chae Nayun got hit, she would have been critically injured . It was just that… Aether did things a bit awkwardly .

—Gulp .

Chae Nayun swallowed hard .

Feeling like I had to say something, I did .

“…If you’re going to freeze up in crucial moments, don’t get near the enemy in the first place . ”

To be honest, I wasn’t in any position to say something like that . After all, I chose a gun because I was scared of close ranged combat .

“Just fight from afar . Your sword can get longer than a spear . ”

Chae Nayun’s Gift was ‘Sea of Magic Power’ .

Her Gift made her innate mana capacity several tens of times greater than an average Hero .

Of course, even though her mana capacity was large, it took a long time to completely fill it up . Even if she did, there was a limit to how much she could take out at a time .

However, when a sword was used as a conductor of magic power, this limit disappeared .

Although it didn’t look all that impressive because of her lack of experience, this was the true reason Chae Nayun had to be a swordsman .

“…Let, let me go . ”

Chae Nayun pushed me away . Tucking her hair behind her ear, she held up her sword once again .

“I was just caught off guard last time . Take a good look . ”

Chae Nayun spoke confidently .

…At that moment, I got the feeling that someone was looking at me . Somewhere… above .

I raised my head .

On top of a nearby building, I found a girl looking down at me .

“… . ”

Our eyes met . For some reason, I felt like I knew her . She looked just like how I imagined her to be .

“Huaaaap—!”

Chae Nayun charged forward with a strange shout . Startled, I turned my gaze, and by the time I looked back up, the girl was gone .

I felt a bit sorry at the girl who disappeared .

She was the antagonist who was supposed to be the original owner of Aether, ‘Tomer’ .

“Hey! Help me!”

I could hear Chae Nayun shouting .

“…The heck . ”

Chae Nayun managed to sever one of the golem’s arm and a leg but was grabbed by the golem’s other hand, she was dangling down like a piñata .

“H-He, help! Ah, uwaaat!”

Chae Nayun screamed for help, but before anyone could react, the golem flung her away like a toy he got tired of using .

**

“Kuuuu~ I’m so exhausted . ”

On the other hand, in Essence of the Strait’s analysis room, Yi Jin-Ah stretched after two hours of wrestling with her computer .

Then, a colleague approached her and spoke .

“Hard, right? You should really just make the office clerks work on that . ”

Yi Jin-Ah was currently working on analyzing a Dungeon’s mana density based on the Dungeon’s formation and inhabiting monsters . She needed to find the spots where the mana density would suddenly change, as well as the possible location of traps .

It was a tiring work that required a full week’s worth of time even with a team of office clerks .

“I just need to estimate one last variable . Plus, I’m smarter than them . ”

Heroes were superior to ordinary people in every aspect . Yi Jin-Ah believed it was because Heroes inherited superior genes . She was also a highly-regarded Hero when it came to analysis .

“You said it was a large-scale Dungeon, right?”

“Yep . ”

“And you’re doing that alone? You’re really something… . ”

The colleague made a meaningful nod, then turned back . Then, he spotted a piece of paper on her desk .

“Hey, what’s this?”

Yi Jin-Ah glanced at the paper .

“I don’t know . ”

“Isn’t it yours? Ah, but you don’t usually do calculations with a pen . ”

“…What are you talking about?”

Because her colleague was scanning the paper with eyes full of curiosity, Yi Jin-Ah quickly snatched it out of his hands . On a standard printer paper, several calculations and sentences explaining the procedure were written down .

“Oh, he wrote this . ”

“Who?”

“Some kid who’s apparently rank 1 in theory . Ha, looks like he managed to write something down . ”

“You should take a closer look at it . It looked pretty good . ”

“Oh please . ”

She snorted as she began to read the paper closely .

It wasn’t out of curiosity, but purely to feel a sense of superiority . In her mind, there was a countless number of cadets who thought they were special with only mediocre knowledge .

However, Yi Jin-Ah’s face stiffened as she continued down the paper .

Calculations were clean and concise, and every deduction he made was flawless and persuasive . But what caught her attention the most was his creative method of approaching the problem .

“…The hell . ”

By the time she reached the end, she could only say those two words .

It was because the final conclusion and the critical step to reaching that conclusion were missing . It was an unpleasant feeling, kind of like being interrupted in the middle of singing the highlight of a song .

“Where’s the rest?”

Yi Jin-Ah flipped the paper over, even while knowing that nothing was there .

“Let me see that too . ”

Her colleague reached to grab the paper .

“Go away . ”

Tak .

Yi Jin-Ah shoved his hand away, then carefully put the paper in her pocket .

“Hey, you said it wasn’t yours . I found it, so it’s mine . ”

“Please, I requested him to do this for me . ”

**

“Ah, I’m so exhausted . ”

I came back to the dorm around 9 P . M .

Evandel was sleeping on the couch, seemingly having gotten tired from watching TV . I picked her up and put her on my bed . After putting the blanket over her, I came back out .

“…Hmm . ”

I thought about showering and sleeping early, but then I remembered something important . I headed to the kitchen, then took out the Butterfly Seedling Dust from the drawer .

It was still glowing with a brilliant, blue light .

There was a lot more than I thought . There seemed to be enough for three usages… .

“It really might be okay for me to use some… . ”

I tried dividing it up into three clumps .

Just as I expected, each clump had enough to fulfill its role .

Then to strike the iron while it’s hot, I should just use it now .

I already thought of what to use it on .

It was a waste to use it on myself . My laptop could view my status, and I had no hidden potential .

What I had in mind was an item, Aether .

I condensed Aether into a ball a bit smaller than a soccer ball, then placed it on the table . Next, I grabbed a clump of the Butterfly Seedling Dust .

All I had to do was sprinkle Aether with it .

With anticipation, I dropped the dust on Aether .

Just like snow, the blue light fell on the ball, melting into it . Soon, the dust began to shine in Aether’s transparent core .

Now, I just had to wait until the light fully spread .

Ding—

At that moment, my smartwatch rang .

[Hey, thank you for today . By the way…]

The sender was Chae Nayun . I stared at her message, waiting for her to finish her sentence .

Ten minutes passed by . Chae Nayun still didn’t say anything . Tired of waiting, I messaged her first .

[What . ]

Chae Nayun replied instantly .

[What . ]

I also replied instantly .

[What . ]

She said the same thing .

[What . ]

“…Ehew . ”

[Just go to sleep . ]

[ㅋㅋㅋ No you ㅋㅋㅋ]

The conversation ended just like that .

Looking at this string of messages, I suddenly felt somewhat moved .

After starting out as an extra with no connection to the main story, I managed to come this far . If I had to describe myself now, I was undoubtedly one of the supporting characters . A supporting character with no defined role, one that could change at any moment…

—Ding

While I was feeling a bit sentimental, I received another message .

[Next Friday, there will be a shareholder meeting for Packhorse Master . ]

“…Looks like they’re going to announce their next move . ”

With Packhorse Master conquering Suwon Royal Devil’s Nest, it wouldn’t be long until I was swimming in money .

—Ding

I received another message from an unknown number .

“What’s up with today? I’m suddenly getting flooded with messages . ”

This time, I furrowed my brows the moment I saw the message . It was from a certain rude individual .

[Um, Hajin cadet-nim? This is Yi Jin-Ah, you saw me during the day . Can we talk?]

Would you if you were me?

That’s what I wanted to write back, but she immediately called me . I didn’t pick up . Then, I immediately received another message .

[Ah, right, you’re coming to the guild tomorrow anyways . Let’s talk then . ]

No, a day was enough to see how a guild operated . I had things to do, like looking after Evandel and preparing for the next arc in the story .

I pulled out Park Sangho’s business card, which I got from him earlier in the day, and messaged him .

[Sangho Hero-nim, I’ll be quitting the Guild Experience Program . ]

[Huh? Why?]

Park Sangho sent an immediate reply .

I was about to tell him it was for a personal problem, but I got a better idea and changed my mind . I could be petty if I wanted .

[Someone told me to quit, telling me that I’m only a rank 934 and didn’t belong . I thought I should give the opportunity to another cadet if I was only going to be berated during my time there… sorry . ]

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