Beep- Beep-beep-beep-beep-!

Harin, who arrived in front of Jinsung’s studio apartment, pressed the code of the door lock[1] with skillful(?) hand movements and opened the door.

Because she already knew that Jinsung would be in the middle of gaming either way, she didn’t even press the bell on purpose.

Creak-.

Harin, who opened the door and entered, plopped down on Jinsung’s bed that was in the corner.

And she began to stare piercingly at the capsule that Jinsung was definitely in.

‘Our Jinsung, it’s about time he comes out to eat now…’

Harin dressed quite differently than usual in a pretty dress.

Of course, she didn’t just come out dressed up just to cheer her mood up.

‘Today, without fail, I will drag out this gaming cripple and go on a date.’

She normally didn’t go out wearing whatever either, but Harin, who paid attention to her makeup and even sprayed some perfume on for the first time in a while, stared at the clock hanging on the wall with a determined(?) expression.

12:47

Because Jinsung had a regular eating habit different from normal gaming cripples, around 12:50 everyday, he came out of his capsule without fail to eat lunch.

Harin was waiting for that.

“Shall I take a look in the mirror instead? I even feel like my makeup looks good today too…”

Harin hummed as she looked at her face here and there with her hand mirror.

And shortly after, no different from any other day, as it passed 12:50, Jinsung’s capsule began to open.

Whiiing-.

Harin, who was sitting on the bed, abruptly stood up from her spot, but Jinsung seemed to have not noticed her, as he walked to the table sluggishly.

‘Ha, how can he not even realize that someone came into his house? That dense guy…!’

To be honest, Jinsung’s denseness was also at fault, but as he came out after being in the capsule for such a long time, the fact that his surrounding perception ability had dropped was the actual fault.

Harin hurriedly ran over to Jinsung’s side and linked arms with him.

And Jinsung, who was wearing a half-dazed expression, was surprised by Harin’s unexpected appearance and shouted.

“Aaah!”

While looking at Jinsung who almost threw a fit, Harin smiled brightly as she pulled on his arm.

“Why are you so surprised? I thought you said that I could come over whenever?”

“That, that is true, but…”

Jinsung, who barely settled his surprised heart, asked Harin again.

“But when exactly did you come? If you were going to come, you should have at least sent me a message beforehand.”

Harin grinned as she shrugged her shoulders.

“Surprise!”

“…”

The two people turned their footsteps that were headed towards the table away and sat down side by side on the bed.

“Did you come to eat lunch together with me?”

At Jinsung’s question, Harin replied.

“There’s that, too…”

“There’s something else as well?”

“Today…”

Harin, who momentarily paused to take a breath, continued her words.

“I’m planning on dragging you out of Kailan at any cost.”

“What?”

Harin stood up from her spot and faced Jinsung as she smiled brightly.

“What do you think? Don’t I look pretty today?”

Jinsung looked at Harin with a sour expression.

Come to think of it, Harin’s appearance, which looked even more put-together than usual, felt incredibly beautiful.

Jinsung stuttered as he nodded his head.

“Y, yeah, pretty.”

“How much?”

With an awkward expression, Jinsung’s words continued.

“A lot?”

However, it was just his expression that was awkward, but Jinsung’s words were sincere.

It was just because this was his first time experiencing a situation(?) like this, so he just had no idea how to react.

Harin glanced at the computer that was next to Jinsung’s new capsule model as she spoke.

“I’ll be on the computer looking at the internet while I play a little, so go shower and get ready quickly.”

“What?”

“Then do you actually think I came dressed so prettily just to game with you?”

The words that he needed to go complete the quest almost came out of Jinsung’s mouth, but he narrowly swallowed them back.

“So suddenly…”

However, as Harin came so firmly determined, such excuses wouldn’t work.

Harin cut off Jinsung’s words as she opened her mouth.

“This is a date request, Park Jinsung. I originally wanted to give you a chance, but having you request a date from me seemed impossible until Kailan goes bankrupt.”

As Jinsung couldn’t refute that, he became as dumb as an oyster.

“…”

“Anyways! Hurry up and go shower, quickly!”

Harin quickly approached Jinsung and pushed his back, and Jinsung, flustered, sat her down on the chair.

“Al, alright. I got it. I’ll go shower, so just go on the computer, alright?”

Harin wore a playful smile as she replied.

“If you take too long, I’m going to pick open your door and come in, so shower quickly!”

Jinsung wore the most decent clothes he had at home, and left the house with Harin.

However, there was no real point to that.

Since next to Harin, who boasted a shining appearance, Jinsung was covered by her shadow and didn’t catch any gazes.

“But where are we going, Harin?”

At Jinsung’s question, Harin smiled as she answered.

“Just follow me, Jinsung. You don’t have a choice today.”

“O, okay.”

Jinsung, who flinched at Harin’s energy(?), began to follow her without saying a word.

The Cintamani that would still be in his inventory bothered a corner of his heart a little, but still, looking at Harin, who was holding tightly onto his hand, a smile automatically formed.

‘Harin is seriously pretty.’

Jinsung thought that the only person that he could give up his gaming time, which was the most important(?) of all his daily tasks, for was Harin.

Since right now, while holding Harin’s hand and walking with her, his heart fluttered more than when he won a luxurious item as a prize.

Like that, the place that the two people were headed for was the largest amusement park in the suburbs of Seoul.

“You wanted to come to an amusement park?”

At Jinsung’s question, Harin nodded her head.

“Yeah, I really like going on rides!”

With quite an excited expression as well, Jinsung looked around at the rides.

And he said something shocking(?).

“This is my first time coming to an amusement park.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“Just… It just happened to end up like this.”

“What do you mean it just happened to end up like this, it’s because you thought it was a waste to use the time you game on something else.”

Harin had already figured out Jinsung perfectly.

Jinsung, who couldn’t argue against Harin’s words, scratched the back of his head without a word.

Like that, the two people that bought a free pass to the amusement park, began to go on the rides in a good mood.

However, shortly after, a critical(?) problem formed.

Jinsung, who boarded the high-speed train, the A-Express, which was also the pride of the amusement park, began to break out into a cold sweat.

Rattle- Rattle-.

Deu-reu-reu-reuk-.

As the chain was slowly winded up, the ride moved towards an even higher spot.

Jinsung’s voice came out shaking.

“Ha, Harin.”

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Th, this is too…”

Jinsung, who was too embarrassed to say in front of Harin that he was scared when she was having the time of her life, stammered, but Harin immediately caught onto his state.

“What the hell, are you scared right now?”

Jinsung refuted as he responded.

“Sca, scared, pfft! I just feel like this is too high… Aaack!”

Rattle-.

The train that was dragged up to the highest point stopped along with the rattling sound, and a shout reflexively came out of Jinsung’s mouth.

And Harin, who saw that, shook her head.

“I can’t believe it.”

Jinsung’s eyes trembled slightly.

While looking at Jinsung, who grasped the safety bar tightly with an expression seized with fear, Harin laughed.

However, it wasn’t like there was a way for Jinsung to escape this situation.

Like that, Jinsung’s nightmare began.

Swaaeeek-!

The high-speed train split the wind as it began to plummet downwards.

While squeezing his eyes shut, Jinsung yelled.

“Aaaauuuuk!”

On the other hand, with an expression full of thrill, Harin cheered.

“Waaaah!”

With completely opposite forms, the two people enjoyed the ride.

With his eyes closed, Jinsung thought of his Familiars.

‘I miss Bbookbbook! Pin, Halli, Ly, guys, save me, heuk-heuk.’

It was a line that Harin would have made fun of him about for the rest of his life if she had heard it, but it was the truth for Jinsung.

His mind was filled with the thought hoping that this painful time quickly passed by.

‘For dating to be as scary as this! There was a reason why I was forever alone!’

Because he wouldn’t be able to withstand this if he didn’t at least have such ridiculous thoughts, Jinsung continued to think about other things, and after the 15 minutes that felt like 15 hours passed by like that, Jinsung was able to step foot onto land again.

“Euh, euuh…”

His face was completely pale, and his two legs shook.

While looking at Jinsung, who was almost worn-out, Harin laughed at him.

“Yo, how can a man be that scared? You even went up so pompously when you went up to get on.”

However, Jinsung let out an excuse of his own.

“Harin, do you know why I’m so good at VR games?”

“Why?”

“My space perception ability is outstanding.”

With a dumbfounded voice, Harin replied.

“How is that related to you having so much fear right now?”

“That’s why, when I’m up there, I’m several times more scared than others. Where I am right now, how dangerous of a place I’m up on, I am too well-aware of that.”

While looking at Jinsung, who spread out a strange situation that didn’t make sense, Harin shook her head.

“Very funny. Then is my space perception ability dull, so that’s why I’m not scared?”

Jinsung nodded his head as he replied.

“Yeah, that’s it. Even when you’re up there, you don’t realize where this is and how dangerous of a place it is.”

With quite a serious expression, Jinsung spread out his logic.

However, with Harin’s next words, Jinsung’s insistence was immediately dismissed.

“You’re being noisy, old man. I’m hungry, so let’s just go eat something.”

“Su, sure…”

At the fact that Harin didn’t suggest that they immediately go on a different dangerous ride, Jinsung was quite relieved.

* * *

“So, Emily, you’re saying that it’s practically impossible to produce food here?”

“That’s right, Shyakran. Truthfully, rather than impossible, to be more specific, the efficiency is too poor. Since it requires almost ten times the resources that was needed to produce our main Domain.”

“Hmm… It’s to that extent, huh. It’s a more serious state than I expected.”

The Titan Guild, who had successfully occupied the first base in the central continent after the DarkRuna Guild, ran into an unexpected challenge.

Firstly, once a base was occupied, it must be developed, but as it was a base on top of the desolate desert, they couldn’t produce any resources.

The one thing that they could really do was raise the public order group to hunt the monsters in the surrounding and obtain the loot, but even if they obtained the loot, as there was no place to sell it, there was no real meaning.

Even though it was a little cold in the northern Domain, as it was possible to network within the empire with the basic agricultural system and the surrounding Domains, if they just set up a base to a certain point, it was possible to grow it quickly. However, in the central continent, there was seriously no answer.

Ceilron, who was next to them silently, opened his mouth.

“Then there’s no other choice but to haul over the resources from the main base and pour it out onto here.”

Emily nodded her head.

“Exactly. In order to quickly grow right now, there’s only that method…”

Shyakran smiled bitterly.

“This was something I was expecting to an extent, but I didn’t know it would be this bad.”

However, it wasn’t like there were no advantages to the base in the central continent.

Even if the level of the base was low, the quality of the troops that could be fundamentally produced were far superior to the Domain in the northern continent, and even the basic level of the individuals that could be appointed began from 130.

On top of that, it seemed since it was an area that specialized in war, once the level of the base went up, because you could create an agency that trains Heroic NPCs that had equipment shops that were related to all kinds of battle or had special abilities, it was incredibly appealing.

It was just really difficult to settle in with the base in the central continent in the beginning, but once they got the groundwork going somehow, it was definite that it would be completely worth it.

The mouth of Shyakran, who was submerged in his thoughts for a moment, slowly opened up.

“The time has come to pour out all of the funds that were saved up until now.”

At Shyakran’s words, Emily nodded her head in agreement.

“That’s right, Master. We must pull together as much funds as we can right now, and if we can properly raise up about two or three bases in the central continent, then it will definitely become a big help.”

As the opinions were gathered, Shyakran immediately opened the guild chatting room and convened an executive meeting, and quickly proceeded with everything.

Like that, about the time the two giant guilds that had each occupied a base slowly began to get a foothold, the top guilds of the Luspel Empire were finally beginning to advance into the central continent one by one.

From the outside, it looked as if the guilds of the Kaimon Empire were already overwhelmingly beginning to take dominance in the central continent, but there was always a way for there to be a variable anywhere.

[1] In Korea, instead of keys, there are passcode locks.