Chapter 83: 83

“The cause of this is probably…” Su-hyeun began to think .

The other dungeons were still the same . As far as Su-hyeun’s memory was concerned, there were no dungeons that had disappeared or suddenly appeared . He could only think of one possible cause .

“Lich King . It’s probably because of him . ”

It looked like Su-hyeun had to pay more attention to the frequency of dungeon appearances . It would be a huge problem if the biggest and most-important dungeons he knew of suddenly appeared .

“I feel like this just got more complicated . ”

His busy schedule was about to get busier . Su-hyeun sighed and closed the booklet .

“Are you done? Then come and eat some fruit,” Hak-joon said .

“Are you not working today?” Su-hyeun asked .

“After you disbanded Ares Guild, I have nothing much to do here . All my friends are gone,” Hak-joon answered .

“What about your next trial?”

“I just passed the forty-ninth floor yesterday . ”

“Already?”

Su-hyeun was about to nag Hak-joon about being lazy, but he had worked harder than Su-hyeun expected . The forty-ninth floor might not be high in comparison to the other A-rank awakeners, but considering that Hak-joon had begun at level eight, it was a phenomenal speed .

“The fiftieth floor will be a crisis . Every tenth floor becomes insanely difficult,” Hak-joon complained .

“Don’t worry too much . You can get a hint if you give enough points to the gatekeepers . ”

“I will . And because of that, I’ve worked hard on points, just as you advised . ”

Working on points meant a way of completing trials with sufficient achievement points, not just getting to the end . In his previous life, this method was pretty popular on the ninth floors of each tier . The reason was that people had to pay an information fee to the gatekeepers on the tenth floors . Sooner or later, this method would become popular again .

“What about you, Su-hyeun? Why don’t you attempt the next trial?”

“Since I don’t have much time, I will . Soon . ”

After he finished the green-colored dungeon, he adjusted his condition for about a day . The basis of his strategy was to prepare the perfect condition needed to attempt the next trial . For the distribution, Su-hyeun left it all to Lee Ju-ho . The amount would be high, but since he was a veteran, he would not make a mistake .

“What do you mean you don’t have much time?” Hak-joon asked .

“There’s something I have to take care of,” Su-hyeun said as he stood . “I will tell you when the time comes . Be ready then . ”

“What?”

Hak-joon tilted his head sideways . He felt an ominous foreboding . Hak-joon shuddered with a spooky feeling . And Su-hyeun looked at Hak-joon and smiled . Then, he checked the electronic clock on the wall and calculated the date .

“There should be enough time,” he thought .

Miru had hatched after the trial of the twenty-first floor . And Su-hyeun immediately joined the attack on the green-colored dungeon . So, he still had some time left for the day .

“I guess I have to push myself . ”

Su-hyeun started to climb the Tower of Trials again .

***

[Subject: Kim Su-hyeun . Beginning the trial of the twenty-second floor . ]

That trial took three days .

[You have passed the trial . ]

There was nothing difficult in that trial . Trials were still pretty easy for Su-hyeun .

“The goal is the thirtieth floor . ”

[Subject: Kim Su-hyeun . Beginning the trial of the twenty-third floor . ]

This time, it took five days .

[You have passed the trial . ]

After completing a floor, Su-hyeun took a day off . Then without hesitation, he attempted the next challenge . March had passed and April came . Flowers started to bloom . But Su-hyeun did not see the flowers and time marched on .

[Subject: Kim Su-hyeun . Beginning the trial of the twenty-seventh floor . ]

The trials were getting a little more difficult . From that time, he paid more attention to maintain his condition . After passing the twenty-seventh floor, Su-hyeun rested for three days . His state of mind changed as well . He started to study and practice the ways he could be stronger . He did not just pass the trials without thinking . And then Like that, May passed as well . The weather was warming .

[Subject: Kim Su-hyeun . Beginning the trial of the twenty-ninth floor . ]

The trial of the twenty-ninth floor was particularly difficult . There was no risk high enough to threaten his life, but for the first time, he had almost failed . The goal was to escort a specific person . But the situation had suddenly changed, and the target was in danger . Fortunately, of course, he came through and saved the target .

“Stay well, kid . ”

“I am not a kid . I am Quan Zarhan…”

“You’re loud, kid . ”

Su-hyeun mussed up the little boy’s hair when they arrived at the kingdom’s castle . Quan fixed his hair with annoyed and looked up .

“What do you mean ‘stay well’? Mister, come inside with me . My father is the king and he’ll give you a big prize . ”

“You really still call me mister at the end…?”

“You call me kid, too . Nyah—”

Su-hyeun sighed at Quan’s behavior . Still, Quan had softened in comparison to the first time they met . Back then, because of his royal stature, he looked down on Su-hyeun . But now he treated Su-hyeun like a close brother .

“I am sorry to say goodbye,” Su-hyeun thought .

This trial had taken a month . Of all the recent trials, that was the longest . There was a reason for that . Su-hyeun had to find ways to get to the kingdom and there were many obstacles at every moment . In that time, he had become fond of Quan as well . But there was nothing he could do .

“I really have to go,” Su-hyeun said .

“Where are you going?”

Su-hyeun suddenly vanished right before Quan’s eyes . Quan’s eyes widened in surprise and he looked around to try and find some trace of him .

“Mister? Where did you go? Mister?”

He spent a good while searching the front of the castle for Su-hyeun . But no matter how many times he called, Su-hyeun did not appear again .

“If you are in danger, call me . Then this awesome brother will save you . Okay?”

Su-hyeun had appeared in the middle of nowhere and saved Quan when he was kidnapped . He also showed up every time Quan had called him for help . But he would not come anymore . After some time, the palace soldiers emerged to find Quan .

Quan stood in vain and murmured, “I never got a chance to call him brother…”

“Don’t cry . You are not a kid, are you?”

Quan felt like he could hear Su-hyeun’s voice . He bit his lips and held back his tears .

“Thank you . Brother . ”

***

It was mid-June . The ambiguous month when it was not spring anymore, but not quite summer yet . Su-hyeun laid on the bed . The temperature and humidity made his head hot .

“Let’s see, today is June 12th . ”

Fortunately, that was about what he had expected . He was in-line with what he had set as a goal . He was thinking about challenging the thirtieth floor, but he put it off for a while .

“I don’t know how long it will take . Besides, it won’t be easy,” Su-hyeun thought .

After the twenty-seventh floor, the level of difficulty was no longer easy . Little by little, he had reached the maximum amount of achievement points . The thirtieth floor, that third tier, would probably take a long time to finish . It could also ruin his condition . Unless there was a save zone, but the higher the floor, the less likely those existed .

“I can rest for a while . ”

He pushed himself for almost half a year without rest . Now he needed to take a break for not only his physical health but also his mental state . Soon, things would be busy again .

“I guess I have to tell in advance,” he thought .

Su-hyeun turned on his smartphone, which he hadn’t used in a long time .

Ring, ring, ring—

“Hey, it’s me . ”

“You’ve been off the grid for months and now you give a simple ‘Hey, it’s me?’ That’s it? Is that all?” There was an edge to Ji-yeon’s voice because Su-hyeun hadn’t answered her calls in months .

“I was in the middle of the trials . I just passed the twenty-ninth floor,” Su-hyeun said .

“Level 10?”

“Yes . ”

“You’re gross . You really didn’t rest at all? Not even a day?”

“No, no . I rested a couple of days between trials . All I did was sleep . ”

At Su-hyeun’s answer, Ji-yeon became silent . She thought of herself as a pretty dogged person . She thought she was trying hard enough . But Su-hyeun’s hard work made her a little ashamed of herself . Many S-Rank awakeners tried hard to climb the tower, but Su-hyeun was the most serious of them .

“Anyway, why did you call? You didn’t answer when I needed you . ”

“I told you . I won’t join raids . Didn’t we agree not to involve each other unless it’s related to the Dump Guild?”

“Good things are good things . We’ll give you a lot of distribution…” Ji-yeon suddenly stopped in surprise . “Is this about…?”

“Yes, it’s about that . ”

“Where is it?”

“June 21st . Los Angeles, the USA . ”

“America? Those crazy bastards expanded that far?”

“They didn’t expand . They were originally from there . ”

“What? How do you know that?”

“Last time, I caught one assassin from the Dump Guild and asked . ” This was a bit different from the facts, so Su-hyeun spoke vaguely . “Anyway, that’s not the point . The important thing is I need your help . ”

“Okay, I’ll prepare some people from my guild…”

“No . Ripper Guild won’t go . I’ll go to America alone . ”

At those unexpected words, Ji-yeon’s voice lowered . “That’s not what we agreed, is it?

Ji-yeon had a personal grudge against the Dump Guild . Su-hyeun did not know what kind of grudge that was, but he was certain that she really hated them . As soon as he brought up the Dump Guild, her voice changed . He could feel her coldness over the phone . If she ever met them in person, it would get very bloody . Despite knowing all that, Su-hyeun still said he would go alone .

“I’ll give you another piece of information,” he said .

“Go on . ” Her tone indicated that she would not tolerate useless words .

“On that same day, something will happen here as well . ”

“Something like what?”

“You know about the upcoming green dungeon raid, right?”

“Yes . People said that it’s the biggest green-colored dungeon that’s ever appeared . So two S-Rank awakeners will be deployed this time . ”

“You go, too . But keep it secret . ”

“Me? Why?”

“I won’t say twice, so listen carefully . That day, the Dump Guild will…”

Su-hyeun started to explain . When he finished, Ji-yeon opened her mouth . And then, in a serious voice, she said, “Those bastards… Would they do that?”

“Nine times out of ten . ”

It was actually more like ten out of ten, but Su-hyeun said differently, just in case . He was not sure how the future would go since he had changed it, but he was pretty certain that the Dump Guild would take action that day .

“If that happens…okay . But what about you? Why will you go to America?”

“I’ll go and play with the big boy, “Su-hyeun said with a little grin .

“Are you saying I’ll be playing with a small boy, then?” Ji-yeon answered a bit sarcastically .

“I’m the one who got this information . You can give a concession . ”

“Hmm…”

He was right . Also, although the places were different, what would happen here was huge as well . Of course, she had to check whether if it would be true or not . But to her, it was not a bad thing to believe Su-hyeun . Even if the Dump Guild would not show up that day, she still could help the raid team finish their attack .

“But do you know any guilds in America? I don’t have any contacts . ”

“Why don’t you ask the Authority?”

“Well, I can do that . But I thought the Ripper Guild would know more about the US guilds . The power of the Authority is only working in Korea . ”

“That is true…”

“Oh, and I heard you guys have a private plane . Let me use it . I don’t want to go to a crowded place like the airport . ”

She grew silent .