Chapter 84: 84

Su-hyeun’s departure process went through the Authority . He only had to present his passport to the Authority and they handled everything for him .

Hak-joon followed Su-hyeun . Su-hyeun had told Hak-joon to clear his schedule for June . So he’d been resting recently .

“How are you?” Su-hyeun asked .

“Long time, no see,” Hak-joon said as he got in Su-hyeun’s car .

They hadn’t met in months, but thanks to Hak-joon’s affable personality, there was no awkwardness .

“I heard you rested this month?” Su-hyeun asked .

“I rested about half the month . And then I got bored, so I joined two raids with Ju-ho and made a bit of money,” Hak-joon said .

“I told you to take care of your body . ”

“They were only orange-colored dungeons . Nothing difficult at all . Besides, I had to earn money . ”

“Well, that is true . ”

When Hak-joon was in the Ares Guild, he had to give most of the money to the guild . Because he had to pay for the cure for Yun-seon . For about two years, the only money that Hak-joon could save was enough to cover basic living expenses for a few months . But he was a free man now . His rank was high, and he had the talent, too . If he wanted to, he could finally make a lot of money .

“By the way, this car is really awesome,” Hak-joon said .

“Do you want it?” Su-hyeun asked .

“No, not really . I don’t even have a driver’s license so a supercar is unnecessary . ”

“Well, if you do a good job this time, I’ll give you even a better car . ”

At Su-hyeun’s word, Hak-joon’s eyes sparkled .

“Su-hyeun, do you have a lot of money?”

“What’s with those greedy-looking eyes?”

“Nothing, I just…never saw you working . ”

“After I finished the green dungeon, I got sixty percent of the distribution . Can you guess how much it was?”

“Sixty percent? Is that possible?”

Usually, dozens joined in attacks on green dungeons . It was normal that S-Rank awakeners got more, but he’d never heard of anyone getting sixty percent of the distribution . It wasn’t surprising as Su-hyeun had done almost everything for that raid . The Authority also might have given him a little favor, too .

“Yes . That’s possible,” Su-hyeun said .

Hak-joon went silent as he tried to quickly calculate in his brain . But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t imagine the amount . The highest level he had tried was the yellow-colored dungeon .

“There was what we made on the sale of the yellow dungeon’s Ether stones… So…” Hak-joon thought .

The money from that Ether stone sale was at least billions . Normally, ten to twenty people attacked the yellow dungeon together . So in the end, each got about a hundred million . If somebody took sixty percent of that, that would be more than enough to buy many expensive cars like this . Plus, Su-hyeun was talking about a green-colored dungeon, worth far more .

Hak-joon made a sour face as he tapped on the calculator . “Su-hyeun… Brother… You are a very rich man . ”

“So be good to me . ”

“I will follow you forever like a leech . ”

“Somebody is snobby . ”

“He-he . ” Hak-joon giggled .

But Su-hyeun did not feel any ill will towards him for it . He looked much brighter than when Su-hyeun had first seen him .

“I hope he keeps working hard like this,” Su-hyeun thought .

But he did not intend to force him to do so . He did not expect Hak-joon to move under his pressure . Hak-joon would at least pretend to do stuff if he was asked since he owed Su-hyeun . But Su-hyeun did not want to use that fact .

“He will do well,” he thought .

Fortunately, he had been doing better than Su-hyeun had expected .

“Fifty-fifth floor?” Su-hyeun asked .

“Yes . I left for now using the save zone . But I have no idea how to escape the next trap . ”

The trial of the fifty-fifth floor was to pass through the traps . It had a pretty simple theme, but depending on a person’s inclination, it could be a very tricky one . The traps were in unexpected areas . To pass through, just being strong was not enough . One needed the ability to quickly adapt to circumstances .

“What kind of trap is it?”

“It’s…” Hak-joon started to talk about the trial . A save zone had the distinct advantage that people could ask the opinions of other awakeners’ to solve a problem . Of course, it only could happen when they knew somebody better than themselves . And Su-hyeun was more suitable than anyone to play that role .

“Take care of that monster first . Then the next trap will be easier . You can just bump into it,” Su-hyeun said .

“Oh . That could work . ”

“It’s not a complicated trap . Rather than looking for a solution, you have to treat it sort of like rock-paper-scissors . ”

“A-ha!”

At Su-hyeun’s explanation, Hak-joon nodded with a brighter face . Before he had been lost on how to pass this trial, but now he had an idea . He felt like an aching tooth had fallen out . Now that he knew the answer, he couldn’t understand why the answer escaped him before . Hak-joon stared at Su-hyeun .

“What?” Su-hyeun asked .

“It’s because I’m respectful . ”

“Why?”

“For everything . I think you’re perfect . ”

‘Perfect’ was a burdensome word . Su-hyeun squeezed the steering wheel with one hand and waved the other hand .

“Don’t say anything silly . Just write down what I just said . Even if you forget, I won’t tell you a second time . ”

“Okay, I will . ”

At Su-hyeun’s command, Hak-joon took out his smartphone and typed in a memo . Su-hyeun shot a look at Hak-joon and smiled .

“He’s already trying the fifty-fifth floor,” Su-hyeun thought .

Hak-joon was chasing level eight . The higher he went, the more difficult it would get . And he would take more time to pass . But so far, he had gone pretty fast . Even though Su-hyeun gave him some advice, every time Hak-joon got stuck, he ended up at a similar pace with Su-hyeun in his previous life .

“I wonder if he may stop one day as well…” Su-hyeun thought .

Nothing was certain . But Su-hyeun hoped Hak-joon could go as high as possible until ‘that day . ’ It was the same for himself . Su-hyeun’s car ran through the open road . They raced on until finally reaching their destination .

Act 9

“Wow… Oh…”

Hak-joon wondered with his mouth wide open . Su-hyeun nodded his head as if it was better than he expected . And Ji-yeon looked at them, crossing her arms .

“What are you doing?” Ji-yeon asked .

“Looking . It’s bigger than I thought,” Su-hyeun answered .

“You mean my private plane?”

Su-hyeun and Hak-joon came to an airfield in Gangwon Province to rent a private plane owned by the Ripper Guild . Su-hyeun had expected the plane might not be that big since it was owned by one guild . But as he stood in the hangar and looked at the private plane there was no denying it was pretty big .

Su-hyeun nodded and answered, “Yes . You crazily spent money…”

“Our guild goes abroad sometimes . We prepared this plane for that . It pays for itself . ”

The Ripper Guild was one of the leading guilds in Korea . The S-Rank Park Ji-yeon was the guild master and there were many members . Each guild awakener had pretty good skills . So the guild offering support for the raid would bring a lot of money to them . There was no wonder why the big guilds had a whole lot of money .

“I am sorry but let me use this for about ten days,” Su-hyeun said .

“That’s fine . We won’t need it for a while . And if what you say is true, we’ll be busy here . ”

It was nice of her to say that . Su-hyeun thanked her one more time . He then hit an idle Hak-joon on the back .

“What are you doing? Let’s go . ”

“Yes? Yes . ” Hak-joon was surprised and followed Su-hyeun .

They boarded the private plane . The crew, who was hired by the Ripper Guild began the take-off procedure . They provided guidance Su-hyeun and Hak-joon .

“This is a bit of a different world,” Hak-joon said .

“Yeah?”

“You seemed familiar with this . I heard from Ju-ho that you don’t like these things . ”

“Did he really say that?”

“Yes . He told me like fifty times that you must have been an ascetic monk in your previous life . And I totally agree with that . ”

Su-hyeun groaned . He could not believe they had talked about him like that . But it could not be helped .

“It’s not that surprising,” Su-hyeun thought .

In his past life, he went abroad in a far larger plane than this, and many more times than he could count . With honor and power, wealth naturally followed . Since he did not want that from the beginning, there was no reason to be greedy . He did not admire those things . He needed just enough money so he wouldn’t be miserable .

“Are we going to go to Los Angeles now?” Hak-joon asked .

“Yes . We will meet a guild from there,” Su-hyeun answered .

“That is why I came along . ”

A middle-aged man who looked somewhat familiar boarded the plane . He came up beside Su-hyeun, who turned to face him .

“Uh, uh, uh, uh…” Hak-joon struggled to match the face with a name from his memory .

“I am Kim Seok-jin, the vice guild master of the Ripper Guild . ”

“Oh, yeah! That’s right!”

Su-hyeun did not know they would be accompanied, but it wasn’t surprising . His initial request to the Ripper Guild was for help in making contact with the American guild . Perhaps Kim Seok-jin came along to help with that .

“Let’s talk about the details once when we depart . ”

“Okay . ”

Kim Seok-jin sent a signal to the crew and the engines started up . The hangar doors opened, the plane began to accelerate down the airstrip . Su-hyeun looked outside as they began their ascent . Not long after came an announcement that the plane had reached cruising altitude and that they could unbuckle their belts . Kim Seok-jin approached Su-hyeun .

“I will introduce you to the American guild and then immediately return to Korea . I have something to do there . As for the interpreter…”

“I don’t need an interpreter . ”

“Are you sure?”

When Su-hyeun nodded confidently, Kim Suk-jin asked him a few questions in simple English . Su-hyeun frowned and answered quickly and competently .

“Sorry about that,” said Kim Suk-jin . “Just wanted to be sure you won’t have any difficulty in communicating . But since your English seems pretty good, I guess I don’t have to prepare an interpreter . ”

“That’s okay . ”

“Wow, Su-hyeun . You speak English very well,” Hak-joon said with a surprised look .

Hak-joon thought himself that he was not bad at English, but he got a slight headache listening to the conversation between Su-hyeun and Kim Seok-jin .

“I learned a long time ago . I don’t use it often, though . ” This was not unusual .

“There are a lot of academies that teach English,” Su-hyeun thought, “and there are tons of people who speak English very well . ”

Of course, there were not many people who could speak as well as Su-hyeun .

“I studied hard when I was a student . I had many chances to use it, too,” Su-hyeun thought .

In his previous life, Su-hyeun was a model student . His mother taught him both college-preparatory level English and conversational English . The language skills he learned became more useful when he became the awakener . The world was in danger and people needed to cooperate with awakeners in other countries .

“Good . One less thing to do,” Kim Seok-jin said .

“Is there anything else I need to know?”

“No, that’s it . But I have one question,” Kim Seok-jin said with an odd look .

It looked like he had more than simple curiosity . Su-hyeun spared his breath . He just drank water and nodded as if telling him to continue . Kim Seok-jin continued .

“Last night, I heard that the first blue dungeon appeared in Los Angeles . ”

At that, Hak-joon coughed . But Su-hyeun was unfazed . Kim Seok-jin looked at Su-hyeun as if he had expected such a reaction .

“Did you already know?”