***
**
Three days later, at the World Tree Alliance Loan Counter.
“Hello.”
“You’re here again?”
Just like before, Seong Jihan was commuting to the loan counter for the third consecutive day, having clicked on a forum pop-up ad.
Upon seeing Seong Jihan wave his hand, the elf at the loan counter greeted him with a weary expression.
“The branch manager did say you could come visit again, but… I never expected your visits to be this frequent.”
“I haven’t started playing the game yet. Came here for the fruit.”
Seong Jihan, who had ascended to the Master League through the promotion match held at the end of May.
Until June arrived, he couldn’t play the game due to having risen in rank. Thus, during this interim period, Seong Jihan made sure to visit the loan counter every day.
‘The life force within me has significantly increased.’
Although it wasn’t included in the stats on his status screen.
The life force from the World Tree Alliance definitely existed within Seong Jihan.
And this energy significantly grew every time he ate the fruit given during consultations at the loan counter.
However,
“I’m sorry, but the branch manager has been away, and so it’s impossible to provide any more complimentary gifts.“
The elf, a subordinate of the branch manager, informed Seong Jihan with a stiff tone that further gifts were not possible.
“You’re the ones who told me to come often. So, you’ve stopped giving out complimentary gifts after just 3 days? Seems the generosity of World Tree elves is more limited than I thought.”
“Granting complimentary gifts to a player who has not provided personal information, especially on a continuous basis, is beyond our authority. Unless, of course, you’re willing to provide your personal information.”
“That’s fine, then.”
As much as the fruit basket had significantly increased his life force, Seong Jihan could not disclose his personal information to the World Tree Alliance.
Rejecting the offer, the elf seemed to have expected it, nodding in understanding.
“In that case, any further distribution of complimentary gifts will not be possible until the branch manager returns.”
“When will that be?”
“The loan counter isn’t operated from just this location. The branch manager oversees dozens of areas, so I cannot say when he will return.”
If what the elf said was true, then it was a coincidence that he met him last time.
‘Can’t help it then.’
Just when he thought he could comfortably increase his life force.
Seems like continually growing through such means was indeed impossible.
“That guy… Did he get the complimentary gifts without even registering his personal information?”
“To just receive the fruit of the World Tree like that. What is he doing?”
“Huh. We had to pay interest of over 10 billion GP a month just for a chance to randomly receive it…!”
“I want another one too!”
Meanwhile,
Players waiting at the loan counter, having heard the conversation between Seong Jihan and the elf, began to express their dissatisfaction.
The fruit of the World Tree was provided as a complimentary gift only during the first consultation.
From then on, you had to pay over 10 billion GP a month in interest for a chance to randomly receive it. Even though some players had enough GP and wanted to buy it, the World Tree Alliance would never sell.
And yet, how many times has that diminutive race player received it for free?
“As you can see, the dissatisfaction among our existing customers is quite severe. Under these circumstances, another distribution of complimentary gifts without the branch manager’s approval is impossible.”
Seong Jihan saw the players glaring menacingly at him.
Players of tremendous races, all eyes turned red over a piece of fruit, united in their agitation.
‘It seems they change like that once tainted by the force mixed in the fruit and tea.’
On the surface, they all looked like formidable challengers.
Players capable of ruling their own race should not be so disproportionately obsessed over the distribution of World Tree fruits.
Were they addicted to the fruit due to being under the influence of its force?
“Well then, take care.”
Seong Jihan smirked lightly, offering them a word before he logged out.
Flash!
‘June 1st is almost here. Time surely flows strangely there.’
The flow of time in the space of the loan counter was peculiar.
Sometimes it was faster than on Earth, and other times slower.
Now it was the night of May 31st, with about half an hour to spare.
‘I should show my face around.’
Seong Jihan stepped out of the room.
And there,
“Oh. You are here, Jihan.”
He encountered Yoon Sejin, packed with loads of luggage and pulling a suitcase.
“Where are you going?”
“Ah, I received a Constellation Quest. For a while, I’ll be touring domestically to search for the objects mentioned by the Constellation. During this time, I entrust Seah to you.”
“Domestically?”
“Yes.”
Seong Jihan looked puzzled.
Yoon Sejin’s Constellation was ‘The King of Humans’ Gilgamesh.
It wasn’t clear why he was asked to explore the Korean Peninsula.
“What is the object you’re searching for?”
“I’m not sure myself. The message only mentioned relics.”
A relic of the Korean Peninsula.
Gilgamesh, what could he be planning?
Seeing Yoon Sejin appearing rushed, Seong Jihan just nodded for now.
“Understood. Take care on your journey.”
“Thanks.”
“Bye, Dad. Safe travels~”
“Yep, Seah. Listen to your uncle while I’m gone.”
“If Uncle stays at home, sure.”
Woosh! Woosh…
After waving to Seong Jihan and Yoon Seah, Yoon Sejin hurriedly disappeared towards the entrance.
In the middle of the night, why is he so hurried?
“He could’ve left at dawn.”
“Exactly. Night driving is dangerous. Well, if it’s Dad, he should be fine even if there’s a car accident…”
“Hmm… Other than my sister’s issue, it’s the first time I’ve seen him in such a hurry.”
“Could it be because the number of people sponsored by ‘The King of Humans’ is increasing?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, already hundreds have verified it.”
”…Hundreds?“
“Yeah. And it’s mostly top players. Nowadays, there’s talk that any player not sponsored by ‘The King of Humans’ is considered without potential.”
With the Martial God gone and Gilgamesh taking his place, he was aggressively sponsoring players.
A phenomenon that didn’t occur in his previous life when Gilgamesh hadn’t awakened.
‘I wish I had asked him when he was descended in brother-in-law. That’s unfortunate.’
Gilgamesh, marked as a traitor by the Void.
And then, the World Tree Alliance disclosed that a long time ago, a ‘critical error’ occurred on Earth through their actions.
They collaborated with the Void to address the error, but were unable to recover any data, leaving only records behind.
Seong Jihan speculated there might be a connection with Gilgamesh.
‘My ultimate enemy remains the Martial God. Unsure if he’s friend or foe for now. It’s premature to become adversarial without gathering more information.’
Despite the inevitable showdown over the Martial soul of the Martial God,
Gilgamesh’s intentions were not clear enough yet.
Regardless of his motives, Gilgamesh seemed friendly towards Seong Jihan.
Of course, if what the Void said was true – that humanity’s summoning was caused by Gilgamesh,
then at some point, he would need to deal with that ‘cause.’…
‘Now is not the right time.’
It was impossible to consider him a foe under the current circumstances.
Whatever motives Gilgamesh might have, Seong Jihan had to accept his favor for now.
‘I still need more growth.’
Having become the top-ranked player among humanity and the first to enter the Master League,
Even selected as a rookie in the Space Arena, Seong Jihan realized.
Despite this, the opponents he had to face were exceedingly powerful.
“Now that I’ve been promoted and the level limit has been lifted, it’s time to accelerate my level-up.”
“Oh, Uncle. It’s midnight.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
Upon Yoon Seah informing him of the time, Seong Jihan immediately logged into the game.
* * *
[Allocated to the Space-4 Area of the Master League.]
[You are among the top 1 percent of players in the Space-4 Area.]
[Through a special mission, you can ascend to the Space-3 Area.]
[Will you accept the special mission?]
Space-4 Area.
Even this zone, accessible only to the top 0.001 percent of players, couldn’t pose an obstacle for Seong Jihan.
Claiming the top spot in every game and dominating the area,
BattleNet was suggesting he move up to a higher level now that he had reached the Master League.
‘I should take this.’
With more experience points offered for advancing areas,
It was a condition Seong Jihan, who was desperate for growth, couldn’t refuse.
As he pressed yes,
[Player has been assigned to the special defense map, ‘Northern Wall’.]
He was allocated the special map ‘Northern Wall’.
[Giant walls stand tall, behind which unknown entities invade.]
[Survive 10 days of battle and rank in the top 50 percent in defense performance.]
The Northern Wall map, true to its defense nature, seemed geared towards standing guard.
However, the top 50 percent performance requirement hinted it would be competitive with other players.
‘Normal maps often lead to clashes, but being a special map, this will likely encourage even more competition.’
What needs defending might not only be unknown entities but other players as well.
Just as Seong Jihan was about to review the map’s details further,
[You own a guild.]
[The mission can be attempted as a guild mission.]
[Choosing a guild mission offers additional rewards to the guild, with all guild members receiving extra benefits.]
An additional option popped up.
‘A guild mission.’
Seong Jihan’s Daegi guild.
Aside from a few guild members, it was a development guild where world rankers came for growth, maintained in a business relationship with Seong Jihan.
There was no moral obligation to choose the guild mission and bestow rewards upon them,
‘Considering the guild’s own bonus and the fact that the rankers are still much behind… It seems worthwhile.’
Without him, humanity even lost to the Zojin Tribe. For Seong Jihan, the level of humanity’s rankers was another issue to tackle.
If bringing them along for the guild mission could slightly improve their situation, so be it.
‘The guild mission will likely be much harder than individual missions…’
Seong Jihan’s Daegi guild was gathered purely for growth, having never even aligned their formation.
Compared to other world guilds, they were sure to be significantly behind.
Maybe even making it difficult to rank in the top 50 percent.
Nonetheless, Seong Jihan decided to take the risk for the sake of guild rewards.
‘But, I can’t just give the rewards to the guild members for free.’
Though unsure what the guild member rewards would be, being associated with ascending to Area 3 meant they would be valuable.
Lately, having found more uses for GP, Seong Jihan decided to seize this opportunity to gather more.
“Is Hayeon asleep?”
“She won’t be now. She just left our house after exercising a bit. She’s probably waiting for Uncle’s Master League matches. But why?”
“I got a guild mission. Need to discuss something.”
“A guild mission? There’s a thing like that?”
Yoon Seah’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“Got it just now. It’s for ascending to Area 3.”
“Isn’t Uncle already moving up to Space 3 again? Ah, right… Since you’ve swept through Space 4 as well.”
Yoon Seah asked and understood by herself.
“And there’s something grantable to guild members as a reward for the mission. It feels like a waste just giving it away.”
“Of course! If they can receive a reward from a mission you’re running, everyone will readily pay GP.”
“That’s right. Need to think about the pricing.”
Seong Jihan immediately picked up his phone.
[Oh, Boss. What brings you to call at this time? Ah… A guild mission? Really? I’ll come up right away!]
Thus, late into the night, the leadership of the Daegi guild gathered.
“Though the exact reward details haven’t been disclosed, given it’s Boss’s mission, it’ll definitely be substantial. We can mark up the GP price significantly. Let’s start with this minimum…”
”…Isn’t this too expensive?”
“No, it’s Boss’s mission after all. This is quite cheap. Including an additional GP payment option based on the reward…”
After discussing the pricing until dawn and notifying the guilds across the world,
The next morning,
The front pages of news outlets worldwide were adorned with the details of the guild mission Seong Jihan had received.
***
