The international order after the Great Cataclysm.
South Korea’s standing had changed greatly.
The Country of Adventurers.
That was another name given to present-day South Korea.
[The Heart of the World Tree and the Forest of Growth Appear! Will South Korea Become the Center of Adventurer Society?]
[South Korea Is the Only Country That Has the Tower of Alchemy, the Tower of Command, and the Workshop Tower!]
[IMF Projects South Korea’s Economic Growth Rate This Year at 6%!]
The number of major institutions from Legend Seven that appeared differed from country to country.
Usually, a country was considered quite fortunate if it received around two institutions.
Yet South Korea had received every institution that appeared in the game.
Thanks to that, it had become the world’s foremost destination for Adventurers. However, where there was light, there was also shadow.
[South Korea’s Adventurer Crime Rate Is by Far the Highest Among OECD Nations!]
[A Chronic Shortage of Adventurer Combat Power: Is South Korea All Right Like This?]
With Adventurers from every country gathered in one place, public safety had plunged to the depths.
The country possessed overwhelmingly strong infrastructure, but its own Adventurer force was far too weak by comparison.
In the early days of the Great Cataclysm, information had been the key to raising Adventurers. South Korea, in particular, possessed very little information, so its Adventurers had grown slowly.
There was a reason for that…….
[What Is Legend Seven, You Damn Nerd?]
This game had flopped far too hard.
Especially in South Korea.
Overseas, small groups of people had at least gathered on communities like Reddit to share information. In South Korea, however, not even a small community board dedicated to the game had been created!
It was unusual for a nation so fond of games, but the blunders of those in power had played a significant role.
As it was a game that actively used AI—a hot issue at the time—relevant government departments had refused to grant it an age rating, citing various regulations and related laws.
Apparently, they were concerned that conversations with generative AI might produce messages that were excessively sexual or violent.
As a result, it had become a game that could only be accessed domestically through a VPN. Since it was not particularly well-known even overseas, the number of Korean players had been close to zero.
Thanks to that, not a single Korean was among the top one hundred Adventurer rankers.
You had to go as far as the top five hundred to find even a handful.
The one fortunate point was that, despite South Korea’s feeble Adventurer force, no one openly tried to exploit or antagonize the country.
Every nation was wary of a powerful country monopolizing so many different institutions.
As a result, South Korea was currently enjoying a precarious peace upon thin ice.
“Phewww…….”
And there were people striving to preserve that peace for even a moment longer.
For example, there was Team Leader Lee Jeong-yul, who was eager to discover new talent at the Tower of Records, where Adventurers’ clear records could be reviewed.
“Mr. Tae-gyun. Have you finished organizing today’s Lower Dungeon records?”
She was busy again today, sorting through records.
“Ah, yes. I have. But can we really discover new talent by updating this every day?”
“Of course we can.”
“It does not seem as though we have had any results over the last two years…….”
At the words of her team member, Park Tae-gyun, she could only smile bitterly.
She knew it too.
That there was not much hope for South Korea.
Experienced and skilled Adventurers had left for foreign countries long ago, while even the occasional rookies only hoped to catch the eye of powerful foreign guilds.
That was precisely why this work was important.
If they were talented newcomers who had only just begun to bud, before foreign guilds had set their sights on them, Lee Jeong-yul would still have room to maneuver.
Finding talent that could contribute even a little to South Korea’s Adventurer force.
Was that not the duty of someone belonging to the Korean Adventurer Management Headquarters?
“We have not found anyone in two years, so perhaps today will finally be the day. The Lower Dungeons are done. What about the tutorials?”
“I was just about to check them. But do we really have to check the tutorials too? Is that not a little excessive……?”
“South Korea has to be thorough, even if it seems excessive. We must not forget that day.”
“…Yes. Understood.”
Under Lee Jeong-yul’s direction, Park Tae-gyun grumbled as he checked the records.
He scrolled steadily downward, then suddenly went back up as though he had discovered something.
‘Hm? Is it an error…….’
The average clear time for the Tutorial Dungeon was around ten minutes.
Even Seo Ju-hyeon, South Korea’s current number-one ranker, had barely attained S rank with a time of 9 minutes 58 seconds.
Spain’s Alberto, the world’s number-one ranker, held the sole SS-rank record with a time in the five-minute range.
Yet the record before his eyes…….
‘0 minutes… 34 seconds? Is that even possible?’
Park Tae-gyun hurriedly called Lee Jeong-yul.
“Team Leader! I think you need to come and see this.”
“What is it?”
“This. It is a Tutorial Dungeon clear record. Could it possibly be an error?”
The record Park Tae-gyun pointed at.
Lee Jeong-yul doubted her eyes.
“Clear time… 0 minutes 34 seconds…?”
“It is an error, right?”
An error?
No. This could not be an error.
The information in the Tower of Records was absolute.
Nor could it be manipulated by human hands.
“What about the Adventurer information?”
“It is private.”
“Ah, right. Of course it is.”
Naturally.
Entering the Tutorial Dungeon meant that this was a newly awakened Adventurer.
They would not have registered as an Adventurer yet, so there would not even be information to make public.
“What about the location? Where did they enter the dungeon?”
Through the Tower of Records, they could view at least the country in which a dungeon had been entered.
“Uh… uh?”
Park Tae-gyun looked flustered.
“Where is it?”
“The KR server… It is our country?”
Lee Jeong-yul’s hands trembled.
She was excited.
Could a ranker finally be emerging from their country?
‘No, this is not the time. Calm down, Lee Jeong-yul.’
She forcibly suppressed her excitement and quickly regained her composure.
They could not be certain that this person was a Korean citizen yet.
Present-day South Korea drew Adventurers from all around the world.
A foreign visitor to South Korea could have entered the tutorial.
‘Still, the possibility that they are Korean is not low at all.’
After steadying her breathing, Lee Jeong-yul quickly organized the situation.
“Mr. Tae-gyun, collect a list of every newly registered Adventurer from this point onward.”
“Every single one?”
“Yes. Every single one.”
“Uh, until when……?”
It seemed that Park Tae-gyun did not understand her words.
Lee Jeong-yul sighed briefly before beginning a patient explanation.
“They just completed the tutorial, so statistically, they are likely to enter a Beginner Dungeon soon.”
“Pardon?”
“If they are talented enough to set a record like this, they are likely to set another record in their next dungeon too, correct?”
“Ah, yes. That is true.”
“Then what if we identify everyone who registered as an Adventurer between the ‘abnormal tutorial record’ and the ‘abnormal Beginner Dungeon record’?”
“Ah, you mean we could narrow down this rookie’s identity.”
“Exactly.”
Unlike the tutorial, facilities that supported an Adventurer’s growth—such as the Towers, which were the main targets of conquest, and the Forest of Growth—had set entry locations.
In other words, people could not enter them from anywhere as though they were teleporting.
If another record was set there, she intended to go to the site herself.
‘This is a big catch. I have to land them.’
Lee Jeong-yul instinctively knew it.
The person who had awakened today was no ordinary person.
‘I have to contact them first, before another country notices.’
Fortunately, the Tower of Records was one of the institutions that had appeared only in South Korea.
This rookie would inevitably be discovered one day if they continued making such extraordinary moves, but if Lee Jeong-yul and Tae-gyun kept their mouths shut, they could buy some time.
‘Please let them be Korean. Please! And if possible, let them have some patriotism too!’
***
“You have done well, Hert. You may rest for a while.”
“We have met again after so long, and we must part already?!”
“There will be cause to call you again before long. Return and wait for the time to come.”
“…If that is your will, my master. It is regrettable, but I shall only await the day you summon me again.”
Unable to erase her regretful expression, Hertiya disappeared into the dark clouds.
At last alone, my tension eased, and I slowly sank to the floor.
“Phewww—”
Hertiya was certainly powerful.
Powerful enough that I had to completely change the ‘Adventurer O Hyeon-woo’s Growth Plan A to Z’ that I had idly imagined before.
However, things were going to become quite interesting from now on.
I had finished the tutorial, so I could begin acting as an Adventurer in earnest.
South Korea had everything.
Every facility that had existed in Legend Seven had appeared here.
The Attribute Rune Dungeon and the Forest of Growth for advancement.
The Towers that would pour out monsters if they were not conquered regularly, and so on.
It was no exaggeration to call the country a Legend Seven theme park.
However, there was one task I needed to take care of before beginning serious activity.
《Register as an Adventurer at an Adventurer Headquarters.》
I had to report my identity as an Adventurer to each nation’s Adventurer Headquarters.
I had a lot to think about regarding this.
My situation was quite different from that of an ordinary Adventurer.
‘If Hertiya had been an ordinary Legendary- or Mythic-rank summon, I would have advertised, “Here is the talent this era needs!”’
The problem was that the summons I commanded were ‘villains.’
You might think that villains were merely powerful summons.
You did not understand.
For summons, their ‘danger level’ was just as important as their performance.
Based on a summon’s skills and personality, the government could judge that it was likely to inflict uncontrollable damage. In such cases, it assigned a ‘Danger Designation,’ confiscated it, and sometimes even subjugated it.
For example, suppose there was a summon with an ability such as ‘Mind Control.’
It was difficult even to imagine the scale of the damage if a summon with that ability were simply released into society.
In a situation like this, what if people learned that I commanded ‘villains’ with monstrous skills and terrible personalities?
‘At the very least, confiscation. If I am unlucky, death.’
Or perhaps, before the government could approach me, a major guild would try to plunder my summons.
There was another difference between reality and the game.
Adventurers could plunder the summons of other Adventurers.
They could threaten an owner into transferring ownership, or if that did not work, kill the Adventurer and offer a contract to the ownerless summon.
Therefore, revealing my identity while I was still weak was no different from begging someone to kill me.
‘Give up on the villains, then?’
I was sorry, but I had not the slightest intention of doing that.
I had finally obtained a chance to turn my life around. If I had intended to be satisfied with this much, I would never have started in the first place.
‘Therefore, I have to hide my identity for a while. Until I have enough power that no one can easily touch me.’
Thus, my guideline for future activities was ‘Unknown Adventurer X.’
Someone who appeared from time to time, set new ranking records, and whose identity no one could determine.
Of course, I had to complete the tutorial, so I would register as an Adventurer. However, I needed a way to avoid public attention in my future activities.
I had thought of several methods for that, but…….
‘There is something I need to check before that!’
The Exchange!
Before I did anything else, I needed to take care of practical matters.
I currently had two rewards.
One was a Heroic Summoning Ticket.
The other was a Heroic Summon Selection Ticket.
Money was a little tight at home right now.
Overdue hospital bills, my sister’s tuition, and even slightly overdue rent.
Urgent fires to put out were everywhere.
I immediately activated my Status Window and entered the Exchange.
‘How are the current market prices?’
The first thing I searched for was a Heroic Summoning Ticket.
【Heroic Summoning Ticket】
Rare Rank 85.3%
Heroic Rank 14.2%
Legendary Rank 0.5%
Even at Heroic rank, there were many summons with very respectable performance.
Perhaps that was why the prices were beyond what I had imagined.
‘Common is 20,000 won. Advanced is 100,000 won. Rare is 500,000 won. Heroic is… 2,000,000 won!’
I had only been an Adventurer for thirty-four seconds, yet I had already earned almost a month’s salary!
How much was that per hour? My heart was pounding so hard that I could not calculate it in my head.
Then what about the Heroic Summon Selection Ticket?
I looked through the Exchange, but there were almost no listings at all.
‘Well, selection tickets are not rewards that appear whenever you want them, so it makes sense that there are none.’
Still, I needed to learn the market price, so I searched the records of past sales.
Then a transaction from not long ago appeared.
But the price was…….
‘100,000,000 won…?’
I was stunned by the unimaginable amount.
I had never expected it to be so expensive.
I had made a fuss over earning two million won, yet this time it was one hundred million?
‘No, when I think about it, it makes sense.’
Among Heroic-rank summons, some were comparable to Mythic rank, while there were also quite a few traps.
If I considered that I could choose only a ‘winner’ among hundreds or thousands of Heroic summons, it might even be a reasonable price.
The question, then, was whether I should use or sell this selection ticket.
‘Why am I even thinking about it? I will sell it.’
I did not immediately need a high-rank summon for the optimal growth route I had planned.
I listed the Heroic Summon Selection Ticket on the Exchange for 100,000,000 won.
It was late at night, so I would have to visit the Adventurer Headquarters tomorrow.
Of course, before that…….
“…Will I be able to clean all of this up today?”
I first had to make space to sleep in my wrecked studio apartment.
***
“Selection Ticket!”
The following morning finally arrived.
With a spirited wake-up cry, I checked the Exchange the moment I got out of bed.
Hm. It had not sold yet.
Well, it might be greedy to expect an item worth one hundred million won to sell overnight.
However, I had no time to idly sit around.
I had a great deal to do today.
After getting ready to go out, I headed to the Korea Central Adventurer Management Headquarters.
I could register as an Adventurer at the building in Yeouido.
It was not difficult to find the place.
All I had to do was look for the tallest building near Yeouido Park.
Although it was early in the morning, the Headquarters was already so full of Adventurers that there was hardly room to step inside.
“Recruiting guild members!”
“We are looking for people to grow with our family-like guild!”
Small guilds recruiting members stood before the Adventurer Headquarters.
‘A guild… I miss that.’
In Legend Seven, guilds had been essential.
Although the game had few players, there was a considerable amount of content that could only be enjoyed by joining a guild.
There were profitable rewards from content such as PvP Guild Arenas, raids, and the Forgotten Sanctuary.
‘I will need a guild later too, will I not?’
For rapid growth and my own safety, I would need a force of my own.
However, I had no intention of considering it now.
Guild content only unlocked at Adventurer Level 30 anyway.
Having dismissed the thought, I went inside the Headquarters and registered as an Adventurer.
“Please fill out the sections highlighted in yellow by hand. Once you have finished, we will proceed with Awakened verification.”
“Yes.”
“If you go to the Settings tab on the right side of your Status Window, you will see your Adventurer Code, correct?”
“Ah… yes.”
“Please write that here.”
Following the employee’s instructions, I wrote down the code and showed it to her.
She nodded and handed me a document.
“You are indeed an unregistered Adventurer. Congratulations on your awakening.”
“Thank you. Is that all?”
THUD!
“Please fill out the rest of these documents as well.”
“…….”
I could already feel my will crumbling.
How many documents did I have to fill out?
Moreover, the employee had told me to fill in only the highlighted sections, yet the entire document glowed yellow.
I had dealt with roughly half of the mountain of documents the employee had given me when the area beside me began to grow very noisy.
Wondering what was happening, I listened closely.
“I am telling you, the guide is wrong!”
“Even if you say so… the beginner guide we provide is an authoritative strategy established by the world’s rankers.”
“This is driving me crazy. I am telling you that there is a beginner guide made by someone more reliable than that!”
“Who is it?”
“!”
…Surely not?
The words ‘Unknown Adventurer’ drew my attention despite myself.
“…Who did you say?”
“Unknown Adventurer! Korea’s veteran player! He posted guides on domestic communities in the early days of the Great Cataclysm, then disappeared, but when you look at it now, everything he said was correct! Even in the beginner guide, you should level up somewhere other than the Forest of Growth…….”
“Sir. Please calm down first.”
…It was about me.
I gave my past self, who had used an anonymous browser just in case, a round of applause.
Looking closely, the employee’s expression was very unpleasant.
This did not seem to be the first time she had experienced this.
“This is truly frustrating. Those so-called world rankers who established the current guides have not cleared the final episode, right?”
“No, they have not, but….”
“Yet that person probably has!”
“But there is no proof….”
“Ah, seriously! You could find it in the Tower of Records!”
“…Records from before the Great Cataclysm no longer remain, so I do not think we can help you. Next, please!”
“E-Excuse me! I have not finished speaking yet….”
The man who had caused the commotion was promptly escorted out by security guards.
“You are making a mistake! If Unknown Adventurer saw the state of South Korea now, he would sigh and go overseas too!”
I had to admire the spirit with which he kept shouting until the moment he was dragged away.
He looked no older than his early twenties. He was certainly fearless.
At last, I handed over my completed documents and asked the employee.
“Excuse me. Who was that person earlier?”
“Ah. He is the youngest grandson of the Taepyeong Group.”
“Taepyeong? As in the number-one business group in the country?”
“Yes. However, he comes here every quarter and causes a scene like that.”
Oh, that explained why he was fearless.
If they had gone so far as to drag out someone who was practically a third-generation chaebol heir, how consistently had he caused trouble?
Still, if he used my name so persistently, perhaps more information about me had spread than I thought.
I would have to look into it sometime.
“Um, he was talking about Unknown Adventurer or something. What was that about?”
“Ah. According to him, there was an information broker active during the early days of the Great Cataclysm. Back then, there were so many baseless rumors that the person received no attention, but looking at it now, quite a few of his guide posts have proven true. Of course, hardly anyone actually saw them, so he is like an urban legend.”
Well, because no one paid attention, I lost my motivation. Then the atmosphere in society quickly turned threatening, so I immediately took down the posts.
“However, apparently something called the is listed in private auctions among rankers and sells for a high price. So perhaps it is not entirely baseless.”
“Excuse me? A private auction? For a high price?”
“Well, that is… Ah, your registration has been completed. Good work.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Here is your Adventurer Registration Certificate. We look forward to your active career. Next, please!”
“No, but how much does it sell for…….”
“Next, please!”
“…….”
Driven out by something that was not quite an order to leave, I walked out of the building with a blank expression.
The battle against the mountain of paperwork, the antics of a third-generation chaebol heir, and the information that my guides had been selling for a high price without my knowledge.
I felt a stab of jealousy—no, I was merely a little taken aback—but it did not seem to be something I needed to worry about right now.
Hertiya’s growth.
And my own growth.
I had to think only of growth.
Since I had awakened later than everyone else, I needed to close the gap quickly.
Moreover, the antics of the chaebol heir I had just witnessed gave me confidence in the plan I had made.
-Even in the beginner guide, you should level up somewhere other than the Forest of Growth…….
In other words, the standardized growth route for beginners currently began with the Forest of Growth.
It was not actually a bad method.
The Forest of Growth had been a dungeon designed late in Legend Seven’s service to help players catch up with inflation, so it offered decent rewards for its easy difficulty.
‘However, if I set a new record in the Forest of Growth, they will identify me quickly.’
By now, the Korean Adventurer Management Headquarters, which could access the Tower of Records, would be eagerly examining Beginner Dungeon records.
‘Do they think I am crazy enough to go there and beg them to catch me?’
The Forest of Growth had a record-competition element that ranked Adventurers by clear time.
If I set a new Forest of Growth record not long after the Tutorial record had been broken, the net closing in on me would narrow considerably.
‘Still, I do not want to deliberately clear it at a low rank and lower the quality of my rewards.’
Then how could I secure the rewards while also concealing my identity?
The answer was simple.
‘Clear a dungeon that does not retain clear records.’
For example, a resource-farming dungeon such as the Attribute Rune Dungeon.
In fact, that had been my plan from the beginning.
Its rewards were much more generous than those of the Forest of Growth.
However, there was one minor problem…….
‘Its difficulty is such that a newly awakened Adventurer could not clear it even if they died and came back to life.’
The Rune Dungeon was a place that Adventurers visited to specialize their summons.
As it was a place usually challenged by experienced Adventurers who had reached a plateau in their growth and wanted to change their setups, taking it on with a Level 1 summon was practically suicidal.
However…….
‘With Hertiya, there is a strategy worth trying.’
High risk, high return.
It was the fastest growth route established by Lucifer, the unofficial number-one ranker.