Jeong Uijin’s trembling settled only after a little more time had passed.
Jeong Uijin slowly let go of me. His face, which had held all kinds of emotions just moments ago, now carried a tenderness so strong it felt almost burdensome.
“…Can you tell me? How you’ve been living from the time the Special Supply Station was destroyed until now, and why you were here.”
“I was planning to tell you anyway.”
This was Jeong Uijin, of all people.
There was also the bond built up over two years, and I had confirmed that he was extremely well-disposed toward me.
If I had to trust anyone among the Players I had met so far, I could not think of anyone but Jeong Uijin standing right in front of me.
Most importantly, Jeong Uijin was the strongest high-Level Player in District 2, and the real power behind the large faction called Eclipse.
This might actually…
My mind began spinning rapidly around Jeong Uijin’s usefulness and safety.
Before long, a bright smile rose to my lips.
“Should we eat breakfast first?”
I lifted the metal bracelet on my wrist. The District 2 Special Supply Station Storage Key hanging from it swung as if showing itself off.
With things like this, you were supposed to start by feeding them a bribe.
***
In less than an hour, the two of us, seated across from each other at the dining table, were facing a fairly lavish spread.
Since I had decided to feed him a bribe anyway, I set the table like I meant to make it collapse under the weight. This guy always ate convenience foods like energy bars, so I intended to use this chance to serve him a meal flashy enough to move him.
It did not take long to fill the table.
What was the advantage of convenience-store food? That it could be eaten quickly and easily.
There even happened to be a microwave inside the Special Supply Station storage room, so I finished preparing everything so easily that calling it cooking felt embarrassing.
Just by tearing open bags, opening containers, and pressing buttons, the table filled up at a relentless pace.
Salads and desserts did not even need to be heated, so simply removing the packaging and transferring them onto plates was enough to complete a surprisingly plausible feast in no time.
For reference, the dishes used here were the Special Supply Station’s “Sparkling Porcelain Dish Set.”
As an aside, the microwave was a useful item that worked perfectly well without electricity as long as its battery was replaced. Since there was barely any furniture and the kitchen was hopelessly empty, I decided to leave it in this room as a gift while I was at it. The sight of Jeong Uijin, horrified as he watched me carry the microwave out of storage before snatching it away from me, was quite impressive.
After that, once steaming soup dishes, freshly warmed rice, and glossy side dishes took their places one after another, Jeong Uijin looked back and forth between me and the food with startled eyes.
Then he smiled softly.
“Thankfully, I’ll be able to feed you until you’re full every day.”
Not “feed you.” He meant “eat until I’m full,” right?
I had no idea why he was staring at me and nodding, but in any case, we continued eating together.
“This is truly delicious. You’re good at cooking too, Mr. Lee Jaeo.”
“I just heated it up.”
“If I had heated it, the microwave would have exploded or there would have been a terrible smell.”
“What would you even have to do to make that happen?”
“There isn’t enough time to explain one by one. My record is rather impressive.”
I thought he was joking, but Jeong Uijin’s face was quite serious.
“Then before I go, I’ll write down how to use the microwave and a list of things you shouldn’t put in it.”
“My memory is very poor, so couldn’t you simply help me every day, Mr. Lee Jaeo?”
“Don’t lie. Earlier you were about to rattle off everything from our first meeting two years ago.”
“…The rice turned out very well. The meat is cooked nicely too.”
“Excuse me?”
Look at him glancing away like that.
While exchanging pointless small talk, we somehow moved into the main subject.
I had heard that the briefing was at 10:00 a.m., so we still had two hours to spare.
Without rushing, I calmly began telling my story.
Just as Jeong Uijin had wanted, I summarized the process from after I left the Special Supply Station to my arrival here. I also told him that, perhaps because of my NPC setting, I had become able to create Quests.
In addition, I revealed that I had a Title called Friend of Chaos, and that because of it, all monsters regarded me with excessive friendliness. That way, my pretending to be a Player with a monster-tamer setup would make sense too.
And finally, I told him the real reason I had come here to Eclipse.
“…I see. If you disguise yourself as a monster tamer, then it wouldn’t seem strange even if you received monsters’ goodwill.”
Jeong Uijin, who had calmly listened to the story, nodded as he turned my words over in his mind.
“Then once matters here are resolved, you plan to go to District 1 to search for your younger sibling?”
“That’s the plan. I don’t know whether he’s alive or dead, but he’s still my only younger sibling. I should at least find out whether he’s alive.”
“In that case, trying to receive help from a Player with a movement-type skill does not seem like a bad idea. Yoonji Huh knows each team’s roster and the details of each person’s skills, so it should not be difficult to check whether such a Player is here. However…”
Jeong Uijin trailed off as if something bothered him.
Then he asked carefully.
“What if it fails?”
“Fails?”
At my question, Jeong Uijin tapped the dining table with his finger and briefly fell into thought. Beside those long fingers sat an empty lunch container so clean there was not a single grain of rice left.
“As far as I know, if it is a skill that designates and moves another person, the description usually specifies ‘Player.’ There are also skills that randomly warp nearby life-forms, but in those cases, I’ve heard that the destination is random.”
That was something I had not known.
A Player with a movement skill had visited the Special Supply Station where I had been before. I had met two of them. One had possessed a movement skill that could be used on himself, and the other had possessed one that could be used on another Player.
Even similar abilities had different detailed descriptions depending on the Player, so I had not paid much attention to it, but if Jeong Uijin was right, then destination-designated movement skills seemed to be limited only to “Players.”
Then I…
I, who was not a Player… would not be affected by their movement skills.
In that case, there was only one thing left.
“Then there’s no helping it. I’ll have no choice but to look for a Player with a random movement skill.”
“If it fails, you’ll be suspected, Mr. Lee Jaeo.”
“That…”
I had nothing to say.
Even if I met a Player with a random movement skill, what if even that target range did not include NPCs? What if the skill itself misfired because of that?
Other people might not notice, but a Player who had repeatedly used that skill on countless life-forms would not easily overlook that abnormal phenomenon. A skill was an important element directly tied to a Player’s survival, so a fairly troublesome situation would probably arise.
Even so, it was not as though there was another method.
For now, I had no choice but to put my hopes in a Player’s movement skill.
As I lowered my gaze and soothed my heavy heart, Jeong Uijin said casually,
“What about trying another method?”
Another method?
Jeong Uijin pointed at himself with his index finger.
“You said you became able to assign Quests. Use that on me.”
“On you, Mr. Jeong Uijin?”
Of course, the only person who knew I was an NPC was Jeong Uijin, so if I absolutely had to assign a Quest, he would be the right person, but…
As I tilted my head, Jeong Uijin showed me a faint smile.
“Give me a Quest to take you to District 1. More precisely, I think it would be best if the content were, ‘Escort Lee Jaeo so that he can meet his younger sibling in District 1.’”
“Ah…!”
After hearing Jeong Uijin’s words, I had no choice but to make my eyes flash.
One of the Quests Players often received from NPCs was precisely an “escort” mission.
After speaking with an NPC waiting at a designated location, they safely took that NPC to the destination the NPC wanted.
Even though Quest NPCs were set so that they could not move more than a certain distance away from their designated positions, once a Player accepted an escort Quest, they became able to move freely from that point onward.
In other words, if I also played the part of an NPC assigning an escort Quest, I might be able to move beyond District 2, a place I could not cross alone.
That’s very plausible.
Rather than risk exposing my identity to a Player I did not know, it might be better to actively use a Quest, just as Jeong Uijin suggested.
No.
It was not that it “might” be better. I had the feeling that this was the answer.
Seeing my face brighten all at once, Jeong Uijin asked with a smile,
“You set the reward too, don’t you?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“What is the possible scope of the reward?”
“It’ll probably be paid out from among the things I possess. Items or pets that are completely bound to me probably won’t work, but as long as it’s within the range of what I can do, anything should be possible.”
That was generally how the rewards Quest NPCs offered Players worked.
“If there’s something you want as a reward, tell me now. Only something I can do for you.”
I did not know what he would want, but Jeong Uijin did not seem like an unreasonable guy, so wouldn’t he say something within a sufficiently possible range?
After hearing my words, Jeong Uijin’s eyes shifted briefly.
His pupils rolled around so much that I even thought it was a little cute, then turned back toward me.
For some reason, a strange light flowed in his eyes.