Jung Si-woo returned to his house with Soo Ah-rin. Of course, Soo Ah-rin had her own house, but now that her body has shrunk, moving separately from Jung Si-Woo was difficult.
“Shouldn’t you contact your parents?”
“I have been living alone since my parents’ death. I have a small house, but I have nothing to do there anyway.”
Jung Si-woo, who was envious that she had her own house at such a young age, quickly came back to his senses. Now, he was also one of the Players.
“Okay, then just hide until I get back to my room.”
“It stinks inside this pocket…”
Soo Ah-rin complained but hid in Jung Si-woo’s pocket. After confirming that she had hidden properly, Jung Si-woo quietly opened the door. It had been a few hours since he went out to throw away the trash, and he came back with his clothes shredded like that. His mother would be furious, but at least he should face her after he has prepared himself. So first, rush to his room secretly!
“You’re finally home. What are you looking around for?”
“Of course, there’s no way I could avoid the radar…”
“Didn’t I tell you not to give your own mom a strange nickname?”
Jung Si-woo’s skill to evade his mother’s radar had become sloppy. Now that the attempt to sneak in was unsuccessful, he had no choice but to breakthrough! Jung Si-woo put his shoulders forward and posed like the moment when he rushed to the Giant Black Wolf, but a moment after, his mother’s palms struck his back. It didn’t hurt at all, but he stopped as if he were stunned.
“Where else did you go rolling around to be this dirty? Did you lose a fight? Huh?”
“You know someone would be dead if I ever lost.”
“Ah, so you did something. Is it something that will be on the news or not?!”
“If I get caught, then maybe it’ll come out on the news…”
“Just know that you’ll get scolded if the news comes out! …So, did you finish it well?”
“…Yeah.”
When Jung Si-woo replied with a weak voice, his mother sighed and nodded, saying that it was alright.
“Go shower. Aren’t you hungry?”
“Yes.”
Jung Si-woo was able to return to his room safely. Soo Ah-rin, who almost died hiding in his pants pocket, freed herself the moment he closed his door.
“Si-woo, what do you usually do? Why is that kind of conversation so natural for you?”
“Uncle Ben said that great power comes with great responsibility. If you think about it, when you have great strength, all kinds of troublesome things happen…”
“So, you have gone around getting in trouble since you were young. You’re really…twenty-six, right?”
She started doubting his age. He sat on the bed with a pout.
“I’m going to take a shower, so go hide somewhere…anyway, what to do about your meal?”
Jung Si-woo, who was thinking hard about it, opened a drawer and put an energy bar on the desk.
“For now, would you like to eat this?”
“It’s too big.”
“How about this?”
After dividing the energy bar in half, she was barely able to lift it with both arms. Would this supporter be fine like this? While Jung Si-woo was concerned about her, Soo Ah-rin held her energy bar and sat as comfortably as possible.
“Then…I will enjoy this food.”
Soo Ah-rin makes a small grunting noise while trying to lift the energy bar with both arms. She was eating slowly and cautiously as if trying to be polite and proper, but the energy bar was so large that she couldn’t help it smudging on her mouth…honestly, her eyes were big, her skin was white, and her size was small, so she looked as if she was a fairy cutely eating an energy bar. Soo Ah-rin soon caught him watching.
“Wh-why are you looking at me like that? I like energy bars; they’re a necessity when entering the dungeon.”
“Never mind. Eat a lot; you can eat everything in the drawer.”
“Si-woo, your smile is a bit disgusting…”
Jung Si-woo left his room whistling. He saw his mother sitting on the living room sofa, switching between TV channels to confirm whether Jung Si-woo was filmed anywhere. Jung Si-woo ignored it with a gentle smile. When Jung Si-woo finished washing, ate his dinner, and finally returned to his room, Soo Ah-rin was done eating her energy bar and was patting her belly in satisfaction. When Jung Si-woo suddenly opened the door and came in, she startled.
“Thanks for the meal.”
“You don’t want to eat more?”
“I guess my stomach became smaller as my body shrank.”
So, for now, they didn’t have to worry about food expenses if she only needed half an energy bar for a meal, but Jung Si-woo sat on the bed thinking intently. However, Soo Ah-rin, who was seated on his desk, decided to speak.
“Then, let’s think about how to act like an underground player in the future.”
“You seem very motivated.”
Of course, Jung Si-woo wanted to grow more as a Player. But more than that, ‘I want to be special. I was already special, but I want to become more special’, was what Jung Si-woo thought. Now that he really became a player, he was going to take out the knife inside of him that he had been quietly sharpening so far and try to wield it properly. However, that was only Jung Si-woo’s wish, not Soo Ah-rin’s. As he looked at her with questioning eyes, Soo Ah-rin replied with a grim look.
“If you grow rapidly as a Player, maybe I will grow quickly too, and then I will be able to regain my original body.”
“Right.”
He nodded at her explanation, which was without a single flaw. From the standpoint of Jung Si-woo, there was nothing wrong with Soo Ah-rin being more active.
“I want to confirm something first. Si-woo, you wanted to be a player, right? Will you be actively entering the dungeon in the future? Prioritizing it more than anything else?”
“Of course.”
The dungeon was the main goal for Jung Si-woo, who lived his life waiting for the day he would become a Player. There was nothing else to concentrate on other than the dungeon. Even if the dungeon were in the underground or one that no one else could recognize, there was no problem if it could make him stronger.
“That’s good then. I will help you as well. First of all, let’s explain what people who have passed through test dungeons and become regular players should do before entering their first dungeon.”
“Okay, go.”
Players had many shortcomings until they cleared the test dungeon. They couldn’t use mana, had no inventory or skills, and could only fly, as Soo Ah-rin said earlier.
“But being able to fly is also a big advantage. The monsters in the dungeon, at least the monsters in the test dungeon, are often unable to fly so that they can be dominated in the air. So most of the time, it’s not too difficult to get through the test dungeon and obtain mana.”
“Now I have mana, but no wings.”
“The next thing is important. Level 1 dungeons cannot be compared to the test dungeons.”
That’s because monsters who are able to use mana appear.
“But all the monsters in the test dungeon I went into could handle mana.”
“Anyway, there will be monsters that are so strong they can’t be compared with the ones in the test dungeon!”
Therefore, players had a mana adaptation period of approximately one month after passing the test dungeon. It was training using their choice of a weapon, adapting to their stronger body, and practicing mana.
“Even with that, you need to challenge the first stage dungeons with at least ten people. Unlike test dungeons, party play is possible for the official dungeon.”
“Even if it’s possible to party play, there’s no one to join us.”
“A-anyway!”
Aah, why was there such a special situation like this?! Soo Ah-rin was flustered but soldiered on.
“It’s important not to go into the first-level dungeon blindly just because you’ve become a regular player, but only after you fully master your mana and skills!”
Actually, Soo Ah-rin thought that he would be fine even if he didn’t master mana after seeing his fights in the test dungeon. However, you never knew what kind of monsters would appear in the first-level dungeon, so she thought that there was nothing wrong with mastering his mana and skills first, either.
“So, for the time being, practice using mana. It is very important that you sensibly grasp the maximum mana that can be used at once and the speed of recovery. Yes, the primary goal is to acquire the universal active skill ‘Strike’ that everyone gets after practicing mana.”
“Strike…”
It was a classic skill name. It must be a skill that consumed a lot of mana and let out a strong blow. It was very clear that it was a skill that would help a lot to advance in dungeons. If he had the ‘Strike’ skill today, it would’ve been easier for Jung Si-woo to defeat the Giant Black Wolf, rather than taking off and throwing his clothes to distract it.
“Okay, I’ll bear with it. I’m used to waiting anyway. To perfectly clear the dungeons, I’ll train hard and won’t even joke for one month.”
With such a clear goal, Jung Si-woo couldn’t refuse it anymore. He nodded and immediately became determined to achieve his goal. Soo Ah-rin, who looked at him, felt a prick to her conscience.
‘It is very difficult to be aware of your own skills. Even though it’s a general-purpose skill, it’s often barely awakened by the time you reach level 50 and clear level 7 dungeons…maybe Si-woo could do it. ‘
It might be possible if it was Jung Si-woo, who was able to handle his mana as soon as he acquired it. Even if he couldn’t do it, the mana proficiency gained wouldn’t be a waste of time.
‘Si-woo is different from the players in the sky. Unlike my experience with them, I need to match Si-woo’s style of play. ‘
Jung Si-woo would definitely become stronger. Soo Ah-rin never doubted the fact that he would be able to accelerate his growth even further. It was even a little fun as if she was playing a nurturing game.
“Since the next step has been decided, you should rest now.”
“Okay. You must be exhausted too, so rest comfortably.”
Rather than that, Jung Si-woo realized a problem.
“Where will you sleep? No, how will you wash? ”
“Uh, that…”
That night, Jung Si-woo was willing to let go of some of the money he earned as a player and ordered a super-sized doll’s house with a bathtub and a bed. It was a socially overwhelming moment, but he had never cared about how people looked at him.
So, the next day came. News of the death of the sub-master Soo Ah-rin of the Soaring Tempest Guild was reported.
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