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“What is the meaning of this?”
Gorik, wearing a baffled expression, asked Hanbit.
“This is something you need, isn’t it? Then we have to make a deal.”
“…A deal?”
The moment the proposal came out, his face creased sharply.
Gorik stepped one pace closer, raised his chin, and said:
“I am simply taking back what belongs to me. What need is there for a deal?”
“How are we supposed to know it’s yours?”
“Are you so dull that you cannot tell even after seeing this?”
“It might not be a royal token.”
“No, that belongs to us.”
His stubborn answer showed not even the slightest sign of yielding.
Anticipating the flow of the conversation, Hanbit brought out the proposal he had prepared.
“If you’re that insistent, then let’s go to your kingdom once. There should be other royals or subjects there, shouldn’t there?”
“That is… not possible.”
“Not possible? Then making a deal is the cleanest solution.”
“…….”
-Wasn’t Gorik’s kingdom destroyed?
-Yeah, the Kingdom of Hedrik fell.
-Too much to say lol
-Boo, trash.
Faced with a firm refusal, Gorik sealed his lips.
Overpowering the three adventurers by force was impossible from the start.
Yet submitting to a deal was something his pride as royalty would not allow.
“So you have absolutely no intention of handing it over willingly?”
“Not empty-handed. At the very least, you need to give us the full story.”
“…Then this conversation is over.”
Gorik, who had been glaring at Hanbit, turned his back.
And without looking back once, he disappeared into the undergrowth.
-?
-That’s it and it’s done?
-But can’t he just talk about Kamon?
-Yeah, seems like acting a bit friendly would do it.
-Looks like a side quest, just ignore it and move on.
-The main quest is important, though.
As Gorik departed anticlimactically, the viewers’ opinions were split.
But the alert sound that followed quickly put the confusion to rest.
Ding—
[The conditions have been met through the achievement: One Who Walks the Path of Truth.]
[A sub-quest has been unlocked.]
[Sub-Quest #1]
You came face to face with Gorik, prince of a fallen kingdom.
He left because you refused to hand over the token, but he did not look like the sort who would give up easily.
It seems he is reluctant to reveal his circumstances — what story might he carry?
Objective: Before reuniting with Gorik, grasp the situation in Ifrit.
Reward: Sub-Quest #2 Unlocked
-Oh?
-A sub-quest here?
-Is the achievement mandatory?
-You’d have to reset for sure.
-But can’t you even do it without the token?
-Must be rough being a newcomer.
At the appearance of a sub-quest contingent on the achievement and the token, the viewers lamented their misfortune.
But this was a natural flow of events.
“Not just the token — Kamon’s belonging is also one of the elements that connects to Gorik. We plan to show it to Gorik as well, once our relationship progresses.”
Gorik was a character who played an enormously important role in the Ifrit episode — and of course with the dwarven metallurgy as well.
If you have the achievement and the keepsake, the episode can proceed.
It’s just that, speaking from experience, without the token, Gorik would not appear first, as he did just now.
“However, unlike us, you all will have to find him yourselves. Gorik won’t even notice you’re there.”
-?
-He won’t come to us first?
-Discriminating against players;
-Still, as long as we can meet him, that’s fine.
-Yeah, Black Dragon will give us a guide.
[ㅎㅎ has donated 1,000 won.]
[You’ll tell us the guide… right?]
A forlorn donation message drifted in.
The chat was likewise full of reactions wanting a guide.
“I’ll think about it after the episode is finished. Until then, do your best.”
“No, but…….”
Kim Jaeha, who had been listening, still hadn’t recovered from the shock.
As he sorted out his thoughts, he looked at Hanbit and asked:
“Is that dwarf really the owner of this iron plate?”
“That’s right. He’s the one we learn dwarven metallurgy from.”
“But why is he here? What about the snowy mountains where the iron plate was found? No — before that, we need to catch him right now.”
Kim Jaeha knew his own role.
Obtaining the hidden skill ‘Dwarven Metallurgy.’
Setting aside the sub-quest, if the owner of this token was that dwarf, it was only natural to chase after him and catch him somehow.
“If you chase him and grab him, it’ll backfire. It’ll only cause trouble and tangle up what comes after.”
“Trouble… I can kind of see that.”
Kim Jaeha, recalling Gorik’s attitude, slowly nodded.
He was a man who would storm off and vanish at even the slightest bump in conversation.
“Now I understand a little.”
Just then, Avantgarde, who had been quiet, spoke up.
His gaze was fixed on the undergrowth where Gorik had disappeared.
“That dwarf has been following us.”
“Sharp of you to notice.”
The faint silhouette blended into the dim shadows beyond the undergrowth was barely visible.
Without any need for guesswork, it was Gorik, hiding himself at a distance.
That strangely clumsy figure was exactly as he remembered.
“He followed us? Since when?”
“Since we came out of that cave earlier. He probably detected the token before we entered the restricted area.”
Gorik, as royalty, can sense the location of a token within a certain distance.
Every run, Hanbit had stopped by Ifrit.
Thanks to that, he had a thorough grasp of when and where Gorik conducted his searches.
“Wait — what about me, then? I stayed in Ifrit the whole time after getting the token, and Gorik never came to find me even once.”
-That’s true. Why didn’t he come?
-Maybe he was just watching for fun.
-???: Run around. Lol.
-For real, there were way too many people searching in the snowy mountains.
-I gave up after about a week too.
Kim Jaeha was flustered.
The months he had spent wandering with the token he found in the snowy mountains.
Even after the project fell apart, he had tried to find Gorik on his own — yet he had obtained not so much as a tiny clue, let alone Gorik himself.
In response to that question, Hanbit brought up the message that had appeared earlier.
[The conditions have been met through the achievement: One Who Walks the Path of Truth.]
[A sub-quest has been unlocked.]
“This sub-quest message — it didn’t appear for you, did it, hyung? For Avantgarde, it should have appeared.”
“Yes. It appeared for me.”
Avantgarde nodded immediately.
Kim Jaeha, standing beside him, still wore an expression that said he didn’t quite follow.
“The quest didn’t show up for me, sure, but… ultimately what I need to obtain is the skill. It seems strange that even the episodes I’ve already cleared would be connected to it.”
Kim Jaeha had cleared the Edelen episode using the existing guidebook’s walkthrough.
He understood that it had been the wrong path, but it still seemed strange that it would affect skill acquisition.
But Hanbit shook his head firmly.
“Dwarven Metallurgy, and the Ifrit episode too — they can only be progressed by winning Gorik over. His role is quite significant.”
“And Kamon’s belonging is what makes that possible?”
“The two of them were closer than you’d think. So he places more trust in the person who has fulfilled Kamon’s wishes within the episode.”
“That… makes sense.”
Kim Jaeha, who had been raising questions, nodded as though he understood.
In that case, there was now only one thing to do.
“Hyung, please head straight back to Edelen and redo the episode.”
“Since it needs to be done, I’ll get it done as fast as I can. But no matter how much I rush, won’t it take longer than you?”
Kim Jaeha was ready to do anything if it meant helping Black Dragon.
The one thing he was worried about was his own presence slowing things down.
That and nothing else.
“Ah, that’s fine.”
Hanbit, who knew well what worry Kim Jaeha was carrying, opened the message window so it wouldn’t be broadcast.
Then, quickly writing something, he said to Kim Jaeha:
“Please follow this method. It’ll be done in two days.”
***
“I can see it over there.”
After walking a short while along the path,
a beautiful city wall came into view beyond what lay ahead.
Remarkably, the primary material making up the wall was glass painted in vivid colors.
Not some special substance — genuinely fragile, breakable glass.
“Black Dragon-nim, do you intend to progress the Ifrit story in a completely different way from what is known as well? I understood that the main focus was stopping the monster wave…….”
Avantgarde, walking beside him, asked in a casual aside.
The main element of the second episode, Ifrit, was the monster wave.
It was akin to a defense game where you fend off the invasion of monsters multiplying in the surrounding area.
The problem was that certain individuals within the eye of the storm were uncooperative.
Far from having any sense of crisis, they were an active hindrance.
“I’m aware. Just looking at the city wall is disheartening.”
“It’s also known as the desktop wallpaper city wall. There are quite a lot of players who come here just to take photos.”
As Avantgarde said, this city wall was famous in more ways than one.
The transparent wall shimmered and scattered sunlight, as if dyeing the surrounding scenery in the colors of a rainbow.
A soft radiance that made even dry ground and modest trees look beautiful.
With that scenery spanning several kilometers in scale, it was frankly a magnificent sight.
Given that it was used as a tourist destination even within this world, its aesthetic value could be considered verified.
“Welcome.”
As they approached the gate, a soldier guarding the entrance greeted them.
It was pure, unguarded calm — not a trace of wariness.
“Hello. We are adventurers who have come from Edelen.”
“I will verify that.”
Upon presenting their adventurer cards, the soldier examined the recorded information.
Then he retrieved a black bracelet from a box set beside him and handed it over.
“This is an item used as identification — I would appreciate it if you wore it at all times while within the city.”
“Understood.”
Ifrit divides visitors by the color of their bracelet.
More precisely, it’s a device for the city’s residents to distinguish the rank of outsiders.
The known classifications are: lower-class black, mid-class red, upper-class gold.
What they had just received was the lowest-ranking bracelet.
“You may enter now.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Having passed through the checkpoint, Hanbit stepped inside the city gate.
When he was met with the scenery that changed dramatically before him, a familiar impression rose in his mind.
‘The same as ever.’
He quietly scanned the buildings spread throughout the city.
A city where not only shops and residences, but even the streets were beautifully decorated.
Yet it was also a sight that laid bare the problems of Ifrit.
-Look how carefree the people are.
-You never know until it actually hits you.
-It was already hopeless from the look of the city wall.
-For real, totally useless.
The viewers, knowing what events would unfold in the future, were already lamenting.
That much did the city, saturated with complacency about danger, deliver a frustrating experience to everyone.
“Black Dragon-nim, have you thought about how to use the remaining time?”
Avantgarde, walking alongside him, asked while scanning their surroundings.
Episode progression had been put on hold until Kim Jaeha returned.
That was why he had not shown the letter of introduction received from Edelen to the gatekeeper.
“I’m thinking of doing some preparation. Armor, and there are some items I need.”
The element of ‘defense’ was important in multiple ways for the progression of Ifrit.
Since he had a great deal of gold on hand, he was also considering the option of purchasing finished goods outright.
A fortunate opportunity — a well-stocked wallet unlike any of his previous runs.
How to make use of it was quite a pleasant dilemma.
“This is one suggestion, if I may.”
Just then, Avantgarde, seemingly thinking something over, began to speak.
And he went on to say something unexpected:
“How would it be if you tried some different content this time around?”
