Episode 219 Amsa Station (1)
* * *
For now, he decided to end his enjoyable and rewarding trip to the U.S. here.
Having secured the opportunity to challenge the Endless Dungeon, he had more than achieved his goal.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing he gained.
He had earned the great trust of the Nobility Guild and received deep interest, especially from Frederick.
Before boarding his return flight, he even spoke with Frederick and Sophia on the phone one more time, separate from their conversations.
While some of it might have been business talk, Frederick clearly said he wanted to see him again.
It was open to interpretation, but he had said himself that he was someone who didn't make empty promises.
Sanghyun felt that he wanted to attach some weight to those words, too. In any case, the U.S. had now become his stage of activity.
Through Han Hyun-jung, he had connected with the Nobility Guild, and the foundation for working as a mercenary there had been laid.
Inside the airport,
Sanghyun smiled as he felt the unique bustle and warmth of the airport, which felt different from his past life.
In his previous life, at this age, he was a player who rarely had any reason to go to an airport.
With making ends meet domestically already a struggle, there was never any reason
for him to travel abroad. His entire experience had consisted of taking a domestic flight to Jeju Island. Even then,
it was an extreme budget airline, so he had to sit in a seat that was technically "economy"—a seat where he was practically squeezed in halfway.
The airport that Sang-hyun saw back then was a place where people from a different world indulged in luxury.
Business? First class? He grumbled about the waste of money, yet he envied their lives.
As a "Player," he was a wretched existence incapable of indulging in such luxuries… and
no one cared about him. But this life was different.
The seat on his international flight returning to Incheon Airport was First Class.
Han Hyun-jung had booked it for him personally.
She upgraded his seat, saying that Economy or Business would lower the stature of her sponsor, Sang-hyun.
Not only that, but she booked every single First Class seat to ensure he wouldn't be entangled with any other Players.
She had turned it into a private space just for Sang-hyun. Such a touching moment! It existed in this life.
* * *
Above the clouds, infinitely high in the sky.
It was a truly beautiful night with a full moon high in the sky. The wine enjoyed with the sparkling moon as a companion was exquisite.
Sang-hyun was reorganizing his thoughts regarding the Amsa Station Rift.
His memory was accurate, and the fact that the Amsa Station Rift would open remained unchanged.
Currently, the area around Amsa Station was under the jurisdiction of the Eden Guild.
And within the Eden Guild, he had useful connections in Shin Tae-ri, Jo Jin-ho, and Kim Mi-so. They were somewhat close, too, weren't they?
'I don't remember the exact location. Ultimately, I have to use the Eden Guild's equipment to explore…'
The problem was whether they would understand if he just went straight to Jo Jin-ho or Kim Mi-so and said, "A rift is going to open!"
He couldn't claim to possess future knowledge, nor could he pinpoint the location since it hadn't appeared yet.
He needed their help to utilize the equipment, but the issue was how much they would trust him.
There were two main reasons why Sang-hyun coveted the rift.
The first was his desire to prevent potential casualties.
It wasn't because I dreamed of being a superhero or anything like that; I simply didn't want to stand by and turn a blind eye to a disaster I knew was imminent.
Furthermore, even though I disliked the Player Association, I didn't want their influence to weaken.
The Association receives a lot of criticism, but as a public body, it is responsible for balancing the interests of players and guilds.
If their influence were to drastically diminish, the domestic atmosphere would become chaotic. I had experienced this in a past life.
That is why I didn't want to stand by and watch like a fool drive the Association's talented members to their deaths.
Second was the reward.
In fact, this accounted for 99% of the reason I coveted the Rift.
The Rift possesses an inner world in its raw, unadulterated state.
It holds rewards as delicious as freshly baked bread—essentially, overflowing and abundant.
I wanted to sweep them up. Considering the scale of the Rift at the time, the rewards wouldn't be lacking.
'Maybe it's better to just go straight ahead.'
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't come up with a plausible reason to claim that a Rift would appear when it hadn't even been created yet.
It would be better to spout half-baked nonsense, like claiming to have had a prophetic dream or that something felt off about this place.
I also considered the possibility that Jo Jin-ho and Shin Tae-ri might surprisingly listen to me.
This is because Sang-hyun has never said anything nonsensical, nonsense, or lies to them.
In terms of trust alone, it was 100%. He had always been sincere and had never stabbed them in the back.
'Alright, let's go for it.'
Plan established.
As soon as I return home, I intend to visit the Eden Guild and bring up the prophetic dream to the two of them.
"I had a nightmare that something bad was going to happen at Amsa Station, so I figured I’d just give it a try and run a scan.
Just like that… … he was rambling on.
" * * *
A sleepless night.
Even though quite a bit of time had passed and he had kept his eyes closed, he couldn't fall asleep, so Sang-hyun took off the eye patch he was wearing.
He couldn't easily fall asleep as memories of his experiences in America came flooding back.
While there were plenty of interesting things to do in Korea, his recent schedule in the U.S. had been full of truly fresh shocks. He felt like he understood
why players keep trying to associate with higher-ranking people, and why they prefer more successful and powerful guilds. It was because it drastically raised the level of the world they could see with their own eyes and experience with their bodies. Even if Sang-hyun had been a top performer in Korea, what if he hadn't come to the U.S.? He wouldn't have met Frederick, nor would he have secured the opportunity to go to the Endless Dungeon. Furthermore, he wouldn't have caught Frederick's attention or received such high praise from Sophia. Good things happened because he boldly took on the challenge of working as a mercenary in the U.S. It was a butterfly effect of choice. Swish. Swish. Swish. Sang-hyun wrote names with a pen on the memo pad he had placed beside him. Kim Mi-so. Shin Tae-ri. Ham Ji-yeon. Do Kyung-hye. Lee Ga-hee. Among those who are close or will become close to him, women come to mind first. True to his nature as a man, it is inevitable that pretty women are his top priority. Next are Jo Jin-ho. Lee Se-hwa. Do Kyung-soo. Shin Yoon-hyuk. Jung Joon-hyuk. These are the male connections. Each of them holds significance for Sang-hyun. The connection he considers most important is Do Kyung-soo. After all, he is a player who is also Sang-hyun's role model. However, going forward, he wanted to increase his contact with skilled magicians like Lee Se-hwa and Jung Joon-hyuk. A narrow network only narrows the stage for one's career. He did not want to have a narrow mindset. And then. Dokgo Yoon. So Hyung-jun. Jung Hee-sun. Kang Bo-ah. As a sword-wielding player, these are the names that he absolutely cannot avoid in the domestic scene. Do Kyung-soo is in the position of an ally, but the other four are inscrutable. Judging by past memories, the probability of conflict arising with Dokgo Yoon or So Hyung-jun was much higher. As for Jung Hee-sun and Kang Bo-ah, he decided to put them on hold. He thought it would depend on Sang-hyun himself. 'Busy, busy.' The final conclusion was simply: busy. Only now did he seem to understand why famous players or guild executives habitually say they lack time. It is because they have so many connections to manage. There are many people to meet, whether for business or as players. However, since he cannot just meet them, exchange a word or two, and then part ways, it all becomes a direct investment of time. In his past life, he used to think that they were just pretending to be busy or making a fuss, but he was wrong. They really are busy. * * * As soon as he landed at the airport, Sang-hyun first called Do Kyung-hye, Ham Ji-yeon, and Shin Yun-hyuk to ask how they were doing. He had no immediate plans to meet them, but they were people he needed to check in with and keep in touch with. After that, he headed straight to the Eden Guild. As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot; there was no reason to delay. Coincidentally, neither Jo Jin-ho nor Shin Tae-ri had set out to clear the dungeon, which allowed their meeting to happen immediately. On the way into the guild building, they happened to run into the Song brothers, Kyu-jung and Tae-jung, but the two of them deliberately kept their heads down as they passed by. It goes without saying that the younger brother, Tae-jung, would be quiet, but Kyu-jung likely had painful memories of being beaten by Sang-hyun during practice. They had hoped that with time having passed, he might at least return a greeting, but the shame ingrained in his mind seemed too deep. Since the death match with Ma Dong-ho , the number of players recognizing Sang-hyun had increased significantly. Perhaps that was why there were many players from the Eden Guild who recognized him right from the lobby and greeted him warmly. As they exchanged greetings without thinking, it felt as though they had become members of the Eden Guild themselves. Just then. “It feels like it’s been a while, Uri.” Shin Tae-ri suddenly appeared. There was no need to hide their presence even inside the guild building, yet she suddenly emerged from a space that had been empty for so long. It was felt. Actually… There was no need for it, but Shin Tae-ri looked nervous as she gazed at him. For some reason, he had a feeling those words were about to come out. No, they would. Because there was a promise they had made. Sure enough, she spread out her ten fingers and spoke. “How about ten days today?” “Isn’t Mr. Jo Jin-ho planning to come too?” “I deliberately dumped some overtime work on him so he would come a little late. I told him we had business to attend to.” “Oh my…” It seemed she had already eliminated a potential troublemaker. Thanks to that, any other excuses were gone. Shin Tae-ri spoke emphatically. “I’m serious about the sparring.”
“It’s true that I’m sincere, too. I was just worried that you might end up waiting, but it turns out you don’t.”
“Yes. It’s settled.”
Shin Tae-ri seemed to hold a sense of relief in her words.
She thought it was actually for the best.
As an assassin, Shin Tae-ri is someone who always keeps Sang-hyun on edge whenever they spar.
Thanks to her, he had modified, supplemented, and refined quite a few defensive moves.
Furthermore, the vague fear he had felt toward assassin players had vanished. This was because he had found a way to counter them.
At the training ground where he had followed her, ten sparring matches followed immediately, without even a moment to recover from the journey.
Although it was a predetermined outcome,
it ended in a draw once again.
Shin Tae-ri had thought that her upgraded skills and instincts would find a weakness in Sang-hyun, but
she was mistaken .
Sang-hyun had grown significantly in the meantime. The weaknesses he had shown in the past were no longer visible.
It was a change that clearly appeared to be the result of him realizing something on his own and undergoing a process of supplementing and refining.
This was despite the fact that this time, he had taken an even more aggressive approach than before, launching an extreme offensive without considering defense.
Sang-hyun had not been breached!
He firmly blocked where necessary and did not let up on his boldness when the opportunity for an immediate counterattack arose.
Just as she was confident of her own growth, Sang-hyun had grown alongside her.
And cruelly enough,
Sang-hyun had taken another half-step further. It felt as if the gap in their skills had actually narrowed.
Shin Tae-ri's mind became a jumble.
If this moment were a scene from a martial arts drama, it was a situation where she would likely have suffered a severe case of qi deviation.
