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chapter 27
After returning home, Hanbit finished his meal and went into his room.
Putting on the gear, he lay down on the bed and logged into the game right away.
Woooong—
Loading accompanied by mechanical sounds.
When the screen came back, the streets of Edlen appeared.
‘Streaming… here it is.’
Opening the system window, Hanbit finished the setup as he’d been taught.
Ding—
[The broadcast has started.]
The stream began the moment he pressed the button.
But the number of viewers rose faster than expected.
-Dragon hi.
-hi hi
-Came after seeing Roper’s notice.
-Explain the hints first.
-Seriously can’t follow them.
Whether it was the power of Yeonwoo’s notice or not, it had already passed several thousand viewers.
A large number had also come because of the hint post.
“Hello. This is Black Dragon. Starting today, I’ll be hosting the stream myself, so please take care of me.”
-Nice to meet you.
-Yeah, let’s do this.
-Explain the hints already.
-No guide part 2?
Rather than the first broadcast itself, attention was focused on the hints.
It was a natural reaction, but a second guide would be overwhelming for them.
“If I write it in even more detail, it’ll be hard for you. Want me to do it? In exchange, there won’t be any hints or guides for a while.”
-More detailed than that?
-P-please stop.
-This guy’s insane.
-Next it’ll be micrometer-level movements.
-Anyone asking for guide part 2 should leave.
The viewers collectively rejected a second round of hints.
As the playful back-and-forth continued—
“Hyung!”
Yeonwoo, who had just logged in, appeared beside him.
“I was late because of some stuff. You greeted everyone already, right?”
“Yeah. They were asking for more hints, so I was persuading them.”
“There are people who want more?”
Yeonwoo looked at the chat in disbelief.
The viewers who’d already reached a consensus were all spamming ‘no no no.’
“Isn’t this already settled?”
“Yeah, it’s over. Let’s go do the story.”
“Let’s go together!”
Hanbit had already started walking toward the destination.
Yeonwoo hurried after him, looking around as he spoke.
“They’re openly staring now, you know?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just do what we need to do.”
Walking on indifferently, Hanbit soon stopped.
“So this is where it starts.”
They had arrived in front of the Adventurers’ Guild building.
The start of the main quest flashing in the quest window.
This was the location.
“Wow, you’re finally doing the story. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?”
“Didn’t you just not clear it because it was annoying?”
“Hey, I was saving it to do with you.”
Yeonwoo laughed as he joked around.
He looked extremely excited.
“Episode 1 takes about two weeks, right?”
“If you follow the guidebook exactly, yeah.”
They’d roughly checked the main story info in the guidebook.
Since everything starting with Artsvel had been completely twisted, both the process and the result were totally wrong.
The key point was how fast he could progress using his own method.
Considering the freedom he’d had so far, expectations were high.
‘The normal route doesn’t stand a chance.’
Simply reviving memories and experience wasn’t enough.
He needed a shortcut that could cut away chunks of time, not just a few steps.
“Hyung, aren’t you going in?”
After standing still for a moment, Yeonwoo asked quietly.
Seeing how deep in thought he looked, even the viewers chimed in.
-Don’t tell me he doesn’t know?
-Are you actually scared?
-Just trust Bares.
-lol seriously
-Frontal push and take down Brook.
-Shit, that’s half spoilers.
The commonly known content of Episode 1 was extremely simple.
Brook Norsten, who framed his brother and had him killed, became the mayor of Edlen.
With the help of Brook’s right-hand man Bares, the player brings Brook to justice.
But this was nothing more than an empty shell with all the substance stripped away.
“We’re in a party, so we’re progressing together, right?”
“Progress is decided by the party leader, but I’ll just focus on filming. Even if I don’t meet contribution requirements, progression itself is mostly possible.”
“Is that okay?”
“Of course. I find this more fun.”
A party formed before even falling into the ravine, still being maintained.
Since main quests often took place in instanced fields, it was essential to stay together.
“Does it start right away once we go in?”
“Yes. A cutscene plays immediately, but it’s not very long, apparently.”
“Really?”
The two moved their feet and headed inside the guild building.
The moment they stepped forward, the screen immediately changed.
[Moving to cutscene.]
Ssssh—
A blue line was drawn before their eyes amid wavering mist.
A voice followed right after.
“At the center of the great ocean, upon the colossal World Tree that supports the sky, a single sentence is inscribed.”
At some point, an unimaginably massive World Tree filled their vision.
Golden letters embedded beneath its trunk gleamed brightly.
[Those who find the unknown existence Erfort shall earn the right to face the truth.]
The purpose for which the goddess had sent Hanbit into the world.
That goal, however, was also recognized by the world’s inhabitants.
All because of the words inscribed on that World Tree.
“Our ancestors believed this sentence to be the will of the Creator. Filled with a sense of duty, they set out in search of Erfort, and that will has been passed down through many forms to future generations.”
Ssssh—
As the voice faded, the screen returned.
Busy people now filled the view.
Ding—
[Episode I: The Secret of Edlen]
[Main Quest #1: Beginning]
Go find Miel at the Adventurers’ Guild.
Objective: Talk to Miel
Reward: 500 gold, 100 experience
*Current progress: 0 percent
The quest that appeared right away was simple.
But Yeonwoo sidled up and asked,
“Hyung, Miel showed up in the novel too, right? She’ll eat up a ton of time.”
“Let’s go see first.”
Hanbit headed straight to the counter with Yeonwoo.
There, a young female clerk was fixing her eye makeup.
“Miel.”
“Oh, just a moment.”
Even at Hanbit’s greeting, the clerk Miel didn’t put down her cosmetics.
-LOL first wall appears.
-Stuck right away, huh?
-Haha, told you Miel won’t give info.
-Please wait~
-Info) Even after finishing makeup, she won’t tell you anything.
[Guidebook has donated 1,000 won.]
[This will keep happening.]
‘Consistent as ever.’
She was someone who clearly existed in Hanbit’s memories as well.
A very capable employee—except for her complete lack of passion for work.
“When will you be done?”
“Just a bit.”
A careless reply as she switched cosmetics.
Looking calmly at her face, Hanbit pointed at a small glass bottle with his finger.
“You don’t like this perfume, do you?”
“…So?”
At the question, Miel replied while slightly averting her gaze.
Tapping the counter lightly, Hanbit got straight to the point.
“I’ve got something that smells insanely good. I’ll give it to you, so let’s talk business.”
“You think I’ll go ‘oh my!’ just because you say it smells nice?”
-Not easy, huh?
-New pattern, though;
-Nope, people tried flirting before too.
-No chance. lol
Miel snorted and continued her makeup.
Watching, Yeonwoo quietly asked,
“Hyung, can’t you use something like charm?”
“Charm, my ass.”
Swipe—
Brushing back his hair, Hanbit took out a single blue flower from his inventory.
“How about making perfume with this?”
“…?”
Once again, Miel only shifted her gaze slightly.
But her eyes widened in an instant.
“What is that! That’s a Firefly Flower!”
She reached out to snatch it.
Hanbit quickly pulled it back, gently swaying the flower.
“So what are you going to do?”
“How did you get this? Hurry up and give it to me!”
“You’ll get the flower after the job’s done.”
“…If even one petal gets damaged, you’ll regret it.”
-?
-Miel just agreed to work?
-New route unlocked;
-Wait, what’s a Firefly Flower?
“Huh?”
Everyone was shocked by Miel’s unprecedented reaction.
The Firefly Flower, said to emit a heavenly fragrance.
There was no information about it in the guidebook, but in this world, it was known to be extremely hard to obtain.
‘Makes sense.’
The Firefly Flower had a peculiar ecology.
It only grew in places that satisfied time and terrain conditions, as well as being saturated with spirit energy.
And in Edlen, there was only one place that met all those conditions.
Asla’s trial ground, where one encountered the wind spirit.
Thud—!
Miel placed a thick stack of documents on the counter.
Then she opened the cover and spoke.
“Here. Edlen is a port city of the Raven Kingdom. You know that finding Erfort is the world’s common objective, right?”
“I know. Raven is a hardliner nation that considers Erfort an enemy, right?”
“That’s right. That’s why the Adventurers’ Guild is moving in line with that objective.”
Interpretations and attitudes toward Erfort gradually diverged over time.
They were now broadly classified into three groups.
One: Hardliners who were certain Erfort was an enemy.
Two: Moderates who believed understanding its identity and prioritizing dialogue was key.
Three: A holy nation that worshipped Erfort as a sacred being, having received a revelation from the Creator God.
Their purposes differed, but their goal was the same.
First, find Erfort.
“Raven is looking for candidates to form an investigation team representing the kingdom. The Adventurers’ Guild is helping run that recruitment process.”
The investigation team.
A group of the world’s powerful gathered to find Erfort.
Each nation’s candidates were evaluated by them, and upon passing the process, became official members.
Countries that produced members gained various benefits and an elevated standing of power.
In real-world terms, it was like becoming a nuclear-armed state.
“So in the end, you want us to prove our ability?”
“Exactly. As you solve requests one by one, important people might take notice. Whether you catch their eye or not is up to you.”
As she continued speaking, Miel’s gaze never left the flower.
More intense than a beast eyeing its prey.
Ding—
[Main Quest #1 completed.]
[You have received 500 gold.]
[Experience has increased by 100.]
[Progress has increased.]
[Main Quest #2: Proving Ability]
You have learned about the investigation team. First, you must prove your ability.
Objective: Choose and complete one request.
Reward: 500 gold, 200 experience
*Current progress: 1 percent
As soon as the brief explanation ended, messages appeared.
Hanbit asked Miel,
“I can choose the request myself, right?”
“Yes, yes. Go take a look over there.”
She pointed to the board on the right.
Walking over, Hanbit scanned the requests pinned there.
“Hyung, which request are you thinking of? Building merit through monster subjugation is good.”
“Hm.”
Yeonwoo’s suggestion made sense.
Clearing easy, quick requests to build merit was close to the standard approach.
If he were an ordinary player, Hanbit would’ve chosen that path as well.
‘Found it.’
While scanning the board, he found the request he wanted.
[Request]
Difficulty: F~A
Requester: Guild
Objective: Investigate the dungeon that has appeared near Edlen and eliminate any danger.
Reward: Varies by dungeon difficulty
“Hyung! That one—”
-Dungeon?
-You’re starting with that?
-Look at the guts.
-As expected of Black Dragon.
After reading the contents, Yeonwoo raised a hand to stop him.
But Hanbit had already taken down the request and returned to Miel.
“I’ll take this one.”
