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chapter 66
-?
-??
-Huh?
-Am I the only one seeing this?
-No, I see it too.
-What is this?
-Has a world notice ever popped up like this?
-Reset? Replay?
-What the hell does this mean?
-What are restricted areas now?
“……?”
This time, Hanbit reacted exactly the same as the viewers.
He’d thought it was a message only visible to him, but it was a world-wide announcement.
“Hyung!”
While he was reading the notice, Yeonwoo raised his voice urgently.
“What’s going on? Why is there a world notice?”
[Black Dragon! What is this? Do you know anything about it?]
Questions flew in, along with a message from Kim Jaeha that arrived for the first time in a while.
But he couldn’t bring himself to answer.
‘…Was this what they meant?’
Only one possible cause came to mind.
The word Edlen, which he had found in the code patterns of the RP gear program.
There had been no other information, but the moment he cleared the Edlen episode, this message appeared.
Whether directly or indirectly, there was no choice but to suspect the goddess’s involvement.
“Hyung, what is this supposed to be?”
“I don’t know either. I guess we really saw the true ending.”
“Whoa. Then you can clear everything to the end, right? You can just follow the web novel exactly!”
Yeonwoo’s eyes were already sparkling.
It was good as a weapon for channel growth, but since it was a fabricated excuse, it seemed better to lay some groundwork.
“Not all the way. The serialization stopped halfway, so I couldn’t read beyond that.”
“Then should I try to look for the novel too? Companies are probably starting to dig into it now.”
“Don’t bother. It’s a waste of time.”
-Time-rich people, assemble.
-But if it hasn’t surfaced until now, it’s probably gone.
-Yeah, people have been digging for a long time already.
-Is that the problem? What the hell is this reset?
-Edlen is already blowing up. LOL
It seemed players had started moving immediately after the announcement.
From a simple reward standpoint, retrying was understandable—but what about the later episodes?
If everything had to be redone, reset wasn’t an easy choice.
‘We really cleared it fast.’
Even using past memories and experience, he had shortened the time excessively.
“But what about you? The rewards differ by contribution, right?”
Something occurred to Hanbit, and he asked Yeonwoo.
Even though he was the party leader, everything had progressed under Hanbit’s direction.
To be honest, Yeonwoo hadn’t really done anything.
“Compared to you, about five percent. Oh, it looks like the achievement was only given to you.”
“…Are you okay with that?”
“I told you. I’m not interested in my own play. From a company standpoint, this is nothing but good news. The channel and your broadcast are going to explode.”
Yeonwoo answered cheerfully.
It seemed his head was full of thoughts about growing the Black Dragon channel and the company.
“Ah, I wonder what the special privileges will be? They said they’ll be delivered after 24 hours.”
“Who knows. We’ll find out when they arrive.”
Shrugging, Hanbit glanced at the clock.
It was already 1 a.m.
“I should get going.”
“What? You’re leaving now, of all times?”
-?
-Where are you going?
-We’re in total chaos right now.
-Don’t abandon us.
-So we can just clear it again?
-Other starting cities are the same, right?
-Take the discussion to the forums.
-Sit down for a bit first.
-If you leave, I’m really turning evil.
-Seriously, I’ll burn everything down.
[User 무한리트 donated 30,000 won.]
[Don’t go;]
[User ㅇㅇ donated 100,000 won.]
[Explain.]
[User 주식회사 태성 donated 1,000,000 won.]
[Hello. We’ve sent the revised contract terms again.]
[User Cave Production donated 3,000,000 won.]
[Hello. We’d like to propose a collaboration.]
[User Yeonhwa Gaming donated 5,000,000 won.]
[Hello. Regarding the contract, we have new conditions…….]
Viewers clinging to him, and sudden floods of corporate donations.
Some familiar names, but the atmosphere felt different this time.
Perhaps the world message had made them anxious.
“I have work tomorrow. Since the episode’s over, I’ll整理 things and come back. And my affiliation will be with Roper’s company. If you think of anything worth doing with companies or streamers, let me know. You can keep sending proposals.”
-No way……
-Ah, right. I have work too.
-We’re screwed.
-Team lead, it turned out like this.
-What time are you coming back tomorrow, then?
“I’ll probably start the stream in the evening. I’ll leave a notice. I’ll come back as early as I can.”
-Reluctantly letting you go.
-See you tomorrow.
-See you tomorrow.
-See you tomorrow.
Finally accepting the situation, the viewers said their goodbyes.
Hanbit immediately exited the game.
Click—
Removing the gear, he got up from the bed.
Judging by how much he’d sweated, his hair and clothes were completely soaked.
“Whew.”
The long playtime had left him exhausted.
It felt completely different from physical movement.
“Time for a shower.”
Hanbit went straight to the bathroom and finished showering.
Afterward, he quickly prepared a late dinner with the food his mother had left.
Slurp—
Finishing the warm soup last, his stomach felt settled.
After washing the dishes, he returned to his room.
“It must be chaos.”
Sitting at his computer, Hanbit logged into the RPG community.
As expected, every trending post at the top was filled with Black Dragon’s story.
Player Black Dragon, Roper, cleared the Edlen episode and triggered an anomaly.
A golden world announcement.
An unprecedented situation that shocked players, corporations, and media alike.
Amid a flood of inquiries, the RP management team announced that it was not a bug or error.
-Pushing it to the point of episode reset now;
-Everything about this is weird.
-Why don’t we just investigate Black Dragon?
└There was an official statement ages ago saying his account has no issues.
└With this much attention, maybe the game company is hiding something?
└Bullshit. LOL When has RP ever promoted anything? Even sitting still, they have hundreds of millions of users.
-I reset and tried it again, it’s surprisingly fun.
└LOL true, but you can’t do it like Black Dragon.
-I see quite a few pioneers coming back.
-Guilds are already thinking about carrying runs.
“What a mess.”
No matter which post he opened, the comments were chaotic.
The surprising thing was how many players were attempting it again.
Especially the pioneers—did they really have a reason to reset and return?
“Hm.”
Hanbit recalled the message that appeared upon clearing the episode.
[Player Black Dragon’s party has succeeded in the Judgment of Vares.]
[Special privileges are granted to the player who first reached the truth of Episode 1. After a 24-hour preparation period, contribution-based privileges will be delivered to the inventory.]
[Players who have already cleared Episode 1 are granted the opportunity to reset and replay.]
[Some restricted areas have been unlocked.]
The judgment of Vares, and the truth of the episode.
The path Hanbit had walked in that world was labeled as “truth.”
Why give other players the opportunity to reset and retry?
What were they trying to gain from that?
And what were these restricted areas?
He couldn’t grasp it at all.
“Team Zero… it’s still the only lead.”
The only way to get clues right now was to contact RP’s developers.
The problem was that they operated without revealing themselves, making contact impossible.
That was why he’d investigated the RP gear in the first place—but that too required time.
“For now, let’s at least submit it.”
With nothing to lose, Hanbit accessed RP’s official site.
Through the customer center, he sent an inquiry to the development team.
The result would probably come in a few days.
“Now, the items…….”
Among the items he had obtained, something he could sell.
It was the Essence of Earth he’d gotten from a dungeon.
He immediately logged into RP Trader.
“I’ll never get used to this Black Dragon thing.”
His name was Kang Hanbit, but his nickname was Black Dragon.
Light and darkness—what was that supposed to be?
It wasn’t even something he chose, which made it more unfair.
What on earth was that damned goddess thinking?
“Essence of Earth. Rank 3… Unique grade.”
Hanbit searched for the item with its grade applied.
But no listings appeared.
“None at all?”
He’d planned to gauge a fair price, but this made things difficult.
Entering the RPG community, Hanbit began digging through old posts.
“Nine million won last month? That’s a bit disappointing.”
One month ago.
In a post asking about the market price, a comment had said nine million won.
He’d been hoping for at least ten million.
“Let’s just list it.”
The selling price was up to the seller.
With that thought, Hanbit immediately wrote a post.
“…Auction?”
Among the selling options, the auction format stood out.
Looking at the system, it didn’t seem particularly troublesome.
“Hm.”
An item only sells if someone wants it.
As long as he set the starting price properly, he wouldn’t lose out.
“I’ll set the starting price at ten million…… and maybe set a buyout too.”
The bid price that would end the auction immediately.
Since it didn’t matter much, he casually added another zero.
Click—
Setting the end time at noon, Hanbit posted the listing.
Looking at the clock, it was already 2 a.m.
It had been a very long day.
Thud—
Turning off the computer, Hanbit threw himself onto the bed.
He fell asleep almost instantly.
***
“Hanbit, are you okay? You look really tired today.”
The next day.
Just before lunch, as they were tidying up the meeting room, his senior, Lee Minho, asked with concern.
“I had a lot to focus on over the weekend. You look tired too, sunbae—are you alright?”
“I’m used to it. More importantly, I watched some of your broadcast. There were articles this morning too, you know?”
“…That was a bit embarrassing.”
The episode reset incident had a bigger impact than expected.
It seemed to be shocking enough to be covered by major media outlets.
And its effects appeared in unexpected places.
“Hey, intern.”
After finishing up and stepping out of the meeting room, the team leader’s voice rang out.
Hanbit moved to his desk and stood straight.
“You called for me.”
“Are you moonlighting?”
The abrupt question wasn’t particularly surprising.
It was more like, this was bound to happen.
He’d planned to quit anyway if he joined Yeonwoo’s company.
With no intention of backing down, Hanbit answered calmly.
“Yes. I’m running a game broadcast.”
“Running a game broadcast? Are you out of your damn mind? Don’t you know moonlighting is prohibited? You’re just an intern—what makes you so confident!”
Bang—!
The team leader slammed the desk and shouted.
On it were articles about the streamer Black Dragon and stock-related materials.
It looked like he’d taken a significant hit in the falling market.
“I’m sorry! I forgot to inform you!”
At that moment, Lee Minho rushed over in panic and bowed in his place.
“No, I heard everything. I forced it.”
In truth, Lee Minho had informed him early on about the moonlighting issue.
The choice had been Hanbit’s.
“Hey, do you think I’m a joke?”
The team leader furrowed his brows sharply, on the verge of exploding.
Just as he was about to open his mouth and spew abuse again—
Ding—
Hanbit’s smartphone chimed.
“Shit, now you’re really pushing it.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“Enough. Write a statement of explanation and submit it immediately. I’ll report it upstairs and hand it over to HR.”
“Understood.”
“This company is really something else.”
The team leader spat out his irritation and stormed out.
Returning to their seats with Lee Minho, Hanbit took out his phone.
“Ah.”
The app icon on the notification was RP Trader.
Come to think of it, it had just turned noon.
A brief message informing him of the situation.
He tapped it, moving to the auction page.
And then—
“…Huh?”
Hanbit froze like stone as he checked the result.
Rubbing his eyes, he checked the amount again.
A curse escaped his lips almost immediately.
“Holy shit.”
