This chapter is brought to you by anubisscans. More updates on our website.
Support us by reading at anubisscans.com.
chapter 75
Woooong—
Fourth floor of an old building near Jongno, Seoul.
Only a single desk lamp was lit in the office as a vibration echoed.
“Ugh…….”
Kim Jaeha, who had fallen asleep with his head buried in a cluttered desk, groped around with his hand.
Finally grabbing his smartphone, he lifted his heavy eyelids halfway.
“Black Dragon”
“Sorry to bother you when you’re busy. If you have time, would you be able to log in right now?”
“…Ah.”
The moment he saw the name, sleep vanished completely.
Because he hadn’t even been able to reply to the earlier messages.
The reason lay in the suffocating situation he was in now.
“This is really fucked.”
Right after Black Dragon’s auction went up on RP Trader.
Kim Jaeha urgently reported the situation to his department head.
He wanted to somehow bid under the company’s name and establish a business relationship.
But the response was as disgusting as ever.
‘This bastard is really just trying to piss money away. Hey, are you in on it with Black Dragon? Trying to squeeze some company cash?’
Even if he succeeded in contacting Black Dragon, the company would need to provide tangible benefits in return.
This investment would bring enormous profit.
He tried persuading them with all kinds of arguments, but the department head spat curses and ignored the proposal.
Such a pathetic, incompetent judgment.
He couldn’t bring himself to lift his head before Black Dragon, who had shown goodwill.
Doing something for a company run by someone like that—it filled him with shame.
“Haa.”
Letting out a deep sigh, Kim Jaeha looked at the piled-up documents.
An enormous amount of import-export paperwork and numerical verification, processed while staying up two nights straight at the office.
Handling the workload of two departments regularly led to hellish situations like this.
Ever since Black Dragon cleared the episode, he hadn’t even had time to check the broadcast.
“Haaah.”
Slumped into his chair, Kim Jaeha’s gaze drifted to the ceiling.
Why was he working at this company?
When had things gone wrong, and where?
Those thoughts churned endlessly in his head.
‘Oppa, are you not coming home again today?’
‘You’re eating properly, right?’
‘Yuna keeps whining that she misses her dad.’
A brief phone call with his wife.
He wanted to go home, eat a warm meal, and hold his lovely daughter in his arms.
The reality—no sleep, forcing down undercooked cup noodles—felt unbearably bleak.
“Should I quit.”
They say salaried workers always carry a resignation letter in their hearts.
But someone who has to protect a family can’t take out that white envelope.
He could choose to change jobs, but even that was filled with uncertainty.
“…Let’s just work.”
Returning to harsh reality, Kim Jaeha turned his gaze back to the piled-up tasks.
Before that, he sent Black Dragon a brief reply.
“Sorry.”
***
At the edge of Edlen’s forest.
Hanbit was standing face-to-face with a tall man.
“Let me greet you properly again! I’m Avantgarde, a streamer who loves RP!”
The same appearance as when they’d met at the department store.
Above his head, the nickname “Avantgarde” was clearly displayed.
“Hello. You came quite quickly.”
“Of course. I always have Black Dragon’s stream up. It’s a shame Roper isn’t here.”
Before Avantgarde arrived, Yeonwoo had logged out to handle startup-related work.
Judging by how busy he was, things seemed to be nearing the final stage.
‘Must be an insanely busy company.’
Originally, Hanbit had wanted to bring Kim Jaeha along to talk as well, but only a short apology reply had arrived.
From the looks of it, wasn’t he in a similar situation to his senior Lee Minho?
It seemed he’d need to go meet him directly after all.
“Hmm…….”
After glancing around briefly, Avantgarde stepped a little closer.
“How about we move somewhere else first? The number of people is increasing.”
The crowd lingering nearby was too large to ignore.
If anything, it was surprising that the furious Ranger wasn’t in sight.
“But how did those people find this place? I even covered the screen and moved.”
“Ah, your location is being relayed live on the community.”
“…Relayed?”
At the strange words, Hanbit moved his hand and accessed the community.
Checking one post, he scanned its contents.
Logged in via stream, he’s at Artsvel’s shop right now.
Those who saw it, share in the comments ㄱㄱ
-Crazy stalkers ㄷㄷ
-Is he getting something from Artsvel again?
-He’s heading to a dungeon now?
-He’s outside Edlen and moving.
-He found a dungeon at the marked spot here.
-He’s clearing the dungeon now.
-That dungeon is insane;
-Clear done.
-He came out of the dungeon.
-He’s moving with the broadcast screen covered.
-Now at Edlen dungeon, 11 o’clock direction.
…….
‘They’re seriously insane.’
He fully expected someone to tail him.
But he never imagined it’d turn into real-time broadcasting like this.
Letting out a sigh, Hanbit said to Avantgarde,
“I get what’s going on, but even if I go somewhere else, they’ll just follow.”
“Ah, that’s fine. I have this item.”
He took out two red cards from his hand.
The familiar hourglass pattern drawn on the surface was something Hanbit recognized immediately.
“Those are transfer cards, aren’t they? Where did you get them?”
Transfer cards that allow random relocation within a certain range.
Items that are difficult to find or obtain within the Raven Kingdom.
“As expected, you know them! I got these in a rural village called Bananbara.”
“Wow, you actually found that place. You’ve used them before, right?”
“I used one, but the randomness is a shame. They seem useful only for emergency escapes.”
“Hmm.”
A magic item that was considered awkward because it couldn’t be controlled.
But Hanbit knew how to use it properly.
Especially if it could be used in the next episode, it’d be perfect.
“Would you sell those to me instead of using them? For gold or cash…….”
“Oh no, not at all. If you need them, I’ll give them to you!”
Avantgarde held out the cards without even a second of hesitation.
Strangely, there was no ulterior motive visible in his actions.
“You’re just giving them to me?”
“It’s from the heart. When you called for me, I was genuinely moved. If you hadn’t been streaming, I might’ve cried.”
-He’s just a good guy, Black Dragon…….
-I watch Avantgarde; he’s been hanging around Edlen for days just to watch Black Dragon.
-What crime did the viewers commit?
-The crime of choosing the wrong streamer.
Avantgarde’s eyes were sincere.
Just from how many times he’d donated and tried to make contact, his desperation was clear.
“Then I’ll accept them gratefully.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Since there was something clear to exchange with Avantgarde later, Hanbit accepted the goodwill.
The two cards entered his inventory.
“There are even more people now. What do you want to do?”
Avantgarde said while looking around again.
The growing number of players were practically staring openly at them.
“Let’s just ignore them and move.”
“Huh? Is that okay?”
“As long as they don’t suddenly attack, it should be fine. Let’s try walking toward the forest first.”
“That sounds great! A walk really is RP, isn’t it?”
Avantgarde nodded enthusiastically.
It suddenly came to mind that his main content was traveling around the world.
In any case, with an agreement reached, the two started walking along the path.
After moving through the forest for a while, exchanging various remarks of admiration—
Avantgarde cautiously started the conversation.
“May I ask why you called me?”
“Why?”
“After you cleared the episode and the world message appeared, I accepted it calmly. I thought the ones who could help you would be big corporations or vanguard teams.”
Avantgarde was a streamer with an average of around 10,000 viewers.
A veteran who’d played RP since launch, but compared to famous giants, he was modest.
Because he hadn’t chosen the path of focusing on story and growth like others.
“You donated a lot and kept contacting me. And since we met in person too, I thought it was fate.”
“At that time, I thought it was a dream. If you hadn’t been with your family, I might’ve talked on and on without reading the room.”
-?
-They met offline?
-Where, I’m going right now.
-Stay in your room like always.
-That’s crossing a line…….
-Even if you don’t say it, you would’ve done that anyway…….
Avantgarde reminisced happily.
Watching him, Hanbit decided to revise his evaluation of the man.
“If you take out the RP world elements, I’m just a beginner too. There’s still a lot I don’t know about the system and players.”
“Fixed frameworks won’t constrain you, but judging by the direction of existing episodes, information about other players and relationships is quite important. There are places you can’t progress alone.”
“So you form teams?”
“Sometimes teams, sometimes factions clash. Of course, if you follow the route of truth like you showed in the Edlen episode, things could change completely!”
A statement that began with concern and ended with expectation.
Hanbit understood his thinking, but whether one could progress completely alone depended on the situation.
Especially since unreached storylines were impossible to predict.
‘Shortening time is definitely better…….’
Checking the map, Hanbit briefly thought about the future.
People said his current pace was fast, but honestly, it still felt insufficient.
The goal was ultimately to catch up to the most advanced vanguard teams.
With that in mind, Hanbit asked Avantgarde,
“I heard you travel all over the world—how far have you gone?”
“I’ve covered almost all of the western continent where Raven is. I explored a bit of the central region out of curiosity about the Holy Nation, but the east is blocked, so I couldn’t go there. A lot happened.”
Since his content revolved around travel, Avantgarde had met countless players and NPCs along the way.
It seemed he’d naturally built quite a few unexpected connections.
‘This is good.’
Hanbit was surprised by these unexpected strengths.
Information of a very different kind from what Luna provided.
If he’d traveled so many in-game locations, there might be information Hanbit didn’t know.
After thinking for a moment, Hanbit asked him,
“Let me ask the opposite—why did you contact me? Was it for strategy info?”
“Absolutely not!”
Avantgarde waved his hands frantically in denial.
Then, with a more serious face than ever, he continued,
“I just wanted to be close to someone who knows the truth of this world!”
