Chapter 303 Missing People (4)
Following that, there were no significant events but steady progress as they gathered 4 million Imperial people and hunted monsters every day. The peaceful days continued endlessly.
“It’s already like this.”
They didn’t see the hide or tail of the Heavenly Buddha. Instead, he met the other three Rankers who entered the Space-Time World first. By the way, the two of them were caught up in the incident after hearing that Henigus would enhance their equipment, and only one was different. He was a high ranker.
“Harton.”
“…My name is Hailton. Until when are you going to keep calling me wrong?”
“So, how about your quota today?”
“…Here it is.”
Yoon-seok, who took the time from the blond-haired man, smiled.
‘I didn’t know the rival Su-yeon mentioned was this kind of guy.’
Hailton Navy was a duel challenger from Navin, one of the dimensions that Yoon-seok hadn’t yet experienced. His race was human, and he recruited the healing specialist Alvern. Well, his reason for recruitment was completely different from what Yoon-seok thought.
“…Tomorrow is the end of this place. You didn’t forget, right?”
“About borrowing Alvern for a while?
“Yes. Please keep your promises.”
Hailton’s visit to Alvern was for a specific personal reason; it wasn’t about the Last Bastion or anything like that. With the single wish to revive his dead wife, he went a long way to come here, and Yoon-seok, who heard the situation, signed a contract with him using Alvern as bait.
‘What a shame. I’d just put him in the team even if he were just a little useful.’
Unfortunately, Hailton’s contract was only to hunt hard and devote time to the Spacetime World. It wasn’t a teammate contract (?) like with Sharon or the Overlord of Bow. He was too ordinary for that.
“Why did you choose something like a sword…?”
“…Why are you asking about my weapon all of a sudden?”
Even as a high ranker, he barely crossed the cut-off, and above all else, he used a sword. On the other hand, they already had Cheon-ma, Lavan, and the King of Steel. There were plenty of close-range warriors with high power and honor.
Because of this, Yoon-seok didn’t feel the need to fill a vacant spot with him.
“Why are you suddenly stopping? Shouldn’t you go hunting?”
“…I don’t know, but I suddenly felt very fortunate to have picked up the sword.”
‘…He has good intuition.’
Hailton left to hunt until the last day, and Yoon-seok saw him off with a satisfied smile. In addition to having a good vibe, Hailton had one more advantage.
‘Come to think of it. He filled almost twice the quota today.’
Hailton was very sincere. Yoon-seok didn’t know what kind of society he lived in, but he valued rules and never protested against unfair instructions.
“As expected, it’s also unfortunate. If he were just a little stronger, he would be perfect as a teammate.”
“Are you still saying that?”
As Yoon-seok was standing in the hallway and muttering to himself, Lee Su-yeon appeared somewhere.
“I haven’t seen you since yesterday, so where have you been?”
“It’s just the same. I came here after catching people who lied to me that they had nothing to sell at the Time Store and asked for time. I wasted my precious time.”
“…”
“Anyway, I don’t think it’s a good choice to choose that person. There are only three seats left now.”
“I know.”
Cheon-ma, Lee Su-yeon, Lavan, King of Steel, Overlord of Bow, Sharon, Alvern, Eltas, and even Yoon-seok. Nine challengers were already gathered, so they had three slots left to fill. It was necessary to be a little more careful to achieve what hadn’t been accomplished in any world line. Of course, there were only two months left before the duel on the 24th floor began, so they didn’t have enough time…
‘Well, if it doesn’t work out, we can at least bring the Sword Demon or Jin Muzhen from the Demon Sect.’
Zheng Dayun, the Sword Demon, was a high ranker, and Jin Muzhen was at the top of the missions. They weren’t particularly powerful compared to Hailton, but their loyalty was unmatched.
‘Anyway, then, who is the one who gives orders to the Heavenly Buddha?’
Yoon-seok was lost in thought for a moment. He thought he might get a clue if he met Hailton, who had first contacted the healing specialist, but that turned out to be a dead end. However, as always, the answer wouldn’t come no matter how much he worried.
‘I’m sure I’ll meet them someday…’
“Hey, oppa, I think we should get ready.”
“It’s already midnight?”
“Yes.”
As the sun didn’t rise or set, their sense of time grew muddled.
“How is it? Did we gather all the time?”
“Oh, just now, we filled the quota, so it’s good.”
“Then can I take all the remaining time that comes out today?”
“Yeah, I don’t care.”
“Yahoo!”
There was something she wanted to buy, and while the amount offered today wouldn’t be too much, Lee Su-yeon was happy.
“Then I’ll go hunting, too!”
Lee Su-yeon left, and Yoon-seok sat in the chair for a while and spent his time idly. Yoon-seok also devoted himself to hunting with them frantically in the early days, but since ten days ago, the number of monsters appearing had decreased significantly. Now, he found it more worthwhile to spend his time training.
‘Now that I’m doing this, I feel like a corrupt civil servant…’
How long had it been since he smiled at himself like that? Soon it reached midnight, as Lee Su-yeon said.
[It is midnight.]
[The Time Store is activated for 10 minutes.]
Yoon-seok approached the tablet and checked the purchase window first. Was it because 4 million people sold their talents and abilities? There were a lot of things he hadn’t seen before. Well, all of them were unnecessary for Yoon-seok.
*Elixir of Unique Skill (Rank S) – When taken, the rank of one unique skill with rank S or lower increases by 1 level.
Price: 2,400,000,000T
Why buy another one? One of these was enough. Yoon-seok, who finally collected his target amount, clicked the Buy button nervously. It wasn’t an impulse buy, but it was always exciting to buy something like this, in a good sense.
[Your purchased good has arrived.]
[Please check the lower part of the statue.]
Now it was time to unbox it.
After opening the drawer at the bottom of the stone statue, he took out the potion bottle and tried to Appraise it. Confirmed it was real, he wrapped it up and stowed it in his bag. He’d been waiting for a long time, so he’d like to drink it right away, but…
‘Let’s drink it after going back.’
There was only one Unique Skill that could be raised to SS Rank, so it was a gamble. However…
‘It’s a gamble that has to succeed.’
Yoon-seok had the Old Pocket Watch, and Sharon allowed him to use it as much as he wanted. In other words, if he waited for a while, he could become the God of Gacha and screw the Tower executives over.
‘It’s already fun.’
Yoon-seok smiled. As soon as he returned to the Tower, he planned to create an optimal combination by synthesizing all of the other S-Rank unique techniques and b Divine Ultimatum} and b Transcendental Muscle}.
* * *
“Woooooow!”
The millions of Imperial people gathered in the city all shouted as one. The reason was simple: the time on their wrists vanished. But, regardless of whether their remaining life span was visible or not, Yoon-seok couldn’t figure out what had changed so much from their original lives.
[You have successfully protected the Dimensional Stone for 180 days.]
[Applied rules will be lifted.]
The protection of the Dimensional Stone was nothing more than a little motivation. After all, the monsters had no intention of destroying the Dimensional Stone in the first place.
‘It must have been a role to inspire the challengers.’
As soon as he saw the people of the Empire rejoicing, a new message appeared.
[Contribution counting has been completed.]
While it was meaningless to protect the Dimensional Stone, he wondered how it counted. When he looked through the rankings, he figured it out roughly.
First place was Cheon-ma, he was second, and Lee Su-yeon sat third. It seemed that the rank was determined by the number of hunted monsters.
‘I know she went out a lot, but 1st place?’
How many monsters had she killed? She even stopped hunting for about two months, saying she was feeling lazy.
[Special rewards will be given according to the contribution level.]
“Finally, it’s all over.”
“I know. You suffered the most, Su-yeon.”
“You know.”
He had nothing more to say, but… still, it wouldn’t have been unpaid work. Perhaps she spent all her time saving up for it, but there was a necklace around her neck that he had never seen before, and Cheon-ma had a space battleship the size of Lynn.
“Hey, would you guys like to ride too?”
“If I get a chance later. Isn’t it time to go back now?”
“Yeah, I’m planning to ride this around Moorim as soon as I get back. So, just come if you want to!”
A trip to Moorim on a space battleship… was pretty romantic, but he didn’t think they could do that together. After all, Yoon-seok had been waiting forward to something more enjoyable as soon as he returned.
After that, he had to find the rest of his teammates.
“Then please go first.”
“Okay.”
As long as the special rules were lifted, leaving the Spacetime World was very simple. You just need to rip a Ticket.
Cheon-ma disappeared first, and then Lee Su-yeon returned to the Tower.
“I will contact those two separately later.”
Yoon-seok, who also bid farewell to Eltas and Alvern, met with the leader of the Imperial forces one last time.
“…Thank you. It was hard to trust you at first, but thanks to you, many lives have been saved.”
Yoon-seok didn’t know this man’s exact position, and they seldom spoke to each other except on the days they negotiated for control. But, he had helped gather all the citizens together.
“The entire space will be gone in a month, so get them all out before then and let no one in.”
“Of course.”
Yoon-seok left just like that.
[You will return to Earth.]
How long had it been?
* * *
When he opened his eyes, Yoon-seok saw a familiar office.
“Why did you come so late?”
“You’re already here?”
Lee Su-yeon, who returned first, sat on the sofa talking with Ashton. Originally, it was their pattern to have a conversation here after one journey was over, review it once more, and plan for the future, but…
There was something more urgent than that today.
“Su-yeon, do you know Sharon? Please contact her.”
“Right away?”
“Yes. You can tell Ashton what happened there, right?”
“Yes. I’m fine with it. If there is something urgent, go ahead.”
When Ashton casually said yes, Lee Su-yeon reluctantly nodded.
“…All right. So what do you want me to say to her?”
“Come to my waiting room as soon as possible.”
“…?”
Lee Su-yeon hardened at Yoon-seok’s simple and clear answer. Oh, maybe she misunderstood something?
“Don’t think about weird things.”
Yoon-seok told her about Sharon’s abilities and what he intended to do with them from now on. Then, Lee Su-yeon’s expression returned to its original blank state. However, she had a slight look of surprise mixed in.
“Wow. Oppa, do you know? In this way, your brain works much better than mine.”
“Hmm, is that so…?”
“Oh, Ashton, did you just see that? He smiled. He must have liked the compliment.”
“Did Yoon-seok just smile?”
“Yeah. Even if he always wears a mask, I can always recognize his smile for some reason, right?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s because you have good eyes, Su-yeon.”
How the hell did she know?
“Anyway, please deliver the message. I’ll be back.”
“Okay.”
After that, Yoon-seok returned to the Tower from Ashton’s office. Ironically, why did he feel like he was back home when he returned to this waiting room, not Earth?
‘I guess that means this has become my daily routine…’
Yoon-seok, who checked the duel timer out of habit, realized the flow of time once again. February 4th, 2020. When he calculated it, one more month had passed.
‘I originally always celebrated the New Year with my family.’
How long would it take before it was possible to return to a normal life? No, would he ever be able to go back? Well, either way, he’d find out soon.
‘After all, there’s not much time left now.’
“…”
Yoon-seok approached the tablet, and before checking the special rewards obtained in the Spacetime World, he first looked at the ranking board. It was to confirm the survival of every one of his colleagues.
‘Everything seems to be okay so far, so all we have to do is endure the next duel somehow.’
The duel on the 24th floor was a turning point. However, that part must be completely left to fate. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be an unfortunate incident between his colleagues at that time.
Then, Yoon-seok reached out his hand to close the ranking board. And at that moment.
“Huh?”
Was it because he didn’t look carefully? Or was it because he thought it wouldn’t be too obvious? Whatever the reason, he was late to notice, but…
Only then did the change in the ranking board catch his eye.
*11th place, Predator (SSS) – Earth.
*11th place, Steel Warrior (SSS) – Seheranbad.
*11th, Heart Sword (SSS) – Seheranbad.
All of them, including the King of Steel and Lavan, rose one step in the rankings. How the hell did this happen? That being said, the conclusion left no room for doubt. One of the top-ranked people had died.
Yoon-seok didn’t understand it at all, though.
‘…Who’s dead?’
There wasn’t even a duel. What the hell happened to one of those monsters?
Yoon-seok hastily checked the rankings of the top players, and when he realized whose name was missing, he hardened on the spot.
‘Damn, what’s going on?’
The Heavenly Buddha’s nickname was erased from the rankings.
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