Chapter 148
Jackson responded.
Im here in order to find the Eastern Star. Its one of my main scenarios.
The Eastern Star?
Jackson shared most of his scenarios, clear thods, and monster-killing thods. The Great Explorer Jackson was a VIP in every country, and his information was essentially public property of humanity. He was a paragon and a hero who offered everything for the common good.
I dont rember a scenario called Eastern Star.
The Jackson now, in the beginning days of Playing, vs. the Jackson I knew. There was definitely so kind of difference between the two. A difference that had nothing to do with my existence as a regressor.
Would you be willing to tell
what that is?
Sure, since I have a good feeling about you.
Jacksons explanation wasnt complicated.
...So youre saying this Eastern Star is a type of king candidate?
Yes. I dont know what a king is yet, either.
This Jackson was searching for a king. He was different from the Jackson I knew. I couldnt look at him with Eye of Perception right nowhe was being protected by a special power.
If it is alright with you, may I inquire about your class?
My class is [Exploring Baptist].
The class Jackson said he had in the past was [Exploring Pilgrim]. Did the Jackson I knew lie, or was Exploring Pilgrim the higher level of Exploring Baptist?
Baptist.
Pilgrim.
They were words in the sa vein.
What puzzle piece am I missing?
I couldnt figure it out.
Since Ive revealed my class, could I also inquire about yours?
My class is I looked around once. Observing Sovereign.
It was seven parts truth, three parts lie.
Though if you really nitpick, it does seem like three parts truth, seven parts lie.
In any case, it wasnt really a lie. I was an observer, and at the sa ti, I fulfilled the role of a sovereign.
Observing Sovereign It sounds like a great class. Sohow, I get the feeling we will et again.
Jackson dipped his head towards , but then, sothing seed to suddenly occur to him.
Ah, right. Do you happen to have an artifact related to a king?
An artifact related to a king?
I did.
[Old Crown]
A crown symbolizing the authority of a king. Though it is made of glittering gold, the passing of many years has greatly aged the relic.
It was the reward I got from clearing the Early Adopter scenario of the Gwanghwamun Dungeon.
I dont.
I see. He asked
another question. Is there perhaps a crown in the future you see?
At that mont, I was overco with that strange feeling of dj vu again.
He specifically asked about a crown. What does this an?
I made it very clear. There is definitely no crown in the future I see.
There was a crown in my past, but not in the future, so this wasnt a lie.
Eye of Perception sensed so kind of energy.
[Detecting a foreign energy.]
It definitely belonged to Jackson. He was probably trying to verify the truth of my words. I spoke the truth. I had a crown in the present, but there was no crown in the future I knew and saw.
I see. I understand. This has been truly instructive.
The dj vu disappeared. With a good-natured smile, Jackson said, I intend on exploring the Gwanghwamun Dungeon. I will contact you if I co across any good information. Could you give
your number?
We exchanged numbers. And with that, I established a hotline with the Great Explorer himself.
* * *
* * *
Back inside the car, Sunhwa was long asleep, and I fell into thought.
In this world there are things I didnt know.
The governnts duplicitous announcent regarding the Six-Tailed Fox.
The unknown beings who were cultivating Predator Trees.
A Guardian who wanted the Red Eyes, as well as the Blood and Iron Queen Song Junghye who wanted them as well.
And even my machine-determined evaluation of No Talent. Little by little, I was uncovering things that were different from what I knew. No, to be more precise, they were things I didnt know.
On top of that, the Great Explorer appeared in Korea.
He definitely seems like an Irregular, but he doesnt have the mark of one.
It wasnt all that unusual that a Ranker and skilled Player of his level, a person who was praised as the Hero of the World, was an Irregular.
But that Irregular feeling is
I couldnt be sure, but
Its similar to the feeling I got from Seohyes Red Eyes.
It was subtly similar, but not. So subtle that if I hadnt personally t and observed Ahn Seohye when she had the Red Eyes, I wouldnt have been able to feel it.
It is similar in feeling to the Red Eyes.
I had neither evidence nor reasoning. Just feeling.
I
I decided to base my judgnt on the assumption that Jackson from the future ca to the Gwanghwamun Dungeon at this ti, too. Big currents in ti wouldnt change unless soone forcefully diverted their path.
The Eastern Star
A king candidate.
This tilines Jackson is here.
But the future Jackson never said he was in Korea before. He even pretended he couldnt speak Korean.
Sothings fishy.
I didnt know what it was, but I decided to be suspicious for now. Why did the future Jackson cover up the fact he Played in Korea before?
Even though he revealed all the high class info he obtained.
Why?
There was either a matter in Korea that he absolutely had to hide, or the [True Scenario] hes doing takes place in Korea.
It was possible the strategies and info he shared were extrely useful and outstanding to other people, but to Jackson, they were aningless. Therefore, he publicized the aningless information and kept the information he truly needed to himself.
Its still just an inference.
I couldnt rule out the possibility that the past and the present may have really changed. I decided to keep every theory open. While lost in thought, we arrived ho.
We had cleared the Gyeonghoeru field a ton. I decided to rest a little.
* * *
The currently 14-year-old soon to be 15 years oldSong Jinchul threw his ga console. The device cost a whopping $6k, but that didnt matter at all to him.
Ah seriously, so boring.
Right on cue, he heard footsteps outside his Gaming Room. He couldnt see who was outside the door, but he knew who it was.
Ajumma! Co in for a sec!
TN: Ajumma is the Korean word for married, middle-aged woman.
She was one of the countless housekeepers working at his house. He didnt know her na or her age. A housekeeper was simply a housekeeper.
Sure enough, a woman in her 40s ca into the room, her back respectfully bent.
Please excuse my intrusion.
Get rid of all of this. Ptui!
Jinchul intentionally spat all around him. The woman took out a rag from her pocket and wiped away the gobs of saliva, as if such an incident was an everyday occurrence.
Ah seriously, so frustrating. Who the hell is that Kim Hyukjin? Just who the hell?!
Before, his grandpas attention had been his, and his alone. His mom and dad were dead anyway. His older brother and sister were duking it out for the succession of the company. Jinchul didnt give a rats ass about the succession choice. He only needed his grandpas love and attention.
To make matters worse, he heard his older sister say, Im gonna go et that Kim Hyukjin guy.
His sister going out to et soone in person wasnt a common occurrence. Normally, people ca to et her, not the other way around.
The oldest, my brother, is interested in him. The second oldest, my sister, is interested in him too.
Not just grandpa, but even his brother and sister both showed imnse interest in Kim Hyukjin. To his young eyes, his brother was almost entirely converted to Team Kim Hyukjin. Kim Hyukjin? Who the hell was he? Was he more amazing than their Sungshin?
Jinchul spoke to the woman who was kneeling as she cleaned.
Ajumma. Answer .
Yes, Young Master. Please go ahead.
Is Playing that amazing?
There was a manual in place for the housekeepers. She answered chanically.
I apologize, Young Master. Im not sure.
That was all she had to say. It wasnt a conversation. Just inputs and predetermined outputs. The pay was way higher than other places, so she simply endured and worked in silence.
Im wondering if I should just go and Play, too. Should be a lot more fun than these shitty gas.
In the future Kim Hyukjin knew, Song Jinchul didnt have much interest in Playing. It was dangerous and annoying, and he already had money and fa. It was his opinion that he should just live his life using plenty of the money he had.
That was why Song Jinchul ended up taking his talent plate exam with a scowling face when Kim Hyukjin was 25, so when Jinchul was 19. And it just so happened that Hyukjins result ca out as 67 at that ti.
Its just cause I havent tried, but if I do it, Im gonna be fucking aweso at it. You think so too, right?
Of course. Youre great at everything once you set your mind to it, Young Master.
His ruffled feathers smoothed by those words, the first year middle schooler Jinchul waved his hand, saying, Enough, go on out. He firmly resolved himself.
This wont do. Ive gotta go do that talent plate exam or whatever its called.
His foray into Playing was moved forward by five years. Yet another small change began to occur due to Kim Hyukjins existence.
* * *
A weird rumor was going around the DMC Riverview Xi.
No idea. I think so rich madam bought them all up in one go?
I hear they offered way more than the market price.
Its because our DMC Riverview Xis status and value have skyrocketed.
But even so isnt it a little weird that six goldilocks apartnts were bought in one go? I heard the gross price was $1.5 million each, $1.2 million before taxes.
Youre right. No matter how you think about it six apartnts getting sold when weve only got sixty in our complex is definitely strange.
It was just a rumor, but word was going around that soone purchased a bunch of ideally located apartnts for $300k more than the market price. The previous owners were chard by the big numbers and imdiately vacated their hos.
And I hear all their moving fees were covered.
In any case, our house prices should go up a lot, too.
Whatever it is, its good for us.
About half of that was the truth.
Floor 14, room 1: the Poison Witch Cheon Sooji.
Floor 14, room 2: the Taeguk Shield Song Kiyeol.
TN: Reminder that Taeguk Shield is the na of the guild as well as the moniker of Song Kiyeol.
Floor 15, room 1: Kim Hyukjin and his family.
Floor 15, room 2: Shin Yeonseo and Ahn Seohye.
Floor 16, room 1: Jo Sunghyun and Choi Sung-gu.
Floor 16, room 2: So Yoohyun.
They ended up moving in like that. Hyukjins new condo was the largest in the complex, 200 sq. ters.
There, Hyukjin conversed with Song Kiyeol.
Mr. Song Kiyeol. I hear youve bought a condo on the 14th floor?
I figured there had to be a reason a person who could see the future specifically picked this place, so I just bought one.
By giving $300k more than the market price?
Yes. I took care of all the expenses, including the moving expenses.
Sungshin is indeed rich.
But even for Sungshin, it had to be quite the hefty sum.
Its on the small side for an investnt on the company level. Normally, an investnt of several hundreds of millions is standard.
And how co Miss Cheon Sooji is here?
She has always wanted to co here.
Did the Guildmaster tell her that I would be moving here?
Not quite. Because this investnt was made by Taeguk Shield, it was sothing Sooji could not help but know.
Hyukjin thought back to his encounter with Cheon Sooji in the elevator. She slipped him a piece of paper, whispering, This is the passcode to my house. Youre welco at any ti, even at night.
Of course, he ripped that paper to pieces.
I dont intend on moving in myself. I only purchased one.
Kiyeol was talking about buying a condo like buying groceries at the supermarket. It was as hard as ever for Hyukjin to understand the way chaebols thought and operated. In any case, six of the top Rankers from his past life ended up moving into the DMC Riverview Xi. Cheon Sooji and Song Kiyeol were also Rankers, after all.
A 1st generation Player town was developing before him.
Hyukjin called his party mbers for a eting. Joining them was Ahn Seohye, who wasnt a formal mber of the party.
Good work moving in, everyone.
The issue of their new living arrangents wasnt important. The more important topic was coming up.
As you all know, we need to keep clearing the Gyeonghoeru field. As tedious as it is.
But they couldnt bet their lives on just the Gyeonghoeru.
Sunhwa. Youre still doing what I told you to do before, right?
Before he went into the Gyeonghoeru field for the first ti, Hyukjin asked Sunhwa to do sothing.
Of course! Here. This is what youre talking about, right?
As the party mbers, Sunhwa took sothing out. Sung-gus eyes went round.
Hmmm? Whats this? It looks expensive!
Reviews
All reviews (0)