Chapter 110: Chapter 110

Seoul, a capsule room.

Whoosh-

The capsule door opened and Kaneda Shun jumped out.

“Huff! Huff!”

He crouched on the floor, gasping for breath.

He had been severely beaten by that martial artist, and it had taken a toll on him mentally.

“Oh? Sir! Are you okay?!”

A part-timer who was cleaning the capsules hurriedly approached and checked Kaneda’s condition.

When Kaneda’s breathing didn’t return to normal, he was about to call an ambulance.

“I-I’m okay… I’m fine…”

Kaneda Shun awkwardly spoke in Korean, assuring him that he was okay.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine…”

As he said, Kaneda’s breathing was slowly returning to normal.

Only then did the part-timer breathe a sigh of relief.

He was glad that nothing serious had happened while he was working.

“Alright. I don’t know what happened in there, but don’t overdo it with the game.”

“Okay.”

Kaneda Shun, who couldn’t properly understand Korean, nodded vaguely.

He probably meant for him not to play the game.

Since dying in a party quest didn’t incur a penalty, he could log in immediately.

But Kaneda Shun wasn’t in the mood to log in.

He left the capsule room and went straight home.

“Aaagh! Fuck! That damn bastard!”

Because of that crazy martial artist bastard, his chance to get a hidden class was completely gone.

He was just a level 164 martial artist.

At first, he thought it would be an easy victory, but when he saw him take down his colleague in an instant, he realized he was a hidden class.

And he changed his strategy, trying to buy victory with money.

But the result?

It was his death.

‘He had no intention of making a deal from the start.’

Grit.

Kaneda Shun gritted his teeth in revenge.

===

[Player Information]

– Nickname: Hoon

– Level: 164

– Class: Intermediate Martial Artist (2nd class)

===

Was it Hoon?

Just a nickname, level, and the information that he was Korean.

But that was enough.

‘Hehe, you messed with the wrong person.’

He had lost his chance to get a hidden class.

He would never let this slide.

Kaneda Shun made a call somewhere.

[Oh, Shun. What’s up?]

“Brother, can you come to Korea?”

Kaneda Shun’s older brother.

Kaneda Masahiro.

He had started New World a year earlier than Shun and had currently reached level 256, and was the head of a mid-sized guild.

[Korea? I thought you were doing well there, did something happen?]

“Yeah. There’s someone I need to crush in New World.”

[Really?]

“Fuck! Because of that bastard, I lost my chance to get a hidden class.”

[Is that true?!]

Kaneda Masahiro’s voice was filled with excitement.

The Dark Lord’s Memoir wasn’t something Kaneda Shun had found on his own.

It was a precious treasure he had found with the full support of Kaneda Masahiro.

The amount of money they had spent just to decipher the memoir was a whopping 9,700 gold.

They had invested a lot, hoping for the Dark Lord’s Memoir.

But to think it would be ruined before it even started.

“Ha… brother, send a few more people to Korea.”

[That’s not so easy. I already sent two.]

The reason Kaneda Shun was able to choose two helpers for the party quest was because he had chosen them from Kaneda Masahiro’s guild members.

But they weren’t enough to deal with that hidden class martial artist.

“No. I was completely defeated in the party quest… Send 10, no, 20 people, even if they’re over level 200.”

[Huh…]

“Please! Damn it, my grand dream was shattered because of that bastard! I feel like I’m going crazy if I don’t permanently ban him.”

[…Alright. Study hard for now.]

“You’re the best, brother! I love you!”

* * *

Jeong-Hoon, who had beaten up Kaneda Shun and won the first party quest, immediately repeated the quest.

“Ugh… How did you drink that?”

Ha-Jin was the one who got the unidentified drink as the next quest.

Ha-Jin looked like he wanted to give up right away, but he forced himself to swallow it because Kim Bong-Goo was looking at him from the clear room with a resentful expression.

“Good job.”

“Uu-Ugh!”

“It’s okay, let it all out!”

Kim Bong-Goo patted Ha-Jin’s back and waited for Jeong-Hoon.

Jeong-Hoon’s mission was also a drink.

But Jeong-Hoon didn’t seem to be in pain even after gulping it down in one go.

“…This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted.”

Jeong-Hoon’s face only contorted slightly.

It really tasted awful. It was similar to the sweat of a mummy wyvern he had drunk once when he was extremely thirsty.

How the hell did these guys drink it?

But to Kim Bong-Goo and Ha-Jin, Jeong-Hoon seemed inhuman.

“He’s fine after drinking that…?”

“He’s crazy…”

After that, it was a breeze.

“Keuheok!”

“Aaagh!”

“What the hell is wrong with this guy?!”

As usual, Jeong-Hoon’s party completely slaughtered their opponents in the Battle Royale and won.

And then the party quest was repeated.

After repeating it for a while.

[You have won the final round.]

[You currently have ’10 wins’ without any losses.]

[You have acquired the ‘Mark of the Märchen Kingdom’.]

[You have acquired the accumulated experience points.]

[Returning to the previous location.]

They had achieved their goal of 10 consecutive wins.

[Level Up!]

[All stats have increased by +1.]

[Bonus stat +1 has been granted.]

Additionally, their levels, which had been stagnant, increased by 1 each.

Jeong-Hoon was now 165.

Ha-Jin was 180.

Kim Bong-Goo was 167.

“Done. We leveled up.”

“…It’s not a very efficient quest, is it? If we had gone to Seidroff, we would have leveled up twice, but we only leveled up once.”

Although they had leveled up, it was a bit disappointing for a party quest.

And Kim Bong-Goo was reaching his limit.

He had no more mental strength left to continue the party quest.

He wanted to log out and rest right away.

“Alright, everyone did a good job. Let’s end the party quest here.”

Fortunately, Jeong-Hoon announced the end of the party quest.

“Really…?”

Kim Bong-Goo asked back in disbelief.

“Yes. Are you disappointed? Do you want to do more?”

“No! Then I can log out right now, right?”

“Yeah? You can, but…”

Before Jeong-Hoon could finish, Kim Bong-Goo logged out.

‘This guy and that guy too.’

He had leveled them up and made it possible for them to enter the royal palace through the party quest, hadn’t he done enough?

Why were they running away?

“Hoon, will it be okay?”

“Huh? What?”

“I mean, that Japanese guy we faced at the beginning.”

Ha-Jin’s voice was very cautious.

“What about him?”

“He was glaring at you with such murderous intent until the very end.”

“That’s to be expected. People like him usually hold grudges.”

Kaneda Shun.

He had an older brother named Kaneda Masahiro.

They were such close brothers that the older brother was very generous to the younger one, and he had heard that Kaneda Masahiro had helped a lot with this hidden class as well.

Considering Shun’s personality, it was highly likely that he would ask Masahiro for help and seek revenge.

Jeong-Hoon had already anticipated all of this.

[A grudge… He must be similar to our master.]

But suddenly, Mukho started to pick a fight.

‘Similar? What do you mean by that?’

For the first time, Jeong-Hoon’s voice had an edge to it.

[I was wrong! I was wrong!]

Mukho hurriedly backed down.

‘Comparing me to others is fine, but don’t compare me to that bastard.’

[…I’ll keep that in mind.]

He couldn’t stand being compared to that trash.

“It’ll be fine, right? We can always ask Ho-Yeong for help if anything happens.”

“Yeah. But what about you? You can hunt freely from now on.”

At those words, Ha-Jin logged out without looking back.

* * *

‘A lot of requests came in.’

After the party quest, Jeong-Hoon entered the Enhancement Exchange and checked the requests.

Nearly 1,000 requests had come in.

Jeong-Hoon quickly processed the backlog of requests.

[Transcendent Enhancement: Legendary level has increased.]

After fully enhancing nearly 1,000 pieces of equipment, the skill level increased from 1 to 2.

[Transcendent Enhancement: Legendary]

– Type: Enhancement

– Level: 2

– Grade: Legendary

– Can enhance equipment. (Up to Legendary)

– Success rate for each equipment (Normal 100%, Rare 100%, Epic 82%, Unique 62%, Legendary 33%)

– 0% chance of equipment destruction upon failure

– Enhancement attempts are not consumed upon failure

The success rate for Epic, Unique, and Legendary enhancements increased slightly as the level increased.

‘Not bad.’

[Master Enhancer]

– Normal (Fully Enhanced) 435/10,000

– Rare (Fully Enhanced) 553/10,000

Even the count had increased significantly thanks to this request.

“I guess more requests will come in once the video is uploaded.”

Yoo Na-Eun from Ho-Yeong would also ask for help with enhancement soon, and if he made a series of full enhancements then, the count would increase quickly.

“Then shall we get going?”

Jeong-Hoon organized the exchange and headed to the stable in the capital.

The royal palace was blocked off so that you couldn’t pass through the gates.

So he had to use a different route to enter the royal palace.

===

[NPC Information]

– Nickname: Gareth

– Level: 223

– Class: Stable Owner

===

“Welcome. Are you here because you need a horse?”

Gareth, for a stable owner, had a well-trained physique.

Those weren’t muscles built from simply managing horses.

But they were muscles that could only be built through systematic training.

That’s right.

Gareth’s true identity was a knight of the Knights Templar, who protected the royal palace.

“Yes, I need a horse.”

“Where are you going?”

“The royal palace.”

Pause.

Gareth’s body trembled once at the mention of the royal palace.

“Why the royal palace…?”

“I have some business there.”

“Is that so? But what to do? Not just anyone can enter the royal palace. I’m sorry, but would you please go back?”

Gareth, as if he had no more business, tried to leave to feed the horses.

“Even after seeing this?”

Jeong-Hoon took out the ‘Mark of the Märchen Kingdom’, an additional reward for winning 10 consecutive party quests.

Gareth’s face hardened at the sight of the mark.

“…Where did you get that?”

“Why should I tell the stable owner that?”

Jeong-Hoon tilted his head, and Gareth let out a sigh.

“…Then would you please wait a moment? The royal palace is not a place you can enter carelessly.”

“Sure.”

“Thank you for your understanding.”

Gareth excused himself to Jeong-Hoon and went into the stable.

Not long after, Gareth reappeared with an NPC.

He was a knight of the Märchen Kingdom.

===

[NPC Information]

– Nickname: Ragan

– Level: 237

– Class: Märchen Kingdom Official Knight

===

“I heard you have the seal.”

Ragan said solemnly, bowing once to Jeong-Hoon.

“Yes.”

Jeong-Hoon held out the Mark of the Märchen Kingdom.

Ragan carefully brought his hand close to the seal and let mana flow through it.

The mark glowed blue, and then a beam of light shot up into the sky.

The beam of light slowly drew the seal of Märchen.

It was a seal with a fiercely roaring lion and a valiant knight raising his sword to the sky next to it.

Ragan let out a gasp.

‘It’s real…! It’s really the Mark of the Märchen Kingdom!’

When Gareth first said that an outsider with the mark had appeared, he thought he was lying.

But seeing Gareth’s serious expression, he thought he had to check it out himself, so he came out in person.

And the mark that the previous king had lost had finally reappeared after a long time.

“Has it been confirmed?”

Jeong-Hoon put the mark back into his inventory.

Ragan’s eyes lit up.

It had been so long since an outsider had brought the mark.

“…Alright. Then I’ll guide you to the royal palace.”

“Is it okay to let an outsider in like this?”

“Can you say that after seeing that mark? I’ll take responsibility, so just focus on your assigned duty.”

“…Understood.”

Jeong-Hoon followed Ragan towards the royal palace.

But as they got closer to the royal palace, the atmosphere became more and more chaotic.

“What’s going on?”

Jeong-Hoon asked Ragan.

“I-I don’t know either…”

Ragan stuttered slightly, confused.

The atmosphere was definitely different from when he left after receiving Gareth’s report.

Just then, a knight who seemed to be a new recruit ran towards Ragan.

“Captain! It’s an emergency!”

“What’s going on all of a sudden?”

“A dungeon wave has opened at the north wall! It happened without any warning signs… You need to go there urgently!”

“Is that true?!”

Ragan’s face contorted.

A monster wave had occurred while he was meeting the outsider with the mark!

“Yes! It’s urgent!”

“…Sigh, alright. Then please guide this outsider to the royal palace. He has the mark, so entry shouldn’t be difficult.”

Ragan instructed the knight.

“No. I’ll help too. Let’s go together.”

But Jeong-Hoon had no intention of waiting in the royal palace.