Chapter 12: Chapter 12

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Chapter 12

Ho-yeong.

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that name.

A renowned guild in Korea, it was closely chasing the legend created by Sword King Sa Jae-hyuk before suddenly collapsing.

It remains a mysterious incident as the guild leader and executives all abruptly disappeared.

“Let me see the comments.”

“Here.”

Ha-jin handed over his phone, which had the New World community, “Welcome,” open.

The video of Jeong-hoon sparring with the instructor had 2,700 views.

Comments were pouring in below the video.

A total of 41 comments.

└ A Martial Artist? A Martial Artist defeated an instructor?

└ LOL, isn’t that a Starting Village instructor? A level 30 NPC.

└ Yeah, that’s right. I was wondering what it was.

└ Look at the title. A level 11 Martial Artist beat a level 30 instructor.

└ Yeah, I beat the instructor when I reached level 10.

└ Stop lying ^^ Is that even level 11? It must be a similar level.

└ Did he work out? His movements are no joke.

└ But why Martial Artist of all things… Even at the same level, it’s weaker than other classes, so when raiding later, he’ll suffer a lot lol.

Martial Artist, ostracized for being weaker than other classes.

As proof, even though a level 11 defeated a level 30 instructor, most reactions were lukewarm.

It seems this kind of public opinion was formed because of the low level and the fact that Martial Artists are seen as just brawlers.

But honestly, I’m not interested in those comments.

Jeong-hoon scrolled down, checking for nicknames with official guild marks.

└ This is the new guild Horizon! If it’s okay with you, could we ask for information about this user?

└ This is the new guild Lapaya. We will offer the highest compensation among new guilds. If the user in the video is watching this, please send a 1:1 chat request!

As expected, the ones sending love calls were new guilds.

These new guilds tend to send love calls to any decent user, so let’s pass on them.

The reason Ha-jin was making such a fuss was right below.

└ This is Yeo Min-ji from Ho-yeong. If the user filmed in the video is watching this, could you please send a 1:1 chat request?

└└ Huh? Is that really Yeo Min-ji?

└└└ Can’t you see the official mark? Yeo Min-ji herself appeared, lol… That Martial Artist hit the jackpot…

└└└└ Look at them trying to recruit just because they’re the same class… Do you perhaps not need a Gunslinger? I got a perfect score at the training center ㅠㅠ

Yeo Min-ji even commented herself.

Yeo Min-ji was an executive of the Ho-yeong guild and the daughter of the guild leader, Yeo Soon-woo.

For her to leave a comment…

‘She noticed the martial arts.’

When sparring with Instructor Altio, Jeong-hoon overwhelmed him with Underworld King’s Fist Martial Arts.

If Yeo Min-ji, currently the highest-level Martial Artist in Korea, had seen the video, she would have noticed that the martial arts displayed were not ordinary.

“Let’s just ignore it.”

“Ignore it?”

“Yes.”

They’ll probably try to pry about the martial arts.

Jeong-hoon came out purely for rest.

After resting, he planned to go back into New World and make his next plan.

He didn’t have time to play along with Yeo Min-ji’s tune.

“Wow… This guy is amazing. Why are you ignoring it? It’s Ho-yeong! Ho-yeong!”

“I know.”

“Then why are you ignoring it?”

“Because it’s not a recruitment offer.”

“Huh? Why not? You won without getting hit once. They can’t miss your potential!”

“That place is swarming with levels 200 to 300. Low-level players must be taking tons of tests to get in. Would they recruit someone just for defeating a level 30 instructor?”

“That’s true, but…”

“Anyway, ignore it. I’m going home.”

“Let’s go. I was just about to head home too.”

* * *

At the same time.

“Still no contact?”

“No…”

Yeo Min-ji was so dumbfounded that she couldn’t even laugh.

“Is this person not on Welcome?”

She tilted her head, and Team Leader Park In-tae nodded knowingly.

“It seems so. Who else besides a newbie would ignore a love call from Ho-yeong, of all guilds?”

“I guess so…? Hmm, then should we camp out at the Martial Arts Hall and wait?”

He was confident he could wait for days on end to find that user.

“Is there a reason you have to go that far?”

Team Leader Park In-tae was going crazy.

Why on earth was she so fixated on a Starting user?

He was also surprised that a low-level user had won a 1:1 spar with an instructor at the training center.

Moreover, the user hadn’t even allowed a single hit.

But if asked whether they needed to go to such lengths to find and recruit this user, Park In-tae would shake his head.

It was true that the instructor was overwhelmed, but that was only possible technically.

In terms of pure strength, the user wouldn’t even come close to the NPC instructor.

Ho-yeong had plenty of users who were technically skilled.

They had Olympic bronze medalists, Asian Games gold medalists, and so on, so there was no need to recruit a newbie, especially one who had just started.

“Yes. I can’t tell you the details, but there’s a definite reason.”

However, Yeo Min-ji, an executive of Ho-yeong, thought differently from Park In-tae.

She had to find this Starting user no matter what.

‘That martial art… I’ve never seen anything like it.’

The martial arts flowed like water.

The way the user dodged the instructor’s attacks and instantly corrected their posture to strike the exact target…

It was an attack that couldn’t be done without calculating everything.

Others might not know, but Yeo Min-ji’s eyes couldn’t be fooled.

That wasn’t just martial arts gained by sheer luck.

It was clearly a skill honed through countless experiences.

Otherwise, such movements wouldn’t be possible.

“Understood…”

In the end, it was Park In-tae who stepped back.

* * *

After returning home, Jeong-hoon slept almost all day.

His stamina was lacking after pushing himself hard for several days.

But after a good night’s sleep, he felt refreshed and thought he could focus on New World again after resting for just a day.

“Jeong-hoon, let’s eat.”

“Yes.”

Coming out of the living room, Jeong-hoon sat down and glanced at his mother.

Since coming back, he had been so focused on New World that he hadn’t spent much time with her. Normally, this would be the time for him to prepare to return to university.

But instead of studying, he had been spending his days out, so it was understandable that he didn’t look good in his mother’s eyes.

“Don’t just eat the ham, make sure to eat your vegetables too, okay?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to return to university soon?”

The moment he had been dreading had arrived.

Jeong-hoon carefully put down his chopsticks.

“Mom, the thing is…”

“It’s okay. You can delay returning to university.”

His mother’s reaction was different from what he expected.

As if there was nothing more to discuss, she resumed focusing on her meal.

“Is that really okay?”

“Yes. Ever since your father passed away, you’ve worked hard to study and do part-time jobs without wanting to burden me.”

Balancing studies and part-time jobs, Jeong-hoon had no time for hobbies.

He didn’t have the time to have any.

With his good memory and concentration, he managed to maintain top grades and got into a prestigious university recognized by others.

Jeong-hoon was his mother’s pride.

“Thank you.”

But knowing what he did about the future, it wasn’t the time to focus on studies and a job, despite feeling guilty towards his mother.

“So, what have you been doing these days?”

“I’ve been playing a game called New World.”

“Oh, that virtual reality game or whatever it’s called?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Is it fun?”

His mother showed interest in New World.

“Well… it’s so much fun that once you start, it’s hard to stop.”

“Well, that’s why you’re playing it all day. But make sure you take care of your health while playing. Understand?”

“Yes, I will.”

He was incredibly relieved that his mother was supportive.

After taking a break, he logged into World Com on his computer.

World Com is a major community for sharing information about New World, boasting over a million concurrent users at any given time.

‘The views have increased a lot.’

The video of Jeong-hoon sparring with the instructor had stalled at 4,000 views.

For a Starting’s video, that was a high number of views.

Of course, on World Com, 4,000 views weren’t that significant.

Real-time top 100 ranking posts typically exceeded 100,000 views.

‘This is good.’

As the ultimate gathering place for New World users, World Com could be considered a repository of all information about the game.

Whenever users discovered interesting elements, they immediately shared them on World Com, making it a part of the culture.

Thanks to the information available on World Com, he had saved a lot of time.

This time, he wasn’t logging in to gather information, but rather to check the status of dungeons in the northern region.

[Offering Dungeon Assistance!]

The progression in the Starting village follows a sequence of training at the training hall and then moving on to dungeons.

Typically, in the Starting village, the instructors at the training hall provide quests directing players to low-difficulty dungeons.

These dungeons are usually located in the south, while the northern dungeons are more challenging and not assigned as quests for training.

However, that didn’t mean the northern dungeons were ignored.

He navigated to the category, set it to the Starting village, and hit search, causing a list of posts to appear.

[Lv.21 Red Hop Goblin Village 3-Player Party Assistance! – Level 41 First Job Warrior]

[Lv.23 Orc Shaman 3-Player Party Assistance! – Level 39 First Job Mage]

There were many posts offering assistance.

The northern dungeons had higher levels compared to the southern ones, so players who had completed their first job advancement would help and take the dungeon rewards as compensation.

Jeong-hoon quickly scrolled through the posts.

‘It hasn’t been discovered yet!’

He recalled that around this time, the dungeon had been cleared, but since there were no posts about it, it seemed it hadn’t been discovered yet.

His next destination was set.

* * *

New World also had an official homepage.

Unlike World Com, which was created by users, the homepage was run by EarthSaga and provided updates, rankings, events, guides, and other typical game-related information.

If the New World homepage was the skeleton, then World Com could be seen as the flesh that complemented it.

There was an unusual announcement on the New World homepage, unrelated to updates.

===

[A Hidden Theme in New World Has Been Discovered!]

Hello! This is the New World development team.

We are posting this announcement to share some exciting news!

A hidden theme, which we had carefully concealed in New World, has finally been discovered by a user for the first time!

The hidden theme is a feature designed to aid in player growth, and it is set up so that the first person to discover it globally can claim it.

Therefore, we will be giving a special reward to the user who made this first discovery.

[Republic of Korea – 000]

The server will be disclosed, but the nickname will not.

Attention, New World users!

We are pleased to announce that the first hidden theme has been discovered in New World!

New World has hidden many other things related to growth besides this!

We hope all New World users have a pleasant day today.

From the New World Development Team

===

The news that the first hidden theme had been discovered…

The number of views of that announcement soared and surpassed 5 million in just one hour.

Naturally, Welcome, which served to amplify the news, was also on fire with the contents of the announcement.

[Hey! Did you see the notice? What’s a hidden theme?]

– They said it was discovered for the first time. Where was it found?

[I think a high-level user must have taken it.]

– It hadn’t been discovered for years since launch, right? Then it must have been taken by someone who opened a new area first.

[And the person who took it is from our country.]

– Damn lol Who is it? The person who took it, confess!

[I think it’s either Sa Jae-hyuk or Je Mu-jin.]

– Currently, the highest-level users in Korea are those two. Agree?

This was the reason why Welcome in Korea was ablaze.

The fact that the first person to discover the New World hidden theme was Korean!

They were filled with national pride but also dominated by feelings of jealousy and envy.

[Wow, this is what Koreans are all about!]

– But I’m so jealous… It’s not right that high levels get everything.

└ That’s what I’m saying…

└└ Life is bitter… lol

They didn’t know.

That the hidden theme was discovered in Starting Village, and the protagonist who opened it was a Martial Artist not even level 20.

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