“Why would I... kill you?”

    “Huh?”

    Nanjiro momentarily lost his composure due to the immense destructive power that had overturned the cave.

    But upon reflection, he realized it made sense.

    There was no reason for Seong to kill Nanjiro.

    He had unconsciously been intimidated by the overwhelming explosion.

    He thought that Seong, being this strong, might want to party with him solely for PK purposes, leading to such a misunderstanding.

    Realizing this, Nanjiro awkwardly apologized with a bow.

    “Sorry, sorry about that.”

    “No, it’s fine. You could think that.”

    There were notorious players out there after all.

    This misunderstanding wasn’t entirely out of place.

    At any rate, Seong moved on from it, recalling the power of the explosion.

    ‘Quite impressive.’

    The power and range were considerable.

    If he had a linked skill this strong, he’d need to make frequent use of it.

    Though the long cooldown time was a downside.

    But that could be reduced as he leveled up and improved his proficiency.

    Now that he had checked the skill combos,

    ‘Should I clear it quickly?’

    It was getting late, so it was truly time to log out.

    Just then, something strange caught Seong’s eye.

    From the large ant corpse fragments blown apart by the corpse explosion, a greenish gas was slowly rising.

    Even though the corpse had been destroyed, the individual fragments still had poison applied to them.

    ‘Huh?’

    If the poison was still active on the fragments even after the body exploded, what if he first applied the poison, then used the corpse explosion for the damage, while spreading the poison everywhere?

    Perhaps there were even more ways to link these than he initially thought.

    Seong kept these ideas in mind.

    Since he was already here, he might as well test everything out before leaving.

    “Let’s go.”

    “Got it! Got it!”

    For some reason, Nanjiro was full of military discipline.

    ‘Don’t upset him. Absolutely don’t upset him.’@@@@

    Nanjiro was now onboard a comfortable ride.

    1.

    [You have cleared the 2-player dungeon, Large Ant Nest.] [You have gained experience!] [You received 10 gold as a clear reward.] [Level Up!] [You are now level 38.]

    It took no more than 10 minutes to clear the dungeon with Nanjiro.

    Considering that the typical time for a 2-player party to clear the Large Ant Nest was around an hour, this speed was incredible.

    Seong even leveled up, likely due to the experience gained from breaking through Rocks’ Tomb.

    Nanjiro seemed about to burst into tears as he repeatedly bowed his head in gratitude to Seong.

    “Wow! Thank you so much! Really!!”

    “It’s nothing. Enjoy yourselves.”

    “Seong-nim too!!”

    Watching Nanjiro scamper off, Seong couldn’t help but chuckle.

    Party hunting wasn’t bad.

    Anyway, by coming up with several combo strategies, Seong managed to gather quite a bit.

    ‘It’s much more convenient now that combos are possible.’

    The fact that there were more options to choose from was already a huge win.

    He had also fully utilized the effects of his skills and the Staff of the Apprentice Lord.

    Now it was time to log out.

    It was getting late, after all.

    But then Seong suddenly remembered something he’d forgotten.

    ‘Oh, right.’

    Kim Che-geon’s request.

    He had planned to send it but had completely forgotten in the midst of testing skills and the staff.

    He would send it along with the video he had filmed earlier.

    Whether or not they accepted her would be up to Rapid’s judgment.

    Seong scratched his cheek as he sent a direct message to Rapid.

    ‘But will this video be okay?’

    Kim Che-geon was included in the video, and due to his infamous reputation, even the faces of Uz and Kalak were openly shown.

    The two had done something wrong, so Seong didn’t think they would mind being seen in the video.

    It was a system-approved exception, after all.

    Though the requested concept seemed not to have been fully adhered to, Seong figured he’d just send the video for now.

    [Seong - [Attached Video]]

    [Seong - There’s an unusual swordsman appearing in the video as a party member, and he asked if he could do an interview with the Rapid Guild, so I’m sending this message.]

    [Seong - By the way, I’m not sure if the concept was executed well in the video. If there’s a problem, I can retake and send it again.]

    ‘This should be fine, right?’

    It felt awkward calling Kim Che-geon an excellent swordsman, so Seong had added “unusual” to the description.

    He wasn’t sure if they’d be okay with the interview request, especially since the video wasn’t exactly following the intended concept.

    He sent the message, and with that, his part was done. He quickly pushed it out of his mind, unaware of the ripple effect the video might have.

    2.

    In the heavily fortified base of the Rapid Guild, there was always one room that was the last to have its lights turned off.

    That room was the Guildmaster’s office, where Rapid himself worked.

    Even though staff had been hired to handle administrative tasks, Rapid had certain matters that required his direct attention, keeping him late into the night.

    This time, it was the Seong incident that kept him working so late.

    “Phew.”

    It was undoubtedly a good thing that a talented rookie had joined.

    But if that rookie was powerful enough to change the game?

    Even better, but it also made things more complicated.

    There were always those who argued that one person couldn’t shift the tide, but that wasn’t the case in Eternal World.

    It wasn’t uncommon for a single top-tier player to change the ranking of a guild.

    And that was without considering the potential of signing a double-lancer.

    Hmmm, the only one?

    “Wow...”

    Rapid couldn’t think of any words other than that.

    He simply let out a sigh of admiration as he thought.

    ‘If I just cut out this part and highlight the battle with Echo Willow, I can really bring out the Demon King vibe!’

    Here, Echo Willow, an absolute evil, was present, and the video would show their punishment.

    This alone would likely make for a popular video, but look at this production that shows the Demon King’s dominion.

    The cruel and wicked guild members from Echo Willow were shaking in fear.

    It was a scene that was both cathartic and perfectly expressed the terror of the Demon King.

    ‘I actually thought about scrapping this?’

    How foolish!

    Rapid briefly chastised himself and immediately prepared to edit the video.

    Although he could leave it to the staff in charge of the video, Rapid was an expert in video editing himself.

    There wasn’t anyone in the guild better than her at editing.

    She had too much to do, but this was something only she could handle.

    At that moment.

    ‘Hmm, if that’s the case, I should make sure this person gets the interview too.’

    As Rapid thought about how to set up the interview, an idea came to mind.

    Although he wasn’t free, it was a good idea.

    ‘Wait, didn’t I already meet him with a secondary character?’

    The person who had made a mistake, and this was a good opportunity to send him.

    ‘The second village—if it’s that dungeon, then it’s perfect for an interview.’

    Having had a good idea, Rapid immediately started to edit but then sent messages to both Kim Jinwoo and Seong.

    To Kim Jinwoo, he sent a message ordering him to go to the dungeon tomorrow where Seong would be, and to Seong, he sent a request for help with the interview with Kim Che-geon tomorrow.

    He figured he could send them both to the dungeon together.

    [Kim Jinwoo - Ah! Really! I shouldn’t have gone... sigh. Fine, I understand.]

    Kim Jinwoo replied, resigned, and Seong’s response came soon after.

    [Seong - Just when I needed a party, this works out perfectly. Thank you.]

    Seong’s message, expressing gratitude, made Rapid smile.

    ‘Tomorrow’s going to be exciting.’

    He was curious to see how the three of them would handle the dungeon, and he knew an amazing video would go up the next day.

    3.

    After sending the video and feeling refreshed, Seong exited the capsule and immediately made eye contact with his mother, Lee Na-gyeong, who was in the living room.

    Rather than scold him for playing the game, Lee Na-gyeong greeted Seong with a warm smile.

    “So, you’re done now? Aren’t you hungry?”

    Although she could have scolded him for playing the game, she asked with genuine concern, wondering if he was hungry.

    Seong, feeling a sense of warmth from her, replied, realizing it was likely because she knew his sister, Yuna, made good money, even if she didn’t know how much exactly.

    It made sense.

    Even if that weren’t the case, Lee Na-gyeong wasn’t the type to criticize him for playing games.

    Seong thought for a moment but realized he wasn’t hungry, probably because he had eaten lunch with Yuna earlier.

    “Oh, no. I had a lot for lunch earlier, so I’m fine.”

    “Really? Did you go out with Mina and eat a lot?”

    “Yeah. Dinner should be fine for me.”

    “Ah, well, your dad is running late, so I wasn’t sure whether to prepare dinner. But I’m glad you’re not hungry!”

    “Yeah, you can rest then.”

    “Ahh... I think I should head to bed soon.”

    Lee Na-gyeong, yawning tiredly, headed to her room.

    Seong felt guilty seeing her wait for him to come out.

    She had probably intended to prepare dinner when he got back.

    ‘She didn’t have to do that.’

    Since she was going to rest, Seong thought he’d need to let her know next time.

    He felt a bit parched, so he drank some water and returned to his room.

    When he looked at his phone, an alarm was ringing.

    ‘Has the reply come already?’

    Seong, puzzled, opened his phone.

    Sure enough, a message from Rapid had arrived.

    He was asked if he could join the dungeon with Kim Che-geon tomorrow, along with the Rapid Guild’s interviewer.

    There was no issue with entering the dungeon, but Seong was curious about which dungeon it was.

    When he checked the name of the dungeon...

    ‘The Castle of the Past?’

    He had heard of it before.

    If he remembered correctly, it was a type of test, just like when he defeated the scarecrow in one strike during the tutorial.

    To learn more, Seong searched for details.

    Various pieces of information appeared.

    ‘Oh, it’s a one-time, record-based dungeon?’

    Interestingly, it was a dungeon where only players below level 50 could enter, and only three players could enter at a time.

    There was no concept of clearing the dungeon, only waves that would occur.

    And each player’s progress was recorded.

    To be recognized as a top player, they would need to clear at least level 10.

    Experience rewards were significant as well.

    ‘No reason to turn this down.’

    He needed to level up anyway.

    Seong immediately sent a reply agreeing to the plan.

    It seemed a little strange, but going into a dungeon with someone as capable as Kim Che-geon was an opportunity he welcomed.

    Plus, there was the interviewer.

    If it was a guild interviewer of Rapid’s caliber, they were bound to be highly skilled.

    Excitement began to build.

    ‘The Castle of the Past.’

    A record-based wave dungeon.

    It seemed like tomorrow would be fun.

    But before entering the dungeon...

    ‘First, I’ll clean out my storage.’

    He hadn’t forgotten the things he needed to do.