Chapter 22

“Guardian...”

He had never seen one mentioned even on the community forums.

‘A summon one tier above a golem.’

Perhaps he was the first to obtain one.

‘No, not perhaps. Definitely.’

“Ha... haha.”

Hunting in dungeons practically required a party. For someone who wanted to hunt in dungeons while maintaining the [Solitude] Trait, summons were an essential alternative to mercenaries.

‘This is the best reward I could ask for.’

Woojin burst out laughing despite himself.

“To think I could get something in the Dark Forest better than the drops from the Labyrinth Tower... The Red Tower would go crazy if they found out.”

The Red Tower was the largest magical alliance on the central continent.

“No, why stop at the Red Tower? The alchemists’ association, [Plaz], and the druid alliance, [Wooden Cloud], would be desperate to get their hands on it too.”

For players who normally fought from the rear, such as mages and druids, a golem contracted through a [Philosopher’s Stone] offered an enormous advantage.

‘You can contract a golem if you reach level 50 and change your class to alchemist on the central continent, but...’

Golems summoned with a [Philosopher’s Stone] were far larger and stronger than those created through ordinary alchemy. Moreover, summoning a golem required no conditions, and unlike spirits, they were not living beings. Even if destroyed, they could be summoned again after a day.

‘But putting everything else aside, the biggest advantage is something else.’

Anyone could use a [Philosopher’s Stone] to contract a golem, regardless of class.

‘Even an alchemist who can already summon a golem would have two if they used this.’

The [Philosopher’s Stone] truly was an item everyone coveted.

‘And now I have one...’

One that would let him contract not an ordinary golem, but a creature of a higher grade.

Woojin swallowed. For the first time in a while, he looked at the [Philosopher’s Stone] with a nervous expression.

[Would you like to use the Brimming Philosopher’s Stone?]

Just as he was about to press the confirmation button on the notification above the stone—

BOOM!!!

“...?!”

Startled by the deafening blast from an arrow Ruen had suddenly fired, he looked back.

“Sorry, Master! There’s an intruder!”

Her unexpected words made Woojin step back.

“An intruder...?”

Was it the Blan Clan? Had they followed him?

No. That was impossible. An instanced dungeon became a separate space upon entry, preventing outsiders from barging in.

‘Who on earth...?’

“Cough, cough...”

Just then, coughing came from outside the doorway.

“W-wait a moment!!”

Woojin frowned slightly at the man half-crouching behind the collapsed wall, waving his hands at him in surrender.

Flowing, pure-white robes. Not something an ordinary player would wear.

“... An administrator?”

Unable to make sense of the situation, Woojin leveled his weapon at him. The man’s eyes widened as he shouted,

“Please stop attacking!”

Something about him seemed rather inept.

“What are you doing here? I never called an administrator.”

“Ah... haha. I seem to have startled you.”

“Do administrators go around snooping on players these days?”

“No!! Of course not!!”

Woojin kept his guard up as the administrator awkwardly bowed in greeting.

“My name is GM Han. The reason I came here is... well...”

“Well?”

“Um... to say hello?”

The man who had introduced himself as Han gave Woojin an awkward smile.

‘... What’s with this moron?’

All he received in return was Woojin’s icy stare.

‘He’s a little different from that Dane guy I met in the square.’

Remembering how coldly Dane had rejected his pleas for help left a bitter taste in Woojin’s mouth.

‘Well... I’d probably have done the same.’

With his resident registration number not matching and no record of his family, it was hardly strange that they had considered his story a lie.

‘But...’

Regardless of all that, wasn’t logging out a matter of the game’s systems?

‘Even if every piece of information I gave them was wrong, the registration information from when I first created my character should still be there.’

Not the information belonging to Kim Woojin, who had vanished, but that of the warrior Khan, who still existed in this game.

‘And yet they kept telling me they couldn’t help, all because of my personal information.’

His fist clenched tight before he realized it.

“Master...?”

Ruen called to him in a worried voice.

“Whew...”

Woojin let out a low breath, reined in his anger, and looked at the administrator standing awkwardly before him.

“An administrator came all this way just to say hello to someone as insignificant as me? That sounds strange no matter how I look at it.”

“Ah! Well... you requested help in the square some time ago because you couldn’t log out, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“But there was a recent logout recorded, so I came to check whether the problem had been resolved.”

“A logout... was recorded?”

“Yes.”

Woojin frowned slightly at his answer.

‘Does the system record it as a logout when I go to that other world?’

Now it was certain. He really couldn’t get help from the administrators.

‘If the system even has a logout record, anything else I say will only make them more convinced I’m lying.’

He hadn’t expected anything from them in the first place, but now that it had come to this, he actually felt relieved.

“Wow... A clear time of nine minutes forty seconds? And with only a mercenary, no other party members... That’s strange. When I ran the simulations after finishing the design, I thought there was absolutely no way to get a time below ten minutes...”

Meanwhile, GM Han’s eyes sparkled as he studied Woojin’s record on the Dungeon Board.

“How did you do it?”

“... Are you asking me?”

“Oh... Sorry. That was an unnecessary question. Administrators aren’t supposed to interfere in players’ gameplay at all, except in cases of illegal activity.”

At Woojin’s guarded response, GM Han hurriedly stepped back and bowed his head.

“I was only recently transferred to administration. Before that, I worked in development, so I got interested in the record without thinking. I’m sorry.”

‘Development, huh...’

He certainly was different from the administrators Woojin had seen so far. Rather than being businesslike throughout, he seemed a little more human, perhaps?

‘But he’ll become just like the rest soon enough.’

Woojin regarded him coldly.

“I’m not interested in exchanging greetings and chatting with you. How about you leave?”

“Yes. There’s just one thing I need to tell you. You were on the agenda at our latest administrators’ meeting, Khan.”

“The agenda?”

“Since you requested an administrator several times but we were unable to help due to insufficient information, administration has decided to respond immediately whenever you use the administrator-call function.”

“Ha...”

Now, of all times?

It wasn’t even funny, but GM Han continued despite his reaction.

“So from now on, I’ll be responding to your requests as your assigned administrator. I really am sorry for watching in secret!! It was just... such an incredible fight.”

Han bowed at the waist once more, a full ninety degrees.

“I mean it.”

Having finished his farewell, he opened the dungeon exit.

‘They must be seriously short on administrators, hiring someone this clueless.’

Woojin looked at him uncomprehendingly. He seemed better than the scheming types, but that didn’t mean Woojin could simply think well of him.

‘There’s no way assigning me a personal administrator is an act of goodwill. It means they’ll be watching me.’

He didn’t care. In fact, that was exactly what he wanted.

“Well, then...”

As GM Han bowed once more and turned away, Woojin spoke to Ruen as well.

“Let’s head back.”

Running into an administrator here was puzzling, but he couldn’t afford to waste time dwelling on it. He still had the next dungeon, the [Bloodstained Cave], to clear.

A piercing throb shot through his head.

“...?!”

It happened just then. Woojin staggered involuntarily as pain stabbed through his temple.

“Master?”

Ruen hurried to support him from behind.

[Request accepted.]

[Bug Fix activated.]

‘Wh-what is this?’

[In 10 seconds]

[The player will be automatically logged out to investigate a bug.]

[1... 2...]

A system window had opened just before he entered the exit.

“W-wait...!!”

But this was different from before. The [YES/NO] selection that should have been beneath the notification was missing.

Woojin’s gaze wavered like the corrupted system text.

‘A forced logout?’

It was impossible. If that were possible, the administrators would never have left him alone while he made a scene in the square for over a month.

Yet that impossible situation was unfolding right now.

“Damn it...!!”

Woojin whipped his head around. But GM Han was already gone, apparently through the exit.

[5... 6...]

All the while, the count continued.

‘What do I do?’

Despite his pounding headache, Woojin’s mind raced. For anyone else, briefly logging out would pose no problem.

But he was different.

What if the reality awaiting him wasn’t that reality?

“Ruen!! Give me the ring and belt!!”

“What? Oh, yes!!”

At his shout, she hastily handed over the equipment she was wearing.

[You have equipped the Cheetah Ring.]

[You have equipped the Belt of the Trinity.]

Woojin hurriedly put them on.

[...10.]

The moment he fastened the belt buckle, the count reached its end.

“...#$^@#$!!”

WHOOOOSH!!!

Ruen seemed to be shouting something at him, but a deafening roar pierced his ears as brilliant white light filled his vision.

* * *

BOOM!! KABOOM!!!

‘... Where am I?’

As his vision cleared, thunderous explosions rang out. Woojin instinctively ducked and scanned his surroundings.

An old building stood before him. At the sight of the large clock hanging precariously in front of its shattered roof, he knew at once where he was.

‘The Alchemist’s Laboratory.’

The very place he had been moments ago. But it looked completely different from what he knew.

The dungeon lay in ruins.

‘Just as I thought...’

Woojin fingered the ring on his hand. Fortunately, the equipment she had given him just before he logged out hadn’t disappeared.

He swallowed, adjusted his grip on his sword, and lowered his stance.

‘If this is the Alchemist’s Laboratory... then I’m in the Dark Forest.’

That thing was still here.

The Faceless Monster.

Woojin shuddered involuntarily at the thought of it. Had the fear taken root too deeply? He had grown a little stronger, but he still couldn’t contemplate facing that monster.

‘Come to think of it, I was in Moretti the first time I logged out, too.’

Apparently, logging out brought him to the place he had occupied in the game at the time.

‘Good. At least I’ve figured out one thing.’

Woojin peered over the ruined building he had taken cover behind. At that moment, his gaze wavered.

‘But...’

CLANG! CLANG!! CLATTER!!!

Those were the sounds of battle.

‘Who are they?’

A dozen or so people stood before him. They were the first humans he had encountered here other than Raoul—the benefactor who had shown him kindness.

“Aaaaaah!!!”

“Get them!! Hurry!! Kill the men and cut out their hearts! Take the women alive and gouge out both their eyes!!”

Following the explosions, ear-splitting screams and the men’s harsh shouts stabbed at Woojin’s ears.

There was no reason everyone would be like Raoul.

“...”

Woojin tightened his grip on his sword a little more.