Chapter 52

BZZZZ...

BZZZZZZ...

“Ugh... my head.”

Enjoying his first weekend off in ages, Hajun had been lounging under the covers when the persistent buzzing finally roused him.

“I drank way too much yesterday...”

Cursing his drinking session with Gyeongtae—he couldn't even remember how many places they had gone to—he gulped down the water on his bedside table and flipped open his phone.

“Pffft...!!”

The instant he saw the name on the screen, however, he spat out his mouthful of water and sprang to his feet.

“Yes!! T-Team Leader!!”

“You little bastard! What the hell are you doing that you couldn't answer your phone?!”

Hajun answered in bewilderment as Team Leader Go Juncheol's shouting battered his ear through the phone.

“I-I'm sorry.”

“Do you have any idea what's happened? Get to the office right now!!!”

BEEP... BEEP...

Hajun grimaced at the phone, now emitting nothing but a disconnected tone.

“Wh-what? You could at least tell me what's going on...”

* * *

“Good morn—”

Having hastily dressed without even properly washing his face, Hajun opened the administration team's door. He couldn't hide his dismay at all the eyes turning toward him.

“Wh-what's going on?”

Still bewildered and unable to make sense of the situation, he looked up—and gasped at the red text on the central monitor.

[Quest Name – Dragon Lord Activated]

“... Dragon Lord?”

He looked at the monitor again and again in disbelief.

“Don't tell me that's the Legendary class quest. Who on earth...?”

As a former developer, Hajun knew more about the quest than anyone. At this stage, when no one had even acquired a Unique class, it should have been utterly impossible.

And yet...

The impossible had happened right before his eyes.

“Who do you think? Khan.”

“... What?”

Go Juncheol emerged from the back of the office and glared at him.

“Khan activated the Dragon Lord quest.”

“Th-that's impossible...”

“Be honest with me. Do you know something about this?”

“Well...”

Hajun grimaced at the question.

‘Gyeongtae, you bastard... You said this could never happen!’

To think it would happen the very next day.

But blaming his friend wouldn't help. Monitoring Khan was his job, after all.

“The weapon Khan was using was a named item called Dragon Slayer Raoul's Sword.”

“... A named item?”

“Yes. I knew it was a weapon with an innate skill attached... but I didn't know it could unlock a class quest as well.”

Hajun answered cautiously.

“Inside the weapon is an essence that lets you learn an innate skill called Raoul's Essence. I was told that upgrading it requires clearing three Grade B quests.”

“Three Grade B quests?”

“Yes. Grade B quests are effectively raid quests or higher... so I thought it would be impossible for a player in the Dark Forest to clear them.”

Go Juncheol stared at him.

“You've got quite a way with words, haven't you?”

“... Sir?”

“You usually hem and haw whenever I ask you anything. How come you're so eloquent today?”

“No, th-that's...”

“Come with me.”

Go Juncheol summoned him into his office.

SLAM!!

Hajun's shoulders flinched as the door slammed shut.

“Who was it?”

“... Sir?”

“I'm certain I told you only to monitor him. When did you go snooping through player data?”

Hajun swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing.

“When you explained the weapon, you specifically said you didn't know it could unlock a class quest. That means you didn't investigate it yourself. Someone told you.”

“I-I'm sorry.”

“I'm not asking for an apology! What does apologizing change?”

Go Juncheol stepped up to him.

“This is work. I need solutions, not apologies! What we need to know right now is how the player Khan activated the Dragon Lord quest. Understood?”

Hajun swallowed again, his mouth dry under his team leader's burning gaze.

“Well...”

“I know. You can't check player data anymore, can you?”

Go Juncheol had already seen right through him.

“Checking equipment would require logging in with administrator privileges, so someone in development must have done it. Submit a report naming whoever helped you and detailing exactly what happened. Leave nothing out.”

“... Understood.”

“Find out how he cleared those Grade B quests and what his situation is, whatever it takes. Is that clear?”

Hajun nodded slowly.

CLICK.

Only after Go Juncheol sent him out and closed the door again did Hajun let out a sigh, the tension finally easing.

‘Idiot... I should never have meddled.’

He had wanted to do a good job.

The moment Woojin saw Khan's overwhelming power, he understood why special orders had been issued to monitor him.

That was why he had been curious. Where on earth did that power come from?

‘No... That's not it. That wasn't why.’

To be perfectly honest, he hadn't been trying to fulfill his duties as an administrator. Seeing Khan's sword had stirred his curiosity as a developer.

A weapon he had never seen before. He had only wanted to learn about it—and now look what had happened.

Standing out in the hallway, Hajun bit his lip and looked at the monitor.

[Quest Name – Dragon Lord Activated]

With even Unique classes still undiscovered, the activation of Dragon Lord was a first among firsts.

No one could predict what effect this incident would have on [Evil Tale].

“Whew... What am I supposed to do?”

Without Ethan's permission, he could no longer view information about Khan.

While Hajun wrestled with his dilemma, one thing was now certain.

The shackles of administrator oversight that had bound Woojin were falling away.

* * *

“... Are you all right?”

Clutching his throbbing head, Woojin slowly sat up.

“Where am I?”

“Where else? My house. You have no idea how startled I was when you grabbed your sword and suddenly collapsed.”

Charlson stood beside the bed.

“Are you okay?”

Ruen and Peron were looking at him with concern, too.

Outside the window, it was pitch-black; night had apparently fallen.

“Seriously, what kind of game actually makes people pass out? If you'd stayed unconscious much longer, I would've called an administrator and given them a piece of my mind.”

“Good job.”

“Huh? Oh, should I have called?”

“No. The opposite. I mean you did well not to call. Whatever happens to me from now on, don't call an administrator.”

Peron gave him a bewildered look.

“Anyway, what happened?”

“I saw the memories in the essence inside the sword. They were memories of a Dragon Hunter.”

“A Dragon Hunter?”

“A Dragon Hunter?!”

Charlson and Peron echoed him in surprise.

“Isn't Dragon Hunter one of the hidden classes? Boss, did you get the Dragon Hunter quest?”

“Well, something like that.”

If they knew it was the even more impressive Dragon Lord quest, they might faint.

“But I'd have to go to the central continent to meet a dragon... so it's not something I can do right away.”

Of all the nonhuman races in [Evil Tale], dragons were the most shrouded in mystery.

Everything known about them came from the official website, and no one had ever seen one.

None of them emerged from their lairs. Some people had even begun saying that dragons existed only in the lore and hadn't actually been added to the game yet.

“Charlson, I need information on the five dragons on the continent. Do you know anything?”

“Dragons...”

Charlson stroked his chin and murmured at Woojin's question.

“Well, information about dragons is scarce. Still, if I had to name one place, it would be the Revla Mountains on the central continent, also known as the Dragon Range.”

“The Dragon Range?”

“That's right. It was once called the dragons' sacred land. They say the ancient dragon Skaja has a lair there... though I couldn't say whether it's still alive.”

“Hmm. I see.”

He had accepted the quest, but his level was still too low even to enter the central continent. Completing it would be far from easy.

‘Should I focus on leveling up first...?’

Woojin was torn. Would gaining levels really allow him to subjugate a dragon?

He opened his quest window.

[Quest Name: Dragon Lord]

▶ Grade: SSS

▶ Subjugate one of the five dragons on the continent to advance to Dragon Lord.

▶ Advancing to another class will automatically delete this quest.

Dragon Lord was a class. It went without saying, but just as the quest stated, he couldn't choose another class if he wanted to advance to Dragon Lord.

‘To hunt Belian, Raoul ate Dragon Hearts and learned all sorts of skills in addition to swordsmanship.’

Could he defeat a dragon like that without advancing, while still a Warrior, his starting class?

Woojin stared at the quest window.

‘Is there... something I'm missing?’

“Hmm...”

But he couldn't spot anything particularly unusual.

“It's late. You should all get some rest. I'll have rooms prepared for you two as well.”

At Charlson's words, Ruen and Peron hesitated and looked at Woojin.

“Sure. Go do whatever you need to. You can rest or go hunting.”

Woojin turned to Peron.

“Peron, you reached level fifty in the Ice Cave too, didn't you?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Get ready to head to the central continent ahead of me. If you need anything, buy it through Charlson.”

Woojin took gold out of his inventory and handed it to him.

“Ten thousand gold.”

“Ack...! This much?”

“Use the rest to look for somewhere we can use as a base on the central continent.”

“A base... So you are planning to form a clan?”

“Not me. You.”

“... What?”

“Remember what I told you before? I said I'd buy information from you. Gather information on the central continent until I get there.”

“What kind of information...?”

“The state of the clans, the mood in the kingdoms and the various factions, dungeons, the Labyrinth Tower, monsters... Anything you think we might need.”

Woojin looked at him.

“Can you do it?”

“... Understood.”

Peron nodded as though he had made up his mind.

The reason he had taken on all manner of commissions from major clans was to reach the central continent with their backing.

Now, even though he would be going there alone, he was no longer afraid.

“But you'd better come soon.”

Peron smiled sheepishly as he accepted Woojin's money.

“If you need help, take this and find Kahira of the Church of Mha. Mention my name, and you should be able to get some assistance.”

“The Church of Mha?”

Accepting the cross, Peron repeated the name in surprise.

‘Even the kingdoms of the central continent can't meddle with the Church of Mha lightly...’

He could only marvel that Woojin, who had spent all his time in the Dark Forest, had somehow established ties with them.

“If trouble comes up, try to ask the church for help rather than the Ulda Alliance. That should be better than getting caught up in disputes between players.”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

Peron's eyes shone with renewed energy.

“Is anyone there? Come take this fellow to the storehouse!”

Watching Peron shift excitedly, perhaps eager to fulfill his dream of reaching the central continent, Charlson called out.

“Pick out whatever you need. As a special favor, I'll let you have it at the regular price.”

“You make it sound like you're doing him a favor...”

“Heh heh. Selling smuggled goods at the regular price is a very generous favor. Wouldn't you say?”

Woojin chuckled.

“All right, all right! Let's all leave. He needs his rest.”

Charlson clapped his hands to get everyone's attention, then led them out.

[Charlson's Guest Room]

▶ Staying here for a set period restores Health and aids recovery from status ailments.

▶ Recovery is equivalent to that of an inn.

▶ You can log out safely.

Once everyone had left, Woojin brought up a notification.

“...”

He stared at the last line in the notification window.

[Would you like to log out?]

[Yes / No]

Unlike back in the square, however, the lettering in the final notification window was garbled.

“Whew...”

Woojin sighed and gave up on the button, which refused to respond no matter how many times he pressed it.

It was late enough that ordinary people would have logged out and returned to reality, but he had to spend the entire night here.

Alone, Woojin sat on the bed and gazed out the window.

“Raoul...”

Even if Raoul hadn't looked the way he remembered, meeting him like this inside the game felt strange.

“... Huh?”

That was when it struck him.

[“Just one last dragon left now...”]

Raoul's words suddenly came back to him.

Belian had definitely been the third dragon he killed.

‘One last dragon?’

If what he said was true, the remaining dragon should have been the fourth.

And yet...

[Quest Name: Dragon Lord]

▶ Grade: SSS

▶ Subjugate one of the five dragons on the continent to advance to Dragon Lord.

▶ Advancing to another class will automatically delete this quest.

Woojin had opened the quest window once more.

“Why... are there five?”

His gaze wavered.