God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 67: Episode 13 _ Tokemon (4)

4.

“Ms. Seolah, I think I’m going to need a few more days. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Our ranking isn’t going to get overturned anytime soon, so take your time and handle your business.”

The next day, when his message came in, Jeong Seolah replied that she understood.

“What the heck, Unni? How can you just say okay like that?” Yeseul said.

“What else am I supposed to do? It’s not like he’s the type to come just because we tell him to.”

“That’s true.”

Hyeonsu mentioned, “How long could enhancement possibly take that he needs days? We’re not even seeing any holograms pop up.”

“He did say he was going to make everything to +15, but I’m not really sure.”

If he were right next to them, they could probably twist his arm and drag him into the hunt, but right now they didn’t even know where he was. And he wasn’t the kind of person who would listen just because they asked. All they could do was hope he would come back as soon as possible.

“Man. If everyone lived as freely as Simin, the world would be a lot less stressed out,” Kang Yeseul grumbled.

“You’re not exactly in a position to talk,” Jeong Hyeonsu shot back.

Even with one person missing, their teamwork hadn’t faltered. All the EXP they had gotten so far had just been a bonus. Their mouths complained, but their hands kept silently cutting down monsters.

“This is fun,” Yeseul muttered sarcastically.

Every now and then, the spells she tossed out might have even been helping.

“Ugh, in game-fantasy novels, they always skip over the boring process of hunting. Doesn’t Fantastic World have anything like that?”

“If they had that kind of service, they would’ve put it in the cash shop first.”

“True. And there is a certain satisfaction in grinding like this and growing bit by bit.”

“I’m sick of it.”

“Aaagh! You’re right! I’m sick of it! Sick to death! Respaaaawn!”

Her personality swinging back and forth was normal. They needed some kind of change.

Yeseul asked, “Unni, can’t we move to a different hunting ground?”

“No.”

“I mean, it’s like working out. You rotate through different sets so you don’t get bored.”

“No. We’re not doing that.”

“I almost wish someone would just come pick a fight with us. Then we could have a nice brawl and go back to hunting hard for another couple of days.”

Scanning the area, hoping some passerby would show up to start trouble, Kang Yeseul looked utterly worn out. It couldn’t be helped. It was a game she loved, but once money was on the line and a clear goal appeared, the fun was bound to be cut in half.

If she really wanted to chase only the kind of fun she liked, she could give up hunting right now, but that would make founding the guild meaningless. For someone who had had everything all her life, finding this kind of motivation wasn’t easy.

“Ugh. I’m bored. Weakness! I don’t wanna do this anymor— Bind!”

It was like a call-and-response chant. If she didn’t keep her mouth moving, she wouldn’t have any energy at all.

And once again, the heavens granted her wish.

“There they are!”

“This feeling of deja vu is probably just my imagination, right?”

“I don’t think so.”

The three of them let out a collective sigh. It was something they felt in every game they played: there was never a peaceful day. They had thought they had actually enjoyed a decent stretch of quiet time in Fantastic World, but apparently, this was where it really began.

“Let’s at least see who they are,” Hyeonsu suggested.

“Isn’t that the Shield Guild from last time?” Yeseul asked.

“That’s the most likely, but...” Seolah answered.

The Shield Guild, which had been wiped out twice, had plenty of reason to hold a grudge, but so did the players who had lost their shot at Main Quest Act 1. They had been quiet while preparing for Act 2, but once a lull set in, people naturally started looking elsewhere. On top of that, Fantastic World was realistic enough that you could make good money just by PKing low-level players and selling the items they dropped. It was no wonder that guilds made up entirely of professional PKers were starting to appear.

“Hopefully, they’re not like that.”

“If they’ve got half a brain, they’ll go after lowbies instead of us.”

Seolah’s reasoning sounded plausible, and the number of people appearing on the horizon supported it.

“Why are there so many?”

“Are they insane?”

“There are way more than last time.”

When a hundred and fifty players had surrounded them, the encirclement had been so tight there had been no visible gap to escape through. This time, there were even more people, and much more serious expressions.

In that moment, the Specialists realized how serious this was. One thing was clear: this was not a PK guild targeting random players, and it wasn’t Shield either. The gear they were wearing was on a completely different level from the players they had seen back then. There were no visible auras, but their gear was probably enhanced to at least +7 or +8 across the board.

What was happening, and why were they here?

“Good day to you.”

A man in outrageously flashy gear parted the crowd of players and stepped forward.

“Who are you?”

To the Specialists, he was a complete stranger.

“I’m Kenji.”

His pride stung, but he forced his twitching lips into a smile and introduced himself. They might not have known. They were almost certainly the kind of players who checked the level rankings every day, but there were plenty of people who only ever checked their own ranking and couldn’t care less about anyone else.

“And who’s that?”

Kenji was speechless.

But with someone like Kang Yeseul, who had even less interest in other people than he had imagined, just dropping his name was useless. It was an awkward situation. If he explained, it would feel pathetic. If he didn’t and just attacked, it would feel like he was throwing a tantrum.

Kenji’s gaze slid sideways. This was exactly what he paid his aide for. Catching the cue, the aide stepped forward.

“This is Kenji, the former ranked number-one player.”

“Ohh!”

Only then did the Specialists catch on. At the same time, they understood why all these players were here.

“They came for revenge,” Jeong Hyeonsu sneered.

It was obvious. In a world where a player’s level was money, if you couldn’t catch up, then knocking the other guy down was, in a way, the natural—and even smart—choice. And Kenji, the former number-one, was famous for leveling by throwing money at the problem.

“I won’t bother denying it. It’s just a game, after all.”

“For a game, you seem awfully ready to die over it.”

“You could say the same about you.”

He had a point. From a third party’s perspective, the Specialists paying $1,500 an hour for an EXP buff probably looked insane. There were plenty of people who would ask if it was really worth it just to be a few levels ahead.

So they dropped the pointless argument.

“Then let’s get this over with.”

“Wait. I have a question.”

They looked at him questioningly.

“If I’d come here just to fight, I wouldn’t have wasted all this time. I’ll be blunt. I want to buy your leveling method. I’ll pay whatever it’s worth. I’m only asking you to share the information.”

The sudden offer made them blink.

Jeong Hyeonsu raised his middle finger.

“We don’t want to share it, and there’s no way to share it even if we did. So let’s not drag this out.”

“Wow, Oppa, you can be so charismatic at times like this,” Yeseul added.

Truthfully, she was annoying, but she was a guildmate. In his heart, he wanted to rip out the straw that was sucking their money dry and plug it into Kenji instead, but if he did that, his little sister would nag his ears off for the next ten years. So he scowled and refused.

“As expected. It seems my aide was right. It must be an experience artifact.”

The Specialists flinched.

Their reaction only confirmed Kenji’s suspicion. That was the nail in the coffin.

“In that case, I can kill you with a clear conscience. If we keep killing each other, your rank will drop eventually.”

“No, that’s not—”

Even if they ended up fighting, he needed to at least understand that, no matter how many times he killed them, they would not drop that thing.

Realizing these players had come for Han Simin’s Ring of Blessing, the Specialists were filled with a sense of injustice, but there was no time to protest.

“Raaah!”

Kenji’s helpers, armed to the teeth with his overwhelming wealth, charged without fear of death.

“Unni, Oppa. I think we’re gonna die.”

“Look at you, Yeseul, actually reading the situation now,” Hyeonsu replied.

His bravado aside, the situation was still grim. Just like with the Shield Guild, there was no way three players could hold off a horde of zombies charging from all directions.

Unless Han Simin suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Their last hope.

They watched the oncoming players, waiting, but the miracle they wanted did not happen.

At the same time, the Specialists shifted their stances.

“Run.”

Somehow, some way. It had to be better odds than fighting.

Just as Kang Yeseul had wanted, there was a change in their boring days of hunting.

* * *

After giving them a clean heads-up and cutting off all further contact so they couldn’t cling to him, Han Simin had blocked all messages while he enhanced. When he finally logged out to take a short break, his phone—used only as a clock these days—had a new text message.

’A loan ad?’

He wasn’t even at that age yet. Weird.

’Maybe it’s from a female classmate or junior from college?’

With a tiny spark of hope, he checked the sender, and his face brightened noticeably.

“Why is Ms. Seolah texting me?”

She was way prettier than any college classmate or junior.

Of course, it wasn’t as if she had suddenly developed a crush and would ask to get a drink, but for some reason, he still felt a flicker of excitement as he found his hand reaching for his phone.

“Huh?”

After reading the message, Han Simin immediately threw on some clothes and headed out.

* * *

5.

Their second in-person meeting was also at a bar. It wasn’t a bad place, but the mood was utterly gloomy. Jeong Seolah, Jeong Hyeonsu, and Kang Yeseul had already cracked open a bottle of expensive liquor and were drinking heavily.

“Why’s everyone so gloomy?”

The scene made him freeze.

’Why are they drinking instead of playing?’

Taking a break now and then wasn’t a bad choice, sure, but this was not the time for it. Even if they had taken first place, he was currently out of commission, and with no telling how many days he’d be tied up with enhancements, they needed to keep earning at least a trickle of EXP if they didn’t want to be overtaken. Besides, this was far too much alcohol for a single meal.

“Are you planning to drink yourselves into a coma?”

“Yup!” The answer came from Kang Yeseul.

She slumped over the table, tilting her glass, and gave him a silly grin. “None of us can go back.”

“Go where?”

“Home!”

He looked at her in confusion.

’What kind of drunken nonsense is that?’

If she wanted him to understand, she needed to say something that actually made sense.

’Whatever. I give up.’

He sat down and poured some liquor into an empty glass. Whatever was going on, a spread of booze he could never have afforded was laid out before him. Who cared about their problems?

“Ah.”

The harsh liquor burned its way down his throat, stoking the heat in his body.

’Wow, damn. This is on a whole different level from soju.’

At the same time, the three slumped figures faded from his vision.

“Haah. Damn.”

He still had a ton of items left to enhance, but once he’d downed one glass, he couldn’t resist filling a second.

’In the end, we do all this just to make a living anyway.’

The money he earned could disappear at any time, in any way. So he might as well drink.

“Waaaah. We’re dead, Oppa!”

“Mm, good job.”

“No! We died. Waaaah.”

“They say people who become good-looking ghosts are the ones who lived while eating and drinking their fill. Drink up. Drink.” Simin replied.

As time passed, Jeong Seolah, perhaps feeling stifled, reached out to Han Simin with hazy eyes.

He stared at her blankly.

Without thinking, he took her delicate hand. Their eyes met. Her unfocused pupils trembled.

’What is this?’

“Ms. Seolah?”

’Are her true feelings that she’s been holding back, spilling out under the influence of alcohol?’ His heart started pounding, fueled by the two glasses he had just knocked back.

As expected, he was a master at counting his chickens before they hatched.

Still, even with that in mind, the atmosphere was anything but ordinary. A young man and woman, at a table laden with drinks, holding hands and gazing deeply into each other’s eyes. And with a woman this beautiful, no less. If his hands weren’t shaking, he’d hardly be a man.

“I’m going to get revenge. Please help me,” she asked.

“...Excuse me?”

But the words that came from her trembling lips were nothing like what Han Simin had been expecting.

“I’m going to kill those bastards...”

“...Huh?”

On top of that, it was the first time he had ever heard her curse.

He turned his head toward the most sober-looking of the three, Jeong Hyeonsu, and only then did he grasp what had happened.

“A former rank-one player led his guild to attack us, aiming for your ring. We barely managed to escape, but we all died,” Hyeonsu explained.

“Oh!”

Come to think of it, there was no way the Specialists, who had been risking their lives and sleeping only four hours a day, would suddenly spend four hours here just drinking.

Still feeling the softness of Seolah’s hand, Simin gently stroked it as he spoke. “Then of course I have to help. We’re in the same guild.”

“...Thank you,” she responded.

“I’ll do this one on the house. They dared to go after my ring, so they need to be taught a lesson.”

He downed another glass.

His eyes narrowed, and the corners of his mouth curled up. It was unfortunate that the Specialists had died, but the bigger problem was that someone was targeting his ring.

’You have to nip this kind of thing in the bud.’

He swallowed one more drink and rose from his seat. “Take your time, drink, and get some rest before you come back.”

They had dared to lay a hand on his VIP clients. He needed to see what kind of bastard this was, face to face.

Han Simin stepped out of the bar with an unopened bottle of liquor in his hand.

* * *

Episode 68