God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 74: Episode 15 _ I’m Bored, So Let_s Unlock a Chest (1)

Chapter 74: Episode 15 _ I’m Bored, So Let_s Unlock a Chest (1)

1.

Han Simin was going through a period of his lowest playtime since Fantastic World’s launch.

“This room will be the capsule room. I’ll put in blackout curtains and make it so dark I lose track of time while I play.”

“This one’s the master bedroom. I’m getting a king-size bed so I can sleep in comfort.”

“The guest room is, uh... I probably won’t need it.”

He had finished the contract, paid the remaining balance, and started planning the interior. He still had more than enough money left over to cover the renovations, so there wasn’t a shred of hesitation when it came to spending.

“I want this here, and please use high-quality materials.”

He even went so far as to buy the latest model capsule to put in the capsule room. For the old him, this level of splurging would have been unimaginable. But now, things were different. He was no longer a clueless bum who had been kicked out of his parents’ house.

As a professional gamer who played for practically twenty hours a day, investing in a better capsule was the most natural thing in the world.

“Whew.”

After sending his carriage off toward a spot where he sensed a prime enhancement location, Han Simin spent several days on interior work and cleaning, then finally stretched.

It was done. He had poured as much effort into the house as he did into the game, and now there wasn’t a single part of his body that didn’t ache. But seeing the finished place filled him with indescribable satisfaction.

He had even bought top-of-the-line versions of products he would probably use once a day at most.

’If you live well, you make more money!’

With that ridiculous philosophy, Han Simin felt no regret.

“As for the appliances... hmm.”

All that remained were the major appliances. He planned to buy good ones without skimping, but it still felt wasteful to pay full price when he could get a discount. So he made a call.

“Hey, Yeseul. I’m having a housewarming party—want to come?”

“Huh? You already moved?”

“Moving is just a detail. I bought all new stuff, so it’s basically the same thing.”

“Wow! That’s huge. Seolah Unni, Simin moved while we’re out here busting our asses in his territory!”

“What do you mean, busting your asses?”

“Never mind that! When’s the party? I’ll tell you all about it when I get there.”

“I was thinking today. How’s that? Are Seolah and Hyeonsu free?”

“We’re shut-ins who play games all day, remember? Of course we are. Got it, we’ll come!”

“Okay.”

“Do we need to bring a ton of food?”

“Obviously. I’ll lay out a spread so big you won’t have to eat for three days.”

He had something he wanted, after all. He was going to stuff them full. He pulled out the large table he had prepared and picked up his phone again.

* * *

After getting swept up in a forced quest to defend the Rich Territory alongside the rabbits, the Specialists fought another battle and then headed to Han Simin’s place.

“Wow. He bought a nice place.”

“We’re the ones who bought it for him.”

“Hyeonsu, don’t say that. It makes my stomach hurt.”

The location was good, and the apartment was newly built, so it would be comfortable to live in. They were all chaebol heirs, so they didn’t exactly feel envy, but they couldn’t help feeling a bit moved. They knew better than anyone where that money had come from.

“Ugh. If he doesn’t have a ton of good food laid out, I swear...” Yeseul stated.

“This should be enough for a housewarming gift, right?” Seolah asked.

“...Seolah, by his standards, this is more than enough. It’s overkill.” Hyeonsu reassured her.

“Still, we owe Simin a lot. This is the least we can do.”

They rode the elevator up, followed by a team of people carrying boxes. They were housewarming gifts for Han Simin, whom they now saw more often than their own families.

They rang the doorbell, and the door opened.

Han Simin’s face appeared, the only difference from in-game being his hair color, and his expression lit up. It was a clear sign of joy. There had been very few times he had looked this happy to see them. And by now, the Specialists knew exactly what that meant.

Seeing his blatant delight, Kang Yeseul grumbled.

"Oppa, isn’t it a bit much to look happier about the presents than the guests?”

“Huh? When did I do that? I was happy to see Ms. Seolah.”

“...Liar. You’re looking to the right while she’s on my left.”

“I mean, I’m also happy about the housewarming gifts she brought.”

Han Simin met shamelessness with shamelessness.

The firmly closed door swung wide open.

“So he’s the type of guy who’ll throw his doors open for anyone with money.”

“Of course. You’re always welcome, Yeseul.”

She clicked her tongue. No matter what she said, there was no way to wipe the grin off Han Simin’s face as he looked at the people behind her, loaded down with gifts.

“Whoa. What is all this? You didn’t have to bring so much!”

“Yeseul bought most of it.”

“Seriously? Yeseul, if you ever need me, just call. For today, I’ll do anything you ask.”

There was a refrigerator, a TV, and a kimchi fridge. All sorts of appliances streamed in. He didn’t need an air conditioner since one was built into the ceiling. Even for Han Simin, these were gifts beyond anything he had imagined.

“Wow...”

It was true that he had deliberately held off on buying them with Kang Yeseul in mind, but he hadn’t planned to just freeload like this. At most, he’d intended to ask her to help him get a discount.

“I really appreciate this.”

He meant it. Han Simin loved money, but he always repaid favors. That was how he had been raised, and he believed it was only natural.

“Please, have a seat. I’ve laid out a full spread, so eat until you burst!”

So he readily led them to the table.

He would treat them to the dishes he had been preparing since the afternoon.

“You’ve probably never eaten food like this in your lives, right? I figured as much, so I specially selected everything.”

Feeling his “sincerity,” the three of them fell silent and were moved to tears.

“Kimbap, tteokbokki, soondae, fried chicken, pizza, jokbal, bossam. Wow, amazing!”

Or not. Kang Yeseul let out a soulless reaction. At the same time, they couldn’t help but chuckle. It was so typically Han Simin.

“Thanks for the food.”

They were relieved, at least it wasn’t homemade jeon or some other side dish he’d cooked himself.

Starved from their recent gaming sessions, the three of them picked up their chopsticks and began to inhale the food.

“I knew it,” Simin said. “I figured you’d all like this kind of thing.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” Kang Yeseul shot back. “It’s only because I’ve been starving from playing the game so much lately. God, just thinking about it pisses me off again. Of all places, why did it have to be your territory?”

“Huh? My territory?”

“The Rich Territory.”

Once the food started to disappear, the stories began to flow. True to form for a group of hardcore gamers, even their housewarming conversation revolved entirely around the game. Not that anyone minded; if anything, they were glad to have a shared topic.

Han Simin, who was using the occasion as an excuse to cram pizza and fried chicken into his mouth, frowned in puzzlement.

“Why’d you even go there?”

They remained silent, unable to find the words.

Exactly. Just trying to explain it was frustrating enough to bring tears to their eyes. The fact that the whole miserable situation could be summarized in a single sentence made it even more pathetic.

“Because of the Main Quest,” Jeong Seolah explained, stepping in for Kang Yeseul, who’d barely had time to breathe lately. Yeseul had been sprinting out like an arrow every time the territory’s alarm bell rang, just to slap Weakness and Exhaustion debuffs on the endless stream of no-name players. “There’s a place north of your territory that we believe is the source of the evil. At our current level, it looks impossible to approach, so we’re assuming a raid boss for the Main Quest is located somewhere near the territory instead.”

“Ah!”

“We figured the residents might have some information,” Seolah continued, “so we’re guarding the territory with the rabbits while we’re at it.”

“Man, those persistent bastards,” Simin muttered. “They stayed quiet when I was around, but now they decide to come charging in.”

Of course, he wasn’t particularly shaken. He trusted the rabbits. Besides, the players swarming his land were just a disorganized mob.

“There are a lot of them, but they’re nothing special, right?”

“It’s that number that’s the problem,” Jeong Hyeonsu grumbled.

“Huh?”

“We’re getting an average of five to six hundred a day.”

“Whoa.”

At Hyeonsu’s words, the slice of pizza in Simin’s hand slipped and fell.

“Seriously? That many?”

“It’s gotten so bad that even the rabbits have almost died a few times,” Hyeonsu added. “If Yeseul hadn’t been there, a couple of them would probably be dead by now.”

“Oh!”

Unbelievable. This was one angle he hadn’t anticipated. His hand automatically reached out toward Kang Yeseul.

“Good job, kiddo. Keep working hard for us.”

“Hey! You’re getting grease on me!” she yelped, swatting his hand away.

’Five hundred a day,’ Simin thought. ’No wonder she’s worn out.’

It wasn’t like she had some giant AoE skill that could wipe them all out in one go; she had to hit every single one of the bastards as they poured in. Even if the rabbits did most of the killing, there were only a hundred of them. To make matters worse, the enemies weren’t trying to fight the rabbits head-on. Their goal was to destroy the territory, which made things that much more of a headache.

“Those damn gold farmers have lost their minds.”

He clicked his tongue, wondering what to do. For now, all they could do was maintain the status quo. Simin was away enhancing the Egg, and the Specialists were guarding the territory under the pretext of their Main Quest.

Instead, he started running some numbers in his head.

’If it’s five hundred a day... and they’re workshop rats, so even if they only drop one gold coin each...’

“Are you really doing the math in the middle of this?” Yeseul asked, exasperated.

The rabbits did all the work, and Han Simin pocketed the cash. He quietly pushed the serving dishes toward the other three.

“Eat up. You’ll need your strength. I’ll hurry back, and when I do, I’ll make sure our residents spill everything they know.”

The others stared at him in disbelief.

’Is this really a housewarming party?’ they all wondered.

One way or another, the mountain of food disappeared quickly. The two women ate more than expected, Jeong Hyeonsu ate an amount befitting his size, and Han Simin ate as if possessed by a starving ghost. They even drifted into non-game topics from time to time, and the gathering wrapped up in a warm, cheerful mood.

2.

“Ugh...”

Climbing down from the carriage, Han Simin let out a pained groan. His body was stiff and achy, but it was the gloomy, shadowy forest spreading out before him that drew a heavy sigh from his lips.

What now? Dead ends always forced a choice: go on, or turn back.

“Why is there no path?” he muttered to himself, but no answer came.

To be fair, it was a miracle the road had even come this far. This was a region near the northernmost edge of the continent, a place uninhabited by people and crawling with monsters over level 100.

’This feels bad...’

He was dying to turn around and go back. The road had ended, and he had already been riding straight north for days. Any monsters he ran into from here on out would be insanely high-level. Even an imperial knight would feel uneasy here.

But what could he do?

’What the hell is in this Egg that its prime enhancement spot has to be in a place like this?’

He’d already enhanced the Egg to +14; the thought of not taking it to +15 was unbearable. At this point, he was stubbornly determined to see just how incredible the thing inside had to be. After all, it had been sitting in the Emperor’s personal treasury, inside a secret vault, stored as if it were the most important item in the entire empire.

’Someday, I’ve got to clean that whole place out, too.’

He swallowed and carefully took a step forward.

’Let’s go. Worst case, I die.’

He still had all the stat points he’d gained from enhancing the rabbits’ gear and weapons to +15.

[Character Info]

Name: Simin

Title: Baron of the Empire

Job: Ultimate Legendary Enhancement Master (3rd Awakening)

Sub-Job: Ultimate Legendary Tamer

Titles: 12

Level: 30 (Required EXP +550%)

Stats (370): Strength (159+55), Agility (151+110), Stamina (62+55), Luck (233+55), Mana (40+55)

Skills: Enhancement (F), Absolute Enhancement (SS), Legendary Heal (S), God’s Blessing (SS)

Bonus Options

1. Chance to add a special option on successful enhancement +33%

2. On successful enhancement, the chance for the enhancement effect increases by +35%

3. Enhancement success rate +15%

4. Legendary-grade item effect +10%

5. Chance for evolution on successful enhancement +5%

6. Final option growth rate from enhancement +10%

Although the stat gains had diminished with each subsequent +15 item he created, the total was by no means a small sum. On top of that, he had even received a new title in the process.

[Enhancement Master Who Mass-Produces Legends!]

Grade: Legendary

Description: A reward for one who can mass-produce Mythic-grade items, a feat most cannot accomplish even once! For you, enhancement is no longer a matter of luck.

Benefit 1: Final option growth rate from enhancement +10%

It was a bit disappointing that a 4th Awakening hadn’t triggered—perhaps because repeatedly enhancing the same type of item to +15 wasn’t enough, or maybe the conditions were simply different. Still, for someone who made his living off enhancement, the fantastic new title option was more than enough to be satisfying.

“Time to assign my stat points...”

Aside from the fact that he was still only level 30, his stats were flawless.

Han Simin stepped into the eerie, nameless forest.

* * *

Episode 75