Level Up - Chapter 13

Translator: Juzu

Editor: Yuranon

The Red Dragon Guild was a large guild with more than a hundred guild members. Of course, twenty years later, a 100-person guild is only but a small guild. At that time, the number of Red Dragon Guild’s members had exceeded 3,000.

However, not all 3,000 members were players, and there were a lot of regular employees. Even so, a guild with that size is still a large guild.
But now, it was the early days when guilds are just starting to pop up. So even if there were only 100 guild members, it could still be considered as a big guild.

The Red Dragon’s Guild Master was a player named Han Joong Hyun. He was an ultra high-level player with a level of 83. He grew up with the full support of the Samhyun Group from the beginning of his player career.

It was only possible because he was one of the grandchildren of the chairman of Samhyun Group.

Since the guild was created by the third generation chaebol[1], the power and influence of the Red Dragon Guild were humongous.
Han Joong Hyun looked strange after hearing the report from his chief of staff.

“This is… That’s some interesting information.” he said.

“Yes. The information provider is none other than the branch manager, Mr. Choo, so it’s pretty reliable.”

In fact, they were already investigating some information regarding Hyun Seok. Not only the Red Dragon Guild, but the other influential guilds had also begun investigating Hyun Seok.

Now, more detailed information about him has arrived.

“What do you think of this information?” Asked Han Joong Hyun.

The chief secretary carefully opened his mouth after thinking for a while,”I think we’d better bring him here. Maybe… He might even play a crucial role in the future growth of guilds.”

Han Joong Hyun looked at the chief secretary with a slightly surprised look.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mr. Jin make such a high evaluation.”

Han Joong Hyun had a reason to be surprised. His chief secretary had a sharp tongue even when he evaluated himself. He spoke bitterly even to the point of being annoying.

But because he knows Mr. Jin’s abilities well, although he got irritated and was inwardly disappointed, he didn’t show it.

Of course, as he went through more time with Mr. Jin, he had to admit that his straightforwardness was his asset. So it was even more surprising to see him evaluate someone so highly.

“We haven’t seen him in person yet, so we have no choice but to evaluate him through the information alone. It could be a different story if we actually see him in person,” replied Mr. Jin.

“Well, that is true… So if this information is correct, is he really that great?”

Mr. Jin’s eyes gleamed and said,”If this information is real, it’s clear that this person, Chae Hyun Seok, knows a special way to extract cores from magical monsters.”

Han Joong Hyun tilted his head with a curious look and asked,”Is that possible?”

“It’s almost certain. It’s also very likely that he knows how to hide the cores from the mana detector.”

Han Joong Hyun shook his head with a more unbelievable expression.

It was because he had a different opinion.

However, he couldn’t just let it slide. After all, Mr. Jin’s judgments had always been spot on until now.

“I’ll have to bring him here at least.” said Han Joong Hyun.

“That is also my judgment,” replied Mr. Jin.
Han Joong Hyun nodded and stamped an official seal on the document on the desk.

Bang!

“Do it right away.”

The chief secretary bowed politely, took the documents, and went outside.

“Chae Hyun Seok…”

Han Joong Hyun glanced down at the information on Hyun Seok scattered on his desk.

Han Joong Hyun could promise the best treatment and bring him here. He doesn’t even care if Hyun Seok turns out to be useless because there were plenty of ways to deal with it.

“Ahh… this is tiring.”

Han Joong Hyun gently closed his eyes and leaned against his chair. Then he pressed down on his temple.

He was tired, but he had to do whatever he could to be acknowledged by his grandfather.

“Those who ignored me… let’s see who will laugh and who will kneel at the end.”

Han Joong Hyun murmured in an eerie voice and laid back in his chair.

He wanted to rest a bit for now and deal with other things later.

* * *

Hyun Seok placed the large bag on his shoulder. There were no dungeon-related things in his room because he already packed it all in the bag.

There was a sword hanging on Hyun Seok’s waist and a shield on his hands.

These were the artifacts he had obtained in the beginning.

Actually, he doesn’t need a shield. However, he had no intention of selling it to the Dungeon Headquarters. He’ll only sell a minimum amount of cores to them.

Hyun Seok had sold all the recorded cores to the Dungeon Headquarters when he left the dungeon spawning area, and invested all of it in stocks.

He wouldn’t have to spend any money for the time being anyway, so he thought that it would be better to invest in promising stocks.

Although Hyun Seok lacked detailed information on the stock market, he knew the companies’ general growth, so he could still make productive investments.

And the gains from his investments have already reached billions.

“I have to obtain a subspace. This is too uncomfortable.”

Even in the future, Hyun Seok was one of the few players who had obtained a subspace.
And Hyun Seok’s team leader was one of those few players as well.

Thinking about it, Hyun Seok grinded his teeth.
In fact, that subspace should have belonged to Hyun Seok alone. However, the team leader stole it from him.

The subspace Hyun Seok had found was not in the form of an artifact, but the kind of subspace which would belong to the player itself. It was much more valuable than any other type of subspace.

But that team leader won’t have a chance to get it now because he won’t be able to be with Hyun Seok this time.

The reason why Hyun Seok had decided to leave his house carrying all of his things was because there were people who approached him.

They were probably the members of the Red Dragon Guild. And now that they’ve moved, chances were high that other competitive guilds would approach him too.

They would probably search his house as soon as he leaves, and what would happen if the power-up kits or cores were left unattended?
If any of the power-up kits were discovered, Hyun Seok would probably be detained before he could even do anything and would have to endure harsh torture until he revealed its secret.
On the other hand, the cores were a different story. Hyun Seok had deftly modified the amount of mana being emitted by the magical cores. Those who were quick-witted and had a good sense would have noticed that something was going on.

In fact, Hyun Seok could have hidden the cores more thoroughly. But he intentionally didn’t do that. Considering what Hyun Seok had done over the past two months, he was supposed to get attention anyway.

So he adjusted it to the point where it would be vague.

If he used the black market, there would be a limit on how much they could grasp from the whole picture.

“It’ll be too late by the time they notice that something’s strange and take action. I’m not gonna be here.”

Hyun Seok had a basis for his confidence.

He absurdly revealed the subspace because he was blind in his past. But this time, he’ll monopolize it.

He had to be at least somewhat powerful. That way, he’d be a little safer when executing his plans.

Hyun Seok rushed to the car while organizing his thoughts.

The first thing he did after earning money was to buy a car since it’s essential to quickly go back and forth between one’s home and the dungeon, or the Dungeon Headquarters.

But he didn’t buy a good car because he would be replacing it real soon.

Boo-woong!

The car departed, and Hyun Seok skillfully drove to Jong-ro[2].

Ordinary people wouldn’t even imagine the fact that Korea’s largest black market will open in Jongno[2].

* * *

Upon arriving at Jong-ro, Hyun Seok parked his car, then wore his sword around his waist and placed a bag over his shoulder. Finally, after holding the shield, he started to walk.

“The house should be a mess by now.”

Perhaps those who were watching him had searched the house as soon as he left.

Even high-leveled players at this time had secretly kept a safe to store artifacts or materials that they had collected.

“Who was the first person to get a subspace again…?”

Even before he died, the number of people who owned a subspace did not surpass a hundred.
Although he doesn’t remember who had it first, he had a rough idea of when it started to appear.

“About… in about five years.”

This only showed how difficult this magic is. It was an artifact that had a chance to appear when a very high-leveled dungeon was cleared perfectly.

At the level of the current players, who were still struggling with the Gold-tier, they will not be able to even have a glimpse of its existence.

Only when they surpass Platinum and get to Diamond will they be able to see the subspace artifact.

“But of course, I’m an exception.” Hyun Seok smiled at the thought.

Smiling didn’t mean that he had his guard down. After all, there were still people spying on him.
And they may have already noticed where Hyun Seok was going.

Hyun Seok didn’t forget to scan the mana around him. As he had no power yet, being careful was the way to survive for a long time.

Hyun Seok naturally walked around the most complicated street in Jongno. Then, he went into a karaoke somewhere around the middle of the street.

The owner at the counter jumped up and greeted Hyun Seok.

“Is room 0 empty?”

It was a room number that did not exist in this karaoke. But the owner looked around and nodded once.

Hyun Seok walked past the owner and opened the concealed door that was hard to see.

That was the entrance to the black market in Jongno.

It was dark inside.

“Oh, so this place used to be this dark, haha.”

It used to be a place he often went to, but he didn’t know that it was this dark because he was blind.

It was so dark that he couldn’t see an inch ahead.

Hyun Seok tilted his head and walked down the stairs, wondering how the other players would have passed through here.

“Even for a player, if they can’t see, they’ll roll down these stairs…”

The stairs here had a different height in each step, so if you go down without checking with your eyes, you will lose your balance and roll down.

“Well, it’s not that I care about others… and this place wasn’t made for blind people anyway.”

At that moment, the light suddenly poured from the ceiling. Someone had turned it on.

Hyun Seok looked back and saw a man who had just come in.

The man who’s also looking at Hyun Seok got startled.

“Oh, so it was manufactured in a way that when someone inserts mana into the wall, it lights up.”
Hyun Seok nodded when he checked the mana on the wall. The flow of mana ascended the wall and led up to the ceiling.

Hyun Seok smiled at the man and went down the stairs again.

That man was the spy who had been following him so far.

“Is the other one waiting outside?” Hyun Seok wondered.

There were two in total, but only one came down, so the other seemed to be on standby until Hyun Seok left the place. Anyway, Hyun Seok entered the black market without any qualms.

“How splendid.”

It was quite a pleasant space for a place deep underground, and there were colorful lights everywhere.

It resembles a night market.

“I didn’t know this place was like this.”

He didn’t know because no one told him that. For the old Hyun Seok, this was just one of the lucrative markets.

Then, Hyun Seok had suddenly shifted his gaze to one side with a hint of surprise over his face.
There was someone he knew at this place.

Translator and Editor Notes:
[1] A Chaebol is a large industrial conglomerate run and controlled by an owner or a family. In easier terms, a wealthy family that is in control of a large company.
[2]: Jong-ro is a trunk road and one of the oldest major east-west thoroughfares in Seoul. Jongno district is the area for the place. Jong-Ro translates to “Bell Street.”