Chapter 44
Chapter 44: First Meeting With Sunbin Group’s Chairman, Song Daechul, Part VI
Translator: HunterW Editor: RED
Mid-grade located by the Baengnokdam crater lake on Hallasan Mountain in Jeju.
Low-grade dungeon located at the Peak of Bukhan Mountain in Seoul.
Low-grade dungeon located at the Paek of Seorak Mountain in Gangwon Province.
Low-grade dungeon located in the Eulsukdo Island, at Saha District, Busan.
Low-grade dungeon located at Oksunbong Peak in Danyang County, North Chungcheong.
Even with just this much information, it wouldn’t take the Sunbin Group more than an hour to find all the dungeons.
“I’ve already taken the liberty of revealing the entrances, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find all of them. They’re pretty noticeable. If you do decide to go, I strongly recommend starting with the Bukhan Mountain dungeon. It’s a good enough dungeon to start training at level 0. And I definitely do not recommend the mid-grade dungeon on Jeju Island.”
I went on to explain much more to them; like how mortals couldn’t enter dungeons, or that when they level up by killing monsters, their Stat points go up by 10 points total. I explained all of the basics to them.
“If you want my advice, you should train as much as you can in the Oksunbong and Bukhan Mountain dungeons during the next eight months. If you do that, then no one will be able to top the Sunbin Group.” Those were the best places to start off with training.
Bukhan dungeon was the best place to start off, to get used to fighting and leveling. Once you got to level 300, the next place was the Oksunbong dungeon. At that level, training would be much easier.
“Only the strong can get what they want and protect everything they have. The best advice I have for you is to become that strong, that way you will be prepared for whatever is ahead of you.”
That was the most important part.
In eight months, monsters would begin spawning in full. Once society began to fall apart, strength would be the only way to come out on top. That much was obvious.
Your strength could make you well known to others; if you were strong enough, people anywhere knew who you were.
The pen used to be stronger than the sword in our world; now the sword was the only way to take us to the top!
“I am not a normal deva, either. I want to know what the endgame to this is; that’s why I’ve been trying to become as strong as possible. I want to be there at the end. I’ll be really mad if I can’t because I couldn’t become strong enough.” I didn’t want to become like I was in the past.
The questions kept coming. Everyone in the room had something to ask me, and I answered all of their questions as best I could. I still omitted some information, especially about anything I managed to obtain. I wasn’t going to tell anyone about that.
“I can’t tell you how I was able to find the dungeons.” I denied that question. I couldn’t just tell them I knew because I already lived through all this before. Finding dungeons would be my privilege only. I would not let anyone else have that.
“You can find items and golden rings from killing monsters, which you can use to trade with the Stores.” Since I already told everyone everything about monsters, I decided to show them what golden rings looked like and opened my inventory.
“These are golden rings. This is the only currency accepted at Stores; modern currencies are not accepted, essentially rendering them all worthless.” I took out 1,000 golden rings of the 4,505 that I had from my inventory. I was only going to show them what they looked like, so I decided to take out 1,000 because, why not?
1,000 golden rings was a lot for me in my past life, but now, I could easily earn more than 1,000 in an instant. I didn’t need to be stingy here.
“Monsters drop items as well. They normally drop materials, but also have a chance to drop weapons, armor, or accessories.” I took off my Rank 2 Orc Armor and showed it to them.
“They look something like this. Items are the best way to boost your stats and abilities greatly.”
“I see!” They all nodded.
“Skills provide a lot of support as well. You are able to see items, but right now, you won’t be able to see any skills.”
“You’re right. When I went to the Store, I checked out the skill shop, but couldn’t see a single skill there. The same went for my secretary and my subordinate,” said Song Haein.
“According to an NPC, you need to have the appropriate amount of golden rings and skill points to see any skills you may be able to learn. Even if you had 10 skill points, you won’t be able to view any skills if you don’t have any golden rings. The same goes for the reverse.”
“Ah…” Song Haein nodded.
“I don’t know that much about skills, however. I don’t have that many golden rings,” I lied. I wasn’t about to tell them about all the advantages I had becoming the First Deva, or about the free skill points that I received. I was past the stage of wanting to go around bragging that I was better than everyone else. I’d seen many people get shown up doing that.
I had to be careful about what I was going to reveal to these people. But I needed a reliable tank fighter for future boss raids and since I knew that in the past Song Haein was an Unrivaled, I wanted to tell them about that one part.
From what I remembered, the past Song Haein didn’t learn the Unrivaled skill right at level 500. I remembered hearing that because the skill was so expensive, Song Haein couldn’t learn the skill right away at level 500 and had to wait until she was almost at level 600.
It wasn’t just for Song Haein; it was the same for the majority as well. Even if someone decided to use the Sea of Reset and quickly make his way back up to level 500, once 114 people learned the Unrivaled skill, there was nothing else to be done, unless one of the 114 decided to delete the skill. There wasn’t much room around it, and so people learned the skill the first chance they got.
Learning the skill at level 500 was like losing 100 levels!
Telling Song Haein about the Unrivaled skill would make her much stronger. If Song Haein got stronger, then so would the Sunbin Guild.
“There is a skill that costs 2 billion golden rings and requires 20 skill points.”
“Huh?” The board members leaned in closer at my sudden statement.
“This is probably obvious to you all, but in the future, stronger monsters will appear as we grow stronger. These monsters will drop better items and more golden rings. In order to fight these monsters, we will need people that will be able to take these monsters’ attacks on equal footing.” Everyone nodded in agreement.
“What I’m about to tell you is more important than finding dungeons. I barely managed to learn this from the NPCs at Store 72. I advise one of you to learn this skill.”
“What’s so important about this skill?”
“I’m not entirely sure myself. This is only from what I heard. But from what I know, this skill is extremely invaluable and powerful.”
“I see. If you feel this is important, then we must take heed. Thank you for telling us.”
“It’s nothing, sir.” With just this much, the Sunbin Guild would start with a huge advantage.
I probably shouldn’t tell them about the Judge’s Continent.
The rumor about the Judge’s Continent had started to spread around the time I contemplated jumping into the Sea of Reset.
I didn’t really know a thing about it. All I had heard about it was that it had appeared somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There was nothing about what kind of place it was, and why it had appeared. I was too insignificant to hear anything else about it.
“I want to do as much as I can to support you all. I have plenty of reasons to want to do so. If the Sunbin Group ever requires my help in the future, I will do my best to do so, whatever the reason.”
We continued talking for another half hour.
They seemed the most curious about what would happen after the next eight months, and I spared them no details. That was the worst time I’d been through.
The next two to three years were literally about to be Hell. A man’s life was pretty much about to become worth crap.
Still, there was hope. After those few years, the chaos would settle down and society would find some stability. Humans had that amazing adaptability to make it happen.
Remnants of local governments, corporations, and even village councils would come together to create a habitable place for mankind.
The initial fear towards devas would subside and the need to fight against monsters would rise. The paradigm would shift.
Mankind would no longer become the hunted, and become the hunters. Many more would still lose their lives against stronger monsters, and people would learn to avoid them.
It would be a new era where people would lose sleep to hunt more monsters to become stronger! It would be an era of never-ending competition.
“I believe that if the Sunbin Group begins its preparations now, it will be more than ready to face the oncoming chaos than anyone else in the world. I also believe the Group will be able to take advantage of the new era and beat everyone in this new type of rat race.” I began to finish up my speech.
“I would like you all to care for as many people as possible. I’m sure you have many intelligent people working for you and believe that you can come up with a plan within the next eight months,” I added to end our two-hour long discussion.
My throat was a little sore after talking so much. I don’t think I’d ever talked that much with anyone.
There was still more that everyone was still curious about, but I had done everything in my power to answer as much as I could. Of course, I still held back what I needed to.
“Thank you, Jiwon. I am curious as to how you know all these things, but I will refrain from asking. I’m just grateful that you decided to share all this knowledge with us.” Chairman Song shook my hand once more out of gratitude.
“It wasn’t much, sir.”
“Haein, bring me that, please.”
“Yes, grandfather.” Song Haein went over to a closet in the office at her grandfather’s behest and brought out a small ring box-like case.
“I wasn’t sure how I should I compensate you for all this. Soon, it seems cash will be worthless. The same goes for land and estates. I suppose this is all I have to give you. Open it.”
I opened the box. It wasn’t a ring box-looking case… no, it was a real ring box. Inside was a simple gold ring.
“This is a family heirloom passed down from my grandfather. That ring is worth as much as all of the Sunbin Group to me, although I don’t know where the Group will end up in the future. Bring that with you when you feel you have a favor to ask of me. I’ll do everything in my power to help you. That is the most I can compensate you with.”
Being able to have the Sunbin Guild carry out one single favor for me was a huge gain. This was way better than asking them for a Rank 8 item later on.
“I don’t think I should-”
“Haha! This is more than enough. You’ve opened up a way for us. There’s nothing more frustrating than not knowing where to turn. Meeting you is that valuable to me. Oh, that’s right…” The chairman turned to face Executive Secretary Kim. “Bring that out, too.”
“Right away, Mr. Chairman.”
Kim brought out a suitcase that looked like it came from a James Bond movie. He pushed a button on the case to open it.
“You mentioned that society will still continue to function for another two or three months, right? And that you wanted to go to Japan and continue looking for dungeons. We’ve prepared this for you to use however you wish.” Inside the case were stacks of ₩50,000 bills and $100 bills.
“I had this prepared first, but I felt that it wasn’t enough. I have a conscience, too, you know. Hahaha!”
That was a lot of money…
“Thank you so much.” I moved the case into my inventory. I had already explained the existence of inventories, so there wasn’t much surprise.
“That inventory thing really is interesting, no matter how many times I see it. It’d be useful to fit a house or something into it.”
“Objects larger than cars or motorcycles can’t be placed in inventories. You need to learn teleportation magic in order to move such items.”
“Hahaha! This really is a strange world now. But as you mentioned before, there will be those that take this new opportunity and become powerful beings, won’t there?”
“Yes. There used to be a definite sort of diversity in the world, but now, you need strength and will alone to be respected. Even those who had no idea what to do with their lives and had no dreams have the chance to make something of themselves. They can prove something about themselves to society now.”
Only strength and willpower would take us forward now.
There was no reason to be indecisive about anything anymore. There was only one road for all of us to take now. I used to look down that road with disdain at all the honor, wealth, and power that I could only dream of having. Now, I had no reason to not walk that path.
We all soon left to have dinner together. Even during dinner, we talked endlessly. They were still curious about many things.
We said our farewells after dinner.
“Can we meet again, in the future?”
“Of course we can, Mr. Chairman.”
“Good. I look forward to working with you.”
“Let’s keep in touch, Jiwon. Don’t ignore my calls, either.”
“Sure.” Haein and I decided to drop our formalities and treat each other as friends over dinner.
After our farewells, I headed home.
“It’s been a good day. I actually managed to form a relationship with the Sunbin Guild.”
I had a great night’s sleep that night. I was satisfied with what I achieved today, especially since I had a favor I could call in at anytime!