RE: Player again

312

[Chapter 100] [To Those Who Live Treading on Death (3)]

The state constantly monitored transactions of magic stones, which could pose a risk of terrorism.

Magic stones had a wide variety of uses. Countries unable to obtain oil from the Middle East revitalized their civilizations based on the energy of magic stones. Corporations and groups also used magic stone energy as needed. As a result, magic stone trading had been active for a long time, despite full awareness of their dangers.

In a world where monsters existed, magic stones were a symbol of cruel reality, but also a glimmer of light allowing survival in a ruined world. Magic stones were a cause of inequality, but ironically also became a power that could destroy monsters, such as by creating better devices or artifacts.

Ultimately, these dangerous materials that should be managed by the state ended up flowing to companies, groups, and even individual players. After all, players were usually the ones who first obtained magic stones. Even with strict state monitoring, it was impossible to watch every individual player.

So Eunha was able to purchase a few magic stones through the black market without leaving records. The illegally obtained stones were quite expensive.

"I didn't know there was a dungeon in a place like this."

"Should only you know about it, mister?"

"Alright, I understand."

On the weekend after midterms ended, Eunha moved to Haengdang Station with Bruno. The red dungeon where the Star of Purification grew naturally still existed as his hideout, undisclosed to the world.

Squeak, chirp!

He opened the door leading to the red dungeon. Monsters had newly taken up residence in the long-unvisited dungeon. A 7th tier monster that spotted the two as soon as the door opened rushed at them recklessly.

"How dare you—"

Bruno was the one who reacted to the killing intent released by the monster. The man, whose build evoked a grizzly bear, swung his fist that could easily crush skulls while making threats. The one hit by his mace-like fist died on the spot. Only the fading corpse of the monster, its body shattered like a squashed mosquito, remained in the entrance.

"The magic stone's condition isn't very good."

"It seems to be a newly born one."

Eunha thanked Bruno and picked up the blood-stained magic stone. It was quite small. Although registered as 7th tier in the player library, examining the stone showed it was only about 8th tier. This meant it was a very newly born monster. Or perhaps the dungeon's power had weakened.

The Star of Purification...

It hasn't bloomed yet.

While Bruno was clearing out the monsters inhabiting the dungeon, Eunha looked around comfortably as if in his own home. He opened the closet to check on the Star of Purification's growth, but unfortunately it was still in bud form. It seemed it would take some more time.

The Star of Purification could take its time...

After all, the purpose of visiting the dungeon today wasn't to harvest the Star of Purification. It was to test the magic stones he had recently obtained through the black market.

"Mister, can I have the magic stones please?"

"Here you go."

He held out his hand to Bruno, who had returned after clearing the red dungeon. Bruno nodded and took out a small pouch from the bag on his back. Inside the plain pouch were magic stones from 5th tier ghost spiders.

These were quite expensive.

Eunha looked down at the mere 4 magic stones with a miserly gaze. Magic stones rated as high tier 5th or above sold for considerably higher prices compared to low tier stones. Even though the quality of the stones in his hand wasn't very good, they still required a large sum of money.

He thought he had made money by extorting from Slayers, but in the end he returned to square one after buying mana alloy and magic stones. Well, money could always be earned again. Money used in the light could be drawn in through Yoo Dojun and Sirius Group. The problem was money that left no records. It seemed it wouldn't be easy to obtain money used in the dark until he became a player. There were limits to money laundering too...

Darkness is managed by darkness.

It was possible to convert money from the light to dark money, but if done carelessly, he could get caught by Baek Seojin.

'What is not revealed is darkness. The moment darkness is revealed, it is no longer darkness.'

That's what Baek Seojin had said before the regression. Eunha agreed. He didn't want his covert activities exposed, even to Baek Seojin.

With that thought, he threw one magic stone filled with mana onto the floor. It was the lowest quality magic stone. Nevertheless, the magic stone responded to the dungeon and rapidly caused distortion.

Hiss...

Monsters born in dungeons are generally stronger than ordinary specimens. Therefore, even low quality magic stones could produce somewhat higher grade results when creating monsters inside dungeons. Of course, monsters born in dungeons did not leave the dungeon.

It doesn't matter.

His purpose wasn't terrorism anyway, but to use the ghost spider born through the magic stone as a medium.

"I'll help too."

"Then please stop its movements, mister."

"Understood."

Outwardly, Bruno could be mistaken for a dealer, but he was actually a guardian. Clapping his gauntleted hands together, he kept his distance from the creature with eight glowing red eyes.

Hiss hiss

5th tier ghost spider. The one that should have been high tier didn't have its full power due to the very low quality of the magic stone. Above all, spider-type monsters usually needed to set up spider webs to have danger proportional to their tier. However, the newly born ghost spider didn't have time to spin a web.

Cheonbo

Mana Crusher

Black thorn tree in his right hand.

Beretta in his left.

Eunha attacked the ghost spider recklessly, then pretended to retreat while diving back into its embrace. The ghost spider was in no position to respond properly. This dungeon was too small for its large body.

Barely withstanding the attacks, it clung to the ceiling and moved its pincer-like mouth. It was acid. At that moment, a bizarre shape of mana surging up from below eliminated the flying acid. Thanks to that, Eunha was able to hit its head without needing to deploy a protective spell.

Though he clearly could have killed it...

— Here it comes.

What Eunha had been waiting for was just one thing: for the ghost spider to spray its invisible spider silk. The creature that had half-bent its round bottom fired spider silk at him as it landed on the floor.

Eunha deliberately provoked it while circling the living room once. In the meantime, spider silk glowing with the creature's mana was strung up throughout the space. Soon after the creature cut its spider silk, the glowing threads faded. But one shouldn't let their guard down. The spider silk hadn't disappeared.

"What? Is that all you can do?"

Regardless, Eunha taunted and spoke to the creature. It was uncertain whether the ghost spider understood what he said. However, the ghost spider showed a reaction of shooting out more spider silk.

Now no longer hiding his smile, Eunha dodged the spider silk while running around the room. If he got caught in the silk midway, he used Invisible Tracker and Cheonbo to escape. Sometimes Bruno helped too.

Is this enough?

The ghost spider's mana moved. The previously invisible spider silk faintly glowed. Eunha looked around at the spider silk that now filled the room and stopped running away.

Revolver Shot

Invisible Tracker

He pulled the trigger of the Beretta. The giant thorn that left the muzzle accurately targeted the ghost spider's abdomen. The ghost spider that had been excited about making its spider web was now dangling in midair. It gathered its long legs near the protrusions on its abdomen. The ghost spider struggled to ride the thread spurting from its spinneret.

Eunha knocked down the ghost spider trying to maintain balance somehow. When he swung the black thorn tree, spider silk tangled on the blade. Not bothering with that, he approached the creature that had fallen to the ground.

"It'll hurt, but bear with it for a bit."

Eunha struck the face of the overturned ghost spider with the flat of the blade. After hitting its face hard a few times, the ghost spider lost consciousness. The monster known to be 5th tier had no such dignity. It didn't even meet such a death. Because he had no intention of killing it.

"...Bruno, just in case, could you hold its head so it doesn't wake up?"

"Alright. I'll knock it out if it wakes up."

The danger of the 5th tier ghost spider lay in its invisible spider silk. Spider silk that was hard to detect even with mana sensing networks. However, by injecting mana into the spinneret that sprayed the spider silk, it could see the spider silk it had spread.

This should be enough.

Ghost spiders excelled at concealing their territory with invisible spider silk. And when prey entered their territory, they used the previously invisible spider silk that had been set up to catch the prey.

Above all, even if the ghost spider's spider silk was not connected to the spinneret, once spider silk was ejected through the spinneret, it could be checked by injecting mana into the spinneret.

That's why players had been using ghost spider silk for ambushes before.

Crack

The sound of something breaking.

Eunha cleanly cut off the lower abdomen of the creature to obtain the spinneret.

When monsters disappear into mana, they leave behind the magic stone that forms their core. Very rarely, in the case of monsters with clearly established existence, they leave behind a corpse.

However, it was unknown how many ghost spiders would need to be killed to wait for the spinneret to drop. It was a probability issue. But there was a way.

"...Did it succeed in one try?"

"We should wait and see for now."

"Should we?"

Monsters disappear into mana because they lose the core that forms their existence. Paradoxically, as long as the core exists, monster body parts can be interpreted as having their existence recognized in this world. Then what if only the spinneret was extracted without killing the ghost spider? It meant the spinneret could exist in the world as long as the ghost spider didn't die.

I tore it out well, but...

...as expected.

Eunha injected his internal mana into the torn spinneret. Then the spider silk that had come out through the spinneret so far reacted to his mana and revealed its form. Soon after, the spinneret he was holding in his hand suddenly turned into mana particles and crumbled. The spider silk that had filled the living room was also gone. The ghost spider had disappeared.

No matter how hard he tried not to kill it, there was no way the creature could survive after losing what was essentially its vital point. Eunha picked up the fallen magic stone with regret. The quality was so poor that it seemed impossible to summon another ghost spider.

Whatever.

There are still three more magic stones.

He had thought it would fail at first. That's why he used the lowest quality magic stone. Eunha injected mana into the next lowest quality magic stone.

"Next time we should try using a potion? It needs to stay alive for a few days, so it would be good to heal it."

"Then I'll prepare a potion."

The ghost spider needed to stay alive until the plan was accomplished. That's why Eunha was doing this in a dungeon where people don't come.

It would be nice if this succeeds...

He was probably the only person doing this while even using potions.

Eunha pointed the black thorn tree at the creature born from the distortion.

— Crack

Afterwards, the sound of something being crushed could be heard intermittently.

What's the matter this time?

Shin Seoyoung pondered as she looked at the name displayed on her smartphone screen.

Noh Eunha.

She couldn't readily answer the phone because every time he called, something always happened.

Buzz buzz

The smartphone vibrated.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

"...Sigh..."

Well, what more could be asked of her now that she had become an instructor at the Academy?

She wasn't even one of the Twelve Seats anymore.

After heaving a sigh that drooped her shoulders, she answered the phone.

Surely it must be a courtesy call.

I hope that's the case.

However, her time spent as a player told her that was unlikely to be true.

"Hello? Eunha, what's the occasion? You're actually calling. Have you been well?"

[Have you been well, sis? As for me... I'm getting by as usual.]

Getting by as usual.

Shin Seoyoung's shoulders twitched slightly upon hearing those words.

It was absurd.

As usual, he says.

Knowing what he had been up to at the Academy, she couldn't help but laugh.

What on earth did "as usual" mean by Eunha's standards?

No, I don't need to think about it.

Eunha will manage just fine on his own.

There's nothing more pointless in life than worrying about Eunha.

So she decided to ask about his business.

She was about to ask about his business when—

—Squeeeeeak!

Crack crunch

"...What was that sound?"

A crushing sound came through the smartphone.

There was no way she had misheard.

The sound was too clear.

She had heard a similar sound in Uijeongbu before.

It was the sound made when a player was folded in half.

It was an unpleasant sound, anyway.

[Ah, it seems someone is taking a dump. I'm in the bathroom, you see.]

"...That doesn't sound like it's coming from a bathroom. What are you doing right now?"

[Why else would I be in the bathroom?]

"......"

Such a brazen lie.

She sighed silently.

It must mean not to ask.

Knowing that Eunha had no intention of telling her no matter how much she pressed, she decided to accept it as is.

"...Alright. So? What's the reason for your call?"

[Please teach my friends.]

"Sorry, I don't accept requests. Besides, I'm a high school academy instructor, so I can't accept it. If you want to take my class, become a high school academy student first and then ask."

[Just teach for one day. The goal is to explore the Academy dungeon under your guidance anyway. Just one day.]

"Hmm..."

Shin Seoyoung fell into contemplation.

As an Academy instructor, she could send him and his friends to the Academy dungeon.

Education would be just a pretext.

In reality, it would be nothing more than chaperoning.

However, since Eunha was asking, it probably wasn't just a light request.

Surely there must be something hidden in this request.

She wavered, unsure whether to dig deeper into it or not.

That's when it happened.

Eunha casually dropped a comment.

[But there might be quite a few kids worth teaching, sis? There are two kids with promising futures like Hayang.]

"Hmm... is that so?"

She suddenly recalled his friend Jung Hayang.

The girl she wanted to make her disciple after Noh Euna.

If Eunha was mentioning her as a comparison, these children must be equally talented.

And she liked children and was the type of person who believed in teaching them for a bright future.

The decision didn't take long.

"—Alright, fine."

She agreed to Eunha's proposal.

Crack crunch

[Yes! Finally succeeded.]

"...Seems like you had a good bowel movement?"

[...Yes..., I suppose so.]