Episode 154

5.

Kim Buja's expectations had grown even larger.

'Bonus damage against monsters? Damn.'

It might have been a one-off item. Out of countless goods, Fly could have just gotten lucky and picked something anyone would agree was decent.

But the odds were against it. Common sense dictated that when dozens of items were laid out, the cheaper ones would have weaker effects. The only uncertainty was that the merchant's standards in the point dungeon might differ from those of the players. If the old man selling the items thought an option like bonus damage against monsters was trash, he would sell it as such. But if he had any sense, there was no way he would sell what buyers wanted at a low price.

Either way, that was exactly why the worn-out T-shirt he had chosen was worth the investment.

He kept telling himself that as he endured, day after day, until he had finally collected 500 points.

"Haah!"

"Great work!"

"Wow! It's over!"

Without even thinking about washing up, they cheered in their ragged, beggar-like state, almost proud of how they had roamed all over the country.

It had been a long, long month. The warmth of spring had passed, and the summer heat was slowly starting to creep in.

"If we'd gone another month, we would've cooked to death out here."

"Seriously, we got lucky."

"I can't believe we actually hit 500 points."

"I hope the next point dungeon opens soon."

Every member of the Jeong Cheol Guild knew this pace was abnormal. No one knew exactly how he was doing it, but this was a hunt only a Legendary class like Kim Buja could pull off. That was why they had all given up their time to board a bus that would never come again.

There were some differences from person to person, but in the end, they had all collected close to 500 points—a total they could proudly say was on par with even Fly, who might have been receiving support at a national level.

"Alright, we're disbanded."

For Kim Buja, however, the question of who had more points was far less urgent than checking his 5,000-point item. He immediately headed for a secluded spot. They had been together for a long time, but no one tried to cling to him at the clean, no-strings-attached breakup. It had only been bearable because of the rewards; otherwise, it had been a grueling stretch, and everyone was desperate for rest.

"Ugh. Our temporary leader is ruthless."

"I think my shoulders are going to lock up."

"Let's get out of here before he decides to keep going."

"If he wants to keep going, we keep going. Even if it kills us."

"Shut it. Don't jinx it."

No matter how high their levels were, there was no way they could keep up this kind of murderous schedule. So they simply watched.

"Buja! Wait for me!"

They watched Kim Buja walk quickly ahead, with Jeong Seora hurrying after him.

"That's not the way down…"

"Isn't there a cave that way?"

"Why would they…"

"Hey, you clueless idiot. Why do you think? Just head down."

"Ah, to be young."

All they could do was sigh, their eyes filled with misunderstanding.

* * *

[Required P: 500]

[Do you want to break the seal?]

He had waited so long for this moment. The ragged gray T-shirt worth 5,000 points was so shabby it was embarrassing to wear. He had kept it on because he didn't want to leave an item he'd received without collateral for god knows what lying around, but that had only made his desire to see its stats grow stronger.

'Finally…!'

His wish was about to come true. Even something trivial became a big deal once you poured enough effort into it. At first, he'd thought the old man had just handed it over because it was some overpriced junk he couldn't get rid of. But after spending a month sweeping up points, it could no longer be some worthless piece of trash.

'If this thing's useless, I'm not letting it slide.'

Because those 500 points represented his time.

He carefully broke the seal.

FLASH—!

A bright light burst from his chest, illuminating the dark cave.

"Wow!" Jeong Seora gasped in admiration.

Just as quickly, the light vanished.

"…Where'd it go?"

Along with the worn-out T-shirt.

6.

Everyone has experienced that moment when their vision goes white, their head spins, and a sudden headache hits. It happens when you're blindsided by something you never saw coming. For Kim Buja, this was that moment.

"Where did it go?"

He was so flustered that he yanked off the outer shirt he had been wearing and ran his bare hands over his skin. His palm slid over smooth flesh where rough, shabby fabric should have been.

It was gone.

Literally in an instant. The T-shirt had vanished the moment it flashed, without giving him time to even register it.

"What happened?" Jeong Seora, who had been with him, was just as dumbfounded.

While Buja had only realized it was gone when he reached for it, his expectations sky-high, she had witnessed the miracle with her own eyes. The worn-out T-shirt, visible beneath his outer layer, had turned into bare skin in a burst of light. It wasn't as if she had closed her eyes against the glare. The first thing players had to adapt to was light and darkness. When entering a dungeon, you had a fifty-fifty chance of being greeted by either bright light or pitch-black darkness, so they even trained themselves to stare straight ahead without squinting. Their superhuman stats made that possible.

Even with those transcendent stats, she hadn't seen when or how it disappeared. Which only made it more absurd. She had been looking right at it, and it was just gone. He felt an overwhelming urge to storm off and raise hell with that old geezer from his memory.

"Whew."

Buja calmed himself with a deep breath. Whenever that reckless, fearless kid inside him tried to rear his head, he just had to ask himself one thing.

'Do I really have the stats to go pick a fight with that old man? Or will I just become a living example of how that obnoxious pipe of his plays no favorites when it comes to beating people senseless?'

Once he regained his composure, he could think things through. First, he needed to try everything he could. The basis for his judgment, as always, was the hologram.

[The seal has been broken.]

Unless the seal had been broken and the item had been freed from his body to fly off somewhere, a de-sealed item should either be on him or lying nearby. But no matter how carefully he searched, there was no T-shirt, or anything else, on the ground.

'In that case, what if it's just invisible?'

It was an easy suspicion to have. He placed a hand on his chest and checked the item information.

[The Gnawing Soul]

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Equip Restriction: Point Dungeon VIP / Gold Maker only

▶ Level: ★★★★★★★

▶ Defense: +20

▶ Can consume P / G to use "Soul Unleash"

▷ Converts into Gold Maker-exclusive armor. Binds on unsealing.

▷ Will vanish upon death. Cannot be destroyed by any means.

▷ "Soul Unleash" has a total of 7 levels, which can be activated using points and gold.

→ Level 1: 5P / 50G

→ Level 2: 10P / 100G

→ Level 3: 30P / 300G

→ Level 4: 120P / 1,200G

→ Level 5: 300P / 3,000G

→ Level 6: 1,000P / 10,000G

→ Level 7: 2,500P / 25,000G

▷ Duration and unleash effects are influenced by your Gold Power stat.

His question was answered more easily than expected. It wasn't some prank meant to startle him. Considering it was armor called The Gnawing Soul, it actually made sense that it would be invisible. The fact that the hologram hadn't warned him beforehand and had let him panic was just business as usual, so he let that slide.

That wasn't the real problem.

"This really is a sucker's armor."

"Why?"

"In exchange for being able to equip seven-star chest armor with no level restriction, it only has 20 defense."

It was an absurd number. To give a sense of how absurd, Park Si-jun's two-star Legendary shield had 55 defense. Of course, a shield would naturally have higher defense, but considering the gap between two stars and seven, you couldn't just shrug it off.

'That damn old bastard.'

As ridiculous as it was, it still made a certain twisted sense. A seven-star piece of gear you could wear at level 14 had to have a catch.

The ability to activate its options by paying a price was, in itself, a massive advantage.

Even Buja had to admit it was good.

It had the unique flair and versatility expected of a Legendary item. He could selectively adjust the "Soul Unleash" effect by level, and while he hadn't confirmed it yet, there were undoubtedly different options or stats for each stage. As long as he could afford the cost, this could easily become a completely broken item.

There was just one catch.

He had to pay gold and points to use it.

"Did I really grind points while burning through ten thousand gold for this?"

Judging by the required ratio, the exchange rate was essentially ten gold per point.

His mood soured all over again.

A wave of emptiness washed over him as he considered how inefficiently he had been grinding for the past month.

He let out a long sigh.

'What can I do?'

He just had to adapt and use it.

In the end, this item was just another long-term growth investment, much like the Gold Ring.

His mood was the only problem; in terms of sheer value, it was more than worth the five thousand points—so much so that he wondered if it was actually a bargain.

As long as its performance matched what he was imagining.

For now, though, he had no desire to test it.

'My gold needs a break.'

Even if he broke even in a 1-star dungeon, spending as much gold as he earned, he refused to be the idiot who just threw money away for nothing.

For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that any gold or points he spent would end up in the hands of that old man from the Point Dungeon, so he steeled his resolve.

* * *

People were curious.

—Isn't it about time for some kind of event to pop up?

—Yeah, there hasn't been a big event since that one at the start of the year.

While smaller events occurred all over the world, global events involving all players happened at least six times a year.

Among them, Legendary-grade events were the ones that usually received major media coverage.

In any case, the fact that May had passed and June was approaching with no events other than the Nations Cup felt strange to people.

—Maybe they're giving us time to adjust after that big update?

—Could be.

It was a reasonable thought.

The Dungeon Break update itself was, if you really thought about it, arguably larger in scale than most Legendary-grade events.

Even so, players still wanted more.

—Forget everything else, doesn't it feel like there's gonna be an event tied to the Dungeon Break?

—Yeah. The point rewards are way too stingy. And considering the prices of the Point Dungeon items, they have to give us a big chance to cash in soon, even if it won't instantly close the wealth gap.

At the same time, they were making reasonable guesses.

They just couldn't predict everything.

[Event]

▶ Type: Catastrophe

▶ Grade: Legendary

They had no idea their idle speculation would come back not as just any seed, but as a Jack-and-the-Beanstalk-grade magic bean.

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