2.

A familiar tension crept through his body. A 1-star Legendary dungeon. This was coming from Kim Buja, the man who had not only shattered the five-year record for a solo clear but had also beaten that player's time to set a new one.

"Haah."

Still, the tension was unavoidable. To him, the Gold Mission and this unfamiliar world were no different from a single-player game, completely detached from reality. The main appeal of a single-player game was the strange thrill of being able to do anything—of acting with total impunity, completely disconnected from his real self.

Unfortunately, that thrill had now turned into tension as he faced a single, glaring problem—this was, in fact, another reality. If he died, it was over. No one would know. No, they wouldn't even know that he was dead. At best, Jeong Seora might remember that he'd gone somewhere other than a dungeon and never came back. Everyone else would just assume that the suddenly silent Kim Buja had died in some dungeon. It made no difference whether he died there or here.

Except, there was a difference. He entered dungeons only when he was certain of his plan, but here, he could never be certain. Any variable could pop up at any time, and it wouldn't be the least bit strange. Of course, thinking that way, he shouldn't be doing the Gold Mission at all. There were plenty of things he could do without leveling up, and if he looked hard enough, there were surely other ways to gain levels.

'They only give you what you can clear, in their own way.'

He preferred safety but was willing to take on a challenge as long as it wasn't unreasonable. He was walking that tightrope. Just like in chapter 1-1, there was always a path forward. This was just a narrower, hardcore version in comparison. Actually, in many ways, it was even better than hardcore, except for the fact that you couldn't restart if you died. There was only one life. The fact that his enemies didn't know the princess was royalty. And the fact that he could achieve limitless personal growth is completely unrelated to this story.

If this were just a game, he would have played it with a relaxed attitude. He might have even agonized over how to seduce the princess, as if he were playing a dating sim.

"Haah."

'Let's just think of it that way.' He composed himself. Chapter 1-2 wasn't that threatening, as long as he was careful. He dredged up memories that had been swallowed by the events of the past month and retraced the plot.

'Slave traders, escape, poison for the slaves.'

A month had passed, assuming her identity as the princess hadn't been discovered.

'Wait, has it really been a month?' In the last chapter, time here had been synced 1:1 with reality, but there was no guarantee that would continue. He put that thought on hold and started walking. In any case, if time had passed here as well, the slave traders wouldn't still be lingering in the area where they had escaped. Still, he moved cautiously, scouting his surroundings just in case.

Then it hit him.

'Ah!'

The most important fact.

"Where was it?"

He couldn't remember. The place where he had hidden the princess.

His dazed steps wandered in place for a while. He scanned his surroundings again and again, hoping the memory would return, but all he could see were forests and rocky cliffs. He remembered it was a cave in a place like this, but the problem was that there were at least five or six similar-looking landforms visible in every direction.

"Haah."

Five minutes after entering the mission, he had encountered his greatest challenge yet.

* * *

As he wandered through the forest, Kim Buja realized he was naked—just as he had been before he left. He opened the Gold Shop and found some rather welcome news.

"What's this?"

He had returned without so much as a pair of underwear, but on his finger was a familiar emerald ring. He checked to see if it was just a similar-looking piece, but no—it was the weapon, the Gold Ring he had recently acquired.

"How did it get here?" The question didn't last long. It couldn't be an error; this was a reality where such things didn't happen. He was used to deducing the reasons for the notoriously player-unfriendly phenomena of the hologram system.

'It's here because it's bound to me.' It was a Legendary item, bound to him until death. It seemed to follow him no matter what, even if his body went to another world.

"How strange." In a way, perhaps he'd been transferred to another body with only his stats applied. Or maybe his real body had been brought here after being stripped naked. Whatever the case, it was fascinating that it worked this way. It was just like a game, yet more game-like than any game. He could see why it wasn't uncommon for players to commit crimes, as they were often unable to distinguish reality from the system.

"Good." After throwing on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, he moved with renewed confidence. With the Gold Ring, the difficulty dropped significantly. A weapon—the very thing that had contributed most to human evolution—was now in his hand. What was there to fear?

'I can probably handle some wild animals.' He wasn't afraid even if darkness fell. 'I'll find her in a few days.'

Perhaps because of that hope, his luck held.

"Huh?"

He hadn't left any markers, worried the slave traders might find the tracks and discover the hideout. That was why he'd gotten lost. But once he arrived at the space where the hideout was installed, he, at least, could recognize it. The power of a Gold Shop customer. The hideout's translucent barrier was visible only to his eyes.

And so, after hours of hiking, he saw it: the cave. Inside, illuminated by an artificial lamp, a naked woman lay on a bed, reading a comic book.

A wave of relief washed over him, followed immediately by puzzlement.

"What the...? You were still here?" He had assumed a month had passed. For her to still be here, did that mean not as much time had passed as he thought? A time distortion, then? Did time here only flow at the same rate as reality when he was physically present? If so, couldn't he profit from this somehow?

While he was pondering, the princess's eyes were wavering, charged at him. There was no time to dodge. He could have, if he'd wanted to, but the thought didn't even cross his mind.

'Ah, I prepared everything for her except clothes before I left.'

That was the only thought that came to him as he watched her run toward him. He had no choice but to take the impact, defenseless. It was strong enough to make him stumble back two or three steps.

"Oof."

It felt soft.

It wasn't just on his lips. The princess, holding him in a tight embrace, wore a fragrance so potent it nearly made his mind go blank.

'Wait, hold on.'

Of course, it wasn't just her scent.

'Were we that close?' No matter how much he'd forgotten during the busy event, he hadn't forgotten everything. His last memory of the princess definitely wasn't like this. Her wary gaze and anxious eyes. Her pure smile as she chuckled at his request for a kiss when he returned—that was all he could remember. In fact, the look she'd given him, as if he were a bug, when he'd tried to trick her into revealing her identity, was far more memorable. But this situation right now…!

"Thank you," the princess whispered in his ear, still holding him.

"For what…?" He was genuinely curious. What was she so thankful for that she was giving him a gift like this?

"For coming back."

It felt like a dream, in more ways than one. The inexplicably passionate reunion hug continued for a while.

"Hey, this is nice and all, but our future isn't exactly bright… no, I mean, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Can we talk?" he said, finally coming to his senses and pulling her away.

3.

Fortunately, it wasn't a case of being in the same place but a different world, or some parallel theory where the princess had been replaced with a new one more to his taste.

"I've been here for a month. I thought you would come back."

Time was also flowing at the same rate as in reality. He had to smack his lips in disappointment at that, but it was also a relief that things were unfolding more or less as he'd expected. At least he wouldn't have to worry about being pursued by the slave traders for a while when they left the cave and headed for the Empire. That was enough. The advantage of not being rushed would give him leeway, no matter which choice he made. Now that he'd heard everything, he asked the most important question.

"So, what was that all about as soon as we met?"

The princess didn't answer.

He had nothing to be ashamed of, so he asked confidently. The princess was a peerless beauty, her figure magnificent enough to conquer the continent, but he had Seora. He hadn't made the first move; he was the one who'd been pounced on. Why should he be scared? At his blunt words, the princess's face turned red as she recalled the emotions of that moment, and she lowered her head. Of course, she wasn't someone who had spent her life bowing to others.

"J-Just because. You asked for it." She was shy, but she said what she had to.

"Oh." It sounded a lot like an excuse, and her true feelings were plain to see, but Kim Buja had no choice but to nod. "That's true."

She wasn't wrong. The sight of her in a baggy shirt that barely covered her lower half made him want to forget he was Kim Buja, just for this moment, but he held onto his senses. It wasn't like the body he'd left behind had seduced the princess while he was gone; she had simply developed feelings for him on her own. Or maybe she was just lonely after spending a month by herself. He wouldn't let a momentary desire limit his choices.

'Wouldn't it be okay to just go for it?' The impulse flared up, as if not just a mere demon minion but a demon king were whispering in his ear, but he thought of Jeong Seora.

"Let's go, for now." Whether they were going to the Empire or the Allied Forces, they needed to hurry. He spoke to the princess, who nodded and picked up a backpack full of food.

"Just leave all that. It's heavy."

After many twists and turns, Kim Buja and the princess resumed their adventure after a month.

* * *

Jeong Seora received a call from Kim Buja.

"For how long?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. It's not a quest I can plan out myself."

It was a notification, not a request.

"If I don't come back, just say I died in a dungeon."

"That's a little sad," she said. She felt like a lawyer receiving a last will and testament. Before dungeons appeared, it would have been a conversation deserving of a rebuke—'how could you say that to me?'—but now that dungeons existed and they were both players, it was proof of immense trust. Of course, Jeong Seora didn't take it too deeply.

"Be safe." It was just a matter of whether you said it out loud or not; players always lived with death. There was even a superstition that players who could befriend death were the ones who survived the longest.

In any case, while Kim Buja was away, the Jeongcheol Guild received a call.

"They're looking for Buja?" Aside from Park Sijun, this was a first. Someone was actually looking for Kim Buja. Then again, now that his value was rising, it wasn't so strange anymore. The only thing that mattered was who it was.

"Why would Sergei Dicapro…"

The player Kim Buja had overtaken at the last moment in the event. The oil prince of the Middle East had come to Korea looking for Kim Buja.

* * *

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