Chapter 13

Earth Korea Management Team.

The team leader and staff were gathered together, watching the gameplay of a single user over and over again.

Except for basic information, New World's own mosaic processing prevented them from seeing the details, but it was enough to shock them.

"No way..."

The development team in charge of New World, along with the announcement, spared no praise for Earth Korea, saying that they had an amazing user.

The development team is located at Earth's headquarters, and the location of the headquarters is unknown.

It is carried out with such thorough security that even Earth employees do not know, and one thing is certain: a supercomputer called New World exists and is known to manage all servers around the world.

The pay was good, the benefits were good, and everything related to the game was handled by the development team, so it was the best work-life balance company with no overtime.

Honestly, they weren't that surprised when they were told that they praised a beginner user.

They just thought they were a talented person with a talent for games, but looking at the user's footsteps, this could not be simply defined as amazing.

"Could such coincidences happen in a row?"

"That's what I mean."

Suddenly appearing, choosing a martial artist, and being the first to clear the tutorial level 5, no less.

After that, instead of going to the Hall of Physical Arts, which everyone goes to, he went to an empty dojo and cleaned it, and then lightly beat down a warrior who had completed the first job change.

The ghost of an old man appeared in the dojo, and he obtained a legendary skill from him.

"Wow... Damn, it's hard to even list them."

Anyway, as if he knew everything, not only did he beat up the instructor at the Hall of Physical Arts, but he went to a village that no one was heading to and easily obtained aura flowers, and even discovered a hidden theme within them. What a monster.

"Who on earth is this user?"

"If you ask me that, how would I know?"

Team leader Oh Jin-soo was also perplexed.

Coincidences upon coincidences are concentrating on a single user.

"This isn't someone who's already experienced the game, is it?"

Team member Park Joo-ho asked in a trembling voice.

"New World is a game where you can only create a character once."

"Right. And even if they created a second character, that doesn't make sense. They were the first to clear the tutorial, and the first to discover that dojo. Hidden theme... Ha, I'm tired of talking."

"Ah! Then someone is telling them!"

At the words that someone was telling them, everyone's heads turned to Park Joo-ho.

"Telling them?"

"Yes! When you go to a fortune teller, the spirit tells you your fortune. That's also the spirit possessing them and telling them everything!"

Park Joo-ho's eyes sparkled as he began to chatter.

He was more interested in fortunes, palmistry, and tarot than MBTI.

He even went so far as to take his teammates to see a fortune teller.

"...Forget it. I should stop talking."

The team members who went with him shook their heads.

Was it the first or second time Park Joo-ho had spouted nonsense?

"Spouting nonsense again? Your work must be easy, huh?"

In the end, Oh Jin-soo grabbed Park Joo-ho's head and shook it.

Park Joo-ho, with a pained expression, grabbed his head and hurriedly added.

"Ouch! Wait a minute! That doesn't mean this user is an Earth employee, does it? If you join Earth or Genesis, you can't even use the capsule!"

That was also true.

From Oh Jin-soo's point of view, the user's play was too natural.

If they discovered it by chance, they should be surprised, but it's as if they know everything.

'Is someone really telling them?'

It was a play that couldn't be understood otherwise.

* * *

Bzzz-

While resting at home, Jung-hoon received a call from Ha-jin.

"Yeah, why did you call?"

[Hey! Did you hear the news?! A hidden theme has been discovered in our country!]

"Really? That's amazing."

Jung-hoon pretended to be surprised, but his acting was terrible, so Ha-jin quickly saw through it.

[What? Why is your reaction so lukewarm?]

"I'm really surprised."

[You're kidding. A hidden theme? You don't know because you haven't been playing this game for long, but if New World is making an official announcement, it's really a big deal, you know? They even said New World is giving that user a separate gift!]

"Really?"

That's a bit surprising.

Before returning, Jung-hoon started playing the game long after Alessandro had discovered the hidden theme.

Therefore, he did not know the news that New World would make a direct announcement and that he would receive an additional gift.

'What kind of gift would they give?'

Since the hidden theme itself was like a lucky chance, it didn't seem like they would give anything grand as a congratulatory gift.

As Jeong-hoon pondered, Ha-jin's laughter came from the other end of the phone.

[What? Hearing you like this, are you envious?]

"You talk as if you're the one getting it?"

[It makes me feel better when you're envious, as if I'm the one getting it.]

"Weird guy."

Sorry, but I got that hidden theme.

Of course, Jeong-hoon couldn't say that to Ha-jin.

[Anyway, you're resting at home today, right?]

"Yeah. I'll rest until today and start running again tomorrow morning."

[Morning... You're amazing, anyway. Got it.]

"Take care."

[Take care~]

Jeong-hoon went to the New World homepage.

There was a phrase saying that they would give a gift, but there was no separate contact.

In the first place, there was no case of New World communicating directly with users, so he passed.

The reward will probably be given when he logs into the game.

* * *

Jeong-hoon, who had rested for a total of two days, came back to the capsule.

"But do you really not regret it?"

Ha-jin, sitting in the capsule next to him, asked.

"I told you I don't. The love call came to me, so why are you holding onto it?"

"No, I'm just saying because it's Ho-yeong."

The guild Ha-jin joined was in the lower ranks of mid-sized guilds.

He also wanted to join a big guild like Ho-yeong, but it was almost impossible to join without any special abilities.

"Anyway, I'm going in first."

Whoosh-

The capsule door that Jeong-hoon entered closed and logged in.

The place where he appeared was an inn a little away from the marketplace village.

In New World, when you log in, you are logged in at the last logout point.

[You have unread messages!]

A huge message that appears as soon as you log in.

Jeong-hoon touched the message.

[A gift will be given to the user who first discovered the hidden theme.]

[The gift will be adjusted to the current level of the user.]

'Oh no.'

Jeong-hoon smiled bitterly.

If they give it according to the current level, 100% a low-level gift will be given.

[Please check your gift.]

-Bonus stat +10 -HP/MP 20% recovery potion +20

-Status ailment recovery potion +20

How can it not miss the expectations?

Well, a gift is a gift.

Jeong-hoon also exchanged all the achievement points he had accumulated for experience points.

He needed to be at least level 6 to purchase the items he needed right away from the achievement shop.

Until then, he needed to focus on rapid growth.

[Level up!]

[All stats +1.]

[Bonus stat +1.]

This brought his level to 21.

Level 21 without hardly hunting any monsters.

If Ha-jin had heard, he would have fainted.

Knock. Knock.

"Guest, you must leave now."

11 a.m. New World time.

It was time to vacate the inn.

The inn that Jeong-hoon had rented was for 2 days, so he had to pay an additional fee if he wanted to stay another day.

"Yes, I'm leaving."

Jeong-hoon, who had no luggage in the first place, came out of the inn with nothing.

[You have rested for two days at the inn.]

['Minor Recovery' buff (3 hours) has been granted.]

The reason he paid money to visit the inn was to receive this buff.

[Minor Recovery]

-Type: Buff

-Grade: Normal

-Restores HP by 0.1% every second.

-Restores MP by 0.1% every second.

A buff that restores 0.1% of HP and MP every second when they are depleted.

It will play an important role in clearing the next dungeon.

Jeong-hoon stopped by a nearby weapon shop instead of heading north right away.

"Welcome!"

As befitting a beginner zone weapon shop, the grades of the weapons were not very high.

"Please give me the ones listed here."

"Yes? ...So many?"

The merchant at the weapon shop tilted his head.

It was no wonder, since Jeong-hoon was looking for 5 types of weapons.

Sword, dagger, bow, staff, knuckle.

"Yes. Please give me the lowest grade ones. Give me plenty of arrows. Also, give me 20 repair kits."

Repair kits are items that recharge the durability of a weapon when its durability is low.

"You'll need a bit of money to buy this much..."

The merchant said so and glanced at Jeong-hoon's pocket.

The price of a weapon, the lowest grade, is 10 silver.

Sword, dagger, bow, staff, and knuckle are each 10 silver, so a total of 50 silver is 2 gold 10 silver.

The repair kit is 2 silver each, so 20 of them are 2 gold.

In addition, 400 arrows made by refining magic power are 10 silver, so the total amount is 5 gold.

He had not seen many users carrying more than 1 gold while running the weapon shop.

Even if they had money, they were exceptions because they carried much more expensive and better weapons than the ones displayed in his weapon shop.

"Here you go."

But Jeong-hoon casually put down 5 gold.

The merchant's eyes curved like a crescent moon as he checked the five gold coins.

"Thank you for using our services!"

Look at the change in attitude?

As a merchant, he was very good at judging the situation.

Jeong-hoon smiled and put the weapons and repair kits into his inventory.

"Goodbye."

This left him with 4 gold, 18 silver, and 6 pennies.

That's enough preparation.

To get to the dungeon located in the north, he had to use the portal located beyond the two northern fields.

[Portal]

The portal was huge.

The width was enough for 10 people to enter, and many users were coming and going through the portal.

"You have to line up here."

Nearly 50 users were lined up in front of the portal, waiting.

"Yes."

Jeong-hoon went behind them and stood in line.

* * *

A handsome man in his mid-20s, who was looking at the New World announcement, was enraged.

Blond hair, a Western yet three-dimensional face.

An Archmage who currently surpassed level 500 and reached level 502.

It was Alessandro Bryden.

"Why? This shouldn't be possible now...?"

Hidden theme.

One of the hidden opportunities New World has hidden.

And this hidden theme was an opportunity that should have come to him.

A secret quest given to him, the first wizard to break through level 500.

The contents of the secret quest were clues about the hidden theme.

The clues were so difficult that he hadn't made any progress yet, but he thought they would come to him over time.

Someone had snatched that hidden theme away.

"Damn it!"

This makes the secret quest meaningless!

Alessandro pretended to pull his hair out.

"Not yet... The hidden theme doesn't end there."

According to the clues, there are several more hidden themes.

He didn't know where it was discovered, but it must have been by chance.

It's okay to bring the rest of the hidden themes.

Alessandro hurriedly entered the capsule and began to study the clues given.

* * *

The portal had 13 destinations.

There are a total of 13 dungeons in the north, so there are 13 portals accordingly.

Most of them moved in groups of 2 or 3 to move through the portal, and Jeong-hoon was the only one moving alone.

['Lv.25 Orc Warrior's Forest' dungeon entrance has been reached.]

The place Jeong-hoon headed to was the Lv.25 Orc Warrior's Forest.

It was a dungeon with a considerably high difficulty level even in the Primal Village, so it was usually a dungeon that 4 people would team up to clear.

And soon, the dungeons at this portal will become two.

Because he's going to make it that way.

[Undiscovered dungeon discovered in Primal Village!]

-Of course, I didn't discover it, my acquaintance did.

See the forest next to the dungeon portal? There's a cave next to that forest, and that cave is the entrance to a new dungeon.

For reference, Lv.38 Poison Crusher lives there, so it was a dungeon that shouldn't have appeared in Primal Village in the first place lol.

Jeong-hoon entered the forest instead of the dungeon portal.

At the end of the forest, there really was a cave. As if to prove that no human had set foot there, the surroundings were too clean.

In the first place, the users who visit here are gathered to clear the dungeon, not to wander around the forest.

'It's in here, right?'

Usually, the cave would be dark, but the surroundings were strangely bright.

Jeong-hoon moved his steps and went deeper into the cave.

And there, he could see a portal shimmering.

That was the dungeon he had to enter this time.

'The level is reasonably high, and they're the perfect opponents to learn skills from.'