Chapter 50

I mumbled a song as I cleaned the incubator’s glass window .

I didn’t really have to clean the glass, but I wanted to observe the egg beyond the glass a little clearly .

I forgot about the content of the letter for a moment since the letter gave me a headache . Focusing on cleaning the incubator refreshed how I felt .

The incubator was larger than a king sized bed . At the center of the circular shaped incubator, there was a dragon egg .

It was the egg that I purchased through the auction .

It was going to take a little more time before it hatched . Also, there were a few more conditions that needed to be met .

Still, I had been staring at the egg whole day, wondering if the egg was going to move or not, wondering if there was anything odd .

The last owner of the egg didn’t know how to make the egg hatch, so the owner placed it on the auction . However, I was different .

I also didn’t know how to make it hatch .

However, I gave points to the easy difficulty challengers to inquire the managers .

‘Ha!

There’s nothing you cannot do if you have a lot of points .

Points are the best . ’

I fully prepared all items I was going to need after the dragon hatched .

I was going to bathe the dragon in elixir as soon as it hatched .

I was going to provide it with various passive skills . I was also going to give it a blessing so it won’t have health problems .

Its drinking water also had to be diluted elixir . I was going to make the food for it by crushing great earthworm with spirit’s byproduct .

I even prepared a gigantic mixing machine for making the baby food .

The fairy lavas, which were to be fed to the dragon once it grew up a little, were hard to obtain because fairies were so rare .

I made a place at a corner of the residential area . I had been diligently increasing the number of the lavas there .

I even prepared a huge, lavish nest and toys for intellectual development .

There was a chance the baby dragon would not follow me as its parent . So, just in case, I even learned polymorph magic .

I was going to take care of the baby dragon while in the state of being morphed into a dragon .

I was concerned the baby dragon might feel awkward about the fact that I don’t have a dragon heart . So, I made a dragon heart and installed it inside my body .

I even practiced and perfected natural movements while being morphed into a dragon .

Fortunately, I was pretty used to reptiles and other similar beings .

I never knew that the time I spent with her and the knowledge learned from her would be used this way .

Preparations were perfect .

I just needed to wait until that baby dragon to wake up .

Hm…

Everything was going too perfectly . A sensation of pure bliss was rushing at me .

It felt like everything was going to work out just fine if I just relaxed and waited like this .

It felt like I no longer needed to agonize over things or suffer .

Of course, the world never work that smoothly, especially in this Hell Difficulty .

Still, I tried hard to be positive and be happy .

I finished cleaning the incubator . While I was resting and drinking a cup of coffee, a message alarm rang .

It had a familiar name .

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: What is it?]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: What else? I’m contacting you before I get going . The Round is about to start soon . ]

I thought this guy was going to stay at the 30th Floor in Normal Difficulty forever .

I wondered if he was going to grow old there, but in the end, he was about to get out of the Tutorial .

‘Now that I think about it, it must be quite surreal to him .

He swore that he was going to spend the rest of his life in Tutorial, but he is about to leave . ’

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: It’s a little hard for me to believe it, but it is not to the point of being anxious . I am going to live a quiet life outside anyway . ]

‘I am sure you would .

That guy isn’t going to runaround to kill monsters .

Instead, he probably will show up on the news .

… Along with politicians .

Korea was the top country that produced greatest Awakened warriors in the world, and he was the man who led the Korean Server since its initial establishment .

Other countries were trying to figure out the reason behind the Korean Awakeneds’ strength by examining the atmosphere, rules and system inside Korean Tutorial .

Kim Min-huk also had plenty of great connections .

Many people were going to call for him .

If he stayed in Korea, he was going to be treated like a royalty . He would be offered huge sums of contract . He would also be offered all sorts of special entitlements . Moreover, he could take the world of politics by storm .

Many famous Awakeneds were slowly moving into the politics .

Kim Min-huk said he was going to live a quiet life . I doubted the world was going to let him be .

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: It’s too bad . If there was going to be a day of the great harmony, I could at least see you before you go . ]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: It’s fine . It’s not like the day of the great harmony happens for a good reason . I would rest easier with it not happening . ]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Really? I thought they were not so bad after the first one?]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: That’s because you didn’t do any work, you rascal . While you were sitting around doing nothing, we solved things by working our butts off . ]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: That’s not true . I worked too . ]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: Sitting on a corner, you had been inflicting injuries on your body to increase passive skills . You are not referring to that as work, are you? Well… Back then, you were helpful even when you just stood there yawning with your hands to the back . ]

‘… I cannot beat him on this topic no matter how long we continue .

I should move on to the next topic . ’

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Still, it is too bad . I heard another day of great harmony is going to happen soon . ]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: Really? When?]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: You don’t know?]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: Of course I don’t, you rascal . It’s been a while since I quit the Order of Vigilance . ]

[TL: The Militia in past chapters is now called the Order of Vigilance . ]

‘That makes sense . He is like a soldier on the last days before the retirement . I guess it is possible that information related to work would not get delivered to him . ’

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: Does Jung-ah know?]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Probably . ]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: In that case, it probably won’t happen, as usual . ]

The day of the great harmony, unlike its peaceful name, happened only when there was a serious problem in the Tutorial .

So, the information about the day of the great harmony happening soon served as an alarm that something problematic was happening inside Tutorial .

As soon as the information about the day of the great harmony happening was spread, the Order of Vigilance made the move, and the problem was solved .

When the problem was solved, the day of the great harmony did not happen .

It was unfortunate .

It was not like they could just let the problem be so the day of the great harmony could happen .

Actually, many people wanted the Order to just let the problem be so the day of the great harmony could happen .

They were mostly the people who wanted to meet families or friends who got scattered inside the Tutorial .

However, the Order of Vigilance, Park Jung-ah to be precise, did not listen .

‘Another day of the great harmony probably won’t come until the day Park Jung-Ah clear the Tutorial and leave . ’

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: Hey, since the topic came up, I got to ask . Are you guys still the same as always?]

‘The same as always?’

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: That’s right . ]

‘Of course it is . ’

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: I thought there was plenty of time to think about things . Isn’t it about time you guys joined up again?]

‘Um…

This is not something that an answer would just come up because I had the time to think .

Besides…

Even if we made up, what is going to change?

Nothing .

As long as I’m stuck here…

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: Once I leave Tutorial, who else is left that can talk to her with ease? It is hard now as it is, so why don’t you help out?]

[Lee Hojae, 60th Floor: What are you babbling about? Are you the matchmaker? Moreover, are you in position to do that?]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: You rascal… . I’m trying to help, yet you can’t just sit quietly and accept it . Tsk . Still, think about it again . It looks like Jung-ah is interested . ]

‘Jung-ah is?

Something is off .

I bet this rascal said the same thing to Jung-ah before he contacted me .

I bet he did only with a different name .

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: That’s not it, you rascal . ]

I sent a message to Park Jung-ah to satisfy my curiosity .

I couldn’t stand it if I had something I was curious about .

There was no message back from her .

Instead, Kim Min-huk responded .

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: Hey! You poked at it right away? Jung-ah sent me shit load of insults . ]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Ki ki ki ki ki…]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: What’s so funny? You thoughtless rascal . Is it past the time for your medicine?]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: My resistance skills are so high that I can’t take things like medicines . Ki ki ki . ]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: I really need to do something about this rascal…]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: I’ll try talking to Jung-ah later . By any chance, if the day of the great harmony does not get canceled, I’ll talk to her face to face . ]

‘It means I am not going to talk to her . ’

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: If the day of the great harmony really happens, I guess you can see that newbie too . Many have high hopes for her . Just who is she? She is breaking through the Hell Difficulty . ]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: There were a few that made that far . She is still only at the Sixth Floor . Don’t get her all worked up with false sense of confidence . ]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: I won’t of course . Still, she knows how to handle it . Unlike others…]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Yeah . Although she is not as good as me . ]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: You were just a special case . She got to the Sixth Floor in ten rounds . That’s quite fast . How long did it take you to get to the Sixth Floor?]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Was it around Round Three?]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: You are a fiend . Seriously . Although it would be hard to compare to you, this newbie has plenty of talent . Don’t be so anxious . ]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: I know, but I don’t know how long it will take from the Sixth Floor . Also, of all things, she is an archer . ]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: Do you think she can get through?]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Probably . If it looks like she will never be able to get through the floor, I’m thinking about giving her items so she can . ]

‘Honestly, if I sensed that Lee Youn-hye didn’t stand a good chance since the First Floor, I would have helped her move up by showering her with items .

Even if someone is terrible at this, getting to the Tenth Floor is possible with items .

With some incredible luck, getting to even the 30th Floor is possible with items .

Just like how they do it in some of other countries . '

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: So, well… I’m sure you are on top of things on that . ]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: Ah, I was going to ask you about this . I totally forgot . ]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: How strong are you?]

‘What?’

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: When I leave the Tutorial, there will be many that will ask me about you . Whenever they do, I need to give a rough answer at least . So, how strong are you now?]

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: I am not sure . What should I use as the frame of reference to compare my strength?]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: How about G-rank monsters? Although none of us have seen it in real life . ]

In the outside world, the monsters were rated based on their strength and threat level . Initially, the ranks were made of A to F . One day, suddenly, the S rank was also introduced . After a while, even G-rank was added .

I wondered what they would call it if a new monster beyond the G-rank monsters showed up .

Anyway, the G-rank monsters were beyond just being a dangerous organism . They were national level threats .

I heard that there were just four of them on Earth .

Also, all four of them, after claiming their territories, stayed inside the area and never left . So, the humans choose to give up the areas instead of trying to reclaim them .

However, a G-rank monster named Oclrera claimed its territory near Manhattan, New York .

U . S . could not give up that area . They brought in Earth’s greatest Awakened warriors and poured in all of their air power to destroy Oclrera .

In that battle, about half of S and A-rank Awakened warriors, the greatest warriors in existence on Earth, were killed .

I didn’t know exactly what kind of power that Oclrera had .

As Kim Min-huk said, we never saw it in person . We only heard about G-rank monsters from newbies who ended up in Tutorial .

‘If I analyze it based on what the newbies said and the information on the normal news…

No, there is no need ‘

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: I’m probably super strong even if you compared to those bastards . Well…]

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: Thank you for the thoughtless answer that I think I’ve heard before . ]

As we talked like that, we started to talk about old days .

From how we met, during the times of hardship, when things were going well…

The memories of them were like short stories .

It was because I was always alone in Hell Difficulty .

I got to meet Kim Min-huk in person only for a few times besides the day of the great harmony .

Besides that, all I remembered was communicating with him through the Community .

Still, that was not all there was to my friendship with Kim Min-huk .

He was one of my very few friends . He was my family .

'Not being able to meet him in person is going to be the same even when he leaves the Tutorial . '

To split the hair here, it was just the conversation through the Community that I was going to lose .

However, losing that felt like a good bye .

[Kim Min-huk, 99th Floor: I’ll be going first . I’ll see you outside . ]

‘… It’s as it should be . ’

[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: All right . Say hello to others who are outside . ]

‘That’s right . I should also get out . I should .

It is obvious . ’

I wonder what was troubling me back then .

Among the papers in disarray laying on the table, I found the letter I was going to send to Lee Youn-hye .

The letter was tightly packed with written words . The very last row was empty .

In that only remaining space, I filled it with a sentence .

Please tell Kiri Kiri about Zara .