Chapter 33: I Told You, I’m Stronger than You Think (1)
"I'll accept."
Chae YeonJoo's face brightened after hearing his answer. She crossed her arms and snorted.
It was as if she wanted to say, 'I knew it.'
"Good choice."
"So, when are you going to tell me the request?"
KangWoo smirked after seeing her with an arrogant expression on her face.
"I'll tell you later on. It's not like you'll be able to do it with your current strength anyways."
"Hmm."
KangWoo looked at her silently.
'What is she trying to ask me to do?'
KangWoo was sure that what Chae YeonJoo wanted to ask him wasn't something he couldn't do now.
She didn't know about him.
She wasn't aware of his real strength.
What she knew about him was that he was a talented player who had reached the third awakening in just two weeks.
"It's probably different from what you're thinking."
"Hmm?"
"I'm probably stronger than you think."
"…"
Chae YeonJoo looked at him as if he was being ridiculous.
A newbie who had been a player for just two weeks had said something like that very confidently, so it was normal for her to laugh at his words.
"Ah, okay. Understood. But I still can't tell you the details. It isn't only because you're weak."
"Then?"
"I don't have enough evidence. It isn't something I can say until I've gathered enough proof."
"…?"
He was having a hard time understanding.
KangWoo shrugged his shoulders while seeing her avoid answering directly.
'I guess I don't need to keep insisting.'
She probably had a reason to avoid answering.
Either way, if it was something outrageous, he could always refuse it in the future.
He didn't have to worry about the request yet.
"Here's my number, so save it."
"The number of a pretty woman is always welcome."
"Isn't it a bit late to flatter?"
Chae YeonJoo frowned at KangWoo's playful answer.
She thought KangWoo had said that to make fun of her.
'I'm just stating the truth.'
KangWoo saved her number on his phone with a smirk.
Although it couldn't be compared to when he’d gotten Han Seol-ah’s number, it still felt good to get the number of a pretty girl like Chae YeonJoo.
Although she was a bit whiney, but who cares?
'The most important thing is that she doesn't have tentacles.'
Compared to Lilith, who’d tried to sneak into his bed every night, all women from Earth looked like angels.
"More importantly, when can I get the items?"
What interested him the most was the part about receiving epic-grade items for free.
'I was wondering how helpful the items would really be.'
Because he had 666 different Authorities, he didn't need equipment with special effects.
With demonic energy, he could attack, defend, dodge, and search enemies without the help of any special item.
Having equipment didn't make sense for him since most of the items with a rank less than epic wouldn't be as good as an Authority.
'But I still need items since they can help me save demonic energy.'
If he could use an item to defend instead of demonic energy, he would be able to save that much more demonic energy.
Since he didn't have access to a limitless amount of demonic energy like when he was in Hell, he needed to save up as much as possible.
'Using an Authority already consumes a lot of demonic energy.'
Even though his demonic energy had increased after reaching level 30 and completing the fourth awakening, he still couldn't use it without thinking carefully.
"If you want, we can go right now."
"Good.'
"Then follow me. Let's go to our guild house first."
"Where is your guild house?"
"Seoul Station."
It was where the player management office was.
KangWoo nodded and followed her.
As he followed her, he saw a car that was different from the others.
"Woah, look at that."
"Isn't that a Porsche 918 Spyder?"
"Woah…"
Even the people that were passing by looked at it with surprise.
Chae YeonJoo walked toward it and took the key from her pocket.
Click-
"Get in."
"Woah."
* * *
KangWoo exclaimed in surprise as she naturally opened the door of the Porsche.
'Is this really the person who was gaming while wearing sportswear and a baseball cap?'
She looked so cool right then that he was wondering if the person he’d seen that day was really Chae YeonJoo.
'So this is why everyone is obsessed with foreign cars.'
Even though she had just opened the car door and gotten into it, she looked different.
In the past, KangWoo struggled even to pay for public transport, so that shook him more than realizing that she was one of the top players in Korea.
She turned and looked at KangWoo, who was standing still.
KangWoo nodded and sat in the passenger seat.
'Nice.'
The seat was so comfortable that he felt he was about to melt.
“How much did you pay for this?”
"I'm not sure. I didn't look at the price when I bought it. It probably cost me around a million."
"…"
It was a huge sum of money.
It was a car that was more expensive than most apartments.
Chae JaeonJoo stepped on the accelerator.
The Porsche started to glide across the road.
"As expected from an expensive car. The ride is smooth."
"What? Should I get you one?" Chae YeonJoo asked as if she were asking to invite him for a cup of coffee.
It was obvious that KangWoo's eyes would shine.
"Are you serious?"
"It's in the contract. If you accept it, we'll give you a car."
"Noona…"
"What?"
"I'm going to call you YeonJoo noona from now on."
In the real world, the person who earned more money was either the hyeong or the noona.
After hearing the word noona, she looked at him as if she'd eaten a bug by mistake.
'You shouldn't look at people like that.'
While thinking the same thing as he had previously, he opened his mouth.
"A car like this is obviously welcome."
KangWoo still didn't have a driving license, but he had no reason to refuse a car like that.
"But if you refuse the request, I'll immediately take it from you."
"You're quite cheap for a ranker."
"Well, the livelihood of many people depends on me."
KangWoo smiled at her answer.
Creak-
"This is our guild house."
"Impressive…"
The place they'd reached was an enormous building that had more than 20 floors.
On the front of the seemingly new building was the logo of the Red Rose Guild.
'Is this the power of a big guild?'
It felt similar to a big corporation.
While thinking it was a good choice to build a relationship with a big guild, KangWoo followed her and entered the building.
As they entered, he saw a gentle-looking young man wearing round glasses approach them.
He looked at KangWoo and extended his hand.
"So you're the person the guild leader talked about before. Nice to meet you. I'm the Human Resources Management Team Leader, Park HyunWoo. He's the caporegime of the Red Rose Guild, Moon YeongHo."
"I'm Oh KangWoo."
Unlike Park HyunWoo, Moon YeongHo looked at him up and down.
"Since you're here, it seems like conversations went well."
"With conditions as good as that, I would have taken it even if a poison was mixed in it."
"Hahaha, we aren't a shady guild, so don't worry."
While laughing, he turned around to Chae YeonJoo.
"Should I take him to the equipment vault?"
"I'm going to take him, don't worry. You still have a lot of things to do."
"Thank you."
"Then I'll follow you."
Moon YeongHo said it with a low tone while glaring at KangWoo.
"YeongHo? Why?"
"I want to see what sort of human he is with my eyes."
"Hmm... Okay. Since both of you will see each other more from now on, you should get to know him. Then, YengHo, follow us."
She walked toward where the elevator was and spoke to KangWoo.
"Over here."
KangWoo nodded and followed her.
The elevator with Chae YeonJoo, KangWoo, and Moon YeongHo stopped on the 15th floor.
[Starting mana recognition. Insert a tiny amount of mana.]
Clack-
"This is our guild's item vault."
There were lots of items stored inside glass cases there.
"Woah…"
"The items I can lend you are the ones that are up to epic rank. You can take the unique ones if you put in a safety deposit."
She pointed toward where there were approximately 10 items.
Just at first glance, it was obvious that they were on another level compared to epic-grade items.
'Did they say that the rank of items was divided into normal, rare, epic, unique, legend, and myth?' KangWoo asked while looking around.
"There aren't any legendary or mythic items in the vault?"
"If we had those items, we wouldn't have them inside the vault."
"I see. So you have items with grades higher than legendary?"
"I have a legendary."
"Hmm…"
KangWoo looked at the unique items.
"How much of a security deposit do I need for the unique ones?"
"Five million USD each. Which is a bargain compared to what others ask."
"…"
He had heard that player equipment was expensive, but they exceeded what he had imagined.
'That’s impossible with my current funds.'
He was converting most of the mana stones into demonic energy and absorbing them, so he didn't have that kind of money.
'It would be hard to come up with that much even if I had sold all the mana stones.'
The price of unique items was that expensive.
'That's too bad.'
Even at first glance, the difference in quality between epic and unique items was high.
KangWoo turned around from the unique items.
"Then should I check out the epic items…?"
Slam-!
A loud sound spread through the vault.
KangWoo turned his head around.
There he saw Moon YeongHo glaring at him with a frown.
"Don't talk to her so casually."
"Huh?"
"Don't talk to the guild leader in such a friendly manner."
Moon YeongHo said it with killing intent.
KangWoo smirked at him.
"Too bad, I want to."