Became the Transcendent Monarch of the Corner of the Room - Chapter 5
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 5
[An unknown entity has successfully achieved the first EX-grade awakening.]
“What? EX-grade?!”
“There was a grade higher than SSS-grade? Something like that existed?”
“Wasn’t SSS-grade the maximum among Hunter grades?”
“I thought so too… What the hell does that even mean?!”
A message notification suddenly appeared in the middle of the night.
A single sentence that appeared simultaneously to all already awakened players.
Though brief in length, its content left existing Hunters in shock.
“Crazy… Aren’t all the current rankers just S-grade or SS-grade at most?”
“There were only about three or four SSS-grade ones at best.”
“Those guys ranking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd side by side… Even those monsters weren’t EX-grade…”
“Who could it be? The person who achieved such an impossible awakening…”
From a minimum of F-grade to a maximum of SSS-grade.
The grades assigned to Hunters were a kind of innate domain.
Grades were divided according to the abilities of skills received upon awakening.
Cases of raising one’s grade through effort were virtually nonexistent.
Therefore, the majority of top-tier rankers were those who received high grades upon awakening.
“The top guilds are probably in chaos right about now.”
“Why?”
“Obviously. If someone awakened as EX-grade from the start, becoming a ranker is just a matter of time, right?”
“That would be the case, wouldn’t it?”
“Then it would be advantageous to pull them to their guild early on, wouldn’t it?”
“Damn… I’m so envious. While some people awaken as E-grade and struggle even to clear the 10th floor of the Maze…”
News of South Korea’s first EX-grade Hunter appearance.
As most Hunters expected, every guild in the country was desperately searching to find out who the EX-grade Hunter was.
“Absolutely! We must secure them for our Dowon Guild first!”
“Any conditions are fine! Just find that person, and we’ll give them 10 billion, 100 billion! A blank check, whatever it takes, even if we have to sell the building!”
“They’re probably conquering the lower floors right now, so deploy guild members to conduct 24-hour investigations focusing on Hunters conquering the lower floors!”
They didn’t know who it was.
But if they could bring them to their guild, the guild’s position would be completely transformed.
Ranking 1st would be a foregone conclusion.
Naturally, the affiliated guild’s status would also skyrocket.
“Let’s ensure our Manwol also puts full effort into finding the EX-grade player.”
“Understood, Master.”
The Manwol Guild, to which Choi Hyun-min belonged, was no exception.
Obtaining an EX-grade Hunter?
That would be like adding wings to a tiger, so Manwol had to stake everything on this as well.
“Whatever conditions they want, tell them we’ll guarantee the best treatment.”
Choi Seung-hyun knew this fact all too well.
He planned to mobilize all guild members to focus entirely on searching for ‘that Hunter.’
However, he would probably never know, even if he died and came back to life.
Just a few rooms away—
That his youngest son, living under the same roof,
Was the ‘EX-grade Hunter’ everyone was searching for.
***
[Neolithic Age: Your creations are entering a new era.]
A message that appeared as soon as I pressed the science advancement button.
Along with it, the appearance of the Primitive Humans began to change all at once.
‘I’m sure they were holding wooden spears earlier…’
Just moments ago, these guys were wearing crude leather scraps on their bodies.
But the moment light swept through—
‘They’ve changed!’
They had transformed into fairly well-crafted leather clothing.
If the previous ones were raw hide itself,
Now they were wearing something that could properly be called leather clothing.
And the truly amazing part was something else.
“Even their weapons… have changed?”
The guys who were definitely holding toothpick-like wooden spears.
Their spears had disappeared, and now they held elegantly crafted bows in their hands.
-Oo! Oo! Oo!
-Master gave us clothes!
-Not only that! He gave us new weapons too!
-Look at this! It’s the bow Master gave us, isn’t it magnificent!
Quite an organized appearance.
Indeed, as those guys said, their outward appearance had changed to a transformative level.
If before they looked no different from beggars or vagrants,
Now they had changed to look quite human-like.
Of course, to my modern eyes, they still looked pretty much the same.
-How about it, Master.
“Huh?”
-I think I look the best among us!
-Nonsense! No one suits Master’s bow as well as I do!
-I was first! You idiots! Master, my bow is the most magnificent, isn’t it?
But… why are these guys acting like this?
Their fascination with the leather clothes and newly acquired bows was brief.
They all rushed toward me to show off.
-Ahem. Ahem ahem.
Even their leader, Hans, was shyly showing off his armor with an embarrassed face…
“Y-yeah. It suits you better than I thought…”
-As expected of Master! You have a good eye!
Hans shrugged his shoulders at my halfhearted compliment.
He turned around to face the other Primitive Humans.
-Did you hear? Master said I look the best! So the rest of you should keep your mouths shut!
-The leader is talking nonsense! Master looked at my bow first!
-No! He said with his eyes that my clothes are the best!
The Block Primitive Humans noisily argued among themselves about who was better.
However, Choi Hyun-min’s interest wasn’t in such superficial matters.
Bows.
They were definitely holding crude wooden spears before…
‘The science advancement changed the weapons they were holding.’
That wasn’t all.
Their clothes had also changed to be more refined than before.
Something suddenly came to mind.
I recalled the primitive era history I learned in school.
From the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Age.
From the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.
‘If… the science advancement ability really refers to the development of eras…’
Then the bows they’re holding now could become machine guns later.
And after that, they could even become fighter jets, couldn’t they?
‘Could it be….’
There’s no way that could be true.
It was an absurd thought.
Yet at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel curious about it.
Lick.
He moistened his dry lips with his tongue.
He had been staring intently at the Block Primitive Humans who were still bickering, but only for a moment.
Knock knock knock.
At the sound of someone knocking on the door, he turned his head slightly.
“Secretary Kim?”
The moment the sound was heard, the toys collapsed lifelessly.
They fell over weakly, just like the other blocks he had been playing with before.
“Yes, it’s me, young master.”
He was only momentarily surprised by their sudden change in posture.
He checked his watch and spoke toward the door.
“You may come in.”
Come to think of it, it was already morning.
Because he had completely blocked out the room with blackout curtains, his sense of time had become distorted.
Creak.
Once permission was granted, the door opened carefully.
Through the slightly opened gap, the figure of his secretary, Kim Yun-hyun, could be seen.
Secretary Kim entered wearing a neat suit.
In his hands, he carried a round plate.
“I apologize for interrupting your work. It’s breakfast time, so I brought you a meal.”
“Not at all. Thank you as always.”
On the plate were bread and fried rice.
Along with vegetables and fruits neatly arranged.
Secretary Kim always brought meals to his room like this.
Of course, while doing so, reporting on his condition to Chairman Choi was part of his job….
Well, it was what he had to do as a secretary.
The two naturally made eye contact.
‘…He doesn’t look well.’
This lifestyle had been going on for several years now.
Secretary Kim’s face, which he saw every day, was now as familiar as family.
But his face looked quite darker than usual.
“Is something wrong?”
“Huh? Oh, ah…. Well….”
“If there’s anything I can help you with, I’ll help you.”
It was none other than Secretary Kim who worked for him alone.
Though he had no power, if there was something he could help with….
“Well…. Actually, it’s not my personal matter, but something related to the Chairman.”
“Father?”
“That’s right. Recently, he’s been having headaches over supply contracts with other guilds…. Haha, even as I’m telling you this, it sounds so absurd….”
“What kind of matter is it….”
Kim Yun-hyun let out a long sigh followed by a bitter laugh.
Choi Hyun-min tilted his head at his words.
“As you know, young master, goblins appear on the lowest floors of the labyrinth, don’t they?”
“Y-yes, that’s right?”
Flinch.
Choi Hyun-min’s body trembled involuntarily at the mention of goblins.
Fortunately, Secretary Kim didn’t seem to notice and continued speaking.
“The goblin leather that comes from there is mainly used as armor material, but for some reason, they’ve completely dried up!”
“G-goblins have dried up…you say?”
“That’s right! Thanks to that, the price of goblin leather, which was usually dirt cheap, has skyrocketed!”
Ugh….
This couldn’t be because of me, could it?
Just yesterday, those toy guys had devastated the 1st floor of the labyrinth.
“Because of that, Manwol is in complete emergency mode. We need to find a thousand pieces of goblin leather by tomorrow….”
He let out a deep sigh as if the ground would cave in.
Hmm….
‘Wait a minute. Don’t I have about that much goblin leather in my subspace?’
He had just thrown them in randomly, so he hadn’t checked how many pieces there were.
He secretly opened his subspace to check its contents without the secretary noticing.
[Goblin Leather: 751 pieces]
With this much…. If he conquered the 1st floor just a little more, he could easily fill the quota, right?
Choi Hyun-min stared at the dejected Secretary Kim.
He carefully opened his mouth.
“Um…. I think I might be able to help you with that.”
“Of course, there’s nothing you can do about it, young master…. Huh? What did you just say?”
“If it’s goblin leather, I think I can get it for you.”
At those words, Kim Yun-hyun looked at him with a blank expression—
Smile.
“Just your words are enough, thank you. But there’s no need for you to worry about such matters, young master.”
“I really think I can help.”
“…I understand. Then I’ll ask you for a thousand pieces of goblin leather by midnight tomorrow.”
Secretary Kim nodded at Choi Hyun-min’s words.
Of course, his words showed no expectation or hope whatsoever.
‘How could the young master, who isn’t even a Hunter, get goblin leather?’
In the first place, if you weren’t a Hunter, you couldn’t even get near goblin leather.
Since he was someone who couldn’t climb the tower, there was no way he could help.
But when he spoke so earnestly, how could he rebuke him?
Secretary Kim just pretended to go along with it and played along.
‘Still, he’s someone who wanted to be a Hunter his whole life…. It would be right to give him courage like this.’
Actually getting the goblin leather was something he and the other secretaries could handle.
If they contacted various guilds extensively, they could obtain it even if they had to pay a lot of money….
“Then when you get the goblin leather, you must tell me.”
“I understand. I’ll tell you without delay.”
Creak.
Secretary Kim left the room, leaving only the plate behind.
Choi Hyun-min waited until his figure completely disappeared, then turned his head to the other side.
Rattle. Rattle.
-Ouch!
-We’ve been lying down too long!
-Cramps! Cramps!
-Meow! Meow!
As if they had been waiting, the Block Primitive Humans got up.
Choi Hyun-min stared at them intently—
“Hey guys. Are you hungry?”
-Master?
Ting!
He lightly tapped the plate full of food.
“Before we eat… would you like to do a job together with us?”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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