Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 24

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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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Even Hastily Made Ones Keep Stacking Up as EX-Rank (24)

Despicable Acts

“Here’s your point reward, the ‘Expo Restaurant Exclusive Meal Ticket.'”

“….”

“And this is the ‘Explorer’s Certification.’ If you read it, you’ll find your exploration records documented inside.”

“Th-thank you….”

Lee Si-hyeok, who had been watching the experience process from outside, immediately handed over various rewards. Meal tickets, booklets, snacks, and so on.

Song Hyeon-gyu gathered them up, stared at Lee Si-hyeok with a dazed expression for a while, then quietly left the booth.

‘Thank goodness nothing happened.’

Lee Si-hyeok felt relieved inwardly.

In fact, he had already figured out that Song Hyeon-gyu was the operator of the booth across from them.

He wasn’t blind, and the guy had been staring intently at this place from right in front—it would have been impossible not to notice. He probably came to spy on them.

“….”

Lee Si-hyeok glanced at the booth across the way while receiving the next visitor.

He could see Song Hyeon-gyu, who had arrived back, excitedly chattering away to someone about something.

He couldn’t see clearly who the other person was due to the tent blocking his view. However, Song Hyeon-gyu was definitely different from before.

His youthful appearance matched his hot-headed attitude. That recklessness that had been flailing about without clear direction now seemed to have found some focus.

‘But have I met him somewhere before?’

For some reason, he looked familiar. Both his face and voice seemed like something he’d encountered somewhere before….

He wasn’t sure. With so many visitors flooding in, he was too busy to think straight and might be confused. Besides, if they had met before, the other person would have recognized him first…wait, no.

Right now, Lee Si-hyeok was disguised with an artifact. Even if they had met before, the other person wouldn’t have recognized him.

Well, anyway.

“Next person, please come in!”

Lee Si-hyeok felt satisfied as he welcomed the next visitor.

 

* * *

 

As time passed, more and more visitors gathered.

“Hey, this is the place that was posted on ArtiNet, right?”

“The line is incredibly long.”

“Let’s wait anyway!”

Had word of mouth spread somehow? The already long line kept getting longer. There were even people skipping meals to wait in line.

‘I’ll have to skip lunch today too.’

As Lee Si-hyeok was smacking his lips, a visitor whose turn had come asked.

“Oh, which way should I go?”

“Just follow the arrows straight ahead.”

“Ooh….”

Still, his customer service had become much more skilled than the clumsy morning. It was all thanks to his experience working as a transport driver.

‘Compared to back then, this is a piece of cake.’

Transport drivers in this era don’t just finish by carrying goods.

It was closer to service industry work than simple labor. When going to collect Gate byproducts, they naturally had to face hunters.

‘Our precious hunter lords.’

How bad must their tyranny have been for the Non-Awakened General Assembly to be formed? Of course, it wasn’t a group he particularly liked, but social phenomena always had their reasons.

Lee Si-hyeok was.

Someone who had endured several years in such a profession. Bowing his back, lowering his head, hiding his emotions… he had endured and endured again what most tough people wouldn’t even dare attempt.

So even though this was his first participation, he had to adapt quickly.

After hardship comes happiness. Lee Si-hyeok was feeling that saying to his bones right now.

‘Speaking of which, it should be about time for them to show up.’

Lee Si-hyeok thought while checking the remaining quantity of meal tickets.

Actually, he had been waiting for someone since earlier.

A person with tremendous influence who would accelerate the plan he had drawn up.

Lee Si-hyeok planned to use this person to make tomorrow’s moment of revealing his identity at Stage Zero much more spectacular.

Well, just the visitors flocking here now seemed like half a success already.

‘Still, I should be able to boost it several times more from here.’

If the plan he had set up succeeded, he would be able to deliver a painful defeat to Chronos.

Anyway, since it was about time for them to appear, Lee Si-hyeok calmed his mind.

While he was continuing to look around and guide visitors like this.

“Hey.”

A visitor appeared in front of Lee Si-hyeok. They hadn’t cut in line and had definitely stood in line properly.

Nevertheless, Lee Si-hyeok looked at the visitor quietly with furrowed brows.

This wasn’t the person he was looking for.

Then why?

‘…Glasses.’

Something very small embedded in the center had flashed with light for a moment. Though it was only an instant, Lee Si-hyeok immediately identified what it was.

‘It’s a camera.’

A specially made micro camera to hide the fact that filming was taking place.

“What? Aren’t you going to guide me?”

“Please wait just a moment.”

Lee Si-hyeok immediately checked the visitor list provided by the Association.

Since there were some dangerous artifacts at the expo, this was a list provided in advance to booth operators to prepare for potential accidents.

Lee Si-hyeok’s eyes stopped at one place as he quickly read through the simple personal information.

‘This person is….’

But that information was very familiar.

Specifically, a YouTuber who operates as a so-called ‘Cyber Wrecker.’

Their main content involved maliciously editing videos about specific individuals to make people criticize those people.

Even Lee Si-hyeok, who didn’t watch YouTube much, knew about their considerable influence. There were quite a few companies and researchers who had fallen into ruin because of this YouTuber’s videos despite doing nothing wrong.

‘Why on earth would such a person come to my booth?’

And with a hidden camera no less?

Lee Si-hyeok’s mind raced. There must be some ulterior motive.

That’s when it happened.

“That guy was at Chronos’s booth the whole time.”

Isaac, who had activated his stealth skill, whispered quietly.

Lee Si-hyeok looked toward where he was with questioning eyes.

“Didn’t Boss tell me earlier to go around the entire expo venue and assess the situation?”

He had indeed. Since Lee Si-hyeok couldn’t leave the booth, he had asked Isaac to look into how the event was progressing instead.

“Following Boss’s orders, I focused on observing Chronos’s booth. With stealth activated, no one noticed me.”

Isaac’s voice became quite serious.

“The staff rest area. I spotted that guy there. He was talking with Chronos employees for quite a while.”

“….”

“I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. Getting that close would be dangerous even for me. Anyway, there’s one fact we can deduce from that.”

‘…That guy is connected to Chronos.’

Lee Si-hyeok clicked his tongue inwardly.

He didn’t know exactly what kind of relationship it was. Like the previous surveillance incident, he might have simply been hired. Or maybe there had been a secret connection for a long time.

Perhaps behind the people who had fallen due to this YouTuber’s videos, there was a possibility that Chronos Industry was involved.

Lee Si-hyeok looked at the YouTuber with narrowed eyes.

“You’re keeping people waiting. How annoying.”

The YouTuber was irritably banging on the table. While doing so, he quickly moved his gaze, scanning the entire booth.

The reason for acting like this was obvious.

‘Chronos is trying to keep me in check.’

Damdo-ja’s Maze.

An unheard-of researcher has suddenly appeared and is gaining tremendous popularity.

Even at an indie booth, not a corporate booth. According to Isaac’s report, the queue is currently longer than most major corporations.

‘Besides, I didn’t do any promotion at all.’

Just the quality of the artifacts and the booth design. With those two things alone, he had achieved this result.

Honestly, Lee Si-hyeok couldn’t quite grasp it either. He had seen exceptional indie booths appear and gain word-of-mouth popularity a few times, but never to this extent.

For Chronos, who had been preparing for this expo for a long time, this must really be teeth-grindingly frustrating.

‘But still….’

Even so, he still couldn’t understand it.

A corporation that represents South Korea would pull this kind of stunt?

All they could manage was hiring YouTubers to target a rookie researcher.

‘I did well to hide my identity.’

If he had participated as Lee Si-hyeok, Chronos wouldn’t have been able to move so recklessly. One might say that would have been easier, but….

Rather, this opportunity to properly see Chronos’s true nature seemed more fortunate. Thanks to this, his hesitation about revenge had completely disappeared too.

“Should I handle it, Boss?”

When Lee Si-hyeok regained his composure and returned to his position, Isaac whispered once more. This time with thick killing intent.

“No.”

However, Lee Si-hyeok shook his head.

That was exactly the picture Chronos was aiming for. He had no intention of getting entangled, nor did he want to depend on Isaac.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Something urgent came up that I needed to check.”

“Ah, whatever, just hurry up and do it.”

“Yes, yes. Take this and you can enter.”

Lee Si-hyeok handed the YouTuber a letter envelope, then quickly scanned the long queue stretching behind.

And a faint smile appeared on his lips.

As if he had found something he had been waiting for.

 

* * *

 

Crack.

“….”

Thud thud thud.

“….”

Beep beep beep beep beep!

“….”

Lee Si-hyeok was watching the interior of the secret room with a coldly hardened face.

From what he had observed through the monitor, that YouTuber kept pretending to make mistakes while continuously damaging the experience booth.

‘It’s intentional.’

The problem started from the moment he received the letter envelope and checked the letter inside.

He had deliberately touched the structurally weak parts of the section where the hologram chip was embedded, causing malfunctions.

―This breaks down easily, huh?

As if. Nearly hundreds of visitors had come so far without any equipment failures, and it just happened to occur now?

“I’ll replace it with a new one.”

Nevertheless, Lee Si-hyeok remained unshaken.

He casually handed over another letter envelope, and the YouTuber had no choice but to move on to the next stage.

But from then on, it gradually got worse.

“Huh. What’s that? Why is it acting like that?”

“Something’s weird, isn’t it?”

Pretending it was accidental, he broke the sensor part near the secret room entrance, causing emergency alarms to sound even outside.

“No, seriously, something’s suddenly wrong…?”

“Isn’t it broken?”

He caused the lighting devices in the labyrinth to malfunction, confusing the waiting visitors.

As it went on, his movements became increasingly blatant, as if to provoke anger.

He didn’t even care that everything was being recorded by CCTV.

‘…Does he not care even if a rebuttal video gets uploaded?’

That YouTuber would probably upload a video pointing out the booth’s safety issues immediately after finishing the experience.

Then from that moment, tremendous aggro would be drawn, and people who watched the video would believe only what they saw and pour all kinds of criticism toward Lee Si-hyeok.

Even if Lee Si-hyeok uploaded an explanatory video then, would it even work?

“I’m just going to leave.”

“Hey, it’s almost our turn if we wait a little more?”

“Something feels unsafe. It’s not like safety accidents at expos are rare. I’m scared.”

“…Is that so? Alright. Let’s go then. There are plenty of other booths anyway.”

Not a chance. Of course, many people would believe the truth, but there would still be quite a few who would blindly trust that YouTuber and viciously attack Lee Si-hyeok.

Bait thrown right in front of them, and a sense of justice that he was just concerned about safety.

Then Lee Si-hyeok’s booth would definitely take a hit.

Even if not visible to the naked eye, it would be enough to achieve the modest goal Chronos had aimed for.

To prevent that, he had no choice but to stop the YouTuber right here….

Honestly, that would be useless too.

When that time came, the video topic would just change from safety issues to something else, so he couldn’t fundamentally solve the situation itself.

It was a dead end.

“Did you enjoy the experience?”

However, Lee Si-hyeok showed no signs and just responded kindly as he always did.

“Hehe. Enjoyable. Very enjoyable.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Right? But in just a few hours, you’ll be enjoying yourself too, won’t you?”

“….”

The YouTuber looked around at the queue and smirked.

At first, he seemed momentarily flustered by Lee Si-hyeok’s indifferent reaction, but soon appeared quite satisfied seeing the visitors getting confused by his actions.

“Boss.”

“….”

“Boss.”

“It’s fine, so stay still.”

And Isaac had also somewhat noticed that the current situation was flowing in a very complicated direction. With Isaac’s perceptiveness, there was no way he couldn’t tell.

Moreover, he knew very well that the only way to resolve this situation was for him to smash that camera.

However, the Boss’s face was filled with nothing but composure throughout. It was impossible to figure out.

“What on earth are you thinking….”

It was the moment Isaac muttered in frustration.

Behind the YouTuber.

From around the person waiting for the next turn, massive mana suddenly began flowing out. Rumble rumble rumble! It was such an enormous amount that vibrations could be felt even at the booth.

“Huh, that person is…?”

“Huh…?”

At the same time, an intense presence that had been hidden until now was revealed all at once.

“Hm?”

The YouTuber, who had been looking around at the queue due to the sudden commotion, froze in place.

And right behind. He confirmed the source of the commotion.

“…?!”

His reaction was no different from others. Shock, surprise, bewilderment. With a face where his previous shamelessness could not be found at all, his eyes widened as if they would tear.

While everyone was flustered by the unexpected person’s appearance.

Only one person.

‘She’s here.’

Only Lee Si-hyeok raised the corner of his mouth as if he had been waiting.

Snow Flame Empress Cha Yu-rim.

The Great Mage who is always mentioned when discussing the strongest among South Korea’s A-rank Hunters.

“What a pathetic little trick.”

The overwhelming mana she unleashed surged toward the YouTuber all at once.

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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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