Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 23

It was a sight to behold.
The construction robots that had been moving busily froze solid all at once.
The construction noise vanished, replaced by a profound silence.
This was the miracle that catfish had wrought.
“Are you referring to him? Second Lieutenant Argelayer?”
“Yes, that’s right. Just a moment ago, the Successor called you a Conduct Officer.”
“I’m grateful that the Successor would trust someone as unremarkable as myself with such a position. The Successor truly is…”
“Indeed, the Successor is a benevolent person. But Krail—”
“Yes, sir.”
“Don’t you salute when you see a superior?”
Even the ordinarily composed Krail’s expression had grown rigid.
It made sense.
After encountering both Argelayer and Krail, I’d drawn a conclusion.
The cognitive awareness of Special Entities wasn’t fragmentary—it was comprehensive.
Even if they were beings who had only just been born and were programmed to think and act like humans, they carried memories from their past.
Which meant that, strictly speaking, Krail was a non-commissioned officer with decades of service under his belt.
Argelayer was a second lieutenant who’d only just been commissioned.
Krail’s stern reaction was entirely natural.
I quickly stepped in to prevent discord from taking root in the organization.
“Second Lieutenant, don’t bother a busy person. Come with me.”
I extracted Argelayer and moved away.
“Finish up what you were doing, Krail. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Yes, thank you for your consideration.”
Relieved by Krail’s mature response, I left with Argelayer in tow.
Oblivious to all this, Argelayer grumbled the entire way.
“That sergeant lacks basic courtesy. Shouldn’t he be properly trained?”
I took Argelayer to a secluded spot and scolded him.
“Enough!”
A single tear (or something resembling one) rolled down Arel’s cheek.

* * *

Cha Seon-a had wrapped up her broadcast to great success.
She immediately checked the audience’s reaction.
The surge of interest was plain to see at a glance.
The community was filled entirely with talk of the S-rank Hidden Floor.
What was even more startling was the viewer count.
“430,000? Really?”
“Yes, Ms. Seon-a. It’s absolutely incredible.”
Of course, it still fell far short of Neia’s record.
Cha Seon-a was aware of that fact.
But surely this much qualified as record-breaking, didn’t it?
In reality, even Neia’s broadcasts typically didn’t reach these numbers outside of clearance broadcasts.
“I wonder if I should have pushed to extend the broadcast time a bit longer.”
If she’d continued streaming, even more viewers would have tuned in.
The numbers had been climbing steadily as time went on.
“Even so, the next broadcast is already shaping up to be a huge success, so there’s nothing to regret.”
“You’re right about that.”
A smile bloomed naturally on her face.
It was a success beyond all successes.
When news of Neia’s Aerial Garden clearance had broken, she’d thought everything was over—but against all odds, she’d survived.
A Hidden Floor held tremendous value in itself.
Various treasures, of course—Elixirs and Skill Books among them.
They dropped such valuable and diverse rewards.
Even C-rank and lower Hidden Floors did the same.
So what of an S-rank?
“Yes, A-rank itself has been unprecedented in history, so this is the very first S-rank!”
A piece of content that had never once existed in all of global history.
If anything, it wouldn’t have been strange at all if the next broadcast, after the word-of-mouth spread, drew even greater attention.
“What do you think we should film tomorrow?”
Ha Jun-ha’s question hung in the air, and Cha Seon-a answered.
“Why not line up the guild representatives who offered cooperation during today’s broadcast and conduct interviews?”
“Won’t that look a bit tasteless? I’m worried it might come across as grasping, which would undermine our original intent….”
“It’s such a major event that as long as we don’t behave outright rudely, it shouldn’t matter, right?”
“You might be right about that.”
How long had it been since she last received attention without being overshadowed by Neia?
To Cha Seon-a, this moment felt like a dream.
The endless stream of messages that had poured in during the broadcast itself.
That every single one of them came from a major guild seemed almost impossible to believe.
Their attitude suggested they’d offer their livers if it meant cooperating with her.
She decided to go through them one by one.
But before that.
“First, let me sift through the guilds that could actually benefit Gangseong through collaboration.”
“The major guilds all have pretty much the same image, so I don’t think there’s much difference between them.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Anyway, I’ll discuss this with my father and share it with him.”
“Understood.”
Spreading the name Gangseong across the globe.
And raising their own strength even further as a reward from clearing an S-rank dungeon.
Selling rights to various guilds, and then using that as leverage to have a legitimate claim the next time a similar event occurs at another guild, staking their position once more.
There was a real difference in all of this, wasn’t there?
Even among the ten strongest guilds, hierarchy existed.
And if she played the competitive psychology right, she could create a geographical advantage that favored Gangseong.
This entire project had been a tremendous success.
“Ah… now that I think about it, what happened with that favor I asked of you earlier?”
During the broadcast, Cha Seon-a had unusually lowered her microphone and made a request of Ha Jun-ha.
Normally it was something you didn’t do, because it broke immersion.
But she’d wanted to keep track of it regardless.
“I’ve already informed the higher-ups, so someone should be there by now.”
“You do know, right? We need to make sure it doesn’t overlap with Neia’s next clearance attempt.”
Cha Seon-a’s concern was none other than Neia.
She was receiving tremendous attention now.
But honestly, facing Neia head-to-head was still awkward, and it would benefit neither of them.
If the timing of the Hidden Floor clearance overlapped with Neia’s Floor 15 attempt, it would be absolutely catastrophic.
“But… it’s probably best not to expect too much.”
“Still, we should try as hard as we can.”
Neia was naturally secretive and resistant to information leaks.
She’d even held firm even against negotiations with the Arc Guild itself—the probability of her sharing her schedule just because they asked was extremely low.
But Cha Seon-a wasn’t entirely without confidence.
It was an S-rank Hidden Floor, after all.
Even someone like her might prove exceptionally cooperative in this case.
If anyone used their head, there was nothing to lose from talking it through.
So why was it.
That a bad feeling crept over her.
“Well, if it comes to that… we’ll just overwhelm her, that’s all.”

* * *

I had returned to my room after putting Argelayer through an exhausting spiritual education in the Sub-space.
I felt a bit sorry that oil was visibly seeping from her eyes.
“You’ll just have to understand.”
Then why not be born with a better grasp of the concept.
Of all things, to be given a sense of self and still be like that….
“Are the purchases all finished?”
Baek Jin-sung’s voice came through from beyond the screen.
I approached the desk and checked the broadcast—the purchasing phase seemed to be complete.
Baek Jin-sung was leisurely interacting with the viewers.

– Why’d you go quiet on the mic all of a sudden?
– Are you trying to make me feel left out, Jin-sung?
– Remember why you started this!
– So what was that conversation about?

“Well… I naturally can’t share the details.”

– Looked like someone from Gangseong Guild stopped by, from what I could see.
– Don’t tell me Neia’s joining in on the S-rank Hidden Floor Clearance too?
– Damn, that’d be huge.

“Think whatever you’d like.”

From the chat and Baek Jin-sung’s reaction, it did seem like someone from Gangseong had paid a visit.
Curious now, I entered Peronta to collect the items and see what this was about.
I secured lodging at the Tower Pavilion where we’d met before and made contact with Baek Jin-sung.
“You came?”
“Yes. I’ve been waiting for your word.”
“The items?”
“Right here.”
Baek Jin-sung began placing the items one by one on the floor of the lodging.
As I was loading them into my inventory, Baek Jin-sung spoke up.
“I managed to procure all the Dark Crystal Sand and Self-generating Stone in the quantities you originally requested.”
“But?”
“The rest has been difficult to acquire. Prices have risen considerably, and it seems people are hesitant to sell, probably expecting them to climb even higher.”
It looked like it would take a few more days than anticipated to secure everything up to the required amounts.
“Well, it’s not urgent, so.”
If Neia had been standing beside me listening to that, she would’ve wailed and beaten the ground.
But what could I do about it?
She wasn’t here anyway.
Besides, reckless spending wasn’t the answer to begin with.
“Let’s pause the acquisitions for a day or two and resume once the prices stabilize.”
“Understood.”
Once I’d stashed all the items Baek Jin-sung brought and closed my inventory, he handed over a heavy pouch of gold.
“And here’s the remainder.”
Today, the rising material prices had made acquisitions less active.
But even accounting for that, disposing of the byproducts at good prices meant a substantial surplus remained.
As I tucked away the gold, Baek Jin-sung subtly promoted himself.
“I made sure to squeeze out every bit of profit I could.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Want me to cut you a share of the gold?”
“No, no, I’m not greedy about that. It’s just….”
Baek Jin-sung waved his hand dismissively.
I knew what he really wanted, but I didn’t press the matter.
“If you’ve got something to say, just say it.”
“That… never mind!”
“Disappointing.”
In the awkward silence that followed, Baek Jin-sung suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, and this… please take it.”
“Another pouch? Why not give it all at once earlier?”
“This is different. It’s sponsorship revenue.”
Baek Jin-sung had promised to share a certain percentage of the broadcast earnings with me.
The gold I’d received just moments ago was already an astronomical sum.
This amount was substantial as well.
Checking the inventory, it was nearly one hundred thousand gold.
I was taken aback when I mentally converted the sum.
Ten billion won?
From just a few days of pushing hard?
Of course, it was ninety percent of the broadcast revenue, so it made sense.
Still, it was impressive.
To be honest, I hadn’t expected much from a financial standpoint…
“Oh, and this as well.”
“Another money pouch?”
It was smaller than the previous one.
But it was far from negligible.
“What’s this one for? It’s also sponsorship money, technically.”
“So there’s a reason you kept it separate?”
“Well… they said to use it to buy snacks for Argelayer.”
“What…?”
I’d been aware that the previous climb with Argelayer had received good reception.
Especially since Argelayer’s popularity, having performed so prominently, was easy enough to gauge from the voice chat comments that occasionally filtered through.
But to this extent?
So it really does come down to being handsome and cute.
“Well… I’ll keep that in mind.”
I answered in a reluctant tone, finally able to change the subject.
“But earlier, it looked like the Gangseong Guild was talking to the viewers about something?”
“Ah, yes, that’s right.”
“What happened?”
“Didn’t you see it?”
“I had to step away for a bit.”
I didn’t want him to feel hurt.
I didn’t mention that I’d been doing something else because I found it boring.
“Actually, around the time you asked me to purchase those items, someone from Gangseong Guild came by.”
“What did they want?”
“They asked about your next conquest schedule.”
“Floor 15?”
“Yes, they seemed quite concerned about your next clearance.”
“And?”
“They promised not to disclose it externally, but I firmly turned them down, saying I couldn’t make that decision without your permission. Besides, I don’t even know your plans, and I don’t have your contact information anyway.” Baek Jin-sung said this and handed me a business card he’d been holding.
Baek Jin-sung said this and handed me a business card he’d been holding.
“At this rate, aren’t we going to end up collecting contact information from guilds all over the world?”
“Right? For now, should we start gathering all the major domestic guilds?”
“Sounds good, heh heh.”
I watched Baek Jin-sung grinning wickedly and thought at the same time.
I could roughly guess why Gangseong was asking.
‘They want to make sure the conquest schedules don’t overlap, right?’
But honestly, I didn’t have any schedule at the moment anyway, and even if I did, I wouldn’t want to share it.
Even though I could attempt the conquest right now, hadn’t I decided to wait until I gathered information about the Hidden Floor?
I’d schedule Floor 15’s clearance for the same day as the S-rank Hidden Floor conquest.
While everyone’s attention was focused on the conquest, I’d slip through.
“Ah, but even if you stop other purchases, make sure to actively buy Mana Stones.”
“Yes!”
The price fluctuations of Mana Stones were minimal anyway.
More than anything, I was planning to use these next few days to strengthen the city’s foundation.
And from now on, the proportion of scenes featuring heroic units and special units would increase.
Energy management was an essential part of that.

Returning to my room, I spent time leisurely for the first time since awakening.
Days spent watching Baek Jin-sung’s broadcast and Cha Seon-a’s broadcast.
And finally.
Ding!
The moment had come.
It was time to conquer Floor 15.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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