Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 55

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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 55

A man in his mid-thirties.
Tall and imposing, with hair slicked back in a neat pomade.
Intelligent glasses and a sharp, polished air about him.
‘Kang Se-hyun…!’
The representative of the Mir Guild itself.
Baek Jin-seong managed to keep his expression in check.
By now, he’d grown rather accustomed to facing figures of such caliber.
But more importantly, he’d anticipated that the Mir Guild would make some kind of approach before long.
If anyone asked his reasoning—
The Mir Guild had been one of the guilds that participated in the Hidden Floor conquest.
Though he hadn’t expected the representative himself to show up in person.
“It’s our first formal meeting, I believe. I’m Kang Se-hyun.”
“Ah, yes. Hello. I’m Baek Jin-seong.”
He rose from his seat and accepted the handshake with measured courtesy.
“So what brings you here?”
“The reason you likely suspect.”
Kang Se-hyun settled into a chair with a wry smile.
Then he withdrew something from his Inventory.
‘Is that… a ring?’
The moment Baek Jin-seong checked its Grade, he couldn’t help but be startled.
It was a Hero-grade ring, no less.
A piece of jewelry worth well over ten billion won.
And looking at its skill, it granted five seconds of invulnerability.
It matched the caliber of equipment he’d been quietly acquiring through Lucid.
“This should cover the lives of our guild members, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s more than sufficient.”
Yet a question bloomed silently in Baek Jin-seong’s mind.
Why could Kang Se-hyun produce such an item at precisely the right moment?
And his next words provided the answer.
“Fortunately, I watched the recent broadcast. It seems there are already those targeting Neia’s life, so I thought it necessary—clearly I was right to do so.”
‘So that’s how it is.’
Baek Jin-seong felt relieved.
It didn’t seem as though information was leaking from an internal source.
Moreover, if information were being leaked, he’d be in the worst position.
He’d be the first to come under suspicion, after all.
“He’ll be pleased with this. But that concludes your business here, then?”
It had occurred to him that if Kang Se-hyun merely wanted to deliver such an item, there’d be no need for him to come in person.
As expected—
Kang Se-hyun broached the real matter.
“Actually, there’s another reason I’ve come today.”
Kang Se-hyun glanced toward the side of where Baek Jin-seong sat.
Baek Jin-seong understood his intent.
He was asking that information not be leaked through the broadcast.
“Should we perhaps relocate for privacy?”
“No, that’s fine. The people around us are already occupied.”
Now that he looked, he could see members of the Mir Guild stationed below the Terrace.
So they’d all come together after all….
“So what is it, then? Your actual purpose?”
When Baek Jin-seong asked, Kang Se-hyun spoke.
“I’d like to propose a collaboration.”
“If that’s the case, I must politely decline….”
This was part of a manual he and Kang Seon-woo had arranged beforehand.
Reject collaboration proposals appropriately, he’d been told.
So he was mechanically declining when Kang Se-hyun cut him off, as if to say it wasn’t that kind of proposal.
“This isn’t your typical collaboration involving small sums of money. Aren’t you curious? About why Eclipse attacked our Mir Guild?”
Come to think of it, there had been quite a few rumors circulating about that incident at the time.
Of course, nothing concrete came of it.
But if you asked Baek Jin-seong whether he was curious or not, the answer was obvious—he was.
“I assure you, this partnership would be no loss for you either, Neia. If I were in your position, I’d certainly welcome it.”
So he was asking Baek Jin-seong to pass the message along directly.
And it was clear that Baek Jin-seong had understood correctly.
Kang Se-hyun made it plain that Eclipse’s attack was no coincidence, laying his business card on the table.
“What Eclipse wanted was the truth. If you’re curious about anything, I’m available anytime—feel free to reach out.”
With that, Kang Se-hyun left.
But the meeting lingered in Baek Jin-seong’s mind with startling intensity.
So he went through the rest of his business with an unsettled expression.
Then another man arrived.
This one wasn’t a customer either.
“What’s the occasion today?”

* * *

“So something like that happened?”
“Yes, sir.”
Baek Jin-seong gave me a detailed account of everything that had occurred at Grace that day.
After hearing the whole story, my thoughts grew complicated.
“It is intriguing, I’ll admit.”
What caught my attention especially was his assured manner—the certainty that it wouldn’t be a loss.
His remark that this wasn’t simply about money was hard to ignore either.
“Let’s shelve that for now. What else?”
“The Nakhwa Guild and the Myungseong Guild both sent items.”
They’d apparently been watching from the sidelines.
Once Kang Se-hyun from the Mir Guild’s visit was broadcast,
they rushed in with their own offerings, swallowing their pride.
“Just two Spirit Elixirs?”
The quality was decent enough, but not something I could consume freely.
The tolerance issue was the problem.
“You want this?”
“No, I’ll save it for a better elixir later.”
“Then I’ll sell it. Can you handle that?”
Selling a gift outright was almost funny.
But what choice did I have? I had no use for it.
Blame their own lack of consideration.
‘And that’s how you do a gift right.’

【Breath of Mighty Hero】
《Grade: Hero-grade》

[Additional Stats]
– Mana +30
– Agility +15

[Auxiliary Skills]
– Warrior’s Deep Breath: Nullifies all damage for 5 seconds.
– Fortitude: If health falls to 30% or below during combat, recover health to maximum.

“The Mir Guild has good taste.”
“Indeed. They understand how business is done.”
I nodded and asked him a question.
“Speaking of gifts, I actually prepared one for you.”
“A gift… for me?”
Baek Jin-seong blinked, clearly not expecting this.
I told him,
“You helped me out not long ago, and thanks to you, Seon-woo’s face has brightened up.”
“I wasn’t really looking for any reward…”
“Even so, a person shouldn’t be stingy about these things.”
I mentioned the gift I’d prepared.
“So here’s the thing—your broadcast revenue share. How about we make it 50-50 going forward?”
In truth, despite calling it a partnership all this time, the revenue split had been operating at a ratio of 9:1—something close to exploitation.
Even if Baek Jin-seong had willingly conceded the point.
Still, strictly speaking, it was his broadcast, and there was no justification for me taking ninety percent of it.
“A 50-50 split, sir?”
His eyes widened noticeably.
“You’ve worked hard all this time, so I think it’s only fair. It’s also my way of saying keep up the good work.”
Baek Jin-seong knew the scale of his broadcast revenue better than anyone.
Even though we’d only been at this for just under three months.
With barely ten percent of it, he’d earned enough to move from a cramped studio apartment to a spacious single-family home.
And now I was proposing to raise his share by four hundred percent.
So I found myself uneasy.
‘Wait—could this be a test?’
Taking greedily what’s offered might make me look covetous.
Baek Jin-seong bowed deeply.
“That seems like too much. If you still wish to increase it, then 80-20 would suffice.”
I glanced nervously at my surroundings.
Late at night in a deserted park—fortunately, no one was around.
“I know, so get up already. I went to all this trouble wearing a mask and sunglasses just to keep this quiet…”
Once we’d settled on the 80-20 split, Baek Jin-seong spoke quietly.
“I will serve you as my senior for life.”
That’s not something you get to decide unilaterally.
I’m older than you anyway.
“But what else? You didn’t ask me to meet just for this, did you?”
What we’d discussed so far wasn’t particularly momentous.
It was only an extension of what I’d already anticipated beforehand.
Then he promptly brought up a story about someone who’d visited not long after Kang Se-hyun had left.
This was actually the main event of the evening.
“Um, do you perhaps remember that old man from the auction?”
“Oh, he came looking for you too?”
Of course I remembered.
The elderly scholar-like man who’d won the bid on the Ancient Stone Tablet at considerable expense.
“If he’s asking for compensation or something like that, just tell him flat out that the goods have already been transferred and we bear no fault.”
“That wasn’t it, actually.”
“Then what?”
“He was asking if you might remember any part of the tablet’s contents—even just a portion, if possible.”
Baek Jin-seong went on to say that if he refused, the old man seemed likely to keep showing up, so he was at a loss and quite troubled.
He said he’d almost prefer to return the tablet and give back the money.
In any case, he was asking about something I obviously don’t have—an Instant Memory Recall ability or anything like that…
“Wait, or do I? Let me think.”
I don’t have an Instant Memory Recall ability, that’s true.
But Neia doesn’t lack one, does she?
She saw it back then—perhaps she still remembers it?
I spoke to Baek Jin-seong.
“All he needs is that information?”
“Yes, sir.”
I considered for a moment, then said:
“Maybe I should meet this man once.”
The old scholar who’d been ecstatic, and Eclipse who’d grown obsessed.
I was honestly a bit curious about what exactly it all was.

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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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