60. First Return. The First Wave (1) [Special Quest Begins] [The First Wave will begin.]
[Waiting Period: 12 hours.]
[Defense zone: North, South, East, and West, centered on the City Hall.]
[Defeat all enemies and protect the City Hall.]
[Rewards will be distributed differently upon returning to the Labyrinth, based on performance.]
The Quest descended upon them. They had no choice but to stop their loud debate about Taesan’s punishment. For Hwi-yeon, it was a great relief.
It meant they no longer had to shout and bicker. But she soon realized it was not something to be happy about. Frightened people came to her.
“The Monsters are coming, what should we do?”
“I-I’m an Easy Mode Player, so I’ll just wait inside.”
“Me too!”
Those who feared battle and tried to run away. Those who tried to seize command amidst the chaos. Those who refused to fight and wanted to wait inside until it was all over.
Countless people clamored loudly about their own desires. Hwi-yeon grit her teeth and addressed them one by one.
“Everyone, be quiet!”
Her loud voice brought a moment of silence. She touched her forehead. The lawmaker and the civic group representative, who had spoken as if they knew everything, had long since hidden themselves, unwilling to take responsibility.
‘So, in the end, I’m the one left holding the bag.’
With a hollow laugh, she began to give orders in a calm and orderly manner. Taesan watched the scene from a park far away.
‘She’ll handle it on her own.’
He couldn’t help. If he interfered, the Fear and dread toward him would only add to the Confusion. She had succeeded in taking command before, so it would be the same this time.
He turned his head.
“You’re here?”
“Yes.”
A young-looking boy answered calmly. Beside the boy, a woman appeared hesitantly.
Lee Tae-yeon.
And Kang Jun-hyeok. Taesan stared blankly at their faces. He hadn't had a chance to look at them closely earlier because he was dealing with Choi Jung-hyuk.
Kang Jun-hyeok was still young. He’d said he was now seventeen, and his face looked his age. He had an overall gentle appearance.
And Lee Tae-yeon. Taesan gazed at her quietly. There was a youthful air about her.
He wasn’t talking about wrinkles on her face. Their time was stopped, so her biological age now would be the same as it was at the end. It was more about her aura.
Unlike then, there was no sign of world-weariness or tired decadence; she was simply fresh.
“Uh…”
Feeling his gaze on her, Lee Tae-yeon scratched her head. Kang Jun-hyeok smiled awkwardly.
“Hello, Hyung.”
“Hello.”
“This is the first time I’m seeing you in person. First, thank you.”
“You’re thanking a murderer?”
“But you became one to save us.”
Kang Jun-hyeok shrugged.
“Besides, living in a place like that, I don’t dwell on people dying at this point.”
“Looking at the person behind you, it doesn’t seem so.”
Lee Tae-yeon showed signs of being afraid of Taesan. Kang Jun-hyeok gave a bitter smile.
“Everyone’s different.”
He had roughly guessed from the community forums, but as expected, Kang Jun-hyeok was mentally strong. There was nothing new about Lee Tae-yeon. She was close to a coward.
“Are the hostages alright?”
“Yes, because of you, Hyung, they were all scared witless and ran away.”
Kang Jun-hyeok looked at Taesan with eyes full of admiration. It was truly monstrous strength. He had expected him to be strong after hearing the stories, but he never imagined it would be to this extent.
Taesan shrugged.
“So, what do you think?”
“Yes?”
“The two of you must have talked about this and that, right?”
Kang Jun-hyeok let out a small laugh.
“You knew.”
“It was obvious what you two would talk about.”
Kang Jun-hyeok and Lee Tae-yeon. They had met in person and talked about various things, and most of it was about Taesan. What he looked like, what kind of person he might be.
Things like that.
“What’s your impression?”
“…You’re younger than I thought.”
A man who had been through all sorts of trials, who had Insight into everything. He had thought he would be over thirty, but he looked to be in his mid-twenties at most.
“If you don’t mind me asking your age…”
“How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-five.”
“Probably the same as you.”
“Heh…”
Lee Tae-yeon’s voice trailed off in wonder. Even though he was the same age as her, there was such a huge difference. Naturally, she couldn’t help but be curious about Taesan’s past.
“Can I ask what you did on Earth?”
“I worked. What else would I have done?”
“That work… was it something like tracking people?”
Taesan let out a chuckle.
“Just a normal job.”
Seeing how exceedingly normal Taesan seemed, perhaps his tension eased, as Jung-geun felt relieved.
“Phew. To be honest, I thought you might be an eccentric person, so this is a relief.”
It was common in both fiction and reality for an unrivaled number one to be eccentric, so he couldn’t help but worry. He had even worried that Taesan might kill them for getting in his way. Having shed the burden on his mind, he greeted him once more.
“Thank you again.”
“M-me too.”
“Enough with the thanks.”
Taesan looked at Lee Tae-yeon again.
She flinched.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Taesan didn’t answer. The Item that turns back time. The Ouroboros’s stomach stone.
Was she unable to use it, or did she choose not to? The her of now wouldn’t be able to answer that question. The years in the Labyrinth were enough to completely change a person, so she herself wouldn’t know how she would change.
Still, seeing her again wasn’t bad.
Taesan said.
“It’s good to see you.”
Their meeting was over. Lee Tae-yeon and Kang Jun-hyeok had bright expressions after realizing Taesan was more normal than they had thought. They started to chat about various things.
“So, how is it meeting people from other modes?”
“Nothing much. It seems we really do have it the hardest.”
Lee Tae-yeon and Kang Jun-hyeok had talked with Players they met while moving. The more they explained their Difficulty, the more the others reacted as if they were talking nonsense.
“The Big Rat. They said it’s the 5th Floor Boss in Easy Mode? Why does something like that pop out on the First Floor for us?”
When Kang Jun-hyeok learned that fact, he was truly dumbfounded. A basic Monster on their side was a 5th Floor Boss on the other. He knew there would be a difference, but he never imagined it would be this severe.
“Sucks, doesn’t it? But what can you do? You’re the one who chose Alone Mode.”
Junhyeok trembled.
Taesan chuckled and said.
“Still, don’t regret it. Thanks to that, you were able to survive until now.”
“That’s… well.”
They had won without issue against a Monster that Easy or Normal Mode Players couldn’t dare to resist. It was proven that their efforts were not in vain, and the proof was right before their eyes. Kang Jun-hyeok stared blankly up at Taesan.
He was so strong. The difference was so vast it was hard to believe they had entered the Labyrinth at the same time. He could leap to a building’s rooftop in a single breath and attack dozens at an invisible speed.
Moreover, Taesan hadn’t used a single one of the Skills he had mentioned. He had done everything with the power of his Stats alone. Kang Jun-hyeok thought of himself as strong.
In Alone Mode, the only one comparable to him was Lee Tae-yeon, and after coming outside, he felt that everyone else was pathetically weak, which strengthened that belief. But Taesan displayed his might as if to mock his thoughts.
‘Can I ever catch up?’
He couldn’t even begin to grasp it. Lee Tae-yeon was feeling something similar. Being the same age, it was even more so for her.
She even felt a sense of self-loathing, wondering what she had been doing while he became so strong.
“You two just need to survive.”
Taesan said as he stood up, as if he had guessed their thoughts.
“As long as you survive, you can become strong. Alone Mode is that kind of place.”
He stood before Lee Tae-yeon and Kang Jun-hyeok.
“What floor have you two reached?”
“I just cleared the 2nd Floor.”
“Me too.”
Recalling the memory, Lee Tae-yeon shuddered.
“If I hadn’t heard about it from you beforehand, Mr. Taesan, I would have died.”
The 2nd Floor Boss. A Goblin that used Magic. It was a Monster that launched a sudden mental magic, making it impossible to react.
It was a good thing they had heard about it from Taesan and prepared a mental-type potion; otherwise, they would have become corpses rotting in the Labyrinth. As he was vividly recalling the memory, something suddenly occurred to Kang Jun-hyeok, and he asked.
“Ah, there was an Orange Door on the 2nd Floor, what was that? I wanted to go in, but I remembered what you said, Hyung, and desperately held back.”
“Where this guy is.”
Taesan pointed to the Ghost beside him. Lee Tae-yeon and Kang Jun-hyeok fell silent.
“So it wasn’t a hallucination…”
The classic Ghost, wearing a white cloth, greeted them.
[Hello, idiots.]
“It talks, too.”
Staring blankly, Junhyeok asked.
“Is it something like a Quest?”
“That’s right. Two Monsters that use Skills were waiting.”
[Don’t get reckless, you can’t even lay a hand on them. I have no intention of giving you the Quest anyway.]
To the cold reply, Junhyeok answered hesitantly.
“You wouldn’t know that without trying.”
“That’s the problem.”
Taesan reached into the air and grabbed his sword.
“Hyung?”
“Draw your sword. You too, Lee Tae-yeon.”
“What?”
Lee Tae-yeon, who had been quiet, was startled. To their surprise, Taesan said.
“I’m going to give you a lesson.”
“Uh… Hyung. For real?”
Junhyeok hesitated, sword in hand. Taesan stood across from him.
“Are we really going to fight?”
“I told you. It’s a lesson.”
Taesan pointed the tip of his sword at Kang Jun-hyeok.
“You’re too bold.”
Your confidence is strong. When you see an unknown domain, you try to attempt it first and don’t get scared. At Taesan’s words, Junhyeok spoke hesitantly.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“It’s not bad. Challenging yourself is an important element. But understanding your limits is also important. You don’t have that line.”
Taesan said calmly.
“To put it coldly, in Alone Mode, you’re on the weaker side.”
He looked like he couldn’t accept it. It was what he had expected, so Taesan continued indifferently.
“You probably think you’re quite strong. And compared to other people, you’re right. Besides me, there are only two or three others who can compare to you. But inside the Labyrinth, it’s different. Ainzhar. You met that old man, didn’t you?”
“…Yes. I did.”
Ainzhar.
The Holy Knight who seeks God judged Kang Jun-hyeok to be worthless and gave him nothing.
“That’s you in Alone Mode.”
Kang Jun-hyeok’s face wavered at the cold words. Taesan turned his gaze to Lee Tae-yeon.
She flinched.
“And you’re too much of a coward. Of course, that’s good. It allows you to survive until the end. But it’s better to get what you can. If you keep throwing everything away like that, you’ll regret it one day.”
Kang Jun-hyeok and Lee Tae-yeon. The two had completely opposite tendencies. Lee Tae-yeon asked calmly.
“…So we have to take on challenges?”
“That’s right. I don’t want to see you two die in a ditch somewhere.”
He could see Lee Tae-yeon making it, but if Kang Jun-hyeok continued like this, he would definitely die. Taesan had no intention of watching that happen.
“There’s no right answer to this problem, so I can’t give you one, but I should at least show you what level you’re at.”
There were twelve hours left until the Wave. There was enough time.
[Duel request. This Duel will be held with both parties in an equal state.]
“Wha-what?”
Taesan brandished his sword.
“Come on.”
Leveling up through battle