/
Chapter 356. The Conquest Bible (3)
When Seo Jun-Ho entered the executive office, Shim Deok-Gu was in the middle of a hologram call. He met Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes and waved.
‘You’re here? Just give me a second.’
‘Take your time.’ Seo Jun-Ho mouthed. He sat down and took a closer look at Shim Deok-Gu.
Shim Deok-Gu seemed happy to see him, unlike usual.
‘Well, I suppose it’s not really ‘unlike usual’ for him.’
For Shim Deok-Gu, it had only been a month or two at most since he last saw Seo Jun-Ho, but Seo Jun-Ho was gone for so long that he started to forget even his parents’ faces.
Shim Deok-Gu finished his call shortly after and loosened his tie as he walked over to the fridge. “Sigh. I swear, the amount of work I have to do is endless. Is this how Players feel when they hunt monsters?”
“Well, I suppose it’s similar…”
“So what do you want? Shall we have a beer to celebrate?”
“It’s fine.”
“Okay, orange juice it is.”
“Actually, can you make me a cup of coffee?”
Shim Deok-Gu froze with the bottle of orange juice in hand. He had prepared it specifically for his friend. “Coffee? Did I hear that right?”
“Yeah, coffee. Make it as bitter as possible.”
“You… Your tastes have changed.” Shim Deok-Gu looked displeased as he walked over to the coffee machine. “What’s with you? You’ve always hated bitter stuff.”
“Well, anyone’s tastes can change.”
It had been a matter of efficiency and survival. His focus had started to wear down with the repeated regressions, so he had no other choice but to start drinking caffeine to help him concentrate a bit more.
“...” Shim Deok-Gu squinted and silently made the coffee. He walked back over afterward. “I want to ask about this, but you’re not gonna tell me, are you? You’re such a secretive bastard.”
“Mm.” Seo Jun-Ho thought for a moment. Of course, all his friends and even Cha Si-Eun knew what happened. As such, Shim Deok-Gu would eventually find out at some point anyway.
‘I guess it would be better to tell him now instead of making him feel left out then.’
Seo Jun-Ho took a sip of his coffee and said, “No, I’ll tell you.”
“Really? For what reason?”
“Aside from you, the others already know.”
“Geez, that makes me feel offended. Why was I the last one?” The 50-year-old man with M-pattern baldness was jealous, and that made Seo Jun-Ho grin.
“I spent a little longer on the 4th Floor than the others did. I was pulled into a horrible situation.”
“‘A little longer’?” Shim Deok-Gu asked, putting sugar cubes into his own cup of coffee. “Why, how long were you there?”
“17 years, 2 months, 13 days, 12 hours, and 52 seconds.”
“Pfffft!” Deok-Gu spat out the hot coffee he was drinking. A curtain of darkness casually popped up to protect Seo Jun-Ho before dissipating. “Seeing your face… You’re not lying. If you’re this good at acting, you should win the Best Male Actor for this year.”
“I’m telling you, it’s the truth. But look—ta-dah! I came back like this, perfectly intact.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit.” The resentment on Shim Deok-Gu’s face was clear, but it wasn’t because he hated Seo Jun-Ho. He was simply worried, and it genuinely hurt him to hear that.
“Stop lecturing me with your face. Come on! Not even my mom was that bad.”
“That’s funny. I remember when you were seven, and you came over to my house to get salt because you wet the bed and—”
“Ahhhh! Shut up!” Seo Jun-Ho covered his ears, trying to stamp out the memory. He changed the subject. “R-right, it’s time for the news to air. Let’s watch some TV.”
“...Which channel was it on again?” Shim Deok-Gu played along as if nothing had happened. He then turned on the TV.
[The international Player organization Climb gives Specter high praise for his contribution with a positive response…]
Shim Deok-Gu snorted as he watched. “Those lunatics. Who’s praising who?”
“Clever bastards.” Seo Jun-Ho chuckled. They were like children acting cute.
“On that topic, have you found the mastermind behind this?” he asked.
“Yeah. Apparently, Sky Soul and Labyrinth hold most of the power.”
“Sky Soul, I understand because that family abhors me… But why Labyrinth?” he wondered. Of course, Seo Jun-Ho was a strong competition that threatened their power. However, he didn’t understand why Labyrinth was that hostile toward him. “That’s weird. It’s not like we have a history or anything.”
“Well, you did play them for fools when you dragged all of the Big 6 into an auction.” Shim Deok-Gu pointed out.
“Come on. I did it fairly to all of them. They’re still holding a grudge over something that petty?”
Shim Deok-Gu shook his head at his friend’s shamelessness before moving on. “Anyway, even if we don’t know the reason, the reality is that they’re a hostile force.”
“I just don’t understand…What’s the Guild Master like? Shoot, was it?”
Seo Jun-Ho took out the pile of documents he had spent hours studying after his return.
[Mr. Shoot]
Gender: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Nationality: Unknown
Race: Unknown
Skills: Unknown
“Look. There’s nothing on the materials I received.” Seo Jun-Ho pointed out.
“Because we don’t know anything,” Shim Deok-Gu responded, and he continued in a serious voice, “They’re a scary person. They’ve kept all their personal information under wraps for decades.”
“Wait… Is that possible?” Seo Jun-Ho tilted his head. “If someone could even get a strand of hair, they could analyze it…”
“That’s why it’s scary.” Every time Shoot appeared somewhere, they would clean up all traces of their appearance before leaving. “Most people shouldn’t be able to hide so thoroughly for over twenty years.”
“What a weird guy. Even worse, they don’t like me…” Seo Jun-Ho muttered. Did that mean Shoot was someone he knew?
He dug through his memories. “Let’s see. If they’re someone that I’ve humiliated before…”
“They would be impossible to find.”
“You’re right.” He had humiliated so many people that he would never be able to narrow it down. Twenty-seven years ago, if anyone got in his way while clearing Gates, even just a little bit, he would remove them completely.
“For now, just keep looking into it for me,” he said.
“I probably won’t be able to find anything, but sure,” Shim Deok-Gu said.
He watched as Seo Jun-Ho stood up and asked, “Then, what are you planning to do now? I think you should…”
Shim Deok-Gu eventually continued after thinking about it for a moment. “Forget saving humanity or whatever. You need to take a break.”
“Wow, can the President of the Korean Player Association even say that? You should lecture me more,” Seo Jun-Ho said. Actually, the previous Korean Player Association president would have lectured him more. Seo Jun-Ho hated it, so he left the Association.
“It’s fine. I’ll just go to you if a problem arises. You have a lot of money to spend anyway,” said Shim Deok-Gu.
“I don’t…”
“Really? Then you should start working instead.”
“Pfft.” Seo Jun-Ho grabbed his stomach and laughed. He waved and grabbed his coffee before stepping out of the office.
“I was already planning to take a short break, actually. If you need me to run any errands, just call me,” he said from the doorway.
“Yeah, okay,” Shim Deok-Gu said, smiling.
As soon as the door closed, Shim Deok-Gu sat down with a face full of mixed emotions. “Tsk. Why does that bastard always choose to suffer by himself?”
He turned his head and looked at the minifridge on the other side of the room in a daze. It was filled with orange juice, but he couldn’t take them out just yet.
Someday—once everything was over—he thought Seo Jun-Ho would want juice, not coffee.
***
By the time Seo Jun-Ho returned to his apartment, his friends had already left. There was only the Frost Queen, waiting at the entrance like a puppy.
“Contractor! Contractor, hurry! Over here. Come over here. Here. Immediately,” she insisted.
“What’s wrong with you?”
She took his hand and led him to the sofa. And as soon as he sat down, she held out her small hand to him.
“What, you want pocket money? I don’t have a lot of cash…”
“No. Allow me to use your Community window for a little while,” she demanded.
“Why?” The first thing Seo Jun-Ho felt was suspicion. He had let her use it once in the past, not knowing any better, and then she started a live broadcast. “What, you want to livestream again?”
“H-how many times do I have to tell you that it was an accident?”
It did make sense. The Frost Queen always laughed, played, and even napped in front of the screen. As such, Seo Jun-Ho’s curiosity was piqued when she denied it.
“Then why do you want to use it? Convince me.” Seo Jun-Ho crossed his arms and puffed his chest. He looked as obstinate and stubborn as a moai.
“...Ah, whatever. You sadden me. It was because I wished to make you earn PP.” The Frost Queen stuck out her lip like a beak and sagged her shoulders.
Seo Jun-Ho wondered if he was too harsh, so he carefully spoke, “Um, PP, you say? For me? Give me the details.”
“The 4th Floor implemented the new Seo Jun-Ho difficulty, correct?”
“Oh, yeah. They didn’t even ask for my permission. Do you think I’d win if I sued the System for violating my portrait rights?”
“No. More importantly, look at this.” The Frost queen held up the ‘Seo Jun-Ho Difficulty Guide’.
“Huh? This is…” Seo Jun-Ho quickly skimmed through the hundreds of pages. Most of the information about his skills was excluded.
‘Wow, it’s pretty thorough.’
He still had many skills and titles unrevealed to the world. The Frost Queen had obviously made this guide with that in mind.
The writing was also impressive. He knew that it was just a record of what he had been through, but reading the guide actually made him tear up.
“Did I say all these dark things, though?” he asked.
“That is called artistic freedom, Contractor.”
Okay then…
“This is well-made. So what were you planning to do with this again?”
“Sell it to the Players.”
“Sell it?” Seo Jun-Ho looked at her with admiring eyes. “I’m proud of you. But from what I’ve heard, you have three attempts to clear the Seo Jun-Ho difficulty. So who would buy this? They’ll eventually figure it out on their own after fighting Erebo a few times.”
However, there was something that he had overlooked. Most Players valued time more than they valued money. Moreover, they would rather take the safe route rather than figure it out the hard way similar to what he had done.
This time, The Frost Queen was the one who crossed her arms before saying, “All your friends bought it for 300PP.”
“Oh, so that’s why I gained 1,800 PP earlier.” If those guys bought it, there was no way that other Players wouldn’t buy it.
He gently uncrossed his arms. Now, he seemed to have become more flexible, more like the Heundeul Bawi on Seoraksan Mountain[1] rather than a moai.
“Oh, and it will be sold in two separate volumes,” said the Frost Quen. She held out a thinner holographic pamphlet.
Seo Jun-Ho read through it and tilted his head. “It contains the same stuff. What’s different about it?”
“I have split the contents of one book into two.”
“Why bother?”
“Sigh. How do you know so little about economics?” The Frost Queen shook her head before explaining, “If you split them into different products and sell them separately, your profit will be twice as much.”
“Come on, isn’t that a scam?”
“It is not a scam, but a business. Additionally, this is a market that you can monopolize.”
Now that she said that, it did make sense.
“However, I sold the complete volume to your friends, so worry not,” she reassured.
“Thanks for that…”
“I believe 30,000 PP would be a good price,” she continued.
“30,000?!” Jun-Ho’s eyes bulged. “What lunatic would buy it at that price?”
“Why would they not? Think about your consumer base.” They were all veteran Players who had entered the 4th Floor. To them, 30,000 PP was actually affordable. “Those who plan to attempt the 4th Floor in the future would buy this guide as well.”
“So, even if I only sell a hundred of these…”
3,000,000.
He would make 3,000,000 PP.
Seo Jun-Ho’s jaw dropped, making the Frost Queen laugh. “Heh, you believe there will only be a hundred purchases?”
She expected to sell at least 30,000 copies.
‘Because more than 30,000 Players entered the 4th Floor.’
Moreover, there were many people who hadn’t been able to enter because of the World Congress’ decision to bar entry. Once they attempted the Seo Jun-Ho difficulty and inevitably failed…
“They will not be able to resist buying it.”
Seo Jun-Ho uploaded the guide to Community’s marketplace, and the Frost Queen gave him some advice. “Give them a discounted price of 50,000 PP if they buy both volumes.”
“Nice! Where did you learn all this?”
“From home shopping channels.” She shrugged a few times.
However, the guide that the Frost Queen made became a sensation that they could have never imagined.
1. Third tallest mountain in Korea. The Heundeul Bawi is a large rock there. It shakes when people push it but never falls.