When Jiho woke up, Joo Yiwon wasn’t there.
Yiwon shouldn’t have anything on his schedule today, so where is he? It’s not weird that he’s gone since he’s busy even without dungeon raids, but… Jiho feels somewhat at a loss.
Jiho heated the food Yiwon left on the table and fidgeted with his terminal.
The internet should be chaotic from yesterday…. Jiho doesn’t have the confidence to go into the portals and check the news or comments.
Instead of opening a web browser, Jiho scrolled through his exploding text messages before finding a message from Heo Sori.
Knowing that Jiho is curious yet has a hard time looking at the news himself, Sori had summarized the news for him again.
Heo Sori
| Are you finally dating? | |
| Congratulations heh. Send the wedding invite, I will include a lot of gift money | |
| People seem to think it was just a prank | |
| Of course, a few people believe it’s real but | |
| Most people are just having fun making jokes | |
| How amazing that South Korea’s prejudice is protecting you two | |
| It looks like other countries are taking this seriously, but… | |
| The majority in Korea are of the opinion that this was part of a penalty game or a condition to remove a curse |
Jiho’s not sure if this is her informing or teasing him.… Though it does seem closer to the latter.
Still, it’s a good thing it didn’t cause a huge storm. Jiho thanked her and read through a couple more messages before setting his terminal down.
“Let’s forget it, just forget it….”
Yesterday never happened. Jiho repeated as if to brainwash himself and raised his chopsticks.
Although the meal Joo Yiwon had prepared was delicious, Jiho couldn’t really taste anything.
He knows he’s chewing on rice but what he feels in his mouth is the shape of a tongue. This strange imagination startled Jiho multiple times throughout his meal.
‘My lips only touched his cheek, why am I imagining a tongue?’
That’s not all. Last night, he kept having weird thoughts, and when he finally fell asleep, he dreamed that a half-naked Joo Yiwon was teasing him.
“I must be crazy.”
Jiho worried how he was going to face Joo Yiwon when he woke up, so maybe it’s a good thing Yiwon’s gone…. He doesn’t have the confidence to look at his face right now.
Jiho glanced at the clock. Seeing it approach the time he leaves for work, Jiho let out a heavy sigh. He doesn’t want to take a Monday off, but he really doesn’t want to go to work today.
‘My guildmembers enjoy teasing me too much….’
It’s already been two or three months since new guildmembers joined. Now that the guildmembers have adjusted to the atmosphere, Jiho can bet his weapon that they’re going to have fun teasing him today.
“Today… let’s just skip.”
Other guildmasters only go when they feel like it. Jiho usually thinks lowly of those guildmasters, but he’ll do the same just for today. Still, it doesn’t feel right to just not work, so he’ll probably handle what he can at home and then work outside.
‘I have something to do outside anyways.’
Using Joo Yiwon’s absence, Jiho pulled out all of the items he’s been collecting from his inventory. Items from [The Blue Ark] spilled out in a pile. Jiho’s eyes sparkled as he checked the statuses of the items.
Information
| Pearl of the Blue Sea | |
| Rank | S |
| Description | Material item. When used in an item, there is a 100% chance that a special effect beneficial to the wearer will appear. |
Information
| Coral of the Blue Sea | |
| Rank | S |
| Description | Material item. When used in an item, there is a 100% chance of increased performance. A 10% increase in equipment items, and a 50% increase in consumable items. |
He didn’t expect to strike gold from a random dungeon. To think these items are guaranteed to add an effect or increase performance when used in crafting.
A little over 20 S-ranks. This is the result of Jiho practically monopolizing all of the S-rank pearls and coral from [The Blue Ark]. This is after he yielded the S-rank items around Seon Tae Woong out of guilt. And there is a mountain of items A-rank and lower….
For a dungeon he entered with no expectations, this result is satisfying.
Recently, Jiho’s really feeling it to his bones how much money it takes to run a guild. Although No Name makes money from dungeon raids, No Name uses more money than it makes as it’s still growing.
Even if he sells just half of these items, he won’t have to worry for a while.
But the most valuable item is something else. That is, the mana stone he obtained from [The Blue Ark].
[Guidance of Cassiopeia]. This previously hidden skill had revealed a detailed description after he obtained the mana stone from [The Blue Ark].
Information
| Guidance of Cassiopeia (Lv. 1) | |
| Rank | SS |
| Description | When the Administrator first visits [Earth’s Last Disaster Response System], this skill can transform mana stones, which can only be received once from the Manager, into an [Orb] with a special power. However, the same Administrator cannot find a mana stone from the same [Earth’s Last Disaster Response System] twice. (Discovered Orbs: 1/5) |
Under Jiho’s skill, the originally unattractive-looking mana stone transformed into a completely new item. Jiho stared complicatedly at the twinkling orb.
Information
| The Guardian’s Orb (Lv. 1) | |
| Rank | S |
| Description | A mysterious orb made by the power of the Administrator. People who use this orb become this star’s Guardian and gain great power. Only if they have the will to protect this star will the orb’s power be maintained. If this world ends, they take on the role of supporting the Administrator. If the Guardian loses their strength or dies, you can create a new orb and assign the next Guardian. |
It’s a good item. The problem is that the description makes him uncomfortable.
If this world ends, the Guardian takes on the role of supporting the Administrator?
Since it said the Administrator becomes the dungeon boss, doesn’t that mean the Guardian becomes a mid-level boss? Though they might grow stronger in this life, if anything goes wrong, their fate is to be brutally murdered by hunters from other worlds.
Of course, as long as Jiho protects this world well, the Guardian won’t meet such an unfortunate fate.
Yet, if he considers the slim chance that someone will meet an unfortunate fate…. It’s difficult to hand this item to someone else. And first of all, he’ll have to provide a thorough explanation before passing this on, but he’s not sure anyone will understand such absurdity.
Jiho glared at the item before standing.
For now, he should hold off on using [The Guardian’s Orb]. While he has a few candidates in mind…. He’ll wait.
The most pressing issue right now is Park Geon Ho’s report that he received last night.
– I have confirmed that Lee Ha Yeon-ssi has a connection to Ipeulis. The client called Lee Ha Yeon-ssi Ipeulis’s guildmaster, and Lee Ha Yeon-ssi exchanged information naturally with the client.
Now that he’s confirmed that Lee Ha Yeon is connected to Ipeulis, there’s no need to hesitate. Whatever the means, he must approach Lee Ha Yeon and at least check her system window.
Actually, all of his previous attempts to meet Lee Ha Yeon have been rejected. If he pushes any harder, there might be a scandal that Hunter S is obsessively chasing after Celebrity L.
‘I’ll have to try to approach her using a different way….’
There’s plenty of ways if he wants to get dirty, but Jiho’s personality won’t allow him to use too much force.
“Hm….”
His head is spinning from everything there is to do. Jiho thought for a bit before dropping the items he spilled on the ground back into his inventory.
“Today, let’s take care of this first.”
[Pearl of the Blue Sea] and [Coral of the Blue Sea] are both items that production guilds would vie for. Jiho planned to trade a few and also use them for the commission fee when he leaves them to a production guild.
‘Let’s use the ones lower than C-rank in the guild.’
No Name’s alchemist, Lee Nam Yoon, is quite skilled. Especially when it comes to potions–his skills exceed the average B-rank. If he crafts with these, won’t his skills grow?
‘And with the S-ranks… an item for myself.’
While he’s stronger than before, dangers have increased in frequency. Not only are there a lot of strong people around him, but there are also weird people coming for him because he’s the Administrator. As a result, Jiho, who has no combat skill, needs to stack up his armory.
‘I’ll have it commissioned, and then I’ll use it if there’s an option I can use, otherwise I’ll sell it.’
As soon as he made a decision, Jiho got up without hesitation. He was going to leave in what he usually wears to work when the front door opened.
It was Joo Yiwon in a suit.
“Honey, are you going somewhere?”
“Where did you go?”
“Father-in-law called, so I stopped by the house.”
A father-in-law to an unmarried man? Jiho had an inkling of who Yiwon was referring to, but he didn’t want to believe it.
“…Who is your father-in-law?”
“Honey, did you forget your own father? What an unfilial….”
Jiho punched Yiwon’s stomach. Yiwon made an exaggerated sound of pain and was going to pull away when Jiho grabbed him.
“Honey?”
Jiho buried his nose in Yiwon’s body. He ignored Yiwon’s nonsensical “So fiery from the morning…. Can I wash first?” and took a deep breath in.
Though faint, Yiwon’s body smells of blood.
Catching what Jiho smelled, Yiwon chuckled.
“I took care of a fissure on the way.”
“Good job.”
“Eung~ I did good, right?”
Yiwon stretched out the syllables and pulled Jiho into a hug. Jiho was going to quickly push him away, but he froze in Yiwon’s arms. It’s not the first time Joo Yiwon’s clung to him, but why does he feel so awkward today?
Jiho raised a trembling hand and patted Yiwon’s back. With this, Yiwon generously pulled away from Jiho, whose face had flushed bright red.
“But where are you going, Honey?”
“…To Alchemy of the Night.”
Jiho wanted to leave after he said this, but Yiwon frowned and blocked him.
“Why?”
“I have something I want to commission.”
“…”
“Why?”
“No, then let’s go together.”
It’s not like he can’t, but…. It looks like there’s something Yiwon doesn’t like about Alchemy of the Night. Feeling slightly nervous, Jiho nodded his head.
LaZ Bird Corner
So awkward… eheheh
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