Chapter 41

As Jun-sang headed home, he stopped dead in his tracks, noticing two men loitering in front of his house.

“…”

Somehow, they looked familiar. After a moment of recollection, Jun-sang recognized them as the police officers he had met when he woke up in the hospital previously. Dressed in plain clothes unlike last time, he hadn’t immediately recognized them. Jun-sang couldn’t help but frown. Before, it was that Seong-jin kid and his father bothering him; now, even the police were showing up. At this rate, it wouldn’t be surprising if Seo Yoo-mi or Lim Seo-yoon rang his doorbell tomorrow.

“I guess… I really should get rid of this place.”

A subtle irritation began to well up. He was already busy thinking about how to become a little stronger to survive; constant interference, no matter how good-natured one might be, was bound to cause annoyance. Jun-sang briefly considered avoiding them. Those police officers would undoubtedly want to question him about the truth of the deceased returnees.

In truth… the truth about the returnees was bound to come out eventually. While all returnees were survivors who had overcome the harsh ordeal of the tutorial, it was difficult to assume that all of them possessed the same robust mental fortitude as Jun-sang. Like the woman who died during the forest quest, it was not guaranteed that there wouldn’t be individuals who, even after somehow passing the tutorial, would become exhausted and unable to endure the continuous trials. Of course, even if they revealed their reality, no one would immediately believe it outright. But if, like in Seong-jin’s case, they disappeared and reappeared right before their eyes, people would eventually have no choice but to believe. If that happened, it would be difficult to guarantee that attention wouldn’t turn back to Jun-sang, the first returnee in Korea.

However, even if Jun-sang were to disappear, one problem had to be kept in mind: cell phone tracking. Given that players had to keep their phones on to receive quest messages, there was no way to prevent the police or other authorities from tracking their phone’s location if they put their minds to it.

“Hmm…”

As Jun-sang continued his thoughts, it suddenly occurred to him that location tracking might not work. Considering that his phone remained on without charging, it meant someone had tampered with the phone in some way.

“I should check this.”

The check itself wasn’t as difficult as he thought. For instance, services like ‘Ppogeul’ (a hypothetical service) basically offer a feature to locate one’s smartphone device on the ‘Ppogeul’ map.

Jun-sang first organized his thoughts, then began to walk towards his house. As expected, the two men waiting on the street approached him and spoke.

“Good evening. Do you happen to remember me?”

“…”

As Jun-sang merely stared silently, the man, looking embarrassed, introduced himself. “Perhaps it’s because of my clothes… We met at the hospital before, don’t you remember?”

“If you saw me at the hospital, you’d also remember how many people came to see me.”

“…”

The man was struck dumb. As Jun-sang said, he knew very well that countless politicians and reporters had visited, touting him as the first returnee. As the man failed to respond, Jun-sang attempted to walk past him. Then, the man next to him suddenly grabbed Jun-sang’s arm.

“Huh?”

It was an impulsive action to stop Jun-sang from leaving without a word, but the man’s expression instantly changed to surprise at the feel of solid muscle through the clothes.

“What do you want?”

And Jun-sang’s returning gaze. The moment their eyes met, the man, as if someone had tied him up with ropes, froze, unable to move, and thus even lost his grip on Jun-sang’s clothing.

Then, the first man, who had been watching, hurriedly spoke to Jun-sang. “We are police. We’d like to request your cooperation.”

But Jun-sang replied without looking back, “I refuse.” And immediately headed home.

The man who had tried and failed to grab his clothing finally rubbed the back of his neck and said, “Wow… What an intense stare… He wasn’t like that before…”

“Hmm…”

The first man, Kim Myung-seok, scratched his chin as he watched Jun-sang’s disappearing back. “I don’t know why they’re all like that.”

“Indeed.”

“Something’s going on… Why isn’t anyone talking?”

Then his colleague said, “Let’s leave it at that. We’ve received directives from above not to interfere rashly anyway…”

“Tsk…”

Kim Myung-seok didn’t know it, but it was Kim Jong-kyung, Seong-jin’s father, who had blocked the investigation and reporting on the returnees. After failing to recruit Jun-sang, he was in the process of recruiting other returnees to establish an organization. Such covert movements were also occurring in other countries like the US, Japan, and China, though with different processes and objectives. The request to refrain from investigating returnees and controlling news coverage was a preliminary step to facilitate these processes.

After confirming that Kim Myung-seok and his colleague had retreated from his window, Jun-sang turned on his computer and tested the location tracking on his phone. The result was as he had expected.

“It’s not being tracked.”

Confirming that location tracking was useless, Jun-sang immediately began preparing to move out of his room. Fortunately, the demand for studio apartments near the university area was high, making it easier than expected to dispose of the room. While disposing of his home, Jun-sang purchased five dedicated steel cabinets, just like Lim Seo-yoon had, and stored his belongings in them. After selling off books and other miscellaneous items cheaply or putting them out for recycling, and settling that month’s taxes and getting his deposit back from the new tenant, vacating the room was done in a flash.

“Is something wrong?”

The landlady was so curious about Jun-sang’s rapid actions that she asked.

“I’m thinking of going home to rest for a while.”

“Oh, right, you said you were taking a leave of absence.”

“Yes.”

Anyway, having finished organizing his room, Jun-sang left his house with a light heart and began walking aimlessly towards Gangwon Province. His destination was Odaesan Mountain. He ran during the day as a form of exercise and stayed at an inn at night. At first, he considered jjimjilbangs (Korean bathhouses) to save money, but it was inconvenient to store his equipment in his inventory in the open changing rooms, and it would be disastrous if a quest activated while he was sleeping naked and he was teleported away. So he had no choice.

As he reached Yangpyeong, feeling a bit more relaxed, a message suddenly arrived on his phone. Thinking it might be a quest, he quickly checked, and indeed, it was Kim Seong-jin again. He probably sent it from a new number after the previous one was blocked.

Brother Jun-sang.

To think you’d even block me…

I’m a little hurt.

Actually, I’ve decided to create a guild this time.

I stopped by your place, and you were already gone.

If you receive this message, please contact me.

“Tsk…”

Jun-sang clicked his tongue and blocked Seong-jin’s message. Afterwards, Seong-jin persistently sent messages from different numbers, but Jun-sang blocked them all as soon as they arrived. After about ten such blocks, he eventually gave up and stopped contacting him.

And then, after a few more days, Jun-sang finally arrived at Odaesan Mountain. He hadn’t come here to settle down. He simply remembered missing a school trip in middle school and decided to take this opportunity to explore leisurely. He had come because he remembered missing his school trip while bouncing between institutions and relatives’ homes after his parents passed away, but now that he was here, it didn’t feel as grand as he had imagined. Why had he been so disappointed about this?

But having come all this way, it would be rude not to climb it. Although the weather was quite chilly, Jun-sang trudged up the mountain path. After wandering the mountain for a while, he stopped to rest on a rock at the entrance of a small path not far from a nameless hermitage. Suddenly, he heard a sound indicating a message had arrived on his phone. Thinking it might be Seong-jin again, he opened his phone, but this time, it was indeed a quest.

Jun-sang sat quietly on the rock, gazing at the sunset visible through the trees. And finally, as the countdown ended, Jun-sang was transported to the location of the new quest.

“…”

As the white light enveloping his body faded, Jun-sang realized he had arrived in a corner of a plain with a wide wheat field. He first opened his phone to check the quest details.

Subdue the Monsters of the Wetlands.

• Villagers are suffering due to monsters that have suddenly appeared in the wetlands. Eliminate the danger lurking in the wetlands. (Remaining monsters: 103)
• [Multiple individuals are participating in this quest simultaneously.]
• (Sub) Jesse’s Request. -> Conversation needed.
• (Sub) Ilmaren’s Request. -> Conversation needed.
• (Sub) Geden’s Request. -> Conversation needed.
• (Hidden) Subdue the monstrous wild boars lurking around the wetlands. (Solo) -> Incomplete.
• (Hidden) Burn down the poisonous herb colony that has bloomed around the wetlands. (Solo) -> Incomplete.

It was similar to the Mine Subjugation Quest but differed in that it took place in a field. Given that multiple people were participating, he could anticipate that a fairly powerful boss awaited them. In addition to the basic subjugation quest, there were five separate quests, three of which were sub-quests like Inia’s Request, and only two were hidden quests.

Having checked the quest, Jun-sang took out his knuckle-duster, put it on, and opened the minimap. While it couldn’t show places he hadn’t yet visited, he could instantly see the terrain within his line of sight on the minimap. Jun-sang first looked around and easily spotted a small village not far away. As he was about to move towards the village, a voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Oh! There he is! Hey!”

A slightly frivolous-sounding male voice, even at a casual listen. Jun-sang only slightly turned his head to look in the direction of the voice. Four men and women, dressed in familiar Earth clothing, were walking towards him. They consisted of three men and one woman, and they were waving to Jun-sang, beckoning him to come over. A total of five people were mobilized for this quest. Considering that the previous village defense was a four-person quest, the difficulty seemed considerable.

“…”

Jun-sang glanced at them and thought this, but then turned his body and immediately ran towards the village.

“Huh? Hey! Where are you going?!”

He heard voices calling from behind, but Jun-sang didn’t look back. As with other quests, especially sub-quests, the early bird gets the worm, so he needed to move quickly. But those who didn’t understand the situation clicked their tongues, watching Jun-sang immediately run off.

“What kind of bastard is that?”

“I know, right. We should be working together, not less.”

“Seriously… they say meeting a good party is luck, but to meet a troll here too.”

“Phew… Nothing we can do. We just have to stay focused ourselves.”