Max Talent Player

well.”

I fully ignored Yeonseo and Yoohyun’s pointless chatter.
I asked Sunhwa, “How was it?”

Yeonseo answered instead.

“Haa, don’t even talk about it.
I was about to die from frustration in there.”

“Really?”

“Like I thought, we need the Boss.”

The difficulty itself wasn’t high, but apparently, their speed of advancement was unimaginably slow.
Yeonseo shook her head. 

“I didn’t feel stifled when clearing with the Boss…”

Playing with ordinary Players seemed to be very stifling for her.
Yeonseo wasn’t flattering me right now—she was expressing her honest thoughts.

I grinned and said, “Even so, this process is necessary.”

Sunghyun nodded.
“Hyung is right.
I’m learning a lot as we Play with untrained Players.”

Sung-gu shivered.
“Learn? Learn what? I almost learned what it’s like on the other side.”

“…Don’t you think of that experience as a learning experience?”

“Can it, dude.
Why’s a brat like you always on my ass?”

“How about you act a little more like a hyung, Hyung?”

“Hyukjin.
If you’re gonna be at the Gran Seoul anyway, let’s go together.
Protect me, man.
Shabam.
It’s my first time seeing such a shoddy tank.
Dude, I almost died while casting magic, you know? I acted while thinking at your standard and almost really died.
I’m serious, bro.”

Sunghyun scowled.
“I haven’t seen any monsters so far that could kill you with one hit, Hyung.”

“Three hits and I’m deadso.
And it hurts a shitton.”

“A magician who sits around while getting hit three times is better off dead.”

“You want three hits from me so you can kick the bucket?”

“Try me; my magic will be faster.”

While Sunghyun and Sung-gu were squabbling, I heard about the Gran Seoul Dungeon from Sunhwa and Yeonseo.
It wasn’t very different from what I knew about it.
They were clearing it steadily, bit by bit.
The Gran Seoul Dungeon required quite a long time to clear.

‘It’ll take at least one week.’

Would I be able to find the Gran Seoul Dungeon’s hidden field in that time?

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“Did you find the new entrance, Oppa?”

“Not yet.”

But we would probably be able to find it soon.

The Fight King, Vela.

The Great Explorer, Jackson.

The Master of Masters, Pedro.

And the Astrologist Itachi, who Pedro was meeting at this time.

All four were directly connected to the Old Crown-related scenario.
How deep did that connection run?

I tousled Sunhwa’s head.
“I’ll tell you when we find it.”

“Okay.
You have to tell me for sure!”

I didn’t understand why I needed to tell her for sure, but whatever.

Just then, my phone rang with the news that Pedro had been picked up.
It took about an hour to go from the airport to the Gran Seoul Dungeon.

‘He’ll be here soon.’

 

* * *

 

Truth was, this combination of Players was one I had longed for.
All of them were Players recognized as the best in their field, people so successful that a civil service student like me could not even dare to covet their acquaintance.

Jackson.
Vela.
Pedro.

Pedro was, as I already knew very well, a ‘manly man philiac’.
He introduced himself like this:

“I am the manly man, Pedro.
A man among men.”

He was definitely not normal.
I couldn’t see his status window properly, and it wasn’t because he was being protected by a Guardian’s authority.

‘The power of an item.’

He was blocking my Eye of Perception with an item.
It was possible he received that unknown item from Elder Bufafa. 

“How about a handshake with this manly man, Pedro? A handshake between men is fiery.”

“…”

He really wasn’t normal.
Why was he so obsessed with manliness?

‘It doesn’t matter.’

What mattered was that he was a Master.
We exchanged a simple greeting.
Pedro was the first to broach the subject at hand.
His attitude reminded me of a puppy with its tail on fire.

“Do you truly have that object?!”

I thought I heard a ‘You’re dead if you’re scamming me’ in those words.

“Is it really true?!”

“Of course.”

I pulled up a trade window and showed him the item a theft genius had stolen from a budding thief, a once-in-a-lifetime class item.
Gu Sungmin’s thieving days were probably over now.

“Ohh.
To think such a masterpiece existed! Gohh! It’s very marvelous.” Pedro swallowed his drool.
“How can I help?!”

He jumped forward to help, his eyes full of greed.
A line of drool came dribbling out of his mouth.

 

Summary: Master of Restoration Driven by Limitless Greed

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There was no need to drag things out.
I went straight to the point.

“I have an item like this.”

 

[Old Crown]

A crown symbolizing the authority of a king.
Though it is made of glittering gold, the passing of many years has greatly aged the relic.

 

“But what we need is a Crown.”

“…”

“Mr.
Pedro?”

“…”

Pedro was rendered speechless.
A long while later, he spoke.

“This Old Crown.
Where did you get it?”

“In a place called the Gwanghwamun Dungeon.”

Pedro took something out.
It was a yellow slip of paper.

‘Precognitive note?’

It wasn’t just ordinary paper, but a piece of paper imbued with mystical power, created by someone with the power of precognition.
The text on it was Japanese, but strangely enough, I could understand it.

–You will meet a King’s faded vestige.

He took out another note.

–Follow the King’s vestige and go to the forest inhabited by the little people of iron and gold and silver and fire.

–The justice of the Commandments shall fog up there.

And then, the last note.

–Follow the justice of the Commandments in the forest inhabited by the little people of iron and gold and silver and fire and recover the King’s luster.

Jackson made a hum of interest.
“Could the King’s faded vestige… be referring to the Old Crown?”

So it appeared.
Jackson continued.
“What could the little people of iron and gold and silver and fire be referring to? Could it be related to the Gran Seoul Dungeon?”

“…”

There was a moment of silence.
I examined Pedro’s summary.

 

Summary: Master Driven by Greed Hesitating to Say Something

 

He was hesitating.
That meant he knew something.
And I had a pretty good idea of what Pedro was hesitating to say.
Because as a regressor, I possessed a power of foresight that might possibly be far more outstanding than Itachi’s.

“I think I know what it is,” I said.

Pedro flinched.
It was very slight, but I definitely felt his body flinch.

“The little people of iron and gold and silver and fire.”

And the forest they inhabited.
I already knew where that place was.
The ‘forest of little people’ Itachi was pointed to could only be one place.
I had a hunch as soon as I heard it.

“And.” I stared at Pedro.
“I believe the manly man Pedro should know as well.”

I added one more thing.

“A manly man does not lie.
Isn’t that right?”