The Hero Returns

***

Su-hyeun's departure process went through the Authority. He only had to present his passport to the Authority and they handled everything for him.

Hak-joon followed Su-hyeun. Su-hyeun had told Hak-joon to clear his schedule for June. So he'd been resting recently.

"How are you?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Long time, no see," Hak-joon said as he got in Su-hyeun's car.

They hadn't met in months, but thanks to Hak-joon's affable personality, there was no awkwardness.

"I heard you rested this month?" Su-hyeun asked.

"I rested about half the month. And then I got bored, so I joined two raids with Ju-ho and made a bit of money," Hak-joon said.

"I told you to take care of your body."

"They were only orange-colored dungeons. Nothing difficult at all. Besides, I had to earn money."

"Well, that is true."

When Hak-joon was in the Ares Guild, he had to give most of the money to the guild. Because he had to pay for the cure for Yun-seon. For about two years, the only money that Hak-joon could save was enough to cover basic living expenses for a few months. But he was a free man now. His rank was high, and he had the talent, too. If he wanted to, he could finally make a lot of money.

"By the way, this car is really awesome," Hak-joon said.

"Do you want it?" Su-hyeun asked.

"No, not really. I don't even have a driver's license so a supercar is unnecessary."

"Well, if you do a good job this time, I'll give you even a better car."

At Su-hyeun's word, Hak-joon's eyes sparkled.

"Su-hyeun, do you have a lot of money?"

"What's with those greedy-looking eyes?"

"Nothing, I just…never saw you working."

"After I finished the green dungeon, I got sixty percent of the distribution. Can you guess how much it was?"

"Sixty percent? Is that possible?"

Usually, dozens joined in attacks on green dungeons. It was normal that S-Rank awakeners got more, but he'd never heard of anyone getting sixty percent of the distribution. It wasn't surprising as Su-hyeun had done almost everything for that raid. The Authority also might have given him a little favor, too.

"Yes. That's possible," Su-hyeun said.

Hak-joon went silent as he tried to quickly calculate in his brain. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't imagine the amount. The highest level he had tried was the yellow-colored dungeon.

"There was what we made on the sale of the yellow dungeon's Ether stones… So..." Hak-joon thought.

The money from that Ether stone sale was at least billions. Normally, ten to twenty people attacked the yellow dungeon together. So in the end, each got about a hundred million. If somebody took sixty percent of that, that would be more than enough to buy many expensive cars like this. Plus, Su-hyeun was talking about a green-colored dungeon, worth far more.

Hak-joon made a sour face as he tapped on the calculator. "Su-hyeun... Brother... You are a very rich man."

"So be good to me."

"I will follow you forever like a leech."

"Somebody is snobby."

"He-he." Hak-joon giggled.

But Su-hyeun did not feel any ill will towards him for it. He looked much brighter than when Su-hyeun had first seen him.

"I hope he keeps working hard like this," Su-hyeun thought.

But he did not intend to force him to do so. He did not expect Hak-joon to move under his pressure. Hak-joon would at least pretend to do stuff if he was asked since he owed Su-hyeun. But Su-hyeun did not want to use that fact.

"He will do well," he thought.

Fortunately, he had been doing better than Su-hyeun had expected.

"Fifty-fifth floor?" Su-hyeun asked.

"Yes. I left for now using the save zone. But I have no idea how to escape the next trap."

The trial of the fifty-fifth floor was to pass through the traps. It had a pretty simple theme, but depending on a person's inclination, it could be a very tricky one. The traps were in unexpected areas. To pass through, just being strong was not enough. One needed the ability to quickly adapt to circumstances.

"What kind of trap is it?"

"It's…" Hak-joon started to talk about the trial. A save zone had the distinct advantage that people could ask the opinions of other awakeners' to solve a problem. Of course, it only could happen when they knew somebody better than themselves. And Su-hyeun was more suitable than anyone to play that role.

"Take care of that monster first. Then the next trap will be easier. You can just bump into it," Su-hyeun said.

"Oh. That could work."

"It's not a complicated trap. Rather than looking for a solution, you have to treat it sort of like rock-paper-scissors."

"A-ha!"

At Su-hyeun's explanation, Hak-joon nodded with a brighter face. Before he had been lost on how to pass this trial, but now he had an idea. He felt like an aching tooth had fallen out. Now that he knew the answer, he couldn't understand why the answer escaped him before. Hak-joon stared at Su-hyeun.

"What?" Su-hyeun asked.

"It's because I'm respectful."

"Why?"

"For everything. I think you're perfect."

'Perfect' was a burdensome word. Su-hyeun squeezed the steering wheel with one hand and waved the other hand.

"Don't say anything silly. Just write down what I just said. Even if you forget, I won't tell you a second time."

"Okay, I will."

At Su-hyeun's command, Hak-joon took out his smartphone and typed in a memo. Su-hyeun shot a look at Hak-joon and smiled.

"He's already trying the fifty-fifth floor," Su-hyeun thought.

Hak-joon was chasing level eight. The higher he went, the more difficult it would get. And he would take more time to pass. But so far, he had gone pretty fast. Even though Su-hyeun gave him some advice, every time Hak-joon got stuck, he ended up at a similar pace with Su-hyeun in his previous life.

"I wonder if he may stop one day as well..." Su-hyeun thought.

Nothing was certain. But Su-hyeun hoped Hak-joon could go as high as possible until 'that day.' It was the same for himself. Su-hyeun's car ran through the open road. They raced on until finally reaching their destination.

Act 9

"Wow… Oh…"

Hak-joon wondered with his mouth wide open. Su-hyeun nodded his head as if it was better than he expected. And Ji-yeon looked at them, crossing her arms.

"What are you doing?" Ji-yeon asked.

"Looking. It's bigger than I thought," Su-hyeun answered.

"You mean my private plane?"

Su-hyeun and Hak-joon came to an airfield in Gangwon Province to rent a private plane owned by the Ripper Guild. Su-hyeun had expected the plane might not be that big since it was owned by one guild. But as he stood in the hangar and looked at the private plane there was no denying it was pretty big.

Su-hyeun nodded and answered, "Yes. You crazily spent money..."

"Our guild goes abroad sometimes. We prepared this plane for that. It pays for itself."

The Ripper Guild was one of the leading guilds in Korea. The S-Rank Park Ji-yeon was the guild master and there were many members. Each guild awakener had pretty good skills. So the guild offering support for the raid would bring a lot of money to them. There was no wonder why the big guilds had a whole lot of money.

"I am sorry but let me use this for about ten days," Su-hyeun said.

"That's fine. We won't need it for a while. And if what you say is true, we'll be busy here."

It was nice of her to say that. Su-hyeun thanked her one more time. He then hit an idle Hak-joon on the back.

"What are you doing? Let's go."

"Yes? Yes." Hak-joon was surprised and followed Su-hyeun.

They boarded the private plane. The crew, who was hired by the Ripper Guild began the take-off procedure. They provided guidance Su-hyeun and Hak-joon.

"This is a bit of a different world," Hak-joon said.

"Yeah?"

"You seemed familiar with this. I heard from Ju-ho that you don't like these things."

"Did he really say that?"

"Yes. He told me like fifty times that you must have been an ascetic monk in your previous life. And I totally agree with that."

Su-hyeun groaned. He could not believe they had talked about him like that. But it could not be helped.

"It's not that surprising," Su-hyeun thought.

In his past life, he went abroad in a far larger plane than this, and many more times than he could count. With honor and power, wealth naturally followed. Since he did not want that from the beginning, there was no reason to be greedy. He did not admire those things. He needed just enough money so he wouldn't be miserable.

"Are we going to go to Los Angeles now?" Hak-joon asked.

"Yes. We will meet a guild from there," Su-hyeun answered.

"That is why I came along."

A middle-aged man who looked somewhat familiar boarded the plane. He came up beside Su-hyeun, who turned to face him.

"Uh, uh, uh, uh..." Hak-joon struggled to match the face with a name from his memory.

"I am Kim Seok-jin, the vice guild master of the Ripper Guild."

"Oh, yeah! That's right!"

Su-hyeun did not know they would be accompanied, but it wasn't surprising. His initial request to the Ripper Guild was for help in making contact with the American guild. Perhaps Kim Seok-jin came along to help with that.

"Let's talk about the details once when we depart."

"Okay."

Kim Seok-jin sent a signal to the crew and the engines started up. The hangar doors opened, the plane began to accelerate down the airstrip. Su-hyeun looked outside as they began their ascent. Not long after came an announcement that the plane had reached cruising altitude and that they could unbuckle their belts. Kim Seok-jin approached Su-hyeun.

"I will introduce you to the American guild and then immediately return to Korea. I have something to do there. As for the interpreter..."

"I don't need an interpreter."

"Are you sure?"

When Su-hyeun nodded confidently, Kim Suk-jin asked him a few questions in simple English. Su-hyeun frowned and answered quickly and competently.

"Sorry about that," said Kim Suk-jin. "Just wanted to be sure you won't have any difficulty in communicating. But since your English seems pretty good, I guess I don't have to prepare an interpreter."

"That's okay."

"Wow, Su-hyeun. You speak English very well," Hak-joon said with a surprised look.

Hak-joon thought himself that he was not bad at English, but he got a slight headache listening to the conversation between Su-hyeun and Kim Seok-jin.

"I learned a long time ago. I don't use it often, though." This was not unusual.

"There are a lot of academies that teach English," Su-hyeun thought, "and there are tons of people who speak English very well."

Of course, there were not many people who could speak as well as Su-hyeun.

"I studied hard when I was a student. I had many chances to use it, too," Su-hyeun thought.

In his previous life, Su-hyeun was a model student. His mother taught him both college-preparatory level English and conversational English. The language skills he learned became more useful when he became the awakener. The world was in danger and people needed to cooperate with awakeners in other countries.

"Good. One less thing to do," Kim Seok-jin said.

"Is there anything else I need to know?"

"No, that's it. But I have one question," Kim Seok-jin said with an odd look.

It looked like he had more than simple curiosity. Su-hyeun spared his breath. He just drank water and nodded as if telling him to continue. Kim Seok-jin continued.

"Last night, I heard that the first blue dungeon appeared in Los Angeles."

At that, Hak-joon coughed. But Su-hyeun was unfazed. Kim Seok-jin looked at Su-hyeun as if he had expected such a reaction.

"Did you already know?"