The Player Who Can't Level Up

El’s proclamation brought along a wave of silence. Nonplussed, Gi-Gyu and Tae-Shik stared at El while she blinked in confusion. How could they not? Tae-Shik was a part of KPA’s upper echelons, so only the very best resources were used to treat him. However, the wounds remained, indicating that they were either from an attack that had threatened his life, or otherwise untreatable. These kinds of scars were something players carried as a badge of honor.

“Hahaha… Gi-Gyu, I think this lady doesn’t know.” Tae-Shik scratched his cheek awkwardly. Gi-Gyu nodded to Tae-Shik and turned toward El.

Gi-Gyu replied, “El, I think you’re mistaken about this. Tae-Shik’s injuries can’t be healed easily. He has already tried every treatment option and high-level potion available. Those wounds can’t be healed by anything short of the elixir. I mean… Unless… Wait. Are you saying…?”

Gi-Gyu was patiently explaining the situation to El when suddenly, his eyes widened. Something crossed his mind, and El, reading his thoughts, smiled and answered.

“That’s right, Master.”

“Oh my gosh! Not only does she have strength comparable to top-level players now, but she also has a great healing ability,” Gi-Gyu murmured. Certain wounds were too difficult to treat; only the high rankers in the healing category could heal these wounds. In worst-case scenarios, the elixir was the only option.

Tae-Shik turned toward Gi-Gyu in confusion and stammered, “W-what are you guys talking about? I don’t understand, so you… And…”

Suddenly, Tae-Shik faced El and asked, “You’re El?”

“Yes,” Gi-Gyu answered. Tae-Shik had met El before, but she had been in her younger-looking version then.

“Wait! Wait… I just can’t understand what’s happening here,” Tae-Shik mumbled in confusion, but Gi-Gyu ignored him and asked El, “So it’s possible? With no side effects?”

“Yes, of course,” El replied and stood up from the sofa. “And there is another reason why he must be treated. Master, will you give me your permission to treat this gentleman?”

“W-wait!” Tae-Shik stuttered as he took a step back.

Gi-Gyu ignored Tae-Shik and replied, “Yes, El. Please take good care of him.”

“W-what are you going to do?!” Tae-Shik asked in fear. However, before he could make heads or tails of the situation, El was holding his right wrist. He was about to resist when Gi-Gyu explained, “Hyung, she won’t harm you in any way, so trust her!”

Tae-Shik hesitated; suddenly, he felt a strange warmth spreading from his wrist.

“H-hng!” Tae-Shik moaned, protesting, “But Su-Jin is the only woman for me!”

And with that, the healing process began.

***

“Wow… I still can’t believe it,” Tae-Shik said as he admired himself in the mirror.

Gi-Gyu gaped and murmured, “Yeah, I agree.”

“Do you like the result?” El asked

“Thank you, Ma’am! I-I mean, thanks, El!” Tae-Shik answered.

Gi-Gyu also added, “El, you did a good job.”

El smiled in satisfaction. Tae-Shik studied himself for a while longer before finally taking a seat.

“Hmm,” Gi-Gyu murmured as he looked at Tae-Shik’s face. Amazingly, all the old and new wounds and scars were gone from his face. Even the KPA’s resources couldn’t heal those wounds, but El had erased all signs of them and of the past battles. On top of it, she had also removed his wrinkles and made his skin look younger.

It was as if…

‘He drank the elixir,’ Gi-Gyu thought in shock. Indeed, the effect of El’s treatment seemed similar to that of the elixir.

Tae-Shik shook his head and said, “All I can say is that this is amazing. I actually got another round of treatment this morning just before I came here to see you. You know the ranker named Choi Myung-Gil, right?”

“Yes, of course,” replied Gi-Gyu.

Ranker Choi Myung-Gil was the most powerful Korean healer and the guild master of the Saint's Guild, a top ten Korean guild. He aimed to become a high ranker, and his healing power was famous worldwide.

Tae-Shik continued, “Even Ranker Choi Myung-Gil said it would be impossible to heal these wounds. He said my injuries weren’t severe, but some foreign energy was stuck inside them.”

Then, he turned toward El with a curious look. He wanted to know how she could heal those unusual wounds. So, she turned toward Gi-Gyu for permission.

“It’s okay. You can tell him.”

After getting his permission, El began, “That healer was probably referring to the sorcerous energy. Your wounds were covered in energy much murkier than the usual sorcery. That low-level creature probably couldn’t distinguish this kind of energy from others, and consequently deemed it untreatable. It’s simple, actually. All they had to do was remove the sorcerous energy and then begin the healing process.”

El kept her explanation simple. The gist was that Ranker Choi Myung-Gil was a “low-level creature,” and she was much stronger than him.

“Hahaha…” Tae-Shik chuckled. When had he ever heard someone call the great Ranker Choi Myung-Gil “low level?” But he couldn't deny her claim after seeing what she could do.

“Maybe it’s because I was in that gate for too long,” Tae-Shik shook his head and murmured.

El continued to explain, “Also, since your life source looked a bit weak, I gave it a little boost. And that did the trick.”

This explained why Tae-Shik looked much younger.

“Thank you, El… Wait. Should I be addressing you more formally? I just remember you as a little girl…” Tae-Shik murmured with uncertainty.

El replied, “You may call me whatever you like.”

“Okay, then I’ll just call you El,” Tae-Shik replied with a grin.

They talked about Tae-Shik’s appearance change for quite a while, so Gi-Gyu couldn’t help but feel impatient. “Hyung.”

“Yes?”

When Tae-Shik turned toward Gi-Gyu, Gi-Gyu said, “You need to tell me about the gate you closed.”

Tae-Shik finally calmed down and became serious. He answered, “You closed the Gangnam Gate, so this is good. We’ll be able to share what we’ve learned. I gotta say, the gate I entered was definitely very strange.”

***

“So you rescued Jang Hyo-Jin?” asked Gi-Gyu.

“That’s right. A never-ending herd of monsters had cornered Jang Hyo-Jin; thankfully, we got there just in time to rescue him,” Tae-Shik answered. The gate Tae-Shik had entered was being scouted by the young mercenary Jang Hyo-Jin.

-It was Simeries’s territory, so… He isn’t exactly a powerful demon.

According to Lou, Simeries was a talented fighter. But he wasn’t one of the most powerful demons out there. He was at the bottom of the Seats of Power in the demon ranking system.

Tae-Shik continued, “I’ve never seen a gate like this before. It felt more like I was at war than closing a gate.”

That was also how Gi-Gyu would have described his gate. He had suspected every unratable gate would provide more or less the same experience, but he was still surprised to hear about it.

Gi-Gyu murmured, “I’m glad to hear that everything worked out.”

“Yeah, me too. Jang Hyo-Jin’s wounds are being treated as we speak. Although he lost consciousness from fighting for too long, he’ll be fine. So there is nothing to worry about.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” replied Gi-Gyu. Then, he silently processed every piece of information he had received from Tae-Shik. According to Tae-Shik’s account, their group had suffered many casualties, but in the end, they did close the gate successfully.

But one thing still bothered Gi-Gyu.

‘What about Andras’ plan?’ Gi-Gyu wondered. Botis had told him that Andras wanted to steal the players’ bodies. Was it safe to assume that Andras’ plan had failed, since the gate was closed successfully?

-No.

Lou answered firmly. He explained,

-You can’t assume that. You have no idea how sneaky these demons are. You should especially check the players who first entered these gates. That would be the mercenaries, right?

Gi-Gyu looked up at Tae-Shik and asked, “What about the other gates?”

He had watched the news before coming here, so he had some idea of what was happening in the world. But since these exceptional gates were considered top secrets, Gi-Gyu knew that the association wouldn’t release all the relevant information, making Tae-Shik the best source of information.

“All the gates that opened in Korea are being dealt with well. It makes sense since even Angela Guild is involved. Most of them are either closed or will be soon. However, the other countries aren’t doing as well,” Tae-Shik answered. That was exactly what Gi-Gyu had heard in the news.

Lee Sun-Ho had personally led his guild to close two unratable gates.

‘Just how powerful is he?!’ Gi-Gyu pondered. In the time it took Gi-Gyu to close one gate, Lee Sun-Ho had conquered two demon territories.

‘I suppose his injuries have healed by now,’ Gi-Gyu thought. If Lee Sun-Ho had the strength to close two gates, it meant that he was in good shape. The elixir had probably done its job.

-I wouldn’t consider him healed. More like his shell has become stable.

El spoke to him in his head. When Gi-Gyu turned toward her, he saw her smiling at him.

Tae-Shik asked, “How about you? What was it like in your gate?”

Gi-Gyu had also closed an unratable gate, and Tae-Shik wanted to know how he had accomplished that.

“I did hear the gist of it from Sung-Hoon…” When Tae-Shik murmured, Gi-Gyu became quiet.

“Are you okay?” asked Tae-Shik.

Gi-Gyu didn’t know how much Sung-Hoon had told him, but Tae-Shik looked worried.

Gi-Gyu replied, “It was okay. Our gate was about the same as yours. And we were able to rescue Suk-Woo too.”

“All right,” Tae-Shik murmured. He was willing to wait for the story until Gi-Gyu was ready to talk about it. They were almost done talking about what had happened recently; now, it was time to discuss the main topic.

“I think we should get to the point now,” Gi-Gyu said.

Tae-Shik asked, “Is there something you want to tell me?”

Gi-Gyu grinned as he watched Tae-Shik’s curious look. He replied, “I captured the landlord of the gate.”

Tae-Shik gaped in confusion. “What does that mean?”

“The gatekeeper of the gate I entered became my minion. Explaining everything would take too long, so I’ll just tell you the main points,” Gi-Gyu replied quickly. Before Tae-Shik could say anything, Gi-Gyu continued, “I know Andras’ plan.”

***

Tae-Shik looked tense, showing how serious the situation was. It was after Gi-Gyu explained what he knew that a heavy silence fell.

Finally, Tae-Shik opened his lips to ask, “So you’re saying Andras is trying to steal the players’ bodies to create an army of demons who will have no limitations on earth?”

“Yes.”

Tae-Shik’s face crumpled into an ugly frown at Gi-Gyu’s prompt reply, and another uncomfortable silence fell.

After a few minutes, Tae-Shik asked another question, “And Andras’ accomplice is in America?”

“Yes, that’s right. And…”

“I know what you’re thinking,” Tae-Shik murmured. They both suspected the same person.

Tae-Shik continued, “I’ll have to look into this a little more. But I’m just glad Korea is relatively safe now.”

“But you never know. Even if the gates were successfully closed, there is no way of guaranteeing that the players who entered them didn't get possessed by the demons.”

As Gi-Gyu explained, Tae-Shik asked tensely, “Then what are we supposed to do?”

Unfortunately, they had no answer to this question.

Gi-Gyu replied, “We’ll have to come up with a solution. And a way to distinguish possessed players from the normal ones.”

“All right. I’ll also look into how we should proceed from now on. Can I tell the old man about this?” Tae-Shik nodded and asked.

Gi-Gyu contemplated for a moment before answering, “Yeah, I think that will be okay.”

Gi-Gyu still wasn’t sure if he could trust Oh Tae-Gu, but he now needed all the help he could get. After all, Tae-Shik had limited authority, but Tae-Gu was the KPA president.

“Then, I better get going now. Thanks to El, I feel great now. I can get right back to work. Thanks again, El,” Tae-Shik thanked El.

“No worries. Master’s friends are precious to me as well.”

Tae-Shik smiled mysteriously at El’s reply.

“Then I’ll take my leave now. If you want to stay here a while longer, go ahead,” Tae-Shik offered to Gi-Gyu.

“All right,” replied Gi-Gyu.

Tae-Shik left the room in a hurry, realizing how serious their situation was. Gi-Gyu felt reassured, knowing that Tae-Shik would make the necessary preparations to stop Andras’ plan and retaliate.

El’s voice tickled his ears as she murmured, “There is something I want to tell you about that man, Oh Tae-Shik, Master.”

There was deep concern in her eyes.