The Player Who Can't Level Up

Gi-Gyu grinned as the fight began.

‘This worked out perfectly.’

He had succeeded in temporarily joining the Morningstar Guild to participate in this hunt. But unfortunately, Sun-Pil’s guild was only C-grade. Since it was a spare force, Gi-Gyu suspected he wouldn’t get a chance to fight the guardian head-on. 

‘Then again, the guardian’s newfound strength could force everyone into the battlefield, even the spare force. But that’s just a possibility. If I can get the Morningstar Guild into the main party, I’m sure I’ll get my fill of the guardian.’

And the permission to pummel this annoying macho was a bonus for Gi-Gyu. It was what you call a win-win situation. 

Gi-Gyu and the macho eyed and circled each other as they looked for an opening. The macho was trying his best to hide it, but he was confused as hell right now. It was true that his guild barely managed to pass as a B-grade, but Morningstar Guild was only a C-grade guild at best. He only picked a fight with Gi-Gyu because he was confident his group was much stronger. However, he was shocked by how calm and carefree Gi-Gyu looked.

‘Is he smiling?’

Indeed, Gi-Gyu was smiling at him. It was a refreshing smile, but the macho could feel an ominous feeling creeping up on him. 

‘There is no room for mistakes,’ the macho thought nervously. 

He was a B-grade player fighting a C-grade player, but a higher grade didn’t guarantee a win in a battle like this. But one’s level did. After all, higher levels and grades usually came with higher abilities, more experience, and better skills. Therefore, the macho believed he had an excellent chance of winning this. 

“Dammit!” swore the Brother Guild member, unable to shake off the bad feeling.

“Aren’t you going to attack?” Gi-Gyu asked as he playfully gestured toward his opponent. Despite Gi-Gyu’s taunt, the Brother Guild member stood straight as if he was stuck. 

“Haa… If you aren’t going to make the first move, I’ll do it.” Gi-Gyu murmured and then sprinted. Lou and El were on his waist in their sword form. With the boost he got from the elixir and his recently purchased pseudo Egos, Gi-Gyu’s was faster than ever before. 

Whack!

A loud thud rang inside the forest. When Gi-Gyu’s fist planted straight on his opponent’s face, the players surrounding the two fighters exclaimed, “What the heck?!”

“What was that just now?!”

Before the macho could even deliver a single attack, he was sent flying and fainted outside the circle.

“Enough!” Kim Dong-Hae raised his hand to announce the end of the fight. His voice rang as he yelled, “Player Kim Gi-Gyu from Morningstar Guild is the winner. Any objections?”

When no one said a word, Kim Dong-Hae grinned.

‘I didn’t think so…’

No one could deny that Gi-Gyu won the fight fair and square. Even Kim Dong-Hae barely managed to see Gi-Gyu’s rapid attack just now. It was just that fast and accurate. The captain watched Gi-Gyu with interest, but Gi-Gyu had no idea what Kim Dong-Hae was thinking. All he did was stand with a blank look on his face.

Everyone remained dazed until the Morningstar Guild’s players cheered, “Uwaah! Hyung! I knew you could do it!”

“This is crazy…!”

Meanwhile, the Brother Guild’s players carried their own and moved to the back of the party. Watching them without any sympathy, Kim Dong-Hae announced, “Now that everything’s settled, Brother Guild will not be joining the main hunting party. With a player like that, I think Morningstar will be more helpful than Brother Guild anyway. Anyone has a problem with that?”

“None,” a member of the Kindergarten Guild replied. It was common knowledge that the Kindergarten Guild was close to the Child Guild, which was why it joined this subjugation party.

“Then we will begin the hunt in an hour. Try to be in your peak condition for that,” ordered Kim Dong-Hae before returning to his place. 

Gi-Gyu walked up to the other Morningstar players and sat down. Unable to hide their awe, the players asked, “Uwaah… Awesome! Just what happened during the last few months, Hyung?”

“I wanna know your level! What level are you?!” 

“I mean… We thought we became strong pretty fast, but you, Hyung…”

Gi-Gyu answered their questions with a smile and suggested, “We should get ready too. Now that we’ll be joining the fight at the front, we can’t let our guards down. We need to be more prepared than any other group.”

“Of course!” Sun-Pil replied confidently. Although Gi-Gyu was only a year older, Sun-Pil found him to be someone he could idolize. 

‘Gi-Gyu hyung is incredible.’

Suk-Woo was Sun-Pil’s idol too, but even Suk-Woo never affected Sun-Pil the way Gi-Gyu did. Gi-Gyu was kind and strong, yet he also possessed cold logic and flexibility. It seemed that Gi-Gyu had all the qualities a great player was supposed to have. Then, Sun-Pil began preparing for the hunt with a newfound respect for Gi-Gyu. There was much to do, including checking on his doping potions. 

***

-That was pretty impressive.

When Lou murmured, Gi-Gyu replied in his head, ‘Yeah, I was surprised too.’

The hunt was just about to begin. While stretching his body and getting ready, Gi-Gyu chatted with Lou. They were discussing the fight Gi-Gyu had with the Brother Guild member. 

‘I knew that I had gotten stronger, but I had no idea the improvement would be this drastic.’

-It’s partly because that player was really weak.

‘Lou, can’t you just let me have this for once?’ 

-Hmph.

Gi-Gyu bickered with Lou as usual, but all of his focus was on the fight he had just now. He was able to defeat his opponent with a single move. This Brother Guild member was a B-grade player who had already gone through the secondary job change. It meant the macho’s level was over 100; he was just a leap away from becoming a ranker. Yet, Gi-Gyu defeated him with a punch. 

“Great,” Gi-Gyu murmured with a pleasing smile. 

“We’ll head out now. Our scouts say the guardian is about 30 minutes away from us, so we’ll be moving quickly.” When Kim Dong-Hae ordered, every player stood up immediately. The captain added, “As you must all know, this guardian is an exceptional case, so please do not lose your focus.”

The entire party began to move as Kim Dong-Hae commanded. The players walked straight to their rightful positions in the group. Their formation was a straightforward one. All the reserve forces were to move to the back of the party and concentrate on long-distance attacks. Their secondary purpose was to act as support whenever necessary. 

Meanwhile, the main groups were to form their personal formations accordingly. The guilds that made up the main group had never fought together before, so it was best to fight as individual groups rather than together as one. 

“Hyung, are you sure you want to be at the front? We’ve all seen how strong you are just now, but that doesn’t discount the fact: The front will bear the greatest brunt,” Sun-Pil asked in concern.

“I’m fine. I believe I need to be at the front to make the most of Morningstar’s battle power,” Gi-Gyu replied firmly. 

Because this was the first time Gi-Gyu was working with the Morningstar Guild, they had to discuss how to work together as best as possible. What Gi-Gyu wanted was to be at the head of the group. Jae-Won—the tanker—just behind him, Sung-Woo—the damage dealer—in the middle, Sun-Pil—the archer—behind Sung-Woo, and Ha-Neul—the magician—in the back.

The formation could change slightly if necessary as the battle progressed, but the overall structure would stay the same. Gi-Gyu offered, “I’ll take the bruiser position, so if I leave an opening, you need to step up, Jae-Won.”

“Leave it to me, Hyung.”

“I know Sun-Pil and Ha-Neul will do just fine, but I’m still worried about Sung-Woo.”

Although Sung-Woo was a damage dealer, his level was much lower than the other players. Gi-Gyu couldn’t help being worried about him. This B-grade subjugation party was created for just one purpose: Hunt the wildly unpredictable and dangerous 4th-floor guardian. A single attack from such a monster could very well end Sung-Woo’s life. 

Gi-Gyu's eyes were filled with concern as he advised Sung-Woo, “Don’t engage unless you’re certain of your safety, okay?”

“Okay,” replied Sung-Woo.

As they discussed their battle plan, Gi-Gyu naturally took the leader position. But Sun-Pil, the real guild master, didn’t show any displeasure. 

‘I need to learn as much as I can from Gi-Gyu hyung!’

It seemed that Sun-Pil was now Gi-Gyu’s biggest fan.

***

“Oh my god… All these corpses belong to the players who fought the guardian before us?” a female player whispered as she gagged. She was a player of the healer category from the Kindergarten Guild. 

“Oh my god!” The other players had similar ghastly reactions. The only ones who looked straight ahead unaffected were Gi-Gyu and Kim Dong-Hae. A short distance ahead of them, the guardian was munching on the mountain of human flesh that surrounded it. Some in the pile were missing a torso; others just had a torso. Some were rotten with worms squirming inside their orifices; others were fresh out of life.  

The subjugation party became tense as the players’ anxiety level increased slowly. Gi-Gyu couldn’t believe his eyes even as the guardian gnawed at the human flesh pile right in front of him. 

‘It’s the same guardian from that day?’

There was no doubt the guardian had gotten much stronger than before. Gi-Gyu had never seen a guardian except for this one, which meant there was no way for him to compare this monster to the other guardians. He felt a little disappointed that he didn’t have more general information about the guardians. 

“Ahh… Ugh…” Ha-Neul moaned and asked, “Are you okay, Oppa?”

When Gi-Gyu turned around, he saw that all the Morningstar members looked rigid with nervousness. Sun-Pil tried to stand next to Gi-Gyu nonchalantly, but he couldn’t hide his trembling hands. The guardian’s aura was simply too powerful and evil.

“Change of plan.” After making his decision, Gi-Gyu murmured to his team members, “We have to stay as far back as possible and become passive participants. We will only actively get into it after the other guilds have weakened the guardian. It would be best for Sung-Woo to just stay out of this fight altogether.”

“B-but!” Sun-Pil yelled in disbelief. Gi-Gyu knew exactly what Sun-Pil wanted to say. So before he could ask, Gi-Gyu explained, “You think that would make us cowards, right? It’s true, but the fact is that we’re one of the weakest groups here. We might compare to Brother Guild, but you’ve to understand we are nothing compared to the other real B-grade guilds. Am I wrong?”

“Y-you’re right,” replied Sun-Pil with clenched fists. He didn’t want to admit it, but this was the cold truth. 

Gi-Gyu continued, “I don’t know the other players, but I know you guys. I like to think we know each other pretty well. Understand this, I don't, and will not, care about the other players; you guys are my priority here.”

“I understand!” In the end, Sun-Pil nodded as he looked at Gi-Gyu. Slowly, the regret and guilt of having to play defense faded in Sun-Pil’s eyes. Sun-Pil agreed that the Morningstar members’ security had to be their number one priority. 

Gi-Gyu encouraged the players with a faint smile, “And don’t be so scared. It still doesn’t change the fact that we’ll be the one trampling on its cold, lifeless corpse.” 

Thanks to his words, the Morningstar players seemed less anxious. 

Meanwhile, Gi-Gyu thought secretly, ‘It’s much weaker than the corps commander.’

-You know those two monsters aren’t comparable, to begin with, right?

‘But I can’t compare this guardian to the talon or Chang-Gyung, can I?’

-Haa.

It was only for a brief moment, but Gi-Gyu had seen the corps commander with his own eyes. Because he remembered what the boss monster of the maze felt like, this guardian didn’t scare him much. 

Kim Dong-Hae, who had been contemplating for a while, finally announced, “Haa… We shall now begin our hunt.” With a sigh, he added, “Please try not to die, everyone.”

Per Kim Dong-Hae’s command, the Child Guild led the group slowly. Behind it was the Kindergarten Guild and the rest; Morningstar was the tail of the main party. 

Gi-Gyu held Lou and El in each hand and twirled them once before walking.

***

“Ackkkk! Ice cutter!” When Kim Dong-Hae shouted, white water drops appeared on his sword. Slowly, these water droplets circled the guardian before burying themselves into it.

“Grrrr!” Kim Dong-Hae’s attack had caught the guardian off guard; only now did it realize the players’ presence. It threw the scrumptious thigh it was feasting on and faced the subjugation group. The 4th-floor guardian, a giant orc, swung his now-larger arms around and struck Kim Dong-Hae.

“Ughh!” When Kim Dong-Hae screamed as he fell to the ground, a healer player nearby ran to him to heal his injury. 

“Heal!”

The hunt had now begun. 

With Kim Dong-Hae at the front, the other tankers walked toward the guardian calmly. 

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The selected tankers from each guild planted their giant shields on the ground, creating a large dirt wall around the orc. 

“Now!” When Kim Dong-Hae screamed his order, every guild rushed to throw their disposable weapon items toward the monster. Most of the items used were of the explosive category. Calmly following the order, Gi-Gyu also threw his bomb through the small opening in the dirt wall. 

Kaboom!

The dirt wall shook as a giant blast resounded in everyone’s ears. Gi-Gyu took a step back to protect himself from the large quantity of sand flying around and blurring his vision. Turning back toward the Morningstar players, Gi-Gyu announced, “Get ready, everyone. The real hunt is about to start.” When he saw the other members nod, Gi-Gyu called out to his Egos.

‘Lou, El.’

-What is it?

-Yes, Master?

‘Let’s do our best, okay?’ Gi-Gyu encouraged his Egos silently. 

Soon, the sand dust slowly settled, and the dirt wall, shattered from the explosion, was revealed. One player whispered, “This can’t be…”

The 4th-floor guardian, the humongous orc, was now much bigger than the orc everyone saw before the explosion. It was so big that it could now be called an ogre. There was not a single scratch on this monster to everyone's shock. 

“Chweeek!!!!!!!!!” The furious orc fumed visibly. 

Kim Dong-Hae announced, “Everyone, attack!”

Following their guild’s tactics, the groups charged toward the guardian. 

It was finally time for Gi-Gyu’s revenge.