Chapter 8

Translator: Ayana

Editor: Effefille

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Team Announcement: 

Starting next week, new upload days for this novel.

New chapters on Monday and Tuesday.

Thank you and see you next week!

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“So, what should I do with this?”

Like Sapal, the three boys died without knowing how they died. Although their death raised suspicions, until this moment, most of the suspicion was placed on the boys from the Mud Guild.

That situation could raise a problem.

If they pried further and asked about it at the administration office, the office might find out that I had Sehwa with me all these time.

I wondered if there was any good way to get out of this situation…

“Hmm…”

Well, something wasn’t right about this situation.

First of all, I was the one who got threatened here. By the three boys earlier and one from before. The boys from the Realm Guild and Sapal who was an independent. On top of that, I had killed them to test and practice my skill and for self-defense as well.

I shouldn’t be in the wrong for that?

Truthfully, since the tutorial, I felt like I was the only one who had been treated so unfairly. I was really upset. If I objectively evaluated this life of mine, my life was like a sweet potato.

(T/N: Sweet potato (고구마 goguma) is a term to express frustration or feeling of impatience about a situation or a person. Like the feeling you got when you eat sweet potato with no drink to wash it down ^^) 

Sweet potato. Ah, the thought made me want to eat pizza with sweet potato mousse.

Gulp…

Enough, I should stop thinking about it and restore my mana.

As expected. It got restored really well.

The reason for the well restored mana? It could be one of two probable reasons. One, because my initial mana rank was already at an EX-Rank or because my initial mana itself was already special. On top of that, I have arrived on the 10th floor but was not granted any more active skills. This could be because of my initial mana.

There might not be a basis for it, but it was clear.

This initial mana was the specialty that I got from the EX-Rank tutorial and the Initial Dungeon. That was the biggest difference between me and the other hunters.

And Sehwa’s breath was closely related to my initial mana.

“Heueup-huu-”

There was no need to be embarrassed or nervous about not getting active skills anyway. I just need to work hard and bring out the skills that have been engraved in my soul.

“Huunnggg!”

“What?!”

Suddenly, Sehwa made a sound that I had never heard before. It was a crying sound. This was the first time I had heard Sehwa crying.

Of course, that should be a normal sound for a human baby, but Sehwa didn’t cry even when she hatched. She just rolled her surprised eyes, grabbed my finger, and smiled brightly.

But now, Sehwa was crying.

“Hweng! Hweng! Hweeeengg!”

“Daughter? My daughter? Father’s daughter? Baby? Princess? Sehwa?”

I was embarrassed and nervous at the same time.

“Why are you crying, huh? Father is here~”

“Hwaaaaaaaanggg-!”

She didn’t stop crying and I didn’t know what made her so sad. Calling her kindly or doing peek-a-boo just didn’t work.

Is this because your father was just too incompetent?

There was no system notice prior to it. Through the system, Sehwa could convey some of her feelings, such as hunger and boredom. Though only a little bit. To grasp Sehwa’s condition clearly would be impossible. The system notice was a convenient tool, but it wasn’t an all-rounder.

[<Daughter who loves dad❤> feels unknown anxiety.]

This was the only information that appeared out of the system. Even if the dead Sapal resurrected, he would speak more useful words than this.

[You tell your daughter not to be anxious.]

The only thing I can do with the system was this.

“Hweeeng! Hweeng! Hweng!”

It didn’t work. She was still crying, with hiccups now even.

Was it because Sehwa had too much fun with the dandelions?

As soon as the three boys were cleared, I should have looked after Sehwa first. But I was too concerned about the chaos level!

—–

After playing with flowers and butterflies, Sehwa suddenly realized her surroundings, her father was too far away.

“Ppa~”

Baby Hatchling called her father. But her father didn’t look at her.

“Ppa-?”

She called again. Her father, who always looked back at her with a bright smile, didn’t look at her now. There was no error in the message system she sent.

“Hweeeeeng!”

Baby Hatchling then cried. She felt anxious, sad, scary, afraid, lonely, hate…

Various negative sensations wrapped around Baby Hatchling.

When Sehwa knew her mother was leaving, she was anxious, sad, afraid, and scared, but she wasn’t lonely. Sehwa thought she had a dad. So she liked it.

But now?

Her father didn’t come. He didn’t even look when Sehwa called him. The tears and crying sound broke the world off from Baby Hatchling. Nothing was heard, nothing was seen.

Then suddenly, Baby Hatchling stopped crying. She suddenly felt warm.

Not lonely, not afraid, not scared, not sad, not anxious, and that felt good. The warmth changed Baby Hatchling’s world.

—-

I didn’t know what to do so I held Sehwa in my arms.

“Huing…… *sniffle*. Huing…”

Just like that, her crying stopped.

“Yes, it’s okay. It’s okay.”

I patted her back softly. I put her small figure in my arms and leaned her face on my shoulders. She stealthily put her tail in my arms and her wings became calm.

From my point of view, it might seem like I was simply holding Sehwa. But from Sehwa’s point of view, all the anxiety that could not be known was resolved at once. It’s a feeling shared between a parent to their child.

“Hyuu…”

Her breathing slowed down and Sehwa fell asleep quickly. I wiped her runny nose and the tears around her eyes with my sleeve.

I tried to set the system so that it could send messages directly…

But that didn’t mean much. I wouldn’t know if she could grow up enough to communicate properly later. I’m just satisfied with how she was right now. Nothing more, nothing less.

Hold on…

“Silly me.”

I couldn’t use my abilities too much here. There was nothing I could do about it since there wasn’t a system I could use as when I rolled in before.  So it was a bit late to realize that there is a better way.

—-

About 100 years ago, when I slaughtered all the monsters and collected the fragments of The Death Dragon.

-Hyun Minjun, I have something to confess.

When the sun rose to the sky, Sujin had been sleeping with her tail on my cheek and it woke me up.

“I know. You’re not Nurung. The real Nurung is already…..”

With a bitter tone, I slowly shook my head and Sujin stopped talking. The back of my head felt chilly.

“Sorry, don’t stare at me like that. Isn’t it better to throw a joke rather than saying something like I can’t accept your heart? …Ah, sorry. Just finish what you were saying.”

Sujin doesn’t have a lot of expressions. She couldn’t really express her feelings with words, and this wasn’t a small talk. However, her skills of expressing her feelings through her eyes was extraordinary.

-You asked this question before. Asking, why was it you? Why did you have to do the EX-Rank tutorial? Why did you have to come to the Initial Dungeon?

“……. Did I? Did I say that?”

Did I say that under the influence of the elf’s wine and vodka? I couldn’t remember it at all.

-Yeah. You said that here, 1472 years 3 months 1 day ago.

“………Are you counting those things?”

-I knew it without counting. Because this is a space that I built.

What Sujin meant wasn’t the space of The Initial Dungeon. She meant the whole tutorial dungeon that the hunters had passed through. Sujin was a real capable dragon.

[Main Quest <Defeat The Death Dragon Fragments! (99/100)>]

A lot of time has passed. The main quest was approaching its end.

Tomorrow we will arrive at the location of the last fragment, and the final battle in the dungeon will begin. That was probably why Sujin finally answered the question that she had kept silent on for 1472 years.

-9,999 candidates were randomly selected to challenge The Initial Dungeon. You’re the first among them.

I didn’t ask her why there were so many candidates. The answer would probably be, if one candidate failed, another candidate would have to challenge it.

In the Initial Dungeon, I wasn’t getting old. Even if I died, I would be resurrected without limit. However, there was no guarantee that the unlimited resurrection would benefit success in The Initial Dungeon.

“Then, I have another question .”

-Say it…

“If I, no, if a candidate failed, what should he do next?”

When the 9,999 selected candidates failed to challenge the EX-Rank, there must be welfare policies of course right?

“Would I become a drunk man who just drink and said *hiccup* I used to do the EX-Rank tutorials..!’. And then the owner bar would say ‘sir, you can’t do this here. I’ll call the police.’ and dragged me out with those words?”

-……….

Sujin was silent. Her eyes were full of sorry. She contemplated her words for a while. She looked somehow… nervous.

-After deleting their memory, I was going to transfer them to a normal tutorial.

“Wow.”

She got really nervous, so it was not surprising to hear such an unexpected answer.

-But I can’t manipulate your memories.

“Lady, is it because of our beautiful memories?”

-You have never died until this day.

Sometimes it was Sujin’s bad habit to ignore my shy comments.

“Let me tell you, I don’t plan to die tomorrow.”

-I believe you. Please don’t die. I don’t want to see you like that.

Sujin’s eyes looked at me and she smiled warm-heartedly.

—–

Ah～ I missed Sujin.

I wanted to make one argument about her.

It was impossible for me to not fall for her appearance. With blonde hair, brilliant golden eyes, a perfect balanced body which was neither insufficient nor excessive, and a look of affection, haughtiness, and tenderness coexisted together.

About the last fragment, it was very strong, but it was not impossible. So somehow, after about 100 years of fighting, I was able to win. Of course, I kept my promise not to die.

With that, Sujin left.

“Shiii… Shi…”

I gently patted Sehwa’s back as she slept well with slight breaths.

[Access to the administrator authority of the Mirage System – The 1st Area]

[The administrator candidate was confirmed as Hyun Minjun (the initial wizard).]

[Acquires the authority as the administrator in the 1st Area]

I got the authority as the administrator of the 1st Area or the 10th floor.

No matter how hard it was, I got a little sentimental during this part. A man like me, could also be sentimental depending on the situation…

Whoo~ End of sentiment. Now that the 1st Area was mine. I could control it at my will.

[List of the dead in The First Area]

– Kim Joohan (00:46)

– Choi Hyojin (54:59)

– Kwak Hogeun (55:05)

– Sung Junhee (55:07)

There were explanations about what the authority of the administrator can do, but I ignored all of them and selected the list of deaths first. But there was a problem with the system.

“Sapal, Slender, Muscles, and Fatso.”

There, done. I corrected their wrong names.

[Sapal’s resurrection location will be changed to the 10th floor of Mirage.]

And then, just after the resurrection, Sapal was brought up to the 10th floor.

“Ugh! What the hell…….”

Good timing, Sapal.

By the way.

“Yap.”

(T/N: Turns out, ‘yap’ is his spell when he kills people.)

Sorry, there was no hard feeling. You didn’t do anything wrong that would cause me to break your neck twice. It just felt kind of weird for you to be on the 10th floor in an hour, right?

[Extends the Slender’s resurrection time.]

[Extends the Muscle’s resurrection time.]

[Extends the Fatso’s resurrection time.]

If I had a little more room, I would have extended the time safely like this. The keyword I recalled a while ago was not Sujin’s smile, but resurrection and memory manipulation!

[Access the memory data of the death in The First Area.]

[Start receiving data]

I had always told you that resurrection was not good, right?

—–

Detailed configuration. Thrilling suspense. Shocking reversal. The emotions and lessons that touched your heart and brought tears to your eyes. I didn’t need all of that.

I didn’t need to know their psychology, their thoughts, and their lives. I just need to give them the whole direction.

[Sapal arrived on the 10th floor.]

[Slender, Muscle, and Fatso all moved to the 11th floor.]

[Muscle and Fatso killed Sapal.]

[Muscle and Fatso got injured by Slender’s raid.]

[Everyone died at the end of the battle.]

“But Slender… Really, his personality is really trash.”

He made them dirty their hands and in the end he hit them the back of their heads?

No matter how much thought I gave it, it was just too sleazy and stupid.

—-

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