CH 44

After a few hours, Tae-Sung rested for a bit after logging out before he rode the subway to go to Sinsa Station.

‘How the hell did he find out? Is he really a stalker? What if he is somehow connected to the Genesis Guild… Damn it… I should have just given up on the hidden dungeon…’

Many thoughts crossed Tae-Sung’s mind.

‘I should’ve just quietly played solo… Why did I get greedy with party play… Uggghhh…’ he inwardly grumbled and regretted trying to take the easy way.

- The next station is Sinsa, Sinsa Station. The door is on your right.

He looked up Club Heaven on his smartphone after reaching Sinsa Station, and it did not take long for him to find Club Heaven. The rows of supercars lined up outside made Club Heaven stand out. In fact, none of the cars outside the club were of domestic brands, and the cheapest one parked was a Mercedes AMG GT.

Vroom! Vroom! Vroooom!

The Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, and other supercars revved their engines while waiting for their turn to the valet parking.

‘Why the hell did he call me to this kind of a place…? Is he trying to rub it in my face or what?’ Tae-Sung grimaced and inwardly complained.

His appearance did not suit the atmosphere of Club Heaven, which was the most luxurious club in all of South Korea.

His discolored jeans and shirt with stretched neckline, coupled with his old tattered Adidas Superstar could make a Golden Goose shoe, which was a brand well known for its vintage designs, run for their money.

His attire was more befitting of someone going to their neighborhood convenience store.

Tae-Sung was embarrassed for a split second before he muttered, “Well… it doesn’t matter. It’s not like I’m here to enjoy. There’s no need to be so conscious when I’ll just be seeing him once in my life.”

His face was already steel-plated—no, diamond-plated after meeting his master, and he did not feel the need to shrink back in front of others.

“Eh? What the heck?”

“He’s going to be barred. I’m sure of it. Keke!”

“Wow… At least he has guts.”

“Shhh! He could be the son of some rich conglomerate. The super-rich leisurely strolls in here even with their pajamas on so be careful about what you say!”

The clubbers lined up outside murmured among themselves while stealing glances at Tae-Sung, but the brazen gamer did not pay attention to the judgmental gazes cast at him.

It was finally Tae-Sung’s turn in the queue.

“Your ID please…” the club bouncer said before he flinched and thought, ‘Where the hell did this beggar crawl out from?’

Tae-Sung’s attire was just that bad.

“Excuse me… did you book a table?” the bouncer asked.

“No,” Tae-Sung replied with a shake of his head.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t enter if you haven’t booked a table,” the bouncer said.

“Why?”

“I don’t have to tell you, right?”

“What?”

“I mean… you should have looked into a mirror before coming…”

“I did when I showered.”

“…”

“Is there a problem?”

“Your attire is not up to our standards so you can’t enter unless you have booked a table.”

Tae-Sung was currently experiencing ‘selective entry[1]’ clubs like this were famous for.

“Then, I just have to book a table, right?” Tae-Sung said, “How much is it?”

“You didn’t make a reservation, right?” the bouncer responded.

“Sure, well… I’ll take whichever table is free if that’s the case.”

“Really?” the bouncer raised a brow and muttered before asking his colleagues for any unreserved table through his walkie-talkie.

“One of the C Tier tables is free. So, do you want to book it?” the bouncer asked while looking at Tae-Sung with a haughty expression that seemed to say, ‘does a beggar like you even have the money to do so?’

“Sure, how much is it?” Tae-Sung asked.

The bouncer inwardly scoffed and thought, ‘As expected. This fucking beggar who doesn’t even know shit came here to sightsee. Otherwise, he should know what the table tiers are and how much they cost. Tsk.. tsk…’

There were six table tiers in Club Heaven: D, C, B, A, VIP, and VVIP. It was rare for someone to come to Club Heaven without even being aware of such a thing, and that was the reason the bouncer assumed that Tae-Sung was a loser trying to act cool.

“Ha… hey, Customer-nim,” the bouncer said with a sigh.

“What?” Tae-Sung nonchalantly replied.

“Don’t you know that a C Tier table will cost fifteen million won?”

“Fifteen million?” Tae-Sung grimaced.

He had no idea how a table for a night could cost fifteen million won.

“Not 1.5 million, but fifteen million?” Tae-Sung asked.

“Yes, it’s fifteen million.”

“That’s crazy… how can a mere table cost that much…”

“Mister, this is not a place for someone like you to come so why don’t you go to Hongdae and hang out with the alcoholics over there if you don’t have any money?” the bouncer said in a threatening manner.

“Here,” Tae-Sung said as he extended a card.

‘It’s a lot of money, but I have to meet that bastard and shut him up no matter what. I managed to get this chance to start all over again… Let’s not get so worked up over money… I can just earn it again…’ Tae-Sung thought.

He decided to prioritize what was important and think of this endeavor as an investment. However, it felt more like he was throwing money down the gutter rather than an investment.

“That’s a debit card so just charge the full amount,” Tae-Sung casually said.

“Huh?”

“I said, swipe it. Full payment. You said I can’t go in if I don’t book a table, right? Then, I just have to book one. Is there a problem?” Tae-Sung shrugged.

‘Wow… look at this crazy bastard… Is he spending all of his savings in one night?’ the bouncer thought as he received Tae-Sung’s debit card. He had no reason not to accept it since the customer was willing to pay for it anyway.

“Requesting reception staff to the entrance. A C Tier table customer is entering,” the bouncer called while thinking, ‘I’m sure his card is going to be declined and he’ll get kicked out anyway. Keke!’

The bouncer was sure Tae-Sung was just trying to act cool despite not having even a penny under his name.

However, his expectations were shattered in an instant.

“Thank you for your payment; please follow me, sir,” the reception staffer said as she courteously guided Tae-Sung.

“Sure,” Tae-Sung nonchalantly said and followed the staffer after paying.

“Wow… he paid it just like that? Was he actually rich? Maybe he was a rich person pretending to be poor…?”

The clubbers who saw Tae-Sung murmured in surprise as they tried guessing his identity.

***

“This way,” the staffer guided him to a table at the corner of the club before saying, “This is the menu for the drinks and mixers.”

“Just give me anything,” Tae-Sung replied indifferently.

His sour mood was only natural since he had just spent a ridiculous sum of money to get in here. Moreover, he was in no mood to even check the menu as he wasn’t really planning on drinking anyway.

‘What a ridiculous bunch throwing money away,’ Tae-Sung thought while looking around the club.

Boom! Boom! Boom! 

None of the clubbers dancing to the EDM music in Club Heaven seemed poor. The clubbers here did not consider brands such as Gucci or Prada as luxury products, and it was pretty common to see Chanel and Hermes among the crowd as if they were school uniforms. The people gathered here alone truly proved that Club Heaven was the most luxurious club in all of South Korea, and this was made possible by the fact that most of the clubbers here were young people with very high net worths.

‘Come to think of it… I’m here, but where the heck is that bastard?’ Tae-Sung thought.

It would be impossible for him to look for Cheon Woo-Jin in this huge crowd when he had never met the guy before nor did he know what Cheon Woo-Jin looked like. It would be extremely inefficient for him to ask every single male in here if they were Cheon Woo-Jin, so that method was out of the question.

“Excuse me, do you know anyone by the name of Cheon Woo-Jin by any chance? I came here to see him,” Tae-Sung asked the club staffer setting up his table.

“Mr. Cheon Woo-Jin? He is our club’s VVIP,” the staffer replied.

“Ah, really?”

“Yes, you will find him in the room at the end of this corridor, but I doubt he is going to meet you.”

“I have an appointment with him.”

“An appointment with Cheon Woo-Jin-nim…?” the staffer looked at Tae-Sung before she asked through her walkie-talkie to confirm whether was telling the truth or not.

“Oh, you were right. I have been asked to guide you to the room,” the staffer said after checking.

“Alright,” Tae-Sung replied. He got up to go to the VVIP room while thinking that he had made the right choice to ask the staffer instead of searching person to person.

***

The price of alcohol in the VVIP room of Club Heaven reached hundreds of millions of won per bottle, and the room’s interior was decorated as lavishly as possible to fit its title as the VVIP room perfectly. On top of that, the rows and rows of high-end whiskey along with the champagne known as the king of champagne, Dom Perignon Oenotheque lining up in the room would easily make one wonder how much money the patrons of this room had in their pockets.

The player known as Cheon Woo-Jin was waiting for Tae-Sung in such a luxurious place—along with one beauty in each arm.

“Han Tae-Sung?” Cheon Woo-Jin asked with a hint of familiarity in his voice.

He looked exactly like his in-game character if his blond hair and eyes were removed. In fact, this was the case for most players playing BNW.

“Cheon Woo-Jin?” Tae-Sung asked in response.

“That’s right.”

“I’m not sure why you asked to meet in a place like this. I had to spend fifteen million won just to get in…” Tae-Sung grumbled with an annoyed look.

“I never asked you to come in,” Cheon Woo-Jin replied with a shrug.

“What?”

“Why didn’t you just say my name at the entrance?”

“…”

“Don’t tell me you spent money to book a table just to come in?”

Tae-Sung had to fight the sudden urge to smash the alcohol on the table into Cheon Woo-Jin’s head.

“You should have told me sooner…” Tae-Sung muttered.

This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“Didn’t I tell you?” Cheon Woo-Jin asked in response.

“You didn’t…” Tae-Sung groaned.

“Oh, my bad,” Cheon Woo-Jin coolly apologized before he added, “Well, there’s no helping it if you already spent the money. Have some fun before you go back since you already paid for it.”

“The hell are you saying…” Tae-Sung angrily complained.

“Don’t be so upset. I know you spent it knowing you can earn it back. Just give it a year, and you will be earning not just fifteen million but a hundred million overnight,” Cheon Woo-Jin said with a grin.

“Hmm…”

“It’s just money you will earn back.”

Cheon Woo-Jin’s words hit Tae-Sung right on.

Money? All Tae-Sung needed was time. Anyone with a hidden class was bound to earn money with a flick of their finger as soon as they reached Level 150.

“Oppa, who is that person?” the woman beside Cheon Woo-Jin asked while obviously expressing her discontent toward Tae-Sung.

“Why are you asking?” Cheon Woo-Jin asked.

“Just—I can tell he has something based on how you are talking to him, but—” the woman said.

However, Cheon Woo-Jin suddenly cut her off. “Get out.”

“Eh?”

“I said get out.”

“Did you just… ask me to go out?”

“How dare you speak ill of my guest?”

“O-Oppa!”

“Get lost. Don’t make me say it twice.”

“Okay…”

Surprisingly, the woman left the VVIP room without uttering a single complaint.

“Who’s that?” Tae-Sung asked.

“Ah, the only daughter of the chairman of the Baeksan Group,” Cheon Woo-Jin nonchalantly replied.

“That’s crazy…” Tae-Sung muttered in surprise. He could not fathom how great of a person Cheon Woo-Jin was.

1. The term in Korean is 입구컷 or 입구뺀찌 which means to deny someone entry because of their attire or looks. It’s used to label someone ugly after getting denied entry into clubs. ☜