A private room in an upscale restaurant located in the heart of Latuvia.
The eyes of the employee who entered the room widened.
The people who had come in wearing sunglasses, masks, and hats pulled down tightly.
She had wondered why they were so bundled up, but now she understood the reason.
'Wow!'
Every single one of them exuded an incredible aura.
Especially the silver-haired woman sitting at the front—she was beyond words.
Having worked in the private room for a long time, she had met quite a few celebrities.
But now, it felt like all the standards she had held were being completely redefined.
"May I order?"
"Oh, yes! I'm sorry!"
The employee fumbled to pull out a tablet.
Even she, a woman herself, had been so captivated that she had spaced out.
*Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.*
"Hey, Seira. Are you going to order without even looking at the menu?"
"Ah. I forgot. I'd like to see the menu. No, I'd like to see it, please."
-Don't forget to use polite speech.
Jinhyeok had given her a stern reminder before they parted.
"Excuse me!"
The moment Seira took the menu.
"Momo wants to see the menu too!"
A child who had been completely out of sight suddenly popped up.
"Oh my!"
The employee instinctively covered her mouth.
What on earth was this?
That impossibly chubby, adorable face.
Those cheeks were so incredibly pinchable that if she didn't keep her wits about her, she might reach out and touch them without realizing it.
After staring at the menu for a while, Momo straightened up.
"Hmm! Momo totally gets it!"
Elia, standing beside her, broke out in a cold sweat.
That reaction and expression were exactly what she showed when she didn't understand a single thing.
Momo slammed the menu down roughly and raised her voice.
"Sis! Give me everything on here! And five of each of the delicious ones!"
The employee's eyes wavered.
*It's just a cute little kid's joke, right?* She thought, looking at Seira, expecting her to scold the adorable Momo and correct the order.
But instead.
"Please do as she asks."
Far from scolding her, she pulled a thick wad of dollars from her coat.
The employee looked around at everyone seated at the table.
No one seemed flustered.
They were all serious.
In other words, they were dead serious. These people.
*Gulp!*
At that moment, she realized.
These were the kind of big spenders you only saw once every few years.
As the restaurant owner's daughter and the ace employee, she couldn't let this opportunity slip by.
Clenching her fist with a burning sense of duty, she declared.
"I'll bring out the appetizers right away! Please wait just a moment!"
The employee shouted loudly, bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle, and dashed off to the kitchen.
The time had come to use all the premium ingredients they had recently stocked.
*Thud.*
As the door closed, Kancho, who had been hiding, appeared.
"Hey, Momo-ttari! If you were just gonna order without reading the menu, why did you even ask to see it!?"
"There were too many words!"
"Too many words, my foot… there are a lot, ma'am. And even if I read it, I can't tell what kind of dish it is. This restaurant is no good, ma'am. Not even putting pictures on the menu, this is terrible, ma'am. Terrible."
"Right! They should put pictures as big as a steamed bun!"
"That's too big, ma'am."
"Then a dumpling!"
"That seems about right, ma'am."
While Momo and Kancho were bantering, Elia looked around.
"Where did the goblin friend go?"
"He said he wanted to try something and went to the mountains."
Seira answered, turning her gaze to the window.
As a fellow martial artist, she knew.
She knew what Renya wanted to try.
*Crunch.*
She clenched her fist under the table.
Jinhyeok had been happy that his synchronization rate had increased by a full five percent after clearing the Tower of Myth.
But the truth was, Seira had noticed the changes in her own body even before he said anything.
'Even at this level… I'm getting this much stronger again.'
This wasn't the first time Jinhyeok's synchronization rate had increased.
And she knew that the power was applied uniformly to the entire party.
However, Seira had one question.
The synchronization rate, which had been applied as an absolute value even after reaching Legendary rank and surpassing level 200, without any regard for that.
She wondered how long this absurd, broken stat application could possibly continue.
But seeing that even this time, the value was applied without any adjustment whatsoever, she realized.
No matter what common sense, rules, or categories you threw at him, they simply didn't apply to the master, Yoo Jinhyeok. And this insane growth would continue from now on.
*Thump.*
For some reason, her heart raced.
Her own achievements, combined with the absolute amplification of combat power from Jinhyeok.
Even though it was her own power, she was starting to have trouble grasping its extent.
Just how strong could she become, and what heights could she reach?
Renya, who was more serious about martial arts than anyone, couldn't bear this question either and had gone to verify this latest growth.
'A companion who makes you stronger the longer you're together.'
A smile crept onto her lips as she thought of Jinhyeok.
A strange sense of relief washed over her.
Because the path they had yet to walk together was far longer than the one they had already traveled.
"Coming through, ma'am!"
Kancho, who had been bickering with Momo, went into stealth.
*Swoosh!*
The door opened, and an enormous amount of food appeared.
"Here are the appetizers!"
As the dishes were set on the table one by one, Seira picked up her fork and knife.
She'd better eat a lot.
They still had a long way to go.
* * *
"It's quite lively, isn't it? Did a Latuvian celebrity show up? Whoa! Look at that food! The portions are insane! Not a celebrity, but an athletic team?! In Korea, that would be like a ssireum team."
Seyeon, peering curiously, swallowed hard.
They weren't celebrities or an athletic team.
It was just the Piggy Family, led by the Little Giant Momo and Jamambo Nia.
'A ssireum team wouldn't stand a chance.'
She doubted even all the ssireum teams in the country combined could kneel before those two.
Anyway, it seemed they had gone all out from the very first order.
The fact that everyone in the restaurant was staring at them was proof enough.
'I hope they have enough dollars.'
Converted to Korean won, it was almost thirty million, so it should be fine.
And if it wasn't enough, the Yodel Ranger would be dispatched.
"Ah, right. We were talking about Russia, weren't we? Sorry. That was just too distracting."
Seyeon scratched the back of her head and returned to her seat.
"As you know, Jinhyeok-ssi, the Player Hunter Agency contributes a lot to national security. So naturally, a lot of information comes in from the NIS and the Ministry of National Defense."
Seyeon held out her phone.
On it was a short message.
# Russian division-level military forces are gathering in the snowy region near the Latuvia border.
# The possibility of military conflict is rising sharply, and the UN and the US are monitoring the situation.
"The Blue House and the Ministry of National Defense in Korea are in a frenzy right now. I heard a semi-wartime task force has been formed. After all, Russia is a country where you never know when, where, or how they might act."
Sweat beaded on his back.
He had unintentionally caused trouble for several countries.
"As soon as I heard this news, I thought, 'Ah! It must be Jinhyeok-ssi!' So I came straight to the Latuvia-Russia border."
That was why Seyeon had been able to come as soon as he called.
"How is Hunter Kang-san? I saw him at the Tower of Babel; he looked pretty badly injured."
"Ugh, don't even get me started on that old man. He's so quick on the uptake. When I said I wasn't going back to Korea, he asked if I was going to pick up the Runner. Then he said he'd come with me, that it didn't make sense that he was at the Tower of Babel with the Runner but hadn't seen him, that he had to thank him, blah blah blah. It was so hard to shake him off. The guy had a hole in his stomach, but he's seriously something else."
It was a relief to hear he was healthy.
By the way, she had fed him quite a lot, but she wondered if his sense of taste was okay.
"Jinhyeok-ssi."
"Yes?"
"Still, just in case, be careful. Since only Rochel and I know the details, there's no risk of a leak, but… you know. The intelligence capabilities of countries like the US, UK, and China are insane. They might be digging into things, never mind the fact that the Russian secret brigade was wiped out."
He nodded.
They might have known about the existence of the secret brigade.
They either couldn't do anything about it and left it alone, or they judged it wasn't a threat and ignored it.
If that was the case, the major powers were likely moving more busily than before.
Because a known fact had been erased, and a new uncertainty they desperately wanted to avoid had emerged.
"Oh, and one more thing. This happened while you were gone."
Seyeon searched for and showed him an article.
As soon as he saw it, he couldn't help but form a question mark.
Four transitions had appeared at once?!
"The frequency of transitions has been increasing worldwide anyway. And then this happened. Of all places, only in Korea. I hear each country will be sending investigation teams soon to find out what caused this phenomenon."
"Team Leader Jin Yunho must be incredibly busy."
"He sure got his plate full. Even in the middle of all that, he told me to take good care of you. Now I'm completely out of favor."
"Come on, not out of favor. He's just keeping an eye on me because he doesn't know where I'll run off to."
As he waved his hand, a smoked fish dish appeared.
The savory smell was exquisite.
While Seyeon squeezed lemons over it with both hands, he glanced at the article on her phone again.
An abnormal phenomenon appearing only in Korea.
He had personally confirmed it through the recent case of Azriel.
The fact that the Tower of Despair could interfere with reality, even indirectly.
Maybe that was why it bothered him a little.
Could it be that they were in Korea?
Those who, for some reason, wanted to hasten the transitions.
* * *
At a certain religious coalition.
Coalition leader Min Soyul tilted her wine glass.
"How many are left?"
"With the transitions from floors 73 to 76, there are five left."
"We're finally starting to see the summit."
"We'll try to expedite the remaining five as much as possible."
"No."
Min Soyul shook her head.
She had heard about the situation in various countries from branches spread all over the world.
"I hear the US, UK, and Europe are also very interested in this transition phenomenon in Korea. It seems they'll be sending investigation teams soon. So let's lie low for a while. The Player Hunter Agency is on high alert right now."
"Understood. Then we'll conserve the holy relics."
"Yes. After all, what we want is the 81st-floor section. It would be best to transition as many floors as possible when our turn comes. Has the list been narrowed down?"
"Yes. We've selected only those who are the most popular… or rather, the most revered within South Korea."
Min Soyul checked the list handed to her.
Then she smiled at the name at the very top.
"As expected, it's the Runner."
It wasn't for nothing that the neologism 'Runner Effect' had been coined.
The Runner was currently a figure enjoying worldwide popularity.
She couldn't help but salivate.
"No matter how I look at it, it has to be the Runner. The one most suited for our gods."
Min Soyul smiled.
The promised day was near.
And so, she intended to redouble her efforts.
For the sake of that perfect day.
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T/N:
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