The air inside the 'Northern End Cave' was thick with the scent of ancient dust and the metallic tang of unspeakable wealth.
For Shin Youngwoo—known in the world of Satisfy as Grid—the last three months had been a descent into a specialized kind of purgatory.
He had crawled through frozen wastes, been eaten by griffins, and died enough times to lose count of his own dignity.
But as he stood at the heart of the cavern, the sight that greeted him made his breath hitch in his throat.
Mountains of battle gear rose from the stone floor like jagged, glittering reefs. There were swords that pulsed with a rhythmic violet light, shields plated in gold that seemed to swallow the dim cavern glow, and staves topped with gems the size of a human fist.
The color-coded names of the items—vibrant greens, rare yellows, and the regal purple of Epic-rated gear—swirled together in a kaleidoscope of greed.
"Wow... what is this?" Grid's voice was a hoarse whisper.
He lunged toward a set of silver-scaled armor, his hands trembling. If he could just take five—no, three—of these pieces, his crippling real-world debt would vanish. He would be a king. He reached out to shove a heavy broadsword into his inventory.
[Conditions are not met. This item cannot be obtained.]
The sword vanished from his hands, reappearing on the pile with a mocking shimmer. Grid growled, grabbing a pair of gauntlets. Again, they slipped through his fingers like a mirage.
"How stingy and dirty!" Grid shrieked, his voice echoing off the cavern walls. "It's right in front of me! It's right there!"
He kicked at the pile, but his foot passed through the gear as if it were a hologram. It was the ultimate cruelty of the S.A. Group's balancing system.
To Grid, who viewed the world through the lens of missed opportunities and perceived slights, this was a personal insult. He compared the situation to a married woman—attainable with enough effort, unlike these 'pie-in-the-sky' pixels.
Grid forced himself to turn away from the mountain of gear. He hadn't come for the scrap metal. He had come for the target of an S-grade quest that had nearly broken his mind.
In the center of the chamber stood a table made of solid, polished gold. Resting upon it was an old, weathered book.
"Finally..."
Tears began to track through the grime on Grid's face. He thought of the deaths, the broken items, and the sheer, agonizing difficulty of the path Arthur had recommended to him.
At the time, Arthur's advice had seemed like a lifeline, but after three months of suffering, Grid had begun to wonder if the "Pretty Boy" had recommend him just to watch him fail.
"Kukuk... puhahahat!! I finally found it!! Oh, yehhhhhh!"
The face of Earl Ashur—the man who had promised him the 'Sun Sword' and a million gold—flashed in his mind. Ashur had sent him to one of the five forbidden zones of the Eternal Kingdom, a place where a Level 76 player like Grid had no business being.
"Once I bring this back, no one can match me! I'll make every bastard who ever hit me pay ten-fold!"
Grid reached out and gripped the book.
[You have acquired the legendary craftsman's rare book!]
[It is not in a proper state. You can check the details using the Eye of Pallalian.]
"Eye of Pallalian?" Grid grumbled. He reached into his bag and pulled out a crystal monocle. He had bought it six months ago in a fit of optimistic greed, spending a small fortune on an appraisal item he feared he'd never use.
"Appraisal!"
The system window that appeared was not the blue of a common item or the yellow of a rare one. It was a blinding, pulsating gold.
[Pagma's Rare Book]
* Rating: Legendary
* Description: A book containing the techniques of Pagma, the blacksmith who transcended human limits.
* Effect: Become Pagma's Successor.
* Conditions: None.
Grid's heart didn't just beat; it slammed against his ribs.
"Whoa... jackpot... a legendary class..."
The realization hit him like a physical blow. This wasn't just a skill book to hand over to an NPC for a sword. This was a class change—the highest tier in the entire world of Satisfy. Among two billion users, he was holding the key to becoming a living god.
Tears flowed freely now. Grid thought of his life outside the capsule—the interest of the loan sharks, the leave of absence from university, the friends who stopped calling, and the neighbors who looked at him with pity. He thought of his sister, Sehee, who looked at him with embarrassment.
"It's over... I can say farewell to this nightmarish life!"
He calculated the value in his head. A legendary class? On the grey-market auction sites, this wouldn't just be tens of millions of won. It would be hundreds of millions. Maybe billions.
Grid stood up, his posture shifting from a desperate scavenger to a man who felt the weight of gold in his pockets.
"Puhahahahat!! Mother! Father! This freeloader finally made it! I'm going to buy a foreign car! I'm going to walk into my alumni meetings and watch them choke!"
His mind immediately drifted to Kim Arthur. He imagined pulling up to the neighborhood in a car that cost more than the Apartment. He imagined the look on Arthur's face when he saw that Grid was no longer a struggling beggar, but a Ranker.
"And those twin girls... Alfia and Meteria," Grid sneered, a delusional heat rising in his chest. "They follow Arthur because they think he's something special. Just wait. I'll hire ten women—no, twenty!—with the biggest busts the S.A. Group can render! I'll have them follow me everywhere, peeling my grapes and rubbing my feet while Arthur and those twins watch from the dirt! I'll rub my wealth right in that pretty boy's face!"
He thought of his first love, Ahyoung. With this kind of money, she would finally look at him. Everyone would look at him.
"Okay, I'll go and sell it! Earl Ashur can keep his Sun Sword!"
Grid didn't care about the quest or the affinity loss. He was done with NPCs. He was done with being a servant. He was ready to be the Master.
"Logout!" he screamed at the ceiling.
A red notification window flashed, cold and ominous, shattering the golden dream.
[You cannot log out of the game here.]
The silence of the cave returned, heavier than before. Grid's eyes widened, the manic laughter dying in his throat as the 'Forbidden Zone' mechanics finally caught up to his ambition.
Grid is trapped in the heart of the Northern End Cave with the most valuable item in the world, unable to escape.