Han Sae-Rin had always thought it was strange.

‘Why is he like that?’

Many people believed that men and women could be just friends too. However, this concept did not seem to apply to Sae-Rin.

“I actually like you.”

“Will you go on a date with me?”

Whether it was a person she had known since her childhood, someone she had met recently, or an old acquaintance, all the men around her had ended up confessing their feelings to her. Rejecting each confession was one thing, but dealing with the aftermath was another. At least those who gave up on her cleanly were bearable.

Some of them considered themselves lumberjacks, saying, “You know what they say, little strokes fell great oaks.”

Quite a few behaved absurdly.

“How dare you reject me?”

“You were the one who flirted with me first!” .𝒎

It was somewhat tolerable in everyday life, but this aspect of her life was the same even during Play.

“Pathfinder, what do you think of me as a man?”

“I’ve admired you for a long time.”

Amid her Play, Sae-Rin would suddenly find herself receiving confessions wherever she went. It was baffling to her, and she always thought that those guys were pathetic. 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚

‘They can’t even Play properly because they are always too busy fawning over me.’

A Player had to always focus on their Play. These Players had made Sae-Rin wonder how a person who could not even adhere to this basic principle aspired to be a man for a woman.

‘I just want them to stop confessing. It’s so annoying. It is like a barrage of attacks.’

Every time she thought she had found a compatible party member, they would confess to her in the end, making it difficult for her to form a proper party.

However, Cha Jin-Hyeok was different. He was genuinely happy about obtaining the Research Journal on Paper Soldiers. He was a person who truly enjoyed Play, and thus, he was admirable.

Right before handing him the item, Sae-Rin asked, “What do you think of me?”

“You? You are an excellent Navigator. You are also my comrade, who sees and thinks more than I do. Just like now!”

“Then are we like brothers and sisters?”

“Of course!”

Sae-Rin smiled bitterly.

‘I guess I just got rejected.’

In contrast, Jin-Hyeok was just happy.

‘Sae-Rin is amazing!’

He thought of the many battlefields he had traversed with her before his regression, and it made him happy. So, he offered her his highest praise. “I bet Mole Man would not have found this.”

“Thanks for the compliment.” Sae-Rin smiled again. Being in a position to reject others every day, she felt it was refreshing to be rejected by someone.

‘That’s why I like him even more.’

She even thought of becoming a lumberjack herself.

“Looks like there is nothing hidden in this area now. Shall we head out?” Sae-Rin asked.

“Sure. Do as you please. If you want to look around more, that’s fine with me. Pioneering the path is your role. I trust you.”

His words, which were filled with boundless belief, made her heart flutter again.

‘I’ve never felt this kind of trust from anybody before.’

It was a sense of trust that was more solid than anything else. This feeling stirred Sae-Rin’s heart far more than any sweetly wrapped confession.

‘If I want to make someone like Jin-Hyeok mine, merely proving my abilities won’t be enough.’

A desire to spend more time alone with him subtly emerged inside her heart.

“Have you finished assessing the item?” she asked.

“There seems to be some sort of security lock on it, but that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Right. You have the Unleashing Technique.” Sae-Rin almost blurted out how sexy he looked, but stopped herself.

Jin-Hyeok immediately used the Unleashing Technique to deactivate the security lock on the item. “It’s unlocked.”

“Already?”

“The lock was weaker than I thought.”

Neither Sae-Rin nor Jin-Hyeok realized that it was not the lock that was weak, but that the Unleashing Technique was exceptionally powerful.

“Once you hold it, information related to the Paper Soldier gets uploaded into your mind. It’s a highly advanced item from the new era. Want to hold it?’ Jin-Hyeok asked.

“Sure.”

Just by holding the item, one could acquire all sorts of information.

Sae-Rin handed the item back to Jin-Hyeok. “Here, take it back.”

“You’re the one who found it. Are you giving it to me?”

“I’m happy enough as a Navigator to have found the hidden item. Consider it a gift.”

“If you say so.” Jin-Hyeok was already excited at the thought of making a thumbnail about the first reveal of this item.

“Let’s go”

“Yeah, but just in case there is any danger, hold my hand,” he said.

The moment Sae-Rin held Jin-Hyeok’s hand, she felt it again.

‘I really like him.’

Holding Sae-Rin’s hand, Jin-Hyeok passed through the Gate with a sign that said ‘Farewell, this is the end of the World Inside the Swallowing Croaker.’

“Hm?” Jin-Hyeok found Cha Jin-Sol, half-dead and sprawled on the floor. “Are you okay?”

Barely able to move her eyes, Jin-Sol said after some struggle, “You hemorrhoid-inducing monster… What the hell took you so long?”

***

Jin-Hyeok had achieved a remarkable feat, far superior to that earned by the weak Anus Destroyer. The evidence lay in Park Terse’s successful taming of the Swallowing Croaker.

“I don’t think I can say I tamed it… Never mind. Anyway, I’ve successfully communicated with the Swallowing Croaker. It is all thanks to you guys. I am truly grateful. I also extend my deep gratitude to the Blood Priest.”

Terse seemed moved, as he expressed his gratitude to Jin-Hyeok and Sae-Rin. Mole Man, who was nearby, claimed he had played a crucial role too, but no one responded to his comment.

“Kim Chul-Soo. You have truly inspired me.” Terse’s eyes seemed clearer now, resembling those of Sae-Rin when she had been delving into the mysteries of the monster’s inner organs. It was a very positive change.

“You taught me that those who try cannot surpass those who enjoy; those who enjoy cannot surpass those who enjoy and try; and those who enjoy and try cannot surpass those who intensely enjoy and try. I am sincerely thankful to you, IntenseMan.”

After expressing his gratitude several times, Terse shared a few things with the group. “It seems that Mr. Gobble had escaped a facility. I’m not sure where that facility is, but it doesn’t seem to be on Earth.”

“You can talk to Mr. Gobble?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“A little.” When Terse put his hand in the fishbowl, the Swallowing Croaker approached his hand—a fascinating sight. “It seems Mr. Gobble was force-fed something as part of an experiment.”

“It must be this.” Jin-Hyeok pulled out the Unidentifiable Fibrous Material from his inventory.

Terse grabbed his head in agony. “Stop. Put that away!”

It seemed the Swallowing Croaker’s emotions had been transferred to him. “I can’t tell what was done with it. Anyway, is the Swallowing Croaker Scenario cleared?”

“It’s cleared.”

Before his regression, the Scenario had disappeared forever with the death of the Swallowing Croaker. However, this time, Jin-Hyeok had managed to unlock a Connected Scenario.

“Since it has not been revealed on my livestream yet, I need you guys to maintain confidentiality,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Of course.”

“The next Scenario is the Hunters of the Facility. It has to be related to the facility you just mentioned.”

Terse bit his index finger, trembling.

“What’s wrong?”

“Mr. Gobble is extremely frightened. Chul-Soo, is there a way to protect Mr. Gobble?” Terse replied.

For Jin-Hyeok, it was a welcome proposal.

Hunters of the Facility

Hunters employed by the facility that researched the Swallowing Croaker have begun to trace its whereabouts.

It seems that the Swallowing Croaker holds many secrets.

Jin-Hyeok was thinking of suggesting to Terse to shift the Swallowing Croaker within the jurisdiction of the Golden Guardian Tree. Fortunately for him, Terse had requested it himself.

“I will get you a house in Yeonhui-dong. Stay in Korea for a while. The Guardian Tree will protect you and Gobble. Meanwhile, try to communicate more with Gobble.”

“Mr. Gobble.”

“Yeah, sorry. Mr. Gobble. Try to communicate more with Mr. Gobble. You never know what information you might get.”

***

Having examined the Research Journal on the Paper Soldiers, Song Ha-Young said, “The information is quite limited. It looks like you can create an army of Paper Soldiers with this, but I do not understand what that means. Is an army of Paper Soldiers going to invade us?”

Soon after, her words became reality.

“My goodness! It’s an army of Paper Soldiers.”

The Paper Sorcerer Makendra also showed up. She introduced herself as a high-ranking official of the Black Alliance and declared her intention to take over several Regions of the Earth Server.

“Over three thousand casualties in California already. They are desperately resisting, but it seems futile. Never thought a day would come when just one person would toy with Players like this. The state of California is practically hers now.”

“I see.”

It was the same as before Jin-Hyeok’s regression. Now, Makendra would use the American Region as a base and dispatch Paper Soldier armies worldwide.

“Almost all of Vancouver in the Canadian Region has been occupied too.”

Soon after, Ha-Young discovered a commonality in the occupied Regions. “They are places set up by the third-ranked Rulers. You know about them, right?”

“I do. They were a nuisance to me.”

One of the third-ranked Rulers had mobilized building owners and people in Nowon-gu to sue Jin-Hyeok for the damages. It was the third-rank Ruler dispatched to the Korean Region, named Heilik.

“By the way, did I tell you that Kwak Do-Hyeong and Kaylin eliminated Heilik?”

“No, you didn’t. Did they kill him?”

“They did.”

“When?”

“When you were inside the Swallowing Croaker. Anyway, thanks to them eliminating Helik, no bases of the Paper Sorcerer were established in Korea. Some say you are the reason that Korea’s peace was preserved, but that’s not important, is it?”

The important thing was Makendra. She was moving even faster.

“The biggest problem is the occupation of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Seems like she is trying to gain control over oil resources to manipulate the Earth Server. Her Paper Soldiers are so powerful that even Players over there are helpless,” Ha-Young said.

“I can see that.”

Although a new era had dawned on the planet, and various resources could replace oil, oil was still a crucial resource.

“So, Ha-Young… What do you think Makendra is after? Do you think she is after our oil?”

“I don’t think so. There are no Servers outside ours that use oil.”

Jin-Hyeok knew exactly what Makendra was after. She was staging a preliminary battle to obtain Picasso’s Brush, the Earth’s Server-Grade item.

Before his regression, Makendra had managed to steal Picasso’s Brush, eventually growing into a top-tier Player on the Strongest Server, Arvis.

“She does not seem interested in occupying the Earth Server entirely. She is not exploiting like the Scanorbian warriors. She is only imposing some restrictions on Play, not doing anything cruel. But to mobilize an army of this scale, she would have needed extensive groundwork,” Ha-Young said.

That would require a lot of manpower and resources. Dispatching the third-rank Rulers earlier to attract attention from Players was also a matter of money and resources.

Ha-Young continued, “That means there is only one thing she could be after. Probably a Server-Grade item unique to the Earth Server.”

Ha-Young frowned and tapped on the Golden Headband on her head. “Something with a performance as undeniably strong as this.”

As Makendra used her Paper Soldiers army to occupy various parts of Earth, an interesting story came to light.

?My most cherished subordinate, Heilik, was murdered in the Korean Region. I will not let this go unanswered.?

Makendra had identified Jin-Hyeok as Heilik’s murderer. Technically, it was not Jin-Hyeok, but he didn’t particularly deny the claim.

?Once I finish my urgent tasks, I will come for you, Kim Chul-Soo. Live each day in fear and be consumed by dread.?

Then, Jin-Hyeok handed a piece of paper to Ha-Young. She took it, and her eyes widened in surprise.

“What is… this exactly?”