n

n

nThe main classroom of the Virtual Reality Department was big enough for 100 people.

n“Gu Jaho-”

n“Yes!”

n“Kim Gahyeong-”

n“Yes!”

nLee Jinuk called the roll, looking at the attendance book. His eyes were momentarily fixed at a familiar

nname.

n“Park Jinsung… he was absent during the first week!’

nOf course, the first week was about changing courses, so it was okay to be absent during that time. It

ndidn’t have any effect on the grades.

nHowever, students almost never changed classes of their major, so they usually came to the first

nclass. Jinuk was slightly angry, ‘I have even threatened him during the vacation, he must be here

ntoday.’

nJinuck looked around and called Jinsung.

n“Park Jinsung-”

nThe room was quiet.

nJincuk called again as he couldn’t believe it.

n“Park Jinsung? Is he absent?”

nBut then, the back door of the classroom was opened, “Yes! I am here!”

nEveryone in the room looked at him.

nHe looked pale and had dark circles that almost reached his chin.

nHe was almost like a remnant of a defeated army. Jinuk thought he was pathetic.

n“Don’t make a fuss, sit down.”

nJinuk glanced at Jinsung and resumed calling the roll.

nJinsung breathed heavily as if he had run all the way to the classroom. He went to Yuhyeon and sat

nnext to him.

nYuhyeon whispered at him, “At least you came today.”

n“Hu! I am not that hopeless.”

nYuhyeon talked back. He couldn’t agree to that at all, “You are not hopeless so you didn’t come to

nschool for three days this week?”

nJinsung had been absent for three days after the changing courses week ended, so Yuhyoen was

nright at scolding him.

nHowever, Jinsung said solemnly, “I had a reason.”

n“What reason?”

nInstead of answering, Jinsung took out his smartphone out of his pocket.

n“It was all for this.”

nOn the screen was a screenshot of Jinsung’s character with Ian’s statistics window.

n“Umm?!”

nYuhyeon checked it and his eyes got as big as baseballs.

n“What?! you are Lv. 93?!”

nHe was so shocked that he almost spoke that loudly.

nThe classroom was big because the course was mandatory for all students of the major, so luckily

nprofessor Lee Jinuk didn’t hear that.

n“Haven’t you seen this? I am that great.”

nYuhyeon couldn’t even respond to Jinsung’s bragging. He just blankly stared at the screen.

n‘Lv. 93… I am just over Lv. 100 now…’

nYuhyeon was now at Lv. 100.

nHe had thought he gained a lot of levels during the vacation.

nStill, Jinsung had almost caught up with him. He only had 10 more level-ups to do.

n‘What was my level when he reset his character?’

nHe couldn’t recall exactly, but it had been about 80.

nYuhyeon shook his head.

nEven if Yuhyeon had played much more during the vacation and had gotten extra stat points with the

nreset, his level-up speed was incredible.

nJinsung would catch up with Yuhyeon’s level in no time!

n“You monster…”

nYuhyoen muttered while Jinsung smiled, “Just say you are jealous.”

nYuhyeon admitted, “Yes, I am jealous. Ha…”

nLee Jinuk started his lecture after finishing calling the roles.

nAnd, as soon as the class began, Jinsung fell asleep on his desk.

n‘You have played like a madman without sleeping… so, of course, you are tired.’

nHowever, when the class was about to end…

nJinsung ‘miraculously’ woke up.

n“What, why did you wake up? Did you have a nightmare?”

nJinsung didn’t even care about Yuhyeon’s sarcastic comment. He just took out his smartphone.

nYuhyeon watched Jinsung with interest.

n‘What is he doing?’

nJinsung tapped on his smartphone and got to that screenshot image again.

n‘Is he looking at it again because he is so proud of it?’

nBut then…

nJinsung sent the image to someone!

nYuhyeon unintendedly checked who was the receiver. He was then shocked.

n“Dude! What are you doing! Are you still sleeping?”

n“What are you talking about? I am perfectly fine.”

n“You are perfectly fine and you just sent a screenshot of the game to the professor?”

nYuhyeon didn’t know about the bet between Jinsung and Jinuk so, to him, Jinsung just appeared to be

nmad.

nHowever, Jinsung just kept smiling.

nThen, professor Lee Jinuk’s smartphone, which was on the teacher’s desk, vibrated. Next, the

nprofessor stopped to check his phone.

n“Hey, he just saw that! What are we going to do?”

n“Stop worrying and pack your things. The class will be over soon.”

nAs Jinsung said, the class was about to end.

nFive minutes later…

nYuhyeon looked and sighed at hearing Jinuk’s last words.

n“Well, that is all for today. You can leave now. Park Jinsung, you stay here.”

n…

nJinsung was ‘dragged’ to Lee Jinuk’s office after the class. He was sitting on the sofa triumphantly.

nJinuk sat on the opposite side and was sipping from his teacup.

nA while later, Jinuk spoke first, “That image you sent me. Explain.”

n“It is the statistics window of my Kailan character. You told me you are a Kailan user, too, so you must

nhave recognized it.”

n“Khmm…”

nJinuk coughed while Jinsung added to press him, “Professor, you haven’t forgotten about the bet,

nright?”

nLee Jinuk could feel his blood pressure rising.

nIn fact, he had completely forgotten about the bet.

nIt was more of a threat to make him a more attentive student than a bet.

nHe hadn’t even thought about the scenario in which Jinsung could actually win the bet.

nJinuk thought for a while and slowly opened his mouth.

n“I haven’t forgotten…”

nJinsung was excited at hearing that, “Haha! I guess a professor doesn’t lie to his student?”

nJinsung thought that was it.

nNow all he had to do was getting the confirmation and he could be freed from Jinuk’s classes.

nHe had two major classes with Jinuk, so that would be great.

nHowever, unlike Jinsung’s expectation, Jinuk didn’t say what Jinsung wanted to hear.

nHe wasn’t a man that easy to handle.

n“But that bet, if I am right, the deadline was ‘before the fall semester starts’.”

nJinuk pointed that out while Jinsung flinched.

nActually, that was the part about which Jinsung had been worried about the most.

nThe panicked Jinsung came up with an excuse.

n“Um… uh… professor?”

n“Yes?”

n“I actually reached Lv. 93 before the semester started…”

n“Really? Then you should have shown me that last week. As far as I know, you were absent last

nweek.”

n“I was so sick until yesterday…”

nThe excuse was so lame, even a kindergartener would laugh when hearing it.

nHowever, there was no better way.

nJinsung could just keep insisting on that.

nJinuk couldn’t find out the truth, unless he went to the LBsoft himself and took a look at Ian’s log-in

ninformation.

n“You are asking me to believe it?”

nHe had come this far, Jinsung decided to get to the end of it.

n“But that is the truth, professor.”

nHe tried to appeal his innocence with a fearful expression.

nHe knew well that just arguing would bring bad results.

n‘It’s not like we signed a contract, so if he says no, there’s nothing I can do about it…’

nIt was critical to make the professor not feel offended.

n“Khmm.”

nAlthough Lee Jinuk looked to be disapproving, he was secretly very surprised.

n‘If this screenshot is real, he is a great gamer.’

nEven though Jinuk was not a serious player, he was a Kailan user who had the Summoner as a

ncharacter.

nThat meant he knew well how great a Lv. 93 Summoner was at this point of the game.

nHe even remembered seeing the official most highest-level Summoner user giving an interview on TV.

nThat Summoner was Lv. 78.

n‘If he is not lying, maybe I can use him to collect data…’

nLee Jinuk came up with an idea and decided to postpone giving the answer.

n“Jinsung, do you have any plan for this Sunday?”

nHe was confused at the unexpected question, but he soon answered, “Uh… I guess I will play Kailan

nat home.”

nLee Jinuk nodded, “Then meet me in Kailan on Sunday.”

n“What?”

n“Why are you so surprised? Meet me at Lobos Village at 2 p.m.”

nJinsung thought about it, ‘Does he think I am lying?’

nThen, he glanced at Jinuk, ‘He seems to think that the image is a fake…’

nJinuk must be trying to check his level at Kailan himself.

nJinsung concluded and nodded, “Yes, professor.”

n“Okay, then I will see you then.” Jinuk stood up.

nJinsung also got up and reminded him of the bet.

n“Professor, I did win the bet, right?”

nHowever, Jinuk didn’t give the answer he wanted right away, “We will talk about it on Sunday.”

nJinsung left the office with a heavy heart.

n…

n“Ka! I am finally free!”

nIan logged in to Kailan. He was so happy that he almost cried.

n‘I can focus on playing Kailan even during the semester now!’

nHe had hunted so hard to reach Lv. 93 in time!

nNow, he could breathe freely.

nHe hadn’t gotten a firm promise from Jinuk, but he believed he will on Sunday.

nHe had won the bet anyway.

n‘Hu! now that I have been freed from the pressure of leveling-up, shall I do the quests I have

ndelayed?’

nIan had two quests to do now.

nOne was the Magic Tower of Dimensions quest he had gotten from the Dragon Tamer Orkley, and the

nother was the Hatching of the Griffin’s Egg quest he got from the Emperor Salias of the Luspell

nEmpire.

n‘I thought I’d better do the Magic Tower of Dimensions quest first, so I came over to the Forcal

nMountains…’

nThe Magic Tower of Dimensions quest had no time limit, whereas the time limit for the Hatching the

nGriffin’s Egg quest was ‘unknown’.

nJudging from only this point, the Egg quest was more urgent…

n‘But there’s nothing I can do now to hatch the egg!’

nIan had tried to get info about how to hatch a pet’s egg from NPCs whenever he had time, but he had

ngotten no useful information.

nIan’s style was to start the quest he could do now than to focus on the quest he didn’t know how to

ncomplete.

nMoreover, doing the Magic Tower quest would destroy the seal of the Dragon Tamer’s Feather

nAccessory, he might even get a War Dragon as his pet.

nThe reward was just extraordinary.

n‘I should go to the Magic Tower of Dimensions first.’

nThe Tower wasn’t far from the Scorching Land.

nMonsters that lived near the Tower were about Lv. 80~90. They were even weaker than those of the

nNorth Continent, so they weren’t a problem for Ian.

nIan made up his mind and headed toward the Tower on Ly.

n