“Let’s go. There are no more promising people that caught my eye in this city.”

“Did you really have to go that far? No matter how you look at it, your recent exchange with that girl looks shady. Wouldn’t it be more convincing and plausible if you told her that she ‘won a sweepstakes event?’ The DIO connecting devices we send out have an alluring natural element to them, so the receivers are bound to play the game at least once. And, as you know, once users start playing the game, they can’t stop.”

DIO was not a simple game. It was a new world. Though it was still in its early stages, once it was unveiled to the world, it would be an instant hit that would disrupt the world order.

“That is what would occur if the receiver was your average individual. When I ‘read’ that girl, she didn’t seem like she would ever connect to DIO even if we sent her a connecting device.”

“Still, did you have to give her a computer, promise to set it up, and state that you’d cure her mother’s illness? Is she really worth all that trouble?”

“She is.”

Hearing the firm response, the young man became quiet before saying, “Really?”

“Yes. She’s on par with that boy, the son of the military official.”

“The son of the military official? Oh, you mean that guy… eh?”

After exclaiming ‘eh,’ the young man thought for a moment before jumping up in surprise and staring at the middle-aged man.

“W-wait. Isn’t he an irregular? How can she be similar.…”

However, as he was speaking, the young man seemed to realize something.

“There are two irregulars on one planet?”

“Actually, there’s one more. There’s three in total.”

“…”

The young man was at a loss for words. What the middle-aged man just stated didn’t make any sense.

“Having an irregular on a planet is surprising and rare, and it's a blessing from the gods for even a single one to appear.”

“Wait, does it make sense that there are three irregulars on one planet? This entire planet only has a population of seven billion people.”

“There are always surprises.”

The middle-aged man calmly stated this as he started walking, with the young man following close behind.

“Then, shall I deep scan the entire planet? If there are any other individuals with potential, we should find them as soon as possible.”

“That’s a great idea. Oh, and while you’re at it, tell Cain to start the charging service and have him purchase computers with his unused funds. Have him buy… ten thousand- wait, no… a hundred thousand computers. Yeah, that should work. Also, have him get some money and gold.”

“What do you plan on doing with all of that?”

“Something crossed my mind after speaking with that girl. Even if there are promising individuals, they may not be able to play the game due to their family finances, country of residence, or other extraneous factors. Since DIO doesn’t require an internet connection, users can play from anywhere, from the Amazon or even the most remote places in Africa.”

The young man nodded in agreement. “That sounds reasonable. However, if you give things away like you just did, I think we might get the opposite of what we want. Since this girl is an irregular, the approach you took might work, but for others, I think telling them they won a sweepstake would be more convincing. A ‘month-long free pass to play DIO’ reward, for instance.”

“Okay, that sounds reasonable. We may lose some users if we take that approach, but it’s not like we can get everyone. As long as we can make sure that the most valuable users connect and play DIO- huh?”

The middle-aged man was relaxedly explaining his thoughts when a mysterious expression abruptly started appearing on his face. It was as if he was witnessing a chicken that he’d raised his entire life one day fly into the sky and perch on an electric wire far above the ground.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing serious; it’s just a minor thing. There seems to be a bug in DIO, some kind of system error.”

The young man looked exasperated. “What? A bug in DIO? Isn’t it impossible to have bugs in the system?”

“That’s what I thought as well… interesting. Well, we’re not gods. It’s impossible for us to be without flaws.” 

As he spoke, the middle-aged man waved his hand, which started becoming blurry and translucent. The young man frowned.

“Is it one of the new users?”

“Time will tell. You should focus on the work that Cain needs to do, Melton.”

With that said, the middle-aged man disappeared into thin air. Seeing this, the young man shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, if he doesn’t want to continue the conversation, it’s not my place to butt in. Anyway, I should get going.”

Just like the middle-aged man, Melton also disappeared.

***

A bunch of text floated around a blue orb that was suspended in the air. Then, the orb disappeared, and in its place, a young man in his twenties descended.

“Oh. I’ve completely recovered. Isn’t this incredible?”

The young man opened and closed his right hand as he admired his recovery. After all, just an hour earlier, his arm was in an unusable state. Though he knew he was in a game, he couldn’t help but praise how real the system’s sensory world felt.

“Hmm, although I’ve logged out and logged back in, I guess it won’t place me outside the dungeon. But this also means that I can take my time to clear any dungeon.”

Yongno didn’t know this, but while logging out inside a dungeon wouldn’t affect the user, the dungeon’s monster would reset, which would return them to their original spawns. Moreover, unlike the mobs, users wouldn’t be able to examine their surroundings or receive protection from a magic circle while they logged in. In other words, if a user logged out where the monsters had been initially, when they logged back in and materialized, they would be attacked immediately. 

“Anyway, how am I supposed to exit the dungeon? Do I really have to go back from where I entered? Is there actually no secret exit?”

As Yongno mumbled to himself, he utilized Aura Vision and the system’s scanning function to inspect his surroundings once more. Yongno searched every nook and cranny in the hopes of finding a secret path. While he was observing the ground, Yongno found that something was buried underneath.

“Hmm?”

In the center of the sixteen boxes, which were placed in a circular pattern, there was something roughly three meters below the surface. Utilizing both Aura Vision and the scanning function, Yongno realized what was three meters below the surface. 

“A sword…?”

It was a beautiful silver sword that bore a thin blade. The sword’s cross-guard was encrusted and decorated with jewels, while the grip was wrapped in an unknown yet modern-looking blue material. 

The sword seemed like an item that would appear in a legend. Judging solely by its outward appearance, the sword looked more akin to a piece of art than a functioning weapon. As he stared at the sword in awe, Yongno unconsciously appraised it.

“SS Tier?”

Although his first experience with the tiering system was when he acquired the pair of glasses, Yongno had been given a brief overview from Mari. The item tiering system was similar to the skill rank system. However, rather than ‘rank,’ which was used for skills, items used ‘tiers.’ A Level 1 user would only be able to use items at the 9th tier tier. Level 2 users could use up to 8th tier items, while 7th tier items were for users who achieved their Level 3 and so on. Thus, once an individual reached Level 9, they could start using first-tier items. When a user entered Level 10, the user would be able to use A-tier items.

A tier, otherwise known as the Master level, had wider level requirements before one could use the next tier of items. For example, AA tier items could only be wielded starting from Level 13, and S tier items required Level 16. An SS tier item could only be used at Level 18, whereas a UT tier item needed the user to pass Level 20.

However, what Yongno didn’t know was that items were divided based on their ‘performance.’ For example, the Wicalein’s Ring that he possessed was a unique item that had considerable value; however, it did not offer much in the way of performance, so it was graded as a 9th tier item. 

“How… am I supposed to get that sword out?”

“You can’t. You don’t have the ability yet.”

“…?”

Yongno jumped back in fright. Despite never learning martial arts, he instinctively knew that the person who replied to him had lessened their weight by using a body movement art. So, Yongno had leaped back to distance himself at least five meters away from the origin of the voice. Yet, Yongno soon realized that a middle-aged man was standing directly beside him.

“You don’t have to be so surprised. I’m not here to hurt you.”

“Eh, it’s you….”

“It’s been a while. In this place, I’m… like an operator. I’m here because I was notified of a bug.”

“Huh? A bug? What is a bug-”

As he was speaking, Yongno realized something. He had entered the dungeon, swam around for a couple of hours, and came across a treasure trove of loot. He had been so happy with his good fortune that he forgot to consider how odd his actions and results would look to an outsider. Even if Yongno didn’t recognize the true value of the items he acquired, he knew that he had come across items that were too exceptional for him.

“Wait… you haven’t come to take the rewards away from me, right?”

Yongno tried to make his body small and find a way to sneak off, but he knew his actions were futile. Even Mari, the NPC, could go into his inventory and take out whatever she wanted. It would be a piece of cake for an operator to take anything from his inventory whenever they wanted. 

“Hmm, well, the items you took are a little rare at the moment, but I don’t really have any thoughts of taking them away from you.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Yes. You acquired those items from no fault of your own. We made a mistake. Furthermore, since you obtained items that are high tiered, you won’t be able to use them anyway since you don’t meet their skill and level requirements. In any case, you wouldn’t be unbalancing the game. I guess the main issue is the gold and jewels. You really are in possession of too much gold and jewels, so I’ll be taking away four-fifths.”

Cha-ching!

As soon as the middle-aged man said those words, Yongno’s inventory opened, and a large number of gold coins flew up in the air before being sucked through an open door. Yongno looked at the unfolding scene with saddened eyes. However, he was in no position to protest. Shouldn’t he be happy that he was able to keep some of the gold?

“You’re very interesting. You took advantage of a weakness in our system. To be specific, the protection mechanism that protects low-level players when they accidentally stumble across more powerful foes. The mechanic was meant to avoid undue and unjust harm to beginner users. I never imagined that it could be used in this way.”

Of course, it wouldn’t make sense for the operator to be completely ignorant. In the first place, DIO’s dungeons shouldn’t have had an opening that allowed a low-level player to enter unless they met the qualifications. They had never considered that a low-level user could travel deep into the depths of the sea, especially an individual at the first level. The Seadragon’s Temple was an astounding one thousand meters below sea level, and it was situated at the bottom of the sea. Moreover, the dungeon’s entrance was protected by a sturdy, nearly unbreakable ice wall. This ice wall was a great deterrent that should have filtered out any unqualified users. Yet, incredibly, as a Level 1 user no less, Yongno had swum a thousand kilometers straight down and took advantage of his water attribute to pass through the ice wall. This wasn’t just a rare confluence of events; it was a situation that they had never even considered. 

“Then, you’ll let me off?”

“Yes. However, I can’t have something like this happen again, so I’ll have to take some precautions.”

After saying this, the middle-aged man closed his eyes. He stayed in that state for about three seconds before he reopened them.

Then, the world [Changed].

“Hmm…?”

Within the blink of an eye, a feeling that stemmed from something unknown crept through Yongno. Confused about what was going on, Yongno looked around him. That was when he saw it. In the water-filled Boss Room, Yongno spotted a massive monster that filled up the entire room.