“Oh, so the real thief isn’t here, right? Wait, then does it mean that these guys were just middle bosses?"

Somehow, Loki remained silent. Yu-Seong felt a bit anxious by the silence, but he still wanted to believe that he could encounter the rewards after entering the portal.

‘There’s no way the Korean difficulty level is beyond this.’

With that thought, Yu-Seong took a step toward the portal with a smile.

***

It was a field without any particularly tall reeds or grassy leaves. To be more precise, a very large lawn that was just right for soccer spread out in front of Choi Yu-Seong.

‘What am I supposed to do here?’ 

Yu-Seong tilted his head for a moment, looking at the vacant world beyond the portal.

"Hong hong hong, player Choi Yu-Seong. You knocked down my toy friends in a really clever way. I was very impressed," shouted Mr. Guy with his arms wide open as he hopped toward Yu-Seong.

Yu-Seong looked at the figure with a rather absurd gaze for a while, then asked, "Is the promotion exam over?"

"No way. If that’s the case, then wouldn't the message ‘Completed’ appear?” answered Mr. Guy.

"Damn, Korean difficulty."

"Please refrain from harsh swear words. I also get hurt, too. But more importantly,, player Choi Yu-Seong, you haven't been able to catch the thief yet, right?”

After all, there were no thieves anywhere in the Sun, Star, and the Moon rooms. From the beginning, the three rooms were merely gateways for the player to come to this field.

‘In the meantime, they placed monsters like the armored knights there.’ 

If the difficulty level was constructed in this way, there would be so many people who would not be able to pass even the first gate. However, promotion evaluations consisting of step by step levels had one clear advantage.

‘The promotion evaluation is supposed to reward the player as much as they have suffered.’

Maybe he could hope for a bigger reward than he first expected. With such expectations in mind, Yu-Seong asked Mr. Guy, “Then, do I have to find a needle in a haystack from now on?”

"Hmm, finding a needle in the haystack? That's quite an interesting expression. It might be similar, but this is different. Player Choi Yu-Seong, look over to where I’m pointing with your eyes wide open."

"Umm..." Yu-Seong hummed. Following Mr. Guy’s index finger, he looked near the horizon of the field.

"Can't you see?”

"What?"

"If you look closely, you’ll see a very small and cute..."

"Bunny?"

"Yes, that's right. There's a bunny."

Though not visible at first, shadows were gradually blooming across the horizon.

"...They keep increasing."

"I haven't counted them, but there's probably about 5,000 of them," said Mr. Guy.

"No way..."

“Among them, there's a cute friend I’ve raised. His name is Tory, and he's got snow-white fur. I'll tell you one of his characteristics: he's got a star on the bottom of his belly. But unfortunately, well, he suddenly ran away a few hours ago and hid among the crowd.”

Yu-Seong narrowed his eyes at Mr. Guy, who went on to say, "Yes, that's right. That brat is the thief who ran away after stealing half of the player Choi Yu-Seong’s soul. Hong hong hong.”

"What nonsense is that… Weren't you the one who gave it to him?”

"Whatever. That’s not important. For now, just know that our cute Tory is the thief."

"Then, my promotion screening is to find a bunny named Tory before my condition reaches 0%.”

Choi Yu-Seong immediately started to warm up.

‘The remaining condition, 98%.’

Perhaps because his condition level was high, the speed it fell was noticeably slower than before.

‘I have to catch all of the rabbits and turn them upside down one by one.’ 

Heavy labor could be expected, but it wasn’t an impossible feat. Yu-Seong couldn’t afford to be relaxed though. He had to save time as much as possible.

Just when Yu-Seong made up his mind and was about to run forward, Mr. Guy put his index finger up and continued to talk. "Oh, wait. You know the basic rules, but there’s another rule in this second round.”

"I don't have time, just get to the point quickly," said Yu-Seong.

"You have a quick temper. To explain briefly, this evaluation is a match between me and you, player Choi Yu-Seong," said Mr. Guy.

"...What?"

"It's about finding my cute pet Tory, so I can't just sit and watch, right? We should find him together.”

"It sounds like a completely disadvantageous match for me. I feel like you already know which one is Tory..." said Yu-Seong.

"Hong hong hong, you’re quite right. I can tell where he is just by the smell,” said Mr. Guy. He swept his long beard once again, and continued, "So, with the penalty, I’ll start in exactly half an hour. Isn't this a fair match?"

"It still doesn’t seem fair, but you’re not going to give me more time even if I ask you, right?” asked Yu-Seong.

“That would render the ‘promotion evaluation’ meaningless, wouldn’t it?”

"How perfectly reasonable!" Yu-Seong praised sarcastically while looking straight at Mr. Guy who giggled.

‘The time limit is 30 minutes.’

Within that time, Yu-Seong had to find Mr. Guy's pet bunny named Tory.

'Among those 5,000 rabbits in front of me.’ 

No matter how many times he thought about it, there was no way that Yu-Seong could not be stunned.

Did someone say ‘lawn’?

‘No, it’s a rabbit field.’

Yu-Seong scratched the side of his head as he looked at the large number of rabbits.

‘Finding it may not be the problem if I check them one by one.’

However, could Yu-Seong be faster than Mr. Guy, who would start in half an hour? What was worse, these rabbits were gathered together when they first appeared, but were scattered everywhere now.

‘Just by glancing over the white bunnies, I suppose there’s more than 1,000 of them.’ 

Mr. Guy never even said that Tory had 'only' white fur.

‘Thinking about it in this way, I would have to check about 3,000 of them.’ 

If possible, Yu-Seong wanted to levitate the rabbits at once with some great magic spell and easily check their tummies by passing through them. Of course, it was not something that Yu-Seong—who was about to become a D-rank player—could do.

"But instead, I can do this… Summon Dimensional Merchant."

Ping Pong appeared after opening the dimensional door. He toddled out with his arms folded. Then, he raised his hand toward Yu-Seong and said, "Choi-Hi!"

"...What?" asked Yu-Seong.

“It means Choi Yu-Seong, hi. Long time no see!"

"Where did you learn that?”

"It's a popular greeting among the merchants these days," said Ping Pong.

The one who started the trend was probably a fellow who was greatly familiar with the Earth’s internet community in Korea.

"Anyway, I bet ten lollipops on the next summon, and I have things to ask for quickly,” Yu-Seong said.

"If it's ten lollipops, I'll have to show you everything except for what I don't have!"

Ping Pong exhaled a big breath and opened a bundle from his chest pocket. Then, he found some of the items that Yu-Seong had in mind. After that, Yu-Seong started to get busy.

***

15 minutes later, Mr. Guy had been lying on the field, looking at the blue sky when he was covered by Yu-Seong’s shadow.

"Huh? Did you give up already? Just to let you know—if you give up now, I bet you'll be very disappointed." Mr. Guy turned his head slightly and smiled after seeing Yu-Seong, who looked like a mess from running around and falling over many times. He continued, "The rabbits are pretty quick, aren't they?”

"Since I have to catch the one I didn’t catch before," said Yu-Seong with a deep sigh. He spun the pen in his left hand.

"Well, I see that you summoned the dimensional merchant earlier to buy a pen! It’s not a bad method to not repeat the mistake of catching the same guy even though it seems to be a rather primitive way. But, aren’t you pressed for time?"

"I am pressed for time, but I want to ask you to promise me something,” said Yu-Seong.

“What promise?” asked Mr.Guy as he tilted his head with curiosity.

“This promotion evaluation ends as soon as Tory is found, right? Whether I find him or you find him.”

"Kind of," said Mr.Guy.

"But I think it would be upsetting if Mr. Guy found Tory first while I was searching for him and I got kicked out of the promotion examination,” said Yu-Seong.

"Well, I understand. But the rules of the examination are inevitable." Mr. Guy brushed his long beard once again and looked at Yu-Seong. He asked, "If you don't want to be eliminated, why don't you run around with all your might now?"

“I’m going to. Though, as I said before, please promise me one thing."

"Oh, I hope you, player Choi Yu-Seong, will pass the promotion evaluation… But what a shame that you are wasting your time like this.” Mr. Guy glanced at Yu-Seong's innocent look and raised his body as if he had no choice and nodded. "Tell me."

"If you find Tory first, promise to let me know too. At least I deserve to know what Tory looks like, don’t you think so?” said Yu-Seong.

"Hmm... Well."

"On top of that, your bunny would be very cute, right?”

People were usually happy to receive compliments of their children and pets, and Mr. Guy was no exception.

"Of course. I guarantee you, Tory is the cutest bunny in the world." Mr. Guy soon smiled and responded with a nod and a loud, rough sniff. "I promise. If I find Tory first, I will give you a chance to see its cuteness. But I’m telling you in advance, that doesn't mean that the results of the evaluation will change.”

"Of course, then, promise?" Yu-Seong smiled and put out his pinky covered with black dust.

Mr. Guy looked at Yu-Seong with a rather strange expression and soon hung his pinkie on Yu-Seong's dirty finger. He then commented, "You're quite innocent, player Choi Yu-Seong."

"I know, haha. Mr. Guy," responded Yu-Seong.

They unlinked their fingers after showing similar smiles toward each other. Yu-Seong then turned his back and said, “Then, see you later."

"Keep working hard. For now, I will lie back down to enjoy the rest of my break," said Mr. Guy.

There were 13 minutes left. Mr. Guy relaxed on the grass while Yu-Seong ran toward the rabbits with all his might.