I didn't think I was the only one who had received the quest. Since the title would be given to the expedition members who had successfully protected the continent, I was sure the party had already received the news as well. As I expected, the expedition party members entered the management room a few moments later. With Park Yeon-Joo and Kim Hyun-Sung at the front, Jung Ha-Yan and Park Deok-Gu entered, while Sun Hee-Young and Ahn Ki-Mo took a seat on one side of the room with the other Black Swan Guild members. I guess they managed to rescue the trapped members because I saw unfamiliar faces with them.

‘They look better than I thought.’

I somewhat expected it because from the start, Max had never been a named monster, but a clump of mana categorized as the dungeon guide. He was nothing more than a manager, so there was no need for him to persecute them.

‘He’s also a pushover…’

Anyway, when the party entered, they looked surprised, and they looked at me as if asking what I was doing here. Even I was surprised by my current situation, so their reaction was understandable. Not only was I skillfully controlling the devices I had seen for the first time, but I was drinking the coffee Max had actually made for me, so I was sure they couldn’t understand the situation, as it had become completely different from before. I was sure they wanted an explanation and Park Yeon-Joo was the first person to speak up.

“What’s… going on?”

“We made a deal. He said he would fix the Fragment of the Ancient God’s seal,” I answered.

“I-I see. The devices…”

“I don’t know much about it, but the system is fairly easy to understand. When I first saw it, I had an idea as to how it worked, which is why I offered a trade. I saw a few error messages popping up. And I’m pretty good at handling machines as well…” I explained.

“I don’t think being good at handling machines explains how you’re using the system,” she said.

Her voice was filled with doubt, but I couldn’t tell her that I had become familiar with the system because of Mind’s Eye. Our lovely regressor was also surprised, but not long after, he looked proud and started looking at me again as if I was some kind of treasure. Kim Hyun-Sung didn’t express it openly, but that was when I heard Park Deok-Gu’s loud voice.

“Our hyung-nim is a genius! Our hyung-nim is the best!”

“It’s nothing like that,” I said.

“You’re telling us that you didn’t know how to operate it, but after one look—you could already operate it after just one look!” he added.

“...”

To be exact, I had a good eye rather than being smart. There was a saying that it was about the destination, not the journey,[1] so when only looking at the result, I may seem like a genius, but if I didn’t have Mind’s Eye, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

Park Deok-Gu’s words may have incited the expedition members, but the Black Swan Guild members seemed like they had recognized me as a genius. Some of them must have recalled how perfect our formation was before we left for the expedition because I noticed some of them nodding in response to Park Deok-Gu’s words.

Park Deok-Gu and Kim Hyun-Sung felt proud once again and because of the strange looks some of the Black Swan Guild members were giving me, Jung Ha-Yan was becoming wary of her surroundings again. I wanted to enjoy my time with them, but I couldn’t afford to do that.

‘I’m busy.’

Maintaining the seal on the monster didn’t end with just filling the backup program with mana. For the main protection device, the task the Rift Guardians had assigned caused the system to move on its own, but the backup program required someone to manually control it for the system to maintain the seal. I understood why Max wasn’t able to do anything else other than to hold on to this device.

‘I need to hold it down.’

The dirty Fragment of the Ancient God still wasn’t completely sealed. Not only was it wiggling around, but it was still trying to break free from the backup system. On the screen, the blue mana looked like it was simply tying down the monster, but this task was more complicated than I thought. I had to keep inserting mana into the hole being drilled, and I also had to keep putting pressure on the side the monster was using its strength on. It felt like I was playing a video game—a defense game, but to be exact, I was playing a game where I had to dodge bullets.

'In this case, it may be more accurate to say that I had to have the plane defend us from the bullets by having them hit the plane...'

Obviously, I couldn’t compare the controls to a one-dimensional game.

‘That’s why the difficulty is increasing…’

Basically, I couldn’t handle this while doing other tasks.

Maybe it was because of my serious face and my fast-moving hands, but the loud atmosphere soon died down. Moments later, all I heard was the sound of the magic circles moving and even Max was watching the monitor anxiously. Anyone could see that things weren’t going well and I actually felt like I needed more hands. That was when Kim Hyun-Sung started talking.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

‘You’re the only one who cares about me.’

“Hm… there is something. I’m sure it’ll make this a lot easier,” I replied.

I was actually thinking about asking for help.

“Max, take care of this for me. Don’t insert mana into useless places… I won’t take long so maintain it as much as you can,” I ordered.

- Understood!

When I stood up, Max immediately sat in my seat and started controlling the magic circles. When I turned my head, I saw the expedition members looking at me and after I showed them a hologram made from mana, I started going over the situation.

“I’ll give a concise and quick explanation of the situation,” I started.

“Okay…”

When I was about to continue, Park Yeon-Joo asked a question and naturally, it wasn’t a difficult question to answer. I just had to cover up the setting Dialugia and I had created when we lied to the party.

“Excuse me. If you don’t mind, could I ask a question, Mr. Ki-Young?”

“Go ahead,” I answered.

“Before that… didn’t you say that the Fragment of the Ancient God was in a resting period?” she asked.

“Yes, it definitely was in a resting period. Dialugia came to that conclusion and after talking to Max, he said the same thing,” I replied.

Of course, it was a lie.

“We were trying to reseal the Fragment of the Ancient God while it was in its resting period in the museum, but after noticing the backup program’s activity, it started resisting the program and we’re currently in that situation. I’d like to explain a little more in detail, but I don’t have much time…” I added.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she apologized.

“It’s fine. I’m sure it seemed suspicious. As you can see, almost all parts of the monster are now sealed, but rifts have started to appear on the seals. What Max is doing right now is covering the holes using the mana from the backup program,” I continued.

“Hm…”

“Thankfully, we managed to gather mana from other places, and we are able to maintain the status quo, but I believe we need to come up with a different method to hold down the monster since it’ll just keep on fighting the system. We also need people who can handle unexpected situations,” I explained.

“I see…”

“One thing I can say with confidence is that I wouldn’t have asked for your help if I thought this was going to be a dangerous task, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be dangerous at all…” I said.

“You’re saying it’s not dangerous enough for us to lose our lives.” Park Yeon-Joo pointed out.

“No, I’m going to prevent all of you from getting in dangerous situations by using the backup program here,” I answered.

“I think I understand… what you’re talking about,” she said.

“If I think the situation isn’t improving, then not only will I ask you to retreat, but I’ll consider your safety as the top priority,” I told them.

“And if the seal breaks…”

“We’re the ones who broke the seal in the first place, but I’m sure there’s a way to fix it,” I reminded them.

There wasn’t a way to fix it. If the seal broke, then we would just have to wait 30,000 years for the continent’s collapse. To be honest, I didn’t give a shit about the continent’s survival. However, although it had nothing to do with me, the fact that I could lose something from this broke my heart.

‘My museum…’

I wouldn’t be able to use these control devices again. The museum’s destruction would result in the destruction of the backup program in the management room and all the functions in this location would shut down, turning this place into a dumping ground.

‘If possible, it would be better to repair the seal.’

I continued talking while nodding, but this time, I spoke with a more serious tone.

“We’ll move with the expedition party’s survival as our top priority.”

“Okay, I understand.”

“I feel relieved hearing you say that,” Park Deok-Gu said.

“Alright…”

“Ahem. Also, I know it’s strange for me to bring this up, but…” I paused.

“What is it?”

“I’m sure all of you have received a quest,” I answered.

[Checking the Legendary-Ranked Quest.]

[Legendary-Ranked Quest - Continental Salvation (0/1)]

I saw everyone looking at their status window.

“I’m a petite bourgeoisie who cares more about your survival than the continent’s survival and that’s the reason why things went wrong earlier. I felt kind of strange to suddenly receive a quest like this,” I continued.

Actually, it wasn’t that strange at all.

“I even thought that maybe someone was watching us. If I had to describe this strange feeling, I think it’s right to say that I felt a sense of responsibility. Ah, it’s not because I’m being greedy over the stats that come with the title as a reward. Haha,” I chuckled.

When I chuckled, everyone laughed lightly.

Obviously, I didn’t feel a sense of responsibility. I just wanted the reward because that one-point increase in my magic stat was precious.

“If you think about it, we’re just fixing the issue we created… There’s this urge in me to complete this quest safely and with no casualties,” I added.

For the museum!

“For our future generations who will live in Lindel,” I said.

Jo Hye-Jin, who had an inkling of my true nature, and Dialugia, who had participated in the dirty negotiation earlier, looked as if every word coming out of my mouth was a bunch of bullshit, but the majority of the people here were nodding. Sun Hee-Young and Ahn Ki-Mo especially seemed like they enjoyed the speech. A motivated expedition party with a sense of responsibility would become strong. Fraud was one of the key elements in solving this kind of issue, even though it may not seem that way.

“Let’s get going.”

“We’re leaving.”

Kim Hyun-Sung ordered the party and the expedition party started walking as they nodded. I did feel guilty after looking at Dialugia’s face because she looked at me as if she was dumbfounded until the very last moment, but right now, we were the continent’s chosen guardians.

‘We’ll show you the power of mankind! You dirty Fragment of the Ancient God!’

The real battle had started and from the monster’s point of view, I was sure the fight seemed pretty unfair.

1. While the saying is ‘it’s the journey, not the destination,’ the raws had it as 어떻게 가도 목적지에 도착하면 상관없다 so we left it as is ☜