Even though the party wasn’t able to sleep at all, they weren’t the type of people to get tired after staying up for just one night.

“Let’s all wash up for now and meet up at the restaurant,” Wei Chun-Hak said as he handed out the hotel key cards he had brought from the first floor. The guest rooms had been tidily cleaned up with the initialization, and they smelled nice.

Shwaaa! 

“...No problems with the water either.” The water pressure was strong. Seo Jun-Ho looked up at the showerhead and frowned. For a city that had no one running it, the amenities worked surprisingly well.

‘And it has already been a few months.’ 

He didn’t understand the ‘initialization’ system that happened every day at 6 AM on a logical system either.

‘There’s a lot to learn.’ 

When he finished showering and returned to the restaurant, he could hear some activity from the kitchen.

“Is someone cooking in there?” he asked Gilberto, who was making coffee. Gilberto’s face grew dark, and he nodded.

“Unfortunately…”

“Wait, don’t tell me…?” Seo Jun-Ho caught his meaning and quickly took out gun-bbang from his Inventory.[1] “This will be my breakfast for today.”

As soon as he said that, Mio suddenly poked her head out of the kitchen. “Jun-Ho. I am making breakfast.”

“...Sorry, I feel a little nauseous after witnessing that sight last night. I’m just gonna eat this for today.”

Mio looked a little regretful before she disappeared.

Seo Jun-Ho then let out a sigh of relief. “I forgot because it has been a while.”

“It reminds me of the old days,” Gilberto remarked.

Mio’s cooking tasted fatal. Because of that, Gilberto and Seo Jun-Ho always took turns cooking inside Gates.

“I should also be careful from now on so that she won’t get to enter the kitchen,” Gilberto said with determination. Behind him, the other party members poured in.

“I’m hungry, I’m hungry. Huh? Is someone cooking? Gimme food~” Skaya sang.

“I am also a little hungry,” Rahmadat said.

As soon as they took their seats, Mio came out of the kitchen with scary timing, carrying plates.

Skaya stiffened when she saw. “...Why are you coming out of there?”

“I prepared breakfast.”

“Why?”

“Because I was the first to come here.”

“Why?”

“Skaya, you sometimes ask nonsensical questions.”

“Why?”

Mio ignored Skaya’s confusion and put down the plates. On top of them sat pleasant-looking, freshly-cooked pancakes.

Wei Chun-Hak, Cha Si-Eun, and Kim Woo-Joong all picked up the forks, not knowing any better.

“I never thought that I would be able to try the Sky Phoenix’s cooking.”

“I’ll cook next time.”

“Thank you for the food.”

Mio nodded once, looking proud. She looked at Rahmadat and Skaya. “And you two?”

“I’m not eating it. Your cooking tastes bad,” Rahmadat said. At his cutting remark, all their forks froze in the air.

“That is false. I have become much better at cooking. It is the truth,” Mio said, quickly denying it.

“Forget it. Jun-Ho, give me some of your gun-bbang.”

Mio looked at Skaya, hurt by the stubborn refusal. Mio looked as sad as an abandoned puppy, and Skaya wavered at that sight.

‘N-no, I can’t…’ She knew better than anyone else that she would regret it if she ate these pancakes. However, she didn’t want to offend her adorable, lovely friend.

In the end, she picked up a fork with a trembling hand. “I should… eat.”

Skaya stared down at the plate. The pancakes smelled nice with maple syrup poured over them, and they also looked pretty good from the outside.

‘Yeah. Mio’s cooking might have actually improved.’ 

And pancakes were easy to make. All you had to do was make sure the dough was cooked well. They looked so good on the outside, so they shouldn’t taste that bad. After all, it was difficult to make pancakes taste bad.

As everyone watched, Skaya swallowed a piece of a pancake with a terrified look.

“Mm↗!”

She couldn’t suppress the sound she had just made. It was all because Skaya realized that the pancakes were undercooked.

“How is it?” Mio asked, looking very nervous.

Rahmadat snorted. “Can’t you tell just from her face? I’m pretty sure it tastes bad.”

“...Please be quiet. I will not cook for you anymore.”

“I would be grateful if you did.”

Mio gave him a sharp look and turned to Skaya. The latter forcibly swallowed the squishy batter and gave her a thumbs-up with great effort.

“I-it’s good.”

The party was full of liars.

***

After breakfast, four party members looked half-dead, as if they had eaten a poisonous mushroom.

“Perhaps it’s a new assassination technique… No, I don’t think the 5 Heroes would target me… Then why…?”

“Mr. Chun-Hak.” Seo Jun-Ho called while the other was muttering to himself.

“I need to leave…”

“Mr. Chun-Hak?”

Wei Chun-Hak managed to pull himself together and turned toward Seo Jun-Ho. “W-what is it?”

“What do we need to do to clear the so-called Quests?”

At the mention of this, Wei Chun-Hak looked a little more alive. “For that, you just need to say ‘Quest Window’.”

“Quest Window?”

The words had barely left his mouth when a blue, semi-transparent window appeared before him.

[First Quest]

Requirements: Collect 10 marbles.

“It says I need to collect marbles,” Seo Jun-Ho said.

“Those marbles will be the most important part of all the Quests you’ll do,” Wei Chun-Hak explained.

“What do we do once we collect them?”

“There are machines called marble vending machines around the city… Actually, it would just be faster to show you in person.” Wei Chun-Hak stood up and gestured with his hand. “Let’s take a walk together.”

While everyone followed him out of the restaurant, Seo Jun-Ho remained behind.

“Why aren’t you coming out?” he asked the invisible Frost Queen.

“...Hmph.” Sitting on a chair, the Frost Queen smiled kindly and shook her head. “I am quite alright, so I hope you and your friends have a safe trip.”

“Huh? What are you saying? You’re coming too.”

“I said, I am quite alright.”

Why was she suddenly acting like this? The Frost Queen gripped the armrests of her chair, showing that she had no intention of letting go no matter what.

“Are you… Are you acting like this because of the cockroaches?”

The Frost Queen flinched; she had just displayed a very obvious reaction to the mention of them. “W-what are you intending to say?”

“I’m asking if you’re acting like this because you’re scared of the cockroaches.”

“I am… not a child… They are insignificant creatures…”

She couldn’t even hide the great fear on her face. The Frost Queen looked at Seo Jun-Ho with a pitiful look, her eyes gleaming with anxiety.

“Contractor. May I stay here just for today? Just one day,” she said honestly.

Seo Jun-Ho lightly patted her head. “Nope. Come here, right now.”

She had no other choice.

***

The eight of them walked down the wide street. Wei Chun-Hak slung his jacket over his shoulder and led them. “Marbles are hidden all over the city. There’s no pattern to it. For example…”

He suddenly bent down and reached into the beverage vending machine.

“...”

“...”

They watched him doubtfully, but he was grinning when he stood back up.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m telling you, the marbles are actually hidden in places like this.” He held out his dust-covered hand, showing off three brilliant marbles.

So, it turned out that he hadn’t been digging for change.

“All the marbles give off a tiny amount of magic energy, so concentrate as you walk around.”

“So, they are not very difficult to find.”

“I think Skaya will have it the easiest.”

Unsurprisingly, she eagerly reached into her Inventory and pulled out something resembling a vacuum cleaner. “With the Magic Detector 4.0, this will be a piece of cake!”

“...So, once we gather the marbles, how do we use them?” Kim Woo-Joong asked.

“Good question. Everyone, follow me.” Wei Chun-Hak led them into an alleyway and stopped in front of a white vending machine. “This is the marble vending machine.”

“So, you put in marbles instead of money?”

“Yup. Every time you put in 100 marbles, you’ll get a random potion, skill book, or a piece of gear. There are broken vending machines too, so be careful. If you put your marbles in one, you won’t get them back.”

Their eyes grew hazy. After all, Wei Chun-Hak’s words meant you would become stronger the more marbles you collected.

“Then, as long as you collect a lot of marbles, you’ll keep getting stronger?”

“Unfortunately, no. Every Player can only get ten rewards at most.”

It was a vague number. They couldn’t tell if ten was a lot or a little.

“Are there any other uses for the marbles other than the vending machines?”

“No. At the least, we haven’t been able to find another way to use it in the two months that we have been here.” Wei Chun-Hak’s face grew a little concerned. “Now that I’m about to leave, I’m getting worried about you guys. There were 20,000 Players living here before… But once I leave, there’ll only be seven of you.”

“Well, shouldn’t it be fine as long as we don’t go out at night?”

“Not exactly. They crawl around during the day too, in dark buildings and sewers.” In other words, unless they were somewhere bright, their safety wasn’t guaranteed. “Well, with the members you have, I guess I don’t need to worry. For the first five Quests, all you’ll need to do is collect marbles. After everyone is done using those vending machines ten times upon collecting a thousand of those marbles, let’s meet up at the next city.”

Wei Chun-Hak waved casually. “I have my own Quest I need to finish, so I’ll be on my way.”

“Thank you for helping us.”

“It was nothing. If you really want to repay me, hurry up and meet me at the front lines and help me out.”

After the party members said their farewells, Wei Chun-Hak disappeared at the end of the street with a cigarette between his teeth.

“I’m gonna get going now to look for marbles.”

“It might be dangerous, so it would be best to split into teams.”

“Good idea. Then us girls will move together.” With Mio and Cha Si-Eun in tow, Skaya disappeared in the direction of the department store.

“Rahmadat, you come with me,” Gilberto said.

“If you want…”

Gilberto was being considerate of Kim Woo-Joong, who didn’t know any of the others.

After the two parties left, Seo Jun-Ho spoke, “Shall we go too?”

“Yes…”

Seo Jun-Ho sensed magic pouring out of Kim Woo-Joong’s body. It swiftly flooded the streets.

“Found it.” Kim Woo-Joong shuffled around here and there and quickly found five marbles.

Seo Jun-Ho watched Kim Woo-Joong do his own thing, and before he could do the same as Kim Woo-Joong, he was interrupted.

- The chopstick container on the second table in the knife noodle restaurant to the left piques my interest.

A rough voice suddenly spoke in his head.

‘Oh, right, I have this guy.’

It was Keen Intuition. He hadn’t said a single word in the past three months, so Seo Jun-Ho had completely forgotten about him.

‘You were so quiet, I thought you were dead.’

- Back then, you did not encounter any situations that required my intervention.

The knife noodle restaurant was unlocked. Seo Jun-Ho stepped in and rummaged around the specified chopstick container and found seven marbles at once. He stared at the marbles in his hand.

‘Hey, how many times can you do this?’ 

Keen Intuition’s answer was as dependable as ever.

- I can do this all day.

1. Korean hardtack made out of wheat and barley. It’s slightly sweet and is actually eaten as a snack to this day. ☜