Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t understand this world’s language, so he couldn’t read the name of the school.

However, there was something he knew…

“This was a very prestigious academy,” he observed.

“And how do you know that?” the Frost Queen asked.

“I can tell just by looking at the schoolyard.” Seeing the neatly-cut grass covering the yard like a soccer field, there was nothing else he needed to know.

‘And…’ 

As he had expected, the entrance to the underground parking lot was next to the building. It showed that a lot of people had worked here.

“But none of that matters. Let’s go,” he said.

The parking lot was relatively dark, but he could still see in front of him. He saw something crawling quickly through the shadowy corners. And it didn’t take long for him to realize that they were cockroaches.

“Eek!” Frost let out an unpleasant shriek and curled. She stared into the dark areas of the parking lot with eyes filled with fear.

“Don’t be scared. Watch carefully.” Seo Jun-Ho gently patted her shoulder and calmed her down. “They’re just quietly looking at us. They won’t come at us, I promise.”

“...Is it because of your Title, Contractor?”

“Probably…”

Even though he stepped closer toward them, the cockroaches didn’t move a muscle. They were in a defenseless state with their backs turned to him, but they still didn’t move. It meant that Exterminator’s effect was working well.

‘Makes sense. Cockroaches aren’t beneficial insects.’ 

He clenched his fists and slowly mustered his magic power. “Now, let’s see how well my skills work on them and see if they have any specific weak points.”

He used Watchguard of Darkness, the Frost skill, and all sorts of weapons. Once he was done with a variety of experiments, Seo Jun-Ho nodded.

‘Thankfully, all of my skills work well.’ 

Watchguard of Darkness’ power to disregard cut right through their hard exoskeleton like tofu. And if he killed them after freezing them with Frost, the end result wasn’t that gross.

- Open the glovebox in that white Jeep.

He also collected as many marbles as he could. He already had 620 of them. Seo Jun-Ho pondered for a moment before speaking, “Let’s head back early today.”

“R-really?” the Frost Queen said, delighted. Because he kept on getting so much EXP, she thought that her Contractor would go wild and hunt for a long time.

“I’m done experimenting, so there’s no real need to waste my energy right now.”

Moreover, the true hunt would take begin at night. He would recover as much stamina as possible before then…

“I’m gonna do the homework you gave me.”

And work on a new technique…

***

Cha Si-Eun dragged her feet into the hotel, clearly exhausted.

Skaya was in the middle of remodeling the Magic Detector 5.0 in the lobby. She waved. “Hey, girl! Didja try out the Magic Detector 4.0?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I collected many marbles.”

It wasn’t flattery. Yesterday, she couldn’t even find fifty marbles after working herself so hard, but today, she had found over a hundred marbles.

“Fufu, there’s a reason why Jun-Ho calls me Skayamon. Let me know if it somehow breaks.”

“I will...”

“You must be tired from running around. Go upstairs and rest.”

“Will do,” Cha Si-Eun brightly said. However, unlike what she said, she immediately went to the hotel’s gym.

‘I have no time to rest if I want to become at least a little helpful.’ 

Cha Si-Eun knew better than anyone else that her skills were the most subpar among the seven Players in the city.

‘So, I have to be the one who works the hardest. I can’t drag them down no matter what…’ 

Of course, there was a clear limit in terms of strength for non-combatants. However, at the very least, she wanted to avoid an accident in a moment of crisis where she couldn’t move because she lacked stamina. And that was why she dragged her exhausted body to the gym to do some stamina training.

“Huff, huff...” Once her entire body was drenched in sweat from running, Cha Si-Eun finally left the gym. However, Cha Si-Eun suddenly froze. Seo Jun-Ho was sitting on the sofa in the lounge in front of the gym, completely absorbed.

“Tooo… Tooooo… It’s not working.”

He was holding a giant horn made of ice. It resembled an instrument, but the only sound that came out of it was the whistling air.

“What… are you doing?” Cha Si-Eun asked as she entered the lounge.

Seo Jun-Ho looked embarrassed. “There’s no sound…”

“I’ve never seen a wind instrument that looks like that before.” It resembled a french horn, but it was much bigger. It was so big that—in fact—she wasn’t even sure that it could produce sound from the vocal cords and lung capacity of a human.

“Can it even produce sound?” Cha Si-Eun asked.

“Yes. I’ve seen it produce sound.” The Frost Queen had even demonstrated it, so that much was definite.

“But why are you suddenly trying to learn an instrument?”

“To be precise, I’m not learning an instrument but working on a new technique.”

What did those two have to do with each other? Cha Si-Eun blinked. She pondered for a moment before saying, “As far as I know, wind instruments do not produce sound just by using a lot of air.”

“Then, how do they do it?”

“You have to maintain a consistent amount of air. Picture it as gathering the air before you push it out.”

“Ah…” Seo Jun-Ho looked surprised. “You even know how to play an instrument?”

“...I’ve studied the mechanisms before. That’s all.”

“I see.” Seo Jun-Ho let out a few more tooting noises and nodded. “I think I’m starting to get the hang of it, thanks to your advice. Thank you.”

“Not at all. You would have figured it out even without my advice.” Cha Si-Eun smiled warmly and bowed her head before she left the lounge. She was brimming with joy from being able to help such a great man.

“...Why didn’t you tell me?” Meanwhile, Seo Jun-Ho narrowed his eyes at the Frost Queen sitting next to him. All she did was create the instrument before handing it over to him. She hadn’t taught him any tricks like what Cha Si-Eun had done.

“A good teacher knows how to wait until their student finds the answer themselves. The Saintess is not a good teacher,” the Frost Queen replied. However, she looked as if she was sulking.

‘I have not been able to demonstrate my majesty in recent memory, so I planned to teach him after showing off a few more times…’ 

However, she did not expect that an intruder would appear.

“...Well, it doesn’t matter.”

The Frost Queen had a hint of a smile on her face.

“You are lazing around again. Get back to practice,” she urged.

***

Once the sun started to set at the end of the horizon, the party members gathered in the lobby.

“Are you sure about this?” Gilberto asked with concern.

Seo Jun-Ho grinned. “It’s fine. I’m telling you, I already tested it a few times.”

“But this is your first time fighting dozens; no, hundreds of them, so you never know.”

“That’s exactly why I need to do this.”

Ever since Arthur was born, Gilberto would start nagging at the drop of a hat.

Seo Jun-Ho was finally done in his preparations to step out.

“I’ll watch you. If something goes wrong, I’ll go get you, so don’t worry too much,” Skaya said.

Even if Gilberto’s worries came true and his Title couldn’t hold off hundreds of cockroaches, Skaya could reliably pull him out, so there was no reason to be concerned.

“If the results are good today, we’ll start a hunting party tomorrow,” Seo Jun-Ho said.

Over 20,000 Players had barely managed to clean up the city after a month. What could a mere seven Players do?

“Please be careful.”

Seo Jun-Ho turned his back to their worried faces and stepped out into the street by himself. The glow of the sunset was gradually swallowed by the night sky.

[Night has fallen. Hunter’s Night (A) has been activated.]

[All stats increased by 10%.]

[Your senses have been sharpened.]

Night fell, and the street lights turned on one by one.

Something was crawling out from every corner of the city. They covered the streets in an instant, creating a giant wave. Seo Jun-Ho’s hands squeezed the hilt of his sword.

“...”

The raging wave of insects suddenly came to a stop. There were at least hundreds of cockroaches, but they all held their breaths when they sensed their natural enemy.

The party members marveled at the sight as they watched through the hotel windows.

“They really stopped!”

“Seems like the effect is working properly…”

“I’m itching all over. Can’t we just start hunting tonight?”

“No. We decided to go hunting after gathering marbles tomorrow and using the vending machines, remember?”

“Jun-Ho-nim truly is legendary…”

Seo Jun-Ho cleanly cut through the wall of insects and walked deeper into the streets.

***

Slice! 

Seo Jun-Ho frowned, seemingly frustrated. “This is nice and all, but it’s kind of annoying how they don’t even move because they’re frozen in fear.”

It felt like giant walls had been erected. So, whenever he cut through the cockroaches, he either had to take the long way around or trudge through the green discharge.

- Look inside the sewer.

It was already dawn. According to the plan, he was supposed to be back at the hotel already, but Seo Jun-Ho had pushed himself a bit.

‘But thanks to that…’ 

He pulled out four marbles from the bottom of the sewer. There was a small smile on his face. “I got them all.”

Seo Jun-Ho managed to collect the required 1,000 marbles in just four days. None of the 20,000 Players before him had done such an achievement.

‘Now that I am done collecting them all, I should soon decide on how I will use them.’

He pondered the question as he made his way back to the hotel, wondering whether he should gamble on the broken vending machine as per Keen Intuition’s suggestion or if he should just take the safe route.

“Intuition. Do you still feel the same way?

- Of course. On the contrary, I have become more assured as time passed. There is something about those broken vending machines.

There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in Keen Intuition’s voice, and with that, Seo Jun-Ho finally made his decision.

“I’ll trust you, then.”

- Really? But even if you do not receive a good outcome…

“I won’t blame you for it. This is my own choice.”

If that happened, his trust in Keen Intuition would naturally decrease.

Having made up his mind, Seo Jun-Ho sought out the vending machine in front of the school. It was sitting on the dark street, lit up by the streetlamp.

“Inventory.”

He retrieved a pouch packed with marbles. He counted a hundred and inserted them into the machine.

[You have inserted 100 marbles.]

[Nothing happened.]

[Vending machine uses 9/10.]

This was exactly as Skaya had described. However, he immediately put in another hundred.

[You have inserted 100 marbles.]

[Nothing happened.]

[Vending machine uses 8/10.]

[Vending machine uses 7/10.]

[Vending machine uses 6/10.]

…

Nine hundred of the marbles Seo Jun-Ho had worked so hard to collect vanished in an instant. And he still didn’t receive any reward.

‘Did I miscalculate?’ 

Seo Jun-Ho hesitated only for a moment. He shook his head and inserted the last hundred marbles.

[You have inserted 100 marbles.]

Thud! 

He heard something fall. Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes flashed, and he quickly picked up the item and studied it.

“This is…”

He had received a book. Maybe it was a Skill Book?

However, his face soon revealed his doubts. It was definitely not a Skill Book.

[■■’s Diary]

The item data didn’t give tell him the grade, description, or effects. All he could tell was that this empty notebook was someone’s diary. Wondering if it had any special abilities, Seo Jun-Ho took out a pen and wrote down a random sentence.

[Die, Heavenly Demon.]

But once the words were written down, they scattered like sand.

“...A diary you can’t write in.”

How in the world would he use it?

“Intuition, can you tell me anything about this?”

- My apologies. Even I do not know.

“I burned through a thousand marbles for a diary I can’t even use,” he complained.

There was a bitter taste in his mouth.

Seo Jun-Ho tossed the diary into his Inventory and returned to the hotel.