“Ice Spear! Multiple Ice Arrow!.”

Puck! Puck! Puck!

Some of the swamp monsters were not killed by my initial Pouring Hailstones and Ice Blasts, so I farmed them with my single target skills. It was just like my battle with the 1500 users a day ago.

Of course, I didn"t confront all 1500 users at once, and I could not kill all of them.

Anyway, leaving the big unprecedented battle with the Gahwa Guild behind, I concentrated on hunting just like before, for I still had a long way to go before I could reel in the joy of my achievements.

So, I accessed the game in the early hours of the morning and hunted stone squirrels in the Rocky Area for a couple of hours. But I gave up in the middle of it. Obviously I coveted the undigested mineral ma.s.ses of the stone squirrels, which I suspected to have a greater value than I initially thought, but I was getting very little EXP out of it.

Even if I regretted not collecting more mineral ma.s.ses, I gave up on the Rocky Area and chose the swampy area as my new hunting ground.

Since then, I have been hunting until now.

At that moment a message rang.

[This is the 1 o"clock alarm you set.]

An alarm sound signalling 1 AM.

After checking the message, I left the hunting ground immediately because tomorrow was a very important day for me.

Tomorrow was the day of my weekly home visit. But at the same time, I needed to solve the final step to clear this quest.

Of course, it"s a very complex step, and not simple.

The Safety Zone in the swampy area.

There was no one around. I could not even find those who collected toll fees while guarding the gate outside the Safety Zone.

Watching the gate, I suddenly muttered unknowingly . “Wow. Come to think of it, this cla.s.s quest is ridiculously difficult.”

Pioneers" City was totally ruined. To put it precisely, even ‘ruined" was not an apt description because it was never prosperous. Not many users visited this place even before the Gahwa Guild took over and established its rule.

Because of the Gahwa Guild, Pioneers" City collapsed without even having the chance to prosper. Anyway, after I got rid of the Gahwa Guild, I realized it was far more difficult to revitalize the Pioneers" City and turn it into a prosperous city than getting rid of the Gahwa Guild. No matter how much effort I put in to revive the city, an individual had limited capabilities. However, I had the backing of a huge guild named Myongjin.

“Well, this is not a loss to Myongjin either.”

Soktae Kang offered me 100 million won per month so I would not oppose him. He also paid nearly 1,500 people in cash simply for the purpose of harvesting the stone squirrel"s undigested mineral ma.s.s.

In other words, there must be something special about this stone squirrels project.

Otherwise, n.o.body would spend such a large sum of money for no reason.

So, when I visit my house tomorrow, I"m going to tell my father that if we collect them early on, we might make a big profit later.

At the same time, I planned to tell him that I wanted to revive the whole Pioneers" City.

Thinking about these matters, I logged out because my appointment tomorrow was far more important than hunting for an extra hour or two.

The next morning I didn"t access the game immediately because I had to organize my thoughts first. To put it more precisely, I didn"t log into the game to ponder over how to word my proposition to my father.

I couldn"t ask my father to help me revive Pioneers" City without a proper reason. Besides, I had no good evidence that the undigested mineral ma.s.ses from the stone squirrels would be of great value later.

At least I needed to explain to him my ideas in a logical way to persuade him.

After I was done organizing my thoughts, I was just about to access the game to hunt for a little. But at this moment, my cell phone rang. Thinking it might be a call from my mother, I picked up the phone and checked the caller ident.i.ty. However, the phone was displaying someone else"s name.

[Mirae Bora Yon]

These letters were displayed on my cell phone screen.

Of course, the ‘Mirae" here referred to Mirae Group, the undisputed top business conglomerate of South Korea, and Bora Yon was the granddaughter of Mirae Group"s Chairman Jonghwan Yon.

I froze momentarily because we were not so close that she would call me like this.

Of course, I knew her. I had met her several times in various places because business families in Korea often arranged various kinds of meetings among themselves in the form of parties, banquets, conferences or gatherings, so that their family members could mingle together.

I picked up the phone and greeted her, “h.e.l.lo.”

Of course, I had no reason to avoid the call.

“Hi, it"s me, Bora Yon. You still remember my phone number, right?”

“Oh, it"s saved in my contacts.”

“Okay. I"m glad to hear that.”

It has been a while since I saw her last.

Of course, she didn"t call me to exchange such pleasantries, and she wasn"t on intimate terms with me anyway.

But I didn"t ask why she called me, and I just responded appropriately because it was she who called me first to find out something.

“Are you free this evening? I"m seeing Cholmin, too. Oh, Jina and Youngjin are also coming. How about you?”

Kim Cheol-min is from theDaesung Group, Jinah Chong is from the Kusan Group and Youngjin Suh is from the Daeyu Group. And Bora Yon is from the Mirae Group.

If I"m included in this meeting, all the young members in their 20s from Korea"s five largest business groups will be gathering in one place.

Honestly, I didn"t really want to go there. But I responded, “Sure. When and where are you meeting?”

“Let me send you the details via text later.”

“Okay.”

Even though I disliked going there in my heart, I actually said the opposite because this was the meeting of the sons and daughters of the top five business groups" chairmen.

Nevertheless, I thought I should not miss this get-together because some of them may be the future successors of their companies, and I might be able to get some unexpected and valuable information.

I was taught that I would miss out on important matters if I didn"t take part in such meetings. But deep down, I knew I was extremely wary of getting close to the people from other business groups. Of course, I"ve never expressed this sentiment to anybody.

Anyway, I finished talking to her over the phone.

I looked down at my phone for a while after I hung up, pondering over Bora Yon"s motivations, or Mirae Group"s intentions behind such a meeting. She definitely didn"t contact me just to see my face. Mirae Group had been shunned on purpose by the Myongjin, Daesung and Gusan Groups recently, so I was curious about her intentions.

1:00 PM..

I left my studio a little earlier because I needed to inform my father, brother, mother and sister that the Mirae Group Chairman"s granddaughter Bora had requested to meet me.

When I reached my house early compared to my normal visiting time, my mother welcomed me gladly.

“Oh my G.o.d! Why have you come so early? You never came early before even when I begged you to come early, right?”

“Well, I"ve got something to tell you and others.”

My mother welcomed me heartily since I usually arrived around dinner time, except when I had to attend a meeting disguised as a business leaders" meeting.

I asked her, “Where is Dad?”

“He"s in the bas.e.m.e.nt study.”

Fortunately, it seemed that he had been working at home all this week instead of his workplace.

So I excused myself and went straight to the bas.e.m.e.nt study.

Knock! Knock!

I knocked on the study door and opened my mouth.

“Dad, it"s me, Juyoung.”

“Come on in.”

As soon as I finished talking, he responded immediately.

So, I immediately opened the door and stepped in. Inside, Dad was sitting alone at a large desk checking some doc.u.ments.