The main classroom of the Virtual Reality Department was big enough for 100 people.
“Gu Jaho-”
“Yes!”
“Kim Gahyeong-”
“Yes!”
Lee Jinuk called the roll, looking at the attendance book. His eyes were momentarily fixed at a familiar
name.
“Park Jinsung… he was absent during the first week!’
Of course, the first week was about changing courses, so it was okay to be absent during that time. It
didn’t have any effect on the grades.
However, students almost never changed classes of their major, so they usually came to the first
class. Jinuk was slightly angry, ‘I have even threatened him during the vacation, he must be here
today.’
Jinuck looked around and called Jinsung.
“Park Jinsung-”
The room was quiet.
Jincuk called again as he couldn’t believe it.
“Park Jinsung? Is he absent?”
But then, the back door of the classroom was opened, “Yes! I am here!”
Everyone in the room looked at him.
He looked pale and had dark circles that almost reached his chin.
He was almost like a remnant of a defeated army. Jinuk thought he was pathetic.
“Don’t make a fuss, sit down.”
Jinuk glanced at Jinsung and resumed calling the roll.
Jinsung breathed heavily as if he had run all the way to the classroom. He went to Yuhyeon and sat
next to him.
Yuhyeon whispered at him, “At least you came today.”
“Hu! I am not that hopeless.”
Yuhyeon talked back. He couldn’t agree to that at all, “You are not hopeless so you didn’t come to
school for three days this week?”
Jinsung had been absent for three days after the changing courses week ended, so Yuhyoen was
right at scolding him.
However, Jinsung said solemnly, “I had a reason.”
“What reason?”
Instead of answering, Jinsung took out his smartphone out of his pocket.
“It was all for this.”
On the screen was a screenshot of Jinsung’s character with Ian’s statistics window.
“Umm?!”
Yuhyeon checked it and his eyes got as big as baseballs.
“What?! you are Lv. 93?!”
He was so shocked that he almost spoke that loudly.
The classroom was big because the course was mandatory for all students of the major, so luckily
professor Lee Jinuk didn’t hear that.
“Haven’t you seen this? I am that great.”
Yuhyeon couldn’t even respond to Jinsung’s bragging. He just blankly stared at the screen.
‘Lv. 93… I am just over Lv. 100 now…’
Yuhyeon was now at Lv. 100.
He had thought he gained a lot of levels during the vacation.
Still, Jinsung had almost caught up with him. He only had 10 more level-ups to do.
‘What was my level when he reset his character?’
He couldn’t recall exactly, but it had been about 80.
Yuhyeon shook his head.
Even if Yuhyeon had played much more during the vacation and had gotten extra stat points with the
reset, his level-up speed was incredible.
Jinsung would catch up with Yuhyeon’s level in no time!
“You monster…”
Yuhyoen muttered while Jinsung smiled, “Just say you are jealous.”
Yuhyeon admitted, “Yes, I am jealous. Ha…”
Lee Jinuk started his lecture after finishing calling the roles.
And, as soon as the class began, Jinsung fell asleep on his desk.
‘You have played like a madman without sleeping… so, of course, you are tired.’
However, when the class was about to end…
Jinsung ‘miraculously’ woke up.
“What, why did you wake up? Did you have a nightmare?”
Jinsung didn’t even care about Yuhyeon’s sarcastic comment. He just took out his smartphone.
Yuhyeon watched Jinsung with interest.
‘What is he doing?’
Jinsung tapped on his smartphone and got to that screenshot image again.
‘Is he looking at it again because he is so proud of it?’
But then…
Jinsung sent the image to someone!
Yuhyeon unintendedly checked who was the receiver. He was then shocked.
“Dude! What are you doing! Are you still sleeping?”
“What are you talking about? I am perfectly fine.”
“You are perfectly fine and you just sent a screenshot of the game to the professor?”
Yuhyeon didn’t know about the bet between Jinsung and Jinuk so, to him, Jinsung just appeared to be
mad.
However, Jinsung just kept smiling.
Then, professor Lee Jinuk’s smartphone, which was on the teacher’s desk, vibrated. Next, the
professor stopped to check his phone.
“Hey, he just saw that! What are we going to do?”
“Stop worrying and pack your things. The class will be over soon.”
As Jinsung said, the class was about to end.
Five minutes later…
Yuhyeon looked and sighed at hearing Jinuk’s last words.
“Well, that is all for today. You can leave now. Park Jinsung, you stay here.”
…
Jinsung was ‘dragged’ to Lee Jinuk’s office after the class. He was sitting on the sofa triumphantly.
Jinuk sat on the opposite side and was sipping from his teacup.
A while later, Jinuk spoke first, “That image you sent me. Explain.”
“It is the statistics window of my Kailan character. You told me you are a Kailan user, too, so you must
have recognized it.”
“Khmm…”
Jinuk coughed while Jinsung added to press him, “Professor, you haven’t forgotten about the bet,
right?”
Lee Jinuk could feel his blood pressure rising.
In fact, he had completely forgotten about the bet.
It was more of a threat to make him a more attentive student than a bet.
He hadn’t even thought about the scenario in which Jinsung could actually win the bet.
Jinuk thought for a while and slowly opened his mouth.
“I haven’t forgotten…”
Jinsung was excited at hearing that, “Haha! I guess a professor doesn’t lie to his student?”
Jinsung thought that was it.
Now all he had to do was getting the confirmation and he could be freed from Jinuk’s classes.
He had two major classes with Jinuk, so that would be great.
However, unlike Jinsung’s expectation, Jinuk didn’t say what Jinsung wanted to hear.
He wasn’t a man that easy to handle.
“But that bet, if I am right, the deadline was ‘before the fall semester starts’.”
Jinuk pointed that out while Jinsung flinched.
Actually, that was the part about which Jinsung had been worried about the most.
The panicked Jinsung came up with an excuse.
“Um… uh… professor?”
“Yes?”
“I actually reached Lv. 93 before the semester started…”
“Really? Then you should have shown me that last week. As far as I know, you were absent last
week.”
“I was so sick until yesterday…”
The excuse was so lame, even a kindergartener would laugh when hearing it.
However, there was no better way.
Jinsung could just keep insisting on that.
Jinuk couldn’t find out the truth, unless he went to the LBsoft himself and took a look at Ian’s log-in
information.
“You are asking me to believe it?”
He had come this far, Jinsung decided to get to the end of it.
“But that is the truth, professor.”
He tried to appeal his innocence with a fearful expression.
He knew well that just arguing would bring bad results.
‘It’s not like we signed a contract, so if he says no, there’s nothing I can do about it…’
It was critical to make the professor not feel offended.
“Khmm.”
Although Lee Jinuk looked to be disapproving, he was secretly very surprised.
‘If this screenshot is real, he is a great gamer.’
Even though Jinuk was not a serious player, he was a Kailan user who had the Summoner as a
character.
That meant he knew well how great a Lv. 93 Summoner was at this point of the game.
He even remembered seeing the official most highest-level Summoner user giving an interview on TV.
That Summoner was Lv. 78.
‘If he is not lying, maybe I can use him to collect data…’
Lee Jinuk came up with an idea and decided to postpone giving the answer.
“Jinsung, do you have any plan for this Sunday?”
He was confused at the unexpected question, but he soon answered, “Uh… I guess I will play Kailan
at home.”
Lee Jinuk nodded, “Then meet me in Kailan on Sunday.”
“What?”
“Why are you so surprised? Meet me at Lobos Village at 2 p.m.”
Jinsung thought about it, ‘Does he think I am lying?’
Then, he glanced at Jinuk, ‘He seems to think that the image is a fake…’
Jinuk must be trying to check his level at Kailan himself.
Jinsung concluded and nodded, “Yes, professor.”
“Okay, then I will see you then.” Jinuk stood up.
Jinsung also got up and reminded him of the bet.
“Professor, I did win the bet, right?”
However, Jinuk didn’t give the answer he wanted right away, “We will talk about it on Sunday.”
Jinsung left the office with a heavy heart.
…
“Ka! I am finally free!”
Ian logged in to Kailan. He was so happy that he almost cried.
‘I can focus on playing Kailan even during the semester now!’
He had hunted so hard to reach Lv. 93 in time!
Now, he could breathe freely.
He hadn’t gotten a firm promise from Jinuk, but he believed he will on Sunday.
He had won the bet anyway.
‘Hu! now that I have been freed from the pressure of leveling-up, shall I do the quests I have
delayed?’
Ian had two quests to do now.
One was the Magic Tower of Dimensions quest he had gotten from the Dragon Tamer Orkley, and the
other was the Hatching of the Griffin’s Egg quest he got from the Emperor Salias of the Luspell
Empire.
‘I thought I’d better do the Magic Tower of Dimensions quest first, so I came over to the Forcal
Mountains…’
The Magic Tower of Dimensions quest had no time limit, whereas the time limit for the Hatching the
Griffin’s Egg quest was ‘unknown’.
Judging from only this point, the Egg quest was more urgent…
‘But there’s nothing I can do now to hatch the egg!’
Ian had tried to get info about how to hatch a pet’s egg from NPCs whenever he had time, but he had
gotten no useful information.
Ian’s style was to start the quest he could do now than to focus on the quest he didn’t know how to
complete.
Moreover, doing the Magic Tower quest would destroy the seal of the Dragon Tamer’s Feather
Accessory, he might even get a War Dragon as his pet.
The reward was just extraordinary.
‘I should go to the Magic Tower of Dimensions first.’
The Tower wasn’t far from the Scorching Land.
Monsters that lived near the Tower were about Lv. 80~90. They were even weaker than those of the
North Continent, so they weren’t a problem for Ian.
Ian made up his mind and headed toward the Tower on Ly.
