'Huh?'

Sung-jin didn't say a thing as the voice behind him wanted his attention. He tried to turn around; however, his body seemed frozen in place, and he couldn't move a muscle.

'That flowery fragrant. It can only be one person.'

He thought of the only person who always had that perfume on, and his flight instinct told him to run. He felt his health points draining without being attacked, but that was just the mysterious person's presence that made him imagine that.

"I'm a dead man, right?"

He answered the person with a faint voice, and he had already succumbed to the mysterious person without even batting them an eye.

"Can I even kill a dead man?"

A soft and teary voice answered his question. Sung-jin eyes opened wide when he heard the voice of the old comrade he hadn't seen in years. And after hearing her teary voice, he was no longer afraid of turning around because of him getting beat. He was now scared of turning around to see his comrade cry because of him.

"I will keep this meeting short."

Sung-jin's cold voice made the woman behind him shudder; it came as a surprise to her that he was so hard and pushed her away. And instead of taking responsibility, he chose to avoid the problem at hand.

"I'm not going to play big sister and little brother with you. Those days are over—"

He continued with his apathetic tone, but the woman didn't want to hear that.

"Don't be like that. You were just a kid when we first met in this world. You were always clinging to me, and you wanted my protection and love—"

She tried to talk some sense into the man in front of her, but he had nothing of that.

"Too bad that I'm not a kid anymore then! I have not come back to bond with anybody. I'm here to beat this game and nothing else!"

He shouted in a whisper as he turned towards the woman. His heart sank the moment he saw her teary eyes and sad expression, but he didn't show his emotions on the front.

"I'm sorry for not being the same little kid you so desperately want to fondle. I'm over the past; maybe you should too."

He closed the conversation without letting her get another word in, and he slowly walked past her. The woman was speechless and stuck in motion, she couldn't believe what had just transpired, and her tears were slowly streaming down her cheek.

'I'm sorry, Cho-hee. If I showed you my true self, you would always be stuck in the past, just think of me as a changed man and get over it.'

Sung-jin left the crying Cho-hee at the Quest Board, and he soon went out of the guildhall in a melancholy manner.

…

"Ahh! Why?"

Sung-jin cried out as he sat with his head in his hands on the bed in his room. He had bought a room in a small inn just on the outskirt of the city. The inn wasn't big, and it could only accommodate a few people who wanted to stay overnight. The inn had a large dining room, which was always filled with people in the evenings when the beer came out.

"I didn't want to meet her this soon, or any other of the nine pillars for that matter."

He exclaimed, a little sad about the event that happened between them.

"At least she thinks I'm an as*hole, so she will probably not seek me out anymore."

He said as he thought of the whole conversation and how cold he was to Cho-hee. However, nothing couldn't be done about that, and he couldn't have done anything differently.

"It's better to hide my emotions since I don't want to be disturbed in my plans. I am a solo player, so what would anyone have expected?"

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He sighed and rested his head on the rugged and cheap pillow that was in his bed. He has gotten exhausted after everything that happened, and his eyes quickly darkened after resting for a bit.

"Just an hour…"

He yawned and snoozed in.

…

"That's more than an hour!"

Sung-jin eyes opened wide, and he raced up from the bed and quickly ran to the window to look out.

"That's definitely not the sun…"

He groaned as he hurriedly went out of his room and down the stairs that connected the dining room and the lodging rooms. He wasn't fully awake, so his eyes were blurry; his hair was a mess too since he didn't take any time to fix himself up before leaving for the dungeon.

"Good evening!"

A lady waved and greeted him as he just got down the stairs. She has brown hair and green eyes. She was a bit on the heavier side, and she always wore the same apron with a red heart and the name of the inn, 'Boar's Head Inn' on it.

"Afternoon, miss owner."

He answered her greeting, but he didn't make eye contact with her and hurriedly went straight to the inn's door after navigating through the many people who danced and had a good time.

"Aren't you hungry?"

She asked him amidst all the noises just before he went out of the door.

"No thanks."

He said, turning around with a smile on his face before he left the building and closed the door behind him.

"What a special person."

She said as she dried some cups with a towel.

…

Ding-!

-System: Dungeon boss 'Spider Queen' defeated.

-System: Clear objection completed. Opening gate.

The deja-vu of this repeating scene Sung-jin had invested days in was about to come to an end. Or he hoped for it, at least.

"Please, pretty please!"

He prayed to the higher beings hoping it would help. The fading queen's body was nearly all gone, and the item it had dropped revealed itself.

"YES!"

Sung-jin immediately yelled with tears in his eyes upon seeing what the item was. He picked up the item and held it high above his head.

"Thank you, God!"

He exclaimed, kissing the item all over the place.

"I'm finally done with this stupid dungeon!"

He said as he looked at the Adventures Gloves with cherished eyes. He immediately equipped the gloves since he didn't want to waste any more time in this smelly dungeon.

"Let me see the set effects."

He said, making a slight jump in excitement, like a little kid in a theme park wanting to try every ride. He opened his equipment tab to see the armor and its effects.

Adventures Shoulderpads:

-Vitality: +3

-Strength: +2

-Uncommon Rarity

Adventures Chestpiece:

-Vitality: +5

-Strength: +6

-Uncommon Rarity

Adventurers Pants:

-Vitality: +3

-Strength: +5

-Uncommon Rarity

Adventures Boots:

-Vitality: +2

-Strength: +3

-Uncommon Rarity

Adventures Gloves:

-Vitality: +1

-Strength: +2

-Uncommon Rarity

-Set effect: 5% exp gain from Arachnid-type monsters

"…"

Sung-jin stared at the set effect without saying a word. He visually turned angry, and his jaw was clenched.

"Never mind… I hope I will never meet a spider in my entire life again."

He dismissed the unfortunate effect and just waved it off. After spending days getting the armor, he didn't want to think it was a waste just because the set effect wasn't ideal.

"At least my stats are looking good."

He took a look at his stats before he went out of the blue gate and into the crowded place that was the dungeon entrance.

-Status Window

Name: Sung-jin | Level: 13 | Age: 20 | Title: Dark Apostle | First Generation

Strength: 10(+18)

Vitality: 10(+14)

Agility: 50

Dexterity: 35

Intelligence: 10

Stat Points: 0

Skills:

Night Slash: Dark Type

Titles:

Dark Apostle: Lvl 1 [Exp: 8%]

…

"Hey, you! Sit down, or you are going to be thrown out."

A plump lady behind a bar told off a man that stood on top of a table and danced. She was busy serving drinks to everyone in the inn as more guests came inside.

"Okay!"

The noisy man sat down again, though with wobbly feet.

Kreeen-!

A familiar sound of the squeaking door to the inn could be heard, and a handsome young man came through it.

"Hello!"

A young girl with long brown hair and blue eyes greeted him at the entrance. She was only sixteen years old, but she was very hardworking.

"Hi."

Sung-jin greeted the girl that ran around the room, refilling all the many people with beer as they were done with their servings.

"What's wrong?"

She asked him, suddenly standing in front of him, stopping him from walking further. Her voice was soft, and it sounded like she cared about the person in front of her.

"What's wrong? Nothing at all!"

He assured the girl that everything was fine and she shouldn't worry about him. He gave her a smile and a pat on the head as he walked past her.

'I thought I hid my sadness about the set effect well.'

He sat down on a barstool, thinking about the disappointment the armor gave him.

'I will come across better equipment soon, and even if I did some research before grinding, I would probably still have gotten the armor either way.'

He thought, but a sudden thing interrupted his thinking.

"It's on the house."

The woman behind the bar said and sat a cup with beer in front of him.

"Thanks."

He said and expressed his gratitude with a smile. And it didn't take long before he began to sip the beer.

"Ahh! That's better."

He moaned in satisfaction as the cold beer refreshed him.