◈ Episode 337. He, Too…….
Player, Romeo.
Rumors about him spread quickly. They had no choice but to. After all, it was the three syllables of the name Romeo that had swept through the Arcana Auction House like a literal storm.
The Explorers’ League.
Explorers had gathered there, players and Arcanans alike.
At their center stood Bak Hwigang.
“I’m telling you, he’s not an ordinary player.”
Before the Cataclysm and after it as well, potions had been treated as an awkward leftover in Arcana.
There were more than enough healers to replace potions and then some, and potions were difficult to obtain compared to their performance, which made them expensive.
“Even so, does buying everything up really make him special?”
“Come on. Isn’t that a bit of a stretch, Hwigang?”
“Seriously……! None of you even checked?”
“Checked what?”
“You know, if you’re an explorer, you’d normally have put up a spare potion or two on the auction house, right? Those must have sold, so go check.”
At Bak Hwigang’s words, the players accessed the auction house.
Even if this was an age where digging up the ground wouldn’t yield a single coin, they were explorers with skills that could at least scrounge up a potion or so from every rift. Of course, they complained as much as they were capable.
“Well, since it’s you saying it, Hwigang, I’ll check. But you really think that guy Romeo bought my potion? I don’t know, I doubt it. Above all, those Unified Under Heaven bastards pissed me off, so I set the starting price……”
Except for the members of the Unified Under Heaven Guild, there probably wasn’t a player in the world who looked kindly upon Unified Under Heaven.
Since the potion was obviously going to be bought only by Unified Under Heaven anyway, the man had listed it at a price higher than market value just to screw them over.
But then.
“H-Huh?”
“It sold?!”
“Right? I was right, wasn’t I? Check the buyer!”
“……
It really is Ro-Romeo?!”
“Mine’s Romeo too!”
Bak Hwigang let out a satisfied smile.
But it wasn’t over yet.
A Nettuber player sensitive to fresh bait.
Having found a scoop, Bak Hwigang had already moved quickly.
And so he had learned.
The big spender Romeo’s purchases weren’t limited to potions! In the spirit of the Explorers’ League, where everyone helped each other, Bak Hwigang laid out the information he had gathered by running diligently all around the Yusra Kingdom.
“You know, even among Yusra’s blacksmiths, the rumors are everywhere. They say a player named Romeo swept up every arrow and low-level piece of equipment listed on the auction house!”
“What?”
After hearing that much, it really did seem he wasn’t an ordinary player.
Then.
Someone raised a hand and asked a question.
“Couldn’t he just be a simple hoarder? It’s a common tactic, really. Buy everything up and monopolize it first, then sell it off later at an even higher price……”
Shake, shake.
Everyone, including Bak Hwigang, shook their heads.
“Say something that makes sense. Didn’t you learn math?”
“If he did that, forget profit—his wallet would just go bankrupt. You can tell from the transaction prices stamped on the auction house. He bought everything at prices far above market value. And potions and equipment aren’t items that can never be obtained again.”
“Well, I get why you’d think that. It doesn’t make sense at all, does it?”
That was right.
With only Romeo’s actions over a single day,
there was no way to figure out what he was thinking.
“Then we have no choice but to go back. First, we need to find out who Romeo is! If we at least learn his personal details, wouldn’t we be able to guess his purpose?”
“Romeo, huh……. Has anyone heard of him?”
Several people stroked their chins and thought hard.
They were explorers, more sensitive to information and rumors than anyone else in Arcana.
Yet no matter how much they dug through their memories, nothing came to mind about the name Romeo.
Moreover.
“Honestly, wouldn’t it be harder to forget a name like that?”
That was the most relatable reaction of all.
Just as Bak Hwigang was slowly nodding,
someone raised a fundamental question.
“But. How did a player with a name no one has ever heard or seen before get that much money……? On this scale. Enough to literally sweep through the auction house?”
“……!!!”
For a player, fame directly translated to skill and money.
Because that was common sense for players,
Bak Hwigang cautiously brought it up just in case.
“Couldn’t he be some hidden master? You know, maybe he’s a ranker who deactivated the ranking system. It’d be blasphemous to compare them, but like Lord Hoyeol……”
“Come on. No matter what, that makes no sense, Hwigang! To earn that kind of money, he’d have had to show his face in top-grade rifts as often as he ate meals, right? But he didn’t. No guild has any player named Romeo.”
“Well, that’s true too.”
In the end, the conversation returned to square one.
Romeo, who had swept through the auction house.
Just who on earth was he?
After heating up not only the Explorers’ League,
but even the community as well,
only one fact was revealed.
-If you think about the auction house anonymity system, isn’t this weird?
-What conspiracy theory is it this time
-No;; only part of the ID gets revealed in the auction house
-Yeah
-But why is only Romeo’s full name showing???
-……
What the hell, now that I hear it, that’s actually true???
-Isn’t that some kind of auction house privilege? ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ
Romeo.
Even if they couldn’t know who he was,
he was a player with enough influence to surpass the anonymity system.
That was right. At this moment, no one could even guess.
Romeo.
That those three syllables were merely
an exceedingly small part of his name.
By ordinary common sense…….
*
The drops of sweat running down my shirt don’t feel unpleasant in the slightest.
For some reason, today of all days, the physical training that pushes me to my limits feels welcome.
Wouldn’t it be better to smash my head into the floor and pass out like this?
It must be because I seriously had such an impulse…….
I stop doing push-ups.
I inhale.
On the exhale, I let my mouth run.
“I shall praise you all for that imagination.”
Once again, I resent you, Raymon Sean……!
If you were going to make an anonymity system, shouldn’t it have been completely anonymous?! Why did you go out of your way to make it reveal part of the ID? Of course, to ordinary players, it would be no different from complete anonymity.
‘At most three or four characters. Five or six at the most.’
Even if one character from that was revealed,
it would be impossible to identify who the other person was.
However, my full name, [Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo],
has no fewer than fifteen characters. That’s right, everything was because this damn name was far too long.
“Romeo, he too is me.”
Please, let’s not say something so horrifying, even if it’s just to myself!
Even on the Arcana Continent, only an extremely small number of people know my full name. On top of that, they know the weight contained in that name. So I have faith that they won’t utter that name lightly.
‘But reality is a different story.’
More than anything, I can tell from the current reaction, can’t I?
Starting with, if he’s Romeo, then where’s Juliet,
to jokes about whether I’m getting ready to board a cruise ship.
The amount of attention focused on just a few syllables of my name is no joke.
Of course, even that was something Grandfell filtered through his pride filter…….
“I understand that you cannot fathom the weight of the name.”
I really don’t feel reassured in the slightest.
My karma, my dark history,
is starting to feel like it’s pressing down on me even in reality!
[You have met the condition.]
I had hoped to at least smash my head in and pass out,
but perhaps because both my strength and tenacity had risen as much as they could,
even that wasn’t easy anymore.
I checked the status window.
[Name: Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo]
[Title: Last Adventurer, Sublime, Transcendent, Dark Flame Dragon]
[Class: Demon Hunter]
[Level: 776]
[Stats]
Strength: 182 / Agility: 178 / Magic Power: 677 / Luck: 12 / Aesthetic: High / Tenacity: 6
[Points Held: 4]
If I added up the total of my stats, I had finally surpassed one thousand.
Of course, befitting a demon hunter, the messy stats were a sorry sight that would make anyone gasp in shock if they saw them.
‘It’s past the time when I could blame my class.’
In any case, this was also the direction of growth I had chosen.
I could regret it later, but I shouldn’t complain about my lot.
What else would that be but spitting in my own face?
Of course, Grandfell’s pride was far loftier than mine.
“A mere one thousand. If you wish to measure me, you still have a long way to go.”
To think you’re not satisfied even with one thousand. Amazing in more ways than one.
Soon, I examined my remaining points.
If you ask why I left an awkward 4 points behind,
it was because now was the time I needed [Luck].
[Absorption (Item Skill): The parasitic creature Envy absorbs the target. Depending on the absorbed target, Envy will gain a new unique effect. The number of unique effects that can be stored changes according to Envy’s hunger. Current Envy Satiety - 100% / Stored Unique Effect: Understanding of Darkness]
Envy had finished digesting.
I couldn’t blame the gap of well over ten years anymore, either.
After awakening as a player, I had been active and built up even more experience than that. Perhaps because of that, I hit the mark. My prediction that Envy, after swallowing suitable magic power, would awaken a unique effect related to black magic.
And the unique effect created that way was precisely
the reason I had reached out to the Luck stat,
a superstition that was not quite a superstition.
[Understanding of Darkness (Curse): Greatly increases affinity with suitable magic power. However, you must face the past that is the source of suitable magic power.
- Current Affinity with Suitable Magic Power: 0%]
It wasn’t a passive skill, nor was it a regular skill.
According to what was written in the parentheses, it was a [Curse].
It was the same as the curse I had unexpectedly experienced not long ago.
The basement of the Magic Tower, the Infinite Darkness.
A demon worshiper who had once been an elder mage.
It was like the curse on the wall he had left behind as his last words.
[Curse, an Irresistible Flow]
After entering the curse, I had witnessed the First-Ranked Demon King, Baal, and the final moments of the Seorn Continent that had been destroyed by him. Indeed, befitting the name of a curse, a helpless feeling had wrapped around my body.
Especially Baal’s terrifying ability.
If it had not been for Grandfell’s mental fortitude…….
It had been so tremendous that it would not have been strange if my heart had broken.
So.
‘Isn’t this why I’m trying to rely on Luck for the first time in a while?’
I don’t know whether Luck really has such an effect.
But every time I invested points into the Luck stat, good results followed. The situation is desperate enough that I want to cling to even that trivial jinx.
The root of suitable magic power.
In other words, Grandfell’s past.
Facing the bloody history of the Claudi family.
Of course, the one feeling worried was purely me, Lee Hoyeol.
As for the body itself, even in the midst of all this,
it was calmly tilting a teacup.
“I shall acknowledge it. You too are indeed green tea.”
It meant I was relaxed enough
to cool my body, heated by training,
with iced green tea.
Having experienced this countless times, I know.
If it was the Grandfell I knew,
even if it was a curse originating from his own past,
he would face it and break through it without batting an eye.
In his usual posture, of course.
The only one who lacked the confidence to face the past was me. The confidence to look straight at the bloody history of the Claudi family, which might have originated from my own mistake.
But hadn’t you resolved yourself, Hoyeol?
‘That I would take responsibility for everything.’
Taking responsibility for the past was precisely
the pride of an adult who had overcome middle school syndrome,
that stormy period of adolescence.
I invested all my remaining points into Luck.
[Luck: 16]
[Points Held: 0]
Considering the value of 4 levels in the 700s……
Tsk, it felt like I had a bitter taste in my mouth.
Still, let’s think of it as not being a losing trade.
‘What kind of expression would Matisse make if I told him?’
Spirits, magic, and even equipping legendary-grade items.
Affinity was an indispensable stat in Arcana.
And yet my affinity with suitable magic power had been zero.
‘If I say I manifested that kind of black magic with 0 percent.’
I still don’t know how much of an increase in effect affinity with suitable magic power will bring to black magic.
But just as nothingness and existence are different,
even if it rises by only 1 percent, there should be a meaningful difference.
Even if that’s not the case, I can’t back out now. In order not to collapse beneath the burdens I’ve taken on, I myself also had to grow even more than I had.
‘Let’s finish this as quickly as possible.’
There’s nothing good about putting it off.
In that sense, I first examined the procedures and schedule.
Starting tomorrow, we have to select twenty members of the advance party, huh. It goes without saying, but not a single spot is confirmed. Even I can’t guess where Grandfell’s whims will bounce.
‘How long will it take?’
The Infinite Darkness is a place where even time flows as it pleases.
Because of that, the curse I experienced in the Infinite Darkness was of little reference.
No matter how much I rack my brain, I can’t estimate it.
Well, that doesn’t mean there’s a need to worry endlessly.
“If it is you all, you will accomplish it sufficiently.”
According to strict procedure. There were people who would take over my role in my absence at the Magic Tower, at the AAU Yusra Branch, and even in the Holy War Alliance.
‘In the end, as long as I do well, there won’t be a problem.’
So there was no need to hesitate any longer.
At last, suitable magic power wavered from Envy.
A message appeared before my eyes.
[Entering the curse, ‘Understanding of Darkness’.]
...
Step—
Marcelo stands on the platform, his face gaunter than usual. There is no smile on the face of the elder mage, Yugweed. Even the Tower Master, who is always sprawled out, sits upright and keeps his place.
“…….”
Bangrit and Bensh.
Even the two seniors, who are usually endlessly talkative, do not open their mouths. Matisse’s face is frighteningly dark. In the Crystal Hall, where only the executives of the Magic Tower are present, Marcelo opens his mouth.
“At this place, the Magic Tower officially declares.”
The end of his sentence trails off.
“The disappearance of Chief Lee Hoyeol……”
Chief Lee Hoyeol.
It had been exactly five days
since he had vanished without a trace.