Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Recruitment

I asked Poporu what memories had come back to him after eating the Low-Grade Magic Stones.

“Duuuu...!”

Kung-du Poporu crossed his arms with a solemn expression.

He looked as if he were about to tell a heavy story.

“I was the king of the sea, du.”

“Don’t lie.”

“It’s true, du! I may be short and squat now, but I wasn’t like this in the old days, du!”

“What were you like in the old days?”

“I was huge, du. Huge enough to smash an island with one Kung Fu punch!”

“Boss. Let’s just not listen. Every time he opens his mouth, it’s a lie.”

Perhaps because the two of us had cornered him, Poporu’s eyes grew teary.

At this rate, he looked as if he would soon start blowing snot bubbles too.

“Sorry. I won’t interrupt, so keep going.”

“Understood, du. Anyway, no one approached the sea or island where I lived, du. So I lived peacefully for a long time, du. But one day!!”

Perhaps to build tension.

Poporu cut himself off and looked around at Aris and me.

It was not the least bit effective, but I pretended to be curious for now.

“One day!?”

“An Undersea Labyrinth appeared beneath the sea, du.”

Now this caught my interest.

“Where did you say you lived, Poporu?”

“It was a kingdom called Atalaka, du.”

Aris had said she had lived in an imperial territory called Sangjeria.

In other words, even the demons had lived in different worlds.

“Aris, you said something like a Labyrinth appeared too, right?”

“Yes! In Sangjeria, it appeared between the sky and the earth! A Labyrinth that stretched incredibly far to the left and right!”

Labyrinths had appeared in various forms across various worlds.

Yet in the end, everyone had gathered in a single Labyrinth.

“Constellations appeared from the Labyrinth, and after that, I only remember fighting, du. When I came to my senses, my body was the size of a booger, and I was dangling from a cliff, du.”

“Was it similar for you too, Aris?”

“Yes! I remember fighting for quite a long time, but... after that, it’s kind of blurry. I feel like a lot of things happened while we were fighting.”

“Now that I think about it, I think it was the same for me, du. There were other beings besides the Constellations, and they said something or other, but I don’t remember, du.”

“Don’t copy what I said, you lousy seal!”

“That’s too mean, du!”

“And neither of you knows what happened to the world you lived in afterward?”

Aris and Poporu nodded with their steamed-bun-like heads.

Three years since the Labyrinth appeared. Thirteen years by a regressor’s standard.

Depending on how one looked at it, that was either a long time or a short time.

If I knew what kind of ending the two of their worlds had met, I might be able to predict the future to some extent.

Well, if I kept feeding them Magic Stones, their memories would probably grow clearer little by little.

“If you remember anything later, tell me again.”

“Yes!”

“Understood, du!”

Aris went back to devouring chicken, while Poporu licked his hand.

I went over beside Poporu and opened my palm.

“Poporu. Can you show me that Kung Fu technique called One-Inch? My head and body remember it, but I think seeing it directly would be better.”

“Mm! For a Kung Fu beginner, seeing it once is naturally a great help, du! In martial arts, experience is valuable in any form, du! It is not difficult, du. You spread your palm wide like this, place your fingertips against the target, then kick off as if pushing against the ground while folding your hand in!”

Nom, nom, nom... CRACK!

“Gueeeek!”

Aris, who had been mindlessly eating chicken, went flying.

After rolling for quite a while, she crashed in front of the bathroom bathmat.

Even in his miniature version, with his strength greatly reduced, it was still this powerful. It seemed I would have to practice it outside.

‘Experience, huh.’

All those past days when I had kept my distance from exercise.

That was exactly why experience was even more important.

Only then would I be able to handle more unexpected situations.

“Duuuu!”

Poporu crossed his arms, then took the ready stance for a straight punch.

He looked as if he had pulled off something extremely satisfying.

While I was picking up the chicken Aris had dropped as she flew away.

Ding-dong!

I froze.

Aside from delivery workers or cult recruiters, the doorbell had never rung even once?!

I crept over and checked outside through the door viewer.

Big.

Something was so big that I could not see anything properly.

At times like this, pretending not to be home was best.

Just as I was about to quietly turn back.

“Is that DDQ Golden Olive?”

A voice that completely drained away the tension reached me.

Click.

“Oh! Ryu Jin-kun. Hisashibu—”

SLAM!

“Got it. I’ll speak Korean. Open the door again.”

When I opened it again, my old hometown friend, Oh Deok-man, raised a hand.

“It’s been a while. Tomoda—no, my friend.”

I raised my hand as well, then stared at Deok-man, who filled the hallway.

Why was someone who should have been in Daejeon here?

“We are meeting after so long, yet you intend to keep me standing outside?”

“Pretty much.”

“You are still as cold as ever. They say Seoul people are all prickly, and it seems true.”

“By the way, Oh Deok-man. Did you come here after doing a triathlon or something? Why are you drenched in sweat?”

Oh Deok-man pushed up his horn-rimmed glasses with his middle finger held tightly upright.

No matter how many times I saw that, it always made me feel unpleasant, because I could not tell whether he was doing it on purpose.

“The hill was incredible. It was a difficult battle. On top of that, I even went to the wrong building.”

“You came here when I moved in.”

“All the villas in this neighborhood look the same. How was I supposed to remember?”

“Stop making derogatory remarks about Sillim.”

Let us end the greetings here.

When I opened the door, Oh Deok-man immediately infiltrated the entryway as if he had been waiting.

Deok-man looked at my dining table.

“As expected, DDQ Golden Olive.”

“Do you want some?”

“What am I supposed to eat when there’s none?”

“What do you mean there’s none... There really isn’t.”

I glared at Aris, who was standing side by side with Poporu in the corner.

They must have eaten it all in that short time, because their mouths were completely covered in grease.

Seeing that their forms were blurry, both of them had apparently switched modes on their own so Deok-man could not see them.

“This is my first time here since you moved. I carried all of your belongings back then.”

“What do you mean, all of them? You carried one thing and collapsed because you were tired. Jae-hee and I did everything.”

“Ah!”

As if he had only just remembered, Deok-man snapped his fingers.

“Jae-hee said you are dead.”

“That is a sudden murder warning.”

“Jae-hee said that once leave comes through, you are getting killed for disappearing for three years without contacting us even once.”

Oh Deok-man and Ryu Jae-hee.

They were my childhood friends, who had gone to kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school with me back in my hometown.

“I didn’t disappear. I replied too.”

“Oi, oi, Ryu Jin-kun. ‘Yeah,’ ‘Uh,’ ‘Wait,’ ‘Later.’ Do you call that replying?”

“Mm. That’s not great.”

“You would have nothing to say even if you got slapped across the face.”

I scratched my head.

Three years since I became a Non-Regressor.

Looking back, I had not had any room in my heart.

Even Deok-man and Jae-hee, who did not care whether I was a Non-Regressor or anything else, had felt strangely burdensome to me.

I looked at Deok-man, who was naturally picking up and eating the pickled radish.

“Oh Deok-man, the king of inventors from Sannae-dong, Dong-gu, Daejeon. Weren’t you in a mechanical engineering doctoral program at KEIST Graduate School?”

It had been a while, but I had heard a few updates about his graduate school life.

Deok-man, who had awakened as a production-type Class that matched his major thanks to a stroke of heavenly luck.

Because of that, he apparently spent every single day stuck in his Labyrinth Personal Lobby developing equipment.

Thinking about it that way, perhaps it had not really been lucky after all.

Deok-man, who had finished off the pickled radish in an instant, opened his mouth.

“Graduate school? I quit.”

“You got kicked out.”

“That place was too small a vessel to contain me. I went there because there was something I wanted to make, but I couldn’t make anything for three years. Every time, I only made things related to projects the professor had brought in.”

“Then did you come to Seoul to look for a new job?”

“Sharp as ever.”

“Usually, no one comes dressed in a suit just to meet a friend.”

I poured him a glass of Coke.

Zero Coke, of course, for Deok-man’s health.

“I have an interview in Seoul tomorrow.”

“That sounds like you’re asking me to let you sleep here.”

“What do you take me for? I’m not going to ask you to let me sleep here.”

“Oh?”

“I’m sleeping here. No matter what.”

I had felt this since long ago, but this guy was not normal either.

I shrugged and picked up my phone.

This worked out well.

Because that pig Aris had eaten everything, I was hungry. I might as well order more chicken and eat—

?

At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind, and I turned my head.

“By the way, Deok-man.”

“Mm?”

“Was the stuff you made in graduate school Labyrinth-specific equipment?”

“That’s right. These days, every profitable business is Labyrinth-related.”

“What can you make?”

Deok-man rubbed his plump chin and answered casually.

“Zenbu? There is nothing a crafting slave cannot make.”

“What did you say your Class was again?”

“Multifunction Engineer.”

“Why does that sound weird?”

“How rude. Says the swindler.”

As I continued placing the order, I organized my thoughts.

Because of the Destroyer title, I no longer knew what variables might pop up, when or where.

There was no way I could keep clearing this kind of Labyrinth while relying only on a single Draw Ticket.

Even the last time, if I had used the Draw Ticket before meeting the Watcher, things would have become dangerous.

‘The more options I have, the better.’

After finishing the chicken order, I spoke casually.

“What are you going to appeal with at tomorrow’s interview?”

“My indomitable spirit, perhaps? The spirit that endured three years of graduate school at KEIST, which boasts both the best technical prowess and the worst reputation in Korea, through sheer grit and spite.”

“Nice.”

Excellent. Sincerely.

The corners of my mouth slowly rose.

First, I would feed him until he was full, then try to coax him.

---

After finishing off the chicken, Deok-man looked up at me.

“You’re saying you are going to do Labyrinth cash farming? With Pinking Shears?”

“It’s not exactly with Pinking Shears, but in any case, I became able to do it. I can also secure Magic Stones steadily now.”

“Hey, Ryu Jin, you bastard!”

He suddenly grabbed me by the collar.

“So you ended up falling for a cult or a pyramid scheme after all! No matter how lonely and isolated you are, there are some things you must never do!”

“I’m not lonely.”

Deok-man pointed at the dining table.

“Then how do you explain those bones placed in three different directions while you were eating chicken alone?! It’s exactly like me using multiple IPs to post comments so I can win an online argument!”

“Stop doing that kind of thing.”

He looked as if he would never believe me if I only used words, so I brought out the bag that had been in my room.

Then I poured out the bundles of 50,000-won bills inside.

“It’s the money I got from selling Lowest-Grade Magic Stones. If you don’t believe me, I can take you to the shop in front of Sillim Station and show you.”

“I’ll pass on that. I would have to climb that hellish hill again. Anyway, you are saying the Magic Stone supply is smooth?”

“Of course, I can’t invest all of it into crafting. I have to pay off my loan.”

“You mean you are still paying off the one that human trash, that scumbag masquerading as your stepfather, dumped on you?”

“Right. It was pretty rough before, but it’s fine now. I’ll pay it off soon.”

“Hmmm. A business proposal from my old hometown friend, Ryu Jin-kun. It is astonishingly untrustworthy. Then what should I make?”

“Everything you want to make. But since I don’t have overflowing Magic Stones yet, it would be nice if they were things that could be used practically in the Labyrinth.”

Oh Deok-man’s eyes sparkled.

Everything he wanted to make.

How long had he yearned to hear those words?

On top of that, he had been feeling a great deal of pressure.

A new area, a new job, and new people were always difficult.

Oh Deok-man, who had his arms crossed, nodded with a solemn expression.

“Yoshi... No, good! Ryu Jin-kun!”

“No otaku-speak.”

“Ryu Jin! I shall join you!”

Oh Deok-man raised a glass filled with Coke.

With a smile, I raised my glass as well, and we clinked them together roughly.

Very good.

I had gained a craftsman from the best engineering university in Korea.