Chapter 117

Not much time left until we release the gate hold.

One person was still missing from the roll call.

No anomalies in his status window, so he definitely wasn’t in a dungeon or anywhere like that.

So what was making him so slow to respond?

He wasn’t completely ignoring the hunter chat, though.

If I asked that…

He’d ghost in like a poltergeist right when I was starting to worry something had happened, reply like that, but the conversation never went further.

This was definitely not like him.

Shin Jae-heon went silent for a moment before replying.

Sounds good and all… I arched an eyebrow.

What kind of subquest was it?

What subquest could keep his status window frozen like a brick for days?

Shin Jae-heon paused at my question before responding.

Such a subquest… could exist, I suppose.

That was when I arched my eyebrow.

Can’t keep his mouth shut!

He was chattering away like nothing had happened, back to his usual self.

I narrowed my eyes at it and asked.

Then he followed up immediately.

So Yeri Hunter, who had been quiet until then, replied right away.

“Hmm.”

That meant it was finally time to hand over that tidal wave of gates to the Eastern Empire.

I was smirking when…

—Thud thud.

“Family Head, it’s Helen.”

The butler Helen had come up.

“Yeah?”

I turned toward the door, tapped the table twice to signal her in, and Helen entered the room.

Her expression was somewhat grave.

“Family Head. Suspicious activity at the Eastern Empire border.”

?

Wasn’t it always suspicious there?

But apparently, it really was this time.

“Something’s happening inside the Eastern Empire. The number of commoners sneaking across the border to the Western Empire is abnormally high.”

Sneaking?

Considering how much Eastern and Western Empire citizens despised each other, it had to be something urgent.

“Not only that, but they’re fleeing in a hurry with only valuables and some essentials.”

“…Is the Eastern Empire’s gate management that bad?”

No way?

I glanced at the gate control rate floating in one corner of my system window.

Last time, during my ‘Subquest: Territory Management,’ I handed over about 40 gates.

Including those transferred nationwide, the control rates between Western and Eastern Empires were 82% vs. 18%—a 64% gap.

But.

To get the tier-3 reward from this quest, a razor-thin 64% wouldn’t cut it.

Whatever was at the end of this L-rank RP dungeon, I needed about an 80% gap to buy some time, right?

If I played it close and the Eastern Empire suddenly buckled down, dropping to 59% for only tier-2? I’d be pissed beyond belief.

That was when I was thinking that.

An hour before releasing the hold?

It wouldn’t suddenly ramp up the difficulty, would it?

Tensing up, I beckoned Helen.

“Gather the scale of the refugees and their origins first, bring it to me.”

That way, I could pinpoint where the trouble was.

“Understood.”

As soon as Helen withdrew, I checked the hunter chat.

With that, So Yeri Hunter posted the full Apocalypse Prophecy update.

“What?”

Good call sending Helen out!

Stunned by the prophecy, I widened my eyes.

That pompous prick failed?

So Yeri Hunter seemed to be hearing this for the first time too.

Fine for us, but hadn’t Shin Jae-heon planted people in the Eastern Empire?

Especially… preparing to take the crown prince’s head or… something…

“Hold on.”

I arched one eyebrow.

The previous prophecy mentioned unrest in the Eastern Empire, but nothing about the crown prince going missing.

This was sudden.

No way?

Mood Change skill was up, probably from resting.

I narrowed my eyes at the blatantly updating status window.

This guy’s radio silence for days… no way…

“Hm…”

I stared at that chat for a long while.

Yeah… it would blow up.

How many screw-ups had that crown prince pulled?

I figured the Eastern nobles were fed up watching him lose to the West.

Plus losing Epe on top—ripe for revolt.

But.

Was a rebellion even part of this RP dungeon’s storyline to begin with?

“…”

Sure, the main story was preventing continental doom, so the East crumbling or splitting was possible.

But wasn’t clearing the gates enough to stop continental destruction?

Did the East really need to fracture for that?

“It’s an RP dungeon…”

I muttered quietly.

RP dungeons usually spelled out clear goals within the story.

Even if L-rank, they wouldn’t hide clear conditions on purpose.

In other words, they wouldn’t confuse us by making it seem like dungeon clear wasn’t ‘gate crisis resolution’ but something Eastern-related.

“Hidden element adjusting difficulty?”

But that felt… off.

A sense of dissonance.

Like I was missing something.

As if a perfectly assembled puzzle was missing just one piece— that nagging feeling.

Shin Jae-heon said coolly in the meantime.

I asked him.

You set people on him, right?

A brief pause, then Shin Jae-heon’s reply.

“Oh… so you lost him?”

I leaned back in my chair, arms crossed.

Setting aside everything else, the crown prince didn’t strike me as clever enough to hide that shrewdly.

Yian-ssi timely refocused us. True, that was priority.

Still, something nagged at me…

I was narrowing my eyes when…

Oh?

A moment later, So Yeri Hunter posted the new content.

But So Yeri Hunter stayed quiet.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I finally asked.

Then came the absurd reply.

Where do I scratch? I had money, but no place to spend it.

I could practically see So Yeri Hunter tilting her head.

Results? The way to results is mostly capital!

If we could eliminate the gate cause? Clear would be in sight!

Then out we go—split Hunter Association vertically! Horizontally for the slanderers!

As I envisioned that bright future, chat continued.

So Yeri Hunter seemed revved up to release it.

“Finally!”

Same here, honestly.

Nothing beat the thrill of corralling dungeon monsters in one spot, then AoE wiping them.

This should be similar.

Except targets were gates, not monsters.

So Yeri Hunter must have launched her firebird with an excited grin.

And one of those firebirds naturally reached our territory, one of the key eastern domains.

—Scree!

Not invisible, but belting out a fierce cry—a pretty intimidating firebird. Taking the letter, I burst out laughing.

Simple message. I tugged the signal cord.

“You called?”

Helen must be busy; another knight poked his head in. Hiding my smile, I beckoned him.

“Send word to eastern territories: release the hold.”

It’s go time!

Now it was time to flip it all at once.

And the next morning.

“Stats really make a difference as they climb.”

Early morning, I headed to the training grounds while loosening up.

The higher my stats, the more my body felt like it used to.

My innate S-rank body.

The daily quest reward, converted from 7777 coins to mana, was still sweet as honey.

Hope there’s something like this outside the RP!

…Wishful thinking, it’ll be gone once out. L-rank rewards shouldn’t include it? I’m freeloading, sue me.

Making me do morning labor’s fine if it means this stat boost!

Lost in those silly but sincere thoughts as I reached the training grounds.

“Huh?”

Someone was sitting on the stairs.

Elbows on knees, fingers interlaced under chin…

None other than.

“Shin Jae-heon?”

He wasn’t even trying to hide his face.