Owner of Twilight Intuition – Chapter 121

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐𝟏

‘I can’t believe it was solved in such an unexpected way.’

Yesterday, after discovering the Azure Guardian Set in the Imperial Armory, I devised several plans to somehow obtain that armor. I was even prepared to work at the royal palace if necessary, but contrary to my expectations, I ended up acquiring the armor quite easily.

It was none other than Yua and Sina who yielded their rewards.

Yua apologized for being of no help in the boss battle and conceded her reward, and Sina said she only needed the position and also relinquished her reward, allowing me to collect the entire Azure Guardian Set that I had so desperately desired.

‘It doesn’t feel quite right, though.’

It feels like I’ve somehow stolen their rewards. However, it was such a significant reward that I couldn’t bring myself to refuse it.

After all, it was Rare-grade armor.

Thanks to that, I’ve activated all the set effects of the Azure Guardian, making me much stronger than before. I can’t even imagine how much stronger I’ll become once I finish enhancing it.

‘I should look into ways to help them out later.’

Anyway, I was happy. I was finally able to replace the armor I’d been using for over a month, so there was no reason not to be happy. Moreover, since it was a Rare-grade set item, it seemed like I wouldn’t have to worry about armor anymore.

“Hey~ Giwon!”

Just then, I turned my head at the familiar voice and saw my friend, Jaehoon. We had talked about meeting up over the phone before, and since tomorrow was my day off, we decided to meet up outside like this tonight.

‘Huh?’

But who’s next to him?

I looked at the woman walking alongside Jaehoon. With her round eyes and face shape, she was more cute than beautiful.

“Sorry, are we late?”

“You’re extremely late. But……”

As my gaze shifted towards the woman beside him, Jaehoon, as if he had been waiting for it, introduced her.

“Ah, my girlfriend. Her name is Jooyeon.”

“Hello.”

“Yes, hello.”

His girlfriend?

Anyway, as I greeted Jooyeon who was greeting me, Jaehoon spoke in a cheerful tone.

“Well, let’s not just stand here, let’s go inside.”

“Where are we going?”

“A nearby barbecue restaurant. Why? Want to go somewhere else?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Then, as I followed Jaehoon, we arrived quickly, as if he had planned to go to the barbecue restaurant from the beginning. There was a reason he had chosen this area as our meeting place. One way or another, I followed him inside, and when the staff asked how many people, I watched Jaehoon answer three and asked curiously.

“Where are the others?”

“I already treated those guys, so it’s fine.”

“……”

Did he call me separately because he didn’t treat me?

Anyway, I lost my words at his clear answer and just nodded. After ordering in a familiar manner, I watched him playfully bicker with his girlfriend next to him and started to wonder if he had met up with me to buy me dinner or if they had just come here for their own date.

“……When did you guys start dating?”

“Huh? Oh, about fifteen days ago?”

Fifteen days? That’s much shorter than I thought.

“We met in the game at first. But after talking, we found out we lived near each other. I thought it was fate, so I asked her out and we ended up dating.”

“Ah…… I see.”

At that moment, Jooyeon, who was next to us, chided him for telling such a story, but Jaehoon didn’t seem to mind. And I didn’t want to mind either. What good would it do to hear how they started dating? I thought so as I drank a glass of soju with the fully cooked meat, when Jaehoon’s voice was heard once again.

“Or do you want to join us? It’s a game called Twilight……”

“I’m already playing it.”

The game he mentioned earlier seemed to be Twilight. I had guessed as much from the moment he mentioned a game. Due to the recent impact of virtual reality, almost all online games were going under, so when it came to games, there was only Twilight.

“Oh? Really? But why didn’t you contact me?”

“You didn’t contact me either.”

“……Even so, that’s……”

He was momentarily flustered by my answer, but soon made a resigned expression. It seemed like he didn’t want to raise his voice over this topic.

“So, where are you playing?”

“What do you mean? Region?”

“Yeah, I’m in the Iot Kingdom.”

Iot Kingdom?

Isn’t that the place where all the hunting grounds have been blocked because they can’t even catch one Kraken? I’d heard rumors that players were hunting each other to level up, and that they were getting stronger and stronger.

And as I recalled that rumor, I immediately spoke the words that came to mind.

“That place is doomed, isn’t it?”

“……”

The Iot Kingdom has many small islands instead of grasslands and forests, so players go there to hunt. I heard it’s also possible to go into the sea and find dungeons, but currently, it’s all impossible due to the Kraken roaming around.

My statement that it was doomed wasn’t entirely wrong.

“It’s not doomed yet. All the guilds in the Iot Kingdom have decided to form an alliance. They’ve even decided to hire skilled players, so if they fail then, it might actually be doomed.”

“Skilled players?”

It seems like some new information is coming out. Well, they have to catch the Kraken somehow in the current situation. They need to catch the Kraken to be able to go hunting, right? In a way, the Kraken was a problem for the entire Iot Kingdom.

“Yeah, famous people like Aizen, Rudin, Dedric, Kaitz, and Ark. There’s a plan in progress to hire those kinds of people.”

‘Dedric?’

That name sounds familiar. Who was it?

Aizen and Rudin go without saying. However, hearing those names from my friend’s mouth makes me feel a bit strange. I don’t know who Kaitz and Ark are, but I could at least guess that they were famous players.

“I think they’re offering around 3 million won to hire them.”

For a moment, I doubted my ears.

“……What?”

“Isn’t it amazing? Hiring them for 3 million won? Man~ If it were me, I would have accepted right away. It’s more than my monthly salary, after all.”

‘Is this guy crazy?’

3 million won? If I die and drop the Roar of the Thunder Dragon, hundreds of millions of won will disappear. Well, even if I put that aside, would Aizen even consider doing it for that amount? No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t seem likely.

‘What’s the reason? Do the players in the Iot Kingdom really think they can hire them with that amount?’

Of course, it’s not a small amount of money. Considering that Rare items are gradually becoming more available, it’s an amount that could buy one or two decent Rare items.

But…… it still didn’t appeal to me.

‘Or have my standards unknowingly gotten higher?’

Perhaps I subconsciously thought, ‘They should pay me tens of millions of won to hire me!’ Anyway, one thing’s for sure: there wouldn’t be many people willing to participate for 3 million won.

“What are they going to do if everyone refuses?”

“If they refuse? I don’t think it’ll matter much. Over 10,000 people have already agreed to participate in the Kraken subjugation. They’ll catch it somehow.”

‘10,000 people? Well, if it’s that many……’

Even if each person deals 1 damage, it’ll add up to a total of 10,000 damage. I thought they could easily catch the Kraken with that much, and just in case, I decided to ask one more question.

“You’re not participating, are you?”

“Me? Of course, I’m participating. My face will probably appear in the video on the homepage in a few days.”

“……I’ll cheer you on.”

I said that, but I didn’t expect him to do well at all. How strong could he be, only being able to log in in the evenings while working at his job? To become strong in Twilight, one had to invest the necessary time.

“By the way, I told you, so you should tell me too. Which region are you in?”

“The Harpe Empire.”

“Ah, the place where the Emperor Guild monopolizes all the dungeons? I heard rumors that over 100 people take turns searching for dungeons……”

“100 people? That’s a lot.”

“Yeah, and they even took the dungeons owned by other guilds after winning the previous guild war. There’s even talk that you have to join the Emperor Guild if you’re playing in the Harpe Empire.”

Hmm, is that how others perceive the Emperor Guild?

“Did you join the Emperor Guild too, by any chance?”

“Me?”

I was momentarily flustered by the sudden question, but after a brief contemplation, I shook my head. The image my friend had of me was someone living alone and working a job. Therefore, it seemed appropriate to say that I only played Twilight as a hobby.

“Or you could come to the Iot Kingdom too. It might get increasingly difficult there since the Emperor Guild is dominating.”

“Yes. Let’s play together.”

Even Jooyeon, who had been quiet, stepped in and urged me to come to the Iot Kingdom.

“Sorry, the teleportation costs are expensive, and I have friends I made there.”

“Is that so? That’s a shame. It would be nice to play together even in the game.”

“I’ll try to go when I have the chance.”

At my answer, he nodded as if there was nothing he could do. We continued chatting about this and that for a while, and then I saw Jooyeon suddenly look at her watch and say something to Jaehoon.

“Oppa, sorry, but I have to go.”

“Ah, should I walk you?”

“No, you said you were meeting a friend after a long time. I’ll go by myself.”

“Okay, sorry.”

‘Wouldn’t it be better to walk her?’

Anyway, even after Jooyeon left, I continued exchanging idle chatter with him. Perhaps because it was our first time meeting in a while, the conversation never seemed to end, but eventually, the topic returned to Twilight.

Jaehoon, his face flushed with alcohol, said,

“Come to think of it, there was a huge commotion in the Karzen Kingdom too.”

“What commotion?”

“Huh? You don’t know? There’s a guild war going on there too. The Yonggammusang Guild Master hit on some woman, and it turned out she was the Bulgeun Taeyang Guild Master’s woman? So those two guilds are fighting fiercely.”

“Two guilds fighting is considered a commotion?”

“It’s different now. Both guilds have requested help from other guilds, and it’s escalated into a fight involving almost dozens of guilds. The problem is that the Yonggammusang Guild seems to have the upper hand. It looks like the Bulgeun Taeyang Guild has no intention of surrendering.”

‘If things go wrong, we might not even be able to log in……’

War in Twilight ends as soon as you deploy troops to the starting point. To avoid that, you need to build a Guild Castle, and if you do, you have to conquer the Guild Castle instead of the starting point to end the war.

And unlike the starting point, conquering a Guild Castle is no easy feat.

This is because the various decorations that can be placed in the Guild Castle provide auxiliary effects…… but the problem is that building the Guild Castle itself is also quite difficult.

“But why aren’t they surrendering?”

“Rumor has it that they demanded a public apology and 1 billion won as the price for surrender. I don’t know for sure, but that’s what I heard.”

“……That’s crazy.”

My friend nodded in agreement.

“Anyway, the Bulgeun Taeyang Guild is losing now, so they’ll either quit the game or surrender. Of course, it has nothing to do with us.”

“Right.”

I don’t know anyone in the Bulgeun Taeyang Guild. Hearing their situation was a bit unfortunate, but that was all. So I didn’t think about it anymore and continued talking with him, and then I heard him sigh.

“Sigh…… If only I could become an executive, I’d quit my job.”

“You’ve only been working for how long, and you’re already talking about quitting?”

“I told you, if I could become an executive. Do you know how much executives in large guilds earn?”

“I don’t know.”

I wasn’t joking; I really didn’t know. Even though I had the position of Vice Guild Master in the Emperor Guild, I had never even used the common guild dungeons. However, remembering a guild member who cheered about becoming an executive a few days ago, I guessed that they must earn a decent amount.

“I heard it briefly…… They earn 10-20 million won a month. They say it’s not always that much, but it’s still enviable.”

10-20 million?

“They earn that much?”

“Most of the dungeons are monopolized by guilds, right? Plus, executives usually have unlimited access to dungeons. So they earn money by selling items, skill books, and materials from the dungeons.”

Thinking about it for a moment, it’s not entirely absurd. There are indeed items, skill books, and materials that are only found in dungeons. So if they earn money by selling them, 10-20 million won might not be impossible.

That is, if they can monopolize all the dungeon bosses.

In addition, they would need a large number of dungeons. One or two wouldn’t be enough; they would need at least ten or more to earn the amount he mentioned.

“Well, what’s the point of thinking about it now? If I was aiming to become an executive, I should have quit a long time ago.”

It seems like he understands the situation to some extent. Honestly, the possibility of him becoming an executive in a large guild is almost non-existent. The only possibility would be if he acquired an S-rank skill, but even that is not easy.

Wouldn’t winning the lottery be better?

‘No, wait, it’s not completely impossible.’

If acquiring an S-rank skill is impossible, there’s another way. I could reveal that I’m Rudin and raise him. If I’m determined and take him through all the dungeons of the Emperor Guild, showering him with experience, items, and skill books, becoming an executive wouldn’t be entirely out of reach.

The problem is that I would have to reveal that I’m Rudin. And if that happens, it’ll definitely cause a commotion, so I just kept the thought to myself.

“If you ever get the chance to become an executive, don’t miss it. You absolutely can’t miss it.”

‘Why did the conversation take this turn?’

I tilted my head in puzzlement for a moment, but I still listened to my friend’s story until the end.

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