Breaking the Achievement Timer (2)
The Player Headquarters' exclusive training ground was located in Yongsan National Park.
It had originally been a U.S. military base stationed in Korea, but part of the land had been purchased and repurposed by the Headquarters.
"Hoo."
It was early evening. Watching the yellow-tinged sunset, Park Changseok let out an excited sigh.
Then—
"Assemblyman."
"Why the sudden summons at this hour?"
"I'm here, sir!"
Several players greeted him. There were ten of them in total.
All were players affiliated with Headquarters—individuals who trusted and followed Park Changseok quite well. Even if he shared a strategy with them, there was no risk of it leaking outside.
Park Changseok smiled faintly.
"I called you here because I have an experiment to conduct with all of you."
It was still before Tuesday had passed. If he hesitated, he might have had to wait another week, so he had gathered them urgently.
"An experiment?"
"What kind of experiment?"
"…Oh ho, this sounds promising."
If another assemblyman had summoned them, they would have grumbled with displeased expressions. But Park Changseok was different. He never called people like this unless it was for something important.
Everyone looked at him with anticipation.
"Are you aware that the record for the Low-Rank Tuesday Dungeon was recently broken?"
"Ah, that."
"Yes, I saw it."
"Wasn't it Baek Jinwoo?"
"Didn't an announcement say not to spread rumors? He's not even a ranked player."
As expected of true players sensitive to information—even though it had happened just today, they knew every detail.
This made sharing the strategy all the more satisfying.
"I obtained the strategy from overseas. We tested it with a newly registered player named Baek Jinwoo, and it produced quite meaningful results."
This was part of his promise with Baek Jinwoo: never reveal that the information had come from him.
"Is that… really true?"
"So that's why you insisted we not spread it!"
"Where in the world did you purchase such information?"
The players began to grow excited. Why else would he have gathered them here?
'Surely to share that strategy!'
'Jackpot.'
'As expected of Park Changseok!'
'He never summons us for trivial matters.'
Looking at the players with sparkling eyes, Park Changseok slowly opened his mouth.
* * *
[Xenos: This works perfectly for farming.]
[Xenos: No need to control it manually. Just enter the dungeon, go smoke a cigarette, and it'll be cleared when you're back.]
Among B-rank summons, there was one called the Spotted Komodo. A lizard the size of an adult man, it was a typical damage-tank summon—durable and capable of dealing decent damage.
However…
As a B-rank, it was difficult to raise, and compared to other B-rank summons, it was mediocre in both offense and defense, so it was rarely used.
It was something of a chicken rib—neither good nor bad. Considering it appeared with a mere 1% chance from a High-Rank Summoning Scroll, its cost-effectiveness was quite poor.
Thus, it had been abandoned—until Xenos, one of the One Heaven, Five Emperors, discovered a use for it.
[Xenos: Do you know what that guy's main food is?]
[Xenos: Giant Slimes. It goes crazy whenever it sees one. The way it devours those massive things is unbelievable.]
The important point was this: It went crazy only for Giant Slimes—not ordinary ones!
Inspired, Xenos released the Spotted Komodo from the very beginning of the Tuesday Dungeon.
Then—
The Spotted Komodo crawled forward at tremendous speed, navigating the maze effortlessly! It found its own path and devoured the Giant Slimes greedily.
[Xenos: Jackpot!]
Was it around his fifth year?
Thanks to Xenos' information, the Komodo hunting method became popular for a time. Of course, only a select few knew about it—namely the One Heaven, Five Emperors and their close associates.
As for Baek Jinwoo—
He had already memorized all maze patterns back then, so he had never needed to use it.
Nevertheless, Baek Jinwoo shared this information with Park Changseok, who then relayed it to the players gathered here.
"…What is that?"
"So… if we just release the Spotted Komodo, it clears the dungeon by itself?"
"That sounds too simple. Are you sure?"
Park Changseok had purchased a Spotted Komodo from the market at a considerable price. By repeatedly using it, they could break achievement timers.
"We'll move to the dungeon now. You must control it precisely. The current clear time is exactly 5 minutes and 32 seconds, so you need to break it at 5 minutes and 31 seconds. If you exceed it, simply retry."
"Ah, understood."
Gulp.
The players swallowed nervously and nodded.
* * *
[Low-Rank Tuesday Dungeon]
[Domestic Record #1 – Park Chunsik]
[Clear Time – 00:05:31]
"I-It's real!"
Park Chunsik emerged from the dungeon with a flushed face, trembling with excitement.
"This is a revolution—a revolution!"
His entire body shook.
"By around 3 minutes and 30 seconds, it had already reached the boss room and was about to eat the slime. Other than stopping it from doing that, it was incredibly easy. I didn't do anything!"
[Low-Rank Tuesday Dungeon]
[Domestic Record #1 – Lee Dongmyeong]
[Clear Time – 00:05:29]
"Ah! I'm sorry. I was supposed to shorten it by one second, but I accidentally shortened it by two… This Komodo! Its appetite is unbelievable! It's like a Bichon Frise staring at dog food!"
One by one, players continued breaking records.
[Mid-Rank Tuesday Dungeon]
[Domestic Record #1 – Park Chunsik]
[Clear Time – 00:08:30]
"Wow, even the mid-rank dungeon is cleared in just three minutes. I intentionally shortened the original record by only one second."
"Now we won't have to worry about polishing materials anymore!"
"If we equip the Komodo with movement speed runes, couldn't we challenge the world record?"
It was truly a festival—an achievement festival.
Players who had never earned achievements before were gathered and handed the Spotted Komodo. They cleared achievements and shared the rewards.
The Headquarters received two High-Rank Summoning Scrolls, while the players received one.
Even with such a distribution, there were more volunteers than they could handle.
"Unbelievable…"
At that moment, the most excited person was none other than Park Changseok.
Was he happy simply because they were clearing achievements?
That was part of it—but more important was Baek Jinwoo.
Baek Jinwoo is Korea's hope.
It was now certain. He wasn't merely a first-year gamer—he possessed value far beyond that.
Clench.
Park Changseok tightened his fist.
This won't do.
Taking a deep breath, he calmed his excitement.
'I'll form a dedicated team for Baek Jinwoo.'
As mentioned before, there was only one thing they needed to prevent—
Naturalization!
They had to keep him tied to South Korea at all costs. If they succeeded, perhaps Korea could one day follow in the footsteps of the world's five great summoning powers.
First—
"Secretary."
Park Changseok made a call and gave his order.
—Yes, Assemblyman.
"Proceed with what I mentioned earlier. Immediately."
—You mean the payment of 150 million won and 10,000 Low-Rank Summoning Scrolls?
"That's right."
Baek Jinwoo had kept his promise. Now it was Park Changseok's turn to keep his.
* * *
[Account Details Inquiry]
[Account Holder: Baek Jinwoo]
[Premium Account]
[Withdrawable Balance: 167,004,500 won]
"Wow."
9 million won from selling three High-Rank Summoning Scrolls, 5 million won in rewards, and an additional 150 million won.
"Was making money always this easy?"
He felt a slight sense of disillusionment with his past life. The value of labor income suddenly seemed insignificant.
And then—
[Summoning Scroll Inventory]
Low-Rank Summoning Scroll × 10,000
An employee approached and deposited all 10,000 scrolls directly into his inventory.
Now, what remained to be done?
Tearing open summoning scrolls endlessly!
Since he had promised never to resell them, he had no choice but to use them all.
Baek Jinwoo headed to a secluded vacant lot he often visited. At the same time, he summoned the Wind Fairy.
—Lamba has arriiiived!
"Lamba."
—Yes!
"From now on, we'll begin the summoning ritual."
—Okay! I just need to wash my hands and pray, right?!
"That's right."
Baek Jinwoo opened a bottle of water he had purchased.
Drip, drip.
Lamba diligently washed her hands under the flowing water.
—Please let a good summon appear!
—Please let our Jinwoo get a good summon!
It was a pure ritual Baek Jinwoo had practiced ten years ago when he was a middle school student. Lamba, whose AI was extraordinarily advanced (now that he thought about it, it didn't seem like mere AI), faithfully followed along.
"That's enough. Let's tear them open!"
Rip!
[You have used a 'Low-Rank Summoning Scroll'!]
[Player 'Baek Jinwoo' has acquired the summon 'Blue Dragonfly' (F-rank)!]
Rip!
[You have used a 'Low-Rank Summoning Scroll'!]
[Player 'Baek Jinwoo' has acquired the summon 'Horned Caterpillar' (F-rank)!]
Rip, rip, rip!
From here on, it was endless grinding.
The acquired summons accumulated in an intangible storage space, to be processed later in the Synthesis Lab.
"Pant… Pant…"
He had just opened 3,600 scrolls.
Time elapsed: one hour.
That meant he had opened one scroll per second without rest.
"Damn it… I can't keep this up. Let's take a break."
If he had received 50,000 scrolls, he would have been in serious trouble.
"And why aren't these guys appearing?"
Training Instructor (E-rank), Explosive Dragon Sorcerer (D-rank).
They were rarer than expected. If he had purchased low-rank scrolls with his own money, it would have been disastrous.
Still, judging by the results—35 D-rank and 182 E-rank summons—the probabilities seemed roughly correct.
For reference, D-rank summons were so common that they hardly sold. Summons only started fetching high prices from C-rank onward.
—You fool.
"Hm?"
—Do you think it would be that easy? Those aren't just E-rank or D-rank—they're EX-rank!
"But you appeared on the first try."
—That was an absurd stroke of luck! To summon them, 10,000 scrolls wouldn't even be enough—it might take 100,000!
"…What?"
Watching him quietly, Lamba sighed and began to explain.
—Do you know how the summoning system works?
"How does it work?"
How could he know?
Even Baek Jinwoo's vast knowledge was limited to the player's perspective. Back in Battle of Summoners, players couldn't communicate directly with their summons.
—Originally, the number of summons is fixed at 10% of the number of players. That Horned Caterpillar you summoned? There were only a few hundred of them in the past, but now they've multiplied to over 800 million.
"…What?"
Ah.
Considering the world population was about 8.1 billion…
—But the important thing is that we are classified as isolated entities. There is only one of each of us.
"…What?"
—I don't know the reason, but only you can summon us. Perhaps only one specimen was preserved… or maybe the god who created us isolated us but couldn't bear to discard us. Ugh, my head hurts.
"Ha…"
If that assumption was correct, the situation was dire.
As far as Baek Jinwoo knew, there were tens of thousands of summon species…
And each one numbered in the hundreds of millions?
To draw the single EX-rank among them by probability alone?
Even a simple calculation made it absurdly unlikely—winning the lottery consecutively would be easier.
—Still, don't worry too much. Once a summon has been drawn, it won't appear again. In other words, if all 800 million Horned Caterpillars in the world have already been summoned, no matter how many scrolls you tear open, you'll never summon another one.
"It's still difficult."
—Right.
"…Should I just switch to mid-rank scrolls?"
Of course, that wasn't an option. A single Mid-Rank Summoning Scroll cost 500,000 won, and supply was limited.
"Ah, whatever."
He would just keep tearing them open. Eventually, one would appear.
Lamba had already overcome those extreme odds to appear—surely the others would too.
Rip! Rip!
After a short rest, Baek Jinwoo resumed moving his hands tirelessly.
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