Ch.142Eden Guard

# 142. Edengard

[You have peeked into V’s memory.]

‘Ah.’

I quickly blinked my eyes while rubbing my arms that were inexplicably covered in goosebumps. The first thought that came to mind when my vision returned was…

‘Why does my memory have to cut off right there of all places? That’s so weird!’

The raid members, who had been sprawled out groaning before I viewed the memory, were now surrounding me and staring down intensely.

Their silent staring was even more chilling.

I felt like I had to say something!

“Um, well, you see…”

“You talked like you had nothing to do with women, but that wasn’t the case. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

“Women just fall into your lap when you’re just breathing!”

“Nothing happened, right? Right? That’s how it was, right?”

No, I mean…

“I had a guy who was jealous of how popular I was with girls…”

“He was clearly a fox pretending to be a cheerful puppy! And the raid leader fell for it! Why did the memory cut off there? I’m so curious about what happened next!”

“Ugh… so annoying… so annoying…”

“Meow! Meow meow! Meooow!”

[Amazing! So amazing! So this is the Sunghyun of that world I’ve only heard about!]

…While Danya was marveling at seeing my actual self from the other world, the rest of the raid members were commonly interrogating me about the blind date at the end of the memory.

“Wow, I really couldn’t remember! Seeing the memory just now made me recall! Yeah!”

“Hmm.”

This is unfair! Why do I have to face these looks? It’s not like I did anything with that woman!

But I didn’t say that out loud.

– Women can be really unreasonable sometimes. In those situations, you either shut up and take it, unconditionally comfort them saying they’re right, or if you’ve done even the slightest thing wrong or feel guilty about something, you apologize.

– Sigh. What nonsense are you talking about now?

– It’s not nonsense, kid. This is advice that’ll be your flesh and blood. If you try to be logical, they’ll just say “I don’t know! I don’t care!” because their bad mood is more important.

– So I have to endure that unreasonableness one-sidedly?

– Nah, the world doesn’t work that one-sidedly. If you get through it well, the woman will eventually be sweet to you later. Because she knows she was wrong. That’s when you get what you want.

– Whatever. I just won’t date.

That casual conversation with the dating expert suddenly flashed through my mind… Back then, I thought he was just showing off, but now I see it was truly advice worth its weight in gold.

When the storm of unreasonableness hits, just lie flat until it passes! Even if I didn’t do anything wrong!

“I’ll explain everything later! For now, shouldn’t we think about where to go with our additional reward?”

“Sunghyun, you must be really flustered. You don’t even remember that we decided to go to Edengard before seeing your memory.”

“Oh, was that decided?”

“Pretty much.”

“Then, shall we head to Edengard first? Everyone’s pretty exhausted.”

The look in their eyes and expressions as they stared at me was… something. It seemed like they were waiting to see what I would say next…

‘Did my submissive approach without excuses work?’

It seemed more like they were letting it slide because they were in pain and tired, but either way, there was a tacit agreement not to discuss my memory any further right now.

What would happen once they recovered… well, that would be a problem for future me to handle.

As present me was catching my breath, I finally noticed the messages.

[Reward for Someone’s Memory (V) is being granted.]

[You may choose one of the following:]

[1. One for All]

[2. Third-Person Perspective]

[Please state the neutral zone you wish to move to.]

“Didn’t you all get a message?”

“What message?”

“A message asking which neutral zone we want to go to.”

“No?”

All the raid members shook their heads. It seemed only I had received it.

“Then I’ll say Edengard?”

“Yes.”

“Neutral zone, Edengard.”

[Do you confirm that you wish to move to the 1st floor neutral zone <Edengard>?]

“Yes.”

[In 1 minute, you will be moved to the 1st floor neutral zone <Edengard>.]

Can’t we go right away, System!

Seeing Yuri smirking at me made my body shudder.

After a minute that felt like an hour.

“Captain!”

“Ah.”

Just moments ago, we were in the reward room after defeating demons in the burning Magikant, but now we found ourselves on a hill near Edengard.

It was the very hill where I first stood with Seyeon, whom I had unintentionally summoned after receiving an S-rank in the Starting Room.

Seyeon was looking at me with a deeply moved expression, probably recalling that moment, while the other raid members were in tourist mode, admiring the magnificent multi-layered fortress in the distance.

“Oof.”

My whole body was still screaming in pain, but.

[Current location: 1st floor neutral zone ‘Edengard’.]

The word ‘neutral’ gave me strength.

“Seyeon.”

“Yes!”

“Shall we be guides for those who are visiting Edengard for the first time?”

“Sounds good! Oww…”

Though all of us—me, Seyeon, and the other raid members—groaned with every movement, our hearts were infinitely light as we headed toward Edengard’s gate.

**

“Here you go.”

“Received 120 gold coins! Enjoy your meal!”

“Yes. Sell a lot.”

Today again, I’m getting a cost-effective meat dish to take out. In a place with limited food options, meat dishes can’t possibly taste bad. Unless the meat quality is truly terrible.

After completing the now-familiar part-time jobs, or rather quests, and subtracting lodging and food costs from the earned gold coins, I’m left with less than 100 gold coins of pocket change.

And that’s only when I manage to get the good quests. Since they’re not unlimited like in games but first-come-first-served, I had to wake up early every morning.

‘Is this the life of a foreign worker, or rather, a Tower worker?’

I suddenly felt choked up at how accustomed I’d become to this life, then hit with a reality check. I couldn’t bring myself to go all the way to the inn, so I sat down on a bench midway and blankly watched people passing by.

Half were NPCs, but the other half were Tower workers like me, originally users.

Unlike me, who had earned enough for the day and finished early, they were still bustling about for quests.

‘What’s the point of saving up so much? They’re people who’ve given up on climbing anyway.’

There wasn’t much you could do here even with a lot of money. At best, a better room and expensive food.

Some people had started getting friendly with NPC members of the opposite sex and even making advances, but well… After several weeks, not a single success story had been heard.

And it was nonsensical to aim for the top in this city where you couldn’t hunt monsters and equipment was poor.

So naturally, out of shared hardship, day laborers living hand to mouth gathered and formed their own communities.

‘Wonder what the snacks will be today.’

Cheap beer, meager dried snacks, and plenty of topics to talk about.

That was the joy of day-laboring Tower workers, and the raid leader of “Anyway-The-Goddess-Is-The-Problem” stood up from his seat to not forget his life on Earth, which might become a distant memory with no promise of return.

‘I promise I’ll never touch games again, so please send me back to Earth.’

As he was trudging back to the inn with this futile prayer…

“We should go to Animus instead of Onor if we want a dormitory room.”

“Are you seriously planning to have all eight of us sleep together? Seyeon, we’re not short on money. Let’s just go to Onor for peace of mind. You’ve worked part-time there before too.”

“Yeah, unnie! We’re not broke, so why do all eight of us need to sleep together?”

“We can’t earn much money here. Magikant’s city functions are broken. We shouldn’t spend lavishly.”

“Financial manager!”

“It depends on how long we stay, but a few days shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Then let’s decide by majority vote.”

He couldn’t take his eyes off the seven strangers (specifically, one man surrounded by six women) and the black cat following them.

‘Alpha male bastard…’

It was a well-known fact that appearance in the Tower largely reflected one’s real-world looks.

The women were all exceptionally beautiful, and the single man at their center was enough to provoke irritation and inferiority just by his position…

‘Huh?’

Wait.

Wait a minute.

They’re clearly strangers, but why don’t they feel unfamiliar? This vague memory of seeing characters resembling these people, not here but somewhere else…

“Ah! Veritas?”

The raid leader of “Anyway-The-Goddess-Is-The-Problem,” who was happily recalling his memory, suddenly felt a chill. As he turned his head with a creak, he found all seven people, who had been chatting among themselves, staring at him without exception.

“Ah, hahaha.”

He tried to laugh awkwardly and pretend he was talking to himself as he continued on his way, but.

“Excuse me.”

“Ugh!”

The man, who had somehow appeared right in front of him, placed his hand on his shoulder and asked.

“Could we have a chat about various things for a moment?”

Despite the seemingly light touch, he felt an immovable force, and could only nod in response.