by Park Saenal
(Quest B408 has been triggered. Please authorize the convening of an emergency meeting).
Lim Cheolho’s mind revolved and then recalled the information about B408.
B408. It was a codename for S-grade hidden quests that needed special conditions to be fulfilled.
‘The compensation for Quest B408 is a second class?’
The user who cleared B408 would be able to obtain another class. In Satisfy, they might be the first user to have two classes. But the more rewarding the quest was, the more difficult it would be.
In particular, the content of Quest B408 was very unique, as the user had to be trapped in an enclosed space for 200 hours of Satisfy time. It had a direct impact on the real world, since the user who performed the quest was at a great risk of suffering serious psychological damage. One of the reasons why the clause ‘the S.A Group has permission to view user’s personal information’ was created was due to quests like B408.
“I give permission. I will go as well.”
Lim Cheolho immediately stopped working and headed towards the conference room. He arrived in the meeting room and looked at the documents. It contained information about the user who triggered the quest.
“Amazing. A Mongolian person.”
Originally, Mongolia was the world’s 10th richest country when it came to resources but lacked the technology to find and use those resources. But after breaking away from communism, the Mongolian government established diplomatic ties with many countries and actively attracted foreign direct investment (FDI).
Since then, numerous governments and companies advanced into Mongolia, including both the Korean government and Korean companies. They called Mongolia the ‘land of opportunity’ and made investments. There was a huge inflow of foreign capital into Mongolia.
However, once Mongolia’s regime changed in the 2010s, the FDIs started to slow down due to the rapid change in policy. After many years, the regime changed once again and the Mongolian officials tried to induce the FDIs again, but many had already lost confidence in Mongolia. In the end, the Mongolian government’s plans didn’t proceed as planned and Mongolia remained a developing country until the 2030s.
But now it was different. Mongolia’s FDIs were revitalized as the world’s economy boomed, thanks to rapid technological development in the 2040s. The Mongolian government cooperated, and through some successful processes, the nation stepped into the ranks of the developed countries.
But despite this, the nomadic temperament of Mongolia didn’t change. The vast majority of the Mongol people couldn’t adapt to the new benefits and still wanted to wander the grasslands. As a result, Mongolia became one of the countries with the smallest number of Satisfy members.
According to statistics, more than 60% of the total population of developed countries were Satisfy players. In addition, Satisfy-related businesses created a lot of jobs. But in Mongolia, only 3% of the population played Satisfy. For the Mongols who loved wandering the grasslands, the act of being trapped in a small capsule was unacceptable.
‘3% of the population is a miracle.’
The 25-year-old with the name of Allunbatar, which was hard to pronounce, was a level 127 orator. Lim Cheolho was already surprised to see a level 127 orator, a class that was weak in combat, but he couldn’t believe that the user was a Mongolian.
‘Quest-based leveling: by utilizing the characteristics of an orator, he could obtain relatively difficult quests, an effective way to play.’
As Lim Cheolho read the documents, the executives who had been sleeping at home rushed in for the emergency meeting. Some of them gave off the scent of alcohol. Lim Cheolho paid attention to Yoon Sangmin. Director Yoon Sangmin was obsessive about cleanliness, so this was the first time Lim Cheolho saw him with scruffy hair.
“I thought you of all people would comb your hair, even in the midst of a war. Is Director Yoon’s weakness sleeping?”
The other board members had the same thought and laughed.
“We finally found Director Yoon’s weakness!”
“Haha, that’s right. I was suspicious that you might’ve been a robot that wouldn’t bleed from its wounds. Fortunately, you are human.”
The atmosphere lightened those few words from Lim Cheolho. The laughing executives completely woke up from their sleepy or tipsy state.
‘You made me a scapegoat.’
Yoon Sangmin’s face reddened as he beckoned to Yoon Nahee.
“It seems like all the executives are gathered. Have the Mongol branch president and officers come together?”
“Yes. I will connect to them immediately.”
A 3D image appeared in the center of the huge roundtable. It was the appearance of the branch managers and executives of the S.A. Group’s Mongolian branch. They greeted Lim Cheolho.
Lim Cheolho proceeded with the meeting.
“The agenda of this meeting is to secure the safety of the Mongolian user who triggered Quest B408, called Allunbatar. I will entrust this to Branch Manager Park.”
S.A Group’s Mongolian branch manager, Park Eunhyuk, had already completed the preparations as soon as he heard that the Quest B408 was triggered by a Mongolian user.
“I’ve tracked the IP address of Allunbatar, who is connected to Satisfy, and have confirmed that the address in the member information matches his current residence. If a situation occurs, the Mongolian government will cooperate by dispatching medical personnel and police officers. Finally, during the quest, the security team members will observe Allunbatar in real time.”
Quick and efficient actions. Lim Cheolho nodded with satisfaction.
The branch manager, Park Eunhyuk, gave his opinion,
“The Mongolian branch sees this quest as an opportunity and aims to use it as a foothold into the market here. I will leak some of the quest information to the media. This will be the first user who might have two classes in Satisfy, and the fact that it is a Mongolian user will be widely reported throughout the media around the world. This is natural PR, and the Mongolians will see one of their own becoming a global star through Satisfy, increasing their interest in the game.”
“Oh, that is a good idea. Once they have interest, the number of people who want to experience Satisfy will increase.”
“The major media companies in each country, especially the Mongolian media companies, will definitely jump on the news. If the press builds Allunbatar into a huge person, the Mongolian pride will be triggered and the PR effect will be maximized.”
Most of the executives were favorable towards this idea. However, a small number of them didn’t like it.
“Is there any guarantee that Allunbatar will succeed in the quest? What will happen if we make the whole world pay attention to this quest, only for it to fail?”
Yoon Sangmin, who just finished brushing his hair, shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter if the quest is successful or not. Even if it fails, the fact that he is the first user to acquire an S-grade hidden quest will make Allunbatar stand out. Still, it would be preferred if the quest were successful. Unless there is a problem with Allunbatar’s personality and he logs out, it should be a success. Team Leader Yoon Nahee, have you analyzed the chances of Allunbatar’s quest succeeding?”
“Yes.”
Once Yoon Nahee replied, her team members handed the executives a new piece of paper. The Mongolian branch executives also received the document through email. After a while, the executives read the contents of the paper and frowned.
“What is this? The probability of success is only 9%?”
Director Yoon Sangmin was shocked. “W-What is this?”
Yoon Sangmin couldn’t accept this response.
“Doesn’t Quest B408 involve being rescued by a hidden NPC? Allunbatar’s health condition is also very good. If we protect Allunbatar on the outside, it is unlikely for him to log out. If Allunbatar doesn’t log out, he will be rescued by the hidden NPC and will clear the quest. So why is the success rate so low? I
’ve predicted at least an 80% success rate.”
“Well…” The moment that Yoon Nahee tried to explain.
“Kuhahahahaha!”
The silent Lim Cheolho suddenly burst out laughing? Everyone looked at Lim Cheolho in shock.
Tsk tsk tsk. Lim Cheolho clicked his tongue and stated, “Your nature is too frantic. Shouldn’t you read the document first before asking the question?”
“……”
The executives read the document carefully at Lim Cheolho’s words and were shocked at its contents. Yoon Sangmin nervously crumbled up the piece of paper and muttered,
“Again… this person…”
The normal scenario for Quest B408 was like this:
A user with high reputation would build up affinity to the maximum with the Winston residents. In the process of building affinity, the user would learn about the wickedness of Winston’s lord and the Mero Company. At this time, the user would be assimilated with the Winston residents and sincerely resent the Mero Company and the lord. The residents of Winston would detect this and give the user a quest called ‘For the Residents of Winston’.
Once the user accepted the quest, the story would begin in earnest. The user would try to meet Earl Steim, but they couldn’t go against the powers of Winston’s lord and the Mero Company. The user would be caught and eventually imprisoned in the dungeon.
At this point, the quest would change from ‘For the Residents of Winston’ to ‘Wait’. If the user were to accept this quest, the ‘Mysterious Apostle of Justice’ NPC, who would be hiding in Winston due to special circumstances, would rescue the user after 200 hours.
In this case, the user would establish a relationship with the ‘Mysterious Apostle of Justice’ and find out their identity. Then the user would go on a journey to help the mysterious NPC. Once the user performed all the linked quests, they would receive rewards beyond imagination.
However, a variable meant that the quest didn’t flow along the scheduled scenario. The variable was that Allunbatar shared the quest information with another user. The planned ‘Mysterious Apostle of Justice’ NPC became obsolete, and the related quests to the NPC also disappeared.
The news that Allunbatar was confined in the dungeon after failing the quest would be passed onto the user whom he shared the quest information with, not the ‘Mysterious Apostle of Justice’. But that user turned out to be…
“Grid…”
Exactly 12 days ago, the Korean user who obtained a legendary class by chance. Right, it was Shin Youngwoo.
Chapter 35
Chapter 35
“He has a legendary class, yet he’s only level 21? How can he play the game like this? Amazing. His ability to not level up is truly amazing. It’s a wonder that he gained the class quest.”
Yoon Sangmin didn’t like Shin Youngwoo. Shin Youngwoo’s game history confirmed that he was a young man with no talent at playing the game. Taking the legendary class, wasn’t it like a swine obtaining a pearl? Yoon Sangmin thought it was a waste of a legendary class.
‘He is a person who will never become a ranker in his entire life. Thanks to his interruption, a large amount of content regarding the legendary class is consumed. Now he’s about to consume another large game content…’
Director Yoon Sangmin was sure of it.
‘Poison. This person is a deadly poison to Satisfy. Before he does more harm, we have to stop his account forever.’
But Director Yoon Sangmin didn’t have the authority to manage user accounts. He had no choice but to keep his thoughts to himself. Yoon Sangmin inwardly cursed Shin Youngwoo, then he asked Yoon Nahee with a serious face.
“By the way, why does the quest only have a 9% chance of succeeding? There is a 9% chance of this person rescuing Allunbatar? Nonsense. Isn’t it more likely to be a 0% chance?”
The other executives agreed.
“This figure is obviously wrong.”
“That’s right. I’m sure that the supercomputer Morpheus is infected with a virus.”
This quest was a failure. There was no way that a level 21 user could rescue Allunbatar. The aggressive publicity campaign was finished. Everyone thought so and was sad.
But in the midst of this, only Lim Cheolho was happy.
‘The protagonist of three big events in succession… Since becoming a legendary class, he made epic rated arrows and received the class quest, so I am somehow feeling expectant towards this young man.’
To put it bluntly, it was an incompetence so beyond common sense that it was difficult to predict. Shin Youngwoo was fun to watch because he caused many variables.
Lim Cheolho was happy, regardless of the quest results. The other executives, including Park Eunhyuk and Yoon Sangmin, were upset.
***
I met Khan earlier than Huroi. I protected Khan’s smithy and paid for his medical treatment. I was a great benefactor to Khan.
On the other hand, who was Huroi? He only spoke a few words to Khan.
“Then why?”
Why did Khan give him the huge ‘For the Residents of Winston’ quest? Meanwhile, I received a quest that would only give me 600 gold.
‘Isn’t it normal to give me all the quests?’
If Khan was an NPC who knew how to repay favours, he would’ve passed all his quests to me. But he was an ungrateful NPC.
“Khan should repay the favor.. No, is he crazy? Anyway, I need to think about the contents of the story. If I want NPCs to listen to me, do I have to act better in the future?”
The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. ‘For the Residents of Winston’ was a massive quest that would control Winston’s fate. It was natural for Khan to give it to the person he trusted most.
But his choice was Huroi! It meant I was worse than someone Khan had never met before!
“Why is a dog who rolled out from nowhere more credible than me…? Ugh!”
I was at a street stall near my house. I lamented about my life while pouring a shot of bitter shochu into my mouth. (Shochu is a Japanese alcoholic drink.)
My limit was originally one and a half bottles of shochu, but I was so disappointed in Khan and jealous of the jerk that I drank too much.
“Kuaaah~!”
I emptied my third bottle of shochu. My heart still wasn’t soothed and I felt like crying.
The more I thought about it, the more hateful Khan was. I truly believed that we had become sincere friends during the time I spent with him, but Khan thought differently. Khan didn’t believe in me.
“Why didn’t he trust me, giving a good quest to that other guy instead? Why…why? Damnnn!”
Anyway, tomorrow it would start raining for three days. I didn’t need to worry about going to work during that time.
I called out for the stall owner in a loud voice.
“Ajumma.”
The middle-aged woman cutting the soondae was surprised by my call and flinched. I was able to notice that the woman’s eyes shook slightly as she met my gaze.
‘…Is my charm maximized by the lonely aura that I am emitting?’
The loneliness in my eyes was like a blizzard on Mount Everest. Looking at those quivering eyes, the middle-aged woman seemed to be confused about being attracted to a young man around her son’s age.
‘I am such a sinful man…’
I felt sorry to the middle-aged woman, but I had no interest in her. Especially if the other person was a married woman.
‘I can’t break apart a family.’
I cut to the chase so that the woman wouldn’t have any expectations.
“One more bottle of shochu. Can I also get a refill of the fish soup? Don’t forget to put a piece of radish in the fish soup as a service…”
Kwaang!
The middle-aged woman plugged the knives she was holding into the chopping block. Then she pointed at me and shouted.
“You are really too much! I don’t care about the three bottles of shochu, but I already said that I won’t refill the fish so
up after the 9th time! Furthermore, you ask for a service every time! The total value is more than the alcohol you’re drinking. How can a young man have no shame?”
“…You are very inhospitable. At the very least, you should serve your customers fish soup… This world is once again causing me great disappointment. Yes, just like Khan.”
“What are you saying? I can’t afford to give you any more free refills!”
The owner was stubborn. My plan to fill my stomach with fish soup was in vain.
“It is time to say goodbye and return to cruel reality…”
I gave up asking for more refills and stood up. I placed the money for the drinks on the table, said goodbye to the owner and left the stall. As I walked on in a lonely mood, an angry voice was heard from behind me.
“Hey, Young Man! You are lacking 1,000 won! Give me 1,000 won!”
Ah, I counted the money wrongly due to being drunk. Then let’s try.
‘This is a chance to save 1,000 won!’
In the past, I never felt like saving money. But now I was debt-ridden, so the spirit of saving was unavoidable. As the number of conservative young people grew, the future of South Korea would become brighter. For the sake of my spirit of saving and Korea’s future, I needed to avoid paying this 1,000 won.
‘…No, no matter how drunk I am, I can’t run away. I was caught on security camera and will probably be brought to the police station.’
Wouldn’t it be shameful to be placed behind bars over 1,000 won? I turned around and handed a 1,000 won bill to the middle-aged woman.
“If I was a common person of this modern society, I would’ve run away without paying this 1,000 won. But I returned to pay the 1,000 won. Isn’t it wonderful?”
“…Don’t most people act like this?”
“That…you aren’t aware of the world. Do you know how many immoral people there are these days? People like me are rare!”
“R-Really? I understand. I understand already, so you should go home. You are drunk.”
“Uhuh! Ajumma! Do you know how bleak my heart is? You should pack some fish soup for a young man who is nice enough to pay the 1,000 won in this chilly weather.”