Chapter 33: I Told You, I'm Stronger Than You Think (1)
"I accept," Oh Kang-Woo said.
Cha Yeon-Joo's face brightened after she heard his answer. She crossed her arms and snorted. It was as if she wanted to say "I knew it."
"Good choice," Yeon-Joo replied.
"So, when are you going to tell me about that request?" Kang-Woo asked with a smirk after seeing Yeon-Joo's complacent expression.
"When the time comes. It's not like you'll be of any use with your current level of strength anyway."
"Hmm." Kang-Woo looked at her silently.
'What could it be?'
He was sure that Yeon-Joo's request wasn't impossible for him to fulfill in his current state. She didn't know everything about him and thus was unaware of his current level of power. All Yeon-Joo knew was that Kang-Woo was a talented Player who had achieved his Third Awakening in just two weeks.
"You're probably way off," Kang-Woo said.
"Huh?"
"I'm saying that I'm probably stronger than you think."
Yeon-Joo silently looked at him as if he was being ridiculous.
A newbie who had only been a Player for two weeks had said something like that very confidently, so it was expected that Yeon-Joo would laugh at his words.
"Yeah, okay. Sure. But I still can't tell you the details. It isn't only because you're weak," Yeon-Joo replied.
"Then, why?"
"We don't have enough evidence. It isn't something I can say until we've gathered surefire evidence."
"…?"
Kang-Woo was having a hard time understanding why Yeon-Joo was avoiding answering him directly. Then he just shrugged.
'I don't feel the need to keep insisting.'
She probably had a reason to avoid answering. Either way, if it ended up being something absurd, he could always refuse it. Kang-Woo didn't have to worry about the request yet.
"Here's my number, so save it," Yeon-Joo said.
"The number of a beautiful lady is always welcome."
"Isn't it a bit too late for flattery?" Yeon-Joo frowned at Kang-Woo's playful answer.
She thought Kang-Woo had said that to make fun of her.
'I'm just stating the truth,' Kang-Woo thought as he saved her number on his phone with a smirk.
He felt good getting the number of a beautiful woman like Yeon-Joo, though it didn't feel as good as when he'd gotten Han Seol-Ah's number. Yeon-Joo was a bit whiny at times, but that didn't matter.
'The most important thing is that she doesn't have tentacles.'
All women on Earth looked like angels compared to Lilith, who'd tried to sneak into his bed every night.
"More importantly, when can I get the equipment?"
What interested Kang-Woo the most was the part about being able to rent equipment of grades Epic and below for free.
'I was wondering how helpful having equipment was.'
Kang-Woo had 666 different Authorities, so he could attack, defend, dodge, and search for enemies, all with demonic energy. He had no need at all for equipment with special effects. Furthermore, most equipment with a grade lower than Epic wouldn't be as good as an Authority, so it was fairly pointless for him to use such equipment.
'But I still want equipment since they can help me save demonic energy.'
If he could use a piece of equipment instead of demonic energy for defense, he would be able to save more demonic energy. Kang-Woo didn't have access to unlimited demonic energy like when he was in Hell, so he needed to save up as much as possible.
'Using an Authority consumes a lot of demonic energy.'
His demonic energy had increased after reaching Level 30 and getting his Fourth Awakening, but he still couldn't use it recklessly because utilizing his Authorities required a lot of it.
"If you want, we can go right now," Yeon-Joo said.
"Sounds great."
"Then follow me. Let's go to our guild's base first."
"Where is your guild's base?"
"Seoul Station."
It was where the Player Management Office was.
Kang-Woo nodded and followed Yeon-Joo.
Soon after, he saw a foreign vehicle parked on the side of the road that was completely different from the rest.
"Whoa, look at that."
"Isn't that a Porsche 918 Spyder?"
"Holy shit…"
Even the people who were passing by looked at it with surprise.
Yeon-Joo walked toward it and took out a car key from her pocket.
Click.
.
"Get in," she said.
"Wow!" Kang-Woo exclaimed in surprise as Yeon-Joo casually opened the door of the Porsche.
'Is this really the person who was gaming in a tracksuit and a baseball cap?'
Yeon-Joo looked so cool right now that he was wondering if she was truly the same person as the one he'd met that day at the Internet cafe.
'So, this is why everyone is obsessed with foreign cars.'
Yeon-Joo seemed like a different person now, even though all she'd done was open the car door and get into the car.
In the past, Kang-Woo struggled even to pay for public transport, so seeing that Yeon-Joo owned such an expensive car shook him more than realizing that she was one of the top ten Players in Korea.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and get in." Yeon-Joo turned and looked at Kang-Woo, who was standing still.
Kang-Woo nodded and got into the passenger seat.
'Nice.'
The seat was so comfortable that he felt like he was about to melt.
"How much did you pay for this?" he asked.
"I'm not sure. I didn't look at the price when I bought it. It probably cost me around a billion won."
Kang-Woo was speechless. A billion won was a huge sum of money, which meant the car was more expensive than the average apartment.
Yeon-Joo stepped on the accelerator, and the Porsche moved like it was gliding across the road.
"That's an expensive car for you. It moves so smoothly," Kang-Woo remarked.
"Why? Want me to get you one too?" Yeon-Joo asked as if she were offering to get him a cup of coffee.
It was obvious that Kang-Woo's eyes would light up at such words.
"Are you for real?"
"It was in the conditions, wasn't it? That I would buy you a car if you needed one."
"Noona…"
"What?"
"I'm going to call you Yeon-Joo noona from now on."
In the real world, a person who earned more money was treated as either a hyung or a noona.
After hearing the word 'noona,' Yeon-Joo looked at Kang-Woo as if she'd eaten a bug by mistake.
'You shouldn't look at people like that.'
While thinking the same thing as he had previously, he said, "A car like this is obviously welcomed."
Kang-Woo still didn't have a driving license, but he had no reason to refuse an expensive foreign car like this.
"But if you refuse the request, I'll immediately take it from you."
"You're so stingy for a Ranker."
"Well, the livelihoods of many people depend on me."
Kang-Woo smiled at Yeon-Joo's cheeky answer.
Brake.
"This is our guild base," Yeon-Joo announced.
"…Impressive."
The place they'd arrived at was an enormous and seemingly brand-new building over twenty stories high, with the logo of the Red Rose Guild featured on its exterior.
'So, this is the power of a large guild.'
It seemed similar to a building of a conglomerate company. As Kang-Woo followed Yeon-Joo into the building, he thought that he'd made a good choice to build a relationship with a large guild.
When the pair entered the building, a gentle-looking young man wearing round glasses and a man with a scar that looked like a slash on his left eye approached them.
The man in glasses looked at Kang-Woo and extended his hand. "You must be the one that our guild master mentioned before. Nice to meet you. I'm Park Hyun-Woo, the chief of the Red Rose Guild's Human Resources Management division. And this is the battle operations commander of the Red Rose Guild, Mun Yeong-Ho."
"I'm Oh Kang-Woo."
Unlike the affable Park Hyun-Woo, Mun Yeong-Ho scanned Kang-Woo up and down while glaring at him.
"Since you're here, it must mean your conversation with our guild master went well," Hyun-Woo said.
"With such good conditions, I would have accepted even if you guys were planning on poisoning me," Kang-Woo replied.
"Hahaha, we're not that kind of guild." Hyun-Woo laughed and then turned to face Yeon-Joo. "Should I take him to the equipment vault?"
"I'll take him. You still have a lot of work to do, don't you?" Yeon-Joo said.
"Yes. Thank you very much."
"In that case, I will come with you," Yeong-Ho chimed in with a deep tone while glaring at Kang-Woo.
"Yeong-Ho? You want to come…? Why?" Yeon-Joo asked.
"…I'd like to see what sort of person he is with my own eyes."
"Hmm… Okay, sure. You'll be seeing each other often, so it wouldn't hurt for you to get to know him. Come with us then, Yeong-Ho."
Then Yeon-Joo walked over to the elevator and called out to Kang-Woo, "Over here."
Kang-Woo nodded and followed her.
The elevator brought Yeon-Joo, Kang-Woo, and Yeong-Ho up to the fifteenth floor.
[Commencing mana recognition. Please infuse a small amount of mana.]
Clack.
"This is our guild's equipment vault," Yeon-Joo stated.
There were many pieces of equipment stored inside glass cases.
"Wow," Kang-Woo uttered in awe.
"I can let you rent equipment up to those of the Epic grade. You can rent the Unique-grade ones over there if you put in a security deposit," Yeon-Joo said while pointing at an area with approximately ten pieces of equipment.
Just at first glance, it was obvious that the Unique-grade equipment was on another level compared to the Epic-grade ones.
'If I remember correctly, equipment grades were categorized into Normal, Rare, Epic, Unique, Legendary, and Mythic.'
Kang-Woo asked while looking around, "Are there no Legendary or Mythic equipment in the vault?"
"If we had equipment like that, we would be using them instead of having them rot away inside the vault."
"I guess that's true. Then, do you use equipment of the Legendary grade or above?"
"I have one that's Legendary."
"Hmm." Kang-Woo looked at the Unique-grade equipment. "How much of a security deposit do I need to put in?"
"Five billion won. And that's with a considerable discount."
"…"
Kang-Woo had heard that Player equipment was expensive, but the prices exceeded his imagination.
'That's impossible with my current funds.'
He was converting most of the mana stones that he earned from hunts into demonic energy and absorbing it, so he didn't have that kind of money.
'It would be hard to come up with that much even if I had sold all of them.'
The price of Unique-grade equipment was abhorrent.
'What a shame.'
Even at a glance, the difference in quality between Epic and Unique was massive. Kang-Woo completely gave up on the Unique-grade equipment and turned away from them.
"Then I guess I'll check out the Epic-grade equipment firs—"
Slam!
A loud slam resounded through the vault.
Kang-Woo turned to find Yeong-Ho glaring at him with a frown.
"Don't talk to her so casually," Yeong-Ho said.
"Huh?" Kang-Woo uttered.
"Don't talk to the guild master so disrespectfully," Yeong-Ho said again while releasing powerful bloodlust.
Kang-Woo smirked at him. "And if I do...?"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel