Perhaps it was because of how sudden Hiro turned around, but the investigators who were very much used to observing such things found it suspicious. In the end, he was forced to halt his steps when one of them called his in-game username.
‘Damn it.’
He didn’t immediately turn around to look at the person who called him and thought hard. In a situation like this, what could he do?
No matter what, he couldn’t afford to get his true identity exposed.
‘The old way it is,’ he thought before turning around with a smile.
As expected, a bald man in a black cloak walked toward him. Above his head was an ‘Investigator’ label.
[Level 1. Investigator0120. Mage. None]
They even gave him an avatar to carry out the investigation.
The man stopped right in front of Hiro and observed him from top to bottom.
“This is the first time I’ve seen an Asian on the server. Great, I’ll make you one of my witnesses. Can you answer some questions for a bit?”
The man talked amiably, but his every word made Hiro’s heart beat faster.
Hiro didn’t say a word.
“Are you listening?”
“Uhm… S-sorry, mister police. Ma-my English bat,” he spoke with nervous stutters and mispronunciations.
“Excuse me?”
Hiro continued to smile to make his act convincing.
“Where are you from? Do you not live in America?” the man spoke more slowly.
‘Gotcha.’ From the investigator’s reaction, Hiro was sure that it was working. He just needed to continue his act.
“Uhm… where from?” he repeated with doubt. “South Korea…”
No way he could say he was from Japan, right?
“Can I ask you some simple questions? This is very important.”
Still not working. Hiro managed to fool the investigator about his origin, but the bald man was still questioning him.
He had to change his strategy.
However, before Hiro could think of another way, a shout came from the bar table.
“Sung Ji Woo!”
Jacob had run past the investigator to put his hand around Hiro’s shoulder energetically.
Sung Ji Woo? Who?
“Ahh, I’m so sorry, sir. This is my close friend, Ji Woo. His English is pretty bad. Rather than getting inaccurate information because of the language barrier, why not let me answer instead? I’ve also played the game longer than him,” Jacob seriously said.
If Hiro hadn’t known that what Jacob said wasn’t true, he would’ve believed him.
“Right, Ji Woo?” Jacob added in Korean while smiling and giving a strange gesture at Hiro. Like a code.
Hiro instantly understood the code, even though he never learned the Korean language. At the same time, he didn’t know if he should feel lucky or shocked by Jacob’s sudden appearance.
“Ah, y-yes,” Hiro answered with a stammer.
“All right. If you’ve really played the game longer and he’s your close friend, I can ask you the questions instead. We do need accurate information anyway, and I don’t want any misinterpretations to happen because of the language barrier.”
“Can we talk for 10 minutes?”
“Sure.”
The investigator walked into the tavern to find an empty table to talk at. Jacob, however, didn’t immediately follow him.
After the investigator walked a distance away, Jacob looked at Hiro and whispered in a low voice, “I don’t know what you’re planning, but I’m here if you need backup. Just call me, bro.”
He then walked away.
‘I really owe him this time,’ Hiro let out a long sigh of relief and quickly left the tavern. He didn’t want to be stopped by another investigator.
For the safety of his identity, he decided to get out of Beginner Town, away from players. As for his daily minigame, he could only do it after the investigators left the tavern.
Hiro headed toward his regular plot area to continue grinding and farming for EXP to boost his level. There, he saw several familiar faces grinding, beating up Garden Golems.
It was quite a consoling sight for him. His efforts to get players to make use of the resources in his regular plot area had borne fruit. The land was no longer devoid of other players.
Even so, Hiro chose a somewhat secluded location deep in the forest to find a monster with a level above his. And his pick went to a group of 10 goblin-type monsters in a spot. Among them was a [Boss Goblin] three times the size of the other goblins around it.
He had checked. In LSO, some monsters had a boss with them that, if defeated, might drop an item of high value. After being defeated, it would take 45 minutes for a boss monster to respawn.
“I’ll take the boss.”
Hiro pulled out his greatsword and ran toward the group of goblins.
[Forest Goblin (Level 27)]
[Boss: Forest Goblin (Level 31)]
Hiro leaped toward the normal goblins with a kick and landed above them, using them as his footing before leaping to slash at the boss with all his strength.
SPLAT!
The unexpected surprise attack gave no time for the Boss Goblin to dodge, allowing Hiro’s blade to stab into its shoulder.
Groaaa!!
The goblin’s blood heavily sprayed out. However, before the blood could reach the ground, Hiro’s greatsword absorbed it and faintly glowed purple.
SPLAT! BAM!
Hiro attacked with a cross slash right at the Boss Goblin’s wide chest before powerfully kicking it.
Double kick!
The boss heavily fell with a seizure and stopped moving.
Ding!
[You have obtained 1x Forest Goblin’s Amulet]
[Forest Goblin’s Amulet has been equipped]
[Luck has increased (+10)]
Ding!
[Base class level up 1x]
Hiro ignored the notifications and continued to dance with his greatsword to wipe out the normal goblins that were already enraged for being made his footing.
BAM! BAM!
Hiro successfully evaded all forms of fatal physical attacks from the goblins’ pickaxes. Moreover, the scratch that ripped his skin didn’t matter much when the Blood-Eater Vampire’s unique skill reactivated, restoring his HP.
Strength was important at a time like this, so while waiting for the night to fall, Hiro spent some time increasing his avatar’s strength.
He currently had two main goals:
1. Find the truth behind his brother’s death.
2. Win the first month game event and obtain the $60,000 reward.
With him repeatedly grinding and farming for EXP, time flew by very fast.
Ding!
[Global Reminder]
[The special event will begin in 1 hour. Please gather at the nearest town square and wait for the special warp to appear to participate in the event.]
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