Mangem's Paladin

"Who?"

I saw an old man with a half-open door.

I was unfamiliar with that wrinkled face. Gun Wook speculated that old man was his brother's father. However, I later remembered that if I were your father, I would still be old and dead.

"Imperial residence?"

Unlike Gunwook, the old man did not find it difficult to recognize his old friend. But I met him for too long, and I was just confusing his name.

The old man opened his stuttering mouth.

"Was it the Emperor?"

"Emperor Gunwook · · · · ·."

Gunwook was shocked as he looked at Lee Hyeong's face.

'No matter how old you look, you're not thirty years old.'

I couldn't ask why I was so old. But what do you suppose your face will look like? Lee Hyeong-taek laughed and said.

"I live and work in the sun. The UV rays are bad for the skin. Now I think I know why the bosses look so old in the army. You're rejuvenating as opposed to me. Did you catch the Golden Apple?"

"Golden apple? What's that?"

"I heard that Duke Incheon also ate it that gets younger when he eats it."

"Oh, I didn't know."

"Speak comfortably."

"No, why?"

Neither of them were able to lower their horses.

He guessed that a friend who had not heard from him for thirty years appeared to show off his success.

I knew that a golden apple would be expensive enough to buy a thousand gold coins. For he was about thirty years old when he ate such precious things, and he would have wanted to boast to all the people of the world. Enough to come to the NPC Naburin who had been out of touch for thirty years. It would be insulting to a player full of superiority who would lower the words of his next of kin in such a yard.

Meanwhile, Gunwook could not lower his words to his old friend because he was too old. It was still a long yardstick whether the old man and old friend were the same person or not. Thirty years have passed, and forty-five years have passed.

"Keep your horses down, please. Isn't it awkward to see you in a long time?"

Moreover, I said so, but I was still admired and awkward.

Silence flows. In the awkward, Gunwook somehow tells the story of the past. After being held captive in the Black Tower, I was locked up for 30 years.

Gunwook said it as hard as he could, but he noticed that he didn't believe it very well.

In the end, it was a long time after the words were spoken between the two.

"Didn't Hell tell you what happened to me? Hell was on the scene."

Gunwook's question was answered.

"I didn't mix up with Lee Yeon-ok after you disappeared."

"Aren't you at least close to hell?"

"Lee Yeon-ok is my one-sided relative. I'm the only one who mixes words so you don't feel bad."

"Then I don't even know what's going on."

"I know about it. I heard that Lee Yeon-ok is often seen at the Gangsok Gambling Hall."

"Gambling?"

"Supporter, where do you draw battle slaves from? He said he'd pick something precious out there and eat it all the time. I've been doing that for years."

Gunwook tried to correct the expression "combat slave." Instead, I thought of the human soldiers of the gambling parlour who had been taken by this rate, and I overlaid their mold and the appearance of the deferred hell in my head. It was pathetic.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't know. It's none of my business. It's better to eat well than I can live with such a shaking."

"Are you having a hard time staying?"

"Just as much alive as anyone else. If you're hungry, eat one or two potatoes in the garden."

Gunwook stopped asking if he needed help. He was a proud friend from the beginning. Thirty-three years ago, I offered monetary support to a rented house that had lost its job and was struggling, and it was still good to see who I saw as a beggar.

Gunwook said passively.

"Call me if you need help."

"Thank you for saying that."

At the end of the conversation, Gunuk broke up with an old friend.

I didn't even ask to see Vienna. I felt even the freshness of being liberated from hateful things in the greeting of the Imperial House.

Despite being lonely and depressed, Gunwook eventually acknowledged the fact.

A friend I met in thirty years was not very pleased with Gunwook.

Now all that was left was the lone relatives, and the postmortem. And Lee Yeon-ok was a great man who lacked too much human attraction to miss.

Gunwook now decided to give up finding his old relationship.

Upon returning home, the witch went out and was gone. Gunwook began his usual training in an empty house. Unresting and vigorous, keep going.

The witch came back because she was sweating in the training room.

"What's going on? You have a dark face."

Moreover, the witch knocked on his back and said,

"It's all like that. All that stuff."

The next day, Gunwook dreadfully headed for the Eastern Dungeon.

Catching the Dead Soldiers, he gained some experience while scouting the realm of the Orcs. As a result, the boundary level of the oaks has not loosened a bit. The Orcs continued to cluster, and it was too dangerous for the two of them to attack them.

After all, Gunwook raised one more level while catching the dead. I was not happy with that.

After a few more days, Gunwook decided that he could not wait for things to improve. Gunwook insisted on a better solution.

The solution found was simple. It's hard for you two to recruit someone else. To express it in a game style, we recruit additional party members.

* * * * * * *

Recruiting party members has not been easy.

During the game, you can use the entire chat or party recruitment system to save party members. But now that the game has come true, the players have not rescued any new party members every time they go hunting.

Everyone had a fixed member. Players join the attack force, save colleagues in it, or create a small organization to dungeon between them.

It was awkward to be affiliated somewhere just to catch an oak. This also made it impossible to find the right person in the field. He said he was going to take out his colleague.

Witches have not helped much in this regard.

"My former partner is not affiliated. Because you were happy to be alone with me. So I have no experience saving people either. No connection. · · · · ·."

"So there's no way? There's no place to get a party?"

"There's a player introduction, but it's not going to be easy to get there. Do you want to go?"

They did so. They headed to the introductory hall. It was a place to connect players professionally, and the moment he entered the courtesy office, Gunwook wondered if he had entered the office wrongly.

There was a nasty man sitting in the middle of the office. He was a middle-aged man in a tough industry.

After looking at Gunwook, player information popped over his head.

[LV.59 Knight of Death Heterostone]

'I don't recall seeing anyone thirty years ago.'

Moreover, as he approached, Lee Hyeong-seok asked for a handshake.

"I've never seen someone so big since I was born. It's hard to look up, so you have to sit down, chew, sit up. Anyway, welcome. I'm a retired death squad. You're new to this introduction, aren't you?"

"Yes, well."

"What's the deal? Guess what. Do you want a dead soldier party?"

"No, it's an oak. Any Orc catching teams? Or I'd like to get someone to set up an orc team."

Lee Jong-seok looked at Gunwook and asked.

"Why are you trying to catch Orcs? If you level 53, you can get EXP even if you kill the dead soldiers."

"Catching Orcs is a quick level up, isn't it?"

"Sound full. Look at me. Level 59, right? Why not become a player and earn money by setting up an office instead of dungeons? Working at a desk is better than running in a dungeon? No, I'm stuck at this level."

If the level of monster and player differs by 10 or more, you cannot get EXP and items. And the witch explained that it is common for Level 59 players to retire or transfer their experience by catching a deceased soldier.

Lee Hyeong-seok was speaking like a preacher to the Iron Bull, not a guest.

"Go get the dead. That's real."

"You're slow, aren't you?"

"Why, do you want to level up quickly? I think I'm thirty, but at that age, 53 is a little lower than the average. Is that why you're nervous? You don't like to bend over to someone higher than you, sir? You want to catch up with the gap?"

"Not like that."

Gunwook denied it, but Lee Hyeong-seok snorted.

"What do you mean, no? Where are you trying to get away from? In case I don't know junior psychology as a senior? I know how you feel. You want to get up there, don't you? When I was young, I was bad at earning a little more experience. Oak section? I'll beat up the dragon too! Well, I tried to risk it with my heart, but the reality isn't so good. Leveling up one is not easy."

After that, Lee Hyeong-seok tried to convince Gunwook, and Gunwook kept his mouth shut and listened. It was not because Lee Hyeong-seok's words were hard to refute, but because it was hard to follow the conversation.

This conversation was not so awkward for Gunuk.

No, the conversation wasn't just awkward. What about age and level, what about safe leveling, what about level gaps. It was awkward to have a real conversation in a game.

'It wasn't awkward talking to a witch like this. You look like you're about forty years old and you're wearing a suit and making that sound with your serious face, so why can't you feel reality?'

I soon realized why.

The witch was a cosmopolitan woman who appeared to pretend to be a tuck of cards and was not even realistic. Isn't she just a game character? It was not unusual to talk to her about the game.

Lee Hee-seok, on the other hand, was an extremely realistic figure who seemed to have gone through all of his life. At about forty years old, the face was engraved with wind waves.

A man like that was seriously reciting what Orcs were saying. Moreover, it was ridiculous to find him childish.

Of course, this conversation would not feel strange to Lee Hee-seok.

Lee Hee-seok would not have been ten when the world turned into a game. It would be natural for that man to have an RPG story in his office. For Lee Hee Seok, whether level or oak, it is not just an element of the game, but an element of intense reality.

That fact was understandable. It was just as awkward as listening to a comic book line.

So as he kept his mouth shut, Lee Hyeong-seok was convinced that he could not fully understand the customer in front of his eyes. He sighed to see if he had given up persuasion within a year.

"There's a place to catch Orcs. We also recruit unaffiliated temporary mercenaries."

"Oh, is there?"

"But not for hunting purposes. It's an attack force trying to pierce the 131st floor."

I understand what you're saying about piercing the 131st floor. Before, the witch gave me a short explanation.

'You said the players skipped the layers of the Orcs, right? But if you don't like it, you'll have to break through the Orc layer once. That way we can get to the ground floor. You can go down through the elevator to the ground floor only if you've already broken through.

So the level 59 players, who became inexperienced by the dead, came together and broke through from the 101st floor to the 130th floor where the Orcs came out at once, and reached the 131st floor. My ex-partner quit at this stage. It's dangerous. "

I thought it was okay to talk to a witch like that. Gunwook smiled bitterly and asked.

"Can't you just get the Orcs to level up?"

"If you try, I'll get it. I can't promise when to get it. It's gonna take a few months, but you're gonna wait?"

"No, I can't wait. So there's a spot on the 131st Floor Attack Force.

"There's a spot, but there's usually a group of people at level 59. No matter how low it is, it's hard to plug in a 53-year-old. There's a spec cut, right?"

That's when the witch got into the conversation.

"I like his specs. Much more than the level."

"If you look at a body like a dinosaur, you'll count it by the same level. But what the attackers are asking for is a verifiable spec. Equipment, level, something like this."

The witch laughed at him. I opened my mouth pointing at myself.

"I'm a 4-Star Wizard."

At the end of the day, Lee lifted one eyebrow.

"The 4-Star Wizard? You?"

"Yeah. I'm a billion dollars of power. And this ogre is as bad as I am. Weapon, Enhance +8 Legendary Weapon. All his armor, except his Leg-Guards. +8 Enhance."

In the game, it was a level of spec that could easily be raised with money, but not now. Lee Hyeong-seok asked Gunwook to wear the equipment. As I hoped, Gunwook set up the equipment, and Lee Jong-seok slowly analyzed it and muttered.

"That's true. I don't know if you have much money or if you're lucky, but anyway,

"What about his specs? He and I will beat fifteen oaks. Did you level him up by catching Orcs from level 50 to level 52?"

Despite those words, Hee-seok noticed a reluctance. However, I decided not to ignore it completely, so I gave the answer I wanted.

"Then I'll introduce you to the attackers. Don't count on it."

Then he started saying something with a handshake. Gunwook carefully looked at the figure. It was the first phone I saw after coming out of my cell.

It wasn't long before the call ended. Lee Hyeong-seok said with a shaky face.

"Let's meet at the Strike Force."

* * * * * * *

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