#060
I frowned at the message Nine displayed.
“Why won’t you tell me this time? Can’t you tell me?”
: If I tell you, I’ll get scolded by ???.
There’s that ??? again. The relationship between ??? and Nine seems to be a vertical, command-and-obey one…
After thinking for a moment, I tried to coax Nine.
“Then, instead of telling me, can you at least indicate if I’m right or wrong?”
: . . . . . . Yeonsoo is smart . . .
This seems to work! I nodded, a bit excited even though it wasn’t much.
‘Let’s try to deduce a bit.’
There was a sub-quest that appeared, the Mercenary Rest, which made me do guiding. And as a reward, it increased the Mercenary Rest efficiency by 10%.
Since I had already finished guiding, I didn’t have to receive that reward right then. It was because I wasn’t going to guide again immediately.
‘But Nine said it was the optimal time to receive the reward.’
Doesn’t it not matter when you receive a predetermined reward in a game? Nine had never suddenly appeared to give advice about quest rewards before, so I thought this must be something important.
Although there was no time limit displayed, could it be that there actually was a time limit on the reward?
Or maybe there were new conditions for receiving the reward…
‘It’s not like Nine told me to receive it immediately after completing the quest.’
It’s not like a countdown window appeared either. Above all, Limitless Nine doesn’t have rules like having to click on quest completion within a time limit!
‘Then… why did I have to receive it right then?’
What changed just before and after that moment? I was lying in bed at that time… suddenly an alarm went off and Kim Sehyun came in.
‘The only thing that changed was… Kim Sehyun’s arrival, right?’
What does Kim Sehyun have to do with the reward? But I couldn’t think of anything else.
“Did I have to receive the reward then because of Kim Sehyun?”
: . . . YES . . .
“Why?”
: I’ll only say if it’s right or wrong!
Tch, how stingy. I pouted and then glared at the phone screen.
‘Because of Kim Sehyun? Kim Sehyun and the reward…’
No. What if there’s a correlation between Kim Sehyun and increasing the guiding efficiency?
I don’t know why it would be that way, but doesn’t it make more sense if Kim Sehyun is related not to the ‘quest’ itself, but to the ‘reward content’?
After all, the quests themselves have been going well regardless of Kim Sehyun so far.
“Does Kim Sehyun have an effect on increasing guiding efficiency?”
: That’s right.
Although I had thought about it to some extent before asking, when Nine confirmed it, I became even more puzzled. What on earth does Kim Sehyun have to do with guiding?
If I recall the mercenary-related window, it explained that the ‘Mercenary Rest’ section was currently partially sealed.
Sealing means that I’m not able to utilize efficiency for some reason… Could that be related to Kim Sehyun?
‘My power is sealed, but what does that have to do with Kim Sehyun?’
However, when it comes to Kim Sehyun and guiding, there was one thing that came to mind. The fact that I’m absolutely necessary for Kim Sehyun’s guiding.
“Is this also related to the fact that I’m needed for Kim Sehyun’s guiding?”
: No comment . . .
“Can you stop expressing your feelings with spaces?”
Seeing the message being typed out letter by letter as if really reluctant to tell me, I spoke, and Nine’s expression changed from a blank face to a sulky one.
: It’s because Yeonsoo keeps asking things that shouldn’t be said!
“This is an important question, right? Right? You’re talking like someone who’s been caught out!”
I instinctively realized that this was an extremely sensitive and important conversation. It was suspicious from the start that Nine, who always tried to kindly inform me, couldn’t give me a straightforward explanation.
‘Is it related to the system… or a really important part of the story…?’
Nine tended to speak more actively whenever the author’s range of activity decreased and I became freer, so I might be able to get a detailed explanation about this issue later as well.
: Pew!
“What?”
: Yeonsoo has lost their memory! Nine shot you with a memory-erasing gun!
I snorted, but I thought that maybe Nine was feeling very uncomfortable about this topic.
It’s a bit strange to say that Nine, who is just a game system, ‘feels something’, but Nine is special after all.
“Then just tell me this last thing. Later… when I’ve navigated things a bit better. When your or ???’s authority becomes greater than the author’s, can you tell me?”
: YES!!!!!
Nine answered excitedly. It seemed like I should leave this matter here for now.
Instead… I had one more thing to check. If the efficiency increase had brought about some kind of boost effect… wouldn’t there be a change in my rank as well?
‘The change from 5% to 15% might be meaningless…’
But still. Maybe. Just perhaps… I thought.
***
“You don’t have to come along.”
“No, I’m quite curious about the results too.”
Hyun Dowoon cut off Shin Haejun, who was frowning next to me, and guided us to the rank measurement room. I had asked him for a re-verification to confirm what I was most curious about, and he said he would come along.
I had recently been re-verified, so requesting another verification no matter how I thought about it was unreasonable. This was really just my personal suspicion, so I couldn’t openly make an official re-verification request.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what practical results the increase to 15% would bring, and if there was no change, I might just be ridiculed, so I wanted to get the verification done very quietly.
When I asked Hyun Dowoon, saying that ‘I had some guiding work recently, and somehow the guiding felt very different from usual’, he told me to come to the center without delay.
‘Even if I need Hyun Dowoon’s power, it’s not right to meet him secretly without any explanation to Haejun.’
Haejun must have been upset when I relied on Hyun Dowoon once before regarding creating a new team. He got really angry when I told him I had met with Hyun Dowoon then.
So this time, I sat next to Shin Haejun and made the phone call asking Hyun Dowoon. Haejun was still displeased, but it seemed a bit better that I was proceeding together with him rather than reporting after the fact.
“Are you ready?”
We ended up doing the verification at night to proceed carefully. Because of this, the examiner who ended up working overtime looked a bit irritated. But with two S-rank Espers in front of him, he quickly nodded with a subdued expression.
“We can start the examination right away.”
“That’s good. Jaeha, come this way.”
Hyun Dowoon gently extended his hand. Shin Haejun frowned and directly grabbed my arm, seating me at the examination device.
“He can sit by himself, why are you reaching out your hand?”
And yet you seated me too…
I don’t understand why both of them came into my verification and are having this power struggle, emitting sparks of energy. Honestly, Shin Haejun didn’t need to come, and Hyun Dowoon didn’t need to either.
I was planning to just slip in alone, take a quick look if verification was possible, and leave. I sighed and shook my head.
“Oh, by the way, everything you see here today is confidential. There are only four of us here, and if this leaks out… you understand, right?”
“If it spreads, I’ll kill you.”
Hyun Dowoon said something that made me think ‘So what are you going to do about it?’ with a gentle smile on his face, while Shin Haejun blurted out as if talking to himself.
The examiner’s face turned even paler. I felt a sense of empathy and solidarity as a fellow worker, and thought I should ask Hyun Dowoon to make sure he gets overtime pay. I’d like to give it directly, but that might be seen as a bribe…
“The printing is complete.”
While I was lost in random thoughts due to the subtle tension, the results came out.
“This is…”
The examiner’s eyes widened in surprise. Did my record change somehow?
“Let me see that…”
I was about to reach out and ask the examiner for the results. But before I could, Shin Haejun snatched the results first.
“Huh?”
“Jaeha…!”
Hyun Dowoon, who was standing beside, also took a quick look at the test results and let out a light exclamation.
“What, what is it?”
How frustrating that no one is telling me the results!
I got up from my seat and snatched the results from Shin Haejun’s hand. And what I saw was a result stamped ‘E-rank’.
“Oh, my rank really did change…?”
I had a feeling it might, but when my rank actually went up, I felt dazed.
Now I’m no longer an F-rank but an E-rank guide!
Of course, whether F-rank or E-rank, it’s still a mediocre guide all the same.
‘But this is really an important result.’
If I get another reward that increases guiding efficiency… it means that when I eventually achieve 100% efficiency, my rank will go up much more, right?
“That’s surprising. How did the rank suddenly change…?”
The examiner muttered, tilting his head.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
