Yoo Jin-Ho called Jin-Woo to talk about forming a guild, at first he was not interested at all, but then he thought that he could get some benefits from working with Jin-Ho. So he decided to accept the offer to help him clear some dungeons.
Since Belial did not agree to go with Jin-Woo to the cafe where he met Jin-Ho, he gave the human permission to leave his side so that the penalty mission would not appear again. Still, Jin-Woo spoke as quickly as possible and then ran back home when everything was settled. He was worried that Belial was alone at home and didn't know when the Association would call him after all. It had been more than a month since he was discharged from the hospital, so it'd not be so strange to hear about a Gate opening up in the vicinity.
The Association normally summoned Hunters two, three times a month to clear dungeons that appeared within this area.
One of the main reasons why he only gave one hour to Yoo Jin-Ho was that the call from the Association could come at any time, and that he can't leave Belial's side for too many hours.
'For the time being, I can't afford to miss even a rank E dungeon....'
He wanted to kill lots of monsters and raise his levels quickly.
How inconvenient it was not to have his smartphone around. What a relief that the new one should arrive in a few days' time, and it would be nice if Belial had one as well.
...
Jin-Woo pushed open the front door and entered.
'.......'
The apartment was quiet.
It was in the middle of the week, so his little sister was still at school. But Belial should be home, so why is it so quiet around here?
"Belial?" Jin-Woo shouted, but there was no response.
There was no way for the demon to leave, he only gave Jin-Woo two hours and he only had 40 minutes left. Furthermore, he doesn't like the human world, so the possibility of him leaving is practically impossible.
A little worried, Jin-Woo entered his room, hoping to find Belial. Luckily for him, there he was, lying comfortably on Jin-Woo's bed. Even though the demon said that he didn't need to sleep, he was sleeping peacefully.
Jin-Woo sat on the bed and then touched Belial's hair. "I was worried about nothing."
After confirming that Belial was safe at at home, Jin-Woo opened the window displaying the Daily Quest.
'I should get today's rewards.'
Before he went out to meet up with Yu Jin-Ho, he had finished the day's Daily Quest already. But there were too many eyes watching, so he had no choice but to delay receiving his rewards.
Well, he couldn't really show off the sight of a blue light wrapping around his body as well as a box suddenly popping out from nowhere in the middle of the street, now could he?
Tti-ring!
[Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong]
Press-up, 100 times: complete (100/100)
Sit-up, 100 times: complete (100/100)
Squat, 100 times: complete (100/100)
Running, 10 km: complete (11/10)
[You've completed 'Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong'.]
[Completion rewards have arrived.]
[Would you like to confirm?]
"Yeah.... Oh, hold up. Wait."
Just like usual, Jin-Woo was about to receive his rewards, only to spot something strange and hurriedly stopped himself. His gaze stopped dead and remained fixed to the column of 'Running'.
Running, 10 km: complete (11/10)
At first, he thought that he ran one kilometer more than necessary. However, the longer he thought about it, the stranger it seemed to him.
'I've filled up my quota, so why did it keep recording the extra distance?'
Jin-Woo's gaze became sharper.
Was this really nothing more than coincidence?
Jin-Woo got down to the floor and supported his weight on his arms. And then, his body rose up and down without a break.
However, his sight was fixed to the seemingly-empty air in front.
Tti-ring!
You've completed one press-up.]
[Press-up 100 times: complete (111/100)]
Tti-ring!
[You've completed one press-up.]
[Press-up 100 times: complete (112/100)]
'As I thought....'
'Running' wasn't the only category that reflected the extra number of exercises performed. The count for 'Press-up' also kept climbing up.
Suddenly, he became rather curious just how much higher the numbers would count to.
Veins bulged on Jin-Woo's arms.
Thanks to his enhanced Stats. He couldn't feel his weight. Actually, his body felt as light as fuzzy hair.
Before long, the number hovering near the hundred mark climbed to 200.
Tti-ring!
[You've completed one press-up.]
[Press-up 100 times: complete (200/100)]
Tti-ring!
[You've completed one press-up.]
[Press-up 100 times: complete (200/100)]
The count stopped for sure at the 200 mark. He performed a few more press-ups just in case, but it didn't want to go up any higher.
Both the sit-up and the squat also stopped counting at the 200 mark.
Press-up, 100 times: complete (200/100)
Sit-up, 100 times: complete (200/100)
Squat, 100 times: complete (200/100)
Running, 10 km: complete (11/10)
200, no more and no less.
It wasn't just climbing up without an end, and no, it wasn't as if the 100 mark was the end. There definitely was something here. His gut feeling was declaring as such.
What if there was another result waiting for him once he completed all the 'over-counting'?
'Let's make sure.'
With much faster steps than usual, Jin-Woo was going to leave his room, but Belial's voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Do you want to receive another penalty quest?" The demon scolded him.
"I was just going for a run." Jin-Woo almost forgot because of his excitement.
"The two hours I gave you are already up, so I need to follow you." Belial got out of bed. "You did a good job discovering the secret of the daily mission."
"So, will it give me something good once I finish everything twice in a row?" Jin-Woo was hoping for a positive answer.
"Indeed, you will be one step closer to fulfilling my wish." Belial grinned.
The next 9 kilometres for the 'Running' column were filled up really quickly. When both arrived in front of the apartment, a new message popped up in Jin-Woo's view.
Tti-ring!
[You've completed 'Hidden Quest: Preparations to become strong'.]
[Completion rewards have arrived.]
[Would you like to confirm?]
The title of the quest hadn't changed, but the type of the quest had changed to 'Hidden Quest' now.
Belial was telling the truth.
Jin-Woo swallowed his saliva.
"...Confirm."
Tti-ring!
[The following rewards are available.]
Reward 1. Full recovery of the current physical condition
Reward 2. All Stats +3
Reward 3.
1) Blessed random box
Or
2) Cursed random box
[Would you like to collect them all?]
'All Stats raised by 3!!'
His eyes shot open wide.
The rewards from the hidden quest proved to be really exceptional.
With all the Stats getting a three point boost, it was the same thing as his level rising up by three.
No, wait - his Stats might have risen, but since his level stayed the same, he had gained even more. Because, with higher Stats, raising his level would become that much easier.
But at the same time, he felt a bit fearful as well.
On one hand, he couldn't help but hold a vague hope that, from today onwards, all the Daily Quest coming his way could be converted to Hidden Quests, instead.
'However, if the rewards are this big....'
Then, the odds of the Daily Quests coming to an end were incredibly high as well.
Also, if the Hidden Quest was something only available for just this once, then that meant he had to be extra careful when choosing the third reward.
Reward 3.
1) Blessed random box
Or
2) Cursed random box
This would be his first time having to choose his reward.
If he chose one, then he'd lose the other one.
'So, I wouldn't be able to see one of the two forever, is that about right?'
Just taking a single look at their names, it was rather obvious which one he needed to select, but...
But, this also could be a trap, as well.
"Collect the third reward."
Tti-ring!
[You must choose between one of the two available random boxes.]
[Blessed random box]
Presents the player with the item he wants.
[Cursed random box]
Presents the player with the item he needs.
[Which one will you choose?]
Their explanations were exceedingly simple. And that made choosing even harder.
If there were no explanations to begin with, he'd have chosen the 'blessed' random box in a heartbeat. But now that he had read the dang explanations, it felt like he'd still end up missing out regardless of which one he chose.
"A thing that I want and a thing that I need..."
Just from those explanations, both of them sounded like a good deal.
'But, there's definitely a trap here.'
The thing he 'wanted' would be something he wanted because he recognised its usefulness to his current situation.
However, the thing he 'needed' might not necessarily be like that. Something that he may need but didn't want could come out, instead.
For instance, when needing a powerful weapon, he might end up getting a horrifying bomb that could completely blow himself and all his teammates into smithereens in one go.
'That's why it's called the cursed random box, right?'
So, he'd go with the lower risk selection.
In situations where the end results of a choice weren't known, this would be the wisest way to minimise the amount of regret felt later on.
"I give you some advice, choosing the Blessed random box is the right choice. There is no need to regret your decision, well, only if you trust the words of a demon." Belial stared at him, hoping that in those eyes he was trustworthy.
"I trust you, because I don't remember you lying to me before." After hearing Belial's words, Jin-Woo finally made his decision.
"Blessed random box."
A small box slowly materialised in front of his feet.
Jin-Woo picked it up.
'Could it be....?'
His heart began beating faster and faster. Because, the size of the box was rather familiar to him. His hands ripping open the box became far more urgent.
'As I thought!'
Jin-Woo's eyes grew wider. There was a golden key inside the box.
Indeed, it was the key to an instant dungeon, the one he'd been anxiously waiting for.
The information on the key appeared soon afterwards.
Tti-ring!
[Item: Key of the Demon's Castle]
Rarity: S
Category: Key
A key that will let you enter the 'Dungeon: Demon's Castle'. Can be used at the Daesung Tower located in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
"It's an S?" Jin-Woo raised his voice in surprise.
Belial laughed. "Don't be surprised yet, many interesting things will happen in that dungeon."
"I can't wait to figure it out."Jin-Woo smiled.
Of course, there was no guarantee that the rarity ranking had any bearings on the difficulty of the dungeon. But, he couldn't think of it any other way.
The rarity 'E' key opened a dungeon that was on par with a Gate ranked E, after all.
What would he do if the difficulty of the instant dungeon turned out to be 'S', then?
Even with a raid team consisting solely of S-ranked Hunters, there was no definite guarantee that such a dungeon would be cleared.
The odds were around 50:50?
The difficulty of a Gate exploded upwards past the rank B, and even when looking through the entire world, there had been too few cases of S-rank Gates opening up in the world.
'One of them appeared on Jeju Island, though.'
Afterwards, the island of Jeju became an abandoned hellhole where no humans could exist.
Jin-Woo stared at the key in his hand for a long while.
'This is what I really wanted?'
If there was one silver lining to be found here, then that would be the explanation saying he'd be able to 'enter' the dungeon with this key, unlike the previous one which said he'd be 'transferred' instead.
The implication being that he could escape at any time if he felt like it.
Even if the key suddenly vanished from him, he still had the return stone from the last dungeon waiting to be used inside his Inventory as well. He was no longer worried about getting trapped behind an invisible wall like the last time.
'I've worked hard to earn this chance, so I can't throw it away like that now, can I?'
He simply had to confirm right away with his own two eyes whether this was what he really wanted or not.