Chapter 45 045

Rachael had a lot of worries recently. It had already been seven years since she joined the Erzebetian vigilance committee.

'There's only one position left above me and I'll never know when that spot will free up.'

She strived to achieve all those years, only aiming for her promotion. She gave up holidays to deal with adventurers, and her mouth was numb from constantly plastering a kind smile across her face. Rachael was in a position where she only had to answer to the commander of the vigilance committee, and she was there because she had tried so hard.

'That's it… I got a raise and the rest of the vigilance committee here are beneath me. One day, I'll become the commander… but that'll be a dead end too.'

Because she'd have too many regrets if she just ended up as the commander of the vigilance committee.

"I've decided to treat this as a chance."

So, Rachael decided to take a risk that had a high return rate.

"You must have checked everything, right?"

"I've pulled all the strings I could and borrowed the Commander's authority when that didn't work."

"Didn't you say that the rules of the vigilance committee existed for a reason?"

"That was the easiest way back then. My life is more important than the vigilance committee."

"I thought so. The vigilance committee is merely a ladder to climb up; I can help with that."

"I look forward to it."

She handed Seojin a gold, glimmering tablet.

"Here's a rank A mercenary tablet, specially for you. You may now receive an unlimited number of carefully-selected rank A requests. You are also entitled to see irregular requests."

"Thank you. Now, let's hear what you know first."

"There's… nothing I can say."

Seojin's head tilted as he took the mercenary tablet from her hands.

"Nothing?"

"I told you before that I couldn't answer such questions because I don't have access to the information."

"Even with the Commander's authority?"

"I can access it like that, but that fact will be immediately relayed to the lord."

"It must be well hidden. So, is this mercenary tablet all that you can provide me?"

"There is someone who might know something."

Rachael didn't seem so pleased as she brought up the possible lead.

"Who is it?"

"You may have seen her before. Gemini, she's in charge of the irregular requests… even before the previous incident, too."

"That's interesting."

Rachael continued explaining as Seojin's eyes glimmered.

⋮

The beginning was just like any other job. Several outstanding adventurers came to carry out requests and took rewards, but then, something problematic happened.

"Why should we give them this much? The client wasn't even satisfied!"

"Hey, just gloss it over. Commander's orders."

"This is unreasonable. The reward is paid using the client's money, not ours."

They took too much for what they did. Rachael knew that better than anyone else, as she was the one who distributed the rewards, and even she didn't agree with it. However, it was the Commander's words, and she knew justice couldn't keep food on her table.

"Gemini resisted. She kept bringing up the issue within the organization, and in the end, the Lord heard about it too."

Gemini had kept poking the elephant in the room that nobody wanted to talk about. Everyone expected bloodshed. In particular, Rachael, who turned a blind eye to the disproportionate rewards. However, things went quite differently to everyone's expectations.

"I didn't do any of it! Anyone can confirm my… no, please tell the Commander! There's been a terrible misunderstanding!"

She was removed from her position after numerous accusations. It took a month for her to return to her work with all her will to resist drained.

⋮

"I don't know what she went through, but I don't think it was pretty. Nobody in the vigilance committee even spoke to Gemini after that… myself included."

Seojin had a rough grasp on the situation.

'That explains why she was there. They were trying to bully her out of the work.'

Only mercenaries of rank A or higher were permitted to review the details of irregular requests. The issue was that they were an exceedingly rare species. Gemini was assigned the task of sitting in front of the window all day long, doing absolutely nothing.

'Well, what a pitiful story.'

Moreover, she had become miserable, not by the design of the game, rather, of the players. Berne was a player-induced mess too, so Seojin guessed that the reward for the quests would be quite generous.

"I'll meet her by myself."

* * *

"…Welcome, I'm Gemini. Do you want to take an irregular request?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"There are currently three requests available… however, if you want a regular request from the vigilance committee, you can't get it here."

Gemini, the key NPC of the quest, remained apathetic. Her attitude was a bit strange considering that the two of them were sitting inside the VIP room, deep inside the headquarters.

"I have to verify your status, adventurer. Please show me your mercenary tablet."

"Here."

Seojin handed the flashy golden tablet to Gemini, who examined it thoroughly before nodding.

"Your status is verified. Would you like to check the details of the request?"

"Before that, I'd like to ask you a few personal questions."

"Go ahead."

"Don't you feel unjustified?"

"Sorry, I do not understand what you mean."

"I heard from Rachael about what happened."

Staring directly at Gemini's face, Seojin suddenly brought up his main point. He had definitely achieved something because her forehead flinched.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"I'm also very interested in the guys who harassed you, but…" Seojin smiled softly. "I gotta show you what can I do first. Let's talk about this later, there's only one request I can complete, right?"

"…That's correct."

"Then let me hear what they are first. I'll decide after that."

Gemini handed him three requests.

"…The requirements are that you deal with the two Black Skeletons and recover the two darkness fragments that comprise the reward. The reward is the Skeleton King's sword, which is crafted from bone fragments…"

Gemini explained indifferently, without a trace of interest or motivation. She wasn't like this when she first joined the vigilance committee, as she was excited by the thought of meeting people whose job was to wander around and solve the mysteries of the world. However, since her innocent fantasy was shattered, she was no longer happy sitting there.

"Interesting… what's next?"

"Next one is…"

It was just another one of those meaningless moments. She had no expectations for Seojin, she was even rather angry as he dared to touch on her past. Nevertheless, she kept it well hidden, the mass of emotions that had already accumulated endlessly only grew in size by a little.

"…That sums it up."

"It's all quite tricky, maybe even impossible judging by what I've heard so far."

"I'm sorry, I'm not in the position to choose or change the requests."

"That's why these are classified as irregular requests, right? Because the vigilance committee thought they were impossible."

"…"

"Well, let me ask you one more question anyway. I heard that irregular requests aren't renewed until someone completes them, right?"

"Correct."

"Which means that I can accept it after meeting the quota beforehand, am I right? Like, accepting the request after collecting two pieces of darkness."

"You can do it, only if there aren't any other adventurers who take the request first."

"Thank you, Gemini. I'll be back soon."

Seojin stood up, smirking at Gemini as she rose from her seat almost simultaneously.

"See you again."

"…See you."

The door closed as Seojin left, leaving Gemini with her shallow sighs.

'He acts the same as those scumbags.'

That adventurer, Seojin, reminded her of the memories she had wanted to bury forever.

The adventurers that Gemini met through the counter that day acted just like Seojin. They were full of confidence, as if anything was possible… however, it wasn't out of their determination to complete the quest. It was a sense of arrogance, thinking that they could take the reward without lifting a finger.

'And I was just a kid who didn't know the reality yet.'

The reality she saw was far from moral ideals and justice. Gemini decided to give up the day she felt reality chill her to the bone.

'It's better not to have any expectations. It'll make things only difficult. Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment. So, I should just pretend that I have no eyes or ears.'

All she had to do was act like a machine, just as her superiors wanted.

'It was my fault since I didn't know. What happened was… damn, I'm being sentimental again.'

Gemini stopped thinking. Having finished the work given to her, she had to go back to her routine.

"Welcome, this is Erzebet mili…"

"You're here to receive the reward! First of all… "

It was her obligation to be an emotionless rock in her fast-paced workplace.

* * *

'Erzebet, what a perfect name for the city of opportunities.'

Seojin chuckled as he left the vigilance committee, feeling like he had received a Christmas present, as he realized how powerful Robert was in Midgard.

I can't believe no one has touched this hidden gem.'

While not every player would take the wide path, there was no way Seojin could be the only one of his kind, and someone was bound to have similar tastes and capabilities as him. However, Robert's perfect walkthroughs and guidelines blinded their eyes and blocked their ears.

Besides, the fact that it was a VRMMO was quite a large factor too. Each item was quite expensive. If it was a game like any other, people could just enjoy it and then quit, but that was not the case for Midgard. The risk of failure was so big that it could even affect reality.

Thanks to this, Seojin would be able to happily grab the untouched jackpot. Seojin checked the three physical copies of the requests first.

'Yeah, these *are* tricky.'

Killing two boss-level Black Skeletons and looting them. Retrieving the Amber Pearl, which had sunk somewhere in the harbor. Placing a flower on the tombstone of Frid, the blacksmith. All three had deplorable conditions.

'The boss monster doesn't regenerate once it is killed, and I can't step foot in the port before I reach Level 50. On top of that, no one even knows where Frid is buried… hmm.'

Black Skeletons, the Amber Pearl, and the legendary blacksmith, Frid. Others would have thought about how to find them first, but not Seojin.

'Which order do I go about it?'

He was thinking about what order to do them in. He believed that the fact that the three quests were tied together meant that they were closely related.

'All of the quests were made to be completed. No developer in their right mind would want their hard work to remain untouched. Reaching that girl's heart is for later. She must have to see some hope in me first before saying anything.'

Seojin had no idea what the Ironbloods had done to Gemini, but she seemed traumatized, even in Seojin's eyes when he saw her for the first time. She practically felt like a different person after hearing what Rachael had to say about her.

'The best way to overcome fear is to show them that I am stronger.'

However, there was one more thing he had to do before hitting full speed.

Flappy.

* Spirit is undergoing growth

* Time Remaining: 44 minutes.

The spirit, who had consumed over one billion won, was about to open its eyes.