Player who Returned 10,000 years Later
chapter-76

"Then good luck, Mr. KangWoo."

"KangWoo, you're going to come back soon. Right?"

"Yes. I'll just receive the item and come back, so it won't take long."

In front of the new apartment…

After he’d driven Han Seol-ah and Echidna there, KangWoo was about to go to the Suwon Station.

It was at that moment…

"Oh, you've returned. I heard it from HwaYeon. You're going to the Hwarang Squad base. Right? I also need to go there, so let's go together."

Chae YeonJoo, who was sitting in front of the entrance to the apartment, walked toward them. She naturally opened the passenger seat.

"Y-you..."

"Oh, you're the girl we met the other day. You... Said you lived with KangWoo. Right?"

"Y-yes. I live with Mr. KangWoo."

Chae YeonJoo narrowed her eyes.

She looked at KangWoo and then at Han Seol-ah. She spoke in a low voice.

"Isn't it hard living with such a weird guy? If you want, I'll get you a house around here. On top of that, I’ll make sure it’s in your name."

"It's okay. I like living with Mr. KangWoo."

"Really...?"

She seemed a bit disappointed and turned her head around.

She snorted while sitting in the passenger seat.

"I can't understand what she likes about this weirdo."

"Then how about you get in your car?"

"Shut up. I don't feel like driving."

Chae YeonJoo crossed her legs.

"Drive."

"Am I your chauffeur...?"

"If you don't like it, give me the car back."

"I'll drive you safely."

KangWoo, who had bowed to capitalism, waved his hand to Han Seol-ah and Echidna.

The two girls looked at Chae YeonJoo anxiously.

KangWoo slowly stepped on the accelerator.

"I had something I wanted to ask you."

"You wanted to ask me something?"

"Yes."

KangWoo thought about the man he'd met earlier.

"I met Baek KangHyun today."

"Wh-what? Where?"

"In Yeongdeungpo, Times Square. It wasn't a coincidence. He came looking for me."

"What did he say...?" Chae YeonJoo asked while narrowing her eyes. You could feel that she was a bit anxious.

KangWoo smirked after looking at her.

"What do you think he said?"

"Don't make jokes."

She looked at KangWoo angrily.

"He invited me to join the Hanul Guild," he said while shrugging.

"Wh-what conditions did he offer?"

"50 million USD, expensive house, car, an executive position... And a legendary-rank item."

"What the…?"

Chae YeonJoo's widened.

The conditions were so great that it seemed like he was out of his mind.

She thought that her conditions were also quite good, but they were nothing compared to the Hanul Guild's proposal.

"Ugh..."

Chae YeonJoo bit her lips. She thought that there was no way he would've refused such conditions.

"S-so when are you joining Hanul Guild?"

"Hmm? Join them?"

"Don't tell me... You refused that offer?"

"I have no reasons to be under someone else."

"Ha."

Chae YeonJoo couldn't believe what she was hearing.

From the first time she’d met him, she’d felt he wasn't the type of person who would listen to someone else's commands.

But she never thought that he'd refuse such great conditions.

"As expected, you're a weird guy..."

Chae YeonJuu turned her head away.

She seemed to be looking out of the window with a faint smile on her face.

"So, is there anything you know about Baek KangHyun?"

"I met him a couple of times."

"What kind of person was he?"

"I probably felt the same thing as you. I couldn't believe that someone like him is Korea's number one player."

"Hmm. You can tell that at first glance. But rather than that, have you heard any rumors about him?"

"Rumors..."

Chae YeonJoo tried to remember.

"I heard that, one time, he got really angry."

"He got angry?"

"Yes. It was probably when he failed to become a world ranker. Because, back then, many people said that a world ranker would appear in Korea for the first time."

"Hmm..."

"Well, that's understandable. He probably wasn't expecting to lose in such a way."

"How did he lose?"

* * *

"Among the world rankers, there's someone called Fujimoto Ryoma—he completely crushed him."

Fujimoto Ryoma…

He was a Japanese world ranker who was also famous for having a Mythic-ranked weapon.

"Korea and Japan already have a bad relationship. So to lose in such a way... He received many insults. People said things like he wasn't worthy of being called a ranker, that he lost to make Korea look bad, that he was a traitor, and many other things."

"No wonder he got angry."

It would've been weird if he hadn't gotten angry in that situation.

"If that were you..."

"I would have found every single person talking shit online and crushed their hands."

"..."

He thought that Chae YeonJoo was someone perfectly capable of doing that.

"So that means that there are no bad rumors about him, right?"

"Why? Did Baek KangHyun say something?"

"No. I was just thinking he might try to get revenge on me for refusing."

Chae YeonJoo smirked.

"He's not someone who would do that. He probably liked your attitude and laughed about it."

She was on point.

KangWoo nodded and stepped on the accelerator.

* * *

"So you came. I've been waiting for you."

Baek HwaYeon was waiting for them in front of the base. KangWoo approached her after greeting her.

"You could have waited for us inside."

"Fufu. I was feeling anxious waiting inside."

While saying that, Baek HwaYeon turned her body around.

"Come in. I'll give you your reward."

"I heard that it's a legendary-rank equipment."

"Yes. There was a legendary-rank equipment that hadn't been activated through a ceremony yet, so I immediately thought that it had to be this.

"You probably had a hard time."

"Yeah. People were so against it that I almost went crazy because of anger."

Baek HwaYeon shook her head.

"Well, all politicians are like that, after all."

"It's really hard talking to them," Baek HwaYeon said while frowning.

She took them to the room where the legendary-rank item was.

As they walked through a thick door, they saw a long black coat.

It had such a minimalistic design that it was hard to tell at first glance that it was a legendary-rank equipment.

"Is this the legendary-rank equipment?"

Chae YeonJoo looked at the long coat with her eyes shining.

KangWoo also got close to it to check its details.

[Item Information]

Item Name: Black Pearl Coat

Rank: Legendary (Before Ceremony)

Normal Effect: Physical Defense +660, Magic Defense +480, Unique Stat +5

Special Effect: You can use 'Kraken's Rage,' which doubles your stat bonus for 1 minute. You can use 'Kraken's Rage' once every 24 hours.

Item Description: It's a coat created using blood from the Kraken's heart.

"Hmm... It doesn't seem to be a very good legendary equipment."

Chae YeonJoo clicked her tongue after reading the item description.

She could understand why the Mir Guild hadn't used it.

"Although the stat increase is unbelievably high..."

There weren't many legendary-rank equipment that increased your stats by an absolute value of 5.

Most of them increased stats by 1 ~ 2, and some increased them by 3 ~ 4.

The higher your stat was, the harder it became to increase it.

At first, just by doing some light training, you could increase your strength by one or two points, but once it reached 40, it didn't matter what you did, it was impossible to increase from training alone.

Basically, most players had to be content with the one to three stat points from leveling up

But the problem was that there wasn't a guarantee that your main stat would increase.

That's why increasing your stats by five was almost equivalent to increasing your level four or five times

Considering how hard it became to level up as time passed, it was an incredible effect.

"But there aren't many players with unique stats."

The problem was that.

There weren't that many players who had a unique stat in the first place.

So if you didn't have a unique stat, the Black Pearl Coat was basically useless.

"But still, the basic physical and magic defense stats are quite high."

"That's true. But still, it's too bad."

Chae YeonJoo was about to turn around to say something to KangWoo, who was possibly disappointed.

"Hmm...?"

Rather than being disappointed, KangWoo was smiling. Chae YeonJoo tilted her head.

Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind.

"KangWoo... Don't tell me you have a unique stat..."

"Yes."

Chae YeonJoo couldn't believe what she was hearing. To think that KangWoo had a unique stat, something that extremely few people had.

'Now that I think about it, it makes sense.'

She thought that KangWoo's growth speed was unreasonably fast, but if he had a unique stat, it was a completely different story.

"Then the story changes... If that’s the case, this is one of the best legendary items you could possibly have."

"Nice."

KangWoo nodded while making a satisfied expression.

His unique stat was demonic energy.

'To think that I'd increase my demonic energy by 5.'

Not only that, but if he used the skill, it could double the stat bonus.

That meant that for a short moment, his demonic energy could increase by 10.

'Even devouring Oriax gave me only 3 points.'

It was a higher amount than what he'd gotten after devouring a demon from the 7th Hell.

He turned around and extended his hand to Baek HwaYeon.

"Thank you for the great item. I'll do my best, so we can wipe out the demon cult."

"Hahaha. I never imagined that you'd have a unique stat. It seems like this item was destined to meet you. Let's do our best in the future as well."

Baek HwaYeon was grabbing his hand and laughing.

Slam-!

"Keep your hands off of that item!"

At that moment, an old man wearing a suit entered with four bodyguards.

"Congressman Hong...?"

"Hng! A petition that the congressional party submitted has just been passed. That item will return to the country's treasury."

The old man wearing a suit, Hong JunTae, smiled.