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chapter-12

Leah thought to herself as she stared at the man heavily concentrated in his book. She was certain that the reason the man was reading the book was because he wanted to increase his stats. And there was quite a high likelihood that he may believe that only the books in this place increased his stats.

‘I should tell him. ’

She agonized for a brief moment and walked towards the man.

“Excuse me. ”

She arrived in front of the man and called to him.

“……. . ?”

Coincidentally he had just finished reading the entire book. He closed it and looked at her. His face was filled with confusion. She opened her mouth.

“This place is not the only place you can raise your stats. ”

“Excuse me?”

He answered her with a rhetorical question. His voice was filled with embarrassment. She smiled as she heard his disconcerted voice and replied.

“Your stats can be increased not only here but elsewhere as well. You only need to read a book. ”

“Okay. ”

He responded.

“………. . ?”

This time, she was confused.

‘Why is his reaction like this?’

Different than before, the man’s voice was very calm.

* * *

‘What does this woman do?’

Soo Hyuk was considerably taken aback.

‘Why is she bringing up conversation about stats all of a sudden?’

She comes up to me abruptly and says that this place isn’t the only place you could raise your stats? That you only need to read a book for it to increase? What does she want me to do about it? What type of reaction does she want from me? He thought to himself.

‘Did she want me to be surprised?’

“I told you, you only need to read a book? Not here?”

She spoke in the meantime.

“I know that. ”

His thoughts stopped as soon as she spoke. He shook his head.

“Excuse me?”

She asked with a rhetorical question. She looked flustered.

“But why are you here then?”

It was such an obvious question.

“To read the books. ”

“……. . the books?”

“Yes, this is a library. ”

He responded to her question as he glanced around their surroundings once and looked at her. She continued to ask questions.

“Weren’t you reading because of your stats?”

“No. ”

“…………”

She did not say a word anymore. She just stared quietly at him for a brief moment and turned around. As soon as she turned around, he opened up a book next to him and began to read.

Swish

[Wisdom has increased by 1. ]

Shortly, he read the entire book and closed it.

‘Did she leave?’

After he checked his message, he looked around the inside of the library. The girl was nowhere to be found. It seemed like she left.

‘Oh well, it would’ve been different if this place was the only place you could raise your stats. ’

If this place were the only place you could increase your stats, then the girl would’ve stayed.

Rustle

He stood up from his seat. He thought to himself as he began to head towards the bookcase to get a new book.

‘I wonder how long it’s going to take. ’

He was very curious as to how long it would take to read all of the books that were inside of the library.

* * *

“Ah, it’s finally graduation. ”

Yeon Joong’s voice was filled with regret as he mumbled to himself.

“You waited for this moment so much, why are you being like that? Do you regret it?”

Soo Hyuk asked.

“More than regret, I guess you could say something feels empty?”

He wanted graduation to come so badly. However, when graduation was actually over, there was some type of hollowness.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t feel anything?”

He asked Soo Hyuk.

“Umm…. . ”

Soo Hyuk murmured to himself as he pondered. He soon finished his thoughts and opened his mouth.

“I feel slightly regretful that I won’t be able to access the library. But besides that, not really?”

He was also regretful. Though, that regret was only because of the library. With his graduation, it was now impossible to access it.

Technically, it wasn’t actually impossible. However, in order to utilize the library, he would have to go to school? Time was too precious.

‘During that time, it would be better to access Pangaea. ’

He now had Pangaea. Inside Pangaea, there were still new books that were unread. It would be more efficient to connect to Pangaea and read the books in there than to waste time going to the library.

“Welcome!”

“Hello. ”

“Let’s sit here. ”

Shortly, Soo Hyuk and Yeon Joong arrived at a Chinese restaurant and greeted the owner as they grabbed a seat.

“What are you going to eat?”

After they sat down, they went directly into menu selection.

“Jjambbong, you?”

“I’m going to get Jjajangmyun! Graduation = Jjajangmyun. ”

Soo Hyuk chose Jjambbong and Yeon Joong chose Jjajangmyun. Once they finished deciding, Yeon Joong shouted.

“Boss! We’ll order! Can we get one jjambbong and one jjajangmyun! Please give us steamed dumplings as well!”

“Okay!”

Their order was completed with the owner’s response.

Yeon Joong stared directly at Soo Hyuk and asked.

“Where are you at?”

“……. . ?”

Soo Hyuk frowned only one side of his eyebrow as he was taken aback at such a random question. What do you mean where am I at? Am I not at the Chinese restaurant?

“Pangaea. ”

“Oh~”

He exclaimed. He wondered as to what Yeon Joong was talking about, but it was about Pangaea.

“Me, well I’m at the library, like always. ”

He replied to Yeon Joong.

“What?”

Yeon Joong was confused as he responded with a counter-question.

“You’re still at the library?”

He cross-questioned because Soo Hyuk was still at the library.

“Hey, aren’t you staying there too long? A month and a half has already passed. By any chance, you’re not planning on continuing to stay there right?”

Pangaea opened on 12/31. Today’s graduation date was 2/15. A month and a half had already passed. But he was still at the library?

“There are still books that I haven’t read. ”

He had read many, many books. However, he did not read all of the books inside the library. There were still books that sparkled in there.

“You’re going to leave after you’ve read all of the books?”

“Yup. ”

Soo Hyuk shook his head. The day he leaves the beginning town of ‘Oren’ is when he would’ve read the entire books inside the library.

As they were conversing, the foods that were ordered came out.

“Where are you planning on going after? Have you even decided on that?”

Yeon Joong asked as he grabbed a steamed dumpling.

“I’m thinking of going to Matab. ”

Soo Hyuk replied as he began taking out mussel shells that were in his Jjambbong.

“Are you trying to become a Magician?”

“Yup. ”

“Then instead of Matab, shouldn’t you go somewhere else?”

Many users whom chose the path of a Magician headed towards Matab. And a very small minority of users headed towards a different empire and kingdom.

However, it was informed that as time passed, it was much better to start from a different nation than to start at Matab.

“They say that not only with promoting, but that the NPCs’ personalities are insane?”

It was not only one or two things that came out. The rate of promotion was bad, treatment was bad; it was better to go to a different nation than Matab in almost every aspect.

“They don’t even let you speak to them because your level’s low. ”

They would do that because Matab had plenty of Magicians. On top of that, the majority of the NPCs in Matab were exceptional Wizards.

There would be no reason for them to treat noob users that just entered into magic kindly. Plus, wasn’t it overcrowded with users?

“There’s a reason I have to go to Matab. ”

Soo Hyuk replied. Promotion? Treatment? He didn’t care for those. There was only one reason he had to go to Matab.

“Reason?”

Yeon Joong asked.

“Don’t tell me, it’s not because of the library, is it?”

“You’re correct. ”

Soo Hyuk responded as he ran his chopsticks through his Jjambbong.

‘Did I take all of them out?’

He couldn’t see any more of the mussel shells. He inhaled a handful of Jjambbong.

‘Wow. ’

He was filled with admiration.

‘It tastes good. ’

The level of spicy-ness was exactly how he liked it.

‘Would they be able to deliver to my house?’

He thought of the distance between his house and the Chinese restaurant.

‘I should ask when I leave. ’

It was a somewhat vague distance. He ended his thoughts as he decided to ask when he left. He then looked at Yeon Joong.

“……. . ?”

He had no choice but to wonder as he saw Yeon Joong. Yeon Joong would’ve done the same thing, as he was currently holding a steamed dumpling and just staring at Soo Hyuk.

“What are you doing?”

Soo Hyuk asked.

“………. . ”

Yeon Joong placed the steamed dumpling in his mouth. And as he began chewing on his dumpling, he replied.

“Did you, by any chance, start the game to read books?”

“Yup. ”

Soo Hyuk responded as he stretched out his chopsticks towards the dumplings. It was not only because of the books. However, the biggest reason he began Pangaea was because of the books.

The cost was way cheaper to read books inside Pangaea than it was to read books in reality. He would be able to read new books infinitely inside of Pangaea.

“Are you going to continue to only read books?”

Yeon Joong asked.

“No. ”

Soo Hyuk shook his head.

“I’m going to catch monsters and complete quests. ”

He was not thinking of only reading books. He planned on catching monsters and completing quests. Of course there was a reason he wanted to catch monsters and complete quests.

‘In order to fulfill the qualifications. ’

Eventually, he was going to finish reading all of the books in Matab’s library. In order to read new books, he would need to go to a new library. Just like the conditions to become a Magician in order to utilize Matab’s library, there would also be conditions in order to access different libraries.

To satisfy these qualifications, he needed to grow his character by catching monsters and completing quests. That was the only reason why he wanted to catch monsters and break quests.

“Oh yeah?”

Yeon Joong shook his head as he spoke.

“Then let me know when you need help. I, a Mid-Ranker will help you out!”

Although he started Pangaea a little later than Soo Hyuk, he devoted all of his efforts into growing his character.

All of his efforts made his ranking quite high. Even though his name wasn’t within the 1000th rankings they called Ranker, his name was up in the 3000th ranking they called Mid-Ranker.

You could say that help from a Mid-Ranker would be colossal. Also, if you thought of the level Soo Hyuk was, nothing would be impossible.

“Okay, I’ll certainly remember that you said you’d help. ”

Soo Hyuk smiled as he replied.