Junhyuk stared at the woman blocking his way. At once, he could tell that she was an expert. However, her health was low. On average, an expert had about five hundred health, but she had four hundred health. What could that mean?

He was wearing his armor as he stared her down, so she could only see his eyes, but that was enough to scare her.

Helen stared back at him. She could see that his equipment was superior to hers. She had already seen videos of his powers and she thought he might be more than an expert.

She stepped aside.

“They are waiting for you.”

Junhyuk took the lead, and Eunseo followed him, but Helen blocked her path.

“I am sorry. Only the Dark Knight’s been invited.”

Eunseo’s eyes twitched, but he raised his hand.

“I’ll go in alone.”

She nodded lightly and stepped back. Eunseo’s stare from behind her glasses was cold. Helen frowned a little at the sight, but she did not really care.

Junhyuk took the lead, and Helen followed him diligently.

Junhyuk felt Helen following him, but he ignored her. He thought that nobody would attack him there, no matter how audacious they might be.

The R-agents were guarding the door. As they opened it, he went in and saw an old man and a woman drinking tea. They both got up from their seats after he entered, and the old man walked up to him and offered Junhyuk his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I am Mario, CEO of W.A.N.C.S.”

Junhyuk shook his hand, but he did not speak, so Mario shrugged and looked behind him.

“This is Jennifer. She is a member of the Rockefeller family.”

Junhyuk looked at Jennifer, and just by looking into her eyes, he knew that she had been born with everything. Her eyes were full of confidence.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Jennifer.”

He stared at her for a little bit and then took a seat. The others sat as well, and he said, “I want to know why you wanted to see me.”

A straightforward question, and Mario smiled.

“You must be in a hurry.”

Jennifer said, “I like him even better now. Then, I’ll speak plainly as well.” Looking at him, she asked, “What is it that you want?” She crossed her legs and added, “I can give you everything you want.”

The Rockefeller woman spoke differently from others, and Junhyuk was interested in what she had said. However, he wasn’t interested in joining them. He had only agreed to the meeting because they were influential.

Junhyuk looked at Mario and asked, “Are you offering me the same?”

“W.A.N.C.S. wants you to join us. You’ll be a big help to us.”

He laughed inside himself, but did not show it.

“I don’t know the meaning of this meeting and I don’t work for anybody.”

Smiling, Jennifer said, “This type of opportunity doesn’t come often.”

Staring at her, he said calmly, “I don’t want a bad relationship, so I’ll speak carefully.”

Junhyuk laughed as he said that, emanating pride. He was displaying force, and Helen moved over to block Jennifer.

Jennifer was shaking a little, and he told her, “Next time, I hope it will be more pleasant.”

After saying those words, Junhyuk walked out, and Jennifer leaned against Helen and took a seat.

“What just happened?”

Helen answered, “Just as I had expected, he is a champion.”

“A champion?”

Jennifer was staring at Helen, who explained, “He wasn’t showing his killing intent, but his pride. You were seeing the size of his soul.”

As one leveled up, the size of one’s soul increased, and Junhyuk had just shown her the size of his soul. It was massive.

Helen was an expert, and she had experienced a death herself, so she knew that after going through that fierce darkness, the size of one’s soul increased.

However, the difference between Junhyuk and Helen shouldn’t be that big, which meant that he was a champion. She had guessed that by seeing his equipment, but now she was sure.

“Even if you gather all living experts, you won’t be able to kill him.”

“I thought experts could just attack him nonstop?”

Helen shook her head heavily.

“He can teleport, so if you tried to kill him and he escaped, you would make the most dangerous enemy on Earth.”

Jennifer sighed and got up.

“Then, I must keep a good relationship with him?”

“For now.”

Jennifer turned to Mario, and Mario said calmly, “For now, don’t think about it.”

She wasn’t sure if she could pull it off, so she shouldn’t try. In the past, Pentagram had tried to kill Anna and failed. Now, its members had to be extra careful.

Jennifer couldn’t make another powerful enemy, and this time it wasn’t Anna. With Junhyuk, she was sure to die, so she wouldn’t try.

—

Junhyuk didn’t have a good history with the Rockefellers. They had tried to kill him before, so even if they offered him a great deal, he wouldn’t take it.

Because Mario had been at the meeting, things had ended rather nicely, but Junhyuk was once again made aware of the power of the Rockefeller family. He wanted to distance himself from them for now, but he did not know what would happen later on.

Junhyuk teleported to Elise’s house and changed. She took him to the subway station nearby and said, “The satellites passing Guardians did not record anything, so don’t worry.”

He showed her a bright smile and said, “You’ve helped me big time.”

She looked at him and replied, “You owe me a drink.”

“Sure.”

He watched as Elise drove off and took the subway home. On the way, he teleported a few times, so even Elise wouldn’t know how he got home.

He waited for Sarang inside the house, and when she finally came from school, she saw him on the sofa and smiled at him.

“What’s the matter? You should be in the training facility.”

Junhyuk told her what had happened that day: about the contract, the expert, Mario, and Jennifer.

As Sarang listened, she shook her head.

“You want a relationship with the Rockefeller family?”

Junhyuk shook his head and said, “I don’t have a good relationship with them, but I shouldn’t be on bad terms with them if I’m going to destroy the tears.”

“So, you want to use them?”

He agreed, and Sarang smiled.

“OK. By the way, will it be enough even if all experts participate?”

“I was able to kill the monsters before because they came out in waves, but now, they are already all over the place, so things won’t be easy.”

“Should I go as well?”

“No.” He waved her off and said, “Let’s go train.”

“After we eat.”

Sarang pulled out spicy, stir-fried rice cakes and Korean sausages from her school bag, and Junhyuk shook his head.

“Aren’t you tired of those?”

“If I were, I wouldn’t be a high school student.”

They both laughed and picked up chopsticks.

“Right, let’s eat first. Then, we train.”

—

Friday.

The world was moving very fast, but time froze when he went to the Dimensional Battlefield, so Junhyuk didn’t need to worry about something happening while he was out. He kept on training and absorbing mana to fatten up the living spirit, and soon, the bright light covered everything around him.

Junhyuk closed his eyes when that happened and opened them slowly a little while later. The room was entirely white, and his heart was pounding. He checked the amount of gold he had: 8,235,760G.

Junhyuk gasped when he saw it, and he was very proud of what he had gathered.

Up to that point, he had had an inferiority complex when comparing himself to Gongon, but now, he was very proud of himself.

And he became even happier when he heard the announcement.

[The explanation on the Swamp of Despair has been deleted by request. This round is the last round before the new season. The reward is a bag with a random number of runestones of the highest quality of a random type. At most, the bag will have five runestones. Do your best to win.]

Junhyuk’s heart pounded, and he balled his hands into fists. He was expecting a nice reward. The cost of the highest quality runestones was very high, so he thought it might be the best reward after the bag of gold.

Humans didn’t expect good things to happen twice in a row. It was basic human psychology, so he was glad to hear the news.

As he stood at the door, the announcement came on.

[Champion Junhyuk Lee deployed.]

He opened the door and walked out to see the lizardman kneeling, and Sarang hugging Gongon.

Junhyuk walked over to them, and Gongon sighed and said, “Am I going to be hugged this round as well?”

“Be understanding.”

Gongon shook head.

“What do we do?”

Junhyuk wanted to go to Bebe’s right away. He wanted to acquire the Vampire Lord’s set items, all four of them. If he did, the round would end in their victory for sure.

“Let’s go to Bebe first.”

Gongon shook his head.

“Our fighting skills are enough for a victory right now. If we go to Bebe, we must give up a tower.”

Junhyuk took a moment to think before saying, “If I get new equipment, we’ll win for sure. We can afford to lose a tower.”

Gongon shook his head again.

“I’m aware of that, but you can’t win the entire battle by yourself.”

Junhyuk knew that too. Even when fully equipped with the new set, he would still have enemies.

Gongon said, “Only you can afford new equipment this round. I can’t buy anything.”

As Gongon said that, Junhyuk agreed, “Right, I was shortsighted.”

The Dimensional Battlefield required teamwork. That was what was most important. The allies would be stronger if he got new equipment, but they shouldn’t risk things. There was no need for it. After a while, they would go see Bebe.

Junhyuk patted Gongon’s tiny shoulder and said, “Let’s go with our usual plan.”