M E M O R I Z E (MEMORIZE)

88      Institute of Ruins (2)

After the battle was done, I decided to take a break. This wasn’t too difficult, but this battle was a bit too much for the children’s physical strength. At my decision, Yoo-Jung who was pale immediately lowered her butt, and then shouted out.

“Uh….. horrible.”

At present, there were a lot of dead bodies around us. I was okay with it, but Sol and Yoo-Jung wanted to go to another place sooner or later. In response to their expectations, I moved into the room from where the dead came. This place was also a bit of a hassle, it could’ve been worse, but this was better than the place full of dead bodies.

I expected something to be a little similar to that of a lab, but my expectations missed when I saw the inside of the room. The interior space was narrower than I thought. I wondered how so many dead men could come out of this small space.

Old broken bed and bookshelves were visible. I couldn’t miss any one of it. As the party took a break, I looked around the room and searched for a way to get some information in there.

The children sat quietly, and when I was looking around alone, Jung Ha Yeon who was still breathing ruggedly was participating in my actions. Shin Sang Yong also stood up and the kids also started to raising on their backs as they watched what was happening. But at that time, I had done most of the searching with my third eye.

“Leader. Have you got anything?”

Shin Sang Yong’s eyes shined as he asked me. I came to see if anything was interesting, but it soon disappeared. I shook my head.

“No. I’ve looked through everything, but there is nothing to see.”

After I finished speaking I showed 30 gold coins and an ancient script.

“Eh… only 30 gold? This is too much.”

I could hear An Hyun’s complaint. It seemed like he compared it to when we were in a battle against goblins when he got a good profit with it in the past. Lee Yoo-Jung also showed disappointment with her expressions as well. However, Shin Sang Yong was different.

“It’s good. Explored one room and got 30 gold. Hahaha. Ah. Could you please show me the record for a while? I can decipher I’ve ancient understanding ability.”

“Sure.”

It is also useful. As I passed the record, he put his glasses and dusted the dust on it and held the record. His ability to decipher the ancient scripts was D-, but it was a good rank ( as far as the average player is concerned.)

Is it a good time to drink a cup of tea? I was looking at him with a blank face, I put a beef jerky in my mouth and looked at it once again. I swallowed the jerky in my mouth and opened my mouth.

“Are there any facts that you found? Important information. ”

“Uhm. No. There is no such content. This decoded record is a diary type. The room we are in now seems to be used by one of the inhabitants at that time. There is no content. But….. Strangely, there is a lot of information about lances. ‘I didn’t train with my lance today’, ‘I made a failure with the lance’ and so on. But it is hard to find a connection with this institute.”

“A lance?”

If is a failure. An Hyun raised his lance and asked, Shin Sang Yong nodded in his response. And when I heard his answer, I lifted my eyes as a thought came to my head. I thought that it could just be a story about the lance, but it might be a clue to the lance-man. Of course, there wasn’t anything definite yet. But even if it was a possibility, it was not too bad to search through the dungeons as the time came.

From the beginning of reading the records, Shin Sang Yong shared the stories about the institute. The rest of the people heard the story while they were resting, but Jung Ha Yeon was concentrating on Shin Sang Yong while he was saying. In any case, when it came to battle ability she was more advanced, but Shin Sang Yong was better when it came to dungeon exploration.

“I think so. From the exterior of the building, the lab will have to be at least 3 floors. And if you can’t guess how big the first floor is, it is likely to be extended in the four direction of north, south, east and west assuming that the hall is the centre. There will be a stairway going to the second floor somewhere along the way, except for the direction we have entered.”

“Yeah. Hmm. Anyway…. Rather than climbing stairs quickly, it is better to clear the first floor and then look at the 2nd floor.”

I didn’t know where the lance-man is sleeping. However, Shin Sang Yong, who didn’t know my thoughts like that, just nodded his head thinking that I wanted to go safely.

“Right choice. It will take a day to cover the 1st floor. It is bigger than I thought. And on the second floor, there will be more terrible guys than what we faced here on the first floor. Assuming the worst, it would be better to create a minimum safety zone and then go up.”

Shin sang Yong often spoke in an apologetic tone when he spoke. Those who speak unconsciously in such manner always assume the worst case when planning. They assume their own worst-case situations and prepare accordingly. It may have been a little frustrating for the others to see, but it was an habit to survive.

The children were saddened to hear that it was difficult to clear the institute in one day. And especially when they heard that they had to sleep here, An Sol shook her body. Shin Sang Yong, who noticed her, opened his mouth and spoke in a careful manner.

“Or we could clear the ground floor and go back to the city. The safe way is the best way to approach the second floor after maintenance. Of course, it will take a while…”

In his words, I shook my head firmly. With Vivian it would take only half day. In not more than six hours I was confidant to take over this place. Shin Sang Yong thought it was useful and he didn’t have a dissatisfied face.

Completely clear the next level. And even if we stayed a few days, we had to go back to the city after I finish it all at once. While the others members of the party were quietly listening, no one thought of the opposite. So I received a bottle of water from Jung Ha Yeon.

Originally the rest time was limited to 5 – 10 minutes, but this time it was a break. The earlier battle was intense that there was going to be some time needed for everyone to be recovered and to explore again. Everyone was silently eating their supplies. Jung Ha Yeon closed her eyes and stayed silently, and then she opened her eyes little by little. Her gaze diverted towards me. I also saw her and then exchanged our gazes.

While looking into her eyes deeply, Jung Ha Yeon opened her lips.

“Mr. Su-Hyun.”

“Yes.”

“I’m curious about something.”

“Yes.”

“Mr. Su-Hyun are you really a player of 0 years?”

“Yes.”

At my simple answers, a small ripple appeared on the face of Jung Ha Yeons. However, soon after she that she seemed to be in the mood, and with the same glance she looked down. Originally, it would have been annoying if someone gave that kind of look, but it was Jung Ha Yeon.

“Sorry. But I have something to say. I don’t know what you might think… I just can’t believe my eyes. The monsters that we faced before weren’t the ones that could be covered by the 0 level players.”

Her voice contained more of a surprise than doubt. However, I felt that I alone kept in mind the fact that I defended all the dead men in front of me. But this time, I didn’t think I would acting like the way I used to. I was going to reveal my skills gradually anyway, and if I stumbled around here, it was more likely that it could get suspicious.

“Is that so? It wasn’t so difficult.”

“How in the world did you fight?”

“It’s simple. the only advantage that they had was the numerical one. The way to be advantageous is that to be in joint. But we need to keep pushing in. In that case, just attack them, attack them. In other words, you can fight in a way that is dedicated to defense.”

“…… you make it sound easy. I don’t know. Have you learned the sword in modern times?”

In her question, I nodded my head.

“I have learned, but I don’t think it has anything to do with this. Just think of the situation in front of you and the best way to deal with it. Once you get into action, that’s all it takes.”

“Mr. Su-Hyun is a genius.”

“I don’t know. I never thought of myself as a genius. I just tried.”

“Hu Hu. Le, leader is very awesome. And Miss. Ha Yeon you should stop now. Leader is strong it isn’t a bad thing. And the 0yr player went to the Player Academy, and the people beside him are also there.”

At the intervention from Shin Sang Yong, Jung Ha Yeon face turned red, and she immediately put her head down.

“I’m sorry. It just tried to put out the obvious and used words to express them. I hope you don’t feel bad. That’s why I thought that ability of Mr. Su-Hyun was amazing.”

“The word genius is a bit too much for me. I will say this once more. But from this moment onwards. Please don’t criticize the results of my efforts based on your personal thoughts.”

At my words, Jung Ha Yeon bowed her head with a shameful expression. I knew what she was trying to say by putting out those words.

“Hmm Hmm.”

Nevertheless, the kids couldn’t understand the deep conversation. Maybe they didn’t understand. If Kim Han-Byul had been here, she would have surely understood the conversation. However, when I was being praised, it looked like the necks of the kids went stiff, Yoo-Jung’s too, she straightened her waist. Why was I being praised?

Yoo-Jung opened her mouth with feeling great. When this was going on, Shin Sang Yong turned his face away with a feeling of embarrassment as this excitement was starting to take a new turn. Sometimes it was clear that I was a sympathizer when I saw him like this.

“Ho ho. My Oppa is awesome. Did you know that? Did you also do something like the Players Academy unnie?”

“That. That’s was definite”

“Our Oppa was the 1st in that place. That too overall. Did you know how many clan-based officers tried to recruit him? Later, did you know that the quarters instructor changed into a female user? That too just to know who Oppa was, how funny is that?”

“Oh my. Is that so? That happened?”

Yoo-Jung left all these in an excited tone with pride, and Jung Ha Yeons eyes went wide with surprise. Apparently, being first title holder in the academy if a very worthy thing. An Sol who was next to me also, poured out some other words.

“Yes. The famous Golden Lion Clan offered their plan to oppa two times. Hm Hm.”

“The, Golden Lion? Even if players want they can’t get into that clan especially the new players.”

“hehe. Our oppa is the best.”

Stop. It’s embarrassing.

“But why did you refuse the offer from the golden lion clan? Ah. I’m really curious. I don’t see any reason to avoid.”

Before Shin Sang Yong’s admiration was done, Jung Ha Yeon’s question came in. She asked me in a tone that she was convinced it could be the Golden Lion Clan, but couldn’t understand why, again. But it wasn’t me who answered this time. No. they gave me no chance to say.

“It is because of us. Hyung and we were together since the Rite of Passage, and we didn’t receive any offer from the clans, only hyung got the offer. No matter how one sees it, hyung didn’t join because of us. And we are sorry that we tangled onto his ankle.”

“No. No need to be sorry. You’re all doing a good job.”

“?”

Suddenly the eyes of Jung Ha Yeon, who spoke her mind without seeing the situation, attracted the attention from everyone. She became a little embarrassed, as if was a reflexively answering. An hyun just shook his head.

“Anyway, As we were all alone, he couldn’t think of leaving us. As Sol said, he refused the offer from the Golden Lion clan and came to us on the day of graduation.”

“I cried at that time. When I think about it, oppa has changed a lot from the time of the Rite of Passage.”

“Yes. If Su-Hyun hyung wasn’t with us at that time , we couldn’t have passed through it. Wow.”

At that time, Jung Ha Yeon looked at me with fresh eyes. An Hyun and Yoo-Jung looked at my face, but I heard a voice once or twice. When I didn’t see the end of their praise. I was embarrassed by it.

I decided to end it with a cough and the rest too. It was time to get off the break as the atmosphere relaxed. Because it was necessary to move in this institute as this was of certain big size.

After leaving the room, they all turned quiet. As we stepped on the debris, we entered to the north of it, and went a little more inside.