NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20 - First Mission (1)
‘Beep, beep, beep.’
Han Suyeon’s eyes flew open at the sound of the alarm. It was still early dawn, with no sign of the sun outside, and the view through the window revealed only darkness.
She got up from her bed, slipped out of her cute strawberry-printed pajamas, and headed straight to the bathroom.
The mirror reflected her toned, smooth, unblemished body. Still groggy from sleep, she stood under the cold shower, her eyes closed, letting the icy water wake her up fully.
She had long stopped showering with warm water. The feeling of warm water running down her red hair and body reminded her too much of the streams of hot blood that flowed from her comrades — those who had fought by her side but died slowly before her eyes through countless cycles.
After finishing her shower, Han Suyeon dried her signature red hair and tied it tightly behind her head.
She put on the black training suit she had prepared in advance and pulled a black cap over her head before heading in the direction of the academy.
***
By the time she arrived at the academy, the sun had just begun to rise, creating an atmosphere where light and darkness seemed to mix together inside.
Han Suyeon walked through the quiet, still halls, where calm and silence lingered, making her way to the large, beautiful lake in the center of the academy, famous for its blue glow.
Without the slightest bit of hesitation, she sprinted toward the lake and dove in.
The water was cold, and the lake was deep enough that the bottom was invisible.
Strengthening her body with magic, Han Suyeon swam vigorously, slicing through the cold water as she headed for the center of the lake.
After almost ten minutes of swimming, she finally saw a glowing blue hole at the bottom.
Upon reaching her destination, Han Suyeon pushed her body into the hole. A brief wave of dizziness washed over her as the space distorted, and she was transported to a rather opulent-looking place.
The hole was, in fact, the entrance to a dungeon hidden beneath the academy’s lake: the Palace of the Merman King.
This dungeon, fitting the proverb: “The darkest place is under the lamp,” had been discovered by an academy student-turned-villain who killed Han Suyeon in the fifth iteration of her life.
In her sixth iteration, Han Suyeon had learned of the dungeon’s existence by keeping an eye on that student, and since then, she had been clearing it ahead of him every time.
The dungeon was rated as C-level. In the early iterations, it had taken her two years after regression to clear it, but by the 923rd iteration, she had trained herself so rigorously that she could challenge the Palace of the Merman King in just two days.
Though the dungeon was still slightly challenging for her current stats, Han Suyeon wasn’t concerned at all — after all, she had learned swordsmanship from “that person” through hundreds of iterations, and failure was not an option she could be bothered about.
Without any armor, she calmly walked toward the entrance of the palace.
“Intruder!”
“A human! Attack!”
Two merman guards standing at the palace entrance spotted Han Suyeon and immediately lunged at her with their swords.
Ding!
[Skill: Magic Enhancement [C] activated.]
Han Suyeon’s body accelerated explosively as she surrounded herself with magic, dodging their thrusts with a simple twist of her body.
With both hands coated in fire-attributed magic, she grabbed the faces of the merman guards and slammed them into the palace floor.
Crash!!
The palace floor cracked in two places, and the heads of the merman guards shattered gruesomely.
Without emotion, Han Suyeon glanced at their lifeless bodies, picked up a sword dropped by one of them, and calmly walked into the palace.
***
Ding!
[You have cleared the dungeon ‘Palace of the Merman King.’ You have obtained the Merman King’s sword,
After destroying the dungeon core, the dungeon collapsed, and Han Suyeon emerged from the lake. She used fire-attributed magic to dry her wet clothes and hair. Then, she picked up the reward she had received, the ‘Siren’s Tear.’
It was a blue tear contained within a small glass bottle.
Han Suyeon uncapped the glass bottle and, without bothering to pause, drank the Siren’s Tear in one swift motion.
Ding!
[You have consumed ‘Siren’s Tear.’ Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Magic Power each increase by 4.]
As she consumed the Siren’s Tear, she could feel her body becoming lighter, and her magic power expanding, just as the system window described.
“Status window.”
Ding!
Name: Han Suyeon
Age: 17
Stats
Strength: 32
Agility: 34
Stamina: 33
Magic Power: 30
Charm: 87
Luck: 44
Skills
Unique Ability
After tossing the elixir down her throat, Han Suyeon’s stats showed that her Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Magic Power had all surpassed 30.
Compared to the first day of her regression, her growth had been remarkably fast, but Han Suyeon felt little excitement in her heart.
The process and results had repeated themselves countless times across dozens of iterations, making it hard for her to feel anything anymore.
Her gaze then shifted to the other reward, the Merman King’s sword, Aron.
The 90 cm blue blade of Aron gleamed in her hands. It was a weapon she had relied on during the early stages of her journeys before acquiring better gear.
Aron was a sixth-grade weapon with the ability [Rapid Current]. This ability allowed her to use water-attribute magic for 10 minutes, once a day.
By the time she had emerged from the dungeon, the sun had risen high into the sky, shining brightly. She checked her smartwatch — it was exactly noon.
Although she was quite exhausted from clearing the dungeon, there was no time for rest. As it turned out, there never was.
To prevent the world from ending, Han Suyeon knew she had to keep moving, pushing herself without pause.
Without hesitation, she dragged her tired body toward Training Hall H at the academy.
***
Training Hall H, Room 320
Inside Room 320, the air was thick with mist, created from the immense amount of sweat that had evaporated due to Han Suyeon’s fire magic.
“First Flash.”
She swiftly slashed her training sword diagonally through the air.
This was the first technique of the Yuha Sword Technique, First Flash, which her master had taught her. It was a single motion, focusing every sense and energy in her body on one pure action — cutting.
To an experienced swordsman, Han Suyeon’s movement was flawless, without any unnecessary action. However, she lowered her sword with a dissatisfied expression on her face.
‘Compared to Master, I am still so lacking…’
For hundreds of iterations, Han Suyeon had trained in the Yuha Sword Technique under her master. But in her eyes, even the first form, First Flash, the very foundation of the technique, seemed pitiful compared to her master’s execution.
After hours of training at the practice hall following her assault on the Merman King’s palace, her swordsmanship showed no signs of improvement.
Utterly frustrated, she released a small sigh and headed straight into the private shower attached to the training room.
‘Since I have to go to “that place” tomorrow, I’ll call it a day.’
Han Suyeon cooled her overheated body with the cold water from the shower. After finishing her shower and getting ready to leave, she exited Room 320 and took the elevator down to the first floor.
“Oh, heading home?”
As she reached the lobby, a female employee working at the training center greeted her warmly, having noticed her while watching the TV mounted on the counter wall.
Han Suyeon gave a small nod in response and approached the counter to return the training sword she had borrowed.
As she got closer, the news on the TV caught her eye.
“A gate suspected to be D-class appeared near Sindorim Station around 2:40 p.m. today…”
Sindorim Station gate.
According to her memory, it was a gate where D-class Dire Wolves and their C-class leader, the Moon Wolf, appeared.
Though classified as a natural disaster, the gate had been swiftly neutralized without major casualties by Hyun Si-hyun, an S-class player who had just so happened to be nearby.
Han Suyeon knew about the Sindorim Station gate appearing today from her first iteration. However, since the damage was minimal and it would be handled easily by Hyun Si-hyun, she chose to focus on her training rather than intervene.
As she returned the training sword to the employee, Han Suyeon caught a glimpse of the TV screen out of the corner of her eye. Suddenly, she froze, turning her head fully to stare at the image on the screen.
The employee, noticing Han Suyeon’s sudden reaction, glanced between her and the TV, appearing to be a little confused.
“Oh, right, they were saying a gate appeared at Sindorim Station today. Quite a few people got injured or died, but it seems some players on the scene and S-class player Hyun Si-hyun from the Salvation Guild managed to…”
But Han Suyeon didn’t hear the rest of her explanation.
Aegis.
On the screen was Kim Baram, struggling to fight the Dire Wolves with Aegis in hand — the very item that should have been wielded by the villain Cha Eun-ho.
‘How… how did Kim Baram get his hands on Aegis…?’
***
Ding!
[Player ‘Kim Baram’s unique ability
[Protagonist ‘Han Su-yeon’ is watching you. You gain 500VP.]
[VP has been calculated for Player ‘Kim Baram’s actions throughout the day. You gain 500VP.]
“Ugh…”
Kim Baram groaned as he woke up, his entire body aching as if it had been beaten black and blue. H
e briefly thought it might be because his mother had smacked him on the back after he came home yesterday, covered in blood.
Tossing and turning on the bed, he tried to wake himself up.
As soon as he became more alert, he noticed the notification window floating before him. Despite his sore body, a grin spread across his face.
“Haha… I woke up and got 1000VP. I have no idea why Han Suyeon is watching me again, but this feels great…”
Still smiling to himself, Kim Baram lay curled up like a shrimp and muttered, “Status window.”
Ding!
Name: Kim Baram
Age: 17
Stats
Strength: 14
Agility: 14
Stamina: 20
Magic Power: 7
Charm: 51
Luck: 51
Skills
Unique Ability
Current VP: 5800VP
Kim Baram’s gaze naturally fell to the bottom of the status window, where the “Current VP” was displayed. His VP had surged to 5800VP, thanks to yesterday’s events.
Of course, he also checked his stats out of curiosity, but there was no dramatic power-up typical of a protagonist who awakened after a tough battle. As expected, nothing much had changed.
“Tch… Well, at least I have VP.”
With no one asking, he spoke aloud in a cracked voice, trying to comfort his somewhat bitter heart.
“Let’s just use it right away.
It had become a daily ritual at this point — rolling the dice. With his eyes still slightly bloodshot from having just woken up, he focused on the dice as he rolled it.
Ding!
[As a result of the
[As a result of the
[As a result of the
His Magic Power and Strength both increased by 3 and his Luck by 4, thanks to the
“Hmm… not the best roll, but I’ll make up for it by earning more today.”
Now fully awake yet, Kim Baram sat up and grabbed his smartwatch from the desk. As he accessed the app linked to his bank account, he saw the reward from the Association had been deposited.
-Deposit: 6,000,000 KRW (Korean Player Association)
“Now this is what makes being a player worth it.”
Staring at the incoming funds, he could almost feel his aching body being healed. Was this what they called “financial therapy”?
Buzz!
Just as he was basking in his happiness, his smartwatch vibrated with a notification from the Fixer Clan chatroom.
‘It’s coming back to me. I got a message from them yesterday too, but I was so tired that I just passed out after showering.’
Curious, he opened the chat app to check the messages from yesterday and the new ones.
(Fox): Tomorrow’s request is at 2 p.m. near Gangnam Station. Oh, and make sure to wear your masks when you come. – 8:34 p.m.
(Crow): Yes, understood. – 8:35 p.m.
(Raccoon): Got it. – 8:36 p.m.
(Tiger): Mm! Got it! – 9:00 p.m.
(Rabbit): (Diligently nodding bunny emoji) – 9:21 p.m.
(Cat): I’ll be there too. – 8:13 a.m.
“…What…?”
Kim Baram muttered in confusion as he scrolled down and saw the last message.
Cat.
The true identity of “Cat” was unknown to the other clan members, except for their clan leader, Shin Yul. However, Kim Baram had already met this person before.
She was none other than Yeo Ji-hye, the person he encountered yesterday.
Surprised by Yeo Ji-hye’s participation, Kim Baram glanced toward the ridiculous-looking monkey mask hanging on the wall and made a decision.
“I definitely won’t take off my mask today…”