Chapter 7 - Day 3, 3rd floor Encounter (1/2)
Chapter 7 - Day 3, 3rd floor Encounter
6:00 in the morning.
[One you return from the dungeon, items in use will automatically return to your inventory.]
My day started with those words.
Inventory. The words ‘Maram’s Leather Gloves’ and ‘Elmer’s Dummy Destroyer’ popped up. It wasn’t even necessary to say the commands, I just had to think them.
Check abilities.
[Endurance: 11]
[Concentration: 11]
[Willpower: 12]
Um.
Although Cartography had gone up quite a bit, the fact that there were no changes to my stats meant the difference between numbers was quite significant. I wanted to check how much experience I needed before Cartography leveled up again.
Check talents.
[Cartography LV 3. 241/400]
[Pain Tolerance. LV 5. 42/1600]
[Punching. LV 2. 114/200]
[No.099 ??? LV 0. No experience.]
No.099? What was this?
[Unique Talent - No.999 ??? : ?????]
Despite the number attached to it, I didn’t feel bad because it was in the talent category. But when had I received this? I always carefully read the messages that appeared in front of me, and I’d never noticed this before.
[Among all the explorers, the talent that only the first explorer who acquired it can monopolize is called a unique talent.]
[The basic acquisition method is similar to acquiring a normal talent, but it should be consistent with the inherent nature of the explorer and their fundamental desires. After acquiring the talent, the explorer must be fully aware of the desire to awaken it. Enabled.]
The more I looked, the less I knew. My nature? Fundamental desires?
There wasn’t even the talent name, only questions marks, so I couldn’t get any sense of what this talent was… Well, I didn’t need to worry too much about it.
Since I had gained the talent, I must have done something that met the criteria. I would think about it in the dungeon.
I took a shower, ate breakfast and roughly packed my backpack. During testing periods, the cafes that were open on weekends wouldn’t be that busy. I headed straight to a cafe.
◎
”Oh, I want to sleep forever.” After silently working on the algorithm on the paper for two hours, Su-yeon put down her mechanical pencil. Her cute face held a rotten expression.
”Didn’t you sleep last night?”
”I stayed up late and only slept for maybe four hours.”
In fact, it wasn’t a matter of having gotten enough sleep. The problems on the table were so difficult that it was making everybody tired. Five people, including me, were studying in a study room at a cafe.
The algorithm we were working on wasn’t simply a matter of finding the answer. Once the correct answer was unconditionally found, we would have to find a more efficient method.
That’s why a few people were needed. One person picked a problem, squeezed their head and shared the solution with the others. Well... Smart people didn’t need to do this. The fact that I was at O University meant there was a lot of effort and talent, but the geniuses were really beyond my imagination.
”Uh, the one Oppa is starting is a problem I tried the other day. It will be difficult.”
“Yes. It looks hard. But when did you attempt this?”
”It’s a fairly famous problem.”
Dong-wook hyung, who was listening to the conversation, glanced at me and said, ”It was a problem on last year’s SZ electronic test.”
“Ah really? I didn't know that. If several problems from that exam comes out... Isn’t there a rule that you can’t reveal the questions?”
”Some seniors memorized it before they left the exam.”
“Surely not...”
”There are many such humans. We can only gaze at them from afar...”
I bit my nails and concentrated on the problem while listening to the conversation between Su-yeon and Dong-wook.At the same time, his other hand put down the mechanical pencil. “... I think I did everything...”
Su-yeon-and Dong-wook turned to face me. ”Already?”
I handed over my piece of paper instead of answering. Their eyes widened with surprise as they looked over it.
”Wah.” Su-yeon’s mouth dropped open.
“... Hey, you must have seen this beforehand.”
She didn’t believe it. Dong-wook stared at me. ”That isn’t the Hee-chul I know.”
Dong-wook beckoned to the other two people in the room. They had been listening to the conversation so they both came over to look at my paper.
”It looks good.”
”Hee-chul’s condition is good today.” I shrugged, feeling half proud and half shy.
Honestly, it just felt like something had clicked. I felt like this was nothing. However, it was the first time I had been faced with a problem of this difficulty.
I spoke a few words to the members of the study group before suddenly looking at the clock. Ah. It was that time already… ”Oh, I will leave first. I’m going, Hyung.”
I hurriedly gathered my things on the table. Originally, I would have stayed until one or two in the morning. ”What, has Hee-chul’s confidence increased due to the studying?”
“It’s not like that.” I couldn’t say that I was going to a dungeon, so I just said goodbye and left the study room.
“Oppa.”
I looked back to see Su-yeon following me. ”That thing that Oppa did a while ago.”
“Huh?”
”That paper, can I have a look at it?”
Her hands joined together in a shy gesture but my hands were already opening my bag. Anyway, I was a normal Korean male in university. The other men in the room didn’t have the courage to embarra.s.s themselves in front of the sole female.
”Here.”
”Thank you! I’ll return it.”
Su-yeon accompanied me to the elevator outside the study cafe.