Chapter 229

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 229: The Imjin War (1)

‘Overcompensation…!’

Yeongwoo’s eyes widened.

Following this, the scores from 2nd to 5th place were announced below the 1st place scorecard, but none of the names stood out.

Most of the scores were below 50 points.

[2nd Place] Louis – Total Score 47/100

– Game Analyst.

– Safety First.

– Keen Observation.

[3rd Place] Tuende – Total Score 38/100

– Bold.

– Challenger.

– High Accuracy.

[4th Place] Wooheon – Total Score 33/100

– Fast Betting.

– Intuition.

– Homogeneity Preference.

[5th Place] Stefan – Total Score 29/100

– Lucky.

– Lacks Confidence.

– Coin Flip.

“What, what’s this… 2nd place has 47 points?”

“What’s the score for 1st place? Isn’t it over 100?”

“5th place only has 29 points.”

Most in the waiting room were surprised at the low scores of the ranked participants, but Yeongwoo wasn’t that surprised.

‘You can’t get a high score just by sitting and betting in the dungeon.’

In Yeongwoo’s mind, there were only two ways to get a high score here.

One, participate directly as a representative.

Two, intervene in the arena and adjust the match outcomes.

Thus, Yeongwoo, the only survivor who had actually entered the arena, ended up with a high score.

「Rewards will be distributed differently according to the confirmed rankings.」

Soon, the highlight of this dungeon, the rewards for each rank, was revealed.

Flash!

[1st Place] Yeongwoo – Physical Catalog

[2nd Place] Louis – Random Epic Equipment

[3rd Place] Twende – Random Epic Equipment

[4th Place] Wooheon – Random Unique Equipment

[5th Place] Stefan – Random Unique Equipment

“…Huh?”

“Physical Catalog?”

“What’s a Catalog?”

Everyone’s eyes widened at the 1st place reward, which none had seen before.

Besides Yeongwoo, there were 14 other survivors, but none had ever even glimpsed a Catalog reward.

‘Well, it’s not common to exceed the score limit.’

Yeongwoo received his reward for this dungeon with a calm expression.

Swipe.

Along with this, a silver or orange box appeared in the arms of those ranked from 2nd to 5th. Of course, for Yeongwoo:

「The ‘Physical Catalog’ has been added to your data, Jeong Yeongwoo07.」

Instead of a box, a single system message appeared.

Realizing that the 1st place reward wasn’t a tangible item, the other participants began to gather around him.

“Hey, you.”

“What’s this Catalog? Can we take a look?”

“What is a Physical Catalog, anyway?”

“Come on, we’re from the same dungeon. Share some information.”

Some even used the ridiculous excuse of being from the ‘same dungeon’ to justify their request.

“……”

Yeongwoo felt that this dungeon was indeed nearing its end.

Soon, a portal would open, and the dungeon would be completely closed.

That’s why everyone had the courage to approach the 1st place winner and ask questions.

However, the dungeon system hadn’t forgotten the final rule of this gamble.

「The participant with the lowest betting score will now be identified.」

“What?”

“…Huh?”

“W-What does that mean?”

The noisy waiting room fell silent all at once.

Then someone cautiously reminded them of the rule.

“Didn’t it say during stage 2? If you record the lowest score… you die.”

This was true, and those close to the lowest score remembered the rule clearly.

―Additionally, at the end of the 5th stage, the participant with the lowest betting score will die.

―If there are multiple participants with the lowest score, up to three will be randomly selected to die.

The participant with the lowest score must die.

If there are many, up to three will be selected randomly.

“No, that’s impossible.”

“People have already died in the arena. Are they really going to select more to die?”

Only two people in the room uttered such despair-filled lines.

And just then, a separate system message appeared in Yeongwoo’s vision.

[The dungeon system has accessed some of your data.]

‘Huh? Is it because they are in the process of identifying the lowest scores?’

Although it was a preliminary measure followed by a report, it was still the first time something like this had happened.

It meant Yeongwoo was being separately informed about the internal activities of the dungeon system.

After a brief moment:

「Identification complete.」

「Two lowest scorers will take the penalty.」

“Pe-penalty?”

“You bastards! They call it a penalty, but it’s practically….”

While people murmured, the ceiling of the waiting room flashed momentarily, and an X mark appeared above the heads of two out of the fifteen people present.

“What?”

“No, no!”

As expected, it was the very two people who had sighed in despair right after the message about identifying the lowest scorers.

“Please, save me!”

One of the two people, effectively marked for death, ran towards Yeongwoo and pleaded.

Instinctively, he clung to the strongest person in the room, the one who the dungeon system had highly rated.

Cling!

As the man approached and grabbed Yeongwoo’s leg, Yeongwoo, unable to shake him off, looked flustered.

“I-I can’t persuade the dungeon. I’m sorry.”

Though the apology was partly insincere, the fact that he couldn’t change the dungeon’s rules was 100% true.

There likely weren’t many beings in this universe who could alter or ignore the dungeon’s rules.

“…Ah!”

The man clinging to Yeongwoo’s leg seemed to have seen something, his face contorting in terror.

And then:

Shwish!

He disappeared like steam from beneath Yeongwoo’s feet.

“What?”

“No!”

“How, how did that happen?”

No lasers were fired; the man, marked with an X, suddenly vanished into smoke.

Everyone was stunned, realizing they had implicitly agreed to the possibility of such a unilateral death by simply entering the dungeon.

“I want to get out. When does this end?”

“Right, isn’t it over now? Let us out already!”

Shock quickly turned to fear, and everyone in the waiting room clung to the walls, shouting to be let out. Soon after:

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

「The dungeon will close in 10 seconds.」

「Each participant, please exit through the portal.」

The notification of the dungeon closing, which everyone had been waiting for, appeared.

“Hurry…!”

Usually, the end of a dungeon involved survivors making peace or forming alliances for the future, but this time, there was only shock and fear.

Everyone was panicked, rushing to their assigned portals to escape.

Pop, pop!

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo thought:

‘I made it through safely again today.’

He was grateful he didn’t have to explain the Catalog, scratching his chin.

‘In the end, only 13 out of 20 survived.’

A mortality rate of 35%. Truly a fearsome dungeon.

「6」

「5」

As the countdown to the dungeon’s closure continued, Yeongwoo quickly stepped towards his portal.

* * *

3:42 AM.

Having escaped the crazy gambling den, Yeongwoo headed straight for Gangnam on his Negwig.

The reason was simple: sleep.

‘I need to hurry. If I’m lucky, I can get about three hours of sleep.’

Having barely slept in the past two days, Yeongwoo’s top priority was now, ironically, securing sleep time.

But with Pangaea starting at 8 AM, he could only afford about three hours of rest.

‘Chased by sleep, chased by taxes… what kind of life is this?’

Would people know?

That Jeong Yeongwoo07, not only the strongest in South Korea but a potential top contender in East Asia, lived his life carving out sleep time like this?

Thud, thud!

Listening to the sound of Negwig’s footsteps, Yeongwoo opened the Physical Catalog he had acquired from today’s dungeon.

Flash!

「The Physical Catalog can store all types of physiques, and once registered, you can utilize their functions without directly wearing them.」

[TL/N: This is kind of a body catalogue, like yeongwoo can buy diff bodies/physiques from the store.]

‘Crazy… a Physical Catalog. It still feels surreal no matter how many times I read it.’

Previously, reading the tooltip for a Catalog didn’t feel horrifying at all, but seeing it as a ‘physical’ version struck differently.

‘So, in the future, I could get multiple arms, attach two to my body, and register the other two in the Catalog?’

With this bizarre thought, Yeongwoo moved his gaze to the next tooltip.

「Each Catalog has unique collection effects, and once the Catalog completeness exceeds a certain threshold, you can acquire blessings or skills with amazing performance.」

‘Hmm.’

He wondered what the collection effects of the Physical Catalog would be.

Being a ‘physical’ collection, it was hard to imagine.

Nonetheless, there was a positive aspect.

*‘1 point’ remains until the 1st level collection effect unlocks.

‘Huh?’

The collection unit for the Physical Catalog was five.

Unlike other Cataloges, where collection effects were unlocked every 10 items, the Physical Catalog provided special effects at 5, 10, and 15 items.

And currently, Yeongwoo’s physical collection status was:

[Physical Catalog]

〔4〕

‘Four. Only one more to go.’

Of course, the system didn’t reduce the collection unit for the Physical Catalog just for the user’s convenience.

‘This means physical equipment is that rare.’

Indeed, judging by the ratio of equipment he had acquired so far, physical-type equipment was much rarer.

‘So, the Mythical Catalog might not follow the 10-item rule either?’

Yeongwoo’s mind raced again.

‘But it won’t be a 2-item rule either. If that were the case, there would have been a preliminary notification like with the Physical Catalog.’

He doubted it would be 5 items either.

No matter how rare physical equipment was, it couldn’t compare to mythical items.

So, the most likely unit was:

‘…Three?’

That seemed like a reasonable number.

‘The Mythical Catalog includes not just mythical equipment but also mythical beings….’

For example, like the Chairman.

It was a dangerous thought, but killing the Chairman could fill one slot in the Mythical Catalog.

‘Anyway, I’ll know for sure once I take down one more mythical being, and see at what intervals the collection effects unlock.’

While Yeongwoo was contemplating the Catalog, the golden goblin in the back seat pointed forward with its tiny finger.

-Squeak!

Finally, the silhouette of the Parnas Hotel came into view for Yeongwoo and his alien companions.

“Ah, I can finally get some proper sleep.”

Sweet home.

Yeongwoo pushed Negwig to go even faster towards a long-awaited good night’s sleep.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]