"Hello, I'm Rep. Park Chang-seok from the players' headquarters.

The bearded man held out his big hand.

Baek Jin-woo shook it awkwardly.

"Oh, yes."

"I apologise for my rudeness earlier. Thanks to you, we were able to deal with that vicious terrorist."

"No, not at all."

I only did it to save myself.

When Jin-woo scratched his head, the bearded man smiled and showed his teeth.

"Do you belong to any organisation?"

"Pardon?"

"Oh, you don't belong to any guild? I haven't seen you at the headquarters, so... that means you're a free agent, right?"

Free agency?

Was he talking about being a free agent?

"Uh..."

How do I explain this?

He's asking about my affiliation, but I haven't even registered yet...

This is awkward.

"I understand it may seem intrusive to ask for personal information, but this is to offer a reward from headquarters."

"A reward?"

Jin-woo's eyes lit up.

He needed so many things right now.

He had no money, no runes and no summoning scrolls.

There was no way he could refuse such an offer.

"Haha, yes. In a way, you saved my life and helped us clean up the gang. Of course you should be rewarded. But we need to confirm your identity. I hope you understand."

Park Chang-seok had no choice.

In order to get approval from headquarters, they needed to have the proper data and procedures.

"Well... I haven't registered with headquarters yet. Is that still okay?"

"What?"

Park Chang-seok blinked.

The man who had helped him with just a few words, even though he was a C-rank summoner, was an unregistered player?

He looked at Jin-woo suspiciously.

But Jin-woo didn't seem to be worried.

He was confident.

'Well, maybe...'

It could be that he was a player who hadn't been active last year.

This law had only been enacted this year, so there were occasional cases like this.

"Hmm, do you have any ID?"

As long as they had identity information, they could check anything.

"Yes, here you go."

Swoosh.

Jin-woo opened his wallet and handed over his ID card.

He had thought about leaving, but with the offer of a reward, he couldn't refuse.

He had to comply.

If he refused now, it would only lead to misunderstandings.

After taking the ID, the bearded man bowed his head in a friendly manner.

"Thank you again. Once the identity check is complete, you'll receive a reward in accordance with our internal regulations."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes."

The bearded man smiled again.

***

The place where Jin-woo and the citizens had left.

Thud! Thud!

"Senior!"

"Are you okay, sir?"

The HQ players had finally arrived.

It had been quite a while since the emergency alarm had gone off.

"Hey, you punks."

Park Chang-seok spoke angrily.

"A situation like this happened right next to the HQ and you didn't rush over? Why are you so late? You lazy bastards."

"We're, we're sorry."

"It's already over. You clean up the mess."

"What about the terrorist?"

"Dealt with."

Park Chang-seok glanced sideways.

His C-rank woodsman was tidying up his roots with a satisfied expression.

"I gave him food."

"What? Are you sure?"

"If you don't believe me, check the CCTV footage. You know how many people witnessed it first hand."

"Haha, that's true, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Park Chang-seok replied nonchalantly.

The young man from earlier was still in his mind.

- "That's not right, the timing of the Flame Turtle skill is wrong."

- "You're casting 'Fire Resistance' on the blood orc from behind. Why would you use your skill at that moment..."

In a moment of crisis.

He had calmly and confidently provided the perfect solution.

On top of that, he knew the names of the summons and skills like 'Flame Tortoise', 'Blood Orc' and 'Fire Resistance' by heart.

And this from an unregistered player.

No matter how much I think about it, there's something strange about it.

Ring, ring!

Park Chang-seok was calling someone.

It was a junior colleague from the information department at Headquarters.

"Hey."

"I just sent over an arrest, right?"

"Yeah, take a look at this person, Baek Jin-woo."

***

After leaving the cafe, Jin-woo stopped at a nearby bakery and bought some cream buns.

Then he made his way to a secluded corner of a nearby park.

"You can talk now."

- "Phew, finally! I thought I was going to die!"

Sweet little Lamba let out a deep breath, as if she had been holding it in for too long.

- "I thought my mouth would explode from not being able to talk! So this is what it feels like to be itchy!"

"You did well. Here's some bread."

- "Kyaaa! Cream bun!"

For the record, Wind Fairy's favourite food is bread.

Specifically, fresh cream buns.

"I'm giving this to you because you've been holding back. If you keep working hard, I'll buy you more."

- "I love it! Yum, yum!"

Munch, munch!

The little fairy devoured the bread.

It was amazing how it all fit into her little body.

Anyway.

Lamba was quite handy.

Unlike most players who had conflicts with their summons, all problems could be solved with just one piece of bread.

Of course, there had been many moments of trial and error before he discovered that fresh cream bread was her favourite food.

There shouldn't be any problems, should there?

He hadn't planned on stepping up, but he had to act to survive.

If it caused trouble, he'd just have to deal with it.

"Sigh."

Jin-woo let out a short sigh.

He had to hunt soon.

This game that had become reality was more complicated than he had expected.

At least in the game there weren't any crazy terrorists or governments trying to control everything.

First, I'll register and start collecting as many summoning scrolls as possible.

Of the summons Jin-woo had previously owned, 10 had been removed due to balance patches.

The Wind Fairy, the Training Instructor, the Explosive Dragon Wise One, the Little Giant, the Dampir, the Cyclone Slayer, the Runecrafter, Aso, the Demon Cat and the Dragon of Destruction...

The extent to which they were overpowered will be explained later.

First, I need to get the Training Instructor and the Explosive Dragon Sage.

The Training Instructor was rank E, and the Explosive Dragon Sage was rank D.

This meant that if he opened a lot of low-rank summoning scrolls, he'd eventually get them.

The Little Giant, on the other hand, was C-rank or higher, so he couldn't obtain it with low-rank scrolls.

- "Phew! All done! Thank you, Jin-woo! This is the first time I've had bread in a long time!"

"Yeah, yeah."

- "So, what now?"

"What do you mean? After we eat, we have to leave."

By the way, summons can be trained.

No matter how good a summon's rank is, it won't become strong without training.

In Lamba's case, she needed to strengthen her arm muscles.

Only then would she be able to swing her staff faster.

"You know what I mean. With your current attack speed, you won't even make it past the first floor of the Tower of Trials, let alone the tenth floor."

- "Tsk! Is that why you gave me bread?"

"Let's do it together."

With a clenched fist, Jin-woo began to stretch.

He squatted, jumped in place, did push-ups and lightly practiced his footwork.

He twisted his waist and checked his joints and muscles thoroughly.

No matter what happens, you need a strong body.

Having lost a lot of muscle from lying down for three years, he needed to build it back up.

He also needed to improve his cardiovascular endurance.

Without endurance?

He wouldn't be able to pull all-nighters and his concentration would suffer.

Endurance was the foundation of a Ranker.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Aside from Jin-woo, Lamba also swung her staff cutely as they trained.

***

- "About the person you asked me to look into, Baek Jin-woo."

"Yes."

- "He's an unregistered player. And he has a record of being hospitalised for three years due to a traffic accident.

"What?"

Park Chang-seok's brow furrowed as he received the report over the phone.

"Are you sure? Three years would've been right around the time the world started to change.

The day when all of humanity woke up.

- "I'm sure. He was released recently. Interestingly, he applied for a player's card right after his release."

What?

Park Chang-seok pulled a file out of his pocket.

The waiting list for player registration.

He held it over his shoulder and flicked through the pages with a lick of his finger, and there it was.

Baek Jin-woo's application.

"It's true?"

- "Yes, is something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing like that. Who's the judge for this month?"

- "Judge Oh Ah-reum."

"Oh Ah-reum? She has a training session tomorrow, right?"

- "Yes, today is the deadline."

"Tell them I'll take over for that session."

- "Pardon?"

"Don't ask why."

- "Understood."

Something smelt fishy.

He had been in hospital for three years, then immediately applied for registration.

And he seemed to have an in-depth knowledge of summoning?

It had to be one of two things.

He was either a genius or a gamer.

A gamer.

This referred to those who had played the game 'Battle of Summoners' before awakening.

Whether they had played for a year or just three months, they were all called gamers.

Currently, nearly 70% of the top-ranked players were gamers.

It was an overwhelming percentage.

"Sigh."

Park Chang-seok's lifelong dream was to find talent that would bring glory to South Korea.

He wanted to find a hero who could lift South Korea out of its perpetual last-place status in the player wars.

And.

His instincts told him that Baek Jin-woo could be such a talent.

No, don't get too excited.

Nothing was certain yet.

I'll just have to meet him again tomorrow.

Park Chang-seok clenched the application file tightly in his hand.

***

The next day.

[Hello, Baek Jin-woo. This is Player Headquarters.]

[Please gather at the third auditorium of Player Headquarters at 9am]

[A map is attached.]

[A schedule is attached.]

Jin-woo arrived at the headquarters 10 minutes early after receiving the message.

A lot of people had gathered.

Maybe 1,000?

He would do the training with them, then the written and practical tests.

And after that?

He'd have to fight three matches in the Player Battle at the end of the month, and if he finished in the top 50, he'd finally become an official player and be able to enter the dungeons.

Swoosh.

He sat down in a suitable spot.

"Haha, in my day they called me the Dungeon Killer! I just didn't get registered automatically because I took a break. Just watch, I'll be registered as number one this month."

"Ha, this new law is so annoying, isn't it? My summoning is C-Rank, and yet I still have to go through this training? I could do it as a Ranker if I wanted to."

"I should've done a few more dungeons last year."

"I used to play Battle of Summoners when I was younger."

"Battle of Summoners? Wow, you were a gamer?"

"Yeah, haha. I only played for about a month though..."

"Still... I've heard that gamers fight really well."

Jin-woo could hear the hopefuls introducing themselves and boasting.

Or maybe it wasn't boasting?

Most of them seemed to have a decent amount of experience.

There was an air of confidence in the way they sat.

'Hmm.

This might not be as easy as I thought.

I'll have to see how they do the test.

'Eh, but come on.

After all, who was Baek Jin-woo?

A heaven!

He was JinuGod, once called the "Heaven" of "Battle of Summoners"!

Was there anyone here who could match his knowledge in that field?

Probably not.

How much time had passed?

Thud, thud!

The microphone reverberated.

- "All right, are we all here?"

Someone began to speak from the front.

- Nice to meet you. I'm Park Chang-seok, a judge here at headquarters.

Huh?

That guy!

Jin-woo's eyes widened.

He's a judge?

***

The training went smoothly.

The content was very simple!

For Baek Jin-woo, who had once been ranked number one in the world, it was boring.

Most of the combination techniques and theories that were currently being taught to the rankers had been established by Jin-woo in the past.

And even then, he had only revealed some of the solvable theories, while the really important information was still locked away in Jin-woo's mind.

"Of course.

"Battle of Summoners" had been a competitive game.

There had never been a reason for him to teach other Rankers his important information and know-how.

Well, there were times when he helped out the One Heaven, Five Emperors gang because he was close to them.

But that was it.

The true insider knowledge that made him 'One Heaven' was never revealed.

This is boring.

When the training ended, they were given a one-hour lunch break.

"Excuse me."

An employee approached Jin-woo.

"Yes?"

"Uh... the judge would like to talk to you for a moment."