A new record in the Monday Dungeon?

A remarkable achievement for sure.

News articles were written about it at the time, and public opinion was stirred up quite a bit.

A new record in the Tuesday Dungeon?

When Baek Jin-woo's name appeared again, a lot of players started to take notice.

"Baek Jin-woo? Who's that?"

"Huh? I think I have heard that name before. Oh yeah, wasn't it mentioned that someone finally broke Kang Gun-ho's record, but the post was deleted shortly after?"

"Oh, that person! Wow, he broke it again?"

"He cleared the Monday Dungeon, then the Tuesday Dungeon... He doesn't seem like a ranked player, so is he some hidden master who just appeared out of nowhere?"

"And now he has made the global rankings with this one, which makes it even more significant."

"It's definitely intriguing. What organisation does he belong to?"

Until then, there had been a bit of excitement, but things hadn't really exploded.

But the next morning -

When he set a new record in the Wednesday Dungeon?

At that point, everyone had to admit it.

What had only been discussed in player forums was now being discussed in major news outlets, and articles about Baek Jin-woo flooded the platforms.

[New record in the low-ranked Wednesday Dungeon! "4 minutes 22 seconds," Who is Baek Jin-woo?"]

[A player who appeared out of nowhere! Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - record-breaking attack after record-breaking attack! And both Tuesday's and Wednesday's records are global records!]

[Will player Baek Jin-woo go for Thursday next?]

The public had been buzzing about the Tuesday Dungeon record, but now that he'd broken both Monday and Wednesday records...

South Korea, which had temporarily calmed down, was once again in a frenzy.

Naturally.

The person at the centre of it all, Baek Jin-woo, didn't care.

"All this fuss over something so trivial?"

Right, right.

Who do they think they're dealing with?

It was surprising in another way.

Although he considered himself an old hand, was the standard still so low after three years?

Frankly, he could guess the reason.

Lack of leadership.

It was probably because South Korea's veteran players had left.

While the countries known for their summoning had been well led from the start by experienced veterans, South Korea seemed to have lost their way.

But it wasn't Baek Jin-woo's job to put things right.

I just need to become stronger as I originally planned.

If he claimed his position in the One Heaven and made sure that 'YooBaek' grew up well with Yoo Ji-ah, then?

The standard in South Korea would naturally rise as well.

"All right, let's practice, everyone."

Clap, clap!

Baek Jin-woo clapped once more on the training ground.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

There were only four days left.

***

Korean players' headquarters.

The director's office.

The director looked at the articles and furrowed his brow.

"Who is Baek Jin-woo? I feel like I've heard that name before."

The secretary sighed softly as she watched the elderly man, whose hair was completely white, adjust his glasses.

The current director of the player headquarters was too old.

He was only in this position because he had served five terms as a member of the National Assembly, using his name and influence to secure this role.

"He is the person that Rep. Park Chang-seok mentioned... Do you remember? The one who said he'd provide information if he received a subpoena."

"Oh, that's the one that Congressman Im Hee-su was against, right?"

"Yes, that's right, Director. He refused, saying he couldn't spend money without first receiving solid information."

"So that information turned out to be real?"

"It seems so."

Snort!

A harsh breath came from the director's nose.

Im Hee-su, that fool. He's lost his touch.

To be fair, he had been sceptical himself.

Congressman Park Chang-seok was right, but so was Congressman Im Hee-su.

But in politics, the result is more important than the process.

If they had supported Baek Jin-woo from the beginning?

That information would have been at the headquarters by now.

They could have won the praise of the people and more votes as a result.

"Sigh."

The director sighed with regret.

Park Chang-seok had made an excellent suggestion, but Im Hee-su had foolishly thrown away this golden opportunity!

"Secretary."

"Yes, Director."

"Try to contact that player Baek Jin-woo again."

"You mean directly from our side?"

"Yes, that guy. We thought he was fake, but he turned out to be real. We have to bring him in however we can."

Can they get back what they've already lost?

The secretary tilted his head slightly in doubt, but this was still the Director.

The highest authority in Players' Headquarters.

He couldn't ignore that.

"Yes, I'll try to contact them from our office."

***

Thursday morning.

The area in front of the Weekly Dungeon building looked completely different.

Originally, only players came and went here, but now the place was crowded with reporters.

Of course, they were here to catch a glimpse of Baek Jin-woo.

"Ah, why are they all crowded over there?"

"This building is already cramped enough, it's so uncomfortable."

Naturally, the existing players were understandably unhappy.

Since the Weekday Dungeon was only accessible from the Player Zone, they had to pass through the reporters to get in.

"What's Headquarters doing? Shouldn't they be controlling the civilians here?"

"They probably don't want to get into another fight about media restrictions and all that."

"Still, they have to protect the players' rights somehow. This is a very serious matter. Headquarters really can't do anything right these days.

Grumbling, the players reluctantly entered the dungeon.

Baek Jin-woo and YooBaek's members were right behind them.

Click, clack!

Yoo Ji-ah looked slightly worried as she watched Baek Jin-woo put on his clothes.

"Are you sure this is okay? I tried to get rid of them somehow, but there's no tougher opponent than the press..."

"Well, what can you do?"

Baek Jin-woo smiled leisurely.

"They just came here to see me, so shouldn't I just wave at them or something?"

Baek Jin-woo decided to think positively.

After all, he still had to leave the dungeon.

It wasn't as if the reporters would actually block his way and prevent him from leaving.

He ignored the onlookers.

He'd done it before.

No matter what anyone said at school, he'd been obsessed with 'Battle of the Summoners'.

Now it's the Dungeon.

That was all he had to concentrate on.

***

"By the way, is the video recording going well?"

Baek Jin-woo asked and Yoo Ji-ah replied immediately.

"It's impressive. We couldn't help but be amazed while watching it. Especially the scene where the golem walks up the mountain... how on earth did you find that route?"

"The veterans overseas probably all know about it."

Specifically, those with at least eight years' experience.

This route was originally discovered by Rachel and had spread through the forums by that time.

"Phew, anyway. I trust you to handle it well, so I'll go."

Baek Jin-woo said goodbye to Yoo Ji-ah and the members and then walked confidently through the crowd of reporters.

Most of the reporters recognised Baek Jin-woo as his identity had been revealed.

"Over there!"

"That's Baek Jin-woo!"

"Take the picture!"

Click, click!

Even in the midst of the flashing cameras, Baek Jin-woo only looked forward.

Specifically, to the glowing blue entrance of the Day of the Week Dungeon inside the building.

"What's your secret to being successful in time attacks despite not being a ranker?"

"Where do you get your information?"

"There's a rumour that you were a gamer - is that true?"

Ignoring the questions pouring out of the microphones, he walked on.

At least Headquarters had some sense; they had assigned security guards to keep the reporters from getting too close to the player.

"Can we expect you to break the record in the low-ranked Thursday Dungeon as well?"

Just once.

He nodded in response to this single question.

"Yes, of course."

Click, click, click, click!

As the flashes went off like crazy, Baek Jin-woo dove into the Thursday Dungeon.

***

The Monday and Wednesday Dungeons will give you 'Runes'.

The Tuesday Dungeon gives 'Grindstones'.

What about the Thursday Dungeon?

It gives 'Skill Books'.

Books that allow you to register skills for summoned creatures.

Of course, the Skill Book doesn't contain the unique skills of each summoned creature.

Nor does it contain latent skills that can only be unlocked by Hun-gyo.

However, as it does contain a number of useful skills, it's one of the dungeons that players should complete regularly.

Remember what I said earlier?

There's no real need to complete the Sunday Dungeon.

That's thanks to the Thursday Dungeon.

The Sunday Dungeon also gives Skill Books, but it's more difficult, whereas this one is easier.

You can get all the Skill Books you need from the Thursday Dungeon.

Not much to this one.

It's basically a one-on-one fight with a dungeon boss that focuses entirely on defence.

[Warning! Warning! Warning!]

[The boss monster appears!]

As soon as you enter the Thursday Dungeon, the boss will appear.

The boss is a giant Earth Golem.

It's huge, about the same size as the Titan Golem.

Roarrrrr!

The golem lets out a mighty roar as it twirls its earthen arms around.

Despite its appearance, its defence is so high that most attacks won't even scratch it.

The core unit here is originally the B-rank White Wolf.

It is the most cost-effective unit in terms of its single-target defence reduction ability.

However.

Baek Jin-woo hadn't bothered to buy the White Wolf.

I can just smash it with a high DPS combo.

So he put together a team of elites.

Lamba, Hun-gyo, Explosive Dragon!

And then the Titan Golem and the Wind Falcon!

"Phew, I probably shouldn't sell this video".

Why bother sharing footage of you just smashing the best team?

Better to tell people to reduce defence with the White Wolf and attack with a high-DPS setup.

That's the optimal method.

In fact, it's so simple that it's already popular in Korea and the closest thing to a world record.

But I still need to break the record.

To be precise, the Earth Golem has one weakness.

It's all about hitting his head.

For most players, that would be quite a challenge.

It's so big that it's hard to aim at the head.

But there's a way.

"Titanium."

Roarrrr!

Reading the player's intent, the Titan Golem bends its knee and lowers its shoulder.

Hun-gyo, Lamba and the Explosive Dragon climbed onto the spot.

Thud, thud, thud...

The Titan Golem lifted his massive body to face the Earth Golem.

And above them -

Fwoosh!

With a graceful leap, Hun-gyo swung his arm powerfully.

Slash, slash, slash, slash!

His swordsmanship, at its peak, shredded the Earth Golem's head in an instant.

Rumble!

A booming sound like thunder echoed throughout the dungeon.

With the attack speed buff from Lamba and the movement speed buff from the Wind Falcon, Hun-gyo's movements became even sharper.

The attack speed stacked up, making him faster and faster!

Meanwhile -

Fwoooosh!

The explosive flame wave of the Explosive Dragon joined in!

Actually.

Later on, only the Explosive Dragon will enter the Thursday Dungeon.

A properly trained Explosive Dragon?

It'll probably be able to clear even high-level dungeons in a second.

Including the time it takes to enter and exit, that's about ten seconds?

Theoretically, it could produce 8,640 Skill Books a day.

Anyway.

For Baek Jin-woo and the EX-class summoners who retained their memories of JinuGod's One Heaven, a low-ranked Thursday dungeon was a piece of cake.

-

[Boss monster handled!]

[Dungeon is clear!]

[Clear Time - 00:05:10]

-

"Nice."

Another national record for South Korea!

He beat the average of six minutes by a full minute.

Hun-gyo is really something else.

He'd already realised that when Hun-gyo easily overpowered his younger brother's C-rank Shadow Elf.

This guy was unmatched in terms of growth rate.

"Let's go again!"

After defeating the Golem one more time, Baek Jin-woo smoothly set up the automatic battle and finally left the Day of the Week Dungeon.

And on his way out -

"Excuse me, are you player Baek Jin-woo?"

Two employees in neat Headquarters uniforms greeted Baek Jin-woo.