"Yeah, what's that about?"

Baek Jin-woo tilted his head in confusion.

Hadn't everything already been settled with the headquarters?

"We are from the director's office. We're considering the proposal you made earlier, Mr Baek Jin-woo..."

"Oh, that."

Baek Jin-woo raised his hand, cutting them off.

"It's fine."

"Sorry?"

"Didn't Headquarters express their disapproval back then?"

"Technically, it wasn't a refusal. They said they would support it if solid evidence was presented. And now that you've shown concrete results, Mr. Baek, we're considering it favourably.

The employee tried to sound as polite as possible, but that was all in his tone.

Baek Jin-woo did not like any of his words at all.

Wasn't it just too obvious compared to Yoo Ji-ah?

Yoo Ji-ah had offered a lot of money in advance, even though there was nothing, while Headquarters was now trying to "check" things because there was something in it for them.

Who looked better in his eyes?

It didn't even have to be said.

Support only means something if it's offered when it's really needed.

There was even a touch of arrogance in the head office staff.

They probably thought something like this:

No matter how impressive you are as a player, you're not a ranker. So an upfront fee of 1.3 billion won?

Of course, Baek Jin-woo understood that it was an unreasonable demand.

But Yoo Ji-ah had granted it and generously offered it as a gift.

"I'm sorry, but this proposal... I don't need it anymore."

"Excuse me?"

"And."

Baek Jin-woo smiled gently, then spoke quietly but firmly.

"I'm already with a company. If you have anything to say to me, please speak through Yoo Ji-ah of YooBaek."

"YooBaek...?"

The clerk's eyes wavered.

"Goodbye then."

Baek Jin-woo nodded respectfully and walked past.

The employees couldn't bring themselves to stop him.

And something was gnawing at them.

"Senior, what is Yoo Baek? And Yoo Ji-ah? Could he be referring to Yoo Ji-ah from the Daeseong Group? The one who recently left the headquarters?"

"Let's look into it right away."

The Chief Secretary bit his lip.

He had a strong feeling that they had missed a critical opportunity.

***

After finishing the Thursday Dungeon, Baek Jin-woo went straight to the roof of a nearby building.

The Friday Dungeon is different.

The method itself was different.

In the other dungeons, summoned creatures hunted monsters, but?

The Friday Dungeon required the players to run it themselves.

This time he'd be using two new summons.

The C-rank Sky Dolphin and the B-rank Sky Wyvern.

Their unique feature?

They could both be ridden by players!

"Phew."

Baek Jin-woo braced himself.

"Can I really do this?

Riding a golem and a wyvern were two different things.

The wyvern actually flew through the sky.

Even though the protective barrier would keep him from falling, the fear was unavoidable.

That was another difference between the game and reality!

But I have to do it.

To achieve a Friday Dungeon Time Attack, he'd have to master the control of both summons.

"Heaven."

Keeereeee!

At Baek Jin-woo's call, the Sky Wyvern roared eagerly.

It flapped its wings and lowered its body.

An invitation to hop on.

"Alright!"

Baek Jin-woo boldly mounted the wyvern and patted its head.

"Let's go to the East Sea."

If he wanted to practice flying with the wyvern?

He also had to practise swimming with the dolphin.

Mastering both was essential for taking shortcuts in the Friday Dungeon.

Whoosh, whoosh!

The wyvern began to soar into the sky.

I think I can do this.

With enough practice, he might not even need a taxi.

There were probably subtleties to both flying and swimming, but he wasn't worried.

After all, he had Hun-gyo.

Half a day was enough to get used to flying.

Baek Jin-woo had a natural talent for it.

Master, you are unbelievable.

"Enough with the flattery."

No, I'm serious. You are picking up skills at a remarkable rate.

"I said enough."

That Hun-gyo guy.

He even had a knack for flattery.

Truly.

This time, the Explosive Dragon, who had been watching nearby, joined in.

"Huh? What's really amazing?"

It's because we still have memories of the past... But at first, riding a wyvern was incredibly difficult. We'd get airsick and even throw up.

Back in the days of Battle of Summoners...

Hun-gyo and Explosive Dragon were experienced summons who had gone through countless trials.

Of course they were.

Together, they had climbed the Tower of Trials, known for its extreme difficulty.

As part of this journey, they had also had to master the control of wyverns and dolphins.

"Is that so?"

Yes, as expected from JinuGod. You are truly our master.

The sight of the Explosive Dragon clinging to her staff with both hands, praising him, was absolutely adorable.

Unable to resist, Baek Jin-woo ruffled her red hair.

"Thank you. Next is to ride the Sky Dolphin, right?"

Their current location was the sea off Yangyang.

They had come to the East Sea because they had to go quite deep to find suitable waters.

"As for swimming...

He had some confidence.

He'd learned to swim as a child and had always loved the water.

But keeping up with the dolphin's swimming speed and withstanding the water pressure were different challenges.

He'd have to practice with Hun-gyo.

Master, please hold on tight.

Hun-gyo was patient and they managed to complete the swimming exercise successfully.

Friday morning.

Once again, Baek Jin-woo pushed his way past the line of reporters and entered the Friday dungeon.

Fully equipped, of course.

Phew, I'm looking forward to this.

In truth, it was this Friday Dungeon playthrough that had cemented JinuGod's reputation as the God of Time Attacks.

A dungeon that awarded special runes!

The Friday Dungeon in Battle of Summoners had felt like a fun mini-game, something many veterans enjoyed, sharing their videos on the forums as they attempted time attacks, calling it "shaving" seconds off their records.

Low rank was easy.

Mid-rank was hard.

High rank was brutal.

And top rank?

Enough to make you sick.

[Player Race will start in 10 seconds!]

[Reach the goal as quickly as possible!]

The setting was a corridor.

At the front of Baek Jin-woo's vision, there was a line drawn across the floor.

He would have to start from there in 10 seconds.

The low rank shouldn't be a problem. No one would doubt me even if I gave it my all, right?'

He stretched his body and prepared to run.

At the same time -

"Wind Falcon."

Shriek!

"Cast the movement speed buff on me."

Wooong!

A refreshing breeze brushed the tip of his nose, and he felt power surge through his entire body.

This is the movement speed buff.

Seconds ticked by.

[3]

[2]

[1]

With one second left, Baek Jin-woo crouched down.

[0]

[Go!]

As soon as the starting line disappeared from the ground, he kicked off and dashed forward.

"Huff, huff, huff!"

Breathing rhythmically, he sprinted as fast as he could.

As the player runs, numerous obstacles will appear.

Avoiding them while running is the key to this Friday Dungeon!

Of course.

Every obstacle sequence and shortcut was perfectly memorised in Baek Jin-woo's head.

Whoosh!

He ducked slightly to avoid a small stone flying towards him from the distance, and with each step he found and hit the flat parts of the wildly shaking ground.

Smooth and precise movements, without an inch of error!

Good.

For the first time in a long time, Baek Jin-woo felt the thrill of fun.

Yes!

This was it!

It was even more exhilarating than when he controlled it on the screen.

And.

After about a minute, he reached an area with a wide gap in the ground filled with water.

'First hidden route!

Baek Jin-woo's eyes sparkled.

The standard route would have him cross the water and keep going.

But?

By diving underwater with the Sky Dolphin, he could avoid the tricky obstacles above.

"Sky Dolphin!"

Scream!

As soon as the Sky Dolphin appeared, he grabbed the handle on its upper fin.

"Huff!"

He held his breath.

Then -

Splash!

Baek Jin-woo dove underwater.

He didn't have to worry about his equipment.

It was waterproof.

Whoosh!

The Sky Dolphin sliced through the water with incredible speed.

Even at that moment, Baek Jin-woo kept his eyes wide open, controlling the dolphin.

This was the result of his late night training yesterday.

After 30 seconds,

Whoosh!

The dolphin jumped out of the water!

"Okay!"

The difficult part was over.

While flying through the air, Baek Jin-woo shouted.

"Sky Wyvern!"

Keeeee!

Right on cue, the Sky Wyvern swooped down below him and positioned its body.

"Wahoo!"

The intense thrill made Baek Jin-woo let out a cheer.

Now it's time to fly!

The first setting had been a corridor, but now the area was open air.

That meant he could fly.

From mid-rank on, there were quite a few controls that needed to be done even in flight, but for low-rank he could just fly straight through.

There were only obstacles on the ground anyway.

Wait.

Did he go too far from the start?

'Well, that's okay.

This time he had come prepared, having checked the world record.

-

[Low Rank Friday Dungeon]

[World Record - Rachel]

[Clear Time - 00:01:25]

-

No matter what Baek Jin-woo did, he couldn't beat that time.

To beat it, he'd have to push the Wind Falcon to its limits and fully equip it with runes.

He'd also need to maximise the speed of the wyvern and the dolphin.

Give it about half a year and I can break it.

Of course, that was for the lower ranks.

When it came to the top rank?

Even Rachel found it incredibly difficult.

She could clear it, but she couldn't take shortcuts and had to follow the main route.

Summons would have to be summoned to smash every obstacle along the way.

I'll try that another time.

Keeee!

As they neared their destination, the Sky Wyvern let out a joyous roar.

And soon enough -

-

[You have reached the destination!]

[Dungeon clear!]

[Clear Time - 00:02:16]

-

2 minutes and 16 seconds!

Not a bad time!

For the record, the Friday Dungeon also supports 'auto-battle'.

If you send in the summons without a player, a virtual player will move exactly as before.

And once again -

[Congratulations!]

[New record for South Korea!]

[You've done something special!]

It was only natural in South Korea.

***

That night.

Baek Jin-woo's father, Baek Jin-cheol.

His mother, Hwang Myeong-hee, was preparing dinner after coming home late from work.

"Honey."

Hwang Myeong-hee set down a hot bowl of steamed eggs and asked,

"What's our Jin-woo up to these days?"

"Hmm. He mentioned that he got his player's licence recently, so I guess he's probably in some dungeon or other?"

The couple were extremely busy.

They rarely had time to watch television and were usually out of touch with the news.

"Should we try to call him?"

"No, leave it. He takes after me, so he'll be fine on his own. If we keep calling just because we're worried, it'll just put more pressure on him."

"Hm, I see."

Still unable to resist, Hwang Myeong-hee picked up her phone.

She wanted to call her daughter, Baek Ah-jin.

Unlike her son, it was always easier to reach her daughter, as Ah-jin was always in touch.

"Yes, Mum!"

"Do you know what your brother has been up to lately? He hasn't called for a while."

"Brother...?"

There was a pause, and then silence filled the line.

Baek Ah-jin pursed her lips as she held the phone.

Should she say something? Or not?

She just wanted to say everything.

Her brother.

He was burning right now.

But.

He told me not to say anything before.

And the promise he'd made to get her a B-rank Shadowwolf kept flashing in her mind.

A summoning worth a good 500 million won.

After a moment's hesitation, she spoke again.

"Don't worry too much. He seems to be fine. He also mentioned that he'll be visiting you soon."

"Oh, really? Then make sure you come along when he does."

Smiling, Hwang Myeong-hee continued to chat with her daughter and then hung up.

And then they started to eat.

During the meal.

Baek Jin-cheol took a white envelope out of his pocket.

"What's that?"

"This month's bonus. Two million won."

"Oh my."

"Add it to the household budget. And we should probably give Jin-woo some extra pocket money. It's hard enough waking up and adjusting after all that time in a coma, but he's really doing his best."

"Shall we?"

Hwang Myeong-hee smiled brightly.

To be honest, there had been times when she'd felt hurt because of her son.

Mostly during gatherings with friends...

One friend would brag about how their child had become a notable player and joined a top guild.

Another would say something like, "My son joined the Daemyung group, you know? He's so busy, he hardly has time to breathe.

Whenever they met, her friends would subtly brag about their children, but Hwang Myeong-hee had nothing to say.

Of course, she could handle it.

But...

Some friends were a bit more annoying.

"How is Jin-woo? I heard he woke up recently! That's wonderful, really. Dear, all this success doesn't mean anything. Health is what really counts.

"But it's still worrying. In his mid-20s, and with a three-year gap... Well, he's young, so he'll recover. What's he going to do, retake the university entrance exam?"

Comments like that sometimes made the veins in her forehead pop a little.

"Hehe."

Hwang Myeong-hee just smiled as she looked at the envelope in her husband's hand.

"Still, it's a relief.

Ah-jin and Jin-woo.

Both growing up healthy and happy.

The two parents had no idea that their son was all over the news.