What is this?

Why is Yoo Ji-ah following me? ......

We only met once and exchanged greetings, but...

I asked you first, didn't I?

I didn't think it through.

Since she's a popular influencer with so many followers, I just clicked it as a fan, but as the CEO of YooBaek, she might have accepted it for player management reasons.

After all, I'm Baek Jin-woo's family.

"Haha, right."

In the end, Baek Ah-jin scratched her head because she had nothing to say in front of her friends.

"Right...?"

"Hey! Just 'right'? You can't explain it with just that reaction!"

"How do you know each other? Are you close?"

"What the hell. Why didn't you tell us?"

Baek Ah-jin was already getting a lot of attention, but the reactions of her friends that day were explosive.

While their shoulders bristled with pride, Baek Ah-jin also felt embarrassed.

She'd promised her brother that she would mention it every time they met.

She'd agreed not to mention her existence to anyone else.

Oh dear.

She should only be moderately famous if she's going to keep quiet.

She brushed it off with her friends, saying that she had met her once by chance and that she seemed to like her.

Of course, none of her friends believed her, but what could she do? It was the truth.

And then...

The meeting with Yoo Ji-ah happened sooner than she expected.

[Yoo Ji-ah: Ah-jin? Could we meet for a moment?]

A direct DM from her!

"Yuck!"

That day.

Baek Ah-jin let out a bird-like cry.

Out of sheer excitement.

* * *

Hannam-dong.

Baek Ah-jin, who had taken a day off, stood on the street waiting for someone.

Soon.

Scream!

A sleek car stopped in front of her.

A premium car from Dae-sung Motors.

It was Yoo Ji-ah's car.

"Get in."

"Ah, yes!"

A very nervous Baek Ah-jin got into the passenger seat.

"She's so frugal.

As a chaebol's granddaughter, she expected an expensive foreign car with a chauffeur.

But driving a domestic car herself?

Well.

For chaebols, cars don't matter that much.

Whether domestic or foreign, it probably wasn't that expensive for her.

In reality, Yoo Ji-ah owned enough cars to have a personal collection, but there was no way for Baek Ah-jin to know that.

"So."

Baek Ah-jin asked.

"You want to see our family, right? Without my brother. Just us."

Yoo Ji-ah and Baek Ah-jin had exchanged many messages before they met.

"Yes. Jin-woo is so busy these days. So I asked if it would be okay to send gifts under the YooBaek name and he said it would be fine."

"Wow, so you're giving the gifts in person?"

"Yes, since I'm the CEO."

Baek Ah-jin felt it in that one sentence from Yoo Ji-ah.

How sincere she was about Jin-woo.

How much she thought about him.

Most companies would just send the gifts and be done with it.

That's why she agreed.

She was also curious about the gifts.

"I told my mum and dad not to go to work today. I told them I'd introduce them to someone."

"Hehe, thank you."

"I love my parents, but they're different. They don't even realise how famous their son is yet."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they might be the least aware people in the world."

The two chatted lightly as they walked towards the house.

To the villa complex where Baek Jin-woo lived.

* * *

As they passed a narrow path and saw an extremely old villa.

"......."

Yoo Ji-ah was genuinely surprised.

People still live in places like this.

It might seem like an ordinary house, but for her as a chaebol, it was the real life of ordinary people that she had never experienced before.

Cobwebs hung over the entrance.

A dusty, abandoned bicycle.

The earthy smell wafting from various places.

Ding dong!

As they entered the house, a man and a woman greeted them with smiles.

Baek Jin-cheol and Hwang Myung-hee.

Baek Jin-woo's parents.

"Oh my."

Especially Hwang Myung-hee was surprised to see Yoo Ji-ah's face.

"What a pretty young lady. Are you Jin-ah's friend?"

"Haha, mum. Not exactly a friend."

"Huh? Not a friend?"

Baek Ah-jin had only mentioned that she would introduce someone.

So her parents had no idea who Yoo Ji-ah was.

Once inside, Yoo Ji-ah bowed politely.

"Hello. I'm Yoo Ji-ah from YooBaek."

"YooBaek?"

"Yoo Ji-ah?"

Mum and Dad looked confused and Baek Ah-jin sighed.

Of course.

They didn't know anything.

It would be hard not to know them if they followed the news closely.

"Sigh, Mum."

Baek Ah-jin finally began to explain.

She had been prepared for this since she had decided to bring Yoo Ji-ah here.

She wanted to tell them everything about her brother as a player.

Family should know, even if friends don't.

Her brother kept saying he'd tell them soon, but he was always running dungeons, and the fact that he'd allowed Yoo Ji-ah to send gifts under the name YooBaek meant he was ready too.

She took out her phone and showed them all the videos and articles she'd collected about her brother.

The relationship between Baek Jin-woo and YooBaek and the information about Yoo Ji-ah were all neatly organised.

"Is... is this true?"

"Our Jin-woo... Is he really such a famous player? Oh my, his face even appears big on the news?"

"A new Korean record? Ha ha, does that even make sense?"

His parents couldn't believe it at first, but after checking the materials, they had no choice but to believe.

Yoo Ji-ah bowed her head again.

"Yes, that's why I, as the CEO of YooBaek, came here to take care of Baek Jin-woo's family."

"...Huh."

Baek Jin-cheol sighed deeply.

Now he understood exactly who this young lady was.

A member of the Daesung Group family.

No one living in Korea could be unaware of Daesung, no matter how oblivious they were.

A conglomerate of conglomerates.

A company that supports the nation!

To be honest, Baek Jin-cheol was taken aback.

He was so surprised that he didn't even know how to react.

How could such an important person come directly to such a humble place?

"Father. According to the contract with your son, our company has a duty to take care of you both with the utmost sincerity.

"For us?"

"Yes, would you like to take a look?"

Yoo Ji-ah handed over a brochure.

A care system for family members, specially designed by YooBaek.

From security to a new home, regular support for living expenses and even medical assistance...

"Ha ha."

"What is all this?"

Hwang Myung-hee's eyes widened.

Especially when she saw the part about a monthly living allowance of 10 million won, she was so surprised that she almost fainted.

Is this even real? Isn't this a joke?

It had been so hard until now.

Struggling to support the family, working three jobs, her wrist was almost ruined.

Wrinkles covered her skin.

No one does strenuous work because they want to.

They move just to survive.

"Is... is that really true?"

"Yes. Don't be too surprised. Compared to the profit we get from player Baek Jin-woo, this is a small support."

"Huh..."

It felt like a dream.

It had to be.

How could her son, who had been in a coma for three years, suddenly become a famous player in Korea?

When she told her friends, they laughed and said it was nonsense.

"Oh, and... I also prepared a personal gift."

"A gift?"

"I heard that Father likes summoned creatures?"

"Oh, uh... I think you mean the Pebble Golem."

Baek Jin-cheol scratched his head.

He felt a little embarrassed.

It seemed like only yesterday that he had been so proud of his E-rank Pebble Golem...

"First, let's go outside!"

Outside the villa, in the playground.

The first thing Yoo Ji-ah took out was...

Awoooooo!

A majestic howl from a shadow wolf.

"Wow! What is this?"

Baek Ah-jin was excited.

A 500 million won B-rank summoned creature!

She'd hoped for it when her brother said he'd give it to her, but as time passed without any news, she'd honestly given up.

500 million might sound easy, but...

It's something some people never touch in their lives.

To be honest, she already felt indebted to her brother for taking only a 20% share of the rune sales.

"This is my personal gift. I heard from Jin-woo that Ah-jin would like it."

"Really... can I really have it?"

"Of course."

Yoo Ji-ah smiled and gave gifts to Baek Jin-cheol and Hwang Myung-hee as well.

"This is..."

The summoned creature Hwang Myung-hee received was a B-rank Rainbow Snail.

"What is it?"

"It's hard to get, but I managed to get one. The skill descriptions are written, so you can read them slowly."

The summoned creature Baek Jin-cheol received was a B-rank Diamond Golem.

"It's similar in size to the Pebble Golem, but its strength is in a different league."

"Heh, heh heh... Thank you. Thanks to my son, I get something like this."

He didn't know the exact value, but it looked quite valuable.

To be honest, he felt a mixture of burden and happiness.

At times like this, Baek Jin-cheol preferred to joke.

"If you want a refund later, don't come asking, okay?"

"Haha, if anything, we'd add more, not ask for it back."

After the gift ceremony was over

"Stay and have a meal. It's time to get hungry."

Hwang Myung-hee grabbed Yoo Ji-ah and led her inside.

"Mum. A meal?"

Baek Ah-jin tried to stop her, but...

"Shall I? I was a bit hungry earlier."

Hehe.

The atmosphere softened with Yoo Ji-ah's playful grin as she slightly stuck out her tongue.

***

Meanwhile...

Baek Jin-woo was still clearing dungeons with Poryong.

These days, he was completely focused on it and had no energy for anything else.

-

[Summoned Creature: Explosive Dragon Warrior]

[Species: Human]

[Level: EX (Classified)]

Isolated due to balance-breaking factors found in certain situations.

[Level: 42] [Stats

[Stats]

Strength: 20, Intellect: 85, Stamina: 20, Agility: 20

HP: 22,000, MP: 500

Critical hit rate: 55%

Critical damage: 185%

[Skills]

Dragon Burst: Unleashes flame forward in the shape of a dragon.

-

Now, the runes had been upgraded quite a bit, and his level had increased quite a bit.

The runes had good options for decent damage output.

"How's the training going?"

It's taking longer than I thought. I thought it would be enough to level up, since I'd learned it once, but... I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Poryong was quite enthusiastic.

However...

Although his damage output and skill level had increased, he hadn't unlocked any new skills.

I need to master 'Yeon' quickly to move on to the next level.

He needed to change his weekday dungeon to intermediate soon, and most importantly...

The Tower of Trials.

Baek Jin-woo's eyes sparkled.

He had to challenge the Tower of Trials soon.

'Rachel said it was on the 29th floor?

It might be too much to reach that high, but...

With his current strength, he could probably make it to the 10th floor.

If only Poryong could learn Yeon.

Although he could make up for the lack of damage with control, if the damage was too low, it would be difficult to clear.

The only solution to break through was Poryong.

The Tower of Trials was a dungeon that Baek Jin-woo had to conquer.

With its extreme difficulty, the rewards were excellent.

Unlike regular or weekday dungeons, it offered unique rewards, but even veteran players didn't know much about them.

There was no other choice.

There was only one chance to get the reward on each floor, and since it changed every time, there were too few testers left as most players had given up.

One thing was certain.

The rewards were unique items that couldn't be found in regular or weekday dungeons.

Whatever it is, it's going to help me a lot now.

I need my Poryong to learn this skill quickly.

Don't worry, Jin-woo! I'll definitely learn it and treat you to chicken and beer!

"Yes, yes. Take it easy. If you're in a hurry, it won't work."

Fwooosh!

Poryong's flames decorated the dungeon again today.