Closed Beta That Only I Played

Chapter 105: A Mysterious Creature

“Thank you. Asirante!”

“Wow! I saw you several times, but you are the best!”

Honestly, Daeyu Group’s leadership including its Chairman Daeyoung Suh were the ones who showed an immense interest in Asirante, not these guys.

Nonetheless, Team No. 3 consisting of ten members all raised their thumbs up towards me as if my rapid growth benefited them too.

Anyway, while reciprocating their gratitude for herding monsters for me, I quickly moved to the next location in the north where Team No.4 was monster herding.

At the Daeyu Guild’s main nase.

The leadership of the Daeyu Guild led by Chairman Daeyoung Suh quietly looked at several videos their members had filmed using Memory Beads which showed the scenes of Asirante hunting in the Tombs of the Dead.

When the video was over, Chairman Suh sitting at the head of the table opened his mouth.

“I just can’t believe it no matter how many times I see it.”

“It looks like Asirante must be…” said Choongsu Kim, manager of Daeyu’s Strategy Department.

“I know! I’m certain that he took part in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Closed Betas and reached the maximum level in all of them. Otherwise, it is impossible for him to hunt monsters like that. His capabilities are far beyond what we normally expect of a user at his level. Is it only me who feels like that?” said Chairman Suh, interrupting Kim.

“…”

“…”

“…”

There was silence among the participants upon hearing the Chairman’s words because they all felt the same way. So, they were more scared now than ever because they could not figure what kind of ability Asirante would show when he leveled up even further when he showed such phenomenal ability when he was only level 300.

Anyway, Chairman Suh, who was responsible for their silence, broke it by saying, “By the way, what’s going on now? I told you guys to get any information about him while taking care of him.”

“Well, no matter how much we tried, he would not leak any clue about his real-life information.”

Thump!

Chairman Suh struck the table and screamed at Kim who spoke these words.

“You have to make him confess something! That’s why I pay you, right?”

Suh kept screaming at Kim and several other executives in the conference room.

“You know what? We have given him as many as 500 million golden rings until now! Moreover, we even gave him legendary grade accessories, and the Tombs of the Dead is the best of the hunting grounds we possess! And you guys still haven’t gotten any valuable information about him yet?”

“Well, this guy refused to accept a luxury apartment unit in Seoul and several luxurious sports cars. Besides, he also rejected my offer to please him with a beautiful lady.

He only wants a hunting ground with good EXP, as well as golden rings and items within ‘Revival Legend’.”

“Damn it!”

Chairman Suh initially thought it would be easy to acquire Asirante’s real-life information because there were few men who hated cash, luxurious cars and houses, and a beautiful woman. Because of that, he was a bit suspicious of Asirante’s background.

‘Does he know something about us?’

He couldn’t help but doubt Asirante because this man was extremely careful to prevent any leak of his real-life information.

However, Chairman Suh shook his head immediately.

Asirante looked so dumbfounded by the fantastic offer from not only Myongjin, Daesung, and Kusan but also Daeyu that Suh had no choice but to believe that his expression back then was genuine. Back then, Asirante really looked like he knew nothing about Daeyu’s intentions.

“Anyway keep pushing him! Don’t miss even a single clue! China’s Yanghwa Group? No way! I have no intention of doing all the work and letting them take the benefits. If we can win over Asirante, Daeyu will be able to survive independently. So, regardless of whether it’s a golden ring or an item or a hunting ground, just give him as much as he wants!”

“Yes, sir!”

“I will do my best.”

They were wrapping up the meeting with fresh determination that they would pay more attention to Asirante’s needs.

At that moment, however, someone’s voice came out of the corner of the conference room.

“Sunghan Kim! Why don’t you use him for this purpose? That guy is going around like crazy without knowing his place!”

All the core executives of Daeyu, including Chairman Suh, were aware of the dirty trick that Kim had used against Myongjin.

They initially had no intention of hiring Kim because a dog who once bit its owner would bite again. Moreover, Kim had pretty sharp “teeth”, and a “dirty snout.”

Even if Daeyu was ranked 5th out of Korea’s top five business groups, Chairman Suh didn’t grow Daeyu to where it was today without any difficulty.

So, Chairman Suh isolated Kim and his followers thoroughly even after hiring them because he knew clearly they would not belong to Daeyu from the bottom of their hearts.

“Sunghan Kim…”

Chairman Suh knew very well about his dirty and cunning tricks.

At that moment, Suh buried himself in the sofa and stroked his chin with his right hand because Kim was really a wicked and cunning guy. That was why he isolated Kim totally.

“Will he listen to me? He must know about this guy Asirante. So, if he wins over Asirante, he will try to him his subordinate instead of working for me.”

“Wouldn’t it be possible if you gave Kim a bait at the right time? Moreover, what we want is Asirante’s real-life information. If we get that, we can kidnap Asirante, lock him up, and brainwash him. Besides, Kim is only influential within the game. Outside of the game, he is just a mean guy who used to pick up trash.”

After all, Kim had little influence over Daeyu’s secret plan about Asirante.

So, Chairman Suh nodded at Nakson Lee, head of Daeyu’s intelligence department, who first mentioned Kim.

“Good. Use Kim then.”

“Got it.”

Chairman Suh gave an order like that.

***

Three days later I stopped hunting in the Tombs of the Dead temporarily because today was an important day.

“Move to the Desert Scorpion Forest.”

[You have moved to the Desert Scorpion Forest.]

And today was the very day that I had the last opportunity to participate in the level 400 regular quest ‘Stop the Scorpion King.’

A message rang as soon as I moved to the Desert Scorpion Forest.

[You have joined the 91st Defense Unit for the level 400 regular quest ‘Stop the Scorpion King.’]

Of course, I didn’t have to take part in this quest because I was already strong enough and did not particularly need additional rewards.

But the rewards I would get for winning the quest this time were pretty big.

Moreover, given my leveling speed, this would be my last opportunity to participate in the quest.

That’s why I came to participate, determined that I would hunt the boss monster and receive a special reward for my maximum contribution.

This time I was going to disclose my ID Asirante, which the other participants would know if they had ever used the arena before.

Was it because of that? The members of the 91st Defense Unit openly paid attention to me.

[No. 11 Participant (Level 377. ID is private): Shit! Crazy! Asirante? Is it true Asirante is in our party now]

[Raon (Level 391): Wow! Really? He is Asirante! Can you hunt the boss monster this time?]

[Kite (Level 388): Who is Asirante?]

[User No. 9 (Level 390. ID is private): You don’t know Asirante? Where on earth are you playing this game?]

[Raon (Level 391): Kite, the most famous user right now is Asirante. Please check the free bulletin board on the homepage.]

The party members were hotly chatting about me in the party chat room.

So, I posted a brief response.

[Asirante (Level 327): Although my level is a little low, I will do my best.]

327 was clearly a low level, so I mentioned it first.

This time, nobody gave me a sharp annoying glance like they did in the past.

They responded with comments that it was an honor for me to join them.

While Juyoung Hong was taking part in the level 400 or below regular quest, a little light radiated behind the mountainous cliffs of Annapurna in the Himalayas which was permanently covered with snow.

A creature appeared in the place where the light disappeared.

It looked like an ordinary adult or something a little less than an adult.

Soon it screamed eerily, “Chieeeeek, Chieeeeeeek”

Then it shook its body once, crouched itself tightly with its arms, and quickly moved its feet. However, Annapurna had many sharp cliffs. Unless it knew how to fly, it was impossible for the creature to move at all.

Then the creature which appeared with the light unfortunately rolled down as if it did not have a flying skill.

Thud!

The creature fell close to 400 meters down the cliff and landed on protruding stone.

If it had been a living creature, it would not have survived. Then it disappeared instantly as if there was nothing there from the start.

Of course, there were still some traces of its existence. For example, there were craters in the snow where the creature had bounced down the cliff, and there were some shiny and tiny pieces of blue in the place where the creature disappeared.

Anyway, it was the emergence of a living creature that had never existed on Earth before.

But no one knew what it was because it appeared in the harshest place of the Himalayas, not in the middle of New York or Beijing, for only a few minutes before disappearing.

So, an incident happened without anyone knowing.