Chapter 221 – The Tortoise and the Hare (2)

Translator: Seven

Editor: Ana_Banana

While Isaac Ivanov and Johann Georg were having the battle of the century, and when the public was the most enthusiastic about it, someone threw out a strange question.

“How fast could Lee Se-jun clear a 5 Floor dungeon?”

The question itself was not even funny.

Lee Se-jun and the Messiah Guild were still the only ones to attack a 7 Floor dungeon even though it was almost halfway through 2024.

This was like asking a student who’d just entered the most prestigious university how many points he’d scored in a middle school level test.

-Why would 5 Floors matter when he’s already clearing 7 Floors?

-I’m not sure though. Dungeons aren’t places you can clear quickly just by being strong, are they?

-I wonder how fast he would be.

Nevertheless, people still had in depth discussions on this question.

-But why are questions about the Messiah Guild suddenly appearing?

?Well the two are already in the dungeons, so what else would we talk about?

?This is just a way to pass time.

The reason why they were discussing it so seriously was because the two protagonists of the confrontation of the century were currently in the dungeons and they had no way of knowing their progress.

-It’s impossible to know in the first place, isn’t it? After all, Lee Se-jun can’t attack 5 Floor dungeons anymore.

Moreover, the debate was even more controversial since it was a question that couldn’t be answered.

Even so-called experts argued over the fact.

“It depends on the situation, but it would take at least 10 days to clear since it would take about two days per floor, including rest days.”

“If there’s more than one survival quest, it could take more than 15 days.”

The conclusions the experts reached were as follows.

“Unless there are three or more survival quests, it wouldn’t take more than 20 days.”

“Also, it wouldn’t be easy to clear the dungeon in 10 days.”

“If he attacked 10 dungeons, it should take 14 days on average to clear each dungeon.”

Of course, there was another conclusion to the debate.

-14 days? Aren’t you looking down on Lee Se-jun?

-Lee Se-jun can attack 7 Floor dungeons! For a 5 Floor dungeon, he only needs 5 days one day per floor is enough!

It was around that time,

[Isaac Ivanov cleared the 5 Floor dungeon in 14 days, 3 hours and 22 minutes!]

The breaking news that Isaac Ivanov, who was participating in the confrontation of the century, succeeded in clearing the 5 Floor dungeon in 14 days drew the attention of the world.

…

In a tranquil villa located on a mountain in Seogwipo-si, Jeju Island with a better view of Mount Hallasan than the sea, a man appeared at dawn with a cup of coffee while looking at the thick fog that covered the area. (TL: so much happening in this sentence.)

The man, who appeared to be in his late 40s and looked like a successful businessman, sipped his coffee in a relaxed manner.

But the look in the man’s eyes wasn’t that of a businessman.

Instead, those were the eyes of a predator. Eyes similar to those of an experienced and bloodthirsty hunting dog.

And it was these eyes that revealed that it was actually Kim Woo-jin who was currently disguised as this man in his mid 40s.

‘Things are getting a little interesting.’

Kim Woo-jin, who was wearing a mask and sipping coffee, recalled the present situation in his head.

The world had been shocked when Isaac Ivanov cleared the 5 Floor dungeon in only 14 days.

And this was exactly the effect Kim Woo-jin expected.

No, it was what he was aiming for.

‘I did expect it to provoke Lee Se-jun in this way.’

However, even Kim Woo-jin didn’t expect that Isaac Ivanov would have been compared to Lee Se-jun after that.

‘14 days.’

Moreover, the time of 14 days kept getting brought up whenever the story was mentioned.

Since it was estimated that it would take Lee Se-jun’s party 14 days to clear a 5 Floor dungeon, the fact that Isaac Ivanov’s party had been able to do so meant that they were comparable to Lee Se-jun’s party.

‘That’s not likely.’

Of course, Kim Woo-jin knew that this was merely a hypothesis proposed by those who didn’t actually know anything.

‘Lee Se-jun can definitely clear faster than I can.’

The Lee Se-jun that Kim Woo-jin knew was definitely a player who had the ability to actually save the world.

‘Well, it doesn’t hurt that they are talking like this.’

However, Kim Woo-jin had no reason to complain about the situation.

In the first place, it had always been Kim Woo-jin’s intention to make Isaac Ivanov a figure that Lee Se-jun had to care about, so this was, in fact, good news.

‘But for now, Johann Georg is the priority, so I won’t think about that.’

Above all, Kim didn’t forget what he really needed to focus on at that moment.

Being able to focus only on the prey in front of them is one of the characteristics of a good hunting dog.

“Hey.”

At that moment, someone appeared behind Kim Woo-jin.

It was a man who appeared to be in his fifties, but his huge size and the chocolate bar in his mouth showed that it was actually Lee Jin-ah.

Lee Jin-ah, who had walked up to Kim Woo-jin then asked.

“Can we really mess around and eat like this?”

Kim Woo-jin’s response was simple.

“It doesn’t matter how much you play or eat until Johann Georg comes out.”

From the perspective of Lee Jin-ah, who was always crying out for breaks, this was amazing news, but Lee Jin-ah didn’t seem to be pleased by this news.

“But the public opinion right now isn’t good, is it?”

After saying that, he showed Kim Woo-jin the screen of the smartphone he held in his hand.

The title of an article there caught his eye.

[Arrogant Isaac Ivanov despises Johann Georg!]

Then, with the swipe of his finger, Lee Jin-ah showed him the comments below the article.

-Isaac Ivanov should be respectful, regardless of his skills.

-It’s not respectful to go to Jeju Island to rest! He is absolutely disregarding Johann Georg!

-Isaac Ivanov you bastard, send back my choco pies!

The response wasn’t very pleasant.

Lee Jin-ah then spoke to Kim Woo-jin with a serious expression.

“In this way, it seems like we are the tortoise and the hare.”

Instead of answering, Kim Woo-jin smiled.

“Hey, this isn’t funny! People are really thinking we are like the tortoise and the hare.”

It was just like he said.

After clearing the 5 Floor dungeon in 14 days, Isaac Ivanov had been resting for 5 consecutive days.

In a competition to clear three dungeons as quickly as possible, one team had been resting in one of Korea’s most well known resorts for five days.

What could this be if not the story of the race between the tortoise and the hare in Aesop’s fables?

“And almost everyone hates the hare!”

And of course, most people cheered for the tortoise.

Therefore, the public opinion was currently flowing in Johann Georg’s favor.

Furthermore, there were people who pushed it even further.

The desire for Isaac Ivanov to fall began to increase steadily.

Therefore, it was natural for Lee Jin-ah to be concerned.

Kim Woo-jin then said to him.

“We’re the hare, but we’ll see if Johann Georg is going to be the tortoise.”

In the Aesop fable of the tortoise and the hare, the hare was relaxed and let their guard down while the tortoise completed the race with an indomitable will.

It wasn’t yet clear whether Johann Georg would be the tortoise or not.

If Johann Georg came out of the dungeon and decided to give up after being briefed about the situation, the story of the tortoise and the hare could not be achieved.

On the other hand, Lee Jin-ah was convinced.

“What do you think he’ll be? A tortoise or a dog?”

Johann Georg wouldn’t give up after he was briefed on the situation.

“It would be better to be defeated like a tortoise than be a dog.”

He would lose too much if he just gave up here.

Kim Woo-jin was the same.

“Right.”

He too believed that Johann Georg and the Messiah Guild had no choice but to become the tortoise, rather than a pathetic dog.

“Johann Georg has to become the turtle.”

No, he had forced them to do so.

“Because the hare needs the turtle to take him to the Dragon King’s palace.”

“What?”

It was then.

Woowoong!

Their phone vibrated.

Kim Woo-jin checked the text then smiled.

“The turtle has entered the water.”

…

Because attacking dungeons meant being completely cut off from the outside world, many players were sometimes afraid of doing so.

They worried that the world might be irrevocably changed or that they would receive bad news when they came out.

[Johann Georg successfully clears the 5 Floor dungeon in 20 days and 7 hours!]

That was why many people sympathised with Johann Georg after hearing that he’d successfully cleared the dungeon.

-I feel sorry for him.

-Maybe Johann Georg will give up.

-Isaac Ivanov was too cruel this time.

They pitied Johann Georg, who would be faced with terrible news as soon as he exited the dungeon.

Johann Georg responded to the public’s pity.

[Johann Georg starts attacking the next dungeon right away!]

[Johann Georg won’t give up!]

[The confrontation isn’t over until the end!]

He would not give up!

The world applauded Johann Georg’s actions.

“Hey, Johann Georg is alive, he’s alive!”

One of them was Oh Se-chan.

Upon hearing the news about Johann Georg, Oh Se-chan got to his feet and began applauding loudly.

His subordinates could only shake their heads at the sight.

Then he said to them.

“Now, let’s get to work!”

One of his subordinates raised their hand when they heard the word ‘work’.

“Are we going to start manipulating the media?”

“What?”

However, when Oh Se-chan asked a question of his own, the subordinate tilted their head.

“Media play.”

“What about media play?”

“I’m talking about media play in response to the criticism towards Isaac Ivanov.”

The subordinate who said these words wondered if he’d said something wrong. With a strange look on his face, he turned around to look at his colleagues.

Looking at his colleagues expressions, he was certain that he hadn’t said something wrong.

Encouraged by that fact, the subordinate soldiered on.

“Negative opinions about Isaac Ivanov has been infesting the world for a while now.”

This was natural.

Isaac Ivanov’s actions had been too shocking, his 5 days of rest was seen as a provocation and a lack of respect.

Neither of these was fitting for a savior.

It was clear that with Johann Georg’s actions, the public opinion would shift towards Johann Georg which would certainly lead to more criticisms towards Isaac Ivanov.

“I’m also certain that the Messiah Guild has a hand in this.”

This was a flaw that the Messiah Guild, who were trying to find any means to crush Isaac Ivanov, definitely wouldn’t let go of.

It was already clear that the public opinion about Isaac Ivanov’s actions was flowing in a bad direction.

This meant that they had to do a media play, something that Oh Se-chan and his subordinates were good at.

Oh Se-chan waved his hands at his subordinate’s words.

“You don’t have to worry about that. We don’t need to do that. We have an even more important task to complete.”

“Another task?”

Oh Se-chan laughed at the question.

“I haven’t given you guys a quiz in a while. What’s the most expensive dungeon at this point?”

The subordinate answered without hesitation.

“That would be the Sphinx Dungeon, an A+ rank 6 Floor dungeon that appeared in Egypt.”

The Sphinx Dungeon.

Just by looking at this dungeon one would be able to understand its unbelievable value.

First of all, it was a 6 Floor dungeon, and an A+ rank one at that, this meant that only the top guilds in the world could attack it.

The value of the dungeon was high enough just with that fact alone.

“A Sphinx has never been hunted before. The only thing that we’re sure about is that it’s not simple.”

Crucially, the title of this dungeon itself was Sphinx, so even ordinary people could tell that the boss of this dungeon would be a Sphinx.

“The dungeon all but guarantees legendary items and materials.”

It was a dungeon with a guaranteed jackpot as long as someone was able to clear it.

Therefore, all the guilds in the world, including the Five Great Guilds were waiting to bid on this dungeon.

Of course, the Egyptian government, which owned the dungeon, was currently raising its price as high as they could.

It was no exaggeration to say that it was currently the most expensive dungeon in the world at that moment.

“That’s right.”

Oh Se-chan was the same.

“It truly is a valuable dungeon.”

He also believed that it was currently the most valuable dungeon.

Of course, he didn’t intend to just value it.

“All we need to do is make the Sphinx Dungeon Isaac Ivanov’s next target.”

Instead, he preferred to claim the value for himself.

“Huh?”

All of his subordinates were shocked by Oh Se-chan’s words.

“Boss, that dungeon…”

As mentioned before, there was currently no one who had successfully bid for the Sphinx dungeon, including the Five Great Guilds.

Could Isaac Ivanov really get a dungeon that even the Messiah Guild was currently negotiating over?

No matter who looked at it, it seemed to be an impossible task.

“That’s why we need a story.”

Oh Se-chan explained to his surprised subordinates.

“The tortoise keeps running to the finish line even though he knows the hare is looking down on him, then the hare suddenly appears before him, stretches out his hand, and says.”

Oh Se-chan who was talking loudly, coughed and changed his voice.

“I’m sorry for testing you, but I’ve come to realise that you have an indomitable will. So won’t you join me?”

Then Oh Se-chan, who spoke like he was acting a play laughed.

“And then the tortoise and the hare hold hands and walk towards the new finish line together. With the thunderous support of everyone around the world on their backs.”

Then Oh Se-chan, who had finished speaking, covered his eyes with his hands.

“Kuoh! I feel like I’m going to cry from this tsunami of emotion. Hey, get me some tissues.”

After finishing his little act, Oh Se-chan spoke to his subordinates again.

“Now then, I’ve already told you the scenario, so you know what to do, don’t you? Let’s get to work!”

Then a subordinate walked up to him.

“Here, I brought tissues.”

When he saw his subordinate bring tissues, Oh Se-chan made a strange expression.

Of course, it wasn’t because his subordinate didn’t understand that he was acting and really brought him tissues.

“Hey, don’t you know I don’t use the tissues in the box? Instead of this, bring the tissues I stole from that coffee shop the other day.”

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