Chapter 7
Hot Debut (3)
The main office of the Ability Management Department, located in Sejong Special Self-Governing City.
An emergency countermeasure meeting was underway in the conference room of headquarters.
“It’s been confirmed — for the first time in the world — that a transference event occurred on the first floor. According to player Seo In-seop’s report, the spawned monster was a Red Drake Elite from the fourth floor.”
“The world’s gone crazy. So how many victims were there?”
“Casualties: zero. The Red Drake Elite was exterminated immediately upon appearing.”
The conference room stirred at Deputy Chief Choi Seong-hun of Special Team 2’s report.
“What?”
“How many helpers did that guy bring with him?”
“Wasn’t the death incident last time caused by a Red Drake Elite, too?”
The meeting room grew noisy. Deputy Chief Choi sighed deeply, then played a video.
A red drake-type appeared on the screen.
A terrifying elite monster framed against the first floor as the background.
Kraaawww—!
At the draconic species’ eerie roar, people in the conference room frowned one by one. But only for a moment—
Krazzzzzt—!
“What, what is that!”
“Crazy.”
“That’s….”
Something shimmered, then the Red Drake’s head exploded.
Where the monster had been, a man was now standing, grinning foolishly.
Black hair, wearing glossy leather armor.
The man thought for a second, then waved at the camera and said:
“Hello everyone, second-hand rookie Mituber! Meteor here. Abyss day-one newbie! Meteor Mitube! Subscribe and like! Turn on notifications! Please, I beg you!”
The video ended there.
Deputy Chief Choi immediately brought up someone’s profile on the screen after the clip.
“As soon as we checked the video, we tried to look up the player’s identity. But he couldn’t be found in the Ability Management Department’s database.”
“So that monster… no, that man is an unregistered player?”
“For now, yes. The profile you’re seeing was just provided to us by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The player’s name is Yoo Seong-woo. Notably…”
He glanced around the conference room and nodded slightly.
“He was considered a missing person until yesterday. He had been missing for seven years, and his identity was just restored today.”
The room buzzed again at that.
Their surprise was understandable.
So far the total number of floors cleared in the labyrinth is eight.
As that number suggests, a fourth-floor monster is by no means easy to defeat.
Yet someone had killed such a monster in one blow.
Even watching it on video, it was hard to believe.
“A guy who can kill a Red Drake Elite in one hit was missing for seven years? Even sixth-floor players can’t do that easily!”
“Could he be a foreign spy?”
“There has to be a reason someone like that suddenly shows up out of nowhere!”
“We can’t rule out the possibility the video was faked.”
Debate erupted all around.
Deputy Chief Choi could only understand their reactions.
When he first saw the video, his reaction had been no different.
“Quiet.”
The noise was silenced by an elderly man sitting in the head seat.
“Deputy Chief Choi. Continue the briefing.”
“Thank you, Minister.”
Hwang Beom-seok, Minister of the Ability Management Department.
A veteran politician, five-term member of the National Assembly, often called a senior figure in politics.
The conference room fell quiet at his command, and Deputy Chief Choi continued the briefing.
“There’s one more notable point: Yoo Seong-woo’s family relations.”
Beep.
He pressed a button and the profile changed.
“As you all know, Yoo Jin-seong was confirmed to be Yoo Seong-woo’s older brother. The application to restore identity was also filed by Yoo Jin-seong.”
“Yoo Jin-seong is his brother?”
“Yes, Minister.”
“That’s amusing. That guy who’s always messing with us has a brother?”
Minister Hwang boomed out a laugh, but the other executives were silent.
Yoo Jin-seong.
The player-specialist lawyer who sues the Ability Management Department at every opportunity.
He’s a crusader who stages one-man protests or gives media interviews whenever laws are proposed that would detain players.
He’s a thorn in the department’s side.
“Alright, Deputy Chief. How strong do you think this Yoo Seong-woo is?”
“I can’t evaluate him precisely.”
“Why not?”
“We don’t have enough records yet. However, judging from the way he took out the Red Drake Elite in one blow… I think he’s at least a sixth-floor–level player.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Minister Hwang tapped the desk with his finger, glanced around, and said:
“As you’ve heard, our necks are on the line lately. The top prospect Jo Gwang-ho naturalized to China, and the next, Jin Seung-woo, to Japan. People are raising hell demanding someone be held accountable for managing prospects.”
“But Minister, that—”
“They’re real bastards. We pour support on them and they run off? I’d love to fire a missile where they fled to. Hahahaha.”
Despite the minister’s hearty laughter, the executives hung their heads.
With top prospects defecting and Abyss progress stagnating, South Korea was plainly declining.
Minister Hwang thought for a moment, smiled, and said:
“We need even a single rookie right now. Deputy Chief Choi, you handle contacting the Yoo brothers. Very politely.”
Then one of the quietly seated executives urgently raised an objection.
“But Minister! Yoo Jin-seong won’t be cooperative—”
“True, we always clash with Yoo Jin-seong, but he’s not a bad guy. He’s smart. And—I admit—romantic in his own way.”
He took a sip of coffee from his cup.
“This old man still thinks he has a good eye for people. Deputy Chief Choi, play that video clip again. Ah, stop right there. Pause the screen.”
Yoo Seong-woo waving cheerfully at the camera.
Minister Hwang pointed at Yoo Seong-woo’s face and laughed heartily again.
“Hahahaha! Don’t you see it?”
“…Yes?”
“That guy’s just a lunatic. Definitely. There’s something glossy in his eyes — those types usually become something interesting. So go make contact. Who knows? He might become our lifeline.”
He already liked him despite not having met him.
Minister Hwang looked at Yoo Seong-woo’s face once more. It had been a long time since he’d felt like this.
[Displaying status window.]
[Yoo Seong-woo]
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Rank: 1st floor
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Level: ??? (sealed, cannot be displayed)
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Nationality: Republic of Korea
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Unique traits: <Skill Archive>, <Attention-Seeking Disorder>
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Ability unlock rate: 10%
*Warning: ability unlock status is unstable.
*<The Scales> is watching you.
*You are classified as a <protagonist candidate>.
[Storage slots for unique trait <Skill Archive>]
Slot 1. Bellua, the Mad Tower Lord: Activated
Slot 2. Berserker Jerah: Activated
Slot 3. Divine-Slayer Lebon: Deactivated
Slot 4. Death-Desecrator Shin: Deactivated
Slot 5…
*With the current ability unlock rate, only up to Slot 2 can be activated! Increase the unlock rate to activate additional slots!
“Hmmm.”
“Why the face?”
“Found something a bit annoying.”
As soon as I got home I sneaked another look at my status window.
Entering the Abyss had apparently been the trigger. The status window features that had been inactive before were back.
Ah — a few things had been added to the old status window.
Rank, nationality, and ability unlock rate.
A trait I’d gotten last time was added too… but why is the level not shown?
“What level was I again?”
“Why would you forget that.”
“Do you count grains of rice when you eat? I don’t.”
“The chaebol chairman does.”
“…Maybe because he became a father, or because he’s older? You’ve gotten more humorous, I’ll give you that.”
Anyway.
I hadn’t checked the status window in about two years.
So it bothered me more than it should.
‘Skill Archive seems to have some constraints.’
It looked like slots open according to the unlock rate… Well, using powers from another world after returning to Earth wouldn’t be completely unrestricted.
The skill slot order matched the order I’d been taught in Avalon.
Bellua came first, and the old fist-master came second.
“Two are plenty.”
For some reason I wanted to use only Bellua and the old fist-master’s skills.
No complaints.
Even at ten percent, with just two people’s skills I could confidently smash the early stages.
More slots would open gradually — no need to rush.
Why?
Because,
「Meteor」
*Hot Abyss broadcasts! I’ll show you everything without holding back.
Subscriber count: 10,422
My Mitube channel, which for years hadn’t even hit five thousand, suddenly surpassed ten thousand subscribers.
It was a meteoric rise.
Thanks to In-seop stirring up attention on his broadcast, the effect was immediate.
Even comments were appearing on my old videos.
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Why the heck did this guy only upload trash-game videos?
-
Seems like he just doesn’t manage his channel?
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Latest video from seven years ago lol
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Who is this guy.
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He’s actually good at trash games, ngl
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lololol working hard
…Because the video was old, the reactions weren’t that great.
But any influx was something.
“We worked so hard to get five thousand, and now we passed ten thousand so easily…?”
“Triple?”
“Heeheehee! Kheeheehee!”
“Three times! Three times! Appa! Three times, ouch!”
“Ian-ah, Jiji-ya, Jiji. Don’t look at that. That’s bad. That’s a bad thing.”
Awesome.
Amazing.
My lifetime of being a nobody finally got noticed.
Communicating alone in my room, streaming alone, doing good deeds even in another world — my life finally got the spotlight.
“Is this… dopamine?”
“Did you bathe?”
“Of course. I used cleansing magic right before coming in. Do you think I’d skip those details when I’m with Ian?”
I was happy.
Finally getting attention, family around me.
“Three times! Good?”
“Uncle, I love you so much. Ian. Uncle will buy you lots of toys since I succeeded.”
“Dinosaur!”
“Dinosaur? Uncle will tame a dinosaur from the Abyss. Just wait.”
Maybe I could really become the protagonist after all.
Side characters become leads sometimes.
Phew.
Now is the time to stay calm and think clearly. I’ve only just stepped into being a streamer.
“My department called earlier.”
My brother continued while lightly playing with Ian.
“They said they’ll come by when you have time.”
“My identity’s been restored?”
“It’s been processed. Later you can go to the community service center and get a reissued resident registration card. As for the Ability Management Department… they didn’t set a date. You pick a time that’s convenient. I also applied for a temporary player registration card in your name.”
My brother’s handling was really neat.
He’d always been that way — thorough and to the point.
“So I can enter the first floor then?”
“Yes.”
“That means I can start broadcasting properly.”
That was welcome news.
If I had to go to the Ability Management Department, it would be a hassle.
“Normally in cases like this the department would forcibly investigate. Someone who was missing for seven years suddenly showing up as a player is a case like that.”
“Then it’s a special favor?”
“I don’t know. What’s certain is they plan to approach you cautiously. You caused quite the commotion on your first day, so that’s a natural response.”
Did my brother watch my video?
When I looked at him, Bitna nuna beside him smiled and said,
“He watched your video on repeat about five times before you came.”
“Oh, really?”
“…Ahem.”
Embarrassing, but nice.
Alright, if I can start broadcasting right away there’s no point in delaying.
Strike while the iron’s hot.
I should leave a notice on my channel.
“Hello everyone. I’ll announce my first Abyss stream.”
That sounded weak.
To really draw attention… yeah, this would work.
“Heh heh.”
“…Hey. Is that okay?”
“You don’t know? Isn’t it right? Or not, whatever.”
[ㅋㅋKorean Abyss rankers are getting frustrating so I’m just turning my stream on lol Abyss stream announcement. Lots of interest please.]
“Drop the bomb.”
Hope it explodes big.
Ideally take down all of South Korea. OK?
Hehe.
