C310
"Cale-nim, I’ve never seen anything like this before."
Choi Han approached Cale, who was still laughing in disbelief, with a serious expression. The emotion on his face was one of bewilderment.
'Of course, he’s probably never experienced a game before.'
In the time Choi Han lived on Earth, computers weren’t widely available in homes, so he likely never played any games.
'Well, I’ve never played virtual reality games either.'
Is it the same?
Cale let his thoughts wander, acknowledging they were trivial. But he couldn’t help it.
'Damn it!'
He had entered the game again.
And this wasn’t a place where Count Rühe or the system could assist him.
Because this was the Lair of the Dragon Lord, leader of the Purple Blood Family.
'Red Hand.'
It might appear.
"Human, why do you have such a stiff expression?"
Damn.
He couldn’t help it.
"Human, the door has disappeared. How are we supposed to get out?"
"The disappearance of the door is a problem, but I’m seeing strange things in front of my eyes."
Meow.
The door through which Cale and his group had entered had vanished.
The entrance to the basement was no longer visible.
"Ugh."
Cale sighed and looked at Choi Han and the others.
"Alright, everyone, repeat after me."
The two cats, the dragon, and the young man stared at him.
Cale opened his mouth and said clearly.
"Log-ou-t."
[Do you wish to exit New World?]
A new screen appeared in front of Cale.
But when Choi Han and the others tried it.
"What’s happening?"
"Nothing’s showing up!"
"Human, the letters are transforming into a language I don’t recognize. It looks like the common language of the Roan Kingdom, but it’s turning into something unknown!"
"Hmm. This doesn’t seem like a good situation."
"Cale-nim."
Cale sighed.
'Should I call One or Rühe?'
System One. And Count Rühe, the dark ghost.
How could he contact them?
"Friend list?"
When he uttered the words, a screen appeared.
Zzzz—
With an ominous noise.
[Unstable state, unable to retrieve data properly.]
System One had told Cale:
‘Red Hand has already ordered the destruction. I’ll get you out first, and once the update is complete, you’ll be able to access properly. Then we can talk.’
Cale still wasn’t fully registered as a normal NPC.
'In other words, I don’t know when Red Hand might detect me.'
Damn it.
Cale felt frustrated.
He couldn’t help it.
'I’m not a gaming expert either!'
Although he had read many fantasy game novels. Once, he had been obsessed with that genre.
But as Kim Rok Soo, he had only played a few mobile puzzle games, never a full game in his life.
'What do I do?'
Cale pondered.
'Should I just cause total chaos?'
Should I destroy everything like usual?
But looking at the average 10-year-old kids who were watching him—
'No—'
Cale jolted in surprise.
"What are you?"
Behind the average 10-year-old kids.
Meow.
Hong was startled.
"Whoa, that scared me—! No, dragons don’t get scared."
Raon stammered.
"What are you?"
On looked surprised, stepping out of her confident demeanor.
"So, you’re the one my master mentioned."
Behind the average 10-year-old kids, a teddy bear greeted them.
'My master?'
It was probably referring to the Dragon Lord.
"Neo?"
When Cale said that, the teddy bear looked at him.
The bear, slightly smaller than Raon, had jewel-like round eyes and was really cute.
And the teddy bear spoke.
"How dare you, insignificant human, utter the name of my great master, the Master of Time!"
The teddy bear pointed at Cale with a quill, extremely angry.
'What is this?'
Cale was baffled. However, the teddy bear quickly calmed down.
"Dragon, if you permit, I’ll take care of teaching this insolent human some manners."
"Huh?"
Raon was confused. And Cale realized.
'Come to think of it—'
That teddy bear.
'You’re the one my master mentioned.'
There were five people here, but it only pointed at one.
'It’s referring to Raon.'
It was only showing respect to Raon. The teddy bear bowed respectfully. It turns out the teddy bear was dressed in a butler’s suit, elegant formal attire.
"I am Dark Bear, servant of the Master of Time, the seventh evil."
A description appeared above the teddy bear in Cale’s view.
[Boss. The Fearsome Dark Bear]
Fearsome Dark Bear?
"Dragon, are all these creatures under your service?"
"Huh?"
Raon looked at Cale in confusion, and when Cale quickly nodded, he adopted a solemn expression.
-Human, am I finally going to act? Just wait and see! I’m better than Choi Han!
Cale almost spoke out loud at Raon’s voice in his mind.
'No! Just nod! Don’t talk!'
Raon was a child who would turn a task of drilling a wall into one of demolishing it completely. But Raon, more determined than ever, was faster than Cale.
"Yes. These creatures are my slaves."
Oh no.
Cale closed his eyes tightly.
"Truly, you are a Great Dragon!"
And the teddy bear got excited, moving its shoulders.
"I almost thought they were illegal intruders."
Zzz—
Cale’s eyes widened.
"I was thinking of how to kill them all! Ha, ha!"
The teddy bear laughed loudly, its eyes turning red. It looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie.
'Hmm.'
Fluffy cloud-like hallways and cotton candy-like doors between them.
The dungeon, which looked like something out of a fairy tale, suddenly became bathed in red light.
'This really feels like a horror movie.'
Cale felt a bit scared. But the teddy bear soon returned to its normal expression.
"I was surprised to see you arrive earlier than expected, but..."
Tap, tap.
The teddy bear tapped its chest.
"Who am I? I am the proud servant of my master! I already have everything ready for your registration!"
Then, it pointed further into the hallway.
"Right this way. The registration process will be quick."
“I will accompany you. The registration process is quick.”
The teddy bear’s voice turned gentle. And in a soft tone, it asked:
“You know what registration is, right?”
When Raon hesitated, Cale opened his mouth.
"How insolent!"
Huh?
Everyone was bewildered.
Especially his companions.
-Human, what are you doing?
The teddy bear’s eyes turned red again.
"How dare an insignificant human...?"
But Cale was faster.
"Are you, a mere teddy bear, questioning the Great Dragon? Are you doubting our grand Raon?"
"…!"
The teddy bear flinched, and Cale didn’t stop.
"Registration? Obviously, you mean user registration, don’t you? It must be completed before Red Hand arrives to ensure a stable connection to the game!"
"Hmm!"
The teddy bear hesitated.
"…You know about Red Hand?"
"Of course. The Dragon Lord told our Raon directly. So hurry up and register us! Lead the way!"
Cale’s confident attitude made the teddy bear feel intimidated for a moment. Then it hurried to apologize.
"But, I had no choice. I didn’t expect unregistered users from Apitoyu to arrive so suddenly, before the grand update was completed..."
"Ha."
Cale laughed in disbelief.
"Are you testing me?"
He approached the teddy bear and looked down at it. Although the bear seemed intimidated, Cale didn’t miss the wariness in its dark eyes, especially since it was gripping the quill tightly.
This prompted Cale to continue with his strategy. He remembered what System One had told him.
‘In the next update, I’ll add Apitoyu as a new field.’
‘A new field will appear.’
Cale combined his doubts with the current situation, and the teddy bear’s words and System One’s hints quickly led him to a conclusion.
"In the update, you’re going to add Apitoyu as a new field, aren’t you?"
"!"
The teddy bear’s expression changed. It loosened its grip on the quill.
Cale continued speaking.
"Of course, you’re not going to integrate all of Apitoyu into this New World, into this new world."
The Dragon Lord Neo’s Lair was connected to the virtual reality game.
"Naturally, our grand Raon hasn’t heard all the details from Neo about this."
A new field.
"Your job must be to move the useful ones from Apitoyu into this new field and formally register the unregistered, right?"
The teddy bear gulped.
"Yes. The master said this was confidential and didn’t mention it to his servants."
Cale let out an ironic laugh.
"Are you comparing the servants to our great Raon?"
Raon added firmly:
"That’s right! I’m grand! Don’t compare me to those undignified servants!"
His words were full of sincerity.
"R-really, the great Raon is..."
When the teddy bear stammered, Cale replied seriously:
"He is the successor of the Dragon Lord."
That was a fact. The Ancient Dragon Eruhaben had said it.
"Right, Raon?"
Cale asked, and Raon responded shyly:
"Hmm. Well, it’s not incorrect."
Hehe.
Raon’s smile was so innocent that it was impossible to doubt he was acting.
"Really...?"
The teddy bear was visibly disturbed. Cale leaned in a bit and whispered:
"The Lord has already decided who his successor will be when he becomes a God."
"I-I didn’t know anything about that..."
"Ha!"
Cale mocked the disturbed teddy bear.
"Why should the Lord explain everything to you?"
"!"
"Isn’t it our duty to interpret the actions of our great Lord? Should the Lord explain and share everything with his servants?"
Cale shook his head while looking at the bear.
"You’re not qualified."
Hehe.
Cale didn’t hide his mockery. Choi Han, On, Hong, and Raon stared at Cale in shock, but the bear didn’t notice. It wasn’t in a position to.
"I-I..."
Cale placed a hand on the stammering bear’s shoulder.
The bear couldn’t protest against Cale’s touch and shrank.
Tap. Tap.
Cale patted its shoulder and spoke kindly.
"Don’t worry. We’ll speak well of you to the Lord."
"R-really?"
"Yes. Now, proceed with the registration."
"Yes!"
The bear nodded eagerly and turned around.
"Raon-nim, this way."
"Let’s go, little bear."
-------------
Bang!
The ground shook and split open deeply.
"Argh!"
The one who rose from the hole could barely contain his pain.
"That old dragon...!"
The man with long red hair lifted his head, his face full of anger.
Looking down at him was Eruhaben, the Ancient Dragon, with a smile on his lips.
"You only know how to eat, but not how to fight."
He moved a finger.
"Go back. You still haven’t learned enough, young dragon."
"You, you...!"
Bang!
The sounds of battle echoed as golden and red lights clashed.
The vast field was filled with brilliant flashes, more terrifying than beautiful.
In the midst of this, Rasheel was stomping the ground with his feet.
Bang! Bang!
"Damn it! Aren’t there any other Dragons who want to fight?"
Bang!
"Hey! Why are you staying up there on the wall? And you call yourself a Dragon? Coward! Let’s fight!"
Bang! Bang!
He was throwing a tantrum because he wanted to fight. He yelled at the enemies who were staring at him in astonishment.
"Come on, fight! You cowardly fools!"
His outcry was sincere.
-----------
Author's Note
Hello, I'm Yureohan.
This is nothing more than a message to inform you that I will have to take a break from publishing. I will be pausing updates for a fairly long period—one month—starting in December. It seems that I will resume posting on January 1st.
I am deeply sorry to have to bring you this news. I think it’s only right to briefly explain the reason for such a long break, so I'll write a bit more.
Hmm. Probably, by the time this part is posted, I will already be in the operating room.
I haven’t been feeling well since last summer, and I thought it was simply due to poor physical condition because I hadn’t been taking good care of myself. But as time went on, my condition didn’t improve; it got worse instead.
Finally, after undergoing detailed examinations, I found out that I needed surgery.
Fortunately, it’s not a serious illness! Haha.
However, I will need time to recover after the surgery, and I won’t be able to work on writing for quite a while, so I decided to take this one-month-long break.
Once again, I’m very sorry.
Instead, I promise to come back healthier in the new year, and I will do my best to greet you with even better writing.
Although it’s a bit early, I wish you all a happy end of the year. Thank you for being with TOTCF2 throughout this year.
I sincerely wish you a happy year-end and look forward to seeing you again with Cale in the new year.
Thank you as always.
-Yureohan
Translator's Note:
As you may have read, the novel will be on hiatus until January next year, but don’t worry. At least until our amazing author is fully recovered, one chapter will be published each week. Thank you :)
