While the first day ended with just three gates, Sa-yoon’s relentless gate-clearing campaign continued even more intensely after that. There were two reasons for this.

One was that the Night Rats executives, who had become overprotective after his rank drop, were monitoring to prevent him from entering A-rank gates or higher, limiting him to gates below S-rank. The other was that as ranks increased, the experience required for ranking up grew exponentially, making it impossible to rank up without an enormous amount of experience.

If each rank required two to three times more experience, getting from B+ to A-rank would take clearing six to nine A-rank gates, and from A to A+ would need twelve to eighteen A-rank gates. And it couldn’t just be simple clears—one had to enter various dungeons without repetition and clear them in different ways. Only by accumulating diverse experiences could one increase their rank.

This was why the Field was better.

The Field’s gate areas were vast and contained dungeons within them, making them optimal for gaining experience in multiple ways. Even when trying to clear with just one method, the sheer number of monsters meant having to find and adapt to the most effective approach depending on the opponent and situation.

But now that cheat key was blocked.

He could understand the executives’ position. After what happened in the Field where the Guild Master fled and he himself collapsed once, they naturally wouldn’t be keen on it.

And then…

Noah.

There was one thing weighing on Sa-yoon’s mind.

If I go back in, will I meet you again?

Sa-yoon wasn’t confident he could enter the Field without wandering around searching for the replay dungeon. And if he saw Noah there, he wasn’t sure he could return unscathed.

If the first discoverer’s benefit was providing a route to defeat Noah, that method wouldn’t be available on subsequent entries. This meant having to attempt the insane feat of surviving 100 dungeon waves if he went back in, which was honestly impossible.

Unlike other times, enduring waves while thinking about Noah seemed too difficult in his current state.

So the only way to quickly raise his rank was to keep running A-rank gates day and night.

The one fortunate thing was that while the system counted minus grades when dropping ranks, making the descent slow, it only counted plus and normal grades when ranking up. Nothing could be worse than having to climb back up gradually through B-, B, and B+ after falling to C-rank. Relieved to have avoided that fate, Sa-yoon let out a sigh as he checked his rank that had finally reached A-rank after running gates for four consecutive days with Jaehee.

That’s when a sudden new notification appeared.

<‘For the Refreshing and Spirited Evil of Humanity!’ Quest complete! 1,000 Karma will be awarded as a reward. (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b>

“It’s been ages since I cleared ten gates…”

The reward came so late he’d forgotten the quest even existed. While glaring with wide eyes at the system—which had never delayed a quest clear reward by two days before—Jaehee, who had just emerged from the gate behind him, tapped Sa-yoon’s shoulder.

“What are you staring at so intently?”

Shitty supernatural bastard.

How does he always show up right when the system appears? Sa-yoon rubbed his arm where light goosebumps had formed and pointed at his system window.

“If you can see through the heavens’ secrets, can you see this too?”

“Pardon?”

“Never mind. Your reaction tells me you can’t see it.”

It seemed that even with the ability to see heaven’s secrets, peeking at someone else’s system window was too much. Noticing something from Sa-yoon’s response, the man drew closer and bent down before smiling. It was that same smile from the day of thunder.

“Is it the system?”

Sa-yoon sometimes felt unsettled by that maniacal smile Lee Jaehee showed. When he nodded, the man showed interest.

“What did it say?”

“Nothing special, just a quest reward.”

“Quest?”

“There was a quest to clear ten gates. But it gave the reward two days late.”

“The system delayed giving a quest reward?”

Jaehee asked in surprise.

Sa-yoon wasn’t the only one who followed system directives to complete quests and receive rewards. Most hunters carried out system quests and continued their hunter lives while receiving various rewards. Never had anyone heard of the system giving rewards late. If even he, the Night Rats Guild Master, hadn’t heard of it, Jaehee certainly wouldn’t have either.

Sa-yoon narrowed his eyes at this unprecedented situation.

“Doesn’t it seem suspicious?”

“It certainly does. It would be most convenient if I could see your system window. What a shame that’s not possible.”

“If you have complaints, take them up with your own system window.”

“Would complaining get me anything?”

“It did give me something.”

“…?”

Of course, when Sa-yoon complained to his system window, it gave him shit.

Communication with the system might sound absurd, but it happened occasionally. For instance, if he muttered something like ‘Maybe if I quit being a villain and got buried alive under the forest, forced execution wouldn’t work,’ the system would give him a new quest with forced execution attached as if challenging him to try. Or if he coveted an item in the auction house, it would give him a quest to prove his villainy by switching auction house items.

So Sa-yoon believed that communication with the system was possible, if not always then at least once or twice. That’s why he cursed at the system every day.

Maybe it’ll reflect if it hears me.

Since he remembered, he might as well get today’s system cursing done.

While glaring at the reward window and muttering curses non-stop, Jaehee backed away with a disgusted expression. Only after cursing the system for a full 10 minutes did Sa-yoon turn around with a refreshed face.

“Let’s go.”

“To another gate?”

“No, since I made it to A-rank, today we’ll—”

Huh?

Mid-sentence, Sa-yoon’s body swayed.

“Sa-yoon!”

As Sa-yoon collapsed like his legs had given out, Jaehee who had been walking beside him caught him, but something was wrong. The normal Sa-yoon would have been up already, cursing, but there was no response from the man he held.

“Sa-yoon?”

Jaehee called his name while supporting Sa-yoon’s increasingly heavy weight. Getting no answer, the man briefly fell silent after checking Sa-yoon’s condition as he lay there like dead.

Thump thump.

Checking his pulse, it was normal. His breathing was stable and he didn’t appear injured anywhere. Reviewing the day’s battles, Jaehee confirmed there hadn’t been any opponents using poison or curses and felt relieved. Moreover, since Sa-yoon used a Half-Belief as his main weapon, he could have resisted even if hit with curses or poison through his weapon’s power.

This meant he shouldn’t have collapsed so suddenly.

So Sa-yoon’s current collapse must be…

“Overwork. …Or overload.”

Jaehee muttered as he lifted the collapsed Sa-yoon onto Rai’s back. It had been five days since he started clearing gates with Sa-yoon. During those five days, the only rest Sa-yoon took was when sleeping deeply. Even then, except for the first and second days, the reports from Rai indicated he wasn’t sleeping properly, wandering the terrace every dawn.

In such a state, continuously attacking gates would naturally wear the body down. Today was no exception.

When they cleared three gates, Jaehee suggested returning but Sa-yoon refused. He said they should push a little more since he felt he could reach A-rank with just two more.

From an outsider’s perspective, his “little more” never stayed “little.” When he said to work a little harder, he overdid it, and when he said to work a little longer, he pulled all-nighters. How was that “little” by any measure?

So when Jaehee suggested taking a day’s rest would be better, Sa-yoon replied with an uncomprehending expression:

‘Fatigue recovers when rank increases, so why bother? Let’s just go right away.’

Truly a workaholic’s statement. Jaehee had been anxious about something going wrong since then, and sure enough, he collapsed like this. Even Sa-yoon probably didn’t know that the fatigue recovery from ranking up would come through passing out.

More precisely, it seemed his body’s tension released and he fell asleep when the accumulated fatigue at its limit recovered all at once.

“Condition management is the most basic of basics. Learning useless tricks while not knowing what’s truly important.”

Jaehee clicked his tongue and examined Sa-yoon’s face. Dead asleep was the only time Sa-yoon ever looked peaceful.

The man sighed as his heart grew heavy.

Watching Sa-yoon always reminded him of a moth. A moth throwing itself into hellfire.

What made it peculiar was that he threw himself in despite knowing it was hellfire.

He needed someone by his side who could understand his thoughts while thinking more normally, and maintain stable emotional exchanges with him. Someone who could stand beside him, support him when needed, and stop him when necessary.

People needed at least one such pillar to live on.

He himself was disqualified since he was obsessed with saving the world, and while that Jongsik fellow was similar, he was clearly in a lord-vassal relationship which made him unsuitable.

They needed to be able to relate comfortably to each other.

“There’s no suitable person.”

As he muttered critically, wondering what kind of life would leave someone with so few people around them, Rai barked. It was in agreement.

Shaking his head, Jaehee summoned Shiro. The two summons headed toward the Night Rats Guild, each carrying one human. What only Jaehee didn’t know was that the Night Rats Guild members who witnessed this began viewing him as ‘the only man who beat the boss,’ ‘the world’s strongest man,’ and ‘the legendary summoner.’