Chapter 15

I Became a Newbie Favored by the Transcendents Chapter 15

A morning filled with the cute chirping of sparrows.

I muttered while looking at myself in the bathroom mirror.

“Fucking handsome.”

...Wait, I know that’s infuriating.

But to explain, I’m not saying this because I’m drunk on narcissism or anything.

The face reflected in the mirror really wasn’t my face.

What I mean by that is.

=====

<​Mask of Transformation>

-Grade: Rare

-Required Level: -

-Changes your appearance.

-How it changes is random.

=====

Right now, I had changed my appearance using an item.

The provider was the management bureau.

Yesterday, I left the director a message asking if he could get me a disguise item, and it was delivered by courier early this morning.

...Does that man even sleep?

‘Operating with my own face is dangerous in a lot of ways.’

Nowadays, Players aren’t simply laborers who enter Gates and fight monsters.

They’re superstars who long ago toppled K-pop singers from their throne.

Wherever they go, they draw people’s attention and the media’s focus.

Unless you’re E-rank or F-rank, if you stay active long enough, your identity will eventually become public.

...You could ask if I’m already acting like a celebrity.

But once you become a Player, hiding it from at least your close acquaintances is almost impossible.

In my case, if my sister found out?

‘Ugh.’

I shuddered automatically.

That was why I needed to change my face with the ‘Mask of Transformation’ while working.

There was nothing wrong with being thorough.

The management bureau probably welcomed the idea too.

To the director, Park Junbeom, number one in the Tutorial World Rankings, was a hidden trump card.

The universal rule was to keep a hidden trump card carefully concealed and treasured until the right moment.

Perhaps because of that, the item the director sent early in the morning wasn’t only the ‘Mask of Transformation.’

‘Kang Junu, huh...’

He had even sent a disguised Player license registered under the alias ‘Kang Junu.’

It meant I should operate using this license for the time being.

The director’s interests and mine happened to align.

I could feel his determination to disguise me as an utterly ordinary Player A who attracted as little attention as possible.

‘But with this face, wouldn’t it be harder not to stand out?’

My nose, jaw, eyes.

Everything was so sharp that I felt like touching them would make my finger bleed.

And it wasn’t only my facial features that changed.

Apparently body shape was also included in the range of appearances the item could change, because I was now well over 185cm tall and my face had gotten smaller too.

So this was the kind of face that could get forgiven even after committing a crime.

‘It said the face would change randomly, so I wasn’t expecting much.’

Could this also be because of my high Luck stat?

The truth is out there...

Anyway.

“Should I head to work?”

The goal was to gather the 10kg of Mana Crystals that ‘IAmLegend’ demanded.

To do that, I needed to move diligently.

__________

“Now. Look. Normally, I don’t show this much outside a Gate... Hup!”

Fwoosh!

A small ball of fire bloomed above the man’s palm.

The red glow of the flames slightly brightened the dim interior of the vehicle.

The fireball occasionally spiraled or became blunt, changing its shape freely.

“What do you think? You haven’t had many chances to see something like this up close in person, right? It’s a valuable experience. You’re learning a lot from your very first day.”

“Ah, yes.”

I gave a half-hearted response to the man who smiled smugly with a snort.

An epaulet bearing the management bureau emblem rested on the man’s puffed-up shoulder.

What did he say his name was again, Nam Sangjin?

Besides me and Nam Sangjin, five other Players affiliated with the management bureau were riding inside the armored vehicle.

“Awakened people who have mastered mana control like me can freely alter the form of magic like this. Well, you could call it a basic technique. But the basics are always the most important, you know? Especially for a complete beginner like you, it’s important to build a solid foundation from the start~.”

“Ah, yes.”

Damn, my ears are going to develop calluses.

How did I end up with such an excessive talker?

I knew it couldn’t be helped, but I found myself resenting the director for arranging this situation.

-“We’ve secured four Gates for now, but I’m sorry to say it will be difficult for you to enter all four alone, Player.”-

-“Gates that private guilds give up on clearing are handled afterward by a group in the management bureau called the ‘Strategic Reserve Team.’”-

-“All the Gates we’ve secured so far have already been assigned to Strategic Reserve Team 3, so the only option is for you to be temporarily assigned to that team... I’m sorry for inconveniencing you.”-

In short, I had joined a team responsible for cleaning up leftovers.

If I wanted to enter Gates right away, I had no choice but to tag along with these guys.

I had already realized before how fierce Gate reservations were, so I understood.

...Except for the fact that this team leader was an excessive talker who could speak a hundred sentences on his own, and loved bragging.

“You said your name was Kang Junu, right? You just joined the management bureau last week? Then this is your first time going into the field, huh? You’re lucky, kid. At least while I’m the team leader, there’s no chance you’ll die inside a Gate. As long as you don’t puff yourself up and start acting reckless...”

“Ah, yes.”

I don’t know what the management bureau told them about me.

But they seemed to think I was some amateur who hadn’t even been awakened for a month.

...Huh, that’s technically true?

Still, this wasn’t my first real combat experience.

Though since I was operating under a fake identity, there was no point arguing.

“Hey, temp.”

At that moment.

A man sitting across from me glared.

“Yes?”

“Why have you been answering like that while the team leader is talking to you?”

Huh.

Why is he suddenly starting shit?

“The team leader went out of his way to teach you. So what’s with that attitude? Every answer is ‘Ah, yes.’ ‘Ah, yes.’ ‘Ah, yes.’ Is that the only thing you know how to say? Get your head straight.”

I had answered him every time and even nodded along, but apparently that wasn’t enough for this guy.

Should I have clapped and shed tears of gratitude too?

What a ridiculous thing to pick a fight over.

At that moment, another teammate beside me whispered quietly.

“Hey, if I were you, I wouldn’t act like that. Clap or shed tears of gratitude or something. Even if you’re only a temporary fill-in, if you make a good impression this time, you might officially join our team later. You can’t even understand that simple calculation?”

“...”

He’d probably be shocked if he found out what kind of contract I signed with the director.

“All right, all right, enough. Calm down, Jonguk. Why are you bullying the kid on his first day? Our rookie’s probably just tense, so his reactions are a little stiff.”

Thump.

Team Leader Nam Sangjin wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

“Jonguk was a little harsh, but despite how we look, our team has a pretty friendly atmosphere. As long as you follow a few rules.”

“Yes?”

“It’s simple. Once we enter the field, cooperate with the team members with everything you’ve got. Repeat orders properly and stick to your position. And.”

Tap, tap.

Nam Sangjin lightly patted my shoulder.

“If we encounter a boss, the rookie doesn’t step forward and focuses only on support from the rear. It’s dangerous. We need to stay alive long enough to retire, right?”

My God, so there was such profound meaning behind that hazing?

Nam Sangjin did seem to be saying it with good intentions.

But maybe because I had just been picked on, it sounded more like, ‘We’d rather die than let a rookie earn any accomplishments.’

‘Whew. Relax.’

I’m getting sensitive because I’m in a hurry over my sister’s legs.

“...We’re people who devote ourselves to the country and its citizens. As long as you keep that fact in mind and act accordingly, someday Jonguk will see you in a good light too. You understand what I mean, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Mm, good, good. We should be arriving soon. It’s your first real battle, so don’t get nervous and just follow behind us, rookie.”

Ah, yes.

______________

We arrived in Eungam-dong, where the Gate we had to clear today was located.

Team 3 and I finished a brief identity check with the agent waiting at the entrance and immediately entered the Gate.

The moment we crossed the entrance, a cave terrain stretched out before us in a straight passage.

[Destroy the crystal at the deepest point of the dungeon within the time limit.]

[Your clear rank and rewards will be calculated differently according to monsters defeated, time taken, and damage dealt to the crystal.]

The clear conditions appeared next.

Nam Sangjin and the team members skimmed over the message.

“So all we have to do is destroy the crystal in the deepest part. Just like the report said.”

“Pretty simple condition. I wonder why those guild bastards failed this. Don’t you think so, Team Leader?”

“Exactly, hahaha! Anyway, let’s get moving.”

Team 3 advanced with a completely relaxed atmosphere.

I quietly followed behind them while they chatted among themselves.

It wasn’t like we were going to see each other for the rest of our lives, and joining their conversation would probably only get me more petty seniority bullshit.

I was debating whether to browse the gallery while walking out of boredom.

BOOOOM!!

A deafening noise erupting through the ground swallowed the team members’ chatter.

The monsters here had revealed themselves.

“Hissss-.”

“Shhhhk-!!”

Giant centipedes covered in exoskeletons as hard as armor.

The red compound eyes on their heads rolled around while emitting murderous intent.

Countless legs attached to their elongated bodies gleamed with blade-like sharpness.

“Multiple centipede-type monsters ahead! Everyone to your positions!”

“To positions!”

Even in front of the giant centipedes whose repulsive appearance was made even more intimidating by their presence, Team 3 calmly entered formation.

“Jonguk! Break those bastards’ shells! Yeonu, draw aggro from the ones at three o’clock until Jonguk and I get there! Ujin, prepare the buffs!”

Nam Sangjin gave short, concise instructions.

If he could talk like that, then why was he like that in the car...

Anyway, perhaps he wasn’t a team leader for nothing, because under Nam Sangjin’s command, Team 3 drove the centipedes back in perfect order.

Thud!

Fwoosh!

Boom!

While the tanker drew aggro and held the other monsters back.

The guy named Jonguk smashed through a centipede’s hard shell, then Nam Sangjin burned the exposed flesh with fire magic, then Jonguk followed up with another attack...

After killing one, they moved toward the others and repeated the same process, while the tanker again drew aggro from the monsters in their blind spots.

Repeat endlessly.

“Oh.”

I couldn’t hide my shock while watching the centipedes steadily get eliminated one at a time.

‘...At this rate, it’ll take forever to clear this place.’

I timed it, and it took roughly three minutes to kill one.

And there were easily more than ten centipedes visible to me right now.

This was only the entrance.

The closer we got to the deepest part, the more there would probably be.

‘I have to run three more Gates with these guys.’

Ah.

I’m fucked!

Of course, I’m not trying to say their strategy is wrong.

Even to me, Team 3 was doing their absolute best according to their respective positions.

The problem was.

At this speed, I should probably give up on an S+ clear for starters.

‘What do I do? Should I step in?’

The centipedes were level 8.

That was two levels lower than the Voltic Walkers I recently fought inside the Contaminated Gate.

Those guys also died in one hit, so what was there to say about these centipedes?

Honestly, I probably didn’t even need to take out ‘that thing’ I bought from the gallery shop this morning.

My bare fists should be enough.

But if I just stayed quiet and left everything to Team 3?

‘At this rate, I won’t heal my sister’s legs until next year.’

Forget the S+ clear for a moment.

I wanted to gather the ingredients for ‘IAmLegend’ as quickly as possible, even if only by a single day, and heal my sister’s legs.

But stepping forward in front of these guys after going so far as to disguise my identity felt a little questionable―.

-Hissssss!!

While I was struggling internally.

A centipede charged at me from the side.

“Gasp, fuck?! Rookie!”

The guy named Yeonu, whose job was drawing aggro, shouted in alarm.

A centipede outside his skill range must have identified me as prey.

“Hey, you bastard! You haven’t even drawn your weapon!”

“Don’t just stand there staring, hurry and dod―!”

While the team members shouted.

I clenched my fist and condensed Divine Power into it.

Then thrust it directly toward the centipede.

CRUNCH――!!!

The straight punch crushed through the centipede’s hard exoskeleton.

And the moment it buried itself into the flesh beyond.

Its entire body exploded, spraying green fluid in every direction.

One strike.

‘Yeah.’

The centipede I had just killed brought an end to my boring, overly intellectual inner debate.

Now that it had come to this, it couldn’t be helped.

Yeah, this was better.

It wasn’t like I was some loser hiding my true strength.

“Ah, sorry. I got distracted for a moment.”

I’m going at my own pace.