Nonhyeon-dong Dungeon Explosion Incident (16)

‘Tied for 1st?’

After checking the contribution rankings, Hyeonseong looked back and tried to figure out whether she really had any reason to place first.

‘The other one is probably Song Jiwoo. She chased down and caught that S-rank who ran off early, she landed a critical on the Enemy Knight just now, and it was similar when we took down Red Horse, too.’

After setting aside the parts where the contributor was obvious, she weighed what remained.

‘Command. I did take over partway through the Do-ol and Enemy Knight raid. But… wasn’t I pretty clumsy? It’s kind of amazing those people listened. Ah—come to think of it, was I the one who landed the final blow on Do-ol?’

Now that she thought about it, there had been something that would likely score a big chunk of contribution points.

‘Well… the score must’ve been fair if it was assigned that way. Then I should check the rewards—huh?’

Just as she was about to read the next messages, a familiar face caught Hyeonseong’s eye.

‘Why is Hyeonju here?’

Seeing Hyeonju standing with the Jinri Workshop branch employees, Hyeonseong looked bewildered. Her feet naturally carried her that way.

“What’s up—why are you here?”

Once she was close enough, Hyeonseong spoke.

“It looked like it might be a big deal, so I came out,”

Hyeonju replied in a calm voice.

“Well, it’s not wrong to call it a big deal.”

There had, in fact, been phenomena that had never occurred before since the age of dungeons and the Interstellar Network. The whole raid process had even gotten tangled because the Constellations had gotten into a weird competition.

“So what’s left?”

Hyeonju stared at Hyeonseong with sharply narrowed eyes.

“Seriously, that’s what you say the moment you see my face.”

Hyeonseong opened the Infinite Corridor at the workshop employee’s feet. Jinri Workshop consumables that had been used and left over piled up around the employee.

“You don’t even ask how I’m doing—you start tearing into the items?”

“Those items aren’t yours. They’re the workshop’s stock.”

“Even if you didn’t say anything, I was going to return them anyway.”

“Looks like you were going to forget until I said it.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

At their childish bickering, the workshop employees fidgeted, unsure whether to step in or wait.

“…First, check what stock is left and sort it.”

Hyeonju, belatedly catching the mood, gave the employees an order. The employees began organizing the items that had been returned.

“So why are you really here?”

Hyeonseong asked again.

“I told you. I came because it looked like something I needed to come out and confirm in person. More importantly… you somehow don’t look injured.”

Hyeonju changed the subject while scanning Hyeonseong up and down.

“I just got lucky. And you know I’m at least kind of good at rolling on the ground.”

At Hyeonseong’s answer, Hyeonju let out a sigh. The faint air of looking down on her made Hyeonseong bristle.

“What.”

“Why.”

Even to Hyeonseong’s curt tone, Hyeonju answered nonchalantly. Hyeonseong clicked her tongue.

“So, are you leaving right away once you’re done sorting?”

Hyeonseong threw out another question.

“Not sure. At first I thought I would… but you haven’t started settlement yet, right?”

Hyeonju tossed a question back.

“Not yet. I was just about to go talk about that.”

“Perfect. Come with me once you’re done.”

“Huh? Why are you coming?”

“You forgot? I have to collect the potion payment.”

“Ah. Right.”

“Besides, they’re still calculating everyone’s merits and the damage scale over there, so they can’t start immediately anyway.”

“Yeah, probably.”

Even if they went looking for the settlement staff right now, they’d just end up waiting with the piled-up synthetic-beast corpses until each guild brought in their figures.

“Then come with me.”

Hyeonseong agreed with Hyeonju. Hyeonju turned and headed toward the employees sorting stock.

“Oh, right.”

As if she’d just remembered something, Hyeonju looked back at Hyeonseong.

“Good work.”

With only that one blunt sentence, Hyeonju left.

“What the hell—if you were going to say that, you could’ve said it earlier.”

Hyeonseong muttered under her breath.

‘Anyway, that leaves me with a little time.’

Left alone, Hyeonseong decided to finish checking the rewards she hadn’t been able to look at earlier.

‘An information exchange?’

One reward stood out more than the rest.

‘There is an information exchange in the market, but…’

On the Interstellar Network market, you could buy and sell not only physical items, but also information. There was a separate exchange that dealt in information.

She had heard of the “Secret Information Exchange” written on the item as well. It was likewise an exchange operated by the Interstellar Network, and if you obtained access rights, you could enter it through the regular information exchange.

‘But getting access is so hard that there’s barely any solid info—just tons of rumors…’

The Interstellar Network’s official description of the Secret Information Exchange was exactly one line.

A place where you could learn what you most wanted to know, with the greatest accuracy. That was the Secret Information Exchange.

‘I think I heard things like: the information provider is a Constellation, or a Network administrator… and it knows not only past information but even future information…’

Hyeonseong checked the discount pass’s details.

Hyeonseong’s eye twitched the moment she saw it. She had long known that EX-grade items existed, but it was her first time holding one in her hands.

‘It being bound doesn’t matter—I wasn’t going to sell it anyway… but the validity period is way too short.’

If she couldn’t use it within three days, a priceless opportunity—one you couldn’t buy even with money—would vanish. That meant she had to come up with some question within that time and try purchasing information.

‘But what would I even ask…? Ah. I do have something.’

She had plenty of questions worth asking. If anything, choosing just one seemed harder.

‘If it has an unfair no-refund clause like that, there must be information even they can’t find. Or maybe there are questions they refuse to answer.’

She could quickly identify the kinds of questions that would fall into the latter. Hyeonseong removed every doubt directly tied to the Interstellar Network itself from her options.

‘Who in the world is going to spill their own secrets just because you ask?’

Questions about the world inside the dungeon also seemed better left for later. Remembering how censorship had kicked in every time she checked such information, she doubted she’d get a proper answer even if she asked directly.

After crossing off the questions that seemed impossible to get answers for, only one remained.

‘A way to drag a Constellation down to the surface and kill it.’

There were traces of that in records searchable on the Interstellar Network as well. The concrete method had been cut out, but the record that it had succeeded at least once still existed.

‘If I ask this well, I might be able to get a hint. But I need to squeeze the maximum information out of a single question…’

Hyeonseong refined the shape of her question while thinking for a moment. Before long, she produced a single line.

‘It’ll be a bit before settlement starts, right?’

After finishing her thoughts, Hyeonseong looked around. Hyeonju was peering at a tablet screen with an employee. It looked like the quantity of items provided for this raid had been mostly sorted.

‘That’ll take a while to review, too…’

The other guilds looked roughly the same. The torn-up road had been cleared of major debris so repair crews could work.

But the invisible, internal guild work didn’t seem finished yet. Likewise, it looked like it would still take a bit more time for things to wrap up.

Once she confirmed she’d have to wait, Hyeonseong used the information exchange pass without hesitation.

A message appeared asking whether she wanted to review information before truly using the item. Hyeonseong decided to check the exchange’s information first.

She received detailed information she hadn’t been able to confirm from the item description alone.

‘So once I use it, that’s it.’

Hyeonseong checked how many Ghost Coins she currently had. Adding the quest reward from ‘Prankster of the Beginning’ to what she’d scraped together from dungeon clears so far, she had roughly around 1,100.

‘If I subtract the Network costs from this, what I can actually spend is about 700 to 800… huh?’

Suddenly, a doubt flashed through Hyeonseong’s mind.

‘…Come to think of it, is this a ploy to claw back the quest reward right now?’

No matter how she looked at it, information related to bringing down a Constellation wouldn’t be cheap. Even low-balling it, it was sure to cost in the hundreds of Ghost Coins.

‘If I didn’t have this, I would’ve saved what got taken in taxes until I earned it back. I was going to use it to strengthen my skill, after all.’

If she had done that, the 780 Ghost Coins would have stayed locked in her balance for quite a while. Paying Network usage fees and making up 220 Ghost Coins as “extra” wasn’t something she could do quickly.

‘…Does the Network dislike large sums being tied up in one place? Or did it find it inconvenient that one person suddenly got a big payout?’

Either was plausible. And either way, it wasn’t something she could confirm immediately.

‘Could be both.’

After the info review ended, another message asked whether she truly wanted to proceed. Continuing to show the terms like that almost looked like the last shred of conscience they had left.

‘No matter what, using it is better.’

The timing was suspiciously perfect, and it made her uneasy—but she couldn’t afford not to use it.

It was a chance to obtain information that was otherwise nearly impossible to collect, all at once. Letting it expire would be a waste.

Hyeonseong chose to proceed.

Once she used the item, the pass vanished and a confirmation message and input window appeared. There was no other special effect that stood out.

For something unlocked by an EX-grade item, it felt almost too plain—but the theatrics didn’t matter.

‘As long as I actually get the information.’

Without hesitation, Hyeonseong typed her question into the input window.

[A method for obtaining realistic means I can use to drag a Constellation down and kill it]