The Divine Twilight’s Return

ople within a certain range of the host, Choong-Jae, making them unable to escape.
It also made them feel pain in their chests if they showed the slightest bit of resentment toward him.
The more they leveled up, the more restraining power it had over them.

‘He’s trying to work us like slaves! Choong-Jae keeps snatching part of the experience points we gain… This is a prison!’

The Jeon Choong-Jae whom Kim Hyeong-Won had known for over ten years no longer existed.
He might have had a strong inferiority complex and had often been very jealous of others, but his nature had not been evil.
Seeing how he had become so cruel after only a couple of days, Hyeong-Won wondered if a devil had gotten into Choong-Jae.

To Kim Hyeong-Won’s sorrow, it felt as if the friend he once knew would never again return.

“I’m already done.
Why on earth is the bastard taking so long?” Choong-Jae muttered, frowning in anger.
The scout he had sent out had not returned yet.
He checked to see whether the scout was dead, but he was definitely alive.

Just as Choong-Jae considered going after him, the scout who had annoyed him returned.
He exclaimed, “What took you so long?!”

Upon hearing his reprimand, the scout hurriedly ran in Choong-Jae’s direction.
However, his right sleeve fluttered helplessly in the air like a flag, and his shirt was soaked in blood.

“Ha! You stupid fuck.
You couldn’t even pull off one job without becoming a pathetic cripple, huh?” Choong-Jae scoffed in seeming disbelief.
The scout could not look him in the eye as the stump of his shoulder continuously dripped blood.

“So.
Did you find the place I asked you to find?” Choong-Jae asked.

“I… did,” the scout replied.

“Where is it?” Choong-Jae asked.
In response, the scout told him everything he had found while overcoming the tribulations that had almost cost his life.

Soon, Choong-Jae exclaimed with a satisfied smile, “Ha! Who would have thought that it was hidden in that kind of tricky place? Good.
Everyone, get off your asses right now! We’re going on a boss raid now!”

It had not been long since the start of their break, so the other Players’ expressions naturally stiffened upon hearing the news.
However, none of them could say anything.
In turn, Choong-Jae also paid no attention to their plight.
He was simply fixated on the fact that he had to clear the second sector before Chang-Sun did.

‘Lee Chang-Sun… Just you wait.
I’ll shove you into the gutter no matter what, just as you did to me before!’

[The Celestial ‘Twil## ### ###’ keenly watches her subordinate dwelling upon his anger.]

* * *

However, Choong-Jae’s dream was shattered not long after.

“…What the hell?” he exclaimed.

Until Choong-Jae entered the cave, he had been incredibly elated as he followed the scout’s guidance.
Convinced that even Chang-Sun could not have located the place in all this time, he had clicked his tongue at Chang-Sun’s stupidity for not bossing other people around with that much power.

However, he noticed something strange after some time walking through the cave’s interior.

The passageway was filled with monster carcasses lying everywhere.
They had all been massacred, and there were even signs that they had been butchered.

Thump!

Thump!

Choong-Jae felt his heart sinking.

[The Celestial ‘#wili# ### ###’ loudly clicks her tongue.]

[The Celestial ‘### ##ing ###’ sarcastically says that her subordinate arrived one step late.
She urges him to hurry up.]

‘No… It can’t be.
Shit! That bastard knows nothing but fighting.
There’s no way he found this place already!’

Firmly believing that something other than Chang-Sun had swept through the cave, Jeon Choong-Jae explored the tunnels that were as convoluted as an anthill for a long time.
However, when he reached the end of the cave, he saw the carcass of the boss monster, the Flame Tiger.
It seemed to have long since died.

“Shiiiiit!” Choong-Jae swore, his face contorting with rage.

‘I lost again!’ he thought, and he swore and swore without end.

However, at that moment…

[The second sector of the Dungeon Quest: ‘Pioneer’ has been successfully conquered.]

[Compiling a temporary ranking.]

Choong-Jae’s eyes widened.
The carcass of the boss monster was still lying there.
However, why would the message about conquering the sector show up only then? That meant Chang-Sun was still around!

“G…!” Choong-Jae began, but he was unable to finish his sentence.

As if the system had encountered an error, new messages had begun showing up unceasingly.

[The third sector of the Dungeon Quest: ‘Pioneer’ has been successfully conquered.]

[Compiling a temporary ra…]

[Canceled.]

[The fourth sector of the Dungeon Quest: ‘Pioneer’ has been successfully conquered.]

[Compiling a temporary ranking.]

…

[A grand achievement has been unlocked!]

[??? deities currently viewing Dungeon Channel KR-9,721 have gotten fired up about the Player ‘Lee Chang-Sun’, who is passing the Tutorial with overwhelming success.]

[The number of viewers keeps increasing.]

[The current number of viewers is ???.]

…

“W-What the…?”

It had not been long since the second sector was conquered.
However, what were the odds of the third and fourth also being conquered in a row? On top of that, Choong-Jae had no idea what the message meant by ‘Dungeon Channel’ or ‘Tutorial’, which gave him even more of a reason to be dumbfounded.

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

However, one thing was for sure.
The supreme beings often called gods were showing interest in Chang-Sun, not him! Choong-Jae could not help but glare in the face of the unbelievable situation.

[The Celestial ‘### Pie## ###’ lightly chuckles.]

[The Celestial ‘### #rcin# ###’ slyly shows an enigmatic smile.]

‘Twilight-Piercing Owl’ reacted as if she had known what would happen, rather than being angry.

[Dungeon Ranking]

First place: Lee Chang-Sun (29,550 Points)

Second place: Jeon Choong-Jae (1,230 Points)

Third place: Park Hae-Seong (550 Points)

[Different rewards will be given out based on performance.]

[Different rewards will be given out based on rank.]

…

[The Celestial ‘### ##ing ###’ murmurs that she can make this more interesting.]

Just then, a warning message appeared in front of Choong-Jae, who was left speechless for a moment.

[The Celestial ‘### ### O##’ admonishes her subordinate, saying that she will never forgive him, the representative of her divine name, if he continues to sully her honor.]

“…!” Choong-Jae’s expression stiffened.

[The fifth sector has been opened.]

[The Celestial ‘### ### #w#’ warns her subordinate that this is his last chance.]

[The Celestial ‘### ### ##l’ looks forward to the performance of her subordinate.]