Chapter 158
The expressions of the people waiting for the third exploration team outside the world of thoughts were varied.
Some were anxious because they didn’t know when they would return.
Some didn’t let go of the hope that they would succeed.
Some thought they had already failed and prepared for the next step.
The third exploration team was composed of a splendid lineup.
The media, who judged that there would be survivors even if they failed, focused their attention on this place.
The media from other countries were also interested.
Beyond the boundary line set by the association, reporters were packed.
They eagerly looked at the entrance of the world of thoughts.
Then, someone with a keen eye among the reporters noticed a change.
“Hey, hey? Look over there!”
“What is it?”
“The entrance, it seems to be moving?”
“No way…huh?”
The other reporters also reacted to their colleague’s words.
Ripples appeared on the calm water surface.
People’s reactions spread like waves, drawing concentric circles.
“Th-the world of thoughts!”
“Could it be, they cleared it?!”
The entrance of the world of thoughts emitted light and revealed the survivors one by one.
Everyone cheered at the fact that the survivors had returned.
The reporters who had been waiting around and the people from the association who were dispatched to stop them, as well as other clan members, all watched the scene with wide eyes.
After the survivors came out, the entrance of the world of thoughts disappeared with a bright light.
Only traces that the world of thoughts had been there until a moment ago remained in that place.
“They cleared it! The third exploration team cleared it!”
“This is a miracle!”
While everyone was happy, the survivors dragged their exhausted bodies and received support from the people sent by the association.
“Bring in the survivors!”
“Any injured?! Any possible injured this way!”
Yu-hyun, Kang Hye-rim, and Kwon Jia moved while supporting each other.
Fortunately, there were no fatal wounds so they could be treated right away, but fatigue was inevitable.
Yu-hyun felt the gazes from all sides and realized that he had returned alive.
Kang Hye-rim and Kwon Jia were the same.
The three felt a strange exhilaration.
They had similar emotions without saying anything to each other.
After the treatment was over, the three got up from their seats.
“Ah, you shouldn’t get up yet!”
“It’s fine. Let me see.”
Park Chul Oh, who had bandages wrapped around his body, stepped forward and spoke, and the field staff couldn’t say anything.
As they left the barracks where the injured were gathered, flashes went off from all sides.
The reporters who had been waiting took pictures.
“Teller Yu-hyun! Please say a word!”
“Is there a secret to White Flower Management’s survival?”
“Don’t tell me, White Flower Management did this clear too!”
As they crossed the restricted area, the reporters clung to them like crazy.
They desperately tried to get some facts out of Yu-hyun’s mouth.
At that moment, as if waiting for it, an SUV approached.
As the horn sounded, the reporters panicked and made way.
The three quickly got into the vehicle.
As the reporters tried to cling to them, people from the association stepped forward and blocked them with their bodies.
“Teller Yu-hyun!”
“Please answer!”
The reporters were desperate.
The vehicle that carried Yu-hyun quickly left their place as if mocking them.
“I’m glad I waited at the entrance just in case. You all worked hard.”
Looking at the three sitting in the back seat through the rearview mirror from the driver’s seat, Baek Seo Ryeon greeted them with a smile.
Her voice was bright, but her complexion wasn’t that good.
She was worried that something might go wrong and waited all day long with her vehicle on standby.
In front of the auspicious event of everyone returning safely, she finally relaxed her mind.
“I’m thinking of having seafood for dinner tonight. How about you guys? I want to eat seafood.”
Yu-hyun exchanged glances with Kang Hye-rim and Kwon Jia, then spoke in a weak voice.
“Some other time. Seafood is a bit too much for me.”
***
The three returned home and collapsed right away.
Even Yu-hyun, who didn’t need to sleep, fell asleep because of his mental fatigue.
Only after a whole day passed did they open their eyes.
“Huaham. I feel like I slept well for the first time in a long time.”
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As soon as he woke up from his sleep, Yu-hyun stretched and checked his message window at the same time.
There were so many messages because he had contributed greatly to clearing a fusion-type world of thoughts that mixed three stories together.𝑛օνℯ𝑙𝔟Ꭵ𝓃.𝐧ℯ𝑡
‘There are so many. It’s not like a receipt.’
Yu-hyun sorted them out by type because there were too many rewards.
First, the title.
[The stories of the world of thoughts are bestowed upon you.]
[You have acquired the title ‘Conqueror of the Ocean’.]
[You have received 10,000TP as a reward.]
Thanks to defeating Moby Dick, the devil and ruler of the sea, I had a new title added to my list: Conqueror of the Ocean. I hadn’t used it yet, but judging by the name, it seemed to give me a significant bonus for anything related to water.
[You have defeated the sea devil Moby Dick.]
[As a reward, you have acquired the skill ‘Whale Hunt’.]
[You have fulfilled Captain Nemo’s wish.]
[As a reward, you have acquired the skill ‘Summon Nautilus’.]
[You have rescued the wooden puppet Pinocchio.]
[As a reward, you have acquired the skill ‘Lie Detection’.]
I widened my eyes as I checked the skills.
Usually, when I cleared one world of thoughts, I would be lucky to get one skill, and unlucky to get none.
‘Is it because I successfully finished a world of thoughts that had three stories mixed together?’
The stories I acquired were all related to the world of thoughts I had just completed.
I checked the skills.
The Moby Dick story’s [Whale Hunt] was an offensive skill that had tremendous power against giant monsters.
The power was impressive, but more importantly, it allowed me to ‘always’ inflict damage on huge creatures that were immune to most attacks.
‘That’s insane.’
That alone was amazing, but the other two were not bad either.
The Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea story’s [Summon Nautilus].
It was literally a skill that summoned the Nautilus submarine.
It was hard to imagine anything more overpowered than the 70-meter-long giant submarine, but there were some conditions for summoning it.
‘To manifest the Nautilus in this world as a story, I need a huge amount of stories.’
The amount I had right now was far from enough. But if I ever reached the minimum requirement to use it in the future, it would be an incredible force.
Lastly, Pinocchio’s story [Lie Detection] was a skill that told me when someone was lying.
‘How do I use this? Lie Detection.’
I activated the Lie Detection skill, and a small wooden puppet appeared on my shoulder with a pop.
It had a plain appearance with nothing special.
The only distinctive feature was the protrusion on its face that looked like a nose.
I glanced at it and then tested the skill.
“Pinocchio’s nose grows when he tells the truth.”
As soon as I lied, the puppet’s nose grew longer.
I figured out how to use it.
‘So if someone tells the truth, nothing happens, but if they lie, the nose grows longer and exposes their lie? It’s not as versatile as the other two skills. And it overlaps with my ability to read books.’
More than that, this skill also required a ‘target’ to activate properly. +
It was a skill with some limitations, but I didn’t care.
Getting three skills was already more than enough reward for me.
But the rewards were not over yet.
[You have acquired the story ‘End of the Sea’.]
[Your stats will increase significantly.]
[You have acquired ‘Treasures’ as a by-product of the world of thoughts.]
Along with the story of the world of thoughts, my stats also increased ‘significantly’.
I clenched and unclenched my fist.
I definitely felt stronger than before.
And on top of that, there were treasures that were presumably by-products of the world of thoughts.
‘I got the jewels from the sunken ships in the graveyard of ships.’
I looked at one last piece of equipment.
[White Whale Bone Harpoon]
A harpoon made from the bones of Moby Dick, who sank countless ships and stood at the top of all marine life.
It is very sturdy and never breaks because it is made from Moby Dick’s bones that rival divine beasts.
‘A white harpoon.’
When I took it out of my inventory window, a harpoon over 2 meters long revealed itself.
The color was as white as Moby Dick itself.
‘No, this is… made from Moby Dick’s bones? It feels good in my hand and it’s very hard. There’s a rope attached to the end of the harpoon with whale tendons so I can throw it and retrieve it.’
More than anything, it seemed to match well with [Whale Hunt] skill.
‘The skill and equipment are practically a set. I’ll have to check them out in more detail later.’
With clearing rewards from world of thoughts and various donations from spirits, I had amassed an enormous amount of TP(Text Point).
In just one day, I had accumulated over 300 thousand TP.
[Current TP: 621,780TP]
In my previous life, owning 1 million TP was something I dreamed of. But now it was getting closer and closer.
“Phew. This is a strange feeling.”
I got up from my seat and left my room.
It was called a room, but the whole floor was a residential area where each person had more than three rooms, so it was practically a house.
-Have you woken up?
“Yeah, I have. Celine.”
-You were sleeping like a log.
“Haah. You try doing this. It’s exhausting. Anyway, what did you call me for?”
-I had something to report to you.
“Oh. Is that so?”
I had attracted a lot of spirits’ attention by clearing this world of thoughts.
Naturally, the library that I had entrusted to Celine had grown significantly more than before.
“I was just about to check that. Tell me what you found.”
-Yes.
As she answered, Celine appeared in front of Yu-hyun by tearing the space. She was a dazzling blonde beauty in a suit that fit her body perfectly. She had folded her strange wings behind her back as close to her body as possible.
She immediately sent the data she had organized to Yu-hyun through Genesis Net and started to report verbally.
“First of all, thanks to your latest episode, the viewership has increased tremendously. I thought it would reach up to 9,000, but it exceeded my expectations and achieved 9,500.”
“The 10,000 barrier, which is called the wall of magic, is right in front of us.”
“Yes, that’s right. I have something to tell you about that. The library’s capacity has reached its limit.”
“Hmm. I guess so. Usually, even if an agent has a lot of viewership, it doesn’t exceed 5,000, but I have achieved twice that. Even though I absorbed Jinpoong’s library and increased the limit, it’s all full.”
“There aren’t many managers who can do that. According to the headquarters’ reaction, there are opinions about whether they should promote you again.”
It was surprising that they were discussing a promotion to manager when he had been promoted to agent too quickly and unusually.
Yu-hyun didn’t seem very happy to hear that.
“Whatever. Agent or whatever, anyone can do it if they have time. But manager is no joke.”
He had exceeded the manager level in terms of viewership, but he still didn’t meet the various conditions to become a manager. From here on, the realm of office politics also came into play.
To be promoted to manager, he needed more time than before.
“Yes. Anyway, even if we skip the promotion, I think expanding the library is essential. The rumor has spread once again on Genesis Net through this episode, so you might break through the 10,000 barrier when you present the next episode.”
“My library’s maximum limit is 10,000 now, right? Expansion application. The central office will be busy.”
“That’s why you’ll have to visit the headquarters soon and submit an application.”
“Is that so? Well, I was thinking of going there sometime soon. Anything else?”
“At the point where the viewership exceeded 9,500, the number of subscribers reached over 70% of that, which is 7,000. This ratio is unprecedented among libraries. And because of that, the points that will be settled this month are expected to be huge, and advertising requests are pouring in from various dimensional shops.”
“I can’t put all the ads on, so pick out the best ones and choose them yourself. If it’s hard to choose, there’s not much space left anyway, so let them compete like an auction. You can do that, right?”
“Of course.”
“Good. That’s it for the report. You’ve worked hard too.”
“Not at all. I’ll go and take care of the follow-up work right away.”
Celine bowed her head politely to Yu-hyun with an even more courteous attitude.
She had seen Yu-hyun again through this Moby Dick Worldview and realized how he could rise so quickly in such a short time.
‘I have to learn.’
If he was a jerk who only flaunted his authority without any ability, she would have resisted him until the end.
But he had both ability and performance over authority.
Celine thought of the word ‘blessing in disguise’.
Being pushed here by office politics turned out to be a driving force for her growth.
‘And I have to make all that ability mine.’
Celine’s eyes burned with passion.
