After classes ended, Ji-Hye had invited the two of us to go eat lunch together.
We naturally accepted, but as we arrived at the cafeteria we encountered Lee Chul-Moo.
"Look at these trashes sticking together." Lee Chul-Moo commented. "We don't need your filth to affect everyone else."
"We already got it, you don't need to keep reminding us about yourself." Ji-Hye replied as she rolled her eyes.
As they were arguing about each other repeatedly, Lee Chul-Moo had suddenly brought both me and Sung-Ho into their conversation.
"At the very least you are somewhat better than the two useless parasites next to you. You should pick better people to hangout with, or it'll bring down your worth."
After hearing the comments on her friends, Ji-Hye was close to exploding and grabbed Lee Chul-Moo's collar, "I don't mind you talking badly about me, but don't bring my friends into our argument!"
Slightly flustered by Ji-Hye grabbing onto him, Lee Chul-Moo replied, "W-Who I bring into our conversation is up to me."
Before the situation became worse, Kim Hyun-Woo had arrived after getting notified that the two were fighting again.
Kim Hyun-Woo sighed, "I can't be away from you guys for more than a day before you guys start arguing again."
Instantly the two yelled out "He/S-She is the problem!"
After complaining, they both glared at each other.
Kim Hyun-Woo pulled Lee Chul-Moo into the corner of the cafeteria and talked to him.
After they talked with each other for a couple of minutes, Lee Chul-Moo started leaving, looking a little dejected.
Kim Hyun-Woo headed back towards us, and turned to both me and Sung-Ho smiling, "You guys are Ji-Hye's friends in class F right? My name is Kim Hyun-Woo."
"Nice to meet you, my name is Kim Seo-Jun."
"M-my name is Park Sung-Ho."
"I'm sorry about Chul-Moo, he may act pretty cocky and conceited, but he's a good person." Hyun-Woo explained awkwardly.
"I-It's ok, for me I'm used to comments like that so it doesn't really bother me." Sung-Ho quickly replied.
"I'm also fine." I replied as well. "Lee Chul-Moo acts like a porcupine towards others because of his family situation but doesn't truly mean what he says."
Hyun-Woo was surprised and asked. "Do you know Chul-Moo?"
Realizing what I had said I panically explained "I know some people who are close to his family, and they mentioned something about it, so I assumed being in that family caused him to be irritated."
"I see…" Ji-Hye muttered bitterly. "But even then, he would always act the same way to me when we were kids!"
I laughed awkwardly. Thankfully they seemed to have bought my excuse.
I can't mention the truth that Lee Chul-Moo acts like a tsundere and doesn't know how to be nice towards Ji-Hye because he likes her.
"I'll be leaving for the afternoon today and probably the following days." I mentioned a part of my plans to them after the conversation about Chul-Moo ended.
I need to leave and start strengthening myself up for the dungeon assessment, especially sooner rather than later, because the exact date is unknown.
"Alright, make sure you come back in time before they lock the dorms." Sung-Ho replied.
* * *
Arriving at the town, before heading to the adventurer's guild I stopped by a clothing stall.
Picking up a black cloak and a white mask, I checked my wallet to see if I had enough to pay for them.
Looking at the amount I have at the moment, I get slightly worried.
After paying for the items, I'll barely have enough to pay for the adventurer's guild administration cost, and after that I'll truly be broke…
Motivating myself with the fact that this was necessary for the future, I quickly paid and left after wearing the cloak and mask.
When entering the guild, there were various types of people there; ranging from people with a massive build to even children.
Heading towards a receptionist, there were countless people staring at me strangely, but quickly went back to their own agenda.
Perceiving their stares, I thought to myself 'it would be strange if someone is completely hiding their identity.'
When arriving in front of a receptionist, it was the npc in charge of handing out daily and weekly quests for the game.
"Welcome to Arkesia's Adventurers Guild, what can I help you with today?" she said with a smile.
I tried replying coldy in order to hide my identity, "I would like to apply to the guild."
Used to dealing with strange people, she naturally responded, "Which method would you like to apply to the guild with?"
"The first way is to automatically apply for the lowest rank: F rank after completing the basic paperwork."
"The second method is to take a test with our administrators, and you will be given a rank depending on how well you do. However this method will be more expensive compared to the first one."
Because I have low stats at the moment, it will be pointless if I do the second option and also because I'm broke, I naturally picked the first option.
"I'll apply with the first method."
Passing me a form to fill out, she mentioned "After filling out this form with your basic information, you'll need to insert your mana in this mana crystal enchanted with identification magic. The mana crystal will have no way of knowing your identity, so you don't have to be worried."
"Because each person has their own unique type of mana, we have recorded various criminals' mana into the so they can be easily detected."
When filling out the form, I decided to name myself after one of my favorite legends, Arthur Pendragon. Adding some additional basic information, I handed back the form along with the money required.
I put my hand over the mana crystal and inserted my mana into it.
The mana crystal glowed a bright blue and after a couple of seconds later the light disappeared.
"Congratulations on applying to our adventurer's guild, I hope you have a good day." She said as she handed me my ID.
I grabbed the ID and went towards the daily task bulletin board.
Scanning over the tasks I can do with my current rank, I chose the ones that gave an unknown reward.
These types of tasks are normally ignored because of the tedious tasks listed, along with the unknown reward; most people are skeptical about spending their efforts on them.
However this is important for me.
In the game, there are daily tasks given to the players, and once completed there is a chance of obtaining a key to a hidden dungeon, however the key can only be obtained once per week.
The hidden dungeon allows the players to quickly obtain various materials to upgrade their characters stats and skills.
The key can be used for different difficulties of the dungeon, however each of the dungeons are located in different areas of Arkesia.
The only thing I'm unsure about is whether or not I can get more keys after obtaining it for the first time, because this world isn't a game.
After picking out some of the tasks that are not too tedious, I grabbed them and headed towards the receptionist, accepting the requests.