Suji’s living space had quite a few rooms, and Elaine spent several days there playing games.

At first, Elaine seemed awkward just playing games, but gradually became more skilled as she played all the two-player games Suji wanted to play together.

The two of them were truly a formidable duo. After all, their excellent reflexes, dynamic vision, and judgment skills usually displayed when hunting monsters didn’t just disappear. They were even good at finding their way.

In less than a week, they conquered numerous games in no time.

“Hahaha, Elaine, aren’t you farming items?”

“I can win without farming.”

“You’ll die if you get hit once, though?”

“Then I just won’t get hit even once. Besides, Team Leader, you haven’t picked up a single piece of armor since the game started either.”

“Haha. Well, that’s because I won’t get hit even once either, right?”

This kind of conversation was everyday.

Not only were they good at games, but they were also good at concentrating and delving deeply into one thing, so they played games like crazy except for sleeping and eating times.

“You’re not reading any of the text right now, are you?”

“I’m reading all of it.”

“Then what did the NPC we just passed say?”

“Pupuringku?”

“Ahahahaha.”

Hearing Elaine’s voice seriously reproducing the text, Suji rolled around on the mattress, even putting down her controller. Originally, it’s funnier when a serious person does this kind of thing rather than someone who often acts funny.

“Haha. Haha. Haaa.”

As Suji’s laughter subsided a bit, Elaine glanced at the monitor with the paused screen and said to her:

“Are we going to continue?”

“Ah, that’s really too funny. The game, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Are you bored?”

“No, I’ll play if you want to. I’m just asking.”

It was a gentle tone. Suji tidied her messy lavender hair strewn across the bed and sat calmly, looking at Elaine.

For someone who said she’d play if asked, she was asking that question quite often. Though she was being obedient.

It seemed she was worried about just fooling around and eating like this.

Suji understood the concern, but it was still too early.

There were still many things she wanted to try.

She hadn’t even cleared half of her checklist yet.

After working for years without rest together, surrendering after just a week of play – Elaine was quite weak too. Her workaholic tendencies might be even worse than Suji’s.

Suji smiled brightly.

“Are you getting tired of two-player games?”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“There are tons of four-player games too, you know.”

Suji looked at Elaine’s neat face, which seemed not to have expected that, and suddenly glanced out the window.

A clump of weeds that wouldn’t be visible to normal human eyes could be seen at a distance.

“And most of all, when guests come, I think we can show them something interesting.”

“Something interesting… What’s that?”

“Do you know about the ‘Great Beings’?”

Elaine turned to look at Suji with wide eyes. She laughed softly at Elaine and said she’d explain everything later, then picked up her pad to summon the other two team members.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Wow, they say men and women shouldn’t sit together after age seven. You two spent a week alone?”

“Calling Elaine first. I’m really disappointed, Team Leader.”

“Wow, I’ve really wasted my life.”

“Peace was busy taking care of the baby. I was free!”

“No, Saint was busier! There were rumors spreading that he visited the Hunter headquarters every day.”

“I wasn’t busy at all! I had more than enough time to play games with the Team Leader!”

“I was even less busy! My kids went on an overseas training! Damn, do you know the sorrow of a goose father?”

These two respectable Hunters, ranked within the top 10 in South Korea, started complaining as soon as they arrived and heard about Elaine and Suji’s story.

Suji had never thought they would feel upset about this, so she apologized while scratching her cheek.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t contact you first, Elaine sent an email and as I was replying, somehow it turned out like this.”

“Elaine did? Wow, I didn’t see that coming.”

“Elaine! That’s really sneaky! I wanted to contact her too, but I stayed quiet to let the Team Leader rest!”

Peace and Saint got along well.

But Elaine was Elaine. No matter how fiercely Peace and Saint criticized her, she responded without even raising an eyebrow.

“I just delivered information.”

“Wow… Miss Elaine is a fox.”

“That’s right. She’s a player.”

Suji’s eyes widened.

Elaine had quite a few modifiers attached to her, but this was the first time she heard ‘fox’. She remembered her fan cafe name was something like ‘Wolf’s Foot Wiper’. If she’s a wolf, why a fox?

“Fox? Player? Why is Elaine a fox?”

Peace and Saint, who still seemed upset, glanced at each other with a somewhat flustered look at Suji’s question and then shut their mouths.

“…It’s nothing. Ugh, we said something unnecessary.”

“We’re just grateful that you called us even now.”

“Didn’t you say you had something to show us?”

“That’s right. What is it?”

Something seems off, like they’re changing the subject.

Suji tilted her head in confusion but didn’t think too deeply about it and went out to the middle of a field near the house.

Then she touched her muted status window to change the visibility settings so that others could see her system log. And then.

Ding!

[Νύμφη questions your action.] [νόμος shows interest in your action.]

As if they had been waiting for that moment, notification windows popped up again.

‘Oh? One more has joined.’

Saint and Peace froze on the spot after reading that phrase, and Elaine also narrowed her eyes and stared at the same phrase for a long time.

“W-what is this?”

“…What is this, Team Leader?”

“This is…”

Seeing her colleagues much more surprised than she had expected, Suji recalled the status of the ‘Great Beings’ among Hunters.

“Huff, huff, I’m even breathing carefully right now. Could this be the ‘Great Beings’? I heard that’s the only thing that appears in a different language when it shows up in the status window.”

Saint whispered, lowering his voice considerably.

“Why are you whispering?”

“Aren’t the ‘Great Beings’ watching us right now? I’m too nervous!”

“Well, if you think about it that way, I guess so…”

As Suji casually shrugged her shoulders, Peace also asked in a small voice for some reason.

“Since when has this been appearing? Did you hear the voices of the ‘Great Beings’ while climbing the tower? Good heavens. And you didn’t tell us?”

“No. It’s not like that.”

Not just the two of them, but even Elaine, who had received a rough hint beforehand, looked at the status window’s text and Suji alternately with surprised eyes before speaking.

“…If it didn’t appear in the tower, why is it appearing now? We’ve done nothing but play games all this time.”

Suji scratched her head.

“Ah, actually, this started appearing before I played games with Elaine, but it was too noisy, so I muted it…”

The three Hunters stared at Suji, even more surprised than when they first saw the status window, at her following words. Reading the bewilderment and reproach mixed in their gazes, she let out a small cough.

“You muted the ‘Great Beings’ just now?”

“…Team Leader? Did you just mute the event that every Hunter wants to experience at least once in their lifetime? You’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking.”

Suji smiled awkwardly.

“When you put it that way, it sounds like I did something really strange, but if you hear the whole story, you’ll all understand.”

So Suji explained the process of receiving this quest while showing everyone photos of the original state of this place.

They were surprised first by the fact that it was Suji who had cleared all the weeds in this vast area, and secondly, after receiving a share of her quest window, they froze in place once more.

“…So, Team Leader. You’re saying that the ‘Great Beings’ offered a reward, but you ignored it and have been playing games for a week, falling for that foxy Elaine’s temptation?”

“Don’t say it like that.”

“Hey, Elaine, you…”

“I didn’t know about this situation either.”

Saint quickly shook Suji’s arm.

“Quickly complete the quest and receive the reward now. I’m so curious… People who have met the ‘Great Beings’ all praise it, saying it was an experience they could never have again. Might there be some hint about the other world or the gates?”

Suji pondered for a moment while looking at the quest window.

[Weed Removal Lv.4 (Final)

(9,999,999/10,000,000

Reward: 30G, Νύμφη’s Stone, Νύμφη’s Breath, Νύμφη’s Five-colored Stone]

In that short time, the reward had increased again.

‘It feels like I’m looking at a goose that lays golden eggs.’

If left alone, the reward might increase even more, but if a person gets too greedy, even things that should work out don’t.

And above all, it’s ridiculous to try to obtain something great as a reward for just a weed removal quest.

It seemed cleaner to just quickly receive it and get it over with.

“Okay, I’ll do it now.”

Suji steeled herself and opened her inventory.