Reader

Leah thought to herself as she stared at the man heavily concentrated in his book . She was certain that the reason the man was reading the book was because he wanted to increase his stats . And there was quite a high likelihood that he may believe that only the books in this place increased his stats .

‘I should tell him . ’

She agonized for a brief moment and walked towards the man .

“Excuse me . ”

She arrived in front of the man and called to him .

“…… . . ?”

Coincidentally he had just finished reading the entire book . He closed it and looked at her . His face was filled with confusion . She opened her mouth .

“This place is not the only place you can raise your stats . ”

“Excuse me?”

He answered her with a rhetorical question . His voice was filled with embarrassment . She smiled as she heard his disconcerted voice and replied .

“Your stats can be increased not only here but elsewhere as well . You only need to read a book . ”

“Okay . ”

He responded .

“……… . . ?”

This time, she was confused .

‘Why is his reaction like this?’

Different than before, the man’s voice was very calm .

* * *

‘What does this woman do?’

Soo Hyuk was considerably taken aback .

‘Why is she bringing up conversation about stats all of a sudden?’

She comes up to me abruptly and says that this place isn’t the only place you could raise your stats? That you only need to read a book for it to increase? What does she want me to do about it? What type of reaction does she want from me? He thought to himself .

‘Did she want me to be surprised?’

“I told you, you only need to read a book? Not here?”

She spoke in the meantime .

“I know that . ”

His thoughts stopped as soon as she spoke . He shook his head .

“Excuse me?”

She asked with a rhetorical question . She looked flustered .

“But why are you here then?”

It was such an obvious question .

“To read the books . ”

“…… . . the books?”

“Yes, this is a library . ”

He responded to her question as he glanced around their surroundings once and looked at her . She continued to ask questions .

“Weren’t you reading because of your stats?”

“No . ”

“…………”

She did not say a word anymore . She just stared quietly at him for a brief moment and turned around . As soon as she turned around, he opened up a book next to him and began to read .

Swish

[Wisdom has increased by 1 . ]

Shortly, he read the entire book and closed it .

‘Did she leave?’

After he checked his message, he looked around the inside of the library . The girl was nowhere to be found . It seemed like she left .

‘Oh well, it would’ve been different if this place was the only place you could raise your stats . ’

If this place were the only place you could increase your stats, then the girl would’ve stayed .

Rustle

He stood up from his seat . He thought to himself as he began to head towards the bookcase to get a new book .

‘I wonder how long it’s going to take . ’

He was very curious as to how long it would take to read all of the books that were inside of the library .

* * *

“Ah, it’s finally graduation . ”

Yeon Joong’s voice was filled with regret as he mumbled to himself .

“You waited for this moment so much, why are you being like that? Do you regret it?”

Soo Hyuk asked .

“More than regret, I guess you could say something feels empty?”

He wanted graduation to come so badly . However, when graduation was actually over, there was some type of hollowness .

“Yeah?”

“You don’t feel anything?”

He asked Soo Hyuk .

“Umm… . . ”

Soo Hyuk murmured to himself as he pondered . He soon finished his thoughts and opened his mouth .

“I feel slightly regretful that I won’t be able to access the library . But besides that, not really?”

He was also regretful . Though, that regret was only because of the library . With his graduation, it was now impossible to access it .

Technically, it wasn’t actually impossible . However, in order to utilize the library, he would have to go to school? Time was too precious .

‘During that time, it would be better to access Pangaea . ’

He now had Pangaea . Inside Pangaea, there were still new books that were unread . It would be more efficient to connect to Pangaea and read the books in there than to waste time going to the library .

“Welcome!”

“Hello . ”

“Let’s sit here . ”

Shortly, Soo Hyuk and Yeon Joong arrived at a Chinese restaurant and greeted the owner as they grabbed a seat .

“What are you going to eat?”

After they sat down, they went directly into menu selection .

“Jjambbong, you?”

“I’m going to get Jjajangmyun! Graduation = Jjajangmyun . ”

Soo Hyuk chose Jjambbong and Yeon Joong chose Jjajangmyun . Once they finished deciding, Yeon Joong shouted .

“Boss! We’ll order! Can we get one jjambbong and one jjajangmyun! Please give us steamed dumplings as well!”

“Okay!”

Their order was completed with the owner’s response .

Yeon Joong stared directly at Soo Hyuk and asked .

“Where are you at?”

“…… . . ?”

Soo Hyuk frowned only one side of his eyebrow as he was taken aback at such a random question . What do you mean where am I at? Am I not at the Chinese restaurant?

“Pangaea . ”

“Oh~”

He exclaimed . He wondered as to what Yeon Joong was talking about, but it was about Pangaea .

“Me, well I’m at the library, like always . ”

He replied to Yeon Joong .

“What?”

Yeon Joong was confused as he responded with a counter-question .

“You’re still at the library?”

He cross-questioned because Soo Hyuk was still at the library .

“Hey, aren’t you staying there too long? A month and a half has already passed . By any chance, you’re not planning on continuing to stay there right?”

Pangaea opened on 12/31 . Today’s graduation date was 2/15 . A month and a half had already passed . But he was still at the library?

“There are still books that I haven’t read . ”

He had read many, many books . However, he did not read all of the books inside the library . There were still books that sparkled in there .

“You’re going to leave after you’ve read all of the books?”

“Yup . ”

Soo Hyuk shook his head . The day he leaves the beginning town of ‘Oren’ is when he would’ve read the entire books inside the library .

As they were conversing, the foods that were ordered came out .

“Where are you planning on going after? Have you even decided on that?”

Yeon Joong asked as he grabbed a steamed dumpling .

“I’m thinking of going to Matab . ”

Soo Hyuk replied as he began taking out mussel shells that were in his Jjambbong .

“Are you trying to become a Magician?”

“Yup . ”

“Then instead of Matab, shouldn’t you go somewhere else?”

Many users whom chose the path of a Magician headed towards Matab . And a very small minority of users headed towards a different empire and kingdom .

However, it was informed that as time passed, it was much better to start from a different nation than to start at Matab .

“They say that not only with promoting, but that the NPCs’ personalities are insane?”

It was not only one or two things that came out . The rate of promotion was bad, treatment was bad; it was better to go to a different nation than Matab in almost every aspect .

“They don’t even let you speak to them because your level’s low . ”

They would do that because Matab had plenty of Magicians . On top of that, the majority of the NPCs in Matab were exceptional Wizards .

There would be no reason for them to treat noob users that just entered into magic kindly . Plus, wasn’t it overcrowded with users?

“There’s a reason I have to go to Matab . ”

Soo Hyuk replied . Promotion? Treatment? He didn’t care for those . There was only one reason he had to go to Matab .

“Reason?”

Yeon Joong asked .

“Don’t tell me, it’s not because of the library, is it?”

“You’re correct . ”

Soo Hyuk responded as he ran his chopsticks through his Jjambbong .

‘Did I take all of them out?’

He couldn’t see any more of the mussel shells . He inhaled a handful of Jjambbong .

‘Wow . ’

He was filled with admiration .

‘It tastes good . ’

The level of spicy-ness was exactly how he liked it .

‘Would they be able to deliver to my house?’

He thought of the distance between his house and the Chinese restaurant .

‘I should ask when I leave . ’

It was a somewhat vague distance . He ended his thoughts as he decided to ask when he left . He then looked at Yeon Joong .

“…… . . ?”

He had no choice but to wonder as he saw Yeon Joong . Yeon Joong would’ve done the same thing, as he was currently holding a steamed dumpling and just staring at Soo Hyuk .

“What are you doing?”

Soo Hyuk asked .

“……… . . ”

Yeon Joong placed the steamed dumpling in his mouth . And as he began chewing on his dumpling, he replied .

“Did you, by any chance, start the game to read books?”

“Yup . ”

Soo Hyuk responded as he stretched out his chopsticks towards the dumplings . It was not only because of the books . However, the biggest reason he began Pangaea was because of the books .

The cost was way cheaper to read books inside Pangaea than it was to read books in reality . He would be able to read new books infinitely inside of Pangaea .

“Are you going to continue to only read books?”

Yeon Joong asked .

“No . ”

Soo Hyuk shook his head .

“I’m going to catch monsters and complete quests . ”

He was not thinking of only reading books . He planned on catching monsters and completing quests . Of course there was a reason he wanted to catch monsters and complete quests .

‘In order to fulfill the qualifications . ’

Eventually, he was going to finish reading all of the books in Matab’s library . In order to read new books, he would need to go to a new library . Just like the conditions to become a Magician in order to utilize Matab’s library, there would also be conditions in order to access different libraries .

To satisfy these qualifications, he needed to grow his character by catching monsters and completing quests . That was the only reason why he wanted to catch monsters and break quests .

“Oh yeah?”

Yeon Joong shook his head as he spoke .

“Then let me know when you need help . I, a Mid-Ranker will help you out!”

Although he started Pangaea a little later than Soo Hyuk, he devoted all of his efforts into growing his character .

All of his efforts made his ranking quite high . Even though his name wasn’t within the 1000th rankings they called Ranker, his name was up in the 3000th ranking they called Mid-Ranker .

You could say that help from a Mid-Ranker would be colossal . Also, if you thought of the level Soo Hyuk was, nothing would be impossible .

“Okay, I’ll certainly remember that you said you’d help . ”

Soo Hyuk smiled as he replied .