The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage-Chapter 389

3.

Before a week had even passed since the Demon King’s backup parties entered Mugan, the dinner where it all began wrapped up without incident.

"Wow, it’s been ages since I’ve had a meal that good."

"If Mom hears you say that, she’s going to be upset."

"Ah—no, I meant it’s been a while since we ate out this well."

There was an unspoken pressure not to tell their mom.

Seong snorted and looked at Yu Mina, and Mina pleaded like she was begging for mercy.

"Please."

"Hmm, I’ll think about it."

"Ah! If Mom sulks, it lasts a month!!!"

At the siblings’ exchange, both An Yu-bin and Lee Geon-dong couldn’t help being a little shocked.

Out in public, Mina always looked proud and chilly—seeing her fall apart like that!

Siblings will be siblings, huh?

Anyway, after finishing a satisfying meal, they stepped outside and went ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) into a nearby café to talk about the site visit.

Rapid Guild’s guild master, An Yoo-jin, wasn’t there, but they could just notify her after the fact.

"Hmm, tomorrow? The day after? What works?"

"You’re planning to go while construction’s still ongoing?"

"Well, that’s probably best."

"Mm, I think so too."

All four agreed it’d be better to move in after Seong’s home remodeling was done, so while the talk first leaned toward "let’s just go today," Mina checked everyone’s schedules, and they settled on the day after tomorrow.

Naturally, they informed An Yoo-jin in a simple, perfunctory way.

Headcount: the four here plus An Yoo-jin—five total.

At first, Seong wondered if it was okay with only two men going.

But since no one seemed to care, he didn’t overthink it.

Anyway, once they’d sketched the plan, they agreed to meet then, stood up, exchanged goodbyes, and split up.

As Seong headed home with Lee Geon-dong, he stretched lightly and said,

"Whew, I feel weirdly tired."

"Haha, we did have a meeting."

"Right. I’m fine with physical stuff now, but just sitting makes me stiff. Maybe because I started working out?" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

When Seong said it’d gotten more like that since he began exercising, Lee Geon-dong shot him a sharp look, then stared at him like genuinely annoyed.

Seeing that, Seong asked, like, what’s up?

"Why?"

"Haah, shouldn’t good-looking guys be banned from working out?"

Lee Geon-dong said that, then pinched his own side; feeling the soft flesh, he winced.

Before he started video editing, he’d gone to the gym pretty regularly.

But once work got busy, he went less; he could really feel the muscles had gone.

Seong smirked at that and said,

"Hit the gym with me while you’re here."

"Hmmm, I should. Even after you go back home—since it’s close, we can go together."

"Oh, that works too."

Working out is good if you do it.

So, since they were already out, Lee Geon-dong signed up at the gym, then went home and slept soundly.

4.

A day passed after Seong first joined up, and when the next day came—

Mihael couldn’t help but have mixed feelings.

Normally, even clearing one floor in a day was considered fast.

Floor 71 had been doable quickly since Mansik’s party had posted a strat; Mihael’s target had been Floor 72, but they pushed past that, hit a shortcut up to 73, then smashed 73 and 74 and reached 75 in one go.

It was a pace that was hard to even process.

Usually, below B60, clears slowed down a lot.

The difficulty ramped up, and the monsters got stronger.

After B60, Mihael’s party’s record had been two floors in a day.

Sometimes they couldn’t even clear one; so this result hit like a shock.

‘Yuseong is incredible.’

Above all else, Yuseong’s utility was huge.

He could enchant, and he hunted while freely manipulating beams.

That naturally sped up their mobility.

The pace did slow a bit by Floor 74, but it was still fast.

If luck held, he figured they might reach 76 today too.

Meanwhile, Cheongwi’s party had reached 77.

They were nearly one floor apart.

While Mihael was steeling his resolve like that, he saw Seong enter the party’s base.

"Oh! Yuseong! You’re here!"

"Oh, welcome!"

"Oh, you made it."

Mihael greeted him right away.

Rowell and Noiren welcomed Seong too.

But when Seong looked at the three with a slightly awkward expression, Mihael’s face drained in an instant.

Mouth hanging open like his soul was being sucked out, Mihael heard Seong say, carefully:

"I haven’t been with you long, so I’m sorry to bring this up, but—may I ask something?"

"...Y-yes. Yes, of course."

Gulp.

Mihael’s swallow felt like it echoed through the whole base.

Seong didn’t pay it much mind and said,

"Would it be okay if I took tomorrow and the day after off? Something came up."

"Eh? Ah—ahhh!!! Ah! Of course!"

"Whew..."

"Whooo...."

Color returned to Mihael’s face, and Rowell and Noiren both let out sighs of relief.

After yesterday’s run, they’d thought he was going to say the skill gap didn’t match and he was leaving.

Thank the heavens he wasn’t.

Seong did find the party’s reaction a bit odd, but since they granted leave, he felt at ease.

At the same time—

[Seong—Tomorrow works.]

[Luna—Great. I’ve told them too.]

[Yuna—I’m good anytime.]

With that, the two confirmed it, and Seong snorted at the message from the person who’d been hastily invited yesterday.

[Rapid—You two are relentless... planning a site visit without the guild master?]

[Luna—Bosses don’t usually go; employees do. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?]

Sensing that Rapid might get iced out if she kept pushing, Rapid quickly changed her tune.

[Rapid—Well, a break wouldn’t hurt anyway.]

After the guild event, inquiries had poured in.

Rapid had been moving busily, but clearing a two-day, one-night slot would make for a nice rest.

More importantly—

[Yuna—Geon-dong’s coming too, right?]

[Geon-dong—Ahem, noona....]

[Rapid—Anyway, see you all tomorrow morning.]

Watching the conversation wrap up in a rush, Seong closed the group chat.

In any case, they were going tomorrow; today, he needed to focus on today’s work.

Pulling himself together, Seong joined Mihael’s party meeting.

Joined—though he mostly just watched.

Seeing Seong sit quietly and take in the meeting—

"Hmmm, I don’t think Floor 75 will be easy."

"Yeah, Cheongwi’s party spent three days on 75."

"If it’s that hard, we might not clear it today."

"Cheongwi’s party took a day each for 73 and 74. Thinking about that, we should assume clearing 75 today might be out of reach."

Hearing that the other party had taken three whole days shocked Seong a bit.

Right, Mugan wasn’t just about stronger monsters taking longer to kill—there were labyrinthine traps or cases where doors only appeared after meeting special conditions, so it was natural to take time.

Even with a map, Seong didn’t have a magazine that let him head straight to the next door.

He could only get a rough sense of what each floor was and what hidden elements existed.

So he had no choice but to follow the party that had been tackling the strat so far.

On top of that—

"We should factor in that Mansik’s party cleared 74."

"Well, since we’re streaming, it can’t be helped."

"But giving up the stream isn’t an option—the revenue’s big...."

As they said that, Seong nodded too.

They couldn’t imagine it, but even just turning on a stream could bring in billions for Seong; he could relate.

Of course, for them it was just shy of a hundred million a month, so the gap was considerable.

Anyway, after discussing it, they concluded the floor strat was what it was; then they shifted to talk about the stream.

"Hmm, donations are popping this stream; revenue’s above average...."

"We should distribute most of that to Yuseong; that bump’s thanks to him."

"I agree."

As they talked about giving most of the stream income to Seong—

He was startled at the number.

It was less than he expected—and they still wanted to hand most of it to him?

‘That’s not right.’

Seong had been making plenty of money already.

There was no need to accept all of it.

Sure, it was true the stream had grown and earned more thanks to him, but he didn’t think he needed to take that much extra; he quickly waved it off.

"No, that’s okay."

"Sorry?"

"Just split the stream revenue evenly for me."

Honestly, he wanted to refuse the revenue entirely.

He’d even thought they deserved at least that much for bus-driving him down to the deep layers.

But if he refused everything, they would never accept it; and an even split would be more than enough, so he said this.

When Seong said that, Mihael mulled it over, then nodded.

"Understood. Then we’ll split evenly, but any donations directed to you go to you. How about that?"

"Hmmm. That’s fine."

He kind of wanted to refuse that too.

But since it was their good will, Seong nodded.

On Mihael’s end, he just wanted to keep Seong however he could, even like this.

They’d only agreed to stick together until they reached the deep layers this time; it was a shame for after that, but it couldn’t be helped. At least until then, he wanted to keep him, hence the proposal.

Once both sides reached a satisfying point, the meeting wrapped quickly.

Regarding the stream, from Seong’s perspective, Mihael was like a god, so that’s how it went.

When the discussion shifted to how to structure the stream and where to take it, most of it flowed from Mihael.

They were strong enough to broadcast on pure skill, and they added entertainment on top; no wonder they had such presence even as a small, non-guild channel.

Only after hearing them out did Seong nod.

"Then let’s go with that. Shall we head into Mugan and fire up the stream?"

At that, every party member stood, and Seong rose too, looking amused.

Then a thought flickered through Seong’s mind.

When should he say he was the Demon King? That kind of thought.

Thinking about it, he hadn’t been exposed yet, but in his mind it was only a matter of time.

Quite a few people knew he was the Demon King, and no matter how close they all were, it could spread.

But Seong shrugged—he could do it later.

There was no need to bring it up today.