“Interesting. You purposely messed up your college scholastic ability test to feel less burdened,” said Eunhye.

“What?”

Yongno was surprised by her unexpected remark, but Eunhye merely stared at him with her usual expressionless face.

After a moment of silence, Eunhye shrugged, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. It’s actually none of my business.”

“Um, hold on, Eunhye, my scores were low because I didn’t study hard enough,” Yongno replied.

“It wouldn’t have made a difference even if you studied, right?”

“What are you talking about?” Yongno was bewildered.

Yet, Eunhye gestured for him to stop talking. She didn’t look interested in his excuses. “I’m not here because of the test results. Although, they are a bit relevant.”

“Then, is there a reason you came here?”

“Do I ever visit you without reason?”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Eunhye and Yongno lived in neighboring apartments on the same floor, with both of them living in units 301 and 301, respectively. Their units were only about three meters from each other, but she would only visit two or three times a year when she had a reason to do so. In fact, Eunhye was a busy bee; she never wasted her time.

‘Pfft, I guess that’s how she maintains excellent grades and test scores even when she’s a national taekwondo athlete.’

Eunhye wasn’t too talkative, but she had some short conversations with Yongno, so people often thought that the two were dating. However, Yongno thought this was entirely unreasonable because, in his eyes, Eunhye wasn’t just an Ice Princess but an Ice Queen.

‘She’s pretty, though….’

As a disciplined individual who exercised frequently, Eunhye boasted a slim, toned, and gorgeous body with flawless skin. She wasn’t unrealistically beautiful like Mari, but she looked more like a celebrity or supermodel rather than an athlete. If she won a medal in a national competition or the Olympics, she would definitely receive a lot of attention from the media despite her reticent personality.

“What are you thinking about?” asked Eunhye.

“Nothing. Anyway, tell me why you’re here. If it’s about the test scores, are you trying to introduce me to some cram schools?”

“No way. Why would I do something so useless?”

Even if he was under academic pressure, Yongno had no desire to study hard. Besides, it didn’t matter how many acclaimed private tutors he had, as it would only waste their time.

Eunhye visited Yongno for something else. “I came to ask if you’re willing to get into archery again.”

“...”

Yongno’s face instantly stiffened, but he quickly found peace of mind. He smiled and replied, “Come on, stop joking.”

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

“Of course not, but how can I take that question seriously? Did you already forget how humiliated I was?” Yongno felt a bit provoked.

Yet, Eunhye replied nonchalantly, “You’re quite talented, though.”

Yongno hated hearing those words the most. People often praised how talented he was, but they eventually ended up disappointed and started blaming him.

Yongno warned, “Oh, Eunhye, let me make things clear again-”

“I’m sorry.” Eunhye lowered her head.

Yongno was perplexed by her quick apology. “What?” he murmured.

“I’m sorry. It was just a slip of the tongue, but I hope you’ll reconsider. You can do it as a hobby. If you hate using a bow, why don’t you swim then? You can start anything you want and end up winning a medal in the Olympics.”

“Win a medal in the Olympics?”

“If you compete, it’s definitely possible,” Eunhye said. ‘Although, if you choose to swim, you need time to build strength, so it’s better to be an archer again.’ However, she left those words unspoken since she was already being more talkative than normal.

Yongno gave a bewildered smile. “Haha, come on, you’re really overestimating my skills.” He waved his hand and tried to be overly chatty, but he broke out in a cold sweat when he saw her determined look. Still, he couldn’t accept such a ridiculous suggestion.

“...”

“...”

“...”

After a minute of silence, Eunhye stood from her seat. “Alright, I can’t force you if you truly hate it.”

“Awesome! Good decision,” Yongno replied excitedly, but he hesitated at her cold stare. He stammered as he asked, “Why… are you scowling at me?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are; you definitely scowled….”

“I’m leaving.” Then, she headed to the front door.

Yongno was surprised to see her suddenly leave, so he got up from his chair before something hit him on the head. It was the ice cream stick.

“Thanks for the popsicle,” Eunhye said. Then, she left the house.

Yongno looked toward the closed front door with a blank stare, heaving a sigh. “I feel a little sorry for her. It must have been hard to come here and talk about such a thing.”

Alas, there were no other choices in the matter. Yongno wasn’t sure if he could properly draw a bow now. Even thinking about the idea made it hard to breathe.

“Eh… hold on.”

Suddenly, Yongno realized that he had been swimming every day in DIO. Previously, he couldn’t even go into his bathtub.

“Then, let’s experiment. It’s been a while since I took a bath.”

Yongno quickly took off his clothes and turned on the tap. It’d been a week since he last showered, so he thoroughly washed himself. After he was done, he stood in front of the filled bathtub for an experiment.

“Okay… now I’ll soak in the bath. I’m not scared….” Yongno muttered, stepping into the tub. He clenched his teeth and took a deep breath. The hot water felt cold on his legs, but thankfully, he wasn’t too afraid.

Splash.

He sank into the tub, his head kept above the water’s surface.

“Whoa, it works! I can finally take a real bath, right?” Yongno smiled in joy. Next, he attempted to put his head under the water. Then….

Gurgle.

He nearly passed out.

SPLASH!

Yongno jumped out of the tub and slipped on the floor with a loud thud. Regardless of the pain in his shoulders and ribs, Yongno gasped for breath and shrieked, “I almost… almost… died! How could someone almost drown in his own bathtub?!”

Then, he drained the tub in annoyance. In the meantime, all he could do was take a deep breath. He did this for ten minutes before he finally recovered from his shock.

“Huff! Puff! D*mn it! How could I drown in my bathtub when I dive to depths of five hundred meters in DIO? Even if it’s reality versus a game, this discrepancy is still too massive!”

Gasping, Yongno got up from the floor and put on his clothes. It only took about half an hour to fill the tub with water and take a bath, but he was too exhausted now.

“Ugh, this is hard… Let’s just log into DIO. Since I’ve used the bathroom, eaten, and taken a shower, I don’t think I have anything else left to do now,” he mumbled.

Then, Yongno approached his computer and ran DIO. With this done, he laid on the bed beside his desk, connecting the earphones to the speaker. He would be playing the game for extended periods of time, so he decided to lie down rather than sit on the chair.

/In the beginning, I felt sorrow…./

Yongno turned off the monitor and wore the pair of earphones before adjusting his sleeping position.

/For I had nothing that I desired…./

He pulled the blanket up to his chin. It might look like he was trying to fall asleep while listening to music, but he was preparing to log into the game.

/Still, I wish and hope…./

“Indeed, I’m being a real nerd- no, a real loser,” grumbled Yongno, closing his eyes. Then, the voice from the earphone reached the climax of its speech.

/Here I am trying to create a new world…./

Yongno was now logged into the game.

/You shall be free here and now./

***Dangerous Zone***

It had been seven days since Yongno started playing DIO, which was equivalent to approximately forty days in the game. Yet, Yongno was still in the basic quest of [Transportation].

He was currently a Level 1 user, the lowest rank in DIO. In order to reach Level 2, he had to clear the fundamental missions. However, he had high stats and considerable skills since he was a genius and had been playing the game for over forty days.

Yongno trained his swimming skills up to Rank 2, but he didn’t gain any new special abilities. After users improved their skills, they could only gain more special abilities and titles when they reached the Master Rank or any odd-numbered rank, such as Rank 7, Rank 5, Rank 3, and Rank 1. Users also referred to the Master Rank as Rank A, also known as the ‘letter rank.’ However, the users’ current special abilities could continue progressing. In Yongno’s case, he could dive semi-permanently with a single breath of air.

His next highest skill after Swimming was Enhanced Eyesight, which had just reached Rank 3. Yongno could earn the title of ‘Hawk's Eye’ and the See-Through Ability from it, but he didn’t feel too pleased by this. The title of Hawk’s Eye wasn’t bad, but to Yongno, Master-Level Swimmer was superior since it reduced the Stamina consumption rate by 40 percent while diving. In addition, the See-Through Ability was also useless when underwater.

He tried to experiment with it to check if he could see through Mari’s clothes, but it didn’t work. Perhaps she was defending herself with some magic power.

‘If I can’t see through objects with this ability, where should I use it?’

On the other hand, Night Vision Eyes and Aura Vision were incredibly beneficial. With Night Vision Eyes, Yongno could see every detail of the terrain in the pitch-black deep sea. When utilizing Aura Vision, he could read the aura of organisms so he could easily find and hunt fish and clams hiding behind rocks and sea plants.

His primary weapon was currently the Great Strength Vajra Hand, which he learned from Mari. Its force was overwhelming. Plus, ever since Yongno opened the first realm of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique, the power of his Hand Skill doubled, and it required less internal martial arts to perform a strong attack.

And as he kept operating the Great Strength Vajra Hand, his Hand Skill improved further, nearing the mastery level of Rank 4. As a result, Yongno earned the special abilities of Emanation and Condensation. The former skill raised the output of the Hand Skill, and the latter instantly slowed the internal force to amplify its power.

Yongno seldom used the Hand Skill. In order to protect the beginner-level users in the basic quest, DIO’s system replaced all the monsters with non-aggressive ones who didn’t kill the users on sight. Thus, Yongno couldn’t ‘battle’ them at all.

However, users couldn’t level up simply by using skills frequently. They had to go through DIO’s level tests and be capable of upgrading their skills’ rank.