Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant - Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Soon, the banshees summoned to the desktop wore dazed expressions as they faced an entirely unfamiliar situation.

Suho spoke.

“Welcome. Is this your first time on the desktop?”

“D-desktop?”

“I showed you the computer screen earlier, remember? Don’t you recall?”

“…Oh!”

At that, Gu Yeonhwa finally remembered the laptop screen she had seen before.

It had shown an unknown reception room with a huge table and sofa, and now, she realized that this place looked exactly like that.

Once Seo Giwon also connected, Suho began explaining Seo Giwon’s abilities and the leveling process that used computer viruses.

When the explanation ended, the banshees once again looked doubtful.

“You don’t believe me? I was the same at first. You know what they say—seeing is believing, so try it out yourself.”

Suho had instructed Seo Giwon in advance to prepare a mild virus.

He led the banshees to a corner of the desktop, where they had decided to call a virus file a “dungeon.”

And, unsurprisingly, inside the dungeon were—

– BbhipSwhrakuash Lv.??

– ArghSwhr%!@hrakuash Lv.??

– Kkk■Swhr※hrakuash Lv.??

…

There were virus zombies with names and levels that weren’t displayed.

The only difference was that there were fewer of them compared to the previous dungeon.

This setup was intentional.

‘This should be manageable even without me.’

Showing them the virus zombies, Suho said,

“These are virus zombies. Their levels match yours, so just take out all the ones here. Think of them as field monsters, like in a game. Ah, by the way, they don’t drop any items. They only give experience points, and there’s no boss monster, so give it your best. If you’re close to death, just escape to the entrance.”

“What about you, Team Leader?”

“I’ll be hunting in a different dungeon. If I stay here, the zombies’ levels will be strange, so focus on leveling up; the more you level, the more money you make.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Also, since we’ll be seeing each other often, get along with Giwon, too. It’d be best if you just thought of him as a banshee as well. No, let’s just say we’re all banshees from now on. Our team name will be Banshee. Good luck.”

Leaving his teammates on auto-hunt, Suho exited the dungeon and headed to a different one.

The reason he didn’t hunt with his teammates was due to the characteristic of the virus zombies, which adjusted to match the player’s level.

‘My level is significantly higher right now, so if I join, it’ll just make things harder for them.’

While it was true that defeating higher-level monsters would lead to faster leveling, Suho prioritized long-term efficiency in making this decision.

What his teammates needed now was not just leveling but also a combined sense of field experience and combat awareness.

Suho headed to another dungeon prepared nearby.

Before entering the dungeon, he checked his status window.

[ Ahn Suho ]

– Lv: 67

– Class: Healer

– Trait: New Blood

– Strength (R): 58

– Stamina (R): 29

– Magic Power (R): 29

– Senses (R): 29

– Bonus Stat: 9

There were 9 unallocated bonus stat points.

His level was also 67.

‘Spending nearly 12 hours in that mine, yet the level gain was too slow.’

But there was nothing he could do.

The Earth Keeper Kobolds’ level was too low, and experience points adjusted depending on the amount of danger the player faced.

Suho invested all the bonus stats he had gained into Strength and then entered the dungeon.

Inside, he found virus zombies of enormous size, far beyond those his teammates were dealing with.

‘I asked for a tough setup, but I didn’t expect this much.’

Although their appearance differed, the zombies’ names and status information were the same.

The proof was in the fact that—

– BbhipSwhrakuash Lv.??

– ArghSwhr%!@hrakuash Lv.??

– Kkk■Swhr※hrakuash Lv.??

…

Their name tags were still garbled like this.

Suho summoned his Blood Sword.

His goal here was to reach Level 70.

He needed to reach it to proceed to the next step.

‘Here we go.’

Suho charged toward the virus zombies.

***

[ You have leveled up. ]

[ All stats have increased by 1. ]

[ You have gained 1 bonus stat. ]

[ You have reached Level 70. ]

[ The System desires you to grow stronger. ]

[ The System gifts you with greater power. ]

Finally, he had reached Level 70.

Notifications flooded in, and after allocating all his bonus stats to Strength, Suho immediately opened his skill window.

And he could see it.

The skill that had undergone a second transformation, just like Light of Healing.

Suho checked the details of the updated skill.

[ Recovery ]

– Grade: F

# Cure A → Recovery F

# Cure, upon reaching its highest grade, has evolved into the stronger healing skill, ‘Recovery.’

# Consumes magic to rapidly heal status ailments and diseases affecting the target.

The new skill he acquired at Level 70 was called Recovery.

Cure had previously been able to treat only system-induced status effects, but now it could even treat “real” diseases unrelated to the system.

‘This is the point where healers’ value skyrockets.’

The reason was simple: Recovery could cure ailments that were difficult to treat with modern medicine, given certain conditions were met.

Achieving his initial goal, Suho left the dungeon.

Although leveling up would always be beneficial, for now, obtaining Recovery was enough.

‘Let’s see how they’re doing.’

To exit this place, he needed Seo Giwon’s help.

So he quietly went to check on his teammates who were still hunting in the dungeon.

Fortunately, his teammates were smoothly hunting zombies based on their synergy thus far.

“Hyungnim!”

Seo Giwon, noticing Suho, greeted him with a familiar nod, and everyone quickly finished up and gathered at the entrance.

They all looked unscathed.

Nodding in satisfaction, Suho said,

“You’re all doing well.”

“We’ve been working on our teamwork for a while, so handling virus zombies wasn’t too difficult. But why are you here?”

“Well, I came to request an exit since I’m done hunting.”

“Already?”

“What do you mean already? Do you even know how many hours have passed here?”

“Ah, I see.”

“If you get hungry, go out and eat on your own.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Then, Giwon, I’ll leave it to you.”

“Yes!”

The others decided to hunt a bit more before coming out, so Suho exited alone.

Thanks to Seo Giwon’s help, Suho reappeared outside, nodding as he watched his teammates sprawled on the sofa like corpses.

‘Since it’s the training room, they should be fine.’

The greatest vulnerability of digitization ability users was that their bodies remained defenseless while their consciousness was uploaded to the network.

Hence, a place like this, where safety was absolutely guaranteed, was essential.

‘Seo Giwon ultimately chose mutual destruction with Overlord because he couldn’t find Overlord’s physical body until the end.’

After securely locking the training room, Suho moved to the parking lot.

At that moment,

Bzzzz—

A call came in.

Seeing the caller, Suho quickly answered.

“Yes, senior.”

– Well, how are you, my junior? Have you eaten?

The caller was Pi Seongyeol.

Suho replied with a smile.

“Yes, I have. Did you eat too, senior?”

– I did. I’m calling because the special recruitment application was approved.

“Really?!”

– Absolutely. It’s been greenlit from above, so soon you’ll receive a letter of appreciation, followed by your recruitment as a special agent. Imagine how good it’ll look—letter of appreciation, then recruitment.

“That’s right, senior. Thank you so much for taking care of me.”

– Sure thing, no issues, right?

“Yes, thanks to your constant support, I’m doing well. Oh, by the way, what happened to those thieves we caught last time?”

– Those guys? They were sent straight to Cheongok. They got the maximum sentence, so they won’t be out for at least 15 years.

“As expected of you, senior.”

Cheongok Prison.

Ordinary criminals, especially the most heinous ones, are usually sent to Cheongsong Prison.

Cheongsong is full of brutal criminals, making the environment rough and located in a remote mountainous area with harsh facilities.

For player criminals, a correctional facility was built next to it.

This was a method of controlling rough player criminals by placing them next to ordinary criminals at Cheongsong Prison.

It proved highly effective.

When all player criminals were concentrated there, ordinary criminals, intimidated by the daily incidents, quieted down.

In turn, Cheongok Prison absorbed their brutality and turned into a true hell.

‘I wonder how long those thieves can survive in that place where only the strong endure.’

They wouldn’t die, though.

South Korea hadn’t reinstated the death penalty, and many healers were employed to ensure that inmates could serve their time.

‘Come to think of it, I’ll need to stop by Cheongok.’

Suho recalled those individuals in Cheongok Prison.

Although their status was that of convicts, he had a separate reason for seeing them.

‘I’ll visit them after my appointment.’

When the call ended, Suho checked his schedule.

With the special recruitment approved, he had less than a month left to operate as a civilian.

‘I knew time was tight, but now I’ll have to adjust the sequence.’

Suho picked up his phone and made a call.

***

Seoul, Sillim.

Suho parked his car near a café on the outskirts of Sillim and waited for someone.

After a while, a large off-road vehicle appeared, and from it emerged a familiar face.

It was Choi Yoon, a gate broker affiliated with Union.

Choi Yoon greeted him with a cheerful face.

“Suho!”

She beamed brightly.

Taking a seat, she said,

“I’ll have a strawberry frappe.”

“Can’t you pay for yourself?”

“Aren’t you here to ask me for a favor?”

“I called you to repay a favor.”

“Oh, come on, just buy me a drink! You’re loaded!”

Just then, an employee came over, setting down a strawberry frappe in front of her and saying,

“Enjoy.”

Choi Yoon blinked at the frappe in surprise and asked Suho,

“W-what is this?”

“You asked for a strawberry frappe, didn’t you?”

“B-but, how did you know?”

“I just thought you’d like it, so I ordered it.”

“…What?”

She was dumbfounded.

She hadn’t mentioned her craving for a strawberry frappe until they met, and how had he timed the drink order so perfectly?

Of course, Suho had his ways.

In the Library of Memories Suho possessed, there were records about Choi Yoon, including trivial information like her favorite foods and drinks.

The timing was just a stroke of luck.

But, unaware of this, she accepted the frappe with a look of wonder and quietly sipped it.

Suho spoke.

“Aren’t you going to thank me?”

“…Thank you very much.”

“So, what about the materials I requested?”

“Here.”

She handed Suho a file folder.

As Suho began looking through it, Choi Yoon asked,

“But why are you looking for a junkie?”

“It’s not a junkie.”

“Then what is it?”

“I’m looking for a technician.”

“A technician?”

At that moment, Suho’s gaze stopped on a specific section.

The document he was looking at was a list of users at a rehabilitation center established to help drug addicts quit, and within it, he found the name he was looking for.

‘Found it.’

The name was Nam Hae-won.

He was one of the truly exceptional blacksmiths who had made a name for himself in Suho’s past life.