NOVEL WEB Chapter 174: 174
"Se-hee, I need to discuss something with you."
There were no classes on the first day of school, so after sorting through the quests, I immediately went to find Shin Se-hee.
Shin Se-hee's workplace was the hideout near the Academy, the very building she had given me as a gift.
"Ah? Yes, come in."
She was examining documents spread out on a large desk, but when I entered, she put down her pen.
Behind her, Lee Min-young stood stiffly, as if she were already a loyal subordinate.
'Come to think of it, didn't she say she was going to be Se-hee's intern?'
I had forgotten about Lee Min-young as I spent the vacation with the party members, but the fact that she was sticking close to Se-hee as soon as school started indicated that they had been in close contact during the break.
'...It's really fascinating every time I see them. They're complete opposites, so how did they end up together?'
As I stared at Lee Min-young, curious, her face gradually turned bright red.
"Ahem! Jin Yuha, didn't you come to see me?"
Shin Se-hee cleared her throat to get my attention.
"Oh, sorry. Yeah, now that the second semester has started, we can take on quests, right?"
At that, Shin Se-hee nodded, understanding what I wanted to discuss.
"Ah, yes. Utopia Party was formed first, but we haven't been able to take on quests separately. So, we've only been able to explore the open dungeons."
Shin Se-hee took a thick file from the pile of papers next to her and held it up.
"I've already listed and organized the quests we can take."
I was surprised as I flipped through the papers she handed me.
'How did she manage to organize all this so quickly after the start of the semester?'
The document was a table of quests currently available to the Utopia Party, with a simple star rating and evaluation system for easy reference.
It was even more user-friendly than the mission interface in the game.
'Competent…'
Shin Se-hee smiled with a sense of satisfaction, seeing my surprised expression.
"First of all, the quest I personally recommend for Utopia's first quest is a monster extermination quest from the United States."
"The United States?"
The Velvet Hunter Academy, living up to its reputation as the world's top academy, receives requests not only from within the country but also from all over the world.
Monsters and beasts appear in other countries as well, and rat-like demon bastards hide regardless of nationality.
Of course, other countries would prefer to solve their problems with their own hunters, as owing a debt to a foreign country is not a welcome situation.
But the world doesn't always work out so conveniently.
The number of hunters is always insufficient compared to the incidents that pop up, and unmanageable gates tend to appear out of the blue.
I nodded as I listened to Shin Se-hee's words.
"Hmm, that's true… The monster extermination quest in the US is quite efficient."
"Yes, it's a government agency's request, and the reward and the level of the monsters are just right for us."
"Hmm, then maybe we can make that our second quest. Or someone might take it before we get to it. It's a pretty good quest."
"...Huh? Second? Do you have another quest in mind for the first one?"
"Yeah, there's a quest that we can only take right now."
I had to flip through the papers for a while before I found the quest I had in mind.
☐ Insomnia Solution Quest.
Every night, I hear strange sounds in my head. Please help me get rid of my insomnia.
Location: Jukai Forest, Japan.
Type: Personal Quest.
Reward: 100,000 yen.
Success Condition: Satisfactory Sleep.
Note: The identity of the quest giver is unknown.
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ [Lowest]
Overall Evaluation: The lowest-rated quest. Insufficient context, unclear identity of the quest giver. If the quest giver raises complaints later, there is no recourse. The reward is negligible compared to the effort required, a typical troublesome quest.
(What do you mean by the success condition being 'satisfactory sleep'? Should I knock them out with a blow to the head? ༼ ᕤ◕◡◕ ༽=ᕤ Thwack!)
I burst out laughing at Shin Se-hee's handwritten addendum, and her face turned bright red as she realized which quest I had chosen.
"Y-you're really going to take that quest?"
She quickly added, perhaps to draw attention away from her comment, "Do you really mean to take that quest as our first one?"
"Yeah, let's take this as our first quest."
I looked down at the quest paper with a satisfied smile.
'This is a mistake quest.'
In Velvets, the mission window opens at the start of the second semester, allowing players to choose quests.
Among them are occasionally 'mistake quests'.
What can I say?
It's a trap for newbies who, after thousands of rerolls, end up with amazing characters and are brimming with confidence, thinking they can take on all the quests in the mission window.
In other words, it's a quest with a ridiculously high difficulty level for its rating!
'But for Velvets veterans, these mistake quests were actually honey.'
The higher the difficulty, the more the reward exceeded what could be obtained at the current level.
Additionally, mistake quests had a specific window of time when they could be accepted; if not taken immediately, their rating would be adjusted.
The insomnia solution quest was a classic example of a mistake quest that could only be taken at the very beginning.
"..."
Shin Se-hee fiddled with her lips as if thinking something over, then met my gaze.
"The rating for this quest seems to be wrong."
This was why Shin Se-hee was so convenient; without me having to explain anything, she could grasp the background with just one piece of information.
"Yes, I understand. Let's take the insomnia quest as our first one, and the second one will be the U.S. monster extermination quest."
"Can we take on the second quest as well?"
"Of course, that should be easy. But what we need to focus on right now is this first quest. You said this is the kind of quest we can only take now, right?"
"Yeah, the rating will probably be adjusted soon."
"Then we need to be as quick as possible with the preparation and strategy… I think we'll need an operation."
"Operation?"
"Yes, there's no problem with accepting this quest itself, but we need to ensure the party members understand the risks involved. It's a mistake quest, so the danger level is significant, and if we approach it with a lax attitude, it could lead to a dangerous situation."
"Hmm, I have one bait that might work."
"...Bait?"
I nodded with a smile.
"Yeah, a super attractive bait that they won't be able to resist."
.
.
.
At Shin Se-hee's call, all the party members gathered in the conference room.
Lee Yoo-ri, Kang Do-hee, Lim Ga-eul, and Sophia.
It didn't feel strange since we had all been living together until this morning.
But the atmosphere was chilly.
The moment Shin Se-hee presented the quest paper, their expressions turned cold.
"Our first quest? What's this… Solve insomnia? The reward is only 100,000 yen… about 895,672 won? It's the lowest-rated quest, and the quest giver's identity is unknown. It smells suspicious no matter how you look at it… Maybe we should just knock them out with a blow to the head?"
Lee Yoo-ri's words made me smile as I remembered the same addendum Shin Se-hee had written earlier.
"Yes, our first quest for Utopia is this insomnia solution quest."
Shin Se-hee maintained a stoic expression as if she hadn't noticed my reaction.
"Hmm… Are you trying to be considerate of the other parties that are forming now? But do we really need to go that far?"
Lee Yoo-ri, scratching her cheek, spoke on behalf of the party members, but they all wore similar expressions.
Ever since Lina's speech this morning, parties were popping up like mushrooms, and everyone was keeping an eye on each other, wondering which quests they would take on.
And at the center of it all, there was no denying, was the Utopia Party.
At the moment, Utopia was the hottest and most influential party in the Velvet Hunter Academy.
"Well, that's not the only reason. During the vacation, we stopped the Blue Crab Wave, so our popularity far exceeds that of the existing senior parties."
Shin Se-hee nodded in agreement.
"Building amicable relationships with other parties is important for our future activities. It's not a good idea to monopolize their work as if we're taking away their livelihood."
"You chose this quest because of some bullshit reason like that?"
Kang Do-hee, arms crossed, listened to Shin Se-hee's words before bluntly interrupting.
"Just say it. You always have another motive."
"It's always hard for me to accept such low evaluations of me."
Shin Se-hee pretended to be slightly exaggeratedly hurt, but no one here would fall for that act anymore.
"Hmm, yes, that's true. There's another reason I chose this quest. Actually, this quest is a mistake quest."
Shin Se-hee said as if she had discovered it through her own investigations, rather than having been told by Jin Yuha.
Basically, it was the operator's job to select quests for the party and prepare for them. It was much more convincing to say that she had found out through her own investigations than to admit that Jin Yuha had told her.
'After all, these people don't know that Jin Yuha can see the future.'
"Wait a minute! A mistake quest!? Shouldn't we report this!?"
2nd grader Lim Ga-eul exclaimed, alarmed. They had heard stories of what happened when under-leveled parties rushed into quests with incorrect ratings.
But Shin Se-hee shook her head firmly.
"No, we need to take this one. There's something else to it…"
"You've got something up your sleeve, haven't you?"
Sophia, with her sharp eyes, added.
"Yes, I believe there's an artifact hidden here that will enhance the abilities of all party members. It's just an estimate, though."
"!"
"!"
"!"
"!"
Shin Se-hee's words were a bomb that couldn't be ignored.
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
Support the Translation! 🌐✨
20 Advanced Chapters are currently available in Patreon, make sure to visit and support our team.
patreon.com/Immortal_author
https://ko-fi.com/immortalauthor
https://discord.gg/KscfBegBPT