Chapter 51: The Hidden Floor (3)
The Bard's Village
♪♪♬♬♬♪~
Instruments and human voices blended beautifully, weaving music together.
A pleasant melody filled the entire village.
I treated it as background music while looking for my teammates.
Luckily, we hadn't been separated by much, so I found them quickly.
"Hoaquin, what do we do now?"
Hwarang asked while casually scanning the surroundings.
He wasn't particularly interested in this place—and neither were the others.
Honestly, neither was I.
There was a hidden stage here. No reason to waste time in a generic area like this.
"You all have something like a hand mirror, right? That's the Alignment Gauge. Fill the black gauge all the way."
Once the black gauge was full, the real Grand Quest would unlock, granting access to the hidden stage.
They nodded, but their expressions showed confusion.
They knew evil actions raised the black gauge—but we couldn't exactly start a terror attack here.
So there was only one solution.
"First, let me explain the Hidden Floor in more detail—"
Just as I was about to explain—since the person who should have shown up still hadn't—someone appeared, singing.
"Welcome~ to the Hidden Floor~!"
"…Hyung, who is this guy?"
Luf stared at the bard, clearly baffled.
Hwarang and Maschenny looked equally uninterested.
Well, he was a guide. Might as well listen.
"This place is—(omitted)… Big Breeder is—(skipped)…"
"Yes, yes, thank you~"
I thought I already knew everything—but one new detail came from the bard's explanation.
We were in data form.
Meaning if we died here, we wouldn't actually die—we'd just be expelled from the Hidden Floor.
Haegil said we'd die for real…Guess that was just to scare us.
Since we didn't enter using the key like in the original story, it made sense.
Afterward, using the bard's explanation, I led the team straight into quest clearing.
We couldn't raise the black gauge through crime—
so we had to bring out Big Breeder.
Fighting him would raise the black gauge.
"Hoaquin… honestly, this is kind of confusing.
It's not what I expected…"
"That's because this is a public stage. We need to reach the hidden stage. You can't do anything until the quests are cleared, so bear with it."
"What about your father?"
"…He's in the hidden stage."
"The other Family Heads?"
"…If they're still here, then the hidden stage."
That damned hidden stage again.
Even I was getting tired of answering.
Clearing quests was annoying too.
For a moment, I seriously considered dropping a few massive Shinsu blades on the village.
Endure. Just endure.
"…Guys, I'll handle everything. Just sit back and watch."
.....
"Highest-difficulty quest generated."
BOOM
"Highest-difficulty quest generated."
SHRAAAK
"Highest-difficulty quest generated."
BANG
Fighting low-tier data mobs that didn't match my level killed all excitement.
Still, being "highest difficulty," the white gauge was filling up.
What we needed was the black gauge—but to fill that, we had to fight Big Breeder.
And to meet Big Breeder, we had to fill the white gauge.
A ridiculous loop.
"Oh! Hero! You've already cleared all the quests~!"
…
So boring.
I just wanted to get to the hidden stage already.
Clearing quests on autopilot, the Alignment Gauge eventually filled completely with white.
As my gauge maxed out, the bards sang together loudly.
The song was nice, at least.
When I agreed to start Big Breeder's Grand Quest, the sky flashed.
Flaaash—
A circular gate appeared, and from it emerged Big Breeder.
Since this was the past, he looked different from the webtoon version.
Let's hurry this up.
"Congratulations on clearing the quests so swiftly. I am—"
"Let me make a proposal."
"…Pardon?"
"Either let us through that gate, or fight me."
"…?"
"Which will it be?"
"No. That is not permitted. This is—"
"No discussion."
We'd only been here a few hours, but I was already bored.
Nice scenery, sure—but if you can eat at a five-star restaurant, who settles for three?
Besides, Big Breeder was only a quasi-administrator within his jurisdiction.
He couldn't actually die.
Like the Mirotic Guardian back in Train City.
I formed a Shinwonryu blade and launched it at him.
The blade absorbed Shinsu from the surrounding space and detonated violently.
Secondary Shinsu whirlwinds erupted, engulfing Big Breeder—
—and the black gauge shot up rapidly.
"Hoaquin, the hidden stage?"
Maschenny was rushing me.
Figures.
She lived in Khun Eduan's castle in the original—
her goal was probably the same this time.
"Wait a bit. We'll get there soon."
I sped things up.
Big Breeder wasn't damaged—but Shinwonryu restricted his movements completely.
"This power… how does someone like you wield it?!"
"Get hit a little more, and you'll realize I'm not just 'someone like you.'"
I reinforced my body with Shinsu and kicked off the ground.
Big Breeder thrust his spear toward me.
I drew Baekya outside its range, swung it behind me, then slashed in wide arcs—releasing waves of Shinsu.
Arie Sword Art, Second Branch, Tenth Form:
Roar — Phantom Lion Sword
A sword art infused with Shinwonryu's principle of spatial domination.
Its power and effect were on a completely different level.
Like a lion's roar, white light burst outward, shredding Big Breeder.
With Shinwonryu dominating space and absorbing surrounding Shinsu, his movements were completely sealed.
Bzzzt— crackle—
"W-What's happening?! Why is this—?!"
Big Breeder's form began flickering like analog static.
After all, he was a VR-controlled entity—he probably had some kind of HP system.
A final spark—and he vanished.
Perfect timing.
The black gauge was full.
With the nuisance gone, things would be much easier.
"Ah… finally, it's over."
After watching me fight Big Breeder, the NPCs of the village screamed and ran away in panic.
Sorry for the disturbance, citizens. Our business is with the hidden stage.
"So… are we finally going to that hidden floor now?"
At Hwarang's question, I nodded.
From their perspective, it probably felt like they'd just started a new game and were trying to clear it normally—only for a veteran player to suddenly show up and say, "That's not how you play the game."
Honestly, I couldn't blame them for being confused. Anyone would be.
I figured it'd be better to explain everything properly later, step by step.
"Yeah. We're going now. Grand Quest—generate."
The moment I finished speaking, a villain was spawned and the quest activated.
Before even a second could pass, I cut off the villain's head.
A quest-clear window appeared, and a scroll bearing the image of a mirror materialized.
To access the hidden stage, all I had to do was reflect that mirror image with my Alignment Gauge.
Click—
Shuuwoong—
A vortex swallowed us whole, transporting us once again to a space resembling the void of outer space.
"Outsiders! Congratulations on clearing the stage!
You have earned the right to proceed to the next stage! Please choose the stage you wish to enter next!"
A mirror greeted us, displaying a list of available stages on its surface.
Sweet Castle
Frozen Land
Altar of Swords
Palace of Red and Black
Garden of Beautiful Flames
Bedroom
Sky Library
Pet Café
Peaceful Mountain
Lighthouse Island
Sky Castle of the Giant Above the Clouds
"Hmm…"
The list was much longer than what I remembered from the original story.
The stage ruled by Khun Eduan was Sweet Castle.
Frozen Land belonged to Big Breeder.
As for the others…
"…You can pretty much guess who owns each one just from the names."
They were way too distinctive.
Looks like most of them were still around—
except for those two.
Now then, where should we go first?
I had no interest in Frozen Land.
I planned to visit all of them eventually, but for now…
Maybe Sweet Castle would be best, since Maschenny clearly had business there.
Letting everyone choose individually wouldn't be a bad idea either, but…
Yeah. Better to just ask.
I turned to my teammates.
"So—where do you want to go?"
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