The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 109

After people awakened as Players, there was one industry whose efficiency skyrocketed to a level incomparable to the past.

The manual labor industry.

Among those who lived day-to-day doing manual labor without a steady job, some naturally awakened as Players.

However, even after awakening, there were those who had no desire to risk their lives fighting monsters.

These people began to use the power they gained as Players for manual labor.

As a bonus, others who thought they might as well use their newfound Player abilities to make some extra cash also set foot in the manual labor industry.

Thus began the golden age of manual labor.

Using footwork and light-body techniques, they carried heavy bricks and sacks in an instant, leaping lightly across steel pipes.

Using aura, they lifted multiple boxes at once, loading countless crates onto a truck in one go.

By drawing various magic circles on the ground, they solved the problems of noise, vibration, and dust that occurred during building demolition.

On top of that, as magical items, artifacts created by mages began to seriously permeate society, it reached a point where constructing a massive building over 30 stories tall could be done in just a month.

In such a world, the remodeling of the house Lee Shin had commissioned was also finished in a week.

The haunted house, which had exuded a somewhat eerie atmosphere, vanished without a trace, and in its place stood a magnificent home that radiated an extraordinary aura right from the front gate.

The overall mood of the house was decided to be a simple and clean black and white, based on everyone's collective opinion.

With Eun Yeon-woo's active participation in the design, the kitchen was created with the optimal layout for him to cook, and it was stocked with a wide variety of cooking utensils to allow for diverse culinary creations.

The garage next to the house was built with inspiration from a dressing room, reflecting Lee Hyun-seok's idea. The result was a design that allowed for the storage of various weapons, much like an exhibition hall.

In the once-empty backyard, a pastel-toned annex was built to reflect Lee Hyun-young's taste. It was a workshop where she could actually experiment with the magical knowledge she had accumulated.

Inside the house, there were many pieces of furniture bought with money from [Wonderland], but that wasn't all.

Engraved within the house, the warehouse, and the annex were various magic circles with effects such as healing the minds and bodies of those inside or defending against external attacks.

The three of them couldn't even begin to guess just how much money Lee Shin had cleaned out from [Wonderland].

"It's quiet."

"It is."

"Hmm…"

The house was more magnificent than any of the three could have ever imagined.

In fact, when they first entered the house this morning, they had all smiled as they unpacked their things and explored every nook and cranny.

But now, as time passed, the three of them felt a strange sense of emptiness and void.

They knew the cause.

He was selfish, a troublemaker, and the epitome of self-centeredness, thinking only of himself.

Yet, he was also someone whose mere presence they had come to rely on. The cause was that he had disappeared right after entering the house that morning.

"Hah, should we check out that dungeon Hyung-nim mentioned?"

"Let's. I'll go get my weapon."

"Wait. Oppa, I'm coming too. I'll read my book there."

And so, the three of them left the newly acquired house empty, finished their individual preparations, and stepped into the black tent in the backyard.

***

Time flows on.

The sun that had hung in the sky descended below the horizon, and the moon and stars rose to take its place, filling the void it left behind.

As the sky changed, so did the sea breeze.

It blew a little cooler, cooling down the heat of the day and pleasantly enveloping people.

Tap- tap-

However, Lee Shin, sitting on a beach bench, paid it no mind, focusing only on tapping his phone.

The keyword he was searching for was "demi-humans."

In response, a flood of posts written by countless people gushed out.

'Hmm, it's been a week, so I thought people's interest might have cooled down a bit, but it seems to be the opposite.'

Even though more than a week had passed, the public's fervor for demi-humans showed no signs of cooling.

No, if anything, their curiosity had only continued to build without being satisfied, and the flames of interest were burning even more fiercely than at the beginning.

The term "noise marketing" didn't exist for nothing.

When a single sentence from the government's many announcements—stating that demi-humans maintained a friendly attitude towards humans—reached people's ears, it was enough to spawn an internet petition calling for interaction with them. That said it all.

However, the government was still proceeding cautiously, and they were careful about leaking photos and other information, so people could only imagine the demi-humans in the World Dungeon.

Both positively.

- I want to see a blonde elf! I bet she's as pretty as a model! And she'll probably smell like fruit! Uoooooh!!!!!

- I wanna touch an orc's muscles!!!!! I wanna feel that body, hard as steel yet firm like a spring, with my own hands!!!!!

- Ah, I want to get close to the beastkin. I want to befriend them and take pictures together… If I could be a little greedier, I'd want a video of their ears twitching or their tails wagging… uhuhu.

- Ah, I wanna see a dwarf! They're probably short and stout with a super bushy beard, right? I wanna touch the beard!

- Huh? A dwarf?

- Wait? A beard?

- I have gazed into the darkness of the deep abyss…

And negatively.

- Orcs have different bodies from humans, so they'd probably have muscles without even working out, right? How much longer do I have to hit the gym to get a body similar to an orc's…

- I'm so jealous of elves… If I were an elf, I could proudly say I'm dating Mimi-chan on the street and people passing by wouldn't look at me with disgust or contempt, right?

- Sob, to be a wolfman from birth! A natural-born beast! I want to be a wolf too!!!

- Ah, I want a thick, bushy beard like a dwarf too… I keep applying hair growth formula I bought from overseas, but my nose and chin just stay as smooth as a slug…

Nom- nom-

Lee Shin browsed the message boards while eating the tteokbokki, fried snacks, and sundae he had bought from a nearby street stall.

With nothing better to do, he was just killing time.

For reference, the place Lee Shin was currently browsing was the Demi-human Gallery, which had been newly created a week ago. An enormous number of people had flocked to it, and it was now the number one ranked popular gallery.

As such, it was an excellent means for casually browsing and killing time.

'Still, I never expected the appearance of demi-humans to have this kind of effect…'

Lee Shin recalled what Cheon Yuhwa had said when she visited his house before.

"The situation is going to change a lot with the appearance of the demi-humans."

"Well… of course a lot of things will change."

As he said that, Lee Shin's eyes curved playfully as he looked at Cheon Yuhwa.

It was as if he were asking, 'So, what are you planning to do in this situation?'

Though she noticed, Cheon Yuhwa had no intention of telling Lee Shin the details of her plan.

If Lee Shin heard her plan, he wouldn't move according to it; he would surely use it against her to stir up some absurd trouble.

"Of course, I have a few things I plan to do using this situation… but that's not what I'm talking about right now, you know?"

"Hm? Then what are you trying to say?"

"Hah, I'm talking about those guys from [Dawn] and [Black Dragon Society]. The ones we pitted against each other."

As she spoke, Cheon Yuhwa popped a new lollipop into her mouth to replenish her energy.

"Originally, with the help of [Underworld], I was working on making them clash in various places across Korea to wear down each other's forces, but it seems they're planning to return to their home countries because of the demi-humans' appearance."

"Hmm… Well, it's a better choice to focus their strength on the new land that has appeared in their own territory rather than worrying about a distant country like Korea. The World Dungeon would seem more appetizing."

It was a bit blunt, but Cheon Yuhwa didn't nitpick his words and simply nodded.

"Of course, it's not like they're going back right away. Thanks to [Underworld]'s good work, the heat of the battle between them hasn't died down yet, and they'll need some time to prepare to return to their respective countries. It'll take quite a while."

Grin-

Cheon Yuhwa smiled brightly as she said that.

Funnily enough, her smile resembled the one Lee Shin wore when he was tormenting someone.

"We're going to aim for the moment they return."

As she spoke, Cheon Yuhwa showed Lee Shin a bundle of thread as thin as a strand of hair.

"It's a transmitter created with magic. It seeps into the target's scalp and changes color to match its surroundings, so you don't have to worry about it being discovered visually."

"Is there no worry of it being detected by magical means?"

"None."

At Cheon Yuhwa's firm declaration, Lee Shin looked at her as if to ask how she could be so certain.

To that, Cheon Yuhwa answered calmly.

"The people who made it guaranteed that it wouldn't be detected even if a Hundred-Class Ranker spent an hour casting detection magic. So you don't need to worry."

Merlin, Oz, Crowley.

Cheon Yuhwa spoke as she recalled the assurances of those three.

Their knowledge shone even brighter in a situation like this.

When it came to the field of magic, the knowledge in their three heads was likely vaster than that of all other mages on Earth combined.

This was a device that those three had guaranteed would not be detected.

There was no way it would be found.

"Hmm, so there's no need to worry about it being discovered."

Lee Shin nodded, roughly grasping the situation.

Seeing him, Cheon Yuhwa held out a tablet.

"This is an artifact that's a set with the transmitter."

"Why does it look like this?"

"I was curious too, so I asked. They said it was a carefully considered camouflage."

Lee Shin found himself nodding in understanding at Cheon Yuhwa's words as he took the tablet and examined it.

The controls were similar, so he didn't struggle.

The screen lit up, revealing a large world map. When he zoomed in on the area where South Korea was, he could see red and blue glowing dots.

"Seeing as the red dots are closer to Japan and the blue dots are closer to China, it looks like red is [Dawn] and blue is [Black Dragon Society]."

"That's right. For your information, the transmitters have already been attached."

As Lee Shin carefully examined the tablet, he could definitely see the dots moving faintly.

"Hmm… so what's the plan?"

"We'll be watching the movements of all these guys, and if we see any signs of them returning to their home countries, we'll contact you. Then, you just move according to our instructions. We'll help you get into [Dawn]'s headquarters."

Crunch-

Recalling up to that point, Lee Shin popped the shrimp tempura next to him into his mouth and stared blankly at the night sea.

'So I stopped by the house, quickly packed my bags, and came all the way down to Busan, but…'

Lee Shin once again looked at the tablet beside him.

The red dots on the tablet hadn't shown any movement since he first saw them upon arriving in Busan.

At this point, a reasonable suspicion began to rear its head.

"Did these guys realize the transmitters were attached and just throw them on the ground?"

"No, that's not it. I've been watching until just now, and those guys were just holed up in a motel, sleeping. Well, I just confirmed they woke up and are gathering, so they should be on the move soon."

Someone answered Lee Shin's quiet mumble.

But Lee Shin wasn't particularly surprised.

He had muttered aloud in the first place because he knew a familiar presence was approaching from behind.

"It's been a while."

"It has. It's good to see you."

Joker smiled faintly at Lee Shin's greeting.

Behind Joker, Alpha and Beta walked side by side, followed by Dr. Irie, who had a curious expression on his face.

At the thought of finally bringing down [Dawn], the eyes of all three were burning with fiery determination.

(End of Chapter)