The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 117

"Hah… How do I deal with these bastards so that word gets around that I handled it well?"

The man from [Dawn]'s intelligence department let out a small sigh as he watched the protests happening all over Japan through the monitor.

-Elf-chan daisuki!

-Nekomimi kawaii!

-Orc-sama, hwaiting!

-Dwarf-kun, ganbare!

On the screen, people holding banners and wearing headbands were shouting these things, engaged in a fierce protest movement.

The protesters were a group his organization dismissively lumped together as a bunch of otaku.

However, upon closer inspection, it wasn't just nobodies who could be so easily dismissed.

Famous figures from various guilds, as well as renowned production-class Players, were mixed in with the protesters.

"Seriously, what should I do with these guys…"

They were already causing trouble in every city, and as time went on, the scale of the protests showed signs of growing.

It was a situation the government, which wanted to open the gates only after thoroughly researching the demi-humans, wanted to avoid as much as possible.

But there was nothing they could do about it.

Even if they tried to control the information, the neighboring country of Korea was spreading all sorts of information about demi-humans.

If they tried to push through with a policy, they would face a storm of criticism because Korea was implementing a pro-demi-human policy.

And they couldn't disperse the protesters with force either, as Players from famous guilds were among them.

"Sigh, but the higher-ups think everything will be solved if they just chew us out, so they only chew us out…"

Just as the man was grumbling.

Kwaaang-!

The door burst open violently and someone rushed in.

"What! What crazy bastard dares…"

The man shouted irritably, but the man who rushed in, his face drenched in sweat, said.

"Kyoguchi-sama, we have a big problem! You have to see this!"

"What, what is it?"

At his subordinate's urgent cry, Kyoguchi's face hardened with a sense of unease.

The sweat-drenched man accessed a computer and played a video on the monitor.

"Phew, it's convenient that they're controlling the area around the World Dungeon so people can't come in."

"I know, right? Lately, you can't even smoke comfortably on the streets."

"Tell me about it~ It's a stuffy world in many ways, isn't it?"

Appearing in the video were two men in suits.

The two were chatting in a place that looked like a park.

The video quality was poor, so their faces couldn't be identified, but their voices were crystal clear.

The two, unaware they were being filmed, joked around and spun various tales.

It was a common sight.

The world is full of people who gossip about their superiors.

"Anyway, it's those trashy otaku bastards that are the problem."

But after a little time passed, the two's conversation began to stray further and further from the word "ordinary."

"Sigh, I know, right? It was better in the old days, you know? Back then, those hikikomori bastards were cooped up in their houses and didn't come out onto the streets, but now they're strutting around shamelessly."

"It's disgusting."

The two men's voices were filled with irritation and disgust.

"Tsk, these days, the otaku guys think it's their world just because they've gained a little bit of power."

"Even now, they're probably outside, shouting and holding strange banners, calling it a protest, right?"

"Probably. Those stupid bastards have shit for brains."

Up to this point, it would have been a minor issue.

The sight of critics who lump together and curse a part of society was common.

But the problem was what came after.

Haaa~

With the man's sigh, the deeply inhaled cigarette smoke spread into the air.

The camera was washed in white.

"We have to execute the plan quickly because of them, don't we?"

"Sigh, that's right. Is the operation proceeding smoothly?"

"For now, it's smooth. It seems there are no major problems with the other World Dungeons either."

"That's a relief. You need to build trust to backstab someone, but it's precarious because of those otaku bastards."

If someone who didn't know saw this video, they would have been puzzled by the sudden words.

But Kyoguchi was not.

The moment he heard the words "World Dungeon," Kyoguchi's face turned as white as a sheet.

If he could, he wanted to jump into the video right now and cover their mouths.

But he couldn't.

"For now, let's build a little more trust, then feed them poison at the decisive moment. That way, we can use a few of them as test subjects… Ah, right."

"Hm? What is it?"

"An order came down from above. To capture about five males and females of each age group. It seems the higher-ups got interested after seeing the report that they were good-looking."

"Ah, well, their faces and figures were top-grade."

After that, the two's conversation topic changed to worthless lewd jokes.

Thus, their conversation ended, and they threw their cigarette butts in a suitable place and disappeared somewhere.

The video then turned to a black screen, but it wasn't over yet.

A message like the end credits of a movie appeared on the black screen.

-After first learning this fact, I felt a great shock and immense anger.

-But I have no power, so I cannot punish them.

-I am pathetic for having to use mosaics for fear of legal action.

-But I believe that if we combine our strength, we can punish them, and furthermore, the government.

-Please, lend us your strength.

With that message, the video ended.

A short, 5-minute video posted without any editing other than the mosaics, as if to say it was the truth.

-As someone who edits videos, I'm telling you, there are no signs of manipulation.

-I analyzed the sound, and there are no awkward parts or noise.

-The identities of the people in the video have been revealed.

-Now is the time to show the power of the people!

-We must rise!

"Ha… hahaha…"

It brought a tremor to Japanese society, like a powerful earthquake.

***

"…"

Joker, who had been listening to the conversation taking place in [Dawn]'s intelligence room, took off his headset with a dazed expression.

"Nom- So what's the reaction over there?"

Seeing Joker take off his headset, Lee Shin asked as he popped a piece of karaage he was eating into his mouth.

Joker, looking at Lee Shin, said as if something was displeasing.

"…It's a success. No, it's a huge success. A bigger commotion than we expected has broken out."

"Specifically?"

"We've confirmed a forced summons of executives from all over Japan. It seems they think there's a traitor in their midst."

"Is that so?"

Lee Shin smiled with satisfaction and stood up from his seat.

"Well, that makes sense."

The video currently spreading on the internet was, of course, a fake.

There was no way they could have obtained such a convenient video at such a perfect time.

But [Dawn], the Japanese government, would not be able to make any excuses.

'Because although the video was fabricated, the content within it is all true.'

They had released the core of the information that the agents [Wonderland] had spread and continuously gathered through the video.

They had sprinkled a grand pile of shit on the things they were planning to do.

'It's only natural for them to think there's a traitor in their midst, and a high-ranking one at that, when such information suddenly pops out.'

Lee Shin looked at the laptop on the table.

-These government bastards! I knew it when they wouldn't let us into the dungeon!

-Kill them! Let's kill those guys and save the isekai beauties!!!

-Save the pretty boys from those villains!!!

-Uoooooooh!!!!! Our dream!!! An isekai harem!!! We will make it a reality right here, right now!!!

-Uooooo!!!!!

-Even beings from another world have human rights!!!

-Uwoooooh!!!

Lee Shin nodded his head with a satisfied smile.

It was a magnificent shitshow.

New factions had joined the existing otaku forces, and the protests were beginning to turn violent.

If this continued for a little longer, a riot might break out.

"Why on earth has it come to this…"

Joker muttered, unable to understand the current situation.

It was true that they had wanted this situation.

The video was made with that intention in the first place.

But Joker had been a little skeptical about this operation.

He had thought that, common-sensically, something like this couldn't happen.

So even though things were going smoothly, he was confused.

Lee Shin looked at Joker and roughly guessed what he was thinking.

If Lee Shin himself hadn't once experienced the hikikomori life, cooped up in his house, he wouldn't have understood what was happening now.

This wasn't a matter of understanding, but a matter in the realm of empathy.

Tuk-

Lee Shin approached Joker and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Now, think about it."

Joker looked at Lee Shin with a 'what is this now' gaze, but Lee Shin ignored it and opened his mouth.

"It's been about three months since the dungeons appeared in the world. In other words, until then, these guys were cooped up in their rooms, living while being looked down on in every way."

Lee Shin's finger pointed to a man on the screen wearing full-body armor with an anime character drawn on it.

"It's not for nothing that the isekai genre was popular back then. It was popular because there were many guys who wanted to forget reality and escape to another world."

Ttak-

As if signaling a change of scene, Lee Shin's finger snapped lightly.

"But one day, the world really changed into a form similar to what those guys wanted. As a result, they got excited and rushed in, and they achieved some results. Their crumpled self-confidence returned."

"Now-"

Lee Shin said in a low voice.

"In front of those guys full of hot air, something they had wished and wished for since they were stuck in the corner of their rooms appeared. Of course, they were excited, but they have brains too, so they thought about it, and the answer that came out was the protest. But we poured oil on that fire."

Heejuk-

Lee Shin grinned his usual wide grin.

That smile was too wicked to be called a mischievous boy's smile, and too pure to be called a villain's smile.

"So those guys are going crazy. They've probably already completed an anime in their heads where the government agents are one of the great evil organizations, based on the anime they've seen so far."

'Well, reality isn't much different, though.'

Lee Shin finished his words with that and looked around.

Alpha, Beta, Joker, and Irie were wearing the highest-grade items made by [Wonderland].

Joker and the Doctor were stuffing artifacts they had made in their spare time into the pockets all over their clothes.

Alpha and Beta were raising their concentration through their respective methods, recalling the sensation they had felt at the end of last night's spar.

Lee Shin also checked his own condition.

He was wearing items whose appearance he had slightly altered from his usual ones, and at his waist was a secret weapon he had prepared for today through Cheon Yuhwa.

"You know the location where they're gathering, right?"

"Yes."

"Good."

At Joker's answer, Lee Shin put on the mask he had upgraded along with the secret weapon.

And as if following his lead, the others also pressed on black masks engraved with their respective marks.

Lee Shin spoke to them in a fresh voice filled with his childhood dream.

"Today, in the name of revenge, we will cause a terror that will surprise the world."

Just imagining it made his heart pound.