The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 124

The third day dawned.

"Hello."

"Nice to meet you for the first time."

Last night, Lee Shin had called Cheon Yuhwa, roughly explained the things he had done in Japan, and asked for help.

Cheon Yuhwa, who had already heard news that various incidents were continuously occurring in Japan, readily nodded her head.

The people dispatched were the two men who had arrived this morning.

"Ah, welcome."

And Irie, with an awkward smile, greeted the two.

The reason was simple.

Lee Shin had passed it on to Irie, saying it was troublesome and he had other things to do.

Of course, if that were the only reason, Irie would have refused.

But then, Lee Shin, with a 'you're so busted' smile, nagged Irie all night long.

"What~ You acted all high and mighty saying you'd take care of those kids, but were you just putting on a show in front of your old students?"

"Hmm, so you were just posturing like that while not wanting to do even this simple task?"

"I wonder what kind of expression those three will make when I tell them this?"

'I never thought I'd be persuaded by such words in my entire life…'

And so, Irie, who had been subjected to Lee Shin's threats and ridicule-filled persuasion, ended up talking with the two.

The three's conversation was stable.

The two had come with a rough understanding of the situation, and Irie had been thinking all night about what to do.

"Then, for now, it would be best to take those children outside to Korea."

"Yes, there are many unsettling aspects to being in Japan."

The man in the suit nodded as if he sympathized with Irie's words.

"Do you have a place in mind?"

"For now, I'm thinking of an abandoned school or something in the countryside."

"Certainly, 300 is not a small number."

"Yes, and after that…"

Irie explained the rough plan of what he had been thinking.

"Yes, then we will proceed with the work based on that."

"What?"

"Is there something else you're thinking of?"

"Ah, no. I was just a little surprised because you accepted it so simply."

At that, the man and woman in suits smiled kindly.

"We were instructed to handle this matter as well as possible."

"Ah."

It was a decision Cheon Yuhwa had made on her own after hearing from Lee Shin, but Irie interpreted it differently.

As if Lee Shin had used his influence for them.

"Then we'll be going. For reference, it will take at least a week to take the children to Korea, no matter how fast we are."

"Yes, thank you for your help."

And so, the two disappeared, and Irie bowed his head slightly, then looked at Lee Shin.

"Now, can you take out the boxes I told you to put in your inventory when I first saved you?"

Lee Shin was making a list of the items contained in the boxes from the truck and the ones brought by the children.

Irie lightly tapped Lee Shin's shoulder.

"Thanks for your help."

"Hm? Oh, sure."

Lee Shin answered vaguely, wondering what this was all of a sudden, but Irie misinterpreted it as him being shy and moved on.

After that, Irie called over the children who were helping Lee Shin with various things.

The children had taken turns showering at the nearby pension, had their injuries treated, and had changed into the clothes Lee Shin had bought.

Perhaps because of that, they looked like nothing more than elementary school students on a field trip.

It was even more so because the breakfast they were making was curry.

"Now, I'm going to tell you what will happen to you from now on, so listen carefully."

At Irie's words, the children stopped what they were doing and focused on him.

"First, you will leave Japan and go to live in Korea. Think of it as going to a sparsely populated countryside."

Although there were quite a lot of children, Irie could also use basic magic, so imbuing his voice with mana was simple.

"After that, I will be supervising you, so if there's anything you want, feel free to tell me. I'm willing to listen even if you say you don't trust us and want to act on your own."

Was Irie's words a shock?

The children began to murmur among themselves.

Seuk-

At that moment, one of the children raised her hand.

It was a girl with a frail-looking impression.

"Um… then will we be separated from the person who saved us?"

"Huh?"

Irie froze for a moment at the completely unexpected question.

"…Are you talking about that guy?"

Irie pointed his finger at Lee Shin, who was humming a tune and making a list of items.

At that, not only the girl who had asked the question but also the children who had been quiet nodded their heads slightly.

And Irie could roughly grasp the situation.

These children saw Lee Shin, who had saved them from their abuse, as a hero and had fallen for him.

At that, Irie once again poked Lee Shin in the side.

"You say something."

"Hm? It's a hassle."

"Even a short word is fine, just say something. The kids you brought are looking at you with such admiration."

At Irie's words, Lee Shin thought for a moment and then said.

"Well, life is something you live on your own, so think for yourselves and do well. And one piece of advice, if a situation comes where you can take something from someone else, take it thoroughly."

The children who heard Lee Shin's words looked at Lee Shin and the box in front of him in turn, and then at their own faces and Irie's.

And as if they had understood something, they nodded their heads.

'This isn't it.'

Irie thought for a moment about how to think about this, then decided to just let it go.

For now, he had a grasp of how to handle the kids from now on.

***

The fourth day.

Irie was busy teaching the children various things, and Joker was busy cleaning up the mess Lee Shin had made.

"Hmm, I wonder if this is about enough?"

And Lee Shin, having finished organizing the list of items plundered from [Dawn], was feeling proud.

"But what should I do with all of this?"

The amount of items Lee Shin had plundered from the [Dawn] warehouse was enormous.

After all, they were things moved using 10 large trucks and filling up the children's inventories.

The amount was so large that disposing of it was a problem, and he was having trouble finding a suitable place to store it, but he found a solution in an unexpected place.

"It should be fine to use the underground prison Joker made under the pension. It's a place where he's installed all sorts of devices to imprison the [Dawn] executives."

"That's right. Joker made it big in the basement, so there should be enough space."

"Really? Then let's move it there."

Lee Shin, who had found an answer in the words of Alpha and Beta who were helping him move and organize the luggage, led the children and immediately started the work.

"Uwaaaak!!! Don't put it on top! Use the lowest floor! Just use the lowest floor!!!"

Lee Shin, who gave a perfunctory nod to the roar of the beast worn out by overtime and overwork, directed the children to move the boxes to the lowest floor.

"Uwaak! W-what is this all of a sudden!"

"Wh-what are those guys!!!"

While moving the luggage down like that, they saw the executives, whose limb tendons had been cut and were barely being kept alive by IV drips.

The executives, who confirmed that the children had entered, writhed their bodies like crazy and begged the children for help in a desperate voice.

"…"

"…"

"…"

But not a single one of the children moved to help them.

The children, who had heard from Lee Shin that the [Dawn] executives were imprisoned, just glared at the executives with cold eyes and burned with hatred instead.

It wasn't what Lee Shin had intended, but it was an incredibly effective psychological attack.

At the sight of the children who appeared in a situation where they were pushed to their limits, the executives harbored hope and clung to that hope desperately.

But what came back was not a hand of salvation, but cold gazes and ridicule.

It was enough to make them let go of the thread of sanity they were barely holding onto.

And it's a minor detail that Lee Shin, who had noticed like a ghost that the executives' minds were on the verge of breaking, gave Joker a little hint.

"Smile, should I move this too?"

"No, that's something I set aside to take, so you don't have to move it."

Lee Shin was thinking of commissioning an item creation when he returned to Korea.

Perhaps because his level had risen, the effects of the items he had been wearing until now were so minimal that there was almost no difference from not wearing them.

His favorite weapon, the [Steel Spear], was also slowly reaching the end of its life after fighting strong enemies like the Jewel Spider and Tarka.

It was a time when maintenance was needed in many ways.

***

The fifth day.

[Wonderland] had finished its preparations, and the children began to move in earnest.

"Ooh, that looks delicious."

"Is that takoyaki? I wonder if the Japanese one is more delicious?"

"I don't know."

"Didn't you say you were in Japan when you were young?"

"I was locked up in [Dawn] and only trained shortly after I came of age, and then I barely escaped. Do you think I would have eaten takoyaki?"

And Lee Shin began his final trip to Japan with Joker, Alpha, and Beta.

For reference, Irie had stayed behind under the pretext of taking care of the children.

"Ooh, it's delicious."

Lee Shin was enjoying himself well.

There were countless anime he had watched during his hikikomori days.

On top of that, since Lee Shin could eat an amount of food that could be said to have surpassed the human level, he could enjoy all sorts of street food.

"Oh, I've seen that manga before."

"…That figure is almost completely naked."

"That's what's good about it."

For reference, the place they were wandering around was Akihabara.

Akihabara was a city that had begun to develop tremendously after the dungeons appeared and the otaku began to gain power in earnest, so Alpha, Beta, and Joker readily agreed to Lee Shin's suggestion to go there.

That was a mistake.

While Lee Shin was enjoying various foods and looking around here and there.

"Ooh! Hey missy! How about trying on our item-nyan!!! R-right now, if you let me take a few pictures, I'll give it to you for half price-nyan!!!"

"Heeik…"

"U-um, we didn't come here for the purpose of shopping today…"

Alpha and Beta, recalling a recent memory that could be called a trauma from the department store, were making rare weak sounds.

"How about it? Can you make things like this with your alchemy?"

"Hmm, I haven't really thought about it in this way, so I don't know. By the way, the idea is unique. An artifact that changes the color of clothes."

"Well, it's a place where guys with a lot of imagination are gathered."

Joker was surprisingly having a good time looking around the various shops.

For Joker, who was thinking of learning alchemy with a lightened heart, the diverse and strange shops of Akihabara were a warehouse of ideas and a hammer that broke his previously fixed self.

And so, the four of them wandered around freely, as if they didn't want to stay still for a moment.

After a little more time passed, Alpha and Beta also began to enjoy themselves.

Lee Shin enjoyed the food and looked at the manga, reminiscing about the past.

Alpha moved around together, building memories in her empty heart.

Beta looked at the people walking on the streets and gradually shed the burdens she was carrying.

Joker looked at the various shops and drew out his future.

"Smile, are you really going to buy that?"

"Yes."

As he had said before, Lee Shin bought one gift for each of the three.

They were items chosen from the cosplay items that had given Alpha and Beta various memories.

And so, all of them enjoyed their trip in Japan in their own way.

Boo-woong-

And that evening, Lee Shin returned to Korea with the children.