The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 149

"Hah, alright. I understand, so speak slowly."

It would be a lie to say she wasn't annoyed by the sudden bad news.

But she had known for a long time that a day like this would come.

'Right, looking back now, it was a miracle that I managed to keep that guy in one place for a week.'

Thinking that, Cheon Yuhwa felt her heart calm down a little.

No, it would be more accurate to say that she forced herself to think that way and calmed her heart.

"Do you know where that guy went?"

-Uh… I can't be sure it's exactly here, but there's a place I can guess.

"That's enough. Where is it?"

At Cheon Yuhwa's calmed and slightly softened words, Baek Hyunwoo opened his mouth honestly.

-He probably went to America. I heard from Yeonwoo that he was curious about how America has changed these days. He's probably aiming for Hercules and Diz.

"Hah, that troublemaker would do that."

Thinking about it, it was a natural thing.

From the beginning, Lee Shin had been interested in the [Kings].

But from what he had heard from Baek Hyunwoo before, the current Lee Shin even had a weapon that was comparable to what they had.

'He must be itching to pick a fight.'

'At least that's a relief. If it had been Oz-unni's side, I thought it might interfere a little with future plans.'

Cheon Yuhwa, thinking that the situation wasn't that bad, let out a sigh of relief.

"Hah, if his opponents are Hercules and that Diz guy, that guy will also be quiet for a while, so it's not bad."

-…

But at Cheon Yuhwa's words, the three on the other side of the phone fell silent.

'What is it?'

Cheon Yuhwa, feeling something strange, listened closely to the phone.

At that, she heard a faint sound.

A sound like something being beaten, like meat being pounded with a hammer at a butcher shop, and a suppressed voice as if enduring pain.

'…What is it really?'

While Cheon Yuhwa was seriously contemplating whether to hang up the phone.

-Agh! I get it! I'll talk! Just stop hitting me!

"Kyaaaak!"

The sound of Baek Hyunwoo shouting rang loudly from the phone next to her ear.

At that, Cheon Yuhwa, whose mind had been elsewhere for a moment, screamed in surprise and quickly covered her mouth.

But it was too late.

"Puhuhup!"

Kim Jaehyun, who had confirmed the whole situation a moment ago, had already turned his back on Cheon Yuhwa and was shaking his shoulders, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Agh, really!"

Cheon Yuhwa, with a face as red as a carrot, created a light sphere with her aura and struck Kim Jaehyun's head, but he continued to shake his shoulders and ignored her attack.

At that, Cheon Yuhwa, with a flushed face, shouted annoyedly at the phone.

"Why are you suddenly shouting and scaring people!"

-No, I mean… Noona, I'm sorry for shouting, but I don't think the situation is something to be taken lightly.

"Yes, you might be in big trouble if you take it lightly."

"That's right."

"What?"

As Baek Hyunwoo, Arachne, and Uriel all said this, the embarrassment in Cheon Yuhwa's mind disappeared and a question arose.

As far as Cheon Yuhwa could think, it was just that Lee Shin's location had changed from Korea to America.

But it seemed the three didn't think so.

"Is there something I don't know?"

-Well… that Hyung became LV.4 yesterday while training with us.

"What? That guy is LV.4?"

At Baek Hyunwoo's words, Cheon Yuhwa raised her voice and asked back without realizing it.

But as if understanding Cheon Yuhwa's feelings, Baek Hyunwoo repeated what he had said.

-Yes, for a week, that Hyung just fought like crazy and ended up being the first to go up. But that's not the problem, after he became LV.4, something suddenly changed and he pushed us…

Baek Hyunwoo's words continued, but Cheon Yuhwa couldn't hear them.

LV.4, the level of a proficient who has surpassed the beginner, and when a martial artist reaches this level, they begin to use sword ki freely.

That alone causes a tremendous level of change in combat power, but in reality, there was one more change besides that.

A new gift from the system as one completes the path of a beginner and enters the path of a proficient.

Just as a Player who first reached LV.1 walked the path and received a skill, they would get their own new skill that suited the new path.

'And as far as I know, the second skill that guy had was definitely…'

"Ah, I'm really going crazy."

Cheon Yuhwa finally recognized the whole situation and understood why these three were acting like this.

And she also agreed that it was not something to be taken lightly.

Cheon Yuhwa gestured to Kim Jaehyun to call Hercules, then asked Baek Hyunwoo.

"When did that guy leave?"

-Well… we don't know for sure either. We were also knocked out and just woke up.

"Hoo, I see. I'll hang up for now."

Tuk-

"Contact has been made. Hercules-nim is said to be training in a dungeon with Diz-nim."

Simultaneously with hanging up the phone, Kim Jaehyun reported to Cheon Yuhwa.

"Really? Then it seems he hasn't gone to them directly yet."

Cheon Yuhwa frowned and sucked on her sweet latte with a straw.

'What should I do? Should I tell them to avoid him for a while? But if I do that and something goes wrong, I might see that guy go on a rampage before the dungeon break even happens.'

And so, Cheon Yuhwa, who was racking her brain with caffeine and sugar as fuel, gradually tilted her head in one direction.

"No, if I use this well, it might be okay."

The corners of Cheon Yuhwa's mouth, which had been frowning, were now turned up.

***

Reality is stranger than fiction.

It's a saying you hear at least once in your life, and a saying you empathize with once in a while as you live.

But even so, if you were to see a scene that looked like a movie had jumped out of the film itself, you couldn't help but be amazed.

"Huuuum…"

When dungeons and monsters appeared, America heroized Players through various media and subtly urged the public to fight the monsters.

And now, after some time has passed, America has begun to be called by this name on the internet.

Real Comics.

It's a name that makes you nod your head automatically when you just watch the people walking the streets in strange tights or clothes whose purpose is hard to understand, as if characters from comics of all nationalities, starting with American comics, have jumped out into reality.

'Still, it's a shame that it doesn't feel as full of incidents and accidents as I thought.'

Lee Shin sat in a park and let out a small sigh mixed with disappointment.

If 'Real Comics' is the polite term used in the news and newspapers, it's called by another name on the internet.

A country that has become suspiciously serious.

Why So Serious City.

There are many other names for it, but there is one that pierces the core.

The saying that it has become too much like a movie.

Players began to be regarded as heroes and started to exterminate monsters, and Chaotic Players became villains and attacked the cities.

To put it simply, cities of Supermen and Batmen were created in droves in reality.

'So I was thinking of a fun neighborhood where banks get robbed and terrorism happens often, but there's still nothing. But since the burgers and coke are delicious, I guess I'll forgive it.'

Lee Shin sat in a park and put an American-made handmade burger and coke into his mouth.

When he went to China, he had to cause a terror, so it wasn't a situation where he could wander around.

So Lee Shin was looking around, as if to get revenge for that time.

"Well, I think I've looked around enough, so shall I get going?"

And so, Lee Shin finished the remaining burger and coke in one bite and got up from the bench.

As he was leaving the park, Lee Shin saw a stall in a corner of the park and walked over leisurely.

On the stall, various kinds of mass-produced masks were laid out.

'I needed one just in time, this is great.'

The Smile mask Lee Shin had was too unique, so he needed something else to cover his face.

While Lee Shin was just looking at the masks, one mask caught his eye.

"Excuse me, what's this mask?"

"Huh? Ah, you have a good eye! That's a mask modeled after the face of Hercules-nim, the guild master of [Lion]! It looks manly and powerful, doesn't it?"

At the shop owner's words, Lee Shin smiled stealthily.

It was the smile of a mischievous boy who had thought of a fun prank.

"It looks cool. Can I have one of those?"

"Hahaha! Right? Actually, that's the best-selling product! These days, kids love it even if it's a hamburger wrapper, as long as it has Hercules-nim's character drawn on it."

Lee Shin nodded his head appropriately and then immediately put on the mask.

The poor fit was a bit bothersome, but it was still bearable.

'The preparation is perfect.'

Now it was time to finish the sightseeing that had started in the morning and move.

***

A city where villains openly exist.

Just hearing about it, it seems like terrorism would happen several times a day, but surprisingly, it didn't.

On the contrary, a proper balance was being maintained, so it even felt peaceful.

And all of this was thanks to a single Player who existed as a huge deterrent.

A player representing America, with a huge body close to 2 meters, ferocious muscles that looked like they would pop out at any moment, golden hair grown like a lion's mane, and brown eyes that resembled a lion's.

The player who is the guild master of America's top guild, [Lion].

One of the Ten Kings, Hercules.

Hercules had created the current city by dealing with only the black guilds that had crossed a certain line, rather than dealing with all of them.

Of course, as it was a balance created through such a method, there were many attempts to kill Hercules, but in the end, no one could defeat him.

Hercules had crushed all their attacks with a smiling face, and so people found it hard to even imagine Hercules being defeated.

'But that doesn't mean we can just leave our king alone.'

Plain, the vice-guild master of [Lion], thought that and looked at the entrance of the dungeon they were guarding with the guild's elites.

At first, Hercules had said he didn't need any bodyguards, but he had eventually nodded his head at the words that they needed to periodically put supplies into the dungeon anyway.

Jeobeok- Jeobeok-

"Huh? Did someone else come?"

Right now, the [Lion] guild was renting a whole villa and focusing on their individual training.

Although they were controlling it so that ordinary people couldn't come in, there were occasional cases where people who said they were fans of Hercules appeared.

In a world where Players with peculiar abilities were as common as dirt, it was not easy to control people.

'Still, this is the first time someone has come this far, breaking through the guild members scattered in the mountains.'

Plain wondered if it might be an enemy and looked at the man, but no matter how he looked, it didn't seem to be the case.

The appearance of him walking confidently from the front, the Hercules mask covering his face, and the fact that he had no weapon, made it seem unreasonable to call him an enemy.

Jeobeok- Jeobeok-

That's right.

Thinking rationally, he was definitely not an enemy.

Jeobeok- Jeobeok-

"Gulp…"

But as the man got closer and closer, the elite guild members who had been focusing on their training stopped their individual training and slowly gathered next to Plain.

At the tension that unpleasantly tickled their instincts for no reason, they narrowed their eyes and brought their hands close to their weapons.

At that, a female knight with short golden hair, Plain, stepped forward and said.

"By any chance, are you the guest Alice-nim mentioned?"

"Hmm? Probably not. If that guy had said it, he wouldn't have used a polite word like 'guest'."

"…It seems you are."

Plain stood exactly between Lee Shin and the dungeon and said.

"The guild master is currently training. I recommend you come in the evening."

Pfft-

"If you talked to that guy on the phone, you know how I'll come out, right?"

"…We will stop you with all our might."

"That's even better."

It was strange.

Even though he was wearing a mask and only his eyes were visible, they felt like they could see the man's playfully smiling face.

(End of Chapter)