The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 156

"Uh, so… I get that she's not trying to avoid fighting me."

Lee Shin said, looking back and forth between Cheon Yuhwa and Kim Jaehyun.

"But why are you telling me to play with her?"

At Lee Shin's words, Kim Jaehyun glanced at Cheon Yuhwa.

But Cheon Yuhwa, with her cheeks flushed, was frozen like a stone and couldn't say anything, only sending a pleading look to Kim Jaehyun.

'She's so different from her usual self.'

The usual Cheon Yuhwa, although she had somewhat dazed, sleepy eyes and faint dark circles, was so fast and clean in her work that it was creepy.

Her appearance, as she cut down on sleep and handled both guild work and her own training at the same time, could be called a model of a competent and ideal guild master.

'But it's a million years away from the appearance of a humane guild master.'

Watching Cheon Yuhwa run like a runaway locomotive with broken brakes, the guild members had all worried about her health at least once.

She can't be left like this.

Cheon Yuhwa needs a break, even if it's forced.

Thinking that, Kim Jaehyun had pushed this plan, albeit somewhat forcibly.

It was a job that Cheon Yuhwa had to handle, but at the same time, it was a kind of job that she couldn't handle easily, and it was a kind of job that inevitably had to be combined with rest.

And it was also fun to watch.

'It was a method I thought of on the spot, but I'm glad it seems to be working better than I thought.'

Kim Jaehyun, feeling as if the heavens were helping him, said the excuse he had prepared in advance.

No, it couldn't even be called an excuse.

Because what Kim Jaehyun was about to say now was the pure truth.

"To put it simply, it's for each other's benefit."

"Playing with her is for each other's benefit?"

"Yes, that's right."

Despite Lee Shin's disbelieving reaction, Kim Jaehyun's words did not stop.

"Miss has been continuously pushing herself with training until now, and her mind and body are quite exhausted. Since she's not in a condition to fight properly, she naturally needs a rest."

"No, I can fight…"

At Kim Jaehyun's words, Cheon Yuhwa tried to refute something, but she quietly closed her mouth at his gaze, which told her not to interrupt cluelessly.

"Besides, Lee Shin-nim also fought with two of the Ten Kings, so wouldn't you need to rest a little to fight properly? Fatigue is something that builds up without you knowing."

"Uhm… well, that's true."

Lee Shin just nodded his head at Kim Jaehyun's words.

It wasn't that he couldn't refute it if he tried, but there was no reason to refute it.

Watching Lee Shin, Kim Jaehyun drove a wedge into the conversation.

"In other words, let's take a day off for a satisfactory spar with each other."

"…Alright, I get it up to there."

Lee Shin nodded his head as if he understood, but he looked at Kim Jaehyun as if he had one question.

"But do I have to be the one to play with her?"

At Lee Shin's words, Kim Jaehyun looked at Cheon Yuhwa with eyes that contained a little bit of sincerity.

"Shamefully, our miss has only had enough friends to count on one hand even at this age, so there is no choice."

"Hey! I have a lot of friends!"

At Kim Jaehyun's words, Cheon Yuhwa, whose weak point had been properly poked, flushed bright red and opened her closed mouth, shouting.

But Kim Jaehyun, who had taken Cheon Yuhwa's momentum head-on, was nonchalant.

"Deceive someone you can deceive. The period I've been assisting you, miss, easily exceeds 10 years."

"No, I really have a lot of friends…"

At Kim Jaehyun's words, Cheon Yuhwa muttered something and sat down again.

Lee Shin, who had been watching her for a moment, pointed at her with his finger and asked.

"Wasn't she, someone who hated me?"

"Someone like Lee Shin-nim is worth calling a friend by our miss's standards. You could call it a bad friend."

"Hmm… But I'm not a particularly interesting person either."

"Don't worry. We're planning on at least providing a minimal location."

Kim Jaehyun said that and held out two tickets to Lee Shin.

"Well, I said it was a request, a slightly grand word, but you don't have to think of it so difficultly."

On the ticket, the words 'amusement park' were written.

"Just go and enjoy it a little with miss."

***

After the dungeons appeared, Korea, unlike other countries, blocked the dungeons without any particular damage and was even called 'the safest country from monsters' by the people of the world.

The fact that the land was small, so there was less to cover compared to other countries, and the fact that high-level Players were swarming in that small piece of land.

And a fact that very few people knew, the three elements of Cheon Yuhwa, Baek Hyunwoo, and Yeonhwa living in Korea, combined to create that nickname.

That's why, from the perspective of a businessman doing business, Korea looked like a fascinating land that was both safe and overflowing with customers.

And the first business those people conducted for numerous Players based on stability and profitability.

That was the amusement park exclusively for the awakened, a theme park in the true sense of the word, created by combining science and magic.

"I knew it existed, but this is my first time coming here in person."

In the past, due to a large-scale monster break, the amusement park itself was destroyed and went out of business, so he had only heard about it.

Now that he had returned from the future, he had been doing so many things that he hadn't even thought of coming to a place like this.

'But to think I'd come here like this…'

While Cheon Yuhwa was slightly lost in her thoughts.

"Huh? Why are you spacing out while looking at the amusement park entrance?"

Lee Shin, who had bought one of each kind of snack from somewhere, spoke to Cheon Yuhwa.

"No, it's nothing."

At Lee Shin's appearance, Cheon Yuhwa quickly changed her expression and said.

"But you just came in, what did you buy so much for?"

"Huh? Isn't it normal to buy one popcorn at a movie theater and carry one of these around at an amusement park?"

"…Is that so?"

Cheon Yuhwa had never been to a movie theater and it was her first time at an amusement park today, so she couldn't refute Lee Shin's words.

"Here, take this."

"Huh?"

Lee Shin held out one of the churros he was holding to Cheon Yuhwa.

"What? Why are you giving me this?"

"Huh? I'm giving it to you to eat."

"…You bought it for me?"

"I guess so?"

Lee Shin looked at Cheon Yuhwa, shaking the churro as if asking if she wasn't going to eat it.

Cheon Yuhwa looked at the falling white sugar for a moment, then took the churro suspiciously and carefully took a bite.

And she was startled.

"It's a churro?"

"What, is this your first time eating a churro?"

"No, that's not it…"

Cheon Yuhwa said, checking the cross-section of the churro she had bitten into as if it were strange.

"I thought you would have definitely played some prank on the churro. Like putting wasabi inside the churro."

"No, why would I?"

As Lee Shin looked at Cheon Yuhwa with disbelief, she vaguely averted her gaze and avoided it.

"The future you did. It was sushi back then, though."

"Really?"

As the story of the future came out of Cheon Yuhwa's mouth, Lee Shin, who had nothing to say, just nodded his head.

He couldn't say he wouldn't have done it, because he himself had no confidence in himself.

'Still, it's a little annoying to be treated like this, so I should put wasabi in a red bean bun and give it to her later.'

Then, even if he was suspected, he thought he could just laugh and let it go.

"Hmm, I wonder why I did that."

"I wonder? Because we don't get along?"

"Yes, that's probably not it. I don't hate you."

"What?"

At Lee Shin's words, Cheon Yuhwa looked at him as if she had heard something strange.

But even while receiving such a gaze, Lee Shin was nonchalant.

"Why are you so surprised? In the first place, if I hated you, I wouldn't have said I'd come here."

Cheon Yuhwa, who had been looking at Lee Shin for a moment, blurted out.

"You said you like good guys because they're good, and you like bad guys because it's okay to kill them, right?"

"I never told you that, but you know it well. Did you hear it from the future me?"

"I guess so."

Cheon Yuhwa took a bite of her churro and moved her steps without a destination, and Lee Shin followed her with a wide smile.

Cheon Yuhwa, who had been glaring at him for a moment, muttered like a sigh.

"Sigh, looking at you like this, you're the same."

"We're the same person in the first place, so huh?"

Lee Shin, who was replying, suddenly stopped his feet.

"Why did you suddenly stop?"

At that, Cheon Yuhwa looked at Lee Shin as if asking what was wrong.

At that, Lee Shin pointed at a general store with a smiling face and said.

"Shall we buy one of those each and wear them?"

"A headband?"

"Yes, I see that people who come to amusement parks always wear one of those."

Lee Shin said that and went to a stall, rummaging through the headbands.

Cheon Yuhwa, who was watching him from the side, asked.

"You seem to be familiar with amusement parks, have you been here a lot?"

"No, this is my first time."

"Huh?"

At the unexpected answer, Cheon Yuhwa looked at Lee Shin as if asking if he was serious.

At that, Lee Shin said with a wide smile.

"When I was young, I didn't see people as people and my hands were itchy, so I stayed at home as much as possible. I didn't even go on school trips, so today is my first time at an amusement park."

"Then what you said so skillfully at first was?"

"I just know from watching anime and manga."

"…Really?"

Cheon Yuhwa looked at Lee Shin with slightly surprised eyes.

At that, Lee Shin tilted his head and asked.

"You didn't know?"

"What?"

"You didn't know this was my first time at an amusement park? I thought you knew and prepared the amusement park tickets."

At Lee Shin's words, Cheon Yuhwa nodded her head slightly.

"Ah, yes. I didn't know. In the first place, by the time I got close enough to you to have this kind of conversation, these kinds of facilities weren't left."

"Aha! So that's how it was."

"Yes…"

Cheon Yuhwa nodded her head inwardly, but she was thinking of something else.

It was true that she was hearing for the first time now that this was his first time at an amusement park, as Lee Shin had said.

But what Cheon Yuhwa had said was the story before that.

'When he was young, he didn't see people as people and his hands were itchy, so he didn't go out.'

As Cheon Yuhwa thought that, Kim Jaehyun's words came to her mind once again.

The words that she was relying on her memories of the future and not looking at the present properly.

'It seems I was relying too much on my knowledge of the future.'

While Cheon Yuhwa was gaining a small enlightenment that allowed her to reflect on herself through a trivial incident, Lee Shin looked at her and asked.

"So what are you going to do first?"

"…I wonder?"

"Eh?"

One had lived only at home, suppressing his murderous impulses.

The other had been swayed by her family business and had experienced the raw side of humans at too young an age, so she had avoided relationships with people.

The reasons were different, but the result was the same.

The two were rare creatures who had never been on a date even at this age.

(End of Chapter)