The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 158

Click-! Click-!

Cheon Yuhwa, who was on the Ferris wheel, moved her phone around and took pictures of the amusement park's night view through the window.

Lee Shin, who was sitting in front of Cheon Yuhwa, muttered blankly as he watched her.

"You really like taking pictures."

"Huh? I don't really like taking pictures."

Click-!

Even while saying that, the phone in Cheon Yuhwa's hand was flashing and working hard.

At her appearance, where her words and actions were completely opposite, Lee Shin looked at her with a look of disbelief.

"You seem to always take pictures when you see something amazing or eat something delicious, but you say you don't like taking pictures?"

"It might be hard to believe, but it's true. I didn't really like taking pictures because it was annoying to press the shutter every time. But as I started using SNS, I gradually got used to it."

At Cheon Yuhwa's words, Lee Shin said with a puzzled face.

"You used SNS too?"

"Yes, I've set my account to private, but I'm using it. Want to see?"

Cheon Yuhwa said that, tapped her phone, and held it out to Lee Shin.

Lee Shin, whose curiosity was piqued, took Cheon Yuhwa's phone and looked through her SNS, flipping through the screen.

"How is it?"

"Hmm… well, it doesn't seem normal."

At Lee Shin's honest impression, Cheon Yuhwa chuckled as if she had expected it.

And for good reason, Cheon Yuhwa's account was filled with only pictures, without a single word of text.

Up to that point, it was understandable.

Because people who use SNS as a photo album are surprisingly common.

However, what Lee Shin paid attention to was the number of those pictures.

"How can you have over 30,000 pictures posted on SNS?"

"I don't know. I just kept taking them one by one, and at some point, it just grew like that."

Cheon Yuhwa, who had said that much, turned her gaze, which had been on Lee Shin, elsewhere, and after hesitating slightly as if thinking about something, she slowly opened her mouth.

"In the past, I mean, in the future that's to come, I regretted not taking many pictures."

"…The topic suddenly flows there?"

"Just, shut up. You mood-killer."

Cheon Yuhwa said, glaring at Lee Shin with a slightly flushed face.

But her face looked much more comfortable than her stiff face from a moment ago.

"You already know, but the future is not that hopeful. All sorts of infrastructure are completely destroyed, monsters keep flocking in, and the things that are commonly seen when you walk down the street now have all disappeared into memories. That's the future."

"It must have been tough."

As Lee Shin said nonchalantly while eating popcorn, Cheon Yuhwa glared at him as if she would hit him, but Lee Shin, as always, just looked at her with a wide smile, as if asking if she wanted to fight.

"Sigh, anyway, taking pictures now is like a habit to resolve the resentment from that time. It's a foolish thing to say, but I was quite desperate back then because I was mentally cornered."

Cheon Yuhwa said, 'how could I have even developed a technique like this', and shot a beam of light from her fingertip like a beam projector, showing a simple video.

"Hmm…"

Lee Shin looked at Cheon Yuhwa with a sense of wonder as he listened to the story she told.

"You originally didn't want to tell me anything about the future. Did you suddenly change your mind?"

"Hmm, you could say that."

At that, Lee Shin threw popcorn into his mouth and said.

"I was wondering what you were trying to say, setting the mood like that, so it was this story?"

"What, you noticed?"

At Cheon Yuhwa's words, Lee Shin rested his chin on his hand and said as if it were obvious.

"You're doing something that doesn't suit you at all, so unless you're a fool, of course you'd notice."

Lee Shin said that and smiled slightly.

"Well, but it was a pretty interesting topic because it was unexpected. Why did you suddenly bring up this topic? Seeing as you're rambling on about something, is there something you want to ask me?"

"…You're really quick-witted."

Cheon Yuhwa looked at Lee Shin as if he were unlucky, then put popcorn in her mouth and asked.

"If I ask, will you tell me honestly?"

"Uhm… if I feel like it?"

It was a light and playful tone, different from Cheon Yuhwa's serious tone.

But Cheon Yuhwa, instead of arguing or getting angry, just nodded her head once.

Because Cheon Yuhwa knew very well that Lee Shin, surprisingly, did not hide or deceive his true feelings.

'No, it's more accurate to say that he doesn't try to package himself.'

Of course, if Lee Shin thought it would be fun to play a prank, he would lie without any hesitation, but at least he wouldn't do it now.

Because he wasn't so clueless as to not think that Cheon Yuhwa would clam up if he was caught lying.

"The reason I didn't give you information about the future was because I had given up on you."

"Really?"

Even though it was a statement that could have easily provoked the listener's annoyance, Lee Shin took Cheon Yuhwa's words nonchalantly.

It was a Q&A that was possible because the relationship between Cheon Yuhwa and Lee Shin was not that normal in the first place.

"Yes, the future you was a hopeless guy. I tried to persuade you in many ways, but in the end, I gave up."

Cheon Yuhwa said that and stared at Lee Shin with slightly hazy eyes, as if superimposing someone else on him.

"So I was planning on treating the current you not as a colleague, but as a hunting dog."

"Ah, so that's why you were constantly monitoring my location and controlling my information from spreading, because you were trying to use me as a hunting dog?"

At Lee Shin's words, Cheon Yuhwa's finger, which had been twirling her hair, stopped for a moment.

"You even noticed that I was controlling the information?"

"Well, it's not like I'm moving quietly, so if no rumors spread like this, I can't help but notice."

"Sigh, you're really a sly snake."

"Are you the one to talk?"

Cheon Yuhwa grumbled, but she continued to bring out the various things she had been thinking about.

She herself didn't know the reason.

Whether it was because of this comfortable atmosphere or because she wanted to enjoy this feeling of becoming more and more comfortable as she talked.

Or maybe it was because she was hoping that some change would occur in Lee Shin with this change of hers.

"So you thought I would want a world like that, an apocalypse, and would interfere with you?"

"Yes, something like that. That was the decisive reason why I didn't want to give you information about the future. It was also for that reason that I tried to keep you from getting involved in the plan."

Lee Shin, who had closed his eyes for a moment and spread his wings of imagination at Cheon Yuhwa's words, came to a conclusion.

"That kind of world certainly seems like it would be fun."

Lee Shin said honestly.

A life of freely hunting monsters in a place that was broken here and there.

In a way, it could be called the ideal life he had been wishing for.

"But I have no intention of trying to make that kind of world come."

"…Really?"

Cheon Yuhwa, who had been glaring at Lee Shin with sullen eyes, asked with slightly widened eyes.

"Yes, I don't have any particular complaints about my current life. On the contrary, I'm rather satisfied."

This was a conclusion Lee Shin had come to after his own calculations.

First of all, he could hunt monsters even now.

Since there were many Players, he could pick a fight with them as he pleased.

On top of that, there was plenty of food, and there were many other things to kill time with.

If he had to choose, Lee Shin wanted to choose the side with many options.

Lee Shin, who had organized his thoughts that far, looked at Cheon Yuhwa and said calmly.

"To put it simply, I can live in both of those worlds without any complaints. If I had to choose a preference between the two, I like the current world more."

"…Is that so?"

Cheon Yuhwa looked at Lee Shin with eyes that said she had no idea.

At that, Lee Shin said with a shameless face.

"If that weren't the case, I wouldn't have bothered to hang out with you."

"…I'm the one hanging out with you."

"Alright, let's just say that."

"Agh, really! You, do you not know how much I've helped you from behind the scenes?"

"So what. Did I ask you to?"

The two said that and bickered to the point where the Ferris wheel they were riding shook, then they soon split up and returned to their respective seats.

"Hoo, alright. Then what are you going to do from now on?"

Lee Shin thought for a moment, then chuckled and said.

"I wonder? I'll probably just move as my heart desires, just like now."

At Lee Shin's answer, Cheon Yuhwa chuckled.

"Alright, then I'll also move as I please."

Cheon Yuhwa said that and held out one hand to Lee Shin.

In fact, nothing had changed.

It was just that they had shared each other's thoughts and confirmed their goals.

But for Cheon Yuhwa, that was enough.

Because the anxiety in her heart had been resolved.

And the moment Lee Shin, without any particular thought, took her hand and shook it lightly.

Jijijijik-!

A sound like something tearing was heard from somewhere.

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

The moment that sound was heard, the two simultaneously moved their heads in their respective directions.

But the sight the two saw was the same.

Jijik-!

Jijik-!

Jijijijik-!

Because it wasn't a phenomenon that was happening in just one place, but the same thing was happening in all directions.

"This is a first."

Lee Shin smiled with an intrigued face, like a child who had entered a toy store, as he watched numerous dungeons being created simultaneously, regardless of the ground or the sky.

The Ferris wheel the two were on had already reached the top and had stopped.

That's why the two could see at a glance the appearance of the dungeons, which were created with an unpleasant noise like scratching a chalkboard and were swaying precariously as if they would explode at any moment.

Lee Shin took out the mask and equipment he had put in his inventory and asked Cheon Yuhwa.

"This is what I think it is, right?"

"Hah, yes, that's right."

Cheon Yuhwa said that and messed up her hair with annoyance, then threw off the perception-impairing artifact, the glasses, she was wearing.

"Wasn't there quite a bit of time left?"

"It was just a rough estimate, not an exact calculation. It wouldn't have been strange if it had happened at any time. That's why I was in such a hurry."

Kwaaang-!

Cheon Yuhwa said that and raised her aura, tearing off the door of the Ferris wheel.

Although there were several layers of safety devices, all of them combined could not overcome Cheon Yuhwa's power.

Hwiooo-

Simultaneously with tearing off the door, a rough wind, due to the influence of the dungeons being created, rushed at the two.

Kraaaaa-!

Kieeeek-!

Kyararara-!

And at the same time, breaks occurred simultaneously in the precariously swaying dungeons, and the monsters that were in the dungeons poured out like a flood from various places.

Pajijijik-!

At that, Lee Shin raised his internal energy, kicked off his seat, rushed at the monsters, and was about to swing the Yagong, but.

Bbiing-! Bbiing-! Bbiing-! Bbiing-! Bbiing-!

Cheon Yuhwa's hand moving and piercing the monsters' heads with bullets of light was faster.

As Lee Shin looked at her as if asking what she was doing, Cheon Yuhwa said, cutting him off.

"I'll take care of this place, so you go to another place quickly. It'll be troublesome in many ways if you're seen fighting here."

"…Sigh, alright."

At Cheon Yuhwa's words, Lee Shin let out a small sigh and brought his hand to the choker on his neck.

"Ah, wait."

Lee Shin, who was about to activate the artifact and leave the place, naturally extended the hand he was bringing to his neck towards Cheon Yuhwa.

"Huh? What all of a sudden…"

Cheon Yuhwa, who was startled by Lee Shin suddenly walking a step towards her and extending his hand, froze in tension.

"Here, take it."

But none of the various things that had filled Cheon Yuhwa's head for a moment happened.

Lee Shin's hand briefly touched her head as if brushing it and then disappeared.

And when Cheon Yuhwa came to her senses, the hand that had brushed her head was holding a pure white headband and was extended in front of her.

"You're going to be on TV from now on, fighting, and if you wear a headband like this, you'll be teased for the rest of your life."

Lee Shin said that and took off the headband he was wearing and held it out together.

"I'm going to go play somewhere else, so you can throw this away yourself. Since it's an amusement park, it should be easy to dispose of."

"Huh? Ah, right. I'll be there…"

Cheon Yuhwa answered that and unconsciously extended her hand to receive the headband Lee Shin held out.

"Then see you later."

With those final words, Lee Shin activated the artifact and disappeared from the spot with a halo of light.

Cheon Yuhwa stood there blankly for a moment, then came to her senses at the monster's roar and quickly turned her head.

"This… I'll just keep it for now."

It was her own secret that the two headbands in Cheon Yuhwa's hand had entered her inventory.

(End of Chapter)