The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 18

"Hyaaawn."

With a drawn-out yawn, Lee Shin slowly opened his eyes and gradually sat up in bed.

Looking out the window with slightly dazed eyes, he saw the sky already beginning to darken.

"Wow, did I collapse on the bed in the morning and sleep until evening? I slept in for the first time in a long while."

Saying so, Lee Shin lightly got out of bed and washed his face with cold water to wake up.

"Hmm..."

After washing his face, Lee Shin looked at his reflection in the mirror, which was markedly different from the day before.

The Lee Shin in the mirror was quite different from just last night.

His body now had firm-looking muscles, and his face had filled out to some extent, so he no longer looked gaunt.

Whoosh-

While brushing his teeth, Lee Shin looked at his body in the mirror for a moment, then lightly rotated his arms.

His arms, which had felt creaky until then, now rotated smoothly as if they had been oiled.

In that state, Lee Shin lightly jumped in place a few times.

His body was so incredibly light that one could believe he was on the moon, not Earth.

It was an unbelievable change to have happened in just one day.

"Still, it means that things like this can now happen in reality."

Lee Shin briefly recalled the past day.

He had obtained internal energy with the [Flame Lightning Tree God Art] and raised his stats by defeating monsters.

In the final boss room, he had even eaten a highly effective elixir, doubling the size of his dantian, and by dying and coming back to life, he had also expelled the waste products accumulated in his body as dead blood.

On top of that, although he didn't know it yet because he hadn't properly drawn out his internal energy, in the process of his body going to the brink of death and recovering again, his internal energy was used as a material to repair his body, and it had seeped into every part of it.

Thanks to that, his body had now changed into one more suitable for using the internal energy of the Flame Lightning Tree God Art.

The proof of that was his hair color, which was slowly starting to change from the crown of his head.

In any case, greatly satisfied with his body's condition, Lee Shin smiled and changed his clothes.

"My body's in great shape. I should go to a dungeon right away."

Thinking that amusement parks are more fun at night, Lee Shin prepared to go out.

"Hmm..."

While preparing, Lee Shin saw something, was lost in thought for a moment, then picked up the object.

"Well, this probably won't stand out too much, and it's not bad in terms of hiding my identity."

Having finished all his preparations, Lee Shin went outside.

His steps as he left the house were endlessly light.

***

The time when the streetlights, which had been off, began to turn on as the sky grew dark.

Although it was a bit late, there were still many players gathering to enter the dungeons.

Thanks to that, Lee Shin could easily find a dungeon.

After finding the approximate location of the dungeon through the app, he just had to follow someone who was obviously wearing a lot of suspicious gear, and there was a dungeon.

'Come to think of it, I think I heard that people find cosplay festivals this way too.'

Thump-

"Excuse me, just a moment."

The moment Lee Shin was about to enter the dungeon while having such useless thoughts, someone placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.

Lee Shin, feeling someone's hand reaching for him, briefly considered whether to dodge or not, but since it was right after meeting the interesting person named Cheon Yuhwa, he let himself be caught, just in case.

"Why did you call me?"

"Uh, that is... are you perhaps here to enter the dungeon?"

"Yes?"

"Alone?"

"Yes."

"...Dressed like that?"

"Yes."

At Lee Shin's unhesitating answers, the man looked at his attire with a dumbfounded expression.

It was simple.

While other people were wearing things like bulletproof vests or riot police uniforms, Lee Shin was wearing clothes unified in black, and besides the black motorcycle helmet pressed down on his head, he had no other armor.

The man, who had been looking at Lee Shin's appearance for a moment, seemed to have reached a plausible conclusion and, with a small exclamation, suddenly raised his head and looked at him.

"Ah! Perhaps, were you a ranker in Pantheon?"

"No, I wasn't."

Although he thought he could easily handle most rankers, strictly speaking, he was not a ranker.

No, he wasn't even at a level to discuss rankers.

After all, he was the one who had built a house and settled down at the very bottom of the rankings.

Having heard all the answers from Lee Shin, the man looked at him with an even more bewildered expression.

However, he couldn't see Lee Shin's face, blocked by the black visor of the helmet.

The kind-looking man frowned a few times as if in thought, then, as if he had made up his mind, spoke to Lee Shin with a firm expression.

"Are you perhaps a warrior?"

"Uh... I am a warrior."

"We happen to need one more warrior in our party, would you perhaps like to join us?"

"What?"

The last word was not spoken by Lee Shin, but by the woman who had been listening to the story behind the kind man.

"Excuse me, just a moment. I'm sorry."

The woman called the man aside for a moment, and the two began to talk.

And Lee Shin just stared blankly at the two of them.

He didn't know if they thought they were lowering their voices, but with his unusually sensitive senses, he could hear everything they were saying.

"Hey! How can you just decide something like that on your own!"

"No... but what am I supposed to do when he's going into a dungeon dressed like that? He might die if he goes in like that. And we'll be able to hunt more safely with one more person."

"That depends on the person! Seeing him dressed like that, he must have come here thinking lightly of the dungeon..."

The two whispered for a long time, then, having reached a decision, approached him.

Just by looking at the expressions of the two approaching, it was clear whose opinion had been accepted.

"I'm a warrior who uses aura, and the one behind me is a mage who's a rear guard. Would you like to join our party?"

The man said with a kind smile.

Lee Shin just stared at the man.

This man was probably trying to be kind to a beginner who had never entered a dungeon before.

Such good intentions flowed from the man's smile, tone, and gestures.

A beginner would probably accept this offer with gratitude.

'Ah, I don't want to.'

But Lee Shin was not.

To him, the existence of a party was a burden that required him to share delicious food.

Nothing more, nothing less.

So, the moment he was about to refuse, his eyes moved to the man's eyes and the female mage behind him.

Looking at those eyes for a moment, Lee Shin extended his right hand toward the man and said in a very kind voice.

"Ah, that's a relief. I had my reasons for preparing to enter the dungeon, but I was a little scared when I was about to go in."

When Lee Shin extended his hand, the man lightly shook it and smiled kindly.

"My name is Kim Hyun-soo. Please take care of me."

"I'm Kim Hye-young. Please take care of me."

Grin-

"My name is Lee Jin-woo. I hope this will be a mutually beneficial time."

Saying so, Lee Shin smiled behind the hidden helmet where the two couldn't see.

That smile was very similar to the one he had when he saw the Black Horned Rabbit before.

***

"Wow~ I've never seen anyone choose a weapon like this before."

The female mage wearing a pointed hat said, looking at Lee Shin with fascination.

"Your weapon is certainly a bit unusual."

"Haha, I asked just in case, but I was surprised when they said they really had it."

At the two's words, Lee Shin smiled awkwardly.

"At first in the tutorial, I was a little scared when they suddenly told me I had to hunt monsters. Even though they were monsters, swinging a sword at a living thing was a bit much."

Far from being scared, he had only been excited, but he temporarily buried his memories of the tutorial and said so.

"Ah, I understand. I'm a bit used to it now, but I was scared too when I first heard I had to fight monsters."

"Me too, that was the biggest reason I chose to be a mage."

After entering the dungeon, the three of them created a friendly atmosphere and conversed.

"The reason I said I would enter the dungeon without fear at first was because I trusted this shield. I put so much effort into holding the shield that my only armor was a helmet."

"Ah, so that's why you were only wearing a helmet."

"Yes, I thought that with a big shield, I could somehow survive. But I'm glad I was lucky enough to meet two kind people."

"Us too. Honestly, I didn't say it, but I was a little anxious."

Chiiik-!

As they were chatting, the long-awaited monster appeared before them.

A brown boar, digging the ground with its front paws and snorting fiercely.

Seeing it, Lee Shin stood in front of the boar, speaking in a voice that was trembling slightly as if nervous, but resolute in its determination not to run away.

"I'll hold on in front! You two, look for an opportunity and attack at your leisure."

"Yes."

"Okay."

Lee Shin lowered his stance, raised his shield to cover his body, and prepared for the impact.

And the two, from behind him, watching him...

Pfft-

Kideuk-

...were forcibly holding back the laughter that was bursting out of their mouths.

At the same time, the two looked at each other and exchanged opinions.

-From the looks of it, his only weapon besides that shield seems to be the small dagger on his back, and his only armor is the helmet on his head, so let's use him up and then kill him.

-Alright, then let's use him as a meat shield until then. From the way he talks, he seems like a huge idiot, so if we just coax him a bit, he'll probably understand and move on his own.

The two threw off their masks and looked at each other, anticipating the harvest to come.

The two couldn't notice.

That behind his helmet, Lee Shin had his eyes and ears tilted toward them and was smiling more wickedly than they were.

'So they were guys with some ulterior motive.'

When they extended their hands to him and proposed to form a party, he had read the greed shimmering behind their eyes.

The moment he saw that, he had completely changed his assessment of them.

They were not thieves who had come to steal his prey.

They were foolish and cute toys, frolicking in front of him without knowing their place.

Lee Shin looked at the boar, his heart pounding with anticipation for when they would make their move.

'How should I fight this guy so that they'll see me as an easy target and come at me?'

His own enjoyable contemplation continued.

Playing the role of a hidden powerhouse for the first time was more fun than he had thought.

(End of Chapter)