The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 23

Beep- Beep- Beep-

In a room with several large TVs, Cheon Yuhwa played the video of the spar from a moment ago and then paused it on two scenes.

One was the scene where Lee Shin dodged Choi Seok-ho and Jo Yu-hyeon's attacks and attacked them.

And the other was the scene where he dug into Shin Ye-eun and Ja Yi-hyeon before they could get into their stances.

"Now, these two are the techniques of the person who defeated you."

At Cheon Yuhwa's words, the team leaders' expressions turned a little sullen and were colored with shame, but she spoke without hesitation.

What they needed now was not comfort born from misplaced sympathy, but feedback based on cold, hard facts that could serve as a foundation for their growth.

Only then would they not be swallowed by the current experience and fall into despair, but use today's failure as a foundation to grow.

"Now, a question for you all. As the opponents who fought him directly, what kind of fighting style do you think he has?"

"In my opinion, I think he's a martial artist who mainly uses Phantom Sword and Fast Sword."

The first to answer Cheon Yuhwa's question was Jo Yu-hyeon, a martial artist like Lee Shin.

As a fellow martial artist, Jo Yu-hyeon, perhaps having felt something, did not speak with his usual smile but with a serious expression.

"What's your reason for thinking so?"

"I felt that way seeing how he used his footwork and how he swung his sword."

At Jo Yu-hyeon's words, the other four also carefully nodded in agreement with his opinion.

"That's correct."

Cheon Yuhwa nodded.

But her eyes were saying that the answer was insufficient.

"But it's a half-baked answer."

"Are you saying our answer is wrong?"

At Choi Seok-ho's question, Cheon Yuhwa shook her head and pointed at the two screens.

"No, I just thought it was premature to say so based on just one footwork. In other words, it feels a bit cheap, but the correct answer was 'unknown'."

At her words, the team leaders, who had noticed something, turned their heads toward the screen with surprised eyes and examined the video.

"Haa..."

"He wasn't serious from the beginning."

"Damn it."

And only after seeing Lee Shin on the screen did they realize that, unlike his footwork, the sword he swung was too featureless.

In other words, although he had used footwork, he had not used martial arts.

Unlike them, who had been serious from the beginning, he had not been serious for a single moment.

"One is flames, the Flame Leaf Returning Step focused on evasion."

Cheon Yuhwa, who had been watching their gloomy faces for a moment, opened her mouth.

"The other is lightning, the Lightning Wood Thread Step focused on attack."

At her words, they raised their gazes and looked at the screen she was pointing at.

On the screen, flames were falling from his body and fluttering in the air, and lightning bolts that had shot out from his body were extending slightly into the air.

Thwack-

At that moment, she lightly tapped the table to gather the team leaders' attention back to her.

"To blur his presence with flames and shake the opponent, and then to finish off the momentarily shaken opponent with lightning. That's how this person fights."

At her words, the team leaders lowered their heads and clenched their fists tighter.

"Where in the world did such a person suddenly come from? I've been continuously checking information on martial artists like myself, let alone information on psychics or mages, but I've never heard of him."

Jo Yu-hyeon's slightly strained voice even carried a sense of injustice toward some unknown person.

But that was a part that even she couldn't solve.

Even for her, who had experienced one regression, that part was unknown.

"I know, right? A martial artist who uses both flames and lightning at the same time. If there were rumors about a person who uses such a unique martial art, even if they were careful and hid their appearance, at least a small rumor should have spread, but there's nothing like that. Not even in the ranking system."

Cheon Yuhwa finished her words and looked at the team leaders.

Based on what came out of this spar, she also talked about the martial art he originally used.

She also hinted that his specialty was not twin swords.

'This should be enough as a shock therapy.'

Thinking so, she stood up with a gentle smile.

"I'll leave the video here. It's a small clue, but take a good look."

At her sincere words, the team leaders nodded silently with burning eyes.

The spar with Lee Shin, which she had thought of on the spot, had a much greater effect than she had expected.

***

"Ah~ That was fun~"

Lee Shin walked down the street, humming a tune with a smiling face.

He was just trying to make a contract to handle troublesome things like disposing of monster carcasses, but he had an unexpectedly fun time.

"Hmm, should I just fill my stomach and then go into a dungeon?"

Lee Shin ate ten chicken skewers he had bought from a street stall in order and brought up his status to examine it.

Name: Lee Shin

Level: 1

Path: Madness

Strength I: 9

Agility I: 10

Sense I: 14

Intelligence I: 12

Internal Energy: 10

His body, which had physical abilities that lagged behind even an ordinary person, had now risen to a level that lightly surpassed the physique of an ordinary person.

Well, since there were also stats obtained through the fortuitous encounter of the elixir, it was a bit ambiguous to say he had earned it through effort.

As he walked down the street, savoring the chicken skewers, he soon arrived at the location of the dungeon that the app had informed him of.

"I heard they'll assign a supporter tomorrow... well, I can just simply collect some magic stones and sell them all at once tomorrow. I also need to get rid of some of the weapons in my inventory."

Saying so, he pressed the helmet for hiding his identity onto his head and entered the dungeon.

And for that one day, he completely cleared five dungeons in the vicinity, then, thinking it was too annoying because the dungeons were too far apart, he decided he should buy a motorcycle and returned home.

For him, it was a satisfying day, and for others, it was a mysterious day.

***

About three years ago, a game fantasy suddenly invaded the world that had been rolling along normally.

During those three years, people experienced and learned many things within it.

But when it was revealed that Pantheon was a game created by gods and a kind of educational facility to help people prepare for the events to come, people fell into chaos.

But that was only for a moment.

After the dungeons actually appeared, people began to adapt to the fantasy that had infiltrated reality and started to move.

If the gods were absolute and noble beings, they might have fallen into disappointment seeing the driving force of those moving people.

Thump- Thump- Thump-

"Haa, should I just say I'll quit right now?"

A man sat in a cafe, tapping the table with his finger and muttering so.

"I thought players who enter dungeons would rise in the future, so I hurriedly applied to a dungeon and somehow passed, which is good... but something about this seems to be going strangely."

As the man's thoughts became more and more complicated, his brow also began to furrow more and more.

Fortunately, since it was a quiet cafe with only him in it, he could focus solely on his thoughts without being disturbed by anyone.

The man took a long sip of his cold coffee.

It felt as if his complicated mind, filled with various thoughts, was being washed away by the coffee.

"Haa, no. I made the right choice. My salary is doubling, it would be strange not to take it. How could I refuse that."

He said, looking at the scenery outside the window and muttering to himself.

'Water bill, electricity bill, gas bill, management fee. On top of that, after solving the cost of buying daily necessities and food, and then paying the monthly rent and also solving the university tuition... I really had to accept it.'

He calmly thought about his environment.

For him, who had been raised in an orphanage with other children without parents, living was the same as money flowing out.

'They're willing to hire a student from an orphanage with poor grades who barely got into a university in Seoul... thinking about it again, I should have volunteered for it.'

Anyway, thinking that the more he worked part-time, the more his suspicion and wariness increased instead of his bank account balance, he tried hard to think positively and dispel his doubts.

"Well, even if I enter a dungeon, it's not like I'm hunting monsters myself, I'm just organizing the monster carcasses and bringing them out, so it should be fine."

On top of that, he would get the principal as it was, and the more he worked, the more he would get as an incentive.

Thinking so, his mind became a little more at ease, and the man smiled faintly.

"Sigh, I took a semester off from university, I hope I get assigned to someone who enters dungeons a lot so I can earn a lot of money during that time."

It was the man's meaningless monologue.

But sometimes, as if a god had answered someone's monologue, a wish spoken unconsciously can actually become a reality.

Even if the result is different from what was thought.

Ting-a-ling-

As the man was sitting by the window, drinking his coffee, someone opened the cafe door and came inside.

The short-haired man, who had been sitting and sipping his coffee, turned his head toward the direction of the door where the sound came from.

The man first stood up and looked at the man who had entered through the door.

It was a man with a peculiar hairstyle, with long, flowing black hair covering his face.

'When I heard the description, they said I'd be able to recognize him with just this, and it was true.'

The man who had entered through the door also seemed to have been given a simple description, as he walked toward the man drinking coffee without hesitation.

Still, since there could be a 'what if', the short-haired man asked the long-haired man who was approaching him.

"Are you perhaps the one who recently signed a contract with [Wonderland]?"

"Yes, then are you perhaps the supporter from [Wonderland]?"

Confirming that it was the man he had been waiting for, the short-haired man first extended his hand and bowed his head slightly.

"My name is Eun Yeon-woo, a supporter from [Wonderland]. I will be in charge of supporting Mr. Lee Shin from today. Please take care of me."

"Yes, I am Lee Shin, who has signed a freelance contract with [Wonderland]."

Grin-

"I look forward to working with you as well."

Lee Shin said, shaking the hand Eun Yeon-woo had extended.

(End of Chapter)