The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 69

"Please be seated. Would you like something to drink?"

"A cafe mocha, with lots of whipped cream and chocolate syrup."

"Understood. Please wait a moment."

As Kim Jae-hyun naturally answered in the affirmative, Lee Shin was surprised in turn.

"No, you have chocolate syrup and whipped cream in the guild master's office?"

"Our young miss's taste is like that, so we have all sorts of sweet things prepared. That's why there's a refrigerator over there."

"Ah, I see."

Lee Shin, who had instantly understood Kim Jae-hyun's words, quietly sat down.

The place the two had moved to was the guild master's office.

Kim Jae-hyun placed a cup of cafe mocha in front of Lee Shin and then looked at him and said.

"It hasn't been long since I got to know Mr. Lee Shin, but it seems you prefer to get straight to the point, so I'll get right to it, if that's alright."

"That's good with me. I don't really like long-winded talks."

"I'm glad."

Kim Jae-hyun said, and took out three photos from his pocket and held them out in front of Lee Shin.

"Hoo?"

Lee Shin looked at the photos and forcibly held back the corners of his mouth that were trying to creep up.

"To summarize the situation simply, it seems a break occurred in a LV.2 dungeon quite a while ago. And the monster that was inside is the LV.2 top-tier monster, the Metal Spider, in this photo."

Gulp-

Lee Shin took a sip of his cafe mocha and then said.

"You want me to lend you my strength to deal with these guys?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"It seems a whole mountain has turned into a spider's nest, am I right?"

"Yes. That's how we've assessed it."

At Kim Jae-hyun's words, the calculator in Lee Shin's head quickly spun and came up with an answer.

'An interesting job.'

Lee Shin, at the result of the calculation in his head, smiled and nodded.

"Alright, good. But I'm going to charge a lot for the reward."

"Thank you. The reward is written here. If you don't want cash, we are also willing to pay with corresponding magic stones, items, or in kind."

"Excellent."

Lee Shin said, and was about to get up from his seat, but he suddenly stopped.

"Ah, but I have something to take care of, so I'll probably be able to go there tomorrow morning, is that okay?"

"That much should be fine. Ah, and..."

Kim Jae-hyun looked at Lee Shin and said.

"This time, since the matter is a bit serious, we've also put in a request to another person besides Mr. Lee Shin. You may not be able to meet him, but if you do, please cooperate with each other to handle the work."

"Is it that Yeonhwa guy?"

Lee Shin naturally spat out the person who came to his mind.

But Kim Jae-hyun shook his head and denied his words.

"No, he is a person of a similar level of skill as Yeonhwa-nim, but he is a different person. For reference, that person also told me that he would arrive there around tomorrow morning, so you will probably be able to arrive around the same time."

"Hmm, really?"

Lee Shin smiled broadly at the news that he could meet a new person with a skill similar to Yeonhwa's.

"Who is that person?"

Kim Jae-hyun took a deep breath and then said.

"He is one of the Ten Kings, like our young miss and Yeonhwa-nim, the Fist King, Baekho-nim."

***

A dark evening when the moon and stars rose in place of the sun.

Beta looked at the factory far away.

At first glance, it was an ordinary factory with no noticeable special features.

But if you looked at it leisurely over time, you could see one peculiar thing.

"Shift change."

"Yeah."

The security was excessively strict for guarding an old factory.

Every hour, the guards moved in perfect order, checking the surroundings and taking over from the other guards who had been working before.

And that shift change was also done after checking each other's faces and passwords, so the security was thorough.

In their pockets, something was shining, reflecting the light.

A long-range pistol and various items.

Seeing that, Beta let out a chuckle in disbelief.

'Ha, to be so obvious and pretend to be an ordinary factory. Do those guys have cream pasta instead of brains in their heads?'

But apart from the obvious suspicious parts, and just thinking about guarding against intruders, their preparations were effective.

In fact, the three of them, Alpha, Beta, and Joker, had contemplated how to break through the factory's security, but it was difficult to come up with a good plan that satisfied all three of them.

'Well, in the end, we ended up moving according to that guy's plan.'

Beta thought, and looked at Joker, who was lying in the bushes next to her and looking at the factory using an artifact.

"Hmm?"

Joker, noticing Beta's gaze on him, looked at her.

"Why?"

"Aigoo, it's nothing. Just stop looking at the telescope and keep an eye out for any unusual parts."

"Hmm... alright."

Joker answered and brought the telescope-like artifact to his eye, and seeing him like that, Beta let out a small sigh.

Although Alpha was hiding nearby in preparation for a possible attack, seeing Joker who had come out made her feel anxious, as if she had left a child by the water.

'Haa, how did things end up like this?'

Beta lightly swept back her hair, which had a faint blue tint like a glacier, and recalled what had happened yesterday.

"Now, thanks to you guys diligently gathering information from the Black Guilds, I've found where [Dawn]'s tail is. I'll explain it in a summarizing way from now on, so if there's anything that bothers you, ask."

At Joker's words, Alpha and Beta, who were eating ice cream from a large tub, nodded their heads slightly.

Joker, seeing that, felt a moment of emptiness, but he came to his senses and displayed a map on the huge TV.

On the map, there were places highlighted with red dots, and those were the locations of the Black Guilds they had attacked so far.

Joker moved the screen using the remote control and said.

"First, after forming a cooperative relationship with Smile, we dealt with all the Black Guilds that were suspected of having some connection with [Dawn] and took their information and resources. Right?"

Joker looked at the two as if asking for a response, and the two who were eating ice cream nodded their heads while chewing diligently.

"I thought [Dawn] would definitely reach out to this side, but it was hard to be sure..."

Thwack-!

Joker said, and pressed a button on his laptop, and the information that Alpha and Beta had brought and that Joker had organized scrolled up on the TV screen.

"After checking the information you guys brought, I found that [Dawn] is definitely reaching out to this country. And that hand was much more than we had originally expected."

On the TV screen that Joker pointed to, various tangible and intangible resources that [Dawn] was siphoning off appeared.

"[Dawn] guys, I expected them to use the Black Guilds like their own hands to take dungeon resources or information, but I didn't expect them to kidnap even the people who had awakened as players. No, come to think of it, is it a natural thing?"

Joker muttered and let out a cold sneer.

His cold smile, which was different from his usual one, was filled with a deep disillusionment with [Dawn].

But Joker's sneer was literally for a moment.

Joker, who had returned to his original expression in an instant, zoomed in on the TV screen and showed a place to the two.

"Where is that?"

At Beta's words, whose pronunciation was slurred because she was eating ice cream, Joker smiled lightly and said.

"It seems the guy you caught this time was a pretty powerful guy among the many hands. There was information that could specify the higher-ups."

"Then."

"Yeah, after combining it with the existing information, I was able to specify the location of the higher-ups. And..."

Tada-

Joker said playfully and drew a red circle on the enlarged place.

"This is the place."

At Joker's words, Alpha and Beta's eyes lit up.

Joker approached the screen and pointed to the place he had drawn with a circle and said.

"I checked, and the guys here are preparing to move their base to another place."

"Why?"

"It seems we made too much of a scene."

At Joker's words, Alpha and Beta understood.

"So if possible, we have to attack tomorrow. And what we should aim for first there is information."

Alpha and Beta, who had finished their ice cream, nodded in agreement at Joker's words.

But they were flustered by Joker's next words.

"So I'm thinking of going this time too."

"Hmm?"

"What?"

Alpha and Beta were simultaneously flustered.

"Joker, you?"

Alpha had been trained as an assassin and had focused all her abilities on combat power, and Beta had been trained as a spy and had accumulated combat ability along with various knowledge.

But Joker was different.

In the first place, hackers don't receive combat power training.

Moreover, unlike Alpha who had chosen the path of a martial artist and Beta who had chosen psychic powers, Joker, who had chosen the path of an alchemist, a production-class mage, had nothing that could be called combat power.

Joker himself knew that fact best, but this time, there was no choice.

"Until now, the programs I made and Beta's skills were enough, but this time, I don't think that will be enough."

"But..."

"Don't worry. If I go after preparing enough artifacts, I won't hold you guys back. And..."

Grin-

"I'm going to propose a once-in-a-lifetime deal, so I have to say it face-to-face so that he can trust me."

Thump- Thump-

As Beta was recalling Joker's last words, someone's footsteps were heard.

There, someone was walking with Alpha.

A man wearing a black mask with a smiling mouth, he was wearing black clothes and had a dagger and a longsword at his waist, walking towards them.

"Hello~ And should I say it's the first time we've met?"

"We've talked a few times, but it would be right to say it's the first time we've seen each other."

Swoosh-

Joker said, and approached and held out his right hand.

"Hello, you can call me Joker."

"You can call me Smile."

Smile said, and took Joker's hand.

"So? I came after receiving a call, but what are you trying to do in such a remote place? Ah! Are you trying to attack me, saying I'm no longer useful?"

At Smile's words, Beta said with a sigh-filled voice.

"Stop with the nonsense and look over there. That's today's target."

"Really?"

At Beta's words, Lee Shin focused his internal energy on his two eyes and looked in the direction Beta was pointing.

"Hmm~ It looks unusual. The security seems to be tighter than the previous Black Guilds."

"Don't worry. We've already made a plan."

Although he wasn't particularly worried, Smile nodded appropriately.

"So what's the plan? Seeing that you started as soon as I came, do we have to do it at a set time?"

At Smile's words, Joker said as if it were strange.

"We haven't done anything yet."

"Hmm?"

At Joker's words, Smile tilted his head slightly as if in doubt and pointed his finger in the direction of the factory.

"Then... are the guys who are attacking the factory over there not helpers who came to help us, but hyenas who came to snatch our prey?"

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

At Smile's words, the three's expressions changed rapidly, and they looked at the place Smile's finger was pointing.

A black doll moving at a fast speed flashed past Joker's artifact, which was pointing at the factory.

"Those guys are..."

Joker's eyes widened as he saw the two red characters, [Underworld], on their backs.

"It seems things are getting interesting."

Lee Shin looked at the situation that was turning in a fun way.

(End of Chapter)