The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 73

Clang-!

Joker frowned as he saw the signal bead shatter.

The first signal, a single vibration, meant affirmation.

For reference, this was the signal they had just sent to Smile.

The second signal, two vibrations, meant that the plan had been disrupted.

However, it was a disruption that could be managed, so it was a signal to wait at the predetermined location.

The meaning of the last signal, breaking the bead, was...

"The situation has deviated far from our expectations. It meant to just go."

At Joker's low murmur, Alpha and Beta looked at the fragments of the broken bead without saying anything.

Once the bead was broken, it was just an ordinary glass fragment.

Both of them knew that, but they still looked at the fragments of the bead for a while, as if expecting something.

"...Are we going back to the base?"

At Alpha's low question, Joker hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

"Yeah, for now, getting this information safely is the top priority. Our primary objective was to obtain this, after all. Besides, you guys saw it when you came out of the factory."

Joker's words were as quiet as the night wind blowing around them, but they contained a cold reality.

"It's not a fight we can help with by carelessly jumping in. There's a higher chance of us getting in Smile's way or losing our lives in vain than helping."

The two couldn't say anything to Joker's words.

While escaping from the factory, the three of them had seen Lee Shin and Yeonhwa fighting.

The two were engaged in a fight that was beyond common sense, as if they were above the ceiling set by the world.

Unable to deny Joker's words, Beta stood up without saying anything.

But Alpha remained seated, lost in thought.

It was as if the ghost of the past had put its hand in Alpha's ear and was stirring her memories.

-Hey, shouldn't we run away from here?

-Yeah, let's run.

-Uwaaaaaah!!!! It hurts!!!

-Please save me! I'm sorry! I won't do it again! I'm sorryyyy!!!

-Sob! Mom!!!

The sharp screams of the friends she had left behind while running away rang in her ears.

At that time, she thought she had run away because she was weak.

But now, even though she was much stronger than when she was young, Alpha was feeling the same way as she did back then.

Kkuuk-

The moment Alpha was about to get up, drenched in a sense of powerlessness, Joker held out something to Alpha and Beta.

At that, Alpha and Beta looked at Joker.

"So your role is not to interfere in the fight. If the moment comes, your role is to create an opportunity for Smile to escape."

"Huh?"

"Joker?"

The two had a flustered expression at Joker's unexpected words.

Seeing the two like that, Joker laughed cheerfully.

"Ah, don't misunderstand. It's not for the reasons that are flashing through your minds right now. It's just that I thought it would be advantageous for future transactions to have him owe us one."

"...Haa~"

Beta, who had heard Joker's words, stood still for a moment and then let out a small sigh.

Then, she took the cloth bag that was on Joker's palm and held it out to Alpha.

"Alpha, I'll take responsibility for Joker, so you take care of this side."

"Me?"

At Beta's sudden words, Joker was flustered and pointed at himself.

"Yeah, you. It seems you're overestimating your ability to get out of here safely, but there's no way that's possible after giving us all the artifacts."

"No, I'm really fine..."

"Shut up."

Beta, who had simply shut Joker's mouth, looked at Alpha and opened her mouth.

"Of course, if you don't want to, I have no intention of forcing you. So think carefully and tell me."

Beta's voice, as she said that, was filled with deep concern and trust.

"Can you do it?"

"...Yeah!"

Alpha nodded her head vigorously, took the things Beta handed her, and then, melting into the shadows, moved in the direction where the sound was coming from.

Beta and Joker, who had been watching her for a moment, soon wrapped themselves in something like a cloak and forcibly moved their feet that wouldn't come off easily.

***

The moment Lee Ye-eun, who was wearing the red goblin mask, was cut by Lee Shin's spear and fell, what Yeonhwa felt was anger towards himself.

Anger that this situation was created because he could not properly deal with Lee Shin's sudden participation in the battle.

Anger at himself for having hesitation in a corner of his heart even though he had decided to do this.

Hwareureuk-

That anger became a flame and instantly burned away the rust in Yeonhwa's heart.

Woooong-

Yeonhwa slowly raised the hand holding the sword and began to operate the internal energy in his dantian in earnest.

Then, piercing through the heat that Lee Shin had created, the scent of a lotus flower began to spread around.

At the same time, everyone in that place saw an illusion.

An illusion of a lotus stem appearing from the hand of Yeonhwa holding the sword, slowly wrapping around his body and the sword in his hand, and then blooming a purple lotus flower.

Lee Shin smiled faintly at that.

"You're amazing. To show something like that just by the pressure created from raising your internal energy."

But unlike before, Yeonhwa just swung his sword without saying anything.

His own softness had brought about the current situation.

Therefore, Yeonhwa no longer had the heart to play along with Lee Shin's pranks.

Every time Yeonhwa swung his sword, a lotus flower bloomed and a lotus flower fell, repeating.

Yeonhwa's appearance, swinging his sword in the midst of the lotus flowers, was as beautiful as a single dance.

But only Lee Shin, who was facing the attack and deflecting each and every one of them, knew.

'It's still damn heavy.'

If the Plum Blossom Sword Art was a sword art that focused on illusion and speed, the Nature Sword Art that Yeonhwa was showing now was focused on weight and defeat.

The lotus flower, which contained numerous petals, had a weight that quietly crushed everything, and the petals that burst out at the moment of brilliant full bloom made everything in front of them wither.

Shururuk-

At the same time, the heavy change drawn by the tip of Yeonhwa's sword wrapped around Lee Shin's attack like the stem of a lotus flower.

In the midst of that stormy attack, Lee Shin was busy defending and swung his spear, and as time passed, his lacerated body began to turn into a bloody mess.

The atmosphere began to flow with Yeonhwa's overwhelming advantage, but Yeonhwa himself was frowning.

Just as Lee Shin knew Yeonhwa well, Yeonhwa also knew Lee Shin well.

'Even while being cornered, he is examining each and every sword I show, eating it up, and looking for an opening.'

Others didn't notice, but only Yeonhwa could feel it.

That the sword he had built up was being eaten by Lee Shin, and that Lee Shin was growing bigger, using it as nourishment.

The fact that Lee Shin was eating him up and growing was not a problem for Yeonhwa.

Because he had had many experiences of making the things that his opponent showed him his own through battle, and he was still doing it.

What Yeonhwa was feeling annoyed about was the appearance Lee Shin was showing.

He broke, filled, collapsed, and reassembled.

This was not a matter of being flexible in thought or having good learning ability.

A human being naturally has an attachment to what they have built up, cherishes it, and has likes and dislikes.

Urrr-

But Lee Shin was not like that.

He nonchalantly broke everything he had built up and ate up everything of his opponent.

He absorbed all of it and reassembled it as his own.

This was something that was impossible even for Yeonhwa.

Because this was closer to a difference in values than talent or way of thinking.

'Still the same.'

In Yeonhwa's view, Lee Shin was too heterogeneous.

The more he exchanged blows with Lee Shin, the more he felt the blazing flame that was burning his chest subside.

And at the same time, Yeonhwa recalled what Cheon Yuhwa had said at the moment the last spar had ended.

Hwoong-

'He was a guy who would just move if he thought it was fun, as if he didn't care what happened to others. But he had the skill to not die even if he did such things.'

Kagagak-!

'If you just think about talent alone, that guy might be more outstanding than the ten of us. Reaching LV.7. For us, it was a 'recovery' of our level, but for that guy, it looked like 'growth'.'

Kaaaaang--!!!

"I was half in doubt when I first heard it, but now I see that what that guy said seems to be right."

Yeonhwa, who had escaped from the anger that was burning his chest and returned to his original state, said, and looked at Lee Shin.

-Is the tantrum over?

-...Yeah.

Lee Shin, who was standing in front of Yeonhwa, was covered in deep cuts all over his body and was bleeding so much that it was strange he hadn't lost consciousness.

But even in that state, Lee Shin stood tall, and Yeonhwa looked at him with calm eyes.

Because when the two had sparred before, it was common to get even more serious injuries than this.

Lee Shin said, patting his shoulder.

-Then, can you give me one last big one? I'm getting tired and want to go home.

-...Alright.

The moment Yeonhwa, who had answered so, was about to take a stance.

Jjaeng- Jjaeng- Jjaeng- Jjaeng- Jjaeng-

Several glass beads that fell from high in the sky shattered into small particles as they hit the ground.

Hwooo-

At the same time, a thick gray smoke rose from where the beads had broken and completely enveloped the area, including the two.

At that, Lee Shin, who had roughly guessed what had happened, sent a telepathic message to Yeonhwa.

-It was fun today, let's meet again later. And today is my victory.

With those words, Lee Shin hid his presence and disappeared from the spot.

"Hmph."

If he was determined to find him, he wouldn't be unable to, but Yeonhwa didn't bother to chase after him.

It was his own way of repaying him for calming him down, and he thought it would just be a headache even if he caught him.

But Yeonhwa shouldn't have done that.

And Yeonhwa realized that fact too late.

"It's empty inside."

"Someone came in and there are traces of them attacking the factory guys. The system is also down."

"I've found traces of someone stealing the information that was inside. It seems there was a third party."

"Haa~"

It was Yeonhwa's mistake not to have thought that Lee Shin would have a companion skilled enough to carry out the hacking of the factory in such a short time.

And only then could Yeonhwa understand the meaning of the 'victory' that Lee Shin had mentioned at the end.

***

"Etchoo!"

While Yeonhwa was cursing Lee Shin, Lee Shin, wearing a cloak that concealed his presence, was being carried on Alpha's back and was escaping the forest together.

The sight of the small Alpha carrying Lee Shin was quite unbalanced, but in a world that had become a fantasy, this was a common occurrence.

-Thanks for the acting. I was wondering how to escape from that place.

This was sincere.

Lee Shin had expected that Yeonhwa wouldn't bother to chase him if he tried to escape, but he had been contemplating a way to get out of that place naturally, even in the eyes of others.

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

It was difficult to give another answer because she was clenching her teeth.

On her back, which was carrying Lee Shin, and on her hands, which were holding him, his blood, which had not yet cooled, was seeping in.

Through that, Alpha realized that the wound Lee Shin had sustained was a very serious one.

Realizing that, various emotions flowed out and soaked Alpha's chest.

Confused by that, Alpha moved her feet silently, and by the time she had almost escaped the forest, she was finally able to compose herself and say a word.

"Smile."

"Why?"

"You've figured out why we're doing this, right?"

"Because of revenge."

Although they had never told him, Lee Shin could tell from the situation, so he said honestly.

Since he was thinking of taking a different route from them if necessary, there was no reason to hide his own feelings.

"Probably all of you were done some wrong by a guild called [Dawn] and are trying to get revenge."

"That's right. It's not accurate."

Alpha's emotions don't change that much.

But that's not because she controls her emotions well, but because her emotions are in a state of being shattered into pieces in the first place.

Therefore, Alpha could not resist the emotions that were now soaking her chest, and she did not even know why she was saying these things.

"[Dawn] is not a simple guild. It's more fitting to say it's a secret weapon that the state is secretly raising."

"The state?"

"Yeah, it's a group that the Japanese government is secretly raising."

At Alpha's words, Lee Shin unknowingly raised the corners of his mouth.

Dealing with an organization under the state.

It was a resonance sufficient to stimulate the heart in his chest.

"The guys we dealt with today are also members of an organization under [Dawn]. And today, we obtained data that can lead us up to the tail of [Dawn]. So..."

At the last moment, Alpha hesitated a little.

Although she had already received Joker's permission, something was preventing her mouth from opening.

It was because she couldn't fully trust Lee Shin, although she herself didn't know it.

Seeing Alpha like that, Lee Shin opened his mouth calmly.

"It's okay, so just say it."

"Huh?"

Alpha was surprised and unknowingly stopped her steps for a moment.

And that was because the voice that had come from Smile now was not the modulated voice from before.

'He trusts me?'

The moment that thought occurred, Alpha unknowingly confessed her inner thoughts to Lee Shin.

"It will be hard for us to deal with [Dawn] with our strength. Maybe one of us will die. So... help us. In return, we will also help Smile."

That was Alpha's pure sincerity.

And it was also the sincerity of the other two.

Facing the sincerity of the three, Lee Shin chuckled.

"Alright. Let's do that."

A word as light as a single gust of wind.

But that word, without a single bit of pretense or falsehood, pierced Alpha's chest.

(End of Chapter)