The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 99

As Lee Shin tried to go to the tenth house, the real estate agent's face turned white and he strongly objected.

He went on a long speech about the things that had happened in that house to somehow prevent Lee Shin from going there.

"Ooh..."

As a result, contrary to the real estate agent's intention, it ended up piquing Lee Shin's interest.

Vroom-

In the end, the real estate agent, who had failed to persuade Lee Shin, told him the door lock number with a reluctant expression.

And he said that he was really sorry, but he couldn't go.

He tearfully appealed to Lee Shin that the owner of the house had changed ten times in a month, and because he kept going to that house each time, he even developed stress-induced hair loss.

To Lee Shin, it just looked like hair loss due to old age, but he just nodded and let it go.

Since it was better for Lee Shin to move alone anyway.

"Hmm, is this it?"

After many twists and turns, Lee Shin arrived at the address the real astate agent had mentioned.

Lee Shin took off his bike helmet and looked at the house at the address.

"It's like a picture."

The house was much better than he had seen in the picture.

The size of the house was large, the design was excellent, and the overall layout was very practical.

The garage seemed to be able to fit about two cars, and the yard was tightly covered with hexagonal bricks, so not a single blade of grass was visible.

But what Lee Shin was admiring now was not those things.

He was talking about the gloomy atmosphere of the house.

"Certainly, at this point, I can understand why that ahjussi was scared and didn't come."

Lee Shin turned his head and looked around the house.

"Hmm, the surrounding environment is also good."

Perhaps because it was a neighborhood built by cutting down a mountain, it was on a high place, and he liked the spectacular view of the long stretch below.

But what he liked the most was that there were no other houses near this house.

In a place like this, even if he exerted [Madness] to the maximum, there would be no reports from the next door neighbor that they felt a chill.

'To think that not only the people living in the house but also the nearby houses avoid it, saying it's creepy... Is the power of rumors greater than expected?'

Well, it wasn't that Lee Shin didn't understand.

In a fantasy world where dungeons appeared, there was no reason not to believe in ghosts.

Lee Shin, feeling his heart pound for the first time in a while, entered the number he had received from the real estate agent into the door lock and went inside the house.

Click-

When he turned on the light, he could see the inside of the house, which was full of dust.

Lee Shin looked around the house with his shoes on.

And he was a little disappointed.

"...It's an ordinary house."

Of course, it wasn't an ordinary house.

Except for the fact that there was dust, the house was spacious, pleasant, and excellent.

There was even a basement, and it was well-ventilated, perhaps because it was originally intended to be used as a gym.

But the expected situation did not happen, and Lee Shin was a little disappointed.

"Haa, I was looking forward to it a little."

-You're a fool. There's no way there are things like ghosts in the world.

"Shut up. Don't trample on my childhood dream of hitting a ghost with all my might."

Lee Shin grumbled at Irhegue's words and came out of the house.

"Well, I still like the house itself."

The location, the interior, it was a house that was perfect for Lee Shin in many ways.

"The price is affordable with the money I got from hunting the Black Guilds, so I should just sign the contract tomorrow. I should send a text saying I want to sign the contract... hmm?"

Kyuu?

As Lee Shin made up his mind and was about to return to where his bike was, he and Irhegue simultaneously felt a strange wave flowing from one side.

"This feeling, is it a dungeon?"

Even as he said that, Lee Shin couldn't be sure.

He remembered the sensation of a dungeon, but this presence was similar to a dungeon, yet different.

How should I put it...

To give an example, if the dungeons that had appeared so far were like a hose from which water gushed out, the current dungeon felt like a passage through which water was circulating.

Thud-

Lee Shin, whose curiosity was piqued, moved his steps towards the place where his senses were pointing.

The place he arrived at was the backyard of this house.

There...

Woong-

A dungeon, shining not in the usual white but in green, was boasting its mysterious appearance.

At the same time as he saw that, Lee Shin's fingers automatically moved and sent a message to the real estate agent.

A haunted house, and on top of that, a dungeon installed in the yard.

If he were to lose such a wonderful property to someone, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

Fortunately, the contract was processed quickly.

It was thanks to the owner, who wanted to dispose of the house as soon as possible, signing without a moment's hesitation.

Grin-

"Then shall we go and see what kind of place this dungeon is?"

-It looks like it will be a fun place!

Lee Shin took out the [Steel Spear] from his inventory, held it in his hand, and threw himself towards the dungeon.

Hoping that the 1% of something that would make his thoughts flash would be inside.

"This is the first time I've seen a terrain like this."

As he entered the dungeon, what he saw was a tropical rainforest similar to the Amazon.

"What kind of monsters lived in the tropical rainforest terrain?"

-I know. Guys like monkeys, snakes, or crocodiles come out.

Irhegue said, and tapped the ground with his tail.

He was excited to be able to see a fight after a long time.

"Hmm, I've fought monkeys and snakes before, so I'd prefer it to be a crocodile, which I haven't fought."

-I also prefer a new toy over a toy I've played with once.

The two chatted idly and walked towards the depths of the jungle.

Just then, Lee Shin, who felt a presence, moved his steps towards it.

'Hmm, judging from the footsteps, it feels quite heavy. By the way, this is the sound of walking on two feet, not four. Is it not a crocodile?'

The moment Lee Shin stepped towards the place where he felt various presences.

Halt-

Lee Shin froze, seeing something unexpected.

Halt-

And it was the same for the other side.

"An orc?"

"A human?"

A different race, with geometric shapes made of red mud drawn on their tough green skin.

The guys who were only rumored about in Pantheon had revealed themselves in reality, borrowing the passage of a dungeon.

***

-A new dungeon has appeared all over the world! Moreover, there is breaking news that among those dungeons, there are also dungeons that emit a green light instead of a white one...!

The anchor on the news delivered the news that LV.3 dungeons were appearing simultaneously all over the world and sent a warning message to the people.

Cheon Yuhwa, who had confirmed that fact through the TV installed in the car, turned off the TV and focused on the smartphone in her hand.

Alice (Light): Did everyone find it?

Heracles (Strength): I found it. Crowley's artifact is certainly good.

Arachne (Poison): I found it too!

Merlin (Magic): I found it too.

Uriel (Recovery): Me too.

Oz (Black Magic): Me too~

Diz (Element): Found it.

Yeonhwa (Sword): Confirmed.

White Tiger (Fist): I found it too.

Crowley (Alchemy): Discovered.

Cheon Yuhwa, who was relieved that all ten kings had successfully found the dungeon, smiled with satisfaction and wished them good luck.

'I've given them all the general information, so they'll do well on their own.'

"Seeing you smile, it seems things went well without any problems."

Kim Jae-hyun, who was driving the car, said, looking at Cheon Yuhwa's reflection in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, I was a little worried, but fortunately, it seems there's no particular change in this part."

Cheon Yuhwa was relieved and lightly swept her chest.

"Is the exchange with the other races that important?"

Although he already knew, Kim Jae-hyun decided to ask once more.

He had heard a general explanation from Cheon Yuhwa, but there were still parts that he didn't quite grasp.

"Yes, it's important."

At Kim Jae-hyun's question, Cheon Yuhwa nodded without hesitation.

Elves, dwarves, orcs, beastmen, and even humans from other worlds.

They all had outstanding skills in their respective fields.

The knowledge and power they had could be of great help to the current human race.

"If we build a good relationship with them, they will surely become a great force. In fact, the other races that were friendly to humans joined forces with us against the monsters when they came out of the dungeons."

"Hmm, I see."

Kim Jae-hyun nodded as if he roughly understood.

"On top of that, the technology of the other races has developed in a completely different way from what humans have developed, so that alone is an important resource."

"That's amazing."

"And the knowledge that humans from other worlds have is a good indicator of what to collect and how to collect it in dungeons."

"Hoo."

But Cheon Yuhwa's mouth, once opened, did not seem to close.

Kim Jae-hyun, thinking 'as expected, it turned out like this', appropriately repeated the words 'yes', 'I see', 'that's amazing', and 'hoo' in order and nodded at Cheon Yuhwa's words.

'Come to think of it, they say that grandfathers and grandmothers talk a lot. Are humans designed to talk more as they get older?'

As Kim Jae-hyun was having thoughts that would make Cheon Yuhwa's head explode with anger if she knew, her words had already turned into grumbling.

Looking at Cheon Yuhwa, Kim Jae-hyun was reminded of a drunk ahjussi's drunken rambling.

"Haa, so in the future, these foolish guys, when they saw the other races in the dungeons, they declared them to be on the side of the monsters, not the humans, and acted accordingly."

"Because of greed."

"That's right. They're disgusting things to think about again."

Cheon Yuhwa shook her head.

To say it again, the other races were very useful.

In other words, they had value.

Elves were beautiful, dwarves were skilled with their hands, orcs were brave warriors, and beastmen were skilled hunters.

That's why people with status drooled and tried to put the other races under them.

That was the reason they called them monsters.

Because if they were treated as monsters, not as fellow humans, they could be enslaved as much as they wanted, and there would be no problem no matter what kind of research they conducted.

"Of course, not everyone did that. There were also people who chose the path of coexistence."

And that was the right answer.

When the other races were released from the cage of the dungeon, they treated people with two attitudes.

One was the hand of coexistence.

A token of trust extended to the humans who had shown them goodwill.

The other was the hand of revenge.

A blood-soaked revenge against those who had persecuted them and pointed their weapons at them.

"And not long after, most of the countries that had turned the other races into enemies were destroyed or suffered a tremendous amount of damage."

It was natural.

Because in a world where it was difficult to handle even one monster, they had made another enemy.

"Well, the trash in our country was cleaned up in advance in preparation for this day, so it's unlikely that what happened in the future will happen again."

"It's rewarding to have worked hard."

Cheon Yuhwa also nodded.

At that moment, a person suddenly crossed Cheon Yuhwa's mind.

"Are you keeping track of Lee Shin's movements?"

"Yes."

Kim Jae-hyun recited the last information he had confirmed.

"You said it would be hard to handle if you got caught, so you told me not to assign anyone and to just watch carefully from a distance, so I only know roughly. He hasn't been going out of the house recently, but today he came out and was looking for a house."

"Really?"

Even after hearing Kim Jae-hyun's words, Cheon Yuhwa frowned with a sense of unease and just chewed on a candy.

For Cheon Yuhwa, it was inevitable to be wary of Lee Shin.

She didn't know if it was because Lee Shin himself jumped into incidents, but he had a strange knack for appearing wherever an incident occurred.

Kim Jae-hyun, who had roughly noticed Cheon Yuhwa's thoughts, asked another question to change the subject.

"I'm just curious, but what happens if someone goes in first and becomes hostile to the other races? Wouldn't that be a big problem?"

"Hmm? No, unless they do something really out of line, there won't be any problem."

Cheon Yuhwa said, and unwrapped a new candy.

"At the current level of players, they'll probably be beaten to the brink of death the moment they attack the other races. Well, there might be the problem of their first impression turning terrible."

***

"Hmm, the feel of hitting this guy is so satisfying that I somehow keep hitting him."

"Keo-heok! Ku-heok!"

Lee Shin continued to kick the fallen orc and muttered as if he were amazed.

(End of Chapter)