The Player Who Stands Above All

After finishing the suppression, Alpha and Beta's role was to collect the spoils.

Alpha collected the weapons of the killed players and put them in her bag, and Beta looked at the intangible information while transferring it.

While the two were working so hard, Smile also had his own work to do.

Stab-

"Kkeuaak!"

"Aigoo, don't be a baby. You guys who live in the shadows shouldn't be like this just because your palms are getting poked a little."

Information acquisition through interrogation.

The interrogation through his unique killing intent drove the interrogated person's mind into a corner, making various information flow out smoothly.

The two understood what Smile was doing as an act of acquiring information, but in fact, for Smile, this was just a pastime.

To explain with an example, it would be similar to people who have nothing to do on the weekend turning the TV channels without any purpose, looking for something interesting.

Even now, Lee Shin was poking the guild master's hand with a dagger, hoping that a story that could interest him would flow out.

Stab-

"Keuk! Keueup!! S-stop! I've told you everything I know..."

"Wrong."

Stab-

This time, he stabbed his wrist, not his palm.

It was good that this guy in front of him, being a player, was holding up better than he thought.

"You shouldn't lie."

As he gained experience in this work, Lee Shin was able to tell whether people were lying or not just by looking at their pupils.

As if to prove his words, the toad's eyes trembled uncontrollably.

Seeing that, Lee Shin was convinced that the toad was hiding something and moved his dagger once more.

"Keuk! Aaaak!!! N-nooo!!! It's true!!! This is all there is!!!"

"Keuleok! It's a lie..."

As Lee Shin was turning the toad's hand into a rag, the weasel, who had been unconscious, opened his mouth.

"Oh! You seem to know something too?"

At that, Lee Shin looked that way and smiled, and the toad's face contorted fiercely.

"You son of a bitch!! If you say that!!! Eup!! Eueueup!!!"

Even though his mouth was covered by Lee Shin's hand, the toad shouted so loudly that his veins popped, and seeing the man like that, the weasel said coldly.

"What do you want, you toad bastard. Unlike you, I don't have anyone held hostage. And my life is the most precious to me."

"Hmm, a very desirable attitude."

Smile threw the bead he had at the toad and blocked the toad's voice.

It was something he had received from Beta, and it was quite useful.

"Now, then, will you tell me? If you tell me something interesting, I'll let you live."

"...In the basement of this guild, there are people, items, and byproducts of monsters."

The weasel, in a tense state, swallowed his saliva and slowly opened his mouth.

"Yeah, okay. I know that. So?"

"They are all tributes. To be offered to one guild."

Thump-

At that moment, Beta's finger, which had been tapping the keyboard for hacking, pressed the keyboard a little harder.

It was a small difference, but Lee Shin's five senses did not miss the small difference in sound.

'Look at this?'

He didn't know what it was, but the feeling that he had caught a big fish began to flow through his whole body.

"Where is that guild?"

"...It's an organization called [Dawn]."

***

"Here."

Beta held out a case full of money to Smile.

"Here, I'll give you all the cash, just like last time. Instead..."

"Instead, you guys take all the items and monster byproducts. Right?"

Smile said, and took the case Beta handed him.

"Good. I said it last time, but this is easier to handle, and crucially, it's hard for me to handle so many things by myself."

Smile said and smiled lightly.

The heavy weight seemed to easily exceed a billion won.

'Hmm, the level of the house I can buy is rising exponentially. I can also do the interior neatly.'

Kkyugugu-!!!

Lee Shin, hearing Irhegue's satisfied sound, smiled lightly, and Beta, pointing at the case, said.

"Now, the information obtained through hacking is in the USB, so you can check it later."

"Yeah, alright."

Smile said, and put the case in his inventory and looked at the two.

Normally, it would have ended here.

But now, a strange atmosphere was holding the feet of the people here.

Smile stared at the two, and Alpha and Beta also faced Smile, wearing their masks.

Chuckle-

In that subtle confrontation, the person who spoke first was Smile.

"You don't have to be so tense. I have no intention of digging out whatever you guys are hiding."

At those words, the subtle confrontation loosened.

"And although I didn't express it, I'm grateful to you guys. If I had acted alone, there would have been many inconveniences in various parts."

"Hmm..."

"Really?"

The two showed a slightly flustered look at Smile's unexpected words.

Seeing the two like that, Smile smiled.

Beta, realizing her mistake at Smile's smile, quietly closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again.

With just that, Beta was able to regain her slightly shaken composure.

"Are you sure you don't have to take the information from us? I don't know exactly what you're looking for, but it might be related to that organization called [Dawn]."

'What is this, am I playing a dating sim game or something, with choices constantly appearing? Well, that's what makes it fun.'

"It might be related. But that's outside the scope of the contract."

Smile shrugged and said.

"I said it when I first made a contract with you guys. If you keep your promise, I won't break my promise first. Well..."

Smile looked at Beta and chuckled.

"If you guys had broken the contract and hidden the information, I wouldn't have respected you either, but you guys, although you hesitated, kept your promise, right?"

Of course, this was just a bluff.

Because Lee Shin had no knowledge of computer hacking.

Literally, a gamble.

But in Lee Shin's view, this gamble had a higher chance of success than failure.

'In the first place, if a person had obtained this information, there's no way they wouldn't have hesitated.'

As if his prediction was correct, Beta closed her mouth and, without saying anything, looked at Lee Shin's mask and then opened her mouth.

"Alright."

Beta, with those words, was about to turn her back.

But just before Beta turned her back, Alpha grabbed Beta's arm and stopped her.

"Alpha?"

"Just a moment."

Beta looked at Alpha with a flustered look.

Because it was rare for Alpha to take the initiative in a conversation.

"Hmm?"

And Smile also, at the situation he was seeing for the first time, showed interest and looked at Alpha.

"Why aren't you trying to get the information from us by force? You're stronger than the two of us combined. You can not only defeat us but also subdue us, right?"

At Alpha's words, Lee Shin was slightly flustered.

'Did she smell something?'

Lee Shin thought for a moment about what to do, but for now, he decided to continue playing the role with this doll called Smile.

"I told you. Because you guys didn't break the contract first."

"Is that contract more important than your revenge?"

"Hmm, you could say that."

At Smile's answer, Alpha's eyes wavered. It meant she couldn't understand.

Seeing that, Lee Shin combined various stories in his head and instantly added flesh to the character of Smile.

"I don't know the exact identity of the organization I'm chasing. No, in the first place, I don't even know if it's an organization or not."

"......"

"All I know is one thing. They prefer to find a suitable organization and give orders rather than handling things themselves."

"Can I ask what happened?"

At Alpha's question, Smile said in the same playful tone as before.

"Betrayal."

"......"

"So I'm not attacking you guys. It's not just that I don't want to be treated the same, but in the first place, I'm not sure if these guys are the right ones. That's all."

Smile, who had finished his story, asked Alpha.

"Are you satisfied?"

"Yeah. And sorry, but I have one more favor to ask."

Sreung- Sreung-

Alpha said, drawing two swords from the scabbards on her thighs.

"Spar with me just once."

"What? Alpha, what are you talking about?"

The one who was flustered by Alpha's words was Beta.

Beta, flustered, tried to stop Alpha, but Alpha, as if she had already made up her mind, looked at Smile with unwavering eyes.

"Hmm~ Well, alright. I was feeling a little better after talking to someone, even if it was just a little. I'll play with you once as a service. Is there a suitable place nearby?"

"Yeah."

Alpha said and started running in one direction as if to say 'follow me', and at that, Smile smiled and chased after Alpha.

"Our cute Alpha has been tainted by that strange guy, Smile."

Beta muttered gloomily on the rooftop and then threw herself after the two who had gone ahead.

Beta's eyes, the only thing visible above her mask, were those of an older sister who was anxious that her cute younger sister might go down the wrong path.

***

Oz, Merlin, Crowley.

"Wow... what is this?"

"Alice, you've gotten incredibly strong."

"This is absurd."

On the day Cheon Yuhwa came to visit, these three, like the others, sparred with her and were thoroughly defeated.

Merlin pressured her by creating numerous types of magic, but she instantly moved and dodged all the magic, attacking him.

Oz tried to wear down her strength by activating numerous curses and black magic, but she shook off the curses and broke the black magic, seizing victory.

Crowley pressured her using numerous artifacts, but she broke through all the pressure and neutralized it.

"Well, it's a natural result. Because I remember the future where the three of you have grown much more than now."

The three, who had faced an overwhelming defeat that they couldn't even make excuses for, chuckled.

They felt a sense of relief, as if their own existence had been so perfectly analyzed by her.

Also, the talent they possessed did not allow them to stop in their place.

Through the experience of being thoroughly dismantled, they were able to clearly recognize their current state and their weaknesses.

And that corrected the discrepancy between their game selves and their real selves, and became a huge amplifier that raised their real-life skills.

"Now you know why it took so long to get here, right?"

At Cheon Yuhwa's words, they nodded.

A delicious experience where they could feel themselves growing every time they fought, something that could not be felt from a simple defeat.

It was good enough to be called a kind of fortuitous encounter.

It is natural for a fool not to miss such a fortuitous encounter.

But the feeling the three were feeling now was not that kind of bright and positive feeling.

"I can't not challenge you again after losing to you so thoroughly."

"I'll have to put in some effort to save face as an older sister."

"I'll have to do my best for the first time in a long time."

The identity of the emotion that was blazing in their hearts right now was pride and fighting spirit.

Although a not-so-bad relationship had been formed now, the Ten Kings, when they first met, were not on very good terms with each other.

Because the overwhelming talent they possessed made them clash with each other.

The Ten Kings fought so much that they got tired of each other, and they killed so much.

The current peace was a peace created through the ashes that had been burned at that time.

But now, Cheon Yuhwa had planted a flame in the hearts of the Ten Kings, which had been covered in gray ash.

^Direct^Attack^

(End of Chapter)