Chapter 207.

[8-3F, Hospital Medical Office]

Crevon’s hospital was no different than Earth’s . It had the same knowledge on sanitation and germs, while its healing techniques were even more advanced .

As such, Players, who were exposed to highly dense demonic energy in the previous demon attack, came here to be treated .

“… . ”

Shin Jonghak was also one of the Player patients . He wasn’t hurt or in pain . He wasn’t poisoned by demonic energy either . The only reason he was here was to see Chae Nayun .

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

Chae Nayun, who was in the middle of a ‘holy power treatment’, grimaced .

“You’re not going back to the hideout?”

“…I’m up next . I’m just waiting . ”

Shin Jonghak returned an answer expressionlessly . As it was the truth, Chae Nayun remained silent and quietly let the priest cure her .

“It’s not painful, so stay still . ”

The priest spoke . Since a while ago, Chae Nayun was trembling nervously because of the ‘holy power injector’ which looked like a syringe .

“…Okay . ”

On the day of the demon attack, she jumped into battle as soon as she regained consciousness . During the fight, her right arm received a small injury, and she was getting treated to eliminate any demonic energy that might remain in her body .

“Um, my head is okay, right?”

“Yes, there’s nothing wrong . ”

Chae Nayun fell into thought hearing the priest’s words . However, she soon shook it off and decided not to think about that day . Doing so made her depressed, gave her a small headache, and ignited a flame of anger in her heart .

“…That should be a psychological problem . ”

The priest spoke . Did he have a mind-reading ability? Chae Nayun scratched her cheek and checked her messenger .

Extra7: 「Don’t overwork yourself . If you’re in danger, message me . 」

Extra7’s message .

Chae Nayun looked at the [Lv . 5 Invitation Letter to the Love Room] in her inventory . Recently, she had been getting urges to summon him .

At that moment, a stinging pain squeezed her arm .

“Ow!”

“There . The poison has completely left your system, so you can go home now . ”

“Auu… thank you . ”

‘You said it wouldn’t be painful…’ Chae Nayun glared at the priest as she got up .

“Have a nice day~”

After picking up the longsword leaning on the wall, she opened the door to leave . Then, Shin Jonghak, who was sitting on the chair by the door, grabbed her wrist .

“Hm? What’s up?”

“…I’ll be done soon . ”

Shin Jonghak muttered while looking into the air .

‘Wait for me and let’s go back together’ . That’s what he wanted to say, but it didn’t come out so easily .

“So what?”

“… . ”

Shin Jonghak knew about the hardships Chae Nayun recently faced . When she was in pain from the banshee’s curse, he couldn’t do anything . He massacred countless undead monsters, but he couldn’t find an antidote .

“Do you want me to wait for you?”

Chae Nayun said what Shin Jonghak wanted and then placed her hand on his head .

“… . ”

Shin Jonghak raised his head and looked at Chae Nayun . Shin Jonghak knew who cured Chae Nayun’s curse . Yi Jiyoon had told him under the promise that he would keep it a secret .

“…No, it’s fine . ”

Shin Jonghak couldn’t help but shake his head . He suddenly recalled his grandfather Shin Myungchul’s smile . When Shin Jonghak was a kid, his grandfather was a member of the Nine Stars, respected by the entire world . Shin Myungchul was a Hero among Heroes, the pride of Korea, and the glory of his clan .

However, Shin Jonghak knew that his grandfather found his fame embarrassing . Shin Myungchul often tormented himself for being unable to protect his wife, the person he loved the most . In his mind, having saved the world paled in comparison to this mistake .

“Then let go . ”

Chae Nayun’s sharp voice awakened Shin Jonghak from his thoughts . Shin Jonghak lightly smiled and let go of Chae Nayun’s wrist .

“By the way, who hit your temple?”

He still asked what he was curious about . He was prepared to go after the perpetrator .

‘Who dares to hit Chae Nayun’s head? It’s already mostly empty . ’ He thought .

“…I don’t know . ”

Chae Nayun frowned and continued with a face that was clearly pretending to be oblivious .

“But if I meet him, I’ll pay back this debt 10 times, no, 100 times over . ”

Her words carried a deep conviction .

Shin Jonghak grinned and nodded .

**

[8-3F, Aileen’s Hideout, Sparring Room]

Aileen tried to avoid the test, perhaps because of her pride, but I eventually got her to agree . Jin Seyeon and Rachel had also helped to persuade her .

“Haa… I don’t know why I’m here doing this~”

Aileen laughed in vain as she swung her silvery white hair back . I checked the Desert Eagle’s condition and spoke .

“It’ll be over soon . ”

“I know . Ehew… . ”

Aileen sighed and skillfully unleashed her magic power .

“When you go back to Earth, be sure to thank Seung-Ah . ”

With those words, she casted Barrier with a textbook, dome shape .

“This Barrier is going to be sturdy . ”

Aileen added her Spirit Speech on top of it . With a single sentence, her Barrier became even more powerful .

I raised my gun .

In case Aileen got hurt, I aimed at the corner of the Barrier and loaded a single bullet into the gun .

—Scan .

After murmuring quietly, I infused 1 . 5 streaks of Stigma into the bullet . The ‘anti-magic’ and ‘spell-breaking’ properties I added should destroy Aileen’s Barrier and Spirit Speech simultaneously .

“I’m shooting . ”

“Yeah~ Yeah~ Go ahead~”

Aileen murmured while yawning .

I immediately pulled the trigger .

The bullet shot out of the barrel and instantly struck Aileen’s Barrier .

“Haam… . ”

Chwaaak— The bullet shot past the yawning Aileen’s head .

Clang— Then, the sound of glass shattering resounded .

“…Un?”

It took some time for Aileen to realize what happened . She stood in a daze for a moment, then looked around the sparring room in a hurry .

“What?”

An incomprehensible scene unfolded before her eyes . The Barrier she formed was gone, and the pieces of magic power on the floor showed that it had been destroyed .

“W-What? What happened? W-Where’s my Barrier?”

Flustered, Aileen suddenly acted strangely . She reached out to where her Barrier would have been .

“Where… did it… . ”

She touched the air as though her Barrier had just turned invisible . Leaving her behind, I turned around and faced Jin Seyeon and Rachel .

“How is it?”

They also had strange expressions . The doubts they previously had were gone and replaced by a similar level of astonishment .

“What, what did you do?”

While Rachel only stared blankly with her mouth open, Jin Seyeon asked .

“Mm… a combination of my Gift, skill, and weapon?”

“C-Come again?”

I made up a lie by mixing in some truth . That I had bought several [Equipment Consolidation Coupons] to use on the Desert Eagle and that my special skill, [Algorithm], strengthened mechanical weapons I used .

“I see… but don’t guns have issues with bullets…?”

“Don’t worry about that . I have a lot . ”

The limited number of bullets was no longer an issue for me . This was one of the reasons I rescued the blacksmith NPC ‘Kedrick’ .

Kedrick was currently working in a smith with countless disciples under him . They had more than enough skill to make bullets, and I had given them the specifications long ago . Now, they were able to pump out 20 handgun bullets, 10 assault rifle bullets, and 5 sniper rifle bullets a day .

“Hey, hey, hey! T-This is wrong! Something isn’t right here!”

At that moment, Aileen hurriedly ran in front of me .

“Do, do it again . I went too easy on you . I forgot that my stats were restricted and underestimated you . It’s my mistake, so do it again . ”

Aileen spat out a flurry of words . I mulled over my options and then agreed with her to instil a greater trust in me . It was true that Aileen didn’t go all out .

“Okay but hold on a second . ”

I turned around and hid myself from their line of sight . If Aileen was going to go all out, I needed to prepare myself . I used 1 . 5 streaks of Stigma before too .

Using my smartwatch, I modified the setting of a bullet .

[Anti-Aileen Bullet]

—Decreases the power of Aileen’s Spirit Speech that is related to defense .

[40SP will be consumed . Would you like to save this change?]

The modification required 40 SP even with how much limited its use was . Was Aileen that amazing or did I just write wrong?

In any case, I saved the change and loaded my gun with the bullet .

“Alright! Try it again!”

Aileen formed another Barrier and shouted confidently .

“As long as my magic power allows it, this Barrier will never break!”

Aileen shouted like an excited kid .

I slowly raised my gun and pulled the trigger . The bullet drew a clear trajectory as it shot forward .

“…Ah . ”

A short exclamation muttered out .

Clang—

The sound of glass shattering rang out once again .

The result was the same as last time .

“How… . ”

Aileen looked like she just lost her country as she murmured in a daze .

Thud . Aileen fell to her knees . Then, she stared at the fragments of magic power scattered on the ground .

Did I just shatter her Barrier or confidence? I wasn’t sure .

“Um, truth be told, I’m just overgeared… . ”

I looked at Jin Seyeon .

“Anyways, can you leave it to me?”

Jin Seyeon nodded .

**

I walked down Crevon’s streets with Rachel .

Aileen returned to the hideout in shock, and Jin Seyeon went with her to cheer her up . Overall, things went quite well .

“You’ve gotten so strong . ”

Rachel had a bitter expression as she said that .

“Same goes for you . From what I hear on the Community, you must have recovered most of your stats . ”

“I recovered about 80% . I was lucky enough to get lots of time on the 6th floor . ”

Rachel should have gotten about 120 hours .

“Oh, and I never revealed your nickname to anyone . ”

Rachel said so as if to tell me not to worry .

“Thank you . …Um, can I ask you for a favor?”

I took out [Hwai’s Sword Technique] from my pocket . I brought it with me in case I ran into Suho, but it seemed he wasn’t here . I didn’t know how to meet him either since we didn’t share our nicknames .

“Sure . ”

Rachel replied with a bright smile .

“Then here . ”

I gave [Hwai’s Sword Technique] to Rachel . It should look like [Hwai’s Basic Sword Move] to Rachel . I had used Setting Intervention to change its name in case it drew unwanted suspicion .

“Give it to Suho . ”

“Okay . ”

Rachel took the item without even checking what it was . She tried to put it in her inventory, but [Hwai’s Sword Technique] wasn’t an item that could go in one .

Rachel tilted her head in confusion and looked at me .

“… . ”

She blinked and asked with her eyes, ‘What’s this?’

“Um, there are items that can’t go in the inventory . ”

“Ah, I see… . ”

Rachel put [Hwai’s Sword Technique] in the pocket of her [Lv . 4 Black Suit] . But since it would be rude of me to not give anything to Rachel, I took out a wrist protector from my inventory .

“Here . ”

“Okay . ”

Rachel took the item without much thought .

“Wow… . ”

The wrist protector’s beautiful design immediately caught her attention .

“Who should I give this to?”

Seeing Rachel stare at the wrist protector intently, I answered .

“To Rachel . ”

“…Yes?”

“You . ”

Rachel’s feet stopped . Then, she fixed her widened eyes at me .

“Think of it as a delivery fee . ”

This wrist protector was an item I used before, just like the [Lv . 4 Black Suit] she was wearing .

“This is a Lv . 5 item… . ”

“Well, I’m quite rich . Try wearing it . ”

Rachel stood blankly for a moment before nodding and putting on the wrist protector . She treated it with extreme care, probably because of its level .

“Oh~ It looks good on you . It’s almost like it was made to go with that armor you’re wearing . Use it well . ”

If I had to come up with a name for what Rachel was wearing, I would have to go with [Kim Hajin’s Old Equipment Set], but Rachel, who didn’t know this, looked deeply touched .

**

…Time quickly flew, and three weeks passed by .

During these three weeks, Kim Suho and other Players grew by an enormous amount thanks to nobles opening their hearts to Players and lending their guards to spar . As I said before, Crevon was a great place to get stronger by fighting .

In any case, there was now 10 days until D-Day .

10 days later, I would have to kill Black Lotus as Fenrir . Since I hired Jain for the show, I wouldn’t need to worry about being found out .

[I heard Fenrir is going to fight Black Lotus . ]

[A wolf vs a flower . Obviously, the wolf should win . ]

ㄴYeah, no .

[I hope the wolf wins . ]

[I wonder what’s on the 9th floor :O]

“…What a party . ”

I didn’t know how the rumor spread, but Fenrir vs Black Lotus became something like the battle of the century . I was happy with the SP I was gaining because of it .

I turned the Community off and turned on the crystal ball TV .

—We prepared an interview with one of the participants in the round-of-8, ‘Boshy’ .

An interview for the Martial Tournament was underway . The tournament started out with 512 people in the main rounds, which had now dwindled down to just 8 .

—Hello, Miss Boshy .

Today’s guest was a robed woman named Boshy .

—…Hel…lo .

Boss was nervous . I could tell by the way her hands were cusped together and how her fingers were fidgeting shyly .

—You defeated ‘Masked Knight’ and advanced to the round-of-8 . How do you feel right now?

Boss replied after a bit of hesitation .

—…I feel good .

The MC became lost for words at her short reply . A long silence descended inside the screen . Should they skip to the advertisement now?

—I see… you feel good . Then what do you plan on doing today to celebrate advancing to the round-of-8?

Boss replied confidently at this question .

—I’m going sunwatching .

—Sunwatching… you mean you’re going to Prestige?

—Right .

At the perfect timing, my smartwatch rang .

[Prestige’s Sunrise Ceremony will start in 3 hours . ]

Today was the day a sun would rise in Prestige .

**

[3F, Prestige]

Bell and Jin Sahyuk came out to Prestige’s streets . Jin Sahyuk was wearing a robe, but she was no longer gasping for breath because of the banshee’s curse . It was thanks to the ‘incomplete curse counteragent’ Bell brought from 8-2F .

“…How’s your body?”

Bell looked at Jin Sahyuk and asked . Jin Sahyuk remained silent .

“Stay hidden . We’re in a relatively safe place, but it’ll be difficult if you run into trouble in that state . ”

“… . ”

Jin Sahyuk didn’t even have the strength to reply . Of course, the curse was no longer such a big problem . By bathing in Prestige’s sunlight, the damned banshee’s curse would be wiped away . No, Jin Sahyuk’s magic power would devour it with a vengeance .

“…I’ve suffered enough . ”

Bell didn’t needle Jin Sahyuk about it . He knew the humiliation Jin Sahyuk went through . To her current self, just thinking about those times should bring pain .

“Do you want to eat something? Like your favorite corn fried rice . ”

“…Later . ”

Jin Sahyuk knew she had to eat to recover her strength . She retorted briefly, and Bell nodded his head .

They slowly walked together and stood with a huge crowd .

Medea’s palace could be seen in the distance . The ‘First Sun’ would rise above it today .

—How long do we have to wait?

—10 minutes .

—What happened to the inner wall?

—Oh, apparently they’re gradually pulling it down .

Players were talking among themselves loudly . Jin Sahyuk pulled her robe down further and sighed .

Bell spoke .

“Sahyuk . ”

“…What . ”

“Can you wait here for a second? We might not have time to buy the corn fried rice afterwards, so I’ll go buy it now . ”

Jin Sahyuk nodded . For some reason, she really wanted to eat corn fried rice today . Because of Rumi, she was only able to eat porridge until now .

“Then wait here . ”

“Okay . ”

Bell quickly disappeared, and Jin Sahyuk waited for the sun to rise inside the crowd of Players and NPCs .

The artificial sun had the ability to weaken curses . Since the administrators said they would bless the first wave of sunlight, a mere banshee’s curse should be burnt clean .

“Whew… . ”

Jin Sahyuk sighed once again .

‘I held on for so long with stats barely averaging 3 points each . My patience and willpower surely increased by a hundred times . ’

In this moment of relief, Jin Sahyuk remembered a certain man and clenched her teeth . Now, the time for revenge was near .

‘Just wait three months . I’ll catch up to you soon . ’

—Look, the sun!

—Sun! Hey, take out your Recorder!

—Wow!

Along with an earthshaking resonance of magic power, a boisterous uproar arose . The crowd pointed at the heart of Prestige and began to shout aloud simultaneously . Jin Sahyuk also raised her head and looked toward the palace .

A brilliant orange light was rising above Medea’s palace . It was a ‘source of light’ that previously did not exist in Prestige .

Jin Sahyuk made a deep smile . The sun that slowly lit up the world touched the people below with warmth .

Tak—

At that moment, someone put his arm over Jin Sahyuk’s shoulders .

“What . ”

‘Was Bell already back? What the hell was he doing?’ Jin Sahyuk furrowed her brows and turned around .

“…!”

Her heart immediately jumped in fright, and her diaphragm constricted from nervousness .

“…It’s been a while . ”

Jin Sahyuk was familiar with the man’s name .

Hic .

Jin Sahyuk hiccuped unknowingly .

It was the man that appeared in her dreams the most, the son of a bitch who wouldn’t leave her mind even for a second because of the pent-up resentment and anger she had .

“You’re alive . ”

It was Kim Hajin .

“… . ”

The person she wanted to kill the most was now standing by her .

However, Jin Sahyuk was unable to say anything .

In fact, she became drowsy and was doused in cold sweat . It was from a fundamental, instinctive fear instilled into her body .

“What’s with that expression? Smile, will ya? If someone’s watching, they’d think I came here to bully you . ”

Kim Hajin spoke . Jin Sahyuk was dumbstruck . She wanted to unleash her magic power and smack him with a weapon .

However, her body refused to listen . As though it was frozen, she couldn’t even move her tongue, much less her fingers .

“You’re not gonna smile?”

A cold voice rang out .

Jin Sahyuk found herself forcefully raising the corner of her mouth and clenched her teeth .

To her, pride was more important than life . Rather than having to suffer such a humiliation, she would rather bite her tongue and commit suicide .

She creaked her head to the side and glared at the man standing next to her .

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding . Don’t glare at me like that . You’re scaring me . Oooh, I’m getting goosebumps . ”

Kim Hajin smacked her shoulders . This seemingly meaningless gesture seeped into her bones . She could thoroughly feel the vast difference in their stats .

“I can’t kill you today even if I want to, so don’t be so nervous . ”

Kim Hajin’s words gave the greatest humiliation to Jin Sahyuk . He was implying that he could easily kill her otherwise .

“Wow, isn’t the sun pretty?”

Hearing his idle comment, Jin Sahyuk made a wish for the first time in her life .

That Bell would come save her .

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