Chapter 289
Someone called a demon kept scratching Singeom, but even so, Singeom wasn’t an extremely ugly character. He just had high self-confidence, lacked self-awareness, and was arrogant because he had only known success—his personality hadn’t yet twisted to that extent. So he was going to share the information with everyone.
Of course, he had intended to share the information from the start. But that was because Singeom had planned to continue with this quest, and he needed to warn the participants who’d become his companions. Now, after having his collection stolen and growing disillusioned with the train quest, he’d decided to pull out, so there was no real need to share the information. Above all, if he did, it would reach that bastard’s ears.
But he was still going to tell them. Because overall it’d be better if more survived, and because it was simply the right thing to do—he was going to tell them. That bastard.
“Why aren’t you going?”
“…….”
“There’s nothing else to do here. Go somewhere else and rack up achievement points, fast. Don’t you think?”
He was grinning ear to ear.
“…….”
“You don’t mean you don’t have the points to even buy a train ticket? That’d be really pathetic. Whoops.”
He provoked him. Made him not want to tell.
*What a truly beggar-like bastard.*
So Singeom swung his sword. Now, from sheer exasperation, the attack wasn’t even sincere.
*Were we sworn enemies in a past life? How can he be this vicious…!*
At this point, Singeom reflected on himself. Sure, he had looked down on the other guy. He’d picked a fight, so he was clearly in the wrong, too. But enough to make him this furious? To rob his storage?
“Huuuu… Let’s stop.”
“Fine.”
Singeom was even angrier at that. He’d beaten him to a pulp and now brushed it off like nothing happened, and he’d probably poke him again later. Now he just really wanted to avoid him.
“The reason I’m staying is to tell you about the ambusher. So wait a moment, Korean.”
51 minutes.
Starting with the one or two participants who’d been eagerly watching their fight, people who’d gone to Cresit and returned gradually began gathering in the square.
“Hey, Singeom, where did Taishan go?”
And when enough people had gathered, Singeom opened his mouth.
***
Singeom left.
“What do you think?”
Having listened together in the square, Rachel asked Seojun.
The participants weren’t in a state of confusion. Just how shocking was it that one participant died? It was something that could very well happen. If anything, it had been too peaceful up to now.
Still, they had to come up with a plan.
“Should we stick together? Bro?”
Seojun answered.
“Now that we’ll be on guard against surprise attacks, wouldn’t we be able to win if we fought?”
Maybe if it was the mastermind, they could just catch him.
That’s what Seojun thought.
“Come on, Seojun-nim. Still, the Chaos is another dimension, and it’s probably the mastermind’s home ground—because of buffs or something, we’d likely be set up at a huge disadvantage, right?”
They were just assuming, for convenience, that the opponent was the mastermind.
“But we can still catch him.”
“If you say so… Hmm. It seems like when two people go about farming, if they walk about 10 meters apart, both can gather without issue. Maybe I should look for a partner.”
“Don’t bother with that and just go with Yoni, Rachel-nim.”
“Hmm… Why?”
“I’ll go alone.”
“Why?”
“To try having a conversation, maybe?”
Yoni clicked his tongue.
A conversation?
“Physical?”
***
Afterwards, during the remaining time of Day 4, nothing special happened to the train’s quest participants. No additional ambushers, no witnesses. Was it an ambush that could only be performed once a day, or was it an NPC taking a break?
They couldn’t relax, and the participants mostly decided to keep moving in teams.
After Day 4 ended, the viewers began making all sorts of deductions.
[Why isn’t he showing up?]
==
That monster-like guy?
==
—Host? He did show up?
└The host is the monster ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└You’ve gotta admit, the host ㅋㅋ
—Drop some hints about the Chaos already
└There *are* some hints that came out
└What?
└Whenever they go down to mine ore, Finn says he senses an immensely massive evil intent.
└ㅎㄷㄷ
Finn is a hero accompanied by the spirit creature Blue Bird. He can read the Blue Bird’s thoughts, and it was said that whenever Finn goes down to mine ore, he feels something strange.
[Guys, a scary fact]
==
If you look at the number of mercenaries at the other world entrance between 0:00 and 1:00 on Day 3,
and then look at the number of mercenaries at the entrance after a 10-minute break,
it seems like one person is missing. They’re replaying it on the official U.S. broadcast now, and it looks real.
==
—Chills ㄷㄷㄷㄷ
—Why did it suddenly become a horror game?
—The mercenary’s role is originally to appear at the participants’ positions every 50 minutes to make them leave, but it seems one got lost while working!
—Whoa, additionally, someone just found out that the missing mercenary appears emerging from the rift within a participant’s view. What is this?
└They just went to eat then ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Seriously, what a fuss
[So who’s the mastermind!!! Reveal his identity already!]
Information was lacking. A sense of crisis crept in, and they could feel the main story progressing.
[Cooperation it is after all]
==
Won’t it go towards blocking that guy?
==
—All together? Even so, seeing how his health dropped when he fought Taishan and Singeom, he would’ve been the one taken down if it weren’t for a surprise attack.
└Seriously, he can’t just keep doing surprise attacks throughout the entire history book.
—The train people aren’t falling for surprise attacks anymore anyway, right? Everyone’s on guard, right?
[Not cooperation, and he might not even be the main story. Stop jumping the gun ㄴ]
==
Is the fact that Singeom’s friend got caught really worth making such a fuss over?
==
—Seriously ㅋㅋㅋ
└That duo’s reputation with the Korean really went down the drain ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—Now that’s a good point
—How did Taishan die? The host already retired three people?
└Is it three people? Not two at Atura?
└He killed Singeom too… The host killed him…
└Ah ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
And then. Day 5.
On the train, just as before, people passed safely without any threat.
But in the latter half of Day 5, suddenly, an intruder appeared from a completely unexpected other region.
***
[Ancient God’s Duty]
==
In 8 days, before the day marking one year since the rift opened, kill one hero per day to gather power.
Goal: Hero Elimination
Reward: Increase in stats for each hero eliminated
==
Climax.
It was the quest before his eyes, having come in after playing around for 4 days—meaning two days in real time.
*I did expect it, once I chose to play the mastermind, but still.*
He, too, was confused since he’d been cut off from information for two days. However, upon entering the game, he had background knowledge forcibly injected and came to know.
*A demon.*
The other world called Chaos was a world entirely encroached upon and devoured by some colossal evil god. And Cresit, having accidentally opened a passage connecting that world to Pangea, crossed over here with an investigation team. Among the first investigation team, one member fell deep underground due to an accident, and in that place, he awakened a fragment of the evil god who had eaten the world to its fill and was sleeping. Perceiving Pangea through the investigation member’s memories, the evil god’s fragment immediately prepared for war. Prepared to create a complete passage in Pangea that Cresit could not close at will. And it breathed power into the fallen investigation member’s body, granting him strength and transforming his form into something grotesque. That was the new heroic existence Climax had taken on. Ghost. For now, it seemed they were simply called that.
*The alias will be set based on my performance.*
His mission was simple. And so was what he had to do in the history book.
*Just kill all the other participants.*
If he succeeded, the next history book would be a war to stop the evil god’s invasion. If he failed, some other event would break out.
It’d be fun and doable.
He had entered with that exact mindset.
On his first day, since he could check all situations within the other world, he waited near the entrance for a desired prey, but it didn’t appear, so he just ambushed the nearest participant and killed Taishan. He felt slightly regretful since they were both Chinese, but he was in a position where he absolutely had to hunt a participant every single day. He couldn’t just keep waiting indefinitely.
Balance adjustment.
Right now, he was in the ambusher’s position, but when Day 12 came and signs of the complete passage opening appeared, the participants would join forces to stop it. A one-against-many situation. His initial stats when he first entered were average, but.
*The stat increase gained as a reward is considerable.*
After killing Taishan, a motion of absorption played out, and his stats rose drastically. Health, defense, and even attack power. He couldn’t grasp how high they’d rise if he killed all seven, but it was likely designed to make one-against-many possible.
*They don’t give achievement points at all.*
Using shops and the like was impossible. The only way for him to enhance his specs was through hunting during the first week.
*The difficulty is high.*
He doesn’t know the outside situation. And in the other world where he’d hunted once, no matter how possible it was to locate people in a minimap form, now everyone would be on guard, so the risk became too great. So he immediately left the other world and prepared for his next prey.
That was Day 4.
For reference, Ghost was able to enter the body of a target he personally handled and act. If he released power, he quickly returned to his original form. But thanks to that, he used Taishan’s body to kill a mercenary near the entrance, and using the mercenary’s body, came outside.
That was how he grasped the information throughout Day 4. During Day 5, he hunted in the Great Tree Forest and searched for prey within the lawless city Forest, and began his hunt in the final latter half.
And he succeeded.
“A tough fight, but good work. Baek Doyul.”
“Cut it. Who are you?”
The participant standing with just a sliver of health was Baek Doyul. A pro called Korea’s Climax (not).
“Of all times, right when I was coming back from hunting… Yeah. When else would a surprise attack happen? It’s my fault.”
Baek Doyul blamed himself. He had been careless. In real-time terms, after three days, he hadn’t expected such an existence to be active, and had focused on his hunt. Unaware that someone was targeting him.
If only it hadn’t been a surprise attack, he would’ve won!
Of course, Climax thought the same.
“Even in a fair one-on-one, you would’ve won.”
“You talk big. After a sneak attack.”
“You’re one to talk.”
The conversation between two prideful pros continued.
“Fine, but who are you? The mastermind? Your goal?”
“Why are you curious? You’re about to die anyway.”
Baek Doyul laughed loudly. Hahaha. And after a brief moment of thought, he spoke.
“I have someone I really want to have a proper match against, so…”
Climax cut Baek Doyul off, laughing.
“Yeah, I’m not saving you. Then I should prepare for the next hunt. The prey is Kael.”
Climax spoke as if announcing it to all the viewers.
“Ah…”
*That’s my prey*, Baek Doyul meant to say, but he died.
***
Baek Doyul opened his eyes inside the capsule. And closed them again. His vision went dark.
0 wins, 2 losses. It was the moment he had beaten Seojun twice, without knowing the fact that Seojun had gained a victory.
*Ha. Still, I haven’t lost yet.*
And it was also the moment Baek Doyul was about to shamefully change the match from a best-of-three to a best-of-five.
“Dammit! Still, we haven’t fought properly even once, so couldn’t changing it be okay? It’s not shameful…”
“Pardon?”
“Ah. Team Leader Lee… you were waiting. No, sir…”
Baek Doyul opened his eyes and stepped out of the capsule.
“Yes. Good work, Player Baek Doyul. Here are the personal belongings we held for you. If you wish, though not this hotel, we can secure a different one for you during the history book period…”
“…I’ll just go home.”
The shocking news of the champion’s elimination soon spread worldwide, and Day 6—marked by the announcement to ambush Kael—began.
[That Ambusher]
==
A pro-level participant on par with Baek Doyul, whose stats grow and who can disguise himself—isn’t Kael really in danger?
==
—I’m afraid the host catching him will make the history book dangerous? Am I the only one worried? ㅋㅋㅋ
└This is the right take ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Oh, give me a break. In what way is that the right take, you crazy bastards ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
During that short time, countless debates raged back and forth across the globe.
[Watching the official U.S. broadcast commentary, it really seems like Kael is in a crisis situation]
==
But why is a guy like that targeting *you*, host…?
What did you do to that ambusher in real life?
Apologize, quickly
==
—No matter who it is, it does seem like you did something ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Seriously ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—Kael cut! ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└History book cut, you bastard ㅋㅋ
└Yeah, you don’t know about *your host* being able to disguise himself~
Whether Seojun would die on Day 6 or not.