Chapter 83 : Chapter 83

Chapter 83 - Meeting

<Settlement>

[ Hidden Ending: Flawless Survival Expert ]

[ In a hellish environment, you displayed excellent leadership and judgment, and did not experience a single failure. ]

[ By unlocking the Hidden Ending, 1 ‘Alteration Point’ is awarded. ]

So.

I successfully conquered the second ordeal, and generously extorted a ‘reward’ from the Guardian.

[ Level Up! ]

[ Lv.30 → Lv.38

Stat Points +16

Skill Points +8

All status ailments are cured. ]

I also got a hefty amount of quest clear experience.

I guess I could say I've finished everything I needed to do.

First, I sent Seo Hye-in-ssi and Darien back.

One was an executive of a large guild, and the other was a core member of a religious order.

Keeping them for too long would be a terrible thing to do.

They had followed my words well so far, so I should give them something special later-

“You can just call me again next time, Avatar of the Savior!”

“I second that.”

“...”

No, even so.

If a person can't even properly convey their gratitude, there's no child more ill-bred than that-

“Being able to work with Kim Gyu-sik-ssi is actually the biggest reward. I can't even imagine how much the Hunting Alliance's external standing has grown just from this ordeal alone.”

“It’s the same for Gusegyo.”

“...”

Alright.

If that's the case, then fine.

Somehow, I sent those two back, and the remaining members descended from the 12th floor and returned to the guild house on the 10th floor.

Saying it like this makes it sound like we're clocking out on an elevator.

Everyone must be tired and exhausted, but there was still work to be done.

The cleanup, that is.

“So, we-”

Lee Si-yeong, who was about to start the topic, shut her mouth as if she realized something.

She glanced at me and then continued speaking.

“Correction. Thanks to Kim Gyu-sik-ssi over there completely turning the stage upside down in the second ordeal.”

“...”

“It's a total mess right now, a mess. In fact, the expression 'mess' is too gentle, it would be fine to call it a cataclysm.”

Right.

Thanks for the summary.

“Two main things. First, a Climber from the Eastern bloc showed an overwhelming performance in an incident involving a Climber from the Western bloc. And the whole world watched it.”

Lee Si-yeong sighed and continued.

“It's not just a ‘surprising event,’ it has a lot of symbolic meaning. Until now, the Eastern bloc always had an image of being inferior and lagging behind, but we beat a Western guild, albeit a lower-ranking one, to the point where they couldn't say a word.”

“How big is the repercussion?”

To Seo Ah-in's question, which she asked with a tilt of her head, Lee Si-yeong turned on the TV in the office instead of answering.

[ Climber Kim Gyu-sik, who is he? A special report! ]

My face was plastered all over the screen.

And then, from my grades at the Boot camp to trivial details about my personal life, information flowed out one after another.

“...”

Oh my.

How embarrassing, what is all that?

I never even talked about such things, so how on earth do they know all that?

While I was thinking that, Lee Si-yeong continuously changed the channel.

[ Kim Gyu-sik, rising as the new star of the Korean Climber world, what are the overseas reactions? The world is now in a K-Climber craze! ]

[ We visited the slum where Kim Gyu-sik-ssi stayed before entering the Boot camp. Here, we hope to find some clues to his mysterious past- ]

[ Everyone, were you curious about the watch Climber Kim Gyu-sik always wore in the Tower? That is the S-class product line released by our company- ]

“...Crazy. That's awesome. Is he a celebrity?”

Next to me, Yoo Ho-jun muttered that in a dazed voice.

No, honestly, I was also flustered.

I knew there would be attention, but for it to be like this less than a day after the ordeal ended...

‘Seo Ji-an-ssi has been working hard.’

The informant from the Seo family I contacted before going up for the ordeal.

I did tell her to inflate my public image as much as possible before I came in, but seeing this speed of dissemination, it seemed she had mobilized all the connections she could.

“It seems like we are smoothly achieving our initial goal of growing the guild's influence, but don't you think this is making you bigger, not the guild?”

“I'm a member of this guild, so what's wrong with that?”

“...”

No matter what group you go to, the standard is determined by the ace.

Just quietly get carried, is what I'm saying.

“...Right. Let's say that's that. The problem is that the biggest topic of conversation doesn't seem to have been revealed yet.”

Lee Si-yeong said so, looking at the armored knight sitting in a corner of the reception room.

It was the Knight of Red and Green, who had followed us listlessly with an expression of one who had witnessed the end of the world.

“The principles and structure of the Tower are still unknown territory. But if it’s revealed that you have a manager-like being as a ‘subordinate’...”

Lee Si-yeong swallowed her words, with a look that suggested the commotion caused so far would seem like child's play.

Apparently, the scene where I threatened the Guardian and the Knight of Red and Green was not broadcast live.

“...Watch your words, human. The term subordinate is quite unpleasant.”

Huh?

A knight of the Round Table... talking back?

As soon as the complaint came out, I kicked the guy's shin.

I kicked it with mana, so it should hurt quite a bit.

“You're the one who should watch your words, punk. Who are you to talk back?”

“...”

Seeing the Knight of Red and Green clamp his mouth shut, I grinned and continued.

“Absolute obedience to my words during the rental period. You're not thinking of breaking the promise you made with the Guardian, are you?”

“...”

The Knight of Red and Green rubbed his shin and turned his head away with a huff.

Right.

An appropriate response. If he just obeyed to this extent, things would become very easy.

Although his combat power was reduced outside the Tower compared to inside, a knight of the Round Table was still an excellent combatant.

He would become a very fine piece in the ‘scenario’ I would be carrying out from now on.

“Um, but what should we call this person? I heard he's the Knight of Red and Green, but it's a bit much to keep calling him that...”

“Hmph. I have no name to give to a mere human-”

“Evangeline.”

The Knight of Red and Green turned to look at me with a look of astonishment.

“You, you, how do you know a knight's true name...!”

Well, in the lore, all the knights of the Round Table have abandoned their ‘names’ and have been given ‘colors’.

Only the Guardian of the Tower knew their true names from their human days.

If you didn't know much, you could just let it pass as a piece of lore, but.

In an event involving the Platinum Knight later, this simple setting would become the key to the strategy.

For now, it had no meaning other than to tease this guy.

“I'm not telling you.”

“...”

The Knight of Red and Green, Evangeline, stared at me with trembling fists.

She looked like she wanted to punch my jaw, but was holding back because of the contract.

“So take off your helmet and relax a bit. We have to live together for a while, so we should get to know each other.”

“...Hmph.”

The shame of a knight...! After muttering something like that, the knight took off her helmet with a reluctant look.

And as her long red hair flowed down, Meirin-ssi, who was staring blankly at her, let out a gasp.

Well, she was certainly a beauty that could elicit such a reaction. It's just that she's as small-minded as a sand eel.

“...Wait a minute.”

On the contrary, as soon as Seo Ah-in saw that, her eyes sharpened.

“She was a woman?”

“...? That's right. Is there a problem, human?”

“No. It's not about you, Evangeline-ssi.”

The girl who said that turned to look at me with a gaze that seemed to have dropped in temperature slightly.

Why.

What.

“Really... are you doing this intentionally? How are you going to handle it later?”

“Handle what. I'm only going to see her during the rental period. Is there anything special that would connect her and me?”

“Everyone probably thought that at first!”

“...”

Sorry.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

“Right. Speaking of specially connected people. I have something to ask.”

“Huh?”

“Batan Gilius. What on earth are you thinking?”

The topic Lee Si-yeong brought up this time was quite easy to understand.

She was probably asking, ‘Why did you just leave him be?’

Although I had provoked Batan a few times, I hadn't directly laid a hand on him until the final stage.

“Considering the amount of attention this ordeal received, it's safe to say that as much as you're rising, he's being ridiculed immensely. And Batan isn't the type of man to laugh that off. He'll really come to kill you.”

And, adding that there was no way I hadn't anticipated that, Lee Si-yeong added in a tired voice.

“Why didn't you deal with him when you could have?”

“To set a trap.”

“...What?”

No, well.

It's a literal meaning.

Batan was originally a character who ended as the main rival of the Second Ordeal, but if certain conditions were met, he became a stepping stone leading to a very interesting event.

Although he hated it when my ‘recognition’ rose this much.

Because of his habit of never wanting to reveal himself, a guy who tries to use others to deal with me would contact Batan.

“...”

That guy.

A villain who deserved to be torn to shreds from a player's perspective.

An enemy who I, a top-tier veteran, held a grudge against to the point of grinding my teeth.

Batan, who probably disliked being controlled by others, would eagerly accept such a suspicious proposal if he was blinded by revenge.

Then.

‘Batan Gilius’ would become a passage leading to a guy whose bud needed to be nipped in advance.

I kept him alive for that.

“...Again, it feels like you're thinking of something sinister...”

Stop reading my mind.

***

“...You're saying you'll let me kill that guy?”

Batan Gilius said with a scoff.

“Of course. I'm a man who always keeps his word!”

The man who identified himself as ‘Raven’ nodded his head with an exaggerated gesture.

He was a man dressed as strangely as his sudden appearance.

A crow mask. A cape. A silk hat.

He looked suspicious no matter how you looked at him, but the proposal he was making was too sweet to ignore.

Kim Gyu-sik. That bastard.

The bastard who dared to provoke him, survived leisurely, and ‘looked down’ on him from a ‘higher place’.

Batan was a person who never let such a guy go unscathed in his life. Never.

“I don't need your help. I'll kill that bastard myself-”

“-You probably can't. You think you can beat the person who caught the Water Dragon by himself?”

“...”

However, even Batan couldn't refute that.

No matter how devolved a dragonkin it was, a Water Dragon was still a Water Dragon. It was a Demonic Beast that Batan himself could never catch alone, but that guy named Kim Gyu-sik succeeded in hunting it by himself.

This strange guy's words, though annoying, were for that very reason correct.

“...Alright. Let's say you're right. What's in it for you to make me such an offer?”

“Ah!”

Raven exclaimed, raising his hand high. Every single one of his actions was exaggerated like a clown's.

However.

“It's not for a very good reason, but would you like to hear it?”

The reverberation contained in the sentence that immediately followed.

Was enough to make even Batan flinch.

It was terribly distorted.

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