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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Confession
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As she headed to the meeting spot, Min Ju-ri couldn't contain her fluttering heart.
'Wh-what does he want to see me about?'
For her crush to suddenly call and say he had something to tell her.
'D-don't tell me?'
Whatever she was imagining, her cheeks flushed, and she fanned herself vigorously with her hand.
Then, she noticed a sports car parked in front of the convenience store.
'Who is that? What kind of inconsiderate person would park a car in such a narrow place….'
"Ju-ri!"
"Ryu Min?"
The inconsiderate person was none other than Ryu Min.
Seeing Ryu Min lean his head out of the car window, Min Ju-ri was taken aback.
"I-is this your car?"
"Yeah. Sorry for parking it in a tight spot. I was planning to park somewhere else, but I had no choice but to bring it."
"…"
"Get in. Let's go for a drive while we talk."
"O-okay."
As Min Ju-ri got in, the Lamborghini roared to life and sped down the road.
Vroooooom—
Despite the loud noise from the outside, the interior was relatively quiet and comfortable.
Riding in a supercar for the first time, Min Ju-ri looked around the interior with curious eyes.
Like the exterior, the inside was lavish.
"How much does a car like this cost?"
"Not much. About 900 million?"
"N-900 million…?!"
Min Ju-ri's eyes widened.
"What do you mean, not much! You could open several convenience stores with 900 million!"
"Compared to the money I won from the lottery, it's not much."
"Ah."
Min Ju-ri belatedly remembered.
The friend next to her was a new multi-millionaire with 70 billion won.
Though she didn't know he had grown it to 300 billion with Bitcoin.
'A car that's several times more expensive than my house….'
Did she suddenly feel they were living in different worlds?
Min Ju-ri sealed her lips as if zipping them shut.
"…"
"…"
An awkward silence filled the car.
Perhaps because it was so quiet, she could hear the pounding of her own heart.
'This totally feels like a date, doesn't it?'
The thought made her face turn red again.
Moreover, she felt—though it might have just been her imagination—that Ryu Min kept glancing at her.
Embarrassed, Min Ju-ri couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze and just stared out the window.
And so.
"I have something to confess…."
"Huh!? A c-confession!?"
At Ryu Min's words, her head snapped toward him.
Seeing him dressed in a suit, she couldn't help but misunderstand.
"Ah… it's not that kind of confession, so don't get the wrong idea."
"Wh-who's getting the wrong idea?"
Instead of fanning her face, she turned her head back to the window.
'Ugh, I wish I could crawl into a hole and hide.'
She was sure her face had turned as red as a beet.
"S-so, what's the confession?"
"I told you before that I saw the lottery numbers in a dream, right?"
"Right."
"That wasn't true."
"Huh?"
"It wasn't a dream. It was information I got from the Rune of Foresight."
Ryu Min smoothly confessed to Min Ju-ri that he was a Prophet.
Of course, it was more of a fabricated story than a full confession, but it wasn't a complete lie.
It was true that he knew the future.
"The Rune of Foresight…."
"My class this time is Prophet, too."
"Prophet…?"
Min Ju-ri blinked her rabbit-like eyes.
Then, with a look of pure admiration, she clapped her hands.
"That's amazing! A Prophet! Isn't that a totally unique class?"
"Huh? W-well, I guess so?"
"That's great! And the Rune of Foresight sounds incredible!"
As Min Ju-ri rejoiced as if it were her own good news, it was Ryu Min who was taken aback.
This was not the reaction he had expected.
"Thanks for being honest with me! It must have been hard to open up about something like that, even to a friend."
"It's nothing. You told me you were a Buffer. This makes us even."
"Even? I didn't tell you about my rune, though. Since we're on the topic, should I tell you about mine?"
"No, that's…."
"The one I got in the first round was the [Rune of Protection]. It puts a thin protective barrier on me for every person within a 10-meter radius. If there are ten people, ten barriers are layered on me."
Unaware that Ryu Min already knew, Min Ju-ri spoke excitedly.
"Now we're even, right? Telling someone about my rune… it feels like a weight has been lifted, like I've shared a secret."
"Haha, really?"
"But why did you tell me such important information? It would probably be better to keep it hidden if you could."
"It weighed on my mind to keep hiding it… and I felt you wouldn't believe what I'm about to say if I didn't tell you."
"Hm? What is it?"
Ryu Min told Min Ju-ri about the 4th round.
In much greater detail than he had told Ma Kyung-rok.
Of course, he kept the information about the rewards to himself as much as possible.
"Th-that's what the 4th round quest is?"
"Yeah. So, Ju-ri, you need to be careful. You never know how the players around you will react, so always be on your guard."
"Y-yeah, I will."
Min Ju-ri, who had been nodding, suddenly broke into a faint smile.
'Still, it's nice of him to tell me this because he's worried about me….'
At the same time, a wave of embarrassment washed over her.
'He's just telling me this because he's worried about me as a friend, right?'
She wondered if there might be some personal feelings involved.
'I wish… there were.'
Min Ju-ri looked at Ryu Min in the driver's seat and smiled brightly.
It was a smile filled with gratitude.
* * *
After the drive, Ryu Min dropped Min Ju-ri off at the convenience store and returned home.
"You're back, hyung."
"Yeah."
"What's with that look? Something happen?"
"What look?"
"You look like you have something on your mind."
"It's nothing."
Ryu Min replied nonchalantly and went into his room to change.
Though he said it was nothing, he did have a concern.
A rather awkward one.
'To think Min Ju-ri likes me….'
He had learned the truth through the Rune of Inner Thoughts.
'I had no idea Ju-ri was interested in me since our school days.'
No wonder she was always so nice to him. So this was the reason….
Though it was awkward and bewildering, Ryu Min shook his head to clear his thoughts.
'Nothing changes just because Ju-ri likes me. In fact, this might be for the best.'
If she liked him, wouldn't it be easier to bring her over to his side?
'No, is she already an ally?'
Ryu Min let out a sigh of relief.
It was his first time revealing to Min Ju-ri that he was a Prophet, so he hadn't been able to predict the outcome.
'But it seems things worked out better than I thought.'
If someone was favorable toward him, they would more easily believe his prophecies.
If he played his cards right, it seemed it wouldn't be difficult to keep Min Ju-ri alive until the 20th round.
'Now I just have to wait three more days, buy the epic item, and I'm done.'
He didn't have much else to do in the real world this month.
'I wish April would come sooner.'
Ryu Min flopped onto his bed.
The next round was scheduled to be a bloodbath, so he needed to rest while he could.
Enjoying the rare moment of respite, Ryu Min soon drifted off to sleep.
* * *
30 minutes until midnight on April 1st.
The critical day he had to enter the other world.
Ryu Min waited in the safest place he knew—his own room—inspecting his items.
[Gloves of the Dark Shadow]
- Classification: Gloves
- Grade: Epic
- Effects: Strength +5, Agility +4, Weapon Semi-Transparency (applies at night only)
- Durability: 1,000/1,000
- Use Restriction: Regular Grade or higher
- Description: Gloves that become invisible, hidden by the darkness of night. The weapon you are holding becomes semi-transparent.
It was an epic item he had bought for 8,000 gold from the Item of the Day corner.
'The stats are high, and the weapon semi-transparency option is useful.'
Weapon semi-transparency.
Just as it sounded, his weapon would become semi-transparent at night.
'It's not completely invisible since it's only semi-transparent, but….'
That alone was enough to throw an opponent into confusion.
It was also surprisingly difficult to perceive in a dark environment.
'At a glance, it looks like I'm not holding a weapon.'
It was a surprisingly decent option.
Moreover, it worked well in combination with the Night of Death skill.
With no light coming in, there was little chance of the semi-transparency being seen through.
Knock, knock—
At that moment, a knock sounded, and the door opened to reveal his younger brother.
"Hyung, it's time."
A worried expression was evident on his brother's face.
"Are you confident you can clear it this time too?"
"We'll see when I get there."
"You're a Prophet, hyung. You said you know a fair bit about the 4th round."
"Knowing and doing are two different things."
Ryu Min had also revealed to his brother that his class was Prophet.
He had made him swear not to tell a soul.
'Jang Seok-hyun is dead, and I have the Rune of Inner Thoughts, so my brother shouldn't be in danger like last time.'
In his previous life, he had only told him he was a Prophet, keeping the fact that he was a Regressor a secret.
'I haven't revealed I'm a Regressor, so the future shouldn't be derailed.'
Tick, tock—
He glanced at the wall clock. It was time.
Soon, he would enter the other world.
"You have to come back alive, hyung."
"Don't say unlucky things like that. That's a death flag."
Ryu Min patted his brother's shoulder as if to tell him not to worry.
'The 4th round may be a round of death, but….'
For him, there was no round easier than this.
* * *
'It's starting again.'
Summoned to the other world once more, Hwang Yong-min opened his status window.
[A penalty is currently in effect.]
[All stats are permanently reduced by 50%.]
He had checked just in case, but as expected.
The curse hadn't been lifted.
'Dammit.'
This was the result of betraying Jo Joong-sik, his role model.
He hadn't just lost stats.
He had lost his ten uses of Command, and even his friends.
This was why Hwang Yong-min was scanning his surroundings like a meerkat.
'Those bastards blinded by the District Representative position might be after me.'
He had used up all his Command authority, leaving him with no means of defense.
His friends, who felt betrayed by him, might even launch a surprise attack in retaliation.
'But where is this place?'
A pure white space with no visible horizon.
It was a different environment from the green meadows and forests of the past, and Hwang Yong-min furrowed his brow.
'What kind of quest is it this time to start in a shithole like this?'
Being surrounded by white, he felt like a lab rat.
As he tensed up and scanned his surroundings again, a glint appeared in Hwang Yong-min's eyes.
'Black Scythe!'
He saw his savior from the last round.
And at the same time, his devil.
It was because of his order to destroy the artifact that he had ended up in this miserable state.
'That devilish bastard. He must have known this would happen!'
Seeing him use others to destroy the artifact and kill the Agent of Divine Punishment without hesitation, he must have known beforehand.
How he knew, however, was a mystery.
'If only I had the strength, I'd beat that bastard's face to a pulp right now, but….'
He had no choice.
To save his own skin, he had to grasp even the devil's hand.
'I don't know if he'll still take my hand, but….'
He had to at least try, didn't he?
With that thought, Hwang Yong-min approached the Black Scythe.
"S-Sir Black Scythe."
"What is it?"
"The contract from the last round is still valid, I presume?"
"Contract?"
"Didn't you agree to protect me in exchange for me becoming your subordinate?"
For a moment, a sneer formed on the Black Scythe's lips.
"I no longer need a subordinate like you."
"Excuse me?"
"You don't have any Command authority left, do you? What's the point of a District Representative with no Command?"
"…"
The situation he had feared had come to pass.
Hwang Yong-min's face turned pale.
"Besides, most players have already completed their class advancements. Even if you had Command, it would be useless."
"Th-that…."
"Your usefulness has ended."
The Black Scythe said in an icy voice.
"You're just a walking target."
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