The ones who came up to Ryu Min were none other than Seo Arin and An Sang-cheol.
"It's been a while, Black Scythe-nim."
As she spoke, Seo Arin gave Min Juri a sidelong glance.
"But this person is…?"
"I don't see any reason I need to explain that."
"A-ah, right…"
Seo Arin gave a strained smile, as if admitting he had a point, but inside she was anything but calm.
'He smiles at that girl, but why not at me…?'
His cold attitude left her feeling quietly hurt.
"So, what business do you have with me?"
"Ah, that's…"
Ryu Min pretended not to know, even though he did.
'I prophesied that they should party with Black Scythe, so of course they came.'
On the other hand, the two of them looked troubled, unsure how to answer.
They couldn't exactly say "a Prophet told us to" out loud.
After some hesitation, An Sang-cheol finally opened his mouth.
"Um, Black Scythe-nim. To be honest, we'd like to form a party with you."
"A party? You two, with me?"
"We know. We know we'll only get in the way. But we promise we'll do our best not to cause you any trouble."
Seo Arin and An Sang-cheol were completely serious.
The Prophet had said that they needed to be with Black Scythe to clear Round 6 more easily, so they couldn't back down.
"Hm."
Ryu Min stroked his chin, pretending to think it over.
To be honest, the two of them were just there to make up the numbers.
It didn't really matter whether they were there or not.
There were plenty of people around who could replace them.
If he so much as spread his arms, anyone would come running, desperate to party with him.
'But if I choose those two over everyone else and bring them into my party…'
An Sang-cheol would report that to Ma Kyung-rok, and Ma Kyung-rok would look more favorably upon Black Scythe.
'Thinking ahead, it doesn't hurt to build up a positive image.'
He'd already made up his mind, but to the onlookers, it looked like a nerve-wracking situation.
Growing anxious, An Sang-cheol hurriedly made an offer.
"We're not asking you to let us in for free. I have information about Round 6. If you take us into your party, I'm willing to share it…"
"Not necessary."
'That's the information I gave you in the first place.'
He muttered inwardly, but of course, An Sang-cheol had no way of knowing that and looked puzzled.
"W-why don't you need it? Wouldn't it help to know how to clear Round 6 in advance?"
"I'll clear it my own way. I have no intention of relying on some questionable intel."
"B-but…"
'Maybe I should mess with him a little, just in case.'
Seeing An Sang-cheol flustered stirred a mischievous streak in him.
"By the way, where did you get that information?"
"Sorry? W-what information do you mean…?"
"The Round 6 information you just mentioned. Who's your source?"
Instead of getting into the party, An Sang-cheol now found himself on the verge of exposing the Prophet.
"M-can't you tell us? Even if I promised to let you into my party if you do?"
"Ah, t-that's…"
After wavering for a moment, An Sang-cheol lowered his head.
"I-I'm sorry."
Unexpectedly, he kept his mouth shut.
'So he's not going to mention the Prophet.'
Of course, the real reason was that he didn't want to end up on Ma Kyung-rok's bad side, but it still didn't feel bad to Ryu Min.
An Sang-cheol himself, however, looked dejected.
'Damn it, I couldn't form a party with Black Scythe like I planned.'
He couldn't even get into a single party.
How could he face the boss now?
Then, unexpectedly, Ryu Min said something that caught them both off guard.
"I'll accept you into my party."
"W-well, if there's no choi—… huh?"
Seo Arin and An Sang-cheol widened their eyes in surprise at his unexpected words.
"W-why…?"
"Seeing that you didn't reveal your information provider, I figured you're someone I can trust. I don't like people who can't keep their mouths shut."
"Ah…"
If he'd brought up the Prophet, he probably would've been blacklisted instead. Realizing that, An Sang-cheol let out a breath of relief.
"T-thank you! Thank you for taking us!"
"Thank you, Black Scythe-nim."
After expressing their gratitude, the two of them turned toward Min Juri.
They were still curious about her relationship with him.
"She's a Buffer who has a contract with me."
'A contract? A Buffer?'
'How did they end up connected?'
They had a mountain of questions, but they decided to ask about the contract first.
"When you say a contract…"
"It's just something we have."
"…"
Their desire to pry vanished on the spot.
It felt like even if they asked, he wouldn't tell them anything.
Turning her gaze, Seo Arin reached out her hand to Min Juri.
"Hello, I'm Seo Arin. Nice to meet you."
"Ah, yes… I'm Min Juri. You're not the actress Seo Arin, are you? You just changed your face to someone who looks like her, right?"
"No, this is my real face."
"Eh? Then you're really the actress Seo Arin who starred in [Oh My, My Fate]?"
"Yes. I'm that Seo Arin."
"R-really? I only asked because your face and name were exactly the same!"
Min Juri was thrilled.
It was fascinating to see a celebrity she'd only ever watched on TV.
"I've been enjoying Oh My, My Fate! It's my dad's favorite drama! And he absolutely loves you most out of the whole cast!"
"Ah, really? Thank you for watching."
Seo Arin gave a polite bow.
While Min Juri excitedly added a few more comments, An Sang-cheol looked over at Ryu Min.
"Um… you really don't need my Round 6 information?"
"I don't. Don't bother telling me. I don't want to hear later that I was helped."
"I-if that's what you want…"
He'd drawn a clear line, and An Sang-cheol felt disappointed.
'I was hoping I could at least repay my debt by sharing some information…'
But if the other party refused, there was nothing he could do.
'If he ever acts differently from the strategy you gave us, I'll just quietly nudge him from the side.'
He was prepared to help if Black Scythe behaved differently from the advice Ryu Min had given them—but that was never going to happen.
Because Black Scythe was Ryu Min, and Ryu Min was Black Scythe.
When An Sang-cheol turned his gaze, the two women were still deep in conversation.
"But Min Juri-ssi, you said your class is a Buffer?"
"Yes. My job is to cast buffs. I'll put them on everyone later."
"I have something similar to buffs too…"
"Really?"
"I have a summoned creature called a fairy that can cast a protective barrier."
"A summoned creature? You have a summon?"
"My class is Summoner. I can summon three in total. I'll show you later."
Just then, An Sang-cheol cut in.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I thought I should at least introduce myself. I'm An Sang-cheol."
"Ah, nice to meet you. From what I saw earlier, it looked like you already knew Black Scythe-nim…"
"He's helped us before. Black Scythe-nim saved both our lives."
"Oh… I see."
Surprised, Min Juri looked at Black Scythe.
He even saved people who were in danger.
'As I thought, my instincts weren't wrong.'
Once again, she felt that Black Scythe was unexpectedly a warm person.
After some time, once enough people had gathered—
[Hello, humans. Did you enjoy your month-long rest?]
Priscilla appeared in a burst of light.
[There are 1,010 participants in this Round. A perfect number. Shall we get straight to the point?]
As always, a message window popped up in front of every player's eyes.
◀ ROUND 6 ▶
└Defeat one boss within 6 hours
[All Zones]
└Participants: 16,120,590
└Clearers: 0/8,060,295
[Current Zone C-ESKS007]
└Participants: 1,010
└Clearers: 0/505
The players who read the quest started murmuring.
"What the hell? 'Defeat one boss'?"
"Does that mean a boss is finally showing up?"
"How are we supposed to beat a boss alone?"
Hearing the grumbling, Priscilla let out a little snort of laughter.
[As if we'd tell you to beat a boss alone. Don't worry, you couldn't possibly defeat one by yourself anyway.]
"Couldn't possibly defeat one…?"
"Then how…?"
[Obviously, you'll be beating them in groups. That's what we prepared this for—the Party System.]
"The Party System?"
[A party is a system that lets you form a group and cooperate with each other. You need five people to form a party, and once you do, you're recognized as allies and your attacks will no longer damage each other.]
"Oh, no damage?"
"Then we don't have to worry about getting stabbed in the back during a fight?"
"That's convenient."
[However, attacks from other parties and from monsters still apply. Only attacks from your own party members are nullified.]
The players nodded in understanding.
They could now accept the quest's difficulty.
If five people worked together to beat a boss, it sounded doable.
[Once you're in a party, the EXP and gold from killing monsters are evenly split. It doesn't matter which party member actually lands the killing blow. Just keep in mind that if you're more than 100 meters apart, it won't be shared.]
"Oh, equal EXP and gold?"
"That sounds like communism."
"I like it. It's fair."
"Then how are items distributed?"
[Unlike EXP and gold, items are given out based on contribution, with a certain probability. For example, if two humans contributed 70% and 30% respectively to killing a monster, when an item drops, the chance of each of them getting it will match those percentages.]
"Ah, so the person who contributed more to the kill has a higher chance of getting the item."
[You understand well, human.]
"So on the other hand, if your contribution is low, you can still get an item if you're lucky?"
[Correct. Even if you only contributed 1%, you can still get the item if luck is on your side. The odds are low, though.]
"Angel-nim! I have a question!"
[Go ahead, human.]
"How is contribution measured? Do you just get higher contribution by dealing more damage? If that's the case, wouldn't people with low damage always be at a disadvantage?"
[Good question. Usually, higher damage does mean higher contribution, but it doesn't always scale directly. The system measures contribution by considering and judging every situation. That means a player who only casts buffs can still influence contribution.]
"Whoa… you can get contribution just by casting buffs?"
"Wow, buff classes are crazy good, then."
Just as the angel said.
Contribution was calculated by comprehensively judging every factor.
Even with low damage, if someone played a critical role in killing a monster, they would get high contribution.
Conversely, even if all they did was save an ally, if that ultimately helped kill the monster, that too would be counted as high contribution.
'That's why non-combat classes like Priests or Buffers can still earn high contribution in a party.'
The Party System wasn't just a special feature for this Round.
It would open whenever the situation called for it, and the number of people needed to party up would vary.
'For me as I am now, a party is only going to get in the way…'
But he couldn't choose not to use it.
[For reference, if you aren't in a party, any monsters you kill will be treated as invalid, so keep that in mind.]
Just as the angel had said, the system forced them to party up.
Wanting to solo didn't mean you could.
'Not that there are no advantages.'
The benefit of a party was that you could fight with your back exposed and still trust your teammates.
And—
[Once you form a party and kill just one boss, you immediately clear the Round. All five of you.]
"A-all five of us?"
Because they shared the same fate, the quest was also shared.
[There are currently 101 bosses roaming the field. That means only 505 players who manage to kill a boss will survive.]
The angel smiled and fluttered her wings.
[That concludes the explanation about parties. See? The quest is nothing special once you understand it, right? It's a very simple quest where you just have to kill a single boss to pass.]
'She keeps saying everything is "simple." Is she mocking us?'
A smirk tugged at Ryu Min's lips.
It was nowhere near as simple as she made it sound.
[Then, humans, do your best to hunt those bosses. Oh, and there's no sub-quest this time, so keep that in mind.]
With a flap of her wings, the angel vanished in a burst of light.
Round 6 had begun.