As soon as I entered the community, I turned on the computer, looked at the chat room and was paralyzed.
[Long live Korean Independence] – 2 people are online.
Why two people? Were there any new Koreans out there? Wait, but it didn't make sense for a newbie to find the chat room so quickly.
Click, click.
Feeling doubtful, I moved the mouse and double-clicked the room name. Then, an unusual message appeared.
[This room has temporarily restricted participation. Remaining time: 9 minutes, 51 seconds].
What was this? At first it was confusing, but the situation was soon identified. Restricting participation was one of the inherent privileges of the host opening the chat room.
In other words, it means that someone came looking for Baekho as soon as the community opened, and Baekho closed the door to talk to them.
It would be correct to understand it that way. This person was probably an acquaintance of Baekho. If they were strangers, he wouldn't have closed the door, but would have kicked them out.
An acquaintance of Baekho, huh?
I was curious. Baekho was an old user who took the pill in the early days, which restricted his user time to one hour. He would have easily been in this community for ten years, and would have many acquaintances.
But this person has to be someone who has been there as long as Baekho.
Baekho was the one who gave me the invitation code to enter the Round Table Observers first.
«Those.»
I wish I could see at least the participants' nicknames. A little disappointed, I watched time pass and soon the number of participants was reduced to one.
[Long live Korean independence] – 1 person is online.
When I checked, the participation restriction had also been lifted. Had the person already left? With that in mind, I entered the chat room.
«Are you the person from Mr. Lee's hometown?»
What the hell was this? I hurriedly turned my head at the unknown voice and saw a Caucasian man for the first time. Wait, maybe it's not the first time.
[Fear of impact current]
When I checked the nickname above the man's head, my head went blank for a moment. Surprisingly, I had met this person before. When I heard about the dimensional collapse rumor and was asking around about a magician named Shernal Fergang, he was a user who sold me information.
«Now that I think about it, it's okay. It seems like you're a fan of them too».
Seeing him turn down the promised 20,000 GP as compensation, I realized that I was a rookie here, and I was determined to quickly rise to the top. But to think that this person knew Baekho...
Wait, but where is this guy?
I quickly came to. This man was also sending strange looks at my nickname. «Hmm, we've seen each other before, haven't we?»
Yes, so you recognize me too.
Seeing that I used such an unpleasant nickname as Elf Love nuna, it seemed that my nickname, Elfnunna, was memorable.
«Yeah. We meet again». Something was bothering me, so I kept the words to myself. I had a lot of things I wanted to ask, but sometimes information could leak just by asking questions. For now, I waited for the man to speak first.
After a moment, Elf Love never scratched his head with an embarrassed expression. «I'm sorry for all this».
«What do you mean?»
«I'm sorry I took away your friend you haven't seen in a while».
«...Are you talking about Baekho?»
Elf love nuna nodded. «Yes, as you know, there aren't many Koreans here. I know very well how important it is to have people from your hometown».
«I do not understand. What do you mean they took you away?». This wasn't a rookie performance, this was genuine. I had no idea what he was talking about. Could it be that Baekho left the chat because of him? But how? Surely the moderator of this chat room was Baekho.
When all kinds of questions ran through my head, the white man continued: «It's just like I said. From now on you will not be able to meet Mr. Lee here. I've left him alone until now thinking he could serve as a key, but... Unfortunately, he made a big mistake».
"¿What?"
«Actually I was going to leave, but I'm letting you know so you don't waste your time waiting for him. So, have a good time». Before he could say anything, Elf Love never left the chat room. I just stared without understanding the empty place.
Damn. What the hell is going on?
Soon, I was left alone in the empty room.
You were wrong? Can't you come here?
My thoughts were scrambled, but at times like this it was necessary to organize them calmly. Who the hell was Elf Love nuna? As I recounted the previous conversation step by step, I quickly came to a conclusion.
It's still just a hypothesis, but I'm sure he's a Ghostbusters manager.
Like Queen of the Soul, who I met here in my first post, she was someone who guided the newbies and managed this place so that the community would not become chaos. Otherwise, this situation could not be explained.
«Unfortunately, he made a big mistake».
Elf Love Nuna wasn't even the host, but he kicked Baekho out of the room. He would have been in charge of restricting the participants in the first place. At least on the bulletin board, administrators had considerable authority. Only an administrator could permanently expel someone from the community. He was not just an ordinary administrator, but...
A moment.
When my thoughts reached this far, I hurried back to my room. Then I quickly opened the message box.
[Elf Nuna's Love transaction history exceeds 50. EXP +50]
[Member rank adjusted. Ogre — Troll]
[From: Ghost Master]
Ghostmaster was the top administrator of Ghostbusters, referred to by community users as the game master or GM and whose identity had never been revealed. I suddenly remembered a conversation I had had with Baekho.
«Do you know who the game master is here?».
«Oh, I don't know either. In fact, I found the pill after robbing the Ministry of Security headquarters in the early days».
«So they won't know who you are either?».
«They probably have an idea. I also suspect a guy...».
«Whose?»
«There are three. Shall I tell you all?»
Baekho then told me the names of three suspects. They were all magicians and each one was famous enough that everyone in the city knew their names. As it was Baekho's speculation, it would not be entirely unreliable.
The GM is a magician.
It wasn't certain, but establishing that premise, I remembered the first time I met Elf Love nuna.
«... Is it okay for you to tell me all this?»
«What does it matter? Not even that I was the teacher at that school».
Hearing him divulge the inner history of the Tarutein School, which had spread rumors about dimensional collapse, he had thought this: This person speaks like a magician.
Having come to a conclusion, I swallowed nervously. This might be a leap on my part, but if my speculation was true, I may have just met the GM.
«For example, host ».
An unknown chill ran through my body and before long, I returned to my normal state. Even if Elf Love was the GM, it didn't mean it was a serious problem for me. That nickname bothered me a little, but at least it wasn't a hostile relationship. Even if my identity was revealed, he wouldn't come down my throat or anything like that. Probably.
Well, let's delete that first.
I went to the message board and deleted the comment I had left on my Canadian friend's now blurry post. It was impossible to deduce my identity from this alone, but just in case. While I was at it, I erased all the other traces I left here. Apart from some comments left on the humorous post, there wasn't much: once when rumors of dimensional collapse were spreading, and again when I posted on the exchange to gather information about Hercules after the battle with the dragon slayer.
So I can't see Baekho anymore?
When I finished erasing my traces, I thought of Baekho. It was a little disappointing. Aside from the fact that I would no longer get advanced information through it, the truth is that I had fun being with it.
But what had he done to get the administrator to come and banish him personally?
For now, there was no way to know the truth, but it was not difficult to speculate that it was closely related to the conquest of Noark. That was the only big event so far.
Type, type.
After that, I spent some time wandering around the bulletin board, mostly browsing the web. I checked if there was also any elf love message nuna, but there wasn't one. The same thing happened to me with Baekho.
I should also refrain from posting.
At first, a true veteran stayed away from the community and quietly went about his business. Taking this incident as a learning experience, I added a new iron rule for using community.
After spending a lot of time like this, it was time to enter the Round Table. However, this time I didn't have to wait until just before closing and just walked in. With everything that had happened, I judged that I could also get information from the small talk before the meeting.
Everyone is here today, right?
I started in the customization room as usual, hurriedly put on the navy blue suit I always wore, and put on the lion mask.
Creaakkk.
After getting dressed, the door opened at just the right moment and I walked across the carpet to the Round Table.
It was Clown who greeted me first. «This time you arrived early, pshehe».
Having skipped it last month, I hadn't heard that unique laugh in two months. I approached my usual seat and watched everyone.
Crescent Moon, Deer, Fox.
Including Clown and me, there were a total of five people participating in this rally. Fox looked me in the eyes before looking away and saying to everyone: «Anyway, Mr. Goblin is late today».
«Pshehe, maybe he's dead. I heard that the damage on the paladin side has been great this time».
«...Let's hope not.»
Unsurprisingly, the main topic of conversation even before the official meeting was conquest.
«I'm surprised so many people have come back alive. If there is a hell, it would have been that place. I participated without thinking much and I regretted that decision».
«I agree. I never imagined Noark had such hidden power. Even when the conquest army was formed, I thought we could even attack the royal palace with that army.»
«Pshehe, however, they all suffered a great blow».
«Clown, you talk like it's none of your business.»
«Of course not. No matter how many people die, it is irrelevant to me. Isn't that right, Mr. León?»
«I'm not interested in conquest». I rested my chin on my arm as if bored and just listened to the conversation with prickly ears. The Dark Wizard of Noark, Priests of Karui, the inner story of a great clan that suffered enormous damage, other races, etc.: Information too scarce to be brought up at the top kept flowing in the name of trivial talk.
Thank goodness I arrived early.
Hiding my satisfied smile, I was listening to them talk about the last situation when Goblin appeared through the open door.
«¡Oh, Sr. Goblin!»
«You were alive».
«Oh yeah. Although it was very dangerous. God was really on our side». Goblin naturally brought god even though he was not of this world.
Clown laughed mockingly. «What god? It's obvious you were hiding behind like a goblin, pshehe».
«Clown, why are you so mean to me?»
«Because you are easy».
Despite being openly ignored, Goblin simply sat in his seat, letting out a hollow mockery.
He's scared.
At first I didn't understand why Duende took such a low stance, but maybe it was natural. Goblin's identity as a paladin had been revealed. He could never openly antagonize Clown, who was clearly strong.
¡Boom!
Once Goblin sat down, the door closed firmly. It meant it was time to start the meeting.
«León, is your promise still valid?» Before even deciding the turns, Crescent Moon asked me a question.
The topic was not clear, but I understood it quite well. I had to refer to my promise to provide information about the Renaissance Stone in exchange for interesting information. When I nodded, Crescent Moon put on a determined face.
«Pshehe, it seems like you're very confident this time».
«Just desperate. I need that object more than anything». That answer came with the determination to learn more about the Renaissance Stone at any cost.
«So who will start?»
Just before the brain teaser to decide who would start could begin, the door, which had been firmly closed, opened.
Crujido.
This phenomenon had never occurred before.
What the hell? Another member? I believed that no one could enter the summit once it started. Surely that should be the norm.
Seeing how everyone had questioning eyes, it seemed like he wasn't the only one who found this strange.
Burn.
Soon, the thick wooden door opened wide, and a figure appeared through it. It was a man with a featureless white mask. The only exposed skin on his hands was wrinkled. «Haha, this place hasn't changed anything». An old man's voice came from behind the mask.
For a moment, silence filled the room. The first to come to was Fox. «Master...?»
Through that murmur, I was able to realize it. This was the teacher, the creator of the Round Table Watchers.
«It's a mask I haven't seen before. Who are you?»
At his question, Fox, who had been baited by me many times, tilted her head. «Didn't you invite him, master? I'm sure that's what he said too...».
Strictly speaking, I didn't say that. I just avoided responding cleverly to create a misunderstanding. But that excuse wouldn't work.
Damn. What should I do?
One wrong move, and my act would be exposed.