Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Nine Player Cores
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Before they knew it, Go Yohan's entire body was drenched in sweat.
“…….”
The apostles watched him in stunned silence, unable to even part their lips.
That was when it happened.
Whoosh!
Flames suddenly erupted across his sweat-soaked T-shirt.
Rumble!
The energy amplified even further.
Kim Siyon tensed and positioned himself protectively in front of Lee Ha-yeon, while Yoon Seunga instinctively drew her staff and began casting a spell.
Rustle.
But as if to make a mockery of their tension, Go Yohan's aura stabilized in an instant.
“Still just three, for now.”
He murmured words that made no sense.
“……!”
In that moment, Yoon Seunga noticed the change in Go Yohan.
His T-shirt had burned away to ashes and scattered, fully exposing his upper body.
“…The tattoos' positions and shapes?”
The locations and forms of Go Yohan's tattoos had shifted.
The pentagram near his neck remained the same, but the bizarre tattoos below it had changed positions and appearances.
A massive one sprawled across his chest, back, ribs, both forearms, and even his fingers.
They glowed a fiery red, as if radiating heat, yet appeared to slumber quietly under Go Yohan's will.
“…….”
She couldn't fully activate her Divine Sight, but Yoon Seunga, who could perceive more than any other apostle, began to see it.
“…You've divided the curses.”
At her words, Go Yohan quietly turned to face Yoon Seunga.
“As expected, you see it.”
The curses dwelling within Go Yohan had been a tangled mess.
Each curse influencing the others, trapped in an endless cycle of chain reactions that constantly triggered more curses.
At the center, fueling it all like an energy source and amplifying the curses' intensity: his sins.
But now.
Hum.
Yoon Seunga could see it.
Something immense enough to send chills down her spine just by looking at it had taken root in Go Yohan's heart.
‘Sins.’
It was Go Yohan's sins—his karma points.
The other curses orbited around this central sin, kept separate.
“I divided them all. Now…”
Wriggle.
“…the curses won't erode each other without my permission.”
A form that minimized their mutual influences.
“Captain, sis! What the hell does that even mean?”
Kim Siyon shouted in frustration, driven purely by instinct rather than knowledge or understanding.
Lee Ha-yeon seemed to grasp it at least a little.
“…Player Cores.”
She swallowed a gasp of astonishment and groaned.
“The Player Cores have been split into eight.”
“……?”
“One sin, and the seven deadly curses.”
It was as if eight players had taken residence in Go Yohan's single body.
“Make it nine.”
Yoon Seunga added.
“Including the core Captain originally had.”
The Player Core naturally emerged upon awakening as a player—a mystery no one had yet unraveled.
Even Yoon Seunga, a world-class expert in magic and abilities, had no clue about Player Cores.
“Nine of them.”
Nine Player Cores.
“Is that even possible…?”
Kim Siyon couldn't comprehend it, but he instinctively knew it was absurd.
No one could answer.
‘Captain.’
Yoon Seunga trembled.
Not from fear, but from ecstasy.
She knew fragments of Go Yohan's past.
‘When you set your mind to achieve something, you cast aside everything to make it happen.’
It was a moment that made her feel his greatness anew.
Only then did Go Yohan fully suppress the wildly rampaging power.
That was when it happened.
“Hm?”
Everyone's gazes turned toward the new arrival.
The girl, who appeared about eleven years old, shyly bowed her head while clutching a cat doll.
“You're awake already?”
“…Yes.”
She was the final apostle: Pride.
“…Captain…”
Her voice was so soft it was barely audible.
Who could know?
That she was the strongest among the apostles, and half of that strength came from her complete demonic nature.
Quietly, she approached Go Yohan and tightly gripped his hand.
*
*
*
A few days passed.
“You look better. Someone couldn't even sleep and had dark circles down to their chin.”
Kim Dayeon grumbled at Go Minji.
They were in a cafe in Cheongdam.
It was early, so the place was quiet, with only Kim Dayeon and Go Minji inside.
“Players don't get dark circles. Your face looks better than before too.”
Go Minji snorted back at her.
As Go Minji said, players' bodies transcended human limits. At high levels, they could go days without sleep.
Even players couldn't escape severed limbs or the unique diseases that afflicted only them, though.
“It's the dark circles in my heart.”
Kim Dayeon smirked at Go Minji.
They bickered like this, but they were friends who had shared their hearts since childhood.
The only friend each could look at without ulterior motives or calculations.
“So.”
But time had passed.
“What's so important you cleared out a cafe in broad daylight?”
They could no longer afford to ignore calculations entirely.
Adults who had no choice but to exploit even their friends' backgrounds.
But because they were friends, that was the extent of what they could give each other.
“Noticeable?”
“Are you crazy? I'm double your level. And with Association players scattered around for surveillance.”
Intrigue flashed in Kim Dayeon's eyes.
Association investigation team members specialized in intel gathering, excelling in stealth abilities.
Even most rankers couldn't sense their presence, and higher-ups would mistake them for civilians.
“You've gotten ridiculously strong.”
“If you called me here just to spout nonsense, we'll talk another day. It's Mom's birthday today—I need to head out early.”
Go Minji said.
“And I have to bring that guy.”
“That guy? Yohan?”
Go Minji nodded.
“You're too much. Seriously.”
Kim Dayeon let out a hollow laugh at Go Minji.
But as Go Minji said, they could chat about trivial things anytime.
Right now.
“…There's this thing called the Black Ring.”
It was time for more important matters.
“Black Ring?”
“You know the Pure White Incident?”
Go Minji nodded at Kim Dayeon's words.
“Yeah, four years ago, right? It was chaos. An unknown variant monster appeared, and…”
“Some unidentified player repelled it.”
The aftermath had been massive enough to crumble a low hill.
“And presumably…”
Go Minji's eyes gleamed coldly.
“…an underworld player.”
“…How do you know that?”
“It's Korea. Think I wouldn't?”
Kim Dayeon sighed.
“Yeah. And the group that player likely belonged to is the Black Ring.”
It was a name even Go Minji was hearing for the first time, so she listened closely.
“And that Black Ring has taken over eighty percent of Korea's underground.”
“…What?”
*
*
*
-Sister is meeting with Investigation Team Leader Kim Dayeon.
Yoon Seunga's voice echoed from inside the moving car.
-It seems to be about the Black Ring.
The Pure White Incident had already exposed part of it when they took in Pride.
The Association had started investigating but found nothing.
And that Kim Dayeon was relentlessly pursuing that incident.
-All within expected parameters.
Everything was within expectations, and proceeded under Go Yohan's approval.
“Thanks.”
For calling Go Minji back to Korea, sis.
‘It’ll start soon.’
As long as he existed in Korea, their assaults would concentrate here.
But as Greed had said.
‘Devil worshippers and demonic traces are emerging everywhere overseas too.’
It was unreasonable to assume they'd all appear only in this land.
Kim Se-hyeon would protect her, but ironically, the safest place was still here in Korea, with him.
-We’ll focus on the Black Ring for a while.
With that, Yoon Seunga's voice cut off.
Vroom.
Go Yohan gripped the steering wheel with a slightly heavy expression.
As he'd said, if it was about to begin, he could no longer afford ambiguity.
That too had long been planned with the apostles.
“Will today… be the last?”
His mother, Shin Su-kyeong's birthday.
Their family would probably never gather so harmoniously again.
He'd anticipated it someday.
‘…Goddess.’
But his heart was far from light.
The family he hadn't felt in Travania with Michael.
Only now, at the end.
‘Gabriel.’
‘Brother.’
The faint sense he'd once had flooded him in torrents every moment.
That burdensome feeling, the one he wondered if he even deserved—he'd tried to fit into their fold as recompense, but it seemed impossible.
So he'd pushed them away.
Vroom.
He wasn't sure if it was the right choice.
Screech.
Then, Go Yohan slammed on the brakes and stopped the car.
Hoooonk!
Honks filled the road from behind, but he ignored them, opened the door, and stepped out.
“What the fuck are you doing?!”
Curses flew at him.
“Driving like shit just 'cause you got a nice car…”
In that instant.
Whoosh.
It felt like flames had ignited.
At the same moment, a black reaper—no, a black goddess-like woman appeared behind Go Yohan.
“Scan all holy presences.”
“…Yes.”
“P-player…!”
The enraged driver fell on his ass in shock.
Players might be familiar in this era, but they were still living weapons.
“Sorry.”
Go Yohan apologized.
“If anyone's hurt, we'll compensate separately.”
He didn't hand over a business card, but if needed, he'd track them down somehow.
In the meantime.
“……!”
The two had already vanished.
Into Go Yohan's mind.
[Black Gate detected.]
[Black Gate detected.]
[Black Gate detected.]
[…]
The goddess's warnings blared madly.