Trial of the Seventh Floor (7)
"Sub... mission...?"
A Constellation pays close attention to the doppelganger's treatment.
"I don't want to submit. I'm sick and tired of it. Just... destroy me and let the others live."
He was a peculiar fellow.
Even though he found everything tedious, he felt enough responsibility for the other doppelgangers to ask for his own destruction in exchange for their lives. It was like looking at a responsible, yet deeply cynical misanthrope.
It doesn't seem like he actually wants to die, though. Is he just tired of being trapped?
There was a quick remedy for someone like this.
"I can't force you to submit, you see."
"...Then you won't be able to make me submit...? I'm tired of being ordered around..."
Slide.
"I only came here to save the others... Dammit. If I didn't do this, wouldn't you have killed them all anyway?"
A Constellation stares intently at the current situation.
"What if there's a reward?"
"A... reward?"
"If you submit to me, you won't be trapped on just the seventh floor."
"...!"
He reacted.
"I promise you."
"We can go... to other floors?"
The Doppelganger Lord's eyes widened in disbelief.
But Jin-hyuk's Truth-Seeking Eye clearly read the emotional response. She wanted to leave.
"Can you make it so the others can leave too...? We're bound to the seventh floor, so we shouldn't be able to go to other floors..."
"You aren't bound to the seventh floor anymore, are you?"
"Huh...? Isn't the trial's objective to 'hunt the doppelgangers' or something?"
"The objective of the seventh-floor trial is to 'survive' the attacks. It's not to hunt the doppelgangers."
Jin-hyuk grinned.
"Even if there are no doppelgangers, they can still survive, right?"
"Ah..."
If the doppelgangers disappeared from the seventh floor, the players' trial would become much easier. They would only need to sit tight for ten days.
"...As long as the Shadow Eater in the Green Forest is there, the doppelgangers... Ah... I suppose it doesn't matter if we disappear anyway..."
A Constellation tells you not to worry, as they have already moved the Shadow Eater to a safe place.
"Mmm..."
The Doppelganger Lord fell into deep thought for a long while.
"I have no choice but to trust you for now. *Sigh*... I do want to get out of this dreadful, fake world..."
"Welcome aboard."
Lee Jin-hyuk smiled.
"You're the fourth to join."
"Not... the first? I should at least be second-in-command..."
"..."
Everyone is so greedy to be second-in-command, Jin-hyuk thought, letting out a sigh.
They're going to fight like cats and dogs once they all meet.
The item recognizes the owner's energy.
The item wraps around and protects the owner.
Ching!
Just in case, keeping the item equipped, Jin-hyuk reached out.
"Ready?"
"Yes... Let's not drag this out and just get it over with. I'm sure you have a way..."
Activating skill.
Targeting the Doppelganger Lord.
The Doppelganger Lord begins to accept your energy (Holy Fire) without resistance.
Fwoosh!
Soon, white flames enveloped the Faceless Ghost, burning away all of her clothes.
Squish... squish...
The girl's form vanished without a trace, leaving only a sphere-like shadow in her place.
Unlike a typical shadow, the sphere turned bright white like a lightbulb, absorbing all of Jin-hyuk's power.
Dominating the Doppelganger Lord.
The white shadow sphere soon shifted into a different form.
It was someone with sharp eyes and a subtly seductive, lightly made-up face.
Though Jin-hyuk had never seen this face before, the word "voluptuous" naturally came to mind.
"What's with that appearance?"
"...It's what that girl would look like when she grows up... I decided not to use the child form anymore..."
"Understood."
Jin-hyuk nodded, accepting it without much thought.
This is an unexpected windfall.
Other doppelgangers had to consume and digest a specific person or creature to copy their traits. Furthermore, they couldn't swallow targets that were too powerful compared to their own innate abilities.
But the Doppelganger Lord was different. She could copy a target perfectly just by swallowing a fraction of their energy, a fingernail, or a strand of hair. Moreover, as the Lord, the limits of her power were practically nonexistent.
On top of that, she was the one running the Lower Sect and the Assassination Guild.
Jin-hyuk smiled.
This means she can specialize in espionage, intelligence gathering, or high-profile assassinations.
She could act directly, or it would be much easier if she utilized the other doppelgangers. Considering how much he had struggled in his past life due to a lack of information on [Name] and their followers, this was a stroke of absolute fortune.
Since [Name] and their followers can only detect things that aren't holy power...
And considering the source of the Faceless Ghost's power is holy power... she can easily infiltrate them.
"Good."
Looking at the Faceless Ghost, who was now completely his subordinate, Jin-hyuk smiled.
"Let's work well together from now on."
"...Yes..."
With her usual dragging tone, the Faceless Ghost shook Jin-hyuk's hand.
"...Huh? No hunting?"
"Yes. As of this moment, we will not kill the doppelgangers."
6 days, 8 hours, 33 minutes
At Jin-hyuk's sudden declaration, the other players, and even Kaelion, tilted their heads in confusion.
"Why?"
"...What if they attack us first?"
"Exactly! Hyung! We're going to get stabbed in the back!"
Jin-hyuk swiped a hand down his face at Seol Yeon's tiresome whining and chuckled.
"Don't worry. That won't happen."
"You did..."
Step.
"...something, didn't you?"
"Yeah. There won't be any more attacks from the doppelgangers."
Just as Jin-hyuk said, there were no more attacks from the doppelgangers after his declaration.
At first, the players found it hard to believe.
How many times had they let their guard down and suffered for it?
Their companions had been targeted, and sometimes they had even been attacked by those very companions.
Under such circumstances, it was only natural that they couldn't easily trust his words.
There's no way I can believe this.
...Damn it. But if we ignore him and attack anyway, he'll definitely retaliate.
And we can't handle that monster Lee Jin-hyuk and the elf next to him...
They're Grand Masters. Sword Masters. How are we supposed to beat those crazy monsters?
But they couldn't continue hunting either.
While the martial might of Jin-hyuk and Kaelion was terrifying, there was an even bigger problem.
With the current level of the remaining players, they couldn't distinguish the doppelgangers on their own.
They had neither the power nor the means to oppose Jin-hyuk.
It might sound pathetic, but lacking strength, they had no choice but to remain helpless.
"Don't be like that, everyone."
The one who placated the players was Seol Yeon, who had been here for eight days—a relatively long time.
As a direct descendant of the Northern Sea Ice Palace and the one who had looked after the other players the most before Jin-hyuk's arrival, his words carried weight.
Because of his standing, the players had no choice but to listen.
"At least we can eat, rest, and sleep in peace now, right?"
"..."
"How about a drink?"
They had temporarily forgotten in their anger toward the doppelgangers, but Seol Yeon was right.
Regardless of the details, it was a fact that they could spend their time here safely thanks to Jin-hyuk.
"Yeah. Let's wait and see."
"...Considering that man's reputation, he's not the type to just leave us to die."
"He must have taken some measures if he's telling us to stay put."
"Right. He's not the kind of person who would just let us die in the first place."
Since they couldn't do anything anyway and had a baseline of trust in Jin-hyuk, the consensus among the players quickly shifted to "let's wait and see."
And, quite chillingly...
Lee Jin-hyuk was fully aware of all of this.
"...Where is this?"
"This is... the damn branch... that took an absolute eternity to build. *Sigh*."
Jin-hyuk and Kaelion had arrived at a location somewhere on the seventh floor.
Like the information guild of [Name], it was a hidden space concealed within a tavern.
It looked ordinary on the outside but led to a hidden, secret room.
A place that no ordinary player could easily discover.
"All information... flows through here... in real-time."
They didn't use computers like in 21st-century Korea, but the doppelgangers' unique mobility and information-sharing capabilities shone brightly.
She would look so much more beautiful if she didn't talk in that dragging tone.
At the center of it all was the hollow-eyed Faceless Ghost.
Though she kept muttering complaints about hating work, her hands and eyes were moving at a blistering speed.
She was gathering and organizing real-time information not just from the market streets of the seventh floor, but also from the Green Forest and the Yangtze River.
"Her hands and eyes are moving so fast they're a blur..."
Kaelion could only scratch the back of her head at the sight.
"Indeed."
"...No matter how much I search..."
The Faceless Ghost spoke, letting out something between a yawn and a sigh.
"...There is no way for us to go to other floors..."
"There is."
"There is?"
"[Name]. Do you know it?"
"Mmm... Of course I do."
Even though she had been confined to the seventh floor, as a master of information, the Faceless Ghost was familiar with that item.
It was a legendary-grade item that allowed spatial movement.
"What about it...?"
"You guys can transform into things other than living creatures, right?"
"...Huh?"
The Faceless Ghost blinked.
"Wait... Don't tell me?"
"Yes. You can temporarily transform into an 'item' and then be sent through [Name]."
Jin-hyuk grinned.
"Even if moving to another floor consumes a massive amount of energy... it won't be impossible."
"Certainly... That method would work. Though there are two problems... No, three."
A Constellation shakes their head, wondering where they learned such bizarre slang.
A Constellation is curious about the problems.
"First. If we doppelgangers transform into inanimate objects... we cannot be awakened unless by someone who manipulates special mana. Like mages, for instance."
"Don't worry. Where I'm sending you is the Magic Empire. It's crawling with mages."
"Will those mages cooperate?"
"They have no choice."
Lee Jin-hyuk smiled.
"They're receiving points... no, something far more valuable than that from me."
In the Magic Empire, specifically at its center, the Heavenly Tower, was Kadrian, who practically worshipped Jin-hyuk like a god.
He was now one of the most influential figures in the Heavenly Tower.
He would order his subordinate mages to awaken the doppelgangers and safely transport them to the Northern Continent.
"Mmm... Then... the second problem of us having nowhere to settle is also resolved..."
"If you transform into goblins or other creatures, you might even obtain Player status."
"...So you want us to spread across the floors and gather information..."
"Exactly. And if we do this, just as you wanted..."
Jin-hyuk grinned.
"You'll escape the seventh floor completely."
After listening to Jin-hyuk's explanation, the Faceless Ghost nodded.
"You certainly... took me in just to put me to work, my King."
"Of course. A lord-vassal relationship only lasts as long as both parties have value to exploit, doesn't it?"
At those words, the Faceless Ghost smiled faintly.
"You're much better than those hypocritical bastards of the Orthodox faction who force bullshit values like 'the greater good' or 'filial piety' down everyone's throats..."
Though she didn't realize it herself, it was the first smile she had ever worn since her birth.
"Then we'll proceed with this... Do you have anything else left to do on the seventh floor?"
"Of course. That's why I hunted down the doppelgangers in the first place."
Jin-hyuk looked at her.
"The fragments. It's time to trade the fragments."
The fragments he had gathered like a madman on the seventh floor. It was finally time to materialize them.