Chapter 328
Chapter 328
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 329
Chapter Title: 73. Negotiation (4)
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‘What the hell? Why are there six Mythics now?’
Cognitive dissonance.
Staring at the Mythic count that had somehow increased after the shuffle, Yeong-woo could only blink in disbelief.
[Total Cards: 25]
|Mythic: 6
|Legendary: 4
|Epic: 7
|Unique: 8
There had only been three Mythics before the shuffle, but now there were six. The Epics had dropped from ten to seven, and Uniques had risen from seven to eight.
Putting it all together, roughly speaking.
‘No way... Was my opening hand three Mythics, one Legendary, and one Unique?’
The fact that the Mythic count had gone up after the shuffle made it seem likely.
He had just thrown away the ultimate hand that could carry him through all but one round, with near certainty.
‘No, fuck?’
Yeong-woo had a gut feeling. To put it bluntly, he was utterly screwed.
‘No, what kind of deck has six Mythics?’
Yeong-woo couldn’t hide his shock at the super-top-tier deck that defied imagination.
But because he had shuffled, all those Mythics were now off the table and back in the deck.
‘Wait, then what’s on the table right now?’
Yeong-woo glanced at the five cards still face-down.
He could reverse-engineer the identities of the drawn cards using the previous hand and the current deck status.
‘Two Legendaries... and three Epics.’
Considering the deck’s bottom was all Uniques, it wasn’t the absolute worst.
But knowing there were no Mythics in this hand made it even more despairing.
‘And one of them is unusable anyway. Round 1’s already passed.’
So only four cards were actually playable.
‘That means my effective hand could be two Legendary and two Epic, or one Legendary and three Epic.’
On top of that, as seen earlier, if his opponent drew a ‘Human’ type card this round, it would get a +300 power boost.
‘This one’s gonna be tough to win.’
As confirmed in round 1, Yuto also had Epic-grade cards.
And since his first random draw was an Epic, he probably had a fair share of Legendaries too.
‘Guess I can only hope his hand is loaded with Uniques.’
Yeong-woo thought that for a moment, then immediately changed his mind.
‘No, relying purely on luck is just gambling.’
He couldn’t leave the future of the Korean Peninsula—no, the entire planet—to sheer chance.
‘If the hand sucks, how do I win? Momentum. That’s it.’
Yeong-woo resolved himself.
He’d push through round 2 with soul-infused bullshit, pure bluffing.
《All proxies, please pick up and check the card you’ll use this round.》
It was time to check the round 2 cards, and after a brief hesitation, Yeong-woo picked the center card, just like in round 1.
Swoosh.
Silhouettes of the ‘friends’ immediately rained down from the ceiling.
[Laborers]
“Young-tae, Tae-jun, Young-heum, gold coins.”
|Card Grade: Epic
|Power: 1,000
*Achievement*
[Draw this card again and its power doubles.]
‘Argh...’
Yeong-woo unconsciously reached for his forehead but barely held back.
It was a high base power for an Epic, but the timing sucked.
《Both sides have checked their cards. Commencing negotiations.》
Pop pop pop!
Three negotiation tokens appeared by each of their heads.
《Please propose your negotiation terms now. State your desired terms and touch the token by your head to submit instantly.》
Yeong-woo locked eyes with Yuto.
“......”
As expected, the guy’s gaze didn’t waver at all, so Yeong-woo spoke while holding that stare.
“Let’s each chop off one arm and get started.”
Yuto, who had been clasping his hands, twitched his fingers.
“...What did you say?”
“Light round two as well. We each cut off one arm and fight.”
“What the hell are you talking about right now?”
Yuto scowled, his brows furrowing in genuine displeasure.
“Stop messing around and give a proper—”
Beeeep!
“Huh?”
At the familiar signal, Yuto unclasped his hands and looked into the space between them.
[The proxies of Togo and Remu will sever one arm each before battle.]
Yeong-woo’s proposal to cut off an arm and fight had actually been confirmed.
“You too, hurry up and pick. I’m dying to see what happens.”
Yeong-woo made a gesture like he was already choosing which arm to cut, and Yuto shook his head.
“N-No way, you’re serious? Your hand must be absolute trash for you to pull a desperate move like—”
“If it looks like I’m overreaching, then counter with a strong play yourself. If you win the card clash, I’m the only one cutting off an arm, right?”
“......”
This time, Yeong-woo didn’t even say no.
Even if he lost the clash and had to cut off his arm alone, it wouldn’t put him at a huge disadvantage.
He was in a position where he might need to cut it off anyway to gain the body loss and bleed effects.
“Hurry and choose! You gonna keep me up all night? Don’t forget I still gotta fight Mara after this.”
As Yeong-woo barked and rushed him, Yuto twisted his lips.
“I’ll... counter-propose once.”
[The proxies of Togo and Remu will fight fully nude.]
Beep!
Finally, Yuto was falling into Yeong-woo’s rhythm.
No qualms about fighting naked, but chopping off an arm out of nowhere? Terrifying.
“You got pissed at me for stripping down right from the start, but turns out you’re just a coward who can’t cut off one arm? I could do two.”
“...Sacrificing nobly for national interest is different from just becoming some armless lunatic.”
At that, Yeong-woo drew his sword Sasa from his waist for the first time.
Shiiiing!
He stretched out his left hand and slammed it on the table.
Thud!
“W-What are you doing? Right now?”
Yuto’s already pale face went even whiter, and Yeong-woo grinned like a predator spotting prey.
“You can’t do shit in this universe if you ain’t crazy!”
“What?”
“So I can’t hand this planet to someone who’s not crazy enough yet.”
“......!”
Yeong-woo raised Sasa perpendicular to the table and plunged it straight into the back of his left hand.
Crunch!
“Argh, you fucking psycho!”
Yuto finally lost his cool and shot up from his seat, but Yeong-woo yelled back with a terrifying glare the likes of which he’d never shown before.
“Sit your ass back down! Game ain’t over yet.”
“You...!”
“Park it and confirm the damn proposal. Let’s see those cards.”
Yeong-woo said that, but Yuto was already vetoing.
Flash!
《Remu’s proxy has rejected Togo faction’s proposal.》
Yuto now had one negotiation token left.
Seeing that, Yeong-woo immediately resubmitted the exact same proposal.
[The proxies of Togo and Remu will sever one arm each before battle.]
“Useless. I’ll just keep submitting the same one.”
“Are you brain-dead or something?”
“Talking casual feels better now. Buckle up, ‘cause this is just the start.”
Yeong-woo grinned wickedly as blood dripped from his stabbed left hand, and Yuto wiped sweat from his temple before vetoing again.
《Remu’s proxy has rejected Togo faction’s proposal.》
Yuto’s tokens: 0.
He couldn’t reject anymore, so now was Yeong-woo’s chance to push a favorable term.
With an Epic draw, his win odds weren’t great, so just throw up something near-nullifying.
But Yeong-woo, already in the flow.
[The proxies of Togo and Remu will sever one arm each before battle.]
“You can’t run.”
“Ugh...!”
Fear flickered in Yuto’s eyes as he realized the guy charging at him with the arm-chopping talk was dead serious.
“T-The Togo proxy is insane. Unpredictable... on a cosmic...”
Yuto recalled the opponent’s intro line.
Yeong-woo finished it for him.
“...level, so avoid contact if possible...!”
Bang!
Yeong-woo slammed the table hard with his remaining right hand to confirm, and both proposals locked in. His card began to glow.
《Round 2 proposals confirmed.》
《Togo’s proxy, please reveal your card.》
Yeong-woo flipped it fast. The card showed four friends assembling a trophy, and the power revealed.
Flash!
[Laborers]
“Young-tae, Tae-jun, Young-heum, gold coins.”
|Card Grade: Epic
|Power: 1,000
*Achievement*
[Draw this card again and its power doubles.]
“W-What... an Epic?”
Yuto’s eyes went wider than when he’d seen Yeong-woo self-harm.
He’d expected some insanely strong card, not just an Epic.
“Bluffing? No, you’re just...”
A total maniac.
―The Togo proxy is insane!
The profile line popped up again as Yeong-woo pointed at Yuto’s card.
“Now we’re fighting on Tsushima, stripped naked, each missing one arm.”
He’d known he was gonna lose.
Yuto shuddered in horror and roughly flipped his card.
“Shut your bullshit, you psycho! You cut your damn arm!”
Flash!
Remu proxy, Kawachiya Yuto03’s card was, as expected.
[Giant Hunter]
“Bigger the foe, easier the kill.”
|Card Grade: Legendary
|Power: 1,100
*Climber*
[Against a relatively higher-grade card, power increases by 700.]
“As expected, Legendary.”
Yeong-woo said calmly, and Yuto looked baffled.
“You’re not even surprised. So you just wanted to cut your arm that bad?”
Regaining some security from the win, Yuto switched back to polite speech.
“Either way, you’ll end up stripped. And lose an arm.”
“I bought a round instead.”
“......?”
“How could a sparrow comprehend a phoenix’s will.”
Yeong-woo said that and yanked Sasa out of his left hand.
Crunch!
The hole in his hand began healing rapidly, but he quickly hid his arm to conceal it.
No need to reveal he could reattach a severed arm in a flash.
And then shuffle time came again.
《Round 3 will begin shortly. Shuffle uses recharged.》
Seeing that, Yeong-woo hit shuffle without a second thought.
Nowhere left to go but up.
‘Shuffle start!’
Flash!
With Yeong-woo’s approval, the table cards shuffled, and the deck composition changed.
《Round 3 shuffle complete. Deck composition changed.》
[Total Cards: 25]
|Mythic: 3
|Legendary: 5
|Epic: 9
|Unique: 8
‘Ah...!’
Yeong-woo inwardly cheered at the remaining deck.
‘They’re back! Our Mythics!’
Three Mythics had returned to the table.
“......”
Yuto, watching Yeong-woo’s gleaming eyes post-shuffle, cautiously asked.
“What now? You’re not gonna throw out some crazy proposal right off the bat again, are you?”
Yeong-woo fixed him with a piercing gaze.
“Our stripping thing.”
“Pardon...?”
“How much did Remu promise to pay if we do that?”