Chapter 329
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 328
Chapter Title: 73. Negotiation (3)
[Dogō]
| Battles between the Dogō and Remu camps can only take place within Daemado.
[Remu]
| The proxies of Dogō and Remu must fight in the nude.
Once both sides' proposals were finalized, Yūto fiddled with the card in his hand.
“A reasonable proposal for the first round. It doesn't matter much who wins, does it?”
Youngwoo immediately bared his teeth in response.
“Who says it doesn't matter, you psycho? I have no intention of stripping.”
Of course, even in the worst case, Youngwoo wasn't completely without leverage.
Stripping off his gear didn't mean he couldn't benefit from the codex's effects.
That was why Youngwoo had accepted the opponent's proposal outright.
‘Still, the guy's not entirely wrong. The first round should go with safe conditions for both sides.’
They didn't yet fully know each other's card levels, nor how each round ended.
Caution was wise in the early game.
‘And if needed, we can invalidate the previous negotiation in the next round's conditions, right? Seems possible.’
Of course, that would waste an entire round, so it required care.
‘Honestly, stripping isn't impossible. If I can rake in a ton of money in the remaining rounds.’
At the thought of money, vitality sparked in Youngwoo's eyes. Yūto, who had been watching him quietly, settled back into his chair.
“Go ahead!”
For some reason, his momentum was strong.
Youngwoo shifted his gaze to the empty space above the table to see the next system message.
Swoosh.
Immediately, lock icons appeared on both proposals, and a new notice appeared.
《The first round's proposals have been finalized.》
《Now, the power of both sides' cards will be compared to determine the winner. The proxy who wins the duel acquires both proposals.》
Lose, and he'd lose even his own proposal. Win, and he could take it all.
This was truly...
‘A gamble.’
As Youngwoo scanned the gambling table deciding both nations' fates, the moment of card reveal arrived.
《Dogō's proxy, please reveal your card.》
Youngwoo glanced at Yūto's expression, then placed his card on the table.
Thud.
“...Let me introduce my mother.”
The blue light covering the card lifted at once, and a roar—likely the Ice Dragon's—shook the negotiation chamber.
—Kuaaaaa...!
Bluish frost flowed across the ceiling, chilling the room further.
‘Does he have to go this far?’
Unlike the still nonchalant Youngwoo, Yūto gazed at the ceiling with an impressed look.
“Mother...? Just who are you...?”
And right after.
Splash!
A silver-white dragon burst from the ceiling's frost, diving into Youngwoo's card.
Boom!
“Ma'am?”
Yūto shot to his feet at the sight of the dragon.
Meanwhile, the card's surface now bore an image of a massive Ice Dragon roaring over a city.
[Mother Returned from the Sky]
“The mother breathed her blue breath.”
|Card Rank: Legend
|Power: 1,200
*Strongest Mother*
[If the opponent's card is Dragon or Mother, add 600 power.]
“Ha, as expected, a Legend.”
Yūto admired the opponent's card.
“And yours?”
Youngwoo nodded at the card in Yūto's hand. The man raised it high with a grave expression.
Then.
Whip-crack!
He flung it toward the table like a whip.
Smack!
The card hit the table, glowing pure white.
“...!”
“Behold it properly! My declaration of war!”
With Yūto's sharp cry came a cheer full of zeal from somewhere.
—Waaaaaa!
“...What the hell is this?”
Youngwoo looked up in confusion, searching for the source. Then he saw naked Japanese men pouring down like a waterfall from above Yūto's head.
[200 Naked Warriors]
“Success always comes with adversity.”
|Card Rank: Epic
|Power: 800
*Comradeship*
[If the next round's card is Human, increase that card's power by 300.]
“What...”
Youngwoo couldn't hide his dismay as the naked warriors were sucked into the card.
‘Fuck... I got played.’
He realized Yūto, the self-proclaimed veteran duelist, had bluffed hard.
This bastard had known from the start he had a high chance of losing.
‘That's why he spouted all that crap about the people.’
Of course, willingly stripping for the national interest meant his patriotism was somewhat genuine.
‘Anyway, I won, so whatever.’
The problem was this.
[If the next round's card is Human, increase that card's power by 300.]
The ‘Comradeship’ effect on the Naked Warriors card.
It wasn't just conditional strengthening for this round—it affected the next.
‘When the next card is Human...? Not just mother or father—any human has a pretty high probability, right?’
The Naked Warriors, Epic rank, had 800 power. Mother, Legend, had 1,200.
So if there was an Epic card with base 900 power, or a Legend with only 1,100, Comradeship could let the Epic beat the Legend.
‘For the next round, assume the opponent's power gets +300.’
As Youngwoo thought this, both cards rose from the table and collided.
Flash!
Yūto's ‘200 Naked Warriors’ shattered into pieces.
Crunch!
《Dogō side's card ‘Mother Returned from the Sky’ has destroyed Remu side's card ‘200 Naked Warriors.’》
《Dogō's proxy has acquired full rights to the proposals!》
First round victory at last.
Then, both proposals and another choice appeared before Youngwoo.
《Dogō's proxy, please select the final proposals.》
A separate help message appeared for him.
「You won the power comparison! The opponent's proposals are now yours as well.」
「Opponent's proposals can be discarded or partially modified. At least one proposal must be activated.」
“Partially modified?”
The help elaborated immediately.
「If the opponent's proposal could disadvantage you, it can be partially adjusted.」
With a glow, a new proposal appeared.
Flash!
|Remu's proxy must fight in the nude.
“Ah.”
The original was both sides nude, but adjustable to only the opponent.
But...
‘This guy's already naked. Hell, he wanted to be.’
Youngwoo's gaze turned to Yūto across the table.
He was already waiting for the next round, chin propped on clasped hands, staring this way.
‘Crazy bastard.’
Youngwoo cursed inwardly, then had a sudden thought and asked the help.
‘Can I change the proposal to something like “must wear clothes to fight,” instead of stripping?’
Immediate rejection.
「The basic form of the proposal cannot be changed.」
‘Damn. So I can only decide if I strip too or not.’
In that case, discard the opponent's proposal without hesitation.
‘It might be crucial for him to get me naked. Leave some room for him to stew over the remaining rounds.’
Fighting naked.
Wasn't a huge ordeal for Youngwoo.
But stripping for nothing... that was infuriating.
‘Use my nudity as bait to gain an advantage for one round? Acceptable. But just stripping? No way.’
Youngwoo decided and immediately discarded Yūto's proposal.
《Remu's proposal has been discarded. Accordingly, only Dogō's proxy's proposed condition is activated.》
‘Good. Battlefield secured.’
This drastically reduced civilian casualties in battles with Remu.
[Dogō]
| Battles between the Dogō and Remu camps can only take place within Daemado.
In a few hours, he'd face 200 Japanese naked warriors on Daemado.
‘...Is this a dream or reality?’
Youngwoo looked up at his opponent again. Pale flesh filled his view.
“Now that we know the basic rules, let's move fast. War starts soon, right?”
Yūto nodded at Youngwoo's opener, and the system message appeared.
《The second negotiation begins now.》
《From now on, one ‘shuffle’ per round is allowed.》
“Shuffle?”
“Oho.”
Yūto looked intrigued. Youngwoo immediately asked the system.
“Shuffle means reshuffling the cards?”
《At the start of each round, you can check the number and ranks of cards in your deck. Shuffle randomly mixes the cards on the table and in the deck.》
Yūto summarized it.
“...A reset.”
Yes.
Simply put, it reset the cards on the table.
But crucially.
‘At round start, check remaining deck cards' number and ranks? So I can guess if a Myth card is on my table now?’
For example, Youngwoo's confirmed Myth potentials: two.
The Myth gear Sasinsa and Aratubank.
Broadly, the Chairman card might be Myth too.
‘So high chance of three Myths in my total card pool.’
In other words, if the pre-shuffle ‘deck’ shows three Myths...
‘Then no Myth on the table now. Max Legend.’
As Youngwoo grasped the rules, Yūto nodded across from him.
He'd realized the shuffle's meaning too.
《Before drawing the second cards, proxies, please check your decks.》
A hexagonal hologram appeared in Youngwoo's view.
His deck.
[Total Cards: 25]
|Myth: 3
|Legend: 5
|Epic: 10
|Unique: 7
‘What...? Deck has 25 cards?’
Including the five on the table, total 30 cards.
And he'd already used one Legend.
‘Shit, drawing Mother first round was insanely lucky?’
The fate of the unfilial.
Youngwoo belatedly regretted his disrespect.
‘So the remaining four on table? All Epic, Unique?’
Deck status suggested so.
In these deck games, lower cards were more numerous.
‘Guess I should shuffle...?’
A curved arrow icon appeared on the left of his view.
The shuffle icon.
“...”
Youngwoo activated it without hesitation.
Flash!
The five table cards sucked into the air.
Then.
Sploosh!
Five blue lights plunged onto the table.
Pop-pop-pop!
Card shuffle.
Reshuffled and sent new ones for round 2.
‘Now, the deck? Can't shuffle again same round, so show deck status?’
With eager eyes, Youngwoo asked. The system responded quickly.
《Round 2 shuffle complete. Deck composition changed.》
The updated deck:
[Total Cards: 25]
|Myth: 6
|Legend: 4
|Epic: 7
|Unique: 8