Chapter 145
Chapter 145
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 145
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Confession
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Lee Shin was momentarily stunned.
It was a question he could never have imagined.
-What did you just say?
Even Jeong Yu-ra, who was standing beside him, asked him to repeat it, thinking she must have misheard.
But the man's expression was dead serious.
Seeing that, Lee Shin finally snapped back to his senses.
Right, for someone who didn't know they were the same person, it was a perfectly reasonable question...
'...the hell it is?!'
No, even assuming that, it was still strange.
Why is he asking this?
Lee Shin frowned deeply and asked back.
"Why do you ask?"
"Pardon?"
"Why are you curious? You guys help me with my quest for a week, and I'll tell you Lee Si-eun's location. Wasn't that what we agreed on?"
"..."
That was the extent of the conversation between Lee Shin and Yu Han-seong.
To be precise, it also included a threat to unleash guild members or hire assassins to kill him if he lied, but Lee Shin wasn't particularly bothered.
It wasn't because the threat posed no danger to him.
Even for Lee Shin, being relentlessly hunted by a guild of that size would be a headache.
It was a respectable mid-tier guild, after all.
It might be different if he could hide like in the old days, but now that they knew his channel, it would be difficult to avoid them.
However.
'I just have to tell them.'
Lee Shin had no intention of breaking his promise.
Since the initial agreement was born from a misunderstanding and a lie (...), there was no need for him to add more lies or break the promise.
He just had to disguise himself as Lee Si-eun again, go somewhere random, film it, and send it to them. That would be the end of it.
They would have no choice but to believe it.
'...Well, they'll probably catch on if I drag it out for too long.'
They weren't complete fools, after all.
But that was a problem for later.
Lee Shin's gaze returned to Kang Woo-jin.
"So, why are you curious?"
"..."
"I can't just carelessly give out information about my colleague."
"What? Didn't you already agree to betray her?"
"I haven't yet. This is just the process."
"...???"
Kang Woo-jin's eyes glazed over.
He was wondering what kind of nonsense this was.
But he soon collected himself and answered with feigned determination.
"This is a secret from Yu Han-seong..."
"Yes."
"I plan to confess my feelings to Si-eun."
"Is that so... huh?"
Lee Shin replied dumbly.
He couldn't believe what he had just heard.
But as the words sank in, the corners of Lee Shin's mouth slowly drooped.
The missing piece of the puzzle fell into place, and he realized why Kang Woo-jin had bothered to follow Yu Han-seong to meet Arthur, a man he had no business with.
It wasn't for revenge...
"...Ah."
"..."
"Fucking... hell..."
"Arthur!?!"
A sudden, harsh curse!
Kang Woo-jin jumped in surprise.
He had only asked out of curiosity...
Was it really such an inappropriate question?
Flustered, he stammered.
But Lee Shin's reply was ice-cold.
"What's wrong...?"
"Shut up."
"!?"
Lee Shin rubbed his arms, goosebumps crawling over his skin.
He glanced to the side and saw Jeong Yu-ra bursting with laughter, practically convulsing.
Since she knew the whole story just like Lee Shin, she couldn't hold back her laughter at his reaction.
"...Hoo."
Lee Shin clicked his tongue, then shook his head and replied.
The disgust hadn't faded, but he knew that if he acted too annoyed, the other man might get suspicious.
"...We're not like that, so do whatever you want when you meet her."
"Ah! Thank you!"
"Whatever."
Lee Shin waved his hand dismissively.
Having gotten his answer, Kang Woo-jin turned and left without a second thought.
After he was completely gone, Jeong Yu-ra spoke up as if she'd been waiting.
"You deserved that."
"..."
She was snickering.
It wasn't just because the situation was funny; she also seemed to find some satisfaction in Lee Shin's flustered state.
They were allies now after many twists and turns, but in the past, she too had been one of his victims.
She asked.
"Didn't you ever think something like this might happen when you started cross-dressing?"
"I didn't."
"...Huh?"
Who would ever expect someone to act like that toward the person who backstabbed them?
It would have made more sense if it were Jeong Yu-ra, but why the person who betrayed them and ran off?
Isn't that weird?
"...You have a point."
Now that she thought about it, he was right!
Jeong Yu-ra tilted her head.
"Then why do you think he did it?"
"I don't know. He must be a weirdo."
"...You're one to talk. You're the weirdest person in the world! ...No, wait, when you think about it, you're the cause of all this in the first place!"
"Never mind that. I'm heading to the guild now. What are you going to do?"
As soon as the unfavorable topic came up, Lee Shin immediately changed the subject.
Jeong Yu-ra shot him a slight glare at the blatant change of topic before replying.
"...Hmm? How long will you be gone?"
"It won't be finished by the end of today, at the very least. No. You probably won't have anything to do until this whole thing is over."
And that could take more than a week.
"Hmm... Then should I just do something else in the meantime?"
"That would be best."
Like hunting, or maybe some simple territory quests.
There were plenty of things to do.
If she felt burdened going around alone, she could find another party for a while and join them for party hunting.
For a Priest, that wouldn't be difficult.
Or.
"Or do you want to try the Arena?"
Lee Shin asked, the thought suddenly occurring to him.
The Arena was always the best thing to do when you had free time.
You could start whenever you wanted and stop whenever you wanted.
"The Arena? Me?"
"Yeah. You've never been, have you?"
Jeong Yu-ra nodded.
She knew it existed but had never gone herself.
She felt pressured by the thought of fighting other people, and frankly, she wasn't confident in her skills.
If she ever did go, she planned to do it much later, after leveling up a lot, and only for a match or two.
Hearing this, Lee Shin said.
"That's just smurfing."
"Smurfing? ...Ah, is that what it is?"
"A high-level player doing just one or two placement matches is the definition of smurfing. But what's the point? If you're just going to crush people with your level, why even go to the Arena?"
"Just to say I participated...? It's scary to meet people who are too strong."
"...?"
Lee Shin tilted his head.
What was there to be scared of?
It's just a game.
But what Jeong Yu-ra said wasn't particularly unusual.
There were actually quite a few players who avoided the Arena for similar reasons.
Even knowing it was a game, because it was virtual reality, many players felt an aversion to getting hit or losing.
And this wasn't necessarily a problem.
There weren't any tangible benefits to achieving a high rank in the Arena.
Your character's stats didn't increase with your Arena rank, nor did you receive any special rewards.
Your name would simply be recorded in the Hall of Fame at the end of each season, and that was it.
In other words, there was nothing to gain but honor!
Of course, for some rankers for whom personal brand value was important, they paid close attention to such things, but an ordinary player like Jeong Yu-ra had no need to obsess over rankings.
However.
"You should still go."
Despite all that, Lee Shin suggested that Jeong Yu-ra go to the Arena.
There were a few practical reasons for this, aside from his personal fondness for the Arena.
"First of all, it'd be good for you to get some practice fighting against people."
"What? Why?"
"Because you're in my party. Do you think our enemies will only ever target me? Not when there are easier targets around."
"Huh? Ah... Right."
He had a point.
Of course, Jeong Yu-ra was mostly just caught up in the incidents Lee Shin caused, but their victims wouldn't think so rationally when planning their revenge.
Developing at least some self-defense skills would surely be helpful someday.
"Is that all?"
"Nope. If you're going to do it, make sure to record it."
"Record? Ah, for the videos?"
"Yeah."
The second reason was for his videos.
He had uploaded Jeong Yu-ra's introduction video last time, and the response wasn't bad, so it was about time to upload something else...
Many people were curious about her skills since she was Lee Shin's companion, so the Arena would be a good place to start.
"What do you think?"
"I don't mind being recorded. But I probably won't be as good as you. Is that okay?"
"Ah, that doesn't matter."
It didn't matter at all whether she was good or bad.
Content is all about how you frame it.
If she turned out to be good, he could use the footage as is. If she wasn't, he could film her learning from him and document her progress.
Hearing that, Jeong Yu-ra's burden seemed to lift, and she readily nodded.
"I'll give it a try then."
"You can record for now, and once Arthur's death penalty is over, call him over and have him do it. He'll be the one working on it later anyway."
"Okay."
After sending Jeong Yu-ra off, Lee Shin headed to the guild with Gillaim.
"Hmm."
"What is it?"
"There are guards."
Lee Shin was heading to the guild's records room.
The place where most of the information related to the territory's administration was stored.
As it was such an important location, knights were naturally standing guard at all times.
After staring for a moment, Gillaim spoke bluntly.
"Shall I kill them?"
The easiest method!
But Lee Shin shook his head.
"Hold off."
"Why is that?"
"They're knights."
He would have killed them if they were soldiers, but killing knights could lead to trouble.
He didn't know how much longer he'd have to stay in the territory, so he couldn't cause a commotion already.
"But there's no other way to get them out of the way, is there?"
"We can trick them."
"...Wouldn't that be more difficult than killing them?"
"Just wait."
Pushing Gillaim back, Lee Shin walked straight up to the knights and spoke.
"Who goes there!"
"I am a commander under Sir Walter."
"...Sir Walter's?"
"That's right. Sir Walter is urgently looking for some documents, so I need to go inside."
[Your Fame is very high!]
[You possess the skill <Legendary Dignity>. Legendary Dignity emanates from you subtly.]
[You possess the title <One Recognized by a Master>. The knights trust your words.]
[The skill <Deceive> activates...]
"Well, if that's the case..."
'Is it working!?'
It wasn't.
"...No, wait a moment."
The knights suddenly narrowed their eyes!
They had nodded as if mesmerized by the inexplicable dignity emanating from him, but upon second thought, something seemed off.
"Was there a knight of adventurer origin under Sir Walter's command?"
[The knights are suspicious of you.]
[If your lie is exposed...]
"As far as I know, there isn't..."
"No. There is."
"!"
Lee Shin answered without hesitation.
In situations like this, the more confident you acted, the less likely the other party was to be suspicious.
And it wasn't a complete lie.
"He found an adventurer he took a liking to recently. Haven't you heard?"
"I haven't... Ah! Come to think of it, I did hear that there was an adventurer who performed exceptionally well in the subjugation mission. And that Sir Walter was pleased with him."
"Since you already know, this will be quick. That's me."
As he spoke, Lee Shin showed them the subjugation completion token. The contribution rank written on it was 1st place.
"...Hmm."
It was flimsy evidence, but the effects of his title and skills covered for its flimsiness.
Thanks to that, a moment later.
The knight who had been pointing his spear at Lee Shin nodded and lowered it.
"You may enter."