Chapter 262
Chapter 262
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 262
Chapter Title: Legends Confirmed Alive
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Gilot doubted his own ears.
‘Unnie?’
The friendly term conveyed both surprise and fear. Arancia, who had been sitting with her legs crossed, straightened up right away, clearly at the bottom of the food chain no matter who looked.
Who on earth could it be?
Gilot reflexively turned his head. His eyes went wide at the sight of Ye-ryeong’s face.
“Ki, Ki, Kim Ye……”
He nearly collapsed in shock.
Having ascended to the Dark Map headquarters, Gilot remembered the faces and names of most famous rankers.
Even if she wasn’t active now, memorizing the face of a legendary high ranker like Kim Ye-ryeong was a given.
The problem was that she was literally a ‘legend.’
‘No way it’s a mistake.’
Normally, it would be right to assume she just looked similar.
If it were anywhere else, Gilot surely would have thought that.
But this was the Dark Map headquarters. Right in front of Dark Map’s guild leader, Arancia.
Someone Arancia would call unnie. And identical to the old legend of Blue Eyes, Kim Ye-ryeong.
It couldn’t be coincidence, could it?
The clever Gilot was convinced that Kim Ye-ryeong, reported dead, was alive here.
Kim Ye-ryeong scanned the spiders scattered around with a bored expression.
“But how long are you keeping these creepy things? Should I kill them all?”
“No! Guys!”
At Arancia’s command, the spiders moved at a speed where their legs were invisible, as if they understood Ye-ryeong’s words.
Once the threatening spiders vanished, Ye-ryeong spun the dagger in her hand and tucked it into her waistband.
If the spiders hadn’t backed off, that dagger would have gone straight for Arancia’s throat.
“Unnie, your neck must hurt. Gonna keep standing there?”
“No! I was coming down.”
Arancia hopped off the spider’s back. When Ye-ryeong’s gaze shifted to the spider she’d been riding, Arancia startled and said,
“This one can’t go outside. It’s too big……”
“Then how’d it get in here?”
“I raised it here……”
“Oh?”
Ye-ryeong pursed her lips. Her expression pondered killing the creepy spider or not.
Fearing her most cherished spider might die, Arancia hurried in front of Ye-ryeong to draw her attention.
“B-but how’d unnie get here?”
“Why so surprised? You must’ve heard.”
“……I did.”
Arancia was Dark Map’s guild leader.
Apart from low- or lowest-grade info, everything above a certain level came to her.
And that included the war at Blue House—and everything that happened there.
“Kim Ye-ryeong and Kim Si-woo returned to Blue House. They took the legion commander’s head, right?”
“Wasn’t me who took it. I let him go.”
“Yes, anyway, I heard…… but can’t use it as info right now. Too absurd a story.”
Many eyes had seen Si-woo and Ye-ryeong. But even so, it was too far-fetched.
A dead person returning alive.
If it had been a short time, maybe they’d hidden due to severe injuries—but it was over 20 years. Nearing 21 now.
How could anyone believe it?
But seeing it with her own eyes, she couldn’t not believe.
“What exactly happened? Pretending to be dead all that time?”
“Why? Gonna sell it if I tell you?”
Arancia giggled at Ye-ryeong’s question.
“Come on, unnie. You think I’d do that? Unless I wanna die.”
It was true.
No matter how much it was Arancia, mishandling Ye-ryeong’s info was dangerous. She knew Ye-ryeong’s fearsomeness well, given the info she handled.
But even so, it was still a mystery.
If she’d been that selective with info, Dark Map never could’ve grown this big.
“Sell it.”
Arancia’s gaze turned to Soo-hyuk.
“Very cheaply. For pennies.”
Seeing Soo-hyuk say it with a grin, Arancia looked puzzled.
“……Really?”
“Yeah. Spread it so as many people as possible know.”
Soo-hyuk turned to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ye-ryeong.
“That’s why we came to find you.”
Arancia guided Soo-hyuk and Ye-ryeong to the reception room.
Without even time for tea, Ye-ryeong began recounting that day’s events.
The Hydra raid and Kim Il-su’s betrayal. And the times they’d had to live like the dead, with Hyo-min held hostage.
Once the story ended, Arancia broke the silence.
“……Gonna fight now?”
Ye-ryeong nodded.
“Have to.”
“……”
The room fell solemn for a moment.
The story weighed heavy on Arancia too. This could shake the tower’s entire power structure.
“Pity to sell cheap……”
Having finished her mental calculations, Arancia pouted.
Ye-ryeong and Soo-hyuk had asked her to sell the info as cheaply as possible.
That meant they wanted the news to spread everywhere in the tower.
“You knew too, right? That our deaths weren’t just because of the Guardian.”
“Yeah, we knew. Just kept it hushed.”
“Got paid for it? As hush money.”
Arancia didn’t deny it.
“We’re a business that trades in info, after all.”
Blue Zone had gone to great lengths to cover up the incident.
To bury it from an info broker like Dark Map would’ve required massive points. Dark Map had no small part in the cover-up.
But Ye-ryeong didn’t resent Arancia.
Arancia had just done her job. If she took sides, it’d be the profitable one.
“But weird. We didn’t even grasp that unnie and Si-woo were alive. How’d we really miss it?”
“Because even they only knew recently. Right up to the end, only Kim Il-su and a few others knew.”
“Ah, so……”
Blue Zone had only recently confirmed Si-woo and Ye-ryeong were alive. No matter how good Dark Map was, they couldn’t know what even the perpetrator Kim Il-su hadn’t.
“So how’d you survive? Ah, not treating this as info. Just curious.”
“Us?”
Soo-hyuk perked up his ears at Arancia’s question. Come to think of it, he hadn’t heard how the two survived even last night.
Ye-ryeong grinned.
“Secret.”
“Aw, why?”
“Not that important.”
“Sure, but… oh right, then who’s this?”
“Him?”
Ye-ryeong turned to Soo-hyuk, who’d been standing behind her with arms crossed, listening.
Their eyes met, and Soo-hyuk gave a small nod.
‘Really tell her?’
‘Doesn’t matter.’
‘The streamer part too?’
‘Better if she doesn’t know that yet.’
As the two conversed with glances,
“Heard he was active in Blue Zone.”
Arancia looked at Soo-hyuk as if she knew everything.
“Streamer Lee Soo-hyuk, right?”
Dark Map had already compiled Soo-hyuk’s info.
“No need to be shocked. Right now, he’s the only player handling lightning. Weird if we didn’t know.”
“Nope.”
“Huh?”
Arancia looked puzzled at Soo-hyuk’s reply.
For a moment.
“He survived, so why think I died?”
“……Pardon?”
Arancia pondered the meaning deeply, her eyes widening enormously.
“Eeeeeh?”
Gilot stomped his feet anxiously.
Everyone had gone out, leaving him alone in the guild leader’s room with the massive spider he and Arancia raised.
Squatting on the floor, Gilot trembled while stealing glances at the spider.
‘What’s with sudden Kim Ye-ryeong? What’s her deal with guild leader? And why am I here?’
His teeth chattered.
In his anxiety, he squatted fully and bit his nails.
‘Am I dying like this? For betraying the guild? By Kim Ye-ryeong’s hand?’
He’d always been timid. But today’s situation would scare even the fearless.
He’d seen the guild leader’s veiled face. Worse, he’d tried to betray the guild and side with an unknown guest.
The Dark Map he knew had no concept of forgiveness.
‘Run? Is now the time?’
His eyes darted as quickly as his mind. Unfortunately, the masked companion was nearby.
Thus, he squatted in the room’s corner, waiting endlessly.
Clunk—
The guild leader’s room door opened, and Arancia strode in.
“Gu-Guild Leader!”
Gilot shot to his feet and bowed deeply. Arancia merely acknowledged it and climbed onto the spider’s back.
Arancia looked deep in thought.
Gilot kept silent as she sat on the spider’s back, propping her chin, lost in contemplation.
Without Ye-ryeong, she’d regained her original dignity and crossed her legs.
Once done thinking, her gaze turned to Gilot.
“What’s your name?”
“Gi-Gilot!”
“You? The one who brought the guest from outside.”
“N-not me who brought them. Just ran into them.”
“Coincidence is fate. Ah, heard you’ve got a brilliant head.”
“Overpraise.”
Arancia’s lip twitched. Like she’d found an intriguing toy, making Gilot tense up.
“You’ll do it.”
“Pardon?”
“Handle that side. You take charge.”
He didn’t know what exactly, but Gilot sensed he’d live. The overflowing tension drained away.
Gilot bowed hurriedly.
“Th-thank you! Thank you!”
“Kid, what’s with the sudden thanks. Rough road ahead.”
“I’ll do whatever you assign diligently!”
“Yeah, yeah. Good attitude.”
Soo-hyuk and Ye-ryeong had commissioned several pieces of info from Arancia.
They hadn’t come to Dark Map just to acquire info. They’d come specifically to meet her.
To make active use of Dark Map.
‘Win-win deal.’
This meeting reeked of money.
Kim Ye-ryeong and Kim Si-woo alive. That alone could spark massive upheaval in the tower.
But something even more shocking had happened.
‘Lee Soo-hyuk is alive.’
Facts needed confirming. No matter how you sliced it, it didn’t add up.
Unlike Si-woo and Ye-ryeong, Soo-hyuk’s body had been publicly displayed to everyone. Arancia had seen it too.
But if he really was Soo-hyuk?
‘Only Blue Eyes members knew his face to begin with.’
If the body was fake. If Lee Soo-hyuk was truly alive.
“This is gonna be fun as hell.”
Blue Eyes was stirring again. The legend Murim and Kim Il-su had erased together was reviving.
In an era of peace and stability, info was just scrap paper. But in turbulent, chaotic times, info held value greater than gold.
Seeing Arancia chuckle to herself, hesitant Gilot finally asked,
“Th-then what should I do?”
“Ah, right. You know the Poison King?”
Having momentarily forgotten Gilot, Arancia belatedly gave him his orders.
“First, scrape together every scrap of info on him and organize it. Bring it here.”