Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: End of Broadcast
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A familiar phrase appeared on the screen.
Si-woo and Ye-ryeong, who had been watching the broadcast together, wore bewildered expressions.
They had been wondering the exact same thing as the viewers, and just then, the broadcast ended.
"What the... this guy..."
Ye-ryeong clicked her tongue in disappointment and glanced at Si-woo.
Even though he wasn't angry, this was a time when she needed to watch Si-woo's mood.
Fortunately, Si-woo didn't seem to be paying attention to Ye-ryeong.
Gazing at the ended broadcast screen, he wore an expression swept up in a strange mood.
"Man... this is something else entirely."
He was the type who muttered to himself a lot usually, but not all his mutterings were just to himself.
This was muttered for Ye-ryeong to hear.
"What's different?"
"From Soo-hyuk."
Throughout the broadcast, Si-woo had been thinking of Soo-hyuk as well.
"Soo-hyuk wouldn't have done a broadcast in the first place."
Si-woo nodded at her response.
"Right?"
"But if, say, someone threatened him that they'd kill him if he didn't broadcast..."
"Who?"
"No, I mean hypothetically."
As Si-woo nitpicked, Ye-ryeong sighed in frustration and continued.
"Anyway, if he was in a situation where he absolutely had to broadcast, it might've looked something like this."
"A situation where he absolutely had to broadcast..."
No matter how much he racked his brain, no such scenario came to mind.
Si-woo, who had been furrowing one brow and turning it over in his head the whole time, asked.
"What about you?"
"What?"
"You saw it yourself."
At Si-woo's question, Ye-ryeong recalled Lee Soo-hyuk.
Through the broadcast screen, and through the large monitor at the conference.
And even from a distance, she had seen Lee Soo-hyuk and returned.
And that feeling was, as expected—
"Similar."
It resembled him.
The Lee Soo-hyuk she knew.
"But he's not the same person."
Si-woo flinched at her firm words.
"Do I not know you? You've been wondering if maybe, just maybe, this guy is that guy."
"Well..."
"You think I haven't thought that? But no."
Ye-ryeong was confident.
She had probably thought about it several times more than he had.
Wondering if maybe the two were the same person.
But.
"For this guy to be that guy, two conditions have to line up."
The more she thought it through, the slimmer the possibility that they were the same person became.
"First is that the guy has to have reincarnated or something. Otherwise, there's no way he could suddenly go back to the 1st floor and retake the trial from the beginning."
That's right.
And this was the biggest reason the two didn't think Lee Soo-hyuk was the same person.
Once a player climbs the tower, it's impossible to take the lower floor trials again.
And the second reason.
"The second one, we already talked about."
"The situation where he absolutely has to broadcast?"
"Yeah."
Those two things were why Ye-ryeong was convinced they were different people.
"The odds that reincarnated Soo-hyuk would have a knife held to his throat with a threat like 'broadcast or die'? What do you think those odds are?"
A guest arrived at a certain castle located on the 5th floor.
The guest's name was Cheongryang.
She was one of the countless ordinary players scattered like pebbles across the vast Murim world.
Thud, thud—
But right now, Cheongryang was.
Stepping along the long red silk path laid on the floor, walking toward the center of the castle.
With sturdy escorts on both sides, no less.
Glance—
Cheongryang alternated glances at the escorts on either side of her.
They called it an escort, but in reality, it was surveillance and intimidation. Suddenly, she wondered why she had come all the way here to put up with this.
"I should've known it would be like this..."
"What did you say?"
At her small mutter, the escort beside her asked, and Cheongryang shook her head.
"Nothing. It's nothing."
"If you have something to say, tell it directly to the Castle Lord. Refrain from unnecessary words."
"Yes..."
Her body shrank back instinctively. She had come here often as a child, but she hadn't visited in the last ten years, which made it feel even more so.
'Who would've thought I'd come back here.'
If she had her way, she never wanted to come.
"Bet, I won?"
What could she do?
Otherwise, her already tight wallet would shrivel up completely.
And besides.
'That girl Unhyang...'
Gazing at the massive door far ahead adorned with dragon patterns, Cheongryang thought of Unhyang.
"...Sorry it turned out like this. Put this debt on my tab."
'When was the last time I heard "sorry" from that girl's mouth?'
Unhyang had said she was sorry. She had said it enough to even offer to put a debt on the tab, meaning she saw this matter as huge.
'How long has she been agonizing over this?'
Cheongryang knew, and probably Unhyang did too.
No matter that it was a bet with a month's salary on the line, and even if they called it off, the cost-benefit didn't add up.
"Haa—."
She let out a sigh and looked at the slowly opening door.
To avoid crossing that door herself, Unhyang had used the bet as an excuse to ask her.
A girl who wouldn't normally ask favors easily.
Maybe from the start, she had wagered the bet just to make this request.
'How could I say no to that.'
Creeeak—
The door opened wide, revealing the interior of the castle hall.
Gilded luxurious walls. The silk floor and the scent of incense more precious than gold pricked at her nose.
No matter how many times she came, she could never get used to it. Stepping inside felt like entering a world utterly different from what she knew.
'And among that, the most alien thing is...'
Cheongryang's gaze turned to the man sitting alone, occupying the vast castle hall at the end of the silk path.
It had been a very long time, and even seeing him now, she couldn't get used to him.
He appeared to be a kindly middle-aged man on the surface. Unlike the flashy castle hall, the silk robe he wore was a subdued gray, not flashy at all.
And toward such a man.
Clasping her hands politely and performing a respectful fist salute, Cheongryang offered her greeting.
"Greetings to the Castle Lord. Have you been well?"
"No need to be so formal. Just call me uncle, casually."
Unique eyes glowing with a yellowish tint looked down at her.
"Like old times."
His voice was warm and kind. To an outsider's ear, it might sound like a hearty greeting.
But she already knew him too well to be fooled by appearances.
That's why she knew she couldn't lose in momentum.
So she said it.
"Got it, Uncle."
The man grinned at Cheongryang's provocative words.
She wanted to read his expression, but she couldn't. The more she tried to understand him, the more she felt like she was sinking into a labyrinth.
'Shouldn't have called him Uncle.'
Late regret.
But it was already said. Once she called him Uncle, she had to see it through to the end.
And the man before her eyes.
The second-in-command of the giant guild 'Murim', Lord of Shinryeon Castle, Uncheon-geuk, was the same.
"So, how have you been? No incidents?"
"Yes, thanks to your concern."
"Baehae Entertainment, right? Is it a decent place to work?"
At that question, Cheongryang's breath caught.
"It's quite a big place. I got curious when I heard you were working there, so I checked it out a few times. Lee Soo-hyuk..."
Uncheon-geuk's expression changed for a split second as he uttered that name, then returned to normal.
"Interesting. Or should I say intriguing? You really found a talented gem."
"...Since when?"
"What do you mean?"
"Since when did you know we were working at Baehae."
She had thought he might already know.
Unhyang sending her here meant Uncheon-geuk had found her again.
But from Uncheon-geuk's words, it seemed like more than just a day or two.
"Well. Does that really matter?"
"It might not to you, Uncle—!"
Mid-sentence, Cheongryang shut her mouth.
Uncheon-geuk was smiling. Provoking him now would do no good.
He had told her to call him Uncle.
But he was the second-in-command of Murim, one of the forces upholding this vast world.
"Let's talk about something else."
As Cheongryang fell silent, Uncheon-geuk smoothly changed the subject.
"I couldn't reach Unhyang because she changed her kit. You too."
"...Yes. Our info got leaked."
"I see. Well, you two have been stuck together since you were kids. Makes sense you'd change them together."
Accepting the absurd excuse, Uncheon-geuk asked.
"So, did you bring back her answer?"
The reason she could enter this vast castle hall and receive such VIP treatment.
The reason she could have a private audience with Murim's second-in-command, Uncheon-geuk.
"Yes, I brought it."
That was the reason for this answer.
"Oh? What is it?"
"The answer is..."
After taking a deep breath, Cheongryang spoke.
"Rejection."
"...Is that so?"
Rumble—
The castle hall trembled faintly. Following Uncheon-geuk's emotions, fine cracks began to form on the gold walls and floor.
And seeing that.
'The guys fixing this are gonna have a tough time.'
Cheongryang was having such a leisurely thought.
Because she knew he would react this way. And that he possessed such power.
"Rejection... rejection, huh..."
Uncheon-geuk repeated the same words in his mouth over and over.
A habit that emerged when something didn't sit right with him.
He muttered like that for a while before asking.
"Do you know what question this answer is for?"
"No."
"You don't know? And you came anyway?"
"Yes."
Cheongryang nodded and added plausibility to this absurd answer.
"Because she's my friend. My one and only."
Cheongryang truly didn't know.
If she needed to know, Unhyang would have told her when sending her here.
But she hadn't.
Just.
"Just tell him my answer is no."
She had sent her here with those words alone.
So she hadn't asked.
Because it seemed like she didn't want to say.
"...Right. That's how it was."
Uncheon-geuk's expression shifted subtly.
It looked bad, or perhaps pleased.
At his rapidly changing expressions, Cheongryang intuited that her fate would be decided by where it stopped.
Time passed like that for a while.
"Looks like..."
Uncheon-geuk opened his mouth again.
"You're that girl's herald."
A strange conclusion.
And at that conclusion, Cheongryang sensed that an already annoying matter was about to grow bigger.
"Pardon? No, I just lost a bet and..."
"Then convey this."
Uncheon-geuk ignored her words about losing a bet and coming.
Cheongryang sighed. She was wrong. He had no intention of listening to her.
In the end, Cheongryang could only stand still and listen to Uncheon-geuk's words.
"If you keep acting on your own, I can't just sit idly by with the place you're affiliated with."
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