Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Survivor's Betrayal
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The short broadcast had ended.
The content of the broadcast was simple.
From the start, this broadcast hadn't been aimed at the viewers.
It was targeted at a specific someone.
"Do you think they really watched it?"
Unhyang asked in a voice laced with worry.
"It was pretty late, after all..."
"Someone would have seen it. It's just a matter of time before the message gets through."
After ending the broadcast, Soo-hyuk walked back to the dorms with Unhyang.
"Large guilds value face above everything else. And this incident is the perfect way to smear that face."
"Why not just spill everything? It would have been so refreshing."
"It would be refreshing, sure, but..."
Soo-hyuk shook his head.
"From that moment on, Baehae and Blue Zone become enemies. Same with me."
It was still too early for that.
"Instead, I just issued a warning. Not to pull this kind of stunt again. Using the broadcast as the medium."
Streamer.
The power of this profession lay in delivering information to the masses faster than anyone else, through countless eyes and ears.
And that power was exactly why large guilds and companies like Baehae hesitated to touch him.
Soo-hyuk was no different.
"Anyway, the team leader will handle the details."
He had already passed the details of the incident to John Tail.
This wasn't something for a single manager like Unhyang to handle. She was incredibly capable, sure, but not to the point of going head-to-head with a massive guild.
Right now, it was time to use words and wits, not force.
And in that regard, Soo-hyuk trusted John Tail quite a bit.
"True. The team leader might suck at other things, but he excels at this stuff."
The dismissive tone aside, Unhyang trusted John Tail just as much.
He was the type who could survive in hell with just his mouth. In fact, he was playing the most crucial role in this incident.
"Can you do a broadcast tomorrow?"
"No major injuries. Just a bit tired."
Soo-hyuk answered honestly about his condition.
He hadn't taken any direct damage in the fight with Jeong Yu-han. The heavy fatigue weighing down his body was all backlash from using Lightning.
'What if the fight had dragged on?'
He replayed the battle in his head, extending it.
Jeong Yu-han, intent on killing. Soo-hyuk had rushed to end it quickly with Master of Lightning.
The time limit: about 10 seconds.
Could he have beheaded Jeong Yu-han in that window?
'Hard to say.'
It felt possible, yet tricky.
Against a quasi-ranker, this was a solid showing—but it only fueled his thirst more.
'Still a long way to go.'
Until the weapons at his disposal—broadcasts turning into real power.
He needed to climb higher, build strength as fast as possible.
"I'll do the broadcast. And the trial too."
"You could rest a day..."
Unhyang's voice trailed off, laced with concern.
As they walked,
"Oh, right."
Unhyang suddenly remembered what Jeong Yu-han had said and spoke up.
"This is kind of pointless gossip, though. Unverified and all."
"Pointless?"
"Yeah. Should I not say it? It's about Blue Eyes."
Soo-hyuk's eyes flashed wide.
"No, tell me."
His response was firm, almost burdensome.
Unhyang, caught off guard by his eagerness, replied hesitantly.
"Apparently, there's a survivor from Blue Eyes."
Soo-hyuk's steps halted abruptly.
The world's noise vanished, leaving only Unhyang's voice in his ears. His feet and heart felt frozen solid.
"A survivor?"
"Y-yes?"
"Where... where is it? That place?"
The words stumbled out. His heart, as if compensating for the pause, pounded several times faster than before.
Faced with Soo-hyuk's grave reaction, Unhyang answered awkwardly.
"I, uh, didn't hear the location."
And at her next words,
Soo-hyuk's face paled beneath the mask.
"But that survivor... allied with the demons..."
The next day.
A notice went up on Soo-hyuk's broadcast channel.
Sudden hiatus announcement.
Viewers' reactions were predictably sharp. They thought he'd reach the next floor in a day or two at most.
"Haa-."
Unhyang sat alone in a cafe, reading the comments on the hiatus notice she'd posted herself, and sighed.
It didn't feel good seeing these attached to something she put up. But if even she felt frustrated, how must the clueless viewers feel?
Who would expect a sudden hiatus like this?
'It's not even verified yet...'
Unhyang smacked her own forehead.
"Ugh. Shouldn't have said anything."
The source was Jeong Yu-han. And from what she'd seen, he'd shamelessly lie to puff himself up.
In other words, low credibility.
'Why is he so obsessed?'
Yet Soo-hyuk had reacted more gravely than ever to that dubious rumor.
"Apparently, there's a survivor from Blue Eyes."
"That survivor... allied with the demons..."
His eyes had changed at those two points.
Both tied to Blue Eyes.
'Related to the mask?'
She didn't think he wore Lee Soo-hyuk's mask just for popularity.
But she also didn't think him so fragile as to waver over an unconfirmed word.
Then, suddenly,
She recalled their drinking chat a few days back.
When she'd said he seemed to be chasing something, he'd brushed it off like he had no intention of answering.
She'd thought they'd grown closer.
But he was farther away than she'd imagined.
Soo-hyuk holed up in his room, staring at his Kit all day.
It was the first time since reincarnation he'd spent a full day just searching on the Kit like this.
And the reason was the same as back then.
'Is someone else alive?'
Thump-.
Since yesterday, his heart felt like it was pounding right in his ears.
'Or maybe Si-woo or Ye-ryeong, one of them?'
He'd blasted four away with items.
Two he suspected might have survived.
Si-woo and Ye-ryeong.
'No. Can't be.'
Soo-hyuk shook his head.
Demons.
They were monsters that could traverse floors like Players, appearing occasionally in this world.
Capable of human speech, climbing the Tower, growing like Players.
Some called them the fated rivals for the 'eventual war'.
Countless Players had died by their hands. Demons hunted Players as aggressively as Players hunted monsters.
Long ago,
One of their comrades had fallen to them too.
'Not Si-woo or Ye-ryeong. Anyone but them. If they're alive, they wouldn't.'
No matter the revenge motive—demons. And those two hated demons more than anyone.
That left two others.
If someone allied with demons, one name came to mind.
'No way...'
Soo-hyuk stared through the Kit screen.
Search terms: 'Blue Eyes' and 'Demons'. Hoping for even a stray rumor.
Hours passed.
Switching terms, endless searches, and finally, a few posts.
How many such hearsay posts was this?
Finding related info wasn't hard. Or rather, it was so flimsy it barely qualified as info.
Unverified rumors, no sources.
Too outlandish to trend. But the content matched what Jeong Yu-han said.
'Another bigmouth like Jeong Yu-han? Or...'
Another possibility.
'Someone spreading the rumor on purpose.'
Quasi-rankers like him were a dime a dozen in Blue Zone. If it was classified, he wouldn't know.
Large guilds wouldn't leak key intel so sloppily.
Ding-.
Soo-hyuk turned off the Kit and stared at the ceiling. He'd squeezed this tiny screen for all it was worth.
'No point dwelling on this crap.'
However many survivors,
Right now, even knowing changed nothing.
Enough moping. Time to climb.
Soo-hyuk stood up.
Inside a drapery shop strung with livestock carcasses.
A man lay flipped back, eyes rolled up, dripping blood.
Before him stood Ye-ryeong, thin knife in hand, face grim.
"Think this is real?"
She asked Si-woo behind her.
He'd frozen the man's wounds to keep him breathing and shook his head.
"Not sure. Doesn't feel like a lie, though..."
"If he lies after all this, he's not human."
Hours of interrogation. Or torture, really.
Ye-ryeong was confident.
No one could withhold truth after this.
"Issue is whether what he knows is legit."
"Could be bait?"
"At this point, he knows we're alive, right?"
Ye-ryeong nodded at Si-woo's words.
The 3rd floor tourney, Players milling at their base—recent signs were ominous.
Kim Il-su had caught the scent.
By now, he was probably convinced they lived.
"Maybe he tossed out bait. Testing if we bite."
Someone else might be alive.
To Si-woo and Ye-ryeong, it was irresistible bait.
The kind you swallow despite knowing the hook.
"That bastard's mind works the same as ever..."
Ye-ryeong clicked her tongue in exasperation. Once a comrade, yet pulling this.
"So, we going?"
Ye-ryeong sighed at Si-woo's question.
Obvious question, obvious answer.
"Duh."
She had to check.
Even a one-in-a-thousand chance.
"Gotta confirm."
If someone survived, they'd go—even if it was hell.