Chapter 57
Chapter 57
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: ACT.11 The Hoax (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Choi Yeon-soo didn't answer.
He just gave a faint smile.
Seeing this, Im Byeong-hwi's hands trembled.
'No.'
His nails dug into his flesh.
'Kim Se-hyeon-nim. You were being deceived.'
Blood trickled from his bitten lip.
'Choi Yeon-soo stuck by you from the very beginning with the intent to betray you...!'
"So, what should we do with these traitors...?"
Yoo Seong-hoon, who had taken over the north, licked his lips as he scanned the crowd.
Those who had originally been in the center and fled just flinched and trembled.
[A new ruler of the north has been chosen.]
[As several rulers have formed a coalition to occupy the area, ownership of the north will be divided among them.]
"Good. It's decided."
The even more brilliantly shining golden crown glinted each time Yoo Seong-hoon spoke.
Hope gradually faded from the faces of those watching.
The north had truly fallen into someone else's hands.
And it was being divided among several rulers.
"Everyone will be taxed. Those who left their original regions and came to the north will pay double the previous amount!"
"Th-That's...!"
"Impossible! We won't even have enough coins to pay the usage fees!"
"Shut up!"
When Yoo Seong-hoon roared, more than half the people staggered.
It was because his Ruler trait had been strengthened, raising his stats accordingly.
"If you don't like it, work harder. Just earn more from the settlement, right?"
It was absurd.
You had to grow to be able to do more and earn a larger settlement, but how were they supposed to do that when the taxes were so high it made growth impossible? It was a complete contradiction.
And yet, no one could argue against him.
"I left the center in the hands of someone trustworthy, so I'll be here for a while. You can look forward to it. You deserters."
Yoo Seong-hoon gave a chilling smile and disappeared into the city hall building.
The remaining people stood frozen in place, their faces dazed and lost.
The 'north' was a land of sorrow.
It didn't even take a few hours for it to earn that name.
"To think he ran away... I still can't believe it."
Cha Eun-ha shook her head and muttered.
The others, still in a building, hadn't recovered from the shock either.
"And on top of that, that person, Choi Yeon-soo, joined them as if he'd been waiting for the chance..."
"...That can't be right."
Jeong Ha-yeon anxiously bit her lower lip.
"Se-hyeon-ssi isn't that kind of person."
"Th-That's right! Hyung isn't someone who would give up so easily and abandon us! If he was going to do that, he would've done it long ago! At the stadium, or at Dongdaemun!"
"I think so too. Oppa... he's not that kind of person."
"I think so too, but..."
Jeong Ha-yeon, Jo Min-woo, and Jo Min-ah strongly denied it.
Cha Eun-ha seemed to want to say something, her lips moving for a moment, but in the end, she let out a long sigh and spoke.
"...the fact is, he's gone."
No one could reply to Cha Eun-ha's words.
Jeon Do-jin was lost in thought with his arms crossed, while the twins huddled together, silent.
"Hmm..."
Jeon Do-jin fiddled with his untrimmed beard.
His gaze had been fixed on one person for a while now.
"You're Min-ah, right?"
Jo Min-ah slowly raised her head to look at Jeon Do-jin.
Her eyes asked why he was calling her, and Jeon Do-jin replied with a slight smile.
"I was just curious what you were so deep in thought about."
"...It's just..."
Jo Min-ah hugged her arms, brought her knees together, and buried her face in them.
"No matter how hard I think, I can't figure out what Oppa was aiming for when he disappeared."
"Hmm...? Disappeared? Not ran away?"
"Aren't they the same thing?"
"They're a little different. Try to think carefully about what the girl said."
*Knock, knock.*
Cha Eun-ha, who had been deep in thought, stood up at the sound of a knock.
As she checked who it was through a crack in the door, her eyes widened slightly.
"Im Byeong-hwi-ssi is here."
"Im Byeong-hwi...?"
Cha Eun-ha opened the door, and Im Byeong-hwi stepped inside.
The hope that had once filled his eyes was nowhere to be found.
What remained was a venomous, cold, and sunken gaze.
Im Byeong-hwi scanned the room before slowly opening his mouth.
"Everyone. I'll get straight to the point."
The tension in his words seeped into the surroundings.
Just as the sound of Jo Min-woo swallowing nervously faded, Im Byeong-hwi's lips parted.
"I'm planning a coup d'état."
A coup.
The same method Kim Se-hyeon had used against Yang Gyu-hyeok, ultimately succeeding in toppling him.
If it succeeded, there was nothing better.
If it succeeded.
Cha Eun-ha thought for a moment before asking Im Byeong-hwi.
"...Do we have a chance of winning?"
"That's..."
Kim Se-hyeon had managed to nullify Yang Gyu-hyeok's Ruler trait by smuggling people outside.
But the situation now was completely different.
It was impossible to get enough people to flee to completely nullify the Ruler trait, and even if they did, their enemies would still be incredibly powerful.
It wasn't that they hadn't considered a coup.
They just hadn't acted on it because they couldn't think of a plan that guaranteed victory.
"I once heard something from Kim Se-hyeon... nim."
Im Byeong-hwi spoke haltingly.
For a moment, he hesitated to add the honorific to Kim Se-hyeon's name.
It was a pause long enough for anyone to notice, but no one pressed him on it.
"Jeon Do-jin-ssi. With your strength, you should be able to stand against them, even with their ruler bonus, right?"
"It should be possible. It's been a while since I retired, but I'm still going strong."
"I remember the others being quite strong as well, so that should be enough. We don't have any other options anyway."
"Hmm..."
"A swift, decisive battle. We have to end it before they can mount a proper response. They'll get exponentially stronger with each passing day. The others are already prepared, so it's all in your hands."
Im Byeong-hwi met each person's eyes, his own burning with intensity.
As no one could easily answer, Jo Min-ah slowly rose from her seat.
"...Oppa isn't someone who would just run away. He probably had a reason for his actions, and I think he disappeared without a single word to prevent his plan from leaking."
"Then..."
"I don't know what Oppa's goal is. But I think it's better to do something than to just sit still."
Jo Min-ah took a few steps forward and met Im Byeong-hwi's gaze.
Then, starting with Jeon Do-jin, one by one, they began to nod.
It was time to make a move.
A small smile touched Im Byeong-hwi's lips.
***
To deceive the enemy, first deceive your allies.
True to that saying, I began my plan without telling anyone except Choi Yeon-soo.
The Ruler trait was something that was nice to have but not essential for me.
I had no lingering attachment to it from the start.
No, it was a trait that had to disappear in the first place.
I pushed aside the dense vegetation that obscured my vision and climbed the mountain path.
"There it is."
The moment I found my target, I broke into a broad smile.
The Verdant Spirit.
A hidden boss that only appears at this exact timing.
The Ruler chapter is largely divided into two routes.
Either you focus on being a ruler, or you take an independent path from the start without becoming one.
This hidden boss was designed to be practically unkillable unless you took the latter path.
Who would be in the middle of a war between rulers, suddenly give up, and come to hunt this thing?
It was too inefficient.
This is because if you voluntarily give up being a ruler midway, all the coins you earned through that status are confiscated.
In that case, it's far more beneficial for acquiring coins and items to just ignore the ruler route from the beginning and focus on conquering gates and dungeons.
If you're lucky, you might even get a trait or a skill.
That's why what I was doing now might seem abnormal.
'But.'
If the conditions are met, it's the absolute best route, allowing you to catch two birds with one stone.
And besides, I hadn't earned a single coin as a ruler anyway.
[Using 'Army of Darkness'.]
Two soldiers emerged from the formless, shifting darkness.
Each one a C-rank soldier.
They were more than enough to take down the Verdant Spirit, which was also C-rank.
Normally, you'd need four to five people to hunt a beast of the same rank, but I more than made up for the difference.
"Attack from both sides."
*Swoosh.*
Following my command, the dark soldiers split into two groups, widening their angle of attack.
The Verdant Spirit was an enemy that swung dozens of branches as thick as an athlete's thigh, but it couldn't move from its spot.
Since it's a beast based on a tree.
By spreading out and attacking from all sides like this, the number of branches is divided by n, drastically lowering the difficulty.
'Normally, the route to hunt this thing is a solo route, so it's difficult to use this method.'
*Swish!*
But what did that matter?
I had obtained Lord of Darkness, one of the best traits, which provided both attack power and utility.
*Crash!*
The branches whipped around like tentacles.
Their attacks were powerful enough to gouge out the earth.
The dark soldiers dodged most of them, but when a blind attack landed, half their bodies were obliterated in a single hit, so it was draining more mana than I expected.
But the dark soldiers' role was just to divert its attacks. Taking down the Verdant Spirit was my job.
*Crack!*
With a swing of my sword, several branches exploded.
Half of them were already gone.
I pressed my attack.
Feeling threatened, it switched to a defensive stance, but that only left it more exposed to my strikes.
*Swoooosh!*
Ten left.
*Swish!*
Five.
*Thwack!*
I rushed toward the Verdant Spirit, which had lost all its branches and was left defenseless.
As if slicing through tofu, the Sa-in-geom cut through the base without any resistance, and the massive tree collapsed at an angle.
[You have defeated the hidden boss.]
[You have received 2000 coins as a reward.]
[The 'Devil Who Mocks the Heavens' is intrigued.]
I ignored the system messages, approached the spot where the tree had fallen, and picked up the dropped item.
No matter which route you took, it gave you an equal chance to reach the outcome of 'becoming the king of rulers.'
In the solo route, the opportunity came from an item that had a 100% drop rate from this hidden boss.
This was also what I needed for my plan.
In theory, this method could yield the maximum amount of coins through various achievements and upsetting other rulers, but I had never succeeded with it while playing the game because I lacked the 'strength' to make it possible.
But now, I had enough strength to pull it off.
"I'm going to hunt the other one."
There are two hidden bosses in total.
The coins were one thing, but I needed both items to ensure my plan went smoothly.
One alone felt a bit insufficient.
At my command, the dark soldiers shot forward, clearing a path.
Having subordinates who faithfully obey my commands without question is indeed useful.
*BOOM!*
I faintly heard the sound of fighting from the direction I was heading.
It was from the location of the other hidden boss.
Could someone really be taking that route and hunting the Verdant Spirit?
Attempting that without some seriously good traits would be suicide.
A strange anxiety washed over me.
I dispelled the dark soldiers and picked up my pace.
'Actually, I did ask someone else this favor before...'
Suddenly, I remembered something I'd heard before.
"..."
I see.
So that's what it was.
Im Byeong-hwi had said something like that.
I had suspected it back then.
The thought that Hwang Chan-jin might be taking the solo route.
*CRASH!*
The crisp sound of something shattering rang out.
A sound like glass, or perhaps ice, breaking.
When I reached the source of the sound, I stopped and focused on the figure standing there.
A familiar face sheathed his sword with a cold expression, also turning to face me.