Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Killing the Total Administrator
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7:25 PM.
In the classroom of Class 1-1 at Hanshin High School, the three players participating in the tutorial's final mission had gathered.
"Hey."
"Oh, you came..."
"Mm."
Dokgo Hyun, Oh Sua, and Na Youngho each muttered something like a greeting and took their seats.
Thud.
They sat down in perfect sync, as if on cue.
All three were pretending to be calm, but they were hyper-aware of each other.
"Heh heh. Right on time, five minutes before the appointed hour. You could make fine members of society."
The Total Administrator appeared with a slimy grin.
Dokgo Hyun checked the Total Administrator's clothes first.
And clicked his tongue inwardly.
'He changed outfits.'
He'd been in a suit before, but now he was dressed like a casino dealer.
"Alright, let's check the cards first."
The Total Administrator showed them the thirteen cards.
Shuffle!
Spade 2 through Spade A.
No suspicious markings, no fluorescent substances or other indicators on the surfaces.
The three players confirmed it.
"As I've said repeatedly, Spade 2 is the weakest, and Spade A is the strongest. No surprises like the weakest 2 beating the strongest A."
The rules had already specified the card rankings, so everyone understood.
Thump thump...!
Dokgo Hyun could feel his retinas trembling with every heartbeat.
'My heart's gonna burst.'
A feral smile crept across Dokgo Hyun's lips as he thought that.
"Now, I'll distribute the chips."
Clatter!
Twenty red chips per person.
"Ante phase. Place your bets!"
Tap, tap, tap.
One chip each from the three, totaling three in the pot.
The Total Administrator held the deck in his left hand.
Thump thump thump thump...!!
Dokgo Hyun's heart raced.
He glanced at Na Youngho, whose face had gone completely pale.
'Hold it together, Na Youngho. Don't jump the gun.'
The plan was to strike while dealing the cards.
"Just so you know, the dealer decides the dealing order freely, but per the mission rules, we'll go by preliminary scores."
The Total Administrator snapped his fingers, and a system message appeared.
"Conveniently, it's the order you're sitting in."
Dokgo Hyun on the far left, Oh Sua in the middle, Na Youngho on the far right.
"Alright, first round, dealing starts...!"
"Hold on."
Na Youngho raised an objection.
"What's that about?"
"Why am I third?"
Na Youngho was planning to kill the Total Administrator, but he still had to ask.
"I scored it myself. Got a problem?"
"That's why I'm asking."
The Total Administrator pulled out a notepad and explained point by point.
"Tutorial mid-evaluation. Na Youngho of Sector H-44: Combat prowess excellent. But gains not proportionally high to aggression. Little reward for dragging others into risks. Score: 6/10."
He flipped the page.
"Daily school life evaluation: Rides on being the archery club ace, subtly arrogant. Terrible at studies. Disrespects teachers subtly. Annoying, so daily score: 1/10."
Tap.
The Total Administrator closed the notepad.
"Average score: 3.5/10. Done."
"You...!"
Killing intent boiled in Na Youngho.
Scrape!
Na Youngho shot up, knocking his stool backward.
'Perfect.'
Dokgo Hyun was pleased inwardly.
The odds of Na Youngho chickening out mid-plan had just plummeted.
"Hm? Dissatisfied?"
The Total Administrator crossed his arms, looking down on Na Youngho like what're you gonna do?
"FYI, this scoring was done with my integrity as Total Administrator. Complaining means you doubt my integrity?"
He provoked even harder than before.
'Hold it in, Na Youngho.'
Dokgo Hyun signaled with his eyes.
Grind...!
Na Youngho ground his teeth.
Scrape.
He picked up the stool and sat back down.
"......"
Na Youngho sat with hands on knees, glaring daggers at the Total Administrator.
The Total Administrator snorted and added,
"For reference, Dokgo Hyun took first because he reaped gains matching the risks and was a model student otherwise. Sure, breaking into the principal's office and joyriding the SUV were deductions."
For some reason, the Total Administrator grumbled briefly about Dokgo Hyun's principal's office intrusion and SUV theft.
Dokgo Hyun felt a twinge of unease but showed no reaction.
"And Oh Sua got second for sticking to the truth that 'lying low gets you middle.' That's the end of preliminary scoring. Let's game."
The Total Administrator reached for the deck again.
"Time to deal."
Dokgo Hyun eyed Na Youngho.
Na Youngho caught the look.
Their eyes met.
The Total Administrator gripped the deck.
Shuffle.
The moment he started dealing.
'Now!!'
Flash!
Dokgo Hyun and Na Youngho moved simultaneously.
Dokgo Hyun activated [Instant Acceleration] with the Venom Knife aimed at the Total Administrator's throat, while an air arrow shot from Na Youngho's [Air Bow].
"Huh?!"
Stab!
The knife plunged into the Total Administrator's throat.
Thud!!
The air arrow hit his chest.
"Uh, guh, ack?!"
Splurt!!
The chest arrow exploded, widening the wound as blood sprayed.
Drip drip...
"[Venom Mode]!"
Dokgo Hyun unleashed the Venom Knife's power, boiling venom and acid, then twisted and yanked it out.
Splatter!!
"......!!"
Oh Sua was too stunned to even scream, eyes wide.
"Ugh... heok."
With gaping holes in throat and chest, the Total Administrator staggered.
Thud!
He collapsed dead.
"Wh-what just...?"
Oh Sua trembled in her seat, while Dokgo Hyun and Na Youngho caught their breaths.
"Nice one, Na Youngho."
"Was my timing too fast?"
"Nah. We both nailed it."
The plan was to kill him mid-deal, but in the heat of the moment, they struck the instant he began.
A bit rushed, but success.
Dokgo Hyun glanced out the window first.
'The blue barrier sealing the school is still up.'
Instead of disappointment, he immediately stripped off the corpse's mask.
Rip!
"This face...!"
The principal.
Of Hanshin High School.
Na Youngho was speechless, and Oh Sua cried out.
"No way! The Total Administrator was the principal?!"
Flash!
The real Total Administrator appeared.
In the suit Dokgo Hyun remembered, with blood on the sleeves.
"What...?"
Dokgo Hyun and Na Youngho jolted up in shock.
The Total Administrator ignored them, looking down at the fake corpse.
"Oh dear, my goodness! You actually did it."
The suited Total Administrator scratched the back of his head.
"The tutorial final mission supervisor was planned for the highest-ranking person in each sector. So I gave this school's top dog, the principal, a mask infused with my power and turned him into a puppet."
For example, in a hospital tutorial, the director; in a police station, the chief.
At Hanshin High, the unseen principal had just been the final supervisor in the Total Administrator's guise.
"Kuh...!"
Dokgo Hyun and Na Youngho exchanged glances.
Nothing had changed.
'Now! Kill the real Total Administrator!!'
Dokgo Hyun charged with [Instant Acceleration], Na Youngho aimed [Air Bow] at the real one.
But the Total Administrator was unfazed.
"Nope! [Overarching Command: Skill Nullification]!"
The moment his hands pointed at Dokgo Hyun and Na Youngho.
Flash!
Their skills auto-canceled.
"What?!"
In that moment of shock.
Flash!
The Total Administrator extended both hands.
Arms forward, but his hands gripped their napes from behind.
A technique enabled by tiny portals: entrances in front of him, exits at their napes.
"Heave-ho!"
Crash!
He yanked them down effortlessly.
With skills dispelled, he dusted his hands.
"Pfft! Never underestimate the real Total Administrator. Heave-ho."
He picked up the mask from the fake—or rather, the principal.
"[Mask Dominator] special: [Memory Transfer]."
He imprinted all memories of the event, then re-masked the dead principal.
"[Flesh Reconstruction]."
Crack, crack.
The principal's limbs shrank slightly, filling the chest hole.
"Kraaagh...!"
And he rose again.
"Impossible... Bringing back someone fully dead?!"
Oh Sua gasped in horror.
'As expected of the Total Administrator. Way stronger than imagined.'
Dokgo Hyun felt both regret and relief.
This overwhelming power display let him focus on the death game without worry.
Swish.
Dokgo Hyun stood boldly and asked,
"As expected of the Total Administrator. Can you use multiple skills?"
"Heh heh. Of course."
The Total Administrator boasted.
"Spoiler: should I just spill? I currently hold seven skills."
He displayed his skill list in system message format in the air.
-[Overarching Command]: Transcendent skill. Freely commands players, supervisors, and the Apocalypse Game system itself. Can nullify player skills.
Limited to Earth and dimensions created/managed by the Management Bureau.
-[Flesh Reconstruction]: Body mutation skill. Alters voice, appearance; revives dead beings (not fully incinerated). -[Portal Hand]: Transcendent skill. Creates portals for teleportation. Max 4 entrances/exits at once. -[Gravity Distortion]: Transcendent skill. Manipulates gravity. Used to kill Bunny Girl. Combines with [Portal Hand] for meteor summons. -[Mask Dominator]: Tool creation skill. Creates up to 144 masks to control wearers; borrow skills/memories. -[Spirit Dominion]: Beast summon skill. Summons/controls grudge spirits of unjustly dead players as familiars. -[???]: Unknown even to Total Administrator. Hidden ultimate?
"Something like that. Pretty ordinary, right? Everything except the question mark is public. No hidden aces up my sleeve, so relax."
True to his word, he revealed all he knew.
Na Youngho and Oh Sua despaired.
But Dokgo Hyun inwardly sighed in relief.
'This guy's arrogance is off the charts. And not invincible... no real weakness, but not absolute.'
Dokgo Hyun's hunch: No 'ability to host the death game' visible.
'No matter what, the Total Administrator isn't the host or absolute ruler. Just a high-level manager. Not the pinnacle.'
Dokgo Hyun sorted his thoughts quickly.
Seeing Dokgo Hyun's cool expression, the Total Administrator mock-scratched his head.
"Heh heh. Feels embarrassing spilling my hand so early."
He patted the revived principal's shoulder.
"Memories all transferred?"
"Yes. Quite embarrassing."
The principal spoke in the Total Administrator's voice.
The mask mimicked his voice and gestures.
"Oh, and you two who tried assassination and failed?"
The real Total Administrator eyed Dokgo Hyun and Na Youngho.
"How should I handle you?"