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CHAPTER 133 — ROUND 9 BEGINS
<Zone Representative Selection Vote Results>
1st. Black Scythe (4,088 votes)
2nd. Cheonma (1,057 votes)
3rd. Shit Idiots (529 votes)
………………
…………
7th. Chickenheart (65 votes)
Seeing the results that surfaced, Ma Kyung-rok felt disappointed.
‘Ah. I’m the fcking idiot for expecting anything.’*
Contrary to his hopes, Black Scythe took first place.
An overwhelming gap in votes.
He’d thought maybe—just maybe—there might be a chance for him too, but it had only been a vain expectation.
‘Well, if we’re talking popularity, there’s no way I can catch up to Black Scythe.’
He’d prided himself on being ranked second or third in the previous Zone and entering the ranks of the “named,” but the gap between him and first place was bigger than he’d thought.
These vote results were proof.
It was practically a numerical display of how well-known—and how well-liked—Black Scythe was among Players.
Ma Kyung-rok looked at Black Scythe with envious eyes.
Even though he’d become the one and only Zone Representative of the Republic of Korea, there wasn’t much change in his expression.
As if he’d already known this would happen.
‘No, come on. That can’t be it. He’s not a Prophet—how would he know the vote results?’
He was probably just putting on a blank face to hide how stunned he felt.
Or maybe he really had predicted it.
Given Black Scythe’s notoriety, it was a result anyone could predict.
But for Ryu Min, it wasn’t prediction—he truly knew the future, so he felt calm.
From the 21st run to the 99th run, once he started reaching Round 9, he’d won the vote seventy-nine times—anyone would start reacting like this.
‘As expected, I’m first. The vote count’s a little different, though.’
The number of votes had gone up compared to the previous run.
Was it because he’d formed ties with people like Jo Yong-ho, Min Juri, and Seo Arin?
Even without reading thoughts, he could guess they’d voted for him.
[Player ‘Black Scythe’ has become the new Zone Representative of C3-ESKA001.]
While he watched the message with indifferent eyes, Ariel shouted,
[Just as the vote results show, Korea’s Zone Representative has become Black Scythe! Congratulations, Black Scythe! For your information, the representative authority of the other Players has been extinguished. Now Black Scythe has become the Korean Player with the only dominion rights!]
The angel continued.
[Now that we’ve chosen the Representative, shall we check the Round 9 quest right away?]
As always, a message window appeared in everyone’s sight.
◀ ROUND 9 ▶ <Main Quest>
└Join a mercenary corps and subjugate monsters
[All Zones]
└Participants: 1,295,362
└Achievers: 0/647,681
[This Zone C3-ESKA001]
└Participants: 6,008
└Achievers: 0/3,004
“Subjugate monsters?”
“What’s a mercenary corps supposed to be?”
After checking the quest, the Players murmured.
In contrast, the people around Black Scythe stayed calm.
Because they already knew, having heard Ryu Min’s prophecy.
[Shortly, you will go to a fantasy world and carry out subjugation missions as mercenaries. Don’t panic. As you can see, it’s a simple quest where you only need to subjugate monsters. You can also choose the monster you want to subjugate yourselves, so there’s nothing to worry about.]
No one panicked at the words “fantasy world.”
They’d already experienced the existence of NPCs in Round 8 while escorting a merchant caravan.
Most people assumed it would be similar this time as well.
[Does anyone have questions?]
“A question! If we really succeed at just one subjugation, do we pass the quest?”
[Of course. It’s a very simple quest.]
Because she kept emphasizing that it was “simple,” the Players grew uneasy.
There had never been a time it was truly simple just because they said it was.
[Any other questions?]
“If it’s subjugation, is this maybe a party quest?”
[You’ll move in groups, but it’s not a party. You each hunt monsters on your own and take your own share. So you’ll have to push yourselves, if only for the experience.]
“It says Main Quest—so does that mean there are also Sub Quests?”
[That’s a secret.]
‘Of course there are. What kind of question is that…….’
Everyone thought the same thing and inwardly criticized the questioner.
If it says Main Quest, a Sub Quest always exists.
It was a rule they naturally knew from experience.
“Angel-nim! How is the ranking decided?”
Even before the angel answered, a few people shook their heads as if the question was pathetic.
That damned angel bitch wasn’t going to tell them.
And the Players’ expectation was correct.
[I don’t really know that yet either? It gets revealed around the time the tally results come out.]
Almost no one believed the angel’s words.
That was how much the Players distrusted angels.
But Ryu Min knew.
That the angel was telling the truth right now.
‘Even angels don’t know everything about a quest. Their information is limited, round by round.’
Whether it was because they feared it might leak to humans or for some other reason, what angels knew about a Round was limited.
He knew for sure because he’d learned it by torturing angels many times in previous runs.
More than anything, the reason Ryu Min was certain was simple.
‘The final reward you can obtain from this Sub Quest. Just looking at that, it’s obvious the angels don’t know about the quest.’
Because the hidden final reward in this Round was a reward so fatal to angels that it could be called their weakness.
‘If the angels knew about that reward, they’d lose their minds.’
That was also why Ryu Min hadn’t prophesied about the Sub Quest.
Because that reward—one only a single person could claim—had to be his alone.
[That’s all for questions. Shall we start the quest right away?]
The moment Ariel finished speaking, a selection window appeared before the Players’ eyes.
[Touch the monster you wish to subjugate.]
└ 1. Lizardman
└ 2. Werewolf
└ 3. Skeleton
└ 4. Troll
└ 5. Minotaur
[If you do not choose, you will be automatically assigned at random.]
[Time remaining: 00:00:59]
Like choosing the merchant caravan last time, the moment you chose, you would be moved.
“Hm, pick from these?”
“Just looking at it, number 1 looks the easiest…….”
You could gauge the difficulty just by the monster names.
‘Just like everyone expects, number 1 is the easiest and number 5 is the hardest.’
Ryu Min knew which choice was best, but the other Players stood at a crossroads.
Because it was such an obvious question with an obvious answer, they worried there might be a trap.
“Considering difficulty, Lizardman is better, but…….”
“Then everyone’s going to swarm Lizardman, aren’t they?”
“Should we subjugate a stronger monster for the rewards?”
“Or maybe number 1 is actually hard and number 5 is the easiest?”
“Haa… what do I pick?”
A minute was far too short to agonize over all that.
Most had already chosen and vanished, but about a quarter hesitated, letting time tick away.
A few closed their eyes, seemingly willing to leave it to random and just wait.
‘It’ll look like there’s a trap, but there isn’t. The difficulty really is in the order you see. Meaning, you just subjugate the monster you want, based purely on your own skill.’
Ryu Min had told his acquaintances that fact through prophecy.
So Ma Kyung-rok and the others around him had nothing to agonize over.
They’d already thought it through 충분히 in reality before coming.
“I’m going with number 2, Black Scythe-nim!”
“I’m going with number 2 too. Thanks for the buff, Democracy-nim!”
Seo Arin and An Sang-cheol vanished first.
Before moving, they didn’t forget to receive Min Juri’s buff.
Because they’d heard in Ryu Min’s prophecy that if you got buffed before moving, it would remain.
After hearing that, Min Juri willingly distributed buffs to Black Scythe and the others.
“It was nice meeting you, Black Scythe-nim, Democracy-nim. Then I’ll go on ahead.”
After making his choice, Ma Kyung-rok vanished next.
He didn’t say what he picked, but Ryu Min knew he had chosen number 3.
“I’ll head on first too. Let’s all meet alive laterrr.”
Once Yamtti vanished as well, only Ryu Min and Min Juri were left with choices remaining.
“Where are you going, Black Scythe-nim? You’ll obviously go with number 5, right?”
“Who knows. It’s a tough call.”
“I’m going with number 1. I’ll see you later, Black Scythe-nim!”
When Min Juri vanished too, Ryu Min finally became alone.
The reason he’d held off choosing until now was simple.
He needed to change his appearance.
‘My choice is…….’
Ryu Min cast invisibility.
After turning invisible so others couldn’t see him, he changed his appearance with the Assassin’s Mask.
It was Lostyak’s face.
With five seconds left on the timer, Ryu Min’s finger moved.
The moment he chose the monster, his presence vanished completely.
In the fantasy world, there was one rule.
Players’ nicknames were not visible to each other.
‘In Round 8, the angel explained it was to hide nicknames because of the traitor group, but that wasn’t the real reason.’
In the fantasy world, because nicknames were concealed, you could identify whether someone was a Player only by their face or outfit.
That was why Ryu Min changed into Lostyak’s appearance.
‘This way, I can proceed with the Sub Quest without Min Juri knowing.’
Ryu Min’s choice was the same as Min Juri’s: number 1.
The reason he chose the weakest—Lizardman—was simple.
Because the Sub Quest existed only there.
‘There’s no Sub Quest in the other monster subjugations. I’ve tested every other option myself across repeated runs, so I’m sure.’
He’d also transformed into Lostyak so he could separate from Min Juri and do the Sub Quest alone.
If he stayed as Black Scythe, she’d definitely follow him—or look at him with suspicion.
Sure enough, he could see Min Juri’s back already, having arrived ahead.
Ryu Min canceled invisibility and approached.
Sensing someone, she glanced at Ryu Min—but quickly looked away again.
She didn’t recognize him as Black Scythe at all.
With Lostyak’s face, and with nicknames not visible, it was only natural she wouldn’t.
Ryu Min opened the quest progress window.
[Lizardman Subjugation Squad Personnel Status]
└Participants: 602
There were fewer Players than expected who had chosen number 1.
Because the difficulty was low, many avoided it, thinking it was a trap.
‘What a shame. There’s no place as good as this for placing in the rankings.’
The method for ranking—something the angel didn’t tell them.
It was simply the number of kills.
In other words, rankings were determined by how many monsters you killed.
‘So hunting weak monsters is the best thing you can do.’
But if you hunted something too weak, you’d lose out on experience.
So the best choice was to hunt a monster suited to your own level.
That way you’d get decent experience and also place in the rankings.
It was something he’d revealed completely through prophecy.
His acquaintances choosing 2 and 3 was the result of picking according to their own levels.
And Min Juri chose 1 after considering her combat capability.
‘At my current level, it’d be natural to hunt number 5, Minotaur—but the Sub Quest matters more.’
The Sub Quest reward this time could be obtained by only one person across all Zones.
It was an essential reward for dealing with angels, so he couldn’t miss it.
“Everyone here is a Player, right? Since nicknames aren’t showing, I can’t quite tell if you’re a Player or not.”
“From the way you’re speaking Korean, yeah, you are.”
“But why aren’t nicknames showing again?”
“Maybe they don’t show when you enter a fantasy world?”
“More importantly, there are fewer people than I expected. Wasn’t Lizardman subjugation the easiest?”
“Yeah. I thought people would swarm here.”
“What if it’s insanely hard, as a twist?”
“Somehow I feel uneasy…….”
As the Players chatted in a noisy murmur, a foreigner with a thick, bushy beard—presumably an NPC—appeared.
“Have you all rested enough? I am Kaltz Garcia, the First Subjugation Captain of the Golden Eagle Mercenary Corps. You may be warriors from another world said to have a name in the Holy Empire, but since you’ve entered as apprentices, I will speak casually. Understand.”
As Kaltz said that, he shouted, “Follow me, soldiers!” and turned around.
Following Kaltz, the Players had dangerous, curious imaginings like, ‘If we kill this guy, what happens to the subjugation? Do we all get erased for subjugation failure?’
A few even felt like trying it for real.
But they didn’t put it into action.
There wasn’t a single lunatic who’d do something that risky—something that might get not only themselves, but the entire subjugation squad killed.
If they were that kind of person, they wouldn’t have been desperately clawing their way to survival up until now.
After walking for about ten minutes, Kaltz stopped at the entrance of a gloomy forest.
“Here it is, soldiers from another world! This is the Beast Swamp where Lizardmen appear. You will subjugate the Lizardman remnants here with me. Then let’s depart at once!”
Kaltz shouted with overflowing fighting spirit and led the way, and the Players followed with tense faces.
Since it wasn’t a party, Min Juri cast buffs on herself again and tightly gripped the hilt of her sword.
She’d never fought Lizardmen before, but she felt somewhat reassured because she had the Unique armor Ryu Min had given her.
But there was something that neither she, nor Subjugation Captain Kaltz, nor anyone here knew.
The fact that one person had broken away from the formation.
That person was Ryu Min—Lostyak.
[You have completed the Sub Quest!]