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CHAPTER 153 – RETURNING HOME
[Our aircraft is scheduled to arrive at Incheon International Airport in 10 minutes.]
Ryu Min, who’d been sleeping with a sleep mask on, slowly slipped it off.
‘Have we arrived?’
He glanced to the side and saw Yamtte’s head bent at a ghostly angle.
Looks like she’s completely passed out.
‘Makes sense she’d be tired.’
During the four days in Nigeria, they’d accomplished quite a lot.
They’d wiped out dozens of organizations, including a human trafficking ring, and they’d also found IS’s base and purged it.
In the process, they received thank-yous from countless kidnapped people, and he’d obtained the title Massacrer.
He’d collected thousands of items, and he’d also carefully stored away the hundreds of potions the IS leader had been hoarding, safe in his inventory.
‘Most of all, I was able to make the alchemist completely take my side. Without even using Yamtte’s charm.’
After his advice, Victor had opened his heart entirely to Black Scythe.
Since he’d read his inner thoughts, it was absolutely certain.
What he’d gained in Nigeria didn’t end there.
‘Once word gets out that Black Scythe wiped out IS, my fame will rise to a level that can’t even be compared to before.’
He’d already set things up, so all he had to do was wait.
Everything was perfect and satisfying.
Grinning, Ryu Min shook Yamtte in the seat beside him.
“Wake up.”
“Mmm… just a little more.”
“Talking down to your Master? Have you lost your mind?”
“Huh? Ah—M-Master?”
Spotting Ryu Min glaring at her, Yamtte jolted awake.
“Looks like you still need more training if you’re talking down to your Master?”
“I-I’m sorry. I thought I was dreaming.”
“I’ll let it slide just this once.”
“Th-thank you. As expected, Master who is as generous as the sea!”
“Wipe the drool off your mouth before you start sucking up.”
“Kgh.”
“We’ll be there soon. Organize your stuff.”
“Yes, Master!”
Before long, the two arrived at the airport.
Including flight time, it had been a journey of exactly a week.
If not for the private jet the Pleseba chairman had lent them, it would’ve taken even longer.
“Yamtte. You did well in Nigeria.”
“You worked hard too, Master.”
“Now we part ways here. You can get home on your own, right?”
“Umm…… I feel like it’d be nice if Master saw me off.”
“So you can go alone. Got it. Go on ahead.”
“Hiiing. Then I’ll go first. Take care, Master.”
Ryu Min nodded, went to the parking lot, and changed his appearance inside the car.
Wobble-wobble—
In Lost Yak, he returned to his original 모습 as Ryu Min.
Then, riding his Lamborghini back home, Ryu Min opened the front door.
“I’m back.”
“Hyung? Hyung!”
His younger brother, who’d been listlessly watching TV at home, greeted him with an intense expression.
“You got back safely! I was worried!”
“Of course. Do I look like the kind of guy who goes around getting beat up?”
“The world’s dangerous, that’s why!”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, his little brother only knew him as the frail Prophet class.
He didn’t know that his true identity was Black Scythe, Squad Leader of CPF.
‘And here I am, hiding all sorts of things from my own little brother, yet I told Victor to open up and tell his family everything.’
Could hypocrisy get any more hypocritical than this?
With a self-mocking smile, Ryu Min looked at his brother.
“You did okay while I was gone? Nothing happened?”
“Happened? If anything, it was so boring I almost wished something would happen.”
“Don’t say things like that, even as a joke. Boring is better than urgent. That’s what peace is.”
If his brother had been born in Nigeria, where crime ran rampant, those words never would’ve come out of his mouth.
‘Well, he’s still in middle school, so I get it.’
It was still a bit early for him to be grown up.
“But, Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“Didn’t you buy anything in Japan? Like a souvenir or something…….”
“……No.”
Ryu Min let out a secret sigh.
His little brother really was still young.
A player’s inventory is truly convenient.
Not only can you store an unlimited number of items without a quantity limit, you can also find whatever item you want just by thinking of it.
That’s why Ryu Min could pull out items needed for synthesis one after another so quickly.
‘Out of the thousands of items I extorted from those IS bastards, there are 105 unique materials alone. With this, I could make dozens of unique-grade pieces and still have leftovers.’
Looks like the members had kept them instead of selling them on the PlPl Market.
If he wanted, he could synthesize right away, but Ryu Min didn’t need unique gear.
He’d already fully geared up with uniques, and he even had legendary—and god-grade—equipment.
“Hm. So many unique materials, but nowhere to use them. What a shame.”
Strictly speaking, he did have a use for them.
He didn’t need them, but if it was the people around him, they’d go crazy over even one unique item.
‘I should make a few and give them out. And share some of the gear I already have, too.’
It was practically charity, but the survival of people around him was directly tied to Ryu Min’s survival, so it was necessary.
Tap tap tap—
Ryu Min’s fingers moved quickly.
He set up a meeting with someone by text.
“Prophet-nim?”
Ma Kyung-rok, who’d come out to the meeting place at Ryu Min’s call, had to widen his eyes in shock.
“What is all this?”
“Unique items.”
“N-no, I can see that by looking at the info, but why are you…….”
“How disappointing, CEO Ma.”
“Pardon?”
At the sudden remark, Ma Kyung-rok flinched, and Ryu Min spoke teasingly.
“What kind of relationship are we? Aren’t we bound by fate? Especially since I even know CEO Ma’s private little hobby. With a relationship like that, is sharing items really something you should be asking ‘why’ about? Aren’t you keeping too much distance from me? This is rather bitter.”
“Ah…… th-that’s not what I meant. I only asked because I thought there might be another meaning. Please don’t misunderstand, Prophet-nim.”
Sweating as he tried to soothe the sulking Ryu Min, Ma Kyung-rok couldn’t help but feel extremely awkward.
Now that the difficulty kept rising, if he fell out with the Prophet, his odds of surviving the next round would drop.
“Why are you so tense? It’s a joke. A joke.”
“Huh? Haha, i-is that so? I thought it might not be…….”
Ma Kyung-rok let out a sigh of relief and watched Ryu Min’s face.
If An Sang-cheol saw him, he would’ve been horrified.
It was a sight that made Ryu Min want to laugh, but—
‘That’s how big a role my prophecy plays for Ma Kyung-rok. To the point he can’t go without it anymore.’
Seeing him ride emotional highs and lows at every tiny shift in Ryu Min’s mood, the taming was complete.
After tasting prophecy once, Ma Kyung-rok wouldn’t be able to escape Ryu Min’s grasp.
‘In other words, I’ve reached the stage where I can control Ma Kyung-rok however I want.’
Even if he lied while calling it “prophecy,” Ma Kyung-rok would have no choice but to believe it completely.
To him, prophecy was no different from a last rope.
‘Whether that rope is rotten or sturdy won’t even register in his eyes. That’s how desperate he is.’
Still smiling faintly at Ma Kyung-rok as he kept watching his expression, Ryu Min decided to toss him some bait.
For now, he still needed him close.
“I’ll tell you the information for Round 10.”
“Oh, that’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for. Please.”
Ryu Min condensed it down and told him only the key information needed for the Round 10 clear.
“Every multiple of 5, the difficulty goes up. This Round 10 is like the last Round 5—only a quarter survive.”
“Huh… a quarter?”
“Yes. After this Round 10, the number of players worldwide will drop sharply. In a way, it’s good because the number of criminals will shrink, but it’s not good for you, CEO Ma.”
“Right……. Players are our customers, after all.”
Fewer players meant fewer users for the PlPl Market.
That ran counter to Ma Kyung-rok’s goal of aiming for a KOSPI listing.
“Don’t worry too much. Didn’t I tell you to prepare something for times like this?”
“The VVIP system?”
If you thought about how the number of players would keep decreasing, the company’s limits were obvious.
But just because customers decreased didn’t mean the company was guaranteed to collapse.
A company’s survival depended solely on revenue.
“Promote existing members to VVIP, and upgrade first-time trading players to VIP so they feel special—change the site atmosphere. Then strengthen the existing benefits and shift your posture so the auction system becomes the centerpiece, to prevent revenue drops to some extent. Not only that, by releasing my items in bulk, I can also help widen the market pool.”
“Wait a moment. I didn’t hear anything about releasing items in bulk……”
“I’ve collected quite a lot of items over time. I also prepared something for you, CEO Ma. Since it came up, I’ll give it to you.”
Ryu Min pulled dozens of unique-grade pieces out of his inventory.
Staring at the high-end equipment—enough to make you gasp—Ma Kyung-rok swallowed hard.
“W-where did you get all this……?”
“I made it. I knew the synthesis recipes because I’d seen the future.”
“Then the materials……?”
“What do you mean, how? You know the materials you provided, spending day and night executing criminals. I used those to make them. And I had some materials of my own, too.”
“Ahh…….”
In truth, the materials Ma Kyung-rok provided weren’t nearly enough, but there was no way he would know that.
He wouldn’t even care.
Right now, Ma Kyung-rok’s attention was fixed on the unique gear and nothing else.
“I prepared everything—what you’ll use, and also what Manager Ahn, Actress Seo Arin-nim, and your fiancée will use as well.”
“Y-you went this far for me. Thank you so much. Should I at least give you gold through the trade function…….”
Ryu Min wanted to snap, ‘Don’t say things you don’t mean,’ but he held it in.
Instead, he simply waved his hand with a kind smile like Gandhi.
“Take it all. I want nothing.”
“Ah…… truly, thank you. Prophet-nim.”
He could hear Ma Kyung-rok’s inner thoughts—like he’d just stumbled onto a rice cake falling from the sky—but it didn’t feel bad.
Because the gratitude itself was genuine.
“Min! I saved a seat here!”
Ryu Min smiled and walked toward Min Juri, who was waving at him in the café.
“Long time no see. Huh? You already ordered mine too?”
“Yeah. Double espresso, one extra shot, right?”
“Heh. That’s right.”
Now that they met regularly every month, they knew pretty much everything there was to know about each other.
‘That said, our relationship can’t progress.’
Ryu Min knew Min Juri’s heart, but in times like these he had no desire to date.
‘More importantly, I’ve never felt anything beyond friendship.’
But it seemed Min Juri’s heart still pounded every time she saw him.
Even though he was short and not even that handsome.
‘Anyway, first love is magic. She must be wearing rose-colored glasses.’
In a way, it was a good thing.
Since he couldn’t dominate her with the Rune of Charm, he had to avoid, at all costs, falling out with her.
“You called me again to tell me a prophecy, Prophet-nim?”
“If not that, then what else would it be, Buffer-nim?”
The two chuckled, took long pulls from their coffee, and talked.
Mostly, Ryu Min spoke about prophecy while Min Juri nodded and listened.
“The competition will be fierce. Only a quarter can claim spots, so during the time limit, everyone will try to snag at least one quest.”
“I see. So it’ll be fierce?”
“I know a few low-difficulty quests, so memorize them. If you prioritize these, you’ll be able to get into the ranks easily.”
Ryu Min told Min Juri strategy tips she couldn’t hear anywhere else, taking special care so she could pass.
In Round 10, they’d have to move separately.
“Got it. This is so useful it’s something you couldn’t buy even with money. Thanks!”
“It’s nothing.”
“Should I give you gold anyway? The trade function exists now, so I can.”
“No. You’re saying the same thing as someone else.”
“Huh? Who?”
“Someone. Anyway, focus on the round—”
Just then, Ryu Min’s phone went bzzzzzz.
A notification popped up from a newspaper he’d subscribed to.
“Huh? What is it?”
“Ah. It’s just a notification saying an article went up…….”
Staring at his smartphone, Ryu Min acted out a surprised expression.
“This is insane—some huge article just dropped.”
“What is it, what is it?”
“Look at the portal site right now. It’s all anyone’s talking about.”
Curious, Min Juri looked down at her phone like Ryu Min.
And she couldn’t help but be shocked.
Because the main headline was an article claiming that the leader of IS had committed suicide.