Chapter 164 – Overseas Topic
<Overseas Topic>
[Women kidnapped in Nigeria reveal their stance regarding Black Scythe……]
—It has been revealed that the Korean Player known as Black Scythe (nickname), who is reported to have driven the IS leader to suicide and killed the unit members, also wiped out a human trafficking organization.
In Nigeria, even now, various organized crimes still run rampant—human trafficking, drugs, prostitution rings, organ trafficking, baby factories, and more—but that is now a thing of the past.
According to results announced by the Nigerian government, it has been confirmed that 22 organizations they were tracking have all vanished without a trace in just a few days.
What happened?
It was the good deed of someone claiming to be none other than Black Scythe.
Subina (30), a woman who had in fact been kidnapped by a human trafficking organization, testified.
She said she had to spend each day in agony, trapped in a tiny iron cage where not even light came in, like livestock waiting only to be slaughtered.
She said that even while eating gruel that even pigs wouldn’t eat, and enduring the sexual harassment of organization members who were like demons, she had held on stubbornly only because she didn’t have the courage to commit suicide.
In that prison where nothing but despair could be seen, the beam of light that descended was Black Scythe.
It is said that he wiped out the organization members and rescued all the women who were being held, without asking for anything in return.
In fact, the women who reported the kidnapping spoke with one voice.
If it hadn’t been for Black Scythe and the Asian woman who appeared to be his partner, they would still be trapped inside that horrific prison.
The writer is neither a human rights activist nor a humanitarian, but after hearing the stories of the countless women who were saved by Black Scythe, there is one thing I could be certain of.
Black Scythe’s actions are not something to be condemned—they are, rightly, something that should be praised.
(This article is a verbatim reproduction of an article from Nigeria.)
└ Wow…… I’ve got nothing to say to this.
└ So he saved dozens of kidnapped people.
└ You’re saying he saved them for nothing, then disappeared without a word.
└ That’s cool……
└ He’s a real righteous man.
└ If it’s true, he really did raise national prestige.
└ It’s true. If you search on Goggle, the original article comes up.
└ But the comments are clean here. In other articles there were tons of guys having a fit, saying Black Scythe is a murderer and has to be punished.
└ LMAO the guys screeching “murderer” and whatever—quiet now, huh?
└ Bastards. If you see this and still yap about “criminals’ human rights,” you’re not human, seriously.
└ The non-humans are the trash who traffic people. Now I’m pissed too.
└ Black Scythe was right a hundred, a thousand times~
└ (This comment has been deleted after being reported.)
└ By the way, who’s the woman they said looked like his partner?
└ Isn’t she Black Scythe’s girlfriend?
└ LMAO you think Black Scythe is crazy enough to drag his girlfriend into a death trap?
└ It’s literally just “partner,” then.
└ Reaper-nim! I believed in you. As expected, you are the savior of this era. Rea! per! nim!
Seeing the article, a satisfied smile spread across Ryu Min’s lips.
‘The mood flipped.’
Thanks to the women he saved in Nigeria stepping forward, Black Scythe went from “serial killer” to “hero who saved people.”
Once an article came out representing the victims’ position, many people immersed themselves in the victims’ plight and began to side with Black Scythe.
‘Good. At this level, it should be fine for me to step out publicly.’
Ryu Min picked up Lostyak’s phone.
When he checked, as expected, hundreds of calls had come in.
‘Interviews, public service ads, presidential commendations—I’ll accept all of it.’
Ryu Min decided to use this opportunity to promote himself like a celebrity.
He intended to elevate Black Scythe’s fame by mobilizing every means and method.
To make Black Scythe into an existence on the level of a head of state, he first had to become famous.
So that no ordinary person would fail to know the name Black Scythe.
‘At a time when I feel this good, should I try using that?’
Ryu Min pulled an item out of his inventory.
It was the Rune Bundle he’d gotten as a Round 10 reward.
If he used it when he felt good like this, even if a bad rune came out, it might sting less.
‘Use.’
With a bright light, the bundle in his hand vanished.
At the same time, a rune he’d never seen before appeared, and a message flashed before his eyes saying it had been engraved onto his body.
It had now been nine months since the world changed.
Of the people aged 15 to 29 who had started at 1.8 billion, only about 130,000 remained.
Among them, Korean Players weren’t even 700.
Across the world, the population had decreased by over 22%.
It was population erasure enough to shake the economy to its core.
—We’re finished. Our company is finished.
Ma Kyung-rok had seen many company presidents lamenting their fate, muttering like that.
He understood.
As someone who did business himself, he felt it was enough to make you wail.
But he didn’t empathize.
‘Because I’m eating well and living well.’
As long as I live well, that’s enough.
‘No—as long as our company lives well, that’s enough.’
Because that mindset dominated Ma Kyung-rok, even if he understood others’ lamentations with his head, he couldn’t sympathize with his heart.
His company, unlike others, hadn’t failed.
‘Just like the Prophet said, right? Once we converted the site to VVIP, revenue really didn’t drop.’
At the point he returned from the Round, PPL Market revamped the site into a VVIP-exclusive format they’d prepared in advance.
To lock in existing customers even more firmly, they stuffed it with big events and increased auction inventory.
‘A lot of the items the Prophet handed me were good ones, so that helped maintain the market too.’
One week after returning from the Round.
With customers reduced to a quarter, transaction volume inevitably decreased, but revenue didn’t fluctuate much.
Because Players who felt a crisis about survival poured their entire assets into aggressive trading, searching for better items.
And designing it like a site meant for VVIPs played a part too.
‘Good thing I listened to the Prophet. Heh-heh.’
Ma Kyung-rok smiled.
He took pride in his choice not to doubt the Prophet.
Of course, it was true the Prophet’s advice accounted for a large portion.
But the Prophet only shows the road.
The choice is always yours, isn’t it?
‘I’m the one who judged the Prophet’s advice well and accepted it. Well, I admit the Prophet is a walking blessing, but still.’
He no longer worried about the company going under.
He even had confidence he could run it well without the Prophet’s advice.
The question was whether he could ride this momentum and achieve success enough to list on the KOSPI.
‘I should start preparing for listing soon. If I want Father to acknowledge me, there’s nothing as certain as a KOSPI listing.’
Setting aside company worries, Ma Kyung-rok recalled another worry.
‘Next is finally the death Round 11, huh?’
Of course, he wasn’t worried about himself.
He was worried about his fiancée, who might die in Round 11.
‘Please… let her be safe.’
He didn’t feel any aching affection.
It was simply pity born of compassion.
Ma Kyung-rok had never been interested in romance to begin with.
It was nothing more than a business relationship he’d been forced into by his father’s nagging.
On the surface, they were lovers, but they hadn’t even had a single kiss.
Someone might misunderstand and think he liked men, but in truth, Ma Kyung-rok was someone who knew nothing but himself and his company.
Even so, right now he couldn’t help but pay attention.
‘If, by any chance, Christine dies like the prophecy says… what then? The arrows of blame will definitely be aimed at me too, won’t they?’
If he knew it was dangerous but couldn’t stop it, he couldn’t avoid criticism himself.
They’d only just gotten engaged—if she died, it would obviously be a loss to his image, too.
‘I’ll have to protect Christine from my side. Especially since they say Round 11 gets integrated with other countries.’
He could hear the details from the Prophet, Ryu Min.
‘He should be coming around any time now…’
Just then, with a knock-knock sound, the door to the CEO office opened.
The person who entered, contrary to his expectation, wasn’t Ryu Min.
It was a blonde white woman—Christine.
“You’ve come. Christine.”
“I’m sorry for dropping by so suddenly.”
“Haha, what is there to be sorry about? It’s not like we’re just acquaintances—we’re lovers. It’s good to see each other often, right?”
In front of Christine, Ma Kyung-rok always acted out a friendly smile.
Without realizing that Christine was only becoming more wary because of it.
“You already know why I came, from what I told you on the phone, right?”
“Of course. Today’s meeting day anyway, so just wait a little—since you’ll be coming. Coffee?”
“Sure.”
After making coffee in the break room, Ma Kyung-rok and Christine exchanged this and that.
Ritual talk went back and forth—how the weather was, whether anything was inconvenient on the way, whether her father was doing well.
Or they also exchanged Player-to-Player talk—what level she was, whether Round 10 wasn’t too hard, whether the prophecy really was astonishing.
It wasn’t a sweet conversation like an ordinary couple at all.
In the middle of it, Ma Kyung-rok got a call from a subordinate employee.
“Ah, really? Understood.”
“What was that call?”
“He’s here.”
“Ah.”
Ma Kyung-rok stood up and went out of the office to prepare to greet him.
A moment later, a short man entered the office.
The Prophet.
He was the very reason Christine had come to Korea.
“CEO Ma, hello.”
“Major Shareholder, you’ve arrived?”
Ryu Min greeted him, then noticed Christine standing to the side.
“Your fiancée is here as well?”
“Hello, Ryu Min.”
“Greetings, Christine.”
“You remember my name.”
“Of course. I also know why you came to find me.”
Christine stared at Ma Kyung-rok with rabbit-wide eyes.
It was a look asking whether he’d told him why she came, but Ma Kyung-rok only shook his head.
“CEO Ma didn’t say a single word to me. I foresaw it all. Shall we talk somewhere quiet?”
“Okay.”
As Christine started to follow Ryu Min outside, she stopped Ma Kyung-rok, who was trying to follow.
“Sorry, but I’ll hear it alone.”
“Ah, of course. I’ll wait here, so go ahead and talk comfortably.”
“Thank you.”
Ryu Min and Christine sat on a bench in front of the company.
“This should do. But why did you tell CEO Ma not to come?”
“I thought it would be easier to talk that way. After all, this is a major matter where my life is on the line, and if too many people hear it, the future could change, right?”
“Well, that’s not wrong.”
With a crooked grin, Ryu Min suddenly asked bluntly,
“You came to Korea because you’re worried about Round 11, right?”
“Yes. More precisely, I came because I wanted to meet you, Prophet, and hear your advice.”
“Advice… I thought I said everything back then.”
“That’s not what I think. You know and you’re hiding it. Who saves me, and what kind of person threatens me.”
“…….”
“I know it’s shameless, but please tell me. You said there’s a group that can’t accept me—exactly who are they?”
“I don’t know. Like I told you before.”
“I know. But please give me even a small clue. You said you saw the scene. If we prevent it in advance, that’s better, isn’t it? It might help in a crisis.”
“I don’t remember right now. I forgot everything.”
“…….”
At those words, Christine couldn’t find anything to say.
When he kept stonewalling, there was no way through.
“Then the person who saves me—what about them? You saw their face, right? You remember it, right?”
“I know, but I can’t say.”
“Because if you say it, the future might change?”
“You understand well.”
“Still… can’t you tell me? I’ll be careful so the future doesn’t change.”
“How can you guarantee that? If Christine dies because of that, how am I supposed to face CEO Ma?”
“…….”
“You must be curious and anxious enough to run here in one go, but it can’t be helped. There’s a limit to the information I can give you.”
“Haaah…….”
What a fortress. A fortress of fortresses.
It was frustrating, but Christine understood.
If the future changed, it was only natural that trust in the Prophet would break.
“I’m sorry. I think I got worked up and pushed too hard.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Since something is going to happen in the very next Round, I guess I was anxious and more sensitive. I apologize again.”
Speaking politely, Christine asked to confirm.
“Then is there nothing I can do except wait to be saved by someone?”
“Yes. For now, that’s the best.”
“Hoo…….”
“Don’t worry too much, Christine. Everything will work out.”
At the plain and warm comfort, Christine could ease her anxiety, if only a little.
“Thank you, Prophet. When you say that, it makes me feel like I can believe it.”
“Right? Then CEO Ma is waiting too, so shall we go back up? Since you’re here anyway, you can listen to the Round 11 prophecy together.”
“Okay.”
The two stood up from the bench and went into the company.
Without realizing that someone was staring at their backs as if they wanted to kill them.