Chapter 195 – Countermeasure Meeting
Crackle-crackle—
Unlike the warm interior where the logs in the fireplace were burning, the mood was heavy.
“Say something. Didn’t we come here to hold a countermeasure meeting?”
“……We’d have to have a countermeasure to say anything.”
At the table set up in the cabin, five people were seated.
Spaniard, DarkSoul, Yang Chwi-wen, John Delgado, and Ryu Min disguised as SwingMan.
Having suddenly become the “Five Apostles,” they put their heads together and tried to think of a way to oppose Black Scythe, but for thirty minutes, only silence continued.
No matter how much they thought, no answer came.
Unable to stand it, Spaniard opened his mouth.
“Black Scythe killed seven of our apostles. Of course, it’s only right that we take revenge. But…… put another way, he’s a being that even seven people couldn’t do anything about. Overpowering him with sheer force doesn’t seem possible.”
“So what? You’re saying we should surrender?”
Yang Chwi-wen made it obvious from his tone that he didn’t like it, but Spaniard shook his head as if that wasn’t it.
“There’s nothing to surrender. Black Scythe doesn’t know us. We just have to let go on our end.”
“You’re saying we should give up like this?”
When Spaniard nodded, DarkSoul shouted as if it was unbelievable.
“How can we give up without even trying? At the very least, we have to attempt an assassination!”
“Didn’t we end up like this because we attempted it?”
“I haven’t stepped in yet.”
“Are you confident?”
“Of course! Just lure Black Scythe to a sniping location. I’ll blow his brains out of his skull immediately!”
DarkSoul spoke full of confidence, but Yang Chwi-wen immediately shot him down.
“So you want us to be the bait?”
“That’s the only way to kill Black Scythe.”
“And if it fails? We all die, right? No—no, that’s not it. Only we, the bait, die. And you, sitting 2 km away, stay safely alive.”
“Don’t worry about that. I won’t fail. My sniping Skill is a sure hit every time.”
“If you’ve got such an amazing job, how come you couldn’t even make it into the all-zone TOP 3?”
Hit right on the sore spot, DarkSoul panicked.
“Th-that’s because! The monsters move too well…!”
“Yeah, I know. Just because you’re good at assassinating doesn’t mean you’re good at hunting too.”
“Th-thank you for underst—”
“That doesn’t mean we can entrust everything to your hands. I have no intention of becoming bait.”
“This isn’t the time to be protecting your pride. There’s no other way. The method I suggested is the most realistic!”
“Bullshit. X off.”
Even when someone offered an opinion, everyone’s thoughts were different, so it wasn’t easy to unify them.
“How about this? Something occurred to me while listening to Yang Chwi-wen. Looking at the past Rounds, besides Black Scythe, there have always been people who made it into the all-zone TOP 3 each time, right?”
“Ah, that guy called [Cheonma] and [The Shit Idiots]?”
“Yes, yes. I was thinking—what if we try offering them recruitment? No matter what, just the five of us are lacking, and this is a point where we need to replenish our strength…”
“How are you going to find those guys? We don’t know their nationality or their faces. All we know are their nicknames.”
“That is a problem too…”
Spaniard, who’d brought up the suggestion, fell silent again.
Yang Chwi-wen thought for a moment, then spoke his own opinion.
“In my view, a frontal confrontation has no chance. We have to go thoroughly in the direction of assassination.”
“Then my method—”
“I told you sniping has too much risk, you bastard. Listen. There’s a better way.”
After snapping at DarkSoul, Yang Chwi-wen suddenly threw out a question.
“When is a Player at their most vulnerable?”
“W-well, I don’t know?”
“When they enter the other world. At that time, they fall into forced sleep and become completely defenseless. We also worry about that point, so each of us waits to enter the other world from a safe place, right?”
“Right, right.”
“We target that. As everyone knows, under me—Black Society—there are plenty of subordinates who can take contract killings, yeah? We use those guys and target the moment Black Scythe goes to the other world. While he’s in the other world, we break into his home and snip-snap him.”
“Ohh, if we do that, we really could kill him easily.”
“How is it? A decent operation, right?”
“Yes. Now we just need to find out where Black Scythe lives.”
“But how do we find that out?”
Everyone looked at Yang Chwi-wen with hopeful eyes, but the answer that came back was hollow.
“That’s what we have to think about from now on. I haven’t thought past that.”
“Hm…”
Assassinate him using outsiders when Black Scythe is inside the other world.
Then no matter how high-level he is, he can be killed easily.
‘The operation is good. It’s good, but…’
The problem is, they have to learn Black Scythe’s home.
“How about we mess with a CPF squad member like this time, lure Black Scythe out, and then tail him? Then we’ll learn where his home is.”
“What if we tail him and get noticed? That’d be a death sentence that same day.”
“Of course we tail him without getting noticed. We keep our distance at least 30 meters so we don’t get caught by Detection.”
“Detection isn’t the problem. The problem is the surrounding-search Skill. Don’t you know it picks you up within a 500-meter radius? But you can’t exactly tail him from more than 500 meters away either.”
“Yeah… tailing would be difficult.”
“If you want to tail him, you need an Assassin-class. If you use invisibility, you might get caught by Detection, but you won’t get caught by surrounding-search.”
“But none of us are Assassins.”
“Right.”
They were the Five Apostles: Gladiator, Hunter, Sniper, Necromancer, Martial Artist.
There wasn’t a class that could safely tail someone.
Then, seizing the opportunity, Ryu Min subtly raised his hand.
“I have an Assassin acquaintance I can trust. Wouldn’t it be okay if we talk to him?”
“An acquaintance? What’s his name?”
“Jeffrey. His nickname is [Zephy].”
“Is he a famous Assassin?”
“No. He isn’t that skilled. But if the pay is good, he’ll do anything he’s told. He’d be perfect to use for tailing.”
“I don’t feel good about bringing in an outsider…”
“Don’t worry. He’s not the type to cause trouble.”
Even with Ryu Min’s guarantee, the apostles looked reluctant.
Everyone except Yang Chwi-wen.
“The curry man’s surprisingly useful sometimes, huh? An Assassin, huh. Then we hire that guy.”
“But he’s an outsider…”
“Isn’t it better because he’s an outsider? Good for cutting the tail too. Just give him a clean job to do, then cut him off. What’s the problem?”
“Hm…”
Yang Chwi-wen was now filled with the desire to execute his operation.
If it succeeded, the credit would come solely to him.
After thinking carefully, Spaniard ultimately raised Yang Chwi-wen’s side.
“Alright. Let’s try it once, following Yang Chwi-wen’s operation. Before the 12th Round begins, we’ll use the Assassin SwingMan hires to identify Black Scythe’s residence, and on December 1st, while Black Scythe is asleep, we’ll have the Black Society assassinate him. If anyone has a better method, even now, please raise your hand.”
Since there was no particular method, everyone thought silence would follow—but unexpectedly, one person raised a hand.
It was Ryu Min.
“Yes, SwingMan. Do you have another opinion?”
“Ah, I’m not opposing Yang Chwi-wen’s operation. It just seems good to lay down insurance in case it fails.”
“Insurance?”
“Yes. In case things don’t go according to plan, right? Then Black Scythe will be alive and well in the 12th Round. In that case, I was thinking—what if we try the method I’m proposing?”
“If you mean a method, what kind?”
“Everyone is focusing only on killing Black Scythe, but we think in reverse. We melt him down into an ally.”
“An ally…?”
“Honestly, I think measuring strength with Black Scythe is meaningless. Not only did he kill seven of the prominent country rankers, but as John Delgado has acknowledged, Black Scythe is a being that would be hard to beat even if all Twelve Apostles rushed him. In a situation like that, do you think we have a chance? I don’t.”
“SwingMan!”
The person who slammed the table with a bang—face reddened—and shouted was none other than John Delgado.
“What kind of bullshit are you spouting right now? Are you saying we should surrender to that bastard I want to tear apart?”
“There’s nothing to surrender. Like Spaniard said, Black Scythe doesn’t know we exist.”
“And what is that if not surrender?!”
“Listen to the end. I’m not saying we fully bring him in as an ally. I’m saying we call a truce.”
“A truce?”
“They say the more dangerous your enemy, the closer you keep them. If we first become friendly with Black Scythe and then hit him in the back of the head, wouldn’t the assassination success rate increase even more?”
“Ohh—so you mean we intentionally build a connection and then betray him?”
Spaniard rubbed his chin as if interested.
At the realistic operation, the other apostles listened with interest.
Everyone except John Delgado, who held a grudge against Black Scythe.
“Joining hands with someone we need to beat to death right away. It’s an absurd operation.”
“It’s not real—it’s a temporary alliance to plan for later, isn’t it? I think it’s fine.”
“Me too. It seems good to consider SwingMan’s operation as well.”
“It’s good, but only if my operation fails. Well, as an alternative, it doesn’t look bad.”
Everyone except John responded positively.
As they said, a frontal clash was impossible, and there was no other method besides striking from behind.
“Let’s count John as opposed. How about the others? Does anyone object to SwingMan’s operation?”
Spaniard asked, but no one raised their hand.
“Good. By majority vote, we’ll make SwingMan’s operation an alternative for if Yang Chwi-wen’s operation fails. Then shall we discuss how best to become close?”
At that question, Ryu Min raised his hand again.
“If Yang Chwi-wen’s operation fails, we have to switch to my operation immediately. In other words, to build a connection with Black Scythe, we have to work in the other world. But if an unknown person approaches him blindly, it will raise suspicion. So it seems better to send in someone familiar to Black Scythe. As it happens, among us, there is one person who has a connection with Black Scythe.”
At those words, everyone’s gaze—as if by promise—shot to one person.
John, flustered, pointed to himself.
“Me? You want me to approach him?”
“Yes.”
“Are you insane? Do you not know what my relationship with Black Scythe is?”
“I do. Didn’t you say you got thoroughly beaten in the 11th Round?”
“And you can still say that?”
John shouted as if dumbfounded, but Ryu Min hadn’t spoken carelessly.
“Among us, the only person who has seen Black Scythe’s face is John Delgado. You’re the only person who can naturally approach Black Scythe with the meaning of reconciliation.”
“Naturally? In what world is that natural? I tried to ambush him, failed, got my limbs cut off, trembling, got driven off, and then I come back and ask for reconciliation—wouldn’t anyone find that strange?”
“Then you have to talk so it isn’t strange. That you’re repenting, that you regret it, that you’re sorry. That seems better than an unknown person approaching him.”
“No, no. That’s your thought. Others won’t see it that way. Isn’t that right?”
John turned to the other apostles as if seeking agreement, but the response was the opposite of what he expected.
“It definitely seems better for John to approach rather than us stepping out.”
“Right. They say even bad blood is a connection, don’t they? If you approach with the nuance that you’ve repented, you could easily become an ally.”
“I also agree with the curry man.”
“Good. Then unanimously, John will step in—”
‘You sons of bitches! What unanimity?! I didn’t agree!’
John Delgado bristled at Spaniard’s declaration, but then realized too late.
‘Don’t tell me… they’re saying this because they’re afraid to step up themselves?’
These guys only needed bait.
If things went wrong while striking Black Scythe from behind, the one who would die would be him.
‘Xing bastards.’
John Delgado’s murderously intent eyes locked onto one person.
‘It’s because of that bastard. That bastard incited this.’
The one who shoved him toward the cliff was none other than SwingMan.
‘When it becomes the 12th Round, I’ll find that bastard first and kill him.’
He vowed revenge with burning eyes, but Ryu Min—who had read his thoughts—was snorting internally.
There was no way he could find someone already dead.