Chapter 197 – Round 12 Begins
At the end of every month, Players grow on edge.
The moment they cross over into the other world, their real bodies become defenseless.
With nothing to protect their narcoleptic selves except a well-secured home.
That was exactly the case now, with 30 minutes left until midnight on December 1.
“Couldn’t we just hire civilian bodyguards?”
As the junior, Zhang Chen, objected to his senior’s explanation, he was immediately smacked on the back of the head.
“Hey, you dumbass. You think Players—people who can trust nobody but themselves—are gonna hire someone else? What if you get stabbed in the back like we’re doing now?”
“Come on. There’s no way a bodyguard would go after a sleeping Player. If you kill them, there’s no money.”
When the senior raised his hand again, Zhang Chen flinched.
“What do you mean there’s no money, you little shit. Another Player who ordered the contract killing would pay.”
“Now you’re even bribing bodyguards into contract killings?”
“Yeah, idiot. Don’t you know in times like this you can’t trust anyone? Seriously, this bastard’s problem is he trusts people too much.”
“Hehe….”
Zhang Chen rubbed the back of his head and gave a foolish grin.
“Now I get it. Why that guy called the Black Scythe didn’t keep bodyguards.”
“Right. No matter how strong you are, if someone slices your throat while you’re asleep, you’re on the road to the underworld. In that situation, would you want someone right next to you?”
“Still, that villa looks way too sloppy, doesn’t it? It’s old as hell—seems easy to break into.”
“Players all live in places with tight security, right? Maybe he thought a place like that is actually safer.”
“Khh— that makes sense. As expected, hyung-nim, your insight is incredible.”
“Don’t kiss my ass. You think I’m gonna dote on you because of that?”
He answered sharply, but the corners of his mouth were already drawing a smile.
The junior who was too kind wasn’t exactly welcome, but that was precisely why he was easier to trust.
His knife work was incredible, and sometimes, when he sucked up like this, he even looked cute.
“Then how long do we have to wait? We’ve been doing this for an hour.”
“Ah, damn—what’s with all the complaints, you dumbass? Shut up and wait, you little shit.”
So much for cute.
When he acted this thoughtlessly, the senior’s hand automatically went to the back of his head.
As if the topic came up, the senior looked back at the Black Society juniors crouched nearby.
Five in total, including himself.
More than enough manpower for an ambush.
You could even say it was a lot.
Slitting someone’s throat only took one person, after all.
“Just wait a bit. There’s still 25 minutes until midnight.”
“My legs are going numb, but I’ll endure it. You said you’d give us a fat bonus when this is over…”
“Don’t worry, you bastards. Our boss is damn good at taking care of that kind of thing, isn’t he?”
Grinning, they waited with patience for midnight to come.
And as time passed, the moment arrived.
“Huh? The lights turned off.”
The villa lights that had been on all this time went out.
Checking the time, it was five minutes before midnight.
“Looks like the target’s getting ready to head to the other world.”
Naturally, they knew exactly which room the Black Scythe was in.
They’d already gotten the information from Yang Qiwen—and they’d even confirmed it with their own eyes.
The sight of the Black Scythe opening and closing the window.
“Should we move now?”
“Want to die? The boss said move exactly at midnight.”
“Exactly at midnight?”
“Yeah. The moment they fall into narcolepsy is sharp like a knife. Even if we move then, it won’t be too late. No need to move carefully, either. Even if a bomb goes off right next to him, he won’t wake up.”
“Ahh.”
Zhang Chen nodded and stared at the time.
Tick— tick— tick!
It struck exactly midnight.
“Good. Now we mo—”
The senior, about to begin the operation, lost his words.
Thunk— thunk—
Because Zhang Chen was covering his comrades’ mouths and driving a knife into their throats.
Thud— thud—
“You little—!”
Seeing his juniors collapse, the senior tried to react at once, but Zhang Chen’s sashimi knife was faster.
Thunk—!
“Guhhk!”
Thunk— thunk— thunk— thunk—!
After taking dozens of stabs to the belly, the senior glared with eyes that couldn’t believe it.
As if asking how you could betray me.
“No need to look at me like that. I have my own master.”
With lifeless eyes, Zhang Chen looked down at his senior’s death—then lifted his head.
Four corpses, excluding himself, had pooled into blood.
“Now… shall I head back?”
The slaughter wasn’t over yet.
There was one more task left.
Glancing at the villa, Zhang Chen turned his steps in the opposite direction.
When Ryu Min opened his eyes and saw the colorless space, he knew at once.
Round 12 had begun.
And when several minutes passed and his body was still perfectly fine, he realized it.
Zhang Chen had killed his comrades as planned.
‘That ability of Yamtti is really useful.’
Neutralizing Yang Qiwen’s plan wasn’t difficult.
All he had to do was dominate one of the Black Society operatives who entered Korea and make him betray them on the day of the operation.
‘I even showed myself to prove I was in the villa, so they couldn’t help but swallow it.’
In fact, Ryu Min stayed in the villa for real, right up until the last moment, to make them believe.
He even told his younger brother he’d be sleeping out for a week.
‘Because of that, it seems he misunderstood and thought I had a girlfriend, but whatever. As long as I can protect Won.’
In case his brother might get dragged into it, he left his real home untouched and staged the villa as if it were his residence.
They might come looking later to get revenge on the Black Scythe, but since it was the same villa where Lost Yak used to live anyway, there would be no lingering consequences.
‘And that wasn’t the only instruction I gave Zhang Chen.’
By now, the guy who killed his comrades would be on his way back to China.
To carry out Yamtti’s order to assassinate every last Black Society operative.
‘Since they’re on the same side, it won’t be hard to assassinate them. Most of the operatives will probably end up dead.’
When the Round ends, Yang Qiwen will learn it.
That he got stabbed in the back.
And it was a big one—so it’ll sting like hell.
Think about it.
If you return to reality and all your men are dead, how hollow would you feel?
On top of that, the operation failed, so Yang Qiwen’s insides won’t be able to take it.
‘So why poke a lion that’s just sitting there?’
Ryu Min’s mouth curled up into a crooked grin.
Since Yang Qiwen’s plan failed, they had no choice but to go with Swingman’s plan—the one Ryu Min had proposed.
‘John Delgado probably noticed by now. That Yang Qiwen’s plan failed.’
He would have searched the name Black Scythe through tracking and realized he was still alive.
‘If nothing else, he’s probably sighing right about now. Because he has to apologize to the Black Scythe he hates so much.’
John has to come find the Black Scythe, according to Swingman’s plan.
‘Will John Delgado swallow his pride and come looking for me?’
The odds he wouldn’t were higher, but Ryu Min decided to wait and see.
He stood there with arms crossed for a few minutes—and someone else came instead.
“Black Scythe!”
An ally he couldn’t do without—Min Juri.
“It’s been a while! I’m happy to see you!”
“It’s only been two months. Can you call that ‘a while’?”
“Only that long? It feels like years passed.”
The last time Min Juri saw the Black Scythe was Round 10.
In Round 11, she couldn’t meet him because of Ryu Min’s prophecy telling her not to.
“If you party up this time, you’ll let me join too, right? My buffs help.”
“A party? You sound like you already know this Round’s mission.”
“Th-that’s not it. If a mission comes up where we have to party, I’m asking you to let me join. Haha…”
Min Juri was so cute, trying hard to hide how flustered she was at his teasing.
‘Min Juri’s right—this Round is a cooperative quest. You have to form parties of five.’
Ryu Min had already decided who he’d put in.
‘Min Juri is obviously included.’
Her hint about joining was because of Ryu Min’s prophecy, but he pretended not to know.
“If I end up putting a team together, I’ll include you as a party member. Buffers are useful.”
“Really? Thank you! Just say the word anytime. I’ll pump you full of buffs!”
“Thanks.”
Just then, another group came looking for the Black Scythe.
He thought it might be John Delgado, but it wasn’t.
Seo Arin, Ma Kyung-rok, and An Sang-cheol.
“Hello, Black Scythe.”
“…….”
“…….”
Seo Arin greeted him brightly, but Ma Kyung-rok and An Sang-cheol couldn’t.
Just last Round, because of the Black Scythe, they’d ended without earning a single point.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t the Black Scythe’s fault—but still.
“Hello, Ms. Democracy.”
“Hello, Seo Arin, An Sang-cheol, Cheonma.”
They were already acquainted, so they exchanged greetings, but Ma Kyung-rok’s gaze toward Min Juri was different.
‘That guy… he wants Min Juri.’
It couldn’t be helped.
After receiving buffs a few times, he must have personally realized how helpful a buffer was.
“I’ve noticed for a while—do you three always stick together?”
At Min Juri’s question, Seo Arin answered.
“Ah, we’re from the same agency.”
“Then have you been surviving together since Round 1?”
“You could say that.”
But Ma Kyung-rok and An Sang-cheol didn’t realize that Seo Arin was subtly keeping her distance.
All they were thinking about was taking Min Juri away from the Black Scythe.
“Ms. Democracy, where do you live?”
At Ma Kyung-rok’s sudden question, Min Juri hesitated—then answered.
“…Seoul.”
“Oh, really? Where in Seoul?”
“Yeonhui-dong.”
“Oh, Yeonhui-dong is close. I live in Gangnam. Want to meet sometime? I’ll introduce you to our company and my agency.”
“Your company?”
“You might not know it, but have you heard of PP Market? I’m the CEO there.”
“Excuse me? Ah…”
When Min Juri made a startled face, Ma Kyung-rok looked puzzled.
“Why? You don’t know it?”
“No, I do. I’ve gone in and looked around a few times.”
Min Juri spoke calmly, but the reason she was surprised was something else entirely.
She knew Ryu Min was a co-business partner in PP Market.
‘Then this person works with Min…?’
Having figured out Cheonma’s identity, Min Juri fell silent.
She didn’t want to chat carelessly and end up giving away information about Ryu Min.
“You’ve only looked around? You haven’t used it?”
“No…”
“Why? You can trade and secure cash. Or you can get items you want. We also support gold trading, and lately we’re even thinking of adding a points-trading method.”
“Ah, I see. But I don’t really have anything I want to buy or sell.”
That was true—but the real reason was what Ryu Min had told her beforehand.
‘Min told me never, ever to sign up for PP Market.’
She didn’t know why, but she’d kept that request until now.
Because of that, Ma Kyung-rok could only smack his lips in disappointment.
‘Tch. If she said she signed up for PP Market, I was going to look up members living in Yeonhui-dong.’
Then he could easily figure out Min Juri’s real-world address.
While Ma Kyung-rok stared at Min Juri with regret, an angel appeared.
[Hello, humans? Welcome to Round 12. First, I’ll do a headcount.]
The angel manipulated the air with a finger, then went, hmm.
[Survivors are 39,402, so it’s down by 619. But what should we do about this? This Round is a quest where five people must form a team. If you divide by five, unfortunately, two people are left over, hmm…]
Though the angel seemed to be pondering, Ryu Min knew.
That it was all calculated acting.
That what would happen to the remaining two had already been decided.
[It can’t be helped. Form teams of five, and the remaining two will be automatically erased.]
“What?”
“Th-that can’t be right!”
[Finding a team quickly is also an ability, if you want to call it that. It can’t be helped.]
The angel said that, but it truly must have been unavoidable.
From the start, the system must have been set so that Players who couldn’t find a team would be erased.
[If you don’t want to win the unlucky-two lottery, you’d better find a team fast, right? Then, since you’re all curious, shall we look at the Round 12 quest?]
Moments later, the quest window rose before everyone.