Chapter 573: White Lies (3)

“He’s been gone for 10 days...? He must’ve been quite busy,” Gong Ju-Ha said as she rubbed her cheek on the ice conference table, looking content.

Shin Sung-Hyun flipped through his documents from beside her.

“It must be some great undertaking.”

“I feel bad for some reason. Unlike him, all we’ve been doing is resting.”

“We, you say?” Shin Sung-Hyun raised a brow ever so slightly and said, “Please don’t say that. I was busy. Unlike Team Leader Gong, I have work to do.”

He had been working diligently as a teleporter with Skaya to transport Players.

Reconnaissance was crucial, after all.

“Eh? I’ll let you know that I’ve already finished my work.”

Not only were they in the cold northern region, but they were also in a fortress made out of ice. It was cold, and if she didn’t spend time every day warming every corner, people would have long gotten frostbite.

‘She says that, but she just lights a fire once in the morning. Afterward, she would basically have nothing to do...’ However, since Shin Sung-Hyun was a Guild Master, so there was no reason for him to be petty.

He simply nodded and praised her. “Yes, good work. I’d expect nothing less from you.”

“Hehe.” Gong Ju-Ha finally beamed. She suddenly spotted someone and lowered her voice. “...Master Son Chae-Won is still acting like that. It has already been a few days.”

“She must be waiting for the Sword Saint to contact her,” Shin Sung-Hyun said.

A few days ago, Community’s systems had started running smoothly once again, and it was probably because Specter had defeated Prince Digor.

‘But it seems like there is still no word from him.’ It was obvious because Son Chae-Won had done nothing but bore a hole into her messaging window for the past few days.

“Do you think Specter has brought back any news about the Sword Saint?” Gong Ju-Ha asked.

“I don’t know,” Shin Sung-Hyun said, sounding doubtful. If they ran into Kim Woo-Joong during the mission, there was no reason for him not to come back with the rest of them. “All we can do is hope that he comes back safe and sound.”

“You’re right. I’d be sad if the Crazy Training Gang broke up like this.”

“...The what now?”

“Why? Don’t you remember how hard the three of us trained together on the 6th Floor?”

Training? It would be more accurate to say the two had pestered him. Shin Sung-Hyun smiled bitterly at the memory. ‘...Well, as long as he comes back safely, I don’t mind indulging him like that a few times.’

He would feel disturbed if Kim Woo-Joong died here. After all, he considered the man his rival. He shook off the thoughts and stood up. “They’re here.”

Sure enough, the door to the conference room opened, and several people stepped inside. Those who were sitting down instinctively stood up.

“Please, take a seat,” Seo Jun-Ho said as he smoothly sat down at the head of the table. Once the other Players were seated, he spoke, “I know it’s late, but I sincerely congratulate you on the Gulat mission.”

After that, he started telling them about his turbulent ten days that they had only heard about in rumors, and people gasped at every detail

“Wow. You defeated a whole army all by yourself?”

“The fact that you defeated an entire army by yourself is impressive, but I can’t believe you went to the laboratory immediately afterward...”

“It was the perfect way to ambush them. The Overminds couldn’t have seen that coming.”

And to think that he killed Prince Digor on top of all that...

However, someone made a sharp comment when he told them how he met up with Mio as soon as he saved Gilberto.

“Why did you decide to split the party in two?” Son Chae-Won asked.

“I didn’t think it would be cost-effective to concentrate all our manpower into one group. And there was a chance that the Overminds would strike the military base since they lost the laboratory,” Seo Jun-Ho replied coolly.

“...I see.”

He continued and told them about how they killed Isaac and Valencia, eliciting a round of applause from everyone.

“Wow! Those scoundrels are finally...”

“They had always been on our backs, but they’re finally gone.”

“What a job well done. To be honest, I think that was the best thing we got out of this.”

“I agree. Anyway...”

Just as Jun-Ho was about to wrap up, a bandaged arm shot into the air.

“How... how did our Guild Master go?”

The person who spoke was Kiora, the Vice Master of Hallem. She bit her lips hard, looking very troubled. She was ashamed of not having been able to do anything, and her Master died as well, even though she was with him.

“...” Her question prompted a short memory to flicker through Seo Jun-Ho’s head.

‘He wanted to live.’ That was the only reason Milphage betrayed humanity and cooperated with the fiends. There had once been a time when his mercenary group was nearly annihilated while carrying out a commission in Outland back when Milphage was still an honorable mercenary. ‘They said that the reason they failed was because they ran out of rations and Outland was too barren...’

However, it seemed that it hadn’t been the case.

They had fallen right into the fiends’ traps.

‘And then...’

Milphage was given a choice.

He could either join his late teammates in the afterlife...

Or he could serve the fiends and live...

“Please tell me. Tell me how that idiot... tell me what Milphage was like in his final moments,” Kiora urged.

The room grew solemn. Everyone’s eyes landed on Seo Jun-Ho.

Eventually, he said, “He... fought Isaac Dvor to the bitter end.”

He was lying. Milphage had decided to cooperate with Isaac.

“He had shown us the tenacity of Frontier’s Mercenary King.”

He had surrendered to a greater power.

He had shamelessly betrayed his comrades to survive.

One could even say that he had betrayed humankind.

“If it hadn’t been for his fighting spirit, I wouldn’t have been able to save Christin Lewis.”

“...”

Christin glanced at Seo Jun-Ho out of the corner of his eyes. He looked very rueful, seeing how Jun-Ho was currently defending the traitorous defector who had sided with the wicket fiends.

‘But we have no other choice...’

Christin understood where Jun-Ho was coming from, and he could only close his eyes.

‘It is a delicate issue.’

Lying was sinful according to the doctrines of the Sun God, and he couldn’t condone lies as a devotee of the Sun God. However, he logically understood that Seo Jun-Ho wasn’t doing all this for himself.

‘He chose to carry the burden of the sin... Being a hero must be tiresome.’

He prayed that God would be merciful to Seo Jun-Ho.

“...Thank you.” Kiora bowed her head as tears welled up in her eyes.

Eventually, once the air grew lighter, Shin Sung-Hyun spoke up.

“Then, should we start preparing for battle against the Overminds now?” He asked.

“No. Once our preparations are complete, we will attack the Float Force Power Plant,” Seo Jun-Ho said.

The Players were confused.

“Is there a particular reason for that?” Shin Sung-Hyun asked.

“Yes. I haven’t mentioned this before, but the Administrator asked us to do so.”

“The Administrator?!”

“Does that mean you met the 7th Floor Administrator?”

Seo Jun-Ho nodded. “Yes. That is also why I attacked the Radio Tower and snuck into the laboratory immediately afterward.”

He told them the story about the Administrator and her three holy relics.

Christin muttered to himself, “The Holy Ring, the Holy Garment, and the Holy Sword. What a coincidence. Those are the same relics mentioned in our scripture.”

“Of course, the Administrator is Helic, after all.”

“Yes, as expec—sorry?” Christin whipped around. “What did you just say?”

“I said the 7th Floor Administrator is the Sun God Helic,” Seo Jun-Ho repeated.

“W-what...?!” Christin shot up from his seat, stunned.

Seo Jun-Ho didn’t think much of it. ‘Of course, he’s shocked. After all, the god he has been worshiping ended up being a Floor Administrator.’

However, it seemed that Seo Jun-Ho wasn’t quite correct.

“But why?!” Christin cried, choking with grief. “I’m right here! How could He impart His holy message to you?”

“...I don’t know, either,” Seo Jun-Ho replied nonchalantly.

“Well, obviously, Specter is more trustworthy. Maybe that’s why?” Gong Ju-Ha interjected.

“Curses!” Christin shouted. He sat back down and brought his hands together in prayer. “My Lord, as your humble servant, I implore you...”

“Skaya.”

“Gotcha.” Skaya immediately understood and snapped her fingers.

Christin vanished, likely teleported to his room.

With the heckler gone, Seo Jun-Ho continued. “Anyway, let me tell you more about the Float Force Power Plant mission. According to the memories I read...”

Once the lengthy briefing was finished, Son Chae-Won raised her hand.

“Your plan sounds very difficult to pull off with the amount of troops we have,” she said.

“You’re right, but we have reinforcements.”

Everyone’s eyes widened with surprise.

“Reinforcements?”

“Are you saying that the associations on Earth will send more Players here?”

“Oh, they won’t be coming from Earth. They’re—”

Seo Jun-Ho was interrupted by someone flinging the doors open.

“W-we’re under attack! The Overmind army is here!”

“What?”

“The Overmind army?”

“Shit! Move!”

The Players grew pale and dashed out of the conference room.

The room was emptied out in an instant.

“Jun-Ho-nim, didn’t you hear them? We’re under attack,” Shin Sung-Hyun asked while walking toward Seo Jun-Ho.

“It’s them.”

“Pardon?”

“They’re our reinforcements. Not our enemy.” Seo Jun-Ho shrugged and stood up. “Let’s go. We should stop them before a fight breaks out.”

***

Hundreds of Overminds stood outside of the fortress under the snowstorm.

The air was tense between them and the Players.

Seo Jun-Ho climbed up the wall.

“Senior Brother!”

“Oh, Junior Brother.” Baek Geon-Woo stood at the head of the army, looking flustered. “I assume you haven’t told them yet?”

“I was just about to do that.”

“Tell us what? What is all this?”

“I told you all that reinforcements are coming.”

“So you’re saying...”

“Yes,” Seo Jun-Ho confirmed, nodding. They hated the Overminds more than anyone else, and they also wanted to slaughter them more than anyone else.

“These are our support troops. 784 failures.”

***

The Players watched the failures enter the ice castle with caution and unease.

The turtle-looking village chief looked around and pointed out. “I suppose we are not welcome here. Well, I expected as much.”

“They’ll get used to it in no time,” Seo Jun-Ho reassured.

Of course, the Players were suspicious. The failures didn’t look much different from the enemies they had been fighting against with their lives on the line.

“I’ll give them the full story, so just do what you need to do, Jun-Ho,” Gilberto said.

“Thanks. I’ll be counting on you.”

He turned around to face two particular Players.

The two blinked at him.

“Is there something you’d like to tell us...?”

“Yes.”

Seo Jun-Ho studied Son Chae-Won and Shin Sung-Hyun.

“Can you two spare me a moment?”