CH 12

Magician King ‘Jo’.

Having ‘King’ as their nickname, they had an undefeated record.

The popularity of ‘Jo’ was unmatched.

You might wonder how such a thing is possible considering no one knew their identity and they never did any work.

In the era of great hunters, the popularity of top rankers was as good as it could get.

Jo was already a hero the moment they appeared. They were the undefeated no.1 player who had never moved in rankings since the moment they debuted.

Above all, they had the perfect timing.

Jo appeared only once in a situation that was like ‘Let’s see if you still don’t show up’.

People would say ‘Guys, we were originally screwed, but this time we are really screwed. Everyone start preparing for your next lives and then we can meet again in the underworld’ and then they appeared like a savior only when she felt like it.

The most critical event was the three first class cracks that occurred in the past 10 years.

During the 1st disaster.

When Jo, who flew from god knows where riding a black dragon, cut off Balrog’s neck as if opening a soda cap. (the so-called ‘It’s not a bottle opener, It’s Balrog opened Jo’ Events/current views: 78.9 billion views.)

In fact, at that moment Jo’s popularity was as good as decided.

And she did the same thing 2 more times.

Besides, these first class cracks were being created simultaneously in many countries around the world as if it was a collusion.

There was no way they wouldn’t compare between countries.

It was natural that Korea, which had the top laws for situations like these, suffered the least damage.

It was almost like drinking a bottle of soup with mouth open.

The number of views that the live battles, taken from various angles, and the mad MV’s edited by fans soared without realising it was so high.

Journalists started fighting like dogs and cows trying to play ‘Do you know Jo’.

The world’s beloved superstar who finally poured oil into the bag of blazing soup…

It was when Timothy, the 1st place in the U.S. , visited Korea, and spoke to the microphone.

‘Is this Jo’s country?’

That the game ended.

***

Although she was mostly indifferent, Jo didn’t dislike this popularity.

All the rankers in channel 1 knew of this story.

When Choi David would try to show off her popularity, she would suddenly pop out and post the link to her own video.

Every time mankind faced a critical disaster, she would show up anyways. (even if it’s a little late.)

So why would such a person turn her back on mankind?

There was only one answer.

‘Kiddo I’m going up faster than anyone else this time.’

He would find them and kill them.

Baek Do-hyun shook his sword with a blank face.

There were bodies scattered in the grass.

The last person left was sitting on the ground and backing off. His teeths crashed against each other.

“S-Save me.. Please save me.”

“You won’t die, you know.”

“Please.”

“It’s just a process of castrating your humanity.”

Not as a mere mortal, but as the guardian of the world and humanity.

“Please…”

“I’m sorry. I will apologise if I meet you outside.”

Baek Do-hyun gave some strength to the sword that was drawn and cut off his neck.

As the hot blood splattered on his cheek. He slightly raised his head.

[You have killed your own people.]

[You have earned special 50 points.]

[An impactful blow! It’s a phenomenal talent.]

[The hidden trait ‘genius of the century (Hero) has been unlocked.]

[You have met the first blossoming criteria.]

[The first title, ‘Sword of Judgement (quasi-mythological)’ enters the sprout stage.]

[The contractor who destroys evil and protects order starts to look at you.]

《Baek Do-hyun’s current point count: 10,270.》

《Current rank in tutorial is no.1, the sole member of its party.》

***

“Are you kidding me? The golden generation is a bull. There is only one big golden egg.”

A certain bullfrog that was caught in the tadpole playground was slaughtering others.

Leader of the guild 〈Dawn〉 and the 6th rank in Korea, Hwang Hon checked the real time rankings.

It had only been an hour and a half since the tutorial started.

But despite that he had already surpassed 10,000 points.

The fight of the newbies was a random mix of flavors getting tangled up together, and thanks to that, the first place stayed the same.

Unlike his body full of tattoos, Hwang Hon clicked his tongue as he played with his ears that didn’t have any piercing marks.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had a new recruit, but it seems like it’s going to suffer. That guy, did he come out? Or are they a rookie?”

“…A few days ago? Seolleung station? Are you sure?”

Hwang hon asked as he crouched down.

Una sam, his right hand man nodded but contrary to his serious face, his knees trembled.

It had been like this since he overheard the conversation at 〈The Silver Lion〉.

It was better than working to death like Gyeon Ji-rok whose ranking still hadn’t changed with the 38th floor. But it was still quite ugly in its own way.

“Should I pay a ransom?”

“Why? Do you want to collect that too? You wouldn’t even see the hem of Magician King.”

Hwang Hon who had a deep impression, glanced towards the side and lowered his voice.

“Relationship. Relationship. Big picture. Some time later, huh? It becomes the subject of a small talk. Are you some kind of an idiot?”

‘Jerk, even when you see it at KTX, you look like a fanboy…’

Una-sam looked around with sparkling eyes, leaving behind the leader .

From the scouts whose ranking were changing in real time, to those standing in front of the monitor they are interested in or sitting on sofas and talking in groups.

It was just like a normal monitoring room.

But the fact that Korea’s top monsters were all focusing on one side was… even in places like this where only top rankers were gathered, only a few knew the flow.

Una-sam struggled to take his eyes off the black hooded figure near the lions.

Once he recognised it, he wondered why he didn’t realise.

There was no sense of incompatibility even though she was sitting next to ‘Eun Seok-won’ like a man from subway line 1…

Of course, there were no other obvious hints besides the attitude.

Honestly, if Hwang Hon hadn’t told him, he probably wouldn’t have realised until the end.

He couldn’t believe that even as the 15th place, he couldn’t read her presence.

It’s not that he didn’t know the magician king, but it was more than he imagined.

When they were in the same place, he realised how different the monsters were.

It was above the sky.

“Should I be happy or frustrated that it’s such a high level…”

“What are you talking about?”

“No. It’s just…”

Hwang Hon grinned as he looked at his shaking right hand man.

“That’s funny. I am the leader who climbs up. Just look at my back and follow me.”

“…yes, leader.”

“If you are going to just tap on the calculator for no reason, you should calculate the ransom… U-Uh? What? What? Where is the ransom going?

They were heading towards 〈Silver Lion〉’s area.

Hwang Hon hurriedly stretched his arm as he saw David going past him and rushing.

David Choi, who was suddenly grabbed by her clothes, wrinkled her face like a yacha.

“What the hell, Korea Nation’s Late Night Snack Section’s VVIP.”

“Do you have gas or something? I am pretty sure I told you not to call me that outside.”

“Ah so what!”

“…uh, where are you going?”

“Can’t you see? Over there.”

“Wow this is really crazy. Don’t tell me it’s the reason I think? …are you sure you don’t get it? People from the same channel protect each other. Where did you throw away your manners? If you suddenly go there out of the blue like this everyone here will probably pay attention to you. Maybe they already are right now? They are very quick-witted…”

“Nevermind.”

Fast said Busan dialect.

David Choi raised her hand and cut it.

Una sem who was quietly watching the two realised at that moment.

‘That’s… confidence of having a backer.’

“Who says it’s out of the blue? Twice a week. Seongbuk-dong hunter sports town.”

“…”

“This body belongs to the same squash club as Lion’s old man.”

“…!”

“I can go there anytime haha hoho! So we can talk can’t we?”

Hwang hon’s eyes widened. The club network he only ever heard of.

Looking down at him, David Choi smiled smugly.

“Dynamic Korea is a network. All right.”

David, you had a plan didn’t you.

There was a reason in every step of her dignified walk.

Hwang Hon, who had turned around and ordered David Choi, caught hold of her.

In fact, a moment ago he was making up a story, ‘I feel uncomfortable just sitting down, should we take a walk? Ah, walking in this spacious room I just so happen to be near the lions. What a nice coincidence, nice to meet you.”

Jeong Gil Gaon who approached first, saw it happening from Tiger’s line of sight, so he was just sitting there pretending nothing was happening, just stretching and whistling.

“Oh God, what the hell!”

“…N-Noona, let me come with you.”

“…”

Hwang Hon, who was ranked in 6th place, tried to look like a puppy that got wet from rain.

The line he said was ‘Noona, let me come with you’ but it sounded like ‘Nooonaa let mee coome with youuu’.

At that time, David Choi who witnessed the whole thing had a sour expression.

Thud! Gugugung-!

…

“…what?”

“Did it just shake?”

David Choi, who was a really agile and balanced person, looked around.

The other people’s reactions weren’t much different.

She wasn’t the only one who felt it.

The ‘tower’ shook.

Babel Network.

[large▦?◆※shake▦◆▦go ??▦▦The ◆◆▦do? ? ?]

[Babel Tower – an emergency server inspection is being carried out.]

[Network barriers are temporarily weakened during server checks. Please be on alert!]

《Tutorial difficulty will be re-adjusted due to external factors.》

《The tutorials where the scenarios has started cannot be stopped.》

“What the hell is that talking about…?”

Someone muttered in a baffled tone.

What do you mean conducting a server check? Something like that had never happened before.

And just then.

The expressions of the people who belonged to ranker channel 2 or below began to change.

Each one was trying to look at their superiors with a sense of urgency.

Hwang Hon also conveyed it quickly.

“A sudden gate? Three at once?”

Electronic devices didn’t work inside the tower.

That meant the only way to contact each other was through channels, and to make matters worse, ‘unexpected cracks’ couldn’t be alerted by babel.

So the upper ranks would schedule a rotation but…

The tutorial run wasn’t called the official break for rankers for no reason.

It was highly believed that gates didn’t appear during tutorials.

As a result, most of the top rankers were in the tower, and they were being urgently contacted by outside through several channels.

Una sam continued to rush with a stiff face.

“In Namyangju, there is a grade 4. It’s also estimated that there are grade 2 cracks in Bukhansan mountain and suwon. I guess we have to go…”

Squeeze.

Pak-!

There was a strange silence.

The monitor room front view.

In a very instant moment, the glass wall around shattered by some sort of shock wave.

It was true that there was a large explosive sound, and the shattered glass should have hit the ground…

But as if time stopped.

The pieces of glass stuck in the air shredded into small pieces.

Out of instinct, Hwang Hon glanced towards a certain direction.

As if that’s where the answer was.

Little in-young who was wearing a hoodie once again stomped her feet and rolled it lightly.

Swoosh-!

The glass remains instantly turned into light powder and disappeared, leaving no traces behind.

It was a very extensive and delicate mana control.

But even though everyone here were top rankers who were extremely good at handling mana, none of them felt the magic move.

There was only one meaning to this fact.

A sense of astonishment or awe.

Eun Seok-won of Silver Lion, stood up in middle of the silent crowd.

“Are you guys backing me? Get out of here. We have to do what we have to do, ‘hunters’.”

And finally, an announcement appeared in the ranker channel 1.

The 9th place. It was a message from Kim Si-kyun, the head of the emergency response team at the center. ‘Please hurry up’.

And with that, rankers rushed out of the tower one by one.

But before they left, they glanced at a certain direction one last time.

“Then what about the tutorial…”

“It will be fine. Don’t we always have a breakthrough?”

Eun seok-won looked at her while answering with confidence.

In the area where the glass wall had disappeared.

Standing stunned and looking down at the empty square.

The Babel and the stars were on the back of their dear little king.

***

Jo, the magician, looked down at the empty square with her hands on the hoodie pocket.

She thought to herself.

‘(Former) 1st place but I couldn’t stand it… so I acted.’

It was hell of a timing to control destruction with basic principles.

The gaze at the air was somewhat bitter.

‘But still… laziness is dead, Gyeon Zio…’

Live for appearance, die for appearance… laziness all around, laziness for ages.

N-No regrets…