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Chapter 67: Star, The Meeting (5)

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ tilts his head in confusion, unable to understand your decision.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ sarcastically comments that the ‘Calamity Tiger’ isn’t smart enough to understand such a sly snake.]

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ frowns in humiliation.]

A Cruel Tiger lacked the ability to see compared to an ordinary tiger, so in order to survive, it had to toughen itself up, becoming as cruel as possible in the process. As a result, [Cruel Tiger] was the category most focused on enhancing the damage of [Tiger Form] among the nine. Without a care about defense, this category was all about taking the enemy’s life. That was why Heoju was dumbfounded by Chang-Sun’s decision. Choosing the ability to inflict great damage also meant compromising his own safety, so in some way, the category was the worst or least desirable one. However, it was the best choice for Chang-Sun.

‘It’ll match the?Jigwi’s?Eon Fire really well,’?Chang-Sun thought.

The destructive Eon Fire and the belligerent [Cruel Tiger] would be a match made in heaven.

‘It seems it’ll also match [The Black Mountain King’s First Claw] well.’

Click!

When Chang-Sun inserted the key into the stone door’s lock, he could hear it click open.

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ tries to persuade you that it is not too late to open the other doors too.]

[The door to the stone chamber has opened!]

‘I want to open all the other doors with [Peter’s Key]...’ Chang-Sun thought, but no matter how generous Heoju was at the moment, he knew he wouldn’t allow that. ‘But he won’t be able to stop me from taking things in the other chambers using another method.’

[Cruel Tiger] was just the beginning. Chang-Sun could take everything in the other chambers even without [Peter’s Key] using a method that Heoju had never thought of.

With that in mind…

Creak!

…Chang-Sun opened the chamber door wide, releasing the smell of musty antique books.

[You have entered the ‘Cruel Tiger’s Room’!]

* * *

“Huh? Why isn’t he coming? Did something happen to him? Huh? Huh?” Shin Eun-Seo busily paced back and forth in the waiting room, where the Attack Team 2 Members had guided them, as she waited for Chang-Sun to come back.

“You’re distracting me, sit down!” Shin Geum-Gyu yelled at his sister. “The Tyrant isn’t the kind of person who would get into trouble, he’ll come back just fine without you worrying about him. Just stay still, because you’re being obnoxious.”

In Geum-Gyu’s eyes, Chang-Sun was someone who could escape a desert on his own. Even though the media blindly used the word ‘genius’ to describe him, he was truly the real deal.

“He’s not a tyrant.” Eun-Seo blurted out.

“What’re you talking about?” Geum-Gyu asked.

“He’s the kind king—no, good king! Don’t talk about my oppa like that.” Eun-Seo snorted.

“Ha!” Geum-Gyu stifled a sigh and covered his face.

The ‘kind king’ and the ‘good king’ were just nicknames that Chang-Sun’s fans had come up with to support him whenever he caused trouble. To defend Chang-Sun, the fans made ridiculous excuses about how he only acted like a tyrant during the games, and how he was actually a real gentleman in his daily life…

Geum-Gyu couldn’t believe that he was hearing the cheesy nickname that Eun-Seo had used a million times. After being rescued by Chang-Sun, it looked like his sister had become a complete fanatic, too.

‘Compared to the noisy Eun-Seo, he’s too quiet,’?Geum-Gyu thought as he glanced at Baek Gyeo-Ul, who was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed.

Ever since Chang-Sun had followed Team Leader Seo Jeong-Gwon, Gyeo-Ul had barely said a word. Geum-Gyu asked Gyeo-Ul if he was bored, but he concisely answered that he was fine and quietly closed his eyes. Geum-Gyu felt a bit awkward trying to talk to him.

‘He’s…really Baek Gyeo-Ul.’ Geum-Gyu thought as he looked at Gyeo-Ul, whom he could hardly recognize for a while.

Although there were over a hundred probationers, it was very difficult not to notice Gyeo-Ul due to his robust physique and face full of burn marks. On top of that, there was unapproachable air about him. Aside from Chang-Sun, he was also the probationer that had received the highest score during the tryout, so he was quite famous among the others.

However, Gyeo-Ul looked like a totally different man now. The unapproachable air had disappeared, so much so that people sometimes forgot he was in the same room as them. On top of that, his facial features were so well-defined that anyone would think of him as handsome.

Even the other Clan members hadn’t believed Gyeo-Ul was actually the Baek Gyeo-Ul, so they had personally interviewed him and conducted several tests. However, the result showed that it was truly Gyeo-Ul. When they asked about what had happened to him, Gyeo-Ul had just said that he could be cured with Chang-Sun’s help.

In fact, Gyeo-Ul had insisted on staying beside Chang-Sun. Even now, he spoke to nobody as if he was trying to follow Chang-Sun’s order about staying put to the fullest extent. He looked like he was trying to remain as still as a statue until Chang-Sun returned.

‘What happened? Who’s Chang-Sun? And what was he doing with Eun-Seo?’?Geum-Gyu fell deep into thought as he recalled the mysterious Chang-Sun.

He didn’t believe Chang-Sun’s story about how he just happened to find Eun-Seo and save her. There was definitely something that Geum-Gyu didn’t know about, so no matter what the truth was, he had to find it out in order to protect his sister.

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ says he can actually hear your wheels turning, lightly clicking his tongue.]

Just then, a message popped up in front of Geum-Gyu.

“Huh?” Geum-Gyu anxiously looked at the message, sent by the deity whom he had never seen in his entire life.

Ordinary people tended to think that a whole new life would unfold before them if they could just be awakened as a Player, but in reality, each Player had different talent levels. Among those Players, Geum-Gyu had the least talent of them all, so no Celestials were ever interested in him. As a Player that had no guardian, he sadly had never seen such a message before.

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ advises that no matter how hard you think, you will never be able to obtain the information you want in your current state.]

‘The information I want? Does he mean the information about Mr. Chang-Sun…?’?Geum-Gyu wondered.

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ giggles and asks why else he would be interested in you, whose only advantage seems to be your intelligence.]

Geum-Gyu gaped when he realized the deity was literally reading his mind.

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ says it’s not so difficult to read an open book like you.]

‘…!’?Geum-Gyu thought this mysterious deity was surely a skilled tactician, even though he talked like it was nothing.

Since ancient times, snakes had been a symbol of a being that was sly, yet wise. Ever since a snake seduced Eve in the Garden of Eden and stole Gilgamesh’s elixir plant. Geum-Gyu thought it was safe to assume this ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ deity was wise in a similar way.

Why would the serpent deity, that enjoyed analyzing and controlling others, approach Geum-Gyu?

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ wiggles his tail in delight, happy to meet a person who seems to be skeptical like him.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ asks how you feel about hearing out his offer.]

‘An offer to me…?’?Geum-Gyu thought as he opened his eyes wide in shock.

At the same time, he was nervous since he somehow could see why the deity had approached him. He was curious about Chang-Sun.

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ says your guess is right, lightly laughing.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ promises you that the offer won’t cause you harm, and that he could make you his priest depending on the circumstance.]

Gulp!

Geum-Gyu gulped. Even though he wasn’t sure how great a deity this ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ was, the offer to make him a priest sounded more appealing than anything. He was about to ask what the deity’s offer was, when suddenly…

‘Huh?’?Geum-Gyu sensed someone from the hallway watching him, Eun-Seo, and Gyeo-Ul through the window.

When he turned his head, he saw a familiar looking man. The man also noticed Geum-Gyu and met his eyes, before he hurriedly ran to throw the waiting room door wide open.

Thud!

“Mr. Geum-Gyu! And Ms. Eun-Seo…!”

It was Kim Hyeong-Jun, the leader of the team Adios. The other team members, who entered the room behind Hyeong-Jun, opened their eyes in shock as they saw not only Geum-Gyu, but also the healthy Eun-Seo, whom they thought had disappeared.

“Wow! You’re all here…!” Eun-Seo was about to delightedly greet her old team members, but Geum-Gyu hurriedly stood up and interrupted her.

“Hold on, Eun-Seo.”

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ says this will be a good chance to see your ability, flicking his tongue.]

Thinking Geum-Gyu was acting unusually, Eun-Seo stepped backward without refuting.

‘Why is he suddenly acting like this…? Does this have something to do with how no one was with him when I met him in the forest?’?Eun-Seo wondered.

Ever since she was a novice, she had worked with those people. They used to say they were like a ‘family’. Although she had thought they were the sort of people who would always have her back, they hadn’t been at Geum-Gyu’s side when he needed them most, so he perhaps felt that she shouldn’t welcome them so happily.

Meanwhile, Gyeo-Ul, who had been standing quietly with his eyes closed, began to observe the situation. Geum-Gyu wasn’t sure if Hyeong-Jun was aware of the tense air in the room, watching as Hyeong-Jun grabbed him by the hands. “Thank God…! You two are all right. What a relief!”

Anyone who heard Hyeong-Jun would think he had gone through all kinds of hardships to look for the Shin siblings, but Geum-Gyu hadn’t forgotten. After days of searching for Eun-Seo when she had disappeared, the team members had blatantly revealed how they were uncomfortable around him and refused to help him search for Eun-Seo, claiming they were ‘too tired’. Although Hyeong-Jun was supposed to stop the team members from acting that way, he secretly encouraged them. The main reason Geum-Gyu had left the team in the middle of the night was that he didn’t want to deal with those pressures anymore.

Therefore, Geum-Gyu responded bluntly, “We were lucky.”

He didn’t want to bother arguing with Hyeong-Jun or patching things up with him. In the end, the room fell into an awkward silence. Too awkward to interact with the cold Geum-Gyu and the silent Eun-Seo, the other team members nervously looked elsewhere.

It was difficult for Hyeong-Jun to continue the conversation, but he kept trying as he glanced at Eun-Seo. Even though Hyeong-Jun had ultimately let Geum-Gyu go, he had developed a relationship with Eun-Seo for a very long time, so he didn’t want to give up on her so easily. “Anyways, where have you been…!”

“Can you move?” A man suddenly interrupted Hyeong-Jun from behind.

Due to the abrupt Dungeon Closing, the training had come to an early end, but along with Lim Joo-Han, Hyeong-Jun was considered one of the rising stars among the probationers. On top of that, he was the son of the White Tiger Clan’s executive, so when he had arrived at the White Tiger Clan’s head office, he felt more comfortable than in the training institute, as the head office was practically his front yard.

How could someone talk to him like that in his own front yard? When he annoyedly turned to see who had spoken, he could see Chang-Sun walking in his direction.

“Lee-Lee Chang-Sun…!”

“I heard the executives summoned him to question him about the cleared dungeon, but why is he here…?”

Unable to approach Chang-Sun, the team members furtively stepped back and made way for him. This ignited Hyeong-Jun’s inferiority complex that had been formed through constantly being overshadowed by Chang-Sun, all the way from the tryouts to the training institute.

‘They didn’t act like that when they were with me…!’?Hyeong-Jun thought as he gritted his teeth.

The team members that had worked with him for a long time weren’t uncomfortable around Chang-Sun. They looked at him with envy and awe even though they had never had a proper conversation with him. Hyeong-Jun couldn’t control his inferiority complex, and it soon became stronger, finally boiling over when he saw Eun-Seo, who had been watching him with disgusted eyes, casually walk over to Chang-Sun.

Snap!

At that moment, Hyeong-Jun felt himself snap. He grabbed Eun-Seo’s wrist.

“What are you doing?” Eun-Seo irritatedly looked at him.

Hyeong-Jun smirked back at her. “I can’t believe you’re acting like this when you played so hard to get before. Did you disappear because you were busy with a man?”

“What…!” Eun-Seo couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Why? Do you have something to say? Try…!” Hyeong-Jun was about to continue, but he hurriedly turned his head when he sensed someone silently watching him.

It was Chang-Sun.