Novel All
Chapter 543
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 543
'She's watching all day long.'
After the elf Mia, who was supposed to be a secretary and guard, entered the house,
Kim Jihun spent the day restlessly.
He had heard that she would assist him 24 hours a day, but
"No... Following me even to the bathroom is a bit..."
"Many assassinations actually happen in bathrooms. Just pretend I'm not here and do your business."
"Who, who's going to assassinate me?"
"We need to prepare for any possibility."
He didn't expect her to follow him even to the bathroom.
'This is the most annoying thing since returning.'
Especially having to act wary of the elf all day long,
This was much more tiring than when he clashed with Yggdrasil's forces while destroying the S-rank World Tree.
'If it was a regular elf, I could just deal with them using the Red Authority, but something feels off about her.'
In fact, since Yggdrasil ordered elves to be attached to the top-tier Blue Swords,
He already knew an elf would come to monitor him.
However,
A High Elf.
And one stronger than the Deputy Governor coming as a mere secretary.
'Come to think of it, if she's stronger than the Deputy Governor on Earth, isn't she the Governor?'
Of course, the Governor didn't necessarily have to be the strongest,
But no matter how you looked at it, this High Elf,
Didn't seem like an ordinary being.
'I should refrain from directly messing with her for now.'
It might backfire if he carelessly used his authority on her out of annoyance.
Seong Jihan trusted his instinct on this.
'For now, I'll focus on Kim Jihun's life for a few days.'
They said it would take a week to cultivate Kim Jihun in the lab anyway.
It would be better to go for terrorism after a few days gap.
'Then, I should go level up with this guy.'
He changed clothes to go to the Daegi Guild.
Then,
Mia, who had been constantly watching Kim Jihun, opened her mouth.
"Are you going out?"
"Ye-Yes. I'm going to the guild to level up a bit."
"Level up... You can do that just by sleeping in the Hall of Swords; why are you specifically going there?"
"Just, I want to grow quickly. Since I'm a late starter..."
"But your compatibility is already top-tier. You could enjoy life like others. Why bother?"
The elf secretary's tone was polite, but she kept probing.
'...Should I just use my authority, Governor or not?'
While thinking that in his mind,
Outwardly, Seong Jihan properly embodied Kim Jihun and shrank back.
"I've, I've always wanted to play BattleNet games if I became a player... Isn't leveling up better than just playing around? Is there a problem with that?"
"Ah, no. I was just curious."
Mia smiled and went to open the front door first.
"Then, I'll personally escort you to the guild."
So she planned to follow even to the guild.
As Kim Jihun's group went down to the Daegi Guild on the lower floor,
"Oh my, Kim Jihun-nim. Have you come to play games again today?"
They ran into Lee Hayeon, who was giving instructions to staff in the guild lobby.
She greeted him cheerfully,
But soon blinked, seeing the elf standing right behind Kim Jihun.
"But, who's this behind you..."
"A guard dispatched from the Colonial Government."
"Directly from the Colonial Government? Wow, you seem to be an elf..."
An elf, a member of the World Tree Alliance, personally guarding someone.
No matter how important male half-elves were, she had never seen such special treatment.
"Hello. I'm..."
As Lee Hayeon bowed her head to greet first,
"Jihun-nim. May I ask why you specifically chose this guild? I know its ranking isn't that high."
Mia naturally ignored her greeting and questioned Kim Jihun.
"...The Daegi Guild has the best growth buff in the world. I wanted to grow faster through it."
"Ah, because of the growth buff."
"Yes, that's right."
"Hmm... I see."
The elf Mia nodded, and Kim Jihun glanced at her cautiously.
'...What's this? Naturally, ignoring the Guild Master is one thing since she's an elf, but. Something doesn't seem right about this guard.'
Even to an outsider, their relationship didn't seem like a normal guard and protectee.
"Th-Then. I'll go play the game."
"Yes. I'll keep watch here."
In that strange atmosphere, as Kim Jihun entered the BattleNet connector,
Mia looked around and said firmly.
"Everyone out. Clear this place completely."
"Ah..."
"Um, excuse me."
"Surely you don't forget who your masters are?"
She stroked her long ears as she said this.
This gesture was no different from announcing that elves were the masters of humans.
"Ah, understood!"
Then, regardless of whether they were players or staff,
Everyone hurriedly left the connector room.
After everyone disappeared like that,
Mia placed her hand on the BattleNet connector Kim Jihun had entered.
Then,
Zing...
A system window appeared above her hand.
"BattleNet player authentication, normal. Matches government administrative records..."
After verifying that Kim Jihun was playing the game through normal routes,
She nodded as everything was deemed 'normal'.
"As expected, it wasn't..."
She gazed coldly at the BattleNet connector, lost in thought.
'She's really suspicious of me.'
Seong Jihan, who had briefly left Kim Jihun's body, was watching all of this.
* * *
The Sacred Flame created the player Kim Jihun.
This profile was perfect, as Mia had just confirmed.
'Even the contract for this house my sister lent me was newly created and left in the moving-in records.'
Compared to receiving normal authentication from the BattleNet system,
Government records were far too easily modified.
Any suspicious points about Kim Jihun's activities were altered in real time.
So, with this profile, there shouldn't be any grounds for suspicion.
"The timing of the Arena Owner's return, the Red Administrator's appearance, and now the emergence of Kim Jihun, a growth-type ability user that never existed before... Is it all just coincidence?"
Tap. Tap.
Mia tapped the system window a few times with her finger, then stepped back.
'Did she come to verify me because the timing of appearances was similar?'
At first, he thought a High Elf came directly just for such a trivial reason,
But it seemed that among all the awakened players so far, no one had abilities like Kim Jihun's,
So, while monitoring, she also conducted a detailed verification.
Then,
Zing...
Deputy Governor Tria's face appeared on the system window Mia had opened.
[Governor, have you finished the verification?]
Tria spoke in Elvish.
She was clearly addressing Mia as Governor.
"Yeah. Kim Jihun's authentication records are all normal."
[Then please return quickly. Governor, matters are piling up that need your approval.]
"I've been out for less than a day? How can there be so many issues?"
[Didn't Yggdrasil say she would personally look into Earth's affairs this time? There's much for you to handle, Governor.]
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
"Alright. I'll be back in 3 days."
[3 days...]
"You know my intuition is good? Something doesn't feel quite right about Kim Jihun."
[...Understood. Please make sure to return in 3 days.]
Thinking humans couldn't understand Elvish anyway,
The two elves conversed without hesitation.
'Hmm, no wonder she was so strong. She's the Governor.'
Why would such a high-ranking person come here pretending to be Kim Jihun's secretary and guard?
It's not like she didn't have work to do with the Deputy Governor pleading like that.
'Will she be replaced by a regular elf after 3 days?'
He could use the Red Authority without much concern with a regular elf.
Was it just a matter of not getting caught until then?
'No. Rather than staying quiet, it would be better for the Red Administrator to actively cause trouble during this period.'
Instead of lying low for 3 days and starting after the Governor withdraws,
While the Governor was directly monitoring Kim Jihun,
If the Red Administrator was actively operating and World Tree planets were exploding, it would solidify the alibi.
Alright.
Then, after this game ends, he should find a chance to burn a World Tree.
Seong Jihan made that decision and waited for 'Kim Jihun's' game to start, but,
[Matching players...]
After re-entering the BattleNet connector,
Only the message that it was still matching players kept appearing.
'Why is this taking so long?'
Last time, it matched quickly and went to the dump map.
Seong Jihan waited for a while, but
[Matching players...]
This message just kept appearing.
As he watched this quietly,
'Ah, right.'
A good idea suddenly occurred to him.
'While I'm in here, even the Governor who follows me to the bathroom can't intervene...'
The Governor was monitoring Kim Jihun 24 hours a day.
But she couldn't look inside the connector.
'Looking at the matching time now, it seems like it'll take a few more minutes.'
And maybe because it was a BattleNet connector exclusively for male half-elves,
The game loading time was quite long at first, too.
Putting all this together, it seems like there would be about 5 minutes of free time.
That was enough time to eliminate a World Tree on one planet.
'Alright. Should I go destroy one while the matching is running?'
This terrorism was to show the Red Administrator's activity for the alibi,
So, there was no need to specifically destroy an S-rank.
'I should go for about a D-rank.'
Thinking that, Seong Jihan,
Hiss...
Left Kim Jihun's body.
And going to a place without any presence,
'I'll go here.'
He checked the list of D-rank planets and moved to one of them.
Hiss...
A World Tree was different in size from the S-rank.
'The defenses are practically nonexistent.'
At this level, like when he first invaded,
He could even cut down the World Tree without being detected at all.
But,
'I came to make a scene, so I should burn it all.'
Seong Jihan, with his entire body aflame, dropped straight from the atmosphere onto the World Tree.
Whoosh...!
The Red Administrator falling like a massive meteor.
It quickly scorched the area around the D-rank World Tree, burning everything.
'Got one for now.'
Stab...!
Seong Jihan checked the time after absorbing the D-rank World Tree with Blue and Red.
The time spent so far was just over 3 minutes.
'I can go for one more.'
Since he had already invaded, one felt lacking.
He moved to the coordinates of the next D-rank planet.
And just like before,
Whoosh...!
Seong Jihan, transformed into a huge fireball, was about to fall to the ground.
But,
'...Hm?'
The closer he got to the ground,
Something felt familiar there.
'What is it?'
Was the Eternity stat resonating or something?
Thinking that as he was falling to the ground, Seong Jihan
'...Oh.'
Discovered Kim Jihun standing blankly near the World Tree.
No, what was this?
'...Why is he there?'
Could the map matched in BattleNet be related to this place?
But what would a Bronze have to match here?
Seong Jihan hesitated for a moment, but,
Whoosh!
The flames rising from his body,
Had engulfed everything even before touching the ground.
And the fire that spread to the World Tree,
Of course, quickly reached Kim Jihun who was nearby.
Sizzle...!
He instantly turned into a lump of charcoal, then,
Flash!
Kim Jihun disappeared, turning into light.
Besides him, other weak entities that looked like players
Instantly changed into light and vanished.
'...Fortunately, they were in-game characters.'
Otherwise, they wouldn't have disappeared into light.
Anyway,
'I... killed my own alt character.'
Landing on the ground, he gave a hollow laugh.
An alibi.
He didn't want to create one to this extent.
'...Let's go back.'
Flash!
After absorbing the World Tree,
He quickly returned to Kim Jihun's body.
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]