[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Side Story 16
The scene of Seong Jihan's announcent, being broadcast live worldwide.
When Barren first started provoking him...
"That guy's at it again..."
"Can't they control him in Arica?"
"Who can control the world's #1 ranked player..."
"Barren usually knows where to draw the line. He'll stop soon."
"Still, he could've at least listened to the dungeon talk before making a scene..."
"Shouldn't soone step in to stop him now?"
The reporters expected Barren's outburst to end with others intervening to calm him down.
However...
Thud thud thud!
When Barren was completely subdued by Seong Jihan and had all the hair on his head plucked out...
"I can't believe Barren was subdued so easily..."
"Is that... Force?"
"It seems even more precise than Force..."
"But is it okay to do that to the Arican First Guild Master???"
The reporters were bewildered.
Was it really okay to go this far?
The excited atmosphere of anticipation for the dungeon portal destruction thod suddenly cooled.
The mood in the audience turned chilly.
'When Japan was going on about safety guarantees, I wondered why they were overreacting...'
'Really, is there going to be an incident today?'
Even when the Japanese side demanded safety...
People thought that even if Seong Jihan was strong, with Barren and the Sword King present, what kind of incident could occur?
But after seeing him pluck out everything from hair to beard to eyebrows, people's thoughts changed.
'This person... he'll do anything if provoked...'
Fear and wariness began to creep into the gazes directed at Seong Jihan.
However...
Seong Jihan, unconcerned with this atmosphere, shifted his gaze from the now-silent Barren.
He was looking towards the back of the conference hall.
Specifically, at the seats where the Sword King and Shizuru were sitting.
"Hmm."
Seong Jihan stretched his hand towards the back...
Snap!
He snapped his fingers once.
"...You bastard!"
The Sword King quickly pulled out his dual swords from his inventory and stood in front of Shizuru to protect her.
Keeping a close eye on Seong Jihan, he imdiately went on the defensive when the other made a suspicious move.
But...
"Why are you so scared?"
"What...?!"
"I just snapped my fingers."
The Sword King's face turned bright red at Seong Jihan's mockery.
Indeed, as he said, there was no sign of Force being used.
The other had just made a gesture.
"You...! Don't play gas with !"
"Alright. Let's stop the teasing and get to the main point."
Seong Jihan grinned as he said this.
While provoking the Sword King like that seed like a mont of amusent...
Swish.
As he lowered his outstretched hand...
"Huh? Huh...?!"
Shizuru, who was behind the Sword King, was greatly flustered.
And for good reason.
Plop. Plop...
The face that could have been called the world's most beautiful woman without exaggeration began to change.
"What, what's happening to that woman's face...!"
"That person... isn't that Kato Akari?"
"Ah, the assassin class?"
"Oh, it really is!"
Click. Click.
As reporters began taking pictures of Shizuru, no, Akari's face changing in real-ti...
The Sword King, who had turned to look behind him and confird this, lashed out at Seong Jihan.
"You... After saying all that earlier...!!!"
"It's your fault for not being on guard. More importantly, it's a fake, right?"
The finger-snapping was a feint.
The real power of Force must have been applied subtly when his guard was slightly lowered.
The Sword King glared at him, gritting his teeth, but...
'This guy doesn't fall for it.'
From Seong Jihan's perspective, this was only half a success.
The power of the Blue stat to revert all distortions.
He had wondered if by suddenly applying a stimulus with this power, the Sword King's abnormal state might also be reversed.
'Is it because Blue is only at 3...? A light stimulus isn't enough.'
He had actually thought there was an 80% or higher chance of it working.
It was strange that Blue didn't apply at all, even if the power was weak.
After all, he had eliminated dungeon portals with Blue.
'Anyway, to subdue him, I'll have to overwhelm him with force.'
Having made this judgnt on how to subdue the Sword King, Seong Jihan slowly began to speak.
"Originally, I should demand 100 billion GP for bringing a fake from Japan..."
Ito Shizuru and the Sword King.
People's expressions darkened as they recalled Seong Jihan's demand of 100 billion GP per absentee.
Surely he's not going to withhold information about dungeon destruction until the GP is paid?
But...
"I'll let it slide this once."
Seong Jihan didn't demand more GP.
He got to the main point.
"Now I'll tell you how to destroy dungeon portals."
As he said this, Seong Jihan looked at Christopher the comntator, sitting behind Sophia.
"Christopher."
[Eh...? M-?]
Having been looking around nervously, he was greatly shaken when Seong Jihan called his na.
This monster who had reduced the world's #1 ranked player to that state and stripped the shell off the person the #3 was protecting.
He couldn't help but be flustered when this person called his na and singled him out.
However...
[You have the 'Exploration' gift, right?]
When Seong Jihan asked in English if he had 'Exploration'...
[Huh...? How do you...?!]
Fear in his eyes was replaced by surprise.
The utterly useless supporting gift, 'Exploration'.
How does this monster know about this ability?
At that mont...
"The gift Exploration is the key ability for removing dungeon portals."
Seong Jihan began to explain the strategy for dungeon portals.
* * *
"What...?"
"Exploration? That useless ability?"
"Isn't that the gift used by private detective agencies...?"
"I heard it's not even very useful there."
Murmur. Murmur.
People seed to have a hard ti believing the 'dungeon portal' strategy Seong Jihan had revealed.
The gift 'Exploration' was...
Famous for being the most useless among supporting gifts.
"Enter the dungeon portal, activate 'Exploration' and you can find the dungeon core. Destroy that and the dungeon is removed."
Even though Seong Jihan explained in detail how to carry out the strategy...
Many people were half-doubting whether this would really work.
Especially...
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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'But didn't that Seong Jihan destroy them all from the outside...?'
'He didn't even enter them, right?'
'Is this really the true strategy?'
'Feels like there must be sothing else...'
Those who had seen Seong Jihan destroy the dungeon portals themselves...
Found the thod of removing the dungeon core with 'Exploration' quite unfamiliar.
So...
"Excuse ... but how did you, Seong Jihan-nim, remove the dungeon portals? You subdued them without even entering the dungeons."
A brave reporter directly questioned Seong Jihan.
"That's my unique ability."
"Unique... ability?"
"Yes."
"Could you perhaps tell us what kind of ability it is...?"
Seong Jihan just smiled at that question without answering.
Clearly indicating he wouldn't answer.
As the reporters were left licking their lips at this...
"You... who the hell are you!"
The Sword King pointed at Seong Jihan accusingly.
"We lived together, and you've already forgotten?"
"Ha... There's no way you could be Seong Jihan! That guy was lazy, weak-willed... Yes. He was just a parasite living off his sister!"
Hey, was that how he saw him?
'...Well, he's not wrong.'
Seong Jihan inwardly smiled bitterly as he recalled his past self.
The Sword King raised his voice as if he absolutely couldn't accept this.
"Seong Jihan would never be like this! People don't change. There's no way that trash could have this kind of power! Who the hell are you!"
Swish.
As he said this, the Sword King looked beyond Seong Jihan's podium.
More precisely...
"Yoon Seah! You answer!"
He pointed at Yoon Seah, who was hiding behind the podium watching this.
At that...
"...Why should I answer?"
Yoon Seah, coming out from behind the podium, retorted.
She tried her best to keep her voice steady, but...
Perhaps because this was her first encounter with the Sword King since leaving Japan.
Her trembling was evident.
"Are you going to disobey your father?"
"...Didn't you say I wasn't your daughter?"
"Ha! Is this the ti for wordplay?"
Wordplay, he said.
Seeing Yoon Seah slightly shrink at the Sword King's rebuke,
Seong Jihan's eyes sank deeply.
'I was... too considerate.'
He had avoided seriously confronting the Sword King out of concern for bystanders getting hurt.
But that consideration led to such words being spoken.
Sssss...
As blue haze began to rise from Seong Jihan's body.
Whisper. Whisper.
Akari, whose identity had been revealed, whispered sothing to the Sword King.
"Hm... Is it necessary?"
The Sword King shook his head reluctantly after hearing Akari's whisper, but...
[Lady Shizuru insisted.]
At these words, he sighed softly and finally spoke as if doing a favor.
"Fine. I understand. Yoon Seah. I'll take you to Japan."
"...What did you say?"
"She has specially permitted it. Says she'll acknowledge you as a daughter. I'm not keen on it, but I'll accept."
Not keen but would accept?
As Yoon Seah seed at a loss for words at this...
"But first. Tell the truth about that guy."
The Sword King laid out his condition as if this was the one thing he couldn't compromise on.
His tone suggested he was certain his daughter would naturally follow him.
"...I don't want to."
As Yoon Seah bit her lip and glared at him with teary eyes.
"How dare you...!"
The Sword King was about to burst out in anger.
But before that...
Sssss...
Seong Jihan appeared in front of him.
"Th-this is a violation of the agreent...!"
Takeda Kazuo, who had been watching nervously, quickly shouted, but...
"No, this is perfect!"
Swish.
The Sword King brightened up as he pulled out his dual swords, Ganjang and Makya, from his inventory.
Despite seeing Barren's miserable state, he was still sowhat confident.
After all, Barren was ultimately a mage, a youngster who only relied on the power of Force.
He thought it would be different for himself, humanity's strongest warrior.
"Are you done taking them out?"
"What...?"
"Then let's go outside."
Whoosh!
A leg extended towards the Sword King.
He tried to draw his swords to cut off the leg and foot entirely, but...
'Ugh...?'
His body suddenly felt bound tight, not responding to his commands.
Bang!
With an explosive sound, the Sword King's body flew towards the window.
As his body broke through the wall and fell outside the building.
Swish.
Seong Jihan looked towards the reporters.
"I've told you how to destroy dungeon portals, so now I'll take care of my business."
"..."
"Ah, right. If you want to film the Sword King getting trampled, go ahead."
Sssss...
And then, as if he had never been there, Seong Jihan's figure instantly vanished.
The reporters looked at each other.
'What happened to the safety guarantee...!'
'We knew there might be an incident, but didn't expect it to be this big...'
The atmosphere had seed ominous when the Sword King was saying sothing to Yoon Seah, but...
They hadn't expected such a sudden escalation.
"But... aren't we going to film it?"
"Of course..."
"We have to, right?"
Rumble rumble!
The reporters, having finished their scoop inside the conference hall, now rushed outside for a new scoop.
As the entrance beca so crowded there was no room to step...
"...Ha!"
Barren suddenly stood up and stretched his hand towards the wall Seong Jihan had broken.
Then...
Crash crash crash...!
The wall broke open further, creating a path people could walk through.
[Send the repair bill to Arican First.]
[Ah, no. We also caused damage...]
[It wasn't you lot who caused it. It was that madman!]
Step. Step.
Barren walked towards the path he had created.
The other players, after glancing at each other, also went outside through the space he had made.
And then...
"No way... the Sword King..."
"What is this...?"
People finally understood what it ant to be beaten up.
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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