Chapter 180 – The Chosen Ones (5)

During dinner time at Ninety Nine Nights, all of the Chosen Ones gathered around and brought their glasses of champagne together in a toast.

“A toast! To our victory!”

“Cheers!”

The Chosen Ones raised their glasses and emptied them to the last drop. Then suddenly, Serin approached Sungjin and whispered into his ear.

“Oppa there is something I want to discuss with you alone… could you please come to the second floor with me?”

Having finished speaking, Serin went up to the room on the second floor first. Sungjin watched her leave with a blank stare, then headed after her towards the second floor without letting the other hunters know. However, as he was walking up the stairs, he heard an echo, as if someone was whispering into his ear.

“… up.”

Sungjin looked behind him. The hunters were boisterously dining as usual.

‘Was it just my imagination?’

Sungjin looked at them and tilted his head for a moment, before once more climbing up to the second floor. Though Ninety Nine Nights had several rooms on each floor, Sungjin was quickly able to find out which room Serin was waiting in, as only one of the rooms had its door slightly ajar. Sungjin opened the door and went inside.

“What was it that you wanted to say?”

Serin was standing at the opened window, gazing at the moonlight. However, she was not wearing her usual outfit. She had forgone the leather vest that she typically wore for a blouse so thin that it was slightly see through.

“You… What’s this?”

While Sungjin was flustered, Serin took off her blouse. All that she was left wearing were a pair of elaborately patterned black brassiere and underwear. In contrast to her dark underwear, the white tone of her skin shone alluringly in the moonlight. The fit physique of an athlete was completely exposed. While Sungjin was frozen and unable to move, Serin approached him and whispered into his ear.

“Oppa…”

Her hot breath stimulated Sungjin’s ear. Sungjin laid her down on the bed. Serin rolled across the bed once like a feline and her firm breasts trembled atop her long black hair, tempting Sungjin. Sungjin stepped forward and grabbed her breasts.

“Ahh…”

Serin let out a groan. It was unclear if it was in pain or in pleasure. And then, Sungjin took out Moon Specter and stabbed it into her stomach in the blink of an eye.

“Urk!”

Serin spat out blood from her mouth as her eyes opened wide. Sungjin then took out Blood Vengeance and beheaded her.

‘Splurt~’

Blood sprayed all over the bedroom. Sungjin stared at the decapitated head. Even after it had been completely separated from her body and rolled around on the floor several times, it stared back at Sungjin and asked,

“How did you know?”

Sungjin flung the blood off of his sword as he normally did, then said,

“Mahadas is an incredibly dedicated monk. In the dozen or so times I’ve dined with him, he has never touched meat or alcohol. But to suddenly drink champagne? You shouldn’t have included him when we were doing the toast.”

Serin, no, the face of whatever that took form of Serin warped in anger.

“Kuh…”

At the same time, the view of Ninety Nine nights disappeared from his sight like a mirage and Moon Specter’s voice could be heard.

‘Master! Please wake up!’

It was then that Sungjin realized that the echo-like voice he had heard back while he was climbing the stairs belonged to Moon Specter. Sungjin said briefly,

“I’m awake.”

“… gather! Protection of Light!”

Mahadas, who had been casting Light Magic on Sungjin, looked up at him and said,

“Ah, you’re awake Mister Kei.”

Sungjin quickly recalled what had happened until just now.

*

They followed up on the hint given by the line, ‘In the unfathomably long eons ticking by’. In their search, they came across a bed inside the clock tower. The bed inside the room looked out of place.

“What’s… This?”

When Sungjin approached the bed with the other hunters, the Operator cried out,

[Warning! Hidden Boss]

[‘Master of the Dreams’ Beatrice has appeared!]

Sungjin took out and held up his two swords. However, at that moment, he suddenly thought,

And promptly lost all recollection of what was happening.

The next scene that he saw, was everyone holding a glass of champagne in their hands as they shouted,

‘Cheers~’

*

Sungjin asked Mahadas,

“Mahadas, how long have I been unconscious?”

“About five seconds.”

What a relief. It seems that time inside the dream had flown more quickly. Sungjin quickly looked towards the other hunters. The other three hunters were engaged in combat with a Succubus that had horns growing from its head. Thankfully, that illusion had only affected one person and the other hunters had yet to fall to it.

‘At worst… I could have ended up killing a teammate.’

Sungjin had been too relaxed to a fault as of late due to the fact that the raids were much easier than his skill level.

‘Woosh’

Sungjin pulled out his two swords as he ran towards the succubus that had bewitched him.

‘In any case, this place feels really disgusting…’

*

[Hidden Boss, ‘Master of the Dreams, Beatrice’ Cleared.]

[Raid 100% complete.]

[Beginning reward distribution.]

Sungjin received the rewards in silence. What came out were a few Legendary items and Black Coins.

‘Hrm… This… I should give this to Mustafa…’

‘This seems like Nada’s style… I should show it to her and ask if she needs it.’

For now, Sungjin put away the items that he had received from the reward distribution. Since the raid was 100% complete, there were no more monsters. He left the hunters and went to a corner to attempt to use the Trollseeker Marbles. When he glanced back, the man from North Korea was shaking hands with the Caucasian.

“Good job out there.”

“Thanks. Sorry about all that at the start.”

Sungjin felt that any two men, regardless of the circumstances, would end up reconciling like them if they had fought through life-threatening situations together. He entered the corner and used a Trollseeker Marble. However, the Operator would only repeat the same message.

[No applicable dimension available]

Well, the number of hunters had decreased to the point where you could actually count them by hand. Many trolls had died because of Sungjin, and those people who had trolled secretly could no longer do so as the hunters began to grow acquainted with one another.

‘Then what should I do during the remaining time… Are the other hunters doing well?’

As Sungjin thought of the other hunters, he suddenly recalled the temptation that he had just experienced.

‘I did say that they shouldn’t attempt the Hidden Boss forcefully, but… Things could be… A bit dangerous?’

Those whom he did not have to worry about were Mahadas the monk, and Mustafa, who was self-disciplined. As for the rest – Franz, Hiroaki, or Baltren – it was possible for them to fall into a dangerous situation.

‘If someone calls… I might have to leave immediately…’

Having come to this conclusion, Sungjin waited for a bit. And just as he had thought, a few minutes after he had killed the Hidden Boss, the Operator called out.

[The Chosen One Requested your teleportation.]

“Show me.”

Soon, a Chosen One’s face appeared above the Cube. It was the face of Serin, who had seduced him just a moment ago.

“Cough, cough…”

Sungjin let out a few dry coughs. Serin shouted urgently,

“Oppa, come quickly! Right now, Franz is!”

“Okay, I’m on my way.”

Sungjin immediately switched dimensions and entered the dimension that Serin was in.

“Gwaaaaaaaaaaa!”

The hand of one of the hunters was rotting away due to the Succubus’s black magic.

“Hiyah!”

Serin desperately shot out a few arrows, but the Succubus turned into a bat before splitting into several pieces as she dodged the arrow.

“Ohohohoho!”

Sungjin took out his two swords. Because he had just killed her, Sungjin knew in detail what he needed to do. He looked around. Nearby, Franz’s figure could be seen lying on top of the bed, displaying an unsightly appearance as he stretched out both hands into the air with his tongue sticking out.

“Heh, heh. Nada… Miss Nada…”

Sungjin rolled his eyes, then ran towards where the bats were gathering.

*

“Pig.”

Serin looked at Franz with contempt.

“No, wait, that’s not…”

Franz attempted to somehow justify himself, but Serin simply turned her head away and distanced herself from Franz. Franz hung his head with his greatsword in his grasp as if he were in despair. Sungjin watched Franz with a pitying expression. As someone who had also experienced that very illusion, he understood. Still, he couldn’t openly defend Franz in front of Serin. However, at that moment, Serin called out to Sungjin.

“Oppa, please come here.”

“Hrm?… Oh… Why?”

Sungjin slightly stammered as he replied to her, the memory of the excessive illusion was still fresh in his mind. Serin gestured to him as she said,

“There’s something I want to say, so come here.”

For some reason, her lines were similar to what he had heard in the illusion. Sungjin wrinkled his forehead slightly as he approached her. Once he came closer, she suddenly leaned in and whispered into his ear,

“Oppa, do you…”

It was far too similar to what had happened in the illusion.

“Mmm…”

However, the ending part of her question was different.

“Back then, Mister Franz called out a lot for Miss Nada while he was lost in the illusion… Do you think… That Mister Franz likes Miss Nada?”

Sungjin took a step away from her as he nodded his head.

“Ah, well… That’s… That’s probably the case…”

However, at that moment, a thought came to Serin and she asked,

“Oppa. Did you, as well, get caught? In that?”

While Sungjin was having difficulty deciding how to reply, a message from the Operator rang out once more.

[The Chosen One Requested your teleportation.]

Sungjin turned his head towards the Operator. Nada’s figure appeared and said to Sungjin,

“Hey Sungjin, come here quickly. Our teenaged swordsman has completely lost it and is looking for some teacher named Meguri or something.”

It was just in time. Sungjin left a quick sentence to Serin and headed towards Nada’s dimension.

“I’ll check it out.”