Max Talent Player

Chapter 36: Turtle Nest (2)

Ill start off by telling you in advance that you are the only ones who can see me.

Turning around, they saw the Streamer Senia who had an exclusive contract with Hyukjin. She was as expressionless as ever, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

Once the proficiency of Eye of Perception gets higher, Ill probably be able to read Senias state.

It was still a long way in the future, but Hyukjin was sure it was possible.

In any case, it wasnt hard to guess why Senia made a personal appearance right now.

She must be curious as to why we came to Japan, and why weve specifically been going around like this in Dotonbori for the past few days.

A Streamer had the role of transmitting and relaying coverage of Playing to the Guardians.

Shell want to explain to the Guardians.

Explanations like hes doing this and this kind of Playing here for this and that reason.

Why are you in Japan?

Vacation.

The composition of your group is too unordinary to see this as a simple vacation.

Hyukjin also acknowledged the truth behind her words, but that didnt matter.

Do I have to reveal my personal matters to you? Business is business, and personal life is personal life. Even Players certainly have something called a private life. Id bet the Guardians also respect that?

The channel was likely already open. He waited for a Guardian to back up his words. For example, someone like the Lady of the Scales.

[The Lady of the Scales sympathizes with your words.]

Sure enough, the Lady of the Scales backed Hyukjin up.

[The Whispering Devil detests your words.]

Hyukjin very nearly scowled. Every time he said something undeniably right, this guy just had to show his hate.

Maybe hes just a hater. For someone whos only sponsored me once, hes sure got a lot of nerve.

Hyukjin crossed his arms. Why? Is there something related to Playing here?

Yep, caught red-handed.

In accordance with the Commandments, an Intermediate Administrator is forbidden from personally interfering in Playing or acting in a way that leaks information.

But you can give information in the form of a quest.

Senia closed her mouth. That alone was a big clue for Hyukjin.

So its correct that a gate will form here.

If he had to find the gate anyway, it would be better to get a quest and look for it rather than going in blind. That would help in finding it, too. He could also get a quest reward just for finding the gate, so itd be like killing two birds with one stone.

Though that wasnt in my plan.

But that was fine. The greatest efficiency in the least amount of timethat was the fundamental principle of Playing, wasnt it?

Hyukjin knew.

If I say something like this then the small fry will make a fuss.

He knew the insignificant Guardians who hadnt revealed their namessimply put, the peanut gallerywould be making a big fuss in Senias channel.

Hyukjin was right on the mark.

[Thats right. Lets give out a quest.]

[The Japan Tutorial is also over, so lets give out a quest to mix things up.]

[Quest! Quest! Intermediate, give him a quest!]

[Is there any billionaire here who would do the kindness of issuing a quest to that Player?]

Senia stared at Kim Hyukjin. Actually, she had been observing Hyukjin for several hours with the channel closed. After several hours of watching, she concluded that there was no way Hyukjin was here for a vacation. From his Playing, he was definitely searching for something. And then, he suddenly riled up the Guardians by mentioning a quest, which the Guardians fell forhook, line, and sinker.

Could it be that this was what he intended?

Surely not. It was unlikely that his actions were so calculated. All things considered, he was still a Player in the beginner period, and he didnt seem to have had a True Name Awakening. How could a new Player possibly manipulate the Guardians like that?

It couldnt have been intentional

There was no way. No matter how shabby the Guardian, as long as they wanted to, it was no difficult feat to squash one measly Player, though it did take a lot of Coins. How could a Player dare to play tricks on such powerful beings?

A Player who didnt know that fact wouldnt be able to do such a thing, and a Player who did know wouldnt dare to do such a thing.

Theres no way, but I think it was intentional.

The possibility was very high. Logically, it shouldnt be the case, but Senias eyes and intuition were telling her that this Player, Kim Hyukjin, intentionally created this situation.

The Player she was doubting, Hyukjin, was just as aware. He knew it was absolutely a dangerous thing to scheme with the Guardians as his opponents, to manipulate them. You could say it was like treading a tightrope.

But itll take more than this to kill me.

And one day, the roles would be reversed. Because the Guardians were many, but he was just one person. There were many Guardians who could replace another Guardians spot, but there was no Player who could replace him. He would make it so that he was irreplaceable.

Senia calmly opened her mouth, forming silent words that Players couldnt hear in a GuardianIntermediate Administrator conversation.

I have the authority to issue a quest, but I lack the Coins for one.

She was perfectly calm about it and only spoke the truth without expecting much. A stream of administrator messages instantly flooded her.

[The Whispering Devil wishes to issue a quest.]

[The Lady of the Scales wishes to issue a quest.]

[The Courageous Lion King wishes to issue a quest.]

[The True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain wishes to issue a quest.]

A whopping four Guardians requested a quest. Senia was rendered speechless for a while. It took a lot for Guardians to open their purses, but they were clamoring over something as minor as a quest bestowal. And they werent even small fries, but fourfour!Guardians who had True Names.

That just meant they were watching Kim Hyukjins Playing that seriously.

But just then, another message popped up.

[The Nameless Observer has sent you a 3,000 Coin sponsorship.]

[The Nameless Observer wishes to issue a quest.]

With that, the Nameless Observer became the quest giver. The other Guardians fell quiet.

[The Nameless Observer does not wish to reveal their name.]

As such, the quest was given in Senias name.

* * *

Senia issued our party a quest.

[The quest Turtle Nest has been triggered.]

[Clear the Turtle Nest.]

I found it a little odd.

Senia herself issued the quest?

By the standards of the future, she was a Streamer who wouldnt be able to survive. In other words, she lacked the funds. She had even sacrificed 3,000 Coins to me, so she shouldnt have any leeway to issue a quest.

An Intermediate Administrators quest

Was she overflowing with Coins?

I thought one of the Guardians would issue it.

I couldnt read anything from Senias expression. It did look like she had a chat with the Guardians opened and was talking to them, but it was hard to discern everything from just that.

Yeonseo murmured as if amazed, Its a quest.

[Quest Turtle Nest]

Traces of a suspicious gate have been discovered somewhere in Dotonbori.

Find and destroy the Turtle Nest.

Looks like there really is a gate somewhere around here.

Then did you think there wouldnt be one?

I could feel that Senia was concentrating on our conversation. She had to be extremely curious. Why I formed a party and came to Japan, and Dotonbori in Osaka of all places, how I knew, she had to be curious about it all.

But you know, its really amazing. You seem like a genius, or maybe like you have some kind of special ability.

I just chuckled. I could only laugh when faced with this Sword Empress in her pure days who was sincerely amazed. I never knew that one of the 8 Heroes who would lead the future, the Sword Empress who confronted the Demon King, was ever this pure and innocent.

Whyre you laughing?

Just cause.

Be honest, you thought I was cute, right?

You crazy? Do you not know what cute is?

But really, how did you know to come here? Im like seriously curious.

Even though I was talking to Yeonseo, I was still keenly cognizant of Senia. My brain was whirling, thinking about how best I should answer.

I had a dream.

A dream?

Senias wingtips fluttered. Yes, a dream. This was a good answer. I decided to elaborate a little.

Something like a precognitive dream.

P-Precognitive dream? That kind of stuff really exists?

There are Players, there are monsters, and there are dungeons, so do you think precognitive dreams are out of bounds?

T-Thats true, I guess.

Of course, I hadnt had one. Seeing as Senia was talking to the Guardians again, it looked like she had begun to fall for it. After all, there really were Players who awakened an innate ability called Precognitive Dream. It was also a somewhat more common ability than one might expect.

After walking for a bit, Sunhwa tugged my sleeve. Oppa, Im hungry.

That so?

It was indeedabout time to eat. Wed all become Players, but after walking all day long, it was natural that Sunhwa would become hungry and tired.

I decided to stop for a meal.

Is there anything you want to eat?

Can I really say what I want to eat?

It wasnt a big deal or anything, but Sunhwa only answered after squirming for a while, like she wasnt used to such kindness.

I want to eat gyukatsu.

* * *

Hm. How to explain this.

Kyaaaaaaa!

People were screaming as they scrambled out. I could see a Japanese sign in front of me, and even though I couldnt read it because it was in Japanese, the picture was definitely gyukatsu. We came here to eat gyukatsu because Sunhwa said thats what she wanted, but it turned out that people were screaming as they fled from that very gyukatsu restaurant.

D-Do you think its okay to go inside, hyungnim?

Yoohyun appeared a little frightened, which didnt match his enormous bulk in the least. It almost looked like his big, sturdy muscles were shriveling a tiny bit.

Lets go.

I walked into the gyukatsu restaurant. Everyone had left, leaving the restaurant completely deserted. Inside, I saw something that looked like a black hole. It was possible to click it.

[Gate Turtle Nest]

We found it? said Yeonseo, rather bitterly.

My feelings mirrored her own. We came because Sunhwa said she wanted to eat gyukatsu, and it just so happened that a gate opened here, as if to mock our efforts for the past three days.

It must be a coincidence, right?

It was probably just a coincidence, but why did I get the feeling it wasnt? Still, it was more appropriate and simple to pass it off as a coincidence for now.

Are we going in, hyungnim?

Yeah. Sunhwa, you take the lead.

Yoohyun and Yeonseo were clearly not yet used to pushing a young girl to the front, but they didnt contradict me. We had to get used to this. Even that strong-looking body of Yoohyuns wasnt as sturdy as Sunhwas. We couldnt let ourselves be misled by outer appearances.

Sunhwa was also used to my methods by now. To be more precise, she was faithful to her role.

Got it.

Once a gate was cleared, it would normally disappear. Before I regressed, the Turtle Nest was originally a gate that had broken, and because of that, there was no strategy for it. In other words, we would have to clear this gate without a strategy guide.

[You have entered the Turtle Nest.]

Even so, I had plenty of confidence. Japan had just barely cleared their Tutorial. At most, the gate wouldnt exceed beginner grade. And we were a party of four people who could be called top rankers in the beginner grade.

Its dark.

The whole place was dark. Although the day and night cycle didnt apply to gates, to put it in terms of the time of day, it wasnt nighttime, but sometime around evening, the point at which it starts getting dark.

A swamp?

It was humid. The field was a large swamp, with mud at our feet and reeds and other unknown grasses growing here and there. There were also pools scattered about, with lotus flowers blooming on the surface.

It was the first gate I was challenging without the strategy.

Lets start by figuring out the geographic features.

That was gate clearing 101. Ascertain the geographic features. Figure out the traps, the Safe Zone, and the monsters. Getting information was the first step.

Huh?

But someone had beaten us to it and was already inside. That someone approached us and asked,

Just what the hell are you guys?

That someone had completely slipped past Eye of Perceptions radar.