Max Talent Player

Notices came in.

[The ‘Nameless Observer’ thinks very highly of your prudence and composure.]

[The ‘Nameless Observer’ is steadily observing you.]

The Nameless Observer aside, notices from the Courageous Lion King came as well.

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ is reevaluating you.]

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ has become much more amicable towards you.]

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ shows great favor towards your hidden courage and spirit.]

Just what did I do to get this courage-lover to suddenly change his evaluation of me? Great deal of goodwill? So suddenly?

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ wishes to gift you ‘High Strength Elixir x3’.]

He wasn’t the only one sending notices.

[The ‘Lady of the Scales’ harbors great goodwill towards you.]

[The ‘Lady of the Scales’ shows great favor towards your chivalry and sense of justice.]

[The ‘Lady of the Scales’ wishes to gift you the ‘Aten Sword’.]

The Aten Sword?

‘Isn’t that the sword the Typhoon, Jo Sunghyun, used in the beginning?’

The grade of the item was a staggering ‘Rare’. At the very least, the sword’s attack power was very nearly the best you could get in the ‘beginner period’. It did have the weakness of low durability, but even so, it was an item of a prowess far above my current level.

‘Why this?’

It wasn’t just the Lady of the Scales.

[The ‘Whispering Devil’ wishes to nurture you.]

[The ‘Whispering Devil’ shows a great favor towards your craftiness and resourcefulness.]

[The ‘Whispering Devil’ wishes to gift you ‘Devil’s Fruit’.]

This time, even the Devil’s Fruit made an appearance.

‘A fruit that forcefully advances you into the evil-alignment faction.’

Players in the evil faction enjoyed fast growth and were very strong. Up until the middle period, most of the people who could be called ‘masters’ had evil-alignment classes. If I were to use the ‘Devil’s Fruit’ right now, I would instantly become the top-level ranker.

‘But I’m already the top-level ranker anyway.’

Other nations were just starting the Tutorial, and I most likely had the highest level in Korea. The ‘Devil’s Fruit’ came with disadvantages that were as big as its advantages. After a certain point, further growth was difficult, and in the worst case scenario, you would be swallowed by ‘demonic energy’ and lose all reason.

‘One misstep, and you’ll become a berserker.’

The only person who overcame that and climbed to the top was the Demon King himself, Kang Sun-il.

In any case, I had an idea as to why these Guardians were suddenly wanting to send me gifts.

‘Could it be…’

Actually, I already knew. It was just that I needed a little time to be sure.

‘That they’re trying to brown-nose me before the Guardian selection?’

I couldn’t believe it, but that was how it was. I would pick my Guardian when I reached level 30. The Guardians were always reigning high ‘up there’, but for the Guardian selection, and the Guardian selection alone, they were at the mercy of the Player.

‘That’s what it is.’

So basically, the Guardians were preening their feathers, saying: Look, I’m this great of a Guardian. But I found it a little absurd. I was just one person, but a whole range of descriptions were tacked onto me. Prudence, composure, courage, sense of justice, chivalry, craftiness, the whole gamut. These guys clearly only saw what they wanted to see.

[The ‘True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain’ shows great interest in your talent.]

Finally, even the Guardian of the Sword Empress began to come forward.

[The ‘True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain’ wishes to make you a priest.]

[The ‘True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain’ wishes to pass down the ‘Heavenly Demonic Art’ to you.]

The Nameless Observer. The Courageous Lion King. The Lady of the Scales. The Whispering Devil. And now, even the True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain. I wasn’t even level 30 yet, but there was a frenzied rush to recruit me.

Compared to the rest, the notices from the ‘Nameless Observer’, who had observed me ever since the Tutorial, were a little shabby. They only said they were continuing to observe me.

Senia said to me, “The Guardian Lady of the Scales has gifted me a ‘Pause’ authority. As Player Kim Hyukjin knows, Pause authorities are extremely expensive.”

The world turned gray. The only spots of color were me and Senia. I took this as the Lady of the Scales acknowledging her mistake.

‘A Pause authority. It’s not just a reconciliation gift.’

Why did the ‘Lady of the Scales’ gift Senia a ‘Pause’ at exactly this time? To let me and Senia talk comfortably? It couldn’t be just that.

‘She’s showing off her wealth.’

Simply put, she was saying: I have a lot of money; I have a lot of Coins. So when you reach level 30, pick me.

‘In all honesty, the Lady of the Scales is a Guardian who gives really generous support.’

I was left contemplating for a moment.

‘At least in the early period, there’s no mistake that my talent is remarkable.’

I had met both the Fist King and the Sword Empress, but no one had greater talent than me. At least in the current period, my talent was the most outstanding, and the same went for my knowledge.

‘That must be why the Guardians are competing amongst each other like this.’

It was all in order to nurture the Players who would become their avatars or incarnations. I had no right to converse with the Guardians in person. You could say I was a character in a game. The Guardians and I could only communicate through the Streamer Senia.

“Senia. You know all the proposals I got, right?”

“Yes.”

I could see her wingtips trembling again. My Eye of Perception picked up on a touch of Senia’s emotions. Normally, it would be impossible for someone at my level to read the emotions of an ‘Intermediate Administrator’. The fact I could perceive them right now could only mean one thing.

‘Even though she looks calm on the outside… she’s just that agitated on the inside.’

This was what winning the lottery had to feel like. Right now, Guardians who had revealed their names, aka influential Guardians, were tripping over each other to reveal that they wanted to give gifts to the Player she had an exclusive contract with. The more Guardians like that there were, the more successful of a Streamer Senia would become.

“I am… very grateful for the Guardians’ offers.”

Truthfully, I wasn’t that grateful. According to what we learned over ten years, mankind was simply ‘entertainment’, nothing more and nothing less. Even ‘absolute good’ alignment Guardians were just exercising the influence of good within the ‘fun’; they didn’t treat humans like real individuals. Whatever the actual truth was, that was how mankind had interpreted the Guardians.

“But right now, I can’t accept any of them.”

This was an important moment. Guardians had a more petty side to them than one might expect, so many of them disliked it when a mere ‘character’ in a simple amusement rejected their offer.

“I dare not accept the offer of just one Guardian.”

Right now, in this very moment, it was the time for me to lower myself and be as humble as possible.

“And I dare not accept the offers of all of them.”

Those gifts weren’t just ‘good will’ or ‘good intentions’. They were wordless messages telling me to choose them when I reached level 30. So what would happen if I accepted their presents and didn’t choose them?

‘I’d be failing to draw the big picture.’

Now that I had returned to the past, I wanted to draw a big picture. I wanted to look a little further ahead. No matter what happened, I wanted to achieve my dreams and succeed. I too was born as a man, as a proud Korean, and I didn’t want to live hand in hand with poverty any longer.

To make that happen, I needed to look slightly further ahead and be more careful.

‘Right now… I’ll bow my head.’

There were differences depending on their dispositions, but as a whole, Guardians tended to prefer Players who were deferential to them. For most cases, my current actions were the right call.

“For now, I will simply appreciate the intent of all the Guardians who are sponsoring me… and Play with my very best effort.”

The Guardians retracted their ‘gifting intentions’. I grinned inwardly. Depending on what I did, what actions I took, I could serve the Guardians like they were my masters, or turn them into total pushovers.

‘Just like how you guys are watching me like your personal jester for entertainment…’

I would turn them into pushovers.

‘I’ll make full use of you.’

Like boiling a frog, very, very slowly, little by little. Especially that courage-lover. I was determined to make the Lion King go bankrupt, without fail. Even now, thinking about the time I almost died in the magic troll raid gave me a spike of rage.

Senia’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“The Pause will soon end.”

With that, the Pause ended.

* * *

After hunting the Six-Tailed Fox, the two of us started heading home. In one day, my home would change—we’d be moving to the apartment my mom had always dreamt of. While on the road, I got a call. It was from Shin Yeonseo.

–That was you, right?

–What?

–You killed a monster at Mt. Inwang, yeah?

What the heck? The incident hadn’t gotten in the media and wasn’t at all publicized. I had no idea how she found out so soon and called me.

–Yeah. That was me.

And then, out of nowhere—

–Thanks.

After talking with her a little, I found out that she wasn’t joking. When I nabbed the win in the PVP battle we had, Yeonseo had said something after yelping, “Mommy!”

[Man, if our Mrs. Han Myunghye had seen me just now, she would’ve been shocked, huh? I haven’t called for my mommy since elementary school.]

One of the women Sunhwa and I had saved today was named ‘Han Myunghye’. In other words, the person we saved today on Mt. Inwang was the mother of the future Sword Empress, Shin Yeonseo.

‘I can’t tell… if this is a good or bad thing for Yeonseo.’

If Yeonseo’s mom, Han Myunghye, had died today?

‘She would’ve been burning for revenge.’

The Sword Empress had once said that the driving force for her growth was ‘anger’ or ‘desire for revenge’. Back then, I didn’t know exactly why that was the case, because she never publicized her personal matters, but it turned out that way back in the beginning, one of the victims of the tragedy of Mt. Inwang was the Sword Empress’ mother.

‘But now, her mom is alive.’

Did that mean the Sword Empress’ growth would be stalled? Because her driving force was gone? Was I changing the future a lot right now? I didn’t know. I couldn’t know. But I didn’t regret my actions. I couldn’t save everyone, and there was no need to give up on my gains purely to save people, but it was only right to save the people I could save in front of me. I did the right thing.

–Thanks. I’ll be sure to repay this favor.

Those were the same words I’d heard multiple times from So Yoohyun. Somehow, Yeonseo and Yoohyun overlapped in my mind.

–What favor? I just happened to be there by coincidence.

–I believe that there’s no such thing as coincidence. It’s merely that the inevitable strings of fate move us, and we call that coincidence.

What kind of nonsense was she going on about now?

–I’ve decided. I’ll attend to you well.

And then, the call ended. I could guarantee it—this girl just said what was on her mind without realizing it. Attend? I was so dumbfounded that I had to laugh. The kid walking next to me, Sunhwa, tilted her head at me.

“Oppa. Why’re you laughing like you just heard something ridiculous?”

“It’s nunya business.”

“Tch, you should tell me.”

Yep. The future Sword Empress just said she wants to attend to me. But she probably didn’t know what that word really meant. Attend. The heavily implied meaning was a woman assisting a man… with that.

‘Whatever, I inadvertently have her owing me now.’

It was fine. A lot had already changed from the past. I got an apartment in my name and had $100,000 in my bank account. The future Fist King and Sword Empress had a great deal of goodwill towards me. And also, by my side was Sunhwa, a tank of perhaps even greater talent than them. So much had changed.

One day passed. The Mt. Inwang incident was treated as important news in the media, with headlines like:

–The high-level monster that appeared on Mt. Inwang.

–One hiker dead, two injured with varying degrees of severity.

–The hero of Mt. Inwang is?

It was publicized that new monsters of a completely different class from slimes had appeared, and one of those monsters killed someone. One person bled a great deal from a gash in their stomach and underwent surgery after being transferred to the hospital, but there was no danger to their life.

I received a call from Yoohyun.

–Hyungnim! The hero of Mt. Inwang, is it you?

I was about to call Yoohyun anyway. My level was 26. I had to raise it to level 30, and up until level 30, it was really helpful to have help from a party. Or rather, a party was absolutely necessary.

–Cut the chatter and come out to meet me.

I didn’t say much, but Yoohyun seemed sure that I was the hero of Mt. Inwang.

–I knew it was you. The true hero of this era is you, is it not?

 He sure was good at blathering all by himself.

–I admire you, hyungnim.

I called Yeonseo and Yoohyun to meet at a café in downtown Seoul. Of course, Sunhwa was there, too.

When we were seated, I said, “There’s someplace I need to go.”

Playing was, of course, accompanied by danger, and that applied to geniuses, too. In order to go higher than others, faster than others, of course everyone would take risks. It was the same right now. I couldn’t do it alone. I needed their help.

“We’re going…”

I told them our destination.