Max Talent Player

“Just what the hell are you guys?”

I could see them with my eyes, but Eye of Perception couldn’t pick up on them. That meant they were a lifeform with far greater ability than me, an existence I couldn’t figure out with my level of strength.

I already knew what such a being was. Even Senia, who I spoke to ‘as if’ I were careless of her status, was naturally far stronger than me. It was the same for the tiny pixie who addressed us.

‘A Streamer.’

I knew this Streamer’s identity. She was the Intermediate Administrator whose fame would spread wide and far in the future, one of the top three famous Streamers in Japan.

‘The pixie Celine.’

She was only about as big as my finger. She had yellow hair. Looking at just her face, she gave off the feeling of ‘Tinkerbell’ from the fairytales, but her stomach was round and protruding. There was another name that was often used to refer to the obese pixie Celine. Like famous Players, she was a Streamer with a nickname.

‘Rising Star Excavator.’

Celine had uncovered many genius-level Players. She had such a knack for it that there was a popular saying that those in Japan who were picked by her had at least a 50% chance of success.

Before I could respond to her, Senia stepped forward first. I was the Player she had signed an exclusive contract with, her source of ‘quality content’. She was taking initiative to exclude any possibility of Celine harming me, which made this a conversation between Streamers. We couldn’t butt in.

‘If Celine is here, that means…’ It could only mean one thing. ‘There should be a Player here, too.’

She had to be streaming someone, but I couldn’t detect that Player. I had no idea where they were. They might even be in stealth mode using a ‘bonus’ they got from a Guardian.

‘Is there a Player who already awakened and came here… In Japan, where they just finished the Tutorial?’

I didn’t know, and I couldn’t know. As far as my experience from the past went, the ‘Turtle Nest’ definitely broke. That meant it hadn’t been cleared. If things followed the path of history, that meant the Player who came in here had died.

‘Even if they already awakened, they’re low-level anyway.’

While I was sorting out my thoughts, Celine and Senia’s conversation seemed to have wrapped up. Celine snickered as she addressed us again.

“In my eyes, there’s something about you guys. I get the whiff of something.” She stroked her protruding belly. “That’s what my belly is telling me. There’s something special about you guys. Like the smell of an old veteran, perhaps?”

Celine’s eyes narrowed, almost as if she were searching us.

“My, oh my. I get the strong feeling I chose the wrong server.”

Rubbing her nose regretfully, she fluttered in place, sparkling powder falling from her tiny wings. Then, she muttered all to herself, “It’s a bit late, but maybe I should switch to the Korean server…?”

She pointed at me with her small hand. “You. Especially you. There’s something about you. I get the feeling there’s something huge about you. Though I don’t know what that is.” Then, she turned and fluttered away like a butterfly, becoming smaller and smaller. “I think we'll see each other often.”

* * *

We searched our surroundings thoroughly. The swamp had sludgy mud, thickets of plants that could be either weed or thatch, and small crabs or insects I couldn’t identify crawling at our feet.

After around one hour, Yeonseo asked me, “Will the Clear Crystal even show up if we just look around like this?”

It was important to look for the Clear Crystal. To clear a gate, you either had to destroy the ‘Clear Crystal’ or hunt the ‘boss monster’. Normally, you had to do one of the two.

“Who knows? I don’t know the strategy either. We have to try to find something that might be a clue, no matter what that might be.”

It wasn’t a lie. I knew there were definitely ‘Gold Turtles’ somewhere here, but I didn’t know where. Seeing as the name of this place was ‘Turtle Nest’, the gate clearly had a close connection to ‘Gold Turtles’.

‘It’s too inefficient for us to all move in a group.’

“Let’s split up into pairs.”

Yeonseo stared at me with a ‘huh?’, and Sunhwa tugged the hem of my clothes a little. It seemed she was reluctant to be apart from me. It was an obvious show of childishness. I didn’t react to each and every one of her little actions.

‘Because this shouldn’t be that dangerous of a gate.’

It had appeared in a country that had just finished their Tutorial. It should be a gate that matched Japan’s current level. ‘Gold Turtles’ themselves were also not very dangerous. Basically, it shouldn’t be as dangerous as Sunhwa felt it was.

“It’s more efficient to move separately.”

Yeonseo gave me a doubtful look. “In such a big place? What if we can’t find each other again? Our smartphones have no reception here. What if we get lost?”

“Buy a Gate Map from the Item Shop.”

“Eh? Something like that exists?”

Of course. Though unfortunately, it cost 1,000 Coins.

“What? But you know this thing costs 1,000 Coins?”

“Should be cheaper than your life.”

Yeonseo looked on the verge of tears. “I just barely saved up 1,000 Coins…”

The mighty future Sword Empress whined, crying crocodile tears. Future Sword Empress she might be, but a low-level beginner was exactly that—a beginner. Of course, I had no intention of entertaining her whining. 

Yoohyun resolutely said, “If hyungnim says to do it, I gotta do it.” He immediately purchased the Gate Map. I also opened the Item Shop.

[You have purchased a Gate Map.]

[-1,000 Coins]

Gate Maps were ‘minimaps’ that could be used within a gate. You could check the location of party members in real time and also send a signal on the minimap when necessary.

“The way to use it should be provided.”

The activation word was ‘Gate Map’.

“In case you’re in a dangerous situation or need help, or need to communicate something, you can send a signal through the minimap.”

I gave a quick demonstration. The Gate Map opened up in front of me like a hologram. Our locations were marked with ‘red dots’.

“If you’re not in danger, but need to send an alert, use yellow.”

A yellow light flashed at my location.

“If you’re in danger, red.”

This time, a red light flashed.

“Pay constant attention to the Gate Map while you’re going around. And be careful to not make too much noise, since you might pull unexpected aggro or something. The signals will alternate between yellow and red. Everyone clear?”

After trying it a few times, Yoohyun and Yeonseo quickly got the hang of using it. The same went for Sunhwa.

“Yes, hyungnim. I’ll go with Yeonseo.”

We split up and started looking for something that might serve as a clue.

* * *

Yoohyun’s Intermediate Administrator, Neptune, was forced to come to terms with an unbelievable situation.

‘Guardians who didn’t reveal their names’ were definitely rabble. They were commonly referred to as ‘beggars’ among the Streamers, but they were certainly important all the same. There had to be many of these ‘beggars’ in order to increase Guardian viewer count, which then increased an Intermediate Administrator’s rank, allowing them to draw in more Guardians.

‘My channel…’

Wasn’t just a little emptier than usual, but…

‘Is way emptier than usual.’

How could this be?

[The ‘Constellation of the Red Wish’ has left.]

[The ‘Master of the Whirlwind’ has left.]

Even two Guardians who had revealed their True Names left his channel.

‘There’s even Shin Yeonseo here!’

Shin Yeonseo was an outstandingly talented Player, a promising Player who had caught the attention of important Guardians like the ‘True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain’. Even though there were two talents here, nearly half of his viewers had left. 

There was one reason for it.

‘There’s no mistake. They’ve flocked to Senia.’

So Yoohyun was definitely ‘quality content’. But Senia had ‘quality content’ even better than that, and the Guardians had apparently entered Senia’s channel in great numbers.

Neptune began to do his role as an Intermediate Administrator, using his characteristic way of speech.

“Great Guardians, don’t you think Player Kim Hyukjin is simply too strange? Do you think Senia explained the Gate Map to him in advance? He seemed too familiar with it.”

Kim Hyukjin already had an ‘exclusive contract’ with Senia. He could only be closely observed through Senia.

Right now, it was necessary to stir up ‘intrigue’ that had no basis in reality.

“In order to relieve your curiosity, I will try making a formal appeal. I get the feeling that he’s using a bug somehow. I will look into it.”

* * *

So Yoohyun cleared the reed forest as he walked.

“Careful, careful.”

Hyukjin had told him to constantly watch his feet, since there could be pits of water in the ground. In swamps like these, there were usually quagmires. That’s why they moved in pairs—one person in front, one in the back. In case the person in the front fell into a bog, the person in the back could fish them out.

“Isn’t that a monster over there?”

There was something moving slowly within the thicket.

“It’s only level 11. Do we kill it?”

“Let’s send a yellow signal to hyungnim first.”

When they slowly got closer, they saw a turtle with a yellow shell. It was about the same size as a ‘city fox’. For a turtle, it was really big.

Very slowly, they approached the Gold Turtle. However, the Gold Turtle seemed to be an extremely sensitive monster.

“Hey, Muscles. It’s hiding in its shell. What do we do?”

“Dunno. Should I beat it up?”

“I think there’s a bog up ahead. It’s better to be a bit careful about it.”

After sending a signal through the ‘Gate Map’, the two of them decided to just observe. They were currently inside a gate. There was no knowing what might happen. They decided to wait for a moment until Hyukjin arrived.

When a little time had passed, someone appeared from within the reed thicket.

“Is it you, hyungn— Ah, it’s not. Who is this dude? You. Player?”

He looked like a Japanese person. It was the Japanese Player being streamed by the Streamer who had a knack for uncovering rising stars, ‘Celine’. Yoohyun and the Japanese person communicated using hand gestures and broken English.

“Um, so. That thing. That’s. You hunting?”

Yoohyun was trying to ask if the other person was hunting that, and the Japanese person seemed to understand. He shook his head.

“No. Monster. Defense. Very, very strong.”

He was probably saying that the monster’s defensive strength was very high. The Japanese person took something out of his Inventory. Seeing that, Yoohyun’s eyes grew wide, as did Yeonseo’s.

“What the heck, is this guy some kind of fisherman?”

Inside the Japanese person’s Inventory was a net-like item, and captured within that net were ten or so ‘Gold Turtles’. The problem was that all of them were hiding in their yellow shells.

Yeonseo had caught the drift. “So basically… he caught them, but their defense is too high for him to kill them. So he’s just collecting them. In any case, it doesn’t seem like they’re strong monsters.”

As far as monsters went, the only ones they could see here were those Gold Turtles, which could mean that the Gold Turtles were the key to clearing this gate. There was a high chance of that, but as beginner Players, Yoohyun and Yeonseo hadn’t quite realized that yet.

“When’s Hyukjin coming?”

It seemed they would see a way to resolve this only if Hyukjin came. The reed thicket shook, and the three Players felt someone approaching. But just then, the Japanese person screamed and buckled.

“Gyaaagh! N-Nandayo! (W-What the!)”

While screaming, he flailed and caught Yeonseo’s ankle. Yeonseo instantly had the feeling of being sucked forward. As she staggered, she caught sight of something.

‘W-What’s that?!’

There was something completely different in shape than a turtle. The monster sprang out of the bog and chomped down on the Japanese person’s leg, dragging him back into the bog. Before long, the bog was red with the blood pouring out of the Japanese person’s body.

“T-Tasukete! (Save me!)”

He flailed, trying not to get sucked in. He put every ounce of his strength into the hand clutching Yeonseo’s ankle. Yeonseo had a hunch. If things went on like this…

‘I-I’ll get sucked in, too.’

His determination to live, his craving for life, all of it drew forth ‘dormant strength’. Strength far greater than what he could normally muster concentrated in the Japanese Player’s right hand. Some Guardian might have even gifted him something like ‘grip strength for desperate struggling’.

‘W-What do I do?’

Yeonseo, who was still much closer to being a regular person than a Player, was unable to handle this unforeseen accident. Yoohyun was the same. Both of them had genius-level talent, but they were still regular people who had lived twenty ordinary years of life. They panicked, their minds going blank, and that left them completely unable to react.

The Japanese man’s body was already chest-deep within the bog, which was a complete sea of blood. Desperation was stark on his face. His craving for ‘life’ was written in bold letters in his eyes, as it would be for most people.

“Tasukete! (Save me!)”

Yeonseo’s body reeled and swayed. Yoohyun, who was standing behind her, grabbed her arm. However, the strength dragging Yeonseo into the bog was stronger than his strength to resist.

For a moment, Yeonseo was completely unable to act.

‘Huh… huh?’

If things went on like this, it was nearly certain that her body would be dragged into the swamp. And just as she was dazedly thinking that, Hyukjin appeared.