The Player Who Must Kill the Regressor to Survive.

Chapter 5

—–CROW—– 

Manager Kim and Joker.

Both were players who specialized in the assassin class.

In fact, Joo-hyuk hyung, the leader, had said that he initially considered them when forming the party, along with Hae-jin.

Park Hae-jin, the slaughterer.

There was a time when he was called the strongest in 1v1, but that was only because Joo-hyuk hyung had guided him to become a slaughterer.

Without Joo-hyuk’s guidance, Hae-jin would have been just one of the mid-tier players.

However, Joo-hyuk hyung, while choosing Hae-jin as one of the final six to remain with him, had awakened within Hae-jin the strength needed to survive this damned survival game.

Hae-jin remembered Joo-hyuk hyung.

Joo-hyuk hyung, with a proud smile on his face, had said,

“[Choosing you was the right decision, Hae-jin-ah.]”

Whether to add a nuker to the party consisting of Manager Kim and Joker and go for explosive damage, or to add Hae-jin, the well-rounded slaughterer, and go for a two-pronged physical damage dealer composition with Joo-hyuk hyung and Hae-jin.

After much deliberation, Joo-hyuk hyung chose Hae-jin, who could maintain his strength in prolonged battles, over quickly defeating bosses.

But there was something Joo-hyuk hyung had said during the last regression.

“[It’s really fortunate that you did well. Otherwise, the combination of Manager Kim or that Joker bastard, both nukers, would have been better. So, when you form your party this time, consider one of them. And Yoo Young-chul, make sure you kill that bastard.]”

He said to definitely include an assassin among the nukers.

There were three prominent assassins among the players.

They were Manager Kim, Yoo Young-chul, and Joker, as mentioned earlier.

However, Yoo Young-chul was a serial killer in reality as well.

Although the leader’s goal was to reach the end of the trials no matter the sacrifice, they couldn’t entrust their backs to a serial killer who killed people for fun.

After all, this was a party operating on the premise of saving the world.

So Hae-jin considered Manager Kim and Joker as candidates for the remaining party member.

‘Manager Kim would be better…’

Manager Kim was a 39-year-old man who ran a human resources agency and had a special forces background.

It was quite an unfortunate case.

If he had been just one year older, he could have avoided participating in the survival game.

But it couldn’t be helped.

The survival game didn’t make exceptions based on age.

Still, despite being the oldest in this survival game, he was a skilled player who survived quite far into the later stages.

And Joker.

He was a wealthy businessman living in the United States.

His alias was taken from the famous psychotic villain.

Ironically, in that work, the wealthy businessman was the hero protagonist, but he chose to operate under the villain’s name.

Moreover, Joker, unlike the actual serial killer Yoo Young-chul in reality, was famous in the United States as a hero.

Because he practiced the noblesse oblige of the wealthy.

Therefore, Joker wasn’t a bad choice either.

Furthermore, unlike Manager Kim, he was young.

He was 21 years old.

At the prime of his life.

But that wasn’t important.

‘While age difference plays a significant role in immediate physical abilities, it’s the stats that affect a player’s physical condition from the mid-game onwards.’

Considering that Manager Kim survived until the mid-to-late stages, even at nearly forty, he wasn’t necessarily inferior to Joker.

So it was a dilemma.

Manager Kim, from the same country, making communication easier, skilled, and experienced.

Joker, overseas but wealthy, potentially helpful in reality, and as skilled as Manager Kim.

Actually, considering all external factors, Joker’s conditions were better.

Younger, wealthier, and even with a positive image as a wealthy businessman in American society.

However, Hae-jin, after pondering, shook his head.

“Right, since they both survive until the mid-to-late stages anyway, I’ll decide after observing them more until then.”

Hae-jin decided to think a little more about which of the two to accept as the new party member.

Putting aside the decision on the new party member, Hae-jin first organized the existing party members he planned to recruit for sure.

‘First, there’s the Archmage and the Divine Archer in Korea.’

‘Archmage’ referred to ‘Lee Sang,’ the world’s number one professional gamer, known as ‘Speller.’

A player who reached the pinnacle in all games with mage-focused characters and was also famous as a mage-focused mid-laner in AOS-type games.

He had reached the peak of the mage class after becoming a player.

Hence the alias ‘Archmage.’

And ‘Divine Archer’ referred to ‘Kwon Na-ye,’ a South Korean national archery team member.

She also became an archer befitting her specialty after becoming a player, and her skills hadn’t diminished, leading her to the position of Divine Archer.

These two were the people Hae-jin could most easily approach in reality.

Because they were both South Korean.

Of course, after next week, there wouldn’t be any national barriers to approaching anyone in reality.

Once he collected the lottery winnings, there would be no financial limitations for Hae-jin.

Then there would be no problem in meeting the remaining party members, the Saintess and the Sage, in reality either.

Moreover, both of them were in Italy.

The Saintess was in Vatican City, and the Sage was in Milan.

‘I’ll have to go to Italy to see them both.’

He already knew where they were and how to get to them.

He had traveled with Joo-hyuk hyung before.

Besides, he currently had Joo-hyuk’s knowledge in his head.

Recalling the familiar path as if he had traveled it several times, Hae-jin finished organizing his thoughts about the people he had to meet as party members and thought.

‘First, I’ll secure the party members that formed Joo-hyuk hyung’s best roster. And I’ll have to diligently manage this money.’

He had already experienced all of this in the first regression, and above all, since he had all of Joo-hyuk’s memories, doing all of this wasn’t difficult at all.

With enough money, there was nothing one couldn’t do in the world.

Still, Hae-jin felt the need to organize the information he had in his head, even though it was all of Joo-hyuk’s.

So he went to the study and organized his thoughts.

About the party members who were Joo-hyuk’s top-rated roster after numerous regressions, and how he should manage and invest this illegal money.

Regarding the illegal funds, there was a cryptocurrency account created under a false name by the boss of the organization that had committed the crimes, rather than cash.  Hae-jin planned to transfer those cryptocurrencies to himself and then find places to invest.

The method of investment had already been clearly decided based on Joo-hyuk’s memories and information.

Having finished organizing everything, Hae-jin said,

“Alright, shall we go see the kids now?”

The ‘kids’ Hae-jin referred to were ‘Lee Sang’ and ‘Kwon Na-ye.’

Because both of them were at the Taereung National Training Center.

As professional gamers also became recognized national representatives, they were required to train at the Taereung National Training Center when there were international competitions.

And since there was a world competition coming up soon, both Lee Sang and Kwon Na-ye were gathered in one place.

Of course, since only he had regressed at this point, meeting them now would only make him seem suspicious, as they wouldn’t know who he was.

But he had to meet them.

‘Once I reveal who I am, they’ll naturally take interest.’

If one were to choose the person most talked about after the end of the first trial grounds, it would be Hae-jin.

Since the sectors were divided, it was impossible to know who was the best overall.

However, only one thing, the achiever of the Hidden Trial, was announced to everyone in all sectors.

So there was no one who didn’t know Park Hae-jin, and his kill count was a hot topic on the internet.

Thus, Hae-jin had gained an alias.

‘The Slaughterer.’

To take them all the way to the end of the trials, it was best to meet Lee Sang and Kwon Na-ye as soon as possible.

Having made his decision, Hae-jin used the same skill he had used to come home.

To the Taereung National Training Center, where ‘Lee Sang’ and ‘Kwon Na-ye’ were.

“Shadow Blink.”

*

Fwhoosh-!

Taereung National Training Center.

As soon as he arrived, Hae-jin used another skill.

‘Invisibility.’

Invisibility.

A magic that made his body transparent.

Normally, it wasn’t a skill he could use yet.

In the first trial, players typically only gained a single Rune, stats, and equipment.

But Hae-jin was different.

Having inherited everything from Joo-hyuk hyung, he could use all of his abilities.

And among them were several skills that allowed him to conceal himself.

As soon as he used Invisibility, Hae-jin’s body gradually became transparent.

He didn’t bother concealing his presence.

There weren’t any experts who could sense presences at this stage yet.

No, even in the mid-to-late stages, it wasn’t easy to detect Hae-jin’s presence.

Unless it was a player with truly exceptional sensory abilities, no one had ever detected Joo-hyuk’s presence.

And Hae-jin was currently using that power of Joo-hyuk hyung.

Anyway, Hae-jin entered the Taereung National Training Center.

He could see numerous athletes diligently preparing for the competition.

However, their expressions weren’t bright.

It was inevitable.

‘Many of their colleagues must have died in this trial.’

A great many people had died on Earth because of the survival game.

The criteria for becoming a player were those with a high soul caliber as determined by the Great Being, but no one knew exactly what this criteria was.

However, Hae-jin knew.

He knew who among the relatively well-known individuals had become players, who had survived, and who had died.

That was part of how Joo-hyuk hyung had always increased his funds with the illegal money.

Most of the athletes preparing for the national team had been dragged into the trial grounds.

In other words, they were also at the Taereung National Training Center.

Those who had died in the survival game and thus died in reality as well.

Of course, since they were athletes, the proportion of deaths was relatively lower compared to ordinary people…

But that didn’t mean the deaths of their fellow athletes weren’t sorrowful.

However, even in that situation, the athletes continued to train, as they couldn’t give up on the competition.

Seeing them, Hae-jin gave a bitter smile.

‘Next week, they’ll be indignant to learn that all their hard work has gone to waste.’

Due to this survival game, a national state of emergency had been declared worldwide, and all national events had been canceled as countries entered disaster preparedness mode.

So, the athletes who had been preparing for this year’s world competition had their efforts rendered futile.

But that wasn’t important to Hae-jin.

What was important to Hae-jin now was to bring Lee Sang and Kwon Na-ye back into the party.

‘Joo-hyuk hyung sacrificed himself for this.’

Thinking so, Hae-jin moved.

‘First, the closest one is where Na-ye is.’

Since the space for professional gamers had been added later in the inner area, the archery training ground was closer to his current location.

Having set his first target, Hae-jin moved to the archery training ground while remaining invisible.

And, arriving at the archery training ground, he could see.

A little over ten people were practicing.

Among them, a female archer with striking looks caught his eye.

The player who would become the Divine Archer.

It was ‘Kwon Na-ye.’

Hae-jin approached Kwon Na-ye, who was shooting arrows with her hair tied up.

Then, he deactivated his invisibility and tapped Kwon Na-ye’s shoulder with his index finger.

“Wh… What?!”

Kwon Na-ye was startled and turned with the arrow she was about to shoot.

But the bow and arrow were gone from her hand.

While Kwon Na-ye turned in surprise, Hae-jin had already snatched the bow and arrow from her hand.

Holding the bow and arrow, Hae-jin greeted her.

“Hello?”

—–CROW—– 

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