The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 108

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Maxed-Out Player’s 100th Return – Episode 108
108. Round 8 Begins
[Breaking News! Congressman Lee Sung-hyun was abducted and released…]
[Anti-Player Bill in Crisis, Congressman Lee Sung-hyun Threatened by Kidnappers.]
[Congressman Lee Sung-hyun Narrowly Escaped Death. Four Truths He Revealed.]
[Who Are Lee Sung-hyun’s Abductors?]
[Congressman Lee’s Kidnappers Identified as Four Players.]
[Congressman Lee Sung-hyun Nearly Executed Publicly, Fortunately No Lasting Trauma…]
[Police Report: Three Players Already Dead. Remaining Suspect Under Pursuit.]
The internet was ablaze with discussion of Congressman Lee Sung-hyun’s abduction.
└Rep. Lee Seong-hyun ㅠㅠ I’m glad you’re safe.
└Wow… now they’re even kidnapping congressmen.
└Are these Players out of their minds?
└The world’s coming to an end. I’m losing it.
└Don’t lump all Players together. Some of you treat every Player like a potential criminal, but they’re human just like us.
└That’s right! Stop the Player discrimination!
└Stop spouting nonsense. The fact is, incidents and accidents have surged over tenfold since Players appeared. It’s in the statistics.
└True. There are a lot of hot-headed Players in their twenties causing all kinds of trouble.
└I wish all Players would just disappear.
└The answer is just to stay inside and keep quiet. They’ll vanish with time anyway lol
└Hope the 13 months pass quickly so all these bugs get exterminated lol
Public opinion was turning against Players.
It was a stark example of the poor perception surrounding them.
But then.
[Breaking News! The Person Who Rescued Congressman Lee Sung-hyun Was Also a Player—Black Scythe.]
[Player Black Scythe Received the Crime Proposal in Advance Yet Still Saved Him.]
[Black Scythe Rescued Congressman Lee Even While Betraying His Allies.]
As news broke that the congressman’s rescuer was a Player, public opinion began to shift.
└The person who saved Congressman Lee was a Player?
└Is this article true? If it’s fake, I’m filing a petition to the Blue House.
└It’s true, so multiple articles with the same content will flood in, you clueless fool…
└Now the Player fans will come pouring in. Not all Players are bad! Wahhhhh!
└Why, from what the article says, it seems like they helped without any compensation. I don’t get why there are so many sarcastic comments.
└Right. There seem to be a lot of people who just reflexively mock Players.
└Those mockers are probably street vendor owners who got robbed by Players lol
└But this Black Scythe person is supposedly famous among Players? Heard they’re a monster who ranks first every round.
What’s with that? Isn’t that basically a hardcore veteran?
└Black Scythe has appeared in the real world? Wow, that’s insane!
└There’s a Player in here lol
└Black———Scythe!
└Who the hell is Black Scythe anyway?
Yamtti, who had been reading the articles, looked up with a smile.
“Master. Take a look at this. There are comments praising Black Scythe.”
“Really? Let me see.”
Ryu Min snatched the phone and scanned through the comments.
There were still plenty of posts mocking him as just another player, but overall the sentiment wasn’t bad.
‘It would be greedy to expect the name Black Scythe to become known just from saving one person.’
It seemed Congressman Lee Sung-hyun had given a full statement to the police.
The fact that even my nickname was being mentioned made that clear.
‘Still, it’s not bad. Things are unfolding exactly as intended.’
When the public thought of Black Scythe, it was enough that they remembered the person who saved the congressman.
‘Name value can be built up gradually. There’s no rush.’
Ryu Min, smiling faintly, handed the phone back to Yamtti.
“Oh, thank you, Master.”
Even four days after the incident, Yamtti still trusted and followed me without question.
‘She’ll probably serve me as her master for the rest of her life.’
Dominion really was effective.
To see it turn even a psychopath into a docile lamb.
‘Though it seems people accept the command’s requirements to different degrees.’
I had clearly told her not to call me master, yet Yamtti kept making that mistake.
‘Could it be because of the command to become a slave?’
If she truly saw herself as a slave to her very core, could she easily comply with a command to speak casually?
‘As a slave, it would be unimaginably difficult.’
It was like a president ordering an ordinary citizen to speak informally to them.
‘Of course she’d slip up inevitably.’
She was trying, but the ingrained perception of me as her master kept causing her to make mistakes.
That’s why I eventually allowed her to call me master again.
‘Besides, I was uncomfortable hearing casual speech anyway. This works out better.’
Though I appeared to be twenty, I had actually lived more than a hundred years.
‘Having repeated the same cycle ninety-nine times, in terms of actual lived experience, these people are practically my grandchildren.’
Looking at Yamtti, I cautioned her once more out of an abundance of care.
“Let me say this one more time. When you’re with me, you can call me master. But what should you call me when others are around?”
“I should call you Ryu Min, right? And speak informally too.”
“That’s right. You understand well. Remember this carefully. Erase any thought that I’m Black Scythe.”
“Yes, yes. I understand, Master.”
With those words, Yamtti bowed so deeply her forehead touched the ground, but I didn’t tell her to rise.
I could read her thoughts and knew it was her way of expressing obedience as a slave.
‘A slave is most comfortable in her place as a slave, after all.’
When Yamtti finally lifted her head, I asked her a question.
“Did you tell the Chairman everything went well?”
“That’s correct. As you instructed, I made it clear that the plan failed due to Lost Yak’s betrayal. They accepted it readily enough, even without the Fascination’s influence.”
Ryu Min nodded slowly.
It made sense—since I’d ambushed the Chairman using Lost Yak’s face, calling him a traitor fit the narrative perfectly.
“And you delivered everything else I told you to say?”
“Yes. As of July 9th, just recently, we’ve agreed to abolish the Player Cafe’s murder interview and replace it with one focused on character assessment.”
“Good, good. Since the regime has changed, we need to correct what was wrong.”
That insane murder interview would end, and from now on, normal interviews would proceed instead.
However, when applicants joined, we’d prioritize evaluating a player’s character over their level or grades.
“Whenever someone applies to join the Cafe, use the Chairman to check their criminal history first. Anyone with even the slightest problem—don’t let them take the interview at all.”
“Understood.”
“That settles the interview matter. The biggest remaining problem is what to do with the players who already joined… How many are there in total?”
“More than half died in the last round, so roughly four thousand remain now.”
“Every single one of them passed the murder interview?”
“Yes. They all participated in murder—some directly, others by turning a blind eye.”
“Killing every last one of them wouldn’t be enough, but deciding how to dispose of them is the problem.”
Ryu Min, lost in thought, let out a low chuckle.
‘That could work. Better to leave garbage to the janitor.’
I was already thinking of ways to make use of even waste.
* * *
Tap tap tap—
Heo Tae-sik wasn’t one for phones normally.
The only game installed on his phone was a Sudoku puzzle app.
Even that he hadn’t thought to play or delete since becoming a player.
Yet here was Heo Tae-sik, completely absorbed in his phone.
└Black Scythe appeared in the real world? No way, that’s insane!
Clack clack clack clack—
Heo Tae-sik’s fingers flew across the screen, commenting on every article.
He didn’t discriminate—any article mentioning Black Scythe’s name got a reply.
Then.
└Who even is Black Scythe anyway.
Whenever he found a comment bashing Black Scythe, he’d respond immediately.
└You’re pathetic. Not knowing the great Black Scythe? Every player knows about him, tsk tsk.
└Then what are you doing, you idiot? To the general public, you are a novice, worse than a celebrity.
└What a stupid idiot who doesn’t even know how famous he is.
Haha, losing the argument so you resort to cursing first? Untrustworthy lol
“Ugh, this is infuriating.”
This was already the fifth keyboard battle he’d started.
At this rate, he’d die from sheer frustration.
“These idiots have no idea how incredible Black Scythe is…”
He clicked his tongue in disapproval, though Heo Tae-sik was beginning to sense it himself.
Among ordinary people, Black Scythe was nothing more than a character from an obscure game.
‘What should I do? How can I make this work….’
I was troubled, but the answer had already revealed itself.
Wasn’t it Heo Tae-sik who had decided to establish a religion for Black Scythe?
‘To do that, I’ll need to gather followers.’
It’s difficult to establish a religion with strength alone.
I need people who will raise their voices alongside me.
Financial matters are secondary.
‘I need to find them. People who will establish a sect devoted to Black Scythe with me.’
But where and how should I search?
I already had the answer to that question in my mind.
‘To catch fish, you go to the river.’
To gather players, naturally I should go where players congregate.
* * *
Time passed. August 1st arrived.
Approximately two thousand players had gathered in one place.
Round 8 had begun.
Murmur, murmur—
“Where is this?”
“This isn’t the Grassland?”
Until now, the starting location had usually been the Grassland or Forest.
But the space beneath the players’ feet now was a pristine, colorless Monochrome Space.
Not knowing what round would begin, the players’ faces were filled with tension.
“Black Scythe!”
Min Ju-ri approached shortly after Ryu Min arrived in the Other World.
“You found me quickly.”
“Of course. If I use the Tracking skill, it’s easy….”
Min Ju-ri caught herself and closed her mouth.
“Tracking wasn’t on the skill list I told you to learn before?”
“Ha ha….”
Min Ju-ri couldn’t bring herself to admit she’d learned Tracking just to meet Black Scythe.
But there was another person who had learned Tracking for the same purpose.
“Ah, hello, Black Scythe.”
Heo Tae-sik approached hesitantly and greeted me.
‘Him too?’
My eyebrows twitched.
They weren’t learning the skills I told them to learn, yet they were wasting gold on useless things.
At that moment, observing Heo Tae-sik, I read his inner thoughts and discovered a fact.
‘This guy recently submitted an application to join Player Cafe (Flseuba)?’
It seemed he’d joined for promotional purposes to establish a religion for Black Scythe.
Since it was recent, they were different from the other trash who had passed the murder interview.
‘Hmm, I suppose I’ll need to establish ranks for each member and categorize them accordingly.’
The existing members would all be demoted, while the recently joined members deserved special treatment and elevated status.
‘That will certainly provoke resistance from the existing members, but it doesn’t matter. After all, I plan to hand them over to the janitor anyway.’
As Ryu Min grinned wickedly, Min Ju-ri approached with a smile.
“Oh right, Black Scythe, I saw the news. You rescued Congressman Lee Sung-hyun this time, didn’t you?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
“I saw it too! Black Scythe! I was so happy that I left supportive comments for you on every article. Hehe.”
“….”
Watching Heo Tae-sik display such a rare, radiant smile, I couldn’t bring myself to scold him for his pointless efforts.
“By the way, that was truly amazing! According to the article, the criminals even proposed that you conspire with them to commit the crime together, right?”
“That’s right.”
“How could they make such a proposal? What could they possibly think of you as?”
“They didn’t know it was me. In reality, no one knows my true identity.”
To be precise, Yamtti knew, but she was my subordinate anyway, so it didn’t matter.
At that moment, a common thought flashed through both their minds.
-I wish I knew Black Scythe’s true identity.
Hearing that thought, I inwardly shook my head, then suddenly lifted my gaze.
An Angel appeared in the sky with a brilliant flash.
[Nice to meet you all. I’m Ariel, the newly assigned administrator of the C2-ESKA003 Zone. No need to applaud.]
“….”
When no one actually applauded, Ariel’s eyes narrowed.
It seemed she wasn’t being sarcastic.
[I thought at least someone would clap, but this is frustrating.]
Clap— clap clap—
‘What is this, like prostrating myself just to receive a bow?’
Ariel’s expression softened somewhat at the applause, and she broke into a bright smile.
[Thank you for the welcome! Now, shall we all check out the Round 8 Quest together?]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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