The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 255

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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 255
255. A Secret Between Two
On my way to Incheon Airport to meet Christine.
Ryu Min received an important call.
“Christine suspects me?”
-Yes, sir. That’s what I heard directly from Jeffrey.
The possibility that The Seer and Black Scythe might be the same person.
“Understood. I’ll handle the rest myself.”
-Very well. Please be careful, Master.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Ryu Min chuckled after hanging up the phone.
But then, as if nothing had happened, his expression grew serious as he fell into thought.
‘Christine was suspecting me all this time.’
This was no trivial matter.
‘How did she find out? I haven’t done anything suspicious recently… wait!’
A scene suddenly came to mind.
When I killed those three thugs targeting Christine with a shadow blade.
Besides that, I haven’t done anything that would arouse suspicion.
‘Could she have been awake? I assumed she was sleeping because I couldn’t read her thoughts…’
I thought I was being careful, but somehow she found out.
About the murder I committed.
‘This is troublesome. It’s not good for my identity to be revealed to anyone else yet…’
I’ve been living a double life all this time—if I admit we’re the same person,
wouldn’t she feel betrayed?
She might turn her back on me, thinking I’ve deceived her all along.
‘Christine turning away from me… just thinking about it is devastating.’
Losing Christine’s help would be like throwing away one resurrection opportunity.
Since this is my final return, her abilities are essential.
If I admit my identity, it’s clear our relationship will grow distant.
I have to deny it no matter what.
‘The problem is what excuse I can come up with…’
After arriving at the airport, Ryu Min remained lost in thought until boarding the flight to the United States.
No suitable excuse came to mind.
‘I’ll just have to deny it outright. If worst comes to worst, I can use a memory-erasure potion.’
It’s wasteful to use it for something like this, but I have two of them.
Surely I can spare one?
“Sigh… I don’t know. Let me just sleep.”
Yet Ryu Min couldn’t sleep a single moment until arriving in the United States.

* * *
“Christine.”
“Black Scythe!”
Christine greeted the masked figure with a welcoming expression, but I could see through her facade.
‘It’s true. Reading her inner thoughts confirms it.’
Beneath her pleasant demeanor lay a heart brimming with suspicion.
‘She’s wondering if I might be The Seer.’
Beyond that, the murder she’d witnessed had left her deeply uneasy.
She feared I might be a psychopath like Ma Gyeong-rok, capable of killing innocent people without hesitation.
‘That’s understandable. I presented myself as weak while casually eliminating three ordinary people.’
From her thoughts, I could sense she’d rationalized the killings to some degree.
They’d drawn guns, so my response was justified self-defense.
But since she’d only glimpsed the incident, she didn’t grasp the full context.
“Did you have any trouble getting here?”
“None.”
Though truthfully, worry had robbed me of sleep.
“I could have come to you instead….”
“No need. I happened to be free anyway.”
“We shouldn’t talk here—let’s go inside. There’s no service now, so it’ll be perfect for conversation.”
Christine began guiding me toward the chapel, but I stopped her.
“No, an open space like a chapel won’t do. Our conversation might be overheard. Do you have somewhere more private?”
“Ah, somewhere like that….”
Christine hesitated before answering.
“I have a room where I stay… would you like to go there?”
“That works.”
Following Christine, I arrived at a modest room with an attached restroom.
“Th-this is my room.”
“It’s tidy.”
Was she embarrassed about letting an unfamiliar man into her private space?
Christine stood awkwardly, and I spoke as if to put her at ease.
“Though there’s only one chair.”
“Oh? Y-you’re right. Would you mind waiting here? I’ll grab another chair.”
Christine hurried off and soon returned with a second chair.
“Please, sit.”
Before I sat down, I closed the door.
Click.
The moment I locked it, Christine’s ears flushed crimson.
The narrow space suddenly felt charged with an awkward tension.
Though it was entirely a misunderstanding on her part.
“Do you know why I came?”
“I thought you came to explain how to clear Round 16….”
“There’s one more reason besides that.”
“What is it?”
“To clarify something.”
The moment Christine heard those words, her heart sank.
‘He knew? That I was suspicious?’
Christine jumped to conclusions, but she was mistaken.
That wasn’t what Ryu Min intended to clarify.
“I thought you might misunderstand if I didn’t explain why I called John Delgado’s name.”
“Ah….”
Realizing it was a different clarification, Christine’s face showed genuine curiosity.
“I was shocked, actually. That you kept John Delgado alive in Round 15…. I even wondered if you’d forgotten about our relationship.”
“How could I forget? I’m the one who saved you from that bastard.”
“Then why did you keep him alive? The man who tried to kill me?”
Ryu Min answered honestly.
“John Delgado is my subordinate.”
“What?”
“I recently enslaved him through my Dominion ability.”
It was technically a duel challenge rather than Dominion, but the result was the same—he’d become a slave.
“But why…?”
“The Seer told me that the Necromancer’s abilities would be useful in the future. So I kept him alive. There’s no other reason.”
The prophecy was false, but the part about his usefulness was true.
Christine seemed to accept this explanation to some degree.
“Then was the Undead attack during Round 15’s second mission also your strategy?”
“Yes. I ordered the Necromancer to do it. I knew that killing Undead would still count as murder.”
“Ah, so that’s why you told us to wait and not act….”
Christine nodded, finally understanding.
The clarification ended there.
But doubt still lingered in Christine’s mind.
‘What should I do? It might have been a dream, but should I ask anyway? This might be my only chance….’
She was deliberating whether to open the box of suspicion.
Ryu Min, who was reading her thoughts, was already prepared to respond calmly.
‘If I deny it, that’s the end. There’s no evidence, so Christine has no way of knowing.’
If he denied it, she would likely dismiss it as a dream, just as she was doing now.
Suspicion without evidence was always treated as delusion.
After a moment of silence, Christine finally spoke.
“Black Scythe, could you do me one favor?”
“A favor? What is it?”
“It seemed like you used something like shadows in your abilities…. Could you show me once?”
“Why?”
“I can’t go into detail, but… there’s something I need to verify. I’d appreciate your help.”
Faced with such earnest eyes, Ryu Min found himself unable to refuse.
“That’s nothing.”
He promptly conjured a barrier using the Rune of Darkness.
“You used this to block those bullets back then, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“Can you reshape it freely? For instance, could you make it sharp and pointed for offensive purposes…?”
“That’s…”
Ryu Min had been about to say it was impossible when he reconsidered mid-sentence.
‘If I say no, I can dodge this situation for now, but it’ll cause problems later.’
What if a situation arose where I needed to use the Shadow Dagger?
My lie would be exposed.
And that could make things far worse than they are now.
“It’s possible.”
“Could you show me?”
Instead of answering, Ryu Min manifested the Shadow Dagger.
In that moment, he also read Christine’s thoughts.
-Isn’t this exactly like the Seer’s ability? Maybe it wasn’t a dream after all….
She sensed the similarity, but it remained mere suspicion.
The evidence that the Seer and Black Scythe were the same person was still circumstantial.
Perhaps because I recognized this fact?
Christine seemed to steel her resolve and spoke.
“Black Scythe.”
“What is it?”
“There’s something I want to ask you. Can you answer me honestly?”
I nodded, and Christine asked directly.
“Are you the Seer?”
She threw the curveball with a serious gaze, but the way out was simple.
Deny it, and it ends there.
Ryu Min’s lips froze just as he was about to say no.
The Rune of Foresight showed him the future seven seconds ahead.
-So you’re not the same person… I’m sorry. That was strange of me to ask. It’s just been bothering me all this time.
In the future Christine’s expression, disappointment was evident.
‘Disappointment? She wanted us to be the same person?’
Ryu Min had assumed that if he told the truth, Christine would feel betrayed.
That’s why he’d been about to deny it.
But what if the opposite result occurred instead?
What if not telling her now and lying would lead to an even worse situation?
‘Then things might spiral completely out of control.’
Seeing the future, if I retracted my words here, my relationship with Christine could fall apart.
‘Perhaps it would be better to simply come clean. Honesty might actually work.’
As this thought crystallized in my mind, I changed my answer.
“You’re right.”
“Is that so… What?”
Christine’s eyes widened in sudden confusion as she asked again.
“W-what did you just say….”
“Your suspicion was correct.”
“Y-you’re admitting it? That Black Scythe is The Seer?”
“Yes. I am The Seer.”
I removed the mask.
The person beneath the mask was someone else entirely.
However, as the assassin’s mask dissolved, my body transformed.
My height diminished, my frame became slighter, and I returned to my true form.
“Gasp!”
Witnessing a person change before her eyes, Christine sprang from her seat like a coiled spring.
“T-The Seer?!”
“Shh. Someone might hear.”
Returned to my true self, I offered a wry smile.
“You must be quite shocked.”
“Y-yes, extremely. To think you could change your appearance like that….”
“Nothing remarkable about it. When you can resurrect the dead, altering one’s form is trivial.”
“Y-yes, I suppose that’s true.”
Having composed herself somewhat, Christine studied my appearance and asked.
“Is this your true form?”
“This is my real face. The one you know as The Seer. In the Other World, my alias is Black Scythe.”
“I see….”
“You still look unconvinced. Let me show you proof.”
I retrieved the scythe from my inventory.
I equipped all my gear as well.
The appearance of Black Scythe that she had always known.
“I suspected it might be true, but to think The Seer and Black Scythe were actually the same person….”
“I was supposed to keep it hidden, but I’ve been exposed. How did you figure it out?”
Christine answered my question honestly.
“I saw you kill those vagrants before. With that shadow-like ability you just demonstrated….”
“So you suspected we might be the same person.”
“Yes….”
Christine was looking at me with a hint of fear in her eyes.
She understood the implications of revealing my identity so readily.
“A-are you going to kill me?”
“Of course not. Quite the opposite, actually.”
“Huh?”
“I revealed my identity so openly because I didn’t want to lose you.”
“Huh?”
Christine was startled by words she never expected to hear.
“W-what do you mean? Lose me…?”
“Exactly what I said. Christine, you’re an essential ally to me.”
“….”
“That’s why I didn’t want to ruin our relationship. I didn’t want to lie anymore. So I spoke honestly. That’s all there is to it.”
Christine felt as bewildered as someone hearing a confession from the person they secretly loved.
“So you’re saying… you won’t kill me?”
“Do you really think I’m some cold-blooded murderer? If I’d intended to kill you, I wouldn’t have revealed my identity like this. I wouldn’t have protected you from those vagrants either.”
“Protected…?”
“Those bastards demanded you when they pointed their guns at me. They said they’d kill me if I didn’t hand you over, so I struck first. I couldn’t risk them coming after you later.”
“Ah…”
Realizing he had done it to protect her, Christine’s thoughts shifted.
The lingering doubts vanished, and a trace of fear transformed into trust.
“Do you believe me now? That I won’t harm you?”
“Yes… The Seer. No, I mean Black Scythe.”
“Call me Black Scythe. I came here under that identity, after all.”
Ryu Min put on his mask and transformed back into the form of Lost Yak.
“My true identity must remain a secret between us two. It’s not time to reveal it yet. Can you do that?”
“Yes, of course. My lips are sealed.”
“Good. I’ll trust you.”
Knowing she wasn’t the type to gossip, Ryu Min felt at ease and taught her the strategy for the next round.
“Now that I’ve explained the strategy, I’ll be going.”
“Um… Black Scythe.”
When I turned around, Christine spoke hesitantly.
“It’s late to say this, but thank you for saving me from those vagrants. And… thank you for being honest with me.”
“If you’re grateful, you’ll keep the secret, right?”
“Goes without saying.”
“Then I’ll see you at the meeting place.”
Ryu Min chuckled softly, spread his wings, and soared into the sky.
Christine, watching his departure, murmured to herself.
“I’m happy. That I’m someone Black Scythe needs…”
With a shy smile, she entered the Chapel.
And after several days passed, Round 16 began.

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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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