The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 79

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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 79
79. The Mask
Reactions to encountering something unbelievable vary widely.
Some are struck with astonishment, while others wear expressions of bewilderment.
Some freeze, their faces hardening like stone.
Hwang Yong-min was one of them.
‘Ryu… Min? Black Scythe was… Ryu Min?’
Two scenes overlapped in his mind.
One was Ryu Min cowering like a turtle, taking blows from him.
The other was Black Scythe, radiating overwhelming charisma, severing his limbs and filling him with terror.
Two contradictory images that seemed utterly incompatible now pointed to the same person before his eyes.
‘Th-the same person…? That’s impossible. That pathetic Ryu Min is Black Scythe…?’
Hwang Yong-min lifted his head once more.
Even rubbing his eyes, the man who had removed his mask was unmistakably Ryu Min.
“You don’t seem to believe it. That I’m Black Scythe.”
“…”
“Well, I can’t blame you. Until last year, I was the one taking hits from you.”
“You… what? Were you toying with me all this time? Why did you act like such a loser?”
“What are you talking about? When did I ever act like a loser? But…”
Ryu Min’s scythe spun once, and Hwang Yong-min’s arm fell away.
“Being called pathetic by trash like you… that’s rather unpleasant.”
“Ggh, gaaahhh…!”
“Quiet. Unless you want your tongue severed too.”
“Ah, ugh…!”
Hwang Yong-min held back tears, enduring the agony.
Blood seeped steadily from the severed edge.
“Don’t worry. I’ll provide first aid.”
Ryu Min raised his hand and cast emergency treatment.
The bleeding stopped, and the severed surface healed as if by magic.
Except.
“Huh? You’re one-armed now?”
“…”
The severed arm simply wasn’t reattached.
“What does it matter? You can still live with one arm, can’t you?”
It was clearly meant to inflict humiliation, but Hwang Yong-min felt nothing.
He was simply too overwhelmed by shock and disbelief to feel anything else.
“Are you really… the Ryu Min I knew?”
“No.”
Ryu Min shook his head lightly.
“The Ryu Min you knew no longer exists.”
As he spoke, he slowly raised the scythe.
Like an executioner beheading a prisoner.
“Farewell.”
“Wait, wait! Hold on, Min!”
Hwang Yong-min cried out in urgent desperation.
“Please, spare me! I, I’ve tormented you so much, haven’t I? Look, I was wrong. I’m truly reflecting on it!”
The descending scythe froze mid-air.
“Is that so?”
When Ryu Min lent an ear, Hwang Yong-min glimpsed hope.
‘Maybe, just maybe I can survive this!’
If he spoke the right words, he could save his own life.
With that thought, Hwang Yong-min chose his words more carefully than ever before.
“Killing me gains you nothing, does it? Why not use me instead?”
“Use you? How so?”
“Well, you see… that’s it! I’ll become your personal errand boy! Whatever you ask—carry things, run, fetch, use me as bait on hunts—I’ll do anything!”
“Hmm…”
As Ryu Min stroked his chin as if contemplating, Hwang Yong-min’s eyes glistened with hope.
But it was short-lived.
“No, it won’t work.”
“What? What won’t?”
“You’re still plotting to stab me in the back.”
“Me? When did I ever…?”
“You were waiting for the chance to kill me.”
“Me? Ha.”
Though Hwang Yong-min feigned disbelief, inwardly he was terrified.
‘What the hell? This bastard’s a ghost. How did he know? Was it just a guess?’
It never occurred to Hwang Yong-min that Ryu Min might possess mind-reading abilities.
“I can’t keep a dog that bites its master by my side.”
As Ryu Min raised the scythe, urgency flooded Hwang Yong-min’s face.
“Wait, hold on!”
“Your usefulness ends here.”
“Wait, give me a ch—!”
Schwik—Hwang Yong-min’s head fell.
A pathetic, unremarkable, hollow death.
“I already gave you countless chances. In the previous cycle.”
Back when I lacked the Rune of True Thoughts, I had spared him, deceived by Hwang Yong-min’s glib tongue.
The result was, naturally, betrayal.
‘I was such a fool back then.’
Only after dying did I realize I had been the fool for sparing him.
Of course, that was when my level and experience were far inferior to now.
“Get lost, you bastard.”
Our lengthy feud had finally come to an end.
Perhaps because I knew this would be the last time I’d see that detestable face, I felt a strange sense of relief wash over me—different from before.
‘First, I need to clean up the scene.’
I used my Trace Erasure skill to dispose of the four corpses.
Since no one triggered my Presence Detection, there were no witnesses.
‘Clean work.’
After sheathing my scythe, I put my mask back on.
With this, I’d accomplished my objective of eliminating Hwang Yong-min and the Player Cafe executives.
Now I was one step closer to the Chairman’s seat at Player Cafe.
Actually, not one step—dozens of steps.
‘Should I pay a visit to his home?’
I vanished swiftly into the darkness.
* * *
People began appearing in Player Cafe’s video chat room.
Though it wasn’t Sunday, an emergency meeting had been called.
-Welcome, Chairman!
-Good to see you, Yamtti.
Yamtti, speaking with a smile, glanced around the chat window.
-But where are the other executives?
-That’s precisely why we had to call this urgent meeting.
-Is something wrong?
The Chairman sighed before answering.
There was indeed something wrong.
Something grave enough to shake the very foundation of the Cafe.
-The executives are dead.
-What?! Dead?
Yamtti, startled, looked at the screen again.
There were many empty seats.
The executives who were never late were unusually absent today.
-How did this happen? Did you try calling them?
-I attempted to confirm their status, but…
There was no need to say more.
The Chairman’s grim expression spoke volumes.
-I’ve reached out individually, but none of them are answering. They must have met with an accident during their interviews.
-W-who could it be? Could it be…?
Yamtti thought of one person.
The Chairman nodded, confirming her suspicion.
-Correct. Black Scythe is hunting our Cafe members.
Strictly speaking, they were executives rather than mere members, but the Chairman didn’t bother with such distinctions.
What mattered was that the Cafe we’d built with such effort was under attack.
And not just by anyone—by Black Scythe, who held the rank of number one in the Other World.
-S-so Soborru is…? And Jol-Mat-Taeng and Popo Ring too…? They were all killed by him?
-That is correct.
-But why? What did those good people do wrong…?
-What reason does a murderer need to commit murder? Mere self-gratification, I’d say. Or perhaps he resented us growing our influence.
-Ah…
Hearing the Chairman’s explanation, I understood to some extent.
After all, twisted individuals existed everywhere—the kind who saw others’ fortunes and immediately wanted to steal them.
‘Was it envy and jealousy? Did he simply want to interfere out of spite?’
Yamtti completely revised her image of Black Scythe.
Not a target to recruit, but a target to eliminate.
-Wait, so his application to join the Cafe was just to lure out the executives?
-Precisely.
-Ugh… I was looking forward to meeting Black Scythe, but it turns out he’s a psychopath hostile to us…? I feel so foolish. We almost made a terrible mistake accepting him as an executive.
-Indeed. I nearly spent my entire life regretting it. I might have lost my head to Black Scythe before that even happened.
The Chairman’s expression darkened at the loss of his executives.
-Black Scythe is now our clear enemy. We must find him and avenge our fallen members.
-Of course, we must. But…
At the Chairman’s tone of absolute certainty rather than mere speculation, Yamtti asked carefully.
-You’re certain Black Scythe is the culprit, right?
-We have a witness.
-Ah!
With a witness, the situation was entirely different.
-Lost Yak?
The bronze-skinned man occupying one side of the screen answered.
-Yes, Chairman.
-Please explain the situation to Yamtti just as you reported it to me.
-Understood.
Lost Yak described the grim confrontation with Black Scythe in a somber tone.
* * *
-Then I’ll see you at the next regular meeting.
-Yes, Chairman. Please go.
-Please go, Chairman!
After the Chairman left the chat room, Lost Yak exchanged farewells with Yamtti as well.
-See you next time, Yamtti.
-Yes, you’ve had a rough day dealing with such unpleasant matters. Please go rest.
-Thank you! Then…
Lost Yak closed the chat and looked away from the monitor.
“Fortunately, they didn’t notice anything.”
I opened my equipment window and pressed the helmet deactivation button.
My face rippled like water before returning to its original form.
Not the bronze-skinned Lost Yak, but Ryu Min’s true appearance.
“I guess acting really does suit my nature.”
Ryu Min chuckled softly as he examined the deactivated item.
[Assassin’s Mask]
-Classification: Helmet
-Grade: Unique
-Defense: 1
-Effect: By chanting the activation word ‘Disguise’, you can mimic the appearance of any player you have killed. Your face, skin color, voice, and physique transform perfectly.
-Durability: 3,000/3,000
-Usage Restriction: Expert Grade or higher
-Description: A thin, transparent mask favored by an assassin with a 99.9% success rate. It is said that no one knows his true face.
This helmet was my choice from the Unique item selection reward I received from the last Time Attack.
‘For what I need right now, the Assassin’s Mask is the best choice.’
Despite having virtually no stat bonuses or defense value…
‘The ability to transform into the appearance of any player I’ve killed is an incredible advantage.’
I could deceive my enemies, gather intelligence, sow discord, employ deception—there were countless applications across multiple fronts.
A mask truly optimized for assassination.
‘There’s no assassination easier than betrayal from an ally.’
That was precisely why I wore the Assassin’s Mask today and killed the executives of Player Cafe.
I needed to infiltrate while posing as one of their executives.
‘Now I can transform not only into an executive, but even into Hwang Yong-min if necessary.’
The mask I removed in front of Hwang Yong-min was merely a regular mask with no function whatsoever.
When I killed him, I was wearing the transparent Assassin’s Mask, which allowed me to mimic his appearance.
For now, I intended to focus solely on my role as Lost Yak.
‘If I hadn’t glimpsed Lost Yak’s true thoughts back then, I wouldn’t have been able to deceive the other executives.’
Lost Yak’s speech patterns, habits, and relationships were all information I had already gathered in the previous cycle using the Rune of Inner Thoughts.
This is also why I could break into his one-room apartment and use video chat.
Of course, this plan would have been impossible without the Assassin’s Mask.
‘Originally, I planned to approach from the ground up step by step, but thanks to the mask, my plans have accelerated.’
Now all that remained was to seize the opportunity and claim the Chairman’s position.
‘If I had my way, I’d kill the Chairman and transform into him. Then I could easily control the entire organization.’
But that was impossible.
The Assassin’s Mask only worked on players.
‘Which means the Chairman isn’t a player.’
An ironic situation—the leader of an organization composed of players was not himself a player.
Still, approaching him was complicated by the presence of Yamtti, a troublesome player.
‘In my current state, I cannot handle Yamtti’s abilities.’
Until I developed a countermeasure, I had to avoid any contact with the executives.
Fortunately, by the seventh round, I’ll have a way to handle this.
‘Until then, I’ll stay true to Lost Yak’s role through video chat while observing how things unfold.’
With that, the situation was largely resolved.
They probably won’t seek out Lost Yak again until the next meeting.
‘Thank goodness. I’ve bought myself some time.’
When time opened up, there was something I absolutely needed to do.
It was recovering my stamina.
‘I should take a trip abroad soon. It’s been a while.’

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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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