The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 98

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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 98
98. Betrayal
I rushed toward the direction of the scream without hesitation.
But what awaited me there was a shocking sight.
‘M-Min Ju-ri?’
Min Ju-ri lay collapsed, clutching her abdomen.
The ground was soaked with blood.
I approached with an uncharacteristically agitated expression.
“M-Min Ju-ri! What happened?!”
“B-Black Scythe… No, Min-a… Please help me.”
I was startled.
‘She knows my identity?’
How was this possible?
When I read her inner thoughts, I detected no hint of this whatsoever.
As my pupils trembled, Min Ju-ri continued speaking.
“Min-a… Ryu Min. You’re Ryu Min, aren’t you? Right…?”
“How did you know my identity…?”
“Of course I knew. Why wouldn’t I? You’re… my first love… Even if I tried to hide it, everything shows…”
“So you’ve known all this time and just pretended not to?”
Min Ju-ri nodded with difficulty.
“I knew… It was so hard pretending not to know all this time…”
“N-Never mind that—why is your abdomen like this? What happened? Who did this to you?”
At a glance, the injury was severe.
At this rate, she could die at any moment.
‘Ah, emergency treatment!’
Foolishly, I should have used it immediately, but panic had clouded my mind.
Shaaaa—
As I belatedly activated it, the wound healed and Min Ju-ri’s expression eased considerably.
“Thank you, Min-a.”
“Who did this? Who stabbed you?”
“An Sang-chul… He did this.”
“What?”
Sparks of fury ignited in my eyes.
Seething rage directed itself toward An Sang-chul.
“Where is that bastard?”
“Right here.”
At the voice from behind, my head snapped around.
An Sang-chul stood there grinning like a typical villain.
Beside him, Seo A-rin twisted her lips into a wicked smile.
From that alone, I could tell the two of them had conspired to kill Min Ju-ri.
“These damn bastards.”
“Wow, that’s quite the language, Prophet?”
“….”
My contorted expression shifted subtly.
The rage subsided, and cold clarity took its place.
“You knew I was a Prophet?”
“No. I found out you were a Prophet by torturing that woman Min Ju-ri over there. I had no idea until just moments ago.”
“I-I’m sorry, Min. It hurt so much I couldn’t help myself….”
I harbored no resentment toward Min Ju-ri.
I glared at An Sang-chul with a sinister expression.
“Hehehehe, don’t look at me like that. Do you know how shocked I was when I learned your true identity? That frail Prophet was actually Black Scythe? Who could have imagined it, haha!”
“Before I tear your mouth apart, let me hear your excuse. Why did you attack Min Ju-ri?”
“Well, you seemed to have a close relationship with her, so I thought I’d ambush her to gather some information. But the harvest turned out to be bigger than expected! A Prophet who’s actually Black Scythe—hahahaha! The boss will be absolutely thrilled when he hears this!”
Whether An Sang-chul laughed or not, I drew out Death Side.
“Do you really think you’ll survive long enough to deliver that message?”
“Whoa, hold on. Don’t come any closer. Otherwise, I’ll detonate the bomb I’ve hidden in Min Ju-ri’s body.”
“What?”
At that moment, Heo Tae-sik stepped out from behind An Sang-chul.
“Hehe, this guy lent me a hand.”
I could instantly grasp the situation.
“You bastard, don’t tell me….”
“My apologies, Black Scythe.”
“Did you plant a Black Seed in Min Ju-ri’s body?”
Heo Tae-sik simply nodded in silence.
That simple gesture struck me like a thunderbolt.
Indeed, Dark Mages learn the [Black Seed] skill once they reach level 40.
A skill that, when planted in the ground and activated, randomly summons one of the demonic minions.
What would happen if such a skill were planted in a human body and used?
The body would burst like a firecracker, and the summoned creature would burst forth.
At best, it was a clever application of the skill. At worst, it was a cruel act.
In my case, it was decidedly the latter.
“You son of a bitch…. When did you even reach level 40?”
“Did you think I was idle? I hunted diligently because I wanted to become as strong as you, Black Scythe.”
“No Poe-in No-ge-i. Deactivate the seed immediately.”
“I refuse.”
The refusal came without a shred of hesitation, and my eyebrows twitched.
“Have you lost your mind? You dare defy me? Weren’t you admiring me in your heart?”
“Of course, Black Scythe is like a god to me. But that’s only if you navigate this situation flawlessly. If you’re not perfect, then there’s no reason for me to follow Black Scythe anymore, is there?”
“….”
I had been thoroughly backstabbed.
An Sang-chul, Seo A-rin, and even Heo Tae-sik, who had revered me as a god.
The aftermath of betrayal from those I trusted was considerable.
“What do you want?”
“Hehehehe, that woman must be quite precious to you, hm? You can’t even move an inch.”
“Shut up and speak. And promise me—if you get what you want, you won’t kill Min Ju-ri.”
“Kahahahahaha!”
An Sang-chul’s laughter split his face wide open.
“That’s right. Hehehehe.”
“You promised.”
“Yes. If you do what I want.”
“So, what do you want? Information about the next round? The location of Hidden Piece?”
“I don’t care about that.”
“….”
“I’m just appalled that someone like you would dare deceive us and manipulate Director Ma.”
An Sang-chul’s smirk vanished, replaced by a grave expression.
“Kill yourself.”
“….”
“Commit suicide right before our eyes. Then I’ll spare this woman.”
“Understood. Keep your promise.”
Without hesitation, Ryu Min pressed the scythe to his own throat.
Slice—
My head fell lifelessly to the ground with a dull thud.
For a moment, I thought I heard Min Ju-ri’s scream, but there was no time to dwell on it.
‘If I can just save Min Ju-ri… that’s all that matters.’
My vision blurred.
The mocking faces dissolved into the distance.
[A hidden sub-quest exists!]
‘A message?’
Crack— crack—
In an instant, cracks spread across everything I was seeing.
As if the world before my eyes wasn’t the world I’d always known.
‘What’s happening… ah!’
As the messages cascaded in, Ryu Min finally came to his senses.
【Sub-Quest】
└Commit suicide without hesitation
└Upon success ▶ ?? ??? ? awarded
[Sub-Quest completed!]
[Rewards are granted to only one person per zone.]
[Rewards will be distributed upon final tally!]
At some point, my body returned.
The severed neck was reattached, and the blood that had pooled on the floor had vanished.
An Sang-chul, Seo A-rin, Heo Tae-sik, Min Ju-ri.
They all disappeared like mirages before my eyes.
The landscape I was seeing was none other than the original location.
The Grassland.
[Player ‘Black Scythe’ has escaped the illusion.]
[Main Quest ‘Escape the illusion within 2 hours’ has been completed!]
[Sub Quest ‘Commit suicide without hesitation’ has been completed!]
“So this was… an illusion.”
Only upon seeing the message did I finally understand.
What I had witnessed moments before was an illusion—a manifestation of my inner anxiety.
There was no way Ryu Min, who had lived through 99 cycles, wouldn’t have known this.
Yet the system had prevented me from becoming aware of it.
‘No, it wasn’t the system. I prevented myself from becoming aware.’
I examined the information on my temporary skill, Dominion.
[Temporary Skill – Dominion]
-Remaining Uses: 9
-Target: Black Scythe
Dominion had been used once.
And the target was Black Scythe—myself.
‘So that’s what happened.’
All the memories came flooding back belatedly.
‘I used Dominion on myself to impose a restriction—preventing myself from realizing it was an illusion.’
The moment I entered Round 7, I had used Dominion while gazing at my reflection in an item.
‘Dominion doesn’t work on players with higher levels, but against those of equal level, it works perfectly.’
The command I gave myself was simple.
-Do not entertain the thought that this is an illusion until the sub quest is completed.
The main quest of Round 7 was to escape the illusion.
But if you already know it’s an illusion, the illusion won’t take hold.
In other words, the quest progression would be blocked from the start.
‘Then I would ultimately be excluded from quest participation and cease to exist.’
How do I know?
Because I’ve experienced cessation once before.
I proceeded through Round 7 while aware it was an illusion, received a warning message, and ceased to exist.
‘That was truly futile. Just like what happened in the Round 20 boss room.’
This is why I didn’t reveal the illusion when I made my prophecy.
If I knew beforehand that it was an illusion, I would be mercilessly erased.
‘I even tried methods of self-mind control, but they were useless. If you’re aware in your heart that it’s an illusion, you’ll inevitably recall it at some point without realizing.’
To eliminate such risks, I devised the method of using Dominion.
If I erase my own memories with Dominion, there’s no problem.
‘That’s when I realized I could use dominion over myself.’
But the real problem lay in clearing the round.
I could progress through the round, but clearing it wasn’t easy.
‘The sub-quest was especially difficult.’
Committing suicide without hesitation isn’t a simple task.
Especially for someone like me—Ryu Min—who valued survival above all.
‘And since I didn’t know it was a fantasy, I couldn’t intentionally kill myself either.’
So I ran through Round 7 dozens of times, searching for a solution.
Eventually, I found the answer.
The method was simple yet not simple at all.
‘If I brainwash myself before entering the Other World—convince myself that I must save Min Ju-ri at any cost, that I love her—it would work.’
Round 7 creates fantasies based on internal anxieties.
In my case, there was anxiety that my identity might be exposed and my trusted allies could betray me.
The system uses this to construct a fantasy and induces a situation where I must commit suicide according to the sub-quest’s purpose.
‘So what if I deceive the system by appearing to love Min Ju-ri?’
The system would construct a story around that.
And it would guide me to commit suicide.
My prediction was correct.
‘As a result, I committed suicide without hesitation.’
It was possible because I had pre-conditioned myself to think I loved Min Ju-ri.
“Thank goodness. Everything went according to plan.”
If I hadn’t cultivated that mindset, I surely would have hesitated when ordered to die.
‘In the past, I failed the sub-quest countless times. I’d hesitate the moment I was told to commit suicide.’
Back then, before I met Min Ju-ri, it was someone else who was taken hostage.
‘My younger brother.’
After completing Round 7’s quest and returning, there was the clichéd story of Ryu Won being kidnapped and threatened by a thug.
At that moment, I hesitated slightly when the blackmailer told me to die.
‘So every time I repeated the cycle, I always failed the sub-quest.’
Without using dominion to keep myself unaware it was a fantasy, there was no real way to handle it.
‘That’s why I came up with the idea of mind control before entering the round.’
If a situation arose where I could save Ryu Won, I would sacrifice my life without hesitation.
By repeating this to myself hundreds of times before entering Round 7, I could commit suicide without wavering.
This time, the target had simply changed to Min Ju-ri.
‘Fortunately, the brainwashing worked and the sub-quest succeeded.’
I was grinning when Seo A-rin suddenly appeared.
“Oh, Black Scythe. Did you clear Round 7?”
“Yeah. You too?”
“Yes… I also escaped the fantasy.”
She smiled shyly, then glanced at me cautiously.
She looked around, checking to see if anyone else was nearby.
“It seems the others haven’t escaped the illusion yet.”
“So it appears.”
“Um, Black Scythe.”
Seo A-rin, who had suddenly adopted a serious demeanor, spoke with flushed cheeks.
“I know this might surprise you, but….”
She hesitated, struggling to find the words before finally continuing.
“The truth is… I really like you, Black Scythe.”
“Don’t jest with me.”
“Ha ha… It does sound sudden, doesn’t it? I understand. It sounds like a joke. But it’s not—it’s sincere.”
“….”
“I’m only finding the courage to say this because we’re alone.”
“….”
Ryu Min’s response was utterly cold.
Instead, he tightened his grip on the scythe, as if waiting for something.
Whether or not she sensed the strangeness in the atmosphere, Seo A-rin gathered her courage once more.
“Black Scythe, would you go out with me….”
Screech—!
With a chilling sound, Seo A-rin’s head flew through the air.
Thud—
Ryu Min muttered coldly toward the system, his eyes frigid.
“Enough with these pathetic tricks.”
As if in response, Seo A-rin’s body vanished and a message appeared.
[Main Quest ‘Escape Temptation Within Two Hours’ completed!]

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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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