The Strongest in the Game by Dominating Monster - Chapter 26

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Monster Domination: Game’s Strongest Episode 26

A human voice heard after a long time.

Kairen let out a light sigh as he recalled that the Noise Cancel Mode’s duration was one hour.

Now that his location was exposed, other people would come flocking here too.

He had to move to another spot before it got crowded.

As he sprang up from his seat, Garuda and Rookie, who had woken from their sleep, also got up.

With a quick glance as a signal, Garuda and Rookie swiftly hid themselves.

Their speed was so fast that the person behind him didn’t seem to notice.

Now, shall we go.

Just as he activated Noise Cancel Mode and was about to move his body again.

“Yu Baekjin. If a friend called you, shouldn’t you at least turn your head?”

“…!”

He was startled by his real name spoken in an unfamiliar voice and turned his head.

And he realized.

That he had just made a huge mistake.

“As I thought. You really are Yu Baekjin.”

The woman smiled seductively, but Yu Baekjin’s brow furrowed mercilessly.

And immediately, he racked his brain.

‘You’ve mistaken me for someone else? No.’

His first thought was to play dumb, but he quickly erased it from his mind.

It was too late to deny it now since his expression had given him away too obviously.

“Who are you.”

So he responded with a question that was neither affirmation nor denial.

Though he was endlessly bewildered, he composed his voice to seem nonchalant.

At the same time, he quickly speculated about the other person’s identity.

Only Jin-woo knows that I’m Kairen.

And the woman called me a friend.

Then an old friend who heard my name from Jin-woo?

It was the most plausible speculation, but he quickly ruled it out.

When Jin-woo is with me, even if he acts casually, his mouth isn’t loose.

He’s not thoughtless enough to go around blabbing about my identity.

Then, an old acquaintance who figured out my identity on their own?

This time his heart stirred slightly.

It was the most reasonable speculation.

“Hehe. You’re exactly the same as before. Doesn’t your head hurt when you think that hard?”

Then, the woman covered her mouth and laughed, taking a step closer.

“It’s me. High school classmate, Lee Chaerin. My game name is Rain.”

Kairen’s brow twitched.

Lee Chaerin?

That Lee Chaerin I know?

Kairen looked her up and down from head to toe.

There was too much of a disconnect from the image in his memory.

“How about it? Do you remember?”

Rain smiled coquettishly and crossed her long legs.

It was quite an alluring sight, but Kairen looked puzzled as he gestured with his palm toward her waist level.

“You… weren’t you originally about this tall?”

“What are you saying! I wasn’t that short!”

Watching her shout angrily, Kairen chuckled.

Right. Seeing that reaction, it really was Lee Chaerin.

She always got angry and stamped her feet whenever her height was mentioned.

“It’s been a while.”

“Indeed. About 5 years?”

The last time he saw her was in his first year of high school.

Since he quit sports due to injury and transferred schools, roughly that much time had passed.

“How about it? Shall we chat for old times’ sake?”

She pointed to two tree stumps with her chin, and Kairen nodded.

An old friend met after a long time.

It was a relationship worth spending that much time on.

* * *

Around the time when Kairen and Rain met.

In the Black Giant Castle where only the sound of cool wind and gentle waves could be heard, unidentified sounds continuously echoed.

Kuuuuung!

Kiek! (Finally cut it down!)

The sound of something huge falling.

Kiek! (But why do you keep just moving stuff around!)

Kiek! (I like this!)

The sound of the goblins’ trivial bickering.

Clang! Clang!

Kiek! (I like this! This is fun!)

Even the clear and cheerful sound of something being broken.

Various sounds echoed and bustled about.

Though there wasn’t a single command from their master, they moved on their own initiative, but soon grew tired and caught their breath for a moment.

Kiek. (But when is master coming?)

Kiek. (I don’t know either.)

Kiek. (None of us know.)

Doubt arose in the eyes of the five goblins, but it quickly subsided.

Kiek. (We’ve all rested. Let’s do it again.)

And after taking a brief rest, one goblin moved its body again.

Not to be outdone, the other goblins also got up from their spots.

Though there was no one’s command, no violence or oppression.

The single phrase that filled their minds.

For master’s sake.

Without anyone taking the lead, the five goblins began moving busily.

* * *

“But how did you figure out my identity?”

As soon as they sat on the tree stumps, Kairen asked about what he was most curious about.

She wouldn’t have simply guessed that I was Kairen.

I had been wondering where she got the hint from.

“Routine! You still have the same routine when shooting your bow! The order you place your hind legs and front legs is exactly the same. You shoot so well, yet you have such a unique routine? I was half-convinced it was you.”

Routine, huh. Well, I was aware of it too.

When I concentrate and shoot, that routine comes out without me realizing it.

However, I hadn’t expected her to figure me out from that, so I let out a small exclamation of admiration.

“Impressive.”

“Oh my. Thank you.”

Rain covered her mouth and laughed coquettishly.

She seemed to think it was charming in her own way, but to Kairen who knew her true nature, it was quite amusing.

‘Well, she always greatly admired mature women since way back.’

I recalled her from high school days, when she used to admire glamorous teachers.

“Right. But you didn’t come here just to meet an old friend, did you?”

Kairen asked, and Rain secretly gulped.

Today, she had greatly realized his popularity.

Even top mercenary groups with higher rankings than hers had clung to him.

This one-on-one chance she barely managed to secure amidst all that.

If she couldn’t make use of this chance…

‘Ugh! He’ll nag me terribly again!’

Thinking of the nagging from Kavel, the vice-leader, made her shudder.

The guy who couldn’t even budge against her in reality was being particularly strict in the game.

“Um. Are you interested in joining a mercenary group?”

“No. Not at all.”

A firm answer came back.

Rain made a sad face.

She had expected it, but it sounded even more disappointing.

“Just listen to what I have to say first. Let me start by introducing our mercenary group…”

Rain talked enthusiastically with all her heart and soul.

She held hope that if Kairen listened to the story of the mercenary group she had worked hard to build, his mind might change.

However, there wasn’t even a flicker of change in Kairen’s expression as he listened silently.

“That’s impressive. But I still have no intention of joining.”

Still the same unwavering answer.

Dejected, Rain hung her head low and fidgeted with her fingers.

“No… just think about it… If you join our mercenary group, there are really tons of benefits…”

“There are probably just as many obligations that come with those benefits, right?”

“Ahem! There are, there are some. But you’re special, so…”

“No matter how special I am, I’d still have to participate in wars and raids, wouldn’t I?”

“Of course!”

“I don’t like that kind of thing. I’m busy with my own tasks right now.”

Immediate challenges flickered through Kairen’s mind.

The unknown enemies who would attack his territory in about a month, and the quest related to Rookie.

Right now, just those things alone were overwhelming.

He didn’t have time to be tied down to a mercenary group in the midst of all that.

Kairen shrugged his shoulders and smiled mischievously.

“And I don’t want to be under anyone.”

He was a Monster Lord, after all.

Who would he make his leader?

Though it was a playful answer, Rain nodded as if she understood.

Yu Baekjin had been like this even during school days.

The sports world with its clear vertical relationships.

Even in such an environment, he always acted confidently toward his seniors.

He showed proper respect to kind and good seniors, but how should I put it.

There was an invisible line.

He always gave off a silent atmosphere that said he didn’t acknowledge them as above him.

“Would it not work even as a favor from an old friend?”

Rain appealed to their friendship, but.

“A favor from a friend who came looking for me after 5 years. Do I look like I have no money?”

Kairen answered cheerfully with a small laugh.

At the refreshing rejection, Rain raised her tone.

“I’m not asking to borrow money! I actually came here to give you some!”

For a moment, Kairen tilted his head.

“Why would you give me money?”

“Because I was trying to recruit you! You know, like in soccer, a transfer fee? Signing bonus? That kind of feeling.”

Hah. There was such a thing?

Kairen smiled slightly at this new information.

And asked without much expectation.

“So how much did you prepare? You know I’m expensive, right?”

It was a light question.

At most a few hundred thousand? Maybe a million won at most?

However, the amount that came from her mouth was beyond imagination.

“Fifty million.”

The answer came with five spread fingers. His pupils shook mercilessly in shock.

“You’re, you’re joking, right?”

He stammered in disbelief.

Fifty million won.

For him as a college student, it was an enormous sum.

Right away, with that money he could solve his tuition and living expenses, and even support his parents.

And it was the same for her too.

It wasn’t an amount she, as a college student, could easily promise.

“I’m not joking. Of course, compared to other mercenary groups, it might be insufficient…”

Did she interpret the meaning differently?

Dejected Rain trailed off, and Kairen was even more dumbfounded.

Fifty million won could be considered little?

“But, but! Are we just ordinary friends?! If you abandon me and go somewhere else, you’ll be cursed! We banged our heads together! Got punished together! Right? We had good times!”

Rain, feeling guilty about something, babbled incoherently.

“No. Don’t say weird things. Is that fifty million really real?”

“Of course.”

“Where would you get that kind of money?”

“I naturally earned it through the game, of course.”

Seeing her answer so nonchalantly as if asking what kind of question that was, Kairen smiled faintly.

Though he had heard about it from Jin-woo and knew.

Now he realized it clearly once again.

This game was profitable.

“It’s not just that money, we’re willing to accommodate you as much as possible. If there’s anything else you want…”

Did she feel hope seeing the changed atmosphere?

Rain carefully read the mood and began persuading again.

While listening to the lengthy explanation that started again, Kairen calculated.

Fifty million won would be sufficient as compensation for joining.

However, there were still concerning points.

First, the fact that I’d have to reveal my class.

It was a profession where all of humanity would be enemies, though it didn’t feel real yet.

There was nothing good about becoming widely known.

And another thing was that my real-world identity might be revealed.

I had experienced fame to the point of being sick of it.

I didn’t want to go through that exhaustion again.

And the last one.

I would have to belong somewhere and follow someone’s orders.

And that someone was even…

“Hehe. My friend~~”

Lee Chaerin, who had seemed like she was missing a screw since our school days, and I’d have to follow her orders.

‘If she earned this much, I could earn it quickly too, right?’

Watching her wiggle her body and act coquettishly, such an impudent thought quietly crossed my mind.

After a moment, Kairen gave the best answer he could at the moment.

“Let me think about it.”

It was a relatively favorable response.

However, to Lee Chaerin who was receiving it, it felt completely different.

‘I can’t let him slip away here!’

Mercenary groups targeting Kairen were still drooling over him.

If she let him go like this, another mercenary group’s emblem might end up on his armor.

That’s why Rain squeezed her eyes shut and threw a desperate move.

“H-how about this! First, for the first condition, if you want it, I can even give you the vice leader position! And…”

Starting with conditions so shocking that Kavel would clutch his neck and collapse if he heard them.

The corners of Kairen’s mouth twitched as he began listening silently.

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