Ch.142[Chapter 142] Alliance

The Card Pack Exchange filled with madness.

Sir Dominic wasn’t the only one watching it.

A suspicious person leaning against an alley across from the Card Pack Exchange, observing the long queue, disappeared into the darkness of the alley.

In the adjacent alley, someone wearing a hood who had been cheerfully observing people slipped into the crowd.

Inside the Card Pack Exchange, a man with thick glasses who had been sitting in a chair stood up, scanned those in despair, and walked out onto the street.

Individually, none of them seemed unusual.

“Ah.”

“I’m sorry.”

A hooded figure blending with the crowd bumped into the bespectacled man leaving the Card Pack Exchange.

The hooded person briefly bowed their head before disappearing back into the crowd.

The bespectacled man dusted off his wrinkled clothes.

An unnatural shape appeared on his clothes, but it returned to normal as he brushed it away.

The bespectacled man looked around.

Then he shook his head and vanished into the crowd.

No one found this sequence of actions strange.

…

The man with thick glasses entered an alley.

After turning through several winding passages, the man stopped and looked around.

Was he lost?

That didn’t seem to be the case, as his gaze was clearly fixed on something.

The bespectacled man scrutinized the wall for a while, then nodded as if finding what he wanted and moved forward.

On the wall he approached were hieroglyphs forming a pillar in typography.

The man tapped three times on the part that was different from the rest of the hieroglyphs—letters written in red—then stepped back to wait for something.

“…Come in.”

Behind the man, from the shadowy part of the wall, appeared a man with a fierce expression.

It was the suspicious man who had been watching the queue from the alley earlier.

He gestured to the bespectacled man while holding open a heavy black door that had been hidden in the darkness.

The bespectacled man silently walked forward.

The shadows of the two men disappeared into the darkness of the alley.

Nothing happened in the alley.

Nothing was there.

…

“Invitation.”

The suspicious man with the fierce expression extended his hand as they walked down the corridor.

The bespectacled man took a paper from inside his coat and handed it to the suspicious man.

The suspicious man unfolded the invitation while continuing to walk, nodded, and returned the paper to the bespectacled man.

“Indeed. So you came on Haines’ recommendation.”

The fierce-looking man’s expression softened slightly.

He still looked intimidating, but his face became somewhat more presentable.

“If Haines recommended you, we can trust you.”

The fierce-looking man stopped walking.

Then he slowly began to open a door beside them.

The hinges must have been old and rusty, as the door opened slowly with an unpleasant metallic sound.

The fierce-looking man entered the room first, then opened the door wide and smiled at the bespectacled man.

“Welcome to the One-Star Alliance, friend.”

The fierce-looking man spread his arms wide in an enthusiastic welcome.

Behind his arms, numerous people were looking at the bespectacled man.

“…I can’t believe a place like this actually exists.”

The bespectacled man muttered in amazement.

“I couldn’t even imagine it despite being here for three years.”

“That’s to be expected.”

The fierce-looking man grinned.

“Our One-Star Alliance was such a disorganized rabble that we couldn’t even form a clan. We’ve only recently been able to expand our influence thanks to a sponsor.”

The fierce-looking man began peeling an apple with a dagger that appeared from nowhere.

After beautifully cutting the apple into a rabbit shape and placing it neatly on a clean plate, he handed it to the bespectacled man.

It seemed to be a gesture of hospitality.

The bespectacled man wasn’t particularly fond of apples, but he couldn’t help eating one piece when faced with the expectant look in the fierce-looking man’s eyes.

“Anyway, now that you’ve decided to become a member of our One-Star Alliance, let me introduce myself. You might have heard of me. The pride of Gaeam 3-dong, Park Chunbae. Ring any bells?”

“Park Chunbae.”

The bespectacled man nodded.

Wasn’t he one of the infamous “Trap Trio of One-Star” for producing too many character cards?

A trap card so useless that it hadn’t reached two-star status in over ten years.

The bespectacled man’s eyes gleamed.

In Gachaland, where value was everything, failing to rise above one-star for over ten years severely damaged one’s worth.

Yet the fact that he still survived in Gachaland meant that this Park Chunbae possessed some value unknown to others.

“Humble as I am, I serve as the leader of the One-Star Alliance.”

“How long have you been the leader?”

“Ten years.”

Ah. The bespectacled man finally looked relieved, as if a question had been answered.

“You’ll get to know the others gradually, but first, let’s introduce you. Would that be alright?”

Park Chunbae said to the bespectacled man.

In the dark room, all eyes of the people huddled around a single lamp turned to the bespectacled man.

“Of course.”

The bespectacled man nodded.

“Though not as renowned as all of you, there’s someone who’s occasionally called the fourth member of the Trap Quartet these days.”

A dinging sound came from somewhere.

The densely gathered people turned their heads frantically to locate the source of the musical sound.

“The pride of Gaeam 3-dong Park Chunbae, Porter Haines, Budget Magician Malai…”

Another ding sound rang out.

“And challenging their legacy, the worst challenger, Bard Tales.”

Tap! Tap! Tap! Lights that shouldn’t exist suddenly turned on.

Under those lights appeared goblins wearing silk hats, holding canes, and wearing tap shoes, who began to dance and sing.

“Oh, what a misfortune♬ Most choices aren’t new♪ If you had been luckier♭ You wouldn’t have been gored by a bull♬ Oh, what a misfortune♩”

As soon as the song ended, the lights went out and the goblins vanished without a trace.

Only then did people realize who the bespectacled man was.

The glasses were merely a disguise.

Having removed his glasses and changed into a beret and loose medieval attire typical of a bard, Bard Tales bowed to the audience.

“I do hope you enjoyed it.”

Bard Tales.

The man whose traits, stats, and special skills were completely mismatched!

Though he was registered in the gacha pool only two years ago, his card received tremendous criticism immediately upon release.

His trait [Bard] was close to a support singer who assists allies through songs, but his stats were concentrated on attack speed, and his special skill was summoning.

A complete disaster.

Not only that, Tales had a major flaw…

He couldn’t sing.

The worst singer in the world!

He was so bad at singing that passing goblins would offer to sing instead, claiming they could do better.

Just now, goblins had appeared to sing before Tales could start.

Though not quite as terrible as the worst one-star lineup of Porter Haines, the pride of Gaeam 3-dong Park Chunbae, and Budget Magician Malai, he was definitely among the five worst one-stars!

“This… we might have someone extraordinary joining us.”

A magician who had been pretending to be uninterested while performing card tricks swallowed hard.

He was so bad at magic that even a fool could spot his tricks, yet he continued confidently hiding and revealing cards in his hands.

“So, with him, the five fingers are complete?”

A short-haired man with dyed blonde hair, wearing a small backpack, smiled showing his teeth.

He had prominent cheekbones and was missing several teeth.

His skin was deeply tanned, and he somehow exuded an unpleasant aura.

Observant people might immediately recognize who these individuals were.

No, anyone who had ever drawn cards at the Card Pack Exchange would recognize these faces.

Budget Magician Malai and Porter Haines.

Look around.

Everyone here was someone that card pack openers would have seen at least once.

And probably thrown in the trash or shredded at least once too.

“As expected.”

While everyone’s attention was on Tales, Park Chunbae began to clap.

“It feels like the final puzzle piece of our One-Star Alliance is complete. I’m quite pleased.”

“Thank you.”

Tales scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Tales asked Park Chunbae:

“By the way, about ‘that thing’ mentioned in the invitation…”

“Shh.”

Park Chunbae covered Tales’ mouth.

“Keep it down. We’ll discuss that later after we go to the secret base. Okay?”

Tales nodded at Park Chunbae’s words.

“Good.”

Park Chunbae grinned and removed his hand from Tales’ mouth.

“Well then, let’s all head to the secret base. We should explain things to our new member, shouldn’t we?”

What purpose does the One-Star Alliance have, and what ripples will they create?

It was still unknown, but would soon be revealed.