Chapter 28 – Retribution (1)

&R;&e;&a;&d;​& ;&o;&n;& ;&K;&a;&t;&R;&e;&a;&d;&i;&n;&g;&C;&a;​&f;&e;

‘What are they misunderstanding?’

Although I was slightly bothered by Shadis’s suddenly enthusiastic expression after hearing my words, I decided to wrap up the meeting and part ways there.

Even if I were to let it slide, they needed to start preparing for tomorrow right away.

“Will you be returning to the hotel now?”

“No, I’ll head to the sanctuary first.”

Instead of going back to the hotel, I headed to the sanctuary.

Unlike in the past, I now visit the sanctuary as soon as the cooldown period ends.

Even if I have nothing to say to the Constellations, it doesn’t matter. Going there and listening to whatever they have to say will provide me with a justification that I can use someday.

If my Insight stat reaches 2,000, I won’t need to bother with such tedious tasks.

‘Will they keep my secret even if they find out?’

The more I eavesdrop on the community and leak information, the more likely it is that the Contract Constellations, if no one else, will notice something off.

Of course, I already knew that the Contract Constellations were sincere with me.

Considering that it’s not uncommon for Contract Constellations to treat their contractors like tools using slave contracts, I’ve met some good ones.

But I still couldn’t be completely sure. After all, I was hiding something important from them.

“Fortunately, you came right away. Today, I want to give you a warning.”

“…Excuse me?”

That’s why, when I heard Serpina’s voice at the sanctuary that day, I couldn’t help but flinch when she suddenly said she had a warning for me.

“What… what kind of warning are you talking about?”

“It seems my intention was conveyed well.”

Amidst the usual crackling noise, the word “warning” was clear.

Seeing that she seemed relieved that I understood her following words, it wasn’t a misinterpretation or a distorted term.

“There are those who hate and resent you. We’ve detected signs that they are attempting to harm you directly.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“That is…”

My panicked question was met with silence. She was restricted from making direct statements.

Serpina, knowing this, let out an exasperated sigh.

“Damn it, just be careful. From now on, be suspicious of everyone. You’re on the lower floors, so you can’t use your full stats. It’s clear that your enemies are targeting that.”

In the end, all she could warn me about was to be cautious and wary of everything.

Originally, the extent of what a Constellation could say to their contractor was limited to that. It wasn’t for nothing that they praised my ability to understand even such vague hints.

“Don’t worry.”

Having regained my composure, I left the sanctuary after telling her not to worry.

My expression must have been stiff because the waiting driver was openly gauging my mood.

“Let’s go back to the hotel.”

“Yes, yes!”

We headed straight back to the hotel.

Aside from me, important figures like executives from the alliance dispatched from other floors were also staying there, so it was unlikely that anyone would dare to attack such a place openly.

‘I have no choice but to check the community.’

Although it was still early, I hurriedly prepared to sleep.

It was unlikely that Serpina hadn’t written about me in the fan gallery.

It was clear that by checking there, I could find out who was targeting me and how such a thing was possible.

——————————————————————————————————————————

[Those bastards are just a bunch of community trash.]

[Here we go again, another incident is about to happen. Damn gambling addicts.]

[It’s always the ones who cross the line that cause problems. Every time, lol.]

[Wait, is this actually possible? An assassination request for Reina?]

.

.

.

——————————————————————————————————————————

As expected, the gallery was on fire.

However, this time, the target of the outrage wasn’t internal gallery issues or the anger directed at Jung Chan-soo’s fandom.

It was the anger towards those who had set up their own private gambling den during my match with Sylvia and suffered significant losses due to my unexpected victory.

——————————————————————————————————————————

[These are the kinds of bastards who should’ve been filtered out in the Tower. They just keep squeezing their way in, clinging to their Constellation badges.]

• Main Administrator

– “Those who rise by luck only keep relying on luck. They have no self-control and only blame others.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

As expected, the admin, Serpina, was at the forefront, expressing the most anger.

I clicked on the post she had written and pinned at the top for everyone to see.

The post was filled with Serpina’s curses, along with a photo attached. It was a picture of her arguing with multiple users in what appeared to be another gallery, not my fan gallery.

——————————————————————————————————————————

ㄴ“So it was that bitch, the fan gallery administrator. Get ready to find a new contractor soon.”

ㄴ“You’ve made such a mess, but I guess you still have points left to place an assassination request. Maybe you should save those for something else?”

ㄴ“Lol, keep talking all you want. That bitch will be dead soon.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

They were openly recruiting accomplices to retaliate against me.

Even though Serpina condemned them, they didn’t budge.

Their argument was that they would retaliate and punish me for the losses I caused them, and if anyone wanted to stop them, they could try.

——————————————————————————————————————————

ㄴ“An assassination request… I heard it costs a fortune to do that once.”

ㄴ“They seem serious. There’s a bounty on Reina’s head on their board right now.”

ㄴ“Most of them are just trolls looking to cause trouble. You’ve messed with the wrong people, you’re doomed.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

Other users’ comments were also buzzing as they observed this behavior.

I couldn’t see it, but it seemed there was a crazy community called the “Assassination Gallery” somewhere.

I didn’t know what methods they used, but it was entirely possible to create puppets within the Tower to attack or terrorize targets.

——————————————————————————————————————————

[Is this really possible? Why are they going this far?]

——————————————————————————————————————————

Shocked, I wrote a post myself.

The gambling talk had been around since the beginning, and there were often jokes about those who suffered losses lashing out in retaliation.

But now that it had become a reality, it was utterly bewildering.

Even the Constellations in the gallery had dismissed it as a joke, thinking they wouldn’t actually go through with it.

——————————————————————————————————————————

ㄴ“Before this, there weren’t any notable events in Tower 3445, so it didn’t attract much attention from the community. But this time, the Reina vs. Sylvia match drew more attention than expected. That’s the problem.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

One of the comments on my post seemed to hit the nail on the head.

The sin of attracting more attention than usual.

While attracting more attention brought in many new users to the fan gallery, it also inevitably attracted more malicious individuals.

——————————————————————————————————————————

ㄴ“Even so…”

ㄴ“Lol, don’t underestimate the mentally ill. These are the kind of lunatics who’ve been rotting away as low-ranking Constellations for over a hundred years, spending all day on the community.”

ㄴ“They must’ve been happy when they climbed the Tower. They must’ve thought they had the whole world. But the world they knew was just a tiny fraction.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

In response to my disbelieving comment, other users viewed the situation with a somewhat cynical perspective.

Despite their anger, they were all too aware of the harsh reality.

——————————————————————————————————————————

[What’s the point of fighting in the gallery? We have to try to stop them somehow.]
ㄴ“That’s right. They can’t keep placing requests anyway. It costs too much.”

ㄴ“From what I know, the administrator’s role is crucial. They need to gather as much information as possible from the community and relay it to the contractor so they can prepare.”

ㄴ“Stay in the Assassination Gallery and relay any hints they drop.”

ㄴ“Can’t we just get Reina out of the lower floors? It’d be harder to touch her if she’s on the upper floors with her full stats.”

ㄴ“They’re just too scared and will keep being manipulated.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

The fan gallery users were also trying their best to prepare and counter the assassination requests.

Many of them seemed familiar with such situations, reacting as if they’d been through this before.

Well, with a place like the Assassination Gallery existing, this was just another event or plot device in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks to that, the lively gallery was buzzing with activity.

I also subtly posted questions and engaged with the comments to gather as much information as I could.

——————————————————————————————————————————

[Did the administrator really relay the message properly?! Reina’s just sleeping peacefully right now!]
ㄴ“I definitely relayed it, and she said she understood. I don’t know why she’s acting like this.”

ㄴ“Just leave her be. They can’t openly attack the hotel anyway.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

Some users blamed Serpina, the administrator, for my apparent lack of action while I was sleeping.

Feeling a bit guilty after reading the comments and reactions, I stopped my gallery activities and woke up.

Time had flown by, and it was already dawn.

‘It’ll start within a few days.’

According to the information I gathered, things were fine for now. It seemed the requests had just started coming in.

Once something serious happened, the users active in the gallery would likely make a fuss and let me know.

Holding my throbbing head, I got out of bed and changed out of my pajamas into outdoor clothes.

I planned to enter the dungeon as scheduled today. I needed to finish as much as possible, as quickly as possible.

“Damn it.”

I let out a sigh.

Being hated and resented by someone is never a good feeling. Especially when I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Secretary-General, what’s with that crowd?”

Jake, the executive from the alliance branch who had been looking after me since yesterday as if he were my personal assistant, showed up again this morning.

“Hmm, it seems Crow-nim from the Blue Dragon Guild, a quasi-ranker, has arrived as scheduled.”

“…What a fuss.”

As I clicked my tongue while observing the crowd gathered near the hotel, he quickly explained.

A quasi-ranker. Hearing that, I scoffed.

Officially, only the top 100 are recognized as rankers in the Tower’s system.

But the world, which loves rankings, has extended the term “quasi-ranker” to include those from 100th to 300th place, or even up to 500th place. Even though there’s no precise way to determine their exact rankings.

“It’s increased significantly since Reina-nim’s achievements. You’ve personally demonstrated how important it is to reflect on oneself from the bottom up.”

“Are you saying it’s because of me? Hah.”

I couldn’t laugh at Jake’s remark that the increase in upper-floor challengers descending to the lower floors was because of me.

Because the hitmen for the assassination requests mentioned in the gallery were none other than those very upper-floor challengers.

If I hadn’t caused the “lower-floor boom”, it might have been easier to identify and filter them out.

But now, because of me, the frequency of upper-floor challengers descending had increased, making it harder to weed them out.

‘I have no choice but to stay alert.’

I glanced at Crow, the quasi-ranker, who was strutting through the hotel lobby with his entourage, and tossed my empty paper cup into the trash.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Thank you for reading.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Well, whatever happens next, it’s natural selection, got it?