Max Talent Player - Chapter 121

Chapter 121

There were thin threads scattered here and there in the clearing. Fluttering in the wind were ‘Red threads’ so thin you couldn’t see them unless you squinted.

‘There’s a woman behind the bars.’

A petite woman was sitting towards the back of the pile. I didn’t approach her directly, just discreetly walked closer and activated Eye of Perception. Thankfully, Eye of Perception worked on her.

‘Her name is…’

I was doubtful, but it really was ‘Ahn Seohye’, the murderer called the Red Demon in my previous life.

[Player]

Name: Ahn Seohye

Age: 19

Level: 34

Class: Barrier Magician

Guardian: -(Cannot be read due to a special barrier)

Innate ability: [Predator Barrier] [Pause]

State: Scared / Motivated / Good

Disposition: Fearful / Misandrist / Just

Summary:

Wounded Barrier Magician

Distrusting Girl

The disposition/state/summary only show the most representative and can change according to the situation.

Because Eye of Perception’s proficiency is not high enough, viewing more detailed information is impossible.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

‘Level 34?’

Being Level 34 at this point in time made her the best of the very best.

‘What? How?’

That level was outside the realm of common sense. I was sure of it.

‘As expected, she’s an Irregular.’

The Red Demon Ahn Seohye was far from a regular Player, both in the past and present. Her level was more of an indication of her being aided by some external force rather than a gauge of her own talent. That was the most likely possibility.

‘To forcibly raise a Player’s level…’

That required intense involvement in the System. Even a Guardian would suffer a huge loss while doing so.

‘Which Guardian is it?’

This kind of level would have required not just ‘sponsoring’, but ‘sacrifice’. Very rarely, there were Guardians willing to go so far, Guardians so crazy for Players that they cut their flesh and bled for them. But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Guardians like that were typically obsessed with their favorites, and there were many cases where that obsession went wayward.

‘There are also Guardians who interfered so excessively that they lost all strength and were extinguished.’

So where was Ahn Seohye on that spectrum? Her name was the same as the Red Demon, but something was a little weird.

State: Scared / Motivated / Good

Disposition: Fearful / Misandrist / Just

Both her state and disposition were extremely contradictory. She was both scared but motivated, and good and just but hated men.

Wounded Barrier Magician

Distrusting Girl

Seeing as her class was in her summary, there was no doubt she was compatible to the nth degree with the class Barrier Magician.

‘Distrusting Girl…’

I had a hunch that the young woman I was seeing through Eye of Perception had been hurt a great deal by men. That was the only thing I could come up with. She was sitting there with a barrier up and preparing for something, but I didn’t feel any murderous intent from her. Moreover, she wasn’t showing any hostility towards the Players.

‘Something’s different.’

It was different from my precognitive dream. I didn’t think my dream was completely off, but that some kind of variable was taking effect on the future I’d seen in the dream, the present.

The more I looked, the more shocked Ahn Seohye’s status made me.

Innate ability: [Predator Barrier] [Pause]
The fact top Rankers had ‘innate abilities’ from so early on no longer surprised me, and I could also find rationale for her level being so high. After all, there were always ‘Irregulars’ out there, and once in a blue moon, there were people who raised their levels in a way that went outside the norm. It was definitely possible for someone to level up fairly quickly if they used an ‘illegitimate’ method, unlike me.

‘Predator Barrier.’

What I gleaned from the world within my precognitive dream was that I would be able to get a clue related to the ‘Map of the Predator Tree Colony’ here. Could that [Predator Barrier] ability be related to that clue?

‘Yes, it is.’

The reason for my certainty was the ‘Map of the Predator Tree Colony’ in my Inventory. It was flashing with a yellow light. The moment I started examining Ahn Seohye with Eye of Perception, it started to glow. I didn’t know the nature of the connection between the two, but they were definitely closely related.

‘I have to find out more.’

I put that aside for now. The other innate ability was ridiculous. [Pause]?

‘You’re telling me a Player can impose a Pause?’

I didn’t know if her [Pause] was the same thing as the one I knew. It might not be the same effect as the Pause authority used by Streamers and Guardians. No, at this stage, it probably wasn’t. But what if that ability was developed over a long period of time? If her level wasn’t 34, but 68? Or 100?

‘It might have almost the same effect as the Pause authority.’

If so, it could explain the past I remembered.

‘She managed to flee despite being completely surrounded.’

Even after killing countless people, the Red Demon disappeared with ease, leaving only the rumor that she had joined the Demon King. She was a legendary mass murderer who singlehandedly killed hundreds of people. Such inconceivable acts were possible if she had ‘Pause’.

‘But even so, if she fights one-on-one with me… I can beat her.’

I was confident. If we fought one-on-one, I could overwhelm her. When it came down to it, my class was the polar opposite of hers. I had an eye that could ‘discern the true nature of things’, and she had the ability to make a ‘barrier that distorts the true nature of things’. I could tell the moment I saw it.

‘In terms of ability alone, I’m on top, but…’

It was a little confusing. I came here resolved to kill, to bloody my hands for the sake of preventing so much needless death in the future. But the Ahn Seohye I was seeing in person was different. She wasn’t thinking of killing the Players. She was focusing on making a barrier, and that barrier wasn’t deleterious in the least.

I checked the flow with Observer’s Eye, and it was absolutely not a harmful barrier.

‘A barrier that can hinder the Trike’s movements and protect the Players.’

I couldn’t be sure of the exact ability or concrete effects. I just had the basic gist of it. I also didn’t think Ahn Seohye could completely fool my senses.

What I was seeing now was different from the past and the precognitive dream I’d seen.

While I was thinking, Yeonseo arrived.

“Boss Hyukjin. I’m here. Looks like I’m not late to the party.”

As always, Yeonseo wore a pretty smile, her eyes twinkling, a thing that had produced so many Sword Empress crushers. Even now, quite a lot of Players were sneaking glances at her. One guy was even uttering an amazed “Wow…” Even for a guy with no interest in the opposite sex like me, Yeonseo’s smile was truly beautiful. But the really funny thing was that her smile wasn’t just a critical hit on men.

It also worked on the woman I’d been observing this entire time.

State: Longing / Trust / Admiration
Ahn Seohye’s status changed the moment she saw Yeonseo, who had been garnering fame lately via 1 vs. 1 PVPs.

Summary:

Wounded Barrier Magician

Girl in Need of Help

With Yeonseo’s appearance, ‘Distrusting Girl’ changed to ‘Girl in Need of Help’. Perhaps because she relaxed a little, Eye of Perception managed to project her face in my mind.

‘She’s 19?’

She didn’t look like it at all.

‘She looks around Sunhwa’s age.’

A petite frame. White skin. A short bob. Cute, innocent eyes. A completely different appearance from the ‘Red Demon’ I imagined.

Just then, a loud shout rang in the clearing.

“We’ve successfully cornered the Trike!”

This was a terribly amateurish drive hunt by future standards. Normally, it was standard to keep your voice down during a raid. Later, Players would use walkie-talkies to communicate during the raid, but that was a thing to consider later.

‘They did manage to corner it.’

The Trike was driven into the clearing. This child-eating monster turned its front wheel every which way, looking for a way out. However, it was already surrounded. The Players closed in on it, and in the end, the Trike was hunted down. Sunghyun shot the leaping Trike down with a Wind Arrow, and it fell flat on its face. The raid was a success.

As I watched from my position as an ‘Observer’, one step removed from the action, I knew that Ahn Seohye had helped. The Trike was slowed down thanks to her, which allowed Sunghyun to land a precise hit on it.

‘Even without her help, they definitely could have killed it.’

But there might have been some damage on the Players’ side. They hunted it more easily thanks to her.

‘The changed past. My wrong precognitive dream. Ahn Seohye being different from my expectations.’

Several pieces were out of place. I needed to look into this more. For now, I shelved my plan to murder today.

A few Players found Ahn Seohye hiding behind the steel bars.

“Over here! There’s a child over here!”

And I heard a voice telling me she’d been successfully rescued.

“Are you alright, child?”

Her face was extremely red, and her body shook uncontrollably, be it from shyness or fear. I watched as she was escorted away.

* * *

The raid was successful. This happy news was relayed nationwide via mass media, and the entire country was overtaken by festive rejoicing, even though it was just a single Trike. Much had changed from the past indeed.

I needed some time to think, so I went into a café near the clearing and sat down. As usual, Yeonseo had some nonsense to say.

“Boss Hyukjin. Is this where we’re having our date?”

I was probably immune to her smile by now.

“My god, don’t you get tired of it? Asking for a date every day?”

Everyone was scrolling through the articles written today on their phones. Sunghyun’s name was prominently featured. He was indeed a genius Player who’d scored a talent plate reading of thirty. His name was making a splash in the headlines as a ‘Magician of Wind’.

I wasn’t thinking too hard about the raid success story being publicized nationwide.

‘What is it?’

What was I missing?

‘What could it be?’

I closed my eyes and thought about what I failed to see yesterday, what I didn’t realize from my meditation yesterday. What was escaping my attention from that world within the precognitive dream? What was the puzzle piece that differed from the past?

‘No way.’

After a long time, I realized something.

‘No way.’

I remembered something. Someone. Someone who should have been alive at this point in time. Someone who should have been active now. A variable that had changed from the past.

‘That’s right.’

Originally, Seo Joohwan should have been here too. In the past, he was one of the Players who participated in the raid.

Disposition: Evil / Violent / Fake

Summary: Violent Pedophile

At the end of the raid, we found Ahn Seohye. What would have happened if Seo Joohwan had been there?

‘A young-looking girl… trembling in fear.’

An isolated, unprotected girl. Would Joohwan have left such a child alone? The moment I remembered the puzzle piece called Seo Joohwan, a scene appeared instantly in my mind. That one clue connected all the pieces.

‘In the past, Joohwan was there. Now, he’s not.’

That was the change. That was the piece I was forgetting.

‘In the past, I wasn’t there. Now, I am.’

Those two things became variables in this situation. I heard a voice.

“Fuck. Look at this guy, he’s seriously not right. You think it’s normal for someone to stay like that for thirty minutes straight?”

“Don’t insult Hyungnim, man.”

“But c’mon, is that really normal? Anyone can have moments of concentration, but the dude’s a fuckin’ monk.”