Closed Beta That Only I Played

Chapter 326: There May Be Blue and Better Blue (2)

“Captain Jungdae Lim! I wish you had increased your level a little more! It is disappointing that you are still level 1.”

“Sorry, young master. As you know, I don’t have any talent for games, and I’m not that interested in them either. However, since I have not invested the remaining 10 stat points I received from increasing my level by 1, I can still do whatever I want later, right?”

Kim was so shocked to hear the conversation between me and Capt. Lim, who was infused into Kim’s body, but he quickly figured out what’s going on.

In other words, he realized that he was completely defeated.

***

Did I trust Jihye Suh? Of course, I did, but only 99%.

I was still suspicious of her deep down, even if it was only 1%.

The reason I couldn’t trust her 100% was because I could not understand why Kim did not even attempt to search for her at all for a week despite her supposed importance. I couldn’t understand it.

If I were in Kim’s shoes, I would make it impossible for her to escape my control because she was such a treasure.

So, I could not clear my doubts about her completely. What made me doubt her decisively was her enormous subordination to Kim. It was none other than her extraordinary subordination that made it possible for her to contact Kim and allow her to be resurrected if he wanted to. How could Kim who had her under such a powerful subordination not be able to find her whereabouts? I could not understand it at all.

So I smelled a rat, and had Capt. Jungdae Lim, a very reliable deputy of mine and the Commander of the Myongjin Shelter Guard, prepared for this kind of situation in advance.

Kim, who was infused into Capt. Lim’s body instead of mine, was now shuddering before me.

But I said to Kim without caring about his miserable situation at all.

“By the way, you are so dumb! When I first saw Jihye Suh, I could immediately tell she was over level 1200, and had a reality actualization rate. Is it even possible for you to not notice at all when she was beside you for several years? Shouldn’t you know when you saw her again today that she was weaker than an ordinary player? Then, how come you tried to treat her the same way you used to? Man, you are so dumb!”

“…”

Kim could not respond to my sarcastic rebuke at all.

Then, Kim, who was still trembling, said feebly, “Change is definitely my deepest secret that I have not revealed to anyone. I didn’t reveal it even to Jihye Suh. How did you know it?”

“Change? Oh, of course I didn’t know about it. How would I know about it?”

“Then, how did you…?”

I could clearly feel Kim was nervous, restless and hopeless, but he seemed very interested in it. So I opened my mouth because it wasn’t a secret anyway.

“Hmm. Look, there are all kinds of special things in the world. Do you know what happened recently? I was infected with a parasite I had never heard of before. And the parasite tried to eat my flesh. And actually, it was my fault to some extent that I got hit by his attack. Do you think that makes sense?’

“…”

Kim just stared at me blankly without even responding.

I then continued, shrugging, “So when I decided that I should be more careful from now on, Jihye Suh showed up before me. Of course, she didn’t seem to be lying to me. Maybe it’s true she still wants to die. But when I talked with her a little more, I found out that she had a whopping 14,000 stat points. Can you imagine? 14,000 stat points?”

This time, not only Kim, but also Jihye looked at me blankly.

Of course, I continued, not caring about their expressions.

“How did Jihye, who was aiming for death, keep it a secret? I guess she must have told you about it. Come to think of it now, I guess she didn’t make up her mind easily because of your skill ‘Change.’ And that’s why you made the decision like this. You sent her to me and had her give all her stat points to me, so you could attempt Change on me.”

“…”

Kim was shuddering violently at my words without responding at all.

“Oh, am I talking too much? To be honest, I was a bit surprised too, because I didn’t know that the whole story would fall into place as I expected.”

Having said that, I approached Jihye, who was lying in one corner of the cave.

She was looking up at me blankly.

So I said to her in a low voice, “I have no intention of cursing you. To be honest, I wasn’t deceived as you wished, and I got so much stuff from you. So, let me ask you again. What do you want?”

“Eternal death.”

“Good. Let me keep the promise I have made to you first.”

“Thank you so much. And I’m really sorry…”

“That’s enough. It’s not a big deal.”

When she finished talking, I cast a glance at Kim, who was infused into Capt. Jungdae Lim’s body.

***

In fact, I knew there was a possibility I could be trapped by Kim and his subordinate Jihye Suh.

But the problem was that I had no idea what the trap would be.

Of course, I could make an educated guess to some extent.

So I moved carefully so as not to be noticed by her, but in the end, I created a one-on-one confrontation between me and Kim. I realized that she had been acting according to Kim’s instructions even before I brought her into the Myongjin Shelter. That meant that Kim had a very strong card to turn the tide in dealing with me. So, I needed a pinch hitter to confront Kim for me. And the person who would confront Kim would be plunged into a dangerous situation where they could lose their life.

That’s why I had no choice but to worry.

Knowing that Kim had such a wicked trick, I felt uncomfortable about confronting him directly, and at the same time, I felt it rather awkward to have somebody confront him for me.

Then somebody volunteered to do it for me without any hesitation.

It was none other than Jungdae Lim, the Commander of the Myongjin Shelter Guard.

At first I stopped him because I didn’t want to sacrifice his loyalty and dedication to the Myongjin Guild over ten years even before he took over the Myongjin Shelter Guard for the upcoming fight with Kim. Besides, I thought that the price of a person’s life could not be traded away for something else.

Nonetheless, I could not make him give up his determination to fight against Kim on my behalf.

He even stopped me from canceling my plan and abandoning her along the way.

Anyway, I said to Capt. Lim, who was now infused into Kim’s body, “How is it? Are you getting used to it?”

“Um, I feel a bit awkward right now, but I think I’ll get better over time.”

Captain Lim, who was no in the shape of Kim, spoke, clenching and opening his fists.

I couldn’t help but say one more thing.

“Well, I think you will have to make some more effort to get adjusted to this situation.”

“Really?’

“Yeah.”

After I chatted with Lim jokingly like that, we began to clean up the mess in the cave.