Chapter 121 (1/2)

Chapter 121. Timing Game

“What is it?”

Seol Jihu asked nervously, and Kazuki slowly opened his mouth.

“I can't find Jun.”

“Sakamoto Jun?”

Kazuki nodded as he puffed out white smoke.

“There are forty staircases in total. a.s.suming each labyrinth had eight people, that means at least 320 partic.i.p.ated in this year's Banquet….” As the end of his sentence trailed off, his expression turned more and more sour.

“36 teams made it up so far, so 288 people should be here.”

“Right, but they might have—”

“I know. But don't you think it's too harsh for only 165 people to have made it up here?”

Seol Jihu swallowed his saliva. Over half of the partic.i.p.ants had perished or had been eliminated in Stage 1?

“There are still four teams left. I can only hope he's just been eliminated.”

Kazuki smiled bitterly before asking for another cigarette. In response, Seol Jihu dazedly handed him the entire pack.

“Anyways, I heard you did well. The second team to make it up here, right?”

“Who told you that?”

“An Archer named Lara Wolff. She was praising you so much that I began to worry her tongue would dry up.”

Kazuki seemed to have gone around to exchange information the moment he came up. Seol Jihu silently regretted just sitting around and doing nothing.

Meanwhile, Kazuki glanced at the youth and saw his complexion sink.

“…Not really,” The youth muttered in a gloomy voice.

Kazuki tilted his head. From what he heard about the youth's feats, he should have no reason to feel dejected.

“Did something happen?”

Seol Jihu hesitated for a long time. Then….

“…Leading people is really hard, huh.” He finally let out the sigh he had been holding in. “Things don't work out the way you want. To be honest, I can't even remember what I did.”

Kazuki must have been caught off guard as his eyes widened with a cigarette still hanging between his lips. However, that only lasted a moment.

“Yep.”

As the leader of Umi Tsubame, he couldn't help but agree with the youth's statement.

“You're right. It is hard. After all, you have to unite people who aren't like you and people who aren't like each other.”

“Tough, huh….”

The reason Seol Jihu was so troubled was that he didn't know what to do. He didn't have regrets. Not a single thought of 'I should have done this or I should have done that' entered his mind.

Because of this, he couldn't make any excuses. Even if he went back in time and restarted Stage 1 with the knowledge he had now, he wasn't confident in bringing about a result better than this one.

“Mister Kazuki.”

“Mm?”

“There's something I want to say too.”

“…I'll consider it payment for this pack of cigarettes.”

Seol Jihu confessed his frustrations at Kazuki, who was a well-respected leader. Perhaps the youth wanted someone to listen to him, agree with him, and offer some advice.

Kazuki listened to the youth silently before saying, “Maybe the clothes didn't fit you.”

Seol Jihu tilted his head in confusion.

“If I were you…” Kazuki continued immediately, “I would have revealed my ident.i.ty first.”

“Why?”

“There is value in the name Carpe Diem. Plus, your name is a topic in itself.”

“They might think I'm just being c.o.c.ky.”

“Only if you introduce yourself arrogantly. Depending on your att.i.tude or the situation, things might have gone in a different direction.” Kazuki snorted. “The method you used to lead the six members of the group is persuasion. In other words, a gift of gab.”

“R… right.”

“Words have different weights depending on who says them. The words of a famous, authoritative person are different than the words of a nameless brat.” Kazuki muttered endlessly. “And fame is the strongest card in your possession. What's wrong about using something you've built up fair and square?”

Seol Jihu became speechless at Kazuki's logical reasoning.

“It's only a guess, but had you revealed your ident.i.ty at the beginning, their att.i.tude might have changed. At the very least, they wouldn't have looked down on you.”

“Is that really the case?”

“That's what I did.”

“Ah.”

“You need to know your value a bit more,” Kazuki smirked as he saw the youth's look of disbelief. “Well, despite me saying this… I don't think what you did was bad.”

“Really?”

“You said Oh Rahee and the Viper, or rather Audrey Basler, were in your party, right?”

“Yes.”

“With those two… well…” Kazuki took a careful look around before speaking quietly, “It wouldn't have been strange even if the team was torn to pieces. You did a good job just coming out in one piece.”

Seol Jihu trembled, feeling like he just heard something terrifying. “Do you know them?”

“Of course.” Kazuki's face seemed to say, 'How would I not know them?'

“Oh Rahee is a High Ranker, but she was famous even before she became one. She has a few infamous tales, so look into them if you're curious.”

“Can't you just tell me? You can just summarize them.”

“Figuratively speaking, she has the battle prowess of the G.o.d of War Zhao Yun, and the intelligence and political power of Sima Yi.”

Hearing Kazuki compare her to two of the most famous generals in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Seol Jihu dropped his jaw. He asked, “How could there be such a cheat character?”

However, Kazuki was dead serious.

“What… what about Audrey Basler?”

“She is someone I would never pick to be a member of my team.” Kazuki spoke firmly, “If I were in your position, I would have either killed her, or abandoned her. I wouldn't have considered any other option.”

“Why?”

“Because my life could be in danger if I let her be.”

Seol Jihu tilted his head, but when he remembered Snake Eyes' color, he immediately agreed. Even as he was progressing through the labyrinth, he was more wary of Basler than Oh Rahee.

“Still, to say you'd kill her…. Isn't there a way to bring her along?”

“Seol.” Kazuki sighed. “I'm not a murderous psychopath. I'm not saying I would kill for no reason. However, I also don't think I'm wrong.”

“Of course, that doesn't mean you're right. Since you managed to pull it off, I won't say you're soft either.” Kazuki spoke sharply.

Then…. “But… your method might have been the right one for Stage 1.” He muttered with a voice carrying a hint of regret.

It was then. Ruffle, ruffle. The surroundings suddenly got noisy.

“One?”

Kazuki doubted his eyes. On one of the remaining stairways, a long-haired man climbed up to the mountaintop. He seemed to be about 2 meters tall, and his stature was also huge.

The problem was that he was plastered in blood. It was so much that even fresh blood was dripping down from the ends of his hair. His demon-like appearance made the surrounding people back off in shock.

Furthermore, the moment the man climbed up to the mountaintop, the 40 pillars emitted brilliant beams of light. The beams all shot toward the middle before forming a cl.u.s.ter.

Something was finally appearing above the empty mountaintop. In other words….

“A portal, huh.”

Stage 1 had officially ended.

“Mister Kazuki.” Seol Jihu asked as he watched other people gather around the glimmering light in groups, “There's another thing I'm curious about.”

“If it's just one, go ahead.”

“What did you mean when you said the clothes didn't fit me?”

“I meant you should take off your mask.” Kazuki replied immediately.

'Mask?' Seol Jihu touched his face. What was Kazuki talking about?

“What kind of a leader do I look like to you?”