Max Talent Player - Chapter 251
Chapter 251
“We have arrived,” said the driver’s voice.
They were in front of the D-Tower, near the bus station. Hyukjin sat in a daze for a moment, still mired in thoughts of the Sky Gate, then got out upon feeling the door opening next to him.
‘Ah.’
He realized he’d made a mistake. He overheard a couple nearby—they were talking quietly, but his sharp ears captured every word.
“What’s with that dude?”
“Is he rich or something?”
“I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“They even opened the door for him. Even though he looks super young.”
“He must have been born into money.”
Hyukjin quickly used Cognitive Dissonance.
Their reactions made sense. Someone rolling up in a super-luxury black sedan and having the door opened for them by a chauffeur in a suit wasn’t something he’d ever seen on the street, either.
‘Next time, I should get out in the underground parking lot.’
Even something as minor as this drew attention. He decided to go up by elevator from the underground parking lot next time. He could also open the door on his own. It was just that his mind was so deeply engrossed with thoughts of the Sky Gate today.
Hyukjin walked into the D-Tower and heard a notice.
[Enter the Tutorial Building?]
The D-Tower had long since become the Tutorial Building. As soon as he entered the 1st floor, he saw a lot of Players.
‘I’ll be going to the 2nd floor.’
The Tutorial Building was a safe zone, the place where he first crossed paths with the Demon King, and as far as he knew, the first person to open the 2nd floor was the Demon King. In addition, this was the field mentioned by the Sky Feather that was the ‘Clue Regarding the Sky of Freedom’. That was why he came here.
“Excuse me. Are you trying to go to the 2nd floor?” asked a woman who looked to be in her mid-20s.
“Yes, I am.”
“Even if you go up, there’s nothing there.”
“I am aware.”
“Then why are you trying to go up there?”
The woman’s face seemed somewhat familiar to Hyukjin. Eye of Perception revealed that her name was Kang Somyi.
‘Ah, Kang Somyi.’
She was a fairly well-known explorer-class Player in Korea, one who was always wrapped in bandages to cover the terrible burn scars on her face. That was why he didn’t recognize her.
‘She hasn’t been burned yet.’
He checked her summary.
Summary: Curious Explorer
Hyukjin asked back, “Do I need to explain my actions to you?”
“You sure are prickly.” Kang Somyi smiled, not seeming terribly put off. “I just talked to you because you’re good-looking.”
“Thank you.”
“Is that all you have to say?”
“Yes. I’m busy right now.”
Hyukjin went to stand in front of the escalator going to the 2nd floor without engaging further.
‘How amusing.’
Meeting Kang Somyi was just a minor event in the grand scheme of things, but…
‘She managed to see through my Cognitive Dissonance?’
He hadn’t dispelled Cognitive Dissonance yet, but Kang Somyi saw that Hyukjin was heading to the escalator and even started talking to him. Moreover, she told him he was ‘good-looking’.
‘That’s subjective, so whatever.’
He didn’t assign much meaning to her compliment. The important thing was that she was able to penetrate Cognitive Dissonance and discern his appearance.
[Go up to the 2nd Floor?]
He went up. Senia followed closely behind.
“Why’d you remove your transparency mode all of a sudden?”
“Do you know that female Player?”
“No. It’s my first time seeing her.”
“Really?”
“Why?”
“It’s nothing.”
She disappeared as abruptly as she had appeared. Somehow, she gave Hyukjin the impression of a jealous girlfriend, and he probably wasn’t just imagining it.
It seemed the Arrow-Shooting Cupid’s influence was still lingering. Still, she probably wouldn’t fall victim to the Guardian’s tricks again after his stern warning. He thought of the issue as one that would be resolved by time.
A voice sounded in his head.
(Hmph, she knows my husband is good-looking.)
Why there was so much brouhaha involved with something as trivial as going to the 2nd floor of the D-Tower, he didn’t know.
(Maybe I should just put my stamp on your forehead.)
Hyukjin instantly felt cold sweat run down his back. With the partial lifting of Isabel’s seal and his increased Willpower, their mental connection had grown stronger. Through their bolstered connection, he could see exactly what she meant. An illusion flashed through his mind.
It was a terrifying image of his forehead on fire, and the word ‘husband’ branded on his forehead. His mind urged him to break the illusion in order to survive.
Isabel, please don’t make me use an incantation on you.
Isabel laughed with merriment. (Uhaha. Well, alright. You being handsome is a good thing for me, too. Seriously, you’re too good-looking for your own good.)
Hyukjin just smiled. This Sword Forest artifact, this mysterious item bearing the same name as the Queen of the Sword Forest, was exactly the picture of a wife in the honeymoon phase.
After some “complications”, he reached the 2nd floor. There was nothing there, as expected.
‘This is where the hidden shop opened.’
He thought back to that time. Back then, he never thought things would turn out like this, but less than one year had passed. Life was truly unpredictable. Seeing the place again felt different now.
“Senia. I’ll be activating the Sky Gate here.”
“Understood. I will soon open my channel and stream accordingly. But before that, there’s something I want to say.”
“What is it?”
A blast of smoke went off with a bang. Darongi was startled from his snooze on Hyukjin’s shoulder and fell to the floor.
“Tada!”
The voice was coming from a scissor floating in the air.
‘Shobidobi.’
It was Shobidobi, the editor who pretty much failed as an Intermediate Administrator but would later achieve success when editors became a thing. He was, in other words, a top-notch editor. He couldn’t make something out of nothing, but he could make treasure out of something.
“I’ll introduce myself. I’m Shobidobi. I’m a scissorpen, a minority race, and was an Intermediate Administrator up until a few days ago.”
The scissor moved on its own, making snipping motions in the air with crisp clangs.
“Are you that amazing one and only Kim Hyukjin content I’ve heard so much about?”
“I don’t know about amazing one and only, but I’m Kim Hyukjin, yeah.”
“Why’re you speaking to me so casually?”
“Because you did it first. Are you unhappy about it?”
“No, not at all.” Shobidobi snipped quickly. “It was just fascinating to me to meet a Player who spoke down to me.”
Senia said, “Shobidobi told me he wanted to meet Player Kim Hyukjin once before signing a contract with us.”
It was entirely sensible. Of course he’d want to see his prospective partner’s skills before signing a contract.
“Alright.”
“I will take that as your consent, Player Kim Hyukjin.”
“Okay.”
They didn’t just have his consent, but his full support. It would be frustrating to work together if they knew each other in name but not in practice. It was probably the same for Shobidobi. He wouldn’t be able to edit Hyukjin’s content well if he didn’t experience Hyukjin’s Playing for himself.
‘Because Shobidobi is a genius in editing.’
The structure, direction, and appropriate music would probably occur to him just by seeing Hyukjin in action.
Shobidobi said, “Alrighty, then. What are you gonna do now?”
“Open the Sky Gate.”
“The Sky Gate?” A large book materialized in front of Shobidobi. “What’s the Sky Gate?”
He eagerly flipped through the manual, but after searching for a long time, Shobidobi shook his body. The human equivalent would be something like tilting his head.
“It’s not in the manual?”
“Looks like it hasn’t been updated.”
“Huh? It hasn’t been updated?” Shobidobi quivered. “Ah. I’ve heard about this before.”
Shobidobi was originally an Intermediate Administrator in the German server.
“Isn’t this that legendary Korean Style?”
* * *
Translator – Lei
Proofreader – Ash
* * *
In the past, Hyukjin destroyed a ‘Gray-Ringed Clear Crystal’ in the hidden field of the Gran Seoul Dungeon.
[Gray-Ringed Clear Crystal]
A ‘Single-Ringed Crystal’ that exists only in the hidden field of the Gran Seoul Dungeon. Upon this crystal’s destruction, the voluntary growth of Players in all servers on the dimension Earth will be limited to 60. Players will only be able to grow past 60 if they destroy a ‘Double-Ringed Crystal’.
*Voluntary growth limit: 60
*The Player who destroys this Clear Crystal will be given a ‘Clue Regarding the Sky of Freedom’.
He was given a Sky Feather as the Clue Regarding the Sky of Freedom, and that Sky Feather pointed him to where he was now, the 2nd floor of the Gwanghwamun D-Tower.
This was where he would be opening the Sky Gate. Hyukjin pulled out an item.
[Canvas of Longing]
A white canvas filled with longing towards the sky. It once belonged to an angel statue who was betrayed by their brethren and lost their freedom.
*Can activate the ‘Sky Gate’ by using the ‘Fountain Pen of Freedom’.
*Cannot be used by a Player.
He also took out the Fountain Pen of Freedom.
[Fountain Pen of Freedom]
A fountain pen that can only be used by the destroyer of the Gray Ring. It can write ‘freedom’ onto the canvas that longs for freedom.
*Can activate the ‘Sky Gate’ by using the ‘Canvas of Longing’.
Since Hyukjin destroyed the ‘Gray Ring’, he could use this fountain pen. With the Canvas of Longing and the Fountain Pen of Freedom, he could open the Sky Gate.
“I’m going to use the Canvas of Freedom.”
Senia provided the appropriate question. “Player Kim Hyukjin is a Player. How does a Player intend on using this item?”
“Like this.”
He pulled out another item. Fight fire with fire, and settings with settings. All he had to do was involve a setting that could trump the other.
[Freedom Elixir]
The final elixir created by the Towermaster of the 7th Magic Tower, Ragnoa. Upon ingesting ‘Freedom’, you can freely erase one System-stipulated ‘penalty’. Applies to all ‘settings that impose a restriction’.
The entire process was truly convoluted. Opening a single Sky Gate involved the Demon King, the Dewinged Angel Statue, and even the Gran Seoul Dungeon’s hidden field, plus the field was impossible to activate in the first place without a special qualification.
“Will you really use Freedom? Player Kim Hyukjin, you could use that to erase your class penalty.”
“If I was going to do that, I would have used it long ago.”
Shobidobi watched the conversation between the two with interest.
‘Oho.’
They were pretending to converse, but they were actually feeding information to the Guardians. He decided to focus on them a little more closely.
[Using the elixir, Freedom.]
[Erasing the Canvas of Longing’s penalty using Freedom’s settings.]
The ‘unusable by a Player’ stipulation was erased. As he watched Kim Hyukjin, Shobidobi was struck by inspiration.
‘Huh…?’
Although video editing was a new concept to Intermediate Administrators, Shobidobi, a born editing genius, had an inkling of what it was. He was starting to get a sense for it.
He snipped vigorously by himself.
Snip! Snip! Snip!
“I’m getting… inspiration!”
Snip! Snip! Snip!
“I think I can create video art!”
Snip! Snip! Snip!
“The contract! That’s right! Miss Senia, let’s sign the contract at once! I think I’ve found my hidden talent. Thanks to this Korean Style!”
Snip! Snip! Snip!
“Korean Style. Bravo!”
Meanwhile, Hyukjin floated the Canvas of Longing into the air, where it hung unaided. Golden dust fell from the canvas. In his right hand, he held the Fountain Pen of Freedom. Once he wrote the word ‘freedom’, every condition would be met.
Letter by letter, he wrote.
[Freedom.]
‘Freedom’ was written on the Canvas of Longing, and with it, the entire 2nd floor of the D-Tower began to change.
The once-empty space expanded.
[Restructuring the field due to the fulfillment of a special condition.]
A wide expanse stretched out around him. Hyukjin knew what this place was based on.
‘The Dewinged Angel Statue Gate.’
[Generating the ‘Sky Gate’.]
A massive gate identical to the one that had produced the Four-Winged Angel Statue appeared.
‘I’m going up.’
Hyukjin’s body lifted automatically, slowly floating towards the Sky Gate. He wasn’t moving his body himself; it was an automatic response to his desire to reach the gate.
He drew closer to the Sky Gate. From up close, the aura of splendor it gave off was tremendous. It felt huge. The powerful mana current whirlpooling inside the Sky Gate gave him the impression that a little misstep could sweep him into the current and tear him asunder.
He stopped right in front of the Sky Gate. There was nothing under his feet, but Hyukjin was able to stand firmly upright.
‘I’m going in.’
He walked through the Sky Gate. With his own two feet.
[Entering the ‘Sky Gate’.]
Hyukjin passed through. The notices continued.
[Registering the recorded stigma of destroying the Gray-Ringed Crystal.]
[The Sky Gate allows the ‘Destroyer of the Gray Ring’ to enter.]
Hyukjin felt an electrifying spark run through his body. It wasn’t painful, but he could tell.
‘Only the destroyer of the Gray Ring can go through.’
He went through the Sky Gate, and once again, a new field spread out before him.
____
