Support Ex-Rank
After the CSAT, during the preparation for the picnic.
There was very little time, and only a few pieces were available, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have anything to use.
In other words, I still had cards up my sleeves.
‘I should focus on the information I collected so far.’
Mok Wooram was protected by Hyunmoo when he was suffering from the threat of being assassinated abroad.
On the day of our first practice here in Korea, an assassination attempt was set in place, but the Oath of the Three Knights retreated after seeing the Lake of Eternity and the Crow Demon God.
Seodol placed rats to spy on the OTK, but all of them were eliminated.
Looking back on the events, there were still questions that remained.
The sense of incompatibility deepened when I saw Seodol’s message.
[Prankster] But recently they killed all my mice at once. If I knew this would happen, I would’ve sprayed a plague right away. Oh well, what a shame.
That message compared to what I know about the Oath of the Three Knights brought about some questions.
‘Something’s wrong. Why did they take such a risk?’
It was necessary to act stealthily to catch Mok Wooram, and they had to eliminate the mice for that to happen.
It was logical to think of it that way, but it was too much considering that they killed all of Seodol’s rats.
They could’ve driven the rats out of their territory without killing them, or they could’ve negotiated with Seodol.
They could’ve even protected their information just by being aware of where the mice were.
‘It wouldn’t have been difficult to hide information since there’s no need to move on a large scale to kill a single student. Actually, only two Top Knights were mobilized for that assassination plan.’
Did they make that choice because their plan was on a much larger scale difficult to hide from Seodol’s rats?
That makes sense, but something still bothered me.
Their actions somehow do not fit.
‘They were careful after Mok Wooram returned home. They made a thorough plan, adapted top knights to Korea, and implemented a comprehensive assassination plan.’
Not only that.
When they saw the Lake of Eternity and the Crow Demon, they immediately folded the plan and withdrew.
After that, they didn’t touch Mok Wooram at all.
They began to move only after finding that the Crow Demon was immersed in something else.
They acted so carefully, but they were so rash when it came to Seodol.
‘They acted too boldly. Also, a British team assassinating Korea?’
Organizing my thoughts carefully, I reached a single conclusion.
There was something I didn’t know about this one.
If I don’t figure it out, I may not be able to stop this properly.
‘Maybe the one who knows about this is…’
Seodol.
Perhaps this case is related to Seodol’s past activities.
Considering Seodol’s personality, it was likely that he was involved in this before but he didn’t care at all about it now.
When I thought about what to ask, Hwang Jiho cut off my thoughts.
“Are your thoughts in order?”
“Just roughly. You?”
“My thoughts are also organized.”
Hwang Jiho said, showing a map of the theme park.
He seems to have finished preparing to operate the rides following Kim Yuri’s proposed route.
After turning off the map, Hwang Jiho replaced the cold tea with a freshly brewed one.
I haven’t drunk half of it yet, but the forgotten tea all but went cold.
“Then let’s hear from you, Jo Euishin. What are you thinking?”
I organized my thoughts and relayed them to Hwang Jiho.
Hwang Jiho’s forehead narrowed at the mention of Seodol’s name, but he heard the story to the end.
“Something is definitely off. They’re trying to assassinate a student in another land.”
Hwang Jiho’s words were right.
The OTK’s attempt was a bit…
“We can find out later why they want to kill Mok Wooram. The problem is the aggression that they showed to Seodol.”
“Seodol and the Oath of the Three Knights…”
Hwang Jiho was briefly lost in thought.
As the head of the Tiger Clan, he seemed to have some intel, but I honestly didn’t expect much.
‘If Hwang Jiho knew something, he would’ve said it earlier.’
Hwang Jiho isn’t particularly fond of Seodol, and he had been negligent for a long time.
As I expected, Hwang Jiho didn’t have an answer.
“It’s better to ask him directly.”
Perhaps it’s fortunate that we have Seodol’s contact information.
Hwang Jiho was reluctant, but he contacted him in the end.
He sent a message to which Seodol immediately replied.
[Annoying Rat] Hwangho, what brings you here? I guess you’re not busy.
Hwang Jiho checked the message, his face looking like he wanted to turn off his device right away.
“…I am very busy. What a waste of time and mental energy exchanging messages with such a rat like this.”
Hwang Jiho was indeed busy, but seeing that he’s attending middle and high school at the same time…
I wanted to say something, but I didn’t want to use up energy so I opted to sip some of my tea.
When Hwang Jiho directly asked Seodol if he had been involved with OTK in the past, Seodol couldn’t think of it at all.
After several questions, something finally came up.
[Annoying Rat] Ah, come to think of it, I got involved with them a long time ago.
It seemed that he didn’t care because, for him, it was a trivial matter.
He didn’t forget — he simply just didn’t care enough.
Seodol spoke informally, indicating that he wasn’t interested.
[Annoying Rat] Those self-proclaimed knights bothered someone close to Jein, so I got asked as a favor to kick them.
Did Seodol fight the Oath of the Three Knights at Kwon Jein’s request?
It was no wonder that the Oath of the Three Knights would have a grudge against him then.
So their bold move was purely because of that?
“We better ask about that close human.”
When Hwang Jiho asked, Seodol took a little bit of time in answering.
He seemed to be getting more and more bored with the conversation.
[Annoying Rat] Jared Lee.
Jared Lee, Lake of Eternity’s sub-master.
He once belonged to the Oath of the Three Knights.
I don’t know how he left the team, but according to Seodol, the process wasn’t so good.
However, there was also Seodol’s intervention, and the OTK would’ve been forced to let Jared Lee go to the Lake of Eternity.
“I think I got the information we need. I’m turning off this unpleasant message window.”
Before Hwang Jiho turned off his device, Seodol sent another message.
[Annoying Rat] Ah! Does Jared Lee have something to do with Mok Wooram’s assassination?
Hwang Jiho’s expression hardened when he saw how Seodol spoke in long sentences in formal language again.
He seemed to be in a dilemma, not wanting to answer the annoying rat but knowing that he has something important to say.
[Annoying Rat] I went to the Lake of Eternity team building and heard something. They’re trying to protect Mok Wooram.
[Annoying Rat] But I think the self-proclaimed knights are playing a trick, so Jared Lee will guard the picnic on his own.
Seodol added a brief explanation.
Seodol thought that the main culprit for dispersing Lake of Eternity’s manpower was the OTK.
He argued that Kwon Jein’s and the other members’ schedules induced major executives to be dispatched to different places at the same time.
The only basis was his unsubstantiated doubt and the antipathy of the OTK who exterminated his mice, but it made sense.
Putting together his words and the situation at hand, I understood the Oath of the Three Knight’s actions.
‘Don’t tell me they’re going to kill Jared Lee and Mok Wooram at the same time!’
What are those horses trying to do on a high school picnic trip?
Anger soared inside me, but what needs to be done was decided.
I put the pieces in place with the new information that I obtained.
***
The cold wind no longer reached the golden boundary that covered the castle.
In Hwang Jiho’s plan, the tamed enemies would collapse after losing their strength.
The team members besides the users of taming skills seemed to be flustered by the lack of energy waves circulating.
‘The message reached Hwang Jiho well.’
Through my Player Identity skill, I embodied Jeon Muyeong.
The playable character reproduced with the Fate of the Unkown card was Saeum of April.
The Oath of the Three Knights’ wariness of the crow mask.
I tried to use these two to my advantage.
Looking at the situation, I think it’s just as I thought.
‘The trickiest thing was luring them to the castle.’
They were watching us from a high place according to the report handed over by Seodol.
That’s how they found traces of Sidelentium which couldn’t be seen from the ground.
We emptied the castle in advance under the guise of facility inspections to encourage them to camp there.
We also had to ask Yong Jegun to host the treasure hunt to naturally attract Mok Wooram.
It was a rather dangerous operation, requiring completely emptying the castle without leaving anything that would cause doubt.
‘I had a plan for if Mok Wooram went outside too.
Though just as I expected, Mok Wooram took the dangerous choice.
It was appalling to think that Mok Wooram’s leg was almost crushed by a musket bullet.
I’ve been following him using Jeon Muyeong’s Time Without Shadows light skill, but I almost forgot that I still had to hide my presence while using Saeum of April’s wind skills.
‘But he didn’t doubt the words sent through the messenger skill. Did he know it was Saeum’s power?’
I used Saeum of April’s skill to lead Mok Wooram to the rooftop.
Saeum of April’s light skill is literally a one-on-one power that can convey words.
If Mok Wooram didn’t move because of suspicion, I intended to lure the attackers in the form of my crow mask, but Mok Wooram continued to run upwards without a doubt.
“Why is the Crow Demon messing with us? Since when does he intervene on these things!”
The attackers were asking me.
Not only were they unable to use their powers properly because of Hwang Jiho’s sophisticated boundary, but they also can’t escape.
Hwang Jiho had been preparing to use the boundary skill after confirming that all the reinforcements had entered the castle.
‘Did he say it’s a boundary based on intelligence? I think it’s a stronger boundary than usual.’
This is the result of the head of the Tiger Clan drawing power from the land of Korea.
Although Hwang Jiho was unable to move because it was difficult to maintain the strong boundary, it seems rather positive since I don’t want one of the world’s top ten player teams to notice Hwang Jiho’s existence.
Hwang Jiho urged me to be careful to the point where my ears bled, but I was confident of our plan.
In any case, there’s only one reason to ask such a question instead of resisting or begging for their lives.
“You must be thinking of buying time. Are you waiting for backup?”
I guess they don’t think they’re completely cornered yet.
They’re still holding onto something.
I decided to destroy that hope.
“The Grand Cross isn’t coming.”
***
Jared Lee was distracted by the yellow roses.
He felt like he was about to faint at any moment from the strong smell of roses that poked his nose.
The Knight of the Yellow Rose laughed heavily at Jared Lee’s resistance.
She said something to shake Jared Lee’s mind.
“Your brothers said yes, Jared. The Knight of the Water Shadows has made a new achievement.”
Grand Cross, the highest rank that a knight can reach.
Among the sworn team members of OTK, the three team masters have that title.
The Knight of the Yellow Rose was the highest ranking.
Jared Lee’s eyes were clouded when another one of the highest-ranking knights, the Knight of the Water Shadow, was mentioned.
“My… brothers?”
“Yes, everyone wants to see you, Jared.”
Before Jared could react, the faint footsteps grew louder.
The Knight of the Yellow Rose looked around as well as if she sensed the footsteps.
However, there was nothing around them.
‘This is… don’t tell me…’
The moment Jared Lee stared at the blocks and the yellow rose magic circle that filled the floor.
Kwang! Kwang!
Dark gray lumps spread out through the floor.
The first small footsteps Jared heard seemed to be the noise made by those lumps moving below the ground.
The lump formed the shape of a mouse.
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