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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Contrary to my expectations, nothing happened to me.
I had prepared myself thoroughly, thinking a bounty had been placed on my head.
For the past few days, nothing happened at all.
I’ll exclude Mr. Bill’s visits, which made my blood boil every time I saw his face.
Please stop visiting… It had become routine, so it wasn’t a big deal anymore.
Yes.
It was just a series of ordinary days.
I wondered if Eve had used some method (usually illegal) to prevent enemies from coming after me, but
[I deny. As of this time, not a single hostile entity has approached our residence, I reply.]
“You sound a bit disappointed?”
[Negative.]
That wasn’t it either.
It also didn’t seem like Catherine, who lived next door, had taken care of the enemies preemptively.
Her place had been empty for several days.
Usually, this meant she was out on a personal mission.
I wasn’t too worried about this.
“…Should I just ask someone I know?”
[I affirm.]
It was the quickest solution.
Much better than agonizing over it alone.
I activated the visual interface.
A blue window appeared before my eyes.
The message to send…
I could just write something casual.
Recipient: ‘White Rabbit’
– Sorry for the sudden message.
– If you have time, could you tell me more about the bounty you mentioned last time?
– I’ll check and reply l (Typing….)
Suddenly, a call came in.
Who was it? Catherine?
Contrary to my expectation, the name displayed was “White Rabbit,” Julia.
Was it good timing?
Or did she call immediately after seeing the message?
It was indistinguishable.
I answered the call.
Julia’s innocent face appeared through a clear hologram.
Her blue hair fluttered gracefully.
[…Hello.]
“I was sending you a message, did you see it?”
[…Yes.]
She could have just replied to the message.
The fact that she called seemed to show a surprisingly diligent side.
“Ah, we talked about it last time, right? About the bounty on my head.”
[…Yes, about that—]
As Julia continued, a man’s agonizing scream echoed from the other end of the line.
[Aaaaaaargh!!]
“?”
What was that?
[…Ah, sorry. I’m a bit busy right now…]
“…What are you doing?”
[…Please speak casually.]
No, I’m scared.
What are you doing?
[What’s wrong with this crazy bitch!!]
[Shit, I’m out of here!]
Julia’s face, displayed through the hologram, was peaceful and innocent.
But the terrified voices behind her were numerous.
Did my thoughts show on my face?
As if making excuses, Julia continued in a trembling voice.
[…Well, I’m trying to leave the organization, so I’m doing some cleaning up…]
“I-I see.”
It seemed that the “cleaning up” she had in mind was different from what I imagined.
[…And I need to find a new place to live.]
…Well.
It wasn’t my business that she was making mincemeat of her (former) colleagues.
Those colleagues were probably the same ones who came after me at the restaurant.
But last time, it seemed like we were going in the same direction, even near my house.
I secretly hoped she would move far away from my place.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I received a brief explanation from Julia afterward.
Of course, it had to be brief.
My mental fortitude wasn’t strong enough to endure a long call.
I wasn’t mentally resilient enough to listen to the sounds of people, machines, and chrome lumps being sliced and diced while having a long conversation.
Anyway, now that I had a way to find out, it was time to investigate the bounty.
I operated the old monitor and keyboard.
I logged into the “classic game,” which I hadn’t touched since reaching max level.
According to Julia, bounties could be checked through the game.
I never thought I’d log into this game again.
Considering what Julia had told me at the restaurant and the complete lack of max-level content, I was looking for a different game.
Though I doubted there was another game in the world that catered to such trashy tastes.
I habitually spammed the jump key.
Let’s see.
It was in the corner of the village, right?
I moved my character along the graphically rendered village path.
I understood why I hadn’t found this place when I played the game before.
It wasn’t hard to find, but even when I opened the map, there were no icons nearby.
That’s why I didn’t come here.
It was different from the usual quiet atmosphere of the game.
There were a lot of people who appeared to be players near this place.
I’d never seen so many people gathered here before.
Was this game… actually a god-tier game?
Dismissing the fleeting joke, I moved my character towards an object that looked like an old bulletin board.
Since anonymity was emphasized in the system, there was no risk of my identity being exposed.
I figured I would have received a message from the administrators by now if that were the case.
Or someone would have talked to me while I was hunting.
My character walked towards the bulletin board with stiff movements.
The stiffness couldn’t be helped. It was a limitation of the poor game graphics.
I clicked the bulletin board, and a large “bulletin board” appeared on the monitor.
Its format and UI were very similar to those of Netspace communities.
The game’s UI design was trash, but they put a lot of effort into this.
As a game player, I felt a bit sad.
The categories were surprisingly well-organized: Free Talk, Information, Tips, Notices, Bounties, and so on.
I was curious about the other categories, but I went straight to the Bounty section, my initial objective.
The bounty board wasn’t particularly special.
Posts were listed in a standard format, and their content varied greatly.
Should I sort by latest first?
…….
Oh.
These guys also had bounties on their heads.
I saw some familiar faces.
After scrolling down a few times, I quickly found my name.
“There it is.”
[I am curious which entity dared to post this, I think.]
The poster’s name was, of course, anonymous.
【Bounty】 [Shun Li]
(Photo from City ID)
Claims his name is Lee Shiun.
Dead or Alive (DOA)
1,000,000 credits will be provided in your desired method upon success.
Related information can be found at the Deep Net address or in a private comment below.
ㅡ A lone magician appears lol
ㅡ Which crazy bastard posted this lol
ㅡ (Private comment.)
ㄴ (Private comment.)
ㅡ If you want to die peacefully, I recommend not touching him.
ㅡ Underworld newbies are all gonna die, you bastards!! I’m good though since it’s not me lol
The reactions in the comments were peculiar.
…Even with a generous assessment, I wasn’t that impressive.
I wasn’t overwhelmingly strong like someone (Catherine), nor was I ruthless like someone (Catherine).
It felt a bit strange.
Anyway, one million credits.
That was about one billion won, based on the value when I was in Korea.
One billion won for my life.
…….
Was that a lot?
I couldn’t tell.
I searched for the names of other people I knew, just in case.
I thought they would definitely be there, but
Unexpectedly, there were no bounty posts for Catherine, Andrea, or Drek.
A bounty specifically placed on my name in this lineup?
…I couldn’t even begin to guess who posted it.
Just then, I spotted a moving character outside the bulletin board screen.
I quickly typed a message before he disappeared.
[ RealMageHere(Warrior): Excuse me! Mr. P something! ]
[ P2034871140(Unemployed): What. ]
The carelessly made ID made it even more believable.
[ RealMageHere(Warrior): I was looking at the board and got curious. Why aren’t there any bounties on mercenaries like Shooting Star? ]
[ P2034871140(Unemployed): ]
The other party sent an empty message.
This was…BJudging from my extensive net experience, the other party was very flustered.
Why?
After a brief silence, the other party typed again.
[ P2034871140(Unemployed): Are you a newbie? It’s a good thing chat logs don’t remain here. You’d be dead otherwise. ]
[ RealMageHere(Warrior): ? ]
Why would I suddenly die?
Was it some kind of urban legend, like seeing something a certain number of times and dying?
Actually, it was true if the target was Catherine. Seeing Catherine a few times could be fatal… plausible.
[ P2034871140(Unemployed): Listen up, newbie. It’s an unspoken rule in this business to never mess with Shooting Star. ]
Shooting Star was Catherine’s nickname.
Hmm.
I think I understood why such an unspoken rule existed.
Seeing Catherine a few times really could be fatal.
I nodded involuntarily.
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He doesn’t realize that there’s probably an unspoken rule not to mess with him as well, mainly because Catherine takes care of everyone who does.
That would also explain the comments on his bounty.