Solo Swordmaster

Chapter 9: Things Unseen

Riiiing—!

"Hm?"

Limon snapped out of his thoughts at the sudden ringing and dug out his phone hidden between the couch cushions.

A look of perplexion washes over his face as he sees the name 《Yoo Na-kyung》 on the screen.

'What's this brat calling for?'

After a moment of wonder, Limon picked up the call.

"<Hello~ boss?>"

A cheery voice could be heard as soon as the line connected.

Limon only answered indifferently to his team member's bubbly voice that he'd heard the most throughout the year.

"Yeah, what?"

"<There's something I need to tell you. Are you home right now?>"

"Yeah, why?"

"<Oh, that's good. I'll head over right now.>"

"……Eh?"

Limon blanked. Not at her abruptness, but because he knew all too well why Yoo Na-kyung was telling him this.

"Hey, wait!"

Buzz—

Unfortunately, he reacted too late to stop her. Just as the phone suddenly hung up, the space in front of him started to distort.

When it stopped, a woman appeared out of thin air.

"Hiya! Special agent Yoo Na-kyung is…!"

Crack—!

"…Here?"

One slight problem.

She appeared above a pile of comics books.

Her attempt to pose atop the spire of books ended tragically—

Thud—

"Huh? AAAA-"

—in disaster.

"Tsk."

Limon clicked his tongue and pulled Yoo Na-kyung's flailing arms up. She had twisted her ankle and was falling backwards onto the toppled pile of books.

Thanks to his quick reaction, Yoo Na-kyung avoided hitting her head on the table.

She lets out a sigh of relief, diving into his arms.

"Whew, I almost died there."

"My ass. You think a player above level 70 would get hurt from that?"

"Players can still die, you know!"

Limon scoffed.

"Not from bumping their head on a fall."

The body of a high-level player was basically steel. There would be some variation depending on their endurance abilities, but their body wouldn't break from a fall. Rather, the ground would.

Yoo Na-kyung puffed up her cheeks at Limon's apathy.

"Do you really have to say that to your subordinate that just escaped death?"

"What? Did I tell you to teleport here without notice?"

"I didn't think your place would be such a wreck!"

Limon looked at an irate Yoo Na-kyung in disappointment.

She was no rookie player.

How could an idiot that twisted their ankle from teleporting in the wrong place be one of the top dimensional players?

'For god's sake, these players…'

As he is reminded once again of how much times had changed, he sighs. Limon knew of a time when talented witches existed, and would've made a fuss just to try out teleportation. For an old fart like him, this was ridiculous.

That's when he remembered something he'd overlooked.

"Hey… When are you gonna get off?"

"Huh?"

Yoo Na-kyung tilted her head, blinking.

It dawned on her how close Limon's face was. She looked downwards to see his arms wrapped around her waist, quickly taking a step back as her face turned red.

"Ahaha, sorry. I'm a mess."

"You always are a mess."

"Jeez…"

Yoo Na-kyung stared at Limon bitterly, his remarks rude as ever.

But Limon didn't bat an eye at her reaction. He only sat back down on the couch and asked.

"So, what is it?"

"Hmm?"

"Didn't you come here to tell me something?"

"Oh, right. I did."

"…"

His golden eyes turned cold.

"Jeez! Why are you looking at me like that? It's not exactly something that'll be on my mind right after narrowly escaping death!"

"Good for you, you brat."

"Don't be like that. I brought you good news."

It seemed like she decided to be stubborn because she had no excuse.

Yoo Na-kyung had put on a mask of confidence as she spoke. At this, Limon was puzzled.

"Did you find the winning lottery numbers?"

"A lottery? With all the prophetic players around? It's obviously better than that."

"Then?"

"Well, uhm… Something like winning the lottery."

"……Did you come all the way here just to receive a beating?"

"Ah, wait, wait! I'll talk!"

Yoo Na-kyung rapidly waved her hands in fright as Limon clenched his fists. Quickly scanning their surroundings, she whispered to Limon.

"I found the Liberation Brigade's main base of operations."

***

***

The Liberation Brigade.

An organization dedicated to freeing players oppressed and exploited by the government, to make a world where everyone is free.

A quite reasonable ideology.

But 'syndicate' would have described them better.

Those who have seen the Liberation Brigade in person all called them one thing. It was pretty much common knowledge.

"You found the base of those psychos?"

"Yeah."

Yoo Nakyung affirmed nonchalantly.

Freeing players?

Players were already part of the highest income bracket.

'A world where everyone is free' was just their way of saying that they would ensure players weren't punished, no matter what they did.

That is to say, the Liberation Brigade was just a band of criminals and the insane that wanted to commit heinous crimes with no repercussions.

Thus, civilians and players alike inevitably started thinking of them as psychos.

"How? Not even the National Intelligence Service could do that."

That was why Limon was so confused.

The Liberation Brigade had many criminals that were as criminal as they were at hiding.

They hid their main base especially well. No one could find it.

Well, until now.

"Hahaha! I have my ways."

"And what are those ways?"

"I can't tell you, but I can guarantee that it's accurate information."

"Hm……"

He stared at Yoo Na-kyung's face for a moment, and nodded. It was triumphant, with no room left for doubt.

She may have been an idiot, but she was still an agent of the Players Administrative Bureau. If she was this confident, it had to be somewhat credible at the very least.

"And why are you telling me this?"

"What do you think? It's about time you got a promotion."

"A promotion?"

Limon blinked as if he'd heard an alien language. Throughout the decades, Limon had only gotten demoted further and further.

"How big would it be if you swept through the main Liberation Brigade base?"

Yoo Na-kyung continued with fervor.

"There's no doubt your suspension would be immediately lifted, and you'll be guaranteed a promotion!"

She wasn't wrong.

The Liberation Brigade was a national pain in the ass. There were many nefarious players that made the Liberation Brigade a nuisance, able to cause havoc while remaining hidden.

Finding their main base in of itself was no small feat, even more so for someone in the PAB. But Limon didn't fall for Yoo Na-kyung's sweet talk.

"So what's your true intention?"

"There's a bounty on them."

"So you just want money now?"

"I need to start saving up for marriage."

"Don't you think you're being a bit too honest?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you what you want to hear."

Limon chuckled at Yoo Na-kyung's confidence, crossed his arms, and thought over her offer.

'The offer isn't bad.'

He didn't care about getting a promotion. He knew from years of experience that that would only leave him with nothing.

The bounty got his attention, however.

He'd be able to secure his share of the massive bounty if everything went well.

But of course, to monopolize the reward, he'd only be able to bring Yoo Na-kyung along to subjugate the Liberation Brigade, with no other help.

'It'll be a piece of cake no matter how many of those roaches there are.'

Limon softly laughed to himself. Even if there were many high-level players, it was still a criminal organization.

A bunch of ragtags with no clue what real warfare was like was no match for Limon, no matter their numbers.

The only problem was that they were suspended, but even that wasn't too important. As Yoo Na-kyung said — if they could subjugate the Liberation Brigade, their suspension wouldn't be an issue.

'Hm… I can't think of a reason for me not to."

After sorting his thoughts, Limon suddenly went rigid.

Wisp—

His vision was suddenly covered by darkness.

As he regained his sight, a completely different appearance started to overlap with Yoo Na-kyung's enthusiastic face.

"……What the fuck?"

"Huh? Why are you cursing me out all of a sudden?!"

"Stay still, I wasn't saying that to you."

Limon raised his hand up to stop Yoo Na-kyung's unexpected movement.

His reaction wasn't due to the sudden situation. It was because he'd experienced this phenomenon before, where someone's appearance had suddenly changed.

'This feels similar to when that bastard's head turned into a cow's…'

The good news amidst this development was that unlike him, Yoo Na-kyung's head didn't turn into that of a cow's. Her complexion was just pale like a corpse's, and her hair, suddenly long.

The problem came with her thin neck. Or rather, the snake biting into that neck.

'It didn't seem like a hallucination in Seo Yongchan's case… but this can't be real either. Yoo Na-kyung wouldn't be this calm otherwise.'

The same thing had occurred with Seo Yongchan.

A black light suddenly sweeping over his vision, and a person's appearance being altered afterwards.

And only he could see it.

But considering the situation and the person in question, Limon was genuinely lost, unlike with Seo Yongchan.

'Have I really gone senile?'

If he'd seen something strange once, it was the other person that was strange.

But if it happened twice? Even Limon was starting to doubt his sanity.

That's why he wasn't drawing his sword to cut down the snake. Even if it was real, it didn't seem like Yoo Na-kyung was going to drop dead at any moment.

'If this isn't a hallucination…'

He searched for the best conclusion that could explain this occurrence in the most reasonable way.

As any sane person would, the first thing Limon did was rule out the possibility that he was losing his mind.

'....Am I suddenly able to see things no one else can?

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