Surviving the Game as a Barbarian

Clan (2)

Lee Hansu’s room.

It felt like I was returning home every time I came here now.

It was a familiar and comfortable space, yet it also felt unfamiliar.

This room, which was once my home…

Click.

I first turned on the computer.

And I waited for posts to appear.

There was nothing else to do until 3:00, when the Round Table opened.

Lee Baekho wasn’t here again.

Phew, judging by how he threatened the GM to unban him, it seemed like he was trying to find a way to return, but he wasn’t here yet.

‘His ultimate goal was to return…’

I thought about the GM as I recalled Lee Baekho’s ambition.

What was the GM’s goal?

Was it also to return?

‘…But then why did he ban Lee Baekho?’

Hmm… I don’t know.

Something was constantly happening that I didn’t know about.

‘Anyway, I hope it wasn’t a wasted effort.’

I hoped that the plan of using Karon as a stand-in would work and clear his suspicion as I organized what I knew about the GM.

It wasn’t much.

First, he was a mage.

And he was a fan of ‘Elfnunna’, judging by how he used the nickname ‘Elfnunalove’ in the community.

Wait a minute.

‘…What would he do if he found out I was that person? Would he help me?’

I briefly had the thought that I might be able to gain a strong patron by using this.

But my hopes were dashed in the end.

‘No way.’

It was similar to why I didn’t reveal my identity to Lee Baekho.

I didn’t know the GM’s intentions.

And besides, the GM had already sent ‘Bjorn Yandel’ a community entry pill once.

In short, it meant he didn’t approach me to invite me to the community because I was a player.

Therefore, I had to hide my identity.

Even if I found out that his intentions were good.

After all, you never know how human relationships will turn out.

Revealing to someone that I was an evil spirit was practically the same as handing them my leash.

And I had seen a bad example firsthand.

[Fine, if that’s what you want, I’ll make sure you have nowhere to go. Hans Krisen is an evil spirit!]

What choice would I make if I was in the same situation as Hans G?

Could I refuse a forced choice?

Click, click.

I dismissed my thoughts and moved the mouse.

Quite a bit of time had passed, and various posts were appearing on the forums.

I spent time browsing the web.

That’s when, about 30 minutes after the community opened…

[I’m from Noark, and I have something to tell you.]

…that post appeared.

_______________________

The content of the post began like this:

-I hesitated for a long time, wondering if you would ban me for being from Noark, but I’m leaving this post because I think everyone should know, regardless of whether they’re from the surface or the underground.

-We’re outside now.

-I’m talking about the real outside world, not inside the walls.

It was shocking content that denied the foundation of the world setting.

-You’re probably wondering if this even makes sense, right? But it’s true. We left for the outside world to escape the royal family, and we’re still alive.

-Honestly, I still don’t know if the Witch’s curse has disappeared over time, or if it never existed in the first place.

-But one thing is clear.

-The outside is perfectly fine. Plants are growing, and I can see bugs eating leaves if I get close. And wild animals too.

The writer then wrote a long description of what the outside world was like, and then he wrote about what had happened in the form of a journal.

I slowly read through the long post.

And my first impression was this:

‘No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like he’s just trying to get attention…’

It didn’t seem like a simple prank.

Well, in the first place, it wouldn’t make sense for a post that risked getting banned to be a prank.

But even so, the comment section was in chaos.

[Brutalizer X: Here’s some attention.]

[arolf5205: I came here thinking it was something, but I just scrolled down after looking at the top comment. There’s no idiot here who actually believes this, right?]

Starting with the top comments that dismissed it as a lie made up by an attention seeker…

[ryanzeus31: But if this is true, isn’t the royal family screwed? If there’s really a world outside where we can live without magic stones, there’s no way this shitty city can be maintained.]

[└furryking1955: Maybe that’s why they hid it? There’s no way they didn’t know about this.]

…to those who somewhat believed the content and were worried about the future.

And…

[Gareth: Wow, so that old man appeared and took everyone somewhere, and it was the outside world?]

…those who left comments as if they knew something.

[└NIKAMOTO: Old man? What’s that? Please share the information politely.]

[└Gareth: I was waiting in front of the portal to kill those Noark bastards when they came out, and an old man suddenly appeared and teleported them all away.]

[└Kni8htofroom: If you’re going to lie, at least put some effort into it. How can you teleport that many people with Mass Teleport?]

[└Gareth: I don’t know, and I don’t even want to explain. Anyway, what am I supposed to do now? Ha, I chose the knight path because I thought the royal family would be better off. Is the royal family collapsing now?]

For reference, public opinion started to shift towards believing the post after this comment.

Because the royal forces who participated in the subjugation started appearing and testifying.

[└amulet: It’s hard to believe, but it’s true that they escaped through teleportation. I can say this for sure because I was there.]

[└kongkong2: This person has only been posting about the knights for years, right? Then this is all real?]

Testimonials from the royal family poured out as the post became a hot topic, and then people from Noark also started appearing.

[EXBlunt: Ah, the outside air is nice. So we’re the winners after all, having gone down there?]

[xxfblz: Yeah, we’re living well without magic stones. You guys can suffer while paying taxes.]

I also started to get confused.

I thought it was possible for the outside world to be fine. After all, I had also felt a sense of dissonance while watching the guards on the walls.

But there was one thing I couldn’t understand.

‘Why are they telling us this?’

It wasn’t strange for there to be people from Noark in the community.

But why were they sharing their situation?

Because they thought it was their duty to help their fellow players?

‘No, there’s no way.’

If that were the case, I wouldn’t have had to suffer and clear the path while trapped on the 1st floor.

They were completely silent back then.

They didn’t even mention their ambush plan, even jokingly, and as a result, most of the explorers on the surface were wiped out.

And of course, many players were among them.

‘…Then it’s safe to assume that Noark ordered them to do this.’

They had a motive.

If they lied and said they had escaped to the outside world, it would help them avoid the royal family’s pursuit—

‘But if the outside world isn’t fine, wouldn’t the royal family find out anyway?’

I let out a deep sigh as I quickly encountered a contradiction.

“Ha, what the hell is going on?”

I couldn’t hold back and left a comment.

[Elfnunna: I have one question for the people from Noark. If the outside world is really fine, and if you’re really there, why are you telling us this now? You’ve been quiet until now.]

A notification soon popped up, indicating that a reply had been posted.

However…

[└FIREWORK: Wow, is that really Elfnunna? I’m raising a Fire Archer, can you give me some advice?]

[└bigfisher: He’s not Elfnunna, he’s Elfnuna.]

[└Bling0_0: But he might actually be the real one. I heard the original nickname can’t be used anymore because someone took it and died.]

…there weren’t any useful comments.

Geez, why are they only posting these kinds of things when I asked the Noark people?

‘Tsk.’

I clicked my tongue and checked the time.

Surprisingly, only 10 minutes were left until the Round Table opened.

I had completely lost track of time while reading the comments that were being updated in real time.

‘Right, I’ll definitely get some useful information here.’

I stopped reading the comments and lay down on the bed to rest.

And I entered the Round Table as soon as it was time.

‘Don’t tell me he’s not coming?’

I was worried that the Clown, who had been beaten up throughout the last gathering, might not attend…

…but fortunately, he was a persistent one.

“Mr. Lion, you’re here too, pfft.”

He’s acting friendly again.

I casually acknowledged his greeting and sat down in my usual seat. The current participants were Goblin, Antler, Clown, and SoulQueens. For some reason, Fox wasn’t there.

“That’s strange. She’s usually the first to arrive.”

Goblin looked at me, expressing his doubt.

Well, I was the one who left with Fox and had a private conversation last time.

He must have thought something was going on.

“…….”

But I also didn’t know why Fox wasn’t here yet, so I just kept my mouth shut.

After some time…

…it was almost time for the meeting to begin, and Fox still hadn’t appeared.

But instead…

“Hoo?”

“So Crescent Moon wasn’t dead?”

…Crescent Moon, who had caused much speculation by not attending the last gathering, appeared.

Thanks to that, the attention that was focused on Fox shifted to him.

“You’re new. Nice to meet you. I came for the first time last time, so I still have a lot to learn.”

SoulQueens, as expected of a natural social butterfly, approached him first and greeted him.

But Crescent Moon’s condition was strange.

“…….”

He should be interested in SoulQueens, who was new…

…but he just sat down without saying anything.

Was he always like this?

“Pfft, stop acting all serious. Just tell us what happened. Can’t you see everyone is curious?”

The Clown then asked, and the other members didn’t say anything about his rude behavior.

They were also curious.

What had happened to Crescent Moon.

“…I wasn’t in the mood back then.”

Crescent Moon briefly explained, as if the attention was uncomfortable. Although he didn’t give any details, it wasn’t difficult to understand what he meant.

After all, considering the situation…

And his subdued voice.

“It seems like you lost someone.”

Antler clicked his tongue and muttered, and Crescent Moon didn’t refute him.

Goblin then looked back and forth between the Clown and Crescent Moon, looking restless.

The reason was simple.

“Then it’s a good thing you came. Maybe your enemy is here.”

“What do you mean…?”

Crescent Moon didn’t know since he wasn’t at the last gathering.

What the Clown’s identity was.

“Clown is the Corpse Collector.”

Crescent Moon flinched as Antler revealed the information that was revealed back then, not hiding his hostility.

A brief silence followed.

“I see. Clown… so it was you…”

Crescent Moon then stared at the Clown.

But did he really lose someone because of Noark?

I could feel a chilling killing intent from his gaze.

However, the Clown just laughed as usual, having experienced worse.

“Pfft, so who are you going to kill?”

Crescent Moon stared at the Clown for a moment and then unclenched his fist.

His killing intent had also disappeared.

He knew.

That there was nothing he could do here, even though his enemy was right in front of him.

“I’ll come find you someday.”

His voice was calm and controlled.

The Clown scoffed after a brief pause.

“…Pfft, I’ll be waiting.”

Anyway, their personal conversation ended there.

“Well, the door is closed, so shouldn’t we start now? I’ve been looking forward to this for a month!”

SoulQueens then forcefully raised the tension and led the meeting.

And so, the time to decide on the order began.

“Well, then I’ll go first.”

The Clown volunteered to go first.

Although they didn’t say it out loud, I could feel that they were all looking forward to what he would say more than ever.

“This might be… exciting?”

The Clown said so, looking at us, and then fixed his gaze on Crescent Moon.

“You said you would come find me, but how are you planning to do that?”

“…….”

“Everyone saw the forum, right? About how the outside world is fine, and how everyone from Noark went there.”

The Clown then placed his hand on the jewel.

And he muttered briefly,

“That’s all true.”

The jewel on the round table emitted a green light as if to prove his words.