WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 117: Allow Me to Serve You
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“Cheonhwa Department Store, Black Dragon Restaurant, and Shao Trading House are still out of contact!”
“Four Flowers Hall has sent a request for aid!”
“Urgent report! The Black Demon Squad dispatched to Black Dragon Bank has clashed with the culprit!”
A simultaneous attack on every subsidiary.
Despite the late hour, the reports arrived immediately.
There were simply too many places under attack, and the emergency alarm networks of the subsidiaries enrolled in the Guardian System had activated.
That was why Leviathan was in such a frenzy even in the middle of the night.
Leviathan Hotel was the command center overseeing the Black Dragon Clan scattered throughout the world, as well as the forward base responsible for supplies and military force.
“Please give us your orders!”
“Where should we send reinforcements?”
Yet the Black Dragon Clan could only bustle about.
They could not easily respond.
It was not merely because they had no idea how to deal with the absurd situation of every attacker being a duke-class Player, and apparently the same person at that.
It was because the general manager, the heart of this command center and the brain of Leviathan, had stubbornly remained silent.
“General Manager!”
Unable to bear the frustration any longer, one martial artist called out to him as though urging him on.
Considering the Seven Dragons Society’s strict hierarchy, it was insolence worthy of immediate execution for insubordination.
Yet the situation at each subsidiary was dire enough for the martial artist to risk their life demanding orders even knowing that.
But Youin neither grew angry nor gave instructions to respond.
He merely spoke in a low voice.
“Tell everyone to wait.”
“In this situation?”
“Yes. There will be no reinforcements. Inform the Ink Dragon Squad and the other personnel as well. They are to prepare for anything, but not move without orders.”
“Why?!”
At the martial artist’s incredulous question, Youin calmly asked in return.
“Must I explain my reasons?”
“... My apologies.”
The martial artist finally fell silent and withdrew.
Just as no general gave every soldier a detailed explanation while issuing orders.
It was not only because they realized that questioning the reason behind those orders completely disregarded the clan’s chain of command.
It was because of the pressure bearing down on his shoulders.
Having silenced the martial artist, Youin gave a bitter smile where no one could see it.
‘This is troublesome.’
That martial artist would never know.
The reason Youin had even drawn upon psionics to silence them.
It was not simply to preserve his authority as general manager. It was because even Youin himself did not know the precise reason he had to do this.
Put kindly, it was negligence of duty.
Put more harshly, no one could blame him if they called it deliberate abandonment or betrayal.
‘Princess, you are putting this old man in a difficult position.’
Still, there was only one reason he was doing this.
It was the order Li Qing-yu had given when he urgently informed her that the subsidiaries were under simultaneous attack.
Of course, that did not excuse it.
Perhaps it would have in the past.
But the Princess’s standing had now suffered a great blow.
If the other clans learned that he had abandoned the attacked subsidiaries, he would not escape responsibility, even if he had merely followed Li Qing-yu’s orders.
Yet Youin did not change his decision.
Before he was Leviathan’s general manager, he was a member of the Black Dragon Clan.
He was a martial artist of the Seven Dragons Society, bound to place the Princess’s will above all else.
‘Of course, I know Your Highness must have a deeper purpose...’
Furthermore, Youin was one of the few who knew how clever and thorough Li Qing-yu was, and an old hand of the martial world who had survived countless brushes with death.
Naturally, he knew she would not give such an order without reason.
He could even roughly guess what this order meant.
What Li Qing-yu was aiming for.
But even taking all that into account, it could not be comfortable to silently dismiss the urgent reports and pleas for aid flooding in from every subsidiary.
‘To feel impatience at my age. My self-discipline is still lacking.’
Even as he lamented inwardly, Youin kept his back straight and listened to the endless stream of reports.
“The entire Ink Dragon Squad is standing by!”
“A request for aid from the guards who escaped Cheonhwa Department Store...”
“An urgent report from the Shanghai Wang Family’s combat units...”
“From the Dark Silence Squad...”
It was while he was listening to the unceasing reports, each one important and urgent.
Thoom!
A tremor shook the surroundings.
Wheeeeee!
And the emergency bell, which had remained silent even amid all this commotion, began to ring.
“This is...?!”
“That’s impossible!”
“Check the situation, quickly!”
Just as the Black Dragon Clan members, their faces filled with shock and disbelief far beyond their previous panic, began to scramble about.
Youin spoke softly.
“Ink Dragon Squad, gather in the lobby.”
It was a quiet, calm voice.
Yet everyone who heard that order stopped what they were doing and turned toward him.
Youin spoke to them coldly.
“Prepare to receive our guest.”
* * *
Tap, tap.
A lone figure strolled leisurely along the darkened street.
An oversized hoodie pulled over her head.
Jeans exposing one thigh.
Even a guitar slung across her back.
A blonde woman who looked, in every way, like an ordinary street musician.
Eugene was considering her options.
‘What should I do?’
The order from her current commander, the braided-haired man, was to cause as much havoc as possible without getting in the way.
It was a wonderfully simple mission, one she quite liked among her recent assignments.
Which left her with only one concern.
Where and how to wreak havoc.
Depending on how she looked at it, it was unexpectedly complicated.
Unless she had a talent like Ryu Gang-cheol’s for attacking multiple places alone, Eugene could only cause trouble in one location.
In other words, it might be difficult for her to meet the condition of doing it “spectacularly,” like Ryu Gang-cheol.
“Yeah, this place is best.”
Eugene kept it simple.
If she was going to make a mess, she might as well choose somewhere she could do it with flair.
Even she, who only cared about songs, knew which of the Black Dragon Clan’s subsidiaries was the largest.
That was why.
At this late hour.
She appeared before a certain building.
“What a shame. Your hospitality is lacking.”
Perhaps because it had shifted into an emergency state.
The building had been sealed by a thick steel door.
Before its entrance, Eugene reached behind her back.
She unfastened the guitar slung there, gripped it with both hands like a hammer, and raised it high overhead.
“Open Sesame!”
Her cheerful cry rang through the air.
Then the guitar, strangely heavy despite its appearance, heavy enough that even Rimon, a Sword Master, had found it weighty, struck the steel door.
Craaaash!
The thick steel door buckled.
Leviathan trembled.
“This is insane...!”
The martial artists guarding the lobby were horrified.
Preparing for every possible contingency was their duty, but they had never thought that contingency would truly happen.
The steel door sealing Leviathan was made from a 330-millimeter-thick Dungeon alloy.
It was nearly an indestructible object, designed to remain unscathed even after a direct missile strike.
Bang! Bang! Craaash!
That was why, at this moment.
The sight of the steel door buckling inward, then being completely crushed, made the martial artists’ eyes bulge.
It was the height of unreality.
A scene more like a dream.
But what happened next made it impossible for them to escape into denial.
Craaaash!
“WOW... It’s tougher than I thought. Made in Seven Dragons, after all.”
The blonde woman kicked the crushed steel door clean off and sent it flying inward before walking through.
Eugene slung the guitar over her shoulder.
Then she tilted her head.
“Why are there only two guards here? Shouldn’t there be more?”
It was a reasonable question.
Even if it was the middle of the night, there were too few martial artists guarding the entrance when they had already entered an emergency state and sealed the building.
But naturally, the two martial artists did not answer Eugene’s question.
They merely gritted their teeth and drew their swords.
“Die, you vile criminal!”
“How dare you invade Leviathan! You will pay with your life...!”
Smash!
It happened in an instant.
The two martial artists who had charged Eugene so bravely became bloody pulp plastered against the wall.
They had not been weak.
Both were masters in their own right, capable of fiercely battling even high-level Players.
There was only one problem.
Eugene was far too strong.
With a single swing of her guitar, she ignored their sword forms, shattered their blades at once, and crushed their bodies entirely.
“Huh? Why did they die in one hit?”
Yet Eugene only blinked at the scene she had created.
Tilting her head, she muttered.
“Aren’t masters of the Seven Dragons Society supposed to be stronger? Isn’t it normal for them to keep coming even after getting crushed?”
Her muttering was half surprise at the unexpected outcome, half disappointment.
If the dead martial artists could have heard it, they would have coughed up blood.
Especially because it was not mockery. It was her honest impression.
And though there were no vengeful spirits here to object to Eugene’s words, there was someone who could offer at least a rebuttal.
“No matter how skilled a master may be, how can a human fight when all four limbs and every internal organ have been crushed?”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Youin. I serve as this hotel’s general manager.”
An elderly man in a suit.
Youin calmly introduced himself.
Then, with steady eyes, he looked at Eugene.
“If it would not be too rude, may I ask your name?”
“No, that’s a secknit.”
“That is unfortunate.”
As though he had not expected anything in the first place, Youin calmly accepted Eugene’s refusal and continued in a low voice.
“I had hoped to learn the name of the strategist who used a feint to the east and an attack to the west, as well as a ploy to lure the tiger off the mountain, to toy with our clan.”
“WHAT???”
“... I see. It seems there is another strategist.”
“We don’t have a strategist. We only have a commander.”
“If someone successfully devised a scheme to weaken Leviathan’s forces by attacking our clan’s subsidiaries, then whoever they are deserves to be called a strategist.”
Youin spoke as though lamenting.
For over a month, the culprits had continuously attacked the subsidiaries.
He had now confirmed that it had all been a ploy to divert their attention and draw away their martial artists before attacking Leviathan.
And their plan had succeeded.
Normally, Leviathan had countless martial artists, including three combat units, standing by at all times.
But only one combat unit and several dozen martial artists remained here now.
It was only because Guardian had performed so brilliantly that the subsidiaries’ damage had been limited enough for things to remain at this level.
Had they failed to protect the subsidiaries properly based on Rimon’s prediction, even those few remaining forces would have needed to be sent out.
But Youin neither blamed himself for failing to prepare beforehand nor felt relieved that he had a countermeasure.
He merely raised one hand.
“Ink Dragon Squad.”
Swish.
A group emerged from all around the lobby.
Thirty-two martial artists, each radiating an edge like a blade. They wore black dragon robes embroidered with dragons and white masks covering half their faces.
“It seems our gatekeepers did not extend sufficient hospitality. This time, we shall properly receive you.”
Rumble...
Auras tangled with auras.
Psionics mingled with psionics.
The power of thirty-two martial artists, each a division-head rank master, fused into one through an intricate formation array.
The lobby shook from the aftermath alone. Within the flow of psionics that seemed to warp space itself, Youin stared coldly at Eugene.
“Experience the power of the Black Dragon Clan’s strongest combat unit.”
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