Surviving the Game as a Barbarian – 196



Episode 196: Master Key (1)

As soon as I entered the community I turned on my computer and checked the chat room.

And then I froze.

[Long Live Korean Independence] – 2 people are online.

…Why two?

Are there any other Koreans joining this season?

No there is no way a new person could find a chat room and join this quickly?

Click click.

Even though I was doubtful I used the mouse and double-clicked the room title.

Then a message was printed differently than usual.

[This is a room where participation is temporarily restricted.]

[Time limit remaining: 9 minutes and 51 seconds.]

What is this again?

It was confusing at first but soon the situation was figured out. Restricting participation is one of the exclusive rights of the head of the chat room.

In other words that means…

‘As soon as the community opened someone came to Baekho Lee and Baekho Lee locked the door to have a conversation.’

After all it would be reasonable to look at it this way.

Perhaps that someone is Baekho Lee’s acquaintance.

If I didn’t know him I would have kicked him out instead of locking the door.

‘He’s an acquaintance of Lee Baek-ho….’

I’m curious for no reason.

Baekho Lee is an old user who can only use the community for an hour due to taking pills in the early days.

It’s probably been well over ten years since you joined this community and there are probably people who know that much.

‘But I’m sure the other person is someone who has been here for a long time like Lee Baek-ho.’

It was Lee Baek-ho who gave us the invitation code to enter ‘Watchers of the Round Table’ in the first place.

“Tsk.”

Get notified for updates: https://discord.gg/93rmBjgP6B

It would have been nice to be able to at least check the nickname of the person connected to the chat room.

As I watched the time go by with a bit of disappointment the number of people suddenly decreased to one person.

[Long Live Korean Independence] – 1 person is online.

I checked and the participation restrictions have been lifted.

Has the person who came already left?

With that thought in mind I entered the chat room.

“Are you from the hometown Baekho was talking about?”

What the fuck is this?

When I quickly turned my head at the sound of an unfamiliar voice there was a white man I had never seen before.

No isn’t this the first time?

[Elfnunalove]

When I saw the nickname that appeared above the man’s head my mind went blank for a moment.

Surprisingly it was someone I had a connection with.

A user who sold me information when I was digging about a wizard named ‘Shenal Pergang’ after hearing rumors of ‘dimensional collapse’.

[When I thought about it that was enough. He seems to be his fan.]

As I saw them decline the 20000 GP promised as compensation I realized that I was a newbie here.

I also promised myself that I would move up quickly.

But I never would have guessed that this person was someone Lee Baek-ho knew.

‘No but where did Lee Baek-ho go?’

I quickly came to my senses.

The other person was already giving me a strange look after seeing my nickname.

“Well are you the person I saw then?”

Yes you recognized me too.

As someone who uses the unpleasant nickname ‘Elfnunalove’ it seems that my nickname ‘Elfnunna’ was memorable.

“Yes I see you here again.”

I felt something was off so I kept quiet for now.

There are a lot of things I want to ask but sometimes information leaks out just by asking a question.

First wait for the other side to speak first.

In fact after waiting for a while Elf shortened to Elf Noona Love scratched his head with an embarrassed expression.

“I feel sorry about this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I feel like I took away a friend from back home who I would have met after a long time.”

“…Are you talking about the white tiger?”

Elup nodded to my question.

“Yes as you know there are not many Koreans here. “I know very well how important people are.”

“No that’s not it. I don’t understand. “You took it away…?”

This time I wasn’t really pretending to be a newbie but I was sincere.

Join our discord and ping me to update more chapters. Discord: https://discord.gg/93rmBjgP6B

I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Could it be that Lee Baek-ho left the chat room because of him?

No but how?

Surely the host of this chat room must have been Lee Baek-ho?

The car that made all kinds of questions linger in my head.

“That’s literally it. Even if you come here from now on you won’t be able to meet Baekho. “I thought he might serve as a key so I left it alone for now…”

The white man continued.

“Unfortunately you made a big mistake.”

“…?”

“I was originally going to just leave but I’m telling you because I’m afraid you’ll waste time waiting. “Then I hope you have a good time.”

Elf Noona Love left the chat room before I could say anything more.

I stared blankly at that empty space.

‘Nimiral.’

What’s going on?

***

Before I knew it I was left alone in an empty room.

‘Did I do something wrong? ‘You can’t come here?’

My head is complicated.

However the more you do this the more you need to calmly organize your thoughts.

What on earth is Elf Noona Love doing?

As I was carefully reviewing the conversation just now I quickly came to a conclusion.

It’s still just a hypothesis but…

‘First of all it is clear that he is the manager of the Ghostbusters.’

manager.

Like the ‘Soul Queens’ I met when I first came here they guide newbies and manage this place to keep the community from becoming a mess.

Otherwise this situation cannot be explained.

[You made a very big mistake this time.]

Elf Noona Love kicked Baekho Lee out of the room even though he wasn’t even the room manager. No it must have been him not Baekho Lee who restricted participation in the room.

At least within the bulletin board the administrator has considerable authority. In the first place only an administrator can permanently expel someone from the community.

It’s definitely not an ordinary manager…

‘…wait for a sec.’

As my thoughts continued I hurried back to my room. Then I quickly operated the computer and opened the message box.

[Elfnunna has more than 50 transactions. EXP +50]

[Membership level will be adjusted.]

[Orc -> Troll]

[Sender: Ghost master.]

Ghost Master.

The top manager of Ghostbusters whose identity has not been revealed by anyone in the community called GM or administrator.

Suddenly the conversation I had with Baekho Lee came to mind.

[Do you know who the operator here is?]

[Oh I don’t know that either. In fact I took the pills while robbing the headquarters of the secret security department in the early days.]

[Then you don’t know who you are either?]

[But you probably expected it right? I also have someone who has some guesses…]

[Who is it?]

[There are three of you. Can you tell me everything?]

At that time in response to my question Baekho Lee mentioned a total of three suspects. They were all wizards and each one was so famous that no one in the city knew their name.

Since this is Lee Baek-ho’s guess it is not entirely unreliable.

‘GM is a wizard.’

It’s not certain but with that premise in mind I recalled the first time I met Elf Noona Love.

[…Can I just say this?]

[Who cares? I am not even a master of that school.]

This is what I thought as I watched him tell me the inside story of the Tarutein school that spread the rumor of dimensional collapse.

This person sounds like a wizard.

I quickly came to one conclusion and swallowed my saliva.

It might just be my own leap but…

If what I concluded is true.

“crazy.”

I may have just met with the GM.

***

For a moment an unknown shiver ran through my body.

I quickly returned to my usual state.

Even though Elf Noona Love is the GM it doesn’t mean it’s a serious problem to me.

Well that nickname bothers me a little…

First of all it’s not like we’re in a hostile relationship.

If my identity is revealed there will be no such thing as someone coming to slit his head.

…maybe.

‘Okay let’s erase that first.’

I went to the bulletin board and deleted the comment I left on my Canadian friend’s post which has now been blurred.

It would be close to impossible to pinpoint me based on this alone but I guess you never know.

In the process of erasing I erased all traces I left behind when I came here. Excluding a few comments left on humorous posts it wasn’t much.

Once when rumors of dimensional collapse spread.

After the battle with the Dragon Slayer all I did was post a purchase on the exchange to gather information about Orculis.

‘Then I guess I can’t meet Baekho anymore…’

After I finished erasing the traces I also thought about Lee Baek-ho.

Something was disappointing.

Aside from the fact that I can no longer obtain advanced information through him honestly playing with him was quite fun.

‘But what did he do that made the manager come and hit the van himself?’

There is currently no way to determine the truth but it was not difficult to assume that it was closely related to the Noark subjugation war.

That’s the only big incident that happened recently.

Ta-da-da-da-.

After that I spent some time looking around the bulletin board.

Most of it was close to simple web surfing.

I checked to see if there was a post left by Elf Noona Love but there wasn’t a single comment like that.

Oh by the way this was the same for Lee Baek-ho.

‘…I guess I just have to keep an eye on the future.’

Originally real people stay away from the community and just do their own thing in silence.

Using this incident as an example I added a new rule for using the community.

And how long has it been?

[03: 03]

It was time to enter the round table.

However this time I didn’t have to wait until just before closing and just went in.

Since such an incident had occurred it was believed that information could be obtained through small talk before the meeting.

‘…Everyone will be there this time right?’

I started in the customization room as usual and quickly put on the navy blue suit I had been wearing the entire time and put on a lion mask on my face.

Kiiiiig.

As soon as we finished decorating the door opened as if we had been waiting and following the carpet a large round table appeared.

The first person to welcome me was the clown.

“You came early this time Fishit.”

Because I skipped a month I heard the unique sound of laughter for the first time in two months.

I approached the seat I was sitting in and looked at the person.

‘Crescent antler fox.’

Including the clown and me there were a total of five people who participated in this rally. The fox who made eye contact with me looked away and spoke to everyone.

“Anyway Mr. Goblin you’re late today?”

“Isn’t Pisit dead? “I heard that the damage to the Holy Knights was severe this time.”

“…I hope not.”

As expected the main topic even before the meeting was the previous subjugation war.

“I’m surprised that I even came back alive. Because I wondered if there was hell it must be there. “I really regretted participating without even thinking about it.”

“…I sympathize. I never would have guessed that such power was hidden in Noark. “When the punitive force was first formed I thought we could attack the palace with this force.”

“Fishit but they all ended up looking good right?”

“Clown you talk like you’re talking about someone else.”

“Then what is it if it’s not about other people? It has nothing to do with how many people die. Isn’t that right Mr. Susa?”

“Well I’m not interested.”

As if I was bored I just rested my chin on the armrest and pricked up my ears to listen to the conversation.

Noark’s warlock.

Priest of Karui.

The inside story of a large clan that suffered severe damage stories of other races etc.

Rare information that was insufficient to be brought up at the meeting was continuously being leaked under the name of miscellaneous answers.

‘It’s a good thing you came in early.’

It was a time when I was listening to their opinions on the recent situation while trying to hide my satisfied smile.

“Oh Mr. Goblin!”

A goblin mask appeared beyond the open door.

“You’re alive.”

“Oh yeah. It was really dangerous. “God really helped me.”

A goblin who naturally discusses God even though he is not from this world.

The clown laughed mockingly.

“What is God? At least he was hiding behind the scenes like a goblin wasn’t he? Fishit.”

“No clown why do you do this to me?”

“Is that because you are easy?”

“….”

Even though he was told to openly ignore the goblin he just smiled and sat down in his seat as if he was not praying.

‘I was scared.’

At first I didn’t understand why the goblin took such a low stance but if you think about it it might be natural.

Isn’t he a goblin whose identity as a paladin has been revealed?

There is no way that you can openly fight with a clown who looks strong at first glance.

thud!

Soon after the goblin sat down the door was closed tightly.

This means that it is time to start the meeting.

“Ryan is your promise valid then?”

Before I even decided on my turn Crescent Moon asked me a question.

Although the subject was missing there was no problem with understanding.

I guess he’s referring to his promise to give you information about the ‘Stone of Revival’ if you come back with an interesting story.

When I nodded briefly Crescent Moon gave me a determined look.

“Looking at your expression it looks like you’re really confident this time?”

“I’m just desperate. “Because it’s something I need more than anything else.”

An answer filled with determination to find out about the ‘Stone of Revival’ no matter the cost.

“Then who do you want to start with?”

It was the moment when a game of guessing began to decide who would start first.

I’m sorry.

The door that had been tightly shut opened with a sound.

A phenomenon that has never occurred before.

what? Another member? Wasn’t it true that once the meeting started no one could come in during the meeting?

Surely that must have been the rule?

“…?”

Seeing that everyone is looking at me with questioning eyes it seems I am not the only one who finds this phenomenon strange…

Cooung.

Soon the thick wooden door opened wide and a person appeared beyond it.

She was a man wearing a featureless white mask.

Her hand the only part of her skin exposed was wrinkled with wrinkles.

“Laughs nothing has changed here between then and now huh?”

An old man’s voice came from behind the mask.

Silence weighed down the hall for a moment.

The first to come to his senses and open his mouth was the fox mask.

“Master…?”

Through that muttering I was able to realize.

Master.

It meant the person who created ‘Watchers of the Round Table’.

“But there’s a mask I’ve never seen before? “Who are you?”

In response to the Master’s question the fox mask that had been caught and fluttered by me several times tilted its head.

“…Wasn’t the Master the one who invited you? “I think this person said that too…”

Strictly speaking he didn’t say that.

I just cleverly avoided answering to create an illusion.

But that excuse won’t work.

‘Nimiral.’

What should I do?

If you’re not careful your concept may get exposed.