Insanely-Talented Player

Episode 123

A news article on a certain portal site.

— King of Heroes’ Surprise Marriage Announcement?!

1- I dragged this to show you;;; Is the level of marriage real??? My heart is filled with grandeur... This is the marriage of the strongest players...

1- Saint Nymyu ■iriririririririririririririr

■mr

1- Mite!!!! King Woong is Mammajo!!!! Holy woman, Mammajo!!!!

1- t A complaint is about to be sent home, so look carefully every morning. (Edit Delete)

1- t Yes, King Daumwoong said,

“There are five paparazzi behind me. Wow. Do players have nothing better to do these days so they go around acting like paparazzi? The monarch making the contract will be very pleased.”

“Well, since I’m contracting with an assassin lord, it’s probably a way to utilize my secret skills.”

“That’s when you don’t get caught.”

A city in Seoul that day.

Maria, who was disguised (?) in her own way to avoid people's attention, smiled bitterly, and Yoosung did the same.

It is not because there is any special mission to perform. Even though the player's job is to conquer the tower and protect the world, the player is also human.

And that day, Yoosung also responded to Maria’s words.

I like you, Ms.

“So, are you going to keep calling me saint?”

Maria asked as she silently crossed the unremarkable cityscape.

“Yes honey.”

Maria's face turned red at Yooseong's answer.

A very awkward title. No matter how you look at it, it was not a very suitable conversation between a man and a woman who were about to get married.

Still, it was always like that. After encountering the saint for the first time in season 2, connecting with her was purely player-to-player.

Whenever Yoosung grew rapidly, they often met each other in the tower as high-ranking players, and at the same time, Maria was one of the few people who could understand the weight that Yusung, who was younger than her, was carrying as the ‘King of Heroes'.

As the world's heroes forget their missions one by one and are reborn as ‘national heroes', the player volunteers to be the hero until the end. The same was true for the saint.

Closer than for business, but a little further away for men and women.

If I had to compare it, it would be closer to the friendship of comrades in arms.

“Hmm, now that I think about it, it reminds me of the saying that there is no friendship between men and women.”

“Oh my, have you been looking at me like that from the beginning?”

Maria giggled in bewilderment and Yoosung shrugged his shoulders.

“Back in those days...

Yoosung said after shrugging.

“To be honest, I didn’t have time to think about anything.”

“I guess so.”

Maria bitterly confirmed in a somewhat dark voice. However, Yoosung soon answered calmly.

“Well, now that I have some free time, I should try to do some stupid things./’

After saying that, I took off the hood I was wearing.

“Mr. Yoo Yoo-seong?”

People walking around the city immediately focused their attention on King Yeongung, and when they saw the woman next to him, they started raising their voices from all directions. As if you were witnessing a Hollywood star in person.

[The provocation value increases!]

No, in a way, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was more than that.

“Well, since we’ve come all the way here, there’s nothing to hide.”

“But still...

“It’s a real saint and a king of heroes!”

“I guess the dating rumors were real!”

“It’s not just a dating rumor, you said you planned to get married.”

Maria couldn’t hide her embarrassment, which was unusual for her, but she soon regained her usual poker-faced smile in front of people. When Yoosung saw that, he was dumbfounded and responded.

“Hey, business smile is just an occupational disease;

“Because it’s different from anyone else anywhere.”

“Ah, the King of Heroes next to the saint?”

“Oh, it looks like you know me well.”

Soon, Yoosung left behind the people who were crowding in between Yoosung and Maria and grabbed Maria's hand. The noise of the bustling world disappeared.

With the season already approaching early summer, the world I was standing on felt strangely pale and cold.

A world full of silence and coldness.

At that moment, I felt her warmth along the hands we held together.

Like an ember burning alone at the bottom of a cold winter night.

The circus' headquarters building that evening.

“Come on, Lily. “From now on, I have something to say, so listen carefully.”

...r >?

“I Am your Father.”

At Yooseong’s words, Pure White and the worst witch, ‘Lil Lee’, tilted their heads for a moment. Maria added, dumbfounded by that sight.

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about in front of the child?”

“No, are you saying I said some nonsense?”

“Lily.”

Maria slightly bent her knees, looked directly at Lily, and smiled.

“There are many people in this world who still cannot accept Lily’s existence.”

“...Yes, I know.”

Lily answered. She, who had once witnessed hell as the worst witch and had been reborn as a force in the tower, could not have been unaware of that fact. People are pointing their fingers at her, telling her to burn the witch.

And the beings from beyond who covet the worst witch and are still trying to reach out with malice also say,

“That’s why we will protect Lily together.”

“By becoming mom and dad?”

“That's right.”

“Mom, Dad…

Lily was silent, mumbling as if she was savoring those words. Because there is no way she doesn't know her real mother and father, who fought against the fanaticism of the Church of the Flame to protect her.

“You can’t be like Lily’s real parents.”

Saint Mary smiled quietly and said.

“But for Lily’s sake, I will try not to be embarrassed in front of her parents.”

“Yes, Lily. Anyway, the world is full of money, so I usually have to have a lot of money. “There is probably no other child as blessed as you.”

Yoosung answered calmly, and Maria’s expression froze. He was frozen and smiling at the same time, staring at Yoosung with an extremely bizarre expression.

“Why not? I will only tell the truth...

“Would you like to go eat some candy with me for a moment?”

U 9f

......

A brief silence fell.

“I want to eat candy too.”

And after a moment of silence, Lily answered and took something out of her arms, saying she knew Maria would do that. It was a fruit-flavored candy.

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Thank you, Mom.”

Lily responded by obediently accepting the candy, and for an instant, Maria's expression became agitated. Yoosung was no different.

Like a person who finally realized too late the weight of what they were carrying.

“I suddenly want to eat candy too;

“Hehe... Yoosung, don’t smoke like this.”

Maria exhaled along with a line that seemed to have been heard many times before.

“We are converting several floors of the circus building into residential use.”

“Yes, anyway, it is a place protected by UN decree.”

“Why are you talking like it’s your business? “It is also the house we will live in.”

“...That’s right.”

Yoosung answered calmly, and Maria continued with a reddened expression.

“Anyway, there will be external events that need to be handled, such as weddings and adoption announcements.”

“Even if I go into the tower and save the world, it’s not enough.”

“Anyway, since it’s a wedding, I’m glad that at least you won’t have to worry about your in-laws.”

“It’s the same for both of us,”

Yoosung answered casually, and the saintess smiled bitterly without saying a word.

They both looked the same. Or at least in this world reborn as a game, it was nothing particularly new.

“This world, which seems to have regained peace and order on the outside, is actually sustained by incalculable blood and sacrifice... The

saint spoke quietly, and Yooseong burst into laughter at those words.

“What do those idiots know?”

“No matter how much we go around and live, the King of Heroes will save the world, so aren’t we idiots who only want to take care of their own food?”

“Maybe so.”

He saved the world five times. This season will be no exception. Without his presence, world peace cannot be maintained.

But even though we know that fact, nothing changes in the world.

It was right then.

“And yet... do you still think this world is worth saving?”

Maria asked Yoosung.

The smile that had been on her face until now took off like a mask.

With a cold expression without even the slightest emotion, without any saintly love or anything. Like just really, purely curious.

In front of that question, Yoosung remained silent.

‘No matter how hard you struggle, the world won't change.'

‘There is no value in protecting this world from the beginning.'

I thought of the whispers of dreamers in the jungle and the Tower of the Apocalypse.

At the same time, the words of the mirror I encountered at the Tower of Awakening at the beginning of the season came to mind.

‘Why are you so serious? There is nothing in this world that needs to be taken seriously. ‘

they all asked the King of Heroes.

Protecting the world and saving it are different.

Likewise, deciding that the world was not worth saving did not mean its destruction.

‘You can be a hero or a villain. What will happen on this stage

is his decision. He could have remained the king of heroes, or he could have become ‘something other than a hero' like Yoosung did in Another World.

And now Saint Mary was also asking that question.

With a cold expression without even the slightest emotion.

“It’s no use talking about the world in detail.”

“Do you think so too?”

“Yes, they are the ones who wouldn’t come to their senses even if the Earth were destroyed tomorrow.”

That's why Yoosung answered coldly.

“Still...

Still, Yoosung continued.

“No matter how much of a world of idiots there are no answers, there are still things that need to be protected.”

“Then what happens after everything that needs to be protected is gone?”

“Only then will it really be none of my business/’

Yoosung replied.

Saint Mary was silent for a moment at those words, and after the silence, she smiled quietly.

“Then I guess I’ll have to work hard so that the time that Yoosung talks about doesn’t come.”

“At that time?”

“A world where everything Yooseong had to protect has disappeared.”

Maria spoke and Yoosung quietly held his breath under the weight of those words.

Silence fell, and at the end of the silence, a shooting star moved. Toward the person and partner he deserves to protect.

A meteor touched Maria's lips.

It was a kiss that tasted like cigarettes.