Chapter 196 - Master Key (1)

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

Then I froze.

[Long Live Korean Independence] - 2 users online.

... Why were there two people?

Had another Korean joined this batch?

No, even so, there was no way a newcomer could have found this chat room so quickly.

CLICK, CLICK.

Puzzled, I moved the mouse and double-clicked the room's title.

Unlike usual, a message appeared.

[Entry to this room has been temporarily restricted.]

[Time remaining: 9 minutes 51 seconds.]

What was this now?

I was confused at first, but soon pieced together a rough idea of what had happened. Restricting entry was one of the privileges reserved for the host who created a chat room.

In other words...

'Someone came to see Lee Baekho as soon as the community opened, and he locked the door so they could talk.'

That was the most reasonable explanation.

It was probably someone Lee Baekho knew. If it had been a stranger, he would have kicked them out instead of locking the door.

'An acquaintance of Lee Baekho's...'

I couldn't help being curious.

Lee Baekho was an old-timer who had taken an early version of the pill and could only use the community for an hour. It must have been well over ten years since he first joined, so naturally, he would know people here.

'But whoever it is must have been around here for ages, just like him.'

After all, Lee Baekho was the one who had given me the invitation code for Observer of the Round Table.

"Tsk."

If only I could at least check the username of the person inside.

As I watched the timer count down with a twinge of disappointment, the number of occupants dropped to one.

[Long Live Korean Independence] - 1 user online.

I checked, and the entry restriction had been lifted too.

Had the visitor already left?

That thought was on my mind as I entered the chat room.

"Are you the fellow countryman Baekho mentioned?"

What the fuck?

At the unfamiliar voice, I quickly turned my head to find a white man I'd never seen before standing there.

Or had I?

[Elfnunalove]

Seeing the username floating above his head left my mind blank for a moment.

To my surprise, we had a history. He was the user who had sold me information when I was digging into a mage named Sharnel Fergan after hearing the Dimension collapse rumor.

["On second thought, forget about the payment. You seem to be a fan of his, too."]

Watching him turn down the 20,000 GP I'd promised as payment had really driven home how much of a newbie I was here. I'd even vowed to climb the ranks quickly.

But to think he knew Lee Baekho.

'Wait, where did Lee Baekho go?'

I quickly collected myself.

The other man had already spotted my username and was giving me an odd look.

"Hmm, you're the person I met that time, aren't you?"

Right, so he'd recognized me too.

Considering he used the creepy username Elfnunalove, my own username, Elfnunna, must have stuck in his memory.

"Yes, we meet again."

Something felt off, so I kept my words to a minimum. I had plenty of questions, but sometimes even asking one could give away information.

For now, I would wait for him to speak first.

Sure enough, after a short wait, Elfnunalove—Elove for short—scratched his head awkwardly.

"I feel rather bad about this."

"About what?"

"It feels like I've stolen away the friend from home you finally got to meet."

"... Do you mean Baekho?"

Elove nodded at my question.

"Yes. As you know, there aren't many Koreans here. I understand very well how important someone from your homeland can be."

"No, that's not what I mean. I don't understand. You stole him away...?"

This time, I wasn't acting like a clueless newbie. I genuinely had no idea what he was talking about.

Was he the reason Lee Baekho had left the chat room?

But how?

Wasn't Lee Baekho the host of this room?

As all those questions swirled through my head, he spoke.

"Exactly what it sounds like. You won't be able to meet Baekho here anymore. I'd left him alone until now because I thought he might serve as a key..."

The white man continued.

"Unfortunately, he's done something terribly wrong."

"...?"

"I was originally just going to leave, but I thought I'd let you know so you wouldn't waste your time waiting. Well then, enjoy yourself."

Elfnunalove left the chat room before I could say another word.

I stared blankly at the spot where he'd stood.

'Fuck me.'

What the hell was going on?

* * *

Before I knew it, I was alone in the empty room.

'He did something wrong? He can't come here anymore?'

My mind was a mess.

But that made it all the more important to calmly sort through my thoughts.

Just who the fuck was Elfnunalove?

Going back over our conversation step by step, I soon reached a conclusion.

It was still only a theory, but...

'For starters, he's definitely a Moderator for Ghost Busters.'

A Moderator.

Someone who guided newbies and kept the community from turning into a madhouse, like SoulQueen, whom I'd met on my first visit.

Otherwise, there was no explaining what had just happened.

["He's done something terribly wrong this time."]

Elfnunalove wasn't the host, yet he'd thrown Lee Baekho out of the room. No, he must have been the one who restricted entry too, not Lee Baekho.

Moderators had considerable authority, at least on the forums. Besides, only a Moderator could permanently ban someone from the community.

And not just an ordinary Moderator. It had to be...

'... Wait a minute.'

As my thoughts reached that point, I hurried back to my room. Then I quickly used the computer to open my inbox.

[Elfnunna has completed at least 50 transactions. EXP +50]

[Your membership rank will be adjusted.]

[Orc -> Troll]

[Sender: Ghost master.]

Ghost Master.

The supreme Moderator of Ghost Busters, whom the community's users called the GM or the administrator. No one had managed to discover his identity.

Suddenly, I remembered a conversation with Lee Baekho.

["Do you happen to know who runs this place?"]

["Oh, I don't know either. Actually, I found the pill while raiding the secret Public Security headquarters back in the early days, and took it."]

["Then they don't know who you are either, right?"]

["Still, they can probably guess. I've got a few suspects myself..."]

["Who?"]

["There are three. Want me to tell you all of them?"]

In answer to my question, Lee Baekho had named three suspects. They were all mages, each so famous that everyone in the city knew their names.

Since it was Lee Baekho's guess, it couldn't be entirely without merit.

'The GM is a mage.'

That wasn't certain, but working from that premise, I recalled my first meeting with Elfnunalove.

["... Are you sure you can just tell me all this?"]

["What does it matter? It's not as if I'm that school's master."]

As he'd freely spilled the internal affairs of the Tarutein School, which had spread the Dimension collapse rumor, I'd had a thought.

Something about the way this man spoke sounded like a mage.

Finally arriving at a conclusion, I swallowed hard.

Maybe I was just jumping to conclusions...

But if I was right...

"Holy shit."

I might have just met the GM.

* * *

An inexplicable shiver ran through my entire body, but it didn't last long. I soon returned to normal.

Even if Elfnunalove was the GM, that wasn't a serious problem for me.

Well, his username did bother me a little...

But it wasn't as if we were enemies.

Even if he discovered my identity, he wouldn't come to chop my head off or anything.

... Probably.

'Right, let's delete that first.'

I went to the forums and deleted the comment I'd left on my Canadian friend's now-blurred post.

Identifying me from that alone would be next to impossible, but I decided it was better to be safe.

While I was at it, I deleted every trace I'd left since coming here. Aside from a handful of comments on joke posts, there wasn't much.

There had been one occasion when the Dimension collapse rumor spread, and that was it apart from the buying post I'd put up in the Trade market to gather information on Orculus after fighting the Dragonslayer.

'So I can't see Baekho anymore...?'

Once I'd finished erasing my tracks, I gave some thought to Lee Baekho too.

I felt a sense of loss.

Never mind losing access to valuable information through him. Honestly, hanging out with him had been pretty fun.

'But what the hell did he do to make a Moderator come and personally ban him?'

I had no way to learn the truth for now, but it wasn't hard to guess that it was closely connected to the campaign against Noark.

That was the only major event in recent days.

CLATTER, CLATTER.

After that, I passed the time browsing the forums.

Most of it was little more than casual web surfing. I'd checked whether Elfnunalove had posted anything, but he hadn't left so much as a single comment.

For the record, the same went for Lee Baekho.

'... I should stick to lurking from now on whenever I can.'

True veterans stayed away from communities and quietly went about their own business.

Taking this incident as a lesson, I added a new ironclad rule to my use of the community.

How much time had passed?

[03: 03]

It was time to enter the Round Table.

This time, however, I went straight in rather than waiting until just before entry closed.

After what had happened, I figured I might pick up some information from the small talk before the gathering.

'... Everyone should be here this time, right?'

Starting in the customization room as usual, I quickly put on the navy suit I'd always worn and slipped the male lion mask over my face.

CREEEAK.

Once I was ready, the door opened as if it had been waiting for me. I followed the carpet to the large Round Table.

Clown was the first to greet me.

"You're early this time. Psh-sh-sh."

Having skipped a month, it had been two whole months since I'd last heard that distinctive laugh.

I surveyed the others as I approached my usual seat.

'Crescent Moon, Stag Horns, Fox.'

Including Clown and me, five people were attending this gathering. Fox met my gaze, then looked away and addressed everyone.

"By the way, Mr. Goblin is late today, isn't he?"

"Psh, maybe he's dead? I hear the Paladin Order suffered terrible losses this time."

"... Let's hope not."

As expected, the recent campaign dominated the conversation even before the meeting began.

"I'm surprised even this many of us made it back alive. If hell exists, I imagine that's what it looks like. I bitterly regretted joining without giving it much thought."

"... I agree. To think Noark had forces like that hidden away. When the expedition was first assembled, I thought we could even take the royal palace with that much strength."

"Psh, and yet you all got thoroughly trounced, didn't you?"

"Clown, you speak as though this has nothing to do with you."

"Why wouldn't I? However many people die, it has nothing to do with me. Isn't that right, Mr. Lion?"

"Who knows? I'm not interested."

I propped my chin on a hand resting on the armrest as though bored, doing nothing but listening intently.

Noark's dark mages.

Priests of Carui.

The internal affairs of major clans that had reportedly suffered grievous losses, stories about other races, and so on.

Information not quite rare enough to bring up at the meeting kept pouring out under the guise of small talk.

'Good thing I came early.'

I was struggling to hide a satisfied smile as I listened closely to their views on recent developments when it happened.

"Oh, Mr. Goblin!"

A goblin mask appeared beyond the open door.

"You're alive."

"Ah, yes. It was truly dangerous, though. Truly, God was watching over me."

Goblin spoke of God so naturally, despite not even being from this world.

Clown laughed mockingly.

"God, my ass. I'll bet you were hiding in the back like a goblin. Psh."

"Seriously, Clown, why do you only treat me like this?"

"Because you're an easy target?"

"..."

Despite the blatant disrespect, Goblin merely gave a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded and took his seat.

'He's scared.'

At first, I hadn't understood why Goblin was so meek, but on reflection, it might have been only natural.

His identity as a Paladin had been exposed, after all.

There was no way he could openly make an enemy of Clown, who was clearly powerful.

THUD!

Not long after Goblin sat down, the door shut tight.

It was time for the gathering to begin.

"Lion, does your promise from that time still stand?"

Before we could even decide the order, Crescent Moon asked me a question.

He hadn't specified which promise, but I understood perfectly well.

He must have meant my promise to give him information about the Stone of Resurrection if he brought me an interesting story.

I gave a brief nod, and determination filled Crescent Moon's eyes.

"Psh, judging by your expression, you really are confident this time?"

"I'm simply desperate. I need that item more than anything else."

His answer carried a resolve to learn about the Stone of Resurrection, whatever the price.

"Then who will begin?"

We had just begun sizing one another up to decide who would go first when...

CREEEAK.

The tightly closed door opened with a creak.

Nothing like this had ever happened before.

What was this? Another member? No, wasn't it impossible for anyone to enter once the meeting began?

I was sure that was what the rules said.

"...?"

Judging by the questioning looks in everyone's eyes, I wasn't the only one who found this strange...

THOOM.

The thick wooden door swung wide open, revealing a figure beyond it.

It was a man wearing a featureless white mask.

His hands, the only exposed skin, were deeply wrinkled.

"Ho ho, this place hasn't changed a bit since the old days, has it?"

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

For a moment, silence weighed down on the room.

Fox was the first to recover and speak.

"Master...?"

That murmur made me realize.

Master.

That meant he was the person who had created Observer of the Round Table.

"But there's a mask I haven't seen before. Who are you?"

At the master's question, Fox, who had taken my bait and floundered several times before, tilted her head.

"... Isn't he someone you invited, Master? I'm sure he said so himself..."

Strictly speaking, I hadn't said that.

I'd merely dodged the question skillfully enough to let them get the wrong idea.

But that excuse wasn't going to fly.

'Fuck me.'

What should I do?

One wrong move, and my whole act would be exposed.