Max Talent Player

Hyukjin realized that the Endless Sky Crystal in his Inventory was slowly breaking down. As it fragmented, the mana it released was being processed by his body.

He heard Isabel’s voice.

“I didn’t think I would manifest here,” she said.

He heard Seohye’s voice as well.

“Neither did I.”

Sunhwa ran up, pulling Seohye in for a tight hug.

“Seohye!”

“Sunhwa!”

The two spun a few times, embracing each other. Hyukjin got the feeling it wasn’t the time for that, but he didn’t interrupt their reunion. Sunhwa’s eyes were glistening with tears. Thankfully, Seohye pulled away after giving Sunhwa a few pats on the head.

“Don’t we need to kill that Red Devil?” Seohye asked, pointing to the monster at the base of the hill with her chin. At that, the white-robed Isabel took a step forward.

“Child of the Red Eye. You stay put.”

Violent energy whirled from the purple mana crystal topping the staff in Isabel’s hands.

“Who are you, auntie?”

“Auntie?” Isabel’s face contorted into a scowl. “Auntie?”

“Yes. Auntie.”

The moment Ahn Seohye saw Isabel, she felt an inexplicable surge of displeasure, intensified by her mental connection to Hyukjin.

Seohye could tell.

‘She doesn’t look that old, but...’

By all appearances, Isabel didn’t look much older than her. If Seohye were a person and not a Guardian Tower, she would have probably called Isabel “unnie”. But she could sense traces of innumerable years from Isabel. This woman in front of her was absolutely not in her 20s.

“Child. You should instinctively feel who I am, no?”

“Yes. An auntie.”

Isabel didn’t seem at all interested in the Red Devils approaching from afar. At least at this moment, her attention was fully on Ahn Seohye.

“And you can feel that my mental connection to Husband is incredibly strong, can’t you?”

“I haven’t been a Guardian Tower for very long, so I can’t feel it that closely.”

“Don’t lie.”

“I’m not lying. And why is he your husband?”

“Because he’s the Sword Pactee.”

“The Sword Pactee is the Sword Pactee. How does that make him your husband?”

Kim Sunhwa nodded. It was her first time seeing Isabel manifest, and she had been wondering who it was. Only after hearing the words “Sword Pact” did she realize the woman’s identity.

‘Isabel?’

The transcendent artifact Isabel?

‘But Isabel is a sword.’

She was a sword, so why did she look like a magician? Hyukjin interrupted with a cough.

“Both of you, now isn’t the time for this.”

Isabel refused to relent. “Child. Return to the Guardian Tower.”

“No thanks. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been able to move freely?”

Sunhwa butted in with her own input. “I don’t want you to go back, Unnie.”

Isabel’s frown grew a little more pronounced.

“Answer this. Are you confident you can wipe out all of the Red Devils over there?”

“I’m not confident I can wipe out all of them, but I can kill the ones approaching Master.” Seohye smiled sweetly, her eyes glowing red. “I’ll kill everything that threatens Master.”

Hyukjin frowned imperceptibly. Hearing ‘Master’ in his head through their mental link was still okay, but hearing Seohye say it out in the open made his insides squirm. Sung-gu was clearly trying his best to pretend like he hadn’t heard, and Yeonseo looked strangely at Hyukjin, unable to conceal her astonishment.

“Seohye, what kind of bizarr-o title is that? Master?”

“It was automatically set when I became a Guardian Tower. No matter what I call him, it comes out as Master.”

“Ah… is that so?”

Hyukjin’s face reddened a little, wondering why this situation felt more mortifying to him than fighting Red Devils. While all of this was going on, the Red Devil drew a little closer.

‘But…’

Eye of Perception wasn’t blaring a warning at him. Normally, Eye of Perception would have sensed the approaching monsters’ strength and sent a danger signal echoing through his whole body, but that wasn’t happening.

Isabel spoke again. “Child. Make a concession this time. There’s no time for a long explanation. Husband has limited strength, and maintaining both of us will prevent him from drawing out his full power.”

“...”

“As I’m sure you can feel as well, manifesting us both is draining the Endless Sky Crystal’s power far faster.”

“...” Seohye balled her fists. “I’ll concede this time.”

“Good decision.”

“But I won’t back down next time.”

For some reason, Seohye considered Isabel her foe. With a jolt of shock, she realized something.

‘Am I jealous right now?’

She didn’t think she was being jealous because she saw Kim Hyukjin as a man. It felt a little different from that.

‘She’s bound to him with a higher level contract than me.’

Both she and Isabel were bound to Hyukjin with contracts. But Isabel’s was more than that—it was a pact.

‘And that frustrates me.’

The other woman was connected to Hyukjin even more closely than her. That was what Seohye disliked. It was a blow to her pride, and the Guardian Tower Ahn Seohye was left with a sense of intense defeat.

“Auntie. I’ll go back to the Guardian Tower. I’m conceding this time, so you need to be a big help to Master in my stead.”

After sharing a regretful farewell with Yeonseo and Sunhwa, Seohye returned to the Guardian Tower.

By the time she left, the Red Devil was just a hundred meters away. But something was strange about the monster—even though the Guardian Tower wasn’t repelling it, it couldn’t come any closer.

Grr, grrrrr.

It glanced around uneasily, looking anxious.

Isabel closed her eyes for a moment.

“Husband. Did those little red ones bully you?”

“...”

Hyukjin captured something with Observer’s Eye, and realized what it was.

‘Isabel’s domain expansion.’

Isabel was exuding an invisible energy that was covering this entire area, unfurling over such a large region that Hyukjin could not begin to measure its borders at his current level. He only knew it was incredibly huge. Everywhere her energy covered was her domain.

“I’ll punish them for you.”

* * *

* * *

A certain Japanese man visited the VVIP hospital room in Sungshin Hospital.

“Did you feel it, too?”

The man looked to be in his late teens or early 20s—his face still held traces of immaturity. Holding a Translation Marble, he stared at the woman on the hospital bed.

The woman’s name was Ham Sohyun.

“I have no abilities other than Precognitive Dream.”

“I see.”

And the man’s name was Itachi. Itachi walked towards the window, gazing into the sky.

“Just one year ago, I saw no future of me coming to Korea. No star in the sky told me that I would be here now.”

But one day, things were changed again and again by the ‘enormous star’, the future changed, and he ended up coming to Korea, altering his original fate of never leaving Japan.

“And now, the enormous star my eyes cannot see is about to move.”

“How can you tell that something you can’t see is moving?”

“I can feel it. Its existence is so enormous I cannot see it with my eyes, but I am cognizant of its flow.”

Itachi took out a precognitive note. It was a copy.

A meeting occurs before the cornerstone of an ash-covered temple.

If they meet as enemies, so shall a conflagration of hell commence.

If they meet as friends, so shall the hymn of heaven ring.

“The star has sung, and it sung a hymn. A hymn of great rapture that launched another star.”

“I struggle to understand what you mean.”

“What I mean to say is that the man named Kim Hyukjin is launching a star. Have you had any dreams related to Kim Hyukjin recently?”

Sohyun nodded. Just a few days ago, she had a precognitive dream about him. She recited the note she had scribed while having the dream.

“A false, sweet fragrance shall permeate you.”

“...”

“The prophecy of the true seer doth come to be.”

“Did your vision come to be?”

Sohyun nodded again. “I think so, yes.”

“How very strange. It’s already fascinating that you can dream about a specific person, but you’re certain that it’s him, and you can even feel that the prophecy you made about him was fulfilled. This is, to my knowledge, a first.”

And it only happened with one person, Kim Hyukjin. That was the reason why Itachi flew to Korea.

“Have you met him?”

“Yes. Once.”

“How was it?” At Ham Sohyun’s hesitation, Itachi urged, “Please speak your mind. You can say whatever you think.”

Itachi wanted to know more. He wanted to know more about this absolutely incomprehensible Player who could change the position of the stars, launch a star, and possibly even destroy a star.

“I don’t remember his face.”

“...What?”

“I remember that I saw him, but I don’t remember how he looked, no matter how hard I try to remember.”

“Could it be that he used a special skill?”

Kim Hyukjin had Cognitive Dissonance. But at that time, he hadn’t used it.

“No, it’s not that.” Ham Sohyun fumbled a bit, then continued. “It was like I was looking at darkness.”

Itachi nodded.

“The person who shows you clearer visions than anyone else feels like darkness to you. How fascinating.” He gazed into the sky again. “And the mighty star protecting Kim Hyukjin is currently dominating this space. That star’s name is—ugh!”

His body convulsed, and he collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Ham Sohyun hurriedly summoned the nurse, and the unconscious Itachi was moved to another hospital room.

* * *

“I’ll punish them for you,” said Isabel. “It’s difficult to get rid of them one by one, and there’s no time. I’ll use the mana in the Endless Sky Crystal in the most efficient manner.”

“How?”

“If you don’t want things to get troublesome, use Cognitive Dissonance first.”

For now, Hyukjin did as he was told.

“I’ll give you a little boost.”

He heard a notice.

[Cognitive Dissonance has been temporarily promoted to ‘Wide-Area Cognitive Dissonance’

[‘Wide-Area Cognitive Dissonance’ is boosted into ‘Wide-Area Cognitive Distortion’ and takes effect.]

Hyukjin had no idea just how wide an area was being affected, but a ‘Wide-Area Cognitive Distortion’ was triggered.

Isabel uttered an incantation of some kind.

“-------.”

Her body disappeared. Only her voice could be heard.

“Infinite Sword Rain.”

And then, something unbelievable occurred. Above the Red Devil loitering a hundred meters away, unable to come any closer, appeared a ‘sword’. The sword descended, plunging into the Red Devil’s head and splicing it in two.

‘Huh?’

A notice rang out.

[Red Devil has been killed.]

[EXP acquired.]

[500 Coins acquired.]

Clearing the Dewinged Angel Statue Gate had rewarded him with 2,000 Coins. But now, he was getting 500 Coins from a single monster.

The Red Devil was slaughtered with a single attack. And because he himself hadn’t killed it—Isabel had—the Observer penalty didn’t take effect, meaning he got both EXP and Coins.

‘But…’

His shock didn’t end there.

[Red Devil has been killed.]

[Red Devil has been killed.]

…

[Red Devil has been killed.]

[Red Devil has been killed.]

Notice after notice streamed in, so fast he couldn’t even check each one.

[You have received 720 identical, simultaneous notices.]

Then, the Endless Sky Crystal crumbled into dust.

‘Ah… this…’

It quickly became apparent that Isabel had failed to control her strength. Weakness swept through his body.

‘So… dizzy.’

He couldn’t check all the notices. Not long after Itachi fell unconscious, Kim Hyukjin followed suit.