Ahn Roh Man looked at Cale, Alberu, and Rosalyn seated on the couch before handing Rosalyn an americano.
“Thank you very much. You brew the coffee yourself?”
“It was nothing. It is my one and only pleasure.”
Ahn Roh Man looked away from Rosalyn to Alberu and Cale who had both rejected coffees and then sat down.
He sat at the head of the table and then stopped his gaze on Alberu.
‘You won’t be here next time.’
Ahn Roh Man would not be in the next president’s seat.
Ahn Roh Man looked at Alberu and nonchalantly asked.
“When did you plant someone here?”
“Wow.”
Ahn Roh Man looked toward the quiet gasper.
Rosalyn smiled brightly once they made eye contact.
“The coffee is delicious.”
She then casually slipped in another comment.
“Mr. President, you seem to be the type to get down right to business?”
Ahn Roh Man responded with a smile.
“Do you not like that very much?”
Rosalyn smiled and picked up her glass of americano.
“I like it as much as I like this coffee.”
Ahn Roh Man suddenly became curious about this woman in front of him.
No, he had been curious about her identity since she came in here with Alberu and Cale. However, now that he felt that this woman was no joke, she became someone he had to figure out.
“Han Taek Soo.”
However, Ahn Roh Man had to turn his gaze after hearing that name come out of Alberu Crossman’s mouth.
Ahn Roh Man quietly observed the relaxed face looking at him.
‘He’s young.’
He looked even younger in person than through the screen.
“Ha.”
Han Taek Soo, the honorary Chairman of Transparent © and the most likely candidate to be the next president.
Ahn Roh Man only had a few ways to respond after hearing that name come out of Alberu’s mouth.
“It looks like you found out everything.”
Ahn Roh Man looked relaxed despite raising his hands up as if he had lost.
The way he smiled made him look quite calm.
However, the one looking at him was Alberu.
Alberu’s mouth opened.
“You received the K.Q. right?”
Silence filled the room.
– Human, human!
Raon, who was seated here while invisible, started to talk to Cale.
– Human, you look very much at peace.
‘Of course.’
Cale didn’t react to Raon who was saying something so obvious.
‘His highness and Miss Rosalyn are here. There’s no need for me to do anything.’
The way they were taking care of things without him having to say much…
‘Ah, this is nice.’
Cale felt relaxed for the first time in a long while.
That feeling of relaxation came from the fact that nothing was in his way.
‘Yeah.
I like these sort of advantageous situations.’
Cale just slowly watched it all unfold.
The smile disappeared from Ahn Roh Man’s face while Alberu smiled even more elegantly.
Despite it being silent, a lot of things were passing back and forth right now.
The scales were slowly starting to tilt toward Alberu.
‘This is it.’
The scales and the situation were tipping in the direction they wanted.
Lately, Cale had not had situations he wanted. Instead, he had to jump into situations that had already happened and personally become the weight to tip the scale.
‘That’s not my specialty.’
Creating an advantageous playing field, moving weights in their favor, making the situation naturally come toward their side…
That was Cale’s preferred method.
“…My throat feels parched.”
Cale opened his mouth after hearing Ahn Roh Man say that.
“Shall I make a cup of coffee for you? I know how to do it.”
“Pfft.”
Ahn Roh Man chuckled before leaning against the couch.
“I have received the K.Q.”
He admitted to it and Alberu leisurely answered.
“It was too clear that you were scheming something.”
“Haha-”
Ahn Roh Man laughed and then asked.
“Then are we enemies now?”
Alberu gave him an answer.
“I think we will end up as close allies rather than enemies.”
Ahn Roh Man’s eyebrow raised slightly and Cale mischievously punched Alberu’s arm.
“Oh, come on. It is confusing if you say it like that, your highness.”
He smiled gently and addressed Ahn Roh Man next.
“We have a common enemy.”
Ahn Roh Man opened his mouth.
“I see. The Transparent © is there.”
Ahn Roh Man had an odd smile on his face as he brushed his hair back with his hand.
Sweat was visible on his forehead.
However, he spoke leisurely as if he didn’t notice it.
“In that case, all of you will need to help me. Leaving RPOG aside, to destroy the Transparent Corporation in this world, you will need to stop honorary Chairman Han Taek Soo from becoming president. In other words, you need me to become president.”
Smile. A big smile appeared on Ahn Roh Man’s face.
“…It would be great if I could say that, but…”
His smile soon turned solemn.
“The Transparent Corporation falling and I becoming president are two separate issues.”
His aide, Mary, said that getting rid of the Transparent © or doing well in New World would provide the potential for him to remain in the president’s position, but…
Ahn Roh did not believe that.
“Of course.”
Alberu leisurely carried on.
“You are a setting sun.”
That was the correct answer.
“Someone else would come to replace Han Taek Soo and your position will remain in danger. The people are starting to forget you.”
“Or maybe they are getting tired of me. I am proof of the past and the war.”
Ahn Roh Man was very alert about his situation.
He was someone people were tiring of.
Even though he was a hero, people always forgot things they got used to.
“So are you planning on stepping back?”
“I’m debating what to do.”
Alberu snorted at Ahn Roh Man’s response.
“My little dongsaeng. Do you believe him?”
“No.”
Cale immediately shook his head. He then asked Rosalyn.
“Miss Rosalyn, do you believe him?”
“I don’t.”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“I don’t know much about this place, but based on what I have heard… Mr. Ahn Roh Man seems to have two options right now. He either takes down the Transparent Bloods or takes control of New World.”
“…You’ve seen right through it for someone who says you don’t know much about this place.”
Rosalyn looked at Ahn Roh Man as if it was obvious.
“Getting rid of the enemies or taking control of the enemy’s territory. Isn’t that just the basics of war?”
War.
Ahn Roh Man flinched after hearing that word.
“What is wrong? Is it not war?”
“…That is correct. It is a war.”
This too was a war.
Alberu spoke at that time.
“Why are you feigning ignorance when you were already aware of it?”
“……!”
Ahn Roh Man’s dark eyes headed toward Alberu.
Blonde hair and blue eyes. The guy who looked like a prince straight out of fantasy spoke in a refreshing manner.
“You plan on striking the Transparent Corporation before your term is up, right? You must have prepared something during your three terms as president.”
Ahn Roh Man’s eyes sank low.
Something he had been preparing that even his aide Mary didn’t know about…
Alberu calmly continued.
“And you, whether it is by stabbing me in the back, or taking away what is mine, or doing whatever needs to get done, you will take control in New World as well.”
“Oh!”
Cale exaggerated his gasp and clapped.
Clap!
Cale cheekily commented through the clapping noise.
“You are planning on taking down your bitter enemies as well as taking away their territory!”
He gave him a thumbs up.
“President Ahn Roh Man, you truly are an amazing person!”
Aide Mary.
She had said that Ahn Roh Man would have potential if he chose one of the two.
However, Ahn Roh Man was not someone who hung onto potential.
He was someone who headed toward certainty.
“…….”
He calmly observed the three people who saw through him so well and then opened his mouth.
“You all… Seem to have a lot of experience being victorious in war.”
The three of them all responded with smiles.
Cale smiled and then asked.
“How do you plan on attacking the Transparent © in reality?”
“…….”
“I’m sure you have proof of their corruption or something?”
The Transparent Corporation. That was called a transcendent corporation now.
A place that was beyond a nation.
In order to take down a place like that, he needed something solid, whether in the justification or the law.
It would be bad if he launched an attack and was struck instead.
“And your backing is in New World, right?”
Ahn Roh Man had said something to Cale and Alberu at some point.
‘It helped me take the top ranking.’
That existence was the AI that Ahn Roh Man’s parents had created.
‘That AI is my friend and sibling. I guess I should call him hyung since he was born a year before me?’
Ahn Roh Man had a hyung-like existence.
‘That AI kept itself tightly hidden inside the game. Of course, it handed over most of its abilities to the Transparent Corporation as if it had no choice when they took it away. The Transparent Corporation probably didn’t even know that an AI existed. That guy hid himself extremely well and waited.’
Alberu had never met that AI properly.
Ahn Roh Man thoroughly hid the AI’s identity.
‘I have seen it before.’
He had met the AI that was wrapped tightly in a robe from a far distance.
Cale was asking Ahn Roh Man about the AI.
He wanted to know about Ahn Roh Man’s backing.
Furthermore, one of his quests was finding that AI.
In addition…
‘It’s a variable.’
It was one of the daggers that Transparent © didn’t know about.
He needed to know about that existence.
“Hold on.”
Ahn Roh looked at Cale in shock.
“I feel like I’m the only one revealing my cards?”
It sounded almost like grumbling, but a cold dagger was hidden within it.
“Of course, I’ve basically lost already.”
There was a reason he had been so open in the conversation until now.
“Your power to get into this place without my knowledge. Then there is your knowledge of the current situation.”
Power and information.
Now that he learned that these guys would not be lacking in either…
“But still, I feel like I’m revealing too much?”
Cale laughed.
Alberu commented at that moment.
“It usually feels that way when you are dealing with my dongsaeng.”
– That’s right! The crown prince is the most accurate!
Cale tried to ignore it.
However, as always, Alberu’s comments were not easy to ignore.
“I’ll reveal some of our cards.”
Now that they chose to come so openly to this place, Cale’s group had made up their mind to reveal some cards.
‘They are going to tell me so easily?’
As Ahn Roh Man questioned this internally, Alberu calmly commented.
“The Sun ©. That company is mine.”
Power, information…
Now there was even money.
“……!”
Ahn Roh Man’s eyes opened wide.
The Sun ©. That was such a major figure in investment that even businesses would borrow money from them.
When it came to money, this company was like an endless ocean.
‘He owns that place?’
Boom. Boom. boom.
Ahn Roh Man’s heart thumped.
This was such sweet information that he couldn’t be suspicious of them.
“And the Seventh Evil is my backing.”
“What?!”
Ahn Roh Man could not hold back anymore.
He jumped up from his seat. He had lost his calmness for a moment and asked.
“How is the Seventh Evil your backing?”
How was that possible?
“Do you want to hear more?”
Alberu leisurely asked while adding on another comment.
“But doesn’t it feel like I’m the only one revealing my cards?”
He then made a request to Ahn Roh Man.
“You reveal them too.”
‘I revealed two so time for you to reveal two.’
– Human, human!
Raon started to talk to Cale again.
– But the crown prince didn’t tell him everything! The Sun © technically belongs to the sun god and our backing here on Earth is actually the sun god?
Raon was smart.
– And the Seventh Evil is not his backing, the crown prince’s backing is the greatest of all evils! Our human, the man who has taken control of the Seventh Evil and the Third Evil and eventually all Eight Evils!
He was very smart.
– Anyway, I’ll stay quiet because this seems beneficial to us!
Just look. Raon was very very smart.
Cale and Rosalyn just quietly sat there smiling.
All three were the same.
“Ahn Roh Man.”
Alberu’s eyes were full of passion.
His made Ahn Roh Man think of his youth.
He acted cheekily and friendly, but… His youth was full of intense greed.
He could see that similar passion in Alberu right now.
The young man who was burning with passion like he had been during his youth…the young man who looked like him…
“New World…”
Alberu was being quite serious.
“Let’s eat that up together.”
New World was multiple times larger than Earth.
But Alberu Crossman was talking so casually about splitting up that place.
“…….”
Ahn Roh Man could not say anything.
He had an odd feeling in his heart.
The passion that was impossible to hide kept stimulating Ahn Roh Man.
“Haaaaa.”
Ahn Roh Man sighed.
He then nonchalantly commented.
“Cut the crap.”
Alberu sighed at that moment.
“I guess it doesn’t work. This passionate youngster act.”
Alberu was completely calm as if he had not shown that passionate side at all and was very relaxed.
However, this appearance actually seemed more trustworthy to Ahn Roh Man.
“Ha, haha-”
The Ahn Roh Man opened his mouth.
‘Since they revealed two cards I guess I should too.’
“There was a rumor in the underworld at one point.”
First.
“A large number of people go into the Transparent ©’s laboratory every two months. However, they never come out.”
The people going into the Transparent © disappear.
“It really is a rumor that appeared and then disappeared. But I started looking into it.”
The dagger Ahn Roh Man had prepared to go against the Transparent ©…
He revealed this first.
Now the second.
‘My backing.’
“After the update, I will become the Imperial Crown Prince.”
“……!”
This time, both Cale and Alberu looked at Ahn Roh Man in shock.
“My backing is the current New World’s Eastern Empire’s Emperor Lienti.”
The three strong, five mid, and ten weak forces…
The Eastern Empire was one of New World’s three strong factions.
“He is my older brother.”
The AI who was hiding as an NPC…
New World’s Eastern Empire’s Emperor was the top ranker, Ahn Roh Man’s backer.
Furthermore, this dagger was something Ahn Roh Man had prepared with his hyung for over a decade in New World.
“Once the update ended, I was planning on starting my own war.”
Ahn Roh Man’s scheme.
It was larger than what they could have expected.
Cale thought about it for a moment.
The Transparent ©, no… Ahn Roh Man had prepared a dagger that the Transparent Bloods and the other enemies did not know about.
As for Cale’s faction…
The two of their common factor was that they were nameless to the enemies.
The enemies did not know that they had seeped into New World.
Cale turned his head.
He made eye contact with Alberu.
Rosalyn was looking at him as well.
Cale nodded at the two of them and spoke to Ahn Roh Man.
“The three strong forces.”
New World’s three strong, five mid, and ten weak forces…
“Let’s turn that into the two strong.”
Cale extended his hand toward the Ahn Roh Man.
It was for a handshake to say let’s make a deal.
He was not someone they were willing to have protect their back after all.
—
Translator’s Comments
Ahn Roh Man so sus.
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thank you for the chapter 🫡