Steel-Eating Player - Chapter 166
Episode 166 [ Italy, Mafia, Hijacking – 1 ]
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Omen of the End … At some point, the story that the world was going crazy and destruction was approaching was slowly spreading.
This was not a rumor floating around in the public eye, but a credible story claimed by player experts in influential media outlets.
– …The worst crisis of this game has arrived. Maybe our story will end with the so-called bad ending. How many big events have happened in the last few years? This should be seen as a flow rather than an individual incident.
On a TV broadcast screen, five or six famous players were talking with one MC.
– I also agree with what Dr. Donner said. Since the 4th wave, catastrophes have continued and will become more frequent in the future. In my opinion, there needs to be bipartisan cooperation between all countries and guilds. Now, let’s put aside the general idea that we need to reveal the identity of this game, and for now, we just have to survive.
– Yes, in order to do so, I think that very powerful objects such as Yggdrasil and Laputa should be shared with the international player community rather than being monopolized by one or two people. So…
since the world became like a game, various disasters have occurred.
However, there have rarely been cases like today where incidents occurred one after another for a long time.
‘Yes, I was also somewhat embarrassed when Aji Dahaka appeared too early…’
Lee Hyun-wook was currently sitting at Yggdrasil Airport with his face disguised as a Latino man through the Dark Elf’s ‘polymorph’ magic.
People were gathered in front of the large TV installed in the front departure hall.
“How can this damned world come to this?”
“That’s right. Oh, I wonder if the end is really coming.”
The American news broadcast currently airing was showing a series of recent big events and warning of a global crisis… Lee Hyun-wook appeared in most of those scenes, because about seven out of ten
cases were solved by Lee Hyun-wook.
‘I guess it’s to some extent my fault that big events are happening one after another like now…’
But it was by no means his fault. In the
end, it was a disaster that would strike someday, but it was only hastened because he was so good at preventing previous disasters.
‘And the future disaster that will come just like that. ‘I just have to stop them too.’
That was the goal I had from the moment I returned, and the finish line was now somewhat within sight.
At that time, an airport broadcast came on.
– We would like to inform you of passengers taking flight AC1443 at 10:30 to Rome, Italy. Currently in the area near Rome. A very large monster has appeared in the southern part of Umbria, and a level 2 evacuation alert has been issued for residents, so please be careful while traveling.
Passengers nearby began to murmur at the broadcast.
“That’s it. “Those giants in armor.”
“Oh, are they titan skirmishers or something?”
“yes that’s right. What is that, is it suddenly appearing here and there? “Yesterday, three A-grade players died while playing against them in France.”
As such, the biggest issue at the moment was definitely [Titanomachia].
The members of ‘Guardian’, led by Lee Seong-yoon, the No. 1 ranked gravity wizard in Korea, secretly tried to block Titanomachia in advance, but ultimately failed.
As a result, scenes of giant monsters appearing throughout the world, especially in Europe, destroying buildings and tearing up roads were occurring one after another.
In the midst of this terrible situation, another sad news was spread around the world.
– Large group of monsters captured in ‘Green Hell’, an erosion area in Berlin… EU Gate Investigation Bureau “Presumed to be a group of ‘state-type’ monsters with intelligence similar to the Black Orc Kingdom (Step 1) Dark elves that have been shrouded in mystery until
now As the kingdom began to blatantly rebel, all of Europe had no choice but to enter a state of emergency.
‘It’s like adding insult to injury, as they say.’
Even in ‘Green Hell’, a so-called ‘Titan Gate’ was occurring… Last night, Team Leader Lee Kyo-Jun relayed intelligence that the Titan scouts that appeared there were caught making contact with the Dark Elves.
Based on that information, it could be interpreted that the two forces, the Titans and the Dark Elves, had begun collusion.
‘Titans like to be worshiped, so they are often taken advantage of by intelligent monsters or some player forces.’
Anyway, there is no need to worry about the matchmaking between those two, it must be a villain power…
‘I can roughly understand what those bastards are up to.’
Lee Hyeon-wook had defeated all of their plans so far, but this time, he was trying to gradually gather a powerful army that could never be stopped.
‘Green Hell, if it’s that terrible land, you can safely raise your army…’ If,
based on the alliance between the Titan Legion and the Dark Elf Legion, an ‘anti-human front’ is formed with devil worshipers and Red Players joining together. … A truly great war would break out that could not be prevented by the performance of just one player.
‘And… I recently heard that the Black Orc King Stonox has gone missing.’
A week ago, the Chinese government conducted an air raid on the Shanghai Black Oak Kingdom.
They had previously attacked the Republic of Korea and suffered great damage and were weakened, so the Chinese government did not miss this opportunity and set out to restore Shanghai.
However, the Chinese government’s official announcement was that Stonox could not be found there.
‘Maybe he too has moved to join that front line. There’s no way the villain side would let such a powerful force go…’
Such ominous news continued one after another, and if things continued like this, it would be inevitable that Europe would be devastated.
– —Blue Sky Airlines will provide boarding instructions.
Blue Sky was the airline that Hyunwook Lee had to fly on.
– …Passengers taking flight AC1443 to Rome, Italy, departing at 10:30, please proceed to boarding gate 4.
He stood up and slightly turned his head.
Two black men were sitting about two seats away behind the lobby chairs. They also looked at Hyunwook Lee and slowly stood up.
“But they… they really won’t do anything else and just follow along, right? Still, it’s a bit annoying because they think they’re monsters.”
A Latin woman wearing glasses who was sitting next to Lee Hyun-wook spoke.
She was none other than Kim Se-hee, and as expected, she had received the dark elf’s polymorph magic.
Next to her, Park Jun-mo, who also looked like a Latin boy, yawned and took care of his luggage. “I’ve been persuading them step by step over the past few days… More than anything, they don’t want to miss this unique opportunity .
“No matter how monsters they are, they are kids with a clear sense of purpose.”
As a result of a long conversation with Clypheus Griseo, the second prince of the Dark Elves, over the past three days, Lee Hyun-wook was able to come up with a unified sense of purpose.
‘Currently occupying the Dark Elf Kingdom. Punishing the general’s forces…’
If that were done, the Dark Elf Kingdom would become a powerful army that would fight for Lee Hyun-wook.
‘This way, once again, they have completely ruined their grand plan.’
And Rome, Italy was the first destination in the plan to recapture the Dark Elf Kingdom.
‘There is only one way to secretly infiltrate the Dark Elf Kingdom.’
The ‘Green Hell’, an encroaching area in Berlin, was a tropical rainforest covered with all kinds of man-eating plants, as its scary nickname suggests, and penetrating through it was more difficult than crossing the Amazon on foot.
That was the reason why the identity of the Dark Elf Kingdom could not be revealed to the public for a very long time…
‘And… the man-eating plants under the power of the forest elementalist even acted as alarms, making secret infiltration virtually impossible. do.’
However, according to what the second prince said, there was a portal leading directly to the Dark Elf Kingdom in Rome, Italy.
It is said that they are in the process of infiltrating all aspects of human society by creating such places all over the world, so-called ‘entrances’.
In other words, it meant that many spies were being planted, something that even Lee Hyun-wook did not know about.
‘Well, with this level of polymorph magic, it would be natural not to be detected…’
I had heard that dark elves were good at polymorph magic in my past life, but I didn’t know it was to this extent.
Hyunwook Lee touched his face and presented the fake passport to the immigration officer.
His current identity was Marco Germano, a 34-year-old man of Italian nationality.
“Hmm… Marco Germano, you are going to your hometown.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The immigration officer wiggled his eyebrows and looked around at the fake passport.
“Then I hope you have a comfortable journey.”
It was a perfect disguise that allowed me to get an exit stamp without any difficulty.
Next, I stood in front of the security checkpoint, where there were a lot of armed airport security guards.
– Player (LV：43)
– Player (LV：49)
I guess .
Since we had to check the player whose body itself was a weapon, the level of the airport staff had to be quite high.
“Now, passengers, we will keep your items safe until you arrive in Rome. “Before that, we will check whether the ‘restraint chain’ on the items you are leaving has been properly completed, so please place all items on the search bar.”
Lee Hyun-wook placed an iron sword on the search table. Of course, it wasn’t his main weapon.
However, it was tied up with a purple chain and sold out.
[Item Information]
– Name: Level 3 Ability Binding Chain (Special)
– Effect: When mana is given, 1 item is ‘sealed’. (A ‘dedicated key’ is required to unlock it.)
As explained, it was an item that could seal the effect of the item.
Of course, it was not impossible to forcibly cut this off, but it could be seen as a minimum device for safe flight.
But honestly, doing this did not mean neutralizing the player, whose body itself was a weapon, so the player-only aircraft was considered the most dangerous means of transportation in many ways, as it could crash with just one passenger’s disturbance.
However, the moment I passed through the security checkpoint, I heard a commotion from the front.
“No fuck—does this even make sense!”
A woman was screaming at the airport staff, and passengers standing around her were also protesting in sharp voices. “…
Hah, what are you saying now? No, where is the notification like this right before boarding!”
The airline employee, who seemed to have a decent position, repeatedly bowed his head.
“No, no matter what the circumstances are, you should tell me about this in advance. Shouldn’t you cancel this flight and book another flight? “We are all busy people, so why do you treat us like this?”
I listened closely and at first glance, it seemed like there was an unexpected guest on the plane… but the problem was that that guest was a ‘Red Player’.
“This is really crazy… What kind of airline transports prisoners on passenger planes?”
“…Sorry for my sin!”
“Does this make sense? This really feels like an international topic! “As soon as I get off, I’ll report it to the media, so take care of it!”
Such a fierce rejection reaction was natural.
No matter how subdued, staying tens of thousands of feet in the sky with a Red Player whose body itself is a murder weapon… It was a terrible experience that no one would want to go through.
However, not all passengers wanted to use another aircraft.
This was because they were all players, so even if they protested, they were quite immune to fear.
“…What’s going on?”
Kim Se-hee, who followed Lee Hyun-wook through the security checkpoint, asked with a puzzled expression.
“It looks like we ended up having a Red Player on our plane.”
“…Is that okay?”
Kim Se-hee also made an absurd expression.
“Well, of course you shouldn’t do that, but there are always exceptions. “Maybe there’s a good reason why something crazy like this happens.”
After a while, an airline employee approached Lee Hyeon-wook and his group and began to explain the situation.
“…I’m sorry, but due to unavoidable circumstances, our aircraft has been assigned to transport prisoners. So, we will refund 50% of the fare and if you wish, we can book you on another flight.”
“Yes, it’s okay.”
“And… you don’t have to worry about safety issues. A convoy of as many as eight high-level players will be on board.”
***
After a while, when the group sat in business class, the economy class at the back became noisy.
“Ha… I’m really unlucky…”
“Get out and die, you criminals!”
When he turned his head and looked in that direction, three red players appeared, escorted by fully armed players, but all of them had their heads down and were not showing their faces. Lee Hyun-wook looked through the Insight Lens and saw that the two men in front were level 43 and 43 respectively
. It wasn’t that high, at level 24.
But…
‘What is that woman…’
The problem was the small-sized woman who came in last.
Jeokgeukkeukkeukkeukkeuk,
that woman was wearing a lot of restraints. He sat down on the last seat and immediately began to doze off.
– Player (LV：81)
A whopping level 81….
The four prisoner escorts sitting on either side of him were at most levels 41 to 59.
Of course, after taking all measures, the prisoners There’s virtually no way for her to escape, but…
‘I think I know who that woman is.’
The face of the woman he saw at first glance… It was quite familiar to Lee Hyun-wook’s eyes.
‘So-called rabies, in Korean, rabid dogs…’
True to her nickname, she is a berserker among warriors, and until recently, she was a member of the Italian government. She must have been a special agent of the agency.
However, at a secret meeting of influential figures from the Italian government, she did something shocking by massacring them all and then disappearing… According to future investigation results, she was a member of the Italian player mafia organization ‘No.’ It turns out that she was a spy planted by Nuovo Ordine.
Looking at the current situation, it appears that she was recently captured in the Republic of Chad and is being escorted to Italy.
‘But if I remember, that woman will never be free again . ‘They search for them and carry out numerous terrorist attacks.’
And even… he escapes by hijacking the plane.
‘Ha—was it really during this time? Damn, what an unlucky coincidence…’
No matter how good of a memory Lee Hyun-wook was, he couldn’t even remember such a personal incident.
‘Then you might know why this plane suddenly ended up escorting a prisoner…’ The
private plane that the Italian government was supposed to send to escort her was unable to depart due to mafia operations. And so
on . Due to the delay, it could be assumed that they ultimately chose to use a private plane to transport them to Italy.
‘Italy is now the time when the mafia is at its strongest since the mid-20th century.’
As in other countries, as the government’s public power is gradually weakening, mafia organizations disguised as guilds have grown in power. ‘Anyway, this is getting really
annoying…’
Lee Hyun-wook sighed without even realizing it.
In fact, the most important thing to do is to go to Italy . The easy way was to borrow the power of Yggdrasil and open the ultra-long-distance portal ‘Wight Hall’.
However, if you open it in the sky, there is a very high possibility that someone will notice, so they tried to take the skyway using a disguised identity. .
‘If you do this, there’s a high chance that your identity will be revealed…’
Soon, with an in-flight announcement, takeoff began and the seatbelt lights came on.
Lee Hyun-wook closed his eyes and stretched his senses toward the economy class.
And then he saw the mana of one of the escorts . I hacked into the messenger and overheard the sound there.
– Hey, crazy bitch, are you sleeping?
This was the voice of one of the eight escorts sitting in the back seat.
– Tsk tsk. There was no way I could sleep because my little heart was pounding at the thought of escaping. ?
– Marvin, if you don’t shut up, I’ll kill you the moment I release these restraints.
This sharp voice was Ray Biz.
– Do you think those restraints will be released? … Ugh. Don’t stare at me too much. If you look at me like that… . You really don’t want to release him, right?
At that point, Lee Hyun-wook tilted his head.
‘Wait a minute… If you really don’t want to release him… it means you are planning to release him.’
It was obvious what context the conversation was taking place in.
Even those convoy officers had been bribed with the mafia’s black money.
‘In that case… they didn’t rush to get on a private plane to avoid the mafia’s operations, but they took hostages during the escape process. ‘I came here on purpose to secure it.’
– 어이 그런데 그거 아나?
– …귀찮게 하지 좀 말지 이 씹새끼야.
– 아니 좀 들어 봐. 저기 화물칸에 우리가 널 위한 선물을 멋진 준비해뒀단 말이야. 응? 우리 귀여운 쌍년을 위한 고깔모자인데 무슨 You know what I mean, right?
– No way….
– Yes, you foolishly dropped that big quine you used when you killed all the government’s pigs while escaping from Italy. The
quine is a legendary helmet known as Hades’ helmet in Greek mythology. Helmet…
When you use it, you become invisible, and the effect lasts for a whopping 15 minutes.
– …How did you get that?
– Do you think I brought that? Your boss gave the head of the organization some money. I guess he did.
At this point, Lee Hyun-wook changed his mind.
‘I made a good decision to book this flight…’