That wasn't all. My name wasn't even on the participant list for the chat.
[Fighter]
[Thief]
[Bard]
[Archer]
[Alchemist]
[Wizard]
[Puppeteer]
[Paladin]
[Total: 8 people]
It felt a bit creepy, almost as if I didn't exist, but the next second, I mentally shouted, 'Jackpot!'
'I can completely spy on them.'
I covered my mouth and stared at the chat window. Whether it was a bug or something else, this was good. No, this was incredibly good.
To think I could read the chat without anyone else even knowing I was here.
[Thief]: So there are 8 of us here?
[Thief]: But there are 9 characters.
Actually, there were originally supposed to be 9 transmigrators to match the number of characters. But perhaps because of that error, the one where the Rank 1 Farmer was brought in instead of the Rank 1 Druid, my presence was completely hidden.
If you clicked on the nickname of a person in the chat, it revealed the name of their partner character.
[Thief - Assassin 'Icarus']
[Bard - Singer 'Persephone']
[Alchemist - Doctor 'Hester']
As seen here, most of them had chosen characters with classes similar to their own. Or perhaps not.
Anyway, because they could skim through everyone's choices like this, the rankers quickly figured out the identity of the abandoned character who hadn't been chosen by anyone.
[Fighter]: Looks like no one picked Belsus.
[Fighter]: lol...
You're laughing? What kind of amazing character did you pick, huh?
Annoyed for no reason, I checked the Fighter bastard's partner.
[Fighter - Secretary 'Shaz']
Well, he did pick an amazing character...
The Secretary might look ordinary on the outside, but she was actually the most terrifying character of them all. Did the Fighter pick her thinking he could handle her?
But that didn't make it okay to mock Belsus for being difficult. Wasn't there an even harder character out there?
[Thief]: Hey Paladin, you picked the Priest? Isn't the Priest really hard?
[Thief]: Is the Priest better than Belsus?
If Belsus's clear difficulty was 'Hard', the Priest was ranked 'Extreme', an impossibly difficult character with no real answers.
Exactly. Did the Paladin really choose that character in their right mind?
[Paladin]: Ah... just personally
[Paladin]: I enjoyed playing Endymion in the previous version of the game.
[Paladin]: Priests and Paladins are related, after all.
[Paladin]: And if Endy does well, it's good for me too...
This guy is an even bigger gambler than I am.
But well, even if the difficulty is 'Extreme', it wasn't like the character was on the brink of death right this second. Sure enough, in the very early stages, the Priest was in a much better situation.
At least the Priest didn't have a crazy Royal Knight chasing them down to kill them...
[Alchemist]: At this point, Belsus is probably dead.
The Alchemist predicted the fate of the solitary Belsus, based on the game's storyline that everyone knew.
I raised my head and glanced at the quiet barn.
Not satisfied with just looking, I actually walked over there to check. Peeking through the crack in the door, I saw Belsus's chest rising and falling evenly in the dark.
[Thief]: I wonder if Calain killed Belsus.
[Thief]: Archer, is Belsus dead?
Everyone could check partners by clicking on nicknames. So naturally, they asked the Archer, who was listed as Calain's partner, about Belsus's status.
Everyone here knew it. Belsus was bound to be dead, the culprit would be Calain, and as a result, Calain would start with a significant advantage in terms of experience points.
However...
[Archer]: No, not yet.
[Archer]: He got away.
The Archer chose to be honest here. I focused entirely on the scrolling chat without even blinking.
[Wizard]: Liar. Belsus is completely alone right now, so why wouldn't he be able to kill him?
The quiet Wizard suddenly popped up, cornering the Archer quite sharply. Calain had the Archer's support, and it was obvious to anyone that Calain's base stats were far superior.
So it made sense to think the Archer was lying. The others stayed quiet and didn't intervene. I could feel that everyone was waiting for the Archer's reply.
[Archer]: Could you shoot and kill a living person standing right in front of you with a bow?
What a joke. Who was it that planted an arrow straight into Belsus earlier?
But still... Based on the mind-reading earlier about him thinking he was the "incarnation of Jumong" or whatever, I thought he was empty-headed, but he was actually spinning quite a plausible alibi.
'Usually, even if you transmigrate, you still have the mind of an ordinary modern person, so it'd be hard to actually murder someone. It makes sense.'
[Wizard]: Even assuming you just stood there and did nothing, Calain could still kill Belsus on his own, couldn't he?
[Archer]: True.
[Archer]: But Calain messed up and missed, what do you want me to do.
[Archer]: I'm going crazy here too.
[Archer]: If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do.
I found it weirdly satisfying that the Archer was under suspicion. I smirked, raising just the corners of my mouth, before returning to my neutral expression.
It's very easy to lie over chat. Although the Archer bastard was actually telling the truth this time.
'The problem is, no matter how much truth you speak, it sounds suspicious, so it just looks like a lie.'
Furthermore, the Origin Characters were scattered across three different countries. Unless they got sucked into a regular dungeon, it was practically impossible for them to ever meet.
In fact, there were exactly three characters in the 'Demihaad Kingdom' where I was currently located: Belsus, Calain, and the Princess.
It was known that Belsus didn't have a partner. And since the Princess was imprisoned in the royal palace, her partner, the Puppeteer, essentially wouldn't be able to travel to this area.
In a situation where Calain appeared to be the only active one in this country, who in the world would take the Archer's side?
[Thief]: By the way...
[Thief]: How did you guys end up transmigrating here?
After about a minute of silence, the Thief changed the subject. As if waiting for this, the others quickly followed suit.
[Puppeteer]: I went to sleep and woke up here.
[Thief]: Me too.
[Alchemist]: Same.
[Fighter]: Same here.
[Bard]: Same for me. That must mean we all transmigrated in our sleep at the exact same time.
Wow, everyone had such peaceful transmigration experiences. I must have had terrible luck, getting stabbed by a burglar who broke in before transmigrating...
'So, even if these guys go back to their original world, they'd still be alive. Couldn't they just yield the victory to me?'
[Puppeteer]: Did any of you know each other before this? I wasn't in a guild and just played solo...
[Paladin]: I heard that "Tower of Collapse" was uniquely structured so that the Rank 1 players of each class were evenly distributed across all the different servers.
Starting with that comment, the rankers listed their respective servers one by one.
[Paladin]: We're all from different servers. What a coincidence.
I was in the same server, you idiots. I'm from the same server as the Rank 1 Bard.
But I hadn't ever spoken to the Rank 1 Bard, either. Also, none of the transmigrators said they knew each other. Since our classes and servers were all different, it wasn't too strange.
Maybe it was for the best. It's much fairer if everyone is strangers, rather than people forming alliances and teaming up because they're friends.
[Bard]: Have you all eaten?
Right. We all get curious about whether others have eaten. Strangely enough, they say Koreans run on rice, and while it might not apply to everyone, it definitely applied to me.
[Fighter]: The Nuts family won't take me in, so I'm homeless...
[Fighter]: Belsus isn't around, so I've become Belsus.
[Fighter]: lol
These bastards... Are they looking down on my beggar? Right now, Belsus is eating and living way better than any of you.
[Thief]: I have some starting currency, so I'm managing to feed myself.
[Thief]: Except for the fact that everywhere only sells stew.
[Paladin]: I'm already missing Korean food.
[Thief]: I already want to mix rice into some Doenjang Jjigae...
Just as the conversation was drifting into idle chatter, the Wizard threw out a rather sharp question.
[Wizard]: So, are those of you chatting up there planning to just return to your original worlds?
It was a sensitive topic.
Depending on how you heard it, it could sound like a simple question, or like a sharp jab implying, "If you're going to act like that, just go back to your original world."
For a moment, no new messages popped up, until the Thief replied. He was the most active one so far and the one who had started the chat.
[Thief]: Hmm, well.
[Thief]: For now, this transmigration thing is fascinating,
[Thief]: so I think I'll stick around.
He glossed over it with a vague answer.
It was an unclear response, leaving it ambiguous whether he wanted to forfeit and return to his original world, or compete to seize that single ticket.
Because it was text chat, it seemed like they were just laughing and joking around, but in reality, everyone here was a competitor. Only one person among us could remain in this world.
Right at that moment, creeeaaak... the barn door opened.
A large silhouette stepped outside, and our eyes met perfectly. Belsus flinched in surprise.
I jumped up. I sprinted over to him as frantically as if I had seen a dog trying to bolt out the front door.
Flustered, Belsus stopped near the doorway. I quickly closed the distance, looking ready to shove him right back into the barn.
"Why are you up already? Do you need something?"
Belsus lowered his head slightly and, though heavily walking on eggshells, confessed in a small voice.
"I want to wash up."
So he did know he was filthy, huh?
I thought the guy had forgotten how to wash altogether.
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