The main quest of Round 7 hadn't been to escape from the illusion.
'The real quest was to escape from temptation.'
First, the sub-quest: kill yourself.
Second, the main quest: escape from temptation.
Round 7 was built as a double-layered illusion.
Most people, after clearing the first step, probably relaxed, thinking they'd escaped the illusion.
They were wrong.
'It's not over till it's over.'
Which meant Seo Arin's confession, and even the message saying the illusion was over, had all been fake.
This was why Ryu Min's prophecy had been, Don't be swayed by temptation.
'If they remembered my words and shook off the temptation, they would've cleared the main quest easily.'
Of course, he'd said nothing about the sub-quest reward.
Because the "rune" given to only one person per zone was something he absolutely needed to deal with Yamtti.
Crackle— crackle—
As Seo Arin's figure disappeared, he looked up at the message hanging in the air.
[You have completed the Main Quest: "Escape from temptation within 2 hours"!]
[You are now truly free of the illusion.]
The illusion peeled away.
Seo Arin, the grassland—everything vanished.
In their place appeared a stark, white, colorless space.
This was the place you truly arrived at after escaping the illusions.
[Huh? What's this? Someone woke up this early?]
Spotting his movement, Priscilla flew toward him from afar.
[Let's see who the first human to wake up is… Huh?!]
As she drew closer, her eyes widened.
[Black Scythe?]
'What's she so surprised about?'
Ryu Min tilted his head slightly.
She was too far away for him to read her thoughts.
Priscilla's surprise slowly twisted into a grin.
[Heeheehee… heeheeheehee.]
'What the hell. Annoying.'
Ignoring Ryu Min's stony expression, Priscilla giggled for a good while.
Finally, he couldn't hold back and asked,
"Um, Angel? What exactly is going on?"
[Ah, ahem. Right, this isn't the time. Ehem. Black Scythe, you are the first human to escape the temptation illusion. Congratulations.]
"The illusion, huh? Is that so."
He feigned ignorance on purpose, to avoid triggering any suspicion in the angel.
[Please wait until the time limit ends. Rewards will be distributed once the results are tallied.]
A pillar of light descended and locked around Ryu Min.
Thump—
He sat down on the floor inside it and glanced around.
The colorless space was full of people standing with their eyes closed.
They were all still trapped in their illusions.
'Looks like they moved us after casting the illusions.'
The grassland he'd seen at the start probably hadn't been an illusion.
If they'd realized it was an illusion before the round really began, they would've been erased right away.
'The system only puts the illusion on after the time limit starts ticking.'
Before that, even if you knew it was going to be an illusion, you wouldn't be erased.
That was why he'd been able to use Domination Authority on himself.
'Most of them are probably going through their second illusion right about now.'
The first illusion—suicide—was only for the sub-quest.
Failing to kill yourself without hesitation didn't get you removed from the survivor list.
You just lost your chance at the reward.
'The important part is the main quest: escape from temptation.'
The second illusion of temptation followed right on the heels of the first.
Just like with the suicide illusion, the system constructed the temptation from each player's inner data.
And the types of temptation varied.
Material temptation, romantic temptation, temptation to escape suffering, and so on.
What each person experienced was different.
'In my case, it was Seo Arin confessing she wanted us to date.'
If you couldn't escape that temptation before the time ran out?
Of course, you were eliminated.
If you did escape?
Your ranking was determined by how quickly you shook it off.
'The faster you got out, the better. Like me.'
If he'd decapitated Seo Arin the very moment she appeared, it probably wouldn't have counted.
The clock only started once the temptation itself actually began.
That's why he'd waited for her to confess.
'So I could kill her the second the temptation started.'
He didn't know the exact number, but it had to be under a second.
It had been the same in the previous regression.
Leaning on one hand, Ryu Min waited out the boredom.
[Time remaining until round ends: 01:30:51]
'Still an hour and a half to go.'
If he could at least see the others' illusions, it wouldn't have been so dull.
As he was thinking that, a few people jolted awake from their illusions.
"What the—?!"
"W-where are we?"
"What happened?"
"Don't come any closer! Huh?"
"Tempt me all you want, it won't work! I already have someone I lo— huh?"
The angel gave them a quick rundown of the truth.
Once they realized what had happened, those who'd been shouting or flailing sheepishly scratched the backs of their heads.
As time passed, more and more people were wrapped in pillars of light.
Eventually, the time limit expired, and everyone woke from their illusions.
Clap, clap!
Priscilla smiled and clapped her hands.
[Okay, okay, focus up, humans. As you've probably already guessed, everything you've seen until now was an illusion. You should also have an idea what the quest was about, but I'll reveal it one more time.]
A message window appeared, revealing the quest details at last.
└Escape from temptation within 2 hours
└Kill yourself without hesitation
└On success ▶ Reward: ?? ??? ?
[As you can see, the main quest was to escape from the temptation illusion. The hidden sub-quest was to kill yourself without hesitation.]
"What? Killing myself was a sub-quest?"
"Ah, you mean that first situation?"
"Son of a… how the hell were we supposed to kill ourselves in that kind of fucked-up setup?"
"This is insane. Who in their right mind can just kill themselves without blinking?"
The players, many of them still mentally reeling, all started complaining at once.
[Huh. I see a few heads I'd really like to pop right now?]
"..."
At Priscilla's deadpan remark, the crowd fell silent as if doused with cold water.
[But don't worry. I won't kill you. I'm in a really good mood today.]
Smiling sweetly, Priscilla flapped her wings.
A results window appeared before everyone.
★ Round 7 Result Tally ★
[All Zones]
└ 1st. Black Scythe (Lv54 Reaper) 00:00:01
└ 2nd. Krissy (Lv27 Priest) 00:00:05
└ 3rd. Cheonma (Lv29 Dark Knight) 00:00:06
[Current Zone C2-ESKA003]
└ 1st. Black Scythe (Lv54 Reaper) 00:00:01
└ 2nd. An Sang-cheol (Lv34 Knight) 00:00:18
└ 3rd. Seo Arin (Lv34 Summoner) 00:00:24
Everyone who saw the results pulled the same disgusted face.
"Black Scythe is first again?"
"Seriously, him again?"
"This was a quest about escaping an illusion…"
"Are they saying even his mental strength is flawless?"
"Look at that—he broke free from temptation in a single second."
"He's not human."
"Ha…"
While the players shook their heads in exasperation—
[Heeheehee.]
Priscilla's grin nearly split her cheeks.
'I won! Thanks to Black Scythe, I won the bet!'
Maybe it was the joy of having claimed the throne.
So wrapped up in her happiness, she even forgot to hand out the rewards.
"Angel? My first-place rewards aren't showing up."
[Ah! Right, right. My apologies, Black Scythe.]
The angel, rare in that she actually apologized to a human, fluttered her wings, and messages appeared.
[Congratulations! You have completed the quest as 1st place in the current zone!]
[Congratulations! You have completed the quest as 1st place across all zones!]
[Player "Black Scythe" is currently ranked 1st across all zones and 1st in the current zone.]
[As the 1st place ranker in the current zone, you receive: "Random Draw Ticket (Choice)"!]
[As the 1st place ranker across all zones, you receive: "Special Reward Selection Box"!]
The chain of messages scrolled by—but that still wasn't all.
[As a reward for the sub-quest, you receive: "Rune of Mental Barrier"!]
[The acquired rune will be automatically engraved on the player's body!]
'Finally.'
As soon as he obtained the rune he'd been after, an information window popped up.
[Rune of Mental Barrier]
Effect: Immunity to all mental-type attacks.
'I finally have something to use against Yamtti.'
Now he had the means to seize control of Players' Haven Café whenever he wished.
'With this, I won't get caught in any more shitty illusions either.'
That was why the system had held off on giving out the rune reward until the very end.
If it had given it earlier, the second illusion—the temptation test—couldn't even have been attempted.
Ryu Min checked over the rest of the rewards he'd received.
Up until now, 1st place in the current zone had always given him some equipment item—but this time, he'd received a draw ticket instead.
[You may choose one of the following random draws.]
[Touch the reward you desire.]
└ 1. Random Gold Pouch
└ 2. Intermediate Magic Stone Draw Ticket
└ 3. Surprise Potion Box
'Not much of a choice, really.'
His magic stones were already top-tier, and he had more than enough gold.
There was only one option worth taking.
'I choose number 3: the Surprise Potion Box.'
Starting in Round 8, a consumable item called a potion would appear.
Like in a game, drinking one would heal your wounds or grant various buffs.
And there were a lot of different kinds.
'If they've got a whole draw box just for them, that says it all.'
There were three ways to get these potions.
One was to obtain the unique class of Alchemist.
Another was to defeat the boss-level monsters that would start appearing after Round 8.
And the last—
'NPCs. Or rather, Otherworlders.'
He could buy or receive them from Otherworlders.
Those Otherworlders would start showing up in Round 8.
'The players are going to be pretty confused. They've only ever seen mute monsters, and suddenly there'll be beings in the Otherworld they can actually talk to.'
He clearly remembered how flustered he'd been the first time he learned about Otherworlders.
The most confusing part had been that he couldn't tell if they were really people or just NPCs.
'And to this day, I still don't know the answer to that.'
In any case, once Round 8 began and Otherworlders appeared, he'd be able to make use of certain titles.
He also had to secure two specific runes he'd been targeting.
'Rune of Foresight and Rune of Durability.'
On top of that, Round 8 was a great round for leveling up.
Some people might even hit level 40.
'I'll be hitting level 60.'
His gaze shifted to the one remaining reward: the Special Reward Selection Box.
[You may select one of the following special rewards.]
[Touch the reward you desire.]
└ 1. EXP x3 buff (Round 8 only)
└ 2. 20,000 Gold
└ 3. Information about Round 8
Without a second's hesitation, he chose number 1.
The next round was perfect for grinding experience, after all.
[All right, everyone, checked your rewards? Then it's time for the "erasure" phase. Any human who didn't make the rankings, and any human who failed to escape temptation within the time limit… farewell.]
"W-wait!"
"No!"
Fsssh—
Without even a chance to plead their case, half the players crumbled into dust and vanished.
[As I mentioned before, we also decided that the player who cleared the round fastest would become the zone representative, remember? As you all know, the unified zone representative is this person.]
[Player "Black Scythe" has become the new zone representative of C2-ESKA003.]
People nodded as the message appeared.
No one could really argue; it was a fair result.
[As promised, we'll now grant the reward to Black Scythe, the unified zone representative.]
After a brief pause, the message he'd been waiting for finally appeared in front of Ryu Min's eyes.
[The permissions of the temporary skill "Domination Authority" are being changed.]
[You may now use Domination Authority once, in reality, on a one-time-only basis.]
[If you lose your position as zone representative, this permission will immediately be revoked.]