Chapter 438

Seong’s words made the atmosphere freeze in an instant.

Among the team leaders, Embris and Kyou openly frowned like they were annoyed.

“Haah, Reaper...”

“I figured he’d show up sooner or later.”

“Still, reinforcements are good.”

Luna was the one trying to put it positively, but—Embris and Kyou were thinking something pretty similar.

'So another weirdo like Kim Che-geon is coming.'

'So one more person who isn’t in their right mind is coming.'

Embris and Kyou weren’t exactly normal themselves, but honestly, compared to Kim Che-geon or Reaper, they could be called normal.

Put bluntly, it meant there would be two lunatics in the backup team now, so Embris and Kyou didn’t welcome it at all.

Luna’s point wasn’t wrong either, so they didn’t outright object.

They weren’t going to look down on Reaper’s skill or ability.

He was more than qualified to be a new team leader for the backup team.

Kim Che-geon was strong too, but unlike when Kyou first joined, he was now judged to be below the “three team leaders,” and they also judged Reaper as that same “team-leader level.”

It wasn’t about skill so much as—personality.

Or disposition.

That just didn’t match.

“Still... at least we’ve got Kim Che-geon.”

“Hmm, since Che-geon’s here...”

“???”

When Kyou and Embris murmured that—both of them well trained by Kim Che-geon—

Kim Che-geon alone looked at them with a blank, confused expression.

Anyway, even Seong fell into brief contemplation when he heard Reaper was coming.

‘Hmm.’

Reaper coming was something Seong could welcome too.

A fight with the rankers was going to spill over soon, and he really had been short on skilled people.

He’d been a little worried, but—if Reaper’s team joined, it was reassuring.

Reaper’s team: four people total, including Reaper.

And he’d heard they were Legendary-grade team members as well.

So they would definitely help.

And—

‘Helena will teach them well.’

Reaper was impressive, sure, but Seong still thought he needed training.

Before training, Reaper had been above Kyou—but would he be better than Kyou or Embris, who’d gotten even just one day of training?

That was another story.

Thinking that, Seong smiled.

'Tomorrow’s content will be complete too.'

With that thought, Seong told them,

“I hear they’ll arrive around tomorrow. So tomorrow, let’s do a broadcast introducing Reaper.”

As Seong smiled while saying that, the backup team—who knew Seong’s personality pretty well by now—looked at him like something felt ominous.

Feels like there’s something else again.

They didn’t know what it was, so their expressions were uneasy.

But what could they do?

They were the backup team gathered to support Seong.

They couldn’t drop out here.

Thinking that, the backup team accepted their fate—but among them, Kyou, who had fought Reaper before, had a gleam in his eyes.

'This time I need to show something different.'

Maybe because he was still young.

The most aggressive one, Kyou, had that kind of look in his eyes.

Seong looked at Kyou and nodded like he thought it would be fun.

He smiled like he was looking forward to tomorrow.

6.

Pop! Pabat!

A single figure sprinting like black lightning.

And behind him were others trying to chase after him—only the speed difference was so clear they were falling far behind.

At the moment the gap grew too wide to even chase—the ones running behind shouted at the figure ahead.

“Slow down!”

“We’re going to lose you!!”

“You crazy bastard!!!”

The last one was spat out in anger, but—when the figure running like black lightning heard them, his form began to stretch out as if slackening, and he gradually slowed, rapidly closing the distance between them.

The stretched-out shape returned to normal.

He turned back into a human form—and then they could clearly see him.

Reaper: a disciple of the Dark Star, and Seong’s fan to the point of obsession.

He looked at the others like they were pathetic.

“Aren’t you guys too slow?”

“...You’re the one who’s abnormally fast.”

“Haah. And we have to join that insane team with a guy like this.”

“This is a headache....”

“Please don’t become friends with that samurai.”

“I’m begging you. Seriously.”

“Haah.”

Everyone’s faces looked pretty sour, but

Reaper spoke like he didn’t care at all.

“Hurry up. We have to hurry and attend to the Demon King!!!”

The moment their pass had finally been issued, letting them move freely between zones, Reaper’s team was heading toward where Seong was.

But watching Reaper, his teammates looked at him like they were irritated.

“Going is fine, but if you run so fast we arrive late, how is that even a team?”

“Even if that’s true, we’re supposed to go together....”

“Seriously, he’s not right in the head.”

As they said that, Reaper must have admitted it too, because he didn’t argue—he just ran carefully and quietly beside them.

He definitely still had complaints, though.

While they were running like that—a messenger notification popped up for Reaper.

The sender was none other than—

“Huhk!?”

Reaper suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed like he was having a heart attack.

Seeing that, everyone panicked and was about to rush in—when Reaper shouted,

“The Demon King sent me a message!!!”

“...Haah.”

“Of course.”

“I thought something actually happened....”

His teammates sighed, having been fooled again.

Still, they were gathered here because they liked the Demon King, Seong, too—so they asked Reaper with curious eyes,

“So what did the Demon King say?”

“What does it say?”

“Huh? What’d he say?”

With everyone that curious, Reaper spoke with a deeply proud expression.

“Haha! He says come on the broadcast tomorrow right away!”

“Our intro broadcast?”

“Ah, yeah. If we’re joining the backup team, it’s only natural we’d show up on stream.”

“He told us in advance, right?”

As they said that, Reaper’s team recalled what they’d heard from the guild leader, Rapid.

That if you do the backup team, you’re inevitably going to end up on the broadcast.

They didn’t mind that, so everyone agreed and didn’t pay it much attention.

But—

“What kind of broadcast are we going to be on?”

“Today it looked like he was doing some kind of training—everyone?”

“Ahhh, with Helena? Yeah, it looked insanely brutal.”

While the teammates were chatting like that—Reaper’s eyes went wide and he shouted,

“It’s an exchange blood feud!!!”

“...What’s that?”

“...There he goes again, talking about something only he knows.”

“...It’s probably from some random comic. I’ll look it up. Ah—sounds like it’s about sorting ranks? Like if you win, your ranking goes up.”

“Hahaha! Exactly!!! Just because our team joined last doesn’t mean we’ll be at the bottom of the pecking order!”

Watching Reaper boast like that, his teammates tilted their heads.

Then again, hadn’t Kyou’s party and Embris’s party recently sparred and decided who was above who?

Kyou’s party had won.

And Reaper had said it like a joke—but he continued with a pretty serious expression.

“Hmmm. We should exclude Lady Luna’s party, the one that can be called number one.”

“Probably.”

“Even if everyone other than Lady Luna is a bit weaker....”

“Lady Luna is overwhelming.”

“And the other team members aren’t even that weak. They’re just a bit lacking compared to us—they’re not totally outclassed.”

At Reaper’s analysis, everyone nodded.

Hadn’t they tried the world raid together before?

So Reaper knew better than anyone.

So, excluding Luna—Reaper gave a faint smile as he recalled the old Kyou.

“We can’t think of Kyou as he used to be. He definitely would’ve grown.”

“But we’ve grown too.”

“Right.”

“Reaper is strong.”

Everyone said that, and Reaper didn’t really disagree.

So Reaper said, with a slightly arrogant edge,

“We’re taking second place.”

Reaper’s eyes were full of loyalty toward Seong.

Wanting second place was also because he wanted to serve Seong—the Demon King—even more closely.

Whether that would actually help Seong was another question—but either way, that was what Reaper’s heart was set on.

So Reaper’s team ran fast, and they were able to reach the area where Seong was.

Since it was late today, they set a time to meet tomorrow.

Because they had to go by Korea time, even though they lived in the UK, they logged off early to adjust to the time difference.

7.

The day Reaper was set to join arrived.

Seong got out of bed and, just like always, started his morning routine.

He went out at dawn, ran a lap, came back, showered, and then—after a long time—ate a meal with his family.

Home-cooked food after so long was incredibly delicious, more than enough to move Seong.

When Seong finished eating with a grin and stood up—his older sister, Yu Mina, looked at him and asked,

“Today’s the day Reaper’s team comes, right? What are you going to make the broadcast title?”

If he couldn’t come up with a title, the Rapid Guild would name it for him, but Seong usually named his own.

And—

“Mm. Something like, ‘New Team Joins, and Discord?’”

Hearing that, Yu Mina looked at Seong like she was dumbfounded.

Anyone could tell it was a provocative title.

It would definitely pull engagement.

Yu Mina didn’t say anything—she just gave him a thumbs-up.

Seong laughed, cleared up what he’d eaten, and went into his room.

After going into his room and connecting to the capsule, Seong smiled and muttered,

“So who’s going to win?”

He was curious whether Reaper would be able to beat the existing backup team.