Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 520
Chapter 520: One-to-One (3)
The mood turned heavy at Baekho’s mumbling, but it didn’t last long. As if he had never said anything in the first place, Baekho regained his cheerfulness, and I didn’t bring it up either.
However, I had a thought in my heart.
How would it have been…
I also knew a few things about Baekho Lee’s past. Long before I had opened my eyes in this world, this guy’s identity had been exposed due to an ally’s betrayal, and just look at how he ended up. He had been clearing the labyrinth above board like me before his team disbanded, yet now, he had to work alone.
His obsessive level of distrust in others was warranted.
Well, from a more modern perspective, calling it betrayal might be too much…
Still, if he had never been betrayed back then, what would Baekho Lee look like now?
“Hm? Bro, why are you looking at me like that? Did I do something wrong again?”
“I’m just looking at you. But did you do something wrong? Why do you sound so guilty?”
“…C’mon! Not at all, haha. But hey, could we talk privately for a moment?”
When Baekho shot a glance at Hyeonbyeol, she let out a sigh. “Are you guys seeing each other or something?”
“Haha, are you jealous right now?”
“…I’ll come back later.”
Just as always, Hyeonbyeol left the chat room without much opposition.
Admittedly, though, I was a little surprised that she didn’t react when Baekho called her big sis. Did she realize that he wouldn’t change no matter what he said to her?
“Hehe, so now it’s just us two. Alright, since the disruptor is gone, we can lovingly—”
“I’ll kill you. Don’t make that joke.”
“Yes, sir.”
“So, what’s so urgent? You sent Hyeonbyeol out first.”
“Oh, that? Honestly, it’s nothing that major…”
“Then what is it?”
I didn’t want to keep standing, so I went and sat down on the sofa, then leaned my chin on my fist. Baekho sat opposite me before asking, “Bro, are you actually stuck in the labyrinth right now?”
“Yeah.”
“So you’re still there even though the labyrinth closed. That’s interesting. Did you find a way out?”
“Not yet.”
“Hm, honestly, isn’t that a pretty big deal? So, should I go save you?”
“Save me from what? Just do your own thing.”
“Hehe, I knew you would say that. And it’s not like I can actually get there.”
“Are you outside right now?”
“Yes. I thought I would find something more incredible by going outside, but I didn’t see even a single rat. If I knew this was going to happen, I would’ve gone into the hidden area with you.”
“I’m a little curious as to why you went outside.”
“I didn’t expect the hidden area to be discovered so quickly.”
So that was his reason. I did find it odd that the guy most interested in the labyrinth left the kingdom at a time like this.
“Bro, where is that place? Give me some information.”
“For free?”
“Hey… I mean aren’t you curious about the information from outside the walls as well? Let’s share information.”
“Didn’t you just say you didn’t even find a rat outside?”
“Did I? I have a huge hunch that something incredible is hidden outside!”
I could tell that Baekho was being a bit sarcastic, but I did agree somewhat. There was something hidden outside the walls. It was just that I didn’t have any idea what that thing might be.
“Alright, deal.”
“Magamanious as always, bro!”
After that, I told him a lot about Basement Floor 1.
Variant monsters and new monsters. Libraries that had information like encyclopedias, plus that summoning book. Things floating around in the ocean, and so on.
What I didn’t tell him, however, was anything about the village chief, and I didn’t feel a second of guilt over it. Although this was supposed to be an exchange, I hadn’t received anything yet, and this guy wouldn’t tell me everything he saw outside the walls anyway.
Well, there is a chance that I could stumble on something new if I discuss the chief with this guy…
Why couldn’t I trust this Baekho Lee? It felt like if I revealed everything to him and tried to work together, I would get stabbed in the back in the end. Even still, he was a great ally that would be a waste to abandon.
“Alright, that’s it.”
“Eh? But what about the tree island? I was just getting into it.”
“We’re exploring it now. Don’t you realize how shocked I was to get dragged here while I was resting?”
“Still, it’s good you’re here. Honestly, Hyeonbyeol looked like she was going to cry when she asked me if you really died or not. I got so flustered.”
Well, since this guy was outside the walls, he probably heard the news about me from Hyeonbyeol. It didn’t seem like he read the forum posts that much either.
“Anyway, bro, I’m off.”
“Huh, how come? We still have a lot of time left.”
“Even so, I think it’ll be best for me to leave some space for today.”
“What do you mean?”
I honestly couldn’t understand what he meant, but Baekho just grinned as he looked at me. “Stay with Hyeonbyeol for today. Even if she’s a good actor… No, I’m pretty sure she didn’t even try to act. I think she was really shocked when she heard the news.”
“Ah…”
“Well, I’ll leave you to it.”
“Baekho, wait.”
When I called to stop him from leaving, Baekho tilted his head.
I thought for a moment before talking. I could be making a mistake here.
“I’m not smart.”
“…Sorry? I think I heard you wrong.”
Hearing Baekho’s confusion, I carried on, saying, “Having a lot of secrets isn’t being smart.”
“…Then what?”
“It’s just being afraid.”
You. And me.
We were always thinking about the worst-case scenarios first.
***
After Baekho left early for the day, Hyeonbyeol returned soon after.
“Did you have a good talk?”
“Yeah.”
“But he left early today, didn’t he?”
Her question was blunt, so I gave a blunt answer. “He told me to be with you.”
“…Wh-What?! What is he saying?!”
“Why are you so flustered? This isn’t the first time he’s talked nonsense.”
“That’s true… Not the first time… Right…”
Even as she said that Hyeonbyeol fanned her face with her hand as if feeling hot.
It had been a while since I last saw that reaction.
For some reason, I felt a little mischievous. “Were you that worried?” I asked jokingly, not hiding my grin.
Hyeonbyeol narrowed her eyes into a glare. “…Are you picking a fight?”
“Uh… No? More importantly, how is what I said fighting words?”
“Seriously… Hanging out with a weirdo like Baekho is making you weird as well.”
That left me stumped. I was only making a joke, so why did she get so angry?
I didn’t know, but I quickly changed the subject. “Anyway, how have you been? Are things going fine on your side?”
“Yeah. I’m in a similar position, well-I’m slowly gaining the trust of the Countess Peprok by working under her.”
“How is the marquess?”
“…She’s a kind person. She’s also pure. But recently, she’s been a bit annoying.”
“Annoying?”
“Do you not know? It’s because of Bjorn Yandel.”
“Ah…” Although it was never my intention, somehow I had ended up doing the same thing twice now.
“Well, it’s still a relief. I read the post as well, and it looks like a lot of people buy it?
There are a lot of clicks and comments on it as well. It looks like the news should spread throughout the entire city in just a few days.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Yes, it is. If theories about his survival arrived even a little later, all of his wealth and property could’ve been repossessed. The construction of House Yandel would’ve stopped as well.”
Yeah, really.
What an incredible relief that—
“…You know I said it was a relief because you would no longer be annoyed by the marquess, right?”
“Ohhh, is that so?”
Hah…so she was now just blatantly throwing suspicion and bait out at me.
If I met her outside, I would need to show her what a true barbarian was so that she would no longer doubt me.
“Hansu, what thought did you just have?”
“Nothing?”
“No… I just saw an ominous glow in your eyes.”
“Are you really trying to see something through my eyes?”
I quickly shut her down before she noticed, and after that, I read books and talked with her more to pass the time.
“Hansu, it’s time to leave.”
“Oh, right. It’s already time.”
It was soon time for the Round Table to open, so we went our separate ways and left the chat room. After I did and returned to Hansu Lee’s room, I checked the forums for a little longer then entered the Round Table just before the entry closed.
Blue suit and a lion mask.
At first, I thought the mask looked a little funny, but now, I had gotten used to it. I even thought it fit me pretty well.
Alright, since I changed into these clothes…
Step, step.
After walking through the hallway to arrive at the Round Table, I saw that all the other members had already sat down except for me…
“Really, does that even make sense? It’s obviously a lie.”
“Oh? I’m not so sure. I myself read the comments on that post, and even Didigo said that the probability is quite high, no?”
“Hehe, I know that one! Didigo is the user roleplaying a weird concept, right?”
“That’s right. Even though they’re a bit weird, they’re someone that can’t be ignored.”
“True. They suspiciously know quite a lot of things… Ah!”
As soon as I entered, the others stopped chatting and greeted me with their eyes.
Well, all except Clown, of course.
“Pshehe, welcome again, Mr. Lion.”
Clown got up from his seat and bent at his hips like a medieval noble. I glanced at him once before ignoring him and sitting down.
Looks like Parav is in the first seat today.
As I sat down, I eyed who was in the seat next to me out of the corner of my eye only to be surprised with Goblin.
Did he want to be first today?
I was a little curious, but I would know that when the order came around.
“Then, let’s begin.”
Since there was nothing much to say, I said that to begin the meeting.
“I trust that everyone read the words posted on the forums today. There is a high probability that everything written in that post is true.”
“…So?”
“…That’s my information?”
The other members all looked flabbergasted at Goblin’s statement.
“You’re not even saying it’s true, but that it has a high probability?”
“Pshehe, then I’ll go next. Goblin’s brain capacity has a high probability of only holding three kilobytes!”
“Hehe, Mr. Clown, you saw that in that post, right? It was really funny. Didn’t that person look really moronic?”
“P-pshehe…” Clown smiled awkwardly at Butterfly’s agreement, probably having expected a mollifying appeal to come through and the rain of mocking to stop instead.
“I will now give proof that what that post said is likely to be true.”
As Goblin continued without backing down, the other members regained their focus.
“…Proof?”
“Oh, so you did have something more?”
“Well… Even if he didn’t think hard about it, he wouldn’t have brought something like that up as information without thinking at all.”
As attention returned to him, Goblin began to explain the proof he had brought.
“I’ve always been good at browsing the internet. I loved arguing with people online and my main skill was doxxing people.”
“…What does that have to do with the proof?”
“Before this meeting opened up, I checked all the comments and posts the author of the post in question had ever made. I looked for the crumbs of information they left behind while they believed in their anonymity and combined them all together.”
“…So?”
“I don’t know exactly who it is, but the person who wrote that post is a member of the Hektz Clan.”
To be honest, I was really surprised to hear that.
The members were reacting like, “What is this guy talking about?” but I knew what he was saying was true.
…That’s possible to find?
This was a talent I didn’t know Goblin had.
“I don’t know what to make of this.”
“By the Hektz clan, they are one of the forces who followed after Bjorn Yandel into the hidden area as some of the sixty adventurers…”
“Queen, what do you think?” Deer asked. “Since you have a deep relationship with the GM, you should know quite a bit.”
Queen nodded, looking shocked. “…It’s hard to believe, but Mr. Goblin’s theory matches mine.”
“You mean that?”
“Yes. However…there’s something I don’t understand. We were able to come to that conclusion after recovering deleted posts and comments…”
“Were those deleted texts about the poster’s identity?”
“There were quite a few of them, and they were all related to the Hektz clan. Most of them were about how the clan had good welfare and other such compliments that they deleted right before the community forums closed.”
Hoh… Why were they even advertising their clan here?
It was unbelievable, but as Queen backed up Goblin’s words, the members began to see him in a new light.
“Fufufu… that’s a relief. So my research is all backed up.”
…Goblin, what was this guy?