Chapter 142

    ?Chapter 142

    The concept of an “association” typically involves shirking responsibility while taking all the privileges. However, the Player Association is competent, unlike others. This could be because being a “player” is a prerequisite to becoming a senior official, or maybe it’s thanks to the “Intelligence” stat on their status window.

    Yet, the Reaper has remained uncaptured to this day, despite countless security experts and white-hat hackers working tirelessly to track them down.

    The reason is simple: Anzai Yuuki, the Reaper, is far more cunning than one would expect from a middle schooler.

    [The reason we couldn’t catch the Reaper before is because that kid only used other people’s devices.]

    Whenever the Reaper operated online, they left no trace. They used victims’ smartphones to take pictures, avoided leaving physical evidence at crime scenes, and uploaded photos through VPNs.

    With no traces left online, the only way to catch them was to track their movements in the real world. However, despite traveling between countries, the Reaper managed to leave no trail. Moreover, they had the strength to eliminate even top-ranking players, making their title “Reaper” well-deserved.

    That is, until today when they started a live stream.

    [It was an emotional decision. False rumors of his death were spreading, and his identity was being challenged. He must have started the live stream in anger—on the most crowded platform he could find.]

    Even though the Reaper impulsively started the live stream, he still took precautions: wearing a mask, voice modulation, using a VPN, and streaming from a warehouse in Russia using someone else’s phone.

    Confidently, the Reaper launched his live broadcast. Using a corpse as their backdrop, he declared that he had only ever killed the wicked, claimed to be a protector of justice, and justified his actions as a means to suppress crime.

    At first, everything went according to plan. People who thought of the Reaper as a simple villain began to listen to his words. They were even shocked to learn that the dead Russian player had been such a heinous person.

    But unlike the dark web, YouTube requires an account to post...

    [The account... He used an ID similar to his usual one, only changing the numbers at the end. Because of this, his activities as the Reaper were traced back to his personal blog.]

    “...”

    [Their name is Anzai Yuuki. They reside in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, and are in the third year of middle school.]

    The Reaper, who had meticulously erased all traces of himaaelf, made an absurdly careless mistake. Despite his attention to details that others wouldn’t even think of, his slip-up in such an obvious area was, indeed, very much like a middle schooler.

    “So... did the association uncover the Reaper’s identity?”

    [That’s where the problem lies. It wasn’t the association.]

    While it was true the association had tried to provoke the Reaper into reacting, it wasn’t them who uncovered his identity. Instead, it was a user from an anonymous Japanese online community. What’s the difference between the two?

    [Too many people saw the Reaper’s identity.]

    The Reaper’s identity had become public knowledge.

    *****

    Two days passed.

    It took only a single day for Anzai Yuuki, who called himself the Reaper, to have his life torn apart.

    Numerous news articles had already been published, and “Anzai Yuuki” trended on Twitter.

    Someone claiming to be an old classmate uploaded their elementary school graduation photo. Yuuki’s father’s workplace was flooded with calls, his sister had to throw away her phone, and his mother withdrew from the neighborhood association. RΑNO????s?

    Weren’t people afraid of the Reaper’s revenge? Initially, they were hesitant, testing the waters with cautious insults. But public opinion shifted in an instant.

    -When you killed so many people, you should’ve been prepared for this.

    -Wow, acting all normal at school while brutally murdering people? Disgusting.

    Boldly, we approached and rang the doorbell. The door opened to reveal the Reaper’s mother. Choi Ji-Won greeted her with a bright smile.

    “Hello, how can I help you?”

    “Oh, we’re staff members from XX Middle School...”

    Surprisingly, this entire conversation was in Japanese. While players benefit from the status window’s automatic language translation, regular conversations with non-players don’t have this functionality. So how was this possible?

    “May we come in for a moment?”

    “Of course. Yuuki! You have visitors!”

    It was because Choi Ji-Won spoke Japanese fluently. Thanks to her father’s frequent interactions with Japanese kendo masters, she’d learned Japanese to near-native proficiency.

    And so, without any resistance, we made our way to Yuuki’s room. It wasn’t the stereotypical two-story house you see in anime but rather a modest apartment.

    “You’re from the school? Why on a weekend...?”

    Anzai Yuuki, with dark, messy hair, scratched his head as he came out of his room. The dark circles under his eyes suggested he hadn’t been getting enough sleep—probably typical for someone his age staying up late.

    As he lazily stretched and yawned, his gaze landed on Choi Ji-Won. His jaw dropped mid-yawn, and he froze.

    “Choi Ji-Won...?”

    His gaze, which had been fixed on Ji-Won, shifted to his mother, who was smiling from behind us. It was as if he were scolding her silently, asking, How could you not recognize Choi Ji-Won?!

    Finally, his eyes landed on me. But no matter how hard he stared, there was no way he would know who I was.

    “And... Kim Jun-Ho.”

    “...?”

    Anzai Yuuki said my name as he stared at me. Startled, I instinctively stepped back.

    It made sense that he’d know Ji-Won’s name—she’s a global celebrity, on par with the likes of Park Ji-Sung, Kim Yuna, Psy, Bong Joon-Ho, and Son Heung-Min.

    But my name... How does he know my name?

    Has he somehow awakened the “Shinigami’s Eyes” from Death Note, and now my name and lifespan are visible above my head?

    As I stood frozen, utterly baffled by the situation, Yuuki spoke again.

    “You look like you’re wondering how I know your name.”

    And the next thing he said... was far more shocking than anything I could’ve imagined.

    “You’re... quite famous on the deep web.”

    “...Me?”

    Something... something is seriously wrong here.??

    – – End of Chapter – –

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