Sherlock Moriarty (1)

[In a house, Maric sat at a long table and skillfully played cards with his zombies.

Suddenly, Sherlock Moriarty appeared on an empty chair. He put down his hat and took the covered cards from a zombie without any hesitation.

Maric looked up at him. His lips moved, but he didn't open them in the end.


He let the zombie in charge of croupier duties continue to hand out the cards.

Just like that, Sherlock joined them. He played a few rounds, winning and losing at times.

In the corner, Sharron, who was wearing a black regal dress and a small and delicate bonnet, appeared at some point in time.

She held her face with one hand and quietly watched the game.

After playing for about two hours, Klein stood up and formally bowed to Miss Sharron and Maric.

Then, he chuckled, put on his hat, walked towards the door, and disappeared.

Not long after, Reinette Tinekerr materialized in the room. She glanced at Sharron, then turned to Maric and her gaze finally settled on the coin in his pocket.

Each of her heads spoke up one by one.

"Keep… the… coin… preciously."

Confused, Maric took out the coin he had gotten from Sherlock Moriarty.

Without any more explanations, Reinette left.

Sharron stared at the coin in Maric's hand and wondered what these words meant.

One day, while Maric was playing as usual and Sharron had become Sequence 3, her spirituality was touched.

Gray fog had begun to come out of the coin, making her realize that its purpose was to connect its holder with a secret existence.

Maric noticed that Sharron had appeared next to him and was looking at his pocket. At that moment, his spiritual intuition was also vaguely triggered and he took out the coin.

He deliberately before making up his mind.

"I'll give it to you."

Sharron stared at him silently.

"I feel like it's you who should have it."

Sharron looked down at the gold coin he had put into her hand.

That's how Sharron became the owner of the coin imbued with the aura of Sefirah Castle; and the gray fog brought her to the unfamiliar world the Lord of Mysteries was in, even though she nearly didn't know anything about The Fool.]

—Sharron, 2nd holder of a gold coin.

***

"Miss Sharron?"

Sharron heard the call and turned her head to the owner of the voice. She glanced at the unfamiliar person who seemed to know her and coldly queried:

"Who are you?"

Noticing his blunder, Zhou Mingrui searched a way to explain things.

As she was silently gazing at him, he briefly changed his face to Sherlock Moriarty's before turning it back to normal and approached her.

Sharron, who already knew that he could change his appearance, understood the situation.

Suddenly, his spiritual intuition warned him.

"…?"

[The character 'Zhou Mingrui' has invaded private property!]

The atmosphere became cold and some of the 'Landlord Association' members in the front looked at him.

At almost the same time, the crowd of people screamed and withdrew.

He had stepped into the huge green zone.

"Crazy!"

"B-Back! Quickly!"

As if they were never there, the crowd of people rushed back like the tide. The people disappeared and red lines shone where they used to be standing. One man looked between the boundary and Zhou Mingrui in turn.

"Hrmm. You seem to be lost. Do you know where this is?"

Zhou Mingrui blinked. He didn't know anymore if his spiritual intuition was reliable. After all, whether he followed it or not, the result was doubtful.

"No?"

The man observed him with an unknown look.

"You don't know. From now on, I will teach you."

[The character 'Gong Pildu' has activated 'Armed Zone Lv. 3'!]

There was a whirring sound and mini turrets resembling gatling guns rose from the ground.

[The character 'Gong Pildu' demands 500 coins for invading his private land.]

[If you don't follow the recommendations, all nearby turrets will fire immediately.]

Zhou Mingrui understood the situation.

The man spoke:

"Give me money."

'How friendly.' Zhou Mingrui lampooned.

Getting a warm welcome, he wondered if somehow enduring these attacks would spare him from paying that price.

As always, he made a divination.

[The constellation 'Believer in Mysteries' says that it's a bad idea.]

How did that constellation guess his thoughts?

Zhou Mingrui put on a smile and raised his hands.

"I'm sorry. I was only talking with my acquaintance here and didn't notice I had entered your land, I'll pay you right away."

Sharron watched him.

At that moment, Zhou Mingrui regretted that the 'coins' here were abstract and could thus not be pulled out of the pores of history.

He glanced at the number of coins he possessed.

[Coins currently possessed: 11 000.]

[You have given 500 coins to character 'Gong Pildu'.]

The turrets disappeared.

"Also, is it okay if I stay here today? If course, I will pay."

The leader stared at Zhou Mingrui, waiting for Gong Pildu's judgement.

The latter decided to add a slight premium for the man's rudeness.

[The character 'Gong Pildu' demands 600 coins a day in exchange for staying here.]

'Can't he say that himself?'

Zhou Mingrui obeyed.

"Okay."

[You have given 600 coins to character 'Gong Pildu'.]

Zhou Mingrui finally walked to Sharron.

"Why are you here?"

Sharron looked at Sherlock and gave a brief reply.

"Because of the gold coin you lost to Maric."

Zhou Mingrui nodded. Recalling that Sharron should have seen his name in the messages appearing in the air just now (except if he was the only one who saw them), he added:

"By the way, you should call me Zhou Mingrui here."

Sharron acknowledged his words and continued to stare at him. Since he had nothing to do, he decided to explain what happened to him since the first scenario.

Her hand supporting her cheek, Sharron silently listened to him. The two stayed like that for a while.

Zhou Mingrui also learnt that they had received the instructions for the third main scenario earlier. However, he didn't dare to ask Sharron about Xin Jian in case the scene he had experienced in Welcome Prison came true.

A few hours later, a dokkaebi emerged in the air.

[Now now, shall we start the first day of the main scenario? New faces have arrived since this morning. It will be fun! Hahaha!]

Then the third scenario arrived in front of him.

+

[Main Scenario #3 – Green Zone (Day 1)

Category: Main

Difficulty: C

Clear Conditions: Occupy the 'green zone' in the station and survive the monsters that emerge every night at midnight. This scenario will last 7 days.

Duration: 8 hours.

Compensation: 1,000 coins.

Failure: ―

+

[It is simple. Occupy the green zone before other people. Of course, you can take away the green zone of others. By the way, you should hurry. If you don't have a green zone after the scenario starts, you will have a terrible experience. Haha, then everyone should try it!]

People's expressions hardened as they heard Bihyung's words. In the meantime, the screams of people continued.

Peok! Peok! Peok!

"Die! Die!"

"I-I'm not doing this because I have a grudge! I must survive…"

[There are 5 minutes before the third scenario is activated.]

"P-please, let me in! I will pay you later!"

The leader of the huge green zone shook his head.

"No, you have to pay 2000 coins to spend the night here now."

"What? But it was 500 coins before!"

Zhou Mingrui: 500 coins? Have I been scammed?

Great Old One's spiritual intuition: Yes.

Zhou Mingrui: …

He decided to distract himself by continuing to divine the protagonist's private life.

'Yoo Jonghyuk is a skilled swordsman.'

Answer: Yes.

'Yoo Jonghyuk is a princess disguised as a man who ran away from her kingdom.'

Answer: No.

'Yoo Jonghyuk is a girl.'

Answer: …

The divination failed.

Zhou Mingrui narrowed his eyes. This demanded a few more divinations…

[There are 3 seconds left before the third scenario is activated.]

Zhou Mingrui stopped and raised his head. Then, monsters began to pour into the station.

The pillar of the universe calmly stared at the people dying because they couldn't get a room.

Soon, the dokkaebi spoke up again.

[Hahahaha! This situation is fun. Should there be a penalty?]

It was followed by the system's messages.

[A scenario penalty has been added!]

[Some existing green zones will be disabled.]

"N-No! Uack, aaaaack!"

Screams rang through Chungmuro Station.

Kwajijijik!

"Aaaaack!"

Meanwhile, the people in the green zones simply watched the scene, unwilling to help them since that would mean sacrificing themselves instead.

Zhou Mingrui observed everything, thoughtful, when he felt Sharron's gaze on him.

"What it is?"

Sharron shook her head.

Zhou Mingrui turned back to the people dying and made a divination.

'How can I end this scenario?'

The answer was obvious.

'Wait.'

He stared at the divination result for a long time.

The next day, the protagonist who wanted revenge and was single entered Chungmuro station.

He noticed Zhou Mingrui but ignored him.

However, the sunfish's next actions surprised everyone.

Kwaaaang!

"What, you bastards!"

[You have invaded private property!]

"Surround them!"

A few steps away from him, Zhou Mingrui stared at Yoo Jonghyuk blankly.

With a hooded girl who seemed to be 17 and wore a school uniform, the regressor was destroying the green zones.

"…"

'Well, here is what solves the problem…' Zhou Mingrui lampooned.

Since his divination had told him that waiting was the best solution to end this scenario, he didn't try to stop them.

There was a great vibration and the ground he was standing on started to collapse.

[The green zone has been destroyed.]

[The character Gong Pildu's private land has been destroyed.]

'My 600 coins…' He mourned.

[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' likes incarnation 'Yoo Jonghyuk''s recklessness.]

[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' likes the destruction and chaos.]

[300 coins have been sponsored.]

"Y-You bastard!"

"Kill them!"

However, the assaillants were slashed in half by Yoo Jonghyuk.

'Clean strike.' Zhou Mingrui inwardly commented.

[All green zones in this region have been destroyed and the main scenario has collapsed.]

[The difficulty is automatically adjusted according to the remaining schedule of the scenario.]

[The scenario content is updated!]

+

[Main Scenario #3 – Emergency Defense]

Category: Main

Difficulty: B-

Clear Conditions: All the green zones in the region are destroyed and the monsters that were going to be created in the remaining days have suddenly run wild. Survive against the flood of monsters for the remaining time.

Duration: 8 hours.

Compensation: 1,000 coins.

Failure: ―

+

Originally, there were six days remaining in the scenario.

Now the monsters supposed to be created during the remaining time of the green zone scenario would emerge all at once.

[The emergency defense has begun!]

"W-What?"

People started screaming while the cries of monsters were heard from outside the screen door. The feast of monsters moved like an angry wave.

"Crazy! What the hell is this?"

Zhou Mingrui suddenly recalled that he would also have to fight.

'How troublesome…'

Was it time to check if he could pull out angels from the pores of history here?