I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-197

Ch-197. **Revealing Rank 1**

—

Inside the spacious office.

Crash!

Darkstar slammed the desk.

The steel desk split clean in half in an instant, and the people around him trembled in fear.

The Hero Alliance.

Its beginning had been grand, but its end was endlessly insignificant.

As the endless chatter from every media outlet poured in, Darkstar’s pupils began to quiver madly.

— *The true hero who shined most in this invasion war was Korea’s “Park Taewoo”!*

— *The great hero Park Taewoo! The unwavering will that does not run! The world is moved!*

— *When everyone cried out the name “Hero,” there was only one true hero.*

— *The man of the dragons, Park Taewoo, who summoned the Dragon God Lucaria!*

— *The God of the Black Egg! Alongside the Guardian of the Black Egg, he saved Earth.*

— *So who is the real “God of the Black Egg”?*

Nowhere—*nowhere*—was Darkstar’s name mentioned.

Major newspapers and broadcast stations were busy talking only about Park Taewoo and the God of the Black Egg, day after day.

Never before had there been an invasion so massive, and so its aftermath was historically immense—yet no one paid the slightest attention to Darkstar, the one who had supposedly led the Alliance.

“…Is this all? Wasn’t it me who clearly formed the Alliance?”

Darkstar twisted his face in rage.

He too had played a major role in the war.

Hadn’t he gathered the people as the face of the Alliance?

And not only that—

“For all the money I fed them! Those scamming bastards dare…!”

He had spent tens of millions of dollars feeding money to prominent American newspapers, magazines, and academic journals.

But they acted as if nothing had ever happened and turned their faces away.

Then, one Alliance member spoke carefully.

“Perhaps that’s why they’re trying to avoid mentioning you as much as possible…”

“What?”

Darkstar glared with savage eyes.

But the water was already spilled.

The Alliance member, trembling all over, barely continued speaking.

“T-The public opinion about you from this war… isn’t exactly good, is it?”

“Public opinion about *me* isn’t good? What does that even mean?”

“T-That, uhm… I-I’m sorry. I’ll send requests again and try to fix things.”

The member went pale and bowed repeatedly.

But everyone in that room already knew.

*‘What did he even do…’*

*‘Goddamn. Just because he’s the commander of the Alliance?’*

*‘Master was better than this guy!’*

They all knew Darkstar had done *nothing* in this war.

He had gathered players and created a topic when he first formed the Alliance—that was it.

And even *that* was being evaluated as “inferior to Master.”

Had it been Master, the Alliance would have formed faster, and joint training would have been conducted ahead of time.

But Darkstar, convinced of victory and drunk on arrogance, took no measures.

A 3-star Transcendent?
Darkstar, who defeated Gracia?
A plan to raise more superhumans using many stars?

All of it—only *half true*.

*‘No matter how I look at it, he seems weaker than Gracia…’*

*‘More people died from forced star absorption because they were “incompatible,” apparently.’*

*‘Is he really a 3-star Transcendent?’*

There *were* people he transcended using stars.

But most of them died because they were “incompatible.”

This truth was not yet publicly known.

More than anything, Darkstar’s performance on the battlefield—no matter how one watched it—couldn’t compare to Gracia in impact.

At this point, suspicions arose that the original video of Darkstar matching Gracia had been fabricated.

That was why the paid-off journalists were avoiding mentioning Darkstar.

It was better for both sides not to mention him at all.

*‘He didn’t make any standout achievements, didn’t fight to the end, didn’t comfort the Alliance members…’*

*‘He’s got nothing going for him yet acts high and mighty.’*

*‘Ugh, I miss Master.’*

All the Alliance members wore depressed expressions.

At the very least, Master had kept things together internally.

With his experience as ruler of a city, he created an environment where subordinates could work harder, cursed them in front but cared for them behind the scenes.

But Darkstar was different.

He only demanded and never provided.

He treated his subordinates as nothing more than an outlet for his emotions.

“Park Taewoo is better than me? They must be blinder than rotten fish eyes!”

Darkstar spat curses nonstop.

He couldn’t understand how Park Taewoo—whom he had always considered beneath him—was being treated as the true hero.

Korea.

In that tiny land he never even bothered to think about, a dragon had been born.

*‘Should’ve just fought to the end instead of running.’*

*‘There’s a reason Run-star is called Run-star.’*

*‘Honestly, he was even less noticeable than Park Taewoo—hell, than Union.’*

*‘Darkstar, the leader who fled… How did he even rank 3rd in contribution?’*

*‘But if 2nd is Park Taewoo and 3rd is Darkstar, then who’s 1st?’*

Even in that chaos, everyone was curious about “The Hall of Contribution.”

Rank 1 hadn’t been revealed yet.

But could someone really exist with higher contribution than Park Taewoo, who summoned Lucaria?

If so, it would have to be the newly born Blade Dragon God.

But the Blade Dragon God—an existence like a queen—was absolutely not a player.

The black shadow that took the Blade Dragon God during its rampage—

People believed firmly that it was the God of the Black Egg.

Because the Guardian of the Black Egg disappeared with him.

Which raised the questions:

Could *he* be a player?

Only players could have their names listed in the Hall.

*‘So the God of the Black Egg is a player?’*

*‘No way.’*
*‘That’s impossible.’*

—

—

 

 

“This doesn’t make any sense…!!!”

Union screamed as he returned to consciousness.

He simply could not accept reality.

He had confirmed that the “True One”—whom he thought ownerless—*did* possess an owner.

And that owner carried a scent deeply familiar to him.

His experience. His *rank*.

*‘I got scammed by the Lineage?’*

And the Lineage had used him thoroughly.

Stealing his EXP potions wasn’t enough—it made him antagonize Issera.

Union had fought Issera head-on and lost, and when he opened his eyes again, what he saw was the black shadow, the Blade Dragon God, and the Lineage disappearing with them.

*‘Who the hell is that shadow?’*

It absorbed the EXP he could never absorb himself.

It collected the Blade Dragon God, who slew Issera.

It acted as the owner of the Lineage and vanished.

For such an existence to be present in the world of sinners—

*‘The Emperor…’*

It felt like seeing the *First Emperor*.

The Emperor who founded the newborn Arhon Empire still slept to this day.

But Union was one of the few who had seen that Emperor’s grandeur with his own eyes.

An awe worthy of being called an *absolute being*.

*‘I can’t even go back.’*

All invasion warps had been closed.

He couldn’t return.

Damn it. Union bit his lip.

“You seem to have lost your way as well.”

It was then.

A man approached Union.

A strangely familiar face.

“You’re… definitely—”

“Gracia. And you must be Union, the Mage of the Golden Ratio.”

Yes.

The white-haired man who called himself Gracia—the one he briefly clashed with when he first arrived in this world of sinners—approached Union without hesitation.

“What do you want from me? Do you want to die?”

“I was going to tell you about the reaper that accompanied you, but I suppose you don’t need to know.”

“What? Wait—!”

Union grabbed Gracia as he tried to turn away.

Gracia simply shrugged.

“So you *are* interested.”

“You… you know something about the Lineage… the Reaper, and the Reaper’s owner?”

Nod.

Gracia nodded.

He indeed knew more about the Lineage than most.

For he was the only human who had faced Baal in the Abyss and confirmed the truth of the “God of the Black Egg.”

Gracia opened his mouth.

“That reaper stole my youth. What did it take from you?”

“I… something similar.”

Experience and soul—he had lost both, but he didn’t mention that.

Two men sharing the same pain.

Both had something precious taken by the reaper.

Of course, there was no sympathy between them.

But—

“I think we could make pretty good partners.”

“…Partners?”

Union frowned at the sudden declaration.

Gracia remained calm.

“Yes. We must clear… the *2nd Floor of the Tower of Rift*.”

Five party members required to climb the Tower of Rift.

Gracia intended to gather party members in earnest.

He was convinced that the answer lay there.

Union frowned deeper.

“You and I? Why would we?”

“Because the one we’re chasing will also climb the Tower.”

“…Based on what?”

“I know the owner of the reaper.”

Gracia had not abstained from the war; rather, he had quietly guarded the Dragon Vein.

He believed that protecting the Vein was the most important task during this war.

But when the *black shadow* burst out of the Vein and vanished along with the Reaper, he was shocked beyond belief.

Union was not the owner of the Reaper.

But that black shadow definitely was.

No—more accurately—

“You *know*? Who is it?”

“A dreadful Omen. If my guess is right, he is Fifth Pillar.”

“Wait—the Crow King who appeared below the White King?”

Nod.

Gracia was certain.

The image of the dreadful Omen reflected within the shadow—

That was the “God of the Black Egg.”

That was why people called the black shadow by that title.

But Gracia went a step further.

That dreadful Omen was without doubt Fifth Pillar, the Corpse Crow King.

He had several reasons for this belief.

*‘Park Taewoo suddenly found Lucaria’s Dragon Vein. And though it’s not public yet, the ownership of the ancient city Rundella was transferred from Fifth Pillar to Park Taewoo.’*

There was no way this was coincidence.

Fifth Pillar—within the Dragon Vein—must have contacted Park Taewoo.

The dreadful Omen could control the Blade Dragon God—so naturally he could locate other Dragon Gods and inform Park Taewoo.

And immediately after the war, ownership of Rundella quietly passed from Fifth Pillar to Park Taewoo.

Surely, there had been some deal.

Probably the price for summoning and bringing Lucaria.

This proved Fifth Pillar was the dreadful Omen.

And if Fifth Pillar *was* the dreadful Omen, he would surely climb the Tower of Rift along with the other main pillars.

*‘That’s not all. The dreadful Omen I saw was definitely in human form.’*

But why, when here he appeared as the dreadful Omen, did he look human when Gracia saw him?

Did the human transform into the dreadful Omen—into Fifth Pillar?

How? Was it truly possible to evade the gaze of the White King?

*‘If the dreadful Omen—Fifth Pillar—is human and a player, then he will appear in the Hall of Contribution in some way.’*

Above all, only players could travel back and forth freely between Pangaenia and Earth.

And the dreadful Omen had appeared in both the Abyss and Earth.

Thus Gracia formed another hypothesis:

The dreadful Omen, Fifth Pillar—might actually *be a player*.

*‘Phantom Randolph.’*

What if he wasn’t *Fifth Pillar Randolph*, but rather **Phantom Randolph**?

Gracia had been watching the Hall of Contribution carefully.

Rank 1 had not appeared yet.

Someone with a higher contribution score than Park Taewoo or Darkstar.

Since the Blade Dragon God was not a player, then no matter how one thought about it, only the dreadful Omen could possibly achieve a higher contribution.

Whether the Hall revealed the name or hid it, the result would allow speculation.

And then—it happened.

**《Rank 1 in the Hall of Contribution has been revealed!》**

Seeing the name that suddenly floated into the Hall—

Gracia could only be horrified.

“This is… what…?!”

—

 

 

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