Max Talent Player - Chapter 282

The Milky Way Neutron Star was a major sponsor of Lasbon, the famous thief from Singapore. However, that didn’t mean they stayed exclusively in the Singapore server. The thief class had markedly fewer Players than the other classes, so the thief-focused Milky Way Neutron Star hopped from server to server, bestowing generous sponsorships to Players who showed acts of outstanding theft.

Of them, Lasbon was a particularly notable recipient of the Milky Way Neutron Star’s attention and sponsorship.

–Theft, covertly.

–But deception, thoroughly.

These two sentences clearly depicted the style favored by the Milky Way Neutron Star. Under the Guardian’s influence, the world’s most famous thieves ended up having similar dispositions. Whether that was because only people with such a personality could thrive as thieves, or because they were matching the Milky Way Neutron Star’s preferences, it was hard to say.

‘That’s like asking if the chicken came first or the egg.’

That wasn’t the matter at hand. What was important was that it was highly likely the biggest proponent of ‘Theft, covertly; deception, thoroughly’, the Milky Way Neutron Star, was watching.

“This Daedongyeojido is an extremely important item to Korean explorers.”

It was a so-called ‘awakening item’, or ‘key item’. Getting the Daedongyeojido was said to be like winning the lottery for explorers from the Korean server. Hyukjin didn’t know how exactly it was used; he only knew it was a very important item for that class.

“Hold on, what do we have here?” Hyukjin pulled out another item. “Senvart’s Dagger? This thing has pretty good stats. Yeonseo, you take it.”

“Really? I can have it?”

She had no idea what it was, but it was coming from Kim Hyukjin. She was sure it wouldn’t be as good as Asura, but it had to be good. And it was free.

“All hail free!”

Yeonseo accepted without hesitation.

“It’s expensive. Use it well, and carefully.”

“Roger. Thanks.”

“You’re grateful, right?”

“Yeah. Super grateful! Jeez, what do I do? My debt to you keeps growing!”

Yeonseo lived up to her Smiling Swordsman moniker and responded with warmth. This wasn’t exaggerated acting. She was being sincere. Yeonseo still thought of Hyukjin as her mother’s savior.

‘Yeonseo being truly grateful will piss them off more, huh?’

Lasbon was spying on them from somewhere, watching as Hyukjin took his items and gave them out like party favors. He was probably losing it.

A message arrived.

[The ‘Milky Way Neutron Star’ has begun to watch you.]

As expected, the big-time Singaporean thief came bearing the Milky Way Neutron Star, a big fish. Hyukjin would struggle to keep their interest for long since he wasn’t a full-on thief, but the Guardian was famous for dropping a generous sponsorship as soon as they took a shine to a Player.

‘Because thieves are so rare.’

The scarcity of the class resulted in the Guardian throwing investment at whatever promising seedlings they found and seeing if it stuck. You could say they were similar but different from the Night of Falling Stars, a 2nd generation Guardian.

“And this Legola Staff is perfect for Sunghyun.”

The Legola Staff, an emerald staff wreathed with the faint glow of mana, was unique grade and came with extremely good effects: +15% to wind affinity and wind magic damage.

“Thank you.”

“You’re lucky you’ve got such a great guildmaster.”

Sunghyun nearly let a smile escape.

‘Hyung can say stuff like that too, huh?’

It was all an act. Normally, Hyukjin almost never said things like that—he was the type to give things without comment. So Sunghyun played along.

“If not for you, Hyung, how would I get my hands on such a precious item?”

“You’re not wrong.” Hyukjin guffawed, seemingly in a good mood. “This Crow Gauntlet will go to Yoohyun.”

With its attack speed buff, this rare grade gauntlet was a good fit for the future Fist King. Singapore would one day take off as the commerce server. As a budding major league thief operating in such a server, excellent items were already spilling from Lasbon’s Inventory.

“Sunhwa, you take this.”

He gave Sunhwa an item called Scale Armor. It could be worn under one’s clothes, and boasted higher defense than the heavy armor from the beginner period.

“What about me? What about Bum-gu?”

“Mm. You…” Hyukjin took out an item from his Inventory. “…get this.”

“Th-This is?”

[Duke Lefry’s Crossdressing Set]

The legend of the Western Continent, Duke Lefry, had a covert hobby. In order to prevent his hobby from getting discovered, he had an annex built within his castle and made a secret room for his exclusive use within it. No one other than Duke Lefry could enter his ‘secret room’. There, Duke Lefry enjoyed his covert hobby, crossdressing. Covertly. And more beautifully. Duke Lefry’s Crossdressing Set will make you dazzling.

Grade: Legendary

Yeonseo snickered. “What’s this? Sung-gu’s gonna get prettier? Wow, I’m jealous.”

Yoohyun also burst out in laughter. Sunhwa let out a quiet, awkward laugh, and even the normally taciturn Sunghyun sniggered.

Sung-gu asked seriously, “Is this thing expensive?”

“Probably, yeah? It’s legendary.”

“Then score!” Apparently, he had no qualms as long as it was valuable. “Sweet. But man, there are really people out there who use items like this? Since it’s crossdressing… it must be a dude?”

Yeonseo followed up in an exaggerated manner, as if to let someone overhear. “So embarrassing, uurk!”

Yeonseo didn’t actually think that. Be it crossdressing or something else, as long as it didn’t bring harm to others, she didn’t care what people did. Whether a guy dressed up as a girl, or a girl dressed up as a guy, it was all the same to her. She believed people were free to do whatever they wanted as long as it didn’t harm others, but she was acting to get a rise out of the item’s original owner.

“Where did you get this?”

“There was a guy trying to pilfer my Inventory.”

“A guy? So they’re a man? And they had this? Pfft.” Yeonseo burst out laughing.

* * *

* * *

The next moment, Ward on the wall began to smoke and spark, fizzling out. The smoke was so faint that it could only be detected with a skill on the level of Eye of Perception.

–But deception, thoroughly.

Hyukjin said, “Funny thing is, I know the guy’s name.”

He felt something—someone—come close. They were stealthy, but not so stealthy that they could escape Eye of Perception’s radar.

Hyukjin’s hand shot out and grabbed the intruder’s wrist, dispelling their stealth.

Name: Lasbon

Class: Nebula Robber

“Apparently, this guy crossdresses as his hobby.”

Lasbon’s face was bright red. The heavily bearded man said something. Hyukjin used a Translation Marble, through which Lasbon repeated himself.

“How did you see through my stealth?”

“It wasn’t that hard.”

“Are you a thief?”

“Isn’t it obvious from how I stole all your items? Why did you even show up here after I robbed you blind? If you had acknowledged your defeat and left, you could have avoided this sorry situation.”

It did strike Hyukjin as odd.

‘We did provoke and deceive him, but…’

Lasbon wasn’t so mindless a Player that he would reveal himself like this. If he was going to take revenge, he would have done it like a thief.

‘The fact that he showed himself…’ Hyukjin smirked. ‘…means Lefry’s Crossdressing Set is extremely important to him.’

There was no mistaking it. Eye of Perception clearly saw the yellow lights sparkling above the names of the Daedongyeojido and Duke Lefry’s Crossdressing Set, telling him these two objects were no ordinary items. There was something more to them, something hidden. With Michael, Hyukjin was able to decipher what the yellow light above the chef’s head meant. But not this time—he could only see the yellow lights.

‘Which means, they’re hiding something I can’t decipher at my current level.’

And that was something Lasbon knew as well. He would try to get it back, no matter what it took.

“What? Did you want to use your innate ability to get this back, at least?”

“…”

Sung-gu looked around in a panic, shouting, “Huh? My expensive drag set!”

It was no longer in Sung-gu’s hands. Just in case Lasbon tried something, Darongi had stowed it away in his Inventory.

Lasbon bit his lips. He had rushed out in haste, but thinking about it now, this was all a trap. He had a sinking suspicion these people had acted out a play, already knowing he would come to them.

Lasbon’s attitude took an immediate 180.

“I apologize. Please forgive me.”

Everything else was fine, but—

“I would like you to return the drag set, at least.”

“What kind of shameless request is that, coming from a thief to another thief?”

The deed was done—the item was already stolen. As a thief, he had to accept that. That was what thief class Players thought.

“It’s because that item is more precious than my life. I’ll do anything you ask, so please, I beg you—please give it back.”

“…”

Was this item that precious?

“You saying that is actually making me want it more.”

“It’s only valuable to me. It won’t be of any use to others.”

“It doesn’t look like that to me.” Hyukjin sat down. “You tried to rob us first. So I robbed you instead; that’s all. If your skills were better than mine, we would have had to scurry back to Korea with only the clothes on our backs.”

“That’s true. I picked the wrong targets.”

“And yet, you want me to give back this item? Rather shameless, don’t you think?”

“I know it’s shameless.”

“You even intentionally caused the elevator accident.”

And now he was here asking for forgiveness? If this item was truly important to him and he wanted it back by all means, he would have come begging right away. He wouldn’t have spied on them using Ward, but lowered himself as a junior thief approaching a senior thief, saying I was careless, please forgive me. If he had done that, Hyukjin might have given him some consideration.

“Considering that you spied on us with Ward just before this, this isn’t terribly convincing.”

Hyukjin didn’t think Lasbon was being sincere, either.

Summary: Robber with a Secret Card up his Sleeve

Hyukjin smirked.

“What? Gonna open the ‘Hall’?”

Lasbon flinched, and the next moment, the side of Yoohyun’s hand came down on his neck. The thief fainted with a cry.

“Hyungnim, this item’s pretty good,” Yoohyun said, very pleased with the Crow Gauntlet they had stolen from Lasbon.

“But Boss, what’s the Hall?” asked Yeonseo.

“There’s something like that.”

In any case, round one of thief vs. thief ended in Hyukjin’s total victory.

‘It’s about time for the Milky Way Neutron Star to react.’

Sure enough, Hyukjin heard a notice.

[The ‘Milky Way Neutron Star’ is very focused on your Playing.]

[The ‘Milky Way Neutron Star’ gives you ‘Stardust’.]

The gift arrived in Hyukjin’s Inventory. In the end, the Guardian who was known to only sponsor potential thieves sent him a sponsorship. Hyukjin hadn’t actually lied—he never said he had a thief class.

‘Thieves really want this stuff, right?’

But they didn’t put out any detailed information about it. In other words, Stardust was a trade secret.

[Stardust]

A Guardian exclusive given by the Milky Way Neutron Star to those they have expectations for. Stardust can be used on ‘robbed’ or ‘stolen’ items, enabling one to see all hidden attributes of the item.

Remaining uses: 3

As soon as Hyukjin read the item description, he knew exactly where to use it.

‘I’ll use it right away.’

Just in case the Milky Way Neutron Star canceled their sponsorship, he used it immediately on two items: the Daedongyeojido and Duke Lefry’s Crossdressing Set.