I Became the Must-Have Character of the Academy City

18 – Abyss City 1.0 -2-

Golden hair spun like threads of gold and pointed ears symbolizing the race of beauty.

Paradoxically, the princess who possessed them had nothing.

A dark room where even electricity barely reached.

All that was in that space was a creaky bed that groaned every time she lay down, and a table full of guns and their parts.

That was all.

.

Silently, she loaded the magazine and checked the gun.

Click! Click! Click!

The huge sniper rifle that had terrified her at first was now the princess’s only friend and support.

‘Tired.’

The girl, having finished her preparations, took off the goggles she had been wearing and sat on the bed.

She did not lie down.

Sitting, she buried her face in her hands and quietly steadied her breathing.

Lately, when she was alone, she found herself pausing like this more often.

To the point where she wished she could stay like this forever.

Mom… Dad…

For the princess, life in Tigrova is like a forgotten memory.

Her last memory of Tigrova is of reading a fairy tale book in a spacious room.

It was a childhood spent waiting for her parents to return in a splendid room.

She was too young to learn anything and too immature to have a firm sense of self.

At that time, she was suddenly taken by the elders who said they had to flee, and she began her life outside.

All she heard while fleeing in a hurry was that her parents were killed by Seolho the Great, who had become the new ruler of Tigrova.

The story ended with the need to flee because Seolho the Great was trying to eradicate the elf royalty.

It was too harsh a story for the young princess to accept.

The princess, whose mind was shattered, was raised as a bullet to reclaim Tigrova from the outskirts without a moment to collect herself.

Princess. Humans and beastmen have filthy blood, akin to that of Satan.

Do not converse with any race other than elves. They are beings with deceitful mouths that spew lies at every opportunity.

You are the only remaining royalty. You must take responsibility and lead us.

How can you have such doubts? Has your desire for revenge for the late king diminished?

We will support you no matter what. Our existence is your proof.

My head hurts.

From childhood until now, these words have been repeated too many times.

In a quiet place, they now echo like hallucinations. They are often heard even in dreams.

…

But the girl’s resolve was stronger than anyone’s.

She had tasted psychological shrinkage for a long time, but the girl’s mind still retained its form.

The elders did not know that the princess’s doubts from the past had not completely disappeared.

‘I have to somehow get back to the city.’

The elders absolutely opposed any external contact, saying that the royal blood should not be among the lowly ones.

The first time she was caught, she was scolded by the elders to the point of trauma, but she had not given up yet.

She needed evidence to prove her actions were justified.

She wanted to know perfectly the day the ruler of Tigrova changed.

The princess tried to find out the inside story of that day, avoiding the eyes of the elders, but the information available to the public was clearly limited.

No matter how hard the princess tried, she could not find a definitive story about her parents.

Wherever she looked, the end was always that the ruler of Tigrova had changed from an elf to a white tiger beastman.

‘There must be information somewhere…’

Knock, knock, knock.

The sound of knocking on the door ended her thoughts and rest.

The face buried in her hands faced reality again.

Princess. Are you inside?

The voice of an elder.

The girl answered, covering the feeling of suffocation.

“What is it?”

Precious guests will be arriving soon. Please go out to greet them.

“.”

Unlike usual, no answer came out strangely.

More than the body, the mind was too tired to move. However, the princess could not bring herself to say this to the elder.

As the not-so-short silence continued,

The elder, familiar with the situation, spoke up.

A distinguished guest needs appropriate treatment. Since the late king is not here, it is only right for the princess to go.

“…Understood.”

She barely managed to suppress the sigh that was about to escape.

The princess, who had risen from the bed, began to lightly arm herself.

*

Rohan, who had come out into the night streets, first manipulated his smartphone.

Just in case a call came in or a notification like a message arrived, he made sure no sound or vibration would ring out.

While he was setting it up,

He noticed that Ichinose’s profile picture had changed to a cat.

‘Cute.’

For some reason, that one thing seemed like a good omen that things would go well.

He felt his steps become lighter.

‘Shall we go?’

After confirming the route in the bustling area, he boarded the bus just before departure.

Since it was past rush hour, there were quite a few seats available.

He inserted the token and took a seat.

There were no office workers returning home inside the bus, but the air was heavy with the smell of alcohol, suggesting that there might be some revelers who had enjoyed a lively gathering.

“.”

Screech! He slightly opened the window to ventilate.

Rohan organized his thoughts as he breathed in the cold, fresh air.

‘The main story begins with Act 1 of the Broken Crown.’

He meticulously checked the internet news and quests once more to see if he had missed anything.

Inside the rattling bus, Rohan’s eyes focused intently on the letters.

[Missing: A male creator in his 30s who was producing a video while exploring the ruins of the restricted area]

According to the results of tracking his last call with an acquaintance, it is presumed that he was attacked by someone during the filming. According to the data released by the Elysium Security Agency, only a severed leg was found at the scene…

‘This was a mistake of going to the restricted area where those guys were, just to make a provocative video.’

That’s all there is to the beginning of the incident. Nothing more, nothing less.

Abyss City gamers don’t know the channel run by this male creator in his 30s, nor do they know what he looks like.

They just recognize it as the starting point of the main quest.

‘The point is.’

The important point is that the guys who caused the incident have already gone far away.

And they committed the crime for fun, regardless of the request.

It was a crime they habitually committed on their way to meet the old elf clients.

Rohan’s gaze turned to the quest window.

Then he erased the window and looked up at the ceiling of the bus.

‘Those b*stards.’

The old elves, who seek to reclaim their glory using the princess as a weapon, know that they have only one chance and understand what failure means.

Therefore, they exhibit extremely passive and secretive behavior.

.

The group that Rohan will face to confiscate the dentures of those old men is similar yet different from the last time.

Although one of the purposes is to confirm the range of actions and usual routes of Noah Frozenheart, that is not the only reason they were hired.

They are also a group to confirm the existence of bodyguards that the Great Emperor Seolho might have planted to protect his daughter.

It’s not about putting Noah in danger with force.

Even so, they possess skills and techniques that are perfect for dirty deeds like theft or surveillance, much more expensive and professional than the Yardpound brothers.

Thanks to this, Rohan is reminiscing about the opening day of Abyss City.

He tries to recall the tantalizing main story he tasted that day in as much detail as possible.

To find out the mastermind from the beginning.

The quest begins with gathering information among the murmuring citizens who are disturbed by ominous news to pinpoint the location of the disappearance as the first step.

Next, the second step is to wander around various places presumed to be the accident area and discover the security officers who are controlling access.

The third step is to infiltrate the inside, avoiding the sight of the Elysium Security Agency officers, and collect evidence.

Once this process is completed, a rough location is marked in a circle on the corner of the map.

Then, another round of exploration consumes time.

If I do it exactly like the game, Ill be slower than the real security officers. No, its impossible to avoid their sight like in the game in the first place.

The Elysium Security Agency is not an incompetent public power group.

As they protect the academy city, it is mentioned several times that there are many skilled individuals and that it is very difficult to become a security officer.

The setting that was not felt in Abyss City has now turned into reality and is shining brightly.

So, once again, Rohan would skip the intermediate steps and head straight for the result.

Even if the movements with omissions created some changes in reality, for the current Rohan, there was no clearer answer than this.

Next stop is .

Beep!

Rohan pressed the stop bell to get off the bus.

There are places in the academy city that are still difficult to call an academy city.

Rohan retraced his memory and entered under the bridge without light.

He arrived at an industrial complex where construction had been halted for a long time due to the bankruptcy of a company.

He walked, trying to muffle his footsteps as much as possible.

He insisted on moving only in the darkness, avoiding the streetlights that flickered with half-dead light.

There.

As he went deeper inside, he saw three cars with their engines running. One dump truck carrying a container and two sedans.

Two of them had their engines running but the driver’s seats were empty, and the only one with someone inside was the sedan in front.

In the driver’s seat of that one, there was a guy giggling at his smartphone.

Thanks to that, light was spreading inside.

His body, except for his face, was covered with tattoos symbolizing his affiliation.

Did the others go to look around?

No matter the angle, he was alone. There was no one lying down either.

Even though there was no human companion, he saw a gun placed right next to him.

“.”

Rohan closed his eyes and listened carefully to be sure.

Apart from the dull engine noise, he could hear metallic sounds and giggling laughter from afar.

‘Good. Let’s do it now.’

The distance was considerable, so if he was going to do it, it had to be now.

Rohan moved to find an ideal spot.

‘As quickly as possible.’

This was not the meeting place where they were supposed to meet the elves.

But where would the thieves’ nature go, like sparrows that can’t pass by a millstone?

They had come to this abandoned industrial complex to look for anything valuable and to dispose of the piled-up corpses.

Rustle. Rustle.

Rohan lowered his posture slowly, making as little noise as possible. He grabbed a handful of weeds from the ground.

He slightly wet them in the stagnant muddy water.

The fierce night wind was just perfect.

Snap!

Some of the weeds Rohan released stuck to the car’s side mirror like hair.

It wouldn’t hinder driving, but it fluttered and moved annoyingly.

Did they notice it?

Ziiing The driver’s seat window rolled down.

“Damn it… Filthy.”

The driver’s hand, cursing, tried to clear the weeds stuck to the side mirror.

Rohan, holding a knife in one hand, lunged forward and roughly pressed the driver’s arm down.

Crunch!

The arm bent in a direction it shouldn’t.

Eyes widened in shock. The man’s mouth and abdomen convulsed, loading a scream.

“Shh.”

Rohan shoved a sock into the man’s gaping mouth and, like a lightning bolt, thrust the knife deep into his neck.

“Ugh, ugh!!!”

He twisted the embedded blade roughly.