## Chapter 208 – Round Table Supreme Council
The group chat had a total of 131 members.
And of those, 55 had gathered.
Buzzing-
It could be seen as a small turnout, but it was actually quite a large number.
Among wraiths, grudges and relationships were intricately intertwined, so a big fight could break out if they met.
Considering that, the fact that 55 people had gathered meant that quite a lot had come.
‘Scarlett’s influence must be that strong. Or, in this case, are they trying to make a good impression on her?’
In any case, in downtown New York, in a hideout that was a converted underground bunker, 55 wraiths were gathered in groups, watching each other.
It was a fairly large facility, about 500 square meters, and it was the hideout of one of the members of the ‘Round Table Supreme Council.’
Rumor had it that it was the largest of the hideouts and a place where meetings were frequently held.
I raised my head slightly and looked at the center of the open space.
‘It’s starting.’
Scarlett, who had glanced around, was stepping forward to the center. Accordingly, people’s gazes naturally gathered on her.
‘Okay, let’s watch what kind of stories are exchanged.’
***
“Then, since it seems like everyone’s here, I’ll tell you the reason for the summons.”
Scarlett opened her mouth, and everyone nodded.
“Wait a minute.”
Then, someone raised their hand from the corner. Scarlett’s cheek twitched for a moment when she saw the owner of the blue hair.
“…Claire.”
“Scarlett.”
After a moment of silently glaring at each other, the woman called Claire opened her mouth.
“Luke hasn’t arrived yet. Shouldn’t at least the members of the Round Table Supreme Council all be gathered before we start?”
“I’m sorry, but he’s not going to show up.”
“What?”
Claire narrowed her eyes sharply.
“Scarlett, don’t tell me you used Luke again this time?! You better explain right now how you know that!”
“I’m going to explain now, so just calm down a bit.”
“How can I calm down right now?!”
As Claire tried to jump out, people stepped in between them to stop her.
“Whoa, whoa.”
“Claire, calm down.”
“Let go! That bitch is definitely involved in something!”
“Haha, we all know that you’ve been backstabbed by Scarlett more than once or twice, Claire, so let’s hear what she has to say first.”
After huffing and puffing for a while, Claire reluctantly retreated at the urging of the people and sat down with a touchy attitude.
Then, she crossed her arms and took a stance of seeing what kind of story she was going to tell, and Scarlett sighed deeply and said.
“There’s a being that’s been hunting us for the past few days.”
“Are you talking about Etana?”
“No, it’s a different being. As far as I’ve confirmed, it’s a returnee like us. I don’t know the exact age. But what’s certain is that they’re catching and killing other returnees indiscriminately.”
“Wait a minute, Scarlett. Are you saying…”
Scarlett glanced at Claire for a moment and continued.
“Carter, Logan, Clara. My whole team was taken out, and Amelia and Luke were also taken out. In addition, 12 more were taken out. There may be more victims that I haven’t confirmed.”
Then, people began to murmur.
“I can’t believe it. Luke was taken out?”
“That immortal geezer?”
“That’s ridiculous…”
Scarlett snorted.
“Why is it ridiculous? How many have been taken out by Etana? There were even more impressive people than Luke among them. You know that, right?”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“Ha, still, Luke being taken out.”
While everyone was making expressions of disbelief, Claire jumped up from her seat and glared at Scarlett.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Luke is invincible. I’ve seen his head fly off on the battlefield more than twenty times. Are you telling me that human who came back to life every time was killed?”
“Ahem. I remember it clearly too. That Luke geezer would survive even if his heart was blown away.”
“That guy, he’s fine even if he’s hit by a missile, right?”
Claire, who had gained the support of the people, glared at Scarlett again.
“Tell me honestly. You’re hiding something from us, aren’t you?”
“I don’t have anything like that, Claire. I wish you wouldn’t be malicious and make wild guesses. You just want to nitpick everything I say, don’t you?”
“Look back on your usual behavior and then talk. How can I not be suspicious? Or should I tell the story of the [Rune of Complete Recovery] in front of everyone?”
“……”
She lost her words for a moment, but Scarlett spoke calmly.
“I’ll pay that back right after the meeting.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. I talked to Luke about it beforehand, but I guess you didn’t get the message.”
“……”
In fact, there was no way she would have gotten the message. It hadn’t even been five minutes since they had that conversation when that Korean bastard barged in.
But Claire, who didn’t know the inside story, calmed down and sat down.
Hoo.
Scarlett took a breath.
Of course, the questions hadn’t been resolved yet, so another person immediately jumped in.
A blonde woman with a long sword scar on her eye opened her mouth.
It was Sophia, one of the five members of the Round Table Supreme Council.
“Etana is a special case. It’s impossible for a returnee alone to kill Luke. Scarlett, stop talking nonsense and tell us everything you know.”
At that sharp gaze, Scarlett groaned almost imperceptibly. As Claire had said, there were things she was hiding and things she had lied about.
Even she thought that Luke probably wasn’t dead.
She couldn’t imagine that human dying.
But it had already been three days since Luke had fought with that Lee Taebaek bastard and disappeared. During that time, that Korean bastard had been following her and continuing to hunt other returnees.
‘He might be alive, but I can’t tell the truth. Things will get complicated.’
Luke was as well-known as Scarlett.
If the fact that he had been captured was revealed, about 30% of the people gathered here might immediately go to rescue him.
And the others who saw that would stand back and watch for the time being.
‘We need to avoid dispersing our forces.’
That was the reason why she was trying to avoid the topic from constantly shifting to Luke’s life or death.
‘But if I try to get by with just words, the council members won’t move. The quick-witted ones have already noticed that I’m hiding something.’
Then there was only one way. She had to reveal one of the cards she had been hiding.
Scarlett opened her mouth.
“That guy… has multiple abilities.”
“What?”
“!!”
“Is that true?”
To be honest, revealing this wasn’t a very good decision either. It could scare them and make them run away.
But in any case, the effect was powerful. No one suspected or dug into the fact that Scarlett was hiding something anymore.
“Multiple abilities, are you saying it’s a case like Etana?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ve seen it a few times, and it’s not like that. If it were, I wouldn’t have even been able to think about escaping when I was briefly captured.”
“Then how can he have multiple abilities?”
People were reacting sensitively to that issue. They were showing an almost oversensitive reaction to the existence of ‘Etana.’
Scarlett spoke as if she was revealing what she knew.
“I had a brief conversation with him when I was captured, and it seemed like he knew a way to use the [Event Shop] separately from the normal way.”
Then, people nodded with understanding.
“The [Event Shop] certainly has a lot of mysterious items that are comparable to player abilities.”
“Yeah, there are so many kinds that I didn’t even get to look at them all until I left the island.”
“Come on. That’s because you were too busy picking up items and selling them to look at them.”
“Huh? Now that I hear it, that’s true?”
“Anyway, if he bought something through that shop, then it’s possible.”
An appropriate sense of crisis.
An appropriate sense of fear.
And achievable goal setting.
[Scarlett is looking at this situation with satisfaction.]
Although she had been in a bit of a pinch for a moment, Scarlett, who had sufficiently manipulated the atmosphere of the people as she wanted, had a satisfied smile on her face.
She soon raised her hand to stop the people’s chatter.
She focused their attention on herself.
“But the risk is too great to fight individually. We’re in a crisis right now. We can’t let that dangerous guy run rampant when we’re already struggling with Etana.”
Scarlett turned 360 degrees, paying attention to each member of the audience. As if to get their agreement.
“We have to join forces. We have to move immediately so that he can’t kill any more of our friends.”
Then, another council member, Jack, expressed a skeptical opinion.
“Still, I don’t think it’s a good idea to gather together and fight.”
He was the person who had brought the most returnees to this meeting.
Because this hideout was his.
Jack said.
“If the fight gets bigger, it will undoubtedly attract Etana’s attention. It could end up being a waste of time. It’s like burning down a whole house to catch a mosquito. I think it’s better to watch a little longer.”
Many people nodded at Jack’s statement. Since there were a lot of people in his group, the opinion quickly leaned that way with just one word from him.
Scarlett immediately retorted.
“Still, we have to join forces and deal with it as quickly as possible.”
“I agree with that, but the option of moving ‘immediately’ is not the right one.”
Scarlett checked the time and said with a sense of urgency.
“That guy is persistent. He’s as cunning as a hyena and as diligent as an ant. In some ways, he’s even more vicious than Etana. At his speed, we’ll all be dead within half a year.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Yeah. I’ve confirmed 17 victims. And that’s in just 4 days.”
“!!”
“Do you think you’ll be able to go home after this meeting today, stretch your legs out comfortably, and sleep well? You’ll be anxious when you actually go back, right? Because you don’t know when it will be your turn to be attacked.”
“……”
People stopped talking. Jack also didn’t say anything more.
“…Then we can’t just stand still.”
Most people nodded at Sophia’s words.
Scarlett, who had confirmed that the atmosphere had completely reversed as she intended, smiled.
Scarlett turned her head and paid attention to a woman.
“……”
Two council members had agreed, so the only one left was one person.
The last council member, Aria, who had hair that reached down to her calves, had been silent all along, said.
“But still, I think it’s too hasty. We could suffer damage close to annihilation like we did with Etana 670 years ago. We need information about him.”
“That’s true.”
“That’s right. Moving without information is close to suicide.”
“Shouldn’t we find out what abilities he has before we fight?”
Scarlett checked the time with an anxious heart.
It was almost time for Lee Taebaek to move.
He had been following her for 4 days at regular intervals. He was going to show up here soon.
Before that, she had to instill fighting spirit in these morons and make them fight right away.
To hide the reason why she herself had caused all of this, and to hide the fact that he had been following her.
She had to create an atmosphere so that she could end it all at once by taking the lead before the other party could even open their mouth.
While Scarlett was rolling her eyes, someone said.
“Then why don’t we bring them in?”
“Who?”
“You know, those youngsters who are all over the media these days.”
“Ah, those graduates from that international high school? But hasn’t it been confirmed yet whether they have abilities?”
People’s gazes gathered on Sophia’s group. Because she was in charge of that mission this time.
“It hasn’t been confirmed. We’re investigating. But there are a lot of skeptical views.”
“Why?”
“You know. It’s been 3 years since they disappeared and came back. If they had awakened as players and seen the [Event Shop], there’s no way they would have come back that quickly. There’s a bit of a possibility with some of the male students who haven’t come back yet, though.”
“Hmm. That’s true.”
“……”
While listening to the conversation about the returnees from the international high school, Scarlett felt like she was missing something, but she quickly shook it off.
That wasn’t important right now.
In any case, she had to instill fighting spirit in them and make them fight for her.
‘I guess I’ll have to add some seasoning and talk a bit. I’ll talk about how Amelia and the other wraiths were writhing in pain.’
Then they would feel the seriousness of the situation and move.
She was about to open her mouth.
Thump!
“?!”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Suddenly the ground shook and a heavy noise was heard from far away.
“W-what is it?”
“What’s going on?”
Scarlett turned her head sharply and looked towards the door.
‘Could it be that Korean bastard?!’
Urgent footsteps were getting closer.
Soon the hideout door burst open and someone ran inside.
It was the black men who had been guarding the entrance. They shouted to Jack, the owner of this hideout.
“Boss! That bitch has appeared!”
That bitch?
“What do you mean, that bitch?”
“It’s Etana!”
“What?!”
“That damn bitch has appeared here!”
“!!”
