Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 309, Section 56: Arrived at the Invitation
"Professor, are you still at get off work?"

"Oh, I have some things to finish. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Han Qiujuan didn't even look up, casually offering an explanation as her fingers flew across the keyboard, her tone tinged with impatience.

"Professor, it's me, Min-young."

Han Qiujuan then glanced up at the doorway. It was her student. She continued working and asked, "Minying, what's wrong?"

The female student first cautiously glanced around the office to make sure Professor Han was alone before hesitantly taking a few steps closer. Her voice was low and hesitant as she said, "Professor, it's about that matter... I'm thinking maybe we should just let it go?"

Han Qiujuan paused in her actions, her brows furrowing. Her already agitated mood, fueled by the Guanghuamen incident, worsened, and her face darkened. "Now you're telling me to let it go? What are you thinking? Did he give you money? How much? Can it compare to your future? Can it guarantee you a place in graduate school? Can it get you an offer from a prestigious law firm before graduation?"

The female student shuddered in fright, frantically waving her hands, her face pale: "No, he didn't give me any money! Really, he didn't! I just think he's actually a really nice person, and he's always been very considerate of others in the group. I felt a little bad about doing this."

Han Qiujuan stared at her for a while before gesturing towards the door with her eyes. The student reacted, ran over, gently closed the office door, and then returned to her with her head down, like a child who had done something wrong.

“We’ve already found a suitable target. As long as you follow our methods, he will never be able to turn the tables or threaten you. You won’t even need to show your face. Why not?” Han Qiujuan’s tone softened, adopting the persuasive manner of a mentor.

Looking at the other person's lowered head and intertwined fingers, she roughly guessed the crux of the problem and pointed it out directly:

"Are you worried about what happened at Gwanghwamun today?"

The female student trembled, hesitated, and nodded, her voice barely a whisper: "Those people... they were just like that."

Han Qiujuan scoffed dismissively, her tone carrying a condescending disdain: "Use your brain to think. Even if the person who did this is truly a legendary superhuman, acting with such ruthlessness, committing massacres in the streets, do you think the authorities would still tolerate him? Would they still offer him an olive branch like they would offer him amnesty?"

She sneered, "If he were really willing to cooperate with the authorities, I would be worried that he would abuse the rules. But this kind of brainless brute behavior only makes me laugh! A man's anger might only cause bloodshed a few steps away, but it won't affect us."

Han Qiujuan leaned forward slightly, her gaze fixed intently on the student, as if trying to instill some kind of strength in her: "We will stand behind you, Seoul National University will stand behind you, the whole society will stand behind you! What do you have to be afraid of? Can he, one person, stand against the entire state apparatus?"

"Besides," Han Qiujuan emphasized, "who says that superhumans are necessarily more powerful than modern weapons? If that were the case, there are quite a few superhumans who have appeared by now, but how many of them dare to openly confront an entire army? Aren't most of them hiding their true colors? This shows that their abilities are simply insufficient to contend with the systemic power of society and modern weaponry! Now that person has been exposed so thoroughly, there must be countless eyes looking for him! He's too busy taking care of himself to have the energy to look for us."

To completely dispel the students' doubts and to demonstrate her fearlessness, Han Qiujuan simply moved her laptop over and turned the screen towards the female student.

The image above shows her recent post supporting the With You movement, which was quite vehement, condemning the perpetrators' cruelty and then veerging onto classic issues.

Finally, there's a passage that reads: "We will not yield to violence! The cry for justice will never be silenced! Those cowards hiding in the shadows, come at me if you dare! I, Han Qiujuan, am right here, waiting for you to see what the integrity of an intellectual truly means!"

He seems genuinely fearless.

This earned her a large following, with unanimous support that portrayed her as a fighter against the forces of darkness.

As she watched the scrolling messages of support and praise on the screen, Min-young's lips twitched slightly, her inner turmoil surging violently.

The professor's image was so imposing, and his logic seemed impeccable. Finally, under Han Qiujuan's extremely imposing gaze, she nodded with difficulty, her voice dry: "I understand, Professor. Then... I'll go back now."

"Hmm," Han Qiujuan said with satisfaction, turning her gaze back to her screen as if admiring a masterpiece. "Handle things efficiently, remember the key points, and don't leave too many loopholes or logical flaws. There's no need to feel guilty. Think about it, how much oppression and violence have they committed over the years? We are simply exercising our legitimate rights and speaking out for more potential victims! Now, we're just paying back a tiny bit of interest."

She offered a few perfunctory words of comfort, then gestured for Min-young to leave.

The door closed gently. Han Qiujuan stared at the ever-increasing number of supporters on the screen, her smile growing wider. She refreshed the page, and the number jumped again, making her smile even wider.

However, this sense of self-satisfaction did not last long.

Ta, Ta, Ta
Clear footsteps approached from afar, sounding particularly abrupt in the quiet corridor, and stopped at the office door.

Han Qiujuan assumed it was Minying returning, and without looking up, asked with displeasure at being disturbed, "Is there anything else?"

no respond.

She frowned, looked up, and gazed at the doorway.

Standing there was a young, unfamiliar man, dressed in ordinary casual clothes, with delicate features, calm eyes, and even a hint of shyness.

The smile on Han Qiujuan's face vanished instantly, replaced by undisguised disgust. Students who were so arrogant and ignorant of basic manners were the most annoying to her.

"Who are you?" Her voice was cold and hard. "This is the teachers' office. Please leave if you have nothing to do."

The man smiled shyly, a smile that seemed innocent and harmless, but his eyes made Han Qiujuan's heart skip a beat. He took a step forward and naturally walked into the office, gently closing the door behind him.

"Professor Han, didn't you ask me to come to you?" His voice was gentle.

Han Qiujuan's brows furrowed instantly as she quickly reviewed today's schedule and student list in her mind: "No! I didn't send anyone to find me. Who are you? Which department are you in? Who is your advisor?"

Her tone was full of vigilance and sternness.

"English Department, huh?" the man replied with a smile, continuing his walk naturally toward her desk without stopping, as if he were just there to ask her a question.

However, this distance has exceeded the safe range of normal social interaction between strangers.

Han Qiujuan was like a hawk with its tail stepped on; her whole body tensed instantly, and her body instinctively slid backward with the chair, making a screeching, ear-piercing friction sound.

Her voice simultaneously turned sharp and shrill, filled with offended anger: "English department? I'm a law professor! And don't you know any manners?! Get out! Or I'll call security right now! Who's your advisor?! I want to see who taught such an impolite little beast!"

The man was subjected to a barrage of insults, but his shy smile remained unchanged; the vicious words seemed like nothing more than a gentle breeze.

His gaze swept over Han Qiujuan's angry face, and then landed on the laptop screen in front of her.

On the screen was the provocative post she had just sent, especially the bold text that read, "Come at me if you dare," which was particularly eye-catching.

His smile seemed to deepen slightly as he reached out and gently tapped the sentence on the screen.

"Professor Han, you really have a short memory," his voice remained gentle. "Look, weren't you right here, clearly inviting me here?"

Han Qiujuan's expression froze instantly. She felt as if her heart had suddenly stopped for a few seconds, and the entire real world was ripped from her mind and then quickly pulled back.

She blinked hard, as if trying to make sure it wasn't a hallucination.

But everything is so clear; this is reality.

The person in front of me is the demon who committed the Guanghuamen massacre! That so-called superhuman, he really came through the internet, so fast! So fast that her courageous post hadn't even made it to the trending topics yet.

Fear overwhelmed her instantly, and the confidence and anger she had just displayed vanished.

"No, it wasn't me. I... I was..." Han Qiujuan's lips trembled violently, and the sound of her teeth chattering was clearly audible. She tried to explain and beg for mercy, but her throat seemed to tighten uncontrollably, and for a long time she could only make incoherent hoarse sounds.

The video footage from Gwanghwamun kept replaying in her mind, almost causing her to lose control of her bladder. Her body trembled violently: "Please...please...let me go. I was wrong...I...I was just...just venting."

With such conclusive evidence, she couldn't even deny it.

The shy smile on Park Min-woo's face gradually disappeared, and there was no anger in his eyes, only a kind of indifference that seemed to have seen through everything.

He slowly leaned down, looking directly at Han Qiujuan's deathly pale face. "What are you afraid of? I'm just here as you wished, invited by your invitation."

ten minutes later.

Min-young lingered downstairs at the dormitory for a long time, the professor's words replaying in her mind.

Social forces? Systemic guarantees? These words seem pale and laughable in the face of the hellish scene at Gwanghwamun.

The image of the boy's gentle smile and the notebook he handed me kept flashing through my mind. Fear and the last vestige of conscience still overwhelmed the promising future he had been promised.

She gritted her teeth and decided to go back to Professor Han; she wanted to refuse!
This is different from what she was told when she joined the organization.

Even if it meant giving up her guaranteed admission to graduate school, even if it meant offending a professor, she couldn't do that kind of thing! She didn't want to become just another background figure blurred out in the next news story.

Unbeknownst to her, as she hurried toward the office building, a pair of eyes that had been secretly watching her slowly withdrew.

Minying walked quickly back to her floor. The corridor was unusually quiet, with only her own footsteps echoing. No light shone through the crack in the door to Han Qiujuan's office.

Have they already left work?
Min-young felt relieved, but also a little uneasy. She slowly stopped and prepared to leave, planning to come back early the next morning.

However, just as she turned around, she caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye that the door seemed to be slightly ajar.

The streetlights outside the building cast a narrow shadow on the ground.

At the edge of the light and shadow, something seems to be reflecting light?

Are they red dots?
Is it like ink splattered on, or paint?

She hesitated for a moment, then gently pushed the door open.

Squeak.

Inside the office, the laptop screen on Han Qiujuan's desk still glowed dimly, barely outlining what appeared to be the silhouette of a human figure on the chair behind the desk.

The silhouette remained motionless, presumably asleep, its head drooping slightly.

"Teaching Professor?"

Min-young tentatively called out softly, but it sounded clear even in the silence.

no respond.

"Professor Han? Are you still there? It's me, Min-young." She raised her voice a little, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

It remained deathly silent.

Min-young swallowed hard, her hand trembling as she reached for the light switch on the wall beside the door. She pressed it!

pat.

The lights instantly dispelled the darkness of the office, revealing the scene inside the room to Kim Min-young in perfect detail.

My breath stopped for a moment.

Her pupils dilated, her face drained of all color, and her mouth opened uncontrollably, yet she couldn't utter a sound.

My mind went blank; all my thoughts were shattered by the extremely bloody scene before me.

The entire office looked as if it had been splashed with a huge, bright red, still-wet paint.

The walls, ceiling, and bookshelves were covered in splattered red liquid.

On that chair, Han Qiujuan's body slumped unnaturally.

Her head tilted limply to one side, her eyes wide open, her body completely exposed—or rather, her heart and lungs were gone, leaving her empty.

"Ugh, ugh, ugh—!!!"

As Min-young screamed, Park Min-woo had already escaped and changed into another body, hiding in the safe house provided by Ethan.

Even the identity he has now changed to was provided by Ethan. He has all the necessary identification documents, and he has established social relationships, but none of them are very close. The notes left behind are also quite detailed.

He gained a more intuitive understanding of Ethan's real power.

This is probably what people mean when they say someone was born into privilege.

He didn't think much about these things. Since Ethan was temporarily on his side, the stronger the other party was, the better.

After dealing with that person, his main body will go into hiding for a short time, but the clone will continue to be active, following the network to find those topic masters and find them one by one.

As for myself, I'll focus on the game that's refreshing tonight.

He glanced at the time.

It's a little past nine o'clock.

It was still early, so he continued to memorize the details of this identity and sort out what he needed to do in the future. Time slowly approached midnight.

Player Lobby.

All the players have gathered, and Park Min-woo is the last—no, the second to last—to log in. Ikeda Ei is still nowhere to be seen.

Unlike usual, this time when he went online, all the players' attention was focused on him.

Iwasaki remained expressionless, Yui looked on with interest, Uesugi pursed his lips and frowned, and Takii polished the hilt of his sword.
Park Min-woo remained silent, offering no explanation for his actions in the South, maintaining his usual silence.

The last few minutes were just a dull countdown.

Tian's figure only appeared in the position in the last few seconds.

Twelve o'clock has arrived.

The name of the new game was revealed to everyone.

Anatomy of Britain

　They must have been out of their minds to mistake September 4th for Youth Day. Thank goodness it wasn't in the title.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)