As Sophia read through the post, her heart sank.
The tone was eerily similar to how Jin Yuha might speak.
And the meaning behind it...
Normally, Jin Yuha was the strong and reliable leader who fearlessly led Utopia from the front. Even though Shin Se-hee temporarily took over command, none of the party members truly saw her as their leader.
The decision to split leadership roles was purely to avoid limiting Jin Yuha's capabilities. Everyone firmly believed he was the true leader of Utopia.
"But what if… it's all been a burden to him?"
It was also no secret among the party members that Jin Yuha had a surprisingly low opinion of himself, despite his composed exterior.
He often praised his teammates as "geniuses" while labeling himself as "mediocre" or, more bizarrely, "dull."
Though his teammates usually dismissed this with laughter, no one ever agreed with him.
But if the suppressed feelings revealed through muah (no-self state) were indeed genuine...
It made sense.
Suddenly, Sophia realized she couldn't keep this to herself.
If Jin Yuha was truly harboring such thoughts, it was a failure on everyone's part.
With a serious expression, she opened Utopia's private group chat—without Jin Yuha present—and began typing.
.
.
.
[Cliff Devotee Flower]: Everyone, could you please join me in my room for a moment? I have something serious to discuss.
Screee─
The party members began to gather in Sophia's room one by one.
Lee Yoo-ri, Kang Do-hee, Shin Se-hee, Lim Ga-eul, Ichika, Alice, and even Baek Seol-hee, who had just returned after wrapping up urgent matters.
Everyone was present except for Jin Yuha.
"You said you had something serious to discuss? What's going on all of a sudden? Without Jin Yuha, too," Lee Yoo-ri asked Sophia, having been called over while training late into the night on shield-throwing.
Like Yoo-ri, the others had been interrupted from their rest and were visibly curious.
Sophia looked over the assembled group before speaking in a heavy tone.
"...Everyone's here. Let me explain why I called you. First, can you take a look at this?"
Beep─
When Sophia played the video, a hologram displayed Jin Yuha battling the Spider Queen, wearing a mask.
Boom─!
Bang!
The Spider Queen's roars and constant explosions echoed as Jin Yuha's sword moved as if it were alive, weaving freely amidst the chaos.
As the video was about Jin Yuha, no one interrupted, silently watching.
"Wow."
"Oh...!"
"Amazing…"
"Junior, you're incredible."
Particularly, Baek Seol-hee, who hadn't seen Jin Yuha's battle due to her Demon Gate extermination missions, allowed a faint smile to cross her lips.
His swordsmanship, posture, fluidity, and ferocity—there was nothing lacking. In fact, he seemed to have reached a level far beyond what she knew.
Her disciple was truly a genius, perhaps even surpassing her already.
[Kreeeeeee—]
Slash────
And with that, the moment Jin Yuha severed the Spider Queen's head came.
Beep.
Sophia pressed the remote to pause the video.
The party members frowned, as if asking why she had stopped at such a climactic moment.
"Didn't you notice something strange?"
"...Something strange?"
"Yes."
At her words, Lee Yoo-ri stared at the paused hologram of Jin Yuha again.
"...I don't see anything odd."
The others, too, nodded, indicating they didn't sense anything unusual. Seeing this, Sophia lowered her voice further.
"The Spider Queen's screams and the explosions were all recorded clearly, but Jin Yuha's voice... was completely missing."
"Wait, now that you mention it!"
"What's going on?"
"Couldn't it just be that he wasn't saying anything? After all, we heard all the other sounds."
Lee Yoo-ri's remark made Sophia shake her head.
"No. Listen to this part."
Beep─
[...Trash of the 1st Rank─]
Sophia pressed the button again, and Jin Yuha's voice could be heard. But it soon trailed off, vanishing as though it had been deliberately erased.
"See? He was clearly speaking, but his voice was suddenly cut off, like interference."
At this point, Shin Se-hee, who had just come from a meal with Jin Yuha before joining this meeting, felt a cold sweat run down her back.
'...Oh no.'
When Shin Se-hee had erased Jin Yuha's voice, she had made sure to prevent anyone from restoring it. Using techniques that modern technology couldn't overcome, she masked his voice's frequency with similar ambient noise to render it indistinguishable.
Hide a tree in a forest, as the saying goes.
But she hadn't anticipated someone in the Utopia party would question it.
'They'll ask me if I did something, won't they...?'
Because she was the only one capable of such a thing. What should she say?
Reveal the truth about Jin Yuha?
Shin Se-hee bit her lip.
She knew that even if they found out, their feelings for Jin Yuha wouldn't change. They might even understand the existence of a game resembling this world if she took the time to explain.
But it was too early. Jin Yuha needed to know first, not them.
Today, Jin Yuha had started to open his heart to her, but he was still confused. He would likely spend time alone now, sorting through his thoughts.
He needed time.
If the other party members found out now and bombarded him with questions about his past, he wouldn't be able to hide anything. There were several members of Utopia whose emotions were all too easy to read.
This can't happen.
She opened her mouth to cut Sophia off, but Sophia was quicker.
"Exactly. Only Jin Yuha's voice was erased."
"...Erased? By who?"
Ah.
Too late. Shin Se-hee clenched her fists tightly. But then, Sophia's next words stunned her.
"Who else? It's obviously Jin Yuha himself."
"...Jin Yuha erased his own voice? Why would he do that? It makes no sense!"
"Well, saying he erased it himself might be a stretch. Let's say it was erased."
Baek Seol-hee, who had been listening, murmured thoughtfully.
"I see. My disciple's power. It must have been a result of breaking his limits. The overwhelming output of mana must have drowned out his voice."
"Yes, I think so too. All the other sounds were clear, yet only his voice disappeared," Sophia agreed, nodding.
What... is this?
Shin Se-hee was baffled.
Are these people idiots?
Despite the most suspicious person being right in front of them, they were coming up with their own explanations.
Was it because I erased his voice so quickly when he started speaking?
Whatever the reason, it worked out well for her. This misunderstanding gave her room to control the situation.
Shin Se-hee, like the others, put on a serious expression and nodded solemnly.
Sophia then handed out printed documents to each party member. The papers made everyone frown.
"What is this? Trash, reset, beautiful girl, man...?"
The words were a haphazard list of terms. Lee Yoo-ri tilted her head in confusion as she stared at the paper.
"What is this supposed to mean?"
When everyone turned to look at her for an explanation, Sophia hesitated and spoke in a small voice.
"Well... After removing the interference, these were the words that came out. I, um, posted on a forum, asking people to interpret Jin Yuha's words while in a trance…"
"What!?"
"You posted technical information on a forum?" "Are you out of your mind!?"
The party members were dumbfounded.
"Well, I realized it was a bad idea and took the post down later... saying I had misunderstood. I also gave compensation. I'm really sorry."
Sophia apologized, admitting she'd lost herself in curiosity and had neglected basic caution.
"Sophia…"
However, as if unable to let the matter go, Lee Yoo-ri's cold voice froze the air in the room.
"Leaking a party member's information without permission is a serious matter. How their skills work, what weaknesses they have—what do you think will happen if our enemies learn such things?"
Sophia flinched.
"What you've done isn't something we can just brush off lightly. Do you know how many eyes are currently on our party?"
Shin Se-hee interjected, trying to mediate.
"Ha, I'll handle that part separately. Since Sophia said she deleted it right away, we should be able to disrupt the information with some effort."
'For now, I've diverted the suspicion of the party members.'
Still, the fact that she almost caused a significant incident was undeniable, and the gazes directed at her were not kind.
"Th-thank you, Se-hee," Sophia stammered.
With Shin Se-hee stepping up to handle the situation, Lee Yoo-ri let out a heavy sigh and glared at Sophia.
"I'm letting this go because of Se-hee this time. But if something like this happens again…"
Lee Yoo-ri spoke each word with weight.
"It won't be just words next time."
"Hic!" Sophia gasped.
"From now on, no matter how trivial it seems, if it concerns the party, consult with us first. Don't forget—we're a team."
"Y-yes…"
Sophia nodded with a pale face.
It was clear that without Jin Yuha, the de facto leader of Utopia was Lee Yoo-ri.
Clap.
"So, anyway~" Lim Ga-eul clapped her hands, trying to break the heavy atmosphere. "Since Se-hee said she'd take care of Sophia's mistake, let's move on. What kind of post was uploaded? Isn't that why you called us here?"
"Y-yes, uh, could you turn to the next page?"
Rustle.
At her words, everyone flipped to the next page.
And their expressions turned grim.
"Sophia, th-this…"
"…This is undeniably Jin Yuha's tone."
"Is it true? Was our junior really thinking like this?" Lim Ga-eul asked, her voice trembling.
Sophia shook her head.
"It's just speculation… But I think it's highly probable. That's why I called everyone together."
Their faces hardened.
The words on the next page were filled with Jin Yuha's harsh self-denigration.
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