What does Chu Mal-Chin do in this situation?
Does he:
A: Run away and don't look back.
B: Claim you don't know the girl.
C: Lie that she's your niece.
D: Knock him unconscious.
"…" Slowly turning his head, he realized the person who confronted him was the S rank that punched his gut back in the gate.
"Well?" Mallory gave him the stink eye.
"…She's my niece." Chu Mal-Chin decided on C.
"Oh really? She called you Mr, instead of Uncle though?" Mallory crossed his arms.
"…" Crap, how long had he been standing there?
Making sure his scarf was still covering his face, he gasped and pointed behind Mallory.
"W-What's that-!?"
Mallory turned back, and saw nothing.
"Stop joking around-" When he turned back, the shady man was gone. Looking around using his S rank senses, he really couldn't feel his presence.
"…" Damn it.
——-
"Arrogance leads to downfall, at least that's what they say." Chu Mal-Chin sighed as he threw up his clothes and jumped into the comfy bed.
"I really should be improving my power ah….maybe later….." He eventually succumbed to sleep.
Meanwhile, a certain little girl with pigtails went into the shady alley that Malso had brought her too.
As she wandered, seemingly searching for something, a group of men approached her.
"What's this tiny brat doing here?" The person leading them had a stubby beard and long disheveled hair. His two lackeys followed behind.
"Look at her clothes boss! This missy must be a rich girl!" Lackey 1 spoke excitedly.
"Ahhhh, she's so cute! Hey girl, let this uncle hold up Ah..." Lackey 2 tried to reach out his hand creepily, but the man and lackey 1 stopped him.
"…What did I say about your behavior, pig bastard." The man spat, as lackey 1 and him shoved the perverted lackey onto the ground and started to beat him up.
By the time lackey 2 was done getting beat up, the little girl was long gone.
"Huh, I didn't hear her walk away…." The man scratched his hair but shrugged as lackey 1 and him walked away, leaving lackey 2 behind.
Once gone, a little girl emerged from behind a dark trash can. Her green eyes had turned blood red, as she slowly approached the man.
Because of how badly he had been beaten up, he didn't notice her oncoming presence.
Her shadow flickered every time she took a step closer…
"Hey, become honored with the fact your dull and useless life finally gained some use." She narrowed her eyes as something emerged from her shadow.
It grew taller and taller, only stopped once it was around 7 meters high. Eyes were scattered all over the thing's body as they blinked creepily.
Two pitch black claws reached for the man, and carried him closer.
Suddenly, a mouth stacked with rows and rows of teeth appeared as the man was swallowed whole.
Abby frowned. "That noise is unpleasant…" She held in her urge to gag, as she continued out of the alleyway.
The thing that had emerged from her shadow blinked before returning.
…
While everyone was having busy lives, Chu Mal-Chin scrolled through his phone.
{Breaking News!: abnormalities have been found in multiple gates spanning from rank F to A. Things like irregular monster counts, increased difficulty, and other incidents have been reported. Officials are currently discussing it might be linked to the emergence of the SS gate that Sovereign and White King. Though uncertain, researchers and theorists say it could be a plausible reason.}
"Huh, it's time for the novel's difficulty boost already?" Chu Mal-Chin frowned.
As a novel with an SS ranked protagonist, of course things would already get even harder. How else would they be able to draw in readers?
This event was dubbed, re-awakening by researchers as ever since the appearance of the SS gate, multiple other gates had difficulty spikes.
Feeling his stash of money going dry, he sighed.
In Malso's memories, most of his items and trinkets were all brought from the same guy.
Everything from life saving pills, to expensive gear, you name it. This shop was a run down looking store that at first looked like it sold fabrics.
However, Malso found this store by chance while running away from officials.
The store keeper was a lazy middle aged man who didn't say much, but he did occasionally take custom orders if you paid the price.
The book wasn't exaggerating Malso's need to keep his identity a secret, as even when he asked for a custom mask and outfit by the shopkeeper, his face was already hidden by a cheap ordinary party mask.
Where did Malso find the money to order such things? You're bound to garner some money when you take down the largest gangs in the whole country.
Samuel did discover this exact store in the novel as well, as he discovered traces of Orchid lingering around the area.
Here, Samuel ordered powerful clothes comparable to S rank defensive properties. The only thing that was more powerful were the SS ranked loot that was acquired through dungeons.
Now that he thought about it, Chu Mal-Chin wondered what happened to the SS boss that they defeated? Do hidden bosses even drop any loot?
In any case, because of the dire urge of some actual money, Malso planned to hop into a gate secretly and steal some materials. Then he could restock on the items he used.
You usually needed to present a hunter identification card used for entering gates to sell materials, but there's black markets for everything.
Chu Mal-Chin looked at Malso's suit and mask in the corner. The amounts of enchants and material used to make these clothing must have easily cost millions of dollars.
Seeing it, he hardened his heart. What could be so hard when trying to sneak in? He's an S+ rank with overpowered gear. Even with the difficulty spikes, he could kill basically anything.
Telling himself this, he went and got a good night's sleep.