Pop, pop, pop.

[Aaaah! I must be out of my mind!]

The Underground Dragon Palace, deep within Leviathan’s vast subterranean complex. Perched atop a box, Yu Na-gyeong screamed as she teleported frantically through its maze of facilities.

Snatching the target right from under a Liberation Brigade ghost’s nose—only a bird-brained pigeon so sick of living it wanted to dive into a vat of boiling oil would do something that outrageous.

Of course, Na-gyeong had things to say for herself. She’d acted on instinct. She hadn’t thought it through. One thing had led to another. ... On reflection, those sounded less like excuses than proof that she really was bird-brained, but she couldn’t help it.

[If it weren’t for the Team Leader, I wouldn’t have had to do this!]

Limon often said that the Violin of Deepest Black was his best means of dissolving the constellation’s power that had hardened inside him. Unless he found another tool or method someday, it was practically his only solution for now.

Na-gyeong didn’t know exactly what that meant. But she did know Limon would be in serious trouble without the violin. So the moment she thought the Liberation Brigade ghost might take it, her body had moved before she could think.

[Oh, shit! Why did those Liberation Brigade psychos have to go after this of all things...!]

If they’d emptied the whole vault, she could at least have admired their nerve. She cursed the Liberation Brigade’s small-mindedness in causing all this trouble just to steal one violin—then a question struck her.

'Wait. Why did they go after it, anyway?'

Objectively speaking, the Violin of Deepest Black wasn’t such a remarkable treasure. It was a magic violin that let its user play automatically, but if they couldn’t handle the performance, it was nothing more than a cursed item, just as Limon had said. In this Iron Age, overflowing with rare items, no one would be surprised if it were treated as junk.

It had only one unusual property: it dissolved constellation power the performer had absorbed.

'Could they know about that? Does this violin really have some secret?'

What was this violin that the Liberation Brigade ghosts—rising stars of the criminal world—wanted badly enough to attack the Seven Dragons Society, the criminal world’s old guard? She racked her brain for a moment, then shook her head.

'No, I can worry about that later! Right now, I need to run!'

Pop, pop, pop.

Her teleportations, which had slowed a little, sped up again like an author’s typing just before a deadline. She could travel only about ten meters at a time, but by teleporting repeatedly, she climbed dozens of floors in moments. She could move that fast because she had been a high-level player skilled at Teleportation when she was alive and had explored Leviathan whenever she was bored.

'Good. At this rate...!'

Even a Liberation Brigade ghost couldn’t keep up unless he had a spatial-type skill. Na-gyeong was beginning to rejoice at that conclusion when a voice rang through the air.

“You do run fast.”

A hand reached toward her just as she finished teleporting.

[Eek?!]

POP!

Relying on animal instinct, Na-gyeong teleported a short distance in rapid succession and narrowly dodged the hand. She was horrified.

The braided-haired man whose grab had missed—Bellows—gave a disbelieving chuckle.

“Well, now. To think I’d miss you twice, not just once. If the other Comrades found out, they’d tease me for the rest of my life.”

Was he dumbfounded, or was he enjoying this? Na-gyeong stared at him muttering with a smile, her eyes trembling.

[H-how did you get here already?!]

“I’d like to ask you the same thing.” Bellows narrowed his eyes and looked at Na-gyeong, still covered in soft baby down.

“A psionic biological weapon that can use Teleportation and Telepathy? How on earth did the Seven Dragons Society make something like you?”

[I’m not a biological weapon!]

“Hmm? Then are you a transformed player?”

[... No, not that either.]

“Then you are a biological weapon.”

[No, I’m not! I’m just a cute, talented pet!]

“Very well. A cute, talented biological weapon, then.”

[Oh, you have got to be kidding me!]

Bellows didn’t care how indignant she got. He merely continued with a smile.

“To be frank, I don’t care whether you’re a biological weapon or a baby bird destined for the fryer.”

[A baby bird as cute as me, destined for the fryer?! Do you want animal lovers around the world to tear you limb from—]

“So why don’t you stop waiting for a chance to teleport?”

Na-gyeong froze. Cold sweat ran down her.

[... You’re sharp, aren’t you?]

“One of my Comrades is a fool who likes to ramble on while looking for an opening.”

[Ahaha, is that so? Hah!]

POP!

Na-gyeong teleported at once. All that chatter had been to buy time until she could teleport again in the first place.

But the moment she arrived, she could only stare in shock.

“You’re in such a damn hurry. Leaving while someone’s talking to you is the sort of thing that deserves punishment.”

[Eek?!]

She had fled upstairs, yet Bellows appeared before even a second had passed. The sight nearly stopped her heart, because she realized how he’d caught up so quickly.

'T-teleportation? He’s a spatial-type player?!'

Her heart sank. As a baby bird, her one advantage was that she could escape by teleporting. If Bellows was a spatial-type player, even that advantage was gone.

“Ordinarily, I would punish you for interfering with me... but I happen to like birds.”

[That’s sweet, but you’re not my type.]

“... I meant I like them as an animal lover, not romantically.”

[Oh, really? So what?] Na-gyeong snapped.

She was a former PAB agent, after all. Cornered or not, she wasn’t some rookie who would show fear to a mere criminal.

Bellows spoke as if impressed by her prickly attitude.

“Hand over the box without a fight. In recognition of your courage, I’ll let you go unharmed.”

[That’s a good one. You expect me to believe you?]

“Believe me or not. If you refuse, I can simply kill you and take it.”

Na-gyeong narrowed her eyes. Did she think she might be better off accepting his offer? Not for an instant. If she were the type to do that, she could never have worked under a mad dog like Limon for years.

And that was precisely why she noticed something.

[Exactly. Why aren’t you killing me and taking it?]

“I told you, I like birds.”

[A murderer who kills people without a second thought but won’t kill a bird because he likes them? That’s insane.]

“How regrettable that you’d call my kindness insane.”

Ignoring his nonsense, Na-gyeong thought it through. A vicious criminal—especially a lunatic who ranked among the Liberation Brigade’s ghosts—wouldn’t show mercy. So he had a reason to persuade her. The only one she could think of was that he wanted to stop her from escaping by teleporting over and over.

'Why?'

There was just one problem: he had no reason to do that.

'Why can’t he let me run?'

'Because I’d be hard to catch?'

'That should be easy for a player who can teleport.'

'He could even just kill me, like he did those warrior guys. That might be faster...'

Na-gyeong’s eyes flashed.

[You’re not a spatial-type player, are you?!]

“What are you talking about?”

[Don’t play dumb!]

Considering that he had just appeared after crossing space, her claim sounded absurd. But Na-gyeong was certain: Bellows might be able to teleport, but he wasn’t a spatial-type player. That was why it had taken him time to catch up. He wasn’t confident he could keep playing tag with her through teleportation, so he was pretending to be generous to get her to stop.

And if she was right, that explained something else.

[And you can’t use the skill you attacked those warrior guys with on me, can you? That’s why you can’t kill me!]

If he couldn’t catch her, he could kill her. If he hadn’t, it wasn’t because he wouldn’t—it was because he couldn’t! If Bellows could have killed her on sight as he had the warriors, he would have crushed her long ago.

Bellows’s eyes turned cold as he listened to her deduction. It was full of leaps in logic, but Na-gyeong herself was convinced.

“For a bird destined for the fryer, you’re surprisingly perceptive.”

[Heh. I’ll have you know I’m an elite bluebird.]

Na-gyeong’s mind raced. If her guess was right, she could escape by continuing to teleport. Of course, it would be a life-or-death game of tag, a gamble in which one slip would kill her. Teleporting with the large box containing the Violin of Deepest Black was taking an especially heavy toll on her.

'I’ll just have to tough it out!'

Still, she didn’t hesitate. She believed she only had to hold out somehow until Limon realized what was happening and came to help.

“I didn’t want to resort to this, especially considering what may come later...”

Had Bellows sensed her determination to flee for as long as it took? He clicked his tongue softly, opened the book in his hand, and ran a finger over a blank page before speaking.

“『Teleportation Prohibition Act, enacted.』”

Na-gyeong flinched. It wasn’t merely his out-of-the-blue words. For the first time, she could get a close look at the book she’d only seen from afar.

Though it had been shrunk enormously, losing its original weight and thickness, she knew it well. She had studied it to death to become a civil servant at PAB.

'A statute book?'

Why would a Liberation Brigade ghost, who lived about as far from the law as anyone could, carry a statute book? Her puzzlement lasted only a moment before her face went pale.

'Wait. A skill that uses a statute book—could it be...?!'

Something occurred to Na-gyeong, and she tried to teleport away at once. But it was no use. She stared in horror as she remained rooted to the spot—not because she realized her Teleportation had been blocked, but because she had finally recognized Bellows’s skill.

[Oh my god...!]

A few years ago, there had been a duke-class player who reached level 99 and was expected to become a new Monarch. Then he vanished, spawning countless conspiracy theories, from voluntary seclusion to assassination. Na-gyeong recalled his unique skill—no, what was effectively an Absolute Skill—and cried out.

[The Court Archduke’s 『Rule of Law』?!]

Faced with the skill of a legendary player who had fought the Summoning Monarch to a draw despite not being a Monarch himself, Na-gyeong could only stare in horror.