Only My Skill Tooltip Is Strange

Chapter 85

I heard about the secret police from Jung Suyeon.

And not long after, I received a message from the administrators.

[Administrator] ? The police station believes there needs to be a change on the 5th floor. The power structure has become solidified on the 5th floor.

Thieves are cooperating with each other. Even the police aren't showing any sincerity.

It seems this issue has been troubling the administrators as well. They don’t want to handle it directly, so they’re hoping to enlist a player's help.

'Wouldn’t they just offer more rewards?'

They could give extra equipment to the top officers or something, to boost their motivation.

I wondered about that, but didn’t ask. I already knew the reason they couldn’t distribute rewards.

There were limits to what the owner of the floor could do.

Probability, causality.

Offering more carrots beyond the allowed scope was impossible.

[Administrator] ? The secret police will belong to the thief faction but will be responsible for eliminating them.

They said it should be handled just like how Poison Coffin was dealt with a week ago.

[Administrator] ? In fact, most of those players were from the police faction, but since they weren’t helping the city, it doesn’t matter if they’re killed.

The floor's owner was a policeman. I’d never seen him, but it was highly likely that he had worked in law enforcement in his home dimension.

That’s why the atmosphere of the floor reflected his personality.

He didn’t like crimes that threatened peace.

‘Doesn’t this make me dangerous?’

I asked myself.

I shook my head.

My existence wasn’t much help to the 5th-floor city. It might even be better if I disappeared.

That was my assessment.

‘…It might be dangerous.’

I received the secret police position.

It was assigned through the Soul System.

The advantage didn’t appeal much to me.

I don’t fail missions anyway, so what use is it to prevent my stack from increasing?

I also gained access to the police station. But I wasn’t curious enough to drop by just for the sake of it.

"By the way..."

I got to the point with the administrator. It was about the tutorial.

[Error Player] ? When will I be eligible? Alice said she signed the contract and left immediately.

[Administrator] ? It’ll be approved soon. Please wait a little longer. We can’t just send anyone we want. Players from higher floors are in demand too.

When I was summoned to the tutorial, I was lucky enough to be next in line for the 5th-floor players. Now it’s the turn for players from higher floors.

[Administrator] ? Please wait for a year.

A year?

What the hell.

Rumors started circulating within the thief faction.

It was bad news about the Earthling champion.

It was all about how big of a problem it would be to team up with him. I couldn’t refute it, because it was true.

Starting missions wasn’t easy. Everyone teamed up, so solo players were essentially unable to participate.

The secret police were a new job created to break this structure.

‘Wouldn’t that just make it worse if they sweep everyone away?’

It seemed like it would only create more reasons to form teams.

As I started to have this doubt, another rumor spread.

"Did you hear? A new job called the secret police was created."

"Secret police? What’s that?"

The existence of the secret police had been revealed.

‘It’s the secret police, but why does everyone know about them?’

The police station had spread the word.

It wasn’t hard to guess.

Why?

The question didn’t last long.

I could directly see how the secret police functioned.

?Thief Faction (15/15)? [Immortal Knight] ? Earthling Champion. You’re probably the secret police, right?

Thief players began to suspect each other.

The mere fact that the secret police existed caused a rift in the cohesion of the thief faction.

They couldn’t afford to trust each other because they could be killed for being too trusting.

‘So this was the plan.’

Even if a mission failed, my stack wouldn’t increase. I could just troll recklessly.

I realized the advantage gained from becoming a secret police officer.

[Immortal Knight] ? I heard Earthling Champion killed a thief player who was in the middle of a mission.

[Earthling Champion] ? They started it, I just killed them.

[Immortal Knight] ? Stop lying. Do you think I believe you?

[Earthling Champion] ? It’s the truth lol. They were just like you, messing around and got taken out.

It didn’t matter if they didn’t believe me.

They would die soon anyway.

‘I’m lucky I’m merciful. I only kill when they throw the first punch.’

Rude speech?

I understood that.

It’s just how texts come across sometimes.

If you write too stiffly, it’ll read as snarky.

You can’t judge someone based on messages alone.

I could overlook that.

But if they keep being annoying in person?

Then I wouldn’t hold back.

Especially if they acted like they were ignoring me, my hand would move without thinking.

It got worse after I gained power.

I didn’t know how many secret police there were.

Thief players had started to indulge in delusions.

They couldn’t even trust their own teams.

Naturally, the number of solo players increased.

"I thought being a secret police would be special. But nothing’s really changed."

"So the mission came down. They told me to pass it on to a fellow Earthling."

I kept my connection with the police station through Jung Suyeon.

I’d been on the 5th floor for a while now, so I seemed to have gained some influence within the police station.

"To clean up over there?"

"Yes."

The administrator’s request was simple.

Get rid of the ones who’ve crossed the line.

"If the administrator does it, it would be too much of a burden. You know what I mean, right?"

There was no need to explain to another Earthling.

We had subculture knowledge honed through countless media.

In a way, this might be the Earthling advantage.

‘Kim Min-seong also survived by thoroughly using his knowledge.’

I did what the police station told me to do.

Killing players was nothing to me.

"What? Secret police?"

"Are you the famous secret police? You son of a bitch? Because of you, we’re...!"

Once I revealed my identity, they reacted.

If they’d greeted me warmly, I might not have killed them.

But they all followed the same scripted response and rushed at me.

"Figures. You bastards never disappoint."

There were many dropouts on the 5th floor.

Players who lost the courage to go up higher and wasted time instead.

For criminals, they were prime prey.

"...Tch."

I opened the iron door to the storage room in the underground karaoke bar.

A terrible stench immediately hit me.

Corpses were scattered around.

I had no idea what kind of stuff had been done, but not a single corpse was intact.

They looked like chunks of meat.

"Ugh."

The most horrific corpse was the one that was naked.

It was exposed, and the lower hole was completely torn apart.

I couldn’t even keep my eyes open.

‘I’ve killed a lot of people, but this is too much.’

My head throbbed.

"What’s the difference between you and me? You’re killing people too!"

"Tch."

I couldn’t waste more time listening.

I killed the psychic gangster shouting at me.

My stats were steadily rising.

Every time I killed one, it went up by 0.01, sometimes 0.02.

Even though I raised my luck, the numbers were still weak.

The ones crossing the line weren’t that much stronger than the dropouts, just ordinary players.

There was no soul fragment attraction.

I wasn’t interested in E or D-rank skills anymore.

I had decided that breaking up my current setup would be a loss.

Mission after mission.

Waiting for Alice’s A-rank mission.

I was waiting for a solo mission.

Catching Earthling traitors.

"When are they going to betray me?"

"Huh?"

I couldn’t hold back anymore and asked directly.

I’d been waiting so long, I was frustrated and just had to ask.

It was a gathering with David and Riz.

They said Earthlings sometimes had meals together.

So I came, full of anticipation.

I thought today might be the day we had the showdown, but three hours had passed without any response.

"Betrayal? What do you mean?"

"Earthlings are supposed to betray. You backstab each other."

Jung Suyeon tilted her head, looking confused as if she didn’t understand what I meant.

I couldn’t believe it.

"Why betray?"

"Because you’re Earthling. Isn’t that why you came near me?"

"No. Back then, I needed help. I thought Earthlings from my home dimension would lend me a hand."

The way they looked at me changed.

"Earthlings are supposed to backstab. Just living together doesn’t make sense, right?"

"...I’ve heard that while climbing the Tower of Struggle. The hatred, the rejection of Earthlings. It wasn’t even something I did, but everyone hated me."

Jung Suyeon said.

David, Riz, and the others nodded as if they agreed with her.

"Just because the perception is like that, doesn’t mean you have to betray. I’m me, and Earthlings are Earthlings. Why accept such an absurd frame that all Earthlings are bad?"

"..."

"Some Earthlings are bad, and some are good. Not everyone stabs you in the back."

Jung Suyeon chuckled bitterly.

"I saw it while doing missions as a secret police. It’s not Earthlings who are bad, it’s the bad ones who are bad."

"..."

"Do you know why people only blame Earthlings? It’s because it’s expected that the strong are the ones who strike. It’s unpleasant to feel that you’re not even strong, so they project their discomfort onto you."

"Is that so?"

Thinking about it, maybe Earthlings weren’t the only ones who’d backstabbed me?

Up to now, all the Earthlings I’d met had of course backstabbed me, so I just thought these guys would too.

I was slightly narrow-minded.

"Jung Suyeon recommended you for the secret police. There’s one Earthling among the administrators."

"Ah, I’ve seen him. I don’t know his name, though."

"I asked him. To make you a secret police officer and clean up the garbage on the 5th floor."

"...Why?"

Did they use me?

My brows furrowed.

I was starting to get slightly uncomfortable.

But I couldn’t express any dissatisfaction.

The next words from Jung Suyeon stopped me.

"Well, that’s because it’ll make other Earthlings safer."

"..."

"If we keep climbing, everyone will die. It’s better to stay on the 5th floor. To let those who gave up live safely, we can’t promise them money, but we have to make sure they don’t fall into the hands of other species..."

"That’s similar to what Jo Seohui said."

"Jo Seohui. It’s been 20 years since I last heard that name. Is he still the 1st-floor administrator?"

"..."

Wait.

What?