Chapter Ch211.2 - Sacrifice

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

The crowd broke out into small discussions, with nobody willing to step into the red dance shoes that represented the curse. However, Yu Chu soon proposed a solution, “The c-position will have the most shots in the whole program. I’m inclined to suggest that those in the middle rankings give it a try. Of course, other players will have the obligation to protect the c-position, as the female ghost won’t appear when there are too many people around…”

On the stage, under Yu Chu’s gentle guidance, there was really a player who was at the edge of elimination willing to give it a try.

Wu Jin’s eyes wandered through the crowd.

The King of Hearts who was disguised as ‘September’ sat quietly in the crowd and didn’t discuss anything with anyone. It was impossible to analyze who his ally was. At this time, people in the crowd were frequently looking towards Wu Jin; there was no doubt that as a player hovering on the edge of elimination, he was the best candidate to ‘play the c-position’.

What if Wu Jin played the c-position and played himself into elimination?!

Wouldn’t that be the best thing for the rest of the players?!

However, Yu Chu was so eloquent that all the other players at the edge of elimination were equally eager to try––

Wu Jin was a little moved.

Yu Chu had taken great pains to move him out of the center of the topic at the start of the day so that Wu Jin wouldn’t be forced into the position and was given a choice instead.

However, assigning c-position for <Red Dancing Shoes> was a must.

At 6 o’clock in the morning, the AI director rushed in and took out the red dancing shoes from the cabinet. A new round of selection for the c-position began again.

Wu Jin directly raised up his hand.

He needed the c-position in order to advance.

The contestants who were still hesitating were surprised to see Wu Jin volunteering. Even Yu Chu was a little surprised.

The director smiled with appreciation, and the red shoes were handed over to Wu Jin. Because ‘there had finally been progress in the rehearsal’, a new round of scripts were issued.

Wu Jin looked down and flipped through it.

“… Not only did Karen attend her mother’s funeral in red shoes, she also went to church in red shoes. A soldier who’d been the Queen’s bodyguard stopped her and praised her beauty loudly…”

The AI director gently invited Wu Jin, “Try it, put on your dance shoes.”

At the end of the day, the program team didn’t hand Wu Jin a pair of high-heeled shoes. The dance shoes that represented the c-position were unisex, with a bright red rubber surface and slightly larger sizing, but wearing them wouldn’t hinder movement.

At this time, many trainees gathered around Wu Jin.

Wu Jin removed his combat boots and was just about to put on the shoes––

The youth’s actions stilled.

Caution was a necessary prerequisite for any choice.

While the director looked on with interest, Wu Jin reached out and lifted up the pair of red shoes, turning them upside down and shaking them above the training room floor. There was an unnatural sound in the bright red rubber shoes, followed by a clink.

A piece of broken glass fell onto the floor from the dance shoe for the right foot.

The crowd burst into an uproar.

Caesar immediately began to argue with the AI, “What’s the matter here? Do you still want the c-position to dance or not?!”

Yu Chu quickly came up to block people’s view. From nearby, the King of Hearts turned his head.

Wu Jin’s thoughts churned. The glass hadn’t been put there by the King of Hearts. Rather than appearing ‘happy’, the K who was disguised as September was more ‘disdainful’. If K had enough strength to fight head-on, he would never have chosen to scheme in the dark.

Additionally, the c-position hadn’t been selected until this morning. The one who’d thrown the glass into the dance shoes could only be attacking blindly––

Wu JIn lowered his head and picked up the glass shard.

This wasn’t a piece of glass.

It was a shard from a mirror.

The mirror was like countless other mirrors in the training room. It was slightly yellowed, with sharp edges that cut like a knife. It was only half the size of a palm, and the back was uneven.

Wu Jin flipped the mirror over.

A line of small, truncated text was engraved on the back.

“Mirror mirror…”

Mirror, mirror.

Wu Jin suddenly put away the glass shard.

In the distance, Caesar was still chattering loudly, and the crowd had gathered together to watch the scene. The mirror shard with the engraving on the back was a trap while still inside the red dancing shoes, but it could also be called a ‘clue’ after being shaken out.

From beside Wu Jin, Yu Chu was stunned when he saw the words. He then quickly blocked the view in front of Wu Jin and used his eyes to indicate that he should put it away. Then, he continued to control the scene and cover up what had happened, “Like I said before, the c-position is very dangerous…”

Wu Jin nodded slightly to Wu Jin.

He didn’t mind sharing clues with allies. Caesar and Yu Chu had never been separated for more than three minutes, and Yu Chu could never have been replaced with someone else. More importantly, he wanted Caesar to advance.

The glass shard in the dance shoes caused a mild stir in the training room, but the scene soon calmed down. The AI director couldn’t provide any explanation for it, and only repeatedly stressed that ‘the dance shoes have been locked in the cabinet, and nobody can touch them’, and on Yu Chu’s side, he’d already circulated the reason of ‘the ghost girl wanting revenge’.

The scene on the TV changed. Karen, the female lead, was 13-14 years old.

The soldier who’d formerly been the Queen’s bodyguard was still exaggerating Karen’s beauty in front of the carriage, “… You are as beautiful and dignified as a Queen in her court…”

“Why not a princess…” Karen teased the soldier.

Wu Jin glanced at it a few times and was preparing to pull the big boss away to retreat.

In the corner of the training room, Caesar, who had nothing to do, was preparing to go out with Wu Jin but was soon stopped by Yu Chu.

“We’ll act separately.” Wu Jin bumped shoulders with Caesar, “I’m going to the other buildings to have a look.”

Wu Jin suddenly thought of something and turned to Yu Chu, “Brother Yu Chu, did you use a Hearts card last night?”

Clover cards could cut scenes from the recorded episode, while the Hearts card could control public opinion on the forums. Last night, apart from another player who was at the edge of elimination in the Anderson group, the home page had been frequently bumped up by Wu Jin and Yu Chu.

And the format was as alike as two peas in a pod.

<Guarding Little Leica, who is the best in the world>

<Guarding Little Yu Chu, who is the best in the world>

After discovering that their water armies had collided, the two of them then changed their thinking. One was ‘strong + beautiful’, while the other one was simply ‘miserable’.

Yu Chu was helpless, “Mm. My ranking isn’t high.”

Wu Jin nodded and reminded him kindly, “If you grab another card, try to keep it for the last round.”

The two groups separated at the corner of the silent corridor.

From behind him, Caesar was dissatisfied with the clue that had been provided, “What the hell? It’s a mirror, and on the back, it says ‘mirror, mirror’. That’s bullshit! What’s the difference between that and writing ‘Caesar, Caesar’ on my forehead!”

Yu Chu held Caesar back, “Keep it down, keep it down…”

Wu Jin and the big boss walked out of the Andersen group building.

Wu Jin finally exhaled a breath of relief and carefully took out the mirror shard from his pocket.

Red dancing shoes, roses, mirrors, two ghosts, Andersen, Wilde, Brothers Grimm.

All of these clues added up together were less powerful than this single line.

It was like all the scattered stories were coming together.

––The 60 into 12 round wasn’t a divided battlefield. It was a 60 person brawl.

Wu Jin handed the mirror shard to Wei Shi and spoke in a low voice, “The mirror shard is the clue that the program team put into the dancing shoes.”

“Mirror mirror, the first M is capitalized. This is a sentence, not a repetition of two words. Or, it’s part of a spell.”

“60 into 12 involves three fairy tales.”

“So, there’s only one explanation.”

“Mirror, mirror on the wall // Who’s the fairest of them all.”

“The spell on the back of the mirror, if it’s linked together, then it’s––a magic mirror. The mirror tells me who the most beautiful person in the world is. The clue points to <Snow White>.”

“The owner of the magic mirror is the Queen. Perhaps Karen, the female lead of Red Dancing Shoes, isn’t afraid of the mirror itself, but the court ghost in the mirror. This ghost is likely to be the Queen. In the video, the soldier stopped Karen and praised her resemblance to the Queen.”

“In Andersen’s first edition of <Red Dancing Shoes>, Karen’s the curse of her red shoes began when she was stopped by this soldier.”

“I’m wondering where the curse of the red shoes came from.”

Wu Jin looked up, “……” He was finally convinced that the big boss had never read a fairy tale before. He seemed to be absorbed in listening and had no feedback to give. But, if he thought about it! It was probably that all natural killers like the big boss would be reading <Red Rocket Thrusters>, <Snow Weapon Reloading Princess>, <Nighthawk F-117 Stealth Blaster and Rose Cannon>.

Wu Jin spoke again, “There are several significant differences between the Grimm Brothers’ first edition of Snow White and the popular version of Snow White.”

“Only when the blood, violence, and reality are removed can it truly become a ‘fairy tale’.”

“In <Snow White>, the Queen was Snow White’s biological mother. After falling in love with Snow White, the Prince carries her coffin away and runs around everywhere. But, the most important point is––”

“At the end of the story, the Prince forced the Queen to wear red iron shoes and dance until she died.”

“Listening to it, doesn’t it seem like <Red Dancing Shoes>?”

“So, Karen and the Queen had at least one similar experience. And, of course, there’s <The Nightingale and The Rose>. Since there are female ghosts in both groups, there’s no reason why there wouldn’t be a female ghost in the third group.”

“The female ghosts’ curses are similar, and they mutually restrain each other.”

Wu Jin looked at the training building where <Snow White> was being rehearsed.

“Additionally, the female ghost will become stronger after eliminating trainees.”

“60 into 12, as the relationship between the ghost girls are revealed by the script, the three battlefields, Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, and Wilde, will converge.”

“This round of the competition is a game between the three bloody female ghosts. The trainees are the sacrifices.”

Juurensha: Oooooh three fairytale ghosts, that’s pretty cool.