The Final Boss Has Returned — Chapter 170
Tears streamed from Sharp's eyes as she closed the president's office door and walked out into the hallway.
The fact that her love until now had meant nothing, and the fact that he had humiliated her—betrayal surged up to her chin.
Sharp moved with trembling steps, grinding her teeth as she went.
“Sharp.”
Berda was the one who found her in that state.
Berda looked at Sharp's tear-streaked face and intuited that something had gone wrong.
And Berda quickly realized that the cause stemmed from the article she had just seen on her phone mentioning his “fish tank management.”
“What happened?”
Hearing Berda's question, Sharp stopped in her tracks.
Sharp's gaze turned toward Berda.
Berda.
A mage of Lightwing Guild famous for the moniker “Great Sage,” and the de facto chief operations officer practically in charge of running the guild.
And Sharp's sight took in the image of her, who had liked Yujin just as Sharp herself had.
Sharp laughed.
Because the petty clashes she had waged against her over him all this time came to mind.
Now that she thought about it, there had never been anything so ridiculous.
It was because they had been drinking their fill of kimchi soup until they were fit to burst, when no one was even offering them rice cakes.
“He knew everything.”
A hollow word came from Sharp's mouth.
He knew everything.
The moment she heard those words, Berda stopped still as if frozen in place.
Her head, which had been spinning rapidly until just moments ago, halted instantly.
There was only one hidden meaning in the words “he knew everything.”
The fish tank management article.
That the article's contents were fact, not rumor.
Looking at the frozen Berda, Sharp laughed.
Because the rare sight of Berda—famous for never stopping her thoughts—having her mind go completely blank was unfolding before her.
“What will you do from now on?”
But that too lasted only a moment. Berda, who had immediately returned to an expressionless face, questioned Sharp.
Receiving that question, Sharp laughed helplessly.
“I don't really know what I'll do from now on... but at least I don't want to be here anymore.”
Yujin.
He was the face of a man she had loved so dearly, yet now it had become hard to look at him.
Even belonging to the same guild as him had become distasteful.
Berda flinched at Sharp's answer.
Divine Archer Sharp.
The undisputed Rank 1 among elf users, and the ranged dealer of Lightwing Guild.
The role she played in Lightwing Guild was by no means small, so if she left the guild like this, Five Eyes might suffer enormous losses.
No, her departure was not the withdrawal of a simple guild member.
Lightwing Guild.
It was like a signal flare announcing that the undefeated guild—which had boasted unbreakable unity born of deep mutual respect and reigned supreme over the Arde World—was finally beginning to fracture.
Fighting off the dizziness, Berda barely managed to speak.
“That... cannot be.”
“Why?”
Sharp retorted.
“That is...”
At Sharp's counter-question, Berda was at a loss for words for a moment before continuing.
“If we split apart like this... the one to benefit will be Drakan, that man.”
Drakan.
Hearing that name, Sharp laughed.
Because the World Revolution of long ago suddenly came to mind.
The revolutionary army that had risen up to liberate the Arde World from the rule of the guild alliance—Yujin had been at its center.
But at that time, the reason Sharp had joined Yujin's revolution was not because she empathized with his great cause.
Yujin.
It was because she had loved him.
Throughout the past years, Sharp's world had revolved solely for Yujin.
Because Yujin wanted it, she continued playing the game; because Yujin wanted it, she maintained the name Divine Archer; because Yujin wanted it, she remained in the guild.
But the current Sharp no longer loved Yujin.
“It's just a game anyway.”
Sharp said that, biting her lip.
There was nothing wrong with her words.
No matter how much flowery language was attached to Arde Saga Second, it was just a game.
Of course, it was indeed a game with tremendous influence, but there were countless people in the real world who lived without playing games.
Some stupid game.
If it hadn't been for Yujin, she wouldn't have even thought of continuing.
Sharp thought so.
“Whoever wins, what does it matter to me.”
She had devoted her everything.
She had promised to live her life for him.
But the reward for that love had been nothing more than a single word more miserable than rejection: “family.”
At that answer, Sharp finally realized.
That the years she had devoted to him were wasted years, and her heartache had been a pointless endeavor.
The fact that she had been played by Yujin.
Of course, she knew well that Yujin was kind.
But separate from that, it was also true that Yujin had known her feelings and played with her.
And the current Sharp could never forgive such a Yujin.
Berda could make no reply to Sharp's words.
Because the fact that Sharp's heart had already turned, combined with the unbearable truth that Yujin had known her feelings yet ignored them, was turning her mind inside out.
“Take care.”
After offering that farewell to Berda, Sharp continued on her way.
Berda watched Sharp's figure without a word, then soon walked toward the president's office with trembling steps.
Damage control.
She had to somehow manage this situation.
* * *
After Sharp left.
Yujin was simply staring at the ceiling with dead eyes like a frozen fish.
Where had it gone wrong?
Yujin's head was a mess.
He didn't want to hurt everyone.
He wanted to maintain the current relationships.
Yujin had thought so.
He had believed that if he conveyed his sincere heart, everyone would surely understand.
But why on earth.
Why had Sharp left him behind so heartlessly?
“What did I...”
What did I do wrong?
Yujin ruffled his own hair with both hands.
He couldn't believe this reality.
Lightwing Guild.
It was Yujin who had wished for the happiness of this guild, where five became one, to last forever and ever.
But Yujin still couldn't accept the reality that such a dream of his had been shattered.
At that moment.
The door opened with a sound of footsteps.
From beyond the door, Berda entered.
“Yujin.”
At Berda's cold voice, Yujin's gaze turned toward her.
“Berda...”
Berda bit her lip as she saw Yujin's appearance, which had become a complete wreck.
Sharp.
Had her departure been such a shock?
As someone who loved Yujin just like everyone else, it was inevitable that she felt a stabbing ache in her chest.
But at the same time, Yujin looked pitiful.
This was the first time she had seen him struggling like this.
“That article... is it true?”
Even so, she had to ask in order to manage the situation.
Berda held back the feeling of her chest being shredded by a knife and spat out the question.
Berda already knew the answer to this question through her meeting with Sharp.
That was why she had the intuition.
That no matter what answer Yujin gave, the situation from now on would become completely different.
At Berda's question, Yujin worked his mouth.
No matter how dense he was, he couldn't forget the mistake he had just made.
‘It's all because I lied.’
Yujin reproached himself.
He didn't know about other things, but at least he shouldn't have lied in the situation just now.
That was precisely the cause of Sharp's departure.
Yujin was thinking that.
Therefore, Yujin resolved not to lie this time.
But unlike his resolve, he couldn't readily spit those words out.
That he had known her feelings yet turned away.
To put it bluntly, it was because he couldn't immediately confess the fact that he had been practicing “fish tank management” in front of the very person involved.
Sweating cold sweat, Yujin was silent for a long while, mumbling his lips without speaking properly.
And watching Yujin's appearance like that, Berda just stood there without a word.
After quite some time passed like that, an answer finally squeezed out from Yujin's mouth.
“...It's true.”
It was true.
Hearing those words, Berda felt her vision grow faint.
She had sensed inwardly that it was true, but Berda had held onto a hope until the very end that it wasn't.
But the moment Yujin's mouth delivered the final confirmation that it was true, Berda felt her heart pound as if it would burst.
Did that mean that until now, he had known her feelings yet ignored them?
Berda could not accept that reality.
Just like Sharp, Berda too loved him, and had been devoting her everything to Yujin.
Berda mumbled her lips and soon spoke slowly.
“Why on earth... did you do that...”
Why on earth had he done that?
At Berda's words, Yujin's head had already become a jumbled mess long ago.
The beginning had clearly been a well-intentioned lie stemming from Drakan's advice.
And that “well-intentioned lie” had worked quite well until now.
A minor fault that had to be endured for everyone to be happy.
Yujin had thought of his “well-intentioned lie” that way until now.
“I-I wanted to be h-happy... together with everyone...”
A powerless voice flowed from Yujin's mouth.
He wanted to be happy together with everyone.
That was Yujin's true heart and his greatest desire.
And it was also a futile hope no different from a mirage.
“Happiness... is it.”
Berda muttered so and bit her lip.
Until now, she had sacrificed everything for the man before her eyes.
Loving his visage of pursuing ideals without knowing reality, she had tried harder than anyone to realize his ideals in reality.
In that process, eliminating potential rivals, distributing interests to maintain the “alliance,” adjusting public opinion to create an environment favorable to Yujin, and constantly keeping Drakan in check—
All of it was what Berda herself had done for Yujin until now.
Yujin was the one who had overthrown the world through revolution, but it was not Yujin but Berda who had sustained the world order after the revolution.
The reason she had worked like that was only one: because she loved Yujin.
But the answer that came back was that for the sake of happiness with everyone, he had ignored her heart.
At the moment Berda's hands trembled after hearing that far.
Creak.
The door to the president's office opened once again with a sound of footsteps.
And there, a pretty young girl with striking twintails and an adorable face stood with a stiff expression.
“E-Erena...”
Saintess Erena.
The healer of Lightwing Guild, and one of the trio who loved Yujin just like Berda and Sharp.
“Oppa... Is what I just heard true?”
Erena's cheeks trembled as she spoke.